Forums » Elder Scrolls

Weapon Type for Leveling One-Handed

    • 194 posts
    February 19, 2014 2:29 PM EST

    Playing a Legendary character because I haven't truly played one beginning to end before... To anyone who has leveled one-handed before, what is the best weapon type to level? Should I use the mace for the high damage output? Or the dagger for the attack speed? Or something in the middle? I'm only level 10 and my one-handed skill is low as is my smithing so I'm going off of more or less base damage here.

    I will also factor in what is effective, although I'm sure whatever levels fastest is most effective since leveling is based on damage output. So, essentially, what produces the most damage at low levels?

    Thanks guysss.

    • 739 posts
    February 19, 2014 2:35 PM EST

    Bound Sword/Mystic Binding is possibly some of the fastest one handed leveling you could wish for and reasonable damage to boot...

    You would probably want to pair it up with a one handed enchantment to keep its damage up but it's an enjoyable weapon with its low stamina cost.

    • 194 posts
    February 19, 2014 2:45 PM EST

    Oooo I didn't think of that. I'm gonna see if that tome is available for free in a dungeon somewhere.

    And if I still have your attention, Mason, how do you recommend leveling alchemy without using "cheat sheets"? I want to play this character semi-realistically, but I've never leveled alchemy without help from wikis and such. Should I just eat ingredients and only make what I can see works or do I have to waste ingredients by "trying" things?

    • 739 posts
    February 19, 2014 2:53 PM EST

    Alchemy is piss easy, just stick to the Whiterun area and clean it out, all the ingredients are compatible...

    Blue Mountain Flower + Blue Butterfly Wing (£$£)

    Tundra Cotton + Lavender + Red Mountain Flower

    Thistle Branch + Purple Mountain Flower (& Snowberries if you wander north far enough)

    Job done...

    Don't forget to sell you novice potions to Arcadia for some extra training...

    • 194 posts
    February 19, 2014 3:02 PM EST

    Thanks, but in terms of role playing the character should I eat the ingredients and only work with what I discover as is the case for smithing and enchanting generally? Or should I literally be "mixing shit together" to discover effects? I want to make my character feel like a true novice alchemist. I guess I can buy recipes from apothecaries as well.

    • 739 posts
    February 19, 2014 3:10 PM EST

    Maybe just eat one of every ingredient you find and see what you can knock together. You would want to take the experimenter perks if you're role playing it properly, I think everyone should run at least one experimenter build...

    The thing with alchemy is that you will never need to know every potion combination to support your character. I find it best to know a solid way to level the skill (Whiterun/Riverwood area) and then have a private list of potions that you know you can farm ingredients for easily to make the potions you need...

    ...if you get to the point when you're out looking for Hawk Feathers to make the perfect potion you know you're in trouble and you'll just end up hating the skill (like alot of people here).

    If you go around collecting everything you will end up with a fat inventory full of ingredients you're never going to use...

    • 194 posts
    February 19, 2014 3:39 PM EST

    That and eating deathbell never seemed like the most logical way of discovering "Damage Health"... Yeah, I wish Bethesda simply put in more recipes throughout the world or had an alternative way of discovering things in-game.

    • 739 posts
    February 19, 2014 4:01 PM EST

    LOL!

    I think nibbling on ingredients is actually the logical way of discovering their properties. Some poor schmuck had to do it at some point...so why not your character.

    Your character doesn't know that a Deathbell is going to damage their health, they don't even know it's called a deathbell if you're roleplaying hard enough...

    ...they just found a pretty purple plant and it looks rather tasty when compared to a giants toe.

    • 1483 posts
    February 19, 2014 4:26 PM EST

    Speaking of roleplaying alchemists, eating ingredients is a known practice in TES lore, it's called Wortcraft. To quote the Fundamentals of Alchemy "Wortcraft is, in fact, amateur Alchemy. Eating an ingredient requires grinding it against the teeth, which occasionally releases its simplest essence and results in a fleeting effect on the eater. Wortcraft never has as strong a result as a potion created using the proper tools."  

    I have two articles that may help you with roleplaying alchemists - The Science of Alchemy: History and Evolution and A Poisoner's Corner.

    • 1483 posts
    February 19, 2014 4:32 PM EST

    I'm not saying that reading recipes is a worse idea  They should've made it so you could discover effects by reading recipes... Thankfully, there are mods for that 

    • 89 posts
    February 19, 2014 8:36 PM EST

    I agree