I know it sounds obvious that im getting beat pretty badly at low levels but it seems like a little much. I feel like I can't go out and adventure or Ill be two shotted. The only things I can kill are Drauger and Wolves. Anything slightly above that and its almost impossible to kill, I am a level 6 btw. I am a Two hand warrior. Any tips for better surival in the early levels?

I have full steel armor the ancient two hand sword and am always looking for potions.

Tactics my good man, tactics.

Don't stand toe to toe with an enemy. Move around, learn to read their moves as all NPCs telegraph their weapon movements. You can move back or forwards or to the side to dodge the attack as it unfolds. Use your sword to block if you have to since you don't have a shield. 3rd Person can help with this until you get the rhythm of combat.

Never could get used to the two-handed builds, so I can't really help you out too much I'm afraid. What I did when I was a low level was move around at night and sneak. Gave me experience, I could tell if an enemy spotted me, and I could enjoy the pretty stars.

I don't often do 2H either but going toe-to-toe equals dead at early levels. Be sneaky, hit and run, conjure a distraction and when they fight the distraction, you can hit from behind a few whacks to take their health down. Yes, it's all about tactics. Good luck! I love the early levels.

I'm curious what perks you have.

and with two handed its about timing, your swings are so slow you need to rely on staggering through block or power hits to allow for a better hit to being hit ratio

With two-handed weapons, try to circle the enemy, rather than take them head on. The big weapons are too slow to trade blows with the opponent, without taking too much damage at low levels. At higher levels, you'll have more health and better armor, so things will get better.

Try investing in alchemy. Rather than having to look for potions, you can make them yourself, and the ingredients are everywhere. While it may seem cheap, if you make enough health potions (it will happen), you can spam them in the middle of a tough fight. Ideally, you don't want to get used to this, but it beats dying.

What I usually do, especially at low levels, is sneak as often as possible and shoot enemies with arrows, then switch to melee weapons when they get close. Many enemies can be killed, or sufficiently weakened before they have the chance to do much damage to you. Even though my Nord is warrior first, archer second, I still like to soften enemies up a bit first before I switch to sword+shield.

Turn down the difficulty until you can get some tactics and practice.

Turn the difficulty down to Novice. Even still you can die if you're not careful, avoid confrontations with numerous enemies, try and trap them in narrow corridors and such. If a fight looks bleak (such as losing half your health and barely denting the opponents) then flee for your life. Be tactical with your perks, some very beneficial one's out there, increase your smithing and enchanting level. This is very easy to do, however brushing up on enchanting can be expensive (filled soul gems cost a lot of money).


I don't ever use two handed weapons, the lack of a shield always leaves you very vulnerable.

Well don't go into snowy areas since it's generally stronger enemies there, stuck up on health, take help of a trainer to level your skills and try to fight one enemy at a time and while i generally is against kiting don't be afraid to run away a bit if you really need it since it gives enemies time to reposition so it suits you.

Can't say I notice this too much,I actually prefer the lower levels hence why my current character is staying at level 1 for the foreseeable future.

Don't level up by raising your crafting skills, before you've raised your combat skills - that way enemies will stay at a managable level. After having a torrid time with my battlemage early on, I now stash my crafting items and loot until I've earned and put perks into my attack and defence skills - about 10 level ups. Another one to avoid is sneak. You can fly thru the levels early on, but tip the balance against yourself.

I find that by doing that, the world is populated by bandits, and not bandit marauders, and the dungeons a populated by draugr and not draugr scourges.

I love 2H weapons. I favor the Greatsword, but I like to use all three. Put all level ups into Health. I don't ever invest anything in Stamina. I seldom use a power attack. I don't know what diff you are playing on, but on Adept, that sword should be taking out everything but high tier enemies and bosses in 1-3 hits.

Don't try to power attack and bash too much. Save the stamina for a sure hit when they block. I like to run at them and swing. It like you are hitting as you pass by.

I'm sure you will get better. Take some of the advise in this thread and you will figure out what works best for your playstyle.

Try to isolate your skills to 2H and Smithing. I know that is impossible, but if you strive for that then you will fair better.

Stock up on health potions. Then happy hunting.....

I find the early levels fairly easy... You don't have much variety to fight with, but the enemies are easy. As the levels get higher I have a harder and harder time fighting. Eventually resulting in lengthy battles. But I love it.

That's what i love about the early levels, i have to plan and react quickly to survive. Like try clearing Ansilvund or Folgunthur as your first dungeon, doable, but not easy.


I find it the opposite. The higher level i get, the fewer enemies i have to take seriously Like at level 25 now i cleared Fort Greenwall. I killed enemies with only shouts and let them hit me while they recharged. Only the boss and a Marauder with a warhammer i had to fight seriously.

Yes it's much easier as you level up, particularly in enchanting and smithing, also depending on what perks you pick. Pick the right perks and your golden.

Early on, I pick my fights. Riverwood and whiterun are good places to keep near to in order to lessen the likelihood of bumping into something that will eat you, taking a follower will help too. You usually have some inkling of when a fight is going to be hard, so when you get that inkling, let your follower be the guinea pig. If they get two-shotted, then run. If not then get stuck in!

With two handers, I'd say the block-bash is your bestest friend. Keep the enemy on the back foot, and as others have said, learn the telegraphed attacks and how to avoid them. That will save you a tonne of stamina.

This.
I agree in every particular. It's the way to manage your early character.
However, as best as I can tell, the only solution to dealing with trolls if you are lower than level 10 is to RUUUUUUUUUN! Archery isn't sufficient to weaken them, they just heal too fast.

I killed frost trolls at level 8, perhaps even lower. Of course I was playing on Novice. Even then, If I was careless and undisciplined when it came to blocking and attacking my health just shot down in seconds, luckily I had some strong health potions at hand to save the day.

It is normal to feel weak at level 6. You are weak. You have low health, low skills and bad equipment.

Things will get better as you go along. You will keep finding or making better armor and weapons. Your fighting skills will get better. You will get more health.

There are many good advices here, I'll add a couple.

1. Vegetable soup. Learn to cook. Vegetable soup allows you to power attack continuously during battle. You cannot power attack when your stamina is at 0, but you only need 1 stamina to make another power attack. Vegetable soup is great, and easy to find ingredients for, but there are other stews that are good too. Beef Stew, Venison Stew. You can also make some food that replenish health and stamina. Quite useful in the beginning of the game. Apple Cabbage Stew gives you 10 health and 15 stamina.

2. can't think of any more. But Vegetable soup is really really powerful for 2-handed player. Join companions.

[edit] added emphasis for vegetable soup. Vegetable soup is so good that a lot of people call it cheap. Or even cheating. It's that good.

A lot of nice tips here, I would add that that you should focus on using race powers (blood rage, adrenaline rush and battle cry) for the harder fights. And remember the range of a 2H weapon lets you stay out of harms way if you are careful.

Also remember your shouts.. Everyone always forgets about shouts.

Used a mixture of tactics, bow, spells, melee, stealth. I play on master and I normally sneak to an advantageous position above the enemy and sneak attack him with my bow. When he closes the distance I unleash burst damage spells on him and fall back. He will chase me, but this gives me the to choose to return to fight in melee, or keep running until I can double back and repeat the process again. It never hurts to have a bit of conjuration skills that gives you a rear guard or distraction while you runaway or keep attacking the enemy.

This tactic will be your bread and butter until level 25ish when you start to blossom into a build that focuses on a more refined set of tactics and have access to some shouts. Even then it never loses its usefulness, and adding poisons to your arrows never hurts either. Just play and keep your options open, you'll be surpised at how adaptable you can become in difficult situations.

You are giving sneak archer advice to a two-handed fighter? Seriously? Should he lose 100 pounds in muscle and get plastic surgery to look more like a Bosmer, too?