hey all i am thinking of making a knight-styled character that uses 2h swords instead of weapon and shield here is the http://skyrimcalculator.com/#20438

what other perks would work for this. plan to go either Imperial or Nord.

You should Definatly go with Nord.

I disagree, Breton is the best choice for Knight style warriors. The base 25 magic resistance of all elements is god-send early on for non mage classes.

I know you didn't mention it, but I went with Orc. The berzerk ability really puts a hurt on with a 2H. I also didn't pick the last two perks in the 2H tree... Just didn't see the use.

Sweep is a must have perk for 2h warriors though. When your faced with multiple enemies it makes a world of difference whacking them all at the same time.

I destroy my followers easily enough without it lol. Maybe I'll give it a shot.

i have ~14 perk points left till level 50, and i want to know what other skills to work on for those.

You want damage and the ability to tank right? Here's what I normally do for my toons: choose one set of armour, and work from there. You can save a lot of perk points that way in lieu of spending it all in smithing. For instance, my Nord wanted deadric dragoon looks, so I only spent enough points in smithing to unlock that; my Dunmer wanted the fur look and I pumped up light armor up until Advanced Armors. Keep in mind any set of armor can be raised to 567 with the right combination of perks and fortify armor skills, and any toon can get modest magic resist (Lord's Stone + Agent of Mara) and at least 50% magic absorption (Atronach Stone) for free - though relying on stones means it is 25% magic resist or 50% spell absorb, not both.

You can also save a lot of perk points in the heavy armor side. Reflect damage is next to useless when you're doing so much damage and have 80% physical resist. If you're not using deadric gear, you only need 1 point in Juggernaut and 1 point in Well Fitted at most. http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1310006-complete-character-design-freedom-damage-resist-caps-and-ridiculous-damage-thread-6/ If you don't want Conditioning, you can even use the Steed's Stone to offset heavy armor's cumbersome weight. Personally I just spent those 3 points to get Conditioning as I prefer 25% magic resistance, and investing 5 points in alteration's magic resistance is a heavier price for roughly the same results.

For 2h, if you want vanilla (no enchants) then I suggest just taking Great Critical Charge. The reason being that if you have maxed out your weapon's damage to 500+, very few mobs can take any more hits from you, thus it is overkill to waste points on Warmaster. What's left to paralyze when your foe is dead in 2 hits? If you truly desire paralyze on your weapon just enchant it and grab Mace of Malog Bal + Azura's Star to keep the charges going. I'm not too big a fan of Sweep as well since it fails to trigger most of the time when I was on the PS3. It might be different for you if your Sweep works. My take on this is to save before pumping in the points, try it out on a handful of bandits, and see if you like it. If Sweep doesn't work just reload and save that precious perk point.

Last but not least, from one fellow 2hander to another, http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1300996-armor-cap-ridiculous-damage-enchanting-alchemy-smithing-only-21-perks-thread-5/page__view__findpost__p__19689224. Food is awesome for melees, as that's one free source of unlimited power attacks until the effect runs out. Leeks, cabbages and potatos are easily harvested at farms, and they have the same chance of showing up in food merchants' inventory. Cabbages are common all over Skyrim. Tomatoes can be often stolen from food stores, and garlic + salt pile can be purchased from alchemists' shops.

If you don't mind the game getting quite a bit easier you can try Enchanting and Alchemy.

blackthane, i like to go for effectiveness, and i will need all the help i can get fighting dragons, though i could get rid of warmaster and sweep from 2h, reflect from hvy armor and the light armor smithing perks, but that knocks it down to lvl 29, not sure about dragonsmithing. i still need ~20 more perks. i also chose a breton instead of my original choices for MR resist without "divine" aid, and thought about putting some points into speech.

Deadric is stronger in stats than dragon armors. As I've mentioned though, you can spec any armor for AR 567, and only hide/fur and mixed armor with no headgear requires 2~4 more perk points. If you ask me, I'll do it just for the looks since I can spec it with fortify skills and perks to maximize AR. You might want to hit up Youtube for some videos showing how the various armors of Skyrim look like.

As for where to spend your remaining perk points, here are some suggestions:

- level archery, get all 5 bowsman perks and just 1 zoom will suffice. I'm not sure how good the 3 perks for critical damage are...
- level conjuration, go for the buffs on atronach and summon 2 of them. They are useful as tanks when you're soloing, and definitely a life saver if you're still on 1.2 where resistances don't work. However this tactic might cause regrets by next week as everyone should be seeing resistances working again.
- level alchemy, invest about 7 perks for maximum potion effectiveness, and 1 more for Poisoner if you plan to use poisons against dragons. These are awesome in stacking damage, but there's the hassle of finding/buying ingredients...
- level destruction with 7 perks for Augemented Fire/Frost/Storm. These stack with enchanting's Fire/Frost/Storm Enchanter on weapon enchantments. If you're not using bows, go for Impact in destruction tree as well (2 more perk points). Impact is awesome as a successful stagger neutralizes a dragon's breath weapon!
- if you have 3 words for Marked For Death shout that helps with damage too.

If you're pretty confident at finding cover and baiting the dragon's AI into landing on the exact rooftop, pillar (with an adjacent pillar for cover), or bridge (bait it to do its breath weapon, run directly under it and snipe), you can actually fight dragons without being hit once by their breath weapon. This takes some practice, experimentation and experience. In open environment fights with dragons that spawn outside Riften/Whiterun, the generic guards that don't matter will act as tanks for you. It can prove problematic when named NPCs become tanks and you take too long in finishing off the dragon. Expect to witness a roasted Alvor or Faendal as you engage dragons in Riverwood.

I recommend either bows or destruction against dragons for any character. Conjuration gets old after an hour. You can do it but be warned that the novelty wears thin fast. Summoned atronachs also have the undesired effect of friendly fire turning NPCs and guards against you in the middle of a skirmish with a dragon. Ranged attacks are mandatory if you want to solo dragons, although range is not necessary if you have no desire to make progress in the MQ; no dragon will ever spawn as you explore Skyrim. Certain dragon fights take place on isolated mountain tops where you can't jump on its back to get backstab multipliers or send an arrow up its hide for stacked damage. To give you an idea, Marksman potion + fortify destruction + 3* backstab damage = 50% off an ancient dragon's life on masters difficulty. Dragons are not going to land until you manage to get their HP down to 50%; and in certain fights within city walls like Windhelm, they will never be grounded as they have the tendency to stand on rooftops all day long while breathing fire. Dragonrend is another popular tactic that melees employ against dragons, though you only get it near tthe end of the MQ.

As for speech, you can put points into it to unlock Lucan Valerius' 10 000 septims for barter, or you can join the Thieves' Guild and complete 5 jobs for each hold: Soltude, Makarath, Whiterun and Windhelm. You get the option to do another 4 special jobs, and once that's done you have access to 3 fences that have 4000 septims for barter. If you pursue the main Thieves' Guild quest, you can unlock another 4 fences, making a total of 7 fences with 4000 septims for barter all over Skyrim.

Or you can stop leveling at 29 and focus on exploring and completing quests, that's one option too.

recommended for completing main quest is 34, plus i plan on having high magic resist if it does not bug out by the time i get there (though currently bugged, Breton blood+agent of Mara+lord stone should=60%) combine that with high armor and a ranged companion, i should be able to take a dragon in Melee when it lands. plus i should be able to find potions of regeneration to help.

so i planned on only using a bow when the dragon is flying, but only until i get dragon rend shout.