How do you play Melee?

[iFrame]

Have always played only mage types in original Skyrim. For SSE i decided to try out melee since i enjoyed melee builds in ESO, mained a tank/healer Templar and vamp Dragon Knight, it was awesome.

However its different in SSE, it feels weird and is harder. The melee combat feels unintuitive and controls clunky, moreover its not fluid and engaging like in ESO(granted ESO is an MMO type game). Playing in 3rd person makes it worse despite allowing a broader view and more situational awareness. Its like the game is not made for melee. I had mobs that can 1 shot 3/4 of my health despite shield blocking and executing moves is a messy experience. I understand part of this is attributed to the fact that i'm playing in Master difficulty but playing as a mage type on Legendary difficulty was funnily enough a cakewalk, no cheats and exploits. It also doesn't help that i'm not high level enough to get all the perks and gear but wheres the fun if i exploit my way to max level and gear. I won't say i'm struggling, i can still clear content after a few tries, rather it is frustrating as i die a whole lot more on than playing a mage in Legendary difficulty.

So yea, any tips and tricks on how to go about playing melee? Skill sets i need to learn, solid builds, gear/items i'll need during my progression etc.

[The_Anon]

Never played pure mage, probably should.

I do however play with a heavy melee focus so maybe I can help
The primary issue you're facing is that you're playing on Master difficulty. The way skyrim handles difficulty is to buff enemy damage and lower your damage, when you're kiting and distracting your oponent with summons you don't notice it so much since its uncommen for you to actually get but the guys with big slow high damage weapons.
For melee though you need to get stuck in there within warhammer range so you're going to take those big hits and you're going to be there a while taking those big hits since you do so much less damage yourself.

Perhaps I'm not that great at melee myself but I found the best way outside of plugins is to basicly be mainlining health potions and grinding smithing to get better heavy armor and more damaging weaponry. I prefer 2h weapons since dealing more damage means quicker fights and taking less damage, I don't feel the benefits from a shield at all since time spent blocking is time spent not hitting the opponent.

My personal skill focus's are
2H
Heavy Armor
Smithing
Alchemy (for both health potions and resistance potions, perhaps some paralysis poisons)

Those should be your main focus. Eventualy you'll have enough health and armor to take a few hits and do enough damage to kill most scrubs in a couple of hits.


There's a few mods out there that make combat "better" the one I'm using is SE atm gives you the same damage bonus as the NPC's. They still hit just as hard but while it does make melee easier on the high end the main reason to use it is so you don't feel you're stuck there fighting a giant damage sponge which let's be honest, just isn't fun.

[iFrame]

Thanks! I went Sword and Board thinking its the safest for a melee newcomer. The block is good against normal swings and 1H opponents but doesn't really help much against 2H power attacks and monster attacks which somehow hit a farking truck load. I should have gone 2H, like you said, quicker fights means taking less dmg. You're right, shield and block is close to useless, especially against multiple opponents where you're endlessly blocking or shield bash to run out and get some distance while throwing in a cheap shot or 2, in the end it becomes a long "kiting" fight, pretty crappy block mechanics and unintuitive for tank builds.

The main problem i face with melee is the enemies' execution attacks, they literally can 1 hit K.O. me if im at 80% HP or below, its ridiculous and makes melee at higher difficulty hard. Even shield block doesn't prevent it. Another complain i have is the lack of dodge. Strafing, backpedal, turning around and running is useless since enemies can charge attack you or their 2H has long reach. Really wish melee had a dodge mechanics like in ESO.

I'm currently running 1H, Block, Alteration, Enchanting, Smithing. I thought alteration defense buff would be useful but its pretty much useless, still get 1 hit K.O at 80% HP with buff. I'm hoping once i get paralyze it'll help make the battles less dangerous. I'm using Enchanted Superior Elven Armor and Weapons at level 25, not sure if i'm undergeared. Theres no stamina reduction enchantments and stamina regen enchantments right? Stamina management is another issue. Also chugging a lot of health/stamina pots, struggling to resupply myself. I should probably pick up alchemy like you but currently got not enough skill points to level that many skill trees.

Maybe i might just finish the dragonborn dlc and respec.

[White Rabbit]

Until you have good armor shields are great.
Just as your opponent is going to strike you press block then attack.
This bashes them with the shield which interupts their attack so you don't get hit at all.
Add shield perks and it also damages them, block arrows etc.
Soften them up with a few arrows first and you're away.
Couldn't get through the early levels without tbh as i start with sword, shield and bow.

[Linguistically Inept]

dont listen to people saying you need to lower your difficulty; melee has a rough start but quickly becomes very good (my favourite combat style)

first off; skyrim combat is meh, its not a good combat game

second; use a shield, two handers are too slow and dont offer the damage needed to offset that whilst dual weilding is just ♥♥♥♥... shield gives you an almost immediate stagger, shield bash lets you stagger lock humanoids (even giants and centaurions) easily whilst giving you a way to interrupt big attacks you really dont want to eat (such as dragon breaths)

third; orc, berserker rage is very powerful and allows you to kill stuff that you wouldve had no chance of killing without, i dont understand how any other race (with a melee playstyle) is supposed to survive early game without it

fourth; ww, more optional... but beast form gives you another win condition (along with berserker rage against enemies you just cant stand two to two with yet), the CC on moving power attacks ragdolls stuff like crazy (forward power attack> follow ragdoll> couple of normal attacks> repeat)

[Mytheos]

@OP

Melee is actually far more powerful than anything else...you have many different gap closers, its very easy to hit the armor cap, and also not hard to hit the magic resistance cap.

Once you start smithing etc you start hitting so hard it breaks the game.

Yes the melee in Skyrim is rather crap for a load of reasons...but can be fixed if you put in the effort.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3378/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/4881/?

Makes weapon ranges shorter, no more enemies waving a 2hd 2 feet in front of you and somehow hitting you...

These two also make it so enemies cant start an attack and spin on a dime to hit you, and no more wolves leaping past you and still somehow hitting you because every attack has a 180 degree arc practically.


Then you can try for a combat mod like Smilodon, Deadly combat etc etc.

Smilodon is good and very popular but you need to set it up right depending on your game.

In vanilla you can swing all day with a 1hd, and your stamina bar is for your "special attacks" like power attacks, shield bashes etc...

For Smilodon's defaults your basic attacks cost stamina...and the costs for shield bashing is reduced...also bows take a ton of stamina to use...as they drain stamina while drawn and take a set amount of stamina once fully drawn.

So if you run with defaults on harder difficulties if feels like the stamina is poorly balanced as vs an equal level opponent you end up out of stamina half way through the fight...so if you dont tailor it, it ends up being a little broken...also forget using a bow then switching to sword and shield unless you have a crazy amount of stamina...

I have 165 stamina on my current sub 20 character and 2 arrows with Eagle Eye takes half my stamina bar...even without eagle eye I can only fire off around 6 or so arrows before completely drained.

You can however use the console to change the stamina costs on bows ( Normally its tied to 2hd ) as there is a separate global variable for it.

And again on harder difficulties you probably want to use lower stamina costs vs the smilodon's defaults or its just a stamina pot chugging contest.

[lupus_hegemonia]

How to play... melee attack style? Eh... attacking with your weapon, perhaps?
And have a couple followers to supporting you?

It's not Rocket Science, you know...

[Sandormen]

I must admit never played sorc in skyrim, should perhaps try it.
I have a hard time sticking to my original 'plans' though. -I am lazy so I end up with bow in the end. -Another lazy solution i alternatively end up with is a petite battleaxe-wielding character... ...but them pesky dragons...

[Justice]

Originally posted by Deathcoy:

Thanks! I went Sword and Board thinking its the safest for a melee newcomer. The block is good against normal swings and 1H opponents but doesn't really help much against 2H power attacks and monster attacks which somehow hit a farking truck load. I should have gone 2H, like you said, quicker fights means taking less dmg. You're right, shield and block is close to useless, especially against multiple opponents where you're endlessly blocking or shield bash to run out and get some distance while throwing in a cheap shot or 2, in the end it becomes a long "kiting" fight, pretty crappy block mechanics and unintuitive for tank builds.

The main problem i face with melee is the enemies' execution attacks, they literally can 1 hit K.O. me if im at 80% HP or below, its ridiculous and makes melee at higher difficulty hard. Even shield block doesn't prevent it. Another complain i have is the lack of dodge. Strafing, backpedal, turning around and running is useless since enemies can charge attack you or their 2H has long reach. Really wish melee had a dodge mechanics like in ESO.

I'm currently running 1H, Block, Alteration, Enchanting, Smithing. I thought alteration defense buff would be useful but its pretty much useless, still get 1 hit K.O at 80% HP with buff. I'm hoping once i get paralyze it'll help make the battles less dangerous. I'm using Enchanted Superior Elven Armor and Weapons at level 25, not sure if i'm undergeared. Theres no stamina reduction enchantments and stamina regen enchantments right? Stamina management is another issue. Also chugging a lot of health/stamina pots, struggling to resupply myself. I should probably pick up alchemy like you but currently got not enough skill points to level that many skill trees.

Maybe i might just finish the dragonborn dlc and respec.

You say that enemies can 1 hit K.O. you? I have several question about this...What lvl you are? On what difficulty you playing, How much hp and armour o your character do you have?

But I can help you with your stamina issue. Use restoration skill and train to lvl 40 till you unlock perk that allows you to restore stamina as well.

[Iozeph]

As sword and board the most trouble you're going to have in melee is against late game enemies wielding two handed hammers. They ignore most of your armour. So blocking isn't just delaying
the innevitible. It's giving them free punches.

After that- particularly if you aren't playing Nord and not modded, is going to be late game mage types and ancient-ish vampires which love to walk backwards and exploit high level cold spells to hurt you, sap your stamina, and essentially slow you down so much that you never reach them. It's annoying that just about every build benefits in some way from having stealth - more so the higher you set the difficulty- if only so that you get that first hit and you don't have much distance to cross to get at them when combat begins.

If you aren't going for any magic I'd say compromise your idiom just a bit and still take alchemy. You aren't going to find enough good healing potions on your own to keep you alive if you intend to live your life one pot to the next. Just see it as playing a learned soldier -characters from fiction such as Brother Cadfael, who though a trained fighter, picked up skills in classical medicine/chemistry/herbalism while on crusade in the holy land before returning home to become a benedictine monk.

[no gimmick needed]

I play as alchemist/ enchanter so I collect everything I see. put all skill points in stamina so you can carry more stuff and swing weapons at high speed. base around making potions, duel weilding, smithing. put points into running charging attacks to get instant kills with 2-hand weapons. enchant all weapons and armor.

With potions you can combine ingredants to get up to 4 or even 5 effects going. i.e. have health, stamina, magic all regenerate at 100% + resist magic.