Question about upgrading weapons (bow)

[Psiberzerker]

Thanks for replying everyone, I am beginning to grasp how this works.

If you don't mind, here is another example.

(Keep in mind that Perks/Skills/Potions are the same. This helps me understand a bit better instead of having to factor in all these extras)

Suppose I find an Ebony bow when I reach level 30. I upgrade it when I reach Level 40, Level 50, Level 60. (just using this for a scenario, I realize it may not be correct.) After these three upgrades the Bow now has Legendary status.

While at Level 60, I find another Ebony bow. I upgrade it ONCE and it reaches Legendary status after only one upgrade.

My question is will the two bows have the same stats? Remember no potions/skills/perks factored in. (While it may be impossible to do it without these, this is just a "what if" type question so please bear with me.)

If your smithing skill stays the same through all these levels, then the Improvement will be the same. Character level has no effect, only skill level/perks and how many times it's been improved affects the degree of improvement. Also, improving it once at a higher skill level won't make as much difference as improving the same item several times. Read the Smithing pages on the Wikis, UESP has a breakdown of the calculation used to determine the damage increase from each improvement. Since a second improvement starts at a higher number than the base damage, it's going to have a higher damage.

 

[Nick_Tbolt]

I am working on the Enchanting now with doing little stuff before I sell it.

Keep working, I revamped my enchantment and with the Shrouded Cowl glitch, my bow is up to 750 damage.

HTC ThunderBolt running AOSP!

 

[Dagmar]

Suppose I find an Ebony bow when I reach level 30. I upgrade it when I reach Level 40, Level 50, Level 60. (just using this for a scenario, I realize it may not be correct.) After these three upgrades the Bow now has Legendary status.

While at Level 60, I find another Ebony bow. I upgrade it ONCE and it reaches Legendary status after only one upgrade.

My question is will the two bows have the same stats? Remember no potions/skills/perks factored in. (While it may be impossible to do it without these, this is just a "what if" type question so please bear with me.)

Your character level has nothing to do with how much you can improve your weapon damage through Smithing. You have to factor in your effective Smithing skill because it is the only thing that's relevant to how much you can improve a weapon so forget about your character level, which is irrelevant, and focus on your effective Smithing skill instead, which is the only thing that matters.

 

[Dagmar]

Also, improving it once at a higher skill level won't make as much difference as improving the same item several times.....Since a second improvement starts at a higher number than the base damage, it's going to have a higher damage.

If the effective Smithing skill is the same the improvement is the same. The damage bonuses aren't cumulative. When you improve a weapon a second time it replaces the damage bonus from the prior time and gets added to the base damage.

 

[Arrow Slinger]

If the effective Smithing skill is the same the improvement is the same. The damage bonuses aren't cumulative. When you improve a weapon a second time it replaces the damage bonus from the prior time and gets added to the base damage.

So basically if I have an item that I have upgraded several times over the course of the game to reach XXX stats, and I just pick one up off the ground and upgrade it right away it will have the same stats as the first one?

 

[ShadowGambit]

Yes.

What matters is your smithing level when you increase it. That will determine how much the weapon/armor will be increased.

I think you will understand if you see the formula for smithing upgrade.

Skyrim:Smithing - UESPWiki

 

[Arrow Slinger]

Thanks for responding everyone, there is a lot of good info in this thread here that I am learning from.

I got both of my bow over 200 last night. 214 for one and 201 for the other. I used the Alchemy to create an enchanting potion to use when I created two more items of Fortifying Archery.

For the stats above I am using 30% helmet, 30% Gauntlet, 28% necklace, 28% ring. Fortifying Archery on each. Yeah, I know... not really impressive but I am working on it. And that thing they say about hindsight.... man, it is true. Looking back I could have done things differently and gotten better results.

This is what I am going to attempt today to see if it helps too. Here is a break down of my Character Stats :

Wood Elf - Level 43
ENCHANTING (52)
Enchanter 3/5
Insightful Enchanter 1/1

SMITHING (87)
Steel Smithing 1/1
Elven Smithing 1/1
Dwarven Smithing 1/1 (hate it and never use it but had to get it to reach the Ebony one)
Arcane Blacksmith 1/1
Orcish Smithing 1/1 (same as Dwarven)
Ebony Smithing 1/1

Archery (71)
Overdraw 3/5
Eagle Eye 1/1
Powershot 1/1

My plan today is to create a 4 piece outfit for brewing up Alchemy potions and a 4 piece outfit for enchanting item. Basically I will try it this way :


TO ENCHANTER
Disenchant Alchemy item
Use Enchant Boosting Potion
Create 4 new pieces of Alchemy items

BACK TO ALCHEMY
Using New Alchemy Gear Create
2 New Potions of Enchanting
2 New Potions of Smithing

BACK TO ENCHANTER
Drink New Higher % Enchanting Potion
Create 4 new items of Higher Smithing Gear using Grand Soul Gems

PUT ON NEW SMITHING GEAR (4 PIECES)
Drink New Smithing Potion
Upgrade Weapons

Sell all old Alchemy/Smithing/Enchanting items


Is there anything I have overlooked that I might need to add in?

 

[ShadowGambit]

Looks like you didn't use dwarven Smithing to level your smithing skills, as you said you never used Dwarven.

I also suppose that you took Elven smithing for to craft the Guilded Elven armor.

2 potions of enchanting won't be enough. My advice is to have 1 potion for each piece you want to enchant. You will see that enchanting potion don't last that long.

2 Smithing potion would be enough (one for the workbench and one for the grindstone). But if you know what you are doing, you should be able to upgrade 4 pieces of armor and 2 weapons with only 1 potion, as workbench and grindstone are usually very close one from another.