What is your favorite fighting style? And what experiences with the various styles have you to share?

My favorite fighting style is two-handed, with a Warrior/Mage hybrid class.

On the melee fighting styles:

Something I have noticed in the time I've played the game is that One-Handed does have some advantage over Two-Handed for a pure warrior, or at least in my experience. Dual Wielding does manage to top Two-Handed in terms of damage output, though at the expense of defense. Something that is easily remedied by investing in the Block skill.

However, I don't think that makes One-Handed a better overall choice for weapon style, and that is why I specifically mentioned pure warrior(which armor you use doesn't matter for this, but I mean "pure warrior" as a melee fighter character. Both the Warrior and Barbarian classes from previous games would count). What is problematic with making One-Handed more useful overall than Two-Handed is that it requires a lot more perks, since you have to focus on two skill trees instead of one. If you're a pure fighter, this isn't really a problem in my experience, but it does become somewhat problematic if you are playing a hybrid and have to spread your perks much thinner. Using One-Handed this way also requires a lot of micro-management, switching back and forth between a shield and off-hand weapon, which can be a liability if timed poorly.

I consider Two-Handed the better choice for hybrid characters, because it offers good damage and defense for much fewer perks. You can block with Two-Handed weapons, but that is not the primary defensive benefit for a melee fighter it has. Its longer reach is very useful when fighting enemies that wield one-handed weapons, be it dual wielding or with a shield. Especially the first 20-25 levels this is something I find useful, as Bandit Chiefs with shields are a bunch of really shield bash happy folks, with seemingly unlimited stamina.

The smaller investment of perks has its benefits as well, allowing more investment in other skills. If I, for example, is playing a Paladin character, the perks I would have used on making dual wielding more effective and my shield a wall that will keep me alive, can be available to better my healing and defensive spells, or at passive benefits like increased magicka regen(restoration tree) and magic resistance(alteration). Or, if I am more of a battlemage, getting more perks to invest in conjuration and destruction will be very useful as well.

Summation would be that One-Handed can do damage or defense better, but can't do both at the same time, and that Two-Handed can do both(though more damage leaning than defensive), but cannot do it best. The former strikes me as better if you don't have other avenues you need to spend your perks, while the later is better for hybrid characters. Of course, both weapon styles are strong enough to be usable end-game.

No unarmed under fighting style? I'm currently playing an unarmed orc on legendary; I got tired of trying the same on a Khajiit only for all the kill cams to involve punching people when they should be tearing people apart, it would have been nice for Beth to include unique unarmed kill cams for the beast races to reflect that they're not inflicting damage through punches. Seems to be working out fine so far, I'm just about to start getting Marked For Death which adds massively to the viability of unarmed.

In terms of my experiences with unarmed, the only real advantages are that it requires minimal perk investment and has badass kill cams. The key disadvantages are the relatively low damage output, the short reach of your "weapon" and difficulty with landing hits some of the time. I'm coupling it with illusion for the idea that the character instigates fights and riots in the style of a true brawler; it has good synergy with Marked For Death as you can wear down a whole group's defenses whilst they're all whaling on one another.

Tdroid - I enjoyed reading your thoughts on two-handers.

I enjoy playing my Bosmeri no-melee mystic archer in both Oblivion and Skyrim. In Skyrim, she uses a bound bow - we have things custom-rigged to tweak damage as required as she levels and can use the bow while mounted. She supports her style by using illusion mind control spells, summons and setting traps (runes). She maintains good situational awareness and avoids surprises by the use of stealth and a more robust detect life spell than the vanilla game offers. She favors the use of magic also for ‘utility’ things like opening locks (mod), light spells, water breathing, pathfinding (clairvoyance), etc.

In effect, she’s a stealthy mage who shoots a bound bow instead of tossing fireballs.

My build is using a single handed weapon with restoration magic. I focus on using sneak and illusion skills to help me stay in the shadows and archery at range. I guess it is somewhat of a hybrid sneak build but it feels right for me and my character. Stealthy fighter who doesn't mind fighting dirty is the best way to sum it up. I've tried full mage builds in the past but they never really took though my second favorite kind of playstyle involves running in with a two handed weapon and tanking.

Not enough options to pick from.

but my more common builds consist of archery as main and one hand as back up, or duel wielding as main and archery as back up. I use a great deal of stealth too but am not a thief. I guess you could say I use a warrior/hunter hybrid build.

Personal favorites?

A two handed weapon, no sneak or magic, just pure melee. Same with a Sword and shield. I always loved the melee types of play.

Two-Handed, Light Armor Warrior has been my favorite going all the way back to Morrowind.

But I've learned to appreciate Mages, thanks to Skyrim. I'd never been able to get interested in a Mage before I played one in this game. Now I'm playing one in Oblivion and plan to try one in Morrowind. If this keeps up Mages may overtake Warriors in my affections.