Skyrim Perks Ancillary- Block

A forenote about Block- while many of the perks for this feat wheel (and it really is something of a wheel) require shields specifically, the rest do not, and that means that they apply when you block with a weapon, or when you block and bash with a bow.  This makes them important for archers and those who wield two-handed weapons or one-handers with an empty off-hand.  Because of this, the perk wheel can be very handy for anyone, with the only two exceptions being mages who don’t use weapons or shields, and those who wield a pair of one-handed weapons into melee.  I’ll note for you in this article which perks are shield specific, but keep your eyes open on that anyways since you may not have this article to refer to when you make your selections.

Shield Wall-

Despite its name, this perk does not require that you do your blocking with a shield.  The initial single-point state of this perk is the most valuable form in terms of effect to number of points invested, granting you a staggering 20% bonus to the effectiveness of your blocks.  While the subsequent perk points are much less impressive at a 5% increase each, that still isn’t anything to sneer at and can save your life, especially when you’re blocking so that you can regenerate Magicka or Health (provided you have some way to increase your Health regeneration rate), or to force your enemy into spending all their stamina to break through rather than gouge your health with their power attacks.  If you use blocking to protect yourself, drop a point into this perk immediately, the other four can come later on at a more relaxed rate.

Deflect Arrows-

This perk requires a shield to take effect.  Fortunately, it is only required by other perks that require shields, so you won’t be forced to dump perk points into useless perks if you want to have the best possible weapon or bow block.  At any rate, this perk is excellent when you have to approach an archer head-on from a distance.  Once you close to melee range or start attacking with spells, though, it’s useless, and it doesn’t really help any for archers who you aren’t approaching dead-on.  Don’t worry much about it until you’re almost ready to take Elemental Protection, unless you find yourself charging headlong at lone archers and dying a lot.