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A Guide to the Best Weapons and Armor (Includes "God" Armor)


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Is this guide useful with any character build? Sorry for the noob question but it's my first Elder Scroll game I play.

 

 

I would say yes, with exception to maybe a cloth wearing mage (not sure if armor, heavy in particular, negatively impacts magic like it did in previous elder scrolls games). While I think mages would be more benefited by wearing light or heavy armor (therefore using 100 smithing), there are those who choose to use robes. As Method said in an edit for a previous post, it is possible to make it so spells are free. This alone should be enough to justify armor over cloth.

 

EDIT: Guide worked perfectly. After getting 100 smithing, alchemy, and enchanting I had 74 speech and was level 35 overall. Took a few tries to get my crafting gear up to par, but that was mostly error on my part. Also, one error - you can only have alchemy on helmets, not smithing. On gloves, however, you can have both. In the guide it says 2 on the helmet, one on the gloves. Minor error, same overall alchemy/smithing bonuses.

Edited by mathgod9
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I'm currently on the alchemy stage of this... I have the skill up in the mid 50's. Raised it up from the low 20's in only a few hours. I have a looooong way to go still. Any tips on how to speed the process up? I've made it a habit to go back to my archmages quarters to harvest my garden and pick up useful ingredients from around the room.

 

Anyway, quick question which might be stupid because I feel like I'm missing something obvious here, but Arcadia isn't holding on to the cash I'm paying her for the expert training like the guide says she is supposed to whenever I "restock." It seems like she defaults back to 500 gold every restock. Any idea why, or am I just reading the guide wrong?

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I'm currently on the alchemy stage of this... I have the skill up in the mid 50's. Raised it up from the low 20's in only a few hours. I have a looooong way to go still. Any tips on how to speed the process up? I've made it a habit to go back to my archmages quarters to harvest my garden and pick up useful ingredients from around the room.

 

Anyway, quick question which might be stupid because I feel like I'm missing something obvious here, but Arcadia isn't holding on to the cash I'm paying her for the expert training like the guide says she is supposed to whenever I "restock." It seems like she defaults back to 500 gold every restock. Any idea why, or am I just reading the guide wrong?

 

I don't know if this is the reason why, but are you leaving the shop after purchasing skills? I, for the most part, did not leave her shop except after she no longer had enough money to buy all of my stuff. When she was training me, however, she would have say 6000 at a time and it would take me a few restocks to deplete that. One time, however, I waited until a time when she was technically closed and had to leave and wait more in order to get the next restock. I could be wrong in this, but I'm pretty sure at that moment I lost like 1000 from training. It was one of those things that I briefly noticed in a "I expected her to have more" sort of way -- without definitive notice. Perhaps leaving to harvest ingredients in the archmage's quarters has caused her to reset her money? Try doing so without leaving the shop?

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I don't know if this is the reason why, but are you leaving the shop after purchasing skills? I, for the most part, did not leave her shop except after she no longer had enough money to buy all of my stuff. When she was training me, however, she would have say 6000 at a time and it would take me a few restocks to deplete that. One time, however, I waited until a time when she was technically closed and had to leave and wait more in order to get the next restock. I could be wrong in this, but I'm pretty sure at that moment I lost like 1000 from training. It was one of those things that I briefly noticed in a "I expected her to have more" sort of way -- without definitive notice. Perhaps leaving to harvest ingredients in the archmage's quarters has caused her to reset her money? Try doing so without leaving the shop?

 

yeah. i basically trained from 70->75 and she ended up having 8000+ gold. once i made enough to get that back (which wasn't hard at this point) and restocked, it went back to 500. and i stayed in her shop the entire time to see if it was maybe cause i was leaving. i mean it's not thaaaat big of a deal beacause i'm already lv82 in alchemy but i'd be nice if i didn't have to restock every three minutes because i sell like 4 potions and she can't afford to pay me anymore :/

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ingredients:

 

  • Hanging Moss
  • Hawk's Beak
  • Vampire Dust

 

I've started on buying ingredients and I've got almost everything except the above.

 

But I still can't make any potions. When I'm on that table i can't choose anything to make.

Do I have to buy the recipes of her first to be able to make any potions?

 

What are the best city's to buy ingredients? I'm currently pending between Riverwood & Whiterun.

 

On the other hand:My smithing is up to lvl 78, so I'm almost at lvl 90 for that armor.

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Not sure if you would like to add this to the enchanting part, but if you are able to drop everything in your inventory when ready to enchant iron daggers, just max you carry capacity with the iron daggers. Travel to the College of Winterhold, enter the Hall of Countenance, wait till 2-3 am when all the NPCs go to sleep. Then you will be in the same building as an Arcane Enchanter (second level) and you will have 4 mage vendors that will all sell petty/lesser souls gems. Then once you reach the same amount as daggers carried, just crawl your way upstairs and there you have it. This was how I did it. Just throwing in my two cents.

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im so close to getting 100 on my alchemy. i'm at 93 right now.

 

nightmares for days though

 

"ahhh, so you're an alchemist then."

 

i'll be at peace if i never have to hear that again.

 

also, why was i not making my potions under with the thief stone activated? it makes leveling stealth skills (alchemy, sneak, light armor, etc) 20% faster. also, if you have activated the dark brotherhood quests, babette is a master trainer and can give you alchemy skill points up to 90. just some tips i just realized to make you build up faster.

Edited by mchunthunt
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Arcadia doesn't have any of the ingredients you listed...

 

yeah she does. she doesn't have them all at one time though and it's random what she will have. buy what you can to start and "restock" a few times and make potions. it'll be slow to start, but once you have enough money, start buying everything in her inventory at one time and brew whatever potion you can and sell it back to her. it's going to take a very long time to get your alchemy up to 100, but it will be worth it in the long run... i went from something like 48,000 gold when i started to about 84,000 gold when i got to 100 alchemy. i have a ton of potions left over too worth thousands of gold that i'll sell eventually, but that's not my concern rn.

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whats a good way to sell any enchanted weapons over 1000 gold if i don't have any perks in speech? my speech is already 100.
I usually go to Belethor's and see if he has any filled Grand Soul gems. If he does, I buy them then sell my higher priced items to him to get my gold back plus a little more.

 

Anyways, as far as best enchant for the iron daggers, assume all traits hold the following values:

 

- 38 enchanting

- 73 speech with 3/5 haggling (+20) -- though I don't think this increases value, I'll leave it up here anyways

- Enchanted with a petty soul gem

- Max amount of enchantment power, lowest charge

- First enchant on dagger ever -- in case diminishing returns are based on quantity made

 

With the following enchantment, my value was:

 

Absorb health - 632

Absorb Magicka - 424

Absorb Stamina - 440

Fear - 336

Fire Damage - 232

Frost Damage - 280

Paralyze - 696

Shock Damage - 280

Soul Trap - 192

Turn Undead - 600

 

Unless there is something I'm not factoring in, paralysis seems to be the best enchant for money. It should be noted that value is not synonymous with what you get paid for it. I suspect that after diminished prices and the merchants mark up, thus cutting your profits (even with speech up), the 400+ value spells (at 38 enchanting) probably are pretty similar in price. The higher values ones obviously take bigger cuts due to percentages.

 

One question I may have as I am currently working on enchanting: Did you only use petty/lesser filled soul gems from Farengar (after the initial purchases from the general goods store)? I probably didn't buy as many from general goods as I tried to rapidly get Alchemy up by only buying and selling with Arcadia to forgo load screens, but I'm only getting 2-4 gems per restock from Farengar. I could keep this pace up and get 100 enchanting relatively soon, I'm just wondering if there was a less tedious way -- such as, perhaps, splurging on common filled soul gems.

Thank you for this research. I edited the guide to reflect the paralyze and absorb health enchantments as the best. As far as the gems go, I just restocked Farengar over and over and over and..... I suppose you could splurge on common soul gems if you don't mind losing more gold to level up.

 

Also, one error - you can only have alchemy on helmets, not smithing. On gloves, however, you can have both. In the guide it says 2 on the helmet, one on the gloves. Minor error, same overall alchemy/smithing bonuses.
Fixed this error. Thanks for noting it.

 

I've started on buying ingredients and I've got almost everything except the above.

 

But I still can't make any potions. When I'm on that table i can't choose anything to make.

Do I have to buy the recipes of her first to be able to make any potions

No buying of recipes is necessary. If you haven't ever made a potion with an ingredient you need to manually select from the ingredients menu at the alchemy table and combine it with other ingredients of the same potion recipe.

 

Where can I find armor with Fortify Smithing to disenchant?
Belethor sells rings and amulets enchanted with this and Warmaiden's sells gloves and armor with it as well.

 

also, why was i not making my potions under with the thief stone activated? it makes leveling stealth skills (alchemy, sneak, light armor, etc) 20% faster. also, if you have activated the dark brotherhood quests, babette is a master trainer and can give you alchemy skill points up to 90. just some tips i just realized to make you build up faster.
You must've just missed this part of the guide. I said to do this in the second sentence of step 1 :)

 

 

Thanks for all the comments everyone. I'll keep editing the guide with anything else you find.

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Thank you for this research. I edited the guide to reflect the paralyze and absorb health enchantments as the best. As far as the gems go, I just restocked Farengar over and over and over and..... I suppose you could splurge on common soul gems if you don't mind losing more gold to level up.

 

The best enchantment to have on your weapons is the only enchantment he didn't list: Banish. I can typically sell any iron dagger enchanted with Banish for anywhere between 1,400-1,800 gold, depending on the gender of the merchant. I can sell them for around 2,000-2,500 gold if I dual-enchant them with Absorb Health & Banish. I don't know if Paralyze/Banish would sell more, though.

 

It's recommended that you either invest in the merchant's business or increase their bartering price by 1,000 if you decide to sell these daggers, as most merchants most likely won't have 2,000 gold to give you for a single dagger.

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Any idea why my Enchanting for Fortify Alchemy has a base of 20%? I have all the necessary perks in enchanting and 7 relevant perks in Alchemy.

 

My equipment enchantment cap at 22% and my potions cap at 28%.

 

I managed to get to 23% on equipment and 32% on potions only by using a Falmer Helment, where you have 2 head pieces equipped (together with a circlet).

 

So I actually have +23%, +22%, +22%, +22%, +22%.

 

 

 

What I'm wondering is why everyone seems to have a base of Fortify Alchemy 25% (no potion use, just 100 in Enchanting). A poster on Gamefaqs claimed that it was because of an update. But I'm running the latest version and my base is still 20%...

 

 

me too... no way to get past the 22% cap on xbox360 i think....

Edited by Angelus01
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me too... no way to get past the 22% cap on xbox360 i think....

 

Not true. I've been getting +25 base enchantments with no potion beforehand and +29% Alchemy and Smithing enchants after downing one. And while wearing these I get a +32% Fortify Enchants potion.

 

One thing I have noticed is when it comes to enchants on clothes and jewelery, if you check in the magic menu under "active effects" sometimes it doesn't list all the things you know you should have. This can be remedied by unequiping and reequiping your gear.

Edited by oooo yeah
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is there a quest that gives a permanent bonus similar to "ancient knowledge" (+15% skill increase to smithing, 25% dwarven armor rating) but for enchanting instead. i'm at 86 enchanting, 100 smithing, and 100 alchemy so i'm almoooooost done power leveling my skills. i'm just losing patience because enchanting sucks since you can't mass enchant. you have to reload the enchanting table for each dagger and it is almost painful how long it takes to enchant 100+ daggers, not to mention how hard it is to come by the petty/lesser soul gems for all of them. i just want to make this as easy as possible. i found a warhammer with a soul trap enchant on it if an enemy is killed within 7seconds. i'm thinking of disenchanting it and then enchanting one of my swords (since i am way stronger with one-handed) and going out there and killing wildlife to fill up my azura's star. i kind of regret not choosing the black star instead so i could fill it with humanoid souls too. i wasn't thinking at the time... oh well.

 

EDIT

nm... i realized that while you can use the star an infinite amount of times you cant store an infinite amount of souls on it :/

 

anyway... i basically want to know if anybody has any tips or suggestions to make these last 14 enchanting points go by as quickly and pain free as possible.

Edited by mchunthunt
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is there a quest that gives a permanent bonus similar to "ancient knowledge" (+15% skill increase to smithing, 25% dwarven armor rating) but for enchanting instead. i'm at 86 enchanting, 100 smithing, and 100 alchemy so i'm almoooooost done power leveling my skills. i'm just losing patience because enchanting sucks since you can't mass enchant. you have to reload the enchanting table for each dagger and it is almost painful how long it takes to enchant 100+ daggers, not to mention how hard it is to come by the petty/lesser soul gems for all of them. i just want to make this as easy as possible. i found a warhammer with a soul trap enchant on it if an enemy is killed within 7seconds. i'm thinking of disenchanting it and then enchanting one of my swords (since i am way stronger with one-handed) and going out there and killing wildlife to fill up my azura's star. i kind of regret not choosing the black star instead so i could fill it with humanoid souls too. i wasn't thinking at the time... oh well.

 

EDIT

nm... i realized that while you can use the star an infinite amount of times you cant store an infinite amount of souls on it :/

 

anyway... i basically want to know if anybody has any tips or suggestions to make these last 14 enchanting points go by as quickly and pain free as possible.

 

As far as I know (by looking up the guide) there is no quest reward bonus, shrine, standing stone or item of any kind that improves the actual enchantment. The max % increase you can get is 157%

 

100% from the perk "Enchanter" 5/5

25% from the perk "Insightful Enchanter"

32% from the best potion that can be made

 

Getting the enchanting skill to 100 obviously will be good too but I don't know how to measure that %?

 

As for the last 14 levels, just keep doing what you're doing. If you got plenty of money just buy the petty and lesser filled up gems from the guy in Dragonsreach as described in the guide above.

Also I would recommend you disenchant that soul trap warhammer and then make your own bow, improve it best you can and then enchant it with soul trap. Move the slider over to the left for a soul trap of only 1 second as that's all you'll need to capture your own souls. This is only if you don't want to just buy them.

Oh, and don't forget as you're enchanting all those daggers/bracers, to enchant it with the most expensive enchantment you have. Skill progression is based on $$$ it's worth.

 

"The Mage" Standing Stone makes your magic skills (including enchanting) level up 20% faster. This lasts until you activate another stone.

If you're "Well Rested" you get another 10% (15% if you sleep in same house as spouse) this lasts only 8 hours.

Edited by oooo yeah
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The best enchantment to have on your weapons is the only enchantment he didn't list: Banish. I can typically sell any iron dagger enchanted with Banish for anywhere between 1,400-1,800 gold, depending on the gender of the merchant. I can sell them for around 2,000-2,500 gold if I dual-enchant them with Absorb Health & Banish. I don't know if Paralyze/Banish would sell more, though.

 

It's recommended that you either invest in the merchant's business or increase their bartering price by 1,000 if you decide to sell these daggers, as most merchants most likely won't have 2,000 gold to give you for a single dagger.

 

I just came across Banish for the first time today, after I finished my leveling and acquiring of armor. It was expensive and from what I can tell, pretty rare (never saw it while restocking to find the others).

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i'm up to 100 alchemy/100 enchanting/100 smithing.

 

if i never have to hear arcadia, belenthor, or farengar again, my life will be perfect. god their voices are excruciating. not much longer until i have some flawless dragon armor though :)

 

now, should i upgrade along the heavy armor route (right, 6 nodes) so i get access to the daedra smithing? is it worth it? yeah daedra weapons are awesome but i don't want to be completely uber. i can't decide if that extra perk point from going the light armor route is worth it (left, 5 nodes). i could use that for my 5/5 light armor perk or i could start investing in archery which i like dabbling in. decisions decisions. if only you could make weapons out of dragon bone. smh.

 

THIS GUIDE IS AMAZING. SPECTACULARLY THOROUGH. thanks for the help/inspiration/encouragement guys!! i've never gotten so invested in a game before. i mean yeah i've played fallout and oblivion, but i've never dabbled in crafting and such in them... i mainly stick to the main quest, side/guild quests, errand quests that i would run across. skyrim will be the first game i've played 100+hours and earned 1000gp on. i'm usually not an achievements junkie, so this is really cool for me :)

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