Seriously, after 3 hits from an Orc you can kiss your weapon goodbye, adding injury to the insult that is the stamina and armor system.

Yes, you can just let the companion tank, their gear never breaks, you don't have to wear armor which increases your attackspeed by a lot and you won't be needing stamina poitons for yourself....but that can't really be it ?

Well, there simply are enemies that can break your equipment easily. If you play as a paladin, you can use your Smithing skill to repair your equipment, and letting your companions tank while you attack your enemies from afar with seals or spells could be helpful as well (maybe). Or you could retreat and come back after you have leveled up a bit, that should allow you to kill your enemies more quickly, giving them less opportunities to damage your equipment. Or you could ask a genie for help.

Combat in this game is the worst I have ever seen in an RPG. The rest of the game is fine but I won't play it with this crap combat system.