http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Longhammer is an orcish warhammer with lower weight and higher speed than greatswords while still packing the punch of a warhammer. It doesn't have any other abilities and it can be enchanted.

I conducted some test with my 2H warrior and compared it to a Daedric Warhammer. I put both weapons to the Grindstone for maximum damage (I'm around level 35 with smithing 100 and enchanting 70) and equipped it with all kinds of Fortify Two-Handed gear.

The results:

Damage:Daedric Warhammer: 262The Longhammer:	231  Swing time:Daedric Warhammer: 1.3sThe Longhammer:	1.0sDamage per Second:Daedric Warhammer: 201 per secondThe Longhammer:	231 per second

The Longhammer swings about 30% faster then a Daedric Warhammer while initially doing 25% less damage which results in a slightly higher dps for The Longhammer. Later, when all those smithing perks bring the damage to higher - but closer - levels, the damage advantage of the daedric warhammer shrinks even further (to about 13% in my case). And given the fact that The Longhammer can be aquired very early (no prerequisites, but it's pretty well guarded by Falmer and bandits and it's in Foresworn infested country) it should be your best 2H weapon for most of the game.

However, there are several considerations that make the daedric 2H weapons not completely obsolete:
1. The Longhammer is unique. Slap a bad enchantment on it and it will stay for the rest of the game.
2. The Daedric Warhammer has higher burst damage, which is important if you rely one one-hit kills.
3. The Daedric Warhammer looks much much better.
4. Right now it seems like the Daedric Warhammer causes more stagger, which might be a sideeffect of the Longhammers low weight. Not sure, though.

Just for variety's sake you could consider carrying both weapons. For the Longhammer I prefer an enchantment that doesn't loose it's value. My personal favorite is the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Steel_Battleaxe_of_Fiery_Souls#Steel_Battleaxe_of_Fiery_Souls enchantment, which deals 10 points of fire damage and captures souls. For the daedric warhammer i would consider either extra damage or leech effects.

Those weapons are so great that http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Volendrung is now just another piece of deco in my house.

--- Update---
Some numbers for base weapons (speed in seconds per attack):

	_____________________|attack_|base___|base___|flawless_|flawless_|legendary_|legendary_____________________|speed__|damage_|dps____|damage___|dps______|damage____|dps---------------------+-------+-------+-------+---------+---------+----------+---------The Longhammer _____ | 1,0 _ | 21 __ | 21,00 | 28 ____ | 28,00 _ | 31 _____ | 31,00Volendrung _________ | 1,2 _ | 25 __ | 20,83 | 32 ____ | 26,67 _ | 35 _____ | 29,17Daedric Greatsword _ | 1,1 _ | 23 __ | 20,91 | 30 ____ | 27,27 _ | 33 _____ | 30,00Daedric Battleaxe __ | 1,2 _ | 26 __ | 21,67 | 33 ____ | 27,50 _ | 36 _____ | 30,00Daedric Warhammer __ | 1,3 _ | 31 __ | 23,85 | 38 ____ | 29,23 _ | 41 _____ | 31,54Orcish Greatsword __ | 1,1 _ | 18 __ | 16,36 | 25 ____ | 22,73 _ | 28 _____ | 25,45Orcish Battleaxe ___ | 1,2 _ | 25 __ | 20,83 | 32 ____ | 26,67 _ | 35 _____ | 29,17Orcish Warhammer ___ | 1,3 _ | 26 __ | 20,00 | 33 ____ | 25,38 _ | 36 _____ | 27,69Skyforge Greatsword  | 1,1 _ | 17 __ | 15,45 | 24 ____ | 21,82 _ | 27 _____ | 24,55Skyforge Battleaxe _ | 1,2 _ | 21 __ | 17,50 | 28 ____ | 23,33 _ | 31 _____ | 25,83Skyforge Warhammer*  | 1,3 _ | 23 __ | 17,69 | 30 ____ | 23,08 _ | 33 _____ | 25,38

* I guessed the Skyforge Warhammer base damage because I couldn't find it in the wiki.

-- update: corrected the numbers for my ingame example for the weapons. the longhammer is even better than initially stated.
-- update2: added http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Volendrung, which - despite being made of an orcish warhammer - is the equivalent of an orcish battleaxe. Plus 50 points of stamina leech. Artifacts seem to break every rule, so maybe there are some artifact weapons out that that are way better than their base stats may indicate.

Did you do any comparisons with other 2H weapon types? Does it swing faster than greatswords and battleaxes?

I clocked an ebony greatsword, too. That one took 1.1 seconds per swing, but that might have been a measuring error.
I tested the deadric warhammer and the longhammer three times each and the numbers were consistent.
didn't test the battleaxe yet, but given the numbers I assume they take 1.2 seconds.

Can the Longhammer get two enchanting effects, or does its special ability take up one enchantment slot?

Oh wow, so it's even faster then the "quick" 2H weapons. That is quite cool, and good to know!

Furthermore, its relatively light weight means it will consume less stamina from power attacks. Sounds like win-win to me.

Eh. Not enough better to warrant the 2 extra perks dropped into Dwarven and Orcish Smithing, imo. Good old skyforged steel will do the business, and isn't unique, so you can buy another and enchant it when your tradeskills get better.

The special ability isn't listed as an enchantment, so I assume it can get two enchantments. Haven't tried it yet, though.
But since I CAN enchant it without the perk I'm pretty sure you can enchant it twice.

How did you measure speed of swing?

actually even a flawless Longhammer has a higher dps than a legendary Skyforge Steel Warhammer. You could save yourself even that one perk.

I'll post the numbers in the original post.

There is no such thing as a Skyforge Warhammer. ;P

that would explain it's absence.
I'll sneakily leave it in there to provide confusion for future generations.


Time of 10 swings divided by 10.

corrected the original post. the longhammer is even better.

Daedric Warhammer: 255 -> 262
The Longhammer: 203 -> 231

added Volendrung to the list.

By "Best" you mean highest base DPS, right?
If so, I have to disagree. DPS is only one (and not nearly the most important) factor in how effective a weapon is. Its a pretty meaningless measure, given that a lot of the damage you do with ANY weapon ends up as "overflow" that doesn't contribute anything to combat.

However, a 2 handed weapon that has a 1.0 attack speed is certainly a nice thing. Even if it did LESS damage than most others, you could still easily deal with most targets in one hit. Which really, is all I'm looking for...

Volendruung swings as fast as a greatsword I believe, and deals a decent amount of damage with a very good enchant that allows effectively limitless power attacks, and is particularly viable if you didn't invest the 8 perks required to make enchanting useful.

I think it's at least comparable if not better than the Longhammer...

Having a character who has used both Volendrung, and the Longhammer, I prefer the Longhammer because it is a faster lighter weapon.

According to my tests Volendrung swings as fast at a Battleaxe ... while the Longhammer swings as fast as a one-handed Waraxe!
But the immense -50 Stamina leech has a quality all of it's own, making Volendrung the better power-attack-tool.
Later however dps will go hugely in favor of the Longhammer.

Ebony Blade is faster yes?

Im gunna pick this weapon up tho, even if its not that great looking

Volendrung i prob the best. If you enchant your gear with 4x -25% destruction. the charges never depleet and you can do powerattack after powerattack.

Once you enchant it you don't need perks other than arcane smithing, you really only need two perks in smithing if you aren't intrested in making your own gear.