Unarmed combat

[Dvalin]

I've began a Khajiit character who wears heavy armor and relies chiefly on unarmed combat. Designed to shrug off the most damage possible, sneaks up close for the first hit then brawls anyone and everyone to a pulp. He's LOADS of fun, but I've read that unarmed damage caps at 60. Can anyone confirm or deny this rediculousness? I haven't found a way to calculate the damage he does but currently it 'should' be well over 60 from my smithed heavy gauntlents and fists of steel perk. (unarmed attacks do their armor raiting in damage)

Secondly, I haven't leveled to high, and am torn between these 2 builds. The first incorperates the block tree and the second goes for atronach in altoration and deeper into sneak. Any advice is appriciated and ty in advance.

http://skyrimcalculator.com/#61795 Block

http://skyrimcalculator.com/#61781 Sneak

 

[Har'Gaar the Wild]

Sounds interesting, and regarding the cap on dmg, since unarmed is a legitimate style of combat, why would they cap the damage you can put out especially when you reach a higher lvl, how are you supposed to combat the tougher enemies? But hey, I'm even more interested to see you take down an ice troll with your bare fists you should make a video of that.

 

[Dvalin]

Sounds interesting, and regarding the cap on dmg, since unarmed is a legitimate style of combat, why would they cap the damage you can put out especially when you reach a higher lvl, how are you supposed to combat the tougher enemies? But hey, I'm even more interested to see you take down an ice troll with your bare fists you should make a video of that.

I haven't taken down an ice troll yet but I have taken a mammoth at level 14. It was hairy,...the fight not the mammoth. Wish I could take videos alas, I'm on a 360. Don't have a comp that can handle Skyrim. And my thoughts are the same on the damage cap...why would they. Kind of made me angry when I read that but had no way of checking the source.

 

[Dagmar]

I haven't found a way to calculate the damage he does but currently it 'should' be well over 60 from my smithed heavy gauntlents and fists of steel perk. (unarmed attacks do their armor raiting in damage)

I've read that Fists of Steel only adds the base armor rating to Unarmed damage. Some players posted the results of console monitored damage testing on the UESP Skyrim Wiki discussion page for Heavy Armor skill. It does seem like damage enhancement options for Unarmed attack are therefore extremely limited and I wouldn't be surprised if there is a very low hardcap.

 

[Dvalin]

I've read that Fists of Steel only adds the base armor rating to Unarmed damage. Some players posted the results of console monitored damage testing on the UESP Skyrim Wiki discussion page for Heavy Armor skill. It does seem like damage enhancement options for Unarmed attack are therefore extremely limited and I wouldn't be surprised if there is a very low hardcap.

Thats what I was afraid of...disappointing if that is true, I was looking at smithing and thinking, "This will be one OP mother*. I'll look at the UESP Wiki. Thanks for the info

 

[Dvalin]

Wait..does base armor include smithed gear or is it just before any enchanting buffs?

ie. If I smith a set of dragon bone gauntlets up to legendary, is their base damage now raised or is it the amount when first crafted? Sorry for the noobish question, new to smithing. I'm en enchanter by trade

 

[Dagmar]

Based on what was posted on the discussion page I would say that Smithing improvements don't appear to count. One player used Legendary Daedric Gauntlets and only got about 18 points of damage boost from the perk. Based on what that player posted along with what another player posted on using the Fortify Unarmed enchantment maxed out by using alchemy and enchantment perks it does appear that the damage is capped at around 60 points.

 

[Dvalin]

Yuck. Well I thank you for helping me kill this before lvl 20. Fists of steel, what a waste of a perk. I was planning to stack fist/steel, claws and unarmed enchant. Maybe they'll change it in a patch in which case I'm sure to knock the dust off my furry character.

 

[MrMegeesh]

Watch this tutorial by Robbaz, he shows you exactly how to become an unarmed badass.

EDIT: I actually did what he says to do and my fists are now so OP. Just get Daedric Gauntlets, but if you can't get those yet, then go to the smithy in Whiterun and there should be somebody selling Steel Nordic Gauntlets, they are good, use the fists of steel perk as well. You want to increase your smithing skill to 90 so that you can do Daedric smithing, then steal the daedric heart from the Companions' house/place (Downstairs, room at end of main corridor). Then mine ebony ore from Gloombound mine and make Daedric Gauntlets. Then whenever you get more hearts, make a full set of heavy daedric armour and improve it all. The improved gauntlets won't increase your unarmed damage anymore but you'll be better protected.