[MeechMunchie]

On the subject of combat, ESV has changed slightly over its predecessors:

• Attacks are now tied to the physics system. You can knock weapons out of hands, and people off cliffs.
• It has finishing moves, not just power moves.
• There are individual weapon skill perks; Maces will crush armour, Axes will cause bleeding, Swords will have critical hits.
• Shield skill perks can protect against types of elemental damage.
• Backwards movement speed is slower than in Oblivion.
• There are 85 spell effects, presumably to be mixed and matched at will.
• Shed a tear - Mysticism is going.
• Spells, weapons and shields take up appropriate hand slots, but can be dual-wielded at will. So you can have a spell in each hand, or two weapons, or two shields (Why you would do that, I've no idea), or any combination of the above.
• Spells can be used to different effect depending on the target. Pointing for a long time will charge it into a torrent - Fireball will become a flamethrower; Pointing it into the ground will spread it appropriately - Frostball will become a slippery patch of ice. Dual-wielding the same spell will increase the effect.
• Spells might be able to effect each other - Ice extinguishes fire, wind blows projectiles off course, that sort of thing.
• Fire burns.
• Ice slows.
• Lightning drains energy.
• Archery will be slower but do more damage.
• Arrows will be more scarce.
• You can now hit people with your bow.
• If you are stealthed but give the game away, enemies will look for you.
• You can now backstab.