Two-handed weapons need a perk that actually rewards positioning

[WhiterunModder]

I'm running through a two-handed warrior build on Legendary and I keep noticing how much the playstyle just... doesn't reward you for thinking spatially. Like, every other melee tree has something. Dual wield gets that perk for extra damage when you're using both hands. One-handed gets Bladesman which is straightforward. But two-handed? You get damage perks, you get the one that lets you bash without stamina, but nothing that actually makes you play differently.

There's this perk that staggers enemies if you hit them with a power attack, which is cool, but it doesn't feel like it's rewarding good positioning. It's just proc-based. What I mean is - I'm standing here with a two-handed axe, I've got the space to swing, I'm managing distance, and the game doesn't give me anything for that. A one-handed player gets to dual wield and get bonuses. A shield user gets damage reduction. But a two-hander just... swings harder? That's it?

I feel like there should be a perk somewhere that rewards you for hitting multiple enemies in one swing, or for maintaining distance, or even just for the commitment of using a slower weapon. Right now it feels like the tree is just "hit harder" and "hit harder but backwards" and I'm wondering if I'm just not seeing the actual depth there, or if it's genuinely shallow compared to the other weapon trees.

 

[DragonbornVet]

You're not wrong that two-handed feels more straightforward than the other trees, but I think you're underselling what's actually there. The stagger perk you mentioned - that's way more valuable than you're giving it credit for. Staggering breaks enemy attacks and repositions them, which is huge for managing space. Combined with power attacks that cost stamina, you're actually controlling the fight's rhythm more than a one-hander is.

That said, the tree does lean hard into "bigger number go up" compared to dual wield or one-handed. There's not really a perk that specifically rewards hitting multiple enemies in one swing the way you're describing. You get the damage perks, the perk that lets you ignore armor, the one that knocks people down with power attacks... but yeah, none of it is about positioning or crowd control specifically.

The thing is though - and this might just be how I play - two-handers are already kind of broken in terms of raw damage output once you stack perks. The positioning game is more about you managing distance and timing swings between enemy attacks, not the perk tree rewarding you for it. Which I get is frustrating if you want mechanical feedback for good play.

If you're on PC, Ordinator completely overhauls the weapon trees and adds stuff like that. Otherwise you're kind of stuck with the vanilla design, which is definitely more "warrior fantasy" and less "tactical positioning game." Not saying you're wrong to want more - just that two-handed's strength is probably in the raw power fantasy rather than the nuanced gameplay.