making my first "tank" style char and im wondering if i should got use a battle axe or a shield and a onehander. im already assuming im gunna have both and i know that shields have useful perks so i guess im wondering if twohanders have any aswell.

Tank, you'll definitely want a shield then for the extra armor and blocking skills.

You'll constantly be coping hits wielding a 2 handed weapon as it's so much slower than a 1 handed one.

Two-hander perks are all about dealing damage. Being a tank you're gonna want to mitigate as much damage as possible, so you'll definitely wanna go sword/board.

ight cool. i spose ill mention that the use of the term "tank" was merely to express and heavy armor warrior char. in which case i still wanna do a good amount of damage. i was just curious cuz im at lvl 5 and it still seems as tho i take quite a bit of damage using a shield

I've made two so far: a 2-handed heavy armor character and a 2-handed light armor character, both using swords. They have both been fun, but I prefer the light armor character. He's faster, sleeker, and he lives on the edge. He has less protection so he has to stay focused, stay on his toes. It's great fun.

As an added plus, 2-handed sword finishers are totally bad-ass.

Yes... it's or. You can do either. Both are fun, and both are viable. You can even play a character with both proficiencies to great skill. There is really no point to fine tuning your characters in this game. Have fun with what ever you choose to do.

I find two handed to be alot of fun tbh =) Its all about dealing maximum amounts of heavy,albeit slow,burst damage..plus the finishers are quite cool.

Personally i have a bit of a weird mixed build..my character started out as a sneaky assassin who has 100 sneak with all perks and 80+ Archery with most perks except for two +damage/critical ones.

After he completed his Dark Brotherhood career i started training up Two Handed and Heavy Armour and i really like the playstyle thus far =) He feels like a wandering a Blade Master now,with options to clear out enemies through stealth/throat slicing or by engaging in honourable combat. Obviously he can get destroyed pretty quickly by high lvl mobs but the more ive pumped perks into 2H the more it is balancing out due to high and heavy burst damage.

Just my experience of it anyways =)

werd! +1 to everybody
+10 to person wyrd. that actually just made my day

btw have any of you leveled dual wield? if so wouldnt it be quite a bit more powerful than 2H and can you dual swords and axes or just daggs?

shield and healing spell because: shield charge.

YOU.
WILL.
LAUGH.

I couldn't stand not having block, so I stopped playing my DW character pretty quickly. 2H was also great for staggering your foe, which is really handy.

hard for me to play dual wield as well. It does seem to keep me on edge more though. Alot harder to kill dragons when you cant just bash them on the nose whenever they start shouting.

Both are good and fun. I personally perfer the Sword and Board though. 2 Hand is geared for more damage. The S&B can still deal damage and take a huge beat down.

But both builds should try to max out block, with S&B going on the left side (Elemental Protection and Shield Charge) and the 2 hand going on the right hand perk tree (Through Disarm Bash).

As a point of reference with max block and a armor rating of 255 a Sabre Cat would hit my 2 Hand Warrior for 21 pts of dmg during a block. The S&B was hit for only 6 pts of dmg - but he also had a higher armor of 310 due to a shield.

The Bash damage seems to be related to the quality/type of weapon you are using. But two hand weapons bash for more damage then a shield! 2 Hand Daedric Sword will Power Bash for 90 damage and a Daedric Shield will power bash for only 65. A Daedric War Hammer will power bash for 100. The power bash is good for a two hand warrior because it is a very fast attack. And super easy to pull off with the quick reflexes perk.

and are you heavy or light armor?

I have been playing a Nord warrior that dabbles a bit in both sword and board, and two handed weapons (axes mainly). Totally viable and a lot of fun. adds a good bit of versatility to warrior class and keeps it somewhat fresh.

I play a two-handed heavy armor tank. I have enchantments that give me +damage and +health. I can use whirlwind sprint to get close to my target or unrelenting force to knock them down while I move in and wind-up. True, if it takes more than one swing I have to be able to take whatever damage my soon-to-be-meat patty can dish out, but that is what makes being a tank so cool!! Generally though, they don't do much after I whack them, even if they are not entirely dead. BTW, you *CAN* block with a 2H weapon. I highly recommend that melee enthusiasts try a two-handed heavy armor character, it is in-your-enemy's-face fun!

Maybe someone here can help me, the only role I haven't been is a sword-and-board, and I started one (level 13 now) and i'd LOVE to know around what level do I have to be to not totally drain my fatigue with two shield bashes?

thanks. im having a time deciding between heavy and light. and what should my stam pool be at before i start adding to health?

Depends on how much you have been investing in stamina

I've noticed two handed gives you a great tank right out of the gate, but single with a shield was better on the high end for me. But that's only because of my play style and what points I put my perks in. Play your cards right and you could probably tank with two daggers. Maybe, I dunno.

Edit: I have obese fingers.

I've mainly been doing S - S - H - S -S -H and so on until now

If you want to be an ultimate tank of defence then definitely a shield. But if you want to be an offensive tank I guess you could use two-handed weapons but have a huge HP pool. Or you could make a Paladin. Heavy Armor/One-handed/Blocking/Restoration? That could be a tank and with the healing you can last longer. You could even abuse smithing/alchemy/enchanting or whatever (never tried any of these yet) and use Light armor and reach the cap, then you can get that Stamina regen perk and have a need for less stamina.

I prefer to role-play so I don't play a character to make them the ultimate character, but play them how I would view their style. So my Paladin is going to be a Mace (maybe swords as well) and shield weilder with heavy armor and restortion (I might ignore the actual perks though, well some of them).

I have played dual wield, 2H and now Sword/Board and I greatly prefer the Shield. Elemental Protection is such an awesome talent. Block Runner for closing in on mages/archers and Bash to knock their wards down. Basically, there are a lot of cool tools for shield users.

I have put all my Level Ups into Health except every 5 levels I add to Stam. It's easier this way early on, but as I get better armor and weapons I'll focus on bringing Stamina up.

I am going Resto to get the perk that gives Stam when you heal and the quicker magicka recovery too.

Also, Light Armor all the way. Great perks , possible to hit the Armor cap in Elven, easier on Stam, and with a shield up you could be naked and still have great defense.