[Causon-Chambers]

I've been playing as a sword & shield warrior, with skills and perks about half way up the 1H, Block, and Heavy Armor trees so far.

My combat technique is nothing special. Mostly I spam the left mouse button to get lots of sword slices in. When my target is not already staggered and I have stamina, I'll hold the left mouse button down for the extra damage and stagger effect from a power attack. And when I sense a big attack is coming my way, I'll stop with the left mouse button and hold down the right mouse button until I feel the "thunk" of my shield having blocked something.

This all seems to work quite well, with normal enemies dying rapidly and even boss types not usually too much trouble. So while its quite good enough to succeed (and also too good to have encouraged much experimentation/optimization), I do find myself wondering... what do the folks who really know what they're doing do?

A few questions specifically:
1) Is there an effective non-spamming technique that requires less clicks but still guarantees maximum # of swings?
2) I have the perk for double crit power attack while sprinting... is there a minimum amount I have to move to use this? or is holding down alt (sprint) enough? I'm never sure when its really working.
3) There's another thread indicating the blocking may be less about damage reduction, and more about bashing for damage. True? If so is there a "rotation" or similar for this?
4) Do folks spend themselves down to zero stamina? (where apparently you will get staggered much easier?) or do you always reserve some stamina because of this?

[Soraya Davy]

I will try to answer it but I dunno if I consider myself a pro. My normal battle scenario is to go in with my shield raised and once the opponent is vulnerable I bash him to stagger him backwards, throw in a few swings, rinse and repeat. It's nothing special but I can take on multiple targets this way without taking damage. I didn't get any of the power attack perks in 1hand other than the 25% damage and decapitation because well....who doesn't like seeing someones head cut off? I have all the perks in block and all on the right side of heavy armor. I use the steed stone so I don't need the last perk on the left of the tree and the half fall damage / extra unarmed damage seem useless to me.

Blocking is a great damage reduction once you have the first perk levelled up and maybe get some gear enchanted with "you block X% more damage with your shield". I don't really worry about my own damage as I use Mjoll the Lioness as my companion and I have her outfitted with a big sixy 2hander to hurt people. I just try to keep them attacking me while she bashes their heads in. I dunno if you'd like this playstyle it's a lot slower than most but I really enjoy being the "tank" of my group and watching Mjoll and Vigilance do work.

[Rebecca Clare Smith]

Pros use two-handed swords, mate

[Ownie Zuliana]

@Dutchie07 I think that shield bash is usable when you need to stagger someone fast. Like 2h chief is doing his one shot finisher or something or troll is beginning his two-swing. If you have time however, it's better to stagger with powerattack. Aside from that I dunno ... maybe if you want to get fancy hotkey 2nd weapon and when apropriate switch between 1h&shield and 1h&1h for some extra ompf. Some enemies are best bursted down.

[Amelia Pritchard]

i charge in to throw enemies down (100 block perk) and then hit them until they stand up. at this point the most defensive way is probably to wait with your shield raised until they can be 'stunned' via shield bash and hit them with your weapon every time they are. alternatively you could just block every time you see an enemies swing align with your own swings (their swing coming when yours ends so you can block without wasting time for weapon hits. i guess that is something that requires practice, which you seem to be looking for). also getting staggered more due to low stamina only referred to blocking which otherwise prevents it(no idea on its behavior when not blocking).

[Tikarma Vodicka-McPherson]

what i dont get is this "bashing".. maybe im too dumb but it is enought to just press block and
he does it automatically? or do you need to do something else?

[Josephine Gowing]

what i dont get is this "bashing".. maybe im too dumb but it is enought to just press block and
he does it automatically? or do you need to do something else?

Raise your shield and then press attack. The shield will perform bash.

[Gavin Roberts]

attack as in left mouse button? if i remember correctly then he does a normal weapon attack outa shield defense..

[Kelly Osbourne Kelly]

Level 81 Proud Sword and Board Lizard here.

My typical strategy against humanoid

1. Is opponent Magic, Ranged or melee.

If opponent is Melee, you will win, time your bashes with their strikes - Sometimes I just rapidly bash them for the lols. Try not to just sit there and take what they dish out. move around them. very straight forward.

Magic opponents, Never lower your shield while they can use magic, its the hardest damaging stuff in the game and it hurts. I usually use the terrain to get me close, lure them, or navigate between objects until your next to them.
Shield bash them every chance you get. be wary if they summon something to assist them, then your best bet is to keep the summoner between you and their summoned creature. 1v1 keep it that way.

Archers, they dont stand a chance against you sprint and shield bash, send them flying into a cliff.. or off the edge of one. your shield should deflect their arrows, they are only a problem if they are on a ledge you cant get to.

[Dalley hussain]

attack as in left mouse button? if i remember correctly then he does a normal weapon attack outa shield defense..

You have to raise shield ... hold right mouse btn and then attack with left mouse btn. Hope I am saying it right I do it automatically in game.

[Wanda Maximoff]

Is there a reason to use a shield when you can get very near armor cap without cheating with light armor and 10% evasion and using 2h weapon which deals far more damage with power bash, and not to mention you 1shot most of the enemies with critical charge

Plus with atronach stone and and resist enchants you are almost immune to magick damage while having huge damage

[Matt Bee]

Is there a reason to use a shield when you can get very near armor cap without cheating with light armor and 10% evasion and using 2h weapon which deals far more damage with power bash, and not to mention you 1shot most of the enemies with critical charge

Plus with atronach stone and and resist enchants you are almost immune to magick damage while having huge damage

I would say 50% magic resists is pretty sixy if you don't want to deal with enchanting. Also active blocking negates damage in different way than armor does. Not to mention 1h dmg is good if you spend enough points in stamina. Is there a reason to use 2h weapon ...

[Patrick Gordon]

Personally i use slow time to get in close, particually against those [censored] ice casters, swing a couple of times then bash to stagger as slow time runs out. This means i'll never really use sprint power attack perk which means i can put it some where else, down side is shout is on cooldown, however, once your in close your genreally don't need to use a shout anyway.
When it comes to sword and board perks, ask your self if your really gonna use it, whether or not it sounds cool, 25% chance to paralyze from doing a backward power attack sounds nifty but i've never done a backward power attack and doubt i ever will so thats a perk i can put somewhere else.

[Brittany Abner]

I would say 50% magic resists is pretty sixy if you don't want to deal with enchanting. Also active blocking negates damage in different way than armor does. Not to mention 1h dmg is good if you spend enough points in stamina. Is there a reason to use 2h weapon ...

1h can't 1 shot people and damage with 1h and a shield is way lower. The bonus resistances are really not needed when you have 75% dmg spell and physical reduction, and oh wow blocking with a shield block 75% damage while blocking with 2h blocks 50% big deal

[Dean Ashcroft]

Melee enemy

1: Block with shield.
2: Wait for the enemy to power attack
3: Bash with shield before said power attack connects.
4: Respond with your own power attack while target is staggered and maybe get in 1-2 normal attacks.
5: Go back to step one.

Remember to carry a silver weapon for undead enemies. A Silver Sword makes Deathlords much easier to take down. Can get many just by following the companions questline at the start of the game.


Archer enemy and Mages

Sprint strait at him and clobber with a running power attack. A Dragon Shouts can work wonders here.


PS: I've found it very helpful to invest some perks into restoration to use the "Fast Healing" spell in combat. I'll save you many health potions in the long run.

[Ashley Tamen]

1h can't 1 shot people and damage with 1h and a shield is way lower. The bonus resistances are really not needed when you have 75% dmg spell and physical reduction, and oh wow blocking with a shield block 75% damage while blocking with 2h blocks 50% big deal

And you need to 1 shot ppl ? I remember dmg with 1h ... it was crazy compared to what my mage can dish out and the mage is doing just fine. The 75% dmg spell reduction I assume hello enchanting ?

[Genevieve]

Damage with 2 handers is almost 2 times higher and damage with dual wielding is even higher. 1 shoting is important because you end up fighting 3 or more people with a shield and drag the battle hiding behind your shield because if you drop your guard 3 guys will be smacking you and you will die. Unless you just wanna stand there and look dumb.

With 2 hander you can just charge to a mage and 1 shot him, instead of having him kite you for 2 hours, heal up because you can't kill him fast enough and have adds/summons kick your ass.

Because of that elemental protection perk, which should in theory be most helpfull against mages and the strong point of using a shield, is not really good, esp when you consider that atronach gives you 50% spell resist and you can raise it to 75% by having resist enchant.

tl;dr shields svck

[Margarita Diaz]

I generally do not use for shield for dealing damage. That's why I have a sword. So I don't use the bashing perks at all.

I do use the shield to block arrows and the 50% protection from elements. Other than that I will raise the shield if I see a big blow coming.