The shouts generally are fun, but I think they could be more powerful and more diverse. Shouts of the lore were supposed to be strong enough to break down city walls and defeat entire armies. Obviously Fus Ro Dah and Storm Call are the weapons of choice for that, but can you imagine if Talos had used Storm Call? He would have wiped out his own army.

Obviously he didn't, so I can't see why we should. Again, it needs to be adjusted. I don't mind the friendly fire, the biggest problem is that it's completely lethal friendly fire, and it targets friends as often as foes. I think the chances of friendly fire should be reduced from "completely random" to some margin of control on the part of our character.

Also, I'm surprised that there aren't more shouts for other things. Consider:
This should go without saying, but major spoiler alert below. I mean, if knowing what shouts there are and what they do counts as a spoiler to you, anyway.

• Animal allegiance and Calm animal seem to have more or less the same purpose which strikes me as a waste of a shout. (Why even have calm? Allegiance can do anything calm would)

• I never use slow time, because it slows me down along with it. I'm not entirely sure how that's useful. I can see everything happening in slow motion, but I can't react to it any faster because my character moves... in slow motion. Maybe I just don't get it, but that one seems botched to me.

• Ice Breath and Fire Breath each have very short ranges. The dragons that use them can spout those things out like jets, but for me it only travels about as far as Flames does. I don't know why my version would be so much shorter than the version Dragons use, since it's the same shout and all.

• I'm also surprised that the shouts generally don't have any high damage potential that is comparable to high level destruction. I can do a lot more damage with flame magic than I ever can with even the highest level fire breath. At the beginning of the game this was reversed, just shouting "Yol" was very powerful and my fire magic was just a supplement. Now, though, the shout almost seems like a waste of time considering how long the cool down is. I generally find myself just using Disarm, Dragonrend, Elemental Fury, or Force during any fight.

• Calling Odahviin also seems really... weak to me. Not Odahviin himself, as he's fairly fun to watch as be mangles my opponents, but the shout. I mean, when the greybeards summoned me they shook the earth with my name. When I summon Odahviin, well, I just kinda giggle it and he shows up. I like the way Clear Skies has a thundercrack attached to it, and it staggers anyone near by. I think the Call Dragon shout should be similar, with a thunderous roar and a ground shaking effect. I has to be heard across Tamriel, after all.

• Disarm tends to disappoint me. I love using it, but so many enemies can resist it, even at its highest level. That's sort of counter-intuitive because I can yet be disarmed by some of my shouting opponents, while they turn around and resist my effort to return the favor. I don't like that. At its most powerful, I should be able to disarm anyone. After all, I should be at least as powerful as some ancient dead nord that can shout at me. Aren't I supposed to be some legendary dragon-like being that shouts with unmatched force and power? Doesn't seem that way sometimes.

• I have never used Aura Whisper or Throw Voice to any real effect. Even for stealth characters that may love aura whisper, what's the point of Throw Voice? I mean, yea, it causes people to start looking around for you but why would you want that anyway? It just seems to increase the risk that you will be found, and offers no real advantage that I can see. I might be misunderstanding it, but it seems pretty pointless to me.

• Become Ethereal seems like a good concept, but in practice it doesn't really ever get used. The only time I can think that you would need it is if you are withdrawing from a tough fight. However, I usually find that in such a fight, I've already used one of my other shouts in an effort to... well, ya know, fight. So Become Ethereal is almost only ever needed when I'm still waiting on the cooldown from some other shout. Perhaps make this one, and this one only, have its own cooldown so that you can use it at the same time as another shout?

So meh, those are just some basic reactions to Shouts. I've been using them for a while now and I think I have at least level 2 in all the known shouts, so my reactions are reasonably well founded. I'd be curious to see what some others think, especially with regards to the ones that I find least useful.

throw voice is ment to send the target where your voice lands unfortunatly this often times seems to alert the enemy to exactly where i am

Long post - I didn't even read half of it.. sorry, but I like the Shouts, really only in time of need. When I'm just about to die, I swirl a shout to knock the enemy down, and regain my health.
The Fire Breath helps a lot - depending on the enemy, but otherwise I just use the classic Unrelenting Force Shout, to knock them off their feet - giving me more time to go in hiding.

It's probably for non mages, as far as the damage dealing ones go, or when you're low on magicka.

I dislike this SO MUCH. Not even reading the entire post but leaving a comment anyways. Are you guys so SHORT stocked on attention you can't even read a properly edited and paragraphed and constructive view on the Shouts?

In honesty, I agree that the shout for calling your own Dragon isn't "Boomy" enough.

You can use Become Ethereal as a warrior to get close to a target. This works especially well with dual wielding because you can just run right up to them and use a power attack and kill them.

I use Throw Voice the most out of any shout. Its a great tool for sneaking if you can't get behind someone. Throw Voice, they go running, I move to where I need to be. Or if I'm about to be detected and the NPC is running towards me, I throw voice behind them and they turn around to investigate to give me more time.

Its very useful, but underappreciated.

Oh, thanks for this great idea! Brilliant.

My thoughts.
Animal Allegiance vs. Calm - Correct me if I am wrong but Animal Allegiance calls another animal rather than nullifying the threat of an existing one.
Slow time - Yes it slows both of you down but if you watch closely it slows the enemy down MORE so it is still very useful.
Damage - I agree that late game these do very little. I wish damage dealing Shouts scaled to your level.
Aura Whisper - I personally use this more than any other Shout. In addition to a very large range it shows BOTH living and undead enemies. Perfect for seeing Draugr laying down waiting for you walk by.
Become Ethereal - Again a very useful Shout but not for it's normal intended use. While active in addition to taking no physical damage from attacks/traps you also take no fall damage, can swim underwater without breathing, your stamina will not drain if sprinting, and the effect is essentially a Night Eye spell.

I have used Ethereal to get through traps as I walk through dungeons. I have also used it to get close to casters.

I really like this idea, that's fantastic. I'm a dual-wielder most of the time if I'm not using magic, so that's just so clever. Thanks for that.


Well, from what I can tell Allegiance doesn't summon anything. It only works if there's an animal already around, and I've never had occasion to use that unless I was already fighting that animal. For instance, if you use it in the middle of a fort, nothing will happen because there isn't a bear nearby.

I also never considered all those other uses for becoming ethereal. That's pretty clever stuff right there.

Ice form FTW !
I mostly use ice form why throw ppl from their feet when u can freeze them gives you more time.
i usually use it when there are two many enemy's then i freeze some bunch and while they are frozen take on the rest.

i love fusrohdah-ing enemys of towers and mountains. so funny to watch em fall to their death

Both very true. I'm a huge fan of Force and Ice Form. Ice Form has become my weapon of choice actually, recently. It's just too much fun.

I still have a big beef with the Breath attacks, though. Fire and Ice breath just seem so weak compared to the dragons that use them, and their charge time is too long for how strong they ... aren't. I would think that reducing the cool down on them to something more like Fus Ro Dah would be ok.

Lastly, I really want to find the final word for Storm Call since I can't find it anywhere. Don't tell me where it is, though, I like searching for them. Point is, I think it might be even more useful if I see it at its maximum power.

Aye, the Breath Attacks are really lacking for some reason. It'd be one thing if it was a constant damage thing, like when dragons do it, but it acts more like a missile attack. The fact that damage doesn't scale, and the long recharge times... I'm sorry, but no dice. A dual Firebolt does more damage, staggers the foe, and I can just throw another as they're getting back up.

Ice Form is easily one of the most useful ones out there, even if it's not apparent at first. Great for when you're tackling multiple foes. And good lord, the default shout is crazy useful. You'd never expect the stock standard to be one of the most useful moves in the game...