Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim [post-launch thread]

[Malachi]

Here's my go-to build: http://uk.ign.com/builds/the-elder-s...11111511111111

It's not about min-maxing, but trying to portrait the Assassin class as close as possible. If dual wielded daggers prove to not be viable on master, I'm gonna take Blademaster instead of dual wield perks, and go with just a sword in melee.

[Rincewind]

Daggers do not benefit from any one-handed skills or perks, stupidely enough. Hope they fix that in a patch. Also, why no power shot? It's a great skill that helps you keep the distance to your enemies.

[Maktaka]

Anyone have any idea if Savage Strike (boosts standing power attacks with one handed weapons) has any effect on dual wielding? The power attack for that is always a standing attack it seems, but I don't know if it counts as a *standing attack* for the purposes of the "damage bonus and cut off a Bandit's head" aspect.

[Malachi]

Dunno... I just went for maximum possible damage.

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That was @Rince. Yeah, we could really do with some detailed perk descriptions. What's a backward power attack that Paralizing Strike mentions, for example? And I still don't know if Backstab and Assassin's Blade bonuses apply to dual wielded daggers.

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I guess with my (very slow) pace of playing, I'll just avoid taking the perks that are unclear in how they work until we get some kind of detailed info on them.

[Rincewind]

Backward power attack - move backwards and hold the attack button. Assassin's Blade & Backstab do not apply to Dual wielded daggers because you can only make a sneak attack if you are a) sneaking b) undetected. You will be detected the millisecond you hit with your first dagger. It doesn't matter, though. Think about it - an unmodified Ebon dagger with a base 18 damage will hit for 270 damage, enough to kill most humanoids in one hit. An enchanted, improved Ebon Dagger can hit for thousands (or tens of thousands if you min-max) damage.

[Nalkor]

One weapon to always keep on hand even as a dual-wield assassin is two silver swords. The reason is that silver does a lot of extra damage against undead, I've noticed the Draugr who usually gave me trouble because of how many there were happened to go down much quicker. Of course, the only reliable source of silver swords are the silver hands.

[Open Blue]

I only just started the companions quest chain

Spoiler

and I was disappointed that the only way to really progress was to become a werewolf, which removed my vampirism, which I might also add is fairly useless in Skyrim; only a sneak and illusion bonus and a few, ultimately, meaningless powers for the chore of taking a quick bite out of someone every three days? Beast form really is a massive gimmick imo, perhaps I only view it as such because I've got such a strong close quarters combat to begin with. Now I'm wondering if I could have joined the silver hand instead?

[Malachi]

@Rince: But Backstab will effect that first dagger that hits when dual-wielding, right?

Aren't there silver daggers?

[Ammon Ra]

@ Ammon: Were those ruins for the mages college quest at Mzulfr or whatever it's called, just did that dungeon now, brilliant!

I found it while exploring and climbing mountains the wrong way. I've only joined the companions guild so far, and i was rather disappointed in the lack of

Spoiler

pre-werewolf quests

[Starblade]

I only just started the companions quest chain

Beast Form is absurdly good, actually. Just stay away from large groups of magic users since you have zero defense against them as a werewolf.

[Rincewind]

@Malachi - yes, it will effect the first one.

@Nalkor - they do double damage I think, but after a point you will get / make / improve weapons that are even better so you don't need to drag those things around forever.

Someone who can play - can silver swords be improved without the Arcane Smithing perk?

[Open Blue]

Beast Form is absurdly good, actually.

I might give it a few more tries then, the lack of magic and shield is really my major turn-off's with it. That and you cant wade into a group of 7 people like you can while in full plate. I guess it's just my play-style, but I can't complain about the disease immunity.

Aren't there silver daggers?

Haven't found any myself, your best bet is glass, ebony or daedric.

Someone who can play - can silver swords be improved without the Arcane Smithing perk?

Just grabbed a silver sword and I can't improve it. Don't have the arcane skill yet, but I'll grab it next level and report back then.

[Starblade]

That and you cant wade into a group of 7 people like you can while in full plate.

Sprint and hold down both attack buttons.

[Rincewind]

Rusty, save before you do so. Arcane Smithing is crap since the enchants you make yourself are much, much better.

[Open Blue]

Sprint and hold down both attack buttons.

I now I know I have a sprint function, learn something new every day.

@Rince: Noted, but I almost feel that some of the cool toys I've found need to be upgraded regardless. Ghost sword, for instance (it's supposed to be a minor side-quest apparently, but I stumbled upon it regardless), or any of the other fabulous prizes you get for plundering everything, I feel need to see the light of day, upgraded, used and then put back in the chest after disappointing me over how shitty they are.

[Busby]

Beast Form is absurdly good, actually. Just stay away from large groups of magic users since you have zero defense against them as a werewolf.

TBH the only things I have trouble against with my character are, surprise, mages. This wouldn't be true if I actually used my enchanting to make + Magic defence items, so really meh for using the Ware form for combat even if the charge attack is decent. What it is VERY good for though is running away with its massive stam pool for near endless sprinting and abusing the fact that it doesn't take weight into account, meaning you can overload on Dragon Bones and Scales and run back to the edge of the nearest town, wait for you to go back to human form, and sell your junk.

Also I just realised I might be a hoarder when I started considering buying another house simply to have more display plates and weapon racks for my artefact weapons.

[Starblade]

I want pictures! Pictures of Dohvakiin!

[Malachi]

I found this little quote:

While not specifically mentioned in-game, the Bladesman skill does modify critical chance for daggers.

Source: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Weapons#Daggers

S, this is true or are daggers unaffected by perks? I'm really confused.

[Rincewind]

Skill is not the same as perk. The one-handed skill might effect the critical chance of daggers, but it no one-handed perks will effect it in any way. This is almost certainly a bug, by the way.

[Grabnutz]

TBH the only things I have trouble against with my character are, surprise, mages

I actually had to use the patented *RUNAWAY* tactic myself now, a couple of lightning bolts will nicely do for me, one or two can deal with but a fort full of the little bastards is torment. However I managed to find the Atronach Stone (absorb magicka 50%, increase magicka 50, magicka regains slower by 50%) if anyone is interested:

Spoiler

Eastmarch

Very handy

[Rincewind]

I think the X's on the map we got with the game mark all the Guardian Stones in the game.

Skeleton Key

Hint from my flatmate - he got the Skeleton Key as part of the Thieves' Guild questline but had to return it to complete the quest. He loaded his autosave and decided that he will complete the quest only after he has hit 100 lockpicking.

[Open Blue]

the only things I have trouble against with my character are, surprise, mages.

I'd recommend getting the shield bash skill in the block tree which, ironically, works perfectly fine without a shield. Just run up to pesky mages and stun-lock them in a perpetual stun-stab/slash/bash cycle. The only worry is running out of stamina in a large fight with multiple casters, but honestly, invest in some bloody pots or +stam regen% enchants.
I can see how it would be hard if you were using daggers or bows, had no hp or resistances and were fighting multiples of them, but that's why you bring a buddy to tank it for you.

[Shuma]

So Daedric armor is the best in the game... But ebony weapons are better than Daedric weapons... Hmmm.

[Dark_Avenger]

I'm still trying to find a piece of armour with Stamina regen enchantments. So I can put it on everything else.

[Starblade]

So Daedric armor is the best in the game... But ebony weapons are better than Daedric weapons... Hmmm.

Every metal type has a specialization. Dwemer weapons are all around decent, ebony swords are stronger than others of the same tier (as an example, I don't know which is better than which), things like that.

[Rincewind]

Shuma: no, they are not. You probably forgot to equip some smithing enchant item or had a different skill level when crafting one or the other.

[Nanaki]

I just fought my first lich at level 10 at one of the dragon ruins, and suprisingly, I bent him over and spanked him. Now I have one of those mask thingies.

Only 3 Destruction away from getting adept destruction spells

[Shuma]

Ah that was probably it, i think i drank a smithing potion when making the Ebony axe.

[Busby]

I'd recommend getting the shield bash skill in the block tree which, ironically, works perfectly fine without a shield. Just run up to pesky mages and stun-lock them in a perpetual stun-stab/slash/bash cycle. The only worry is running out of stamina in a large fight with multiple casters, but honestly, invest in some bloody pots or +stam regen% enchants.

Ok, to be more specific, its mages that use that annoying frost bolt spell that slows down your movement speed that I have trouble with. Against other mages I just plow through there lighting (oh no now I can't cast clairvoyance or fast healing which does about nothing at my level) or fire (oh no I'm on fire and my health pool is very slowly going down) and smash their face in with my 2H axe. Its only the dam frost mages that slow me down so I can't get close enough in the first place and tickle me to death. And I say tickle because I'm a Nord.

Dwemer weapons are all around decent

If by "all around decent" you mean "way a fuck ton for the additional defence and attack over steel" then yes.

[Deionarra]

Forget pictures of Dohvakiin, their horses are the real heroes.

He hungers for blood

He fears no foe

He laughs in the face of gravity

He's going to make you all his bitches

[Langy]

Finally maxed smithing, enchanting, blocking and one-handed; hello armour and resistances up the wazzo.

Anyone else get that nifty 30+ stam/mana/hp amulet? I haven't found anything better yet.

Find yourself needed a heap of soul gems? Just take a treck through a Dwemer ruin and pick up all the ones off the constructs. Then loot the place and use the money to buy more gems!

While being able to upgrade weapons and armour is nice (damage and armour boosts rock), I found there will always be that hierarchy of gear (ie. iron < steel < dwarven < steel plate < orcish < dragon bone plate < daedric for heavy armour), so long as they're all at the same level of upgrades, which is really only one extra crafting material, there isn't a reason you shouldn't be maxing smithing if you're doing anything with it. After taking the "heavy armour doesn't weigh anything, u mad physics?" perk, the only excuse for wearing other types of heavy armour other than daedric is for vanity reasons (lets face it, you're a tank in anything you wear, a few armour points less isn't going to impact on anything less than huge boss fights).

Does anyone else find that it randomly crashes to desktop? That's really my only major issue with it, next to the UI.

Now that I've plundered many ruins and imperial camps, it might be time to actually start some missions.

Damage reduction maxes out at an armor rating of around 570 or so; you can get this with anything at Steel Plate or higher with a maxed out Heavy Armor tree and 100 Smithing, or even lower if you use Fortify Smithing enchantments/potions.

In other words, there's no reason to only wear Daedric - after maxing everything out, it provides no extra benefit compared with Ebony, Dragonbone, Orcish, or Steel Plate.

Backward power attack - move backwards and hold the attack button. Assassin's Blade & Backstab do not apply to Dual wielded daggers because you can only make a sneak attack if you are a) sneaking b) undetected. You will be detected the millisecond you hit with your first dagger. It doesn't matter, though. Think about it - an unmodified Ebon dagger with a base 18 damage will hit for 270 damage, enough to kill most humanoids in one hit. An enchanted, improved Ebon Dagger can hit for thousands (or tens of thousands if you min-max) damage.

Backstab damage multipliers do not stack with enchantments or poisons, as far as I know.

Beast Form is absurdly good, actually. Just stay away from large groups of magic users since you have zero defense against them as a werewolf.

Not at higher levels. You can do more damage faster when you're not in beast form, and it takes forever to change into beast form, so you have to plan it prior to going into combat. Also, you can't heal yourself while in beast form, so you die a lot easier.

[Rincewind]

@Langy: Yes, that sentence could have been clearer, I meant that the improvement will increase the multiplier (15x50-100 instead of 18). Also, the thing about armour is not strictly correct - damage reduction caps at 80% which is achieved at 570 armour if you are untrained and have no perks. It's lower if you have relevant skills & perks. This also means that if you are going for Smithing 100 you should only take 1/5 Juggernaut as you gain no benefit from it later on.

[Dark_Avenger]

Damnit. I think I have 3/5 juggernaut.

[Misiok]

Langy - you can heal in beast form, but for a small amount by eating dead bodies.

[Langy]

Langy - you can heal in beast form, but for a small amount by eating dead bodies.

Except that doesn't count, because you'll be attacked while you feed, completely negating the health gain.

@Langy: Yes, that sentence could have been clearer, I meant that the improvement will increase the multiplier (15x50-100 instead of 18). Also, the thing about armour is not strictly correct - damage reduction caps at 80% which is achieved at 570 armour if you are untrained and have no perks. It's lower if you have relevant skills & perks. This also means that if you are going for Smithing 100 you should only take 1/5 Juggernaut as you gain no benefit from it later on.

Ah! Right. If you have all the relevant perks/etc, you need 85 base armor to get 570 armor, not you need 570 base armor with all perks. Anyways.

[Nalkor]

All I know about my Warrior Dragonborn is that by smithing a crapton of hide bracers (thanks to whomever mentioned that) and some... cheating ways of getting gold (not like it's that hard in this game, I just got kinda tired like I did in Morrowind by giving the Creeer a few million gold) I now have 100 smithing, 92 or so heavy armor, and am now training up two-handed while using my daedric battleaxe to solo frost dragons with ease. It's unenchanted and I drank no potions prior to crafting my full sets of Legendary Daedric equipment. Surprise surprise, the only things that give me any kind of trouble now are mages, especially the ones with that ice spike that makes you all slower than molasses going uphill... in January.

[Rincewind]

Here is a useful table showing what enchants go on which bits of armour.

@Langy: Also note that Block is applied before Armour, so you can actually get your damage resistance to at least 90%. I don't know how much Block actually stops and how much the skill and perks influence it - I've heard both 50% and 80%.

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@Nalkor, are you Nord? If you are, you only need a 100 enchanting magicka resist ring and necklace (25%) to be 100% resistant to frost. If you're a Breton, get magicka resistance 25% on ring, neck and shield and you are immune to everything.

[Sinogrim]

Daggers do not benefit from any one-handed skills or perks, stupidely enough.

You sure about that? The description says: The art of combat using one-handed weapons, such as daggers, swords, maces, and war axes. Those trained in this skill deliver deadlier blows.

I know bladesman doesn't affect daggers, but surely armsman does?

[Rincewind]

That's what people are saying on the intertubes. Apparently it is a bug, but I haven't used Daggers enough to be sure.

[Starblade]

Not at higher levels. You can do more damage faster when you're not in beast form, and it takes forever to change into beast form, so you have to plan it prior to going into combat. Also, you can't heal yourself while in beast form, so you die a lot easier.

You can heal by eating, and unless you're almost dead (in which case you're screwed anyway) it's usually a net gain. At level 30 or so it's still useful for me (again, just not against mages). I just one-shot a boss by pouncing on him and tearing his throat out!

I should try fighting a dragon as a werewolf some time.

[Malachi]

So, the Character Builder only builds you up to level 55, but there is no level cap in the game, right?

[Langy]

So, the Character Builder only builds you up to level 55, but there is no level cap in the game, right?

Correct.

You can heal by eating, and unless you're almost dead (in which case you're screwed anyway) it's usually a net gain. At level 30 or so it's still useful for me (again, just not against mages). I just one-shot a boss by pouncing on him and tearing his throat out!

I should try fighting a dragon as a werewolf some time.

It's not enough of a net gain, and level 30 isn't 'higher level'. It's 'middle level'.

Oh, and you lose all access to any enchantments and armor you had, so you have 0 damage resistance. That means most higher-level enemies can one-hit kill you while you're in beast form.

[Nalkor]

@Rincewind - As I've said before, Argonian. Histskin has saved my bacon numerous times against mages and bandits by simply out-healing their damage, or coming close enough to where finishing off a good chunk is very possible. It's ten-times regneration for one minute, not 100%, that's double, I'm talking 900% regeneration (1000% is 11 times, going off 100% being double) that very few enemies or bosses could outdo, and I'd be boned either way against those. Oh, I just took out Sigdis Gaulsomethingorother, his barrow is on an island near the rift imperial camp. Once you drop down the whole, you're committed to taking him down when you get to him, and he's the most annoying boss I've fought yet. Not hard, annoying. He teleports onto a platform and uses his bow and a fully charged FUS RO DAH to send you flying and then he and his two clones (the clones die in one hit, so bring a bow) hit you with arrows. With Daedric Armor, he's not very deadly at all, no shout, but it's part of another quest.

edit: Correction, Sigdis' area isn't near the camp, but the lake right where Ivarstead is. He's got a few Draugr Scourges and Deathlords in the dungeon too, incase anyone with a low-level character thinks of going in there.

[Starblade]

Oh, and you lose all access to any enchantments and armor you had, so you have 0 damage resistance. That means most higher-level enemies can one-hit kill you while you're in beast form.

If you're getting hit by melee weapons as the fastest thing on land you're doing something wrong. But then I usually dual wield instead of try and block anyway so I'm more used to dodging and evading.

It's not enough of a net gain, and level 30 isn't 'higher level'. It's 'middle level'.

What level are you? I've got a job and all but I've been no-lifing the shit out of Skyrim.

So, the Character Builder only builds you up to level 55, but there is no level cap in the game, right?

Bethesda suggested level 70 as the max level as that should be when all skills are 100 or so.

[Malachi]

Ah. So I can get both Bladesman and Dual Wielding perks, and maybe even pump up Archery some more. Thanks.

[Busby]

Hm question. I've gotten a little tired of my 2H warrior so I want to try a magic rouge. How useful is the bound weapon and magic armour spells? I'm thinking of making a conjuration/alteration/sneak/1h or a conjuration/light armour/sneak/1h rouge. Do the bound weapons count towards the weapon skill and do they do decent damage? Can you actually get ebonyflesh anywhere (that's 300 armour rating with the right perks)? I fancy roleplaying a bit and would like to avoid wearing armour and carrying visible weapons at all if possible.

[Shaitan]

The mathematical level cap is apparently 81.

[Shuma]

So turns out that there's a level above Draugr Deathlords, Draugr Death Overlords.

They're pussies, i just smashed his face in while i had a Draugr Deathlord(that i had not noticed) shooting arrows at my ass and while standing on one of those fire traps that shoot flames upwards if you stand on them and i still killed the Draugr Deathlord with over one quarter of health, legendary daedric armor is just lols.

Oh and i killed another Dragonpriest, this time in a cave but i had help from Lidya and a wizard you find in the cave, he went down pretty fast.

Edit:

By the way, i just noticed that if you go back to the greybeards and talk to... Whathisface he can tell you where there's dragon word wall things.

Edit:

http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/88...get-free-games

DUR HUR DUR HUR

[Grabnutz]

weird bug where someone stole Lydia off me. I was fighting against

Spoiler

the magical anomalies that attack Winterhold, bloody hard work killing all them...

and somehow after I was finished she was labeled as "wassisface's Lydia" as if whatshisname had summoned her. Couldn't talk to her, and she only followed thingamybob. Had to reload that bit and tell her to go wait away from the fight (since I managed to accidentally cut her head off the first time I played it too...)

[Nalkor]

Happened upon a nasty bug when learning Wuld. As I had Dragon Souls saved up, I unlocked Wuld from the Magic screen, and when Borri imparted his knowledge, it gave me the second word of Wuld, but it also prevented the gate from opening back up after I passed through it, preventing me from continuing.