On Combat

[TomatoThief]

After hundreds of hours in Skryim, much of which was spent in melee combat, I recently discovered a combat "move" that I never knew was possible. When swinging with a regular attack, if you quickly press and hold for another attack mid swing, you will do a quick follow up power attack. This second attack occurs far quicker than a regular second swing. I've also noticed that when spamming the mouse button, I tend to swing a bit slower than if I try to get into a rhythm of swings. I've never seen a combat guide that address this.

What else do you know, or what special rules have you noticed about combat? If you know of a guide that fleshes this out, please direct me to it.

Thanks
TT

 

[the witcher 2013]

good one fellow friend keep up the good work

 

[Psiberzerker]

After hundreds of hours in Skryim, much of which was spent in melee combat, I recently discovered a combat "move" that I never knew was possible. When swinging with a regular attack, if you quickly press and hold for another attack mid swing, you will do a quick follow up power attack. This second attack occurs far quicker than a regular second swing. I've also noticed that when spamming the mouse button, I tend to swing a bit slower than if I try to get into a rhythm of swings. I've never seen a combat guide that address this.

What else do you know, or what special rules have you noticed about combat? If you know of a guide that fleshes this out, please direct me to it.

Thanks
TT

That's especially useful with Daggers, as they naturally have fast striking, and the Stagger opens them up for a regular swing. Once you have the timing down, you can practically stunlock them.

When Dual Wielding, the offhand power attacks are also extremely fast, with stagger. Also, they draw instantly if you have a spell in the other hand. Again, I usually do with a Dagger to maximize this, and for minimum Stamina drain because they're so light. The Drainheart Sword is even better, because it gives you Stamina back, so you can Power-Attack as long as the Charge holds out (All ghost weapons, and the Blade of Woe discharge very quickly.) Unfortunately, this is incompatible with Critical Charge, and several other Perk based special attacks.

For 2 Handers, the Sweep power attack can hit 2, or 3 enemies if they're close enough together. It's tricky to land right, but with Enchantments like Absorb Health (Drainblood Battleaxe) and the Limbsplitter Perk, this spreads the effects between all of them, so you can burn, bleed, or drain several at once. It helps to have a fast swinging weapon, like the Ebony Blade, Volendrung, or the Longhammer. If you want to DiY with Extra Effect, the latter is immensely effective with Drain health, Firey Soul Trap, and Limbsplitter when Sweeping. That's Burn, Bleed, Drain, and Soul Trap (Effectively 4 effects!) per strike, amongst 2, or 3 enemies, for maximum effectiveness. A less damaging variant is Cold (For Slow, Damage Stamina, and more damage) and either FST, or AS/H/M. I go with Absorb Stamina, so you can keep Sweeping, and they're to fatigued to bash, or power attack in retaliation. Extremely effective on Trolls (They only have Power Attacks, so all they can do is throw fits) Warlord Gathric, and Grounded Dragons, so they don't have the Stamina to take back off...

 

[Oren74]

Great topic! I have NO CLUE on how to do the powerattack where you press backwards on the stick while attacking.

Everytime I do that, I back away from the thing I'm trying to kill. Any help here? Am-I-Doing-It-Wrong?

(Hope this doesn't come off as a hijack)

 

[Psiberzerker]

Great topic! I have NO CLUE on how to do the powerattack where you press backwards on the stick while attacking.

Everytime I do that, I back away from the thing I'm trying to kill. Any help here? Am-I-Doing-It-Wrong?

(Hope this doesn't come off as a hijack)

Tap back going into the PA, experiment with various timing, and dummies/trees to perfect it. Also, it helps a lot to have Reach, and a charging opponent. It's almost impossible to land with a dagger, on a bandit doing the side-straffe shuffle. 2Handed is generally the best way to go with all of these, as they hit the greatest arc. With 1H, you want Swords, the Blades' has the greatest reach. Handaxes are almost as short as daggers. Orkish weapons, especially 2 handed also tend to be the shortest. The longest reach, in order is: The Headsman's Axe, Ebony Blade, Volendrung, Greatswords, Orcish GS, Battle Axes, OBA,.. Warhammers are tied in length with BAs, but swing slower (With the exceptions of the Longhammer, and Volendrung) so are trickier to time. In general, I only use that one when I'm being Charged to break the Power Attack, and stun them. The Headsman's Axe is the longest, and a fast swinger, so is probably the best for this particular attack, but the damage is unimpressive, and it can't be smithed. It can be Enchanted, or used with Elemental Fury for even faster striking, though. The Paralyzing perk is pretty damned useless, because it doesn't work every time, on an attack that's useful only under specific circumstances, and you tend to Stun them anyway, so you can just finish them off with follow up-regular attacks, or Hack&Bash them to death. Save the point for something more reliable, there's easier ways to Paralyze someone.