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Forgot

Member
Hello my good people



This post will be an in-depth guide on maximizing your character in skyrim. I'll try to keep it as to-the-point as possible. The only "glitch" we will be using is the exploit of wearing both a circlet and a falmer helmet at the same time. NO RESTORATION GLITCHES.


My weapon's damage stats and other information is at the bottom of the post in spoilers. It may be wise to read through them before reading on. I know it is a long post so some incentive may be of use:

Weapon Damage
Dragonbone Bow: 3032 damage, 50% chance for 283 points of each element, 182 fire damage

Sword #1: 2456 damage, 50% chance for 283 points of each element, 182 fire damage

Sword #2: 2456 damage, 50% chance for 283 points of each element, soul trap for 1 sec

With Potion

Dragonbone Bow: 12,243 damage

Sword #1 & #2: 40,039 damage (not a typo, that's 40,039 per sword)

Let's get started!




First, you will only NEED the dragonborn DLC, but both dawnguard and hearthfire are useful. If you are going to play through the dawnguard dlc as a dawnguard, do so before pursuing this tutorial.


Play through your character like normal, being sure to level smithing, alchemy, enchanting to 100, and restoration to 70. Combat skills should be levelled too.

Take all useful perks in each tree (all potency improving ones and others such as extra effect). Be sure to collect Grand soul gems, glowing mushrooms, spriggan sap, blisterwort, snowberries, blue butterfly wings, and hagraven claws. Also collect varoius rings, necklaces, clothes, boots, gauntlets, and a fair amount of falmer helmets.



Now once you have a levelled character, we can begin our journey.



First, become a vampire and take the Necromage perk from the restoration skill tree. This will increase spells potency by 25% and duration by 50% to any undead. BUT, due to us being a vampire, the game thinks we are undead. This means that any enchantments, potions, active effects, and some perks will be increased by 25%.



Next, play through the dragonborn DLC. You will need a black book (The Sallow Regent) and 4 pieces of Ahzidal's armor. Make sure you have a fairly large stockpile of grand soul gems (20+) and plenty of alchemy ingredients.



Now the crafting begins. I will split this up into steps. This is easiest to do in Raven Rock. There is an alchemy table by the forge, and an enchanting table in the town hall.



1. Read the Sallow Regent and choose seeker of shadows.

2. Craft 2 potions of fortify echanting.

3. Read the Sallow Regent and choose seeker of sorcery.

4. Wearing 4 pieces of Ahzidal's armour (one piece must be boots), drink a fortify enchanting potion and make a full set of fortify alchemy gear. (gloves, circlet, falmer helmet, ring, necklace) Be sure your potion was active for all pieces.

5. Read the Sallow Regent, choose seeker of shadows and put your new alchemy gear on.



Repeat the loop of the steps until your fortify enchanting potion reaches 61% and your fortify alchemy gear reaches 43%.



Now that you have your nice new maxed alchemy gear, put it on, take seeker of shadows and craft yourself 6-7 fortify enchanting potions. Be sure they are at 61%.



Take seeker of sorcery, put on Ahzidal's armour, use a fortify enchanting potion and craft a final set of gear. Be sure to name all pieces the same thing, such as "Crafting" or "C". Only do 2 pieces per enchanting potion as to make sure you don't run out.



On each piece put:

Circlet - Fortify Alchemy (43%)
Falmer Helmet - Fortify alchemy (43%)
Ring - Fortify Alchemy and Fortify Smithing (43%)
Necklace - Fortify Alchemy and fortify smithing (43%)
Gloves - Fortify Alchemy and fortify smithing (43%)
Chest Piece - Fortify Smithing (43%)
Dunmer Shoes - Fortify Smithing (43%)


Now we have our full crafting set! The main part is over already.


Now that we have our crafting set, put it on, take seeker of shadows, and make some fortify smithing potions (243%), and some more fortify enchanting potions (61%).

Make a set of whichever armour you like. (boots, gauntlets, chestpiece) Don't worry about armour, we can reach the cap of 567 with anything. Also make some dragonbone weapons. I made 2 dragonbone swords and a dragonbone bow, but you can make whatever you like.


Put on your crafting gear, read the sallow regent, take seeker of might, drink a fortify smithing potion and improve your newly made armour and weapons.


Almost done... read the sallow regent, take seeker of sorcery, put on Ahzidal's armour, drink a potion of fortify enchanting and enchant your newly improved gear. Only do 2 pieces at a time so you know that you have the potion active. Name the armour the same thing, such as "A" or "Melee". The enchantments are up to you, but I recommend putting a specific damage (either one handed, two handed, or archery) on any piece you can. Also put resist magic on the ring and necklace.

I would recommend making a specific set for each playstyle you want to try.

Example: I want to play as an archer and a warrior, so I make one full set of armour that benefits archers, another set that benefits warriors, and switch armour sets whenever I need. (even in mid-battle)


Being sure to use an enchanting potion, enchant your weapons with chaos damage, and another enchantment of your choice. Chaos damage boosts the effect of you second enchantment. (Glitch? Nope. Boosting one enchantment on a piece of equipment boosts both enchantments.)


So close now... read the sallow regent, take seeker of shadows, put on your crafting gear, and make some potions of fortify one handed/fortify marksman/fortify two handed, depending on your weapon type. They should be at 243%.


Read the sallow regent and take seeker of might.


Ok, finished!


If all steps were completed your stats/damage should look a little like mine.


STATS/DAMAGE

These are with armour specified for each playstyle.

Without Potion:

Dragonbone Bow: 3032 damage, 50% chance for 283 points of each element, 182 fire damage

Sword #1: 2456 damage, 50% chance for 283 points of each element, 182 fire damage

Sword #2: 2456 damage, 50% chance for 283 points of each element, soul trap for 1 sec

With Potion (enchantments are the same):

Dragonbone Bow: 12,243 damage

Sword #1 & #2: 40,039 damage (not a typo, that's 40,039 per sword)

ENCHANTMENT STRENGTH
These are the strengths that various enchantments should be if you completed the tutorial.

Fortify Smithing/alchemy: 43%

Fortify damage: 70%

Magic resist: 34%

Fortify Sneak: 70%

Reduced mana cost: 43%

Health/Stamina/Magicka increase: 108 points.

Keep in mind that your necromage perk boosts these stats by an additional 25% if you are a vampire.


OTHER INFO:
PERKS (all are listed are necessary)
- take all augmented flames/frost/shock perks in destruction tree, they boost your chaos damage
-take fire/frost/shock enchanter aswell (enchanting tree), they all boost your chaos damage
-extra effect is necessary

-smithing perks are necessary
-all potency boosting perks from enchanting and alchemy are needed
-necromage is needed, vampirism is needed

MISC.
-due to you being a vampire and having necromage, all enchantments/potions/active effects and some erks are boosted by 25% potency and 50% duration.
-because of this, even though it says "70% increased damage done by bows" on an item, if you look in your active effects you see you are getting an 83% boost
-I am not sure why, but the fortify one handed potion affects swords more than it should, cause an insane amount of damage
-needless to say, you can one shot anything in the game on legendary difficulty withough a sneak attack including the ebony warrior

-it is possible to achieve 100% mana reduction for all magic schools, as 100% reduction for one school only takes 2 enchantments

-you can cure vampirism, but will lose some benefits, so I recommend staying a vampire if possible

-all benefits will be restored if you cure vampirism, play for a while and return to being a vampire

-you can take the necromage perk away as long as you put it back. No benefits will be lost



If the tutorial was followed (and you read all of it) you will be a god in skyrim, nothing will stand in your way.


If you need help with anything, or need any ambiguity cleared up, just post below.
 

Nocte Aeterna

Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Film
Apparently these values can OHKO the highest leveled Dragon Priests on any difficulty.

Calm down there, Satan.
 

ColleenG

When in doubt, follow the fox.
Interesting. Not gonna do it, but it's interesting. That one spoiler, "Enchantment Strength" seems to have low numbers but maybe I'm not understanding it.

I do my fair share of smithing/enchanting/alchemy to bring my weaponry well over 1k per hit and this seems sufficient to reach gods mode. I can one-hit a dragon out of the sky if I sneak, without using a fortify marksman potion, which would increase damage by about 161% if I did. But I don't need Sallow Regent to do this and I don't max out the whole alchemy/enchanting loop for smithing gear, I just do it til I don't want to do it anymore. I find the loading screens to be annoying so my whole mode of play seems to revolve around avoiding the load screens!
 

W'rkncacnter

Mister Freeze
I don't think I've ever maxed out a crafting skill, much less all three of them. . .

You can have your weapons that can hew a giant's leg off in one blow, they are not for me.
 

Forgot

Member
I don't think I've ever maxed out a crafting skill, much less all three of them. . .

You can have your weapons that can hew a giant's leg off in one blow, they are not for me.


Oddly enough, this process does not take as long as you may think. Most skills can be leveled using AFK methods, so all this would only take 5-6 hours of game play if you were quick.
 

W'rkncacnter

Mister Freeze
I understand. I just don't play that way. I tend to roleplay my characters which means most won't be masters of anything.
 

ColleenG

When in doubt, follow the fox.
I don't think I've ever maxed out a crafting skill, much less all three of them. . .

You can have your weapons that can hew a giant's leg off in one blow, they are not for me.

I understand what you mean. For me it's not being maxed out, it's getting there that makes it worthwhile. To start off with nothing but an iron sword and work your way up to being the most powerful being in Skyrim is more than half the fun--it's practically all of it. Once I hit top, I start thinking about a new character. But I don't do what "Forgot" said. I do it in RP as a typical crafter in Skyrim. It might take me til level 50 to hit 100 in Smithing and Enchanting, a bit longer for Alchemy. then after that, there's the enchanting/alchemy loop to increase potency of enchantment potions and higher improvement levels in smithing gear. So, say by level 60-65 I've gone as far as I care to go with that stuff. In the mean time, there's dragons to kill and damsels to save.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
I don't think I've ever maxed out a crafting skill, much less all three of them. . .

You can have your weapons that can hew a giant's leg off in one blow, they are not for me.

I understand what you mean. For me it's not being maxed out, it's getting there that makes it worthwhile. To start off with nothing but an iron sword and work your way up to being the most powerful being in Skyrim is more than half the fun--it's practically all of it. Once I hit top, I start thinking about a new character. But I don't do what "Forgot" said. I do it in RP as a typical crafter in Skyrim. It might take me til level 50 to hit 100 in Smithing and Enchanting, a bit longer for Alchemy. then after that, there's the enchanting/alchemy loop to increase potency of enchantment potions and higher improvement levels in smithing gear. So, say by level 60-65 I've gone as far as I care to go with that stuff. In the mean time, there's dragons to kill and damsels to save.
I agree with you on the leveling. Same for me, but, where we differ is that I never use the enchanting/alchemy loop - ever. I don't need to be invulnerable or have my weapons or magic destroy everything in my path immediately. Even at very high levels, I need a bit of a challenge. The only time I've ever used the loop was on a Master runthrough, and, even then, I ended up so overpowered, I was blasting Legendary Dragons out of the sky in one shot and that was just too unrealistic for my playstyle.
More power to you if you enjoy it though. There is something to be said about being a God. I'm not sure what it is, but I just know it must be something! :)
 

Harkin

Necromatic Mastermind
You completely forgot about the white vial, which can increase physical damage by a huge ammount.

Il stick with my still fun, underpowered build, even with 10 followers, it takes them a good few minutes to take down a dragón on legendary, longer with deathlords.

Once you become this powerhouse, you will look back on those moments where you were fighting and bashing with desperation on your last few hitpoints and realize you have lost something important.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
I still have no clue how to do the restoration loop despite step by step instructions posted over and over here on the forums. I've tried and failed multiple times. :sadface:

I wouldn't use it anyhow, probably, since I've taken to playing on adept most of the time and that would make things just far too OP for my playstyle (as you can see by my other thread today, I OP myself quite efficiently without augmenting anything).

I'll keep trying the step by step loop though and maybe one-day I'll figure it out.

:)
 

HouseHosted

Mundus 9-5, Oblivion weekends
I am not entirely certain, but it sounds like you're commenting on my post, Daelon. I am not suggesting that particular exploit that is possible with Restoration potions. It is absolutely possible to use them legitimately to temporarily boost your stats. It's been a great deal of time since I'd used them this way. I am pretty sure they can be used in conjunction with Alchemy and Enchanting.

Interestingly enough, a lot of people assume that one must use the Restoration exploit that you're referring to, to make things easier for themselves. I typically use it to make things harder. It takes a great deal of care, but the reward is awesome.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
I am not entirely certain, but it sounds like you're commenting on my post, Daelon. I am not suggesting that particular exploit that is possible with Restoration potions. It is absolutely possible to use them legitimately to temporarily boost your stats. It's been a great deal of time since I'd used them this way. I am pretty sure they can be used in conjunction with Alchemy and Enchanting.

Interestingly enough, a lot of people assume that one must use the Restoration exploit that you're referring to, to make things easier for yourself. I typically use it to make things harder. It takes a great deal of care, but the reward is awesome.
Now, if I could only figure out how to use it! Not that I'd have a use for it but it would be cool to actually enchant something that was actually as good as a master robe!
 

HouseHosted

Mundus 9-5, Oblivion weekends
It is, isn't it? You'd just need Two Effects unlocked. Fortify Destruction or whichever school with Magicka Regeneration should be equivalent at 5/5 with 100 skill level... I dare say the resulting item would be better (and don't forget Fortify Enchanting potion). Alternatively you could use the school + regen effect and magicka regeneration on top of it, though, I'm not sure if the cast cost reduction takes a hit on that effect.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
It is, isn't it? You'd just need Two Effects unlocked. Fortify Destruction or whichever school with Magicka Regeneration should be equivalent at 5/5 with 100 skill level... I dare say the resulting item would be better (and don't forget Fortify Enchanting potion). Alternatively you could use the school + regen effect and magicka regeneration on top of it, though, I'm not sure if the cast cost reduction takes a hit on that effect.
Would you mind taking a look at my thread from earlier today about the enchants I did when I reached max last night and give me your opinion? First max enchant for a vamp.
 

Forgot

Member
Would you mind taking a look at my thread from earlier today about the enchants I did when I reached max last night and give me your opinion? First max enchant for a vamp.

If you are talking about the magicka regen, no you can't get higher than 150% legitimately. (that I know of)
But the fact that you can get 100% magicka cost reduction makes magicka regen a little useless. Not to mention that all magicka regen is dropped by 2/3 in battle.

With that said, I would just hotkey some magicka restore potions.
 

ColleenG

When in doubt, follow the fox.
Would you mind taking a look at my thread from earlier today about the enchants I did when I reached max last night and give me your opinion? First max enchant for a vamp.

If you are talking about the magicka regen, no you can't get higher than 150% legitimately. (that I know of)
But the fact that you can get 100% magicka cost reduction makes magicka regen a little useless. Not to mention that all magicka regen is dropped by 2/3 in battle.

With that said, I would just hotkey some magicka restore potions.
I have magica regen at 203% without exploits or mods.
 

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