Not clear on how dragon souls work : V

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:09 am

They are supposed to charge shouts, right? I just slayed a blood dragon and none of my shouts that had no charges have a new charge. My only fully-charged shout (before encounter) is unrelenting force.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:01 pm

They are used to unlock new shouts that you discover.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:11 am

Yep.

One dragon=one soul. One soul will unlock one shout you have that you know but can't use. Even for the second and third words of a shout that you already know.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:12 am

You have to actually unlock new shouts. Hover your cursor over the shout you want and look at the bottom of the screen for the command to unlock the shout (its 'r' on pc).

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:09 am

The shouts themselves do not "recharge" per se, but they do recover in time. If you examine a particular shout, there will be numbers denoting seconds to recover under each word. Typically, this is 30, 60, 90. So if you blurt the first word you'll be able to shout in 30 seconds. If you have the Amulet of Talos, you can reduce that by 20%. On some shouts this can help a lot. Look for the amulet on dead Stormcloak soldiers, Skyrim's littered with them.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:24 pm

you only can unlock once you started the quest that meet up yoda on throat of the world

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:45 am

You have to actually unlock new shouts. Hover your cursor over the shout you want and look at the bottom of the screen for the command to unlock the shout (its 'r' on pc).

Thanks!

Next question: which shouts are best?

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 3:28 pm

Damage wise, stormcall. But I've never used it succesfully, because it kills npc's and allies.
And the good ol' unrelenting force is always handy, and my most used shout.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:26 pm

Thanks!

Next question: which shouts are best?

Slow time, Marked for Death, Unrelenting force, Whirlwind Sprint (you need this for some areas), Become Ethereal (for no fall damage), Elemental Fury (faster weapon swings), Disarm (good against ebony and d?dric wielding opponents), and Dragonrend of course.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 4:19 pm

So far, fire breath, frost breath and ice form haven't been mentioned. Are there reasons?

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:20 pm

So far, fire breath and frost breath have't been mentioned. Is there a reason?

The damage they do compared to their cool-down times just isn't effective enough mid to late game. Maybe fire breath on trolls is still plausible if you don't use fire spells though.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:24 pm

I don't really use shouts that much, as I find them kinda lame (just my opinion, no need to freak out), but what's the deal with the phrasing? Whether I have just 1 word or all 3, I seem to get them all at once when activated... but then there are things like Whirlwind Sprint that you can allegedly hit twice or more (especially when you need W.S. for that particular puzzle solve of the 3 stones/gates - I solved it by getting through, but I'm not sure how many times the shout triggered) before needing cooldown. Are all shouts like this? Should I just be lightly tapping the button multiple times to get multiple uses?

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:58 pm

I forget about shouts, but plan to use them more now that I found out how to charge them! In the heat of battle I rely on stealth/ranged, melee, poisons and magic (which I'm trying to level up). I also forget about bound weapons, which I should use more often, since I don't have a huge inventory of high-powered arrows. There are quit a bit of combat options!

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:21 pm

I recently used the one that calls the heroes of Sovngaard to help. Long, long cooldown, but fun. Another utility shout is Throw Voice. One nice thing about it is that you learn all three words from one word wall, plus you get a dragon priest mask. I find it useful for smoking out hidden enemies and finding their locations. Nothing like watching them hunt around for the villain that said, "Hey skeever butt!"

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:56 am

The shouts I use most are Kyne's Peace, Ice Form, Frost Breath and Marked For Death. I'm looking for Disarm because that's a good one too. Each one is helpful though...Whirlwind Sprint, Becoming Ethereal and Throwing Your Voice...good to have in the right situation. I'd like to get them all this game. :tes:

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:52 pm

If you have the Amulet of Talos, you can reduce that by 20%. On some shouts this can help a lot. Look for the amulet on dead Stormcloak soldiers, Skyrim's littered with them.

I must admit, and correct me if it's something I missed throughout the entire game, but I am a little surprised that there's nothing to be discovered or created which improves on that 20% shout recovery reduction time. It's understandable that Beth didn't want to make shouting recover too quick so as to maintain some sensible challenge, but perhaps there could have been a second amulet or ring which would reduce shout recovery by up to 40 or 50% only on specific shouts. That would have been good, such as call dragon or call of valor which take several minutes before a shout becomes usable again.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:44 pm

Disarm can be found at these locations Eldersblood Peak, Silverdrift Lair and Snow Veil Sanctum. I think you want to find the one in Snow Veil Sanctum first, unless it doesn't matter.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:33 pm

Just a side question;
Thus far, I've only learned the complete 3 words of a few shouts.
But, how do I fully enhance all of my shouts?

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:24 pm

find the dragon wall with the word on it.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:57 am

Ok, I'm still a little confused. When I tried to unlock the words to a particular shout, I found I had to unlock the first words to all my other shouts before unlocking the second word of my chosen shout. Or is there some other way to unlock words?

oops, the answer is above.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:13 am

Another utility shout is Throw Voice.

...Throwing Your Voice...good to have in the right situation.

This(es) if you're focusing on Sneak. I use it all the time. It's useful and kinda' hilarious. :lol:

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:19 pm

If you have not received the answer you seek, it is simple, go to your shouts from the menu...Find the shout you want to activate, if playing on a PS3, then press square, it will unlock the shout and ask you if you want to spend the soul on it, select yes and it is a done deal.
Bonjoyle

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:20 pm

I didn't figure out the soul thing until a few days later. Thanks for making that one so clear, Beth!
I didn't see the tiny option to unlock shout on the shouts page, and I didn't notice that it was counting my dragon souls. I must have assumed that once you learn a wall word, killing a dragon would automatically unlock it. I had like 20 souls when online research solved that for me.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Beth one more time for obscuring possibly the most critical mechanic in all of Skyrim.
(Call me stupid, but this wasn't blatantly obvious.)

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 4:03 pm

Best shouts are unrelenting force, whirlwind sprint, ethereal and dragonrend. I do not really need shouts for combat, because I can kill just as good without them.

Unrelenting force and whirlwind sprint let me loot places I otherwise cannot reach. Ethereal lets me jump down from great heights without getting killed and dragonrend explains itself.

Other shouts like Slow Time, Throw Voice and Elemental Fury were useful only at low levels to me.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 3:21 pm

I didn't see the tiny option to unlock shout on the shouts page, and I didn't notice that it was counting my dragon souls.

Yeah, I didn't realize it either. I was talking to friend about it and theorizing that I had to back to the Greybeards when he told me I had to unlock them. There should've been a little pop-up window after the Greybeards show us or after we kill our next dragon after the visit to the Greybeards. Bethesda had no problem popping up windows when I went to a Blacksmith Forge after the 1.4 patch...as if I had never been to one.