Two-Handed (Skyrim)


 * The art of combat using two-handed weapons such as greatswords, battleaxes, and warhammers. Those trained in this skill deliver deadlier blows.

"The Gods gave you two hands, and you use them both for your weapon... I can respect that."

- Hold Guard

Two-Handed is a skill in, and is one of the six skills that falls under The Warrior play-style. Two-handed skill is raised by the use of large weapons that are wielded with two hands. Due to the use of both hands, a spell or another weapon cannot be used while a two-handed weapon is equipped. When using two-handed weapons, the weapon can be used to block incoming attacks. Two-handed weapons do significantly more damage, but they take more time to swing and their power attacks use more stamina than any other type of weapon.

Two-handed weapons have a larger range than one-handed weapons.

Comparisons with other games
Staves no longer require two hands to wield.

Books

 * King
 * Words and Philosophy
 * Battle of Sancre Tor
 * Song of Hrormir
 * The Legendary Sancre Tor
 * Oghma Infinium - when the Path of the Warrior is taken, each combat skill increases by 5, including Two-Handed.

The rewards for the following miscellaneous quests increase the Two-Handed Skill:
 * Solve Octieve San's debt problem in Solitude.
 * Retrieve Rjorn's Drum for Giraud Gemane in the Bards College in Solitude. This quest also increases Block, One-Handed, Smithing, Heavy Armor, and Archery.

Trainers

 * Torbjorn Shatter-Shield (Expert): Windhelm
 * Vilkas of The Companions (Master): Jorrvaskr, Whiterun
 * Fura Bloodmouth (Master): Castle Volkihar
 * Wulf Wild-Blood (Master): Skaal Village

Two-Handed weapons
The following are the confirmed weapons that benefit from this skill:

Craftable weapons
This is a list of Two-Handed weapons that the player is able to craft at a Forge given the appropriate perks.
 * Battleaxe - Iron, Steel, Dwarven, Orcish, Elven, Glass, Ebony, Daedric, Dragonbone, Nord Hero, Stalhrim, Nordic
 * Greatsword - Iron, Steel, Dwarven, Orcish, Elven, Glass, Ebony, Daedric, Dragonbone, Nord Hero, Stalhrim, Nordic
 * War Hammers - Iron, Steel, Dwarven, Orcish, Elven, Glass, Ebony, Daedric, Dragonbone, Stalhrim, Nordic

Non-craftable weapons
This is a list of Two-Handed weapons that are not able to be crafted by the player. They are either received as a quest reward or looted throughout the world. They may or may not be unique.
 * Battleaxes - Ancient Nordic, Wuuthrad, Skyforge Steel, Drainblood, Headsman's Axe**, Rueful Axe, The Woodsman's Friend
 * Greatswords - Ancient Nordic, Silver, Skyforge Steel, Ebony Blade**, Bloodskal Blade
 * Warhammers - Aegisbane, The Longhammer, Trollsbane, Volendrung, Dawnguard Rune Hammer, Champion's Cudgel

Perks
The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up

Damage
The two-handed skill directly increases the damage dealt with two-handed weapons. For each skill level, the damage increases by 0.5%. This increase is multiplicative with damage increase from the barbarian perk and weapon improvements.

Comparison to Dual-Wielding or Weapon+Shield
A two-handed build is balanced between dual wielding and shield builds in both attack and defense. Both hands are reserved for an offensive weapon, giving improved damage over "sword and board" shield builds, however not as high as dual wielding against single foes (with the Sweep perk, 2-handers can deal the highest damage in specific crowded situations).

One major advantage of 2h over dual wielding is blocking, and particularly activating the Quick Reflexes perk in the Block skill tree, which causes the game to enter slow motion whenever an enemy power attacks.

In crowded situations, a two-handed build with the Sweep perk can be much more survivable than a dual wield build, causing stagger to whole groups of enemies in front of the player and activating Quick Reflexes nearly nonstop.

Bugs

 * Sometimes, when an enemy is decapitated, the enemy will not die and will keep fighting.
 * "Decapitated" enemies may not actually lose their heads.
 * Greatswords and other two-handed weapons may sound incorrect e.g. A person with a warhammer hitting the wall for the first time will sound like as if the wall was being hit with a one-handed sword.
 * When standing close to an enemy with no space in between, and with another NPC behind the enemy, striking will make the weapon phase through the target and hit the NPC behind the enemy.
 * The strike from the Critical Charge perk can be used repeatedly at sprint speed even when all stamina is drained.
 * After decapitating an enemy with a helmet, the helmet will stay hovering over the body as the head never left.