So I was just wondering, does blocking get any better with a two handed weapon? I'm used to blocking with a shield to great effect, even at low levels. But I just started a new breton warrior on master, 2h conjuration restoration heavy armor and alchemy.

Blocking with 2h doesn't seem to do anything, so my question is does anyone use block with 2h weapons effectively? I don't want to waste perks in block if it will always be useless.

Thanks.

Yes and yes.

It's not going to be as effective as blocking with a shield though and shield related perks won't work, obviously, but you trade that off for more damage.

Personally I'm at a point when I don't need blocking at all since I just slice dragons in halves.

Blocking with 2H weapons is about timing. You can't just stand there holding the block button down. You need to time it with enemy strikes.

pretty much IF u are gonna invest into 2handed blocking get the powerbash, still works in interupting spell casters, really only reason i would block at all with 2handed is to interupt.

blocking with 2h weapon is awesome, like the person above said timing is important...
and most of the shield perks do work with 2h weapons, just not the ones that say they are for a shield specifically...
get slow time and power bash and you can own anythig with 2h weapon, also the regular swings are faster then the power swings so just blocking/interupting then gettig a couple regular swings is better than power attacking at all...

I understand the mechanics of blocking, like I said I used shields before.

Yeah, I planned to get the first block perk, then the 3 block perks in the right tree. But strangely the block perk on the right side which increases movement speed, works with 2h (saw it before on my previous 1h and shield character).

It seems to do insane damage at low levels, compared to dual 1h. Dual 1h hand comes into its own later on, when you have the stamina for multiple triple swings and the right perks.

Thanks.

It's worth getting the perk that gives you slo-mo if you're blocking when an enemy power attacks and the +% blocking efficiency perks, but most of the other blocking perks don't apply. I have had shield charge occasionally work while using a two-handed weapon, but that's a bug.

I find I bash more often than block with my greatsword. It usually only takes one bash (unless its a dragon or high level creature) and then a few swings to take down most enemies for me.

I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to be insulting.

Blocking gets better, but two handed swords will never block as effectively as a shield. Don`t expect that.

the problem with my nord character is that he has 1 and 2 handed abilities, but, when playing the game i find it weak to justify both. i end up having to pick one for gaming purposes to make the allocation of perks worthy. and, that sorta stinks. it definitely isn't good gameplay-wise because i'd be switching between the two needlessly.

am i wrong?

Na, I know

Yeah I find with that perk, I don't even need to bash, I can usually dodge the attack then counter. The time slows so much for them, barely anything for you, I'll defo get that perk ha.

Do what you want, if you enjoy switching between the two, do it. Enough perks for both.

This. I never really block with 2-handers; I'll just throw out a bash once in a while to interrupt enemies, or just for kicks. I never bothered blocking something in melee than I can probably kill in 5 swings. If it takes way more than that to kill something, it's probably going to hand me my ass regardless of whether I block attacks or not.

I only played one heavy armor two-hander warrior-type before I switched to light armor for both 2-hand and dual-wield builds. I find the maneuverability more entertaining than my fat orc in heavy who just ran headlong into things swinging a warhammer like he's trying to hit a pi?ata.

If you're developing enchanting, you can probably skip the +% blocking perks. They total up to around 40% or so, but with 100 enchanting, putting a fortify block enchantment on a single piece of equipment will get the same result (contrary to the way the enchantment is worded, it does apply to two handed blocking.) Multiply that by four pieces of equipment and it blows the perks out of the water.

take the non shield specific perks and it helps. A LOT.

I'm regretting putting 2 perks into blocking with my current two-hander character. Melee foes go down very quickly and heavy armour provides enough defence. If I'd gone for light armour (which since stamina is very important for a two-hander might've been worthwhile) I'd probably find blocking more worthwhile.

Blocking with shields reduces damage by base 50% (increases with level of block and block perks or enchanted armor)
Blocking with any other weapon reduces damage by base 25% (again, increases)



I needed to know all the ins-and-outs of blocking for my character...played on expert, light armor, and 100 health the whole game.

I'd never take the first perk 5 times, if all it gives me is +5% then ill only take the initial 20% and move up the tree. +5% is pitiful, not worth perks.

I've used enchanting before, but I usually avoid it on non destruction characters (I don't go for 100% reduction, around 90% works well), because it's overpowering. I will level it casually whilst playing, maybe enchant weapons with 1 second enchants that are decent (e.g. paralyse, absorb stamina, fiery soul trap), which give you a good few charges without any perks.

I went with heavy armor for my dual wielder (my first character), but once I had a better idea of how the game played out I chose light for my two hander. Both combat types rely heavily on stamina, so its really the better way the go, even though it means passing up daedric weapons for glass (unless you want to spend a ton of perk points on smithing.) I found a good way to play as a two hander (which would have worked for dual wield too) was to keep my distance, use a tank follower, and sprint in for critical strikes rather than standing toe to toe. That makes stamina really important, and armor rating less so.

if what ur saying is true then it goes against my rpg knowledge: 2 handed = heavy armor. 2 handed with light armor just doesn't fit my lore.

IMO the game is much better if you only take the steel and arcane smithing perks, you can then improve the armor you find. I use conjuration, so at high levels (so I'm not overpowered) I can make daedric armor at the atronach forge, you always seem to get peerless enchantments as well. I do like the look of the basic steel armor though, my last warrior on master, wore the basic steel armor until level 45 ha.

Well not really to be honest, warriors use light or heavy armor. In real life going back a bit, you would find more warriors using light armor due to the impracticality of heavy armor that covers your entire body. The strain on your body carrying such heavy armor doesn't make you the best fighter, so its more practical to use light armor that protects your chest etc.

Agree. My timing isn't all that good so I rely on the thickest possible heavy armor to do my blocking and just try to hit the target which is hard enough. But I've seen some amazing blocking performances from my NPC opponents with two handed swords.