hi

i am making a new build to join the stormcloacks

i want to make him smart rather than muscle and a random guy, transforming into warrior and then hero of skyrim saving it from the domination of empire and stupid elves

therefore i want to use light armor and 1 handed, as i dont see a tactician using a huge sword or something

so i am dual wield vs sword and shield

my thoughts

lore wise i would go dual wield

but in technical aspects of game, i dont like the 1 absense of blocking (it makes no sense in combat, i think the only reason it doesnt have block is for game balance, because normally, u should block better with 2 light weapons than with 1 huge)

2 in power attack its extremely hard to land anything since you root ur feed down, and be stable, therefore if enemies are 4-5 they corner you if you choose to attack (so the whole point of the dual wield is kinda off point, why lose the block, if i cant dual attack)

now, the reasonable would be to go sword and shield, which doesnt really bother me except one thing

i am supposed to be a poor rebel, that escaped imperials from nothing

did poor people in medieval age, have shields? werent they kinda expensive or so? werent they supposed to be for lords?

i have read peasants are suppose to have some random axes or hammers that they used in work, how could you find the shield

Dual Wielding IMO is a fun Combat style in Skyrim, but it can get repetative. Dual Wielding Axes has proven to be an effective style of fighting because of the wieght an Axe has. An Opponent that is using a Shield will feel the repeated blows of the weapons on the Shield. An Axe can be used to hook a Shield and pull the Shield away from an Opponent, and the Opponent has to respond quickly enough to avoid the other Axe.

Looting Equipment from a defeated Opponent is still how many Soldiers aquire better gear, and Shields could be crafted from wood and leather.

What does Ralof do?

The left and right controls can be used to great effect in combat in Skyrim, and can keep two or three Opponents occupied by timing attacks to simulate Realism. My Bound Sword Wielding Necromancer is very capable as long as the Opponents are not Mages and Archers.

Ditto on the shield comment of Vas, you can literally find those things lying around on the ground.... As for DW vs S&B question, I have some suggestions. First off, when you start you can play with both. I do this a lot as dual wielding isn't any advantage at all until you add some perks and ultimately is most effective with Elemental Fury shout. So, for a storm cloak, I keep my little ol' hide shield hot keyed and also carry and extra axe or sword too, but mostly use S&B except in certain tactical situations. For example, if you have a follower that is engaged with an opponent, use dual wield on their flank or rear as you won't need to worry bout blocking. Once you run out of stamina which will be quickly at low level, then choose hot keyed shield if there are still enemies around. Generally with these I walk around with two weapons equipped and hot key to shield at times, like when you meet a dragon or archer.

You can play around like that for a while before you need to really choose paths. Basically when your one-handed gets to 30 so you can take dual flurry and if you have elemental fury you can start to specialize in dual wield. When that happens my characters that I want to dual wield will stop bothering with a shield and never take any block perks. However, sometimes I keep the shield, take shieldwall 1 and continue to play with both. One thing I have found is that it is very difficult to land and dual power attack routine on mages as they sprint backwards and cast, so I will switch to my shield which would be one with magic resistance and chase them around one hand attacking, using bash to stagger when able, that kind of thing.

Considering that shield can be a bunch of banded wooden planks, yeah, a poor warrior could make one himself (though it would likely be fairly useless). In medieval age "peasants" usually didn't get a chance to need a shield at all though, and those forced to fight, for whatever the reason, usually didn't have a proper weapon either. People who needed it could buy shields and other equipment at a fair price, but it wasn't exactly a very quality work either. Very well made armor could go to insanely high price as much as a vast plot of farm land, complete with cows, a house, and servants to work the land for you, so it's fairly impossible to compare it to Skyrim where useless trinkets cost more than whole sets of armor, and things generally cost in hundreds and thousands of gold.