So, now I am playing my second character, 250lb Nord called Rupert whose sole armament is a great-sword, and all is going swimmingly until I join the Companions and allow myself to be inducted as a werewolf. Then I get spirited away and wake up to find myself with Aela who tells me we are are going to take down a fort full of Silver-Blades. Well the early stages go OK and then I come up to the final door beyond which, she tells me, I will find the boss of the bad guys and some of his helpers.

No problems thinks I; I have seen Farkas slaughter multiple Silver-Blades when we were clearing Dustman's Wossname. So, I take a deep breath, kick down the door, charge in, changing shape as I do so, and die - quickly before I kill even one of the defenders. The first time I put down to the shock of transformation and being forced into the third person view. However, after multiple-attempts my werewolf dies every time.

So I change tactics. Now, I kick down the door, shout the Nord equivalent of "Y'all know what this!"* and get stuck in with the swinging great-sword and the bad guys die in a most satisfactory way.

So my question is, "Why bother with going to the beast form?"


* Copyright: The_Jackal, poster of this parish.

I never use beast form, largely because it doesn't support 1st person. The only advantage of being a werewolf is disease immunity.

I use Beast Form to rush mages, get up close, and rip them apart.

I mainly use it for roleplaying purposes; to kill silver-hands, for certain daedric quests, and when I feel up to "getting wild" (which Delphine for some reason really doesn't like). Werewolf form is indeed very weak in comparison to my character, so it's not really an advantage for battle. Unless you want to up the stakes of course, which can prove to be pretty interesting. I did the Hircine quest completely in werewolf form that way, and got killed a few times by those losers, but 't was a nice fight. Afterwards, i tried to do it without transforming to compare it, and I simply flew through the quest like that. That wasn't really fun.

I only used beast form in mage and vampire dungeons. Against unarmored mages it's quite effective, but be sure to use the extras like the throwdown power and feeding on the bodies to extend the time you remain in beast form.

It's best used when you fully utilize the Roaring ability and chasing after enemies and tearing them apart. It absolutely cannot stand up to anything straight away...you either have to induce them with Fear or knock them down with a Power Attack. It's decently useful once you get the hang of it and are able to size up your opponents.

Useful for getting away with murder if you're not the sneaky type too.

Another things: you do NOT want to transform when enemies are already (or about to start) beating on you. Change form FIRST, then go in.

The werewolf is a skirmisher, not a tank. You have far better mobility and control effects (knockdown, throw-away, fear roar) and power attacks (the sprinting power attack will kill most things outright and if not it'll still send them to the ground) and need to make use of those advantages. Standing still and letting things beat on you is a bad idea.

I don't understand why Bethesda didn't make the werewolves more durable like they were in Bloodmoon.

I used it a couple times and did O.K. against a mob of Silver Hand. First time I died horribly and then discovered feeding while fighting. That helped and I was able to take on about six of them. Oh, I also had to kill Sven. He got in the way of one of my attacks, got mad and started attacking me. It was rather fun killing and eating that slimy Bard.

Just think what you just did.

So a fresh and unskilled wolf walks into a boss chamber of people whose job is to hunt down wolves. Probably not the best idea. At first, I was also quite surprised to find how quickly they would put me down, but they don't only have silver weapons which are extra powerful against werewolves, it just takes time to find out how to properly use the wolf. It took me a lot of tries, but finally, I managed to take them all down in wolf form without getting hit more than once or twice.

Perhaps you should practice a bit out in the wilderness. Sprinting, jumping, howling - That kind of stuff wolves usually do

When I first became a werewolf I found myself repeating something to myself everytime I changed. It has become my mantra and my best advice on how to live as a werewolf:

People are hard to eat when they are running from you.

When you transform, hit the howl button and listen to the tough bad guys cry as they kneel on the floor saying, "please don't eat me"

Good point, Mr. Hammer, and nicely understated.

Its is clear from the responses here that I have a lot to learn about being a werewolf, e.g. I had no idea that there was a howl ability or any other special effect, let alone how to use them. I'm off to practice in the wilds and my thanks to all for taking the time to advise me.

I think you're missing the point.

It's perfect for assassinations in cities without getting a bounty penalty. Perfect for non-sneak characters who want to get through the Dark Brotherhood quests.

Beast form is very powerful when you combo knock-down power attacks and flee-roars.

I would've wanted the beast form to not need those.. Because it feels so silly as a werewolf in Skyrim.

THIS is correct.. change, then charge.. feed on the corpse of the fallen to stay healed.. you are invulnerable while feeding!

Use howls for fear.. use your speed to your advantage too.. charge a lone target, powerattack, move to the next.. but dont run into a group unless you are already changed and have all of the totems..

Disease immunity is the #1 reason for being a wolf though..

Are you really sure about that?

I am playing a no leveling master difficulty game. Werewolf is the fallback when things get too ... hairy.

Under normal gameplay, werewolf's power almost does not scale compared to NPC.

Honestly I only use it for the disease immunity and only use the wolf form for sprinting around really quickly.

Like others mostly just for RP purposes. My Nord was going to be a Werewolf before I even got the game (when we knew Vamps where in.. but didn't know bout Wolves yet..).

It's funny cause I joined the Companions thinking I'm going with a true Fighter's Guild. Turns out they're, and gave me it.. I was so surprised like: "Wow.. that was fast..lol"

You gotta become really good with the combos. Beast Forms ALL about Close Quarters combat. DYK that in Beast Form if you hit the "Shout" button your Wolf will howl causing enemies nearby to stagger?

There's all sorts of little tidbits you just gotta read up on bro. Also get the Ring of Hircine, let's you transform more. But really Beast Forms only good for like LV10-20.. after 20 it pretty much becomes useless except for the fact of the Disease Resist. (which I mostly take it for anyway..)

It's useful for moving long distances, especially if your route is full of Bandits.

Also, it's useful in no one escapes Cidhna Mine