Skyrim talk:One-handed

Archives
Archive 1: Nov 2011 - Feb 2012

What is Causing My Enemies to be Sent Flying?

I am at level 53 with 98 one-handed skill and I have strictly single-wielded wielded maces since the beginning of the game. Recently, within the last 3 or 4 levels (i.e. somewhere around level 49 or 50), and the last 10 or so one-handed skill levels (i.e. around 90 or so), I have noticed that the enemies now have a chance of being thrown a distance by a hit by my mace. It's the same mace I have used for the past 20 levels or so: an ebony mace with a 15% chance to paralyze enemies for 2 seconds (which actually seems kind of unfair because most of the time, once I paralyze an enemy they never get up again, being hit repeatedly while down and usually re-paralyzed, making most contests fairly easy). I don't understand what caused my enemies to suddenly start flying around. It is very violent; they will go spinning at a very high frequency and knocked up in the air 4 or 5 feet and sometimes to the left or right (in the direction of the mace swing) by 10 feet.

Is the effect of knocking an enemy a distance a function of a perk that I picked up, a one-handed skill level, a character level, or a combination of these, or possibly a combination of these in conjunction with the enchanted mace I am using, or maybe even a glitch? — Unsigned comment by 204.176.49.45 (talk) at 21:44 on 29 February 2012

I should note that I have every mace-related one-handed perk except for the last one, the chance to paralyze with a backwards strike, which requires one-handed level 100 and I'm only at 98, and furthermore, I probably won't take it anyway as my mace already does that. — Unsigned comment by 204.176.49.45 (talk) at 21:47 on 29 February 2012

It may just be because of the amount of overkill damage; same reason Giants are known to launch low-level PCs into space. I think extra damage is converted to momentum when something's killed. Is it when they die that they start flying, or do they still have health left when it happens? 74.162.82.110 06:53, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

My Bound Sword launches enemies all over the place when it kills them — Unsigned comment by 193.62.7.228 (talk) at 18:34 on 30 May 2012

I saw a vid of a guy hitting a mammoth with a warhammer that does over a million damage and it didn't fly. It's a glitch with the giants and not your weapon. — Unsigned comment by 67.174.27.1 (talk) at 06:27 on July 20, 2012

Pics or it didn't happen. Never heard of this happening at all. — Unsigned comment by 67.174.27.1 (talk) at 05:46 on 23 July 2012‎

I've had this happen to me as well, and after some experimentation, I'm fairly certain that the enchanted weapon is the problem, not anything else. I tried it successfully with all forms of one-handed weapons as well as greatswords, all enchanted with paralysis. What I think is happening is this: when the enemy gets paralyzed, if their character model is partially inside a solid object (take a closer look at someone's feet and you'll see that this is not all that uncommon in combat or on slopes), the game treats them like an inanimate object and tries to expel them from it. This also happens sometimes when casting Paralyze on a creature recovering its feet, e.g. from Unrelenting Force or another Paralyze. I'm almost certain that damage has nothing whatsoever to do with it, although maybe the Paralyzing Strike perk for One-Handed would affect it. I play on a console, though, so I haven't got any real proof of how or why this happens.

Can beheaded enemies be raised as zombies?

I recently tried to raise somebody that I'd decapitated, and nothing happened. It may be that the spell I was using just wasn't a high enough level (or my Conjuration skill wasn't high enough), but I'm not sure. Can somebody test this? 74.162.82.110 06:46, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

No they can't, it's mentioned on the Reanimate page. (Eddie The Head 06:48, 30 March 2012 (UTC))

just my two cents

did me some tests earlier and I thought I'd share what I found. I loaded up an old save from right after escaping helgen, used the console to go to the testing room, spawned a shadowmane to test on and tested to see how many hits it took me to hit the next level (at the time I was like halfway to 26)

it took me 8 hits to level using an iron dagger that gave 5 damage. it also took 8 hits to level using an iron dagger I fortified to be 12 damage. it took 3 hits to level using a daedric dagger that gave 12 damage.

I did these three tests all on master difficulty. I also did one more test cranking the difficulty to novice, it took 8 hits with the iron dagger to level.

conclusion: exp given is based on the base damage of a weapon, bonus damage from tempering the weapon does nothing for exp. grab yourself ebony or daedric weapons for grinding levels. exp gained is independant of difficulty level.

I'm currently wailing on my shadowmere in my main file with dual ebony daggers (stupid shop diddn't wanna sell me daedric) its leveling much faster using 13 damage ebonies in comparison to my 101 damage steels -.- I wasted so much time getting to level 70...

I'd also recommend riding shadowmere into the bottom of Volunruud, its mostly an enclosed area so theres no chance of shadowmere wantering off or like what happened earlier accidentally knocking him off a cliff (he was fine but i had to go after him...) — Unsigned comment by Chibois (talk • contribs) at 02:18 on June 29, 2012

Amsman %

On the last rank when it states that you do twice as much damage, is that 200%? — Unsigned comment by 67.174.27.1 (talk) at 04:51 on July 20, 2012

Not entirely sure what you mean. If you're asking if the last rank causes your weapons to deal 200% of their normal damage, then yes; if you mean 200% in addition to the normal damage, no. Felindre 18:07, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

100% more damage is, statistically, twice as much. 100% is base; if I improved your damage by twice as much, I'd be adding 100% damage, over the base. — Unsigned comment by 142.197.219.135 (talk) at 11:38 on 26 March 2013

Does Dual Flurry work with spells?

The page on Combat seems to imply that having a spell and a weapon equipped is considered as having a weapon in each hand, and that you would therefore attack more quickly with the weapon when you have the Dual Flurry perk. This isn't the way I've been reading the perk, but I may be wrong. Does a spell/weapon combo count as dual-wielding for the perk? Swk3000 16:31, 21 July 2012 (UTC)

As far as I know, the Dual Flurry perk only changes your off-hand weapon speed, double-atack speed, and the three hit combo. Your main-hand weapon and spell casting is not affected in any way 82.243.194.53 21:36, 21 July 2012 (UTC)

To clarify: I'm not concerned with how Dual Flurry afects spells or main-hand weapon speed. What I'm wanting to know is if the game considers someone with a spell in one hand and a weapon in the other hand to be dual-wielding. I would imagine not, but the Combat page seemed to imply that it does. Swk3000 20:53, 25 July 2012 (UTC)

So no-one knows the answer to this? Swk3000 (talk) 15:40, 14 December 2012 (GMT)

No, the game does not consider a spellsword to be dual-wielding. There are alas no perks to benefit those of us who like to fight this way as far as I can tell. Let me know if you find one. --Morrolan (talk) 19:08, 1 January 2013 (GMT)

Fortify one handed damage for daggers...

Hi, I've been running around for the past 30 levels with a ring of wielding while dual wielding daggers... But I just recently tested the affect of the ring and it has no affect on the daggers... I just want to know if i am not seeing things entirely or is there another route of buffing up my damage with dual daggers... Any help is appreciated. Thanks. — Unsigned comment by 67.173.124.95 (talk) at 01:35 on 26 July 2012

The only way to increase dagger damage is through tempering. They are not governed by any skill. The Silencer speaks^Talk 00:37, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

Not true. Daggers are a One-Handed weapon. If you take a rank in Armsman, you will see a damage increase with any Daggers you use. In addition, Smithing and Enchanting will boost your damage. Finally, if you don't mind taking advantage of a glitch, any Fortify Archery effect will boost your damage with daggers as well. The only thing that doesn't affect Daggers is the Fortify One-Handed enchantment. Swk3000 21:02, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

The above statement is false, while skills in the one handed skill tree do affect dagger damage, as well as tempering and enchanting; Fortify archery does NOT affect dagger damage. I have several pieces of gear with fortify archery enchantments on it and when taking them off my daggers do the same amount of damage as they do when I have all of my gear equipped. As far as I know, there are no fortify enchantments that increase dagger damage other than elemental destruction enchantments placed on the dagger itself.67.236.253.92 10:08, 16 October 2012 (GMT)

To clarify - Fortify Marksmen potions are glitched and will increase the damage of all weapons, daggers included. No "Fortify" enchantments affect dagger damage, though I'd strongly recommend visiting the Dawnstar Sanctuary for a pair of nice gloves that can be useful for dagger wielders -HK 87.86.169.66 12:49, 5 December 2012 (GMT)

The latest version of the unofficial patch does make fortify 1H work for daggers. — Unsigned comment by 68.111.184.195 (talk) at 16:56 on 24 June 2013

(←) The above statement is false. I have the latest patch and fortify 1h still doesn't work with daggers — Unsigned comment by 174.229.194.154 (talk) at 03:52 on 7 February 2014‎

That's funny, because I also have the latest patches (both official and USKP), and Fortify One-handed enchantments definitely increase my legendary dragonbone dagger's damage rating, boosting it from 219 to 359. When you say "latest patch", do you mean official or USKP? --Xyzzy ^Talk 05:38, 7 February 2014 (GMT)

newest version, can not make stagger attack in dual wielding power attacks (3hits)

newest version(1.7), can not make a stagger attack in dual wielding power attacks — Unsigned comment by 118.144.111.157 (talk) at 07:07 on 12 August 2012‎

Bone Breaker perk note - moved from article

• The armor-ignoring effect of Bone Breaker is almost completely irrelevant because most enemies are lightly armored. Even heavy armored enemies frequently have no armor skill, no armor perks and no armor upgrades, so an opponent clad full in Daedric Armor will have 49+18+18+23=108 armor rating, which gives him a negligible damage reduction.
  • Misleading. Look up armor. NPC armor skill coefficient is 1.5 compared to PC .4. This makes armor perks less important for NPC's. However, this will only matter if they have an armor skill.

I am moving this note to the talk page because the article is not the place for a debate. This note needs to be verified and reworded. --Xyzzy^Talk 14:22, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

According to the description of how the calculation for armor (and other skills) goes, it is pretty accurate. It would be good to list a few actual armor ratings of enemies found in the game (don't know if there is something like getarmor in the console) to see what their actual armor rating is. If their armor can reach 400 or more than the bonebreaker perk is very useful, as it could even double the damage on some armored foes. --Skyhirider 15:46, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

The Dremora Lord in Daedric armor probably has the highest armor rating of any NPC enemy and the console reveals it to be a rather unimpressive 193. When you consider how many enemies don't even have armor rating (Dragons, Trolls, Giants, Draugr, wild animals etc.) and how low the armor rating for those who have it is, there's nothing really impressive about this perk set compared to the other weapon perk sets.--DagmarH (talk) 03:36, 4 September 2012 (EDT)

I think everything in the game has a resist damage rating regardless if it actually wears armor or not. I think the perk effects this similar to the marked for death shout. Even if it doesn't, a 190 armor rating is still stopping about a third of damage and bypassing that is signifigant, especially at higher difficulty ratings. 68.33.72.213 16:47, 6 March 2014 (GMT)

(←) It seems to me that the original note and the subnote that was added are both highly opinionated and should not be added back in any similar form. If someone can definitely determine, preferably in the game data, that the perk does indeed negate some hidden damage multiplier/damage resistance, and not just actual armor rating, then this could be noted in the article. Otherwise, we should probably just end this discussion. --Xyzzy ^Talk 18:47, 6 March 2014 (GMT)

something still needs to be added to the main page, even if its just that the aspects of the perk are in dispute. leaving it out just seems lazy and confusing for those reading the preceding article. something even if its just a reference to it under discussion in the talk page.

Savage Strike Perk For Dual Wielding Question

I was just wondering if the savage strike animation and 25% dmg boost work for dual weapons. I'm specifically trying to find out if they work for dual daggers. Thanks. — Unsigned comment by 67.173.124.95 (talk) at 04:37 on 29 September 2012‎

This is a belated response, but just to add to the IP's observation, I'm noticing the same thing with dual-wielding maces...Savage Strike never seems to kick in. I haven't beheaded anybody after countless combats. I don't believe I'm getting a damage boost from it either, though that's less clear. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 07:26, 19 March 2013 (GMT)

Indeed, after a bit of testing it appears that you can't decapitate someone while dual wielding with a mace, whether it's your main weapon, left-hand weapon or you're dual-wielding two of them. This is odd considering that you can decapitate someone with just a mace or a mace and shield, and that you can decapitate people while dual-wielding axes even though maces and axes share all their animations. Don't really have an answer for the damage boost, it seems consistent to me but I play on PS3 so I can't have the numbers displayed for more precision. Elakyn (talk) 14:40, 19 March 2013 (GMT)

Necromage and Dual Flurry

Here we have a character who took necromage and became a vampire before taking dual flurry[1]

Here we have a character with just dual flurry[2]

I used bound swords for the demonstration as they're flashy and easy to see and aren't compatable with the elemental fury shout.--Vukodlak (talk) 18:10, 26 October 2012 (GMT)

This is due to the restoration glitch. This can be recreated without being a vampire, simply by drinking a fortify restoration potion and, whilst under it's affects, taking the dual flurry perk. Some useful info here: Perks Affected by Necromage -HK 87.86.169.66 13:20, 5 December 2012 (GMT)

Hack 'n' Slash Notes

In the notes section is essentially says that the bleeding effect of Hack 'n' Slash both does and does not stack. Well, which is it? — Unsigned comment by 2.216.124.91 (talk) at 14:21 on 7 December 2012‎

Based on syntax, it sounds like the "Hack and Slash" damage over time is unique (or can be considered unique) per weapon. So you cannot stack three times from a daedric war axe (for example) on a singular enemy, but you can stack one each of, say, daedric, steel, and glass waraxe bleeds. Don't see how that's useful unless you want to dual-wield two war axes. 121.75.94.131 08:36, 19 June 2013 (GMT)

Hack and Slash stacks. I've corrected the page to reflect this, using the exact same wording that's used to describe Limbsplitter on the two-handed page. Each time you hit the enemy, a new stack is added that has its own timer. I have tested this personally, but you can just look at the magic effect in the Creation Kit and plainly see from its flags that it will stack. I have no idea how someone got the idea that it required you to switch material types, but it wasn't from testing the perk.SushiSquid (talk) 02:50, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

Does Fighting Your Own Conjured Creatures Raise XP?

The note on the page says yes, but I thought I read somewhere that it does not in Skyrim. --JR (talk) 15:44, 16 December 2012 (GMT)

From what I remember, it didn't in Oblivion. However it seems to grant XP in Skyrim, I seem to remember leveling combat skills while accidentally smiting my own atronachs. --Morrolan (talk) 19:11, 1 January 2013 (GMT)

Bladesman notes

The claim in the notes that Bladesman damage is minimal appears extremely suspect to me based on my experience in the game. I'm on XBox so I don't have direct access to the numbers behind combat damage, but my bladesman characters seem to do significantly greater damage on critical hits, comparable to sneak attack critical hits. --Morrolan (talk) 19:43, 1 January 2013 (GMT)

What in Skyrim Can Affect Unarmed Combat?

I have been searching the internet for more information on this, and I can barely find anything. I have read that unarmed is goverened by one-handed skills, since it's two seperate fists. I'm not too sure about that, since I do recall seeing my two-handed skill increase in past boxing matches. But that may have been patched. What with Gloves of the Pugilist and the Fists of Steel perk being the only attainable things that fortify a player's unarmed damage, besides being an Argonian or Khajit, I wondered if anything else I may have missed might affect it. Fortify One-Handed potions? The Dual Fury/Dual Savagery perks? Since a Fortify potion counts as Restoration magic, would the Necromage exploit work? What do you guys think? -Kylaen, 2:34 PM EST, 2/10/2013

See here. --JR (talk) 01:45, 11 February 2013 (GMT)

There is a Fortify Unarmed enchantment. As far as I know it is only found on the Gloves of the Pugilist carried by a person in the Ratway Sewers under Riften. Simply kill him, then take the gloves to an enchanting table. 70.112.30.115 21:33, 5 January 2014 (GMT)

Correct. These gloves do boost your unarmed damage. I will edit the Combat article to reflect this. As far as the other perks, I don't think they have any effect on unarmed combat. --Xyzzy ^Talk 02:26, 7 January 2014 (GMT)

edit reasons and summary

• torches can Only be used in offhand as a shield unless there's some hidden user interface i don't know, this info should be (and already is) in blocks page
• there are dual wield finishing moves.
• the perk comparison is flawed as all block perks except shield charge are good for 2h weapons (or needed for other useful perks) as well, also this is all info that tells a reader how to specifically plays the game. perk infos are already available for reader to draw their own conclusions.— Unsigned comment by Dawn (talk • contribs) on 4 March 2013

Deflect Arrows and Elemental Protection do not apply to weapons either, and you can use an exploit to make Shield Charge work with weapons and torches, but that's not really the point. If you don't count said exploit, someone using a two-handed weapon has no reason to waste 3 perks from which they won't benefit. I guess you could still take Elemental Protection and Deflect Arrows if you really want Block Runner, but that's still 2 perks lost for little benefit. I agree with the other changes you made, but this part should be restored and, if possible, improved. 92.134.250.196 09:24, 4 March 2013 (GMT)

Personally i find, +game mechanics perks (such as block runner) very very useful, but a wiki should stay away from personal preferences. All the perk infos are already available and reader can draw their own conclusions. Dawn (talk) 06:29, 5 March 2013 (GMT)

Max XP gain - copied from article

• Wielding a Dragonbone dagger in the left (off hand) and a Dragonbone Mace in the right hand and dual striking (non-power attack) will net the most experience per second. The off hand weapon dictates the striking speed off a double attack. Combining this with the Dual Fury perks will further enhance the XP per second. Combining Dual Furry perks with the Elemental Furry shout and the Dragonbone Dagger/Dragonbone Mace combination will garner the highest XP per second.
• Dual wielding power attacks will not increase the the XP per blow since XP is earned based on weapon damage, not the extra damage done from the power attach.

I cleaned up these entries, but am now doubting if I interpreted them correctly. Specifically, the original editor said that "dual striking (non-power attack) will net the experience per second," which I changed to "performing a dual-wield, triple-strike power attack (holding down both attack buttons simultaneously) with them will net the most experience per second." Can somebody verify which one is correct? I believe that a power attack does not increase XP gain over a normal attack, as per the second sentence, but I think the dual-wield power attack is a special case, since it doesn't strike a heavier blow, but instead adds the 3rd strike. --Xyzzy ^Talk 14:46, 16 June 2013 (GMT)

Tested in-game: using the dual-wield simultaneous non-power attack nets more experience than the dual-wield 3-strike power attack. I will update the article accordingly. --Xyzzy ^Talk 04:31, 29 October 2013 (GMT)

Dual Power Attacks

It should be added that in a dual wielding power attack that the left weapon strikes twice, the first blow and the third. This means that the smartest dual combination, if you use a lot of dual attacks and not single weapon attacks, is to put the weapon with the most damage in the left hand. This is especially true for dual sneak power attacks, because you can put your strongest dagger in your left hand and get the x15 bonus twice. 71.22.126.11 20:08, 26 July 2013 (GMT)

Are you sure? It seems to me that both weapons strike twice during dual wield power attack-first left,then right,then both. — Unsigned comment by Madloki78 (talk • contribs) at 21:28 on 31 July 2013

Dual wielding and weapon speed not functioning as it did

For the bugs listing, the part where it said that "some weapon from DLCs will not work properly with dual flurry" is confirmed, I have the same issue. I maxed out the dual wielding perk to level 2 and when using dragonbone swords, the sword(s) attacked TOO SLOW. It worked for weapons not part of any DLCs, but for dragonbone weaponry and other content weaponry, it was way too slow to even use (in fact the only one-armed perks that applied to content weaponry was the damage perk. Other than that the weapon speed just minimized almost 100%). There were no use of any skill perk mods or mods that affect weaponry. — Unsigned comment by 130.157.51.157 (talk) at 06:50 on 9 March 2014‎

More / Faster / Less than what?

The perk descriptions say things like "One-Handed weapons do 20% more damage." More damage than what? More than they did before the perk was applied? More than when they were new? More than the same weapon wielded by someone without perks? Without clarification these descriptions convey very little useful information. This being a wiki, I would fix them, but I don't know the mechanic actually works. Can someone please explain? 71.102.137.62 19:14, 30 June 2014 (GMT)

More damage than they did before the perk was applied. So, if the weapon dealt 100 damage before the perk was applied, it will now deal 120 damage. The descriptions shouldn't be modified, as they are copied directly from the game, and we generally don't correct text from the game, even in the case of spelling errors. --AN|L (talk) 20:37, 30 June 2014 (GMT)

Thank you for the explanation. TC (talk) 17:34, 1 July 2014 (GMT)

Gaining Skill xp by skill increase

Do you gain more skill xp at a higher skill level? Because the damage seems to be slightly increasing when leveling up the skill. The article doesn't specify that. It says that no additional xp is gained by enchanting, skill perks and tempering. It doesn't say anything about the skill level itself. — Unsigned comment by 93.220.54.154 (talk) at 20:40 on 13 September 2014

Xp gained is based on damage done, so as you level up you do more damage. It is an indirect effect of increased skill levels. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 22:01, 13 September 2014 (GMT)

dual flurry

When a dual wield power attack is executed, does every one of those strikes count independently when getting the xp or only once since it is a power attack.

Faster attack speed after a power attack

I noticed that after performing a standing power attack your next two regular attacks will be noticeably faster than usual. It happens without any special input, just by jamming the attack button after performing the power attack, and can be chained(power attack, 2x faster attack, power attack, 2x faster attack, etc.).

I tested this with all four kinds of melee weapons and all seem to benefit from it, even daggers. It's so consistent that it even happens with Dual Flurry, though at that point it becomes much harder to execute because it becomes difficult to click fast enough. It doesn't work at all with two-handed weapons.

Can anyone else confirm? The only "mod" I'm using is the Unofficial Skyrim Patch. 178.183.4.97 09:22, 6 January 2015 (GMT)

Yes, I don't know which power attacks cause this, but I can say that this holds truth ~ Dwarfmp (talk) 22:09, 19 January 2015 (GMT)

"Critical Charge" + "Dual flurry" perk bug, very fast swinging and movement

(I assume it is a bug) Things you need: best unenchanted and non-upgraded sword you have (dragonbone is best), any dagger, both dual flurry perks, and critical charge perk

Hold dagger in left hand, don't bother using it unless it's for soul trap or something. Sword in right hand.

Hold sprint and rapidly swing sword, not power attack. Elemental fury shout works wonders for this.

I don't know if this works on unmodded Skyrim, I have the unofficial patches installed. The speed of the sword seems to rely on the speed of the dagger or whatever is in your left hand, which it isn't supposed to do unless you are swinging both at the same time, the dual flurry bug. I assume you aren't supposed to be able to sprint and swing without using the power attack, the critical charge bug. It doesn't work without critical charge, instead your character will stop sprinting and swing like normal. It sometimes works without dual flurry but it is not as fast. It doesn't work with maces. This setup makes your character charge forward a few meters with every swing, and it is somewhat faster than normally sprinting, and doesn't use any extra stamina. Using this on a stationary enemy for xp is difficult, just aim at the center of their body and that should work. I would edit this in myself, but I can't confirm it works on vanilla because I have the unofficial Skyrim patches. --67.1.111.81 00:48, 20 January 2015 (GMT)

Bladesman 1 (0% crit damage?)

This one is a little hard to parse. Does this mean BM1 does zero extra critical damage, or any extra damage period, and the only benefit is the 10% increased chance to land base crits? The *says > * The bonus damage is calculated using the base damage of the weapon.. Which, in the case of BM1, is 0. When you see 0%, that could potentially be interpreted as you are not getting any bonus damage of any kind, which is not the case of course.

Maybe that should be changed to read (Base, or standard Crit Damage) and drop the 0% out of it. Either way, while it is clear what is going on under the hood, the explanations in English, are quite vague. I am re-wording these perks texts for a mod, and Im am still trying to think of a way to convey these 3 perks effects, while keeping it as short, and informative, as possible. — Unsigned comment by 24.68.19.13 (talk) at 14:04 on 10 May 2020

Bone Breaker actually pretty good

Tested this out today, and I was getting ~40% extra damage against bandit chiefs and the like; probably even more against enemies like the Ebony Warrior. Super good perk!