Skyrim: Blocking and you, or This is why you keep dying.

[Winterfel]

Blocking you say?
Sorry, I was just having trouble hearing you from behind my ward.

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

I know man, my Nord shield/axe warrior murders all....

Though my Imperial assasin character, can kill his way through most dungeons unseen... all backstabs and stealthy poisonned arrows to the throat. Fun times, something to note, if you join the dark brotherhood the gloves they give you double backstab damage, and stealth perks can give your dagger a 15x damage bonus for backstabs... It tells you you got 12x crit when you only have the 6x modifier from the stealth tree... at full your dagger will inflict a scary 30x crit on anyone who doesn't see you slide it into their spine... I tend to play with an eye for patrol routes and enemy position so i can eliminate as many as is physically possible without any of them ever seeing me... Always makes me feel so boss when I go through an entire dungeon without being detected once.

 

[AzimuthZeke]

It's completely situational as a warrior needing to block. How many foes do you have, and what type of foe are they?
If I'm going up against a tanky foe, who isn't putting out a lot of dps, blocking really isnt worth a lot to me in that situation, I'll just take out my greatsword and deal with him.
If it's magic users, I prefer to deal with them quickly, I have a large amount of health, so I can just sit there and take magic damage for a few seconds, which is more than how long it normally takes to deal with magic users. Usually dual wield these situations.
If It's a crowd of magic users or tanky guys, I'll still go with the above mentioned strats, the only time I tend to don the shield is when I'm going against a very tanky heavy armored dps enemy.

What we need to talk about is Dual wielding, Elemental fury and you. This shout takes an extended fight against several enemies with dual wielding, and reduces it to the span of seconds. Even at level 40, I haven't gone looking for the second word of this shout, and it's doing wonders. To hell with blocking, level your armor skills. I have no time for blocking with all the cutting things up I'm doing anyway.

 

[Raddra]

I duel wield, so sadly I can't train block. That slow time to dodge thing is exactly what a fast dual wielder should get too. But no. heavy armor tanks get it. Making them faster.

Anyway, folk using a two hander have no excuse: they can block with that and get the slow time thing too.

 

[teh_Canape]

don't really need to block when I'm sneaking up behind people's asses and carving my initials in their back with my one-handed weapons
now, when they find me, that's when shit gets real

Spoiler

but not really, I just use unrelenting force and smash their shit with my warhammer

 

[Kurbz]

Oh, and as for dragons: Dunmer. Fuck yo' fire breath.

Right up until it's an ice dragon... and I ONLY encounter ice dragons.

As for defense, my only issue is with enemies with bows. High Elf Destruction Mage renders melee combat null and the only way I really die is if I'm swarmed with spellcasters or archers.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

I never blocked in previous TES games and Skyrim is no different. Also: constantly equipping and equipping a shield is REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING.
And plus: I usually run around with a bow, which leave NO room for a shield without having to unequip the bow, equip the shield then equip something that doesn't involve any of my spell combos. In other words: maybe when I'm playing as a warrior and not a rogue/mage.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Meh, destruction, illusion, and sneak together break the game. I can spam invisibility for constant 15x attacks with my dagger. One those rare occasions I can't do that just spam destruction spells. I'm playing on master and the game is stupidly easy.

Enchantment alone breaks the game. 0 Magicka Master-level spells and +5000% one handed damage/+5000% better at sneaking. (Well, you can only have two different effects per piece of equipment. So choose wisely.)

 

[Aethren]

Breton Paladin with Restoration, Heavy Armor, Block, One-Handed, Spellbreaker shield and Atronach sign. Also add the elemental blocking perks from Block and Alteration.

 

[TheLoneBeet]

I'm using a sword / shield combo. Blocking has saved my life on more than one occasion. I started off dual-wielding and I switched to sword / shield before level 5.

I agree with you, OP. Block = Awesomesauce.

 

[DRes82]

I like to use Resto wards in place of a shield. They work kind of the same way, and getting resto perks also makes health pots obsolete.

Resto/destruction 1 handed.

 

[kommando367]

I just prefer to dodge everything or blast enemies to death before they get to me.

 

[William Dickbringer]

In my discussion with friends and fellow players, I have discovered a disturbing trend.

Nobody is training Block.

Now, I can understand the appeal of dual wielding, or the fearsome power of a two handed weapon. But Blocking (to me) is without a doubt, the most useful combat skill for a warrior type character.

TLDR Version; Block = Awesomesauce

Training Block provides the following amazing benefits:

Quick Reflexes: Slows time when enemies attempt power attacks; this allows you to either interrupt them, attack before they land the hit, or move out of the way quickly, combined with increased movement speed from higher level skills in blocking, this becomes a way to easily overtake nearly ANY melee combat target, and even helps you avoid those nasty dragon bites.

It also allows you to interrupt those NASTY Giants when they attempt to send you to Cyrodil.

Elemental Protection: Notice how Quick Reflexes pretty much nullifies any melee enemy? Well this is for EVERYONE ELSE. Mages will have nothing to throw at you with this skill, even those previously disastrous fireballs and chain lightnings will wither on your shield. Having Trouble with Liches? Not anymore...

Elemental Protection also provides AMAZING protection from Dragon breath attacks, making you look like a total boss, taking a breath attack directly. (WARNING: Only the AWESOME should attempt this.)
Combine this talent with Shield of Ysgrammor, and you are nearly invulnerable to magic.


Shield Charge: Knocks fuckers down with easy, nuff said.


Please dont be a fool and ignore block, it will save your ass many times over.

or level smithing and enchanting all the way and make dragon armor and enchant it what I did and can stand toe to toe with giants so fuck blocking

 

[Robert Casler]

Oh no! People are playing in their own way, IN AN ELDER SCROLLS GAME! They must be losing!

Ein Svei, Ein Svei

It was more a of a rant really, but it needs discussion value.

So... How does everyone consider defense for their characters?

because people see their characters as extensions of themselves, notice how the quest log goes "I did this, then I need to do this" and everything addresses the player as the definable character? That's called total immersion, AND when you make a post saying "YOU NEED TO DO IT LIKE ME!" you're basically undermining the entire point of games like elder scrolls where the fantasy is really just a trapping for a vicarious dream living experience.

you see its not important that you live, but how you live.

 

[Mikkaddo]

I can't block with my bow.....and usually don't need to

same here, I spend most combat outside their sight range with my enchanted bow and arrows. If they actually come into range to see me I've failed at that combat *laughs*

 

[RedDeadFred]

So... How does everyone consider defense for their characters?

Offense is the best defense! I'm playing my first playthrough on Novice (the "Very Easy") difficulty. That being said, mostly every enemy I come across gets shattered in one fireball.

Plus I'm also playing an Altmer mage, so if I ever take any real damage I usually have a crapload more magic left over with which to heal myself.

Dude very easy is called very easy for a reason. I don't know if it's exactly like Oblivion's very easy setting but if it is that means that enemies are doing 1/6 of the damage they would be doing to you on normal and you do 6 times the damage you would on normal.
This is why your fire balls one hit everything...

 

[Trivea]

Now, I can understand the appeal of dual wielding, or the fearsome power of a two handed weapon. But Blocking (to me) is without a doubt, the most useful combat skill for a warrior type character.

But I'm not playing a warrior type character. I play games like TES series to get away from the typical "hero" model, and the sword-and-shield toting heavy doesn't fit my bow shooty-backstabby-pickpockety-lockpicky-sneaky-hidey-runny-jumpy character. In short, the weapons and methods that utilize Block well don't work with my build.

Sorry, but your entire post comes off as "you need to be playing a warrior type character and you need to be playing it this way or you aren't playing correctly".

 

[Jezzascmezza]

Eh, I tried blocking but it just felt as though it wasn't really "blocking" much damage.
So now I'm a stealthy archer, which I think's a lot more fun.

 

[Joseph Alexander]

i would love to be able to block, but i now have to dedicate a hand to my magic.
also i wish there was more varity to the magic in skyrim, or we could at least make our own spells again.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I'm dual wielding shields.

Your argument is invalid.

It is not possible to dual wield shields in Skyrim as they are classified as apparel and can only be equipped to the left hand.

His argument is valid.

I'm assuming you were joking anyway though.