NPCs can execute unavoidable power attack on you if it can one shot you. The game doesn't execute the whole animation which would give you a chance to dodge the incoming blow. As long you are in range in the moment when NPC starts the power attack, the game robes you from a chance to avoid being hit by removing control over your character. Very, very frustrating bug or maybe a feature ? The bottom line is that it spoils most of the fun I have in Skyrim combat. In case you wonder, after numerous attempts I got tired of that fight and killed that Bandit Chief with a trap.

Any thoughts ?

Anyone ?

Needs more HEALTHBELL!

Here you go two examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=B1jFjdP3xPw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=arPRsagOJ8k

The second video illustrates the issue the best way. There was no way he could swing again so fast and the whole thing lacked the first part of the animation when you can actually react to avoid the hit. In case you wonder YOU CAN'T move or do anything else when the attackers triggers.

That's just how finishers work. The player can abuse them the same way. When a finisher occurs, the target is immediately killed regardless of health remaining. I've been killed by enemies and killed several enemies several hits before it should have normally occurred due to finishers.

You can avoid perfectly fine any other kills and power attacks, because the game leaves you a time window to react. In case of finishers executed by NPCs on you it removes the player control and influence from the combat which is just plain bad I don't mind if my weaker opponents will have a chance to dodge a power attack which would otherwise kill them, especially it will let me to play the game on Master difficulty as I believe it was intended. All it has to do is to check if the target actually got hit when the hit landed at its destination.

Yeah, I agree it definitely should be fixed/tweaked/whatever. The finishing moves as a whole are really my only "real" complaint about the otherwise masterpiece(IMO) of a game, and I wish I could just turn them off completely. NPCs just being able to cheese you like that is kind of ridiculous though. I've had it happen a few times and it's highly frustrating. They will swing at you and you can either avoid it or block it and then immediately after that swing with no delay they cheese you like that with no way to avoid it.

I was under the impression the enemy could only get a successful finisher on you if they executed an attack that would actually kill you anyway. So it wouldn't really matter.

I know what you mean. This is something I've been annoyed with and complaining about for a while now. Not only is it unavoidable, you basically teleport on top of their weapon from six feet away. The two-handed NPCs also have a much greater reach than the player does with the same weapon. So many times in both first and third person their weapon has swished air three feet away and it sends me flying or kills me. And I'll be backing up for space and then suddenly I am "stunned" for no reason and then the death animation happens.



It matters when the game freezes your character and prevents you from backing up...which would have made that attack miss. It happens all of the time.

Nope. Finishers can do several times the normal damage of an attack. I have no idea what chance they have to trigger, but if they do, the target dies instantly regardless of remaining health. This works equally well when NPCs use it against the player. I've only ever seen NPCs do it. I don't think creatures have finishers. I know that finishers become more likely the lower a target's health is, but they certainly can occur at higher health ratings. I've been killed at around 70% health left by a weak enemy who should have needed another 5-6 power attacks to kill me.

It DOES matter as your chance to dodge it before it lands is taken away from you. You lose control over your character, before the animation of that power attack even shows up. It totally removes the player skill influence in combat.

I see no problem here. They poses the same advantage you have when it comes to that jittery animation and disregard for any HP. I frequently got gobbled by a Dragon with 75% HP or a bandit finishing me off around 40%.

It's not an unfair death since you can do the same.

The way it works is rather frustrating though. As soon as they begin the animation for the attack it just locks you into the finisher animation with no way you avoid taking the death. When you would be able to either block or avoid the hit if you weren't otherwise locked into an animation with control taken away from you. It's also weird the way it happens because they will take a power swing with a big 2hander, and then lock you into the unavoidable death animation instantly after they finish the last swing. It usually happens to me when I block an attack and then try to get my own quick attack in and they'll insta-cheese me before I even start my swing. When in reality they're using a big 2hander. They shouldn't be able to swing at you, get blocked and then execute another swing instantly and lock you into a certain death animation.

Based entirely on the damage you would take if that attack hit you. I think the issue here is that it ignores entirely whether it would have actually hit you or not. They get in melee range, swing, and you die regardless of what you do.



You can't just make direct comparisons like that. It's much worse on the player because you have to kill hundreds of enemies, and only one of them has to get that cheap shot in to end things for you.
If you get the cheap kill in on an enemy, there's another one just waiting around the corner anyway.

It is an unfair death to mages and archers. We don't get finishers ourselves.


And is there any specific reason you change the font?




No it's not. I've been killed by finishers that have done 3-6 times as much damage as normal. It seems there's just a chance for them to trigger, and if they do you die instantly. The chance gets higher as your health drops, but it can happen at higher health still.

I dislike the 'bloated' look of the regular font. Also when I make threads, being able to change to Tahoma allows it to look more coherent and read able when it involves large amounts of texts

Also, what is your Archer/Mage doing in close combat anyways? That isn't their role nor their strength. Use a meatbag, either companion or conjured servant and use the terrain to avoid their incoming slashes.

1) I have to train light armor somehow
2) Soul trap is a touch spell

Personally I just hope they patch in the ability to disable the finishing moves entirely for the non-PC folks without access to mods. As it adds nothing at all to the game for me, rather takes away from it. The option to disable them all together would solve the problem for people that are frustrated by this. While also not making it "unfair" because the player can do it and an NPC can't.

It's not really a bug, I suppose, and it's not really game breaking. It is however, highly frustrating when it happens. And not in the good "this is really challenging and it will feel good when I finally win" way.

Those would be called power attacks.

First I can understand. But that means you have to resort to melee and which means you both have equal chance finishing eachother off at any given time.
The second, I usually let my companion do the trick. They can fill soul gems just fine for me.

Like I said, your archer/mage isn't build for the role but always have the chance to perform the same finishers. Though you are probably not going to outlast them, which is rather logical for me.

You didn't read my earlier post. I was fighting some weak bandit whose power attacks did crap damage against me. It would have taken him another 5 or 6 to kill me, and yet he whipped out a finisher to do it instantly. From what I've seen in the game and from reports of other users, finishers do not seem to care how much health a target has left. If it triggers, the target dies.



What proper archer/mage would I be if I resorted to melee? Slowing time by holding my breath and 50% stagger chance per hit is all I need. That or Impact+dual cast. Swords are for chumps. Chumps who can kill me pretty quickly if things go wrong.

They should reimplement it so that they need to land a power attack first for the finisher to kick in immediately after the hit registers... That way you'd always be within range and staggered as a result of the power attack connecting anyway...Yes?

I looked at the clip... I would just assume if the game determines a hit (in this case a fatal hit), then the PC is dead (even before the animation begins). :shrug:
I'm impressed they did it, I hope its not a bug, but you may be right. (Still... Fallout 3's having an end wasn't a bug, and they fixed that.)

I can t comment for finisher, but i agree that player wielding 2 handed have the same reach as player wielding one handed.

That's EXACTLY how it feels, it takes away player skill from the combat and makes it totally random. On Master difficulty all I need is to get hit once or twice by that guy to die, to kill him I need 30-50 ( ? ) successful hits. I don't even use power attacks as there is only A CHANCE that you stagger your opponent while they leave you hopelessly open for attack. 1-2 to 50 while all you need to die is a random instant kill finisher ( in this case even a first hit can be one ) which you can't avoid as there is no animation which would give you a time window to dodge it. FAIL design or fail programming.