Discussion: Swords, Axes, Or Maces?

[Johnf3545]

I had this on my mind for awhile and I would like to see what your guys opinions are for these three types of weapons. This can either be for One-Handed or Two-handed weapon users. Personally I like the Axes just for that extra bit of damage you can do. Although I would say it's a bit of a close call between swords and axes in my case. With maces while they do good damage I'd rather stick with some speed rather than the most damage. Plus there's that bleeding damage for enemies you don't demolish in one hit anyways. Swords on the other hand have the critical perk and the best speed aside from the dagger. Plus swords have the most animations out of the three I believe. Although in the end I'd most likely choose the axe. So which one would you guys say is your personal choice? I would love to hear all about it!

 

[Crooksin]

Well, those weapon-specific perks are practically useless as their effects do barely any damage in the end, however, the bleeding damage perk would probably be the most "useful", if you can call it that.

My personal preference is torn between the Ax and the Sword. I like the look of the sword, mainly due to the sheath and death-cam's, but the damage of the Ax and I always go Battleaxe when I am playing a two-hander character. For my current dual-wield character, I have a sword in the left hand and a Ax in the right. (Sword in the left makes my swing speed the same as a sword).

Out of the 150+ hours of Skyrim, I can count on one hand how many times I've used a mace.

 

[blue 468]

Go sword all the way bbecause its the fastest and the extra damage from axes is pretty much useless plus swords look cooler in my opinion

 

[Mi-Ilu Yahaz]

LE GASP!!! I'm the only one who voted for maces?! Swords and axes are cool, but maces... I don't know. I just like the sound they make when you crack someone's head open: Krshba! Plus I get to say, "Sybil SMASH!!!" Doesn't sound as cool as slicing or chopping.

 

[Skulli]

I made the mistake of sinking points into axes and currently my sword/dagger combo are better quality weapons by far than my 2 axes so I had to swap them and waste those perks.

Is it true what an earlier poster said, in that those perks are really inconsequential in actual gameplay?

Gawd, I hope so.

 

[Crooksin]

I made the mistake of sinking points into axes and currently my sword/dagger combo are better quality weapons by far than my 2 axes so I had to swap them and waste those perks.

Is it true what an earlier poster said, in that those perks are really inconsequential in actual gameplay?

Gawd, I hope so.

Skip to 7:45, this guy explains it well. Same principle can be applied to the 2h weapon perks as well.

 

[Skulli]

Silly question, after watching the video I may have missed the info.

I know a power attack with just one 1H wep is done by holding down attack button....but how do I execute a power attack while duel-wielding?

I saw that hitting both mouse buttons gives me my "flurry" attacks, but I can't find the power attack part.

The 1st video crapped out on me at 3:42 into it, no matter how I rewind or fast forward.

Thanks again, you guys are awesome!

 

[Rhubarb&Custard]

Silly question, after watching the video I may have missed the info.

I know a power attack with just one 1H wep is done by holding down attack button....but how do I execute a power attack while duel-wielding?

I saw that hitting both mouse buttons gives me my "flurry" attacks, but I can't find the power attack part.

The 1st video crapped out on me at 3:42 into it, no matter how I rewind or fast forward.

Thanks again, you guys are awesome!

Try just holding down one mouse button? Maybe that will do it.

 

[Crooksin]

Silly question, after watching the video I may have missed the info.

I know a power attack with just one 1H wep is done by holding down attack button....but how do I execute a power attack while duel-wielding?

I saw that hitting both mouse buttons gives me my "flurry" attacks, but I can't find the power attack part.

The 1st video crapped out on me at 3:42 into it, no matter how I rewind or fast forward.

Thanks again, you guys are awesome!

That "furry" of attacks IS the dual-wield power attack. Holding down each mouse button separately will give you power attack in each respective hand. The beauty of dual-wield is that the power attack increases the damage of each hit while you do 3 consecutive hits instead of one.

While this is great, you give up the option to block so you are pretty vulnerable. I recommend using Conjuration with a dual-wield build to distract enemies and flank them, its what I've been doing for my current build and its a hell of a lot of fun.

I'll break the video down for you since you are unable to watch it:

Bladesman (Sword) - Critical attack damage is calculated from BASE weapon damage (smithing/enchantments do not count) and with all perks invested only work out to an average of 2 extra damage every swing even with a Daedra sword.

Bone Breaker (Mace) - 75% armor ignore sounds great right? Except how many enemies do you really see with armor? Even so, its mostly light armor and in that case you are only ignoring 75% of a small number in the first place.

Hack & Slash (Axes) - Bleeding effects stack with every hit, starting a new bleeding effect every time. In the end though, its only about 20 or so damage every few hits. Also, the bleeding effect only works on enemies that CAN bleed so Draugr, Dragon Priests, Dwarven guardians, etc, are out of the equation. Is that really worth 3 perks? Better to invest in Enchantment and make a fire enchantment on your sword 75% better.

 

[Adam Warlock]

I voted for mace . The tiebreaker for me between mace and sword came as a result of the Backstab perk I have in Sneak where a 2 point diff in damage turns into a 12 point increase on that first strike you make from the shadows.

I`m speaking of unimproved non-enchanted weapons specifically since the added magic damage clearly favors the faster striking weapons and tempering decreases the total % of difference in physical damage

Using the strongest weapons as example(DRAGONBONE)
sword = 15 base dmg (x6 sneak bonus for 90)
mace = 17 base(102 from sneak)

It costs 2 more perks to get a x15 (base 12/160 sneak) dagger bonus from Assassin`s Blade

 

[Niq]

Is it for 1h or 2h that the specialisation into a weapon type makes no differance in damage? or both?
- as i have put a point into two handed battleaxe now....

 

[The Phoenician]

I like axes simply because I think they look cooler.

 

[Streets]

Is it for 1h or 2h that the specialisation into a weapon type makes no differance in damage? or both?
- as i have put a point into two handed battleaxe now....

Two Handed weapons. The Greatsword swings at exactly the same speed as the Battleaxe, but the Battleaxe does more damage. Warhammers do swing slower and do more damage. And for One Handed weapons, it goes Sword fastest, then Waraxe, then Mace slowest.

Unless you take into account special weapons like The Longhammer with its fast swing speed.

 

[Niq]

Two Handed weapons. The Greatsword swings at exactly the same speed as the Battleaxe, but the Battleaxe does more damage. Warhammers do swing slower and do more damage. And for One Handed weapons, it goes Sword fastest, then Waraxe, then Mace slowest.

Unless you take into account special weapons like The Longhammer with its fast swing speed.

- thanks, and what about the fact that someone said Limbsplitter is all but useless... as it does'nt do that much more damage

 

[Streets]

- thanks, and what about the fact that someone said Limbsplitter is all but useless... as it does'nt do that much more damage

Completely agree, I always ignore the weapon specialization perks. Unless you are roleplaying or want to have fun with the game. If you are going for a certain build you can take the bleeding perks in combination with flame cloak, lingering poison, targe of the blooded, for a "damage over time" build or something.

 

[Adam Warlock]

- thanks, and what about the fact that someone said Limbsplitter is all but useless... as it does'nt do that much more damage

I have to agree that all perks like that (both 1h and 2h) are way too weak and limited in the long run.
They sound good with names like Skull Crusher and such but as you advance in levels you`ll regret wasting perks on them

 

[Niq]

- i regret it already

 

[Niq]

It makes me wonder why they are there at all.... is it just to create an impression of choices? surely they know they are under powered? And they let you bin 3 points in them!

 

[Osiris]

Maces, I like the suffering

 

[Niq]

Maces, I like the suffering

haha, but surely it would be less suffering? (higher damage = quicker death)