Not sure which weapon to choose - 1H Sword and a Shield / 2H Sword

AmitM9S6

I currently have a lvl 12 Nord, which use 2H sword, and I enjoy him a lot...
but I feel kinda weak.. and my 2H skills are kinda... "not fun"...
Maybe the game is suppost to be like that, but I mainly think about playing either
1H and a shield or 2H Sword.
Also, I have the Imperial Edition...

Which one should I play ?

I love doing lots of dmg, yet I dont love dying in a sec... (Need the balance betwen dmg and tankyness, yet still need to do some good dmg)..

What you think fits for me ?

Also, do 2H Sword do more dmg then 1H Swords? or it isnt that noticeable?
and yet, 1H Sword and a Shield, are way more tanky?

I'd appreciate tips too (I'm a begginer, playing for about 10 days).

Thanks!

Artemiisia

dont know if you use it, but start using right mouse click when you can see mobs getting ready to attack you with like knockbacks, they have similar animations.

At lvl 15 you will be able to have 2 sets of weapons for weapon swapping, if you like the 2hander use it I would suggest still, have fun with it.

and have another weapon for second, with more survivability like restro staff, where you can heal yourself, just by swapping weapon in fight.

Artemiisia

restro staff is also extremely good for high single target dps and boss fights

AmitM9S6

Artemiisia wrote: »

dont know if you use it, but start using right mouse click when you can see mobs getting ready to attack you with like knockbacks, they have similar animations.

At lvl 15 you will be able to have 2 sets of weapons for weapon swapping, if you like the 2hander use it I would suggest still, have fun with it.

and have another weapon for second, with more survivability like restro staff, where you can heal yourself, just by swapping weapon in fight.

If I will have a Healing Staff, wont I need a skill in order to heal my self ?
How does this work ? and Why is it better then my normal 2H sword for single target and boss? I am a warrior, not a mage!

Also, if you'd be able to answer my questions(about the dmg and tankyness betwen 1h and 2H), It'd be really wonderful

Thanks!

Artemiisia

yeah if you use healing staff, you will need to put skill points into that weapon line as well to be able to heal yourself. for low level rapid generations or mutagen is enough for self heal, then you can put any of your other racial skill in that bar as well to make a high single target dps build, the passives in resto staff is hard hitting

I have seen tanks using either 2h and 1h and shield, but the best tanks ingame is using 1hand and shield for sure. Right now 1hand and shield is also best of the two for dmg as well.

Though there are some fun skill in 2hander like uppercut which is hard hitting but not rewarding enough for long fights

Neferath

Yes wielding a 2handed sword and using the weapon based skills you will deal more dmg just like wielding a 1handed sword + board will increase your "tankiness".

But these things arent affected by your weapon choice only but also by the type of and / or combination of armor you wear. Beginning with the armor type itself and all the passives that come with this type, over to your enchantments ending with the traits they have. Just like the mundus stone you have choosen affects these things too or your attributes will since your max stam has an impact of your max melee dmg just like your max magice has an impact on the max magical dmg.

And another yes, using a resto staff you'll have to use resto staff skills in order to heal yourself or others, but since the weapon swap at lvl 15 also prvoides you a second skillbar to place your very own skill setup for this particular weapon too, this should'nt be an issue.

AmitM9S6

Artemiisia wrote: »

yeah if you use healing staff, you will need to put skill points into that weapon line as well to be able to heal yourself. for low level rapid generations or mutagen is enough for self heal, then you can put any of your other racial skill in that bar as well to make a high single target dps build, the passives in resto staff is hard hitting

I have seen tanks using either 2h and 1h and shield, but the best tanks ingame is using 1hand and shield for sure. Right now 1hand and shield is also best of the two for dmg as well.

Though there are some fun skill in 2hander like uppercut which is hard hitting but not rewarding enough for long fights

So you're saying 1H and a sword is more tanky, and also STRONGER then 2H ?

andre.roques.3b14_ESO

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

So you're saying 1H and a sword is more tanky, and also STRONGER then 2H ?

Sword and Shield is the only weapon line that provides a taunt. It should and is more resilient because of the extra armor from the shield and the passives affecting survivability. 2H should be able to put out more damage.

Nestor

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

I currently have a lvl 12 Nord, which use 2H sword, and I enjoy him a lot...
but I feel kinda weak.. and my 2H skills are kinda... "not fun"...
Maybe the game is suppost to be like that, but I mainly think about playing either
1H and a shield or 2H Sword.
Also, I have the Imperial Edition...

Which one should I play ?

You can block with any weapon, but 1H/S has some nice Perks to make Blocking really worthwhile. I can just about mitigate any real damage to my character with a Shield and some passives that improve Block. And, Deadly Bash is almost like Dual Wield. Hit them with the Sword, hit them with the Shield, rinse repeat. When I get that rhythm down in a Stamina based fight, it's quickly over.

Passives are the key to using a shield to success in this game, that and Stamina Passives (which means Medium Armor or Imperial Race, or both)

And you get an extra item to Enchant and Trait or to use in a Crafted Set that you don't get with a Staff or Bow or 2H

Two Handed is just to slow to be effective, at least for me it is. This coming from someone who respecc'd his NB from 2H to 1H/S after getting 2H up to level 36. This comes from someone who never uses 1H/S in any other TES game, I almost always use 2H in the other games.

TehMagnus

I used 2H till VR12 on my DK before going caster, it's not that bad(Damage is extremely bad though). I've only used the invasion skill of 1h&Sbin PVP to engage but I supose that in PVE 1H&S is mainly for tanking so you will do even less dmg to bosses with it.

For extra dmg and nice skills I'd sugest Dual Wield.

For best damage leveling up just get a staf and the staf skills ^^

kitsinni

As far as damage is concerned 2 hand is going to do much more damage. You can also block with a two hander. The shield might provide additional armor enough to maybe have you take 1% less damage. Personally I see no reason to do 1 hand and shield unless you plan to tank. The damage and abilities are pretty bad.

zgrssd

1h+Shield = Tank Weaponry.
Taunt, debuffs, extra armor.

2H = Stamina DPS weaponry. Mediocrily affected by weapon type.
Focus on knocks, movement, aoe.

Dual Wield = other Stamina DPS weaponry. Slightly affected by weapon type. Fast, with focus execute strikes.

Note that overall Stamina skills are not as powerfull as mana skills. It's an old bug and only now did the got class balance far enough to change anything there. It will only get better.
Also note that sets are due to change when 1.3 goes live.


Armor choice:
medium = Stamina DPS armor. Extra crit, More stamian Regen, Stealth bonus

Heavy = priamrily tank armor.
The active abilities morph and one passive can boost damage. The combination of high armor, decent damage boosts makes this very intersting for solo DPS builds.
2H in particular can make good use of it.

Don't forget to mix in class skills or some other mana dumps.

AmitM9S6

Nestor wrote: »

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

I currently have a lvl 12 Nord, which use 2H sword, and I enjoy him a lot...
but I feel kinda weak.. and my 2H skills are kinda... "not fun"...
Maybe the game is suppost to be like that, but I mainly think about playing either
1H and a shield or 2H Sword.
Also, I have the Imperial Edition...

Which one should I play ?

You can block with any weapon, but 1H/S has some nice Perks to make Blocking really worthwhile. I can just about mitigate any real damage to my character with a Shield and some passives that improve Block. And, Deadly Bash is almost like Dual Wield. Hit them with the Sword, hit them with the Shield, rinse repeat. When I get that rhythm down in a Stamina based fight, it's quickly over.

Passives are the key to using a shield to success in this game, that and Stamina Passives (which means Medium Armor or Imperial Race, or both)

And you get an extra item to Enchant and Trait or to use in a Crafted Set that you don't get with a Staff or Bow or 2H

Two Handed is just to slow to be effective, at least for me it is. This coming from someone who respecc'd his NB from 2H to 1H/S after getting 2H up to level 36. This comes from someone who never uses 1H/S in any other TES game, I almost always use 2H in the other games.

Wow, you sound exactly like me.
In all of the history of my gaming, I've never took a shield, allways 2H!
And this game actually makes me wondering about getting a shield...

AmitM9S6

magnusnet wrote: »

I used 2H till VR12 on my DK before going caster, it's not that bad(Damage is extremely bad though). I've only used the invasion skill of 1h&Sbin PVP to engage but I supose that in PVE 1H&S is mainly for tanking so you will do even less dmg to bosses with it.

For extra dmg and nice skills I'd sugest Dual Wield.

For best damage leveling up just get a staf and the staf skills ^^

I only wish to focus on PVE..

But is the dmg different betwen 1H and 2H that big? or pretty little ?
I've seen 1H skills do more dmg then 2H...

NorthernFury

2H sword may seem better for now, but it doesn't scale.

1H + shield ends up being more survivable and doing almost as much damage when you get higher, so I'd stick with that, unless you want to go light armor + staff.

kitsinni

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

magnusnet wrote: »

I used 2H till VR12 on my DK before going caster, it's not that bad(Damage is extremely bad though). I've only used the invasion skill of 1h&Sbin PVP to engage but I supose that in PVE 1H&S is mainly for tanking so you will do even less dmg to bosses with it.

For extra dmg and nice skills I'd sugest Dual Wield.

For best damage leveling up just get a staf and the staf skills ^^

I only wish to focus on PVE..

But is the dmg different betwen 1H and 2H that big? or pretty little ?
I've seen 1H skills do more dmg then 2H...

Against a single target not as big as multiple targets. At lower levels it is hard to notice much difference. 2 Hand is used a lot for hitting multiple targets.

You may want to look at dual wield it will do a lot more damage than sword and shield and still gives you the extra slot to enchant. It has good single target and good multiple target skills.

AmitM9S6

kitsinni wrote: »

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

magnusnet wrote: »

I used 2H till VR12 on my DK before going caster, it's not that bad(Damage is extremely bad though). I've only used the invasion skill of 1h&Sbin PVP to engage but I supose that in PVE 1H&S is mainly for tanking so you will do even less dmg to bosses with it.

For extra dmg and nice skills I'd sugest Dual Wield.

For best damage leveling up just get a staf and the staf skills ^^

I only wish to focus on PVE..

But is the dmg different betwen 1H and 2H that big? or pretty little ?
I've seen 1H skills do more dmg then 2H...

Against a single target not as big as multiple targets. At lower levels it is hard to notice much difference. 2 Hand is used a lot for hitting multiple targets.

You may want to look at dual wield it will do a lot more damage than sword and shield and still gives you the extra slot to enchant. It has good single target and good multiple target skills.

but I thought Dual Wield dies fast, no ?

Neferath

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

I only wish to focus on PVE..

But is the dmg different betwen 1H and 2H that big? or pretty little ?
I've seen 1H skills do more dmg then 2H...

It's more a question of skill combinations rather than single skill dmg.

Shieldbash (1h+board)as an example will grant you a higher dps than the uppercut (2h) since you are able to hit more often with the bash than you can with the uppercut during the same time. But if you combine several 2h skills you'll still end up in killing npc's faster. A valid option here would be 1st. momentum, 2nd critical charge, 3rd uppercut, 4th enemy most likely dead.

kitsinni

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

kitsinni wrote: »

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

magnusnet wrote: »

I used 2H till VR12 on my DK before going caster, it's not that bad(Damage is extremely bad though). I've only used the invasion skill of 1h&Sbin PVP to engage but I supose that in PVE 1H&S is mainly for tanking so you will do even less dmg to bosses with it.

For extra dmg and nice skills I'd sugest Dual Wield.

For best damage leveling up just get a staf and the staf skills ^^

I only wish to focus on PVE..

But is the dmg different betwen 1H and 2H that big? or pretty little ?
I've seen 1H skills do more dmg then 2H...

Against a single target not as big as multiple targets. At lower levels it is hard to notice much difference. 2 Hand is used a lot for hitting multiple targets.

You may want to look at dual wield it will do a lot more damage than sword and shield and still gives you the extra slot to enchant. It has good single target and good multiple target skills.

but I thought Dual Wield dies fast, no ?

I don't see why they would die any faster than anything else. You can still block with dual wield and 1h/Shield is going to make almost no difference unless you are blocking attacks anyway.

AmitM9S6

kitsinni wrote: »

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

kitsinni wrote: »

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

magnusnet wrote: »

I used 2H till VR12 on my DK before going caster, it's not that bad(Damage is extremely bad though). I've only used the invasion skill of 1h&Sbin PVP to engage but I supose that in PVE 1H&S is mainly for tanking so you will do even less dmg to bosses with it.

For extra dmg and nice skills I'd sugest Dual Wield.

For best damage leveling up just get a staf and the staf skills ^^

I only wish to focus on PVE..

But is the dmg different betwen 1H and 2H that big? or pretty little ?
I've seen 1H skills do more dmg then 2H...

Against a single target not as big as multiple targets. At lower levels it is hard to notice much difference. 2 Hand is used a lot for hitting multiple targets.

You may want to look at dual wield it will do a lot more damage than sword and shield and still gives you the extra slot to enchant. It has good single target and good multiple target skills.

but I thought Dual Wield dies fast, no ?

I don't see why they would die any faster than anything else. You can still block with dual wield and 1h/Shield is going to make almost no difference unless you are blocking attacks anyway.

but Shield gives you armor..
So 2H Sword and Dual Wield will die at the same rate (AKA - they are both having the same "tankyness") ?

Kos

what class are you playing?

Nestor

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

but I thought Dual Wield dies fast, no ?

I only do PvE, so I base some of my character choices on what I face in the game. Basically I love facing Dual Wield Enemies as they are the easiest to kill and do the least damage to me. I actually smile when I see them in a mob as I know this fight is over before it starts.

So I have never rolled a Dual Wield just because of how weak the ones I face are. It has to be better when a player picks this as so many people love to have this as a weapon choice.

Artemiisia

lol no, you cant tank with duel wield

theyancey

Imps get bonus s&b xp so I have one of those.

AmitM9S6

Kos wrote: »

what class are you playing?

I'm currently a Dragonknight Nord with 2H.
Thinking about making an Imperial.

By the way, I barely use the block (right click), I just dont like it.. so Shield is useless to me, and I should go for Dual Wield ?

kitsinni

Armor is more or less a joke in this game the amount of armor you get from a shield will probably reduce the damage you take by 1%.

Shield is going to do almost nothing on its own, it only becomes effective when you start to block heavy attacks. 1h/Shield has passives which boost blocking but still only if you actually block. You can block heavy attacks with any weapon, dual wield, 2 hand even a staff.

Shield starts to shine when you have someone healing you and you are blocking the majority of damage from a boss.

I think everything else being equal 2 Hand, dual wield would die at the same rate and 1h shield would die 1% slower if you are not actively blocking.

This isn't like other games where you just have a chance to block from holding a shield you have to actively do it.

Neferath

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

Kos wrote: »

what class are you playing?

I'm currently a Dragonknight Nord with 2H.
Thinking about making an Imperial.

By the way, I barely use the block (right click), I just dont like it.. so Shield is useless to me, and I should go for Dual Wield ?

You'll need to block often at higher lvls anyways regardles of if you like it or have a shield equiped or not

Artemiisia

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

Kos wrote: »

what class are you playing?

I'm currently a Dragonknight Nord with 2H.
Thinking about making an Imperial.

By the way, I barely use the block (right click), I just dont like it.. so Shield is useless to me, and I should go for Dual Wield ?

u might as well getting use to use block, with any weapon you use, or you will start losing fights in the long run, where block simply is needed, and even if you wanna be a tank in groups, you will need to use both block and interupt right/left click or keybind that to a single action key, I use V for it.

Nestor

Bash (both mouse buttons at once) to Interrupt a spell is a quite effective tactic in a fight, and quite frankly the only way to take down a healer sometimes.

AmitM9S6

kitsinni wrote: »

Armor is more or less a joke in this game the amount of armor you get from a shield will probably reduce the damage you take by 1%.

Shield is going to do almost nothing on its own, it only becomes effective when you start to block heavy attacks. 1h/Shield has passives which boost blocking but still only if you actually block. You can block heavy attacks with any weapon, dual wield, 2 hand even a staff.

Shield starts to shine when you have someone healing you and you are blocking the majority of damage from a boss.

I think everything else being equal 2 Hand, dual wield would die at the same rate and 1h shield would die 1% slower if you are not actively blocking.

This isn't like other games where you just have a chance to block from holding a shield you have to actively do it.

Thank you so much for your comment, you cant belive how much you've helped me.

So I assume, the dmg output goes like this : Dual Wield -> 2H Sword -> 1H Sword

Where Dual Wield / 2H Sword die at the same rate, and 1H Sword can be tankier if you're blocking well.

Am I right ?

Also, what would you recomend me to do ?
Open a Dual Wield ? (if so, which race/class and such)
Keep my 2H Dragonknight Nord?
Or maybe even open a 1H Sword and Shield Imperial? (though by your comments, it looks like there wont be any different in the dmg by my Nord, and since I dont like blocking, there will barely be any noticeable in the armor too)

p_tsakirisb16_ESO

AmitM9S6rwb17_ESO wrote: »

I currently have a lvl 12 Nord, which use 2H sword, and I enjoy him a lot...
but I feel kinda weak.. and my 2H skills are kinda... "not fun"...
Maybe the game is suppost to be like that, but I mainly think about playing either
1H and a shield or 2H Sword.
Also, I have the Imperial Edition...

Which one should I play ?

I love doing lots of dmg, yet I dont love dying in a sec... (Need the balance betwen dmg and tankyness, yet still need to do some good dmg)..

What you think fits for me ?

Also, do 2H Sword do more dmg then 1H Swords? or it isnt that noticeable?
and yet, 1H Sword and a Shield, are way more tanky?

I'd appreciate tips too (I'm a begginer, playing for about 10 days).

Thanks!

Mate, at level 15 you shouldn't haven an issue. Yes, you do not have that many abilities unlocked at the moment, but believe me, 2H is not as bad as you think.

I ran a 2H stamina build with my Templar, between 1.1.2 and pre 1.2.3 at VR2-8.
(anyone played that period remembers how tough was to kill 3 VR trash mobs with stamina build)

While PvE was challenging and "impossible difficulty" on, was pretty awesome experience.

Also my level 13 Khajiit NB is wielding 2H weapon, and he will never go to another one weapon. Wait until you get Momentum and Executioner. That is where all the fun begins.

Finally another thing. Anyone who has managed to kill my Templar, carried a 2H weapon and "pulled his tail" with Stampede -> Uppercut -> Double executioner, while Momentum was on.


If you go the Shield route you need to use more magicka class abilities after the Stun openers.