Skyrim Guide

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o======================================================================o
| |
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim |
| Character Creation FAQ |
o======================================================================o
Version 1.01
Written by: Nathan Garvin
Email: Theendbringer (at) Hotmail (dot) com.
If you're going to email me about this guide, make sure you put
"SKYRIM" in the title, or I'll probably end up deleting it as junk.
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Table of Contents
o======================================================================o
I. Introduction {INT001}
1. Version Information {INT002}
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>CHARACTER CREATION<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
II. Race {RAC001}
1. Argonian {RAC002}
2. Breton {RAC003}
3. Dark Elf (Dunmer) {RAC004}
4. High Elf (Altmer) {RAC005}
5. Imperial {RAC006}
6. Khajiit {RAC007}
7. Nord {RAC008}
8. Orc (Orsimer) {RAC009}
9. Redguard {RAC010}
10. Wood Elf (Bosmer) {RAC011}
III. The General (LV. 61) Build {GBD001}
1. Leveling Up {GBD002}
2. Health, Magicka, or Stamina? {GBD003}
3. Perks {GBD004}
4. The General Build - {GBD005}
Perk Overview
5. The General Build - {GBD006}
Perk Picks
6. Crafting Skills {GBD007}
7. Offensive Skills {GBD008}
8. Defensive Skills {GBD009}
9. Expanding the Build {GBD010}
IV. Skills {SKL001}
1. Alchemy {SKL002}
2. Alteration {SKL003}
3. Archery {SKL004}
4. Block {SKL005}
5. Conjuration {SKL006}
6. Destruction {SKL007}
7. Enchanting {SKL008}
8. Heavy Armor {SKL009}
9. Illusion {SKL010}
10. Light Armor {SKL011}
11. Lockpicking {SKL012}
12. One-Handed {SKL013}
13. Pickpocket {SKL014}
14. Restoration {SKL015}
15. Smithing {SKL016}
16. Sneak {SKL017}
17. Speech {SKL018}
18. Two-Handed {SKL019}
V. Epic (LV. 81) Builds {EBD001}
1. Haeravon's Build {EBD002}
2. IsaacFrost's Build {EBD003}
VI. Getting Started in Skyrim {SKY001}
1. The Helgen Grind {SKY002}
2. Frist Steps {SKY003}
3. The Dragonborn Emerges {SKY004}
4. Joining the Thieve's Guild {SKY005}
5. Restoring the Guild {SKY006}
6. The Smithing Grind {SKY007}
7. Joining the college of {SKY008}
Winterhold
8. The Enchanting Grind {SKY009}
9. The Alchemy Grind {SKY010}
10. Crafting Gear {SKY011}
12. God-Making {SKY012}
13. Summary {SKY013}
VII. Miscellaneous
1. Standing Stones {MSC001}
VIII. Lists {LST001}
1. Starting Skills by Race {LST002}
2. Some Common Valuable Potion {LST003}
Combinations
3. List of Alchemical {LST004}
Ingredients
4. List of Alteration Spells {LST005}
5. List of Bow and Arrow Types {LST006}
6. List of Conjuration Spells {LST007}
7. List of Destruction Spells {LST008}
8. List of Enchantments {LST009}
9. List of Heavy Armor Types {LST010}
10. List of Illusion Spells {LST011}
11. List of Light Armor Types {LST012}
12. List of One-Handed Weapons {LST013}
13. List of Restoration Spells {LST014}
14. List of Two-Handed Weapons {LST015}
IX. Updates/Thanks {UPD001}
o======================================================================o
| |
| Introduction {INT001} |
| |
o======================================================================o
This FAQ was created for one reason, and one reason only. Because I
like talking about games, and I like attention.. and because this hobby
of mine makes me feel like I'm being productive when I'm really not.
Okay, so it was created for several reasons, and none of them good. I
made this guide for my fellow power-gamers out there who love RPGs.
More importantly, for those of you who love trying to create 'perfect'
characters. This is a very subjective idea, of course, and I personally
try to create a 'jack of all trades' whenever the idea is possible,
rather than adhering to the 'warrior, rogue, and mage' archetypes.
Crazy talk, I know. I suppose I like being able to do everything with
one character. That being the case, I strive towards builds that give
the most possible benefit in the most possible situations, and my
suggestions will therefore aim to build such a character. In Skyrim,
you can't quite reach this ideal like you could in Oblivion. The
inclusion of perks means we'll just have to make some sacrifices-no
generalized character can do everything as well as one who specializes.
Still, with planning and smart choices, we can make a 'jack of all
trades' who is a master of all skills, if not a grand-master at any.
More importantly, it'll be a character who can meet any challenge,
complete all the guild quests, and stomp any monster on any difficulty.
Version Information {INT002}
o======================================================================o
This guide was written using the Xbox 360 version of Skyrim. Prior to
being patched, it had a number of inconsistencies with other versions
and bugs that I assume have been largely homogenized or fixed,
respectively. For example, in the unpatch version of the game, base
Enchanting values were often lower on many items (although most, if not
all Enchantments could reach the same caps) in the Xbox 360 version than
on the PS3/PC versions. Another interesting bug is the fact that in
earlier versions the 'Fortify Sneak' enchantment actually made you more
likely to be detected. Consider the version of the game and the platform
before you email me about an indiscrepancy, especially if you're playing
with an unpatched Xbox 360 version of the game.
o======================================================================o
| |
| Race {RAC001} |
| |
o======================================================================o
All of the races from the previous Elder Scrolls games are back in
Skyrim, although they've finally been tweaked to balance them out
better. Now more than ever before, it doesn't matter what race you
play. They all have their perks, and none have any crippling negative
aspects so damning that the race is all but useless. It was my position
(although not really a possibility) that choice was the ultimate
deciding factor in Oblivion.. this stance is more realized in Skyrim.
Play what you want, and below I'll discuss the various merits of each
race. My only strong suggestion? Play a Nord. It's Skyrim. Playing a
Nord in Skyrim connects you to the story like playing a Dark Elf did in
Morrowind. If you don't care about story elements as much as you care
about pure strength, then look elsewhere. In the end, no race has any
abilities that can't be replicated with enchanted gear, although if
there was a power-gamer race it would have to be the Breton again. The
25% magic resistance is just a great, general bonus that will make it
easier to build a well-rounded character.
Starting Skills by Race {LST002}

o======================================================================o
Below you'll find the starting skills for all the races in the game.
Leveling up is easier than ever, and the difference between the
starting skills of one race and those of another couldn't be more moot
in this game.. but as a point of interest, here they are.
Wood Elf
Redguard
Orc | |
Nord | | |
Khajiit | | |
Imperial | | | |
High Elf | | | | |
Dark Elf | | | | | |
Breton | | | | | | |
Argonian | | | | | | | |
o===============o====o====o====o====o====o====o====o====o====o====o
|Alchemy | 15 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Alteration | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 15 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Archery | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Block | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 15 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Conjuration | 15 | 25 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Destruction | 15 | 15 | 25 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 15 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Enchanting | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 15 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Heavy Armor | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 25 | 15 | 15 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Illusion | 15 | 20 | 20 | 25 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Light Armor | 20 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 20 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Lockpicking | 25 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|One-Handed | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 25 | 15 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Pickpocket | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Restoration | 20 | 20 | 15 | 20 | 25 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Smithing | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 15 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Sneak | 20 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 25 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Speech | 15 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
|---------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
|Two-Handed | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 25 | 20 | 15 | 15 |
o===============o====o====o====o====o====o====o====o====o====o====o
Argonian {RAC002}
o======================================================================o
Skill Bonuses: Alteration +5
Light Armor +5
Lockpicking +10
Pickpocket +5
Restoration +5
Sneak +5
Active Effect: Resist Disease - Your Argonian blood is 50% resistant

to disease.
Waterbreathing - Your Argonian lungs can breath

underwater.
Power: Invoke the power of the Hist to recover health ten times
faster for 60 seconds.
Comments: I never seem to be able to say anything good about the

Argonian, and this game will be no different. They don't have any
negative abilities, and they never did, but the abilities they do have
can be ignored. Being 50% resistant to disease is no boon, since shrines
litter the landscape that can freely cure disease at a touch. Their next
ability-Waterbreathing-is another ability that can simply be replicated
by any piece of enchanted jewelry in the game, and it's certainly not
something you'll need to use all the time. Also, since you cannot fight
underwater anymore, you're never in a situation where donning a piece of
waterbreathing equipment comprimises your defense in any meaningful way.
Lastly, their Histkin ability is by far their most useful power.
Regenerating Health ten times faster is.. pretty nice, but simply
casting a healing spell or drinking a potion can do the same thing. No
bad abilities, but nothing to really recommend them, either.
Breton {RAC003}
o======================================================================o
Skill Bonuses: Alchemy +5
Alteration +5
Conjuration +10
Illusion +5
Restoration +5
Speech +5
Active Effect: Magic Resistance - Breton blood grants a 25% resistance

to magic.
Power: Dragonskin - Absorb 50% of the magicka from hostile

spells for 60 seconds.
Bretons are at it again, making another Elder Scrolls appearance as the

dominant race. Although, fairly, the other races have been improved (or
had their defects removed) so that the gap between Bretons and everybody
else is nowhere near as prominent as it was in Oblivion.
Dark Elf (Dunmer) {RAC004}

o======================================================================o
Alteration +5
Destruction +10
Illusion +5
Light Armor +5
Sneak +5
Active Effect: Resist Fire - Your Dunmer blood gives you 50%
resistance to fire.
Power: Ancestor's Wrath - For 60 seconds, opponents that get

too close take 8 points per second of fire damage.
Comments: Essentially the deformed, brow-ridge heavy inversion of the

Nord. Instead of being 50% resistant to frost, they're 50% resistant to
fire. The elements are more balanced in Skyrim than in the older Elder
Scrolls games, so this trait has diminished a bit in usefulness.. it's
now only AS good as being resistant to the other elements, instead of
being patently superior. As for their 'Ancestor's Wrath' ability.. it
mimics a mid-level Destruction spell.. only not a good one. Eight damage
per second is not going to win you any fights. Still, they play like a
Nord.. except you enchant their boots with Resist Frost and Resist
Shock.
High Elf (Altmer) {RAC005}

o======================================================================o
Conjuration +5
Destruction +5
Enchanting +5
Illusion +10
Restoration +5
Active Effect: Highborn - High Elves are born with 50 extra magicka.
Power: Highborn - Regenerate magicka faster for 60 seconds.
Comments: The High Elves always had a flair for magic, but in previous
Elder Scrolls game their beneficial aspects came at the unacceptable
price of weakneess towards every element. In Skyrim, they are much less
of a mixed bag. That +50 bonus to Magicka is a great starting fund for
any prospective mage, and their improve magicka regeneration give them
an even greater well of magicka for the tough fights. On the otherhand,
Magicka is not nearly as important in this game as it was in the other
games, as you can no longer craft your own spells, and whatever
limitations might apply to a prospective spell-caster because of their
Magicka can be overcome by enchanting armor that eliminates Magicka
costs. Given the political issues surrounding High Elves, it might be an
interesting idea to play one in Skyrim, but if you're looking for a pure
power mage.. again, look to the Breton. You'll be better served by
magic resistance than you will by extra Magicka.
Imperial {RAC006}
o======================================================================o
Skill Bonuses: Block +5
Destruction +5
Enchanting +5
Heavy Armor +5
One-Handed +5
Restoration +10
Active Effect: Imperial Luck - Anywhere gold coins might be found,

Imperials always seem to find a few more.
Power: Voice of the Emperor - Calms nearby people for 60

seconds.
Comments: It's another Elder Scrolls game, and another chance for me to
let the world know how unimpressed I am with Imperials. Their 'Voice of
the Emperor' ability is essentially still just a once-per-day Illusion
spell, and.. I'll be honest, I never tested out the 'Imperial Luck'
ability to know how much extra money they get from chests. But I will
say this; after playing through the game with my Nord (around whom this
guide was partially written) I had over 400,000 gold. Want to guess how
much of that I got from raw coinage laying around? An inconsequential
amount, compared to what selling potions got me. It doesn't matter,
anyways. Money is, like in Fallout 3, something you get as you play.
Wasting perks to get more money is a waste of time, as it's easy enough
without any such expenditure to obtain more money than you'll ever need.
How did these guys conquer Tamriel? Oh wait, they didn't, Nords did it
for them.
Khajiit {RAC007}
o======================================================================o
Archery +5
Lockpicking +5
One-Haned +5
Pickpocket +5
Sneak +10
Active Effect: Claws - Khajiit claws do 15 points of damage.
Power: Night Eye - Improved night vision for 60 seconds.
Comments: My teenage hatred of the 'animal people' has long since

subsided, and frankly, the Khajiit and Argonian characters were some of
the best-voiced and most personable characters in Oblivon. Of course,
they're terribly under-represented in Skyrim, and it makes sense-nobody
but the Nords would be stupid enough to live here. But I digress, how
do they stack up, ability-wise? The Khajiit really takes it hard in this
game. Their permanent ability? They can do 15 damage with their Claws.
This seems okay at a glance.. until you realize that 15 damage sucks.
Compare it to a 250+ damage Daedric Sword, and you'll realize how silly
and short-sighted this ability is. Also, why would you ever go around
hitting things with your claws? It doesn't even level up your One-Handed
skill! It might do more damage at the beginning of the game than most
weapons you can get your hands on, but it's ultimately depriving
yourself of opportunities to level offensive skills. Next we have their
'Night Eye' ability. Since it's no longer a spell, and Skyrim is
moronically devoid of good ways to see in the dark (and no, Candlelight
sucks, who wants to have to recast their best light-source every damn
minute?) it's a.. fair ability. Of course, it makes all light sources
extra bright when you use it, so for the ability to be able to see in
the dark you'll struggle to see things in bright areas. But at least
it's togglable at will. Still, the darkest darkness in Skyrim isn't
anywhere near the pitch-black dungeons in Oblivion, so a light source is
usually an optional ability.
Nord {RAC008}
o======================================================================o
Light Armor +5
One-Handed +5
Smithing +5
Speech +5
Two-Handed +10
Active Effect: Resist Frost - Your Nord blood gives you 50% resistance
to Frost.
Power: Battle Cry - Targets flee for 30 seconds.
Comments: The Nord is my favorite Skyrim race.. and for no real gameplay
reason. It just seems like you should be playing a Nord in Skyrim. But
you don't care for my sentimentalism, so how does the Nord stack up?
They're pretty average, really, all in all about the equivilent of a
Dark Elf, but with frost resistance instead of fire resistance. Their
'Battle Cry' is lame, it's just a once-per-day copy of an illusion
spell. Still, at least they have one, always-useful active effect.. it's
more than many races can claim.
Orc (Orsimer) {RAC009}

o======================================================================o
Enchanting +5
Heavy Armor +10
One-Handed +5
Smithing +5
Two-Handed +5
Power: Berserker Rage - You take half damage and do double
damage for 60 seconds.
Comments: Orcs look cooler than ever in Skyrim-seriously, that Orc on

the loading screen just look badass, although it took me a while to
realize it had a beard.. Anyways, the Orc only has one ability, their
trademark 'Berserker Rage', and damn, is it strong. Half damage taken,
and double damage dealt? It's easily the best combat ability in the
game, but it has one small limitation.. A high-powered character
following this build with good resistances, good armor, and an over-
powered Daedric weapon already ignores most damage, and kills most
enemies in several hits. Is doubling that good? Certainly, but almost
redundantly so. One thing the Orc can boast, however, is that they will
have an easier time leveling up than most other races. During the weak
period this build experiences (between level 30 to 50, depending on how
your level), the Orc can always pop out with a rage to overcome most
anything. If you're trying to be 'hardcore' and play through the game
on Master difficulty (which really isn't very hard), you might consider
playing an Orc. At least they will get some extra mileage out of their
Berserker Rage.
Redguard {RAC010}
o======================================================================o
Archery +5
Block +5
Destruction +5
One-Handed +10
Smithing +5
Active Effect: Resist Poison - Your Redguard blood gives you 50%
resistance to poison.
Power: Adrenaline Rush - Stamina regenerates 10x faster for

60
seconds.
Comments: The Redguards are supposed to be the best warriors in Tamriel,
so lets see how they work, eh? The 50% resistance to poison is decent..
you won't get poisoned all the time, and poison now strickly just
reduces health over time, so it's nowhere near as annoying as it could
be in Oblivion, but some enemies (like Charus Reapers) deal enough
poison damage for this to be a welcome ability, if not as good as magic
or elemental resistances. As for their renowned racial ability,
'Adrenaline Rush' has seen better days. Now, having your Stamina
regenerate ten times faster for sixty seconds isn't useless-unlike with
Magicka, you'll actually use Stamina-but note that to regenerate
Stamina you have to stop using Stamina.. which means it's not quite the
same thing as unlimited Stamina for sixty seconds. Also, with my build,
300 Stamina is quite a hefty pool. I almost never ran out of Stamina at
higher levels with my Nord unless I was just sprinting around. Honestly,
nothing survived long enough for me to care about my Stamina. Still,
with two mediocore racial abilities, the Redguard is a decent race.
Wood Elf (Bosmer) {RAC011}

o======================================================================o
Archery +10
Light Armor +5
Lockpicking +5
Pickpocket +5
Sneak +5
Active Effect: Resist Disease and Poison - Your Bosmer blood gives
you
a 50% resistance to poison and disease.
Power: Command Animal - Make an animal an ally for 60 seconds.
Comments: Hailing from Valenwood, our cannibalistic Wood Elf friends are
the most skilled archers in Tamriel.. meaning they start out with an all
but pointless +10 bonus to that skill. But as for the important things?
Well, the 50% resistance to poison and disease is.. well.. somewhat
useful, and meh, respectively. As for their ability to command animals?
Who wants to rely on an animal to be nearby to charm? Not just that, by
now you all should know how I respond to AI-controlled allies..
especially ones you can't simply conjure at will. This is probably the
worst of the Illusion-type skills possessed by any race in the game.
Really, I see very little to recommend the Bosmer.
o======================================================================o
| |
| The Level 61 'General' Build {GBD001} |
| |
o======================================================================o
This guide is designed around a very modest level 61 build for a variety
of reasons. First, I understand that not every gamer is as fond of
mindlessly grinding and min-maxing as I am. My friend Joel told me that
he was warned that 'min-maxing would ruin this game'. My response was
terse: "Unless min-maxing IS the game for you." But since you can hit
level 81, shooting for 61 is something every gamer can easily do without
too much grinding.. although leveling up any of the crafting skills has
the feel of grinding no matter how you go about it. That's the only
unescapable grind of the game, and if you don't like it, look elsewhere
for your build tips. Another reason is the fact that up until level 61
my suggestions for perk-picks are fairly well-considered. Getting the
crafting perks you'll need, as well as the defensive and offensive
skill perks, these are all indispensible. But after this your character
will already be a phenom.. with perks to spare and as many as twenty
more levels to go. After this point, my suggestions become more vague,
as where you'll place your remaining perks is more a matter of how you
want to play the game. Want to be a badass stealthy, ninja, archer
battlemage? Sick of being able to only sell a few items to any single
merchant? Want to just carry an extra 100 pounds of loot? All these are
considerations to be made AFTER you've become an invincible juggernaut.
So there you have it. What most of this guide will discuss is the
build up to level 61, that is, the invariable, highly suggested
'General' build. After this point, which we'll call the 'epic level
builds' (showing off my D&D pedigree here) will be the subject of the
specific builds.
Leveling Up {GBD002}
o======================================================================o
You gain experience towards overall character level advancement by
leveling up your skills. The higher your skill levels in comparison
to your character level, the more experience you earn. For example, as
a level one character you'll gain a great deal of experience from
improving a skill from 15 to 16. As a level 50 character, you'll gain
considerably less. Therefore the 'jack of all trades' who bring the
most of their skills the to the highest levels will be stronger than
characters who ignore certain skills to chase after the archetypes.
Every time you level up you'll gain one perk to spend, and you'll be
able to choose to increase your Health, Magicka, or Stamina by ten
points. Perks really determine how powerful your character is and what
your character can 'do' more than your skill levels. You'll probably
find yourself leveling up skills you don't care to you, so that you
can level up and put perks into skills you prefer. It's a little silly,
but there you have it.
Health, Magicka, or Stamina? {GBD003}

o======================================================================o
Every time you level up you can (or rather, are forced to) select to
improve either your Health, Magicka or Stamina. Whether you like it or
not, this goes a long way towards shaping your character's build.
Thankfully, however, it's much less complicated than it might seem.
Due to Enchanting, you can create gear that eliminates the Magicka costs
of spells altogether, making Magicka outright useless. Although it might
be helpful early on to have more Magicka if you're the magey type, I
prefer to just wait until I can create armor that a) increases my
Magicka, or b) reduces the costs of casting my favored spells to
nothing.
Health, however, is much more important. In fact, it's easily the most
important attribute. It's no overstatement to say that one of our chief
concerns is to create a character who won't..you know..DIE..all the
time, yes? As it stands, the base 100 Health is not helpful to this
goal. Everybody should get at least 200 Health to start with, and my
generalized build has 500 Health by level 61.
Anybody who engages in melee or ranged combat should also consider
getting Stamina. Slowing down time while aiming, blocking, running,
and power attacks all consume Stamina, and power attacks are much
improved in Skyrim. If you're not using magic to kill everything, I'd
suggest getting 300 Stamina by level 61. Afterwards, all my points are
invested into Health.
Level 61 Generalized Build

Magicka: 100
Health: 500+
Stamina: 300
Perks {GBD004}
o======================================================================o
Perks are what really define what your skills-and hence what your
character-can do. They're finite, so you can't max everything, but you
can at least save them up for later consideration. These are the meat
of character creation, and hence what most of this guide will be focused
around. You gain one perk every time you level up.
o======================================================================o
| The General Build - Perk Overview {GBD005}|
o======================================================================o
We've briefly discussed how to allocate our attributes, and as for
skills-the more we level, the better we'll be. This part of the guide,
the 'build' section, is therefore dedicated to perks-the most important
considerations for our character. For organizational purposes and
clarity, I'll seperate perks into various groupings depending upon their
function for our character, rather than their archetype, as
follows: Crafting skills, Offensive skills, Defensive skills, and
Miscellaneous skills. We're going from the most potent, highly
recommended sets of skills, down through order of importance. Everybody
should get the Crafting skills, there's no character type that cannot
gain-and gain in magnitudes-from investing in them. After this, where
you get your offense and defense from is less important, although do
not doubt that I have my own ideas on this, and that there are some ways
to go about deciding that are not arbitrary. These generally being those
skills that are more productive for their cost in perks. But I'm..
trying to be sensitive to everybody's wishes to create their own
character. If you want to simply create the strongest character, follow
all my advice, if you want to deviate, deviate with the knowledge
provided below.
Crafting Skills
o======================================================================o
Godliness comes from three skills in Skyrim. These three are known as
Alchemy, Enchanting, and Smithing, collectively lumped together in the
umbrella term as the 'Crafting Skills'. They are absolutely essential
towards building an uber-character, so much so that everything else is
secondary. If you take nothing else from this guide, take the idea that
you should boost your crafting skills. Smithing increases the potency
of your weapons and armor, so that you'll suffer very little in combat,
and you, on the other hand, are inflicting absurd amounts of damage
upon the enemy. Enchanting allows you to reduce the Magicka cost of
spells (even down to nothing), increase the effectiveness of skills
(even boosting Alchemy and smithing), increase the effectivness of
sneaking, picking pockets, boost damage with certain weapon types,
improve your blocking prowess, as well as attend to vulnerabilities not
improved by Smithing, such as elemental and magic resistances. As for
Alchemy, it makes Enchanting and Smithing significantly more potent,
hence making everything more potent.
Offensive Skills
o======================================================================o
No matter how you do it, you're going to need a means by which to deal
damage. And by 'deal damage', I'm looking for direct damage-dealing
skills, not summons, not charm spells, not anything that requires the
AI to do the dirty work for you. It's my guide, it's my bias. Besides,
doing it yourself is quicker, easier, and in my opinion, just more
rewarding. That leaves us with four options: Archery, Destruction,
One-Handed Weapons, and Two-Handed Weapons. I will now alienate half of
the gamers still reading by telling you that Two-Handed Weapons and
Destruction aren't up to snuff. I will explain more in the full
descriptions of these skills, but let me summarize why this build will
not use these two methods of direct damage-dealing. Two-Handed Weapons
are too slow and clunky, and not nearly as versatile as One-Handed
Weapons, and Destruction spells can never be improved with Smithing
the way bows and melee weapons can, allowing physical damage to trump
magical damage by a wide margin. Having both a ranged and melee option
is a good idea (and Archery works very well for assassinations), so
the general build will invest in both One-Handed Weapons and Archery as
primary means of dealing damage.
Defensive Skills
o======================================================================o
Now, while we're fighting things, it's an unfortunate fact of life that
they will be doing their worst to injure us back. Having a hefty chunk
of Health will help, but having a high armor score will really make good
our resilience. Now, how to do this? We could always go with Alteration,
which will do the same thing armor can do, but it'll cost us Magicka
(or rather, force us to equip gear to make it costless). It only lasts
30 seconds, and of course, has a casting time. This effort being an
uneccesary pain in the ass, we'll look elsewhere, for armor that does
not require re-casting. The next obvious sources of defense are Heavy
Armor and Light Armor, and both work fine. The only concern here
(besides the all-important aesthetics) is the number of perks it'll
take for us to reduce the encumbrace of our armor, and what we'll have
to pick up along the way. Here, Light Armor seems to be the clear
winner, as it only requires three perks (Agile Defender 1/5, Custom Fit,
and Unhindered). Heavy Armor requires four (Juggernaut 1/5, Fists of
Steel, Cushioned, and Conditioning). Note, though, that while you will
pick up a +25% bonus to armor if you're wearing all light armor with
Custom Fit, you really don't need it with Heavy Armor, as Daedric Armor
when fully upgraded with the crafting skills hits the armor cap just
fine. Also note that the one point extra required by Heavy Armor is
negated by the fact that to wear the best Light Armor, you'll need to
get the extra perks 'Dragon Smithing' in the Smithing tree. So.. it's
entirely up to you whether to go with Heavy Armor or Light Armor. Then
we have Block, which is somewhat optional to these high-powered builds.
Since we are going with One-Handed, and since some enemies (Ancient
Dragons, Forsworn Briarhearts, and Draugr Deathlords) can still hurt
you with the maximum armor cap (567 Armor), having a shield will go the
extra distance and make you invulnerable. Without a shield, you'll have
to watch your health every once in a while, but with a shield, nothing
can touch you. And if the choices already presented weren't enough, you
can get by just fine without any of the armor perk plans listed above
so long as you're willing to be married to the Steed Stone, which
reduces all encumbrance caused by armor as if you had the perks listed
above, and gives you a bonus 100 carry weight, to boot. Depending on
which armor you find the most appealing, putting a few perks into
Agile Defender/Juggernaut may be required with the Steed Stone.
As for magic resistance, the only perks worth mentioning are the
aptly named 'Magic Resistance' perks in the Alteration tree. It'll take
two wasted perks to reach, and three perks on the skill itself to gain
30% magic resistance. It's a huge, huge boost to your overall magic
resistance, and comes highly recommended for any character.
o======================================================================o
| General Build - Perk Picks
{GBD006}|
o======================================================================o
At level 61 we'll have 60 perks to spend, and if you only care about
the build-and not the reasons why we're picking them-then you need only
look here. For the more discerning among you, read the 'General Build'
sections above, and more importantly, read the description of the
skills, themselves, to learn more about them in detail. The perk picks
below will represent my version of the build-a Light Armor wearing
Nord who fights with elementally-charged Daedric weapons.
Alchemy Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Some people dig poisons, I get it. Others (like myself) are content to
sneak attack with super-powered bows. At the end of the day, the perk
'Poisoner' is just one perk away from what the build suggests, so if you
want to use poisons, go grab it.
Archery/One-Handed Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
I'm intentionally skimping on some of the perks for some of the skills
listed in the build like One-Handed and Archery. Every character should
be proficient in them, yes, but there's a difference between being able
to kill enemies on a whim (which is what this build will do) and pouring
points into those two skills on ancillary perks like extra power attack
damage and the ability to walk faster while aiming. I have, as far as
possible, tried to include only the most necessary perks in the build
to provide a foundation from which you can build.
Breton Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Bretons, with their base 25% Magic Resistance, are worthy of special
note for how they can function build-wise. With the Agent of Mara
and the Lord Stone, they effectively have 65% Magic Resistance with no
gear whatsoever. If you simply invest one item to add to this, they've
got more than they could ever need. This approach fully supports taking
the shorter path up the Enchanting tree, and actually investing points
to reach Unhindered or Conditioning in Light Armor or Heavy Armor trees.
Enchanting Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Also, there's some tinkering we could do with the Enchanting Skill.
You could simply ignore the elemental perks and take the 'Enchanter',
'Insightful Enchanter', and 'Corpus Enchanter' route to reach 'Extra
Effect' and save yourself some perks. With such an approach, you could
then enchant gear to have Magic Resistance instead of Elemental
Resistances, and save a few perks. This approach is even more feasible
with a Breton than with any other race. But keep in mind that Magic
Resistance can only be applied on a few pieces of gear-the Shield,
Rings, and Necklaces. To get a decent Magic Resistance amount, you must
have obtained the Agent of Mara, be under the effect of the Lord
Stone, and have some enchanted gear.. thus competing with your ability
to create gear that negates the Magicka costs of two spell schools. As
a Nord (with 50% Frost Resistance) I am just as happy getting Fire
Resistance and Shock Resistance on my boots, and allowing the Agent
of Mara make up my deficiency. Take into consideration that by obtaining
the elemental perks in the Enchanting tree, you can also boost elemental
damage on your weapons further. A Dark Elf would follow the same model,
but would obviously choose to get Frost Resistance and Shock
Resistance on their boots.
Smithing Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
No matter what armor you might want to wear, you are advised to take
the Heavy Armor route through Smithing to obtain 'Daedric Smithing'.
This will allow you to create the strongest weapons in the game. If you
want to wear Light Armor, get 'Dragon Smithing' to get the best Light
Armor in the game. If not, stopping at Daedric Smithing is fine. Also,
'Arcane Blacksmith' is fairly optional, but if you ever want to improve
artifacts, or to improve gear you've already enchanted, you'll need this
perk.
The Crafting Skills (24 perks) {GBD007}

o======================================================================o
Alchemy (7 perks)
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Alchemist (5/5)
Physician
Benefactor
Enchanting (8-10 perks)

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Enchanter (5/5)
Insightful Enchanter
*Fire Enchanter
*Frost Enchanter
*Shock Enchanter
**Corpus Enchanter
Extra Effect
*This path is for those who wish to boost their resistances directly,
and perhaps use stronger elementally charged weapons.
**This path is for those who wish to boost their Magic Resistance,
instead of their elements, and who do not care about elementally
charged weapons.
Smithing (5-7 perks)

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Steel Smithing
Dwarven Smithing
Orcish Smithing
Ebony Smithing
Daedric Smithing
*Dragon Smithing
**Arcane Blacksmith
*Only if you wish to wear Light Armor rather than Heavy Armor.
**Only if you wish to enchant guild-related gear or Daedric Artifacts.
Offensive Skills (15 perks) {GBD008}

o======================================================================o
Archery (10 perks)
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Overdraw (5/5)
Eagle Eye
Steady Hand (2/2)
Power Shot
Quick Shot
One-Handed (5 perks)
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Armsman (5/5)
Defensive Skills (13 perks) {GBD009}

o======================================================================o
Novice Alteration
Apprentice Alteration
Magic Resistance (3/3)
Alteration (5 perks)
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Block (4 perks)
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Shield Wall (1/5)
Deflect Arrows
Elemental Protection
Block Runner
Light Armor (3 perks)

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Agile Defender (1/5)
Custom Fit
Unhindered
Expanding the Build {GBD010}

o======================================================================o
At this point we've spent somewhere in the area of 48~ perks, out of our
projected 60 perks by level 61. Where do the rest go? Well, that's
really up to you. If you want to add new functionality, you can do so.
With a Light Armor build, we can sneak pretty well, but throwing some
perks into Sneak can only help. And of course, since we've already
started with Light Armor, One-Handed, and Archery, it's an obvious move
to boost them. Moving faster and dealing more critical damage with bows
can eat up another five perks. Giving yourself weapon-specific boosts
and better power attacks with One-Handed weapons can likewise take
another five perks. And spending a mere two more perks into Light
Armor gives you a +50% Stamina regeneration rate and a 10% chance to
negate all damage from a physical attack.. and more importantly, puts
us near our 60-perk cap.
o======================================================================o
| |
| Skills {SKL001} |
| |
o======================================================================o
To introduce the skill section, let me just start out by saying that
skills in Skyrim serve two purposes. First, they level us up, which gets
us perks, and allows us to increase our attributes. Second, a skills'
level determines what perks you can buy in that skill, since perks have
skill benchmarks that need to be attained. I do not build characters
around that most antiquated and lame staple of RPGs-the class, although
due to its universal acceptance and use, I will refer to various
character archetypes as 'warriors' 'rogues' or 'mages', or perhaps even
more specific classes that show my D&D background too clearly.
Characters in the Elder Scrolls series can-and have always been able
to-do everything. You can become the leader of every guild in the game,
and I do not see any reason why we shouldn't. Even if you don't care to
cast any spells, you should level up spell-skills for the overall
improvement that it will yeild. Long story short, don't specialize
around some 'class', character preference, or other archetype. This
guide's goal is power, and whatever skills best facilitate that are the
one's we'll pursue.
Like I said earlier in the FAQ, perks are the substance of character
creation. All skills are good in-so-much as they increase our overall
level. In the following section I'll discuss all the skills-what they
do, how to level them, and most importantly of all, which perks I think
are worthwhile (if any) and why. If I don't mention a specific perk in
the 'Perk Picks' sections, it's not an oversight, it's because I don't
consider the perk to be worth mentioning. And also keep in mind that
just because I don't think a skill is worth investing perks into doesn't
mean I dont advocate that you use the skill.. Restoration is a prime
example of a skill that can be relied upon without necessarily having
to spend any perks in it.
o======================================================================o
| Alchemy
{SKL002}|
o======================================================================o
Ah, Alchemy, that old bit of fantasy logic where if you find some crap
lying on a ground, or an interesting party of some beast, you should
mix it up and consume it for some effect or another. In reality, you'd
think that almost all such experiments would have a.. decidedly negative
effect, and would at least taste like ass. But anyways, in Skyrim mixing
most anything you find will have results, and they are largley
positive. For our build, the importance of Alchemy is that it can be
used to brew potions that improve our Smithing and Enchanting.. which
means we can increase our Enchanting to enchant gear to increase our
Alchemy to increase the potions we make to improve our Smithing and
Enchanting. It's a wonderful cycle that will see your character all the
stronger. Then there's the fact that with the investment we put into
Alchemy, we can create potions to do a host of other things that
benefit us. Aside from potions of invisibility, however, I tend to only
use potions to make vast amounts of money.. and even then, only in the
process of leveling it up. The proposition of creating poisons, however
much I like to ignore it, should be considered, and of course, any time
you wish you could perform a skill better, you're faced with the choice
to enchant a suit of gear to do it, or create a potion. Sometimes it's
just easier to make up a batch of potions than to carry and switch out
alternate suits of gear.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
The primary function of Alchemy is to boost our Smithing and Enchanting.
I don't care what else you use it for, getting that extra 32%
Enchanting and 129% Smithing far outstrips whatever meagre gains you'll
get from poisoning foes. To that end, improving the base potency of
your potions is a good thing, so all five ranks of Alchemist are a
worthwhile investment. Improving your skills is a beneficial effect, so
the Benefactor perk should also be purchased.. while Physician is just
along the way. Poisoner might interest some people, as well, but it
doesn't interest me one bit. Why? My weapons do enough damage, I see no
reason to go through the bother of investing a perk into this skill so
I can create poisons to coat my weapons. I can just enchant them for a
much more constant effect.. and even then, with the base damage I deal,
I'm too lazy to scrape about for extra bits of offense. Many of the
remaining perks are just for lazy folks. Experimenter only speeds up a
process that can be achieved by experiementation, and since I'm
providing a chart of the effects I've discovered, nobody has any real
reason to get this perk. Green Thumb speeds up the ingredient collection
rate, again, something we could do just as well by being patient and
picking more plant. Snakeblood makes you more resistant to poison, but
honestly, I've never found poison to be so overwhelmingly strong that
I bothered to get any resistances for it. Concentrated Poison will
make the process of using poisons simpler, but since I don't tend to
bother getting Poisoner, I have no reason to get this. Finally, Purity
removes the negative effects from beneficial potions, and the positive
effects from poisons. Using the right ingredients will do this in
itself, and none of the essential potions (the ones that increase your
Enchanting and Smithing, remember) really carry any downsides.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
The best way to level up Alchemy is through creating potions. The more
expensive the potion created, the more experience gained from the
brewing. On that note, purchasing relevent perks while leveling up
Alchemy will increase the speed at which you level, and also serve to
line your purse. The only problem with Alchemy is that to level it,
you'll need hundreds of ingredients. You can go around the world buying
ingredients from merchants, but this will negatively affect your purse,
and isn't all that fast. On the other hand, you'll have to roam about,
picking flowers, and killing beasties, the stuff that you'd rather be
doing instead of sitting around grinding all day, right? In the end,
just be vigilant for things to pick on your travels, and explore the
map. You'll find locations (which will make questing easier) and will
undoubtably stumble across a good bit of ingredients. What an asshole
explanation, right? Just play the game? That's not even advice! Just
be prepared to spend more time playing the game to level up Alchemy, is
all I'm saying. On that note, here's the useful information you *DO*
want; what ingredients make more expensive potions and thus level you up
faster! It's not an exhaustive list, but these are a few of the combos
I've found that pay off.
First, anything with 'regen' in it does well. Whether it's damaging the
regeneration rate of something, or boosting it. Ingredients that cause
status effects are also very good, like Fear, Invisibility, Frenzy and
Paralysis. Also, the more effects you put into something, the better its
market value. Note that these combos typically only include the best
combinations that can be made with common ingredients. It's not really
helpful to your leveling if you have trouble finding a dozen of a
certain ingredient. The giant exception? Giant's Toes. They drastically
improve the value of potions they're in to such an extent that if you
can find/buy/harvest even a few dozen, you've done yourself a great
service. And of course, if you find any combinations that create
valuable potions out of cheap ingredients, by all means, send them to
me. I certainly haven't done anything near an exhaustive search. Just
remember, that the ingredient needs to be relatively common, and the
pay-off needs to be big. We want as much money with as little effort as
possible.
o=======================================================o
| Some Common Valuable Potion Combinations {LST003}|
o===============o===============o===============o=======o
| Ingredient #1 | Ingredient #2 | Ingredient #3 | Value |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
|Blue Butterfly | Nightshade | | 568 |
| Wing | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
|Blue Butterfly | Blue Mountain | | 730 |
| Wing | Flower | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
|Blue Butterfly | Blue Mountain | Blisterwort | 881 |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
|Blue Butterfly | Blue Mountain | Hanging Moss | 908 |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
|Blue Butterfly | Blue Mountain | Giant's Toe* | 2201 |
| wing | Flower | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Blue Mountain | Nightshade | | 568 |
| Flower | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Blue Mountain | Junpier | Wheat | 576 |
| Flower | Berries | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Charus Eggs | Nirnroot | | 717 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Charus Eggs |Luna Moth Wing | | 831 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Charus Eggs |Luna Moth Wing | Lavender | 1025 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Creep Cluster | Giant's Toe* | | 912 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Creep Cluster | Giant's Toe* | Blue Moutain | 2245 |
| | | Flower | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Creep Cluster | Giant's Toe* | Glowing | 2245 |
| | | Mushroom | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Creep Cluster | Giant's Toe* | Hanging Moss | 2245 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Creep Cluster | Giant's Toe* | Wheat | 2245 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Deathbell | Salt Pile | | 530 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Deathbell | Salt Pile |Thistle Branch | 643 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Deathbell | Salt Pile | Garlic | 911 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Deathbell | Salt Pile | Dwarven Oil | 1021 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Deathbell | Salt Pile | Jazbay Grapes | 1021 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
|Dragon's Tongue| Fly Amanita | | 560 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
|Dragon's Tongue| Dwarven Oil | Garlic | 746 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
|Dragon's Tongue| Fly Amanita | Falmer Ear* | 791 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
|Dragon's Tongue| Fly Amanita | Troll Fat* | 791 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
|Dragon's Tongue| Dwarven Oil | Jazbay Grapes | 856 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
|Dragon's Tongue| Dwarven Oil | Salt Pile | 856 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Dwarven Oil | Jazbay Grapes | | 597 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Dwarven Oil | Salt Pile | | 597 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Jazbay Grapes | Salt Pile | | 597 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Jazbay Grapes | Salt Pile | Red Mountain | 791 |
| | | Flower | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Jazbay Grapes | Salt Pile | Tundra Cotton | 791 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Jazbay Grapes | Salt Pile |Large Antlers* | 1021 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Jazbay Grapes | Salt Pile | River Betty* | 1021 |
| | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Swamp Fungal | Imp Stool | | 668 |
| Pod | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Swamp Fungal | Canis Root | | 668 |
| Pod | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Swamp Fungal | Imp Stool |Purple Mountain| 822 |
| Pod | | Flower | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Swamp Fungal | Imp Stool |Torchbug Thorax| 822 |
| Pod | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Swamp Fungal | Imp Stool | Wheat | 822 |
| Pod | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Swamp Fungal | Giant's Toe* | Wheat | 1902 |
| Pod | | | |
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------|
| Wheat | Giant's Toe* | | 1674 |
| | | | |
o===============o===============o===============o=======o
Note: The value of these potions was determined by a character with all
five ranks in the Alchemist perk, the Physician Perk, and the
Benefactor perk, just like this guide suggests. They also had an
Alchemy skill level of 100, so these values should be seen as
prospective.
* Denotes an uncommon ingredient. These are only used for referential

purposes, and when such an item drastically increases the value of a
potion.
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Salt Piles can be commonly found in many barrels throughout the world.
In Riften, along the waterfront you can find many 'Fish Barrels' that
contain several Salt Piles, as well as some of Skyrim's more
alchemically useful fishies. Salt Piles are far more useful in Alchemy
than their value and mundanity suggests.
In the hot springs area of Skyrim (the area south of Windhelm, and north
of the mountains seperating the Rift from Windhelm) you can find Jazbay
Grapes, Creep Clusters, and Dragon's Tongues growing in unmatched
abundance. the former two of these three ingredients are very valuable
when used in Alchemy, and a good scouring of the area can result in
over a hundred of each ingredient. This translates to quite a few
levels in Alchemy, and thousands of gold in revenue.
In Skyrim's mashes (east of Solitude, north of and including Morthal)

you can find Deathbells and Swamp Fungal Pods. While a valuable area to
explore, be wary of Charus Reapers.
Juniper Berries can be found in the Reach, the area in the south-
western corner of Skyrim. I would say near Markarth, but this is a very
broad region, and there is no clear territorial concentration of
Juniper Berries the way there is with Creep Clusters/Jazbay Grapes
(the hot springs) and Deatbells/Swamp Fungal Pods (the marsh).
Wheat is found at various farms. It's not as common as you'd think, but
should be harvested whenever found.
Mountain Flowers of any variety can be found all over Skyrim. It's
abundant, but there's no one area to farm it.
Butterflies, Luna Moths, and Torchbugs all inhabit certain areas.

They're not geographicly bound, like plants, but typically occur at
certain 'spawn points'. Sometimes these are areas marked on your map,
sometimes they're just random ruins, ponds, or springs. Frequently,
they occur in towns. Just remember where you find them, and harvest
them when you see them. And if they're being obnoxious by refusing to
come to a reachable altitude, don't be afraid to use Overwhelming Force
to blast them out of the sky.
Giant's Toes come from Giants, of course. Earlier in the game, you'll
need to buy them, as a low-level character cannot safely engage a
Giant. Giant camps are noted on the map by mammoth-head icons, and
they tend to be located in the plains west of Whiterun, in the hot
springs south of Windhelm, and in the snowy areas north of Whiterun and
Windhelm. They do not occur near Riften, Solitude, or Markarth.
o===============================================================o
| List of Alchemical Ingredients {LST004}|
o===============o=======================o=======================o
| | Effect #1 | Effect #2 |
| Ingredient* |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| | Effect #3 | Effect #4 |
o===============o=======================o=======================o
| Albecean |Weakness to Frost |Fortify Sneak |
| Longfin |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Poison |Fortify Restoration |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Fortify Health |
| Bear Claws |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify One-Handed |Damage Magicka Regen |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Ravage Stamina |
| Bee |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Regenerate Stamina |Weakness to Shock |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Poison |Fortify Light Armor |
| Beehive Husk |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Sneak |Fortify Destruction |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Fire |Fortify Block |
|Bleeding Crown |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Poison |Resist Magic |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Stamina |Frenzy |
| Blisterwort |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Health |Fortify Smithing |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
|Blue Butterfly |Damage Stamina |Fortify Conjuration |
| Wing |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Magicka Regen |Fortify Enchanting |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Shock |Fortify Pickpocket |
| Blue Dartwing |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Health |Fear |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Blue Mountain |Restore Health |Fortify Conjuration |
| Flower |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Health |Damage Magicka Regen |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Stamina |Resist Fire |
| Bone Meal |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Conjuration |Ravage Stamina |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Magicka |Fortify Block |
| Briar Heart |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Paralysis |Fortify Magicka |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Health |Fortify Barter |
|Butterfly Wing |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Lingering Damage Stam. |Damage Magicka |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Stamina |Fortify One-Handed |
| Canis Root |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Marksman |Paralysis |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
|Charred Skeever|Restore Stamina |Cure Disease |
| Hide |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Poison |Restore Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Poison |Fortify Stamina |
| Chaurus Egg |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Magicka |Invisibility |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Magic |Damage Magicka Regen |
|Chicken's Egg |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Waterbreathing |Lingering Damage Stam. |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Magicka |Damage Stamina Regen |
| Creep Cluster |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Carry Weight |Weakness to Magic |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Cyrodilic |Damage Stamina |Fortify Restoration |
| Spadetail |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fear |Ravage Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Health |Damage Stamina Regen |
| Daedra Heart |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Magicka |Fear |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Health |Ravage Stamina |
| Deathbell |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Slow |Weakness to Poison |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Fire |Fortify Barter |
|Dragon's Tongue|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Illusion |Fortify Two-Handed |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Magic |Fortify Illusion |
| Dwarven Oil |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Regenerate Magicka |Restore Magicka |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Magicka |Fortify Destruction |
| Ectoplasm |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Magicka |Damage Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Magicka |Fortify Marksman |
| Elves Ear |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Frost |Resist Fire |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Eye of Sabre |Restore Stamina |Ravage Health |
| Cat |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Magicka |Restore Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Health |Frenzy |
| Falmer Ear |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Poison |Fortify Lockpicking |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Frost |Resist Fire |
| Fire Salts |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Magicka |Regenerate Magicka |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Fire |Fortify Two-Handed |
| Fly Amanita |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Frenzy |Regenerate Stamina |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Frost |Fortify Sneak |
| Frost Mirriam |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Ravage Magicka |Damage Stamina Regen |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Fire |Resist Frost |
| Frost Salts |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Magicka |Fortify Conjuration |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Poison |Fortify Stamina |
| Garlic |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Regenerate Magicka |Regenerate Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Shock |Ravage Health |
| Giant Lichen |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Poison |Restore Magicka |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Stamina |Fortify Health |
| Giant's Toe |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Carry Weight |Damage Stamina Regen |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Magicka |Damage Magicka Regen |
| Glow Dust |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Destruction |Resist Shock |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Glowing |Resist Shock |Fortify Destruction |
| Mushroom |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Smithing |Fortify Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Poison |Ravage Magicka |
| Grass Pod |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Alteration |Restore Magicka |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Magic |Lingering Damage Mag. |
| Hagraven Claw |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Enchanting |Fortify Barter |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Hagraven |Damage Magicka |Fortify Conjuration |
| Feathers |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Frenzy |Weakness to Shock |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Magicka |Fortify Health |
| Hanging Moss |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Magicka Regen |Fortify One-Handed |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Resist Frost |
| Hawk Beak |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Carry Weight |Resist Shock |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Cure Disease |Fortify Light Armor |
| Hawk Feathers |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify One-Handed |Fortify Sneak |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Forfity Magicka |
| Histcarp |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Stamina Regen |Waterbreathing |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Fortify Block |
| Honeycomb |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Light Armor |Ravage Stamina |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Health |Paralysis |
| Human Flesh |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Magicka |Fortify Sneak |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Health |Damage Magicka |
| Human Heart |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Magicka Regen |Frenzy |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Ice Wraith |Weakness to Frost |Fortify Heavy Armor |
| Teeth |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Invisibility |Weakness to Fire |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Health |Lingering Damage Health|
| Imp Stool |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Paralysis |Restore Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Magic |Fortify Magicka |
| Jazbay Grapes |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Regenerate Magicka |Ravage Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Fire |Fortify Marksman |
|Juniper Berries|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Regenerate Health |Damage Stamina Regen |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Fortify Stamina |
| Large Antlers |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Slow |Damage Stamina Regen |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Magic |Fortify Stamina |
| Lavender |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Ravage Magicka |Fortify Conjuration |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Magicka |Fortify Light Armor |
|Luna Moth Wing |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Regenerate Health |Invisibility |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Fire |Resist Frost |
| Moon Sugar |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Magicka |Regenerate Magicka |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Magicka |Lingering Damage Health|
|Mara Tapinella |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Regenerate Stamina |Fortify Illusion |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Cure Disease |
|Mudcrab Chitin |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Poison |Resist Fire |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Magicka |Fortify Lockpicking |
| Namira's Rot |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fear |Regenerate Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Health |Damage Magicka Regen |
| Nightshade |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Lingering Damage Stam. |Fortify Destruction |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Health |Damage Stamina |
| Nirnroot |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Invisibility |Resist Magic |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Magicka |Waterbreathing |
|Nordic Barnacle|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Regenerate Health |Fortify Pickpocket |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Ravage Magicka |
|Orange Dartwing|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Pickpocket |Lingering Damage Health|
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Fortify Block |
| Pearl |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Magicka |Resist Shock |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Fortify Lockpicking |
|Pine Thrush Egg|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Poison |Resist Shock |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
|Purple Mountain|Restore Stamina |Fortify Sneak |
| Flower |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Lingering Damage Mag. |Resist Frost |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Red Mountain |Restore Magicka |Ravage Magicka |
| Flower |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Magicka |Damage Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Health |Fortify Alteration |
| River Betty |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Slow |Fortify Carry Weight |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Rock Warbler |Restore Health |Fortify One-Handed |
| Egg |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Stamina |Weakness to Magic |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Stamina |Fortify Heavy Armor |
|Sabre Cat Tooth|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Smithing |Weakness to Poison |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Magic |Fortify Restoration |
| Salt Pile |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Slow |Regenerate Magicka |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
|Scaly Pholiato |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Regenerate Stamina |Fortify Carry Weight |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Silverside |Restore Stamina |Damage Stamina Regen |
| Perch |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Ravage Health |Resist Frost |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Stamina Regen |Ravage Health |
| Skeever Tail |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Health |Fortify Light Armor |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Slaughterfish |Resist Poison |Fortify Pickpocket |
| Egg |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Lingering Damage Health|Fortify Stamina |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Slaughterfish |Resist Frost |Lingering Damage Health|
| Scales |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Heavy Armor |Fortify Block |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Poison |Fortify Restoration |
| Small Antlers |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Lingering Damage Stam. |Damage Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Fortify One-Handed |
| Small Pearl |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Restoration |Resist Frost |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Fire |Fortify Enchanting |
| Snowberries |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Frost |Resist Shock |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Stamina |Damage Magicka Regen |
| Spider Egg |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Lockpicking |Fortify Marksman |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Magicka Regen |Fortify Enchanting |
| Spriggan Sap |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Smithing |Fortify Alteration |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Swamp Fungal |Resist Shock |Lingering Damage Mag. |
| Pod |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Paralysis |Restore Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Taproot |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Regenerate Magicka |Restore Magicka |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Frost |Ravage Stamina |
|Thistle Branch |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Poison |Fortify Heavy Armor |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Lingering Damage Mag. |
|Torchbug Thorax|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Magic |Fortify Stamina |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Poison |Fortify Two-Handed |
| Troll Fat |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Frenzy |Damage Health |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Resist Magic |Fortify Magicka |
| Tundra Cotton |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Block |Fortify Barter |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Invisibility |Restore Magicka |
| Vampire Dust |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Regenerate Health |Cure Disease |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Shock |Resist Magic |
| Void Salts |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Health |Fortify Magicka |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Health |Fortify Health |
| Wheat |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Damage Stamina Regen |Lingering Damage Mag. |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Weakness to Frost |Fortify Heavy Armor |
| White Cap |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Magicka |Ravage Magicka |
|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Restore Stamina |Fortify Destruction |
|Wisp Wrappings |-----------------------|-----------------------|
| |Fortify Carry Weight |Resist Magic |
o===============o=======================o=======================o
*This list does not include some quest-related ingredients, like the
Jarin Root or Red Nirnroot.
o======================================================================o
| Alteration {SKL003}|
o======================================================================o
Alphabetically, Alteration is the first spell-skill we'll encounter,
so I'll get my necessary spell-skill rant done here. Since you can
create gear that reduces the cost of spells to nothing (up to two
spell schools with one set of gear) you don't ever really need to buy
any perks that reduce your Magicka cost except as stepping stones to
other, better perks.. and Alteration actually has a few good ones to
look at. Ultimately, however, the skill is about defense. In the long
run, since we're investing into the crafting skills, and since armor is
a better, Alteration will have to stand up and provide better, cheaper,
sources of defense than the aforementioned skills.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Now, to dissect this skill, lets look at the interesting perks while
ignoring all Magicka-cost reducing perks. First we have Magic
Resistance, which 'Blocks 10% of a spell's effects' per perk, up to 30%
with an investment of three perks. 30% Magic Resistance is pretty
awesome on its own, and if you decide to throw perks to get this
passive effect, you'll be very well defended against magic damage.
Another noteworthy perk is the Atronach perk, which absorbs 30% of the
magicka from any spells that hit you. Seems good, but remember, Magicka
is the attribute that I expressly ignore with this build.. in fact, the
whole function of the build as far as Magicka is concerned is to not
need any. When your spells cost nothing, it doesn't matter how much
Magicka you absorb, if any. As for the meat of the spell-school..
Alteration's main focus is to protect your character, and if you obtain
the master spell 'Dragonhide', it can do this very well. But I have
several reservations, of course. First, while 80% immunity to physical
damage sounds great (and it is) it's really just comparable to what
having a high Armor rating will do. Big differences abound, however.
First, if you're wearing armor, you don't have to recast it. You get
that armor bonus.. as long as you wear the armor. Dragonskin, on the
other hand, only lasts 30 seconds.. 45 seconds if you get the
'Stability' perk (minimum commitment of four perks for an extra 15
seconds, by the way.) I want my good defense to be there all the time,
with no Magicka cost, and no slow casting time, and really, without the
bother of having to remember to cast it at all. Second, you'd have to
find a way to power this Master-level spell, which will run you 248
Magicka per cast (with an Alteration score of 100 and the 'Master
Alteration' perk.) That means either investing a whole bunch of points
into Magicka, or creating gear to cut down the cost. In the end, you'll
end up with a character who is just as well defended, less maintenance,
with more Health, and the ability to just ignore Alteration and focus on
two other spell schools if you invest a measly four or five points into
an armor skill. The only perk to the Alteration skill? It allows you to
go around looking like a mage, while keeping you alive. Frankly, I'm
just as happy to throw on some Daedric Armor/Dragon Scale and go the
whole 'infernal magus/dragon warlock' approach.
On that note, the 'Mass Paralysis' spell is a real winner. Even though
it suffers from a lot of problems that all master spells have (namely
its stupidly-long casting time) it doesn't require a single perk to
reach optimum effectiveness. It's a really good reason for a character
like mine to wear armor that makes Alteration spells free. It might not
have the range or duration of Illusion spells, but it doesn't have the
level cap or huge perk requirement, either.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Fortunately, Alteration is very easy to level.. but before we get into
the nuts and bolts, it's time to talk about my leveling tactic which
will effect all spells. See, how hard it is to level spells skills is
directly related to your Magicka pool. We have none. So leveling up
spells is something I only do in earnest once I can create gear that
reduces my costs to nothing.. meaning that I only really bother min-
maxing spell schools when I max my crafting skills. Create armor that
reduces the cost of spells to nothing (I make several suits of
enchanted armor for this purpose, named for the schools they effect,
D/R Armor, A/I Armor, and C/D Armor, but that's just how I do it.)
Once you have this armor, leveling up your spells is usually pretty
easy, and here's the routine. Find some enemies that don't have a ranged
attack, get on a cliff, ledge, or other higher ground they can't reach,
and cast spells while they're hostile to you. I typically pick on Giants
for this, since there are a number of sites where you can get higher
ground where they can't touch you. To level up Alteration, pick a fight,
go where you can't be hurt, and double-cast defensive spells (Oakflesh,
Stoneflesh, Ebonlyflesh, etc.) Another way to level up is to run into
water and cast Waterbreathing in a combat scenario. You don't have to
actually be submerged while the spell is active.. just touching water.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
About 17 double-casts of Stoneflesh to go from level 99 to 100.
o=======================================================o
| List of Alteration Spells* {LST005}|
o=======================o===============o===============o
| Spell | Level | Magicka Cost**|
o=======================o===============o===============o
|Candlelight | Novice | 12 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Detect Dead | Expert | 87 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Detect Life | Adept | 59 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Dragonhide | Master | 497 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Ebonyflesh | Expert | 202 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Ironflesh | Adept | 158 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Magelight | Apprentice | 50 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Mass Paralysis | Master | 556 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Oakflesh | Novice | 61 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Paralyze | Expert | 267 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Stoneflesh | Apprentice | 115 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Telekinesis | Adept |100 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Waterbreathing | Adept | 132 |
o=======================o===============o===============o
Note: This list does not include quest-related spells.

*Almost all spells except for Master-level spells can be purchased from
various Mages in Skyrim. Note, however, that they will not start
selling you higher level Mage spells until you approach the level of
proficiency required to get the Magicka-cost reducing perk for that
level of spell. For example, vendors will not start stocking Fireball
spells until you're nearing level 50 in Destruction, and they won't
sell Incinerate until you near level 75. Also note that you can't
begin Master-spell related quests until you have a score of 90 or
higher in a spell skill.
**This is the Magicka cost for a character with a skill of 100, with no
perks or gear that lowers Magicka costs.
o======================================================================o
| Archery {SKL004}|
o======================================================================o
Archery lets you shoot things better, and it's the best ranged option
in the game. That said, it's a very, very expensive skill to bring to
its full glory.. but anybody who follows my advice and gets their
crafting skills up to snuff will do so much base damage with a bow,
that it'll outclass all offensive spells without expending a single
perk. Of course, if you actually want to play a ranger/archer type,
it's a no-brainer, and it's a skill that makes assassinations
considerably easiler.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
First off, Overdraw is an obvious choice to greatly raise the killing
power of this skill. Five ranks of it, and you'll be doing some of the
best damage possible with any mode of attack. There are still several
drawbacks to Archery, however. It's much slower than, say, Destruction
spells, it has no area-of-effect, and it drastically slows down your
movement speed. Almost all of these issues can be adressed, if you're
willing to throw perks into the skill tree, however. 'Eagle Eye' is
necessary for pulling off longer shots, and it's a requisite for
'Steady Hand', which-with a two perks investment-will slow time when
aiming by 50%. This really boosts range and accuracy, and comes very
highly recommended. The next absolutely necessary perk in the tree is
'Quick Shot', which requires you to purchase 'Power Shot', which is
itself a fair perk. Speeding up the drawing speed by 30% is a very,
very good thing. For most characters, this is a good enough investment,
and certainly if you don't care about finesse. If you just want to deal
oodles of damage at a range when the opportunity presents itself to
pick enemies off, or when an annoying foe won't come withing melee
range, you're done. However, the perk 'Ranger' allows you to move much
faster.. but you'll have to get 'Critical Shot' (good perks for a
devoted archer) and 'Hunter's Discipline', a true waste of a perk if
I've ever seen one. If you're willing to invest three more perks, the
speed boost really helps tactically, especially for picking off
enemies. No perks are required to make some use of this skill, and even
without any investment bows can overpower Destruction spells. For a
really good ranged option that will allow you to make good use of our
deep Stamina pool, and make Archery an insane damage-dealer, giving up
ten perks to reach Quick Shot is not a terrible idea. Spending three
more on Critical Shot will give you a nice secondary damage boost..
The only pker that really isn't interesting to me is Bullseye. A 15%
chance to paralyze? Sure, sounds nice, but with the absurd damage you
can be dealing with each shot, the fact that you'll be killing almost
every enemy in several shots makes paralysis seem like a paltry
addition.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Unfortunately, Archery is just one of those skills that takes forever
to level up. Training comes highly recommended, but even if you boost
yourself up to a skill level of 50 with cheap training, the last 50
levels are a pain. To level it, you really just have to go around
shooting things. Alot of them. Expect to expend over 3,000 arrows on
this, and that's a generous estimate. It unforunately can't be quickly
and cheaply leveled in Helgen because you just don't get many arrows
before you leave. I only know of a single speed boost for this skill.
South of Falkreath you'll find 'Agni's Shack' in the mountains. If you
go shoot targets with her, you'll level up your skill very quickly as
you meet her challenges. I suggest you hit level 90 or so in the Archery
skill before going there, as it's better to get some progress at these
painfully slow, higher levels It's also suggested that you invest
whatever perks you plan to invest before taking on some of Agni's harder
challenges.. being able to zoom in and slow down time will make this
much, much easier.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
o=======================================================o
| List of Bows {LST006}|
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
| Bows |Damage*|Weight | Value |
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
|Daedric Bow | 84 | 18 | 2500 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven Bow | 53 | 10 | 270 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony Bow | 75 | 16 | 1440 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Bow | 57 | 12 | 470 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass Bow | 66 | 14 | 820 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish Bow | 44 | 9 | 150 |
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
Note: This list only includes the most common gear available.. namely
items that can be crafted.
*The values provided here were recorded with a character who had an
Archery skill score of 100, and five ranks in 'Overdraw'. The weapons
are otherwise unimproved.
o======================================================================o
| Block {SKL005}|
o======================================================================o
Blocking allows you to block attacks, drastically reducing the damage
you would have recieved. Once upgraded, you can effectively block spells
and projectiles, slow down time to easily avoid power attacks, and
improve your mobility while blocking. It should be noted that the
'Block' skill does not necessarily mean the 'shield' skill, as some of
the perks do improve your ability to block without a shield equipped.
The Block skill also contains perks that improve your ability to shield
bash.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
I have been conflicted about Block at various points of character
creation. There's no doubt that it's an awesome defensive skill, and
it's not terrible costly in terms of perks to get it up to snuff. Still,
the character we can create will be strong enough by virtue of their
Smithing-and-Enchanting improved armor alone to ignore Block. If you
make a One-Handed weapon user, putting four perks into Block will
certainly improve your character, and allow you to do more things with
that shield in your off-hand. Like with armor, the goal is to remove
its impediments and reach the 'Block Runner' perk. Once obtained, you
can engage freely and quickly in combat with your shield raised. It's
very effective against mages, who like to run away. Enroute you'll
have to grab 'Elemental Protection', which with a bit of help will go a
long way towards keeping you alive when facing Destruction magic or
Dragon's breath. 'Deflect Arrows' is the least interesting perk along
the path, but archers will often be doing some of the greatest damage
to you, and having a chance to ignore their shots is.. well, it's
something. 'Shield Wall', unlike most equipment-boosting perks is only
worth one point. After the first point its returns plummet from 25% per
perk to a measly 5%-not worth the investment. As for bashing.. shields
are great weapons to bash with. Want to stop an enemy mage from running
about casting crap? Whack them in the face with your shield. That Dragon
about to breath on you? Again, a good face-smack with a shield will
stop a Dragon mid-breath. On that note, the base bash is good enough
that I don't really see a point in getting 'Power Bash'. Sure, 'Power
Bash' is stronger and more effective at staggering foes, and that's a
good thing, but when I want to bash, a short, quick bash does just
fine. When I want to power attack.. I'll use my One-Handed weapon. It
does a lot more damage. As for 'Deadly Bash', I see no need to turn my
shield into a full-fledged weapon, and as for 'Disarming Bash'.. if I
wanted to Disarm an enemy, I have shouts for that. But usually, I'm
content to just kill the enemy and move on. No need for tricks when
brute force shines so brightly. As for the
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Block is relatively easy to level, since it stops so much damage. You
can level it like any armor skill. Rubber-band your trigger button or
weigh down your keyboard/mouse button and let an enemy swing at you.
Preferably you'll be backed into a corner so they can't get around your
shield, or knock you around the level. This is so simple, in fact, that
you can do this pretty much as soon as you get out of Helgen, if you're
so inclined. Like most skills, it does seem damage-dependent, so
leveling on a weak Bandit might be easy, but it'll take much longer
than if you were blocking bigger game.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
N/A
o======================================================================o
| Conjuration {SKL006}|
o======================================================================o
Conjuration allows you to.. well.. Conjure things. This is classically
where you'll find your summoning spells and your 'bound' items..
summoned weapons. I'll admit, I'm not a fan. You'll make much better
weapons than you'll conjure up, and while summoning allies to distract
the baddies can be fun, it's really not my cup of tea. Neither is tea,
now that I think about it. I don't like AI things messing with my
game, especially in Bethesda games where such interactions are..
touchy. NPCs getting in the way, falling off cliffs, getting lost..
it's just a hassle. Notice how you won't find an NPC section in this
FAQ? I'd rather rely on my own button-pressing to kill things, rather
than use a proxy. In a 3rd person, isometric perspective game, sure,
give me summons, give me allies. But this isn't Baldur's Gate.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Typical spell-school stuff here. Magicka reducing perks we don't need,
perks that improve your bound weapons that still can't compare to
crafted ones, and most interestingly, perks that beef up your summons.
There are two classes here-Atronachs and Undead.. but Daedra seem to
count as Atronachs. Since it's rather redundant to have to kill powerful
enemies so you can raise them to allow you to.. kill powerful enemies,
lets look at the real summons. Conjure Storm Atronach just sucks, I
found them completely incapable of killing anything that was remotely
threatening. On the other hand, being able to summon a pair of Dremora
Lords was pretty cool, and they were able to seriously damage a pair
of Giants in a straight fight. Of course, I was killing the same Giants
in two or three hits. For a measely five perks, you can have some
fairly potent summons. Of course, if you're doing anything this guide
suggests, you won't need them. Save your perks, no matter how cool it
might be to walk around with a pair of permanently-summoned Atronachs.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Get armor that reduces Magicka costs to zero, provoke some enemies,
get on higher ground where you can't be harmed, and repeated summon a
pair of Bound Swords. Sheath them, and repeat. It's a pretty quick way
to level this skill.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
o=======================================================o
| List of Conjuration Spells* {LST007}|
o=======================o===============o===============o
o=======================o===============o===============o
|Banish Daedra | Adept | 116 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Bound Battleaxe | Apprentice | 100 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Bound Bow | Adept | 123 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Bound Sword | Novice | 55 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Command Daedra | Expert | 144 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Conjure Dremora Lord | Expert | 213 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Conjure Familiar | Novice | 63 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Conjure Flame Atronach | Apprentice | 89 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Conjure Frost Atronach | Adept | 127 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Conjure Storm Atronach | Expert | 191 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Dead Thrall | Master | 593 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Dread Zombie | Expert | 179 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Expel Daedra | Expert | 128 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Flame Thrall | Master | 534 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Frost Thrall | Master | 653 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Raise Zombie | Novice | 61 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Reanimate Corpse | Apprentice | 85 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Revenant | Adept | 109 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Soul Trap | Apprentice | 63 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Storm Thrall | Master | 712 |
o=======================o===============o===============o

o======================================================================o
| Destruction {SKL007}|
o======================================================================o
Destruction is the go-to spell school for hurting things, and at this,
it really excels. Sure, there's some bogus cloak and rune spells I don't
bother with (you don't need tactics if you're an irresistable force AND
and immovable object!) But how does it stack up in its ability to just
deal damage? In some ways, it's better than Archery, although One-Handed
weapons are really the best way to kill anything, when you have the
luxury of engaging in melee combat. It's faster, for one, and many
spells have an area-of-effect, meaning you need not be as accurate. At
the end of the day, however, the max sixty damage of Fireball and ninty
damage of Incinerate doesn't quite match the 200+ damage you can deal
with a high-powered Daedric Bow. Not to mention the fact that you don't
need Magicka-cost reducing gear with a bow, and the ability to zoom and
slow time that perks in Archery can get you.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
I'll try to be concise with this skill, and not belabor the point too
much. The master-level Destruction spells-'Blizzard', 'Lightning Storm'
and 'Fire Storm' just aren't up to snuff. They all lock you in place
during their lengthy casting animation (which can be interrupted if you
take anything resembling a decent hit) and do paltry damage compared to
what Archery-and even other Destruction spells-can do over the same
time period. Blizzard and Firestorm have a huge area-of-effect, but
I find it infinitely more useful to kill one enemy quickly than to kill
several enemies slowly. Also, while they have a good area-of-effect,
none of them have a terribly effective range, and that's what we really
need a school like Destruction to be-an effective, accurate, long-range
option.
Therefore, for comparative purposes, I'll use my favorite Destruction

spell, Fireball, which does so many of the things that I need a ranged
skill to do. It's fast moving, has a decent area of effect, and at
sixty damage (with perks) it's a moderately powerful attack. Also, it's
faster than Archery, and I need to repeat this, unlike Firestorm, it's
actually a long-ranged attack. If things are close enough to hit with
Firestorm, I'm probably better off just hitting them with a melee
weapon. So much for not belaboring the point, eh? Anyways, Destruction
just can't stand up to the sheer damage output of Archery, and the
ease-of-use afforded by perks like 'Eagle Eye' and 'Steady Hand' patch
up some of its inherant problems. Another possible annoyance, arrow
weight, has been thankfully left out by Bethesda this time around.
Meaning at the end of the day you'll get a faster, area-of -effect spell
like Fireball dealing sixty damage, versus a slower, but easier to aim
at longer range and easier to hit due to slowdown effects 200+ damage
dealer with Archery. The only possible plus for Destruction is the fact
that it really only requires five perks to get maximum returns,
whereas Archery really benefits from at least ten.. but this build
isn't exactly hurting for perks if you've been as frugal as I have
suggested. Even when double-casting 'Incinerate' spells with two ranks
in 'Augemented Flames', a strong Archery skill with a good bow typically
did twice the damage per hit. If you do invest in Destruction, getting
the 'Augmented [Element]' perks is obviously the thing to do. However
many you'll want depends on your play style, but you should consider
getting at least two elements. Some enemies many be resistant or
immune to one, after all. Also pick 'Destruction Dual Casting' and
'Impact' for added effect.. dual casting two of the same spell is
really the way to go. 'Novice Destruction' is a necessary evil, but
'Deep Freeze', Disintegrate', and 'Intense Flames' are quite ancillary,
and shouldn't be picked unless you really just plan to use Destruction
as your offensive tool of choice.
Some interesting side-notes. First, so it doesn't get me a rain of

whiney e-mails, Shock spells sap the enemy's Magicka, and Frost spells
diminish their Stamina. On the other hand, most enemies will be dead
with half a dozen arrows fired by a well-perked, uber-bow-weilding
archer. I'd go for dead. Frost spells also slow foes down, but there is
a trade-off. Typically spells not named 'Fireball' either sacrifice
speed (and hence accuracy and effective range) or area-of-effect. Also,
more elements means more perks, which greatly undermines Destruction's
great feature-relative cheapness. Another note, getting the damage
boosts in the Destruction tree will effect the damage your elemental
enchantments do when you put them on weapons. It's a nice bonus if you
got the elemental enchanting boosts in the Enchanting tree, and if you
fancy elementally-charged weapons.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Like Archery, Destruction can take time, as you just need to get out
there and kill things with spells to improve the skill. Ranged skills
are pains like that, and although it's technically possible to max
this skill at Helgen, you'd have to have an insane amount of dedication
and time on your hands to do so.. at that's not by people standards,
that's by my standards. On the plus side, using more potent spells
quickens the process, so I suggest you switch up to higher spells
whenever possible to keep the leveling process from stagnating.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
For some reason, Shock spells do not agree with my Xbox. Perhaps it's a
technical problem that's unique to me, but who knows? At the end of the
day, the constant threat of the game locking up makes me ill-disposed
towards the element, and very, very thankful Bethesda decided not to
put Dragons in the game with lightning breath weapons.
o=======================================================o
| List of Destruction Spells* {LST008}|
o=======================o===============o===============o
o=======================o===============o===============o
|Blizzard | Master | 657 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Chain Lightning | Adept | 92 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Fire Rune | Apprentice | 139 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Fire Storm | Master | 847 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Fireball | Adept | 79 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Firebolt | Apprentice | 24 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Flame Cloak | Adept | 171 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Flames | Novice | 8 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Frost Cloak | Adept | 187 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Frost Rune | Apprentice | 174 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Frostbite | Novice | 9 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Ice Spike | Apprentice | 28 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Ice Storm | Adept | 85 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Icy Spear | Expert | 190 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Incinerate | Expert | 177 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Lightning Bolt | Apprentice | 30 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Lightning Cloak | Adept | 220 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Lightning Rune | Apprentice | 191 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Lightning Storm | Master | 82 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Sparks | Novice | 11 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Thunderbolt | Expert | 203 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|wall of Flames | Expert | 70 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Wall of Frost | Expert | 81 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Wall of Storms | Expert | 86 per second |
o=======================o===============o===============o

o======================================================================o
| Enchanting {SKL008}|
o======================================================================o
As one of the three crafting skills, Enchanting is absolutely essential
to any decent character build. Smithing increases the defense and
damage of armor and weapons (respectively) and Alchemy can be used to
bolster both Smithing and Enchanting, but Enchanting covers two areas
that the other two skills cannot. First and most importantly, Enchanting
gear will allow you to create the fine-tuned uber gear your character
deserves. All that highly upgraded armor still can't protect you from
magic, and this is a chink in our armor that Enchanting fixes. But, I
hear you ask, couldn't I just buy accessories that improve my
resistances? Yes, you can. You can even buy accessories that give
bonuses beyond what Enchanting can provide. But Enchanting can do
something that you'll never be able to find or buy-it allows you to
obtain items with two enchantments on it. Only unique items like
Daedric artifacts can boast similar enchantments, and they're not nearly
as specific as the gear you can make for yourself. Want to make some
uber thief armor? Or some gear that improves your Blocking, Archery,
One-Handed, and resistances while making two spell schools cost
nothing? Enchanting is your answer. Of course, without Smithing, your
gear won't really be worth enchanting, and without Alchemy, you won't
get quite as high attributes from your enchantments.. see why the three
crafting skills play off each other to make godliness? Yeah, yeah, now
I'm just being preachy.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Picking perks for Enchanting is easy. As far as I'm concerned there are
two routes to go, depending on where you want to get your elemental
defenses from. If you want to get Magic Resistance, go straight up
(Enchanter 5/5, Insightful Enchanter, Corpus Enchanter, Extra Effect).
If you want to get the elemental resistances, you'll need to spend more
perks by ignoring Corpus Enchanter and getting everything else. I
generally prefer the later route, and settle for 50% Frost Resistance
(racial), 54% Fire Resistance (on my boots) and 54% Shock Resistace
(also on my boots) and let the Block skill 'Elemental Protection' make
up the rest of my resistance when I really need it. Also, having the
'Agent of Mara' Active Effect giving me a base 15% Magic Resistance
and potentially the Lord Stone adding another 25% makes me as well
protected as I'll need to be. It's also worth noting that if you fancy
Destruction, the perks that boost the damage of elemental effects will
apply to your weapon enchantments, too. Again, this is only worth doing
if you boost your elemental enchantments with perks in the Enchanting
tree, but getting a weapon enhanced with 54 points of extra elemental
damage is worth considering if you go the elemental route in Enchanting,
and if you're willing to invest at least three perks into Destruction.
One last note, Magic Resistance is an incredibly picking modifier. It
can only go on Shields, Rings, and Amulets. If you wish to go that
route, keep that in mind. You'll either need to lug around a shield to
get your resistances maxed, or you'll need to put some Magic Resistance
on an accessory.. meaning you can't eliminate the cost of two schools
of magic, only one. Of course, if you're a Breton with the 'Agent of
Mara' Active Effect and the Lord Stone, you might as well just get
'Elemental Protection' in Block, since you'll need to carry around a
shield anyways.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Leveling up Enchanting isn't as cheap or quick as Smithing.. mostly
because the lame menu system you have to go through to enchant things..
but it is much, much more profitable. After you've leveled up smithing,
you'll find yourself overflowing with Iron Daggers. What to do with all
of them, though? Well, you could sell them for a pittance, or you could
get the Banish enchantment, and enchant daggers. These things sell for
hundreds of gold each, and easily makes back whatever you'll have to
spend on buying pre-charged soul gems.. so long as you buy Common,
Lesser, and Petty gems. Go to the College of Winterhold, join up, and
buy soul gems from the half-dozen or so college members who sell crap
there. You will, of course, get experience for disenchanting items to
learn their enchantments. However, since this involves either buying
said magical items at a premium, or finding them as treasure, it's not
something I do much of until I'm done leveling Enchanting.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Enchant 8 items to go from level 99 to 100.
A Falmer Helmet can be worn over a circlet, allowing you to wear two
items on one inventory slot. This is noteworthy because it allows you
to simultaneously wear two 'Fortify Alchemy' helmets and create
stronger potions.. ideally of Fortify Enchantment and Fortify Smithing.
o===============================================================o
| List of Enchantments {LST009}|
o===============================================================o
| Enchantment* | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| Value |
| Effect** | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Absorb Health (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 664 |
|Absorb 20 points of health. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Absorb Magicka (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 560 |
|Absorb 25 points of magicka. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Absorb Stamina (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 568 |
|Absorb 25 points of stamina. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Banish (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 1632 |
| Summoned Daedra up to level 25 are sent back to | |
| Oblivion. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fear (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 512 |
| Creatures and people up to level 25 flree from combat | |
| for 30 seconds. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fire Damage (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 456 |
| Burns the target for 31 points. Targets on fire take | |
| extra damage. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fire Damage (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 456 |
| Burns the target for 31 points. Targets on fire take | |
| extra damage. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Frost Damage (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 480 |
| Target takes 31 points of frost damage to Health and | |
| Stamina. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Magicka Damage (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 504 |
|Does 37 points of Magicka damage. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Paralyze (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 696 |
|Chance to paralyze the target for 5 seconds. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Shock Damage (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 488 |
| Target takes 31 points of shock damage, and half as | |
| much Magicka damage. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Soul Trap (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 440 |
|If target dies within 10 seconds, fills a soul gem. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Stamina Damage (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 648 |
|Does 46 points of Stamina damage. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Turn Undead (w) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 696 |
|Undead up to level 25 flee for 30 seconds. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Alchemy (h), (g), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 245 |
|Created potions are 25% more powerful. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Alteration (a), (h), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 309 |
|Alteration spells cost 25% less to cast. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Alteration & Magicka Regen (a) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 259 |
|Alteration spells cost 15% less to cast. | |
|Magicka regenerates 10% faster. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Archery (h), (g), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 557 |
|Bows do 40% more damage. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Barter (j) [Necklaces only] | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 611 |
|Prices are 25% better. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Block (s), (g), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 356 |
|Block 40% more damage with yoru shield. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Carry Weight (b), (g), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 628 |
|Carrying Capacity increased by 37 points. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Conjuration (a), (h), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 375 |
|Conjuration spells cost 25% less to cast. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Conjuration & Magicka Regen (a) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 297 |
|Conjuration spells cost 15% less to cast. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Destruction (a), (h), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 391 |
|Destruction spells cost 25% less to cast. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Destruction & Magicka Regen (a) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 307 |
|Destruction spells cost 15% less to cast. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Healing Rate (a), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 384 |
|Health regenerates 31% faster. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Health (a), (s), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 302 |
|Increases your health by 62 points. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Heavy Armor (a), (g), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 229 |
|Increases Heavy Armor skill by 25 points. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Illusion (a), (h), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 342 |
|Illusion spells cost 25% less to cast. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Illusion & Magicka Regen (a) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 269 |
|Illusion spells cost 15% less to cast. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Light Armor (a), (g), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 198 |
|Increases Light Armor skill by 25 points. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Lockpicking (h), (g), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 246 |
|Lockpicking is 40% easier. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Magicka (h), (g), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 280 |
|Increases your Magicka by 62 points. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Magicka Regen (a), (h), (j) [Rings only] | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 70 |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify One-Handed (g), (b), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 586 |
|One-Handed Attacks do 40% more damage. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Pickpocket (g), (b), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 273 |
|Pickpocket success is 40% better. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Restoration (a), (h), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 350 |
|Restoration spells cost 25% less to cast. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Restoration & Magicka Regen (a) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 288 |
|Restoration spells cost 15% less to cast. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Smithing (a), (g), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 358 |
|Weapon and armor can be improved 25% better. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Sneak (g), (b), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 1132 |
|Sneaking is 40% better. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Stamina (a), (b), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 236 |
|Increases your stamina by 62 points. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Stamina Regen (a), (b), (j) [Necklace only] | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 179 |
|Stamina regenerates 31% faster. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Two-Handed (g), (b), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 586 |
|Two-Handed Attacks do 40% more damage. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Fortify Unarmed (g), (j) [Ring only] | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 586 |
|Unarmed Strikes do 12 additional damage. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Muffle (b) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 146 |
|Wearer is muffled and moves silently. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Resist Disease (a), (s), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 72 |
|Increases Disease Resistance by 62%. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Resist Fire (s), (b), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 260 |
|Increases Fire Resistance by 46%. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Resist Frost (s), (b), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 276 |
|Increases Frost Resistance by 46%. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Resist Magic (s), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 277 |
|Increases Magic Resistance by 20%. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Resist Shock (s), (b), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 293 |
|Increases Shock Resistance by 46%. | |
o=======================================================o=======o
|Waterbreathing (h), (j) | |
|-------------------------------------------------------| 139 |
|Can swim underwater without drowning | |
o=======================================================o=======o
*This list only includes enchantments that can be obtained from non-
unique items.
**These values were obtained with 100 Enchanting skill, and all perks
in the Enchanting tree. They are the maximum value attainable without
Alchemy.
w,a,h,s,g,b,j: Denotes what items this enchantment can be enchanted
upon. (w)eapons, (a)rmor, (h)elmets, (s)hields,
(g)loves, (b)oots, (j)ewelry-rings and amulets, circlets
count as helmets.
o======================================================================o
| Heavy Armor {SKL009}|
o======================================================================o
Heavy Armor is one of the best ways to improve your defense passively,
and really make the enemy value each point of Health more in phsyical
combat. With the armor skills, the goal is really to reach the perk
that reduces your encumbrance, either 'Conditioning' or 'Unhindered',
for Heavy Armor and Light Armor, respectively. This makes your armor
less of a pain to drag around, and really, strapping on armor just
works well with the crafting skill triangle scheme that this entire
guide uses as the backbone of character creation. After all, why invest
a comparable number of perks into Alteration to get defensive spells
that have a duration, when you can just strap on some weightless,
unencumbering armor that protects you just as well? Heavy Armor has the
benefit of being the most protective armor in the game.. with the
attached downside of being much, much heavier. Not a good trade for a
sneaky character. Also, Light Armor has nothing but good perks on the
way to 'Unhindered', whereas Heavy Armor has to waste a perk on 'Fists
of Steel'.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Two things to keep in mind. Unless you're marrying the Steed Stone, you
will want to reach 'Conditioning', which means getting at least one rank
of 'Juggernaut', 'Fists of Steel' and 'Cushioned', the latter of which
are.. really kind of a waste. Second, keep the magic number 567 in mind.
It's the maximum effective value of Armor rating. If you haven't reached
this amount after getting to 'Conditioning' while wearing the armor of
your choice (upgraded with Alchemy and Smithing, of course), you'll need
to either pick up the Lord Stone for another 50 points, or put some more
ranks into 'Juggernaut'. In all honesty, the Heavy Armor skill tree is
not as impressive as the Light Armor tree is. If only Daedric Armor
didn't look so awesome.. 'Well Fitted', 'Tower of Strength' and
'Matching Set' just aren't priorities for me. Stagger is annoying, but
I never found it so detrimental that I actively wished it to be gone,
and really, 'Reflect Blows' in wholly unimpressive. Most enemies will
not be doing nearly enough damage to you to make this worthwhile, and
certainly not compared to what you'll be doing to them. Just get
'Conditioning' and whatever ranks of 'Juggernaut' you need to hit the
magic number of 567 Armor rating.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Getting hit levels up your armor skills.. the bigger the damage, the
more experience you gain. Of course, if you're leveling your armor,
you're probably not really as well-off defensively as you'd like to be,
right? Armor skills are another set of skills I save for after leveling
up my crafting skills.. aside from incidental leveling gained from
leveling. I quick-level armor at the same time as I quick-level
Restoration. I typically find a Mammoth while wearing a suit of armor
that makes Restoration spells cost zero Magicka. Find a nice corner to
prevent you from getting knocked around too far, double-cast 'Healing',
and let the Mammoth knock you around. You'll ultimately end up getting
hit alot, and fairly hard (adjust the difficulty sliders to keep your
Health recovery positive), but you'll level armor skills quickly. Tape
down your trigger buttons, or whatever key you use to cast spells, and
wait a bit.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
o=======================================================o
| List of Heavy Armors {LST010}|
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
| Heavy Armors |Armor* |Weight | Value |
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
|Banded Iron Armor | 80 | 35 | 200 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Banded Iron Shield | 31 | 12 | 100 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Daedric Armor | 138 | 50 | 3200 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Daedric Boots | 52 | 10 | 625 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Daedric Gauntlets | 52 | 6 | 625 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Daedric Helmet | 66 | 15 | 1600 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Daedric Shield | 51 | 15 | 1600 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dragonplate Armor | 130 | 40 | 2125 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dragonplate Boots | 48 | 8 | 425 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dragonplate Gauntlets | 48 | 8 | 425 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dragonplate Helmet | 62 | 8 | 1050 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dragonplate Shield | 48 | 15 | 1050 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven Armor | 96 | 45 | 400 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven Boots | 38 | 10 | 85 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven Gauntlets | 38 | 8 | 85 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven Helmet | 52 | 12 | 200 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven Shield | 37 | 12 | 225 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony Armor | 122 | 38 | 1500 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony Boots | 46 | 7 | 275 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony Gauntlets | 46 | 7 | 275 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony Helmet | 60 | 10 | 750 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony Shield | 45 | 14 | 750 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Imperial Armor | 70 | 35 | 100 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Imperial Boots | 28 | 8 | 20 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Imperial Bracers | 28 | 4 | 15 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Imperial Helmet | 42 | 5 | 50 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Imperial Shield | 28 | 12 | 50 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Iron Armor | 70 | 30 | 125 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Iron Boots | 28 | 6 | 25 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Iron Gauntlets | 28 | 5 | 25 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Iron Helmet | 42 | 5 | 60 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Iron Shield | 28 | 12 | 60 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish Armor | 112 | 35 | 1000 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish Boots | 42 | 7 | 200 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish Gauntlets | 42 | 7 | 200 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish Helmet | 56 | 8 | 500 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish Shield | 42 | 14 | 500 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Armor | 88 | 35 | 275 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Armor (variant) | 88 | 35 | 275 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Cuffed Boots | 34 | 8 | 55 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Helmet | 48 | 5 | 125 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Horned Helmet | 48 | 5 | 125 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Imperial Gauntlets | 34 | 4 | 55 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Nordic Gauntlets | 34 | 4 | 55 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Plate Armor | 112 | 38 | 625 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Plate Boots | 40 | 9 | 125 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Plate Gauntlets | 40 | 6 | 125 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Plate Helmet | 54 | 6 | 300 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Shield | 34 | 12 | 150 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Shin Boots | 34 | 8 | 55 |
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
*The values provided here were recorded with a character who had a
Heavy Armor skill score of 100, and five ranks in 'Juggernaut'. The
armors are otherwise unimproved.
o======================================================================o
| Illusion {SKL010}|
o======================================================================o
Illusion spells influence the minds of others, typically allowing you
to cause them to go berserk, become passive, or to induce fear or
bravery. Normally, I'd write these spells off simply because of their
limitations-namely that Illusion spells have level caps.. But the master
level spells can actually be quite effective. There's also several
spells that help with skulduggery, like Muffle and Invisibility. An
invisible character who has invested a few perks into the Sneak tree is
unlikely to be detected, so long as you don't run into an enemy.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
I'll admit, Illusion does have some appeal. If you invest around eight
perks or so into the skill, you can get the master-level Illusion spells
to work on some pretty strong enemies.. anything short of Draugr
Death Overlords, higher-level NPCs, and Dragons. Pick the required
throw-away perk 'Novice Illusion' to get to 'Hypnotic Gaze', 'Aspect of
Terror', 'Rage', 'Animage', 'Kindred Mage', 'Quiet Casting', and of
course, 'Master of the Mind'. Honestly, I dislike fear spells, I want
to kill the enemy, or stop them from attacking, I don't want to have to
chase them through a level, but it's a necessary evil to get to 'Rage'.
If you are aching to make a 'controller' spell-caster build, Illusion
has some of the most effective spells in the game, and one of the
highest perk requirements to bring any tree up to snuff. I do have
some issues, however. Again, I admit that the spells are potent, and
it's a totally understandable investment, but it's not for me, and
it's my FAQ, so I feel compelled to point out issues. First, all Master
spells take a long time to cast, which means it's very likely that
they'll get interrupted. The solution, as IssacFrost pointed out, is
to sneak, and in this Illusion has a helping-hand in the 'Quiet Casting'
perk. But it's not foolproof, and I just have to ask the question.. if
you're already sneaking, why not start out with a sneak attack? Which
brings me to my next point; Illusion spells don't deal any damage. The
Mayhem spell can, when used against a mass of foes, cause some
casualties, but a high-powered weapon will be killing almost any enemy
in just a few hits. Since you'll still want a good damage-dealing option
to make good on any Illusion spells, and since weapons kill enemies so
quickly, casting Illusion spells just seems like adding another step
before the quick and painless slaughter begins. Also, Alteration's
'Mass Paralysis' spell is a very good controller with absolutely no
perk requirement what-so-ever.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Take our typical spell-leveling practice of creating armor that reduces
your Magicka costs to nothing, then find a weak critter like a Mudcrab.
Cast mind-affecting spells on it until you hit level 100, or you get
bored. It's simple to level up, but Illusion isn't quite as quick as
Conjuration or Alteration.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
o=======================================================o
| List of Illusion Spells* {LST011}|
o=======================o===============o===============o
o=======================o===============o===============o
|Call to Arms | Master | 389 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Calm | Apprentice | 86 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Clairvoyance | Novice | 14 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Courage | Novice | 23 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Fear | Apprentice | 91 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Frenzy | Adept | 124 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Fury | Novice | 40 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Harmony | Master | 624 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Hysteria | Master | 514 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Invisibility | Expert | 198 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Mayhem | Master | 588 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Muffle | Apprentice | 85 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Pacify | Expert | 172 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Rally | Adept | 67 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Rout | Expert | 187 |
0=======================o===============o===============o

o======================================================================o
| Light Armor {SKL011}|
o======================================================================o
Light Armor is one of the best ways to improve your defense passively,
and really make the enemy value each point of Health more in phsyical
combat. With the armor skills, the goal is really to reach the perk
that reduces your encumbrance, either 'Conditioning' or 'Unhindered',
for Heavy Armor and Light Armor, respectively. This makes your armor
less of a pain to drag around, and really, strapping on armor just
works well with the crafting skill triangle scheme that this entire
guide uses as the backbone of character creation. After all, why invest
a comparable number of perks into Alteration to get defensive spells
that have a duration, when you can just strap on some weightless,
unencumbering armor that protects you just as well? Light Armor has
some attractive features when compared to Heavy Armor. First, it weighs
alot less. If you feel like you ever might get bit by the sneaky-
assassin bug.. you might want to just go with Light Armor. The only
downside? You'll have to get the 'Dragon Smithing' perk in the Smithing
tree to get the best Light Armor in the game. But.. it only takes three
perks to reach 'Unhindered', whereas Heavy Armor takes four to reach
'Conditioning', balancing out the extra perk problem. Another boon for
Light Armor is that you'll get the perk 'Custom Fit' enroute to
'Unhindered', boosting your Armor rating with Light Armor by 25%..
pretty much negating any defensive differences for the same investment
of perks.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Two things to keep in mind. Unless you're marrying the Steed Stone, you
will want to reach 'Unhindered', which means getting at least one rank
of 'Agile Defender' and 'Custom Fit', purely beneficial. Second, keep
the magic number 567 in mind. It's the maximum effective value of
Armor rating. If you haven't reached this amount after getting to
'Unhindered' while wearing the armor of your choice (upgraded with
Alchemy and Smithing, of course), you'll need to either pick up the
Lord Stone for another 50 points, or put some more ranks into
'Agile Defender'. After that.. one more perk will get you 'Wind Walker'
which provides a nice +50% passive Stamina Regeneration rate while
you wear the armor you love. One more will negate all the damage from
10% of attacks. That's a very nice slew of abilities for five perks,
with a recommended investment of three. 'Matching Set' is nice if
you plan to wear an entire suit of the same type of armor, but you
probably won't need it to reach the cap. There are really no bad perks
in this tree.. you just probably won't need them all to hit the armor
cap.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Getting hit levels up your armor skills.. the bigger the damage, the
more experience you gain. Of course, if you're leveling your armor,
you're probably not really as well-off defensively as you'd like to be,
right? Armor skills are another set of skills I save for after leveling
up my crafting skills.. aside from incidental leveling gained from
leveling. I quick-level armor at the same time as I quick-level
Restoration. I typically find a Mammoth while wearing a suit of armor
that makes Restoration spells cost zero Magicka. Find a nice corner to
prevent you from getting knocked around too far, double-cast 'Healing',
and let the Mammoth knock you around. You'll ultimately end up getting
hit alot, and fairly hard (adjust the difficulty sliders to keep your
Health recovery positive), but you'll level armor skills quickly. Tape
down your trigger buttons, or whatever key you use to cast spells, and
wait a bit.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
o=======================================================o
| List of Light Armors {LST012}|
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
| Light Armors |Armor* |Weight | Value |
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
|Dragonscale Armor | 116 | 10 | 1500 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dragonscale Boots | 34 | 3 | 300 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dragonscale Gauntlets | 34 | 3 | 300 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dragonscale Helmet | 48 | 4 | 750 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dragonscale Shield | 41 | 6 | 750 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Armor | 82 | 4 | 225 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Boot | 24 | 1 | 45 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Gauntlets | 24 | 1 | 45 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Gilded Armor | 98 | 4 | 550 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Helmet | 38 | 1 | 110 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Shield | 30 | 4 | 115 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass Armor | 108 | 7 | 900 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass Boots | 32 | 2 | 190 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass Gauntlets | 32 | 2 | 190 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass Helmet | 46 | 2 | 450 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass Shield | 38 | 6 | 450 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Hide Armor | 56 | 5 | 50 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Hide Boots | 14 | 1 | 10 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Hide Bracers | 14 | 1 | 10 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Hide Helmet | 28 | 2 | 25 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Hide Shield | 21 | 4 | 25 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Leather Armor | 74 | 6 | 125 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Leather Boots | 20 | 2 | 25 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Leather Bracers | 20 | 2 | 25 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Leather Helmet | 34 | 2 | 60 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Scaled Armor | 90 | 6 | 350 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Scaled Boots | 26 | 2 | 70 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Scaled Bracers | 26 | 2 | 70 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Scaled Helmet | 40 | 2 | 175 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Studded Armor | 66 | 6 | 75 |
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
Light Armor skill score of 100, and five ranks in 'Agile Defender'.
The armors are otherwise unimproved.
o======================================================================o
| Lockpicking {SKL012}|
o======================================================================o
There's only so much one can say about Lockpicking. Most of the skills
help you pick locks easier, obviously, with a few loot-building perks
thrown in.. presumably because the developers understandably couldn't
think of real innovations to deal with Lockpicking. If you played
Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, you know what you're in for. The fine
folks at Bethesda wisely took their better lock-picking mini-game and
transplated it into Skyrim. Since I've played the hell out of both
those Fallout titles (see also my FAQs for them, shameless self-
promotion) I have little trouble with this activity. Just make sure
you don't get caught doing it, guards don't take kindly to innocent
mechanical inquiries.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Honestly, what can I say? If you really, really, suck at the lockpicking
mini-game.. well.. get better. Honestly, these perks suck, and it's
silly that they even put them in the game. Who is going to get these?
Sure, there's no way to force the locks in this game, but the sheer
fact that you need to use this skill just means you'll get good at it.
'Quick Hands' merely makes Lockpicking unprosecutable.. but with a high
Sneak score or an Invisibility spell, you can do that already. Wax Key
would be convenient during the Thieve's Guild missions, as having a key
to some locks would mean that you didn't have to pick them again.. but
there are plenty of jobs to do that don't require any lockpicking at
all. 'Golden Touch' and 'Treasure Hunter' are just useless loot-
boosters, and by leveling the crafting skills, trust me when I say you
won't need money. 'Unbreakable' essentially makes lockpicking fool-
proof, but really, six perks isn't worth it. Lockpicks have a base
value of six gold. You can afford to buy them and break them. There are
no perks in this tree that I really even consider.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Lockpicking occurs naturally as you explore. You find a locked door or
some treasure that you misplaced in somebody else's chest, and you'll
need to pick the lock to get it. And this isn't Oblivion, when you
successfully pick a lock, you'll get a fairly sizable experience
reward for doing so. This skill isn't really a chore to level, you'll
get it up to a moderate level fairly quickly just by playing the game.
And there's no barrier to entry. You don't need to reach any skill
plateau to pick any locks in this game, it's just that trying to pick a
Master lock with a low skill with make the mini-game pixel-precise, and
fairly annoying.. but such locks can be overcome even if your skill
level is in the 20's, or just ignored until later. There are two main
ways to train this skill without using a trainer. First, pick locks. To
get initial boosts, go around the towns in the game at night and pick
locks. Any locks. Just keep in mind that repeat-picks don't seem to
count. At the beginning of the game, picking a handful of locks will
level you up, so it's not too tedious of a chore. However, my play-
style results in a somewhat simpler method. I tend to get Sneak up to
level 100 at Helgen (see the 'Leveling Tips' under the Sneak skill),
meaning I have no trouble joining the Thieve's Guild in Riften. At the
start of the game, I'm doing jobs for the Theive's Guild, many of which
involve picking locks-but that's not how I passively level this skill.
Jobs mean money, and money means I'm leveling up my crafting skills,
and that means I'm created enchanted daggers and potions to sell..
which means I'm using the guild fence, Tonilia, to sell my loot. While
selling off the by-products of my crafting skill leveling, I make
certain to buy Lockpicks from Tonilia, who generously sells two-to-
three dozen at a time. After a lot of selling my leveling debris, I
not only have a huge fortune (typically over 200,000 gold), but in
excess of a thousand Lockpicks. With such a horde of picks, I can safely
pick any and every lock in the game while never worrying about running
out.. but since I'm lazy, I go find a Master lock and weigh the
appropriate keyboard key/use a rubberband on my controller to apply
pressure to the pick the wrong spot.. quickly breaking my Lockpick.
Since you get experience for every pick you break, I simply attend to
other business while I automatically level up my lock-picking.. and
burn through my supply of Lockpicks. It's an option, especially if you
don't mind a little passive leveling.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
About 1500 Lockpicks broken to go from level 62 to 92.
o======================================================================o
| One-Handed {SKL013}|
o======================================================================o
One-Handed weapons are the best way to deal damage in the entire game.
Justify 'the best', you say? Okay, you can deal the most damage in the
lowest amount of time with One Handed weapons. One-Handed weapons attack
faster than Two-Handed weapons, meaning that it's easier to hit with
them, and even better, with a One-Handed weapon you can also use a
Shield in the off-hand (for impervious defense) or a spell, or if you
really want the damage boost, another weapon. It's got power, speed,
and versatility, what more could you want? I don't suggest using
One-Handed weapons for warrior types, I suggest that everybody become
compotent in them.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
If you bothered getting your crafting skills up to snuff, you can double
the damage you deal with One-Handed weapons by investing five perks into
the five ranks of the 'Armsman' perk. Also, with my 300 Stamina build,
I have a huge fund for power attacks, and since power attacks are much
more effective in this game, I consider it a worthy investment to sink
two more perks into the 'Fighting Stance' and 'Savage Strike' perks. As
for the other two power attack perks.. I could care less about
performing an uber charge attack, and when I'm killing enemies in three
hits or so, I don't really see the need to paralyze them.
The rest of the perks in the tree are optional. Frankly, I think dual-
weilding sucks, since the only way to perform a true dual-weapon attack
that hence deals greater damage locks you in place. I thought I decided
against Two-Handed weapons because they were unweildly.. so why would I
bother dual-weilding when it imposes the same problem? And as for the
weapon-specific perks.. if you want to be married to a weapon type,
sword, axe, or mace, by all means, sink three perks into
'Hack and Slash', 'Bone Breaker', or 'Bladesman'. Just remember, these
extra perks are not as potent as 'Armsman', and in general, this is true
for most ancillary weapon and armor perks.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
You level up One-Handed by.. hitting things with One-Handed weapons.
Really, there's no quick way to do this, but don't worry, there's lots
of enemies to hit in the game, and you'll need to do so fairly often.
In the beginning of the game, you can beat up your immortal fellow
Helgen escapee to level up this skill as much as you wish, in a non-
threatening situation.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
o=======================================================o
| List of One-Handed Weapons {LST013}|
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
| One-Handed Weapons |Damage*|Weight | Value |
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
|Daedric Dagger | 33 | 6 | 500 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Daedric Mace | 71 | 20 | 1750 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Daedric Sword | 62 | 16 | 1250 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Daedric War Axe | 67 | 18 | 1500 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven Dagger | 21 | 3.5 | 55 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven Mace | 53 | 16 | 190 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven Sword | 44 | 12 | 135 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven War Axe | 49 | 14 | 165 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony Dagger | 30 | 5 | 290 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony Mace | 71 | 19 | 1000 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony Sword | 58 | 15 | 720 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony War Axe | 67 | 17 | 865 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Dagger | 24 | 4 | 95 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Mace | 58 | 17 | 330 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Sword | 49 | 13 | 235 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven War Axe | 53 | 15 | 280 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass Dagger | 27 | 4.5 | 165 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass Mace | 62 | 18 | 575 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass Sword | 53 | 14 | 410 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass War Axe | 58 | 16 | 490 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Iron Dagger | 12 | 2 | 10 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Iron Mace | 40 | 13 | 35 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Iron Sword | 31 | 9 | 25 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Iron War Axe | 36 | 11 | 30 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish Dagger | 18 | 3 | 30 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish Mace | 49 | 15 | 105 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish Sword | 40 | 11 | 75 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish War Axe | 44 | 13 | 90 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Dagger | 15 | 2.5 | 18 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Mace | 44 | 14 | 65 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Sword | 36 | 10 | 45 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel War Axe | 40 | 12 | 55 |
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
One-Handed skill score of 100, and five ranks in 'Armsman'. The
weapons are otherwise unimproved.
o======================================================================o
| Pickpocket {SKL014}|
o======================================================================o
Pickpocket allows you to borrow things that you happen to have misplaced
in the pockets of others. Honestly, I don't know why this needed to be
a skill instead of a branch of Sneak, and almost all of the perks serve
to make your success rates go up, or allow you to lift nicer things.
Consider two facts: there are better ways to get money, and you'll never
be able to steal something as good as the items you can simply craft
yourself. Who wants to bet I'm not going to be gentle when we discuss
the perks?
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Nah, I'll be gentle. Most of the perks are obviously not worth picking.
A perk that makes stealing keys easier? They're light objects. They're
already easy! Pickpocketing gold is 50% easier? It's already easy!
There's no point in taking equipped gear, because most of it is
mediocore at best. And yes, I've been too lazy to grab all these perks
and pickpocket every character in the game in case one character has
some uber item.. I doubt it, and even if they did, it would have to be
worth about five perks. There is one, single, interesting perk in this
tree. 'Extra Pockets' just calls to the shameless loot-whore packrat in
me. Really, I'm awful when it comes to hording, and an extra 100 points
of carrying capacity is a huge boost. If you're a certified packrat
gamer like me, it might just be worth three perks.. for absolutely no
real power-gamey advantage, mind you.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Pickpocket is only hard to level at the beginning, and even at its
highest levels, 2-3 good steals will level you up. At first, however,
your success rates will be fairly low, and there's really only two
good ways to deal with this. Play the odds, and be prepared to save/load
a lot, or train yourself up a bit. The best things to steal at any
level are light weight but moderately expensive items. Gems and
jewelry naturally will become your prime targets, and robbing all such
items from three or four cities worth of people will max your
Pickpocket. Remember, the more expensive the steal, the more experience
you'll get. You probably shouldn't even bother with food items, gold,
keys, or other low-quality stuff.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
N/A
o======================================================================o
| Restoration {SKL015}|
o======================================================================o
Restoration is a bit of a necessary evil in Skyrim. When you're an uber
powerful character, you're not likely to get hurt by much, but some
critters can-in enough numbers-still hurt you. Your healing options
are potions, or Restoration. Since you pretty much have to find the
best healing potions (you can't make Potions of Ultimate Healing)
and since potions require effort, ingredients, are finite, and have
weight, it's infinitely easier to just rely on Restoration to heal
you up. The Restoration skill also has spells that turn undead,
and creates barriers that increase your Armor rating and negates spell
damage.. but really, it's all about the healing.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Restoration is another skill that has very good spells that require
no real perk commitment at all.. although there are a few that might
come in handy. But first, lets talk about some of the spells, and why
we can ignore perks that have to deal with them. Bane of the Undead,
the master-level spell for Restoration, deals minor damage to undead,
and causes them to flee-bound by a level requirement. If I wanted
something similar to that, why, oh why, would I not just go through
the Illusion tree? Also, barriers.. We know how I feel about using
spells as armor by now, right? Well, this goes beyond Alteration.. you
need to keep the ward up by constantly keeping it cast and using up
Magicka. You'll see enemy mages do it often-defend with one hand, cast
spells with the other. Honestly, the best defense in this game is a good
offense, and failing that, highly-quality enchanted armor. Wards are
pretty damn low on the list. So I won't even bother discussing related
perks, since those spells are entirely useless, as far as I'm concerned.
That said, Restoration does have some interesting perks. 'Respite'

allows healing spells to restore Stamina, which is fairly interesting,
as Stamina is important to our build. More Stamina means more power
attacks, shield bashes, time-warp effects while aiming with a bow..
that good stuff. Although with a hefty pool of 300 points and possibly
improved Stamina regeneration from Light Armor, this is a luxury at two
perks, one that isn't easy to justify. Another interesting perk is
'Regeneration', which flat-out makes all your healing spells twice as
potent. It's really unecessary, however, as casting a pair of Grand
Healing spells will quickly restore 400 Health. Even at level 81, with
our Health reaching its max of 700, that's enough healing to get us out
of any trouble spots, and if it's not quite enough.. it's quick enough
to cast again for a full-heal in a flash. We probably just won't be
taking damage often enough to really need the boost in healing power,
especially if we reduce our Magicka costs to nothing. 'Restoration
Dual Casting' probably isn't going to make our healing spells as strong
as 'Regeneration' will, and for the other spells we could use it with..
again, I just don't care about them. 'Recovery' is moot for this build,
as it's a low (read: no) Magicka build.. we won't be expending Magicka,
so we won't need to worry about regenerating it. Finally, 'Avoid Death'
will give you a 250 Health safety net. I'm not sure if it prevents
auto-kills, which seem to potentially occur when you're at a third of
your health or less, but 10% of your Health is cutting it pretty close.
I wouldn't suggest allowing yourself to get that injured, a suggestion
that this build makes easy to follow, and at the end of the day, a
200-damage healing Grand Heal is a more reliable safety net than this
perk. There are a few considerable perks you could work in, but no
must-haves.'
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Restoration again levels slowly. It's not as bad as in Oblivion, but
there's a good chance it'll be one of the last skills you get to 100.
The way to level? Heal. Which means you need to be hurt. The more you
heal, the more powerful spell you cast, the faster you'll level. I
tend to level up Restoration into the 60's or 70's by healing as I
level my armor skills. You can simply keep doing that to max out
Restoration, too, but it's a slow process.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
o=======================================================o
| List of Restoration Spells* {LST014}|
o=======================o===============o===============o
o=======================o===============o===============o
|Bane of the Undead | Master | 586 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Circle of Protection | Expert | 101 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Close Wounds | Adept | 75 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Fast Healing | Apprentice | 43 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Grand Healing | Expert | 151 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Greater Ward | Adept | 51 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Heal Other | Adept | 48 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Healing | Novice | 7 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Healing Hands | Apprentice | 14 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Lesser Ward | Novice | 20 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Repel Lesser Undead | Adept | 68 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Repel Undead | Expert | 210 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Steadfast Ward | Apprentice | 34 per second |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Turn Greater Undead | Expert | 158 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Turn Lesser Undead | Apprentice | 49 |
|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|
|Turn Undead | Adept | 100 |
o=======================o===============o===============o

o======================================================================o
| Smithing {SKL016}|
o======================================================================o
Smithing allows you to create new weapons and armor from scratch, and
improve existing pieces of equipment. This is an awesome skill for
several reasons. First, while weapon and armor skills allow you to
improve their effectiveness, Smithing is the universal item-booster.
Swords, bows, shields, light armor, heavy armor, it doesn't matter,
Smithing improves it. And potentially improves it alot. Also, Smithing
improves the base quality of the item, meaning that those perks that
add +x% to armor rating or weapon damage will improve the value of the
item after Smithing. Doubling the power of a 40 damage weapon is much
better than doubling the damage of a 12 damage weapon. Also, being able
to simply create the arms and armor you wish to use is much, much easier
than buying or finding them. Last but certainly not least, in terms of
economy Smithing will improve your weapons and armor rating more per
perk spent than any of the weapon and armor skills themselves. Spending
a handful of perks to get access to Daedric gear-and then being able to
improve it twice as much-is cheaper than getting the relevent perks in
both Heavy Armor and whatever weapon you fancy. And of course, when you
mix this crafting skill with Enchanting, you can create exactly what
suit of armor and weapon you need for any situation at hand. Mix
Smithing with Alchemy, and you can create potions that make your
Smithing +129% better. It's an easy way to get weapons and armor that
make you all but untouchable.. except for magic, you need Enchanting to
handle that.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Daedric Weapons are the most damaging weapons in the game, so it only
makes sense that-regardless of what armor you wish to wear-you get
Daedric Smithing. This means going through the Heavy Armor route and
getting all the perks along the way. If you want to wear Light Armor,
simply spend another perk to get Dragon Smithing, which will allow you
to create Dragon Scale Armor, the strongest Light Armor in the game.
Note that although the constellation appears to be circular, it's not.
You cannot reach Daedric Smithing by going through the Light Armor perk
path. It does not wrap around. Finally, Arcane Enchanter is a decent
perk if you lack foresight or if you want to upgrade any of the unique
arms and armor you find in the game (read: Daedric Artifacts). Of
course, you can arguably make better equipment, so you don't need this
perk, but if you want to upgrade any of the pre-enchanted, quest-related
gear you'll find, there are worse ways to spend a perk.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Smithing, as a crafting skill, is a skill that can be easy or hard to
level depending on your coin purse. The simplest way to level it up is
to forge Iron Daggers. Buy an Iron Ingot and some Leather, turn the
Leather into Leather Strips, and smith away. It's the cheapest of the
crafting skills to level, and for that reason it's the first one I tend
to improve. Of course, forging anything, as well as improving weapons
and armor also increases your skill, but the quality of the item doesn't
matter, only the quantity. Hence, Iron Daggers is the most cost-
effective item to produce. At least when you consider how much you can
sell them for when you put a Banish enchantment on them.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Forge twelve Iron Daggers to go from level 99 to 100.
Forge 500~ Iron Daggers to go from level 15 to 100.
o======================================================================o
| Sneak {SKL017}|
o======================================================================o
Sneak helps you.. sneak better, of course. It's an essential skill for
many quests, particularly involving the Thieve's Guild and the Dark
Brotherhood. On it's own, it's decent enough at helping you avoid
detection.. so long as you stay out of the line of sight of your foes,
are in darkness of some sort, are lightly equipped, and move slowly.
Okay, the skill by itself can just barely get you through the quests you
need it to, and even then, only with a lot of patience and bother. If
you want sneaking to be truly effective, you'll have to invest some
perks.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Sneak, like most skills, has a collection of perks that can largely be
defined by one really great perk that makes the entire skill
significantly better, and the way we evalute its worthiness is by
discussing that great perk and all the perks leading up to it. In my
mind, the defining perk for Sneak is 'Silence'. Lets be honest, sneaking
is good, but almost every time you're sneaking, you're doing it because
you're trying to get somewhere unseen or to kill something undetected.
Standing still is rarely the best way to do this. Yet movement is one
of the factors that determines whether you'll be seen or not, and
removing this makes sneaking much, much more likely to succeed. To get
there, we'll need to grab a rank of 'Stealth', which like the Block
skill 'Shield Wall' is useful for a point for the brute +25%.. but
afterwards the diminishing returns make it less worthwhile. 'Muffled
Movement' will drastically lower your detectability while wearing
armor, but if you're serious about sneaking, you should be in Light
Armor, and wearing boots with the 'Muffle' enchantment. Still, not a
horrible perk for the battle-ready armored assassin. 'Light Foot' is
just stupid, a useless perk that Bethesda apparently couldn't get out
of their system after Fallout 3. Traps will stop scaring you as you
get stronger, and failing that, just be observant. 'Silent Roll' is
actually fairly useful for covering the last bit of ground to a target,
or just for moving silently. If you're not detected when you start the
roll, chances are you'll remain undetected until the roll finishes.
With the five perks it takes to reach 'Silence' you'll get some duds
and understudies, but you'll ultimately make yourself a much more
capable sneaker. As for 'Shadow Warrior', after playing around with it
for a while, I'll admit.. I don't see the point. It gives you a fraction
of a second of invisibility if you enter Sneak mode, but it's really
too short to do much of anything. I don't see why anybody would bother
with it instead of.. say, an invisibility spell? As for the sneak-
attack perks.. they're all gold. I'm especially fond of using bows, as
it's much easier to stay hidden while you pick off foes with a bow.
Since that forces me to pick up 'Backstab' along the way.. it's just
an added bonus. As for 'Assassin's Blade'.. I'm not a fan of daggers,
but for backstabbing purposes, their speed and the sheer lethality of
x15 damage is somewhat ludicrous. Ultimately, I can't think of many
things that could survive a 200~ damage backstab from a Daedric Sword,
with 'Backstab', making me pretty opposed to spending another perk on
a backstabbing option that probably isn't even necessary.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Sneak is one of the easiest skills in the game to level. You improve
this skill by sneaking around other people, which do not have to be
enemies, but have to be able to detect you. Meaning you cannot usually
hide behind a wall, or down some stairs, where the enemy has no way to
detect you and expect to increase this skill. My favorite place to
level is in Dragonsreach, near the door to Whiterun. Guards always
stand there, and at night you only have to sneak near unmoving guards
who don't care that you're there, who won't move around, and if you
sneak into the corner, they won't have a line-of-sight to you. Just..
walk into the corner for a few hours and you're gold. Just remember
that during the day the maids come out, and they can-and will-spoil
your sneaking by being nosy bitches and looking at you.
You can also level up sneak by performing sneak attacks, or by evading

detection and becoming hidden again after being detected by an enemy.
Both of these give huge bonuses to the skill, but naturally you'll need
a decent Sneak score before you can expect to sneak attack enemies..
right? Here's a trick. During your escape from Helgen at the beginning
of the game, you can sneak attack your buddy (either Ralof or Hadvar)
for quick, easy, and unlimitied skill gains. Keep at it, and you can
max Stealth before ever leaving Helgen.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
12 sneak attacks to go from Sneak level 99 to 100.
o======================================================================o
| Speech {SKL018}|
o======================================================================o
Speech determines the prices you get when buying and selling things,
and determines your chances of success when attempting to persuade,
bribe, or intimidate others.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Since Speech is pretty much all about making more money, a power-gamey
build like ours doesn't really need to spend any of our precious perks
here. But lets not be hasty, you say, what about the story and quest
sides of Speech? With a Speech score of 100 there was not-in my
experience-a single situation where a Speech option was possible that
couldn't be overcome. Now, even with a score of 100 some characters
will be unmoved by one attempt or another, but a character that isn't
moved by a Persuade attempt might be Intimidated, or failing that,
Bribed. Since every quest can be done without spending any perks.. why
bother wasting perks? You'll get enough money without blowing perks in
the Speech skill, and improving your Persuade/Bribe/Intimidate chances
aren't necessary.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
There are only two ways to level up Speech without training. First,
succeed at Speech/Bribe/Intimidate checks, which are fairly frequent,
but it's not really something you can grind like you could in Oblivion.
Second way is to buy and sell stuff.. Unlike Oblivion, the quality
(value) of the items matters, not the quantity. Selling items, in
particular, raises the skill, although I have a few observations to
make. First, selling items in bulk doesn't seem to help you as much
as selling them individually, even if you build up several thousand
coins worth of loot in a transaction. Perhaps the game doesn't count
multiple copies of the same item sold in a bundle as a more valuable
transaction? Also, when selling off my daggers enchanted with the
'Banish' enchantment (the fruits of my Enchanting-grind) they didn't
produce gains in the Speech skill in proportion to their value.. again,
my only guess about this is that the game valued the items as normal
Iron Daggers for the purposes of experience, regardless of their value
post-enchantment. What does work, then? Selling off the potions you
make as part of leveling your Alchemy skill one at a time. In bulk,
they produce minor gains, but individually sold their relatively high
value will end up leveling Speech fairly decently, and the more
impressive potions (anything with a 'Giant's Toe involved) might be
worth up to 2,000 gold.. even selling at 800 per pop, it only took
several sells to level up a Speech score that was in the 60's. To
that end, you'll level up Speech from its humble beginnings to a
fairly high score just by leveling up Enchanting, Alchemy, Pickpocket,
and selling off your gains.
There is, however, a cheat. You'll quickly notice that Persuade/Bribe/

Intimidate successes increase the Speech skill very quickly. In Riften
you can find Ungrien working the counter at the Black-Briar Meadery.
Pick the dialogue option "Tell me about Maven Black-Briar", then
select "Come on, get the truth off your chest. (Persuade)" You can do
this as much as you'd like, leveling your Speech every time you
Persuade Ungrien.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
N/A
o======================================================================o
| Two-Handed {SKL019}|
o======================================================================o
There's just something majestic about two-handed weapons.. and in a
game like Skyrim, the appeal to be a battle-axe bearing barbarian is
really there. Unfortunately, some flaws exist on the combat side of
things that make One-Handed weapons more appealing.. namely the terrible
speed of Two-Handed weapons, and the fact that, although they are more
damaging, the gulf isn't really wide enough to bother dealing with the
horrible attack speed.
Perk Picks
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
If you bothered getting your crafting skills up to snuff, you can double
the damage you deal with One-Handed weapons by investing five perks into
the five ranks of the 'Barbarian' perk. Also, with my 300 Stamina build,
I have a huge fund for power attacks, and since power attacks are much
more effective in this game, I consider it a worthy investment to sink
two more perks into the 'Champion's Stance' and 'Devastating Blow'
perks. As for the other two power attack perks.. I could care less about
performing an uber charge attack, and when I'm killing enemies in three
hits or so, I don't really see the need to paralyze them. 'Sweep'
certainly isn't lacking in RPG credentials, but honestly, 'all targets
in front of you' usually means two, at best. I just don't see the
point. And as for the weapon-specific perks.. if you want to be married
to a weapon type, sword, axe, or mace, by all means, sink three perks
into 'Limbsplitter', 'Deep Wounds', or 'Skull Crusher'. Just remember,
these extra perks are not as potent as 'Barbarian', and in general, this
is true for most ancillary weapon and armor perks.
What, you noticed that this 'Perk Picks' is almost identical to the
One-Handed weapons one? Well, that's because they're almost identical
skill trees. I calls them hows I sees them. At the end of the day,
keep the main differences between the two weapon types in mind: One-
Handed weapons are faster and more versatile. I don't suggest any
expenditure into the Two-Handed skill tree.
Leveling Tips
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
You level up Two-Handed by.. hitting things with Two-Handed weapons.
Really, there's no quick way to do this, but don't worry, there's lots
of enemies to hit in the game, and you'll need to do so fairly often.
In the beginning of the game, you can beat up your immortal fellow
Helgen escapee to level up this skill as much as you wish, in a non-
threatening situation.
Notes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
o=======================================================o
| List of Two-Handed Weapons {LST015}|
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
| Two-Handed Weapons |Damage*|Weight | Value |
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
|Daedric Battleaxe | 75 | 27 | 2750 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Daedric Greatsword | 72 | 23 | 2500 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Daedric Warhammer | 81 | 31 | 4000 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven Battleaxe | 60 | 23 | 300 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven Greatsword | 57 | 19 | 270 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Dwarven War Axe | 66 | 27 | 325 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony Battleaxe | 69 | 26 | 1585 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony Greatsword | 66 | 22 | 1440 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Ebony Warhammer | 75 | 30 | 1725 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Battleaxe | 63 | 24 | 520 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Greatsword | 60 | 20 | 470 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Elven Warhammer | 69 | 28 | 565 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass Battleaxe | 66 | 25 | 900 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass Greatsword | 63 | 22 | 820 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Glass Warhammer | 72 | 29 | 985 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Iron Battleaxe | 48 | 20 | 55 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Iron Greatsword | 45 | 16 | 50 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Iron Warhammer | 54 | 24 | 60 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish Battleaxe | 57 | 25 | 165 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish Greatword | 54 | 18 | 75 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Orcish Warhammer | 63 | 26 | 180 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Battleaxe | 54 | 21 | 100 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Greatsword | 51 | 17 | 90 |
|-------------------------------|-------|-------|-------|
|Steel Warhammer | 60 | 25 | 110 |
o===============================o=======o=======o=======o
Two-Handed skill score of 100, and five ranks in 'Barbarian'. The
weapons are otherwise unimproved.
o======================================================================o
| |
| Epic Builds {EBD001} |
| |
o======================================================================o
As promised earlier, here are some completed builds by Joel and I. Both
pretty much agree on the first steps taken under the 'General Build',
and some extra vagueness was thrown in where multiple approaches were
more or less equal in merit. Destruction or Archery? Too tough to call,
so both are provided. Heavy or Light armor? Unless you really want to
sneak alot, both are just as good.. or you can go with neither and just
let your crafting skills and the Steed Stone get you by. No, so long
as you got the crafting skills (Alchemy, Enchanting, and Smithing) and
have at least some affinity for One-Handed Weapons.. you're on the
right track. How you want to spend the last 20-30 perks of the build,
and whether you make it to level 81 and max everything is entirely
optional. Below are some examples of what you could do, if you wanted
to.
o======================================================================o
| Haeravon's Build {EBD002}|
o======================================================================o
Hey, Haeravon! That guy's just great. And his build gets to come first
because of the alphabet (not intentional self-promotion). Squeeked by
IssacFrost by just one letter, but it'll do. I suppose my build should
best be considered an epic 'Assassin' build. It's cliche, but my goal
wasn't to make an assassin-type character, I merely tried to follow
the strongest skills as they seemed to me. Without getting too deep
into things that I've already said again, crafting skills make uber
weapons. Uber weapons vastly out-damage spells. Adding a sneak attack's
multiplier to uber damage makes very, very, dead enemies. Overall,
it's just an unstoppable juggernaut that can sneak, kill up close,
kill at a range, and it takes very little damage from anything an enemy
can throw at me. The choice of race is merely a bit of ineffecient
sentimentalism.
Attributes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Race: Nord
Health: 700
Magicka: 100
Stamina: 300
Perks (79/80, 1 unspent)

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Alchemy Alchemist (5/5)
Physician
Benefactor
Aleration Novice Alteration

Magic Resistance (3/3)
Archery Overdraw (5/5)

Eagle Eye
Steady Hand (2/2)
Power Shot
Quick Shot
Critical Shot (3/3)
Hunter's Discipline
Ranger
Block Shield Wall (1/5)

Deflect Arrows
Block Runner
Shield Charge
Destruction Novice Destruction

Augmented Flames (2/2)
Enchanting Enchanter (5/5)

Fire Enchanter
Frost Enchanter
Storm Enchanter
Extra Effect
Light Armor Agile Defender (1/5)

Custom Fit
Unhindered
Wind Walker
Deft Movement
One Handed Armsman (5/5)

Fighting Stance
Savage Strike
Bladesman (3/3)
Pick Pocket Light Fingers (1/5)
Night Thief
Extra Pockets
Restoration Novice Restoration

Respite
Regeneration
Smithing Steel Smithing

Dwarven Smithing
Orcish Smithing
Ebony Smithing
Daedric Smithing
Dragon Armor
Sneak Stealth (1/5)

Backstab
Deadly Aim
Muffled Movement
Light Foot
Silent Roll
Silence
Gear
o======================================================================o
A/R Armor (Dragonscale Armor)
Armor: 296
Alteration spells cost 29% less to cast.

Restoration spells cost 29% less to cast.
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
A/R Helmet (Dragonscale Helmet)
Armor: 141

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
A/R Ring

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
A/R Amulet

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Slayer Gauntlets (Dragonscale Gauntlets)
Armor: 131
Bows do 48% more damage. One-handed attacks do 48% more damage.

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Resistance Boots (Dragonscale Boots)
Armor: 131
Increases Fire Resistance by 56%. Increases Shock Resistance by 56%.

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Aegis of Annulment (Dragonscale Shield)
Armor: 139
Block 48% more damage with your shield. Increases Magic Resistance by
23%.
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Daedric Bow (Daedric Bow)
Damage: 305
Burns the target for 55 point. Targets on fire take extra damage. If
target dies within 11 seconds, fills a soul gem.
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Daedric Sword (Daedric Sword)
Damage: 282
Burns the target for 55 point. Targets on fire take extra damage. If
target dies within 11 seconds, fills a soul gem.
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Notes
o======================================================================o
You'll have a base Magic Resistance of 45% as a Nord if you have the
three 'Magic Resistance' perks in Alteration and the 'Agent of Mara'
Active Effect. With your shield equipped, that will raise to 68%, and
if you have the Lord Stone active, you'll get another 25%-well past the
cap of 85%. Decent resistances of 50%~ in each will make all spell
attacks laughable, and with an Armor Rating of 836 (697 without a
shield) I'm well over the cap in physical defense, as well. There's
very little that can hurt me on any difficulty, and this often prompts
me to just use the Steed Stone for the extra carrying capacity, to make
trips back to town less necessary. Also keep in mind that I get extra
physical and elemental resistances if I bother to actually use my
shield to block instead of just as an arm ornament. Pair that with the
extra-potent free healing, and you have very little to worry about.
The choice to go with the elemental enchantments in the Enchanting Tree

was based on my desire to enchant my weapons with elemental damage,
then grab three ranks in Destruction to combine the two for the best
effect. A more frugal gamer could easily ignore all that. In the end,
even I'm not sold on the idea. An extra 55 damage is nice, but one
could easily put Paralysis on a weapon and save the perks.
Also, some perks I got.. just because I wanted to get as near to the
80-perk cap as possible. Nobody needs an extra 100 pounds of carrying
capacity, I know, and some of the picks, like the Restoration and
Destruction perks, are somewhat suspect. At the end of the day, though,
I wanted to have the Level 81 build to actually make use of most of
the perks. Most of the power-building is done by level 60, however.
Another interesting note to make-during some gaming sessions I've

substituted the normal 'A/R Armor' with an upgraded version of
'Savior's Hide', which can be obtained by completing the quest
'Ill Met by Moonlight'. This unique armor gives 15% Magic Resistance
and 50% Poison Resistance, an otherwise unique set of enchantments to
have on a suit of armor. It allowed me to dispense with the Lord Stone
in favor of the Steed Stone, and at the end of the day I still had 83%
Magic Resistance (60% shieldless), and an Armor Rating of 804
(666 shieldless), both are very respectable numbers. It requires that
I expend my last saved perk on 'Arcane Blacksmith', and takes away our
free-casting of Restoration and Illusion.. but at 87% cost reduction,
everything is still cheap enough so as to be cast-able. It really only
indulges my aesthetic preferences, and the joy I get at being able to
haul around 600 pounds of loot.
o======================================================================o
| IssacFrost's Build {EBD003}|
o======================================================================o
This is the preferred build of IssacFrost, a regular contributor,
perhaps best known for his exhaustive addition of the 'Energy Weapons
Build' in my Fallout: New Vegas FAQ. It's based on regular e-mail
correspondance with him, and I will attempt to use direct quotes
whenever possible and/or necessary, while still trying to fit his
information into the stadard set by my build, above.
"This build is a controller Bard build that utilizes 100% free Illusion
and Alteration. It is a powerful build that renders your enemies useless
via Paralyze, Mass Paralysis, Frenzy, Rout, Pacify, Mayhem, Hysteria,
and Harmony while you wail on them with little to no retaliation. Due to
Master of the Mind only Dragons are safe from your Illusion spells."
Attributes
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Race: Breton
Health: 550
Magicka: 150
Stamina: 400
Perks (65/80, 15 unspent)

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Alchemy Alchemist (5/5)
Physician
Benefactor
Poisoner
Concentrated Poison
Snake Blood
Aleration Novice Alteration

Adept Alteration
Expert Alteration
Atronach
Block Shield Wall (1/5)

quick Reflexes
Power Bash
Deadly Bash
Deflect Arrows
Illusion Novice Illusion

Illusion Dual Casting
Animage
Hypnotic Gaze
Kindred Mage
Aspect of Terror
Rage
Master of the Mind
Enchanting Enchanter (5/5)

Corpus Enchanter
Extra Effect
Light Armor Agile Defender (1/5)

Custom Fit
Unhindered
Wind Walker
Matching Set
One Handed Armsman (5/5)

Fighting Stance
Savage Strike
Bladesman (3/3)
Restoration Novice Restoration

Respite
Regeneration
Smithing Steel Smithing

Elven Smithing
Advanced Armors
Glass Smithing
Dragon Armor
Speech Haggling (5/5)
Gear
o======================================================================o
Dragonscale Armor

Illusion spells cost 29% less to cast.
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Dragonscale Helmet

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Ring

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Amulet
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Dragonscale Gauntlets
Block 48% more damage with your shield. One-handed attacks do 48% more
damage.
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Dragonscale Boots
Stamina regenerates 37% faster. One-handed attacks do 48% more damage.

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Dragonscale Shield
Block 48% more damage with your shield. Increases Magic Resistance by
23%.
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Notes
o======================================================================o
According to IssacFrost, he prefers to use spells like 'Detect Life'
and 'Detect Dead' to set up ambushes, led by a sneaking protagonist
using Illusion spells. What he lacks in health as compared to my build,
he makes up for by providing a well-equipped side-kick, caution, and
tactics, as opposed to my brute-force approach. Invisibility and Muffle
support him and allow him to remain unseen. One must imagine that he's
got well over the Armor cap, and whatever he's lacking from ignoring
the 'Magic Resistance' perks in the Alteration tree, he makes up for
by being a Breton.
He also makes use of more consumables than my build does. He advocates

using Vegetable Stews to provide an unlimited source of Stamina, and
of course, poisons, to inflict more punishment on high-health targets,
such as Dragons.
Last but not least, while sheild-bashing is a great tactic, IssacFrost's

build is designed to mercilessly pummel enemies into submission. With
his numerous concessions towards stamina regeneration, and a larger
Stamina pool, one can only imagine how many bashes/power attacks he can
unleash.
o======================================================================o
| |
| Getting started in Skyrim {SKY001} |
| |
o======================================================================o
Ever since my first big Character Creation FAQ, I've been providing
mini-walkthroughs to get people started. Bethesda games are big, and
some people find it a bit overwhelming. Most of the time, however,
they just need a little direction, and once they get settled a bit,
they're able to proceed with more confidence. In Fallout 3, the Rivet
City run helped people find their way through the dangerous wasteland
to quickly get the Intelligence Bobblehead. In New Vegas, the in-game
guide was provided to help people find the New Vegas Medical Center to
get Implants quickly. Both helped the overall build. In Skyrim, I'm
providing a little hand-holding just to point people in the right
direction, get some money, and most importantly, get their crafting
skills maxed. It's not very in-depth, it's really just a brief on how
I get myself started in Skyrim, after doing this several times. Some
people might, after Fallout 3, wish for a little more.. but this is as
close to a full FAQ as I'm going to be getting for a long while.
The Helgen Grind {SKY002}

o======================================================================o
The game begins with the wagon ride, character creation, and Helgen.
There's little to say here, as it's really just the tutorial and
intro, but we can take advantage of something. During our escape we'll
run into a represenative Nord of each faction of the civil war. Ralof
represents the Stormcloaks and Hadvar represents the Empire. Both of
them are your invincible allies, and the adjective there is the key
point of interest. You can hit them with whatever weapons you find in
Helgen and level up your One-Handed and/or Two-Handed skills as much as
your heart desires. Also, if you sneak attack them, you can max out
Sneak as well. It's entirely possible to leave Helgen with skill scores
of 100 in One-Handed, Sneak, and Two-Handed. The weapon skills take
half of forever to level up, but you should consider maxing out Sneak,
as this will make our next steps easier.
First Steps {SKY003}

o======================================================================o
Outside of Helgen, follow Hadvar/Ralof to Riverwood, talk to their
associates, and start the quest 'Before the Storm'. At this point in
the game I'll mention a few things. If you leveled up in Helgen, you
could easily be near 30th level or higher. Which means your enemies
will have scaled to match. If you've leveled up One-Handed you're at
less of a disadvantage, since you can deal a bit more damage.. but
until we get our crafting skills up and get some stronger gear, we're
very, very vulnerable. And as a friendly note, gear is the name of the
game. So we'll avoid combat for now and work to find a way to make some
money, which we'll use to boost our Smithing skill and give us a
fighting chance. Some miscellaneous things we can do now, if you head
out the south-west gate of Riverwood and turn south until you reach some
impassible cliffs, you can follow these cliffs to the west you'll find
an unmarked entrance to the Embershard mines. Herein you'll find
Bandits, some of which may be leveled. It'll give you a taste of combat,
and allow you to see where you stand in the world. If you're eager to
grind, you can max out your Block skill here. There's also numerous
Iron Ore Veins inside, one of the components that will fuel our
Smithing skill. Also in Riverwood, you can talk to Alvor and offer to
help around the forge, which serves as a useful Smithing tutorial.. or
you can just wait until you get to Whiterun and work for Adrianne
Avenicci, instead. Last and least, you can talk to Lucan Valerius, the
proprietor of Riverwood Trader, who will start the miscellaneous quest
concerning the Golden Claw, which will tie in with another quest we'll
be doing shortly.
The Dragonborn Emerges {SKY004}

o======================================================================o
For now, we're best served by following the main questline. Head north
along the river until you find the Honningbrew Meadery and then follow
the road west to Whiterun. Go through Whiterun and talk to the Jarl..
there's going to be a bit of chatter with the Jarl and then Farengar,
the court wizard, but your task ends up the same-you're supposed to go
to Bleak Falls Barrow (west of Riverwood) and find a Dragonstone to
learn why the Dragons are returning. There are two rough spots in this
quest. First, there are some Bandits outside of Bleak Falls Barrow that
can be leveled, and hence, a problem. Second, at the end of the Barrow
we'll have to fight a Draugr Scourge Overlord. While story-events
shouldn't be leveled at this point, this particular Draugr can still be
a pain in the ass. Head back to Whiterun when you're done and continue
to follow the main story.. which I won't ruin for you. When it's all
said and done, the Jarl will be itching to reward you. Most interstingly
we'll be able to purchase Breezehome. Owning a house is a very good
thing, as it allows us to stash all our crap.. but we'll need to raise
5,000 gold to buy it. The next bit is all about earning money. And of
course, since you got the Golden Claw in Bleak Falls Barrow, feel free
to turn it in to Lucan Valerius for the quest reward.
Joining the Thieve's Guild {SKY005}

o======================================================================o
Just outside of Whiterun you can find the Whiterun Stables. You'll want
to rent a wagon to take you to Riften for 20 gold, which is nothing.
Unless you're very careful, or you drop the difficulty, walking to
Riften will be dangerous and time-consuming. Paying the gold to fast-
travel there is much faster and easier. Once there you'll want to find
Brynjolf, who will ask you to pull a job for him. He'll run distraction
while you'll need to steal Madesi's Ring and plant it on Brand-Shei.
Just make sure you're hidden while getting Madesi's Ring (which will
be much easier if you've leveled Sneak) and save/load until you
successfully plant the ring (which you do not need to be hidden to
do.) Afterwards, Brynjolf will tell you to meet him in the Ragged
Flagon. To get here you'll have to go through the Ratway, within which
are some enemies you'll just have to outfight. Once you reach the
Ragged Flagon, talk to Brynjolf again and he'll give you another job,
starting the quest 'Taking Care of Business'. Just talk to Brynjolf and
he'll tell you exactly what to do to coerce Keerava, Bersi, and
Haelga to pay their debts, regardless of your skill levels. Complete
this quest and you're in the guild. Most importantly, you can take
jobs from Delvin and Vex, and sell goods to Tonila.
Restoring the Guild {SKY006}

o======================================================================o
Because I'm lazy, I tend to just do Bedlam jobs for Delvin. It requires
nothing but some travel, and some sneaking. No picking pockets or locks,
no trespassing. Just go into stores and steal until you've got enough
loot. Return to Tonila, fence the stolen goods (and get paid for the
job) and repeat. To fast-travel between the cities just take a wagon.
It'll cost you 20-50 gold, but once you've been there, you can just
fast travel via the map. These jobs will send you to Markarth, Whiterun,
Riften, Solitude, and Windhelm. Starting a few quests is probably
unavoidable, but don't pursue anything besides guild jobs. Eventually
you'll do enough jobs that you'll get a special task from Delvin.
You'll have to go to one of the important cities you've been doing jobs
in (except for Riften) and perform a task for somebody to appease them
and spread the influence of the guild. Of the four, only the job in
Whiterun doesn't require any fighting. Your goal is to get as much
money as possible before one of these jobs comes up, so don't go
wasting your money. Completing these tasks are possible, but it can be
fairly difficult to fight leveled enemies without decent gear. If you
can complete these missions, good. Keep going. If not, you can still
keep stealing and fencing your loot, or you can start leveling up
Pickpocket and selling what you steal there to earn money. Every time
you complete one of these unique missions, a new merchant will show up
in the Ragged Flagon, Tonila will have more money available, and you'll
get the services of a fence in the city you just performed the job in.
The Smithing Grind {SKY007}

o======================================================================o
What's the point of getting all this gold? First, buying Breezehome is
a good idea. Second, and most importantly, we'll want to spend as much
money as possible buying Iron Ingots and Leather. At a Tanning Rack you
can turn the Leather into Leather Strips (it's cheaper to buy the
Leather and turn it into four Leather Strips than it is to just buy
the strips.) With one Iron Ingot and one Leather Strip you can make an
Iron Dagger, and level up your Smithing skill. Do this until you max
Smithing.. which requires you to make 500+ daggers. Keep the Iron
Daggers you make (store them in Breezehome), and spend some perks in
Smithing until you reach at least 'Daedric Smithing'. You can now,
in theory, create whatever armor you need, but you at least need a
strong weapon-the best defense is a good offense, and all. You can
buy a Daedra Heart to make your Daedric Weapon of choice from most any
alchemist, although you might have to try a few times, as it's not a
guaranteed sale. Get a Daedra Heart, some Ebony Ingots, forge your
weapon, then hone it at a Grindstone. You now have a fighting chance
against most enemies, and can probably complete all the quests that
involve spreading the influence of the Thieve's Guild. Creating a
full suit of Daedric Armor or Dragonscale Armor will improve your odds
even more, but getting the raw materials for them will either be
expensive or just difficult.
Note: To get a merchant to change their stock and replenish their gold,
you'll need to rest for 48 hours.
Joining the College of Winterhold {SKY008}

o======================================================================o
Now it's time to prepare to level up Enchanting, and to do this, I
suggest you take a wagon to Winterhold and head to the College of
Winterhold. Save before you approach the bridge, because at the
entrance you'll be accosted by Faralda, a paranoid member of the College
ensuring that not any and all riff-raff can get in. You'll either have
to succeed at a surprisingly hard Persuade check to get her to let you
in, or show your compotence. If she asks you to cast a spell you don't
have, buy it from her. If she asks you to cast a spell you don't have
the Magicka for, reload and try again. Once you get in ignore the
College-related quests. You're not here to quest, you're here to shop,
or at least to become aware of shopping opportunities. In the Hall of
Countenance you can usually find Drevis Neloren, the master Illusionist
of Skyrim, Faralda, who specializes in Destruction magic, Collete
Marence, specializing in Restoration, and Phinis Gestor, specializing
in Conjuration. Each of these mages can train you in their school of
choice, they're the mages you'll need to go to when your skill reaches
90 to start the quest to obtain the master-level spells in that school,
and they'll all sell you spells and soul gems. We're interested in the
latter, right now. In the Hall of Attainment you can find Enthir. He
gives you terrible rates, but he's guaranteed to sell Daedra Hearts. To
train in Alteration and get master-level Alteration spells you'll have
to find Tolfdir, who is largely unavailable until you complete some
College-related quests, so we won't be bothering with him now. You can
also steal/take some alchemical ingredients and Soul Gems lying around,
which will respawn in time.
The Enchanting Grind {SKY009}

o======================================================================o
If you've got some money, buy Petty, Lesser, and perhaps Common Soul
Gems that already have souls in them, denoted by the grade in
parentheses next to the gem. For example, Common Soul Gem (Common).
This can ultimately be a hugely wealth-postive endeavor if you're
willing to sacrifice some gold now. Tonila will sometimes sell weapons
that have the 'Banish' property on them. They can be very, very
expensive, but if you get one and disenchant it to learn the property,
you can start using Soul Gems to enchant those Iron Daggers we made
while leveling Smithing with the 'Banish' enchantment. It's faster and
easier to buy full Soul Gems from college members, but more expensive.
If you want to do it yourself, you'll have to get out and explore, and
learn the Soul Trap spell. Me? I prefer to buy all the Common, Lesser,
and Petty Soul Gems that are charged from mages in the Hall of
Countenance, rest for 48 hours, and repeat. I stop enchanting when I
need to go sell more enchanted daggers to Tonila, and repeat until I
reach level 100 in Enchanting.
The Alchemy Grind {SKY010}

o======================================================================o
We have the means to create whatever gear we want, but we're not quite
godly yet. To get the most out of Enchanting and Smithing as possible
we'll need to level up Alchemy, first. Since I'm not eager to enchant
anything yet, I just create the suit of armor I want, improve it via
smithing, and buy some accessories that improve my resistances (these
are often sold by general store merchants.) Whenever I encounter a
dangerous Mage or Dragon, I just pop on the appropriate accessory. It's
not ideal, but it'll work. There's no real avoiding it anymore, it's
time to explore. I search for Deathbells in the marsh south-east of
Solitude, Jazbay Grapes and Creep Clusters in the hot springs area
south of Windhelm, Juniper Berries and Hanging Moss near Markarth, and
Salt Piles from the barrels in the canals of Riften. Try to make high
quality potions (check the tables in the Alchemy skill section of the
guide), and sell them to Tonila. If you want to speed the process up,
don't be afraid to pay an alchemist for some training.. at least until
you hit level 50 in Alchemy, after which it just becomes too expensive
for my tastes. Arcadia in Whiterun is just an example trainer in
Alchemy.
Crafting Gear {SKY011}

o======================================================================o
Continue to cautiously explore Skyrim in search of ingredients. If you
are finding that your favorite spots aren't respawning ingredients fast
enough, you can always head somewhere far away and rest for a long time.
It can take a few weeks of solid resting to encourage ingredient
respawns, however. Keep going until your Alchemy skill is 100. At
which time you need to do several things. First, you need to get items
bearing the enchantments you'll want to use. At the moment you'll want
to have 'Fortify Alchemy' and 'Fortify Smithing'. You'll also need to
take a trip to get some Falmer Helmets, to take advantage of their
ability to stack with circlets-hence give you another item that can bear
the 'Fortify Alchemy' enchantment. North-east of Whiterun you can find
'Shimmermist Cave', within which you'll find a number of Falmer. At our
level, they'll be leveled enough that some of them are bound to be
wearing helmets, and there's also a helmet lying around near where the
first Falmer lurks. Be cautious, however, as Falmer can be dangerous.
Once you have several helmets, you'll want to make a 'Fortify Alchemy'
potion, then enchant gear (a Falmer Helmet, a circlet, gloves, a ring,
and a necklace) with the 'Fortify Alchemy' property. Unlike the
disposable Iron Daggers that we enchanted to level up Enchanting earlier
you'll want to use Grand Soul Gems (Grand) for these items, which can
be purchased from the same mages at the College of Winterhold that we
purchased Soul Gems from earlier. Wearing this newly-enchanted 'Fortify
Alchemy' gear, go make more potions of 'Fortify Alchemy', and with the
stronger potions, create another set of 'Fortify Alchemy' gear until you
can create gear that makes created potions 29% more powerful. On this
last set of gear, also be sure to enchant the armor, gloves, ring, and
necklace with the 'Fortify Smithing' property, which should also be
improving that skill by 29%. At the end of your enchanting you'll end
up with:
1 Crafting Necklace: "Created potions are 29% more powerful. Weapons and
armor can be improved 29% better."
1 Crafting Ring: "Created potions are 29% more powerful. Weapons and
armor can be improved 29% better."
1 Crafting Gauntlets: "Created potions are 29% more powerful. Weapons
and armor can be improved 29% better."
1 Crafting Helmet: "Created potions are 29% more powerful."
1 Crafting Circlet: "Created potions are 29% more powerful."
1 Crafting Armor: "Weapons and armor can be improved 29% better."
This gets you a grand total of +116% Smithing potency, and +145% Alchemy
potency. Let the god-making begin.
God-Making {SKY012}
o======================================================================o
While wearing your brand-new crafting gear, go make a few potions of
'Fortify Smithing'. With an Alchemy score of 100, the perks suggested
earlier in the guide, and your new crafting gear, you should be able to
make potions that improve your Smithing potency by +147%. Take your
crafting gear and your uber potions and go improve your gear of choice
at a Grindstone for weapons, and a Workbench for armor. This is what
allows you to make weapons that over 200 damage (with a high skill
level and perks) and armor that can reach the Armor Rating cap without
spending a single perk in the armor trees themselves. Create several
suits of uber armor and improve it, then head to the College of
Winterhold and buy Grand Soul Gems (Grand) from the mages there. If
you want to level up all your spell skills, enchant some armor, a
helmet, a ring, and a necklace with two schools you want to eliminate
Magicka costs on. There are five schools, so it'll take at least three
sets of gear. At four pieces of gear per set, it'll take at least
twelve Grand Soul Gems (Grand).. plus extra if you want to enchant your
boots, gloves, shield, and weapon(s). What I typically do is create a
set of gear with 'Fortify Destruction' and 'Fortify Restoration', a
set of gear with 'Fortify Alteration' and 'Fortify Illusion', and a
set of gear with 'Fortify Conjuration' and .. any other spell school.
I'll end up using the first set longest, since we'll need to kill
enemies to level up Destruction, and it's good sense to be able to
heal (and level up Restoration) while we're trying to polish off skills
like Archery and Destruction. You can now level up all the spell
schools, as well as Heavy Armor and Light Armor (see the 'Leveling Tips'
in the skills section of the FAQ for more information.) I also typically
enchant boots with 'Resist Fire' and 'Resist Shock', and I enchant my
gloves with 'Fortify Archery' and 'Fortify One-Handed'. Be sure to
make potions (using your crafting gear) that 'Fortify Alchemy' by 37%
before you enchant anything.
And.. that's it. It's a few paragraphs to read, but it'll take you days
to actually do. You might as well quest and explore while you level up
Destruction and Archery, but after you've completed the paragraph above,
you're really good to go. You've hit the armor cap, you're dealing
insane physical damage, and are over 50% resistant to all three
elements.. assuming you're playing a Nord, like I tend to. If you're
playing a Breton, you'll need to shift around some enchantments. You
are pretty much untouchable by most anything the game can throw at you.
Summary {SKY013}
o======================================================================o
For those of you who don't like too much reading, here's a summary.
1) Escape Helgen, possibly maxing out One-Handed, Sneak, and

Two-Handed.
2) Head to Riverwood, start the quest 'Before the Storm' and
travel to Whiterun.
3) Talk to the Jarl of Whiterun and complete the quests 'Bleak
Falls Barrow' and 'Dragon Rising.'
4) Travel by wagon to Riften and join the Thieve's Guild by
completing the quests 'A Chance Arrangement' and 'Taking
Care of Business.'
5) Do jobs for Delvin and Vex to get money.
6) Buy Breezehome and level up Smithing by forging Iron Daggers.
7) Create stronger gear and complete the Thieve's Guild quests
'Imitation Amnesty', 'Silver Lining', 'Summerset Shadows',
and 'The Dainty Sload.'
8) Join the College of Winterhold and buy filled Soul Gems or
trap souls in empty Soul Gems. Get a weapon with the 'Banish'
property and use the Iron Daggers made in step #6 to level
up Enchanting.
9) Travel around Skyrim collecting alchemical ingredients and
create potions to level Alchemy.
10) When Alchemy is maxed, create a set of 'crafting gear'
with the 'Fortify Alchemy' and 'Fortify Smithing'
properties.
11) Use the crafting gear to create potent potions that will
allow you to create uber-powerful arms and armor.
12. Enchant the gear you created earlier to become all but
invincible.. and to help leveling the rest of your skills.
o======================================================================o
| |
| Standing Stones {MSC001} |
| |
o======================================================================o
The birthsign characteristics in the previous Elder Scrolls games have
been replaced by 'Standing Stones'. Essentially, they're updated
varients of the old birthsigns that-when activated-bestow various
effects upon your character-usually beneficial. They can be changed out
at will, although only one can be activated at a time. The Standing
Stones should be switch out variously as needed, to help with leveling,
combat, or whatever function you might need them to perform. Below are
listed all the stones, their locations, and effects.. and my super-
awesome comments on each one.
The Apprentice Stone

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Location: North-west of Morthal. (North of Fort Snowhawk.)
Effect: Recover Magicka twice as fast. Twice as vulnerable to magic.
Comments: My builds require as little Magicka expenditure as possible,

using Magicka-cost reducing gear to avoid that attribute entirely.
That said, this attribute is more of a burden than a boon.
The Atronach Stone

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Location: South of Windhelm. (North-west of Mistwatch, north-east of
Darkwater Crossing, south-east of Eldergleam Sanctuary.)
Effect: 50 extra points of Magicka, 50% absorb spells, Magicka regens

at 50%.
Comments: The ability to absorb spells is nice, but again, I don't even
bother with Magicka, so everything this sign does-good or bad-doesn't
matter to me.
The Guardian Stones (The Mage Stone, The Thief Stone, The Warrior Stone)
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Location: Between Whiterun and Falkreath. (South of Anise's Cabin,
west of Embershard Mine.)
Effect:
(The Mage Stone: Magic skills improve 20% faster.
(The Thief Stone): All stealth skills improve 20% faster.
(The Warrior Stone): All combat skills increase 20% faster.
Comments: If you're dead-set on leveling one type of skill, there's

no better way to improve your leveling speed. That said, I prefer the
lazy convenience of the Lover's Stone.
The Lady Stone

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Location: North of Falkreath (South of Ilinalta's Deep, east of
Half-Moon Mill.)
Effect: Regenerate Health and Stamina 25% faster.
Comments: Again, I don't use Magicka, and there are much better ways
to keep your health up than with a meagre 25% regeneration boost.
The Lord Stone

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Location: East of Morthal. (North-east of Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon,
south-west of Frostmere Crypt.)
Effect: 50 points of damage resistance, 25% magic resistance.
Comments: One of the best stones in the game, a 50 point defensive

boost is about 1/11th of the total meaningful defese in the game, and
25% magic resistance.. well, that's pretty self explanatory, right?
Still, our builds should exceed the useful defense in the game, but the
magic resistance is great.
The Lover Stone

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Location: North-east of Markarth. (North of Kolskeggr Mine, west of
Bind Cliff Cave.)
Effect: All skills improve 15% faster.
Comments: My favorite leveling stone, I honestly grab this stone as

early as I can, and leave it on until I'm done leveling.. which for me
means until I'm level 81.
The Ritual Stone

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Location: West of Whiterun. (North of Whiterun Stormcloak Camp, south of
Graywinter Watch.)
Effect: Raises all dead around you to fight for you.
Comments: If you haven't caught the vibe yet, I'm could care less
about AI-controlled companions. A stone that summons some undead is
about as lame as I can imagine.
The Serpent Stone

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Location: east of Winterhold. (North-east of Wreck of The Pride of Tel
Vas.)
Effect: Paralyze the target for 5 seconds, and do 25 points.
Comments: Since most enemies will die in under three hits from a well-
leveled, well-equipped character, why, oh why, paralyze the m for five
seconds? And 25 damage? When you're doing 200+ with your weapons, who
cares about 25 damage? Nobody.
The Shadow Stone

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Location: South of Riften. (south of Nightingale Hall, east of
Snow-Shod Farm, north of Lost Tongue Overlook.)
Effect: Invisibility for 60 seconds.
Comments: You can get a better reward for completing the Thieve's Guild
quests, or you could create armor that makes Illusion spells free. I
don't see the point in having this ability.
The Steed Stone

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Location: North-west of Solitude. (North of Wolfskull Cave, east of
Widow's Watch Ruins, west of Ironback Hideout.)
Effect: Carry weight +100, and no movement penalty from armor.
Comments: At first, it might seem underwhelming.. wait.. no it doesn't.

100 pounds of carry weight is equal to 200 points of Stamina.. or 20
levels of attribute boosting. That's a huge boost, especially if you're
a mindless pack-rat like me. But if you're not, this sign also
eliminates all encumbrance from armor as if you had the relevent perks.
No extra stamina consumption, no hindered speed, and the armor becomes
weightless while you have it equiped. If you want to keep this stone
active the whole time, you don't need any armor perks.. except for
perhaps 'Agile Defender' or 'Juggernaut', depending upon what armor
you prefer to wear.
The Tower Stone

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Location: Between Dawnstar and Winterhold. (North of Hob's Fall Cave,
south-east of Yngvild, south-west of Pilgrim's Trench.)
Effect: Unlock any Expert level lock once per day.
Comments: Or.. you could just pick the lock. Seriously? This sucks.
o======================================================================o
| |
| Updates/Thanks {UPD001} |
| |
o======================================================================o
Version 1.01: Completed 2/22/2012 (240,400 bytes)
Future Plans (the inevitable Version 1.02)

o======================================================================o
This guide is as 'done' as I care to get it at the moment. It's got all
the really essential information, and being delayed three months by
school, the size of the game, my own laziness, and my desire to actually
play and beat the game before ruining it by writing about it (like I
did with New Vegas) it's just time for it to see the light of day.
That said, there are a few additions I plan to make, and will put in for
Version 1.02. First, of course, I'll get slapped around for the slew of
grammar mistakes I've made. Also, since I don't look at wiki's, I'm
sure there's some bug, glitch, or exploit I haven't found myself that
deserves notice. And yes, I'm probably just plain wrong on a few things,
and will need to revise my opinions and builds accordingly.
But what I can really say for certain is that I plan to include a few
more lists that are somewhat important to a guide such as this. First,
including a list of the obtainable 'Active Effects' would be a very
good idea, considering that I mention them frequently, especially the
'Agent of Mara' effect. I also intend to add a list of all the Shouts
in the game that I'm just to lazy to do now, as it would require an
entire playthrough to do, since I neglected to record them while I
was writing this FAQ. I also intend to expand the list of Alchemical
Ingredients to include rarer components, and add all the obtainable
suits of armor and weapons to the game-not just ones that can be
forged. At the very least, I'll add the varients that drop often, or
the faction/race specific loot like Falmer gear, Forsworn gear, etc.
Last but not least, I'll probably try and include all the Daedric
Artifacts, even though most of them aren't terribly useful.
Anyways, that's what we can all look forward to for Version 1.02.
Although I'm really working to get a slew of revisions done to many of
my other FAQs (especially Baldur's Gate 2 and Fallout 3), and I intend
to finish my Witcher FAQ before returning to Skyrim.. so no implication
of timeliness is implied with these future changes and updates..
o======================================================================o
Special Thanks to:
o=o My girlfriend, again, for playing through this game with me

and helping me out. She really should be considered a co-author
to this guide for how much she helped out. From recording the
alchemical ingredients and their properties as they were found,
to making a list of spells, and just for playing and noting
how the builds were working and what skills and perks were
worth investing in.. she did alot. More than her usual effort
of play-testing my builds and confirming and criticizing my
ideas (which she did in addition to everything else this time
around) there were instances where she was leading the build,
having had an equal time to play and for a long time, a higher
level character. I won't say that this guide wouldn't exist
without her help.. we all know I have nothing better to do,
but it's still nice to have somebody to bounce ideas off of.
o=o IssacFrost, who gave me so many great ideas in Fallout 3

and did so much work for the Fallout: New Vegas guide.. he
certainly didn't disappoint on this next Bethesda project.
He again served as a critic and contributor to the guide while
it was in its infancy, and as always, had his own ideas for
how things should be. Even though I can't seem to get my
contributors to actually follow my advice, having them there to
discuss the game helps bring my ideas into sharper focus.. and
at least we agree on how to build a character up to level 61 or
so. Mostly. Kind of. Not really.
***END OF FILE***

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Starting Skills by Race {LST002}

Active Effect: Resist Disease - Your Argonian blood is 50% resistant

Waterbreathing - Your Argonian lungs can breath

Comments: I never seem to be able to say anything good about the

Active Effect: Magic Resistance - Breton blood grants a 25% resistance

Power: Dragonskin - Absorb 50% of the magicka from hostile

Bretons are at it again, making another Elder Scrolls appearance as the

Dark Elf (Dunmer) {RAC004}

Power: Ancestor's Wrath - For 60 seconds, opponents that get

Comments: Essentially the deformed, brow-ridge heavy inversion of the

High Elf (Altmer) {RAC005}

Power: Highborn - Regenerate magicka faster for 60 seconds.

Active Effect: Imperial Luck - Anywhere gold coins might be found,

Power: Voice of the Emperor - Calms nearby people for 60

Active Effect: Claws - Khajiit claws do 15 points of damage.

Power: Night Eye - Improved night vision for 60 seconds.

Comments: My teenage hatred of the 'animal people' has long since

Power: Battle Cry - Targets flee for 30 seconds.

Orc (Orsimer) {RAC009}

Comments: Orcs look cooler than ever in Skyrim-seriously, that Orc on

Power: Adrenaline Rush - Stamina regenerates 10x faster for

Wood Elf (Bosmer) {RAC011}

Power: Command Animal - Make an animal an ally for 60 seconds.

Health, Magicka, or Stamina? {GBD003}

Level 61 Generalized Build

The Crafting Skills (24 perks) {GBD007}

Enchanting (8-10 perks)

Smithing (5-7 perks)

Offensive Skills (15 perks) {GBD008}

Defensive Skills (13 perks) {GBD009}

Light Armor (3 perks)

Expanding the Build {GBD010}

* Denotes an uncommon ingredient. These are only used for referential

In Skyrim's mashes (east of Solitude, north of and including Morthal)

Butterflies, Luna Moths, and Torchbugs all inhabit certain areas.

Note: This list does not include quest-related spells.

Note: This list does not include quest-related spells.

Therefore, for comparative purposes, I'll use my favorite Destruction

Some interesting side-notes. First, so it doesn't get me a rain of

Note: This list does not include quest-related spells.

Note: This list does not include quest-related spells.

That said, Restoration does have some interesting perks. 'Respite'

Note: This list does not include quest-related spells.

You can also level up sneak by performing sneak attacks, or by evading

There is, however, a cheat. You'll quickly notice that Persuade/Bribe/

Perks (79/80, 1 unspent)

Aleration Novice Alteration

Archery Overdraw (5/5)

Block Shield Wall (1/5)

Destruction Novice Destruction

Enchanting Enchanter (5/5)

Light Armor Agile Defender (1/5)

One Handed Armsman (5/5)

Restoration Novice Restoration

Smithing Steel Smithing

Sneak Stealth (1/5)

Alteration spells cost 29% less to cast.

Alteration spells cost 29% less to cast.

Alteration spells cost 29% less to cast.

Alteration spells cost 29% less to cast.