Getting wrecked by basic bandits at level 15—something's wrong with my damage

[TamrielTactician]

I'm playing through on Adept and I feel like I'm hitting a wall that shouldn't exist yet. My level 15 character with a decent one-handed sword and some light armor is taking forever to kill basic bandit chiefs, and they're shredding me in like three hits. I was doing fine up through level 10 but now every dungeon feels like a slog.

Am I just undergeared or is there something about leveling that I'm missing? I haven't touched Smithing yet, just been looting gear as I go. My sword is like base iron or steel, nothing special. I'm wondering if I should be crafting / upgrading stuff by now or if the game's just scaling weirdly.

Playing on Anniversary Edition on Switch if that matters. Should I drop the difficulty down or am I actually doing something wrong with my build?

 

[RiftenWanderer]

You're probably just undergeared, tbh. Base iron and steel at level 15 is rough - enemy scaling catches up fast and you're basically fighting with starter gear while they've upgraded. Even just looting better weapons off bandits and using those would help, but if you want to actually feel the power curve you should hit the Smithing tree a bit.

You don't need to be a Smithing lord or anything, just grab the early perks so you can improve your current sword at a workbench. Even going from base steel to "improved steel" makes a noticeable difference. Takes like five minutes and suddenly those bandit chiefs go down way faster. Light Armor perks would help too if you're not dodging much - the early ones that boost your armor rating are basically free defense.

Adept is the middle ground so the game shouldn't feel impossible at 15, but it does scale aggressively if your gear isn't keeping pace. Dropping difficulty is always an option if you want to chill, but I'd try gearing up first. Once you get that rhythm going - loot better stuff, improve it, move on - the slog usually stops.