Are they considered a one-handed weapon? As far as benefitting from the one-handed perks? Every other type of weapon in the game has it's own special specific perks in one tree or another- axes, swords, maces, and bows, both one hand and two hand styles. But the only dagger-related perk I've seen is the one a ways up in the Stealth tree. Does that mean dags are not considered a one-handed weapon?

Well, I was noticing a difference with my daggers after putting points into one-handed whilst I have nothing in the Stealth tree.

AFAIK, they are, and will benefit from generic one-handed perks, but they do not benefit from weapon-specific perks or item enchantments that boost one-handed weapon damage.

They are affected by the armsman perks. They are not affected by the bladesman perks. They are not boosted when wearing fortify one-handed enchantments.

As a result of the above, They are most useful when operating in stealth to take advantage of their 15 multiplier.
In the open they cannot compare to a blade, as the person using the blades can boost damage incredibily from one-handed-enchantments.

Yeah, I noticed when I wear my gloves with the +one-hand damage enchantment, the dagger gains nothing. Which is the main reason I was wondering if they are even considered to be in the one-hand weapon class.

gotta try it again, but if i remember right dagger benefit from the critchance perk

So daggers are a kind of bastard-child amongst the weapons in Skyrim. It's too bad they didn't have their own skill tree, or at least another dagger-specific perk or two, to make them a viable option on their own- for more than just sneak attack kills. Would have been cool to be a high-level dagger specialist/assassin that could also do rapid dual-wielded dagger attacks that could take something down *after* the stealth was gone in a situation- at least against lightly-armored opponents. As it is, you have to swap out to other gear in the middle of combat when that happens. Ah well. Maybe a mod someday

Daggers are kind of a special case. They svck for most combat, even if you are Perked up. But, in a special combo of Sneak and certain Perks, can be quite devastating in certain situations.

To that end, developing the skills and whatnot to take advantage of a dagger in those situations can be helpful, it is not a good weapon to rely on for the rest of the game.

actually... dagger + shield works great. i found it quite strong as i tried it on my sword'n'board warrior.

but running around in heavy armor and attacking with an dagger felt weird to me.

Right, sure it works, but a sword be more effective. Daggers have no advantage over swords in the open - aside from tertiary advantages (like less stamina to power attack) (faster swing time- but really short reach). If you choose not to invest in any one-hand damage enhancers for enchants, then yes daggers won't lose an advantage, but that is a conscious choice not to take an option.
Totally workable and an RP choice for sure.

Well they do, that is what assassin blade is. Assassins blade combined with invisibility or to a lesser extent shadow warrior is about the most powerful thing in the game, and can easily deal the most damage available (unless using exploits- and that is an exponential that no one can argue.) If they also had skill trees like the alternative axes/maces/swords, then they would have the strongest sneak, the fastest swing, and competing perks. It would leave much to be desired for anything else to compete. IMO.

An dual wield dagger character certainly can be viable in the open, but he is better served in the shadows with daggers, and with blades in the open.

Are you referring to a kind of DF-reduction method (ala FONV) where say a dagger would cut right through leather but do nothing against plate armor? I do wish that existed, but alas it does not. Damage is damage and there are no barriers to overcome this time around. I feel the game would have been better served to have that.

Well, I wouldn't be angling for something that added so much extra damage to them that they were better than any other weapon in all situations, stealth or not- what I would desire, are perks that allow you to fight effectively with them even after stealth is broken, and I wasn't even thinking about invisibility. I would not want anything that increased their damage output any further while in stealth/invisibility mode, as that is obviously unnecessary. No, what I would like to see is some combat mode that allows you to effectively be able to fight out in the open with two daggers equipped, without being severely handicapped or being forced to use a shield. Perhaps a perk that added a 'dodge/evade' capability, with 2-3 increments to build it up, so you'd be more survivable without having to use a shield or heavy armor. And a double-attack mode, like the other 1-hand weapons have. Dagger fighting would be more effective against light armor and cloth in unstealthed combat, as it should be- and less so against heavy armor. It could be worked in I think, but this is just my own fantasy, and I doubt they'd ever do such a thing.

I've been an Archer the whole game up to this point, but am using dual daggers right now (Blade of Woe and Mehrune's Razor). Full sneak means I rarely get detected, so I can wreak a ton of havoc with those bad boys. If I'm ever caught though, it's a different story.

Anything taht requires to beheld in one hand and nort tow, is one handed. Not to be facaetious, it's just how it is. Most people willl want to level One Handed regardless of weapon, unless they use Bow or a Giant greatsword / Hammer.

I myself dont use daggers, i prefer more of the 2 handed stuff.

I did use dual wielding daggers for one character. It worked, but melee fighting was a pain. Finishing moves were pretty cool though.

I actually thought it was a great decision to limit Dagger damage bonus to the perk, and not give it the bonus applied from Fortify One-handed gear. Gives daggers a unique niche, but daggers do also have one more advantage nobody seemed to point out.

When Dual Wieldng, your triple attack and "Scissor" attack speed is based on your off-hand weapon more than your main hand. So a Sword(Right) Dagger(Left) produces extremely strong and quick attacks. Something to think about.

They are an exception in the one-hand category. Yes, they are generic one handed weapons, but don't benefit from the sword type perks...they do however, compensate by having perk/s in the sneak/assassin tree.

There's a couple of other special items that have a similar 'exception' status.

This is true. Also- this brings up a good breakpoint, that could be settled mathematically.

Specifically- how much one-handed fortify enchant would offset the extra damage gained by the dagger in offhand(faster swings) while still lost on the dagger not getting the enchants.

One thing about daggers is that they don't break steath to draw or use. Other one handed weapons create "noise" that will alert an opponent.

Well that makes sense. Cuz if you were a stealth/dagger type, then you'd be called Sneaky Pete.

Dual wielding is overpowered. Even with daggers.

Does the 1H tree's Dual Flurry perk work on dual daggers? If not, then yeah, non-stealth melee with them would seriously blow. (more than I even already knew it does)

If you're into enchanting, daggers have an advantage even without sneak. Because they're 30% faster than a sword, they can deliver a lot more magic damage per second especially if you can dual enchant. Still, it's probably easier to smith up a sword which will be more powerful than a single enchanted dagger. I think daggers are more an RP thing.

I have that perk (both levels) but I never noticed if it made my swings faster or not with any weapon. Once my character hit level 40, he was so OP, he started doing all combat with a pair up unenchanted but smithed elven daggers. It is fun taking everything down with plain daggers. And I don't have to change weapons between melee and stealth and never have to worry about recharging them.

my thief does like 500000k damage with dagger stealth attacks (he got the preks AND the u know who gloves of u know what)