I have tested using walls and practice dummies on Xbox and found that 1hand weapons can actually strike from a slightly further distance than 2hand. I had always assumed 2hand had a reach advantage. Can anyone else confirm this?

I obviously couldn't test every weapon in the game, but I tested a variety of iron and steel weapons and found no difference in reach between weapon types but 1hand consistently had more reach than 2hand.

Since smithing adds a flat bonus to weapon damage making 1hand weapons scale much better at high levels, what advantage is there to 2hand left?

That can't be right.. NPCs with two-handed weapons seem to have a longer range than one-handed guys. If they actually have shorter range though...

You wear them on your back? Some people prefer that.

Lol, I actually do prefer that...

So I tested on a stationary companion and 2hand reach is greater than 1hand.

Collision detection must just be weird for inanimate objects...

Related to topic:

How much bigger is the range for 2H weapons? Because to me it feels rather insignificant most of the time ...
I tested the range on Lydia without AI processing (at least she did have some use that way ). Assuming the range is identical for weapons of the same class (1H/2H), I didn't test every sword there is.

So, I used Alt to make my character do ministeps and determined the maximum range of my 1H sword. Then I switched to 2H and whacked on Lydia, increasing the distance. Turned out, I could go the length of ... estimately half the length an arrow, if not less until I couldn't hit her anymore, same angle as 1H, of course.
And in combat I often have the feeling that kiting and trying to keep enemies on the tip of my range, you know, the somewhat logical thing to do with a longer weapon, isn't as effective or viable as it should be. Because 1H swords swing way faster and have almost the same range.

I use a 2H sword because I like the style, and because I figured I would trade defense ability and speed for power and range. And somehow only the first thing seems to be true. And while the damage per swing is somewhat significantly higher, it feels disappointing to trade in two disadvantages for only one more or less viable advantage. I dislike dual wielding for that reason, because you can't walk while attacking with both weapons and not even block. So all you can do is kite and attack with one weapon at a time, which somewhat totally undermines to purpose of having a weapon in each hand in the first place, or go in full attack and hope the enemy dies before you.

So I'm curious about other people's experience. And for the record, I have the feeling the NPCs have indeed ridiculous range with their 2H weapons, but maybe it's just the first person view that makes me think they actually missed (by hitting the air about 1m in front of me) but somehow did hit my character model/hitbox. :sadvaultboy: