Use a bound sword

the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim

I am playing my first character in Skyrim and I decided that I want to focus on conjuration. Up to now I used swords for close combat situations and transitioning into a bound sword seems to be a good choice. I looked up the damage a bound sword can inflict and it seems like that even the mythic version cannot do more than 14 damage per hit. My current sword already has a damage value of 35, more than double of the bound mystic sword. In addition I lose the possibility to enchant the sword or improve it through smithing.

On the upside I can use the perk to automatically cast soul trap which I really like. I can also use the bound sword to improve my conjuration skill. I don't use any skill boost tricks, so I need to level up conjuration naturally and the bound sword comes in handy for that.

Are those upsides enough to invest into the use of bound weapons? The lack of damage seems to be a real issue.

Best Answer

There are a few reasons why you would want to use one:

  1. It saves you weight from not having to carry one around.
  2. Like you pointed out, with perks, it can automatically soul trap an enemy, so you can use a better weapon unless you need soul trapping.
  3. With even more perks, you can banish summoned enemies. Note both of these can be reproduced via enchantments, but this way you don't have to recharge your weapon.

The drawbacks:

  1. Yes the base damage is high, but you cannot improve a bound sword via smithing, so the damage is really quite low during the end game.
  2. It lasts only so long, then you'll have to recast.

All in all, like you said, the lack of damage does become a big issue once you start investing into smithing.

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