I was toying with the idea of making a brawler type, going with the Heavy Armor perks to add glove armor rating to damage and all, but I was wondering.... Would I need to invest in the dual wielding perks to lower my power attack costs and raise attack speed and such?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe dual-wielding perks work for fists.

That's why I am looking, cause I think a brawler type would be cool, I mean the take downs are awesome when you full on slam a dude head first into the ground, or grab them by their neck and repeatedly pound their face.... I want to try and make it through doing nothing but bare hands.... a long road for sure I know, but would be a cool thing... IMHO.

No, dual-wielding does not apply to fists, but you can most certainly make a brawling type character. For the most damage, start off with a Khajiit. Then if you choose to use Heavy Armor, you can use the Fists of Steel perk, but don't feel restricted to only using Heavy Armor. There are magic Light Armor gauntlets that boost your unarmed skill, in which case you can use as is or disenchant and make your own.

Thanks LordBafford, I already made the Khajiit, just was wondering about the dual-wielding perks. (off to beat down dragons and giants)

Remember to get this and disenchant it.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Gloves_of_the_Pugilist_(Skyrim)

http://www.giantbomb.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/61-33394/i-punch-giants-how-to-become-a-master-of-unarmed-combat/35-524255/#131


I'll just leave this here...

just keep in mind that using smithing for improving the gauntlet armor rating won't increase your fists-of-steel damage bonus. base armor only.

This will sound silly, but he explains unarmed fighting very well with some humor thrown in ha.

Google 'unarmed viking skyrim badass' and then go to the first YouTube video entitled unarmed badass.

He does get a few things wrong though, only the base damage of gauntlets is added to fist damage so improving them doesn't increase damage. Also none of the 1h perks affect unarmed unfortunately.

There's 3 or 4 mods for unarmed combatt on PC. If you're on console, then yea, do what everyone else said.

well after a couple hours, I am decked out in full Flawless Ork armor, I need the high AC (and I know that improving doesn't add damage), I have tore up 4 dragons and dragon priest Vokun as well. The Vokun fight was brutally tough, but did it in one go. I am lovin' it!!!

yes, at the beginning unarmed khajiit with iron fist rocks.
however, your enemies will grow stronger while your damage will peak very soon, making unarmed fighting almost useless later.
with that in mind plan your transition to another playstyle ... your kind of char can make that transition easily at least.

I'm playing a Khajiit sort of like this right now. Main skills:

Archery
Heavy Armor
One-handed
Sneak

Sneak is around 50 or so and I'm hoping to keep it there, then to grab the x3 bow sneak attack perk. Other than that I'll leave it alone. It's just nice to open up with some sneak shots in the early game, so it leveled pretty quickly (plus the racial +10).

I'm putting points into Speech as well; this guy is a soldier of fortune, always looking for the next (profitable!) adventure.

Most of the build revolves around Archery (not necessarily sneak archery). I use claws or dual-wield weapons when enemies get close, or when I just want to save arrows or work on another skill (1-handed or Heavy Armor).

The funny thing is, the claws are really my strongest melee option in terms of damage output, assuming the UESP formula is correct and I'm getting 22 damage per hit. (Haven't gotten the Fists of Steel perk yet, but I'm close.) I'm level 13 and haven't put a lot of points into 1-handed, so that's probably why. Some enchanted weapons technically do more damage overall, but I try to save those for specific situations.

The biggest challenge with the claws is range. I have to be really in an enemy's face before I can commit to a double-claw power attack, and even then the last couple of swings might whiff as the enemy backs away. I find it's more effective to dance around and rely on single swipes, or only power attack with one claw. Killed a sword-&-board bandit chief with only claws by simply maneuvering around. It took awhile, but was pretty fun!

Best unarmed Skyrim video yet. This is pro here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhBiNx749Zw

Daedric Gauntlets, max Fortify Unarmed Enchants (+12 x2), Fists of Steel perk, and Khajiit, gives you a max damage of +57. No other perks or abilities will improve this (there are exploits to improve this, but I assumed you wanted this clean). I beat the game this way, and it's a blast. Nothing like punching a dragon to death.