Dual wield build... starting out tips/tricks

Im starting a dual wield build tonight. Orc of course! because they rock. But reading around a bit online it seems this is a hard build to do (in the beginning of course) till you get some serious perks later on. Which leads me to guess maybe i should go one handed with a shield for a while till i level up one-handed more and unlock some dual wield perks? but i wouldnt want to dump any perks into block if im intending to go full dual wield later on? see my dilemma. Ill be going dual war axes of course too as it just feels right for an orc to be using axes! Ive read i should concentrate on just spamming one-handed, smithing and heavy armour and nothing else in the beginning.

I think ill also have a bow for back up and to begin with, i dont mind dumping a few perks into archery to have a decent bow and then rush in with double war axes to finish off. ill either need a bow or shield in my early stages to stay alive yeah?

Looking so forward to this! WAAARRRGGGHHH! (40k reference)

Sounds sensible to me. Not sure if I would bother with bow, but I can see how it might be usefull on the odd occasion

I did the same thing...but I went dual wield from the start. I think using dual wield power attacks and the warrior stone...your one hand will go up pretty fast. Not to mention in the Helgen part where you have to sneak past the bear, you can hit your companion repeatedly to lvl your one handed skill before even going to Riverwood for the first time.

My main character level 20 is duel wielding swords. You don't really need block, just focus on getting a good armor that can protect you (Thus why I chose heavy armor for my character) and focus on improving your health as well as your stamina.
Try to get those perks, which you should get by level 7 http://www.ign.com/builds/the-elder...000000000000000000000000000000000002110000021

When you fight, use both weapons at once, it's much more effective. Don't know about the duel power attack of axes, but when you duel wield two swords and use power attack with both hands it's pretty devastating and it attacks more than one person if you are surrounded.

Get the Elemental Fury shout ASAP this shout is necessary if you want to slay a Dragon. Along with Berserk and the One-Handed perks you can be unstoppable.

You need to be a bit good at Bows or Destruction, which you will need when facing a stubborn Dragon who wont land. I choose destruction because it makes clearing dungeons much easier.

Edit: Magic can be useful for your character, a spell like Oakflesh can help you a lot. When you have to face like 4-5 enemies cast Oakflesh before you attack them.

Stay away from mudcrabs.

They're good at leveling block, but they'll cut a dual-wielder down in no time. Troof.

Will going straight to the Elemental Fury word wall locations very early (say straight after I kill the first dragon at the western watchtower) glitch any quests later on? Also, casting oak flesh has a base cost of 103MP, which means to even use it I'll need to drop a level upgrade into magic instead of health/magic, does this make it worth it? I had intended no magic.

I've played through the entire game with 2 swords and I'm lvl 32. It was somewhat difficult until I hit about level 10. I then became an unstoppable whirlwind of death. I'd recommend using only axes or swords. Also try to do some restoration between fights if you don't mind it.Early on you'll only wanna increase heath but once you think you can take a hit put some points into stamina (power attacks with two weps are great) Anything that can knock you enemies down is good but thats pretty obvious. Lastly, SLOW TIME IS THE BEST SHOUT EVER! One you get it you'll want to 1. Get up close and start killing and 2. If they hit hard, slow time and dodge attacks. That last one might just be for me, as I went light armor all the way

You can get your first dual wielding perk with a One-Handed skill of 30 which you'll get fairly quickly since you start of with 20.

You may want to consider starting off with a dagger in your left hand. Your left hand determines your dual wielding attack speed and daggers are significantly faster than axes. For every 5 attacks you make with dual axes you will get in 8 attacks with an axe and dagger. Until you get a very large damage difference between a dagger and axe by having axes with high base damage and smithing improved damage, your damage over time is going to be greater using axe and dagger.

No, but you should bear in mind Elemental Fury doesn't do anything when wielding enchanted weapons.

On the subject of enchantments, Absorb Health and Absorb Stamina are good enchantments to have for your weapons. They'll offset the damage you'll incur from not blocking and the stamina drain you'll get from spamming power attacks. In that regard, when I switched to dual swords, the level 36 Nightingale Blade made an ideal offhand weapon because it has both.

Would starting with a dagger and mace yield the most DPS? As the dagger in the left hand will speed up the mace?

Technically yes, but as a practical matter, while the off-hand determines attack speed, the main hand determines stamina cost. When you dual wield the attack cost multiplier for stamina used in power attacks is 3 instead of the normal 2 for single wielded attacks and your stamina bar will deplete faster with the mace than the axe. Depending on how much stamina and stamina regeneration enchantments you have, and the length of the combat, using the mace may yield more, about the same, or less damage than the axe.

Ah ok. But using the axe I get to feel 10% cooler so I'll roll with that

Haha, whatever floats your boat!

My favorite combo is a dagger and war axe. My argonian is a dual wielder.

One other thing, try to get that perk that makes your healing spell heal your Stamina as well as your health.
As a dual wielder, you get hit a lot, which in turn damages your health, and at the meantime you'll need to use more power attacks to inflict more damage which drains your stamina. Such perk will allow you to recover your precious stamina and health at the same time.

some good advice guys, thanks heaps. looks like ill try the old dagger and axe combo till i can smith myself some better war axes down the track (probably do this when i unlock dwarven). Also looks like i should spam one handed till i unlock the first dual wield perk and track down elemental fury walls asap.

Its funny how even dual wielders do it so vastly differently. Some here dump other perks into alteration, destruction, restoration and even bows to help out when the going gets tough.

Question: Because i do the same damage during a power attack with 1 stamina or 100 stamina, is it really that important to dump loads of points into stamina each level? ive been going 50/50 stamina/health so far. but if i can get myself some enchanted gear with stamina regen, i cant see myself needing to put some many points into stamina. except for carrying more of course. at what point should i stop putting points into stamina and just focus on health and let stamina regen enchantments take care of the rest? 150 stamina? 200 stamina?

When your stamina hits zero your dual wielding power attack rate is going to slow down noticeably. At zero stamina there is a delay before your stamina begins to regenerate. That means you can't power attack and the moment you do you'll get the delay again.

So to combat this is it wise to keep upping my stamina or will getting some stamina regen enchantments offset a lower stamina level? I'm still going to put points into stamina, but maybe not share them evenly with health anymore?

Probably a bit of both would help. Though you need to stay alive long enough to do those power attacks. At the start you might want to keep your health to stamina at start at a 2:1 ration then when you are able to suck up the damage reverse it to a 1:2 favoring stamina. Though while you are doing that a stamina regen item would help greatly.

I did this on my 2nd char on master level: dual wielding/light armor/archery/sneak, race khajiit (mostly for the night eye skill)
at start it will be a nightmare because everything kills you, I used a follower as a meat shield to make it thru the first 20 levels, really funny and challenging tho