SKYRIM: Let's kill some Dragons!

[White Haven]

Conjuration doesn't get you new summons, it gets you permanent summons. No Dremora Lord, sadly, but you have your choice of permanent versions of fire, frost, and storm atronachs and a permanent raise dead spell. Of course that's also when you pick up the talent to give yourself 2 atronachs at once, which is the start of a beautiful entourage.

[Rahvin]

Conjuration doesn't get you new summons, it gets you permanent summons. No Dremora Lord, sadly, but you have your choice of permanent versions of fire, frost, and storm atronachs and a permanent raise dead spell. Of course that's also when you pick up the talent to give yourself 2 atronachs at once, which is the start of a beautiful entourage.

...

Well, I guess I know what I'll be concentrating on from now on. Permanent minions and amazingcool Destruction spells? Yes please!

[Mr Bean]

Let me just say fuuuck bandit Marauders. So Highwayman when they showed up were a bit of an issue at 15 ish, but right when I hit 25 I ran into Mauraders, wearing full Nightingale armor set with two light armor perks puts me at 230 armor I run into this bandit who looks no better fitted out but stabs me once in the face then animation kills me when I still have 80% of my heath. Or it power attacks me and one shots me at Level 25. Even the Ancient Dragons need to hit me three times to kill me.

OAN:It's easy to hunt Dragons from within the safety of a shed as the Breath is LoS on dragons meaning they have to land at which point I can stab them to death.

[Serafina]

The sad thing is that spell damage hardly scales at all, and that you won't use the lower-level spells later on. Which is quite normal for most games, but keep in mind that all destruction-spells work somewhat differently (continuously casted-> short-range -> long-range single projectile -> area-effect -> another long-range projectile -> long-cast high-power spell). It'd be nice if you could, say, make flames more powerful in exchange for higher cost just so that you could select from a variety of spells at each level of competence.

Also, you unlock master spells at skill-level 90 - just when you can no longer train it. I'm now running around with a permanent flame atronarch, despite never putting a single perk into conjuration (i only really used soul-trap). Since i don't summon it in combat anyway i just pay the mana-cost with some cost-lowering equipment.

Also, i am quite disappointed at the master-level restoration spells. Torching any sort of undead is nice, and so is the protective circle (repels undead and heals you while inside) - but why isn't there any high-level healing spell (the circle heals to little to count). IMO restoration for the sake of healing becomes pointless after you get close wounds, which is just an adept-level spell. Everything above that improves your ability to fight undead and you get a nice group-heal (which is pretty pointless in this game IMO).

[Serafina]

Let me just say fuuuck bandit Marauders. So Highwayman when they showed up were a bit of an issue at 15 ish, but right when I hit 25 I ran into Mauraders, wearing full Nightingale armor set with two light armor perks puts me at 230 armor I run into this bandit who looks no better fitted out but stabs me once in the face then animation kills me when I still have 80% of my heath. Or it power attacks me and one shots me at Level 25. Even the Ancient Dragons need to hit me three times to kill me.

OAN:It's easy to hunt Dragons from within the safety of a shed as the Breath is LoS on dragons meaning they have to land at which point I can stab them to death.

Really? I never had any problem with bandits, and now at high levels they don't even scratch me anymore. Compared to that, high-level dragons (ancient i think, depending on the translation) can still chomp me a few bites if i am not careful.

You might try investing into stamina (so that you can sprint longer) and grabbing the perk that allows you to make power attacks while sprinting. That way i effectively make one-hit charges against a lot of enemies, and i am hard to hit with ranged attacks. Some stamina-regeneration gear and a stamina-draining enchantment mean that i can do that for quite a while (and remember that stamina-restoring potions are cheap and plentiful)

[zipster]

I really really really miss spell creation. I loved creating 1 second spells that gave me 100 speech/charm/mercantile and becoming a god of the market. I also really want my darn paralysis/shock spell back! I demand to murder someone with electricity while they cannot react! Made me feel more like a real wizard.

[Serafina]

Oh it's quite okay that the spell creation system is gone - it was just utterly broken, especially the skill-boost spells (leveling a lot of skills became pointless due to it), but also a lot of other things.
Furthermore, the spells you now get feel much more unique that way. Lightning Bolt is completely different from Sparks (one strong blast after a bit of preparation instead of a sustained attack) instead of just being a stronger version. It's just unfortunate that the lower-level destruction spells eventually become nearly useless because their damage will be too small.

[Chardok]

Are there any destruction spells later on that cater to those of us who are aiming retarded? I liked firebolt initially, but my aiming/leading is sooo awful that shooting anyone beyond 5 feet is an exercise in futility.

[Rahvin]

Are there any destruction spells later on that cater to those of us who are aiming retarded? I liked firebolt initially, but my aiming/leading is sooo awful that shooting anyone beyond 5 feet is an exercise in futility.

Lightning Bolt and later Thunderbolt are nice and instant, with Chain Lightning for AoE situations.

Also, Wall of Fire/Frost/Storms looks an awful lot like the opening level spells, except they create a persistent effect on surfaces for a few seconds. They're pretty cool, although a bit underwhelming on the damage. Good to use in a corridor where some slow, shambling undead will need to walk through your fire while you pelt them with ranged spells.

[Anacronian]

I'm early in the game (lvl 10) but it seems to me that going for light armors is the better option, At least at low level - The elven gilded armor offer more protection than the dwarven heavy armor and since it's much lighter you can carry more loot and sprint longer while wearing it...or am i missing something obvious here?

[White Haven]

Ice Storm is nice for close-range work, especially when you're being swarmed. Oh, you're anywhere vaguely in front of me at short range, or anywhere near a line in front of me at medium range? Take ice damage, bitch.

[Rahvin]

I'm early in the game (lvl 10) but it seems to me that going for light armors is the better option, At least at low level - The elven gilded armor offer more protection than the dwarven heavy armor and since it's much lighter you can carry more loot and sprint longer while wearing it...or am i missing something obvious here?

I didn;t do much in the way of contrasting and comparing. I had read that light armor works best with a shield, since you won;t get hit often outside of blocks, and heavy armor works best for using a 2-handed weapon.

The latter is the route I took on my melee character, and so far it works really well (lvl13, most of it from crafting, can make Daedric armor now if only I had the materials...it's kind of silly that you can level from 0 to 100 by making nothing but Iron Daggers, sharpening them, enchanting them with a petty gem, and selling them...). Dragons don't hurt so bad now, and the Legendary-quality gear is amazing.

[charlemagne]

I'm early in the game (lvl 10) but it seems to me that going for light armors is the better option, At least at low level - The elven gilded armor offer more protection than the dwarven heavy armor and since it's much lighter you can carry more loot and sprint longer while wearing it...or am i missing something obvious here?

Since you've obviously levelled light armor and not heavy armor, of course you'll see higher values for light armor - you'd see much higher values for the heavy armor if you had levelled that skill and put some perks in So, as long as you're skilled in it, heavy armor of course offers more protection.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Blackreach is fucking AMAZING. The art design is wonderful, it's one of the bitso f landscape (that and the aurora borealis) that really made me just stop and say "Wow".
Also, the first fight with Alduin is Neat, but messy mechanically due to being unable to easily tell him apart from Spoiler

the other dragon, unless he's right in front of you with the marker - that caused me to waste 2-3 uses of Dragonrend on the allied dragon! Made the fight take a looong time.

This game is fantastic .

[Thunderfire]

Really? I never had any problem with bandits, and now at high levels they don't even scratch me anymore. Compared to that, high-level dragons (ancient i think, depending on the translation) can still chomp me a few bites if i am not careful.

Powerful human opponents are nasty. I hate fighting Silver Hands because I don't know how strong the he/she will be. Some die after one hit while other kill me with 1-2 hits. Hit and run with ranged attacks work most of the time. Summoning is useful against melee fighters. Powerleveling Smithing & Enchanting helps alot too.

[xthetenth]

Really? I never had any problem with bandits, and now at high levels they don't even scratch me anymore. Compared to that, high-level dragons (ancient i think, depending on the translation) can still chomp me a few bites if i am not careful.

Powerful human opponents are nasty. I hate fighting Silver Hands because I don't know how strong the he/she will be. Some die after one hit while other kill me with 1-2 hits. Hit and run with ranged attacks work most of the time. Summoning is useful against melee fighters. Powerleveling Smithing & Enchanting helps alot too.

I've generally found the mages the nastiest, since they have a ton of hp for not wearing armor, and their spells cut through my armor effectively. They hurt when you're an armored two handed weapon user. Nothing has been much of a challenge since I got my endgame kit.

[Zablorg]

Today I played several minutes of Skyrim. After heading to the first town, I immediately attacked a cow. Then the villagers started attacking me when I entered the bar.

This would be pretty standard fare, if not for the fact that the town was alerted to my crimes because of a chicken that was standing nearby at the time.

The chicken told on me.

10/10

[GuppyShark]

Protip: You can prevent this by killing all witnesses.

[Chardok]

So I had to start a new character. My primary one, at level 19, was spread too thinly since I didn't concentrate on combat skills for enough levels. Basically what happened, is I tried to focus on destruction magic, but it made me soft, so I tried enchanting/smithing to make some better gear, but I leveled up like 5 times doing this. The problem became then that I was level 12 or whatever, with the combat skills of a level 5. You see my dilemma, of course. So I went back to my argonian whom I intended to be a general sneak-thief.

BOOM. Instantly, enjoyment multiplied a thousandfold. I was finally combat effective, using the style of play I'm used to/good at (Sneak attack with bow, backstabbing, etc.) I'm only level 8 now, but my sneak and archery are level 40 each, with the sneak attack with bow perk (X3 damage). So, word to the wise, do not, if you can help it, do non-combat stuff for a good while unless you want every fight you get into to be a fight for your life.

This realization came when I encountered a conjurer at level 19 with my primarily magic-focused dude whom I spent half an hour kiting, blasting, and spamming flame atronachs at until they were finally killed. (but not before I was killed multiple times).


Playing on normal, too. I'm either terrible at games, or this is a problem which should be addressed.

[xthetenth]

On the other hand if you keep enchantment and smithing going you can stay viable running a warrior pretty easily. Then when you hit 100 enchantment you break the game in two and laugh with great merriment. I was at about 60 heavy armor and 80 two handed when I hit 100 enchantment and had been at 100 smithing for a while. The smithing kept my stuff nice enough to keep me alive, but being able to add 160% two handed damage and 100 points of heavy armor skill along with a nice chunk of hp and some magicka made my character hellaciously powerful. I'm still something of a glass cannon, but that's not that big a deal really when I'm doing so damn much damage. Seriously, I can walk over an elder dragon in under 10 hits. I'm using ebony because it looks better and I'm doing 226 damage and getting some stupid amount of armor.

[Rahvin]

On the other hand if you keep enchantment and smithing going you can stay viable running a warrior pretty easily. Then when you hit 100 enchantment you break the game in two and laugh with great merriment. I was at about 60 heavy armor and 80 two handed when I hit 100 enchantment and had been at 100 smithing for a while. The smithing kept my stuff nice enough to keep me alive, but being able to add 160% two handed damage and 100 points of heavy armor skill along with a nice chunk of hp and some magicka made my character hellaciously powerful. I'm still something of a glass cannon, but that's not that big a deal really when I'm doing so damn much damage. Seriously, I can walk over an elder dragon in under 10 hits. I'm using ebony because it looks better and I'm doing 226 damage and getting some stupid amount of armor.

Daedric > Ebony. Well...maybe the Ebony weapons look a bit better.

Still working on Enchanting, but I have a sword enchanted with a 1-sec Trap Soul (longer is stupid and just reduces your total charges, killing blows obviously need only 1 sec) and the Black Azura's Star (can trap any soul including humans, which are always Grand, is not consumed in the process, just have to refill it). I intend to continually harvest souls and recharge using the Star while I fight, which should help the Enchanting leveling a lot.

[Jaevric]

I seem to be at something of a weak spot at the moment with my two-handed weapon warrior. Level 27, 75 smithing, full set of Orcish gear, 60ish enchanting. I was doing "okay" but now I'm running into these bandit leaders with steel plate armor who are whipping my backside -- the first time I ran into one she was sword & board and it took me forever to kill her, every time I tried to power attack through her defenses she shield bashed me in the face and she hit ridiculously hard for a one-handed weapon. The next one was using a warhammer and I ended up having to kill him by running in circles around the camp while my archer companion shot him full of arrows. Thank goodness all the witnesses were already dead because I'd never live that one down if the story ever got out -- I may have to kill my companion just to be on the safe side.

I'm trying to figure out what to focus on next -- I think I need to work on alchemy for more potions since I'm chugging the things at the moment, and I want to work on getting smithing to 100 for the dragonscale gear but I'm reluctant to outlevel my combat skills more than I already have. I'm tempted to go up to 80 for the ebony armor but I'm not sure the materials will be available.

On the other hand I just picked up an ebony two-handed axe which was a 20% damage increase over the one I'd been using, so I may find out my problems have been solved in the short run. It may also be I'm just not using the tools I have well enough.

[Serafina]

Yes, an almost pure crafting-character is a very bad choice.
Especially if you focus on magic for combat. Why? Because physical combat is much more gear-dependent, but also profits much more from gear.
If you're a pure mage, your main armor will not profit from smithing since you'll wear a robe (you really need the magicka regeneration IMO). Neither will it profit from enchanting for a long time, since randomly found robes are likely to carry better enchantments until you have very high enchantment (and, dependent on your play-style, the archmages robe is best even then). You might still profit from crafted gloves, boots and helmet, but not as much as a warrior (since you'll try to avoid close-combat anyway). Enchanting those is however quite a good idea.
Also, you profit much less from a good, enchanted weapon than a warrior.

So you kinda went with the worst possible combination there
I also power-leveled both smithing and enchantment, but at a later level and with a much more close-combat focused character. I still got into quite a bit of trouble - dragonshouts really saved my butt during that time (especially the one that freezes enemies), along with healing potions.


Also, while Azuras Star (either version) is really helpful for leveling enchantment, just buy any empty soulgem you can find and afford (that can exclude grand and great souls). Use the small souls to put expensive enchantments on weapons you have looted or crafted to make lots of cash, and the bigger ones to enchant jewelry (which everyone can craft, and you can transmute gold and silver from iron ore) which you then sell to the soulgem-merchants. Which should be the teachers at the college of Winterhold, since everyone of those sells lot's of them.

[White Haven]

The sheer ridiculous power of Expert-tier destruction magic for free cannot possibly be overstated. That's why there's no 'plus to spell damage' enchant; because having free spells lets you use tier-4 attack spells as mainline combat weapons, not as ambush attacks. And if you want to be really mean to casters, go for free restoration at the same time. Now you can have Thunderbolt in one hand and a ward up in the other and your mana bar will still never even appear.

[Chardok]

How to play Skyrim in a few short paragraphs. The only way to play. If you're not the biggest pussy on the planet. Which you probably are. Coward.