I more or less use the non immediate damage/non combat oriented shouts. like whirlwind sprint for unglitching a certain thieves guild quest that has you running across roof tops. I rarely use a shout in actual combat apart from maybe marked for death and sometimes FRD. Don't wanna walk down this ridiculously tall mountain...become ethereal. Wanna go hunt a bunch of deer to lvl archery, use...aura whisper (i think thats the one :s). Point is, they are very useful to me outside of combat. iI combat, i rely on my weapons. I think my problem is 99.9% of the time in the heat of the moment of battle, I forget I even have shouts..lol

All I'll say about this matter, because there are some on this forum who get their panties in a bunch of expressing an honest opinion, is that I'm glad Whirlwind Sprint is given to us for free, so we can get through that one ruin which requires us to use it to open the gate.

I may be in the minority, but unless the game forces me to, I don't even spend souls on unlocking shouts.

To this day, I've never had a problem with not using them.

There's one or two dungeons in vanilla that I can think of off the top of my head (Actually, I can't remember their names; one of them is in the Companions quest line though IIRC) where you can get to some hidden loot only if you have whirlwind sprint.

No thu'um in Skyrim would have been terrible, so I could care less if some of them duplicate past magic effects.

Not useless, Pacify animals for instance is most useful, and some others... depending on your play. By the time you have got them, you have found other ways of dealing with situations, but in some cases very useful, a few essential and the rest fun.

this +1

What I do with the shouts is to first use them on the enemy to stun then/deplete a bit of their health, whack at them with my weapons, then shout again. Maybe not that well worked if you're only using Shouts for battle, but it's a great asset to have anyway in your fights.

But yeah, perks to improve your shouts would have been effective.

Most shouts are very useful, for example ice form, is very useful for a charging sabercat, or things like that, or become ethereal is great for getting out of a tight spot, if you find all of them useless you are doing it wrong

The only playstyle which would render shouting useless is stealth. And even then, quiet casting applies to shouts anyway.

If you're playing any other way than stealth and still find them worthless, you're doing it wrong.

I find Thu'um very useful with warrior/dragonborn characters. Almost every Thu'um is worth to use in some situations. Only useless Thu'um I have never found use for anything are throw voice from vanilla and those drain shouts from Dawnguard. With the settings OP told the firebreath shout is actually useful one. It's nothing like saving you in a battle but at that level it's just annoying kill with a weapon every wolf and beast you face on your travels. So when three wolves are running towards you just shout them to their death and continue your way without even drawing a weapon.

And shouts are very useful also when you are testing your strength against a dragon like a true dov. Have you ever done it? Facing a dragon only with your voice and bare fists and skin? No weapons, no enchanted jewelry, no clothes or armor, no magic - just two dov with their natural abilities. I assure you Thu'um are really useful in that kind of battles.

They make a nice feature for warriors who prefer not to use spells.

I dont't find them useless, but there are quite a few shouts that are only useful in rare situations. The game play is just fine without them so shouts are more or less just a novelty item to me.

Three words: Strun Bah Qo.

some are and some are not.

Nioe I find it very useful.

I just wish the controls for using them were better. Holding it down when I only want to say mind of bend will gets a little hectic in combat when I'm about to get murdered.

It would have been better if the controls were; press once for fus, double tap for ro, hold for fus ro da

OT, No shout compliment my play style very well seeing as how I just do what ever I feel like at any given time, I find myself using slow time to escape my failed back stab in the middle of a crowded forsworn camp more often than not.

not useless at all. slow time, unrelenting force, become ethereal, dragon aspect, marked for death... and then you have the fun ones like storm call, call dragon and bend will. if you cant find a use for all these bad ass shouts then you are doing it wrong

as far as the fire/frost breath shouts go ya they are a bit underpowered to start, especially on master/legendary difficulty. however there are ways to make them more powerful, talking to paarth can give u a 25% damage bonus and there is a black book(from dragonborn dlc) reward that will also benefit fire breath or frost breath. also i may be wrong on this one so someone correct me if i am, but i think the destruction perk intense flames will raise the damage as well

Aura whisper is very useful for stealth characters. Nothing like getting an overview of enemy position before you attack. I have never had silent casting but don't have a problem with it, I don't use it next to enemies anyway.

Exactly. Some aren't that powerful, while others are.

I never use the direct damage shouts or some of the more gimmicky ones - Animal Allegiance, for example, is too situational to be of any real use. Looking through the list...

Become Ethereal is my favorite shout - I use it to avoid blade traps and fall damage, which are my biggest enemies. I used to spam Slow Time when I played a 2H, Heavy-Armor Warrior, but now my characters are fast enough to get out of the way without. Soul Tear is my other favorite shout because of automatic Soul Trap as well as instant ally. My weapon of choice against Draugr Murderlord Deathkings. Occasionally I'll use Whirlwind Sprint when I'm carrying too much, or to reach far-off ledges.

Other than that? I don't really use Shouts that much. I do enjoy Unrelenting Force'ing Ulfric off his throne though.

I've used ice form a handful of times -- normally I completely forget that I even can shout. Most shouts seem almost useless to me at their first level -- by the time I get higher levels, either the shout is uninteresting, or I don't need it anymore.

I use that as a short cut from extremely high falls.

I never even thought to try WWS while overencumered. hmmmm

Aura Whisper is extremely useful. Also outdoors it has very long range so one can see potential enemies early.

Example: You approach Forsworn camp during night and you can't see them. Still at safe distance you use Aura Whisper, then grap your bow and start picking your targets.

Shouts are actually a lot of fun, if you build your character around relying on them. I've got my cooldown reduced to 50%, you can get off some shouts one after another. It's the only magic my character uses and makes it a lot of fun.

This. I never used it before my current Ranger character. It's perfect for the hunt!