Dual Wield on Legendary difficulties

[[VN] Michael Doan]

I made this topic to ask you guys this simple question and ask for some advice:

"has anybody finish this game on legendary difficulties format FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END with a dual wield character ?"

Why I ask this, because you can't block, you can't side step (strangely enough I can't seem to sidestep those power attack enemies throwing at me), on the top of that, every power attack from a 2 handed enemies or anything above Sabre cat, or just 1 or 2 spell attack from a mage and I'm deader as dead can be @@

I'm at the THalmor embassy now with a level 14 dual wield Breton freak, max out magic resistents (with the help of potions), 269 armour ratings (can buff to ~340) and I can't do anything to finish this quest, I tried sneak - failed, I tried invisibility - failed, I tried combat - SUPER FAILED

Anything got any tips for me because I really want the chalenge here and don't want to lower the difficulties ^^

[Aquiluus]

Not to be ironic, or so, but due to the system introduced in Skyrim, only wielding a bow or a 2-hander is not a dual wield. Yet still, it's quite rough to complete the entire game, ONLY on dual wield weapons (I mean no dual wield Shield+Weapon). When You cannot block, it generally means You will always receive full damage. Dual wield was introduced to increase the DMG for sneak based characters, at least in my opinion, and surely in the beginning, dual wielding is basically a death wish. Also strangely choosing the Breton race for such build... Bretons are rather magic based... so yeah he's a freak ;). When not being a sneaky character It would be wise for You to grind Your Breton to 25-30 lvl or so, before going to Thalmor embassy. Low amount of health+dual wield equals failure. I would also strongly recommend acquiring the "Ebony Mail" before this quest.

[[VN] Michael Doan]

Well I chose Breton because of the magic resistent and in my opinions the race skill bonus is not that important much and I dislike the orcs because they look so ugly :))

And by the way enemy mages are always a pain to me so I always max magic resist first, it's not that hard with some potions anyway ^^

well I often distributed my health/ stamina like 3:1, now if you can't block, you can't side step, that means if you're attacked by 2 two handers bandit for example, you'll die in a second, I just want to know if the dual build weapons can be done on legendary difficulties or not ^^

I did a iron only run with an axe + shield, I finished it and it's very viable, but this dual wield is a little too much for me to comprehend how to do it

@@

[Aquiluus]

Well, true, the bonus doesn't make such a difference, I'm just after a week of constant Morrowind playtime... Skill freak, you know ;D. There it made quite the difference :D.

Yet still... I believe that the key to dual wield is dealing great amount of the damage in an instant. So it would mean investing a lot in stamina, stamina reg. and one handed damage. Like trying to kill the opponent before he even gets the chance to kill You! But that's more of a 1on1 strategy.

On my current playthrough, which is blocked by PC defect, and the first Legendary playthrough, I am mosly focused on Sword/Shield plus bows. The enemy mages ain't that much of a problem, mostly thanks to the fact I am using the Thuumic mod. So spamming damage to them is much easier.

To be honest almost every game(did not completed the first 2 game, too young :P) of the TES series i played with a Redguard. Mostly because of the Adrenaline Rush. Gives the chance to spam damage to enemies. In Skyrim, with improved stamina regen, it surely would be very helpful for the dual wield build. SPAM THE DAMAGE.

[[VN] Michael Doan]

wow, same here in Morrowind, redguard all the way :))

but in skyrim you can be killed in 1 or 2 hits if you don't know how to block properly (man even when you block a power attack from a bandit chief with a shield it can take nearly 25% of my character health @@), I don't think that's the case in Morrowind and enemies mage spells in this TES are so insane for my taste ^^

But anyway, I just gave up on this dual wield and just leave it there untill I can think of something new :P

[Big Boom Boom]

You possibly can, it's just that you need to Alchemy + Enchant + Smithing until each sword do 400+ dmg and then happily one/two power attack stuff on Legendary. You absolutely need zero mods to do that and certainly achievable even before using orouboros trick of enchant->alchemy->enchant->alchemy.

269 def rating is kinda low as dual wield does not allow you to block/dodge (power attack is the only effective way of dual wield and you can't move while power attack).

Resist Magic is also sucky, try Absorb Magic (Atronach Stone).

[[VN] Michael Doan]

i'm at level 14 dual wield thief light armor, I can't enchant or craft that much untill level 20 AT LEAST (must of my good potions right now are goods bought from alchemist) even then I'll miss a lot of combat perk ^^

maybe my level is just too low to handle this mission, I reloaded the save before this and finish the brotherhood questline first :))

And yes you were right, 269 armor, even after I buff with stone flesh is still too low, but what did you expect, light armor man not heavy, thanks for your advice ^^

[Big Boom Boom]

Either Atronach or Lord Stone for more defense. I find the vanilla Alteration spell very weak until the Master spell, if you want to go a bit on magic Conjuration is the best possible magic available in Legendary difficulty since your summon is unaffected by the difficulty.

[Lokani]

I'm having a blast with a dual wield character with heavy conjuration and illusion on legendary. Frenzy spell and summons to keep the bad guys occupied while I run in to get in some heavy burst damage then run out before they smack me too hard. At first it was tough, real tough but once you have a strong enough frenzy spell and can summon tanks your good to go. A lvl 36 dremora thall who i gave the sanguine rose staff so he summons another dremora is starting to feel a little overpowered.

If there is only one enemy, first i change in and out of vampire lord to kill my thrall, then invis spell and I go in and try to get the backstab power attack for x12 with main hand sword and x30 with offhand dagger, after the fight i rethrall my dremora. If there are many enemies, I throw in a frenzy to get them fighting each other, send in my summons, then finally i go in and try to pick them off one at a time, rushing out of the fight if i take any damage to heal up.

The best weapon enchant i found for this char was mainhand with 1 second soultrap and 1 stamina absorb. The stamina absorb is key since you will always be able to power attack. This weapon almost never runs out of charges. The offhand dagger has health absorb and a short duration paralyze.

If you want to raise Conjuration quickly, then get raise dead before bleak falls barrow and raise all the dead bodies to fight the guys in the first couple rooms. There are lots of dead rats, bandits, and skeletons around. I think I usually get out of there with around 50 or more in conjuration, which means i can get the ice atronach to tank for me real early.

Dual wield solo without any summons or frenzy for distractions would mean lots of reloads.

It is exciting since this character is always 2 or 3 hits away from death.

[[VN] Michael Doan]

@jsnbrooks :wow, what's your health ??? because seem like you invested alot in mage spell

I often go out with a companion and I'm using UFO mod so followers can level up with me, it's not a problem of fighting around around with a follower, I just have problem when I have to fight alone, no tank to suck up damage ^^

But your character sounds pretty good, I'll make a new character and focus on conjuration dual wield, thx for your advice guys ???

@Big Boom Boom: alteration spell may not sound much but you can have a +40 armor spell AND free magic resistant very early in the game without having to invest ANYTHING in magicka, I know it's not much effective later on but it's still a way to buff up your armor rating, what do you mean by saying "unaffected by the difficulty", does it mean that summoned minions do not have the health buff or damage resist buff like all other creatures in the world in higher difficulties ??? Because I swear that a level 1 familiar can kill my level 1 character with ease (I tried training with familiar summoned it attack it and it can kill me in 3 hits or so)
=))=))=))

But overall your ideas of a conjuration dual wield are very much appreciated, thank you guys ^^

[Lokani]

After i get my health to 200, I get 200 stam and 200 magicka and then the rest goes into health. The ring of the erudite which is quite necessary for vampires gives 100 magicka and i have 2 items with fortifiy conjuration on them so i do not have to spend perk points on higher levels of conjuration.

Lately I've been going without the thrall, giving the sanguine staff to my follower so there is a lot less time wasted killing the thrall and rerezzing it. Shame since it is so overpowered, just time consuming and kind of annoying to maintain.

One thing to remember, a must if you use conjuration, when you hit your summon on accident and they turn on you, resummon immediately. Also remember that you only get experience with raise dead if the zombie actually attacks something, so raising dead with no enemies does not give xp. The zombie must attack something before it dies to get the massive xp.