Discussion
FourWheelDrift said:
If you are on your own, and have a bandit camp, location you need to clear to continue have a good look around for a good sniping position then take them out one at a time with bow and arrow, fire, duck down and hide until the eye symbol closes. You'll be increasing sneak as well as ranged weapon skills. Just remember to not get too close as to alert them and the more the location if inaccessible to them the better.
As an example there's a great spot on the lower cliffs to the right before you get to Valtheim? Towers (the bridge guarded by the bandits East of Whiterun). You can take them all out from there as they all charge out to look for you and as long as you can avoid their arrows you don't really have to hide.
Ha. There's a rather large castle/tower which is overlooked by a cliff, just by the village by the greybeards place. I snuck down from the cliff onto one of the towers and spent 10 minutes sniping all the bandit guards running around wondering WTF is going on As an example there's a great spot on the lower cliffs to the right before you get to Valtheim? Towers (the bridge guarded by the bandits East of Whiterun). You can take them all out from there as they all charge out to look for you and as long as you can avoid their arrows you don't really have to hide.
Starting the use the 'terrain' to my advantage (or should that be the iffy AI?), taking on fairly powerful mages/bears/mercenaries (who 'greeted' me while being chased by some mages out of a building, only for me to dash past them and hearing a mercenaries vs mages battle unfold behind me
)Annoyingly despite being near to level 20 now I've only recently made some discoveries...
* There's 3 stones which can boost mage/warrior/thief skills near the start - completely missed this...
* The 'Spell Tomes' are not 'one-shot' spells like scrolls but they allow you to learn spells to use normally
just been using flames & healing up to this point 
Also started a new game as a warrior orc character, focusing on heavy armour/two handed weapons and proceeded to bulldoze my way through the first levels/dungeon/up to the greybeards pretty much one-hit killing everything this side of a troll despite my level being in single digits
Edited by MarkRSi on Thursday 31st July 10:33
MarkRSi said:
* There's 3 stones which can boost mage/warrior/thief skills near the start - completely missed this...
I guess you never followed Ralof or the other grunty one out of Helgen all the way to Riverwood? Although they say you should perhaps split up, don't. They show you some sights, point out the mage stones and kill the wolves that attack you before you get there.
FourWheelDrift said:
MarkRSi said:
* There's 3 stones which can boost mage/warrior/thief skills near the start - completely missed this...
I guess you never followed Ralof or the other grunty one out of Helgen all the way to Riverwood? Although they say you should perhaps split up, don't. They show you some sights, point out the mage stones and kill the wolves that attack you before you get there.
When playing again as my Warrior Orc I stuck with him (the Stormguard/blue guy, rather than the imperial the first time round) and got the tour of the area/stones/sword-wolf interface demonstration etc.
MarkRSi said:
Also started a new game as a warrior orc character, focusing on heavy armour/two handed weapons and proceeded to bulldoze my way through the first levels/dungeon/up to the greybeards pretty much one-hit killing everything this side of a troll despite my level being in single digits
Similar to me but I went one handed with a mace so I can use the Spellbreaker shield in the other hand. It protects you from mages until you can get close enough to clobber them.MarkRSi said:
Yep, that's exactly what I did, sodded off west to explore (instead of east towards the first village) as soon as he said we should split up. As a result my first dungeon was some vampire infested cave
You probably didn't see any dragons for ages. Not going to Riverwood would not have given you the mission to go to Whiterun. Its only when you kill the dragon at the watchtower outside whiterun that they start showing up.Cotty said:
MarkRSi said:
Yep, that's exactly what I did, sodded off west to explore (instead of east towards the first village) as soon as he said we should split up. As a result my first dungeon was some vampire infested cave
You probably didn't see any dragons for ages. Not going to Riverwood would not have given you the mission to go to Whiterun. Its only when you kill the dragon at the watchtower outside whiterun that they start showing up.In comparison my warrior Orc was at the top of the greybeard mountain within two hours of starting
I started playing this at the weekend (I've previously put a lot of time into Oblivion and the Fallout games) but I've got to a point that I can't seem to get past...
I've not posted exact details in case of spoiling it for others but it's one of the Companion quests (Proving Honor)- where I reach a point that I've yet to find a way through alive (with or without my npc follower surviving).
I've looked at couple of Youtube videos and nobody else seems to have the quantity of enemies (and they are much weaker) at this particular point so I assume they are playing it at a lower difficulty- which I am assuming is probably the only way to go in order to get past this point.
I'd rather not lower the difficulty if there is another way but at the moment I just can't see it- anyone else have any problems with this particular quest?
I've not posted exact details in case of spoiling it for others but it's one of the Companion quests (Proving Honor)- where I reach a point that I've yet to find a way through alive (with or without my npc follower surviving).
I've looked at couple of Youtube videos and nobody else seems to have the quantity of enemies (and they are much weaker) at this particular point so I assume they are playing it at a lower difficulty- which I am assuming is probably the only way to go in order to get past this point.
I'd rather not lower the difficulty if there is another way but at the moment I just can't see it- anyone else have any problems with this particular quest?
have a look at : http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Proving_Honor
cianha said:
have a look at : http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Proving_Honor
Yeah I checked that out, however it (and all the other walkthroughs) don't mention anything in particular about the specific point I'm having a problem with unfortunately.It's a case of having to deal with 3 Silver Hand members simultaneously, while just one of them is more than a match for my NPC follower, and if I get caught up close I die from 2-4 hits depending on which one is attacking me.
Probably not helped that I'm playing almost solely as an archer and have no interest whatsoever in magic...
I'm level 9 currently but my archery is above 50 and my sneak is above 30 so I can easily 1-shot bandits etc, and using the sneak attack can 1 or 2 shot some of the tougher ones. Unfortunately these 3 guys are taking around 7 arrows each, which is just impossible to do before being killed. I've tried using swords/axes but simply can't inflict enough damage, particularly as I end up fighting (getting mauled by) at least two of them at once.
A couple of the videos I've seen have involved characters even lower level than mine, but they only encounter a single Silver Hand member at that point (rather than 3) and they die to a couple of arrows (rather than 7ish!) so I assume they must be playing it at a lower difficulty level?
Squirrelofwoe said:
Probably not helped that I'm playing almost solely as an archer and have no interest whatsoever in magic...
What armour are you using? Maybe go up to the next level and enchant it to raise your heath. More protection, more health. What about a decent hand to hand weapon, enchanted sword or mace would help.Squirrelofwoe said:
Yeah I checked that out, however it (and all the other walkthroughs) don't mention anything in particular about the specific point I'm having a problem with unfortunately.
It's a case of having to deal with 3 Silver Hand members simultaneously, while just one of them is more than a match for my NPC follower, and if I get caught up close I die from 2-4 hits depending on which one is attacking me.
Probably not helped that I'm playing almost solely as an archer and have no interest whatsoever in magic...
I'm level 9 currently but my archery is above 50 and my sneak is above 30 so I can easily 1-shot bandits etc, and using the sneak attack can 1 or 2 shot some of the tougher ones. Unfortunately these 3 guys are taking around 7 arrows each, which is just impossible to do before being killed. I've tried using swords/axes but simply can't inflict enough damage, particularly as I end up fighting (getting mauled by) at least two of them at once.
A couple of the videos I've seen have involved characters even lower level than mine, but they only encounter a single Silver Hand member at that point (rather than 3) and they die to a couple of arrows (rather than 7ish!) so I assume they must be playing it at a lower difficulty level?
If you are with Farkas, use him to kill as many as possible, he's essential so can't die (until the Companions questline is completed) and find somewhere at a distance to take others out with arrows, somewhere high available there?It's a case of having to deal with 3 Silver Hand members simultaneously, while just one of them is more than a match for my NPC follower, and if I get caught up close I die from 2-4 hits depending on which one is attacking me.
Probably not helped that I'm playing almost solely as an archer and have no interest whatsoever in magic...
I'm level 9 currently but my archery is above 50 and my sneak is above 30 so I can easily 1-shot bandits etc, and using the sneak attack can 1 or 2 shot some of the tougher ones. Unfortunately these 3 guys are taking around 7 arrows each, which is just impossible to do before being killed. I've tried using swords/axes but simply can't inflict enough damage, particularly as I end up fighting (getting mauled by) at least two of them at once.
A couple of the videos I've seen have involved characters even lower level than mine, but they only encounter a single Silver Hand member at that point (rather than 3) and they die to a couple of arrows (rather than 7ish!) so I assume they must be playing it at a lower difficulty level?
Cotty said:
What armour are you using? Maybe go up to the next level and enchant it to raise your heath. More protection, more health. What about a decent hand to hand weapon, enchanted sword or mace would help.
I haven't got anything special at the moment- I'm just wearing the highest rated light armour I've picked up which I think is a set of the Forsworn armour. Either way the Silver Greatsword one of them is using cuts through it (and me) like butter, which is admittedly making for some awesome death animations! I've also got the first level perk for light armor which increases it 20%.
I do have a couple of enchanted hand to hand weapons, a frost-type axe and a lunar mace, but neither of them appear to be much more than tickling sticks at the moment- probably because I've not put enough time into one-handed.
I've also tried different combos of the myriad of different potions I've accumulated (health/stamina/damage etc) but it keeps boiling down to simply not being able to dish out enough damage quick enough to tank through their HP before myself and the NPC bite the dust.
It's just annoying because I know I am right near the end of the quest and have had no major difficulty until now as we've only had to fight 1 or 2 at once, rather than 3.
colonel c said:
Obvious question but have you turned up the difficulty level perhaps?
I have on a very few occasions turned it down in order to get past a frustration bit. The game is far too big to hang around to long on one section.
I haven't touched the difficulty level so it's on whatever it starts on as default- but yes I think turning it down for this bit is probably the most likely outcome.I have on a very few occasions turned it down in order to get past a frustration bit. The game is far too big to hang around to long on one section.
As I say, all the videos I've seen only have 1 (much weaker) Silver Hand member to get past, rather than the 3 tougher ones I am facing so I assume it's scaled to difficulty level.
FourWheelDrift said:
If you are with Farkas, use him to kill as many as possible, he's essential so can't die (until the Companions questline is completed) and find somewhere at a distance to take others out with arrows, somewhere high available there?
That's interesting as he certainly appears to die! He goes rushing in and invariably gets taken out by the first Sliver Hand, so I am left facing one weakened one and 2 full health ones. I've yet to have him fully kill one of them before expiring.Perhaps Farkas simply goes into a non-fighting mode while he recovers, but as he's laying on the ground and no longer the attention of the enemies I just assumed he gets killed.
Squirrelofwoe said:
I haven't got anything special at the moment- I'm just wearing the highest rated light armour I've picked up which I think is a set of the Forsworn armour. Either way the Silver Greatsword one of them is using cuts through it (and me) like butter, which is admittedly making for some awesome death animations!
Forsworn Go and smith, buy or steal some proper armour, drink a smithing potion and improve the armour on the table at the smiths. You can then enchant it if you have the perks.
Cotty said:
Forsworn
Go and smith, buy or steal some proper armour, drink a smithing potion and improve the armour on the table at the smiths. You can then enchant it if you have the perks.
It definitely qualifies as 'light' armour! Go and smith, buy or steal some proper armour, drink a smithing potion and improve the armour on the table at the smiths. You can then enchant it if you have the perks.
Yeah I think that's going to be the next course of action, not going to be possible until I finish/abandon this quest though.
If you're a sneaky ranged rogue/archer type, then you'll have to kite them one by one. Get further away from them. Find dark cover. Try to find a spot as far away from the cluster, or even some terrain or cover, so that only one of 'em has line of sight on you when you shoot. You'd be surprised how hard you are to detect in the dark, even with just a little Sneak.
cianha said:
If you're a sneaky ranged rogue/archer type, then you'll have to kite them one by one. Get further away from them. Find dark cover. Try to find a spot as far away from the cluster, or even some terrain or cover, so that only one of 'em has line of sight on you when you shoot. You'd be surprised how hard you are to detect in the dark, even with just a little Sneak.
Yeah this is my normal tactic, unfortunately the layout of the surroundings at this point pretty much precludes this. It is a small open square room with a single open staircase that is perfectly visible to everyone in the room.Going up the staircase lets you back out of the room into a narrow corridor which is again no good for hiding.
I need to check whether Farkas does actually perish or whether he recovers once he's been defeated- if this is the case I could potentially back-track even further to find somewhere to hide, before sneaking back in. Up until now I have been trying to ensure that Farkas stays alive so this hasn't been an option!
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