Skills

The art of combining raw ingredients with matching effects to produce potions and poisons.

Successfully brewing potions or poisons, eating a raw ingredient and learning a new effect

• A Game at Dinner
• De Rerum Dirennis
• Herbalist's Guide to Skyrim
• Mannimarco, King of Worms
• Song of the Alchemists

Enchantments

• Snakeblood
• Alchemy 100

Sinderion's Serendipity

(25% chance to duplicate any potion created with the Alchemy skill)

This ability is a reward for completing the "A Return To Your Roots" quest, which is triggered either when you collect your first Crimson Nirnroot in Blackreach, or when you read Sinderion's Field Journal, also found in Blackreach.

Blackreach can only be accessed by way of the appropriate quest:
• "Elder Knowledge", part of the main questline.
• "Discerning the Transmundane", given by Septimus Signus who can be found in Septimus Signus' Outpost, an ice cave north of Winterhold.

This ability is incredibly useful, permanently giving you a decent chance to make duplicate potions. This will prove to be very healthy for both your gold balance and your supply of healing potions and poisons.

With Giant's Toe (more valuable)
• Giant's Toe + Bear Claws + Hanging Moss
• Giant's Toe + Creep Cluster + Wheat
• Giant's Toe + Blue Butterfly Wing + Blue Mountain Flower
• Giant's Toe + Wheat + Scaly Pholiota
• Giant's Toe + Wheat + Wisp Wrappings

Without Giant's Toe (easier to find ingredients)
• Chaurus Eggs + Garlic + Vampire Dust
• Chaurus Eggs + Luna Moth Wing + Vampire Dust
• Chaurus Eggs + Luna Moth Wing + Namira's Rot
• Deathbell + Dwarven Oil + Salt Pile
• Creep Cluster + Mora Tapinella + Scaly Pholiota

Ring of Pure Mixtures

Ring with Fortify Alchemy +12%

(Can be disenchanted to learn the enchantment)

Travel to Dawnstar and talk to Frida inside The Mortar and Pestle, the local alchemy shop. Complete the quest she offers, and then either purchase or pickpocket the ring from her after you hand it over and complete the quest.

If you plan to purchase the ring, the most it can cost is 1,011 gold with a Speech skill of 0.

Disenchanting this ring will let you create your own Fortify Alchemy equipment - Eligible items for this enchantment are those that can be equipped on your head, hands, necklace, and ring slots.

Note that you cannot disenchant the ring while the quest is not yet completed, because it counts as a quest item.

Alchemy and Enchanting synergize well with each other. Once you can make Fortify Enchanting potions that are more powerful than found/bought ones, you can drink one and then create a full set of Fortify Alchemy gear while still under its influence. Then, while wearing that set, you can make Fortify Enchanting potions that are more powerful than those you can normally make. You can then drink the improved Fortify Enchanting potions to make even better Fortify Alchemy gear, and so on.

If your character is a Vampire, you can also take the Restoration perk Necromage, which will significantly boost the buffs your own potions give you, speeding up and enhancing this process.

The School of Alteration focuses on the manipulation of the physical world, and is used to cast spells like Waterbreathing, Magical Armor and Magelight. It is primarily a defensive school or a quality of life enhancer until higher skill levels.

Casting self-targeting Alteration spells in the right conditions (ie. standing in / submerged in water when casting Waterbreathing), successfully hitting other beings with projectile Alteration spells

• Breathing Water
• Bravil: Daughter of the Niben
• Reality and Other Falsehoods
• Sithis
• The Lunar Lorkhan

Potions

Archmage's Robes

• All spells cost 15% less to cast
• Fortify magicka 50
• Fortify magicka regeneration 100%

The Archmage's robes are rewarded to the player after completing the quest "The Eye of Magnus" in the College of Winterhold questline, and are very useful for characters that like to spread across multiple magic schools and make use of the Mage Armour Alteration perk.

Characters with very high Enchanting and Alchemy skill who do not fancy the Mage Armour Alteration perk may instead prefer to enchant various pieces of armour with enchantments relative to their chosen magic school(s), as this allows you to enjoy the benefits of armour while still being able to efficiently spread across multiple schools.

Archery governs your character's skill and lethality with bows and crossbows.

Scoring a damaging hit on another being using a bow or crossbow

• Vernaccus and Bourlor
• The Black Arrow, v2
• The Gold Ribbon of Merit
• The Marksmanship Lesson
• Father of the Niben

Potions

Enchantments

Nightingale Bow

Levelled bow

Improved with ebony ingots

Does frost damage and shock damage to target

The Nightingale Bow is rewarded to the player upon completion of the "Blindsighted" quest, which is part of the Thieves Guild questline.

This bow is scaled to the player upon receiving it, which means the higher level you are when you collect it, the more base damage, elemental damage, weight, and value it has. At character level 46+, it caps out at 19 base damage, 18 weight, 3700 base value, freezes the target for 30 points, and shocks the target for 15 points. This makes it a very powerful bow.

Zephyr

Bow, base damage 14

Improved with Dwarven metal ingots

Fires 30% faster than a normal bow

(Dawnguard DLC only)

Zephyr is found during the course of the quest "Lost To The Ages", which is triggered by reading the book "The Aetherium Wars", or entering the Dwarven ruin Arkngthamz, far to the southeast of Markarth (it appears on your map if you read "The Aetherium Wars").

At one point in Arkngthamz, after meeting with Katria and clearing your way through the ruin for a while, you'll come across a large tree log jutting out across a chasm and Katria will remark that it's the location where she fell to her death - you can see it if you look up from where you find her corpse. Carefully walking along the log will allow you to retrieve the bow. You cannot retrieve Zephyr from a distance using telekinesis.

Zephyr has the highest damage per second of any bow in the game, but achieves this by chewing through arrows at a fast rate and not by having the highest damage per shot. Because of this, it is less effective as a Sneak-based sniping weapon than the higher base damage bows. Given that playing as a stealth-based character is a very attractive and powerful play style when coupled with Archery, it is unlikely to be the best weapon you can find. Still, if you shun the stealth play style, or just want to be able to unload lots of arrows in the shortest possible time, Zephyr is a great option.

The Shrouded Cowl is part of the Shrouded Armour set associated with the Dark Brotherhood. You can acquire it in several ways, but the following are the most easily accessible and all begin with visiting the house of Aventus Aretino in Windhelm, and completing the quest "Innocence Lost" given to you by him.

You'll then be ushered into the quest "With Friends Like These..." which will give you the choice of either killing one of three captives, or turning on Astrid and killing her instead. If you kill one of the captives and join the Dark Brotherhood, you'll find a full set of the Shrouded Armour in the Dark Sanctuary. If you kill Astrid, you'll begin the quest "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!" and will find the armour set on the bodies of defeated members of the Dark Brotherhood.

A reasonable upgrade to the Shrouded Cowl, you receive the Ancient Shrouded Cowl as a reward upon completion of the "Locate The Assassin Of Old" sidequest. This quest is given to you by Olava the Feeble and can only be accepted if you completed the bonus objective of the "Breaching Security" quest in the Dark Brotherhood questline.

Block represents a character's ability to mitigate damage from enemy attacks with a shield or a weapon, and aids in reducing stagger from such attacks.

Successfully blocking an enemy attack, or successfully landing a shield bash on another being

• A Dance in Fire, v2
• The Battle of Red Mountain
• Death Blow of Abernanit
• The Mirror
• Warrior

Damage reduction benefits are capped at Fortify Block 80%. Fortifying Block past 80% has no further benefit.

Potions

Shield of Solitude

Shield, base armour 26

Unable to be improved

Increases magic resistance by up to 30%

Fortifies Blocking skill by up to 35 points

The Shield of Solitude is rewarded for completing the quest "The Wolf Queen Awakened". You can only start this quest after completing the quest "The Man Who Cried Wolf", received from Falk Firebeard in the Blue Palace in Solitude. After you complete "The Man Who Cried Wolf", and after you level up since completing it, you'll be visited by a courier who will deliver a letter from Falk Firebeard asking you to come and speak with him again. Doing so will begin the quest "The Wolf Queen Awakened".

The Shield of Solitude is scaled to your character level when you receive it. It begins as a shield that provides 26 base armour, 10% magic resistance, and 15 points to Fortify Block, but caps out at level 40+ as a shield with 32 base armour, 30% magic resistance, and 35 points to Fortify Block.

Despite being a unique item, it can be disenchanted to learn the resist magic and fortify Block enchantments. Furthermore, the resist magic enchantment learned from disenchanting the Shield of Solitude is more powerful than a standard resist magic enchantment, and can be stacked with the standard one by using the Extra Effect Enchanting perk in order to make extremely powerful resist magic items.

Spellbreaker

Shield, base armour 38

Improved with Dwarven metal ingots.

While blocking, creates a ward that protects against spells up to 50 points

Spellbreaker is a shield that is given to you as a reward for completing the quest "The Only Cure", given to you by Kesh the Clean at character level 12 and onward. Alternatively, you can receive it through a random encounter with the Afflicted, which can trigger from level 10 and onward. As these encounters are random and unreliable, the best way is generally by receiving it from Kesh despite the higher level requirement.

Kesh can be found at the Shrine to Peryite, which is near Dragontooth Crater, far to the northeast of Markarth.

Spellbreaker is useful when fighting dragons, as the ward it generates completely blocks their breath attacks. It has good synergy with the Elemental Protection perk in the Block tree, since the perk halves the damage from any incoming spell and Spellbreaker's ward generally absorbs the rest, making most spell-casting foes useless against you.

It also synergizes with the Restoration perk Ward Absorb, allowing you to regain magicka when blocking enemy spells.

Fortify Block Potion

Created using Alchemy with any combination of the following ingredients:

• Bleeding Crown
• Boar Tusk (Dragonborn DLC only)
• Briar Heart
• Honeycomb
• Pearl
• Slaughterfish Scales
• Tundra Cotton

The School of Conjuration is used to raise the dead, summon creatures from one of the planes of Oblivion, and soul trap opponents killed in combat. Conjurers can also bind magical weapons to themselves and banish other summoned creatures to Oblivion.

Summoning a creature while being detected by enemies, successfully banishing a valid target (including your own summons), casting a bound item spell in combat, having your summoned creatures successfully damage a target, casting Soul Trap on a valid target

• 2920, vol 09 - Hearth Fire
• 2920, vol 10 - Frostfall
• Liminal Bridges
• The Doors of Oblivion
• The Warrior's Charge

Potions

• Elemental Potency
-OR- Dark Souls
• Conjuration 100

Archmage's Robes

• All spells cost 15% less to cast
• Fortify magicka 50
• Fortify magicka regeneration 100%

The Archmage's robes are rewarded to the player after completing the quest "The Eye of Magnus" in the College of Winterhold questline, and are very useful for characters that like to spread across multiple magic schools and make use of the Mage Armour Alteration perk.

Characters with very high Enchanting and Alchemy skill who do not fancy the Mage Armour Alteration perk may instead prefer to enchant various pieces of armour with enchantments relative to their chosen magic school(s), as this allows you to enjoy the benefits of armour while still being able to efficiently spread across multiple schools.

Created using Alchemy with any combination of the following ingredients:

• Ancestor Moth Wing (Dawnguard DLC only)
• Berit's Ashes
• Blue Butterfly Wing
• Blue Mountain Flower
• Bone Meal
• Chaurus Hunter Antennae (Dawnguard DLC only)
• Frost Salts
• Hagraven Feathers
• Lavender

Note:
Fortify Conjuration potions make Conjuration effects last longer. Fortify Conjuration enchantments on equipment make Conjuration spells cost less.

The School of Destruction involves harnessing the energies of fire, frost and shock to directly damage your foes.

Successfully damaging another being with a Destruction spell

• A Hypothetical Treachery
• The Horror of Castle Xyr
• Mystery of Talara, Book III
• Response to Bero's Speech
• The Art of War Magic

Potions

Archmage's Robes

• All spells cost 15% less to cast
• Fortify magicka 50
• Fortify magicka regeneration 100%

The Archmage's robes are rewarded to the player after completing the quest "The Eye of Magnus" in the College of Winterhold questline, and are very useful for characters that like to spread across multiple magic schools and make use of the Mage Armour Alteration perk.

Characters with very high Enchanting and Alchemy skill who do not fancy the Mage Armour Alteration perk may instead prefer to enchant various pieces of armour with enchantments relative to their chosen magic school(s), as this allows you to enjoy the benefits of armour while still being able to efficiently spread across multiple schools.

The art of imbuing magical properties into weapons and apparel.

Successfully enchanting new properties onto an item, disenchanting an item, using a soul stone to recharge a magical item

• A Tragedy in Black
• Catalogue of Weapon Enchantments
• Complete Catalogue of Enchantments for Armor
• Enchanter's Primer
• Twin Secrets

Potions

Azura's Star / The Black Star

Reusable soul gem
(not destroyed by enchanting)

Accept the quest "The Black Star" given to you by Aranea Ienith at Azura's Shrine south of Winterhold, and complete objectives until you are given a choice of who to return the Broken Azura's Star to.

• Giving it to Aranea will reward you with Azura's Star and also allow you to use Aranea as a follower.
• Giving it to Nelacar in the Frozen Hearth Inn in Winterhold will lead to you being rewarded with the Black Star instead.

The Black Star is usually the better option, as you can store the souls of playable races in it as well as normal souls (even though the conversation with Nelacar states that it will no longer hold normal souls, this is false).

Fortify Enchanting Potion

Created using Alchemy with any combination of the following ingredients:

• Ancestor Moth Wing (Dawnguard DLC only)
• Blue Butterfly Wing
• Chaurus Hunter Antennae (Dawnguard DLC only)
• Hagraven Claw
• Snowberries
• Spawn Ash (Dragonborn DLC only)
• Spriggan Sap

Alchemy and Enchanting synergize well with each other. Once you can make Fortify Enchanting potions that are more powerful than found/bought ones, you can drink one and then create a full set of Fortify Alchemy gear while still under its influence. Then, while wearing that set, you can make Fortify Enchanting potions that are more powerful than those you can normally make. You can then drink the improved Fortify Enchanting potions to make even better Fortify Alchemy gear, and so on.

If your character is a Vampire, you can also take the Restoration perk Necromage, which will significantly boost the buffs your own potions give you, speeding up and enhancing this process.

Smithing cannot directly affect Enchanting, but Enchanting can greatly affect Smithing when coupled with the synergy between Enchanting and Alchemy. Fortify Smithing potions created with Alchemy can be used on top of any Fortify Smithing gear you have equipped to produce more desirable results when improving weapons and armour at workbenches and grindstones. Coupled with the synergy between Alchemy and Enchanting, you can make increasingly powerful gear, to a certain point.

Leather Boots of Hauling, found in Sinderion's Laboratory in Blackreach.

Blackreach can only be accessed by way of the appropriate quest:
• "Elder Knowledge", part of the main questline.
• "Discerning the Transmundane", given by Septimus Signus who can be found in Septimus Signus' Outpost, an ice cave north of Winterhold.

Fortify Archery

(Dragonborn DLC only)

Fortify Conjuration

Fortify Destruction

Fortify Illusion

Soul Trap

(Dawnguard DLC only)

Waterbreathing

(Dawnguard DLC only)

• Chaurus Hunter
• Draugr Deathlord (30+)
• Draugr Death Overlord (34+)
• Giant
• Storm Atronach
• Wispmother
• Burnt Spriggan

• Corrupted Shade
• Daedra
• Dragon Priest
• Draugr Deathlord (40+)
• Draugr Death Overlord (45+)
• Falmer Warmonger
• Guardian Saerek
• Guardian Torsten
• Mammoth
• Riekling Charger

• Any of the playable races
(Black Soul Gem only)

Note: Some creatures appear multiple times on this list, as they are scaled to the player's level and have scaling soul sizes as well.

Those trained to use Heavy Armor make more effective use of Iron, Steel, Dwarven, Orcish, Nordic, Ebony, Daedric, and Dragonplate armors.

Taking physical damage in combat while wearing heavy armour

• A Tragedy in Black
• Catalogue of Weapon Enchantments
• Complete Catalogue of Enchantments for Armor
• Enchanter's Primer
• Twin Secrets

Potions

Heavy armour can be used by any character archetype, although it is typically more well-suited to the Warrior. Stealth-based characters will suffer a penalty to their ability to remain undetected while wearing heavy armour, at least until they have access to some of the appropriate, more advanced perks. Mages usually require the magicka regeneration provided by robes until very high levels of the Enchanting skill allow them to put those enchantments on other pieces of gear. Finally, heavy armour weighs much more than light armour or clothing, which translates to being able to carry much less in between dungeons unless you invest in the Conditioning Heavy Armour perk.

Advancing the heavy armour skill tree sufficiently can negate many of its disadvantages, but requires investment to get there, which can make early-to-mid game much more difficult for Thief or Mage characters who feel the impact of those disadvantages the most. Furthermore, it is harder to level the Heavy Armour skill as a ranged or stealth class, which translates to a much longer time before they can negate enough of the disadvantages to enjoy the benefits. Warriors, however, can enjoy heavy armour as the best way to protect against damage in melee battles, safe in the knowledge that their combat style will allow it to improve over time without much conscious effort.

Perhaps the biggest flaw with heavy armour is that the game features an armour rating cap which is the same for both light armour and heavy armour. With a high enough Smithing skill and enough Fortify Smithing effects, it is possible to make light armour reach the same armour rating as the even the best heavy armour. Furthermore, there are far more unique light armour sets with special effects than heavy armour ones. Still, most Warrior-type classes will prefer heavy armour as they give you a higher armour rating in the early-to-mid game, which is when your character will need it the most to survive tough melee battles.

Ebony Mail

Armour, 45 defense

Improved with ebony ingots

• 50% Muffle: The wearer moves 50% more silently
• Does a continuous 5 poison damage to nearby enemies

The Ebony Mail is looted from the corpse of the Champion of Boethiah, who is encountered during the quest "Boethiah's Calling" which is triggered when you read the book "Boethiah's Proving". This book is found at various locations after reaching level 30, and can also be found on the corpse of a Boethiah follower, who will attack the player in a random encounter after the player reaches level 30.

The quest will initially direct the player to go to the Sacellum of Boethiah, which can be found east of the Windhelm stables, on top of the mountains. Note that one of the objectives of this quest is to sacrifice a follower to Boethiah, which permanently kills them. If you choose to go ahead, you should bring along a follower that you do not ever plan to use.

The Ebony Mail has the best defense-to-weight ratio in the game (1.61), although it has a lower overall defense than daedric, dragonplate, or stalhrim armour. It is also the only non-footwear piece of armour to feature the muffle enchantment, although it only activates when in sneak mode and only has 50% of the effectiveness of the Illusion spell Muffle.

The poison damage aura is not overly powerful, but it helps increase damage output, particularly to groups of melee enemies. It only activates when in sneak mode, or when you approach a hostile target. However, the poison aura has a few nuances that you should be mindful of. Despite being paired with the muffle enchantment, it is a poor complement to stealth-based attacks - the poison aura typically hits an enemy before your weapon can and alerts the enemy to your presence, preventing a sneak attack bonus. It also may unintentionally damage characters that you do not wish to damage while sneaking around them, provoking them into combat. This is especially true when pick-pocketing, as you typically do this in sneak mode and you must get close to your target. It also impairs vision when aiming with a bow, and counts as non-brawling damage if engaging in a brawl, which will attract a bounty and declare lethal aggression in most cases.

Finally, the Ebony Mail does not benefit from or contribute to the Matching Set Heavy Armour perk.

If the many downsides of the poison aura don't affect your playstyle, or you simply get used to taking off the armour when you wish to ensure it doesn't activate, you may find a solid piece of gear. Otherwise, you may wish to avoid getting this armour.

Gloves of the Pugilist

(Unarmed attacks do 10 extra damage)

Gloves of the Pugilist are found on the corpse of Gian the Fist, an Imperial thief that you can find in the Ratway of Riften who attacks the player on sight.

They are the only item in the game with the Fortify Unarmed enchantment, which can be used to create synergy with the Fists of Steel Heavy Armour perk for interesting (although not particularly well supported) unarmed builds.

It is important to note that the Gloves of the Pugilist themselves are light armour, which will not work with Fists of Steel. You'll need to disenchant them and put the enchantment on a pair of heavy armour gauntlets in order to achieve any synergy with it. The Gloves of the Pugilist have no real synergy with the Light Armour skill either, due to the absence of any perks for unarmed combat.

Fortify Heavy Armour Potion

Created using Alchemy with any combination of the following ingredients:

• Ice Wraith Teeth
• Sabre Cat Tooth
• Slaughterfish Scales
• Thistle Branch
• White Cap

The School of Illusion is centered around changing how others perceive the world. Skilled illusionists can make themselves invisible, trick foes into fighting each other, and even provide combat bonuses to allies.

Casting self-targeting Illusion spells, successfully casting Illusion spells on valid targets

• 2920, Sun's Dawn, v2
• Before the Ages of Man
• Incident at Necrom
• Mystery of Talara, Part 4
• The Black Arts on Trial

Potions

Archmage's Robes

• All spells cost 15% less to cast
• Fortify magicka 50
• Fortify magicka regeneration 100%

The Archmage's robes are rewarded to the player after completing the quest "The Eye of Magnus" in the College of Winterhold questline, and are very useful for characters that like to spread across multiple magic schools and make use of the Mage Armour Alteration perk.

Characters with very high Enchanting and Alchemy skill who do not fancy the Mage Armour Alteration perk may instead prefer to enchant various pieces of armour with enchantments relative to their chosen magic school(s), as this allows you to enjoy the benefits of armour while still being able to efficiently spread across multiple schools.

Those trained to use Light Armor make more effective use of Hide, Leather, Elven, Scaled, Glass, and Dragonscale armors.

Taking physical damage in combat while wearing light armour

• Ice and Chitin
• Jornibret's Last Dance
• Rislav the Righteous
• The Rear Guard
• The Refugees

Deathbrand Armour
(Dragonborn DLC only)

Improved with stalhrim

Various bonuses dependant on equipped pieces (see description)

All four pieces of the Deathbrand armour set are obtained from ancient chests that can only be found during the quest, "Deathbrand".

There are two ways to start this quest: the first is finding and reading a copy of the book "Deathbrand" at level 36 or higher (lower levels do not trigger the quest). You can find this book in Tel Mithryn or Raven Rock Temple.

The other way is by killing the pirates guarding the chest at Haknir's Shoal (northwest from Skaal Village), from level 36 and above. Once they are all dead, the Deathbrand Helmet will spawn in the ancient chest, the quest will trigger, and you can retrieve a map showing the locations of the other pieces on the corpse of the pirate captain.

The Deathbrand armour set is an excellent light armour set with very good set bonuses. The chest increases your stamina by 15 for each Deathbrand item you wear, the boots increase your carrying capacity by 10 for each Deathbrand item you wear, the helmet provides waterbreathing, and the gauntlets make your one-handed attacks do 10% more damage for each Deathbrand item you wear while dual wielding. There is also a bonus +100 armour rating for wearing the whole set.

All together, the final bonus is +60 stamina, +40 carry capacity, +40% damage while dual wielding, waterbreathing, and +100 armour. When you combine its 78.5 base armour (with all pieces equipped) with the set bonus, the resultant 178.5 armour makes it stronger than unimproved Daedric armour.

The main drawback of Deathbrand armour is how it is improved through Smithing. Despite being Light Armour, and benefiting from Light Armour perks, it is tied to the Ebony Smithing perk (traditionally a heavy armour) when improving at a workbench. This means that as a light armour user, you'll likely have committed to the other side of the Smithing tree and it will require a significant investment in a side of Smithing that you're not likely to use in order to maximize the improvement of this armour.

Thieves Guild Armour

Improved with leather

Carry capacity +20, Fortify Lockpicking +15%, Fortify Pickpocket +15%, Prices are 10% better

The Thieves Guild Armour set is given to the player upon joining the Thieves Guild in Riften.

After you complete the Thieves Guild quest, "Scoundrel's Folly", you'll be asked to speak to Tonilia in The Ragged Flagon. When you do, she'll give you the opportunity to improve one piece of the Thieves Guild Armour set. Depending on what you choose, the following statistics are obtainable:

• Carry capacity +35
• Fortify Lockpicking 25%
• Fortify Pickpocket 25%
• Prices are 15% better

Shrouded Armour

Improved with leather

50% poison resist, muffle, double sneak damage with one-handed weapons, bows do 20% more damage

The Shrouded Armour set is unique to the Dark Brotherhood. You can acquire it in several ways, but the following are the most easily accessible and all begin with visiting the house of Aventus Aretino in Windhelm, and completing the quest "Innocence Lost" given to you by him.

You'll then be ushered into the quest "With Friends Like These..." which will give you the choice of either killing one of three captives, or turning on Astrid and killing her instead. If you kill one of the captives and join the Dark Brotherhood, you'll find a full set of the Shrouded Armour in the Dark Sanctuary. If you kill Astrid, you'll begin the quest "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!" and will find the armour set on the bodies of defeated members of the Dark Brotherhood.

Ancient Shrouded Armour

Improved with leather

100% poison resist, muffle, double sneak damage with one-handed weapons, bows do 35% more damage

Superior to the Shrouded Armour set, the Ancient Shrouded Armour set can only be acquired if you are a member of the Dark Brotherhood.

You receive the Ancient Shrouded Armour set as a reward upon completion of the "Locate The Assassin Of Old" sidequest. This quest is given to you by Olava the Feeble and can only be accepted if you completed the bonus objective of the "Breaching Security" quest in the Dark Brotherhood questline.

Fortify Light Armour Potion

Created using Alchemy with any combination of the following ingredients:

• Ash Hopper Jelly (Dragonborn DLC only)
• Beehive Husk
• Felsaad Tern Feathers (Dragonborn DLC only)
• Hawk Feathers
• Honeycomb
• Luna Moth Wing
• Skeever Tail

The art of bypassing locks on chests and doors without having possession of a key.

Successfully picking a lock, breaking a lockpick while attempting to pick a lock

• Advances in Lockpicking
• The Wolf Queen, Book I
• Proper Lock Design
• The Locked Room
• Surfeit of Thieves

Potions

Skeleton Key

Unbreakable lockpick

The Skeleton Key is acquired after completing the Thieve's Guild quest, "Blindsighted". Once you have it, you can open locks without any fear of breaking a lockpick.

The unfortunate side of the Skeleton Key is that it must be handed in to properly complete the Thieves Guild questline. However, you are free to delay doing so and keep it as long as you wish in the meantime, giving you ample opportunity to build up your regular lockpicks as well as accessing valuable treasures with ease.

Once you hand it in, you can never get it back. Do so only when you are sure you are ready and/or have levelled up your lockpicking skill to a point you are comfortable with.

Thieves Guild Gloves

Improved with leather

Fortify Lockpicking 15%

These gloves are part of the Thieves Guild Armour set, which is given to the player upon joining the Thieves Guild in Riften.

After you complete the Thieves Guild quest, "Scoundrel's Folly", you'll be asked to speak to Tonilia in The Ragged Flagon. When you do, she'll give you the opportunity to improve one piece of the Thieves Guild Armour set. If you choose to improve the gloves, it'll upgrade the enchantment to Fortify Lockpicking 25%.

Guild Master's Gloves

Improved with leather

Fortify Lockpicking 35%

Completing the Thieves Guild quest "Under New Management" will reward you with a full set of the Guild Master's Armour - which include gloves with a powerful Fortify Lockpicking enchantment. The quest is only available right at the end of the Thieves Guild questline, however.

Fortify Lockpicking Potion

Created using Alchemy with any combination of the following ingredients:

• Ashen Grass Pod (Dragonborn DLC only)
• Falmer Ear
• Namira's Rot
• Pine Thrush Egg
• Spider Egg

The art of wielding one-handed weaponry - either on its own, with a shield, or by dual wielding.

Damaging another being with a one-handed weapon

• 2920, Morning Star, v1
• Fire and Darkness
• Mace Etiquette
• Night Falls on Sentinel
• The Importance of Where

Potions

Chillrend

Levelled sword

Improved with refined malachite

Does frost damage to health and stamina, and has a chance to paralyze target for 2 seconds

Chillrend can be acquired inside the tunnels underneath Riftweald Manor in Riften. You can access the manor during the events of the Thieves Guild quest "The Pursuit".

Alternatively, you can get inside from the roof of the Temple of Mara - which can be accessed by jumping on the brazier or barrel to the left of the door, and then jumping on to the roof. Once you're on the roof, you can use the Whirlwind Sprint shout to reach the balcony of the Riftweald Manor and pick the lock on the door there. There's a wardrobe on the first floor of the manor that has a false backing that can be opened to find the way leading to the tunnels.

Near the end of the tunnels, you'll find the display case containing Chillrend inside a small room. You'll need to pick the expert level lock on the case to retrieve it.

This sword is scaled to the player upon receiving it, which means the higher level you are when you collect it, the more base damage, elemental damage, weight, and value it has. At character level 46+, it caps out at 15 base damage, 16 weight, 1442 base value, and 30 points of frost damage to health and stamina. Regardless of the level you acquire it, the paralyze duration will always be 2 seconds.

Chillrend is one of the most powerful one-handed swords in the game if collected at maximum level - second only to Miraak's Sword. It benefits from the Glass Smithing perk in the Smithing tree when calculating the strength of any improvements made to it.

Miraak's Sword

Levelled sword

Improved with ebony ingots and daedra hearts

Absorbs 15 points of stamina on hit

When acquired at a high enough level, Miraak's Sword has the highest base damage of any one-handed sword in the game, and the second lightest weight. It can only be collected from the skeletal remains of Miraak at the end of the quest, "At the Summit of Apocrypha". This is the final quest in the Dragonborn DLC, and as such takes a reasonable amount of investment to achieve. Furthermore, to get the best version of the sword, you need to be level 60 or higher, which demands a lot of investment as well.

The sword has three different versions depending on which level you are when you collect it:
• Level 1-44: 12 base damage, 3 weight, 410 base value
• Level 45-59: 14 base damage, 3 weight, 720 base value
• Level 60+: 16 base damage, 3 weight, 1250 base value

Miraak's Sword benefits from the Dwarven Smithing perk in the Smithing tree when calculating the quality of improvements.

Mace of Molag Bal

Mace, 16 base damage

Improved with ebony ingots

Deals 25 damage to stamina and magicka

If the target dies within 3 seconds, fills a soul gem

The Mace of Molag Bal is a reward for completing the quest "The House of Horrors", which can be obtained by speaking to Tyranus at the abandoned house near the entrance to Markarth.

Since its stats are set rather than levelled to your character, it can prove to be significantly more powerful than anything else you can find when collected early. Its soul trap ability helps you keep soul gems full which helps ensure the mace never runs out of power, and proves to have good synergy with Azura's Star / The Black Star (see the Useful Items for Enchanting section) as you will always have a soul gem on you to recharge it.

The Mace of Molag Bal does not benefit from any Smithing perks, which means you can only improve it to flawless quality naturally. You'll need to raise your Smithing level over 100 using enchanted gear and/or potions with Fortify Smithing in order to improve it further.

Blade of Woe

Dagger, base damage 12

Improved without ingots

Absorb 10 points of health on hit

You can acquire the Blade of Woe in several ways, but the following are the most easily accessible and all begin with visiting the house of Aventus Aretino in Windhelm, and completing the quest "Innocence Lost" given to you by him.

You'll then be ushered into the quest "With Friends Like These..." which will give you the choice of either killing one of three captives, or turning on Astrid and killing her instead. If you kill Astrid instead of one of the captives, you'll begin the quest "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!" and will find the Blade of Woe on Astrid's corpse.

If you wish to join the Dark Brotherhood, though, you'll need to kill one of the captives and follow the Dark Brotherhood questline until you are able to complete the quest, "Death Incarnate". Doing so will reward you with the Blade of Woe.

If you have a high Pickpocketing skill with the Misdirection perk, you'll also be able to pickpocket the Blade of Woe from Astrid prior to completing "Death Incarnate". You'll get another one of them when you complete "Death Incarnate" if you do this, allowing you to dual wield them!

The Blade of Woe has a higher base damage than a daedric dagger, and is on par with a dragonbone dagger (albeit weighing slightly more). It can be improved if you have the Arcane Blacksmith perk in the Smithing tree without any ingots at all, although it benefits from the Steel Smithing perk when calculating the quality of the improvement.

The main drawback of the Blade of Woe is that its enchantment is quite weak. At higher levels of the Enchanting skill, you'll be able to make weapons with more more powerful enchantments. It also has only six charges, which makes the enchantment of questionable usefulness. However, the amount of charge drained by the dagger with each swing is reduced by the user's Destruction skill level. If you equip four pieces of gear that each have Fortify Destruction 25%, it is actually possible to make the dagger use no charge at all when it swings.

Mehrunes' Razor

Dagger, base damage 11

Improved with ebony ingots

Has a 1.98% chance to instantly kill its target

You can acquire Mehrunes' Razor by way of the "Pieces of the Past" quest, which you can only receive by reading a letter delivered to you by the courier after reaching level 20, inviting you to come to a museum in Dawnstar. Complete the objectives of the quest up until you are offered the choice to kill Silus Vesuius. If you do, you are rewarded with Mehrunes' Razor. If you allow him to leave alive, you do not get another opportunity to acquire it as Silus places the pieces of the dagger in a case inside his museum that cannot be interacted with.

Mehrunes' Razor has a powerful although unreliable ability to instantly kill any opponent (with the exception of Miraak and Karstaag in the Dragonborn DLC). The best thing about this ability is that it isn't a typical weapon enchantment - it does not have charges and does not require any form of recharging.

If you dual wield Mehrunes' Razor with another weapon, put Mehrunes' Razor in the left arm slot. This is because power attacks while dual wielding swing the left arm twice, where the right arm is only swung once. This provides two chances to trigger the instant kill effect with each power attack.

Mehrunes' Razor does not benefit from any Smithing perks, which means you can only improve it to flawless quality naturally. You'll need to raise your Smithing level over 100 using enchanted gear and/or potions with Fortify Smithing in order to improve it further.

Shrouded Gloves

Improved with leather

Double sneak damage with one-handed weapons

The Shrouded Gloves are part of the Shrouded Armour set associated with the Dark Brotherhood. You can acquire it in several ways, but the following are the most easily accessible and all begin with visiting the house of Aventus Aretino in Windhelm, and completing the quest "Innocence Lost" given to you by him.

You'll then be ushered into the quest "With Friends Like These..." which will give you the choice of either killing one of three captives, or turning on Astrid and killing her instead. If you kill one of the captives and join the Dark Brotherhood, you'll find a full set of the Shrouded Armour in the Dark Sanctuary. If you kill Astrid, you'll begin the quest "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!" and will find the armour set on the bodies of defeated members of the Dark Brotherhood.

Ancient Shrouded Gloves

Improved with leather

Double sneak damage with one-handed weapons

An upgrade of the Shrouded Gloves, you receive it with the Ancient Shrouded Armour set as a reward upon completion of the "Locate The Assassin Of Old" sidequest. This quest is given to you by Olava the Feeble and can only be accepted if you completed the bonus objective of the "Breaching Security" quest in the Dark Brotherhood questline.

While the Ancient Shrouded Gloves have the same enchantment as the Shrouded Gloves, it offers more base armour which makes it more fitting when paired with other endgame armour.

Fortify One-Handed Potion

Created using Alchemy with any combination of the following ingredients:

• Bear Claws
• Canis Root
• Hanging Moss
• Hawk Feathers
• Rock Warbler Egg
• Small Pearl

The art of relieving the unaware of their valuables.

Successfully steal or plant an item in another person's inventory

• Thief
• Aevar Stone-Singer
• Guide to Better Thieving
• Beggar
• Purloined Shadows

Potions

Thieves Guild Boots

Improved with leather

Fortify Pickpocket 15%

These boots are part of the Thieves Guild Armour set, which is given to the player upon joining the Thieves Guild in Riften.

After you complete the Thieves Guild quest, "Scoundrel's Folly", you'll be asked to speak to Tonilia in The Ragged Flagon. When you do, she'll give you the opportunity to improve one piece of the Thieves Guild Armour set. If you choose to improve the boots, it'll upgrade the enchantment to Fortify Pickpocket 25%.

Guild Master's Boots

Improved with leather

Fortify Pickpocket 35%

Completing the Thieves Guild quest "Under New Management" will reward you with a full set of the Guild Master's Armour - which include boots with a powerful Fortify Pickpocket enchantment. The quest is only available right at the end of the Thieves Guild questline, however.

Created using Alchemy with any combination of the following ingredients:

• Blue Dartwing
• Nordic Barnacle
• Orange Dartwing
• Slaughterfish Egg

At high levels of Alteration, you can cast spells that paralyze. You can also find staves that cast spells that paralyze. Finally, you can also craft potions that paralyze using Alchemy and use the Pickpocket perk Poisoned in order to plant them on a target and paralyze them without it counting as a hostile act. Once a target is paralyzed, wait for them to start getting back up. If you pickpocket someone in this exact moment, you'll be able to take anything they have off of them with a 100% success rate regardless of the difficulty level that would be displayed otherwise.

This also works with ragdoll effects, such as the Unrelenting Force shout. This will count as a hostile act in all but the most specialized cases, however, and lacks the subtlety you'd generally want to maintain as someone who calls themselves a pickpocket.

The School of Restoration focuses on control over life forces, and curative powers. Healing the wounds of yourself or others, turning away the undead, and generating powerful magical wards to block attacks are all made possible by the Restoration school.

Casting self-targeting Restoration spells, successfully casting Restoration spells on valid targets, mitigating damage with wards

• 2920, Rain's Hand, v4
• Mystery of Talara, v 2
• Racial Phylogeny
• The Exodus
• Withershins

Potions

Restoration can splash into any character archetype, although is typically the domain of the Mage. However, Warriors in particular can find Restoration useful to keep themselves topped up between encounters, although with their focus on health and stamina at the expense of being able to put points into magicka, it is rarely possible to fully heal oneself without waiting for magicka to regenerate. Thankfully, magicka regenerates much faster than health, and this is still preferable to waiting around between encounters for health to slowly regenerate over time. The Respite perk found in the Restoration tree allows healing spells to also regenerate stamina, which is a great tool for Warrior archetypes as well.

Speaking of magicka regeneration, the Recovery perk in the Restoration tree is a wonderful addition to any Mage's repertoire, regardless of whether they make full use of the Restoration school or not. With both levels of the perk, it leads to a huge 50% increase in magicka generation, which can be used to counteract the penalty given by the Atronach stone, or just to support the Mage's constant stream of combat spells.

Wards can be a powerful addition to a Mage's arsenal, making them quite tough to kill despite their use of robes in favour of proper armour. However, using wards will prevent a Mage from taking advantage of any dual casting "overcharge" perks in other schools, which give the most desirable spell results. This can be likened to the choice between one-handed weaponry with a shield versus two-handed weaponry - versatility versus pure damage output - and is really a matter of choice.

Sailor's Repose

(Healing spells are 10% more effective)

This ability can be gained after completing the "Frostflow Abyss" quest, which is obtained upon entering the Frostflow Lighthouse for the first time. The Frostflow Lighthouse can be found roughly in between Dawnstar and Winterhold, not far from the coast.

After you kill the Chaurus Reaper, collect Habd’s remains and the lighthouse key from its corpse. Then, once you’re back inside the lighthouse, go through the door that leads upstairs and exit through the door at the top. There will be a ladder at the top of the lighthouse leading to a brazier - climb it and activate it to hand in Habd’s remains, light the brazier, and receive the Sailor’s Repose ability.

Being a permanent boost to the efficacy of healing spells, Sailor's Repose can be useful for any character that uses Restoration to heal themselves. It also affects the amount healed by the Avoid Death Restoration perk.

Archmage's Robes

• All spells cost 15% less to cast
• Fortify magicka 50
• Fortify magicka regeneration 100%

The Archmage's robes are rewarded to the player after completing the quest "The Eye of Magnus" in the College of Winterhold questline, and are very useful for characters that like to spread across multiple magic schools and make use of the Mage Armour Alteration perk.

Characters with very high Enchanting and Alchemy skill who do not fancy the Mage Armour Alteration perk may instead prefer to enchant various pieces of armour with enchantments relative to their chosen magic school(s), as this allows you to enjoy the benefits of armour while still being able to efficiently spread across multiple schools.

The art of forging and improving weapons and armour, as well as creating various pieces of jewelry.

Successfully crafting an item at a smithing station

• Cherim's Heart of Anequina
• Heavy Armor Forging
• Light Armor Forging
• The Armorer's Challenge
• Last Scabbard of Akrash

Enchantments

Smithing is a very useful skill, in that only high level smithing can give access to the best possible gear for your character, in the form of improved weapons and armour. You can also help guarantee full sets of specific armours, which is useful for triggering the armour skill perks that provide a boost for matching sets rather than relying on luck with finding each piece of a set. Combined with alchemy (specifically, potions that fortify smithing) and enchanting, you can forge gear that is significantly more powerful than anything of the same tier that can be found naturally, outperforming the equipment that is available to your enemies.

Mages aren't as likely to benefit from smithing due to their propensity to wear robes and forgo physical weaponry. However, once you have enough perks that boost magicka regeneration and/or have a high enough enchanting skill to put satisfactory magicka regeneration boosts on normal armour, smithing will still prove useful.

Ancient Knowledge

(25% defense bonus when wearing Dwarven Armour and Smithing skill increases 15% faster)

Bugged: See description

This ability is a reward for completing the "Unfathomable Depths" quest, given to you by From-Deepest-Fathoms who is usually found wandering the docks outside Riften. Travel to Riften and go inside the city proper, then go through one of the regular sized doors that lead to Skyrim on the west side. You’ll be in the right area if you find the Riften Warehouse, usually guarded by Maul.

The 15% increase to experience gain for the Smithing skill is very useful for any character who utilizes Smithing to any meaningful degree, especially when taken early. It will effectively reduce the amount of time and materials required to maximize your Smithing skill.

Note that this ability appears to be bugged. The description says that it gives a 25% defense bonus when wearing Dwarven Armour. In practice, it works with every armour except for Dwarven. Patch 1.9.31.0.8 supposedly contains a fix for this bug, but it can still occur.

Notched Pickaxe

Pickaxe with Fortify Smithing +5%, does 5 shock damage to enemies on hit

(Can be disenchanted to learn the enchantment)

The Notched Pickaxe can be found on the highest peak of the Throat of the World, which you can only access once you've progressed through the main storyline to the point where you are to meet / have met Paarthurnax.

Equipped in your weapon slot, it is the only weapon-slot item in the game with the Fortify Smithing enchantment. It can be disenchanted to learn the unique Smithing Expertise enchantment, but no matter what your enchantment skill is, the bonus is always 5 to Smithing - it is only the shock damage portion that changes with skill.

This item is useful as you can equip it in conjunction with standard Fortify Smithing gear in order to maximize your Smithing prior to improving weapons or armour. It may only be 5 points, but it's 5 points you wouldn't be able to get otherwise, since traditional Fortify Smithing enchantments only work on chest, hands, necklace, and ring items.

Silver-Blood Family Ring

Ring with Fortify Smithing +15%

(Can be disenchanted to learn the enchantment)

Travel to Markarth and witness Weylin's attack against Margret. Then, talk to Eltrys and read the note he slips you, starting the quest "The Forsworn Conspiracy".

Finish this quest to be forced into another quest, "No One Escapes Cidhna Mine". This quest has two paths to completion - you'll need to follow the one that involves killing Madanach and escaping alone through the secret escape path mentioned in Madanach's note.

You'll be rewarded with the Silver-Blood Family Ring upon completion, which you can then disenchant in order to create your own set of gear with the Fortify Smithing enchantment - Eligible items for this enchantment are those that can be equipped on your chest, hands, necklace, and ring slots.

Fortify Smithing Potion

Created using Alchemy with any combination of the following ingredients:

• Blisterwort
• Glowing Mushroom
• Sabre Cat Tooth
• Spriggan Sap

Enchanting, when coupled with Alchemy, can help you make increasingly powerful gear. Once you can make Fortify Enchanting potions that are more powerful than found/bought ones, you can drink one and then create a full set of Fortify Alchemy gear while still under its influence. Then, while wearing that set, you can make Fortify Enchanting potions that are more powerful than those you can normally make. You can then drink the improved Fortify Enchanting potions to make even better Fortify Alchemy gear, and so on.

If your character is a Vampire, you can also take the Restoration perk Necromage, which will significantly boost the buffs your own potions give you, speeding up and enhancing this process.

Using this synergy between Enchanting and Alchemy, you can make very powerful Fortify Smithing gear once you've maximized the bonuses to your Enchanting skill, as well as make Fortify Smithing potions that are more powerful than would normally be available in the game. Combine the two to get maximum improvements on your gear with Smithing.

The art of moving about unseen and unheard, and delivering powerful and often lethal blows to the unaware.

Move about undetected with hostiles nearby, successfully land a sneak attack

• 2920, Last Seed, v8
• Legend of Krately House
• Sacred Witness
• The Red Kitchen Reader
• Three Thieves

Potions

Enchantments

Sneaking is intrinsically tied to the Thief archetype, be it a ranged Thief that uses bows or crossbows, or a Thief that uses daggers. Both play styles have powerful perks concerning their chosen weapons. However, all archetypes can use sneak in a variety of ways with varying degrees of usefulness. A Warrior, while less equipped for stealth (as heavy armour makes you easier to detect), can still enjoy respectable damage bonuses offered by sneak attacks once they reach a high enough skill level and/or select the appropriate perks to make detection less likely. Mage characters can use stealth to keep out of harm's way and to find an optimal position before attacking a group of enemies. They can also combine stealth with the Illusion skill tree to make themselves completely invisible and silent - useful for escaping encounters or repositioning themselves to handle them more effectively.

Due to the nature of Lockpicking and Pickpocket, these skills often go hand-in-hand with Sneak also.

Shrouded Armour Set

Improved with leather

50% poison resist, 50% muffle, double sneak damage with one-handed weapons, bows do 20% more damage

The Shrouded Armour set is unique to the Dark Brotherhood. You can acquire it in several ways, but the following are the most easily accessible and all begin with visiting the house of Aventus Aretino in Windhelm, and completing the quest "Innocence Lost" given to you by him.

You'll then be ushered into the quest "With Friends Like These..." which will give you the choice of either killing one of three captives, or turning on Astrid and killing her instead. If you kill one of the captives and join the Dark Brotherhood, you'll find a full set of the Shrouded Armour in the Dark Sanctuary. If you kill Astrid, you'll begin the quest "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!" and will find the armour set on the bodies of defeated members of the Dark Brotherhood.

The Shrouded Armour set is useful for sneaking as the Muffle enchantment on the boots make it harder to be detected, as well as gloves that double one-handed sneak attacks. Coupled it with a 20% damage increase to bows, and you have fairly potent synergy with many of the Sneak-based play styles.

Note that the double damage for one-handed sneak attacks provided by the gloves in this set has excellent synergy with the Backstab and Assassin's Blade perks - doubling their effects. This means that Sneak attacks with one-handed weapons can do 12 times their regular damage, while Sneak attacks with daggers can do a whopping 30 times their damage! Sadly, this effect cannot be disenchanted or found on any other items, apart from the Ancient Shrouded Gloves upgrade.

Ancient Shrouded Armour Set

Improved with leather

100% poison resist, 50% muffle, double sneak damage with one-handed weapons, bows do 35% more damage

Superior to the Shrouded Armour set, the Ancient Shrouded Armour set can only be acquired if you are a member of the Dark Brotherhood.

You receive the Ancient Shrouded Armour set as a reward upon completion of the "Locate The Assassin Of Old" sidequest. This quest is given to you by Olava the Feeble and can only be accepted if you completed the bonus objective of the "Breaching Security" quest in the Dark Brotherhood questline.

This set features a more powerful version of the poison resist and bow damage enchantments, and has higher base armour than the standard Shrouded Armour set.

Note that the double damage for one-handed sneak attacks provided by the gloves in this set has excellent synergy with the Backstab and Assassin's Blade perks - doubling their effects. This means that Sneak attacks with one-handed weapons can do 12 times their regular damage, while Sneak attacks with daggers can do a whopping 30 times their damage! Sadly, this effect cannot be disenchanted or found on any other items, apart from the regular Shrouded Gloves.

Shrouded Hood

Fortify Sneak 25%

The Shrouded Hood can be found in the same way as the standard Shrouded Armour set - however, the hood counts as clothing and not armour, and as such does not benefit from Light Armour or Heavy Armour. Furthermore, it cannot be improved using Smithing.

Despite this, the Fortify Sneak enchantment on it may prove useful when coupled with the 50% Muffle enchantment on the standard armour set.

Muffle

Spell / Enchantment

The Muffle effect makes your footsteps silent, which is extremely useful when coupled with Sneak. This is especially true against the mostly blind Falmer enemies, who are alerted by sound more than sight.

Muffle can be found as a spell in the Illusion school of magic, or as an enchantment that can only be found on randomly generated loot - there is no guaranteed disenchantable item with a Muffle enchantment.

You can also find a variant of Muffle on the following unique items: Ebony Mail, Shrouded Boots, Ancient Shrouded Boots, Cicero's Boots and Nightingale Boots. However, the enchantment on these unique pieces is only 50% as effective as the spell or properly enchanted items.

Invisibility

Spell / Potion Effect

Invisibility does what you would expect - it makes you completely unable to be detected by sight. This is quite powerful when combined with Muffle, as the only way you can be detected is by bumping into something, or performing an action (which breaks Invisibility).

Invisibility cannot be found as an enchantment, sadly, but it can be found as a spell in the Illusion school of magic, as well as being an effect found in potions made with any combination of the following ingredients:

• Ash Creep Cluster (Dragonborn DLC only)
• Chaurus Eggs
• Crimson Nirnroot
• Ice Wraith Teeth
• Luna Moth Wing
• Nirnroot
• Vampire Dust

Created using Alchemy and any combination of the following ingredients:

• Abecean Longfin
• Ashen Grass Pod (Dragonborn DLC only)
• Beehive Husk
• Frost Mirriam
• Hawk Feathers
• Human Flesh
• Powdered Mammoth Tusk
• Purple Mountain Flower

The art of negotiating better prices, and convincing others to do as you ask.

Sell an item, successfully convince another person by using persuasion, intimidation, or bribe dialogue options

• Biography of the Wolf Queen
• 2920, Second Seed, v5
• A Dance in Fire, v6
• A Dance in Fire, v7
• The Buying Game

Potions

Amulet of Dibella

Fortify Speech 15%

The only guaranteed place for the Amulet of Dibella to appear is in the inventory of Haelga, who works at Haelga's Bunkhouse in Riften. It can be occasionally looted from dead mages, boss chests, defeated draugr, and on Imperial or Stormcloak soldiers.

Not a particularly special item, but it can help if you're trying to pass a difficult persuasion check without much luck or just as a way to get better prices while buying and selling.

Amulet of Articulation

Persuasion checks almost always succeed, Fortify Speech up to 35%

The Amulet of Articulation is received as a reward after completing the Thieves Guild quest "Under New Management". There are 7 different versions of this amulet, given at random. The best one adds 35% to Speech. You can save the game just before recieving the reward and reload if you aren't given the best version of this amulet.

The Amulet of Articulation also counts as light armour and provides up to 8 base armour (if you have the best version of the amulet). It also receives relevant bonuses from the Light Armour skill tree. Thankfully, wearing it will not prevent the effects of the Mage Armour Alteration perk or the Matching Set Light Armour or Heavy Armour perk.

This amulet makes the Speech perk Persuasion Speech perk obsolete.

Masque of Clavicus Vile

Mask, heavy armour

+10 Speech, improves prices by 20%, increases magicka regeneration by 5%

The Masque of Clavicus Vile is a possible reward for the quest "A Daedra's Best Friend". The best way to get started on this quest is to talk to Lod, the blacksmith in Falkreath, and then follow the road outside of town until you encounter the talking dog, Barbas.

Near the conclusion of the quest, you'll be asked to make a decision between killing Barbas with the Rueful Axe, or returning the Rueful Axe to the shrine. You will need to return the axe in order to receive the Masque of Clavicus Vile.

The art of wielding two-handed weaponry.

Damaging another being with a two-handed weapon

• King
• Words and Philosophy
• Battle of Sancre Tor
• Song of Hrormir
• The Legendary Sancre Tor

Potions

Bloodskal Blade

(Dragonborn DLC only)

Greatsword, 21 base damage, 16 weight

Improved with silver ingots

Releases energy waves with power attacks that do 30 damage each

The Bloodskal Blade can be acquired during the quest "The Final Descent" at Raven Rock Mine. Raven Rock is the capital of Solstheim, and the mine can be found at the northernmost point of Raven Rock. Upon entering, you'll witness Aphia Velothi and Crescius Caerellius arguing about going into the mine. The quest begins after talking to Crescius.

In the depths of the mine, you'll find the Bloodskal Blade next to the remains of Gratian Caerellius.

The Bloodskal Blade has the longest range of any melee weapon thanks to its unique enchantment. It also does not use charges and as such cannot exhaust its ability with use.

The energy waves travel roughly 15 feet and can even travel through walls and multiple targets in a line. Depending on the type of power attack used, it will project either a horizontal or vertical wave.

The Bloodskal Blade does not benefit from any Smithing perks, which means you can only improve it to flawless quality naturally. You'll need to raise your Smithing level over 100 using enchanted gear and/or potions with Fortify Smithing in order to improve it further.

The Longhammer

Warhammer, 21 base damage, 18 weight

Improved with orichalcum ingots

Swings 30% faster than a regular warhammer

The Longhammer is found near the corpse of its owner, Rahd, inside Liar's Retreat. Liar's Retreat can be found a fair distance southwest of Solitude.

Since it swings 30% faster than other warhammers, the Longhammer can potentially outclass Daedric warhammers in damage per second. The attack speed effect is not considered an enchantment, and is affected by the Elemental Fury shout to further increase its attack speed. It can also be enchanted, and in doing so it will retain its attack speed boost on top of any other benefits you place on it. This makes the Longhammer have frightening damage potential (as long as you keep it charged), if enchanted at the highest levels of Enchanting.

It benefits from the Orcish Smithing perk in the Smithing tree when calculating the strength of any improvements made to it.

Volendrung

Warhammer, base damage 25, 26 weight

Improved with ebony ingots

Absorb 50 points of stamina per hit

Volendrung is a reward from Daedric Prince Malacath after completing the quest "The Cursed Tribe", which is given to you by Atub in the Orc stronghold of Largashbur from character level 9 and above. Largashbur can be found west-by-southwest from Riften, southwest of Lake Honrich.

Its enchantment helps feed your power attacks, as two-handed weapons are typically stamina-thirsty. Provided you connect with your hits, and you keep the weapon charged, you'll be able to keep swinging for longer than most two-handed weapons. It also has the unique benefit of swinging as fast as a greatsword despite being a warhammer, which is typically a slower weapon.

It is more useful early in the game, since later its damage is outclassed by higher tier weapons that benefit from Smithing perks. Volendrung does not benefit from any Smithing perks, which means you can only improve it to flawless quality naturally. You'll need to raise your Smithing level over 100 using enchanted gear and/or potions with Fortify Smithing in order to improve it further.

Ironhand Gauntlets

Fortify Two-Handed 15%

(Can be disenchanted to learn the enchantment)

The Ironhand Gauntlets can be looted from Hajvarr Iron-Hand, the leader of the bandits at White River Watch. He can be found at White River Outlook, which is accessed at the end of the cave. You can find White River Watch east of Whiterun, past the river near Honningbrew Meadery.

Once they lose their usefulness as gauntlets, you can disenchant them and begin enchanting future bracers, gauntlets, necklaces, and rings for a boost to two-handed weapon damage.

Created using Alchemy with any combination of the following ingredients:

• Dragon's Tongue
• Emperor Parasol Moss (Dragonborn DLC only)
• Fly Amanita
• Troll Fat