Block (Skyrim)

''The art of blocking an enemy's blows with either a shield or weapon. Blocking reduces the damage and staggering from physical attacks.''

"Best offense is a good defense, am I right?"

- Hold Guard

Block is a skill in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and is one of the six skills that falls under The Warrior play-style.

Description
The Block skill works slightly differently from Oblivion's Block skill.

Having skill in the Block combat art allows the player to parry or absorb melee and archery attacks with shields and two-handed weapons. Block with one-handed weapons is also possible if left hand stays unoccupied. Successful blocks reduce damage.

Blocking is not possible while dual wielding weapons, dual casting spells or having a weapon in one hand and a spell in the other. It's not available with bows either, although bows are still able to be used for bashing.

Blocking is not automatic, but wearing a shield should still give you a bonus to your overall defense rating. Blocking is more reaction based in Skyrim.

Players can block with two-handed weapons and the perks Shield Wall, Quick Reflexes, Power Bash, Deadly Bash, and Disarming Bash all apply to two-handed weapon combat.

It can be activated by clicking and holding down the right mouse button (PC), the left trigger (Xbox 360) or L1 (PS3).
 * Governing Guardian Stone: The Warrior

Books and Quests
The following books provide a permanent skill up to Block.

A Dance in Fire, v2
 * West of Morthal, in Fort Snowhawk.
 * Kartshire Camp, on top of the box that is in the tent with the deer skull totem.

Battle of Red Mountain
 * Found deep inside Kilkreath Ruins, near the Statue to Meridia, which is between Solitude and Fort Hraggstad.

Death Blow of Abernanit
 * Found at a trolls cave west of Dawnstar near the coast.
 * Whiterun Catacombs below the Hall of the Dead on the left side.
 * North of Reachwind Eryie in a Forsworn tent

The Mirror
 * Inside Broken Tower Redoubt in the circular room to the far west. First bookshelf on your left as you enter the room, on the bottom, next to strongbox.
 * Found inside Forsaken Cave, in the first room on the right, aside several Steel Ingots.
 * Inside The Palace of the Kings upstairs, in the center room in the far back at the top of the stairs, on a table to the right as you enter the room.(note: this book only appears after you have begun the quest to find this book for Captain Aldis in Solitude)

Warrior

The following Miscellaneous Quests increase the Block Skill:
 * Retreive Amren's family sword for Amren in Whiterun (note:completing this also increases one-handed skill)
 * Retreive Shield for Roggi Knot-Beard in Kynesgrove
 * Retreive Hjalti's sword for The Ghost of Old Hroldan at Old Hroldan Inn (note: also increases one-handed skill)
 * Retrieve Rjorn's Drum for Giraud Gemane in The Bard College in Solitude ( note: also increases One-handed, Two-handed, Smithing, Heavy Armor and Archery)

Trainers

 * Njada Stonearm of The Companions (Expert) - Jorrvaskr, or the training area behind it, in Whiterun
 * Larak (Master) -Mor Khazgur

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

Bugs

 * [PS3] Since 1.5 patch Shield Charge may no longer function.
 * Shield Charge's knock-down will appear delayed to the impact, and there doesn't seem to be much of a resistance when running through. This makes it confusing to efficiently use, as you virtually run "through" enemies, wondering if you just knocked one down or simply aimed bad. Also, especially in tight corridors, enemies can get knocked behind walls or inside of stairs, making the usual recovery of items impossible as the body becomes unselectable. The Dragonborn can also become glitched from this, making the landing sound after a jump all the time, even when just regularly walking.
 * There is a bug with Shield Charge that allows you to sprint forever with your shield raised. When sneaking, raise your shield (block) and then start to sprint. Even though you're still in sneak, you start to run as you normally would. When your stamina meter is depleted, you will continue sprinting anyway.
 * Bug where bashing would not actually count as a bash. This would cause problems with the stagger effects, and the disarming bash perk. It would also cause bashes to level the one handed skill not the block skill. It does however still cause damage to enemies like a regular bash. Fixed this by saving, going to Dashboard ,and restarting the game/ Restarting the game on PC.(XBOX, PC)
 * Confirmed Bug - During Quick Reflexes, dodging an enemy power attack by moving to the side and/or killing the enemy while their power attack is still in progress will allow a greatly extended slow time effect, allowing up to a minute of slowed time
 * When shield charging a great distance, the "green" effect that activates while shield charging will suddenly deactivate, making the ability to knock enemies away impossible. After shield charging, the "shield charge effect (the green aura)" will be permanently be activated when not shield charging. which means you knock back hostile and non-hostile NPC's even as you just walk by, increasing your bounty. loading an earlier save does not help. You have to close the game and start it again in order for the effect to go back to normal.

Leveling Block
Although you will naturally level the Block skill as you play, there are faster ways to level this skill. The increments in which your block skill increases is dependent on the strength of the enemy and not necessarily how much damage you take. Additionally, timed blocks which will stagger enemies may increase block at a faster rate than simply holding down the block key, and another plus is that it increases your real life reflex skill. (I found leveling to be easier with a Mammoth, because it attacks faster and has a higher level.)
 * For example, blocking multiple attacks from a Skeever will level your block skill at a much  slower rate than if you were to block a few attacks from a Giant . The key however is finding an enemy relative to your level that wont kill you in a few hits. A low level player will have no chance to successfully block attacks from a Giant and survive, but a higher level player will.


 * From experience, assuming your character's block skill is approx 55, it was entirely possible to increase one whole level of Block from just 2 or 3 blocked attacks from a Giant.


 * If you have the enchanting perk, you can put on an enchantment (if you disenchant an item with it on) that will allow you to put more damage absorption on your shield. (up to 40% more damage absorbed) this greatly aids in getting your block up.


 * Another way to raise your block is to block a mudcrab. These can be found many places, including near the Sleeping Tree Camp and outside of the Abandoned Shack. Find some mudcrabs, kill them until one remains, then block with a shield or sword. An interesting variation of this concept for medium level chars that will take their Block to 100 quickly: on the path to High Hrothgar, roughly halfway up the mountain, an Ice Troll resides; equip your shield in left hand and Fast Healing in right; block the troll's attacks constantly and heal yourself as necessary when the troll throws his temper tantrum, flailing his arms up and down (roughly 1 min of attacks will increase your Block 4-5 levels). It is advised to not get the Quick Reflexes blocking perk if you choose this method because the troll's attacks will all be in slow motion, causing leveling up to be much slower.
 * If you're brave (or foolish) and you want to level block and one-handed at the same time when you're still at a lower level, head out to one of the giant camps and hope you're lucky enough to find one with only a single giant at it. Rush in quick before it can stomp or attack and shield bash it. This should most likely stagger it and give you time to get in an attack or two with your weapon before you have to stagger it again with another shield bash. Just keep repeating this, and with a bit of luck, you should be able to attack it and bash it for a long time before it dies without it ever landing an attack on you. It's suggested you save your game before attempting this method.
 * The single giant located in the cave at Sleeping Tree Camp works very well, and is easily located early in the game.
 * Another very easy, although time-consuming way to level your block skill, is finding a house with hostile enemies (ex. Goldenglow Estate). Now you kill enough enemies so that there are enough left for you to fight easily. Stand in a corner and use scotch-tape or something similar to press down your block-button on your controller. This results in gaining block skill very easily with barely any effort. At lower levels you may have to heal from time to time, but as you progress, you can leave the game and do something else while your character levels on their own.
 * Another effective but safer way for higher leveled players to quickly level up the skill is to enter a dungeon and find a Deathlord. Once found, switch your difficulty to novice and if you don't want to wait around, tape the left trigger down and wait. Now just allow the Deathlord to bash away at your shield. This method is somewhat time consuming, taking between 20 to 30 minutes to level the skill up from 0 to 100. Be sure to check up on your health every few minutes.
 * A good way for specifically higher level characters, as I have not tried it at low levels, is to obtain Spellbreaker, a shield given as a reward for completing the quest The Only Cure, given at the Shrine to Peryite, and then going to fight a dragon with the shield. When I did this I found that I took very minimal damage while gaining a level on every hit at first, then it started slowing down, but nevertheless, I gained around 30 skills levels by doing this.

Related Pages

 * Race - In The Elder Scrolls Universe
 * Perks - In Skyrim
 * Skill - List of skills in Skyrim