What is it? I'm level 41. Got all my magic to 100 (excluding destruction, restoration and enchanting). Got smithing to 100 (light armor). Using the Blades Sword with paralyzing on it. How do i get one handed up fast?

Conjure - kill - repeat?

Hit things a lot with a one handed weapon.

Your thanks are not needed...

Just have fun, go to caves and dungeons an kill everything you see with one-handed weapons. At least thats what I do.

I could be wrong, but it seems like killing things with normal one-handed attacks will cause you to level up faster than killing them with power attacks. I don't have any hard numbers to back it up, but I'm pretty sure my dual wield character (used primarily dual weapon power attacks) reached 100 level skill a lot later than my sword and shield character (used mostly single hand non-power attacks.) One other thing that may have changed though is that for the sword and shield character, I was using a mod that decreased smithing and enchanting related damage bonuses. If one-handed xp is based on weapon damage before those effects were applied, that my second character would have earned more due to lower overall damage.

*Edit - Just checked UESP, it says XP is based on damage dealt, no mention of what effect enchanting/smithing has.

It pays not to have a weapon which is too overpowered. Whacking an enemy lots of times to kill it counts for more than just one big whack.
My one-handed skill is actually my highest.

find a one-handed trainer that is a follower train then trade your money back. Repeat till your satisfied or can do more leveling

Fastest way?

Find the Warrior Guardian Stone.

Get married, buy a house.

Sleep in your bed.

Lover's Comfort + Warrior Guardian Stone = 100 in one handed in no time.

Just need to find something to hit, and I'm not sure if damage is a factor... but do it with a weak weapon so you get more swings.

UESP says its damage, rather than number of swings, so to use a stronger weapon. Not sure if thats true though.

Good info, thanks.

Try whacking Shadowmere he/she wont retaliate. Don't kill him/her though.

*spoiler kinda*


Smack 'ol shadowmere upside the head.

Ninja'd

Don't use enchanted weapons, don't take a follower, take a shield to avoid getting thumped yourself, go find a bear or troll and bash away...rinse and repeat. Choose your one-handed perks well though...all the first perk levels are good - giving you double attack on any one-handed weapon; the weapon specific perks are good, at least for swords and hand-axes, but choose which weapon type you want, and the second to last perk in one-handed is good too (the one on the left). No need for that last perk though...who needs a backwards power attack to paralyse if you carry a paralyse enchanted weapon? I have a hand-axe with a 3 second paralyse, and that was pretty lethal, but I swapped over to a 2 second paralyse with fear enchantement instead, which isn't too bad.

For dungeons, really consider getting 'dawnbreaker'. It's a daedric sword linked to a quest, and is significantly lower in hp to other swords you will come across, but against undead it is my weapon of choice...causes a spectacular explosion and can either blow up nearby undead or cause them to run, just the ticket in those draugr nests.

Choose wisely as to whether you want dual-wield as well. I used it for a while, but then concentrated on my block/shield skills, so dual-wield essentially became a bit of a waste.

Whatever you do, choose your perks wisely...once you hit level 50 your level advancement slows right down, no matter what you do. I think it's a bit too slow, but I can understand the reasoning behind it...either way, it's a right pain in the tail, so you want to pre-plan your perk choices, and leave a few training slots open on skills for when you get into the 50 levels.

I never really got the point of that perk. Sounds a bit anti-intuitive attempting a backwards power attack too. If they going to have such a perk why not give any type of power attack a chance to paralyze?

Hitting things with a one handed weapon usually works great for me.

Healing Hands is handy as well. Favorite it and use Healing Hands to heal your target, all this while swinging a one handed weapon at the enemy. A paralizing poison/potion added to your weapon also gives some time to heal yourself and/or your enemy.

I train my one hand almost every day....Oh wait, we are talking about skyrim? I would say get a one hand and let the murdering begin?