General Tips

Every nubling adventurer needs a little guidance to help start them off on the right foot. Here are some helpful tips.

Please note that these are general tips. For more specific tips on leveling a skill quickly, please go to that respective skills section.

Tips for Success

SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!

The dangers of Skyrim are plentiful and therefore the most invaluable tip would be to save often. Plenty of times one makes it to the final boss of the dungeon to only get killed and have to start over from the moment the player entered that specific part of the dungeon. Most importantly, save before major encounters. For example if the player knows a dragon priest fight approaches then they are able to save before the fight. If the player does indeed die then they are then able to use their knowledge of what is ahead to plan and strategize, and something good can come out of it! And there is always that added bonus of not having to retrace your steps. Another great time to save is right before a master or expert lock, that way if you lose all lock picks or most of them you can reload and try again. Also don't forget to save over old saves that are now useless.

USE YOUR RESOURCES

While adventuring throughout the world collect as many items as you can. Most of the items in Skyrim are used for something. For example; the pelt which is used for leather or the Dwemer scrap metal which can be transformed into ingots. All of the items you pick up could help you level up skills you are interested in. An example of this is using the leather from a bear pelt to craft items to increase smithing. Another reason to pick as many items as possible is quests, as often times they task you with getting items you might not have. This is optional as maybe you would like to go outside and retrieve it the adventurous way.

Be aware, though, that carrying too much could slow you down.

Getting Six or More "Followers"

There's a way to form an incredible (sometimes) death-defying super death squad with multiple followers. Referred to lovingly as an "Insane Crown Posse" (you are a Thane after all), this ever-growing party will absolutely murder anything and everything in your path, including dragons and giants.

Here's how:

You can trick the system by going on certain quests to recruit people into your party but not finishing the quest. They will remain in your party forever until you complete the quest or dismiss them. In A Daedra's Best Friend you get to recruit a rather reliable dog companion named Barbas. In Alduin's Wall, two seasoned fighters tag along. (Occasionally, Delphine will try to leave, but simply tell her to follow you.) Combine these NPCs with a Conjuration or two (must be at max level), a horse, and a follower, then you've got a full traveling troupe of insanity.

Quests in which you get an NPC who doesn't replace your existing follower that can stick around include:

Alduin's Wall

A Daedra's Best Friend

Speaking With Silence

The Blessing Of Nature (There is a guy who asks to join you when you initiate the quest.)

A horse like Shadowmere from The Cure For Madness.

Any ability that summons a temporary helper.

The Sanguine Rose summons another Atronach.

Summon Spectral Assassin.

Laid to Rest (speak to Thommir in front of the cave. This guys light a torch whenever it's dark!)

More...?

Just be careful that they don't literally get in your way as you try to navigate smaller spaces. And also just be careful that they don't get in each other's way in combat. You will encounter situations where they will start ripping into each other if one accidently hits another of your followers.

Be sure to check the full list of followers! Typically, you can have one human follower and one animal follower, in addition to the quest NPCs, potentially creating a massive hunting party.

Use Equipment Shortcuts

Remember to favorite your most-used items, spells, and weapons. You can bring up the quick-access favorites menu (control pad up on consoles) to select and assign your favorites to your hands manually, or press left or right on the pad while in the menu to create two equipment sets. Left is set #1, right is set #2. To select the sets while in combat, simply press left or right on the control pad. You can also use this shortcut to equip an item in both hands by tapping the direction twice (useful for double casting).

When switching from a two-handed weapon to a one-handed weapon or spell by using equipment shortcuts, the last item or spell equipped in your other hand will also be equipped. Therefore, it may be useful to use one favorite for a two-handed weapon (such as a staff or bow) and the other for a one-handed weapon allowing you to switch quickly between ranged and close combat sets.

The Rumormongers

As is typical in a fantasy setting, innkeepers and bartenders tend to all kinds of worldly patrons and, thus, are often in the know for all things current in the land of Skyrim. Any time you visit a new town, head to the local bar or inn (or both!) to inquire about job leads or rumors. Oftentimes these tiny kernels of knowledge expand out to full-fledged quests!

Fast Travel is Your Friend

While you can feasibly journey across Skyrim from one end to the other entirely on foot, such a trek is generally discouraged if you don't have a ton of real life time to kill. That's why fast travel is so great. Once you've discovered a town, you can fast travel to it (provided you are not overencumbered). In-game time will lapse as it would assuming you had traveled on foot. It's important to discover new locations to fast travel to and use them as springboards for stumbling upon other unexplored territories.

The easiest way to start fast travelling is by using carriages. These are usually located at the stables outside of each Hold, and you can pay the driver a nominal fee (20-50 gold) to get to any other Hold (a nice throwback to the Silt Striders of Morrowind). The best part is you only have to pay to visit each hold once. After that, you can just fast travel back for free!

On the flip side, exploring the land in an organic manner has its benefits. You will often find new and interesting quests, gather valuable loot and level up. Finding that balance between exploration and fast traveling is ideal.

Storage

Inventory management can be a drag at times, unless you come up with clever little ways to hide and store your items properly. For one, using your Followers as a mule is totally viable (and necessary at times), but they, too, have a storage limit. Alternatively, barrels are also a great place for storage purposes, but just remember which barrel you hid your stuff in!

Also, once you own property, it is completely okay for you to just dump things in Containers that are in your home. Be careful, though. Skyrim is buggy, so while your items shouldn't disappear when placed in a random barrel or chest, there's no guarantee unless you purchase a house and store your items there.

(From time to time, it appears a thief may visit. Kill him to retrieve your items and keep anything you really don't want to lose on your person such as the Dragon Priest masks.)

Reading Books (Ugh, Right?)

Volumes and volumes of books are strewn throughout Skyrim. Most of them provide a lot of exposition on the history and Elder Scrolls lore, but some of them also happen to be Skill Books or give you Quests. It's worth at least thumbing through the pages to discover whether they're of use to you in-game. Or you know... you can actually read them (crazy, right?).

An easy way to determine if a random book you find in Skyrim is a Skill Book at a glance is to take note of the book's value when your crosshairs are pointed at it. Skill Books will generally have values greater than 50 gold.

Smithing Boost

Wait. Don't smith that Daedric armor just yet. Before you start smithing there is something you can do that can greatly increase your armor strength. First off you will need to have quite a few Grand soul gems around 4. Then you will need to have a helmet, clothes, a ring, and a necklace. Next go find an enchanting table and be sure that you have the ability to enchant smithing. This can be done easily by disenchanting any item that has a smithing perk. Then enchant each of the items I just listed with the smithing perk and use a grand soul gem on each, it should be around a 25% smithing increase for each item that you enchanted. Finally put all your gear on and begin smithing your armor, make sure to get it all the way to legendary for the best armor rating.

Look Through the Inventory of Every Kill

While it may seem like a corpse is only going to have some useless armor or disgusting looking meat, even skeevers occasionally pick up valuable gems. So, keep on acting like some medieval hobo and carefully rummage through every corpse you find or create. You never know when you'll find a ring worth a couple of hundred gold! This is also known as Looting!

Saving Arrows

Changed your mind about firing off that nocked arrow? Simply put away your bow to cancel it. Arrows can be precious in dire situations! Arrows can also be recovered off of your slain adversaries to further keep your character in healthy supply.

How to Climb Mountains (aka Backwards Butt Shimmy)

Invariably you get to a point when you're climbing a mountain off set paths where you can't progress forward any longer because the grade is too steep. If you hit that point, simply face backwards and start jumping. Just point your butt toward the peak and continually hit the jump button. It also helps to move slightly from side-to-side as you try this. You can often snag a rock along the way and shimmy up a mountain without having to use a set path. Facing forward at a 45-degree angle can sometimes help as well.

You can do a forward crotch shimmy as well. It's easier to see where you are going. Button smash on the jump button and jump side to side. If you're good you don't have to guess as much just look at the architecture and determine what slopes you can climb.

Add Several Points of Interest to Your Map

You'll pick up points of interest on your overland map through conversations, but there's at least one place in the game where you can add several all at once. In Mistveil Keep (Jarl's court) in Riften, there's a room to the left behind the throne room with a map that displays which towns are controlled by the Imperial forces and which are controlled by the Stormcloaks. There is also a map available in Whiterun (up the staircase to the right past where the Jarl sits). You can add all of these towns to your own map by clicking on them. It doesn't allow you to fast travel if you haven't found them yet, but at least you'll know where they are.

In fact there are several of these rooms all over Skyrim; in particular every single Jarl's court has one, as well as many of the major military points in the game. Unfortunately, this will not allow you to Fast Travel to the newly placed areas on your map. You will still have to discover them first.

Another alternative is reading the books titled "An Explorer's Guide to Skyrim". Each book will add new points of interest on your map.

Easy Money

Before you reach Riverwood, be on the look out for a Woodcutter's Axe. In Riverwood, there's an axe near the lumber mill itself on a table. Once you're in Riverwood head across the bridge beside Alvor and Sigrid's House (leads across the river). Use the Wood Chopping Block to cure as much firewood as you can handle. Sell at a vendor and wait 24-48 hours once they're out of gold. Repeat until you have that vast wealth you've always wanted...without all the danger. Weight 5, Price to sell 5. Sell price does depend on Speech level.

It is also a good idea to get a follower and again use them as a mule. Once you reach your weight limit, give the firewood to your follower. This can be a quick and easy way to get more money each trip.

If you have whirlwind sprint, you can use this along with the Amulet of Talos to quickly get from the mill to Hod's house in Riverwood.

The fastest way to chop and sell wood in Riverwood is if you use the wood cutting area right next to Gerdur and Hod's house (i.e. Ralof's sister and brother-in-law; the Wood Chopping Block is left of the house plot, if you're facing it), then return to the house to sell the wood to Hod.

Training for Free

NOTE: This tip requires some proficiency in Pickpocketing or alternatively, potions or items that increase pickpocketing success.

Many mage, thief and fighter skills can be trained for free by simply stealing the fee back after each training. Simply pick an area with easy access to trainers who are sleeping in their beds. The Companions building in Whiterun works for fighter skills, the College of Winterhold works for mage skills, and Riften would probably work for thief skills.

Talk to the trainer at night while they are sleeping and train your skill, then wait till they go back to bed and steal the money spent back. Be sure to steal the money back after each single skill up because the success rate will decrease as the trainer gains more gold. Using this trick you will not only gain free levels in your chosen skill, but your pickpocket skill will increase very quickly.

NOTE: The Pickpocket-less version requires a companion.

To do this without Pickpocketing you can find a companion (follower, not necessarily from the guild) that can train you. Because you have unrestricted access to what they are holding you can train, ask them to carry something for you and take your money back. Rinse, repeat.

You can gain multiple levels if you continue to train the maximum (5/5) skill ups even after you level. Once you level up you are free to retrain the maximum 5/5. If you want to truly see your level skyrocket then mix in the above "Illusion skill" tip mentioned above.

When looking through dungeons for items and enemies, stay on the lookout for traps. Don't trip them unless it is necessary for progressing through the dungeon as you can also use these against enemies. Some groups of enemies can already be found in the immediate effects of the trap, so activate them as soon as you seem them underneath/next to it!

Three Base Guardian Stones

You most likely came across the three base guardian stones when you started on your journey; remember them, as they are your friends. Say you are bored of bludgeoning draugr with your war hammer and you would rather turn them into ashes. Pay a quick visit to the guardian stones to be blessed by the mage stone to accelerate your development with magic. Take advantage of the Stones and switch according to your playstyle.

Extremely Powerful Equipment

NOTE: This method requires that you have 100 in Alchemy, Smithing and Enchanting. The skills Alchemist (5/5) and Benefactor in Alchemy, Enchanter (5/5), Insightful Enchanter and Extra Effect in Enchanting; and your desired Smithing perk for armour and weapon choice.

To begin the process

1. Craft a set of Fortify Alchemy gear (ring, necklace, gloves, circlet). This should result in four items that each boosts your Alchemy skill by 25%.

2. Then craft several potions of Fortify Enchanting(10).These potions should enhance your enchanting skill by 30%

3. Use those potions to craft a new set of Fortify Alchemy gear. This set will have a boost of 28% on each piece.

4. Using this new set, create new Fortify Enchanting potions. These potions should have a boost of 32% on them.

5. Next use these potions to create a set of equipment with Fortify Alchemy & Fortify Smithing both boosted to +29% per piece. This comes out to a total boost of +116% for each skill.