There seems to be a bit of confusion on my part as to how exactly the perk Fists of Steel works

I've seen people say that smithing/improving gauntles DOES affect damage from unarmed attacks, and I've seen people claim that improving does NOT affect damage.

Is there a definitive answer? One would seem to be open to munchkining, the other seems much more mundane.

Fists of steel uses the base armor rating of heavy armor gauntlets. I have tested this.

Base armor rating. The Fists of Steel perk is complete trash that should be avoided, or only used to get the next Heavy Armor perk.

Base armor... confirmed. But it's not "complete trash". It promotes a playstyle that many would enjoy. You'll get plenty of play out of an unarmed character. He'll kill stuff, and the kill shot cutaways are fantastic. Punching out a dragon is just too much fun for someone to give up on simply because your overall damage will be lower than someone swinging a sword.

Okay, thanks.

Just thought of another issue. (instead of starting another thread)

If you were to make a unarmed build, how would you handle stampina depletion for power attacks? I mean, none of the stamina reducing perks work with unarmed, right? How would you get around, or make up for that?

I was told the damage output for bound sword would wane after time, butI found that to not be the case....not anywhere close.

Enchanting.

I figured as much. Fortify or regenerate?

And potions, too, I suppose.

Manage your stamina properly, not everything has to be a power attack and you can kill almost anything without ever sprinting.

If you want to a decent hand to hand fighter, this is the mod for you (3rd shameless plug today, but it aint mine so =P )

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=7707

Both at the same time is possible with the master enchanting perk. As for unarmed being trash, it's only true if you play on harder difficulties.

My problem with this is that you essentially still have to have a weapon.

Now, if someone could mod some Wolverine claws into the game, THAT would be awesome!

It doesn't "wane" what it does do is not-improve. You get mystic binding and that is it, whereas smithing (can) make material weapons leagues stronger.

That doesnt make bound swords worthless, or a character using them feeble, after all if you arent a legendary smith with legendary blades in your game, then no one is - being a single player game.

The only time you "see" the weapon is in your inventory and on your belt, the only reasons that visual representitive was implemented is if you were disarmed, you were unable to find the item. I see your point, but really if you want a decent h2h system, this is the best you're gonna get.

Unless you are this guy:

*link removed*

Warning: NSFW language.

How any items can you put fortify unarmed on?, because with max fortify unarmed enchants then you'll be plenty powerful fighting unarmed with some decent armour.

No it does not promote any playstyle!
Skyrim has by far the worst unarmed combat I've seen in a VG!
In order to get better at fighting unarmed you need to level up Heavy Armor, Enchant and Alchemy.
What the [censored] do those skills have to do with being an unarmed fighter?
Not to mention that even with those skills, your unarmed combat will still svck balls.
On top of that, it limits you to wearing only heavy armor and not even allowing you to wear light armor!

Unarmed is a fail as long as one is not able to go around unarmed, unarmored and kick ass only using his/hers awesomeness!
And no!
Stop!
Remove your hands from your keyboard since I don't want to hear it!
I don't want to hear any crap how it doesn't make sense that someone unarmed and unarmored can defeat someone armed and armored.
This is TES, a fantasy game which has lore full of masters who do exactly that and more!
Not to mention that monk-like characters are nothing new to the fantasy setting.
I can understand why FO series have unarmed weapons (but then again, it's not unarmed anymore since you have a weapon, but whatever, let's roll with it) since FO is based on real world.
TES, on the other hand, has NO excuse to not allow player to go around unarmed, unarmored, beat the crap out of a dragon and make a dragonscale purse for his wife.

Unarmed in Skyrim is utter crap - fact - period!

Can you write in paragraphs please?, a bit of punctuation would be good.

I don't like reading forums
Posts that are like this because every
Single time that I want to read
Some more
Of the post I have
To look further down because the post is a
Complete and utter mess.
And no!
Stop!
Your edit did not improve matters - fact - period!

If you want to play unarmed and unarmoured then do so, your post sounded like one big whine, Bethesda should structure the game round my preferred playstyle, I just can't believe people who armour have a better time unarmed that people who wear no armour *whine whine whine*.

Buy some clothing, enchant with fortify unarmed, use some flesh spells or the stone that gives you more damage resistance. Perceived 'problem' solved.

Hmmmm, just wait one [censored] minute, I just realised you can't have been serious with that post were you?. I'm getting too old for this [censored].

How about you give me a proper reply instead of some flame-baiting troll post?
It's obvious that you even didn't read what I wrote (or you did, but you are too simple of a person to understand it) and just wish to act smart - fact - period.

I did attempt to read your post and did it fact read every word, you didn't make it easy to for me to read though which irritated me enough to warrant a smart-[censored] reply.

Most of what you said was nonsense anyway, about how an unarmed unarmoured character should be as powerful as someone with kickass weapons and armour because it's a fantasy game, because that totally makes loads of sense doesn't it, news flash but every fantasy game has rules - one of them usually being the guy with the whacking great Warhammer usually kicks the snot out of the guy stood there in his kegs with no weapon.

I told you how to solve said problem in my previous post, maybe it is not me who is a simple person?.

Why would Bethesda want to beef up unarmed combat in Skyrim?, the home of the Nords, renowned for weapon skills, no self respecting Nord would run straight past a battleaxe into battle with his fists, if they set the game in a land where it's fighters we're renowned hand-hand martial arts combatants then you would likely see a full perk tree for said fighting style.

Ever hear of the Monk class in D&D?

At least unarmed does damage in Skyrim, it only affected fatigue in Morrowind, so by that Logic I'd say Morrowind had the worst hand to hand in a Bethesda game.


No, but I know monks in real life are much different than their video game portrayal.

Sort of. Once you knocked them out you would start damaging health. I played through the whole game with an unarmed khajiit monk, it was a chore sometimes, especially at higher levels, but then it was still my most fun play through overall.

If there's a kill animation for unarmed dragons i'm so punching every dragon

Just look what you wrote here...
And you are telling me that I'm writing nonsense?
Pffftbwahahahahahaha!
Dude, if you actually read what I said, you would know that TES universe rules DO support the idea of unarmed and unarmored fighter owning armed and armored fighter.
Also, you didn't post any solution at all, just some gibberish.
And why wouldn't Bethesda implement an improved unarmed combat?
Skyrim is not Nord exclusive and player may not feel like acting like a Nord (even if it is, I don't see anything wrong with a huge Nord punching the stupid out of someone like a real man).
Also, by your logic, they should remove Redguard clothes, armor and weapons also since they don't fit Skyrim.
And if we apply your logic in real world, then that Chinese restaurant down the street shouldn't exist since this is Europe, not Asia.
[Insert and alternative word for a female dog here], please...

Unarmed in Morrowind will damage HP when you knock out your opponent.
Still, it's better since at least it was a skill of its own and allowed you to get better at it like it should.
TES is always suppose to allow you to improve in what you do and you can't do that with unarmed (or unarmored) in Skyrim and that's why it's horrible.