Do we have any data on the archery critical perk? Because it does seem to provide significant damage bonus unlike the sword perk.

Also, the elemental damage from stacking fire and frost enchants cannot justify the lost of absorb health and absorb stamina in my opinion, especially since so many perks need to be taken.

However I can get behind the idea of using it to boost absorb enchantments. Fiery soul trap gets the 50% bonus from Augmented Flames and in addition boosts absorb health to 34 and absorb stamina to 43. If you have three perks to spare, it is a decent way to boost your sustainability against multiple foes.

I don't think anybody's done in-depth archery perk testing yet.
-Loth

Thanks for your hard work. I'd contribute, but I'm playing on Xbox so it will be more effort for less results.

It would be helpful if you could flesh out the restoration loop on the first page. As it is, someone who read it but didn't know what it is or how to do it would probably have to look elsewhere to figure it out.

Here's a question that may or may not be slightly off-topic. If there's a better thread for me to ask this in, please do direct me to it.

Again I see the information posted about the "enchanting loop" but I don't quite understand it.

Let me start by asking a simpler question or two:

1) I want to carry more crap. I have a pair of Elven boots. Is it possible for me to use the exploits to create a pair of boots that will grant me 4,000 more weight units of carrying capacity?

2) I want to hit the armor cap. Is it possible for me to create a loop that makes it possible for me to hit the armor cap using just these boots?

Let's start there and try to keep my questions very narrow so that they're easy to answer. Thank you for any help you can offer.

I'm pretty sure, if you use the Resto Loop exploit, you can do this. If you follow the link that Cheshyr posted in the Guide at the front of this thread, you will learn how to use it. We're trying to stay away from getting involved in the resto loop on these threads.

Again... the resto loop is the only way you're going to be able to hit the armor cap with just a pair of boots. Have fun!
-Loth

Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley?

-
Was thinking about the lonely Alteration spells. Where would weapons end up on the same smithing level with armor rating adjusted to let the poor skins do something?

Err... what? LOL Please use a language translator that makes sense.
-Loth

PS I want to help, but I don't understand your question...

Heyo! Long-time reader, first-time poster here... So that regulars could spare themselves from explaining blasphemy

As far as I understand, Resto loop is as follows:
1) get a set of Fortify Alchemy enchanted gear.
2) craft a Fortify Restoration potion, drink it.
3) this shoud boost your enchanted gear, if it doesn't, reequip gear, should do the trick.
4) if the boost is not enough, GOTO step 2.
5) craft whatever booster potion you want - Fortify Smithing, Fortify Enchantng, whatever.
6) drink it, do whatever!

P.S.: Actually, I'm very eager to re-do some tests of Domilasa and other regulars here, then re-compile those tables and recommendations, and be as cool as them Holidays here in Russia will last from 31st to 9th, so that's the time I put my hopes on... Though I'm not through the game yet, so no guarantees.

Yes... but as I understand it, not any 1st level char can pull off the resto loop. You need pretty decent gear and alchemy skill to get the loop to keep going -- without tapering off and getting stuck at the same number over and over.

-Loth

PS And yes... discussing the resto loop here is blasphemy. Go sit in the corner and think about what you did wrong.

Yeah, you need high-end Fortify Alchemy gear to do this properly, which requires six perks in Enchanting and 100 skill to make. There is a way to do it without that, but you need a boatload of Fortify Enchanting potions because you have to perform a huge number of iterations to do it, and it's just not worth it.

I'm back with a new question. I think I'm almost there, however.

I have followed the steps in http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1313851-complete-character-design-freedom-damage-resist-caps-and-ridiculous-damage-thread-7/page__st__160__p__19794840#entry19794840.

I have 100 skill in smithing and I've improved the armor as much as possible.

I have a suit of Legendary Elven Guilded Armor. The armor rating is 108.
I have a pair of Legendary Elven Gauntlets. The armor rating is 37.
I have a pair of Legendary Elven Boots. The armor rating is 37.
I have a Legendary Elven Helmet. The armor rating is 46.

When I put them all on, they add up to a total armor rating of 285. This is true even if I have the perk for matching set in place. The armor cap is 567 and I'd like to hit that cap using just these four pieces of armor so that I don't need a shield.

The only thing I can think of is that my armor skill is currently only 69, so perhaps I'm not getting the correct maximum bonus out of my armors either during crafting or when wearing them.

The other thing I thought of was that since I don't yet have my Matching Set perk, that this was a big factor. However, when I then went and got that extra skill level to bring me to 70 in light armor skill, I then took that perk and it had no impact on my armor rating. Yes, I unequipped and reequipped my armor. The ratings didn't change.

Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

If you need more information, let me know and I'll provide it.

do you have 4 items each with fortify blacksmithing 29 %? as well as a potion of smithing 130%.

I use elven armor too and have around 900 armor after 5 perks in light armor tree.

No. I was told I wouldn't need to use alchemy if I followed the instructions linked to in post #161 of this thread. No, I did not consume a +29% blacksmithing potion prior to making the boots, nor did I consume a potion of smithing for +130% when making the boots.

I was told we wouldn't need to with this build.

Gilded armor is not part of the elven set so the perk wont affect it. The person above you was asking about 29% Enchantments for Fortify Smithing, did you have four of those? Your armor skill also has an effect so your numbers will still be lower than they should until you hit 100.

Okay, I get that my light armor skill is part of the smithing formula and that makes sense and helps explain the issue.

Gilded Elven Armor isn't part of the Elven armor group?

I kind of want to reiterate that when we did this build in this very thread, there was no need for any alchemy or potions by design. So again, no, I did not consume any potions of any kind, because I'm not supposed to do so with this build.

Sorry to interject but I thought I would try to contribute some additional insight:

Maybe I am interpreting it wrong, but when I scan the link you referenced in post #161 I gather that zero (0) alchemy perks are required for the desired build, not zero (0) potions. Just a thought.

My personal experience currently has me sitting at an armor rating in the low 500s while utilizing Elven Guilded Armor, Elven gauntlets, Elven boots, & an Elven helmet. My Smithing level is 100. When I improved my Elven armor I equipped my four (4) pieces of Fortify Smithing 25% gear and drank Fortify Smithing ~70% potions. I do not have the "Matching Set" Light Armor perk. I do have "Custom Fit" and a perk point (maybe two (2)) in "Agile Defender".


In addition, thanks to all of the contributors to this thread and the forum as a whole. It's great reading material for the downtime I have while sitting at work. Cheers!

The Skin spells raise Armor Rating directly, don't they? So if you're already at or above at cap value passively, they are nothing but sparkly lights.
If you adjust your Smithing numbers and armour type to reach (cap value) - (some Skin value), and used the same Smithing setup for your weapons, you'd end up at some certain damage levels, depending on materials et.c.


(Letting Dragonhide be stronger "enough" than Ebony Skin is more subjective. 50 points above Ebony? 200 above Ebony? Better leave that one aside for much lower passive values I guess.)

OOOOH... okay, I see what you're saying now... you're curious as to what damage you'll be left at when not going full-out with the armor cap, ie., leaving armor at 400's and using ebonyskin to make up the difference. The answer lies in how developed you are for melee combat, as there are many variables that come into play. Your skill, what perks you have invested in combat, what enchants you put on your gear to boost one-handed or whatever... all of these factors contribute to your DPS, and numbers can vary widely, depending on your build. If you are asking if it's possible to not reach the armpr cap in the way you suggest and still do ridiculous damage, the answer is yes. The only thing stopping you from making smithing gear and getting uberweapons is your desire to do it or not.

-Loth

While it's cool to experiment I wonder why there isn't "diminishing returns" for these sorts of things. I don't intend to rag on Beth too much but it seems like a solid game design philosophy to have something like that in the event there is a bug or exploit that you didn't think of.

Let's face it. In such an open world and a game this large there's got to be bugs or exploits or both. Why not create a game design that somewhat limits the scope of the bug or exploit?

Devil's Advocate: For a single player game it's not a big deal. I could even see some folks that want a system that's "breakable" for some reason. If so then good for them.

First thanks to all of you who worked to assemble this information. I played through with a typical Mage character first while avoiding all outside information (except the misleading tips during loading...), and then started what was suppose to be a "perfect" spellsword. How little I knew! My character is no where near perfect, but also doesn't break the game so I'm happy.

My question revolved around magic absorb. I'd planned on using the atronach stone and 30% from the alteration tree. If I have 80% absorb will my atronachs be 80% less powerful? Or will they fail to cast 80% of the time? Does it affect healing spells?

Thanks

You may be right.


So Elven Gilded is definitely not part of the Elven set?

I use elven gilded armor too but i had no idea it wasnt part of the elven set :/ i never used the matching set perk anyways but its a little troubling.

Alchemy is like the most fun trade skill. at high levels the only thing worth collecting are ingredients to make awesome potions that i never use for example a potion that grants 97% resistance to frost fire lightning AND restores 203 magicka. or one that gives invisibility, health fortification, and heal restoration.

I decided to test this Elven vs. Elven Gilded armor thing, since my High Elf prefers Elven things and would still like to reach the armor cap eventually. She's an Illusion-using sniper, so she doesn't get hit much anyway, but I'd prefer it if one hit didn't mean insta-death, at any rate.

Without any mucking about in the console, at level 35 I've already given her Agile Defender 1/5 and Custom Fit 1/1. Her Light Armor skill is 50.

Her usual armor set includes an Elven Gilded Armor with a Fortify Light Armor enchant, so the first thing I did was to console in a plain Elven Gilded Armor for testing purposes.

I haven't powerleveled Smithing or Alchemy on this character either--she can improve Elven Armor to Exquisite. She does not have the perk for Elven Smithing nor a full set of Fortify Smithing or Fortify Alchemy gear, but for the purposes of this test that shouldn't make a difference, as I am only testing whether the Elven Gilded Armor still gives a set bonus or not.

Apparel: Armor Rating
Elven Boots (Exquisite, Fortify Sneak): 24
Elven Bracers (Exquisite, Fortify Archery): 24
Elven Helmet (Exquisite, Fortify Archery): 33
Elven Gilded Armor (unimproved, unenchanted): 63
Total Armor Rating: 194

If I switch out the Elven Gilded Armor for Elven Armor (unimproved, unenchanted): 53, the total armor rating is 183, as expected.

Now for the console tricks. I set my Light Armor skill to 70 and give myself the Matching Set perk.

After doing this, my Armor Rating wearing the Elven Armor is 221, and my Armor Rating wearing Elven Gilded Armor is 203. There you have it; I guess it doesn't count.

BUT (and this is a big but) if you're not using the Matching Set perk, the Elven Gilded Armor is still better, and according to the beginning of this thread, the Matching Set perk isn't necessary to reach the armor cap. So do with this as you will.

So... What does this all mean?


If we could do a "For Dummies" version of what I need to do in order to make my suit of Elven armor work, I'd appreciate that. That's what I thought we had in the link I provided above, but apparently that isn't panning out as planned.

I don't know what to do from here.

Do I abandon the Elven Gilded Armor idea and just run with a full suit of standard Elven?

Then, how do I make that Elven armor hit the cap?

I really just want the armor to hit the cap. How can I do that best here, without using additional perks?

I apologize, sincerely, and I'm grateful for all the help. I thought we had this planned out but something seems to have gotten lost in the process and resulted in "absolutely no closer than when we started."

I need it laid out cleanly to be honest. I'm not a TES master, and I don't get a lot of the lingo and catch-phrases. I thought we had devised a plain English system for me and that I'd follow it and get the goal, but something obviously got overlooked.

I don't know what I'm doing here, and I'm immensely frustrated.

If someone could tell me in plain English where to go from here, I'd not only be impressed by that (as it appears to be something of a feat), but very grateful as well.