Hi all, I'd like to know your opinion: what does deal more damage and its more effective - warhammer or mace and shield? I think - warhammer.

2-Hand weapon means less perk investment. 2-Hand weapons deal more damage. You can reach the armor cap without the shield. Shields are really only a preference and do not do much of anything.

Though playing with a shield can be more fun. Shield bash someone, and so on. But yeah, a 2-hander will do more damage, but I'd wager a shield is more fun.

Correct, shield do nothing.. except block 50% of incoming elemental damage.. bash casters to stop there casting.. bash dragons to stop breath weapon.. bash anyone using a power attack to stop it.. stop arrows from doing any damage..

Not saying sword and board is the way to go, just saying that suggesting they "do not do much of anything" is a bit off base.

They don't. The best defense in TES is offense. What is the point of having bloated defensive mechanics when I can just about avoid any attack just by moving and can kill things in a hit or two anyways? Roll a Breton, pick up the Alteration Perks if you want, get some gear, congratulations you cannot be harmed by Elemental Effects and do not need to block to do it. Use the Atronach Stone if you really want to be cheesy mc cheese.

in master difficulty, shields are the most powerfull melee weapon and skill/perk investment, if you want the best option => shield

having that said the armor you will be leveling with also gives a big difference, if you use light armor, its cuz you clearly value speed for hit and runs rather than brute sluging contests of power and resilience, and in this case, shield is mandatory if you want ot take the best out of your speed advantage aswell as make up in defence for lower armor rating (until caps ofc), since in skyrim you will be extremly vulnerable to being hit cuz of the very low speed you suffer when blocking and attacking.
if you use heavy armor and can take more punishment, 2 hander works well if you know what you are doing, but do keep in mind its harder to play with, and shields are still the most powerfull defence, and melee advantage.

The shield decapitate kill animation is wicked cool.

You do realize that a two hander can bash as well...shield wall, quick reflexes, power bash, deadly bash, and disarming bash all work with two handed weapons.

Having tried both, I've found that I'd rather be power attacking with my warhammer instead of bashing with my shield.

True, but a shield can block 85% of physical damage, twice as much as a 2H. They seem to be pretty well balanced so it comes down to a style preference IMHO.

War hammer is the way to go.

Only the raddest dudes use warhammers.

I've gone warhammer with my warrior character and I have to say at level 15, Expert difficulty, I smash most of my enemies with a hit or two. Sword + Shield is more of a tactical approach to combat. It's really up to you.

Thanks all of you. I tried both, both are great, then I got two swords (dual-wielding) and since that, I play only this way .

And I found some nice informations here: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Combat .

If you're playing on master you want a shield. You'll be getting 2-shotted through heavy armor without one and getting 1-2 shotted by spells without the extra elemental resists.

I go Battle Axe or go commando...keep it smooth fella's.

Yea you're right. I play Adept difficulty and its ok. Tried Master difficulty aaand its ko (: .

Sword + shield has worked out better for me than the 2-handed weapons, but I prefer dual-wielding swords (daedric and Dragonbane) for most enemies.

Hmmm with the right perks a Battleaxe should offer both DOT and AOE.
Bleeding Dam + Sweep.

Not to mention massive base DAM and faster recovery than a warhammer.

Also, I noticed my block has not leveled a single point, and my armor has gone up less than 10
using 2-handers and light armor.
This tells me I don't get hit much (at about level 20 with this character).

2handers + light armor can destroy anything.
Massive Dam + fast movement + faster stamina regen.

Mages wet themselves when they see my nord sprinting at them with a battleaxe,
when they try to kite me they just die tired.

Well at the highest weapon level (daedric etc) the sword only has a few less damage points than the mace, but it hits much faster, so swords are better than maces and axes at high levels.

The sword perks is also superior to mace and axes. The axe perk bleeding damage is barely anything, and the mace ignore damage resistance is useless at high levels where enemies have massive health rather than high armor rating.

Can't speak for 2h though.