Melee attacks: How long to hold the mouse down? Does it even matter?

GrimCyclone

Hey guys,

So, I know there are basically two different types of melee attacks. Light attacks are when you simply click the left mouse, and heavy attacks are when you hold the mouse button down for a period of time.

Here's the thing though, how much damage do light attacks do versus heavy attacks? And do all heavy attacks do the same amount of damage no matter how long you hold the left mouse button down before you execute the attack?

It seems to be that if I hold the left click down and the attack goes off on it's own that I deal out the most amount of damage. Even more damage than if I only held it down for a second. However, it would be useful to know exactly what's going on mathematically so I can maximize my DPS. Also, I noticed that block attacks do decent damage too and can be worked in during other attacks.

Do you guys have any knowledge about these questions? Any overall advice or optimal strategy? And does the answer change if you dual wield? Currently I am dual wielding.

Thank you for your time.

Mishoniko

As far as on a single swing/shot on non-staves, Heavy Attack will do more damage than Light Attack. The hold time for a fully charged Heavy Attack seems to be about 3 seconds. A partially charged Heavy Attack will do more damage than a Light but not as much as a fully charged Heavy; I'm not sure if it scales linearly or not. Foundry Tactical Combat will tell you if a strike was fully charged or not -- it will put Light Attack, Partial Charge, or Full Charge in the output area along with the damage caused, if you want to compare different attack strengths.

Heavy Attack can also knock down enemies who are Staggered (for instance, by a special attack or blocking their own incoming Heavy Attack, indicated by bright lines around the attacker).

On my Khajiit Nightblade, a fully charged 2H attack is cued by the character grunting. I haven't quite determined the full charge indication on a bow shot; the bow can be fully pulled back but the hit registers as a Partial Charge in some cases. The animation is different in first-person than third-person, though.

The actual attack damage will be modified by abilities and buffs. There's even enchants that specifically buff Shield Bash damage if you like that style of play.

This thread on Tamriel Foundry gives you an idea of the amount of DPS variance for different weapon types with all-light or all-heavy attacks (your mileage may/will vary):

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/light-attacks-vs-heavy-and-igneous-weapons/

Hope this helps!

Ziz

Game the system *********

Hold your mouse button down and as soon as you see your charecters animation use an instant attack. You get the insta attack plus a fully charged heavy attack at the same time

They didn't fix their crap after multiple bug reports and forums feedbacks abuse it.

Makes stuff super fast and easy to kill