Dear Skyrim Players,

I realize the question I pose below has probably been asked a hundred times, but I don't see any recent forum posts, and Google hasn't been helpful. So.

I am returning to Skyrim for a second playthrough. This time, I want to be a mage-warrior hybrid. Specifically, one hand should wield a weapon, while the other hand is set up for either another weapon or a shield (haven't decided yet) while occasionally swapping to a spell. To do that, I need to be able to easily switch between left handed weapon (or shield) and spells. I understand how the favorites menu works (or at least I think I do). I can switch between a shield and spell without any problem while keeping hold of a one handed weapon in my right hand. The real issue I have is with dual wielding. I can't seem to swap between the left handed weapon and a spell. Google would have me to believe this can work on a PC, but only on a Tuesday, and only if you first sacrifice a two year old bull to Talos. So, how can I make this work?

Sincerly,

Frustrated.

1 - 8 Hotkeys

I can keep my sword in the right hand and switch (using hotkeys) between shield and different spells in my left hand ...

Sadly, nothing has changed since launch. You must use the favorites menu to manually equip weapons in your left hand or spells in your right hand. This is because (most) spells default to the left hand unless pressed twice, which will equip them in both hands. Weapons always equip in the right hand. There is a mod called Extra Hotkeys that adds some dual-wielding options through hotkeys, but that mod requires Script Dragon. There are currently no SKSE plugins that provide this functionality. In the many updates that have been made to the game, Bethesda Game Studios has made very few changes to the UI and none of them are worth mentioning or come anywhere near addressing this issue.

The shield and spell swap, works. But the DW is broken. You can swap the left hand weapon for a shield or spell. You just cannot swap it back to the weapon, without going into the inventory. This has been a major flaw and complaint since the release. There has been no fix, or talk of one.

EDIT : Ha! Ninj'd

Bethesda is completely refusing to address this issue and curiously, very few people seem to care (or have even noticed). I personally cannot enjoy dual wield if it means going back to the favorites every time. It svcks.

Thanks all, guess I'll stay away from DW, since it's confirmed to be broken.

Sad that such a quality game has such a noticable flaw....