Extremely irritating. Mind you I'm only level 17. I don't abuse anything. I smith an appropriate amount. I'm using an Orc 2h Greatsword at the moment. I wear heavy armor. Superior steel right now that I smithed myself. I consistently get my ass handed to me though. I mix in a bit of arching sometimes. I dont try to sneak ever. I try to tank it. Anyways, have y'all tried master with a 2h weapon and without abusing smithing/enchanting/alchemy? Let me know how things go for you. I do manage to get past most enemies but damn, it's really tough sometimes.

My Altmer 2h does not use enchanting, magic, sneak, archery nor alchemy but I did scour the nation for all the Iron I could find and made myself Epic Daedric Armor and an Ebony greatsword. Otherwise though I don't use exploits and I'm having lots of fun. Healing is very difficult without alchemy, though, but it's part of the RP that he does absolutely no magic. One of the biggest reasons for smithing "exploit" here was that as an Altmer he lags behind others in combat abilities.

That said if you are having trouble I recommend just getting 90 smithing and getting that Daedric (or Ebony) set. If you feel yourself overpowered then go for something lesser, but there is no point in the game if it becomes more trouble than it's fun.

I don't use any magic either. He's a true Nord! I'm still having fun with it but I'm on a companion quest and he doesn't have Sven with him to tank it up, Aela is with him and her hand to hand isn't the greatest. Plus were in a dungeon so there's not much room for arrows. I might upgrade my armor just to even the playing field a little bit.

Im playing a 2hander on master right now, and avoids smiting entirely. He is level 42, and his great-sword deals 114 damage. I raised the difficulty gradually thou, witch is something i recommend Im still getting my ass kicked sometimes, but how it is supposed to be right?

No magic? shame, restoration is the prime reason my guy survives prolonged fights.

Since I've never done alchemy and only limtied Enchanting, I get my ass kicked on all characters regularly. The only exploit I've ever done is the occasional Smithing power leveling.

Nope, he's your stereotypical Nord and does things the things your average Nord does. He's a simple guy.

Dragonshouts can really help you, obviously.

If you're getting your ass handed to you on master with a 2h and heavy armor build then you need to turn down the difficulty because thats the EASIEST build to play on master, especially if you use smithing. Take it from me, I play dead is dead and have lost over 80 characters so far, 700 hours sunk into the game easily, I have tried pretty much every build you can think of and 2h weapons and heavy armor is probably the most overpowered build in the game right now. The only builds that I have ever reached level 40 or higher on master are always 2h builds.

Edit: The only build that is possibly easier than 2h/heavy armor is a sneak/archery build and if you add illusion to the mix it gets even easier, personally I don't like playing stealth based characters so I deleted mine before I even died.

I've played a few builds. I felt that mage was easier. Also, I stated I'm not power-smithing. I'm just doing it when I have the materials. I kill my own animals for Leather and what not and mine my own ores. I've gotten pretty far. Just certain areas that give me trouble. But yeah, I thought the mage was really easy if you do it right. Same with assassin-type. x30 from sneak attacks and pretty big multipliers with archery as well. No multipliers with a 2h, heave armor guy. That's why I feel it's harder.

With the exception of his Thu'um. He's a proud user of it.

Well, if you want to play master (and not die- I assume that is the goal) You might have to grind smithing a little bit for the protection you need. No need to perk up the tree to daedric or anything severe like that, but a bit would go a long way. What exactly is "abuse" to you?

Ah- the second post would be the cheapness I would consider abuse, and of course there is no need for daedric armor and ebony swords. Skyforge would serve your "non abuser" better since you can snag steel smith right off the bat and get access to those weapons quickly into the game.

Restoration on a 2 hander- as I saw above, is sillier than it sounds. It "sounds" like a sound plan, but really it is sooo silly to combine it with a 2 hand build. You cant use your restoration spells in combat without putting away your method of attack, so you are either running away while healing when you run low on health, or risking not using your restoration skill at all. Healing outside of combat with your restoration spell is just quickening the regen rate. I am suprized I still see people giving this advice concerning 2 handers, but what can you do?

I recommend getting Volendrung if you can yet. It hits hard like a 2H hammer but swings with the speed of sword. If you don't use restoration then use alchemy imo it's the only way to effectively heal yourself. If you do however I'd recommend putting perks to get the dual-handed efficiency one. That way it'll fill your high health pool faster and you wont need to carry an extra 1H sword to go with it.

Well, considering damage against you is being DOUBLED, and the damage you are dealing is being HALVED... of course Skyrim is irritating to play on Master, the difficulty that requires you to exploit the game's mechanics because Bethesda doesn't actually put any effort into changing the difficulty.




It's better to dual-cast healing without the perk - Dual-casting increases magicka cost by 280% (As opposed to 200% for double-casting), but only increases output by 220% (As opposed to 200% for dual-casting).