North_Ranger
Staff member
Seriously? What level do you have to be to beat that thing in a fight that doesn't sound like peek-a-boo?
[Gaming] Elder Scrolls 5 - Dawnguard is HERE!
- Thread starter Jay
- Start date
I don't know, I've always killed him at lvl 2-3 later in the game like lvl 12 or so spiders are one-hit-wonders.
I have to agree.
I have been trying out all the different combat styles, and out of all of them, Archery and Main/Shield seem to be the most satisfying to utilize in practice. After that it's Main/Spell and Two-Handed. I just don't really like duel-wielding or pure spell, mostly because pure spell just feels overly complicated and lacks a lot of power once you get into high levels, and duel-wielding just has me feel so open to get attacked, since I have to fight in melee and yet can't block. (Does not help that I seem to focus too much on the left mouse button, leaving my offhand weapon pretty much decorative until I remember to click it. They should make it so both weapons have individual stamina bars or something.)
I have been trying out all the different combat styles, and out of all of them, Archery and Main/Shield seem to be the most satisfying to utilize in practice. After that it's Main/Spell and Two-Handed. I just don't really like duel-wielding or pure spell, mostly because pure spell just feels overly complicated and lacks a lot of power once you get into high levels, and duel-wielding just has me feel so open to get attacked, since I have to fight in melee and yet can't block. (Does not help that I seem to focus too much on the left mouse button, leaving my offhand weapon pretty much decorative until I remember to click it. They should make it so both weapons have individual stamina bars or something.)
Oh I get smacked a bunch but with duel wielding even if they hit me once they die so fast they never get to hit me again. Plus I like that different weapons move at different speeds so I use them differently. It's fun to try different one-handed weapons and see what pairs work well. So far mace and sword are my favorite.
Dave
Staff member
100 Conjuration and sneaking abilities are my favorite way to go.
Combats always go like this: Summon Dremora Lord, Summon Dremora Lord, Sneak until bad guys are dead. If any monsters kill either of my Dremora Lords, I simply summon another.
Either that or I fireball the fuck out of anything that moves.
Combats always go like this: Summon Dremora Lord, Summon Dremora Lord, Sneak until bad guys are dead. If any monsters kill either of my Dremora Lords, I simply summon another.
Either that or I fireball the fuck out of anything that moves.
I also love Conjuration, but I found after awhile that style of combat grew a bit overly passive. I like doing more then hiding while my pets attack stuff, so I ended up losing interest in it and decided to level up other skills and use the conjuration as a backup.
BTW has anyone been following Felix the Peaceful Monk? Guy is playing the game doing all quests that don't require killing someone, trying to finish them all without a single kill using sneaking and illusion (plus weapons enchanted with fear effects). It's pretty cool to see what he can do. Sadly he can't do any of the main quest though, since it requires you to kill stuff.
Now that I've completed four of the five side faction quest lines (didn't do companions this time through, but I might later - if only for the shout word that you come across while searching for the fragment of whosiwhat), and the reunification/liberation quest line, I've been trying to branch out from Sneak/Archery. I tried going the conjuration route, but I just wanted to be more involved in my fights, so I keep conjuration handy in case anything gets past my dual cast Destruction spells, so I can pull up a bound sword or two and dispatch my enemies much more quickly. I have, however, been having a lot of fun sitting at extreme range and nailing enemies with fire/lightning/ice bolt and trying to lure them across traps. Managed to polish off 3 draugr (two restless and one the next level up) last night in a crypt by making them come to me across a floor button that controlled one of those big swinging spiked gates. Still finding that I'm going to need to clear out most of a dungeon, until I get to the final room, save, then go back through once I get my magic stats and perks a little higher up, but I'm in no rush to finish the game, so I'm ok with that.
GasBandit
Staff member
I liked shields because in addition to early damage mitigation, later on it gives you another platform for non-fueltanked enchantments. Good spot for resists.
I'm 57 now, full daedric armor, and having gotten high in archery, 1 hand, shield, sneak, lockpick, pickpocket, destruction etc etc... it suddenly occurred to me I've been neglecting 2 handed. So I'm doing that now. Damn that shit is stamina-thirsty. For the first time since I was a noob, casters are a problem because I don't have a shield and not much in resists (and Spellbreaker really spoiled me)... Also disappointed I don't do 6x damage from stealth with a 2 hander
But hey, I'm getting improves, and consequently, levels.
I still haven't gone farther than kynesgrove in the main quest. But there's only Solitude left to conquer for the stormcloaks, and I've finished a lot of other lines. Plus I'm champion of I don't know how many conflicting higher beings.
Added at: 10:34
Also... I sneaked up on a ghost and slit its throat. WTF?
I'm 57 now, full daedric armor, and having gotten high in archery, 1 hand, shield, sneak, lockpick, pickpocket, destruction etc etc... it suddenly occurred to me I've been neglecting 2 handed. So I'm doing that now. Damn that shit is stamina-thirsty. For the first time since I was a noob, casters are a problem because I don't have a shield and not much in resists (and Spellbreaker really spoiled me)... Also disappointed I don't do 6x damage from stealth with a 2 hander
But hey, I'm getting improves, and consequently, levels.I still haven't gone farther than kynesgrove in the main quest. But there's only Solitude left to conquer for the stormcloaks, and I've finished a lot of other lines. Plus I'm champion of I don't know how many conflicting higher beings.
Added at: 10:34
Also... I sneaked up on a ghost and slit its throat. WTF?
Yeah, I do miss my 6x damage from sneak, or my 15x with daggers, or my 3x damage with my bow; but I got really tired of either having to strip down iron arrows for mats to make decent ones or having to travel the world looking for decent arrows. I haven't bothered with 2-handed this time through either, mainly because I did just 2-handed on my last character and I got tired of big battles being over in X hits, where X was the number of enemies. Once I've gotten bored of magic I may go back to 2-handers with heavy armor, just to switch things up a bit.
I am finding that I wish Bethesda had included a few more stock response options for NPCs.
I am finding that I wish Bethesda had included a few more stock response options for NPCs.
It makes no sense at all for the bartender in the Thieves' guild to continue to tell me that I don't look like much even though I'm the guild master, or for Vilkas to tell the herald of the companions that he's never even heard of me when I'm the Thane of Whiterun, Windhelm, and Markarth; I'm known as Stormblade by Jarl Ulfric; I'm the listener of the Dark Brotherhood, the guild master of the theives' guild, Dovakiin, a known bard, and Arch-Mage of the college of Winterhold. And sure, not all of that is common knowledge, but enough random guards stop me in the street to tell me "I know who you are. Hail Sithis" that you'd think he would at least have gotten a bit of a clue by now.
North_Ranger
Staff member
Okay, noob question time again... so Stamina is what powers your attacks, right? Health is well, obviously health, but that always baffled me since most RPGs (table or otherwise) have basically used Stamina as a synonym for Health.
GasBandit
Staff member
I've not had a problem with arrows in ages. I just buy all the 14+ damage arrows (elven and above I think) whenever I'm at any given merchant. Most notably, the drunken huntsman, Warmaiden's, or the shops in the thieves guild. I've got over 70k gold (man, when you know how to work it, alchemy pays MAD money. Buy ALL THE REAGENTS. Make ALL the potions that have 3 or 4 effects (even if they conflict). Then track down 8 different merchants because they'll all run out of money buying that shit back
GasBandit
Staff member
Stamina is like mana for physical activity. Like, fatigue. Blocking or using power attacks (holding down the attack button instead of tapping it) uses stamina. Sprinting also uses stamina. You can do normal attacks (tap the attack button instead of holding it) without using stamina.
Dave
Staff member
The amount of gold merchants have is pure shit. Later in the game you find all these cool magic items but can't do anything with them because nobody has enough money to buy them at full price.Then track down 8 different merchants because they'll all run out of money buying that shit back
GasBandit
Staff member
That's why speech is REALLY important. The investor perk is totally worth it. I've invested in Warmaiden's, the Drunken Huntsman, Belethor's general goods, and the alchemy bitch (that's what I call her) in whiterun. With investing, they usually can cover about 1500 each. If I use them all up and still need more, I go hit the thieves guild. The fence there usually has over 2k, and there's other shops right there too though it seems you can't invest in them.
Also, if your speech isn't high enough to get investor, and you're still loaded down with goods, find your most expensive thing and sell it, then buy it back, then repeat. The more expensive the item the better. It will siphon off gold FAST (they buy for half what they sell) but you'll raise speech doing so, and you can then get your money back by selling the rest of the stuff you had to sell. Think of it as getting paid in speech improves instead of gold.
Added at: 11:58
Also - make sure when you do business with Warmaidens, that the woman is outside and the man is inside. If they're both inside they share the same cash pool... if she's outside, they each maintain a separate cash pool, so you can sell twice as much. You only have to invest in one, though, and it affects both pools.
I've been cheating a bit as far as arrow replenishment goes. When I get a hold of a better arrow than what I've been using, I go to Thieves Guild, pickpocket the arrows off of the archers there and replace them with the new one I got. Then I wait until one of them is practicing on one of the dummies, and start grabbing an unending supply of the new arrow.
I've gotten the Thieves Guild back up to full power in all the major holds and have started working more on the main Guild quest.
I've gotten the Thieves Guild back up to full power in all the major holds and have started working more on the main Guild quest.
Then you have to do the complete thieves' guild quest until you are the guild master. then the available gold jumps way up.
North_Ranger
Staff member
Yeah... definitely need to gonna work on my speech. Goddamn merchants are ripping me off like a water stand in Woodstock.
Also, I'm noticing a few things that keep me a little wary: for one, the last MMORPG I played was WoW, and as a former hunter I kinda miss the ecological disasters I could cause by killing dozens and dozens of wolves a night. Now I've barely killed half a dozen in two days' worth of games.
The second... well, remember how I said that it's the treatments that keep me from playing? They still manage to fuck me up from time to time. One of the side effects I suffer from is the constant need to hit the loo. One time when shopping at Belathor's (sp?) in Whiterun, I had to dash off. When I came back, that whiny little runt Sigurd was telling me to get out. I figured all too late that I had went for a sitdown just when the shop closed, and the next thing I knew I was apparently trespassing. The result? Bounty in Whiterun, and losing all my stolen goods - including a mammoth tusk I had "acquired" from the Companions. Had to run that again...
Also, I'm noticing a few things that keep me a little wary: for one, the last MMORPG I played was WoW, and as a former hunter I kinda miss the ecological disasters I could cause by killing dozens and dozens of wolves a night. Now I've barely killed half a dozen in two days' worth of games.
The second... well, remember how I said that it's the treatments that keep me from playing? They still manage to fuck me up from time to time. One of the side effects I suffer from is the constant need to hit the loo. One time when shopping at Belathor's (sp?) in Whiterun, I had to dash off. When I came back, that whiny little runt Sigurd was telling me to get out. I figured all too late that I had went for a sitdown just when the shop closed, and the next thing I knew I was apparently trespassing. The result? Bounty in Whiterun, and losing all my stolen goods - including a mammoth tusk I had "acquired" from the Companions. Had to run that again...
I understand N_R (though not to the same degree, obviously), I've been having issues with my body adjusting to new meds and frequently have to leave the computer for a good while. I don't know about the console versions of the game, but on PC bringing up either the Magic/Items/Map/Skills menu or the Save Game/Quest Log/etc. menu will pause the game and halt the flow of time. As for arrows, to be fair, I never really have a problem except when I've run through three or four quests in long dungeons and have forgotten to replenish my stock in between runs, then I get half-way in and have to resort to ancient nord arrows or iron arrows and my damage output gets ridiculously low, and suddenly I'm relying on summons to get me through the rest of the dungeon.
Remember to open your inventory, or a map to pause the game when you need to skip to the loo.
GasBandit
Staff member
I have been severely tempted to cheat by giving myself multiple Black Stars lately. My weapons mostly are a combo Paralysis/Lifedrain that trivializes most fights, but a full charge only lasts about 30-40 swings. I'm a soul suckin' madman over here... and I can't always be sure there's a humanoid for me to drain sometimes.
GasBandit
Staff member
I had thought of something like that, but I didn't realize only one spell would count for the reduction - I'd been putting in destruction because the health drain is destruction, and it IS listed first... I may have to try it with alteration (paralysis is an alteration spell, not illusion) to see if that helps more. It'll be hard to find a place to stick it all in though, as most of my enchantable spots right now have +2 handed and +archery.
And really, with the black star, as long as I'm fighting people, I've got an unlimited supply of souls. Just gets a little irksome when I have to slog through a bunch of draugr.
Is there natural fear (by which I mean, not a spell I cast, or an effect that I've added to a weapon or armor) in the game? I've noticed as I progress in levels (I'm at 40 right now) that when I cast destruction spells at basic enemies (draugr, but not restless draugr, etc.) they have a tendency to run away if they live long enough to get away from me. I don't think I have any fear enchantments on me, I'm just decked out in my Arch-mage's robes, Savros Aren's necklace, a ring I enchanted myself to make destro spells 8% cheaper, Moraki's mask and a pair of gloves that increase my magicka by 20, along with a pair of boots that I think just increase my carrying capacity by 15; but these basic enemies, if they get away from me, will straight out run away from me for about a minute before stopping and turning back around. It doesn't happen all too often, because on a dual-cast of Fire bolt I, most basic enemies are dead in one hit, but sometimes I miss the mob and hit the pillar next to them.
Of course, I've also noticed that one of the random "hunter" npcs who travels the route between Helgen and Ivarstead disappeared last night when I finished buying all of his skins and then "unsheathed" my hands to cast fire-bolt on him after he admitted to poaching.
Of course, I've also noticed that one of the random "hunter" npcs who travels the route between Helgen and Ivarstead disappeared last night when I finished buying all of his skins and then "unsheathed" my hands to cast fire-bolt on him after he admitted to poaching.
That's only if you take the talent in the destruction tree.
Added at: 13:33
Added at: 13:37
I could be wrong about that though.
Added at: 13:33
I'm pretty sure you only need whichever enchant is the dominant enchant. The weapon glow usually tells you which it is.
Added at: 13:37
I could be wrong about that though.