Skyrim Master Difficulty Experience

[Raghar]

I don't know about companions as I don't use them - why would you?

Sabercats. Bears.

When they attacking your companion, they don't attack you.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Can someone tell me about dual-wiedling? What are the perks and disadvantages? Can you parry?

 

[Zed]

advantages - 4x enchantments with top tier enchanting skill (2 per weapon). with paralyze on both, you will be stunning guys left and right.

disadvantages - you can't parry, no.

 

[Rhalle]

It's a boss fight where he teleports and mirrors himself around the room, and uses a shout that knocks you out for a good 5-10 seconds and disarms you. Suffice to say I spent about an hour in that bloody room dying and reloading and trying to work out a proper way to identify the real Sigdis.

That was probably the toughest fight I've experienced so far. I also am on highest difficulty, and I have Lydia. It probably took me also an hour to beat it, and the only thing that let me do it was my Axe of Whiterun which had a lvl 21 'make undead flee' enchant.

He would still teleport after awhile, but he couldn't hit me while he was there and I could just beat on him.

The worst part was running up the stairs thinking I am gonna make it, and suddenly getting an arrow in the face and losing 75% of my HPs and dying instantly.

Of course, high elemental resist gear is a must. Also, putting good gear and a Fiery 2h-weapon on Lydia and using a fiery 1-h weapon and sheild has been pretty effective for me as an all-melee Nord warrior so far.

 

[Mangoose]

Oops, I think I killed Lydia with Fire Breath.

 

[Forest Dweller]

disadvantages - you can't parry, no.

Guess it'll be sword and shield for me.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

^Then again, you probably don't need to defend that much if you are paralyzing guys left and right.

 

[halflingbarbarian]

Dicksmoker, dual wielding in Master might work. This is a video LP by a dual wielder at master: http://www.justin.tv/catreina/b/300044251

He kills things in 1-2 shots before things can hurt him, though the occasional insta-gib still happens.

Edit: It's a her.

 

[Forest Dweller]

It's not about whether it works or not, it's about the complete retardation of a swordsman actually allowing blows to get through without even attempting to block them.

Can you parry with a two-handed weapon at least?

 

[halflingbarbarian]

Yup you can block with a two-hander, although the damage blocked is less than with a shield.

 

[Majestic47]

Every fight in Skyrim as a mage is chip away hp while your followers keep shit away from you. Fights being longer or shorter do nothing to change the strategy of keeping cannon fodder between you and the enemy and spam firebolt (because practically everything is weak to fire) until dead. Giants stomp pretty regularly to little effect and ranged enemies changing to melee usually means they're no longer a threat. I chug potions like a motherfucker and I have not once had to buy/make them because the game shits every dungeon full of them.

This is true. Mages are essentially good as only sidekicks to melee companions. Destruction really needs to be leveled. I suppose that mod is a good idea afterall.

I am on my first playthrough with One handed + destruction + restoration. Doing pretty well will some good gear. But still Dragon priests and Deathlords are my toughest enemies. I am actually considering a stealth warrior on second playthrough: Possibly with One handed + Sneak + Archery with some additional investment in restoration. Apparently Magic + Stealth mix extremely well. Might suck hard against bosses though where fights are typically in open.

A second build I am considering is Block + One handed + Restoration. This should be very workable.

You could just ...paralyze them cleave them with a twin bound axes? Summoned Atronach works in a pinch. Using mana on healing is probably the worst investment you can make since potions are so plentiful.

I had some success with Illusion Archery with 4x Bow Critical, but Archery is kinda slow to raise.

 

[baronjohn]

It's a boss fight where he teleports and mirrors himself around the room, and uses a shout that knocks you out for a good 5-10 seconds and disarms you. Suffice to say I spent about an hour in that bloody room dying and reloading and trying to work out a proper way to identify the real Sigdis.

That was probably the toughest fight I've experienced so far. I also am on highest difficulty, and I have Lydia. It probably took me also an hour to beat it, and the only thing that let me do it was my Axe of Whiterun which had a lvl 21 'make undead flee' enchant.

I summoned two Dremora Lords and won in like 10 seconds.

I. SMELL. WEAKNESS.

 

[DraQ]

disadvantages - you can't parry, no.

Guess it'll be sword and shield for me.

Problem "automatic blocking sucks"-fags?

 

[RK47]

Dual wielding is hardly worth it. You might think, yeah I'm gonna hit hard and fast, but by mid game, lots of opponents knows how to block. One stagger from such blocks and you're probably sitting duck. A big swing from a Warhammer wielder later, and you'll be staring at the loading screen.

Not to mention the power attack animation for dual wield is kinda painful to watch.

 

[halflingbarbarian]

Now I understand why there was some crazies asking for dual-wielding shield mechanics (mods, or otherwise). I just reached max in the blocking tree and let me tell you that shit is broken as hell. And funny to play to boot.

Get a heal spell in your right hand, and equip a shield in left. Wade into enemies with sprint, knocking them all into stagger, and proceed to pummel everyone to death with shield bash. I did this in a tight corridor with 5-6 bandit marauders and it was hilarious to watch. I charge bash into all of them, bash one against the wall (power bash, with x5 damage perk), and rapid normal bash him. I see behind me (3rd person view) some of the other bandits crowding towards me after recovering from my first charge and I trainwreck them like a pissed off armadillo (wear full orcish armor for best effect) with my sprint aoe bash again. I just keep repeating that with the poor sods until their brains were all broken in.

Of course, loose blows from behind and such will hurt you some, but just do a quick heal channel after a sprint bash. Come to think about it, it's not that OP considering these guys don't have stagger abilities to break my turtling (would not try vs mammoth + giant cluster). It's very satisfying though, because of the sound the shield bashes make and the very fast speed of bash animation. Blocking is my favourite skill now even when playing sword+board normally because the tactical choices you have in that perk tree is quite unmatched.

UESP Skyrim Wiki:

If you take Vegetable soup or any food item that regenerates stamina over 720 seconds you can shield bash or power bash an unlimited amount of times, resulting in your target being stun locked and unable to attack you. This will slowly kill them and level your Block very quickly without you taking any damage. If you're looking to level Block quickly, do not take the Deadly Bash perk, as even on Master Difficulty you will quickly kill bosses spammed with Shield Bash.

Attacks can be blocked using a torch and bashing with one will set opponents on fire.

Pure silly fun.

 

[oldmanpaco]

It's a boss fight where he teleports and mirrors himself around the room, and uses a shout that knocks you out for a good 5-10 seconds and disarms you. Suffice to say I spent about an hour in that bloody room dying and reloading and trying to work out a proper way to identify the real Sigdis.

That was probably the toughest fight I've experienced so far. I also am on highest difficulty, and I have Lydia. It probably took me also an hour to beat it, and the only thing that let me do it was my Axe of Whiterun which had a lvl 21 'make undead flee' enchant.

I summoned two Dremora Lords and won in like 10 seconds.

I. SMELL. WEAKNESS.

Yeah the Dremora Lords are pretty strong. What I did in this fight was equip Lydia with a bow and summon a fire spirit thingy (Only one I could summon at the time) then I stood on the ledge by his crypt and fireed off firebolts while taking cover behind some column or something. Very popamole. The fake ones died with each hit so they disappeared quick with 3 of us using ranged attacks and I could tell which one was the real one anyway because his displayed his real HP instead of full HP like the fakes.

Still died several times because arrows on Master hurt like a son’a’bitch.

Also the most irritating about Master was lvls 10-25 or so when bears and tigers could one-shot you. Walking down the quite forest road and BAM surprise sex from a giant bear. The dragon fights are entertaining though. I like to actually have to find cover and let the guards/farmers/mages beat on it for awhile. Using the resistance potions feels like cheating.

Anyway I'm at lvl 34-35 now and things are getting easy. My conjuration is about 85% and Heavy Armor, One- Handed, and Destruction are in the 60-70 range. I can nuke with fireballs or beat down with my sword. I also run with Lydia, a Dremora Lord, and that dog you find in the woods.

 

[abija]

Pure silly fun.

That's just another silly exploit and it's even worse with dual wield/two hand. No idea why they didn't make abilities that require stamina same as spells.
On the other hand seems to be the only useful thing you can do with food, so maybe it's intended design...

 

[Edwin]

-Race:Orc
-figthing style:2 handed melee,heavy armor(axe,hammer or sword depending on what is my current best wep)
-somewhere around level 33,got all daedric artifacts except the 1s from Meridia ,Nocturnal ,Peryte ,Vaermina so I am probably a lot more powerful than I should be on this level


On hardest difficulty trash fights look like this:
I sprint into the crowd,time warp shout just before I get there,power attack spam,loot,repeat.If my health gets low I drink healing pots or I try to run away and heal myself(I invested nothing into magicka so with a full mana bar I can heal back around 1/4 of my health bar).

Bosses/named mobs: berserking,time warp,power attack spam(the hardest bosses/named mobs usually die within 5-6 seconds,I am not kidding).I dont know what are the other races racials but if you want challenge dont roll orc.Berserking is basically god mode on(you deal double damage and take just half damage for 60! seconds,lately I try to play without it because it trivializes the content).

Dragons:I killed all dragons so far(40-50?) and Solitude already looks like some kind of dragon graveyard,I cant see shit because the dragon skeletons are all over the place.They are easy to kill with the time warp/berserking/power attack spam tactic once they land but getting there is the hard part(you can get a shout at the greybeards to force them down from the air as I heard but I didnt continue the main q chain after killing the first dragon so not sure) the alternative option is getting a pair of bows(for you and your follower).

Casters:this starts to be a problem.Strong casters can often 1 shot me with just 1 spell(almost 400 HP,0 magic res).Usually I summon Lucian Lachance(sp?),I hide behind a pillar/wall until the caster turns his attention towards the assassin(=I get a chance to get close to him/her without using up the shout CD and dieing on the way there) then I give him a taste from his own medicine....and yes,they can 1 shot me through berserking too(50% less damage taken^^)

I am using Lydia as companion since 20 levels and she is still alive(probably because I usually give her a bow).If mages suck so hard as you say and you dont want to lower the difficulty you can pick up Barbas(he is a dog and immortal,the better half of Clavicus Vile the daedric prince ) to tank,I turned him in because it smells like cheat and its not like I need more cheats(I already got berserking).The dog deals very low damage(like close to 0) and you dont need to send away your follower to pick him up.

edit:correct me if I am wrong but imo leveling tradeskills to early(before level 50 the soft cap) will gimp your character on the hardest difficulty.You can get comparable items(or better from the daedric princes) anyway,so focusing on your main combat skills(+lockpicking and speechcraft) is probably the best...and I cant say that I am poor without using the tradeskills because I already bought all the houses with all the extras and leveled speechcraft to 95(thats like 50-60000g) though I must admit that my spellbook is kinda empty(I will visit the Harry Potter academy just after I reached level 50 and I crafted myself a full set of heavy armor with all +magicka enchants)

 

[Captain Shrek]

It's a boss fight where he teleports and mirrors himself around the room, and uses a shout that knocks you out for a good 5-10 seconds and disarms you. Suffice to say I spent about an hour in that bloody room dying and reloading and trying to work out a proper way to identify the real Sigdis.

That was probably the toughest fight I've experienced so far. I also am on highest difficulty, and I have Lydia. It probably took me also an hour to beat it, and the only thing that let me do it was my Axe of Whiterun which had a lvl 21 'make undead flee' enchant.

I summoned two Dremora Lords and won in like 10 seconds.

I. SMELL. WEAKNESS.

Yeah the Dremora Lords are pretty strong. What I did in this fight was equip Lydia with a bow and summon a fire spirit thingy (Only one I could summon at the time) then I stood on the ledge by his crypt and fireed off firebolts while taking cover behind some column or something. Very popamole. The fake ones died with each hit so they disappeared quick with 3 of us using ranged attacks and I could tell which one was the real one anyway because his displayed his real HP instead of full HP like the fakes.

Still died several times because arrows on Master hurt like a son’a’bitch.

Also the most irritating about Master was lvls 10-25 or so when bears and tigers could one-shot you. Walking down the quite forest road and BAM surprise sex from a giant bear. The dragon fights are entertaining though. I like to actually have to find cover and let the guards/farmers/mages beat on it for awhile. Using the resistance potions feels like cheating.

Anyway I'm at lvl 34-35 now and things are getting easy. My conjuration is about 85% and Heavy Armor, One- Handed, and Destruction are in the 60-70 range. I can nuke with fireballs or beat down with my sword. I also run with Lydia, a Dremora Lord, and that dog you find in the woods.

You guys think too much. I just hacked and slashed till he died. And used a lot of healing spells while doing it = One handed + Restoration. I normally travel without the retarded companions.

 

[Captain Shrek]

edit:correct me if I am wrong but imo leveling tradeskills to early(before level 50 the soft cap) will gimp your character on the hardest difficulty.You can get comparable items(or better from the daedric princes) anyway,so focusing on your main combat skills(+lockpicking and speechcraft) is probably the best

You are right. My first ongoing master play though is with a one handed restoration guy. I invested in speech a bit along with Lockpicks and all it got me was tough boss fights, a couple of silver rings and 10 % low prices.

Seriously, investing in core perks is the way to go on vanilla Master difficulty. I almost ended up gimping myself. Speech is SO useless in the game that unless you want to save on time, its unnecessary.

 

[Edwin]

edit:correct me if I am wrong but imo leveling tradeskills to early(before level 50 the soft cap) will gimp your character on the hardest difficulty.You can get comparable items(or better from the daedric princes) anyway,so focusing on your main combat skills(+lockpicking and speechcraft) is probably the best

You are right. My first ongoing master play though is with a one handed restoration guy. I invested in speech a bit along with Lockpicks and all it got me was tough boss fights, a couple of silver rings and 10 % low prices.

Seriously, investing in core perks is the way to go on vanilla Master difficulty. I almost ended up gimping myself. Speech is SO useless in the game that unless you want to save on time, its unnecessary.

Yup,speechcraft and lockpicking is not necessary but its a quality of life investment.I cant wait to get 100 speechcraft because atm I cant sell the content of my inventory with visiting all the merchants in solitude+Lydia shop because they just dont have enough money and its annoying(my lockpicking is just around 50 and it seems to be more than enough because I never run out of lockpicks)

 

[oldmanpaco]

You guys think too much. I just hacked and slashed till he died. And used a lot of healing spells while doing it = One handed + Restoration. I normally travel without the retarded companions.

Yeah well when you die from 2 arrow shots charging and hacking isn’t going to cut it. I think this was when I was still wearing robes. I went full on derp around lvl 15-20 and switched to heavy armor.

 

[Captain Shrek]

You guys think too much. I just hacked and slashed till he died. And used a lot of healing spells while doing it = One handed + Restoration. I normally travel without the retarded companions.

Yeah well when you die from 2 arrow shots charging and hacking isn’t going to cut it. I think this was when I was still wearing robes. I went full on derp around lvl 15-20 and switched to heavy armor.

Invest in HEAVY ARMOUR! It makes the Armour weight ZERO!!!!

 

[Tel Prydain]

I actually change difficulty fairly often. Master when doing a named quest or main quest.
Expert for walking to new places or faffing about – 1-shot animal attacks are too annoying otherwise.

And because I’m OCD I can’t stand it when the radiant/unnamed quests build up… so every so often I’ll turn the difficulty right down and just rush through enough of them that they only take up a single page.

Master is great fun when doing the ‘real’ quests, but I don’t want to grind through a thousand generic bandits just to get farmer Y his X back.

Hmmm, this Skyrim game seems actually fun, if a bit non-rpg. Like a good lite-ARPG. My specs are somewhat at middle minimum, so maybe. Will play Obvilion first, that is, after I play other games which are occupying my harddrive space.

Yeeeeeah... you shouldn't play Oblivion. It's main quests are on the same level as Skyrim's randomly generated quests. Just... Just skip that. Pretend it never happened.

 

[Heresiarch]

Just found some interesting things regarding the spell mechanism. First your spell level MUCH faster if you're using higher level spells like Incinerate instead of spamming Firebolts. The former gives about twice or thrice the skill increase compared to the latter. Second, for spells like the protection spells or conjuration spells, you gain skill increase only if the spells is taking effect, i.e. you're in combat when the spell is taking effect. You cannot spam summon familiar or oakskin outside of combat to level these skills anymore. Although you can summon an atronarch and attack it until it turns hostile to train conjuration. But anyway, it turns out Bethsoft has inclined some.

I'm now level 28 with 78 in Destruction skill, with enchanted equipments which give me -72% magicka cost at destructoin spells. Incinerate/Ice Spear/Thunderbolt are my main killing spells, and the game IS getting easy. Sure I can't really one shot anything except the weakest bandits or draugrs, but I can two shot anything else except for dragons. One dual casted incinerate to stun anything and bring down their HP to 30%, then another single or double cast it's over. Not mention I can spam Ice Storms behind my frost atronarch.

Tried some tougher battles on Master, and the only thing different is I spam 5 double Thunderbolts instead of 2 or 3 to kill the bandit marauder or other tougher guys. Not exactly "challenging" especially as I've mentioned all the times, my Lydia and summons are tough as nails on Master. But on adept a bandit marauder can two shot my frost atronarch and two whack my Lydia to kneeling position and then run straight for me. I felt like a HERO(ine) when I blast him into smithers thereafter, saying to Lydia "poor baby, let me take care of this..."

LOL Skyrim is really giving me even more FUN than Morrowind and Oblivion. I love how you can effectively roleplay as Palpatine when dual casting lightning bolts. One dual blast and the guy is kneeling there begging for mercy. Then I spammed twin sparks on him until he's dead. Hahahaha