I've spent many hours playing Skyrim, but have yet to complete the main quest (far too many other interesting quests / guilds / general exploration to do) or the civil war quest. I want to create a Nord for the first time and finish both these 'main' quest lines, along with the Companions. I've played enough with other characters and have had my fill of the CoW, TG, and DB.

I feel like I've somewhat 'cheapened' all my other characters by doing a fair amount of grinding in crafting skills, and training / pickpocketing to level up quickly and get good loot. For this final playthrough I'm going to have very strict rules - no training, no grinding of any crafting, and playing very 'in character' i.e. not doing quests or using skills my character wouldn't use.

I want to play the entire game in the trailer Dovahkiin outfit so a mix of heavy and light armor. I know I'll be a Warrior, with side skills as Archery and Light Armor. However, the one thing I can't make my mind up about is whether to play as a One-Handed Sword + Shield character, or a 2H Greatsword character! (rather important choice, I know)

I've played a 1H character for a long time before, compared to my limited 2H experience. I liked the strategy of having a shield to block arrows and magic, and the kind of balance and tactics that playstyle required. However, 2H is undeniably good fun as well... I'm just a little put off by how slow the sword seems to swing (not that big a problem tbh) and how repetitive combat seems... all you can do is swing swing swing and it's just a slugfest to see whose health goes down first.

tl;dr - Anyone have any advice / suggestions about which combat style I should use? And if they suggest 2H, can they please help me enjoy the style in a more tactical / deep / rewarding way that I'm obviously missing?

What is more enjoyable - 1H or 2H?

Thanks in advance.

You can still block a little with the 2H and it is great fun. I tend to swing as hard as I can with power moves so you'll need a lot of stamina to do this. You get lots of nice cinematics with 2H (decapitation, chest lifting, taking legs out etc...) as well.

If you've already played 1h/shield, and 2h seems boring already, try dual wielding. Should dw'ing not fit into your idea for the character, use a 2h.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I've tried it and detested it. It removes the best thing from 1H (the versatility of the second hand) and 2H's ability to block with the blade and becomes even more of a repetitive button mash than 2H alone.

I am definitely leaning towards 2H, but how do you block effectively with a greatsword? I've found blocking with it and using it for bashes has such little effect that it's more worthwhile just slashing away. Maybe I'm just spoilt by using a shield so long...

I love the 2H power attacks though! Sooo satisfying

Well 2H is my favourite style, so here are a few suggestions:

• For a nord character, I'd recommend either using a battleaxe or a warhammer. There are some cool unique weapons of this category that'll suit your nord. However none for the greatsword (sad I know). Warhammers may be the slowest of the 3, but they more than make up for this by negating enemies armor.
  
• I use light armor on my 2H characters for the extra stamina benefits, but it's a little hard at the start until you start building up your light armor tree. But worth it late game.
  
• I still invest heavily in the block skills, namely the middle and right side of the tree. Quick reflexes is essential and power bash is awesome for interupting attacks.
  
• 2H is not just about hacking away, especially against the really tough mobs, you'll need to tackle these guys with tactics and strategy you'll pick up as you play.
  
• 2H have a longer reach, try to take advantage of that.

Hmmmm, that's all I can think of right now. I just woke up

Thanks for the advice corbZ. I'll try making use of the longer reach with 2H weapons, though I find it really hard to judge in 1st person.

The annoying thing about warhammers is, from my experience, they swing so ridiculously slow that even if you do a successful power bash / power attack / Fus and stagger the opponent, before you're ready to take that next swing they've already recovered and are blocking your attacks.

And does anyone know if blocking with 2H weapons is boosted by Fortify Blocking enchantments? And the first Block perk? It would help balance the playstyle out a bit defensively if it did....

No probs dude.

Yeah it takes time getting used to judging the reach, but you'll get the hang of it. Same with timing your attacks.

Personally I don't use the warhammer either, but it is handy against heavily armored opponents. I found the battleaxe to be a good mix of speed, damage (the bleeding perks are great) and it staggers your foe more than a greatsword I found. On my current nord 2H character however, I'm using the http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Nord_Hero_Greatsword, which isn't too bad, but I'm using it more for RPing purposes and I also like the greatsword finishers too

Yes the first block perk (Shield Wall) does apply to 2H weapons and is def worth the perks if you ask me. Again, you'll want to get the Quick Reflex perk asap as well. It's great for side stepping power attacks and then letting them have it!

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1335003-the-glory-of-two-handed-weapons/page__fromsearch__1

HAVE AT THEE, VILLAIN!!!