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One handed or two handed?

Malignanttoe

Malignanttoe

Member
I am typically a one handed weapon user because the 2H ones seem so slow. I'm tempted to try a two handed weapon build though.

What are the pros and cons of each and what do you prefer?
 
1 handed is much more versatile, it allows for a shield, a spell, a torch or a second 1 handed weapon, 1 handed weapons also benefit from the backstab perk for 6x damage and daggers are completely silent to swing and benefit from the 15x damage assassins blade perk.
2 handed weapons do more damage and stagger enemies, the stagger is a big bonus which leaves them open to attack, 2 handed weapons have the longest reach allowing you to avoid being hit if you time your attacks correctly. They also have the sweep perk allowing you to power attack multiple enemies at once, great for killing mobs.
2 handed also has weapons like the longhammer and Volendrung which are hammers with faster attack speeds than standard warhammers, the longhammer does some serious damage.
 
Ru;indil said:
Doesn't One-handed have the same perk but with a different name ?
Click to expand...
nope, have a look at the perk tree the 2 handed skill has a perk before the backwards power attack perk and after the decapitation/critical strike perks.
 
onehanded.avif

Sorry, had to.

I've never actually used a 2H character, but I really enjoy 1H because it allows for a variety of builds to be used like Sword & Board or SpellSword. My personal favorite is a SpellSword. I just like the versatility 1H weapons offer. :)
 
I love 2 handed weapons, they do so much more damage than the one handed weapons. I'll use one handed for weaker enemies, but when it comes to the big fights I always pull out the two handed sword (no pun intended)
 
I like 2 handed but I hate having to put my weapon away to heal or cast any spell or use a torch, so I always end up using 1 handed for that reason.
 
I've found the best way to mix two handed and magic is to use conjuration. That way, you conjure up something, then can concentrate on burning up stamina with a big weapon.

I believe 2H swords are the fastest of the group and plain un-enchanted ones benefit nicely from the elemental fury shoot. For me, nothing beats un-enchanted skyforge steel great swords. They smith up so well. But, I can't tell you how many times I almost fell to my death because I was using a 2H sword and charging an enemy. Your like a freight train that can't stop for a mile. But when you hit! :D
 
Both one-handed and two-handed are effective: there's no difference. 1H causes less damage but swings faster. 2H is more lethal but there's a lot of time between the strikes. :Dovahkiin:

My previous character was a berseker. I started all over again and I'm currently trying to increase one-handed but two-handed as well. Usually I take the weapon that looks the best. If it's not strong enough I improve it. In order to keep one of the two skills from falling behind I use both 1H and 2H.
 
What is basically comes down to is, if you want to Combo, 1H works with the most stuff. If you want to do most of it with 1 weapon, a Greatsword, or one of the fast 2 handers are extremely powerful. I very rarely use any Hammers, and the only 2 that get much milage are the Longhammer, and Volendrung, because they're slightly faster than Greatswords. Also, Ahtar's Headsman's Axe is another fast swinger, which works with Limbsplitter perks to increase the DPS. That, or Rahd's hammer are unenchanted, so you can use Elemental Fury to further accellerate them, or add Enchantments to make them more effective. Volendrung absorbs Stamina, a lot of it, so you can keep Power Attacking, or Bash&Smash with regular attacks as long as you can keep it charged. And finally, the Drainblood Battleaxe is only availible by running most of the College of Winterhold Arc, and swings at regular BA speed, but drains Heath for more damage, healing you, and weighs less than most Swords, so you don't use as much Stamina to make up for it's slow swing. With Sweep, you can spread Absorbtion (Or some other Enchantment) effects across multiple foes, as well as the Bleed from Limbsplitter. The Battleaxe of Firey Souls has a unique enchantment combining Soul Trap with 10 points of Burn, which you can also spread around if you know how to Sweep.

Flame, or Frost Cloak is a great effect to combine with 2H, because it hurts everyone around you, and lasts a minute, so you don't have to recast it as often. Since the swinging speed is so slow, this really brings up your DPS. It's also an effective weenie whacker, because when you get jumped by 3 Skeevers, Wolves, of Skeletons, it kills all of them faster than you can swing 3 times, or set up for a Sweep. Summons also have Durations, and you can cast them in the other hand before drawing your masher, and stepping into the fray. Flame Cloak, Dremora Lord, and a good Greatsword is plenty of Power.

Of course, you can do all of this (Except for Sweep) with a 1Handed weapon, and more, but another major advantage is Reach, especially if you can learn the timing to use it. This is challenging, because the slow striking speed, even with the fast swingers, require you to start long before they cloas,e and often maneuver mid-swing so you hit them before they get close enough to hit you. A good thing it it's a lot easier to actually land the backward PA for the paralysing perk, even if they don't walk into it, while you'll often come up short with a dagger, or war-axe.

A major disadvantage is the weight of the weapon, which slows you down, and requires a lot more Stamina per Power Attack. This is a major reason why I prefer greatswords (Not to mention the fact that I hate the look of the big blade in the middle of my back with the handle sticking 3 feet over my head with Axes, Greatswords just look more convenient to carry around.) Even with them, I generally use a Bash to stagger, and a regular attack in the opening so my Stamina can recover. A Power Attack uses a lot more Stamina, so while it does more damage, and staggers as well, you might get 1, or 2 of these in, then have to wait to recover. I can get 4-5 swipes in, with another 4 bashes between, which is slower, but does more damage over-all, especially if I have a Cloak doing damage the whole time. Since they're stunned the whole time, I'm in no danger, and they end up just as dead, however, this generally works best in a Duel instead of against multiple foes.

When you're outnumbered, you can power through, or use Hit&Run Tactics so you don't get surrounded. Or, you can armor up, and tank, which is the popular tactic. This is simple, it works, but it's generally quicker to do it with Dual Wield if you're not going to Block. Once you do learn these tactics, they still work with high Armor (And conditioned, or Unhindered really help) I'd say that 1H actually has the Edge as far as usability, but that isn't to say 2H is useless. However, the striking speed makes for a somewhat steeper learning curve, unless you just tank up, and rely on their inherent Damage per Strike. I love both of them, however I mostly focused on @H because the OP was coming from Experience with 1, and transitioning to 2.

Speaking of which, if you get the Ebony Blade, it uses mostly 1 handed Perks for damage, but trains 2H if you want to train both (For an 80 perk build, for instance.) It also drains up to 30 Health, which makes the training a lot easier to survive while you dial in the fighting style, and is the fastest swinger that takes both hands. It doesn't work with the Sweep Perk (Unless they patched it since the last time I bothered to get that damned thing) and there's some other minor glitches that may, or may not be a problem for you. I hate it, not only because of the skill defliction (I actually revel in the irony, and meta-allusion to the aspect of Mephala) but because it's basically a Sword in terms of Damage, but you can't Dual Wield it, and the Enchantment largely overshadows the weapon's damage. It's an all, or nothing weapon which makes it impossible to use with an all-or nothing build. Downright insidious, if you ask me.
 
I use both types. On my Nord character, I use a two handed Wuuthrad axe. It's really nice to deal some serious damage to your enemy, but it sucks when it comes to speed. When your opponent is a swift mage that evades all your power attacks, it's no use.
On my Redguard character, I am using one handed dual-wielding and I love it. Dealing double damage in a fraction of a second and you don't have to wait that long before attacking again after doing a power attack, like the two handed.

Both one handed and two handed are nice to use, there's not really one that stands out in my opinion. They both have their pros and cons, but that doesn't make one better than the other.
 
Psiberzerker said:
What is basically comes down to is, if you want to Combo, 1H works with the most stuff. If you want to do most of it with 1 weapon, a Greatsword, or one of the fast 2 handers are extremely powerful. I very rarely use any Hammers, and the only 2 that get much milage are the Longhammer, and Volendrung, because they're slightly faster than Greatswords. Also, Ahtar's Headsman's Axe is another fast swinger, which works with Limbsplitter perks to increase the DPS. That, or Rahd's hammer are unenchanted, so you can use Elemental Fury to further accellerate them, or add Enchantments to make them more effective. Volendrung absorbs Stamina, a lot of it, so you can keep Power Attacking, or Bash&Smash with regular attacks as long as you can keep it charged. And finally, the Drainblood Battleaxe is only availible by running most of the College of Winterhold Arc, and swings at regular BA speed, but drains Heath for more damage, healing you, and weighs less than most Swords, so you don't use as much Stamina to make up for it's slow swing. With Sweep, you can spread Absorbtion (Or some other Enchantment) effects across multiple foes, as well as the Bleed from Limbsplitter. The Battleaxe of Firey Souls has a unique enchantment combining Soul Trap with 10 points of Burn, which you can also spread around if you know how to Sweep.

Flame, or Frost Cloak is a great effect to combine with 2H, because it hurts everyone around you, and lasts a minute, so you don't have to recast it as often. Since the swinging speed is so slow, this really brings up your DPS. It's also an effective weenie whacker, because when you get jumped by 3 Skeevers, Wolves, of Skeletons, it kills all of them faster than you can swing 3 times, or set up for a Sweep. Summons also have Durations, and you can cast them in the other hand before drawing your masher, and stepping into the fray. Flame Cloak, Dremora Lord, and a good Greatsword is plenty of Power.

Of course, you can do all of this (Except for Sweep) with a 1Handed weapon, and more, but another major advantage is Reach, especially if you can learn the timing to use it. This is challenging, because the slow striking speed, even with the fast swingers, require you to start long before they cloas,e and often maneuver mid-swing so you hit them before they get close enough to hit you. A good thing it it's a lot easier to actually land the backward PA for the paralysing perk, even if they don't walk into it, while you'll often come up short with a dagger, or war-axe.

A major disadvantage is the weight of the weapon, which slows you down, and requires a lot more Stamina per Power Attack. This is a major reason why I prefer greatswords (Not to mention the fact that I hate the look of the big blade in the middle of my back with the handle sticking 3 feet over my head with Axes, Greatswords just look more convenient to carry around.) Even with them, I generally use a Bash to stagger, and a regular attack in the opening so my Stamina can recover. A Power Attack uses a lot more Stamina, so while it does more damage, and staggers as well, you might get 1, or 2 of these in, then have to wait to recover. I can get 4-5 swipes in, with another 4 bashes between, which is slower, but does more damage over-all, especially if I have a Cloak doing damage the whole time. Since they're stunned the whole time, I'm in no danger, and they end up just as dead, however, this generally works best in a Duel instead of against multiple foes.

When you're outnumbered, you can power through, or use Hit&Run Tactics so you don't get surrounded. Or, you can armor up, and tank, which is the popular tactic. This is simple, it works, but it's generally quicker to do it with Dual Wield if you're not going to Block. Once you do learn these tactics, they still work with high Armor (And conditioned, or Unhindered really help) I'd say that 1H actually has the Edge as far as usability, but that isn't to say 2H is useless. However, the striking speed makes for a somewhat steeper learning curve, unless you just tank up, and rely on their inherent Damage per Strike. I love both of them, however I mostly focused on @H because the OP was coming from Experience with 1, and transitioning to 2.

Speaking of which, if you get the Ebony Blade, it uses mostly 1 handed Perks for damage, but trains 2H if you want to train both (For an 80 perk build, for instance.) It also drains up to 30 Health, which makes the training a lot easier to survive while you dial in the fighting style, and is the fastest swinger that takes both hands. It doesn't work with the Sweep Perk (Unless they patched it since the last time I bothered to get that damned thing) and there's some other minor glitches that may, or may not be a problem for you. I hate it, not only because of the skill defliction (I actually revel in the irony, and meta-allusion to the aspect of Mephala) but because it's basically a Sword in terms of Damage, but you can't Dual Wield it, and the Enchantment largely overshadows the weapon's damage. It's an all, or nothing weapon which makes it impossible to use with an all-or nothing build. Downright insidious, if you ask me.
Click to expand...

You give two handed too much credit, the major disadvantage of the the 2 handed weapon is that it gets the same upgrades as one handed.

The average amount of upgrade you can put on a weapon with the corresponding smiting perk is 20, which makes it legendary. Now, both One H and Two H, gets an damage increase of 20, yet, 1h is faster, allowing it to make more use of the 20 damage increase.
Now, with enchantments, this is the same, since they both get the same enchantments, 2 hand is again at a disadvantage.

Even worse, the speed and damage ratio is horribly unfair, a one hand daedric sword can out damage 2 h daedric greatsword given enough swings.
Plus, with the new chaos damage enchantment, the best weapon is actually a dagger, because chaos damage relies on being applied as much as possible in a short time, and dagger have the fastest swing rate, the enchantment itself, with the right perks, will do over 350 damage while not abusing the alchemy/enchant loop.

The advantage of 2h over one hand, is it's reach, stagger. and aoe capabilities, but on a single target, it is at a tremendous disadvantage.
Now, the one handed user could also use a shield or a spell or another 1h weapon in the other hand, augmenting their power even more, but 2h won't be able to do this. One can stagger with shield, gain reach and aoe power with a spell or achieve even higher dps with another weapon.

Overall 2 hand is worse than 1 hand, however, it is still a viable weapon.
If you the unjustness is really getting to you, I recommend using a mod.
 
DarthSpecturm said:
You give two handed too much credit, the major disadvantage of the the 2 handed weapon is that it gets the same upgrades as one handed.

The average amount of upgrade you can put on a weapon with the corresponding smiting perk is 20, which makes it legendary. Now, both One H and Two H, gets an damage increase of 20, yet, 1h is faster, allowing it to make more use of the 20 damage increase.
Now, with enchantments, this is the same, since they both get the same enchantments, 2 hand is again at a disadvantage.

Even worse, the speed and damage ratio is horribly unfair, a one hand daedric sword can out damage 2 h daedric greatsword given enough swings.
Plus, with the new chaos damage enchantment, the best weapon is actually a dagger, because chaos damage relies on being applied as much as possible in a short time, and dagger have the fastest swing rate, the enchantment itself, with the right perks, will do over 350 damage while not abusing the alchemy/enchant loop.

The advantage of 2h over one hand, is it's reach, stagger. and aoe capabilities, but on a single target, it is at a tremendous disadvantage.
Now, the one handed user could also use a shield or a spell or another 1h weapon in the other hand, augmenting their power even more, but 2h won't be able to do this. One can stagger with shield, gain reach and aoe power with a spell or achieve even higher dps with another weapon.

Overall 2 hand is worse than 1 hand, however, it is still a viable weapon.
If you the unjustness is really getting to you, I recommend using a mod.
Click to expand...
Not at all. I openly admit 1H is superiour from the PoV of DPS (If that's the only criteria that you pay attention to.) but for the purposes of this thread, focussed on how 2H CAN be used most effectively, because the OP is experienced in 1, but interested in trying 2. With the examples you gave, though, you assume that everyone is going to Smith, and Enchant their weapons, which isn't necessarily the case. Sweep can make up for this, because you can spread all that extra damage between multiple opponents, including Absorbtion effects. Not every strike, but if you hit 3 of them with a Drainblood Battleaxe (Or player created Vampiric Daedric Greasword) then 15 ponts of Absorb Health turns into 45. This also goes for extra points of Smithing Damage. This is situational, and you have to be capable of hitting multiple targets (Most likely moving ones) with the tricky sidestep Power Attack, but if you can, this definitely closes the DPS gap quite a bit. With the Chaos Enchantment, 3 simultaneous strikes have a 50% chance to proc any of 3 elemental effects, possibly in combinations of 2, or more! (I've done this with the Champion's Cudule, it's rediculously OP, and the Bloodskal blade is even worse!)

So yeah, 1H has better numbers in theory. However, if you learn to exploit them, the unique advantages of Reach (So you can hit them before they can hit you) stagger (So you can hit them again before they can recover) and the possibility of striking multiple foes can make them more Effective, even more Efficient in Practice. If you're going to depend on Crafting, and Min/maxing to build to the point that you can just stand there, swing away, and win the damage race, Dual Wield is the clear cut choice. Of course, ysome people can get bored pretty quickly just repetitively attacking with OPing weapons, while using footwork, timing, and situational advantages keeps it interesting fight after fight. So, if your criteria is "Which is more fun?" then it's apples, and oranges. Either one can be boringly repetitive, or excitingly versatile.
 
Well, I thought of how enchanting would stack if you hit multiple enemies, but the chances of you keep getting an opportunity like that isn't very high, so I did not include it in my previous post.
If people don't smith, it just adds to the chance of their weapon having an enchantment since most of the time, decent weapons comes with their own enchantments, and due to the fact they don't have the proper smiting perks, they will end up using those unique weapons because they can't improve the regular ones to be more superior.

But I did mention that 2h weapons are still versatile, and viable.
I often backpeddle before using a power attack on the 2h, while timing it and run forward for the strike, one may also use follow up an attack immediately by power attack after an attack, this works on all weapons, but 2 h benefits most due to it's high damage.

I only craft because I like to personalize my gear, not wear something handed to me by some pixels.

Also, this thread is about one handed or two handed weapons, and, my point was that I think one handed is better.
 
DarthSpecturm said:
Well, I thought of how enchanting would stack if you hit multiple enemies, but the chances of you keep getting an opportunity like that isn't very high, so I did not include it in my previous post.
If people don't smith, it just adds to the chance of their weapon having an enchantment since most of the time, decent weapons comes with their own enchantments, and due to the fact they don't have the proper smiting perks, they will end up using those unique weapons because they can't improve the regular ones to be more superior.

But I did mention that 2h weapons are still versatile, and viable.
I often backpeddle before using a power attack on the 2h, while timing it and run forward for the strike, one may also use follow up an attack immediately by power attack after an attack, this works on all weapons, but 2 h benefits most due to it's high damage.

I only craft because I like to personalize my gear, not wear something handed to me by some pixels.

Also, this thread is about one handed or two handed weapons, and, my point was that I think one handed is better.
Click to expand...
Well, another thing you missed in your examples (A Daedric Sword vs a Daedric Greatsword) is Dual Flurry/Savagery. This makes 1H weapons do even More Damage, Faster, which further gives the nod to Swords (By example) in terms of DPS. My point is that this advantage is only really overshadowing in a stand, and slug damage race. If you hit, and run (And apparently you do, with 2H) then single strike damage is more important than DPS, because each time you hit, you hit harder before skipping away, and setting up for another strike. This is pretty much how I prefer to fight, either in Duels, or a Melee, because a DPS race with OP weapons is over too fast, and repetitive because of using the most effective attack over, and over.

I've tried to play the other way, and every other way in the game. With a Drainspell Sword, and Ebony handaxe of Absorb Health/Firey Soul Trap named HemoRage. Boringly OP with Dual Power Attacks to spin them to death, and the Stamina Absorbtion to recover with each offhand strike. Try it some time, even without Elemental Fury, every fight is over with stupidly quick, with very little effort. It was informative, though. The first thing I noticed was that I was spending a lot more time running from fight to fight than actually Fighting. Now, if I'm going to build a character for Combat, it's kind of anti-climactic to me to spend the first half of the game grinding up 2 crafting skills, and the last half running all over the place with brief commercial breaks of Dual Flurries exactly like all the ones before it.

The other thing I figured out is that in the Vanilla game (This was before Dawnguard was even announced) the Enemies go up in tiers as you level. Now, I'm a min/maxer. Not just in gaming, I build heat exchangers, and blast convection venturi into Camp Fires. (I once melted an alluminum crucible in one of those Pits of Hell when I was trying to recast pellets for my hunting airgun.) What this has to do with the topic at hand is, while you do gain Damage Advantage from crafting up to 100, this isn't as much as you'd think looking at the before, and after numbers in your items menus, and if you just want to fight, spending so much time out of combat making your equipment so powerful is an extremely effective way to build a character to Not Fight most of the time.

Don't let my signature fool you, I love combat, almost as much as character building. In fact, I love it so much, that I can draw out dancing with 2 trolls all day. I beat on one, while dancing around both of them, and then, when he's near death, switch to the other while the first heals. Hours, and hours of fun, and not a bad way to get your weapon skills up to 100 without spending hours at the forge cranking out inferior Legendary Iron Daggers, not to mention Mining, Soul Farming, Jewelering, Enchanting rings of Water Breathing, and so on... Not saying my way is better, but why Anyone just might not want to craft up to invincibility.

The answer is, because I can jump in at Helgen, and fight, for hours all the way up to boringly OP with short occasional breaks to skip through Quest Dialog I've heard hundreds of time all ready. "Yawn!" Then, back to the Fights! I've gotten Enchanting from 15-100 with nothing but Magic Weapons, and Soul Gems (Soul Stealer helps, if you can't find the Soul trap effect early) before I ever stopped by the Arcane Enchanter. This takes a long time, days. But these days are pretty much fight after fight, each one more powerful, and epic than the last. Now, I HATE crafting, so I can do that, then go to the Enchanter once, with Extra Effect. THEN, I get my engame weapons, and apparel that makes the game so boring. I usually start over right after that.

BOT, the Reach, Stagger, and Power Per Strike (Especially crafted up) make 2 Handed at least as Optimal as 1 for Hit&Run tactics. For stand and fight with fully crafted weapons of "please don't hit me with those!" dual wield is much more effective. All ^that^ is why I sometimes prefer 2, since you're asking.
 
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