How did YOU get to level 81?

I made it to 53 once. It took forever to get to 50, because I didn't return the Dragonstone until then, and then I also started the Civil War. That took all of one day's worth of play. Now I am killing dragons, and I switched to a new character.... I really have to go back to that lvl 53 character and finish the dragons....

currently at level 56. To be honest I'm not trying for level 81 at all its just where I've gotten to. Havn't used exploits because I think it's pointless. If I was desperate to face the Ebony Warrior there are saves you can download with the required level out there.

Some useful advice here though. I think I might go legendary on a couple of things, enchanting certainly and possibly smithing - although that seems to be the hardest to get to 100 or it takes forever at any rate. I've got 80 odd filled black soul gems and countless lesser gems could easily get to 100 on enchanting all over again, I've stopped collecting I have so many, this could be the incentive I need to start again.

ColleenG said:

In other words, Hard work. Got it.

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Sorry for quoting an old post here (in forum terms, anyway) but I've only just seen it.

I don't think leveling from 40-80 is all that much harder work than leveling from 1-40. When you go legendary on skills they level up so much faster when the skills you use alongside them are already 100. Block as an example of a combat skill is much easier to level to 100 the second time because you'll likely be at the armour cap and have 400+ health when you reset it. You'll be facing opponents who dish out lots of damage per swing but which does little harm to you because of your armour and health, while giving a lot of experience to your block. Even on legendary you can stand in from of deathlords, mammoths and giants tanking their power attacks and watching your block experience go up and up.

Same principle with skills like alchemy, smithing and enchanting. Take alchemy for instance. Take it to level 100 and make a stockpile of fortify smithing, fortify enchanting and health potions. Then reset its level when you already have a maxed out set of fortify alchemy gear. With four items giving huge percentage boosts to alchemy you can make expensive potions from level 15 and your level will just race up. The easiest thing to do is keep collecting and buying ingredients after hitting 100 alchemy and keep them in a chest in one of your homes. When you've built up a huge amount of ingredients reset alchemy and you can realistically (I've done it before) take alchemy from 15 to 100 just with the ingredients in your chest. That's probably about as easy as leveling gets.

I guess it does involve work when you get to around level 50, but I was expecting it to be tougher when I first started making skills legendary. If you only have two or three skills at a time you're re-leveling you might be surprised how quickly they can shoot up

Dovahkiir said:

currently at level 56. To be honest I'm not trying for level 81 at all its just where I've gotten to. Havn't used exploits because I think it's pointless. If I was desperate to face the Ebony Warrior there are saves you can download with the required level out there.

Some useful advice here though. I think I might go legendary on a couple of things, enchanting certainly and possibly smithing - although that seems to be the hardest to get to 100 or it takes forever at any rate. I've got 80 odd filled black soul gems and countless lesser gems could easily get to 100 on enchanting all over again, I've stopped collecting I have so many, this could be the incentive I need to start again.

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Have you tried this yet? Enchanting is easy to take back to 100 if you keep up the habit of filling soul gems, buying petty and lesser gems, picking up jewelry and making gold/silver rings as you roam around. Keep all of your rings and filled gems in a chest then do it all in one go. It's almost as easy as alchemy- possibly easier.

I'm curious to try smithing. I'm in the process of taking all ebony weapons I find and storing them to try it out later. With lots of +130% fortify smithing potions, a set of maxed out smithing gear and lots of ebony weapons and ingots I think it might be fairly straightforward. Remember all smithing levels you pay for (Eorland) is money you can get back straight away. I guess it'll just depend how much experience you get smithing ebony weapons at a low smithing level without the ebony enchanting perk. I'm hoping it's a lot. With the right conditions you can get about a full level up by improving a single ebony weapon even with a smithing level in the high 90's. You can add 1000s of septims worth of gold to the value of an ebony weapon by smithing which is huge for leveling, but it all depends how much value you can add after reseting your smithing level.

Anybody have experience with this?

Snake Tortoise said:

Dovahkiir said:

currently at level 56. To be honest I'm not trying for level 81 at all its just where I've gotten to. Havn't used exploits because I think it's pointless. If I was desperate to face the Ebony Warrior there are saves you can download with the required level out there.

Some useful advice here though. I think I might go legendary on a couple of things, enchanting certainly and possibly smithing - although that seems to be the hardest to get to 100 or it takes forever at any rate. I've got 80 odd filled black soul gems and countless lesser gems could easily get to 100 on enchanting all over again, I've stopped collecting I have so many, this could be the incentive I need to start again.

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Have you tried this yet? Enchanting is easy to take back to 100 if you keep up the habit of filling soul gems, buying petty and lesser gems, picking up jewelry and making gold/silver rings as you roam around. Keep all of your rings and filled gems in a chest then do it all in one go. It's almost as easy as alchemy- possibly easier.

I'm curious to try smithing. I'm in the process of taking all ebony weapons I find and storing them to try it out later. With lots of +130% fortify smithing potions, a set of maxed out smithing gear and lots of ebony weapons and ingots I think it might be fairly straightforward. Remember all smithing levels you pay for (Eorland) is money you can get back straight away. I guess it'll just depend how much experience you get smithing ebony weapons at a low smithing level without the ebony enchanting perk. I'm hoping it's a lot. With the right conditions you can get about a full level up by improving a single ebony weapon even with a smithing level in the high 90's. You can add 1000s of septims worth of gold to the value of an ebony weapon by smithing which is huge for leveling, but it all depends how much value you can add after reseting your smithing level.

Anybody have experience with this?

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Where did you get a 130% smithing potion? I can easily get that high with potions and enhanced gear, but I have never, ever seen a potion that high even with perked out 100 alchemy. Is it an exploit?

I never ever do all the questlines because none of my characters would be suitable for all of them. I find it easier to level with sneaky characters or mage characters because they seem to have more variety (and their skills level far quicker) than warriors.

Daelon DuLac said:

Where did you get a 130% smithing potion? I can easily get that high with potions and enhanced gear, but I have never, ever seen a potion that high even with perked out 100 alchemy. Is it an exploit?

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No exploit! Make a set of fortify alchemy items (hat, gloves, ring, necklace) all with +29% fortify alchemy enchantments and then make a smithing potion. It should be 130%.

You can make fortify enchanting potions that do +32% fortify enchanting which you'll need to make those +29% alchemy items.

It's a bit tedious to do all of this. I think I first got my enchanting and smithing levels really high (with the right perks) and enchanted a set of alchemy gear that did +27% alchemy per item. With that alchemy gear I created +31% fortify enchanting potions, and then I used those potions to make +29% alchemy items, which I then used to make +32% enchanting potions and +130% smithing potions. With a similar set of smithing gear (+29% on each of the four items) and +130% smithing potions I smithed my ebony bow up to 606 damage (while wearing fortify archery armour and jewelry). That damage will go higher because my archery level isn't 100 yet, it's something like 85.

Anyway, you don't need any fortify restoration nonsense to achieve this.

Snake Tortoise said:

Daelon DuLac said:

Where did you get a 130% smithing potion? I can easily get that high with potions and enhanced gear, but I have never, ever seen a potion that high even with perked out 100 alchemy. Is it an exploit?

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No exploit! Make a set of fortify alchemy items (hat, gloves, ring, necklace) all with +29% fortify alchemy enchantments and then make a smithing potion. It should be 130%.

You can make fortify enchanting potions that do +32% fortify enchanting which you'll need to make those +29% alchemy items.

It's a bit tedious to do all of this. I think I first got my enchanting and smithing levels really high (with the right perks) and enchanted a set of alchemy gear that did +27% alchemy per item. With that alchemy gear I created +31% fortify enchanting potions, and then I used those potions to make +29% alchemy items, which I then used to make +32% enchanting potions and +130% smithing potions. With a similar set of smithing gear (+29% on each of the four items) and +130% smithing potions I smithed my ebony bow up to 606 damage (while wearing fortify archery armour and jewelry). That damage will go higher because my archery level isn't 100 yet, it's something like 85.

Anyway, you don't need any fortify restoration nonsense to achieve this.

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Thank you! That's great intel.

DdraigGwyn said:

I am at Level 60 for the first time because the Ebony Warrior is the only challenge I have left, but I am not sure I will continue for two reasons. First, it is soooooooooo boring. I have max armor with dual enchants, same for weapons. I have Dragon Aspect plus all the other powerful shouts, max Destruction etc.etc. Second, nothing I can do for the next 20 levels can make me any stronger, so waiting to meet the Ebony Warrior has become pointless, either I can beat him now, or I never can. I think we should be able to issue a challenge any time: if we lose, game over.

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Well there's a month of my life I wont get back! Finally got to Level 80,Master level, met the Ebony warrior, killed him 30 seconds. Took on Dragon Aspect, hit him three times with Dragonbone bow, then Marked for Death and finished him with my Dragonbone sword when he came in range.

Well, that may be it: I have completed every challenge, so it may be time to say farewell to Skyrim for the time being. Got some Russian troops waiting to destroy the Germans in 1944 (Combat Mission Red Thunder)

DdraigGwyn said:

DdraigGwyn said:

I am at Level 60 for the first time because the Ebony Warrior is the only challenge I have left, but I am not sure I will continue for two reasons. First, it is soooooooooo boring. I have max armor with dual enchants, same for weapons. I have Dragon Aspect plus all the other powerful shouts, max Destruction etc.etc. Second, nothing I can do for the next 20 levels can make me any stronger, so waiting to meet the Ebony Warrior has become pointless, either I can beat him now, or I never can. I think we should be able to issue a challenge any time: if we lose, game over.

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Well there's a month of my life I wont get back! Finally got to Level 80,Master level, met the Ebony warrior, killed him 30 seconds. Took on Dragon Aspect, hit him three times with Dragonbone bow, then Marked for Death and finished him with my Dragonbone sword when he came in range.

Well, that may be it: I have completed every challenge, so it may be time to say farewell to Skyrim for the time being. Got some Russian troops waiting to destroy the Germans in 1944 (Combat Mission Red Thunder)

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We'll miss you and your heraldic tag picture. Enjoy!

What I did on my "Do Random Crap" profile I found a way to lvl higher than 81 and it only takes about 15 seconds to get 2 or 3 lvls.......... You need 100 enchanting, alteration spell 25% less to cast on 4 pieces (necklace, ring, armor, and hat) now you get telekinesis and go to whiterun.... Now you hold something with telekinesis( notice your magic isn't going down) while holding the object go to the map and fast travel to riften, then lvl up make alteration legendary and travel back to whiterun lvl up and make alteration legendary then repeat....... Enjoy


You Know Your Awesome When You Can Kill A Legendary Dragon With One Hit!

I normally don't even start questing till about level 70, so I don't know what to tell you.

You can gain a ton of levels just walking around gathering and hunting... and then crafting and selling. I usually get my Destruction up to 50 by just killing deer. Then I take all the pelts and make magic equipment. Convert metals in to gold... convert gold into rings... enchant rings... sell at College to pay for training. Right there you are leveling Archery/Magic, Smithing, Enchanting, Speechcraft and whatever you are paying to train in.

SkyrimJunky said:

You Know Your Awesome When You Can Kill A Legendary Dragon With One Hit!

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Wrong... that just shows you are OP... kill a Legendary Dragon with Mehrune's Razor and we can talk about your awesomness.

LotusEater said:

SkyrimJunky said:

You Know Your Awesome When You Can Kill A Legendary Dragon With One Hit!

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Wrong... that just shows you are OP... kill a Legendary Dragon with Mehrune's Razor and we can talk about your awesomness.

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What? You don't just punch it? I must be doing something wrong. Maybe it's the Novice setting...

SkyrimJunky said:

What I did on my "Do Random Crap" profile I found a way to lvl higher than 81 and it only takes about 15 seconds to get 2 or 3 lvls.......... You need 100 enchanting, alteration spell 25% less to cast on 4 pieces (necklace, ring, armor, and hat) now you get telekinesis and go to whiterun.... Now you hold something with telekinesis( notice your magic isn't going down) while holding the object go to the map and fast travel to riften, then lvl up make alteration legendary and travel back to whiterun lvl up and make alteration legendary then repeat....... Enjoy


You Know Your Awesome When You Can Kill A Legendary Dragon With One Hit!

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Why not just achieve 100% cost reduction, grab something with Telekinesis, put a rubber band on your trigger and go grab some lunch or do you automatically hit 100 after fast travel? I've never done this particular exploit.

LotusEater said:

I normally don't even start questing till about level 70, so I don't know what to tell you.

You can gain a ton of levels just walking around gathering and hunting... and then crafting and selling. I usually get my Destruction up to 50 by just killing deer. Then I take all the pelts and make magic equipment. Convert metals in to gold... convert gold into rings... enchant rings... sell at College to pay for training. Right there you are leveling Archery/Magic, Smithing, Enchanting, Speechcraft and whatever you are paying to train in.

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I've never had a character even get their level that high.

Hildolfr said:

LotusEater said:

I normally don't even start questing till about level 70, so I don't know what to tell you.

You can gain a ton of levels just walking around gathering and hunting... and then crafting and selling. I usually get my Destruction up to 50 by just killing deer. Then I take all the pelts and make magic equipment. Convert metals in to gold... convert gold into rings... enchant rings... sell at College to pay for training. Right there you are leveling Archery/Magic, Smithing, Enchanting, Speechcraft and whatever you are paying to train in.

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I've never had a character even get their level that high.

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I know what you mean. I get bored of them too easy. Especially in heavy RP, I get REALLY bored. To many limitations and rules.

Hildolfr said:

LotusEater said:

I normally don't even start questing till about level 70, so I don't know what to tell you.

You can gain a ton of levels just walking around gathering and hunting... and then crafting and selling. I usually get my Destruction up to 50 by just killing deer. Then I take all the pelts and make magic equipment. Convert metals in to gold... convert gold into rings... enchant rings... sell at College to pay for training. Right there you are leveling Archery/Magic, Smithing, Enchanting, Speechcraft and whatever you are paying to train in.

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I've never had a character even get their level that high.

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My approach is probably a little different. I don't play to quest, I play to prepare to quest and then once prepared, make sure the difficulty is jacked up and then play to quest. I mean it's cool that the Jarl of Whiterun has enough faith in me to slay a dragon, but I'm not just gonna take my hunting bow and iron sword and go running to slay a dragon ill prepared because he said so.

I happen to enjoy the mundane stuff like collecting ore and grinding out items to sell so hunting, gathering and selling is how I choose to level the first 50 levels or so, not including any incidental battles I will often run in to while traveling the continent gathering raw materials.

LotusEater said:

My approach is probably a little different. I don't play to quest, I play to prepare to quest and then once prepared, make sure the difficulty is jacked up and then play to quest. I mean it's cool that the Jarl of Whiterun has enough faith in me to slay a dragon, but I'm not just gonna take my hunting bow and iron sword and go running to slay a dragon ill prepared because he said so.

I happen to enjoy the mundane stuff like collecting ore and grinding out items to sell so hunting, gathering and selling is how I choose to level the first 50 levels or so, not including any incidental battles I will often run in to while traveling the continent gathering raw materials.

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I understand what you mean. I think I like going and fighting the dragon with my dinky Imperial steel sword. It presents a real challenge. The same reason I always do Fort Amol before level 10. It's hard and really gives off a feeling of satisfaction when it's done. For what it's worth, I play on Master.

I don't love grinding much. I played RuneScape years ago and that gave me enough grindng to last a lifetime. To be fair, I had 99 fishing and I sold my sharks for big money.

Do you RP your characters? If so, how do you rationalize spending so much time grinding and what have you? It sounds hard to do since your character is thrust into conflict from the get-go.

Hildolfr said:

LotusEater said:

My approach is probably a little different. I don't play to quest, I play to prepare to quest and then once prepared, make sure the difficulty is jacked up and then play to quest. I mean it's cool that the Jarl of Whiterun has enough faith in me to slay a dragon, but I'm not just gonna take my hunting bow and iron sword and go running to slay a dragon ill prepared because he said so.

I happen to enjoy the mundane stuff like collecting ore and grinding out items to sell so hunting, gathering and selling is how I choose to level the first 50 levels or so, not including any incidental battles I will often run in to while traveling the continent gathering raw materials.

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I understand what you mean. I think I like going and fighting the dragon with my dinky Imperial steel sword. It presents a real challenge. The same reason I always do Fort Amol before level 10. It's hard and really gives off a feeling of satisfaction when it's done. For what it's worth, I play on Master.

I don't love grinding much. I played RuneScape years ago and that gave me enough grindng to last a lifetime. To be fair, I had 99 fishing and I sold my sharks for big money.

Do you RP your characters? If so, how do you rationalize spending so much time grinding and what have you? It sounds hard to do since your character is thrust into conflict from the get-go.

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I actually RP pretty heavy, I've just never put much in to creating a backstory. I view my early level interactions with specific NPC's as my backstory... that way my backstory is actually rooted with certain NPC's that can be revisited, which are chosen based on the build I'm doing. When I escape Helgen I'm basically just a wandering loser that got snagged up only to learn later that he's The One.

As far as rationalizing the grinding, there is really nothing to rationalize. It's not much different than real life. If you want to make money, you need a means. I'm not gonna manufacture and sell enough of anything unless I have the resources to do it. If I happen to want to sell a bunch fur coats and make a bunch of money, I'm gonna have to kill a bunch of animals to do it. No different in Skyrim, if I want to create a bunch of jewelry I am going to have to mine a bunch of ore. If I want to make and sell magical leather equipment, I'm going to need to kill a bunch of animals to get the leather. Mining and hunting in the open wilds of Skyrim is just as tough and challenging as any quest, maybe more so in many ways.

Basically, instead of questing in the early to mid game, I go on continent wide fishing, hunting and mining expeditions in order to fund my questing exploits and get myself into questing shape by training my skills on woodland creatures and random encounters... which happens constantly since I rarely fast travel during this period.