Play without Shields is hard

[CullinB]

I made new dunmer nightblade character and played with him for a week.
This character was inspired from this forum so i have tried play him without Shield.
But I found it very hard fighting without shield.
Especially enemies that can run fast can attak heavy power attack like mountain lions.
My only one tactic is use 80pts fire staff and do first strike with it.

How do you play characters without shields?

[Nod]

console commands add 1 mil health and MP

[CullinB]

Hahaha

[Teralitha]

You can still block using a weapon

[ManualMakron]

Well.. Mountain lions are dangerous no matter how you look at it.. With creatures such as mountain lions it's often best to attack them from a long distance or use magic on lower levels. Speed is an important factor when it comes to combat. Since with speed you can have easier control on distancing and closing in for strikes. Against certain enemies, like mountain lions.. It's best to just kill them with a burst of sorts or use illusion magic or avoid them.. Each enemy also contains a pattern on how it uses it's attacks. I'm in the process of working out a guide for this, which will include advanced combat tactics and similar.

[GutturalWail]

Please know that bethesda, only creator of RPG's on this scale pull their games off very well, but very often make them very badly... This game is flawed in the way if you plan on playing past level 10 and using any decent gear it is a bad idea to use it without a shield, as for 1) it degrades far too fast and 2) with how long fights last do to the spongiest enemies in all the realm you will take a lot of hits without a shield. You can block with a weapon, but its hardly effective in this game. one big reason you pretty much use a shield is Oblivions terrible leveling system, your character will be very weak if played without calculating and taking note of every bit of skill exp you gain. Use mods to fix this, please everyone use mods to fix this.

[CullinB]

Originally posted by 75_RR Nero Serpe:

Please know that bethesda, only creator of RPG's on this scale pull their games off very well, but very often make them very badly... This game is flawed in the way if you plan on playing past level 10 and using any decent gear it is a bad idea to use it without a shield, as for 1) it degrades far too fast and 2) with how long fights last do to the spongiest enemies in all the realm you will take a lot of hits without a shield. You can block with a weapon, but its hardly effective in this game. one big reason you pretty much use a shield is Oblivions terrible leveling system, your character will be very weak if played without calculating and taking note of every bit of skill exp you gain. Use mods to fix this, please everyone use mods to fix this.

What mod are you actually using?

[CullinB]

Originally posted by Marko♣™:

Well.. Mountain lions are dangerous no matter how you look at it.. With creatures such as mountain lions it's often best to attack them from a long distance or use magic on lower levels. Speed is an important factor when it comes to combat. Since with speed you can have easier control on distancing and closing in for strikes. Against certain enemies, like mountain lions.. It's best to just kill them with a burst of sorts or use illusion magic or avoid them.. Each enemy also contains a pattern on how it uses it's attacks. I'm in the process of working out a guide for this, which will include advanced combat tactics and similar.

Yeh, Lion's jumping attacka are deadly.
And we used to use mods that makes others deadly like lions
Mods such as "Deadlier Creatures"
I didn't adopt one this time, so my main issue comes from MOO's creature enhancement.

But my question is how people get along with these enemies without any effective blocking tools.
Are they use acrobatic evasion?

[GutturalWail]

Originally posted by CullinB:

Originally posted by 75_RR Nero Serpe:

Please know that bethesda, only creator of RPG's on this scale pull their games off very well, but very often make them very badly... This game is flawed in the way if you plan on playing past level 10 and using any decent gear it is a bad idea to use it without a shield, as for 1) it degrades far too fast and 2) with how long fights last do to the spongiest enemies in all the realm you will take a lot of hits without a shield. You can block with a weapon, but its hardly effective in this game. one big reason you pretty much use a shield is Oblivions terrible leveling system, your character will be very weak if played without calculating and taking note of every bit of skill exp you gain. Use mods to fix this, please everyone use mods to fix this.

What mod are you actually using?

1) This should help some, for the most part non of that level micro-management stuff will be needed, its not perfect but helps a lot:
http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/13879/?
2) Double damage and Double damage taken if you want. speeds up battles by taking the extreme spongey-ness of the player and the enemies:
http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/45314/?
3) I also suggest playing a tick down (or two) from "Normal" difficulty to take a slight level edge from enemies, such as dremora.

[DON_Shake]

There is no reason to play without shield in Oblivion

[GutturalWail]

Originally posted by DON_Shake:

There is no reason to play without shield in Oblivion

You shouldnt be forced to use a shield no matter what gameplay or class you want to build out :0 do what you can to have fun, Ill help you look for some fixes if my suggested mods dont help you out.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

I agree that there is no reason to play without a shield and even if you don't want to use one for whatever reason, you can still parry block with your weapon.

Blocking can be an important tool when fighting, because there is a short stun effect after you block that allows you a few seconds to gain a better position.

After you block an enemies attack, you can circle around in back of them and start attacking them. As they turn to face you, you can turn with them so they can't face you and if you do it right you can avoid being hit again. If they somehow manage to catch up to attack you again, you can just block again and start the process all over again.

The auto blocking function you obtain at higher shield levels kind of ruins that tactic though.

[CullinB]

Originally posted by DON_Shake:

There is no reason to play without shield in Oblivion

I had been thinking the same.
But when i saw one guy would like to play without shield, i thought i would try that way.
And now i'm wondering how people play without shields.

[CullinB]

Originally posted by 75_RR Nero Serpe:

Originally posted by CullinB:

What mod are you actually using?

1) This should help some, for the most part non of that level micro-management stuff will be needed, its not perfect but helps a lot:
http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/13879/?
2) Double damage and Double damage taken if you want. speeds up battles by taking the extreme spongey-ness of the player and the enemies:
http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/45314/?
3) I also suggest playing a tick down (or two) from "Normal" difficulty to take a slight level edge from enemies, such as dremora.

Yeh I used to use VCE + Migck's Misc tweaks in many case or Duke patrick's melee combat.
And they makes Strengh and Shields very important.
In my newly play case i use MOO (that makes damage twice) and Wrye bash to make Leveled list deadlier(+20 level)

So there comes question People's play style who love play without shields.
I cannot find a way, only depend on Ranged Magical attacks.

[ManualMakron]

You shouldn't give up on playing without it. I'm not sure how spell effectivness gets reduced, I think it depends on the number of armour items you have equipped. Your magic effectivness takes a hit when you wear armour, so ditching a shield for that can be useful. The shield itself also has it's own weight, which means you gain a bit on movement speed.

[Teralitha]

Originally posted by CullinB:

Originally posted by 75_RR Nero Serpe:

Please know that bethesda, only creator of RPG's on this scale pull their games off very well, but very often make them very badly... This game is flawed in the way if you plan on playing past level 10 and using any decent gear it is a bad idea to use it without a shield, as for 1) it degrades far too fast and 2) with how long fights last do to the spongiest enemies in all the realm you will take a lot of hits without a shield. You can block with a weapon, but its hardly effective in this game. one big reason you pretty much use a shield is Oblivions terrible leveling system, your character will be very weak if played without calculating and taking note of every bit of skill exp you gain. Use mods to fix this, please everyone use mods to fix this.

What mod are you actually using?

Attributes easy.

You guys should just play morrowind where your shield isnt the end all be all.