This thread has been extrapolated from my Anatomy of a Mage thread, where I asked,

How do you combine skills to defeat enemies?


It doesn't matter what class you are, tell everyone the way you kill these three different creatures:
Live Humanoid (Dremora, human, bandit etc)

Animal (Daedra, or regular animals)

Supernatural (zombies, skeletons, lichs and wraiths)

The aim of the thread is to get ideas flowing about different characters and different styles of battle.

I'll go first!
Merlin is a standard Mage, born under the Mage.

For a Humanoid, he casts Shield--Summon Dremora--Wizard Fury, distracting them with his Dremora and killing with a blast from Apotheosis.
For an Animal, he uses multiple Destructions and Soul Traps
Supernatural are tough, but Shield---Summon---Fury---Staff works most times.

block-slash-slash-slash-block-slash-slash-slash-block-random power attack-healing spell

repeat

How do you combine skills to defeat enemies?

Mage

I generally kill all things the same sort-of way. My character has a very high Illusion skill, so I use paralyze and then I attack. For things that don't get paralyzed I'm always moving and make sure that I never go back into any dead-ends.

Stealthy

Stealth is more fun than Magic, you sneak behind things so people can't see you, you trigger traps to kill your enemies, etc.

For Live Humanoids, I try to sneak up on them and/or use my bow.

For Animals I kill them without using any stealth. I generally stand on top of a rock/log and fire arrows.

For Supernatural... I hate the undead. I usually use sneak-attacks, but they usually end up surviving, which is what I always have my enchanted silver dagger for.

Warrior

Im a theif class so I have very good melee weapons and ranged.

I sneak with a camelion ring so they cant see me, my sneak is maxed,
then I use paralisis potions or paralyzing spells to get the drop on them, you know, coat my blade or arrows with the poison.
then I use UMBRA to slash them with soul steal,
then I finish them off with either my melee or ranged.
after I have their soul bound to my Azura's star, I recharge my weapons and then repair!

My battle routine changes for every character, but here was my usual battle for my most recent character, whose major skills included sneak, h2h, conjuration, and restoration. Most battles were the same regardless of enemy type.

1. Sneak up on enemy and punch them.
2. If they haven't died (or spotted me beforehand) I alternate between punching them and using Absorb Health. When I have more magicka than health, absorb their health. More heath than magicka, punching time.
3. Keep at this until they die.
4. If there are many enemies, summon a skeleton or something.

The only special "strategies" I had were for ghost/wraiths/etc and humans that summon enemies (or spriggans). For ghosts, I only used absorb health, and for the latter, I tried to ignore the summons and focus on the conjurer, since they're the main source of my problems..

And sometimes I just straight up run away.

(I also had a spell absorption amulet so that made fighting will-o-the-wisps pretty amusing)

It depends of the enemy. By default I just slash them, but I often take profit of the environment and pull them into pools of lava, or precipices, especially if they've some sort of Reflect Damage ability (I hate that).

2nd level MU / fighter -

It does depend on the strength of the enemy. If it is weak I cast a shield spell and use it to level up my block, blade and light armor by letting it get close.
If the opponent is stronger my role play Dunmer will throw out a conjure creature and blast it with his range fire attack.

16th level Bosmer assassin -

Now this one is a totally different approach. He carries a Vampire bow of Demoralize (90 points drain heath, demoralize up to level 25) so, when combined with sneak and poison it is always game over.

sneak attack with enchanted bow, keep firing ubtil the enemy gets close. draw sword and do a 'block-slash-slash' routine.

What my mage does (Breton, Apprentice Birthsign[huge mistake], Default Mage Class, All Majors Mastered except Alchemy[expert] and Restoration[journeyman]) is generally sneak around with invisibility, cast a 100% chameleon spell for 5 seconds, and then cast death's grip (Drain health 100pts 1 sec, weakness to magic 100% 5 sec) or soul snatch, same but with soul trap. Makes him pretty much invincible.

Buffy is a mystic archer. The bow is her passion, and she views magic as a tool to be a better archer and to compensate for her refusal to touch melee weapons. In fact, the only weapon she will touch is her bow, Slayer - enchanted with drain speed, soul trap and some elemental damage.

A typical long range attack might be a combination spell that drains a target's speed and weakens them to poison. That is immediately followed by a poisoned arrow from the shadows with devastating results. When confronted up close, she will cast a spell to immobilize her foe, then open fire with Slayer. Crowds are thinned by illusion mind control spells that allow her foes to kill each other off. Combat underwater is by blocking with her bow and casting absorb health touch spells. Invisibility is her panic button (usually a combo spell that leaves a summon in her place). :dance:

Obviously it's going to vary wildly depending on which toon I'm playing. My current arcane archer tends to snipe from range as much as possible. I'll finish off single monsters or humanoids with sword and board, but prefer to turn undead when they get near and continue to pepper them with arrows until they fall. Frenzy and command spells are thrown in liberally when dealing with groups.

Angel pretty much deals with any fight the same way. Potions for shield protection and restoration. She wears no armor and carries no shield. She doesn't particularly need enchantments. She casts a summon for support. With anything but undead, she uses poisons on an otherwise useless dagger (she has almost no blade skill.) She will block with her dagger or staff if forced into a melee situation. Then she uses the more powerful 'touch' spells.

At one point in time, her aversion to killing caused her to start using 'Reflect Damage' enchantments, potions and IIRC, spells. When she took the Unicorn, All three Minotaurs died from hitting her. She never delivered a single blow during the fight, merely blocking and restoring as needed while they killed themselves.
http://yfrog.com/5escreenshot4xoj

For the undead, damage is by fire in all forms including staffs, spells and enchantments if she happens to have a fire damage weapon. She can turn any undead up to 30 seconds using a wide area-effect spell. Very handy in a battle with Necromancers. They will run away for 30 seconds and then have to run back. Usually, by then the original summoner is done for.

Angel doesn't really like to kill forest animals and will normally cloak herself in her Chameleon enchantments or cast a Calm spell. Along with spells and potions she has gone as high as 175% chameleon. At that level, she can push the inhabitants of a dungeon out of her way as she wanders around and they still don't know she's there. Being a mage herself, she doesn't kill Hedge Mages and Conjurers found in dungeons.

Angel likes to use mobility and tactics during a fight. She will use boulders, columns and even other opponents to act as a shield from spell casters or archers.

For just about EVERYTHING, i use a lil cheat way (not cheating, but fun lol)
I turn invisible, (shadow shape spell) and go behind my enemy, and slice at him till he turns around, then i simpley recast, go back around, attack the back, and repeat!
lawlz...assasin much? :hubbahubba:

I usually engage in sword to sword fighting, dodge the enemy attack by running around a bit then standing just close enough to pull off the special attack suitable for the occasion. It is always satisfying to see the enemy paralyzed or flying backwards.

SOP

Run in

Say boo

Run out

Make the enemy chase me untill I in to get a better position

Turn and start smlashing

I keep dancing around the NME with quick strikes, I rarely use power attatcks

Kill it with fire