Just had a question. How viable is it to have your character with just one hand and use block? I much rather play with two one-handed weapons but hate that I can't block at all. Even using spells in one hand blocking is disabled and using one bound weapon you can't block. I like agility based combat but also like a bit of defense mixed up with offense. Using one-hand with nothing in the other feels a bit gimped just to be able to block.

I decided to switch my most recent playthrough up and concentrate on duel weilding AND one handed block.
Its actually supprisingly fun, plus its not hard to just toggle the left weapon on and off.
It makes you feel much more equal to everyone else in Skyrim.

Its much more viable then you'd think. I'm laying a character right now who has a 1hand sword and empty hand. The weapon bash is a fantastic tool, and its very quick. The best thing is to sort of dodge in and out of combat, attacking and dodging and being very mobile.

One-handed block is just as strong as two-handed block. The challenge is that emptying out the left hand after using left hand. That means pausing the game. Two handed weapon is easier in this sense because you can use a spell and go back to the weapon using hotkey.

I use both dual-wielding and one-handed + shield in my game. I love how fast my weapon swings with dual wielding. I get dual flurry perk as soon as I can. Often, I will dual-wield daggers and use elemental fury. It's really really fast. After that, everything feels so slow.

One thing I do not like about dual-wielding is that whenever I switch out my left hand for a spell, I have to pause the game and go to quick menu to go back the dual wielding. I guess if I used potion instead of restoration, the game would be smoother.

If anyone has more efficient way of hotkeying for dual-wielding, it would be nice to know.

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it shot.

There's a 1handed sword in Skyrim that will utterly wreck everything due to its enchantment. The sword was made for 1h playstyles.

The ability to pause mid combat and change weapon combination with no penalty somewhat makes things easier. I always use any combination of dual sword /shield / spell with two self made restriction:

-If I begin an attack with two swords, I may only free my left hand by dropping the weapon on the ground. Switching to shield in the middle of a combat is not allowed

-Likewise, If I begin an attack with sword and shield, I can only opt to drop the shield on the ground to free my left hand. After that, it's possible to unsheathe the second weapon should I desire to do so

All one handed weapons block the same as two handed weapons, at skill level 0 it's around 45% damage reduction and at block 100 it's 60% damage reduction.

An iron dagger blocks the same as a daedric warhammer, at block 100 weapons block only 3% less than a daedric shield (63%), so it's very viable.

But you do have to dedicate your character to the dark brotherhood, good characters can't get the sword.

What is this sword type of? I haven't beaten the dark brotherhood but I don't mind the spoiler

Oh, believe me, if you put enough perks into Block, it is super viable. I play my Spellsword by using a spell in the offhand while my opponents are far away, then immediately switch to offhand-free when they get up close.

I'm hoping to make a mod sometime that removes the need to switch between spell and free hand for this, with the use of a simple separate block button. Wish me luck!

I have one my characters with a blades sword in one hand and nothing in other and no armor (cloths only). It's very nice way to play. I can block with that and move really fast. When I'm in a battle I swing my sword and try to avoid all hits of enemies when it's not possible to avoid a hit I'll block it.

yeah, plus if you get the quick reflexes perk in the blocking tree and makes block, bashing, and dodging really easy. i try not to fast travel on my character so when ever im traveling i usually only have a sword in my hand so and then use my shield when i know im going into a dungeon or battle or something.