• Should one be using heavy armour to mitigate the relative increased incoming damage?
  
• Should one be using light armour for the stamina regen perk (due to the +50% power attack perk)?
  
• What should be the preferable damage restoration method? Restoration or alchemy?
  
• Should you be choosing any of the non dual wield power-attack perks?
  
• Is dual-wield actually viable for a warrior (non-stealth)?
  
• How should on distribute attribute points?

I know there's some smart people here, so thank you in advance for your advice.

1. If you plan on sneaking at all, it's not recommended
2. Yes, stamina regen will help with power attacking more often in the event of a failed sneak attack
3. I use potions
4. I have no experience as a true warrior, but I've killed plenty of enemies outside of sneak mode dual-wielding
6. http://www.ign.com/builds/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim/create?d=00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000005000111001000111111000000000000000000000000005010000021510002000000000000511100511110111110010011 This is what I intend to do, you don't have to follow this at all if you don't want to. All of the sneak perks are helpful, you're gonna want light armor, one-handed and the smithing was for Dragon light armor.

The speech is so I can sell stolen items to merchants, enchanting is obvious, I'm waiting to spend any points in alchemy. Archery is for any situations where melee isn't possible/viable. Lockpicking will be the last thing I actually take.

I recommend a 2-Handed Warrior

I'm specifically focussing on a warrior -- I already have a stealth-archer character for the DB and thieves guild. I genuinely appreciate the insight you've given in your post however NoX

If you're focussing on a warrior then you should do. One handed skill tree, smithing to improve your armor, heavy armor so you can take hits and so your armor will have no weight, and a little in restoration so you can heal yourself up between fights. I have a guide for 2-handed warriors you should look at it. Just change out the 2-handed part to 1-handed. It's more detailed than this.

No problem, if you are looking for a warrior, I'm not necessarily the best, but you most likely wouldn't need as much sneak perks, and you may switch out some Light Armor perks for Heavy Armor.

To be honest I have no right to tell you how to play and seeing as I play stealth like at the moment (still on my first character, and probably my best), I'm probably not the guy for it haha.

Good luck and happy hunting!

If you're dual wielding then Heavy Armour is a must. You'll often need to take a bit of damage before you have your enemy in reach. Also, the perks which make heavy armour weigh nothing will ultimately beneficial for the management of your stamina in combat.

i have 2 dual wielding warriors, one in light armor one in heavy(dont use sneak at all). light armor seems to work much better, even seem to take less damage in light armor than with heavy armor.

I've been trying to get up close and personal with enemies, sometimes dual wield but usually have a one handed and a spell, but I chose light armor and until recently I was getting messed up pretty bad. So if you go the light armor route bring lots of potions with you on your adventures.

Sometimes I use two swords, sometimes I do not. It is very situational, but still worth the extra three perks.

I will use elemental fury while dual wielding swords, and I tear through trolls, bears, sabre cats, and bosses like tissue paper. Two-Handers or Dual wielding are best for those who absolutely hate shieds.


My current character is a spellsword type. The build is a swordmaster who utilizes lightning-based destruction with a bound bow for ranged sneak attacks. So far, I am level 26 and have no problems abiding within these "perk choices".


Major Skills:

1) One-Handed (15 perks focusing on "Swords" and "Dual-wield")
2) Archery (5 Perks on "Overdraw")
3) Heavy Armor (10 Perks focusing on "Juggernaut"/"Fists of Steel"/"Conditioning"/"Tower of Strength")
4) Block (5 Perks on "Shield Wall", because it is still useful to free up your left hand now and then for blocking as well as weapon bashing.)
5) Sneak (8 perks on "Muffled Movement"/"Deadly Aim")
6) Destruction (10 perks focusing on "Incinerate"/"Impact"/"Master")
7) Restoration (5 Perks on "Recovery"/"Avoid Death"/"Ward Absorb")
8) Conjuration (2 Perks on "Mystic Binding")


Minor Skills:

7) Alteration (0-5 Perks focusing on "M.Resistance")
8) Enchanting (0-8 Perks focusing on "Enchanter"/"Extra Effect")
9) Smithing (0-7 Perks focusing on "Heavy Armor")


My three main attributes are all relatively equal to each other at any given level. It has worked for me. I have already beaten one Dragon Priest, solo, by using elemental fury and dual wielded power attacks ( I think I was around level 20 on Adept difficulty)

I find the sword with board to be much more useful then I could have imagined. I like to be a tank though. There are a variety of ways to play this game. A person with 100 in alchemy, enchanting, and smithing could literally be everything.

Board deflects quite a bit of damage. Board will stagger opponents. Board can deflect arrows and magic. Board with a full out ebony or daedric setup, or glass for that matter, just looks cool.

Board with high level smithers/enchanters is not a requirement, but then again, one sword will be more than enough in that case, and the board give you another item to enchant, and takes magic resistance enchantments, health fortification, and additional blocking as well.

DW warrior in heavy armour, with no points in alchemy or even 25skill points in alchemy and i had Alduin dead before the 3 npcs even got into range to attack him. stamina regen in combat is useless as a DWing warrior will kill a draugr deathlord in 2 power attacks with out hassel. time your movents right and you can use one DW power attack to take out multiple oppenents. the only thing that can give you a bit of trouble is high level mages but thats nothing some magic resist cant solve.

I use,

2 swords, heavy enchanted armor.

I use zero magic, and my enchanted gear ups my Stamina and 1 handed attacks. Stamina right now is +34 each I think, for Chest, Boots, and ring. Necklace is the Talos shout shorten'er. Nothing on the helmet. the Gloves are, I want to say 25% bonus to one handed.

Perks in Heavy armor, going up the right side. One handed, for dual wielding, increased dual wield damage, the less stamina perk for power attacks, The sword critical perk and the one that gives you a chance to lob off heads. I haven't gone any higher since I dont feel like doing sprinting attacks, or back stepping attacks. Smithing, heavy armor, and a few in enchanting.

For getting my health back I use potions, although I buy them, but making them would work just as good.

I wouldnt ever trade my 2 swords for a shield. Who needs to block when you can dish out big damage. Swords swing faster which is why I use them. If you're going down the dual wield route I would strongly suggest getting the Elemental Fury shout, which increases the rate at which you can swing. Then all you need to do is double swing power attack and pretty much anything will die in seconds. Even dragons.

Thats what I do anyway.

From my experience, playing on Expert w/ dual one-handers, Smithing is the most important skill, then one-handers, then heavy armor, then enchanting, then alchemy. I suggest using potions instead of restoration magic for healing and stamina.

Smithing is by far the most important skill, followed closely by the perks in the one-hand tree that deal with dual wielding damage output and attack speed, of course.
Smithing maxed w/ some buff potions when honing weapons and armor can double (or more) the base damage on your weapons. Armor improvement seems to be less of an improvement over the base item, but still very considerable.
Heavy armor is what I use, though I've not used Light Armor at all yet. Almost 600 armor rating, only some power attacks from strong enemies will make a dent on this difficulty.
Something not mentioned is that it is important to put your level up bonus into Stamina (I put 3 into stamina for every 1 into health). This may depend on your play difficulty and how fast you can open your menu before you catch dead. With buffed items, I have (at last look) 400+ stamina, and about 280 hp. More than enough hp, just remember to use potions and foods.
Carry hp regen food like venison stew, and use them in tough fights with regen hp potions, hp buff potions, resistance potions, etc.
Stamina is important because DW power attacks use (from my observations) twice as much stamina as a single weapon power attack (makes sense, right?). Also, tons of stamina means you can sprint for a loooooong time. In my game I can sprint 2/3 of the way from Whiterun to Riverwood before running out.

As another person said in this thread, if you have enemies close together, you can kill multiple baddies with one dual-hand power attack. Also, if you can get in position, dragons die ridiculously fast. The whole DW setup is based on dealing lots of damage, so choose perks accordingly. Swords are fast, and with the perks to add critical damage....you just tear through things. Maces are nice too, against armored opponents like draugr lords and tough dragons especially (ignore armor perk is badass).

Just to add that if your going the heavy armor route and have done some exploring the 'Steed Stone' is invaluable! +100 inventory and armor weighs zero(which means nearly 200 pounds[?] more of loot!) I'm playng a DW stealth warrior who uses stealth if possible. If not... feel my twin swords of fury! Also at the higher levels of sneak (above 65) even with heavy armor you can sneak quite well. Of course once your armor weight is zero thanks to the Heavy Armor perk or the Stone, you have no stealth penalty since it is based of your armor weight.

without heaving read any other answer (sry) , my current plan for a future dual wield warrior is as follows:
light armor
smithing
one-handed (derp)
restoration (at least if they fix the left hand equip issue)

i'd rush the dragon scale (light) armor and get the set bonus perk in light armor pretty early giving you protection comparable to heavy armor and chose one-handed perks as my skill level allows prioritizing the dw perks over anything else.
i personally like restoration because it weighs and costs nothing and can restore both health and stamina very quickly but strictly speaking alchemy could be more powerful (if it, combined with early smithing progression, does not increase your level too fast compared to your combat skills)
enchanting is secondary imo (remember that enemies still level with you) because you dont need enchants on your weapons since elemental fury is retardedly overpowered (for DW), which also makes the shout cooldown necklace a good choice, creating 3 slots where enchanting is inferior. it would also either cost you a fortune to raise enchanting combined with smithing and possibly alchemy or require you to use soul trap a lot, which costs 89 mana (-> only once per fight, restoration not viable anymore), increasing your conjuration skill (iirc) indirectly creating a need to use it for damage since you gained levels from it and thus increased the level of your enemies. (i like long sentences)