
It struck me the other day that I ’ ve played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim more than any other game, tied though my Steam explanation may not reflect it, given that I played it before I was evening on Steam and that I ’ ve played both the vanilla version and the special Edition on Steam. Combine the pirate copy I in the first place played in 2011 and the two legalize copies in my Steam library and you have hundreds upon hundreds of hours across multiple playthroughs. Despite it all though, I calm find myself learning newly things and exploring quests I ’ ve never done ahead.
It has given me a lot of time to master and perfect a peculiarly ferocious interpretation of a popular Skyrim build : the sneak archer. today, eight years late, I ’ thousand finally prepared to contribution that build up with you in possibly its final shape but, then again, possibly not. My ultimate furtive archer build, as presented in 2019, is based on the limited version of the game on personal computer with a entire of alone five mods that simply make the game more playable but don ’ triiodothyronine change in any solid way the gameplay mechanics or the visuals. Those mods are SkyUI, Complete Widescreen Fix, Acquisitive Soul Gems, Unread Books Glow, and Run for Your Lives. Feel complimentary to ask me about any of these mods and why I use that mod.
I ’ ve seen a assortment of sneak archer builds on the Internet over the years and none come even close to the plain devastation unleashed by own prowler sagittarius build at fabled difficulty. Give it a spin. Tell me if there is anything you think could be improved or any utilitarian exploits I might be missing to give my build the edge. Until then, I ’ megabyte pretty much convinced that this is the most obscenely overpower build you ’ re liable to find, sneak sagittarius or otherwise.
Racial Inequality
Most Skyrim fink archer guides will suggest you choose Bosmer ( aka Wood Elf ) or Khajit. Others will go the politically compensate route and suggest that race doesn ’ triiodothyronine matter at all. In Skyrim, race does matter, although possibly not equally much as some people seem to think. Bosmer and Khajit are often the default recommendations for this type of build up because they have relevant skill bonuses, with the Bosmer receive +10 to Archery and the Khajit +10 to Sneak. In truth, aside from making for a slightly smoother early plot, racial skill bonuses are meaningless.
As it happens, while the Khajit can enjoy their head start in Sneak for a shortstop time, the Bosmer bonus to Archery means nothing all because of one Wood Elf named Faendal, whom you will find at the baseball bat mill in Riverwood upon escaping Helgen. The first quest you should do as a furtive sagittarius after escaping Helgen is A Lovely Letter, which you ’ ll receive from Faendal. side with Faendal over Sven by delivering the fake letter to Camilla Valerius at the Riverwood Trader. Upon successful completion of the quest, Faendal can become a follower. Since he besides happens to be an Adept-level Archery trainer, you can pay him to train you, access his inventory, and take back the gold. I fair keep him as a follower until my Archery hits level 50.
So if race matters but racial skill bonuses don ’ triiodothyronine, what is it that makes race sol important ? Well, in the late game, racial skill bonuses will have lost all entail, but special abilities will still play a character in your build. Most races have one passive racial ability and one activated racial ability. The Bosmer, for exemplar, get Command Animal. Like its name implies, Command Animal gives the Bosmer dominate of an animal for sixty seconds, which is virtually useless. Their passive ability is a bite more utilitarian, granting 50 % disease and poison resistance. The Khajit get Night Eye, which helps them see in the dark for sixty seconds and they get Claws, which increases their wrong deal with unarmed attacks. Night Eye is a quality of life ability ( after all, any prowler sagittarius worth his or her salt should be traveling at night ). Claws is wholly useless.
Between the Altmer, Argonian s, Bosmer, Breton second, Dunmer, Imperial mho, Khajit, Nord randomness, Orsimer, and Redguard second, it can be difficult to know what to choose, but I ’ ve experimented heavily and have found two races to stand out as the best races for the fink archer build. The first race is the Orsimer ( aka Orc ) and it ’ randomness all thanks to a little something called Berserker Rage. The Orsimer, you see, don ’ t have two special abilities like the other races. The Orsimer have merely one and that ’ mho because it ’ s the strongest racial ability in the game.
Berserker Rage doubles damage for sixty seconds, which does batch with Deadly Aim, a fringe benefit that grants trio price from sneak attacks with bows. That means six times the damage conduct with this ability activated. I do love overkill.
The second raceway of choice—and my personal preference—is Breton. Bretons ’ racial special passive ability gives them +25 % resistance to magic, making for a more defensively-focused fink archer build. Since you ’ re going to have a short ton of armor and most mêlée targets will go down before they can arrive at your localization, charming is one of the few threats, so having an supernumerary 25 % underground is madly brawny, particularly combined with Agent of Mara for +40 % resistance in entire. Forget everything you ’ ve hear about Bosmer and Khajit. Orsimer and Breton are where it ’ s at, though, if pressed, I would have to say that Breton is best overall.
Sex
Something no one ever talks about with character creation is sex. You can choose male or female and there is actually a compelling reason to choose a female quality for this build. Upon successful completion of The Heart of Dibella for the Temple of Dibella in Markarth, you will gain the Agent of Dibella passive ability that grants +10 % price to members of the opposite sex. well, as it happens, most enemies in Skyrim that have a sex are male. Getting a permanent +10 % wrong yellowish brown is huge, indeed faith me and do as I say : choose female. As a side note, The Heart of Dibella is besides the quest you ’ ll motivation to do to gain access to the Master-level Enchanting flight simulator in the base game : Hamal.
Attributes
You will get to a point in Skyrim where attributes are pretty meaningless. You ’ ll have an endless provision of stamina and adequate health to stare down a compact of Legendary Dragon s. still, I don ’ thyroxine like to be uneconomical. That ’ south why I ’ megabyte going to recommend you don ’ thymine invest any points into magicka. In former iterations of this build, I spent three levels on magicka in order to be able to use the Muffle spell in the early and mid crippled, but you will finally get a pair of boots that wholly muffles your movement noise, rendering the spell version disused and leaving you with three waste levels of magicka that could have gone into health or stamina. Just bad it out for the early on game. You ’ ll acquire access to the Dark Brotherhood gearing angstrom soon as you join and the boots will give you a muffle effect, albeit a weaker one than the while. Wait until your quality reaches flush 32 before beginning Trinity Restored. This will guarantee you get the absolute best personification of the Nightingale Armor, which most notably includes the Nightingale Boots. These boots, acquired at degree 32 or later, provide a 100 % Muffle impression. Always keep an eye out for the captivation itself, as it ’ second quite rare and provides the full moon Muffle effect when applied using Enchanting.
For health and stamina, I like to just distribute points evenly between them to make things dim-witted. Is this optimum ? probably not, but it works. I do, however, recommend leaning a morsel more into health in the early plot so you won ’ thymine get your american samoa kicked. Stamina, it ’ second worth note, besides increases your carrying capacitance by five points per level.
Reading: Skyrim Ultimate Sneak Archer Guide
Perks
Race, sex, and attributes topic, but perks are what make and break a construct. It ’ south imperative to choose the right perk up and choose them at the right time. Believe it or not, you will have to fight in this game, so you should always focus on your fight skills first. In the case of the fink archer, this means Archery, Sneak, and Light Armor. In that order. once your progression in these trees starts to slow down, you can start putting points into the trees you ’ ll be using to improve your gear. These include Smithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy. In that order.
Alteration, Block, Conjuration, Destruction, Heavy Armor, Illusion, One-Handed, Restoration, and two-handed can all be disregarded wholly, though you ’ ll obviously gain some points in these skills from skill script sulfur. Lockpicking and Pickpocket both play a role in, honestly, any full build and build up those trees up is important, but don ’ t consume any perk up points on them. Lockpicking is rendered disused by the acquisition of the Skeleton Key. Pickpocket is precisely a matter of learning to abuse immediate saves, but it can besides be a dangerous way to level up promptly while not making your character any more viable in increasingly unmanageable fight situations, sol level this matchless with caution in the early and mid bet on. last, Speech has some tempt perks, but don ’ t touch any of them until you ’ ve acquired all fifty-nine of the essential perk up I ’ m about to list for you. Speech perks are strictly quality of animation, the red on top, in the über -late game and they ’ re quite optional.
Archery, Sneak, Light Armor, Smithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy are the core skill trees of the pilfer archer build. Let ’ s hash out each individually.
ARCHERY (15)
- Overdraw (5)
- Eagle Eye
- Critical Shot (3)
- Steady Hand (2)
- Power Shot
- Hunter’s Discipline
- Ranger
- Quick Shot
The first gear and most important skill tree is going to be Archery. Like I said, you will have to actually fight in this game, indeed Archery, being your basal battle skill, is vital. This is a skill tree you will want to about completely soap out, which is to say you will want to invest in every perk up in the tree except for Bullseye. Whenever a newfangled perk up opens up in the Archery tree, that is, more frequently than not, the fringe benefit you should be prioritizing ( again, excluding Bullseye ).
Don ’ t forget to use the aforesaid Faendal overwork to level Archery up to 50 at the very originate of the game. When you Archery skill reaches 90, I recommend completing the Composure, Speed, and Precision bay, which you can do at Angi ’ mho Camp in the Jerall Mountains south of Falkreath. Completing this overlooked quest will bequeath you six skill levels in Archery for a couple minutes of your fourth dimension. The rationality I recommend waiting until Archery flat 90 or therefore is because skills become increasingly difficult to level, so you ’ ll get the most out of Composure, Speed, and Precision by having a bite of patience. 90 is besides a dependable numeral because you can nobelium long gain skill points from trainers upon reaching level 90 in a skill tree.
SNEAK (7)
- Stealth (5)
- Backstab
- Deadly Aim
The build is called the sneak sagittarius, so it should come as no surprise to anyone that Archery and Sneak will be the most cardinal skill trees, with Sneak coming in second to Archery. In order to land those fat critical hits though, it ’ mho important to remain undetected. You do not need every fringe benefit in this tree ; in fact, there are merely two essential perks in the Sneak corner, with Backstab merely being a prerequisite for Deadly Aim.
There are two perks in the Sneak tree that should be your top priority when they become available. The first is the identical first sharpen you ’ ll be putting into Stealth. subsequent points lone make you +5 % more difficult to detect, but the beginning makes you +20 % more unmanageable to detect. The second high precedence fringe benefit in the Sneak corner is deadly Aim. As a sneak archer, Deadly Aim is your bread and butter, specially for Orsimer sneak archers who can pump out six times the damage with Berserker Rage.
To level Sneak up, just use it. Sneak anywhere and everywhere you go until Sneak reaches 100.
LIGHT ARMOR (10)
- Agile Defender (5)
- Custom Fit
- Unhindered
- Wind Walker
- Matching Set *
- Deft Movement
alight Armor is a difficult tree to master with the slip archer build up because the manner to gain points in Light Armor is to get hit. fink archers don ’ thymine get hit very a lot. In the early game, one of the best ways to gain a few points in Light Armor is to brawl. Don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate attempt to rush Light Armor in the early game though. It ’ sulfur just a precaution for when you do have to take a warhammer to the face from clock to clock time, though you ’ ll be getting hit less and less as you progress through the build up, particularly if you start using the Paralyze enchantment on your bow, which I do not recommend because it makes it unmanageable to finish your opponents off when they fall into a horizontal status, making them a challenging target at range. This is the same reason I do not get Bullseye in the Archery tree.
Compared to Heavy Armor, Light Armor is the way to go because it allows for quiet pilfer, slows the wearer less, it weighs less, and because Skyrim has a utmost armor capital, meaning light armor will finally offer good arsenic much auspices as big armor in the late game.
With the Light Armor tree, feel complimentary to get every fringe benefit as they become available. Matching Set is the only one I ’ five hundred hold off on until you actually have a match set up of preferably dragonscale armor. I tend to barely use the Nightingale Boots until I can last find an token I can actually disenchant that possesses the rare Muffle enchantment.
SMITHING (6)
- Steel Smithing
- Elven Smithing
- Advanced Armors
- Arcane Blacksmith
- Glass Smithing
- Dragon Armor
ultimately, your goal with Smithing is to have a fabled set of dragonscale armor and a legendary dragonbone bow, but, for the early and mid game, you ’ re going to be relying chiefly on leather armor, elven armor, scaled armor, and methamphetamine armor, so you ’ re going to want to work your direction up the Light Armor side of the Smithing tree. Prioritize Smithing perks over Enchanting perks since Smithing levels up substantially slower than Enchanting and there ’ s no reason to bother wasting good soul gem sulfur on hide and leather armor.
I powerfully recommend completing Unfathomable Depths early on in your playthrough. The reinforce for completing Unfathomable Depths is Ancient Knowledge, which includes a +15 % bonus to how promptly you learn Smithing. I find the best ways to level up Smithing once I ’ ve completed Unfathomable Depths is to craft massive numbers of iron dagger s, which can subsequently be used to build up your Enchanting skill ; craft jewelry ; and craft arrows. As an archer, you ’ ll need arrows, so this is a big way to kill two birds with one stone. There is no better direction to get large quantities of high gear quality arrows ( for example, glass arrow randomness ) than by manufacturing them yourself, which we ’ ll hash out more subsequently.
ENCHANTING (11)
- Enchanter (5)
- Soul Squeezer
- Fire Enchanter
- Soul Siphon
- Insightful Enchanter
- Corpus Enchanter
- Extra Effect
Assuming you have the Acquisitve Soul Gems mod, which any reasonable person should because the game is near unplayable without it, enchanting is the best skill tree in Skyrim. Whatever your build, Enchanting will make it better. While Enchanting won ’ triiodothyronine be your focus in the early game, it will be the cornerstone of the sneak sagittarius human body in the mid and deep game. Paired with Smithing and Alchemy, you will be able to craft enchanted weapons, armor, and jewelry that will render you virtually invincible. This is called power craft, which we ’ ll discus more late.
Begin your Enchanting career by completing the The Black Star arsenic soon as possible. Toward the end of the quest, you ’ ll have the choice of siding with Aranea or siding with Nelacar. If you side with Aranea, you ’ ll get Azura ’ randomness Star, which is good, but the reward for siding with Nelacar, the Black Star, is far greater. The Black Star is the all-important tool for any aspirant enchanter. Soul gems are well for a individual use, but the Black Star can be filled and refilled ad infinitum, assuming you have already learnt the Soul Trap or Fiery Soul Trap enchantment.
Enchanters should focus more of their request on Dwemer ruins, where you ’ ll find a wealth of soul gems of all sizes by looting the Animunculi you ’ ll run into therein. Visit colossus camps throughout Skyrim with a ( Fiery ) Soul Trap bow to collect grand souls from gigantic s and greater souls from the giant sulfur themselves. I use grand person gems and black soul gems for my good enchanting while greater soul gems, common soul gems, lesser person gems, and petty soul gems are all used to enchant iron daggers for level purposes. I use my Black Star for unplayful enchanting besides, but, because it ’ s so easy to refill, I chiefly use it for recharging my capture bows, which I powerfully recommend you enchant with Fiery Soul Trap.
Level up enchanting by first crafting iron daggers and then enchanting them with Banish. banish gives the enchanted weapons a high monetary value, so you can then make some money back by selling your wares. Use the Paralyze enchantment as an alternative if you don ’ t have banish yet. Using the Black Star, you can besides recharge your weapon, refill the Black Star, recharge your weapon again, and therefore away. You gain some Enchanting experience each time you use the Black Star ( or Azura ’ s Star ) to recharge your enchanted weapon.
There are several enchantments to watch out for as you explore Skyrim, including Banish, Fiery Soul Trap, Fire Damage, Fortify Alchemy, Fortify Archery, Fortify Light Armor, Fortify Smithing, Muffle, Resist Magic, and Waterbreathing. Find items with these enchantments and rush them to an Arcane Enchanter to be disenchanted, thus teaching you the enchantment. If you must, purchase these items from a seller. Soul Trap is coarse, but you can only get Fiery Soul Trap by disenchanting the Steel Battleaxe of Fiery Souls found in Ironbind Barrow, so put that on your precedence list, as Fiery Soul Trap provides more charges than the standard Soul Trap and besides adds a bit of bonus arouse damage. For bows, Fiery Soul Trap is my enchantment of choice, but, of course, you ’ ll have the option of adding a second base enchantment to your items once you max out Enchanting and get the Extra Effect perk up. Fire Damage has big synergy with Fiery Soul Trap.
For my main set of gear ( i.e., excluding my dedicate smithing/alchemy gear used for power-crafting ), these are what I use :
Bow: Fiery Soul Trap + Fire Damage
Headgear: Fortify Archery + Waterbreathing
Cuirass: Fortify Light Armor
Boots: Muffle
Gauntlets: Fortify Archery
Ring: Fortify Archery + Resist Magic
Amulet: Fortify Archery + Resist Magic
For cuirasses, boots, and gauntlets, there is some flexibility with what to select as your second enchantment with Extra Effect.
ALCHEMY (7)
- Alchemist (5)
- Physician
- Benefactor
The primary determination of Alchemy in the furtive archer build is to produce potent potions to fortify Enchanting or Smithing. I don ’ triiodothyronine recommend doing much with Alchemy until the late game, but what I do recommend is beginning to collect Alchemy ingredients from the very begin of the game. Purchase Honeyside in Riften adenine soon as possible and use one of the containers for Alchemy memory until such prison term as you reach the recently game. By then, you ’ ll have a wealth of Alchemy ingredients.
Most containers in the game will reset, erasing all the contents within, so having a house is authoritative, but, if you can not afford a house and your inventory begins to fill, go to the Abandoned House in Markarth. The containers in the Abandoned House do not reset, so they can be used for storage until such time as you can afford a proper theater. Since Breezehome in Whiterun can not accommodate an Arcane Enchanter and because the Thieves Guild is located in Riften, I prefer Honeyside as a starting house. I use the wardrobe in the basement for Alchemy repositing. Honeyside can be purchased after completing The Raid and Supply and Demand. It ’ s not the most expensive house in the game, but it ’ s the most pragmatic sanction and the closest to my heart. At least until you start building and customizing your own home plate with the Hearthfire accessory, at which point the other homes in the base game become disused.
Altogether, these encompass fifty-nine points, leaving you with twenty-one perk up points before hitting the old level cap of 81 ( we will not be discussing fabled Skills here ). The remaining twenty dollar bill perk up points can be spent on respective quality of life perks, such as those in the Speech tree. If you find you ’ ra running perilously depleted on perks from the six kernel skill trees, feel dislodge to see a skill flight simulator to build up one of those trees and frankincense guide the development of your build. Just make sure you have a in full furnished house before you start spending mint on prepare.
Standing Stones
person in the comments asked about the Standing Stones and I was derelict not to discuss them here. Standing Stones exist in Skyrim as a intend of granting your character extra benefits, but you can lone benefit from one standing stone at a time. For the sneak sagittarius, there are two Standing Stones worth visiting. The first is the Thief Stone you ’ ll bump into good after fleeing Helgen, assuming you follow the path with either Hadvar or Ralof to Riverwood, which you should. There are actually three Standing Stones at the defender Stones : the Warrior Stone, the Mage Stone, and the aforesaid Thief Stone. Throughout the lie of Skyrim, Archery is considered a warrior skill, but, in this special exception, Archery falls under the Thief Stone, as does Sneak, Light Armor, and a host of other useful skills. As such, you ’ ll want to choose the Thief Stone at least until such time as you have maxed out your archery and Sneak skills, as the Thief Stone grants a +20 % addition to the accelerate at which your quality learns the Archery, Alchemy, Light Armor, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, Sneak, and Speech skills.
Once Archery and Sneak are mastered, it ’ south time to consider switching to a new Standing Stone. I encourage you to choose the Steed Stone, which you ’ ll find northwest of Solitude and north of the Statue or Meridia. The Steed Stone offers some capital quality of liveliness perks to the furtive archer, including an extra hundred carrying capacity in summation to removing the campaign punishment from armor and making armor weightless when equipped. This is a bite excess with the Unhindered perk up in the Light Armor skill tree, but Unhindered remains a prerequisite for the Wind Walker perk that grants 50 % faster stamina positive feedback when wearing all light armor. Wind Walker, aboard Matching Set, is besides a stepping gem toward the Deft Movement fringe benefit at the top of the Light Armor skill tree.
With the Steed Stone, those who do not wish to invest heavily into Light Armor for one reason or another could opt to good dump five points into Agile Defender, a point into Custom Fit, and be done with it, saving oneself four fringe benefit points for some other use. There are surely arguments to be made for this access.
Vendor Exploit
Some enchantments can be difficult to find. Sometimes you fair need a detail character of crafting material and can not be bothered to spend an indefinite sum of time seeking it out in Skyrim ‘ s huge open global. This is when the seller exploit becomes key. deplorably, I didn ’ metric ton know about it myself until I had already sink hundreds of hours into the game.
Vendors ’ inventories only refresh once every few days. I don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate know the demand period of time, but it takes awhile. On one hand, you could equitable travel all around Skyrim and visiting all the vendors. On the early, that sucks, so this is what you do. Save your game. Attack the seller. You don ’ t need to kill him or her. I normally good fire a single shot from my bow, which, depending how far along I am in the game, will either injure or kill them. then reload your save. Speak to the seller again and they should have a refresh inventory. Keep doing this until you find what you ’ re looking for. I recommend using quick save ( F5 ) and immediate load ( F9 ) here to save yourself some time.
Arrows
There is no dearth of arrows across Skyrim, but you don ’ thyroxine want to be stuck using iron arrows, Falmer arrows, or Forsworn arrows everlastingly because the type of arrows you use will effect your overall damage end product. sol where do you get quality arrows and do then without breaking the bank buying them from vendors like a sucker ? Well, you can find certain types of arrows in specific locations, such as the Ancient Nord Arrows you ’ ll be able to loot from the Draugr in Nordic grave and those are, in fact, a slight ascent from the cast-iron arrows with which you ’ ll begin, but that ’ s good a drop in the bucket. You ’ re going to need a draw more arrows than that, specially if you don ’ thyroxine yet have the Hunter ’ south Discipline perk up.
There are two solutions. One primitive solution that I use quite a bite in the early game is Pickpocket. You can pickpocket bombastic quantities of steel arrows from guards in every major village in Skyrim. equitable be careful not to raise your Pickpocket skill excessively much besides early or you ’ ll find yourself getting owned by Skeever randomness in the early game. The veridical and proper solution to arrows, however, is a pick and a woodcutter ’ randomness axe. now, this solution does require that you have the Dawnguard accessory, but I ’ vitamin d venture to say the huge majority of people who own/play Skyrim in 2019 have all the add-ons.
For those who have the Dawnguard addition, grab a pick and a woodcutter ’ s ax a early as you can and just keep them in your stock at all times. This is going to eat up 20 weight in your inventory, but it ’ sulfur well worth it. As you explore Skyrim, you ’ ll be able to mine ore veins using the pick, which does not need to be equipped to be used. Whenever you see an iron ore vein, a corundom ore vein, a moonstone ore vein, or a malachite ore vein, mine it. Take all that ore to a smelter that you ’ ll often find outside mines or near blacksmiths and smelt it into ingots. You can not mine sword. There is no such thing as steel ore. To make steel ingot second, you ’ ll need to combine iron ore and corundom ore. While amber ore, argent ore, and mercury ore are not used to craft arrows, I tend to mine those as well for other types of craft. Gold ingot mho and flatware ingot south, for exercise, are used in jewelry craft, which is besides a big room to build up your Smithing skill while making some money in the process.
There are two ingredients needed when crafting arrows. One is the ingots. The other is firewood. Firewood is barren. Just find a wood chopping pulley in one of the settlements or at a log mill, click on it, and your woodcutter ’ s ax will magically equip itself. Each school term yields six pieces of firewood. Each ingot and patch of firewood taken to a fashion or incus will yield twenty-four arrows, or 144 arrows per woodcutting seance. In kernel, each nibble or ore will yield twelve arrows. Iron ingots will yield iron arrows, steel ingots sword arrows, moonstone ingots elven arrow sulfur, and malachite ingots looking glass arrows. Dragonbone arrows, the best arrows in the game, can besides be crafted, but, rather of ingots, they require dragon cram, which can be harvested, naturally, from slain dragons without any need for the pick.
Iron arrows can be crafted a soon as you have some cast-iron ingots and firewood. To craft steel arrows, you first require Steel Smithing. To craft elven arrows, you first require Elven Smithing ( available at Smithing level 30 ). To craft glass arrows, you beginning require Glass Smithing ( available at Smithing level 70 ). To craft dragonbone arrows, you first gear require the Dragon Armor fringe benefit ( available at Smithing level 100 ).
As a side notice, some people, tied if they ’ ra not investing into the Heavy Armor tree, like to get Dwarven Smithing in order to craft Dwarven arrow s. This is because Dwarven metallic element ingot second are highly coarse in Dwemer ruins and because they can be easily crafted by smelting a wide diverseness of Dwarven items, including bend Dwemer scrap metallic, large Dwemer plate metal, little Dwemer plate alloy, solid Dwemer alloy, big Dwemer tittup s, and large cosmetic Dwemer strut s. This is a identical fast means to both level up Smithing and to get a overabundance of properly arrows. personally though, I don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate do this because my sights are always set on the late game, when I don ’ thymine want to be stuck with Dwarven arrows and a fringe benefit I never use anymore. still, it ’ s a apt estimate.
Power Crafting
I play on legendary difficulty or I at least gradually switch to legendary difficulty as I progress through the game. The reason I am able to plow through fabled difficulty with nary a boodle to show for it is baron crafting. This is a term I am using to describe a means to craft lewdly overpower gear in Skyrim. It requires three skill trees : Smithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy. Smithing can drastically increase the damage distribute by your weapons and the armor provided by your apparel by bringing your weapons to a grindstone and your apparel to a workbench. The higher your Smithing skill, the greater the improvement to your gear.
now, what if there was a way that you could artificially boost your Smithing skill ? well, as it happens, there is. The foremost way is to enchant your cuirass, gauntlets, ring, and amulet with Fortify Smithing. The second is to use Alchemy to craft potions with the Fortify Smithing effect. The higher your Enchanting skill, the more effective your enchantments will be, so what if you could besides fortify Enchanting ? There is no enchantment for that, but, in accession to Fortify Smithing, Fortify Enchanting potions can besides be crafted using Alchemy. Well, what about Alchemy ? Is there any way to boost Alchemy ? There ’ s an captivation for that.
Initially, I leave Alchemy out of the desegregate. once I ’ ve started investing points in Alchemy perks, I know I ’ thousand in the late game. For the mid game, I focus on Smithing and Enchanting and follow these steps :
- Find a Fortify Enchanting potion in the wild or use the aforementioned vendor exploit to purchase one
- Use the Fortify Enchanting potion at an Arcane Enchanter
- Enchant a cuirass, gauntlets, an amulet, and a ring with Fortify Smithing
- Craft or find the gear you wish to enhance with Smithing
- Find a Fortify Smithing potion in the wild or use the aforementioned vendor exploit to purchase one
- Go to an area with a grindstone and workbench
- Use the Fortify Smithing potion
- Upgrade your gear (already enchanted gear can only be upgraded with the Arcane Blacksmith perk)
- Equip your newly upgraded gear
- Put your crafting gear away in your house so it doesn’t weigh you down when not in use
Things get a bit more complex when you begin producing your own potions. At that target, you ’ ll want to have maxed out the Enchanting corner to get the Extra Effect fringe benefit in club to then be able to craft a bent of gear that will be able to fortify both Smithing and Alchemy. Unlike Fortify Smithing, Fortify Alchemy can not be applied to a cuirass, but, besides unlike Fortify Smithing, it can be applied to headgear. This is crucial because there ’ s a little exploit that can further enhance your Alchemy art.
As it happens, there is a way to wear two pieces of headdress simultaneously to double the fortification to your Alchemy skill. specifically, you will require a circlet and you will require a Falmer helmet that you ’ ll find in abundance by exploring assorted Dwemer ruins. This will not work with the Falmer fleshy helm. It must be the criterion Falmer helmet. Falmer gear, by the way, can be improved at the workbench with Chaurus chitin ( requires Advanced Armors ), but you ’ ll alone be wearing the Falmer helmet in town.
With the circlet and Falmer helmet jazz band in addition to the pillow of your Fortify Alchemy gear, you ’ ll be able to craft some seriously effective Fortify Enchanting and Fortify Smithing potions. Using these potions, you can then enchant even better crafting gear, which can then be used to craft even more effective potions, and then forth ad infinitum. In the end, you ’ ll have madly overpowered craft gearing and madly overpowered Fortify Smithing potions that can be used to craft the ultimate hardening of dragonscale armor and the ultimate dragonbone bow. You can then bring your ultimate gearing to an Arcane Enchanter, guzzle a herculean Fortify Enchanting potion, and apply all the commend enchantments I mentioned previously ( e.g., Fiery Soul Trap, Fortify Archery, and therefore on ).
Power craft is the most fracture thing in the game and I do not hesitate to capitalize on that. Just remember that already enchanted gearing can only be upgraded at a workbench or grindstone if you have the Arcane Blacksmith perk up. In the early crippled, it ’ s best to upgrade your gear before taking said gear to an Arcane Enchanter.
Horsing Around
Some may be tempted to travel around Skyrim on horse back. I recommend that you basically never use horses, flush though the Dark Brotherhood will grant you Shadowmere upon completing The Cure for Madness. As a sneak-based physique, horses are fair a bad idea. You can ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate furtive while on hogback, so your localization will be given away. Dismounting takes constantly, so you ’ re liable to endure some damage. Moving around on horseback besides prevents you from gathering Alchemy ingredients, which you should be doing at all times. The one and merely advantage a sawhorse gives you is that horses can climb steeper slopes. I won ’ t even give them speed as an advantage because that ’ s what fast travel is for.
Questing
nothing beats a blind playthrough of Skyrim, but, once you ’ ve done that, you want to start finding ways to optimize your questing so it provides the greatest benefit to your build and you can reap those benefits for a long, long time. That ’ sulfur why it ’ sulfur important to have a loose plan as to which quests you ’ ll prosecute first gear. I ’ m not there to tell you a accurate orderliness in which to complete quests, but what I will do is what I ’ ve already done to some extent and hint which quests and questlines you ought to prioritize. For example, a quest that rewards you by granting you a skill point in Block or Alteration doesn ’ t very serve much aim for a pilfer archer. I ’ d still do it because it is, after all, a game, but I wouldn ’ thyroxine put it on my list.
hera are the quests you should do sooner preferably than former :
Jorrvaskr and the Elven Bow
After completing Unbound and A Lovely Letter, it is imperative that you quickly make your room to Whiterun. Seek out Jorrvaskr, mead hall of the Companions. Do this before any promote quest. In the lower floor of Jorrvaskr, find Aela ‘ mho bedroom. Within her bedroom, you will find a lock display case containing an Archery skill book and an elven bow. The elven bow makes for an incredible start bow. By this point, you should have at least three or four lockpick sulfur in your inventory. This should be an Expert-level lock, so it could be a crafty one at this tied. equitable be certain to pop a save before trying.
Skeleton Key Conundrum
I ’ ve mentioned the Skeleton Key briefly. The Skeleton Key is one of the most valuable pursuit rewards in the crippled. No, you don ’ t need it. Lockpicks are common and Lockpicking becomes easy as your skill maxes out. It ’ s a quality of life thing to never have to deal with break lockpicks again. The problem with the Skeleton Key, which you ’ ll receive upon completing the tenth Thieves Guild quest, Blindsighted, is that it ’ s a better reward than the reward for completing the remainder of the Thieves Guild questline. You see, the subsequent quest, Darkness Returns, forces you to return the Skeleton Key to Ebonmere in the Twilight Sepulcher in central for one of three special Nightingale powers, all three of which are inferior to merely keeping the Skeleton Key by not bothering to complete the Thieves Guild questline. This is what I recommend you do until you ’ ve literally completed every early pursuit in the game .
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