In all the hundreds of hours I've played Skyrim - I've never played a pure melee character.

Now, after hours of trying, I'm realizing one isn't very viable without either 1) using Smithing whether you want to or not or 2) using magic weapons instead of skill.

I put all my perks into 1-handed, heavy armor and blocking. I am roughly level 22 or so.... but when I meet a bandit chief who wields a dagger I get rocked unless I svck down potions like there was no tomorrow or I use magic. Even though my armor is roughly 300, and I block and move and swing.... I cannot take out the chieftain with normal weapon....

Incredibly frustrating as I want to be victorious through my skill, my character's abilities - not how powerful his enchantments are on his weapons or through upgrading smithing which I don't want .....

What am I doing wrong? Or is the system broken?

Isn't Smithing something a "pure warrior" utilizes?

It's like telling a mage he/she cant use Enchanting.

What's your Health/Stamina?

The trick for pure melee is to constantly power attack, so that your enemy is always staggered. Take the slow time perk in Block so you can easily interrupt enemy power attacks.

I hate to admit it, but I think the game was geared towards using crafting. Without the increased numbers for weapons and armor, it is nigh impossible to succeed.

Is lowering the difficulty a possibility? Would that help?

I'm guessing you're playing on Legendary which has you taking 3x the damage while only dishing out 1/4 of your potential but even that unbalanced you should be able to do some damage if you're fully perked in One hand.

I can't comment much on sword and board style but I use the battleaxe Wuuthrad which can't be upgraded and get by just fine....lower the difficulty until you get a bit stronger.

Is it just me, or... Are you just not made for the sword?

Your difficulty setting difficulty is going to have a big impact too. I play on Adept. I play melee characters almost exclusively and I have zero problems. My current character is wearing Light Armor, wields a Greatsword and does no Smithing. She's level 42 and doing great. I had to watch my step during the first 5 or 6 levels, but it got progressively easier after that.

There is another important factor that people don't talk about very often: melee may not be suited to you. Many of us feel more comfortable with a certain type of character. Some of us feel comfortable playing mages, some feel comfortable playing archers, some feel comfortable playing warriors. I am one who feels completely at home playing a melee character. I barely have to think about playing one, it's in my muscle memory, I love it. My weak point is that I can't play a sneaky, thief-type character. I just can't. I don't "get" that type of playstyle at all. Whereas my friend Shelly Mars can play them without thinking. It's completely natural to her. So it may be that melee just isn't your play style.

Shield bashing might help.

My guess is revjwh is playing on the more difficult settings expert and higher to have issues against bandits. On the default difficulty setting is should be a piece a cake to take out bandits while bosses or leveled dragons would be pretty challenging to take out on adept with no smithing upgrades. Expert level and higher smithed gear is a must IMO. My improved smithed gear is limited to my helmet, cuirass, sword, bow. The rest of my gear isn't improved for my sword and shield character on expert. I can take out most enemies rather quickly with an improved sword while at the same time I have to be careful against stronger boss enemies since only half of my armor is improved with smithing. Good balance for me on expert.


Bump the difficulty level down OP.

Improving arms and armor seems a very warrior like thing to do to me.

Agree with this ^

@ OP. Look it another way. They need to make smithing 'viable' as a skill for characters to need to choose it.

It is very viable. You have to keep in mind that at level 22 you are going to encounter enemies that are higher level than you. You see enemies with fancy names at this point, they are going to be a higher level than you and they will hit hard. Level up a bit more and it will get easier because most of them stay at the same level when you first encountered them. You don't need magic weapons or smithing. Just a bit of patience. Because eventually you will outlevel them.

It'd be great if you're posting your difficulty setting. I'm guessing Legendary?

Simple enough for me. Although I'm not a "pure" warrior and utilise enchanting too(wouldn't want to be burned by dragons)

Getting the Bladesman perk is recommended. These critical hits can save your skin/scale/fur.

If you're not going to smith, I'd keep a lookout on every blacksmith and see what weapon's for sale.

Best tip?

Attack goats(and some others) as they're not fighting back, and they can take a few hits on Legendary. Allowing you to easily train your weapon skill.

Just don't attack 'em in the middle of town!

This. The warrior dosen't choose the sword Harry, the sword chooses the warrior.

I'd say you went for a 1:1 health to stamina ratio, which by level 22, made your character having 210 health & 210 stamina. Let me inform you, that by the time you hit level 21, Bandit Chiefs have 395 health & 195 stamina. So:

Taking into account the way you've set your character up and the way you want to play as well, the Bandit Chief will simply outlast you. If the Bandit Chief also happens to be carrying an enchanted weapon (there's ~50% chance for it, if not more) if you don't do something to avoid his attacks, he'll take you down in a matter of seconds. The best part, is that what I described is the simple case of a 1 vs 1 fight. If there are more, or if we replace the chief with a mage, killing mudcrabs sounds like a better deal

Now, what you can do:

• Bring a follower along -always good to travel with some company.
• Invest the next levels on health till it reaches, in your case, 400 or even more, if you don't feel quite comfortable just yet.
• You may not want to use enchanted equipment, but this shouldn't stop you from using the blessing of a standing stone. The Lord Stone will be quite helpful. Using it with your block skill's Elemental Resistance perk is golden.

That's all.