Are any of the words of power 'essential'?

I realised I actually have very few of the words of power, and It made me wonder if I'm missing out on anything. I don't use shouts that much, but it could be because I just haven't found the right one yet! Would you class any of the words of power as 'essential'? Do you have a favourite, regardless of how 'useful' it is? Am I seriously missing out by not collecting all the words of power, or are they all as useless as the ones I have now? Give me all your opinions on words of power and shouts!

Most of them are just fun ways to add twists in combat, to me. But, there's really only one "essential" shout, which would be Become Ethereal. So useful in dragon fights! But aside from that, Bend Will and Whirlwind Sprint are insanely useful. The rest, as I said, are just for fun.

Nurobius said:

Most of them are just fun ways to add twists in combat, to me. But, there's really only one "essential" shout, which would be Become Ethereal.

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This is my favorite shout as well. Rather than walking around a drop off a cliff, I just become Ethereal and jump off. Makes it a little quicker to get around!

Plus, you can feel like a bad ass, dropping into a bandit camp and immediately killing someone.

But a lot of enemies are immune to it, right? Like f***fing DRAGONS?!

I don't know if they're really essential (not counting the movement speed one you need for the quest) but my favorite one is the tracking one. I used that a lot in dungeons to see stuff through walls. I think there might be a mod out there that gives you access to all the dragonshouts without having to find the word of powers.

Oh, Aura Whisper? Never used it. Heard it's great for sneaking, though, since it makes no noise (w/out illusion perks, too!).

But I thought some enemies weren't affected by it cause they have resistances and stuff?

No, I knew you were talking about Ice Form. I thought some enemies wouldn't be affected by Ice Form in the same way they aren't affected by Frost Breath.

I don't know about others, But I use the Shouts Aura Whisper and Slow Time very frequently. Aura whisper is insanely effective in scouting out enemies before entering into combat and is very efficient because you don't have to use your mana reserves to cast a 'detect' spell. With the perk that silences your spellcasting (it also affects your Thu'um), Aura Whisper is always my opening spell before entering a fight (I usually play a stealth based character, so prior recon is very important.)

Slow Time is another beast entirely. Big bad boss? Your health too low for your liking? Pop in the Slow Time and hack away!! I use it most frequently to dodge those nasty fireballs when fighting pesky wizards and dangerous Hagravens. If you can time it right, it is almost always a game-changer, capable of turning the tides of a battle in an instant.

Now, if you are a more combat oriented, burn-them-all kind of person, then you should definitely consider the fire breath shout. With insanely high damage and massive utility (with meditating the 'Fire Within' from Paarthurnax and if you have Dragonborn DLC installed, 'Dragonborn Flame' ability that summons fire wyrms for each enemy killed with the Shout), it is a must-have Shout in your repertoire and is the One-Shot-Solution for those groups of critters that dare interrupt hoarding burnt books while on a nice little stroll in that dungeon.

Aura Whisper makes no sound anyways, bruh. But yeah, I forgot about Slow Time. Pretty fun while also being useful. Great for spamming fireballs as a mage, too.

Elemental fury is incredible. That shout and vegetable soup on a dual wielding character becomes insanely hard hitting

Become ethereal for jumping off cliffs

Unrelenting force for sending enemies off those cliffs, or just knocking them down to get some free shots in

I'll have to give aura whisper a go, that could be useful

Snake Tortoise said:

Become ethereal for jumping off cliffs

Unrelenting force for sending enemies off those cliffs, or just knocking them down to get some free shots in

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Ha ha, exactly. Knocking a frost troll off the mountain is so satisfying! Or just Fus-Ro-Dah-ing Lydia when that idiot won't get out of my damn way!
It's just too bad that this shout has almost little to no effect dragons and most of the time when it throws my opponent too far away; so by the time I catch up to them to get in my extra hit, they are already up and running towards me screaming, "Time to die, hero!" -_-

Useful vs. essential.

I believe the only ones that are essential (w/out the DLC's) are Whirlwind, Fus'Do'Rah and Bend Will. Other than that, I think they're all pretty cosmetic. Fun, yes. Required, no.

Bend Will is w/ DLC though, lol

Nurobius said:

Bend Will is w/ DLC though, lol

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What's the one to bring down Alduin then? It's been a while. That's the one I meant.