So, Skyrim's out 11/11/11

[kandrathe]

I have tried the two handed, light armored barbarian type (my preference) as well as the heavy armored sword and shield type. Both get eaten alive by opponents like the Silver Hand.

I was lucky enough to get Unrelenting Force, and Freeze as shouts before level 10. This was enough to do some limited crowd control. I had Lydia then, and the way I controlled her, was to take away her sword when I only wanted her bow skills. And, tell her to wait, well back from you (whereas you can always run back to her dragging your mobs to her if you like), or outside the dungeon if you don't want her breaking your stealth (I do this just for the extra loot carrying capacity). I used many minor healing potions. Unrelenting Force shout to stagger the enemy (or better later), then I'd take the time to use healing hands, or heal myself. I find sword and shield is better, esp. when you get bash, block arrows, and block a portion of magical attacks.

The silver hand are specifically designed as enemies of the companions, so I've only ever fought them "naked".

Now, that I'm near level 50, I use a conjured summons as a decoy. They don't last long, but when you are fighting 8 Death Lords at the same time, it's nice to present as many targets for them as is possible. They give me a little payback for my early levels by spamming me with unrelenting force shouts now. It's hard to fight when you're constantly flying through the air, and picking yourself up off the dungeon floor. On the positive side, anything less than a death lord is a cake walk. But, above ground, Ancient Dragons, the Forsworn and Hagravens are always a challenge too. I did get totally owned by a wandering group of Imperial "Guards" that demanded money from me for walking on the road. I refused thinking they were like the other Imperials I'd fought before, but they stomped me in about 5 seconds. I reloaded, and ran back to repeat the encounter, but it was a different random group who were not as difficult.

As luck would have it, I stumbled upon Meridia's shrine and did his quest line. He's the one who hates the undead. His reward is an awesome device for dealing with draugr (and vampires, etc).