Dual casting is a waste unless you're going for impact - while it does slightly increase DPS your spells are also much more inefficient. You can do that if you want, but I'd prefer those two perks elsewhere given I fight with a sword+spell most of the time.
Dual casting is a waste unless you're going for impact - while it does slightly increase DPS your spells are also much more inefficient. You can do that if you want, but I'd prefer those two perks elsewhere given I fight with a sword+spell most of the time.
You don't get killmoves if it's in your left, and watching the same swing animation over and over for standard attacks gets a tad boring, plus I don't think you get the little attack speed boost after power attacking if it's in your left.
You don't get killmoves if it's in your left, and watching the same swing animation over and over for standard attacks gets a tad boring, plus I don't think you get the little attack speed boost after power attacking if it's in your left.
While it certainly would be fun to play, here are my points of contention with it:
Bound Sword cannot be benefited from Smithing, which results in a lower capable damage output. My main character can do around seven thousand damage with his Dragonbone Sword, and that is without a lot of +1 Handed weapons and no abuse of Fortify Restoration potions.
Mage Armor seems to be one of the weakest perks in the game if you look at it long-term. With that perk maxed out and using the best actual armor spell in the game (Ebony Flesh IIRC?) you're sitting at 300 armor. Now you can get that pretty fast, but you're still only at about half of the Armor Cap. The Master Level spell simply jumps you to Damage Reduction of 80% (armor cap), making those three perks you put in Mage Armor useless if you start using Dragon Flesh (IIRC it's called). In the short term, Mage Armor is good, but long term it is a waste of badly-needed perks.
Lastly, every casting built should (in my opinion) include enchanted items with Fortify [School], where [School] is whatever spell category you decide to use. This is actually more important than the Novice-Master perks and saves you even more perks to use other places. If you get a head, necklace, chest, and ring of 25% (that's 100 skill with 5/5 Enchanter and Insightful) then you're casting spells of that school for free. With Dual Enchanting you can select two schools to cast spells for free from. With a little work at Alchemy, being a Vampire and having Necromage, you can get three schools able to be cast with no magicka cost.
That being said, again this build looks like fun. Putting the perk in the Conjured Weapons area makes the base damage of the Bound Weapons equal to their Daedric equivalent, but missing out on the ability to enhance them through smithing and enchanting is the greatest drawback of the Bound spells.
While it certainly would be fun to play, here are my points of contention with it:
Bound Sword cannot be benefited from Smithing, which results in a lower capable damage output. My main character can do around seven thousand damage with his Dragonbone Sword, and that is without a lot of +1 Handed weapons and no abuse of Fortify Restoration potions.
Mage Armor seems to be one of the weakest perks in the game if you look at it long-term. With that perk maxed out and using the best actual armor spell in the game (Ebony Flesh IIRC?) you're sitting at 300 armor. Now you can get that pretty fast, but you're still only at about half of the Armor Cap. The Master Level spell simply jumps you to Damage Reduction of 80% (armor cap), making those three perks you put in Mage Armor useless if you start using Dragon Flesh (IIRC it's called). In the short term, Mage Armor is good, but long term it is a waste of badly-needed perks.
Lastly, every casting built should (in my opinion) include enchanted items with Fortify [School], where [School] is whatever spell category you decide to use. This is actually more important than the Novice-Master perks and saves you even more perks to use other places. If you get a head, necklace, chest, and ring of 25% (that's 100 skill with 5/5 Enchanter and Insightful) then you're casting spells of that school for free. With Dual Enchanting you can select two schools to cast spells for free from. With a little work at Alchemy, being a Vampire and having Necromage, you can get three schools able to be cast with no magicka cost.
That being said, again this build looks like fun. Putting the perk in the Conjured Weapons area makes the base damage of the Bound Weapons equal to their Daedric equivalent, but missing out on the ability to enhance them through smithing and enchanting is the greatest drawback of the Bound spells.
Also, if you have your spells hotkeyed (1-8) and switch between them it automatically places them in your left hand. If your sword is there it would prematurely end the duration.
Also, if you have your spells hotkeyed (1-8) and switch between them it automatically places them in your left hand. If your sword is there it would prematurely end the duration.
Well good on you. I play Skyrim to have fun - my idea of fun isn't killing everything in a couple of hits. Hell, I feel overpowered on Master with a sword that hits for 200. What you're forgetting is that the bound sword is weightless, making it extremely easy to power attack with.
Dragonhide is a waste due to it's long cast time and colossal magicka cost. Mage armor combined with Ebonyflesh leaves me very mobile while still having a reasonable amount of protection. The Bladesman's primary protection in combat is his speed - the total weight of all his equipped items would be 5.4 (1 for gauntlets, 1 for boots, 1 for robes, 2 for circlet, 0 for weapon, 0.4 for jewelry), allowing him to move extremely quickly. As Dragonhide is a master spell you need to stand still to cast it, and it's short duration of just 30 seconds (or 45 with Stability) is crippling to a mobility based char. With 35% spellcost reduction, 100 Alteration and the relevant perk it still costs a massive 297 magicka to cast. Not worth it.
And don't get me started about spellcost enchantments. To me anything past 50% reduction feels like pure cheating. It just feels completely stupid that my character hasn't mastered spells of a particular level but is casting them for free. I managed just fine with a few 20% enchantments, some Magicka enchantments, and the Archmage robes.
I really couldn't care less that bound weapons are weaker than your fancy Dragonbone stuff, I found Bound weapons very fun to use - in fact I'm planning on basing another build around them. The real strength of bound weapons is their measly stamina costs, a bound sword or battleaxe with the Fighting/Champion's Stance perk can power attack for just 30 stamina, as opposed to 59 from a Dragonbone Sword. This lets the Bladesman keep opponents staggered while they're attacked by his undead/follower.
In the end I really couldn't care less how you like to play, I found this guy really fun.
Well good on you. I play Skyrim to have fun - my idea of fun isn't killing everything in a couple of hits. Hell, I feel overpowered on Master with a sword that hits for 200. What you're forgetting is that the bound sword is weightless, making it extremely easy to power attack with.
Dragonhide is a waste due to it's long cast time and colossal magicka cost. Mage armor combined with Ebonyflesh leaves me very mobile while still having a reasonable amount of protection. The Bladesman's primary protection in combat is his speed - the total weight of all his equipped items would be 5.4 (1 for gauntlets, 1 for boots, 1 for robes, 2 for circlet, 0 for weapon, 0.4 for jewelry), allowing him to move extremely quickly. As Dragonhide is a master spell you need to stand still to cast it, and it's short duration of just 30 seconds (or 45 with Stability) is crippling to a mobility based char. With 35% spellcost reduction, 100 Alteration and the relevant perk it still costs a massive 297 magicka to cast. Not worth it.
And don't get me started about spellcost enchantments. To me anything past 50% reduction feels like pure cheating. It just feels completely stupid that my character hasn't mastered spells of a particular level but is casting them for free. I managed just fine with a few 20% enchantments, some Magicka enchantments, and the Archmage robes.
I really couldn't care less that bound weapons are weaker than your fancy Dragonbone stuff, I found Bound weapons very fun to use - in fact I'm planning on basing another build around them. The real strength of bound weapons is their measly stamina costs, a bound sword or battleaxe with the Fighting/Champion's Stance perk can power attack for just 30 stamina, as opposed to 59 from a Dragonbone Sword. This lets the Bladesman keep opponents staggered while they're attacked by his undead/follower.
In the end I really couldn't care less how you like to play, I found this guy really fun.