Skyrim Pros & Cons Of Leveling TwoHanded Skill Tree

Skyrim Pros & Cons Of Leveling Two-Handed Skill Tree

Leveling Skyrim’s two-handed weapon skill has pros and cons. It lacks versatility, but with the right perks it makes the Dragonborn a melee master.

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Melee combat in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the most fundamental aspects of Bethesda’s game. Various sharp, bladed, or bludgeon weapons litter the game’s many dungeons, crypts, caves, and dwemer ruins. The Two-Handed perk tree governs how effectively the Dragonborn can wield the biggest, heaviest ones.

Destruction spells, archery, and one-handed weapons are the other straightforward combat skills in Skyrim, and of the four, two-handed weapons scale the most effectively. They are just as useful in the early game as they are at higher levels. These weapons deal higher damage than their early one-handed counterparts, and function independently of the player’s available magicka reserves. At close quarters they can chop enemy archers or unarmored spellcasters into pieces.

Skyrim is more lacking in its unique two-handed weapons, with the weaker Daedric artifacts like Volendrung or Ebony Blade being generally less useful than the litany of one-handed options. The Two-Handed skill tree is also very similar to the One-Handed, with both trees branching to offer the same stackable perks for the three different categories of melee weapons. While it’s possible to put perk points into both the One-Handed and Two-Handed skill trees, it’s more optimal to choose a preference, then put the excess points into armor or crafting skills.

Leveling Skyrim’s Two-Handed Skill Tree Has Pros and Cons

Just like the game’s different armor skill trees offer similar advantages and perks to each other, so too do the melee weapon trees. As with the pros and cons of Skyrim’s heavy armor, two-handed leans more on the notion that bigger is better. Rather than a flurry of small blows and timed blocks, it’s more about being a close-quarters tank. Belying its barbarian stereotypes, however, using two-handed weapons in combat is oftentimes the more strategic and difficult path.

Two-handed weapons are more of a high risk, high-reward style of martial gameplay. While there are many factors to take into consideration (such as the material a weapon is made of, any allotted perks, the player’s smithing skill, or damage-boosting enchantments), the main advantage of two-handed weapons is their higher base damage. An iron sword does seven damage, for example, while an iron greatsword deals 15. There are a few drawbacks to this style of fighting, though.

Primarily, there’s the factor of a weapon’s weight. Skyrim gets many things wrong about real melee combat, and weapon weight is certainly one of them. Still, Bethesda implemented a weapon’s weight for a reason. It’s displayed prominently next to a weapon’s damage output, but many players do not know how this factors in, besides simply taking up more carry capacity.

Heavier weapons will (usually) deal more damage, just like heavier armor (usually) provides sturdier protection. Logically, heavy weapons are also harder to wield in a fight. They swing much slower, and require much more stamina per power attack. The Barbarian and Champion’s Stance perk can synergize to mitigate these drawbacks, ensuring that the player can deal higher damage for lower stamina costs, but there are no Two-Handed perks to quicken swing speed.

To this end, designing a Skyrim build around stamina management is entirely possible, and in the early-mid game this will make fighting with two-handed weapons much more viable. Using the Raghot Dragon Priest mask alongside a ring of stamina regeneration will make Volendrung much more fearsome in combat. A master of two-handed weapons will, however, be much less versatile on the battlefield than practically any other build.

The major advantage of one-handed combat is that the Dragonborn will have their off-hand free. This opens possibilities for dual-wielding, blocking with a shield, casting spells, or using a stave. In darker areas, the off-hand can also be used to carry a torch. None of these actions are possible while wielding a two-handed weapon.

Dual-wielding a second weapon or a destruction spell can equal, or often exceed, the extra damage granted by two-handed weapons. Fire spells in Skyrim’s destruction school deal damage over time, which can combo with the bleed damage of an axe in the right hand, or with applied poisons. It’s arguable that a two-handed build could accomplish the same effect via a fire enchantment on their weapon or with the Fire Breath Shout, but so could a dual-wielder. In their case, it is more effective, as the damage would stack.

It’s possible to block with two-handed weapons in Skyrim, whereas a dual-wielder cannot. Using one-handed weapons does, however, allow for the option of using a shield. Blocking with a shield is much more effective than blocking with a two-handed weapon, and mitigates much more oncoming damage. Additionally, several perks in the Block skill tree require the use of a shield. That said, shields aren’t super useful in Skyrim if the Dragonborn is competent enough at attacking at close range. Power attacks can kill weaker targets quickly, and a staggered enemy cannot attack. Once the rhythm of melee combat is mastered, it’s easy to time blocks, bash, and power attack the enemy into a deadly stun-lock.

Having both hands occupied by a weapon means trading versatility for damage. The same goes for electing to use a two-handed weapon instead of a one-handed one: It means sacrificing speed for damage as well. It makes the early game easy, as heavy weapons and armor have inherently higher stats than one-handed weapons and light armor. At high levels, however, valuable one-handed weapons, stronger spells, or more skill levels in Block can quickly even out the build’s early advantages.

This is when crafting comes in. One of the best things about Smithing in Skyrim is that it can increase the damage of all weapons and the durability of all armor. When the player reaches levels that allow the smithing of harder materials, they can then forge and enhance the game’s most powerful melee weapons. This doesn’t open melee combat into a more versatile play style, but rather doubles down on the advantages of two-handed fighting, keeping them relevant well into the late game.

The Two-Handed Tree Maximizes The Damage Of Skyrim’s Strongest Melee Weapons

Which Perks To Choose

• Champion’s Stance: Managing stamina is the key to surviving as a fighter class in Skyrim. Stamina is consumed when performing power attacks or sprinting, and also governs the amount of damage reduced when blocking. Power attacks are especially important for two-handed builds, and the 25% reduction in stamina cost goes a long way no matter how much stamina the player has at their disposal.
• Sweep: This perk allows for two-handed weapons to do something that one-handed weapons never can: Attack multiple enemies at once. This speeds up combat, makes the Dragonborn much more fearsome when outnumbered, and provides validation for any players who do want to put points into both the one-handed and two-handed perk tree. At higher levels when the damage output difference becomes negligible, this remains a key motivation for choosing a two-handed weapon over a one-handed counterpart.

Which Perks Not To Choose

• Great Critical Charge: Stamina management is crucial in melee combat, and this perk incentivizes players to spend their stamina both on sprinting and power attacking at the same time. Enemy movement and the general clunkiness of the animation make this a very easy attack to miss, leaving the Dragonborn vulnerable and lacking the stamina to power attack effectively. Critical damage is significant in Skyrim, but it’s safer just to get three levels in the Deep Wounds perk and use a greatsword.
• Warmaster: It’s always disappointing when the level 100 perk isn’t worth the investment, and such is sadly the case with Warmaster. It’s notoriously difficult to land a backwards power attack in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. To then have the paralysis only work 25% of the time makes this perk less useful, especially given that players can simply enchant a weapon to paralyze targets with each hit.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/skyrim-pros-cons-two-handed-skill-tree-guide/

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