I was wondering if there was anyother way to get dragon and daedric armor without getting the smithing perks that enable you to make them. I would rather use my perks on other skills but I want dragon and daedric armor. So can you find it anywhere?

i've heard some people say they've found dragon armor in a chest in a dungeon, but i can't confirm this.

i think they must have been pretty high level, cuz i think the loot you find scales with your level

Daedric yes, though I've heard it takes a LONG time to find a full set. It's not like Oblivion where you can run into a cave and walk out with 2 full sets.

Dragon no. You have to craft it. But really you're only using what, 6 points? But I see you're point, it's always good to have more points to use on combat.

I should point out, if it isn't obvious, that Daedric has a higher armor rating. Now, once improved I'm not sure if Dragon comes out ahead, but I'm pretty sure that all things being equal Dragonplate is second to Daedric.

for whatever reason, daedric has a higher armor rating than dragon. daedric also takes a very rare item to make each piece. a daedric heart for each. but I love my legendary dragon armor

it reminds me of the bone and chitin armor from morrowind but 10x better

The main reason I don't wanna use my perks is because I mainly use light armor so the perks that I would have to get before the daedric and dragon smithing I would almost never use.

Go up the heavy side of the tree to get Daedric and Dragon Armor. This way you get daedric weapons, and dragonscale armor. Going the light armor side of the tree is a waste, even for light armor users. Going the light side of the tree only gets you glass weapons, while going the heavy side gets you the best weapons while still giving you the best light armor (Dragonscale).

If you go up the light trek (left side) to dragon you won't be wasting any smithing perks on heavy armor, as all those (including dragon scale) are light. You just miss out on the ebony/daedric weapons is all (would have to use glass).

I would want to have daedric armor since its amazing looking so it looks like I have to go up the heavy side.

I prefer finding my armor by looting it in a dungeon or killing a boss a getting the gear. Smithing isn't fun because all you do you is choose what you want to create and it's added to your inventory. It would be so much better if I was to explore a random dungeon and find some awesome armor, or come across a mini boss or something who I kill and then get a awesome piece or set of armor. It would just be much better if the loot in the game was how you get the best gear. And I wish there were tonnes of other armors that were un-smithable and you could only find them randomly.

Ebony doesn't really look bad and it's something you can buy in shops around level 30.

Although, if you play a fighter or warrior type I don't really see any reason not to pick smithing since you can also upgrade twice as much making them more efficient. Running a 2-handed, heavy armor and smithing as core abilities is not really bad in that case.

I think the only two armors you can't find are dragon and daedric.

Did find a dragonbone shield in a chest...

I have found both dragon and daedric armor in chests. Just found a daedric bow yesterday. It is rare, but you can find them.

What level are you to find them?

I just logged in to thank the original poster and you guys that answered, as I found this specific conversation extremely useful. I just finished main quest and a bunch of sidequests and the build I was aiming for has been fully developed at level 26-27 and it has been for some time now. So I was thinking of giving an extra dimension to my character without changing his core elements. And smithing seems the way to go. Mostly because of the attachment one feels when holding his own equipment.

Question: Is there an NPC that can give a decent enchantment on a weapon/armor that I have forged?

I like having so many options that it makes you have a hard time deciding. Like if I found two sets of armour that were both great but also different you would have to plan ahead to which would be more beneficial. This would be awesome for weapons as well. I love having lots of gear in games, as long as it's not the same items with different colours. If the textures for every armour were different and there were like 30+ and like 50+ weapons, that would be awesome.

There are enchanters out there, but I don't know if they enchant for you or just sell supplies. I roll my own.

However, Enchanting and Smithing kind of go hand in hand. Not sure if you can get the most out of one skill without the other in this game. You don't need a bunch of points in Enchanting to be super effective, I think about 4 or 5 points in that will give you all you need to make strong enchanted armor.

I don't like how you can find dragon armour in chests :/

Haven't found any daedric through my whole playthrough, most I've ever found for Dragon was a random loot(?) Dragonscale Chest with a minor enchant, around level 27. The Guide book says Dragon will appear around lvl 45-48, and Daedric lvl 40-42.

As I understand it, all the "good stuff" is much rarer than in Oblivion. Back then, it was "Kill a bandit, win a Daedric set". Now, you have to kill a deathlord to get ebony. I prefer it this way. I want to earn my goodies, not find them hanging from a christmas tree (so to speak).

I like earning my gear from exploring a large and tough dungeon or killing a tough boss and getting my stuff. Or even finding it in a secret place.

i ahve recently had to remake 2 caracters due to quest glitches and just throwing a perk into random s*it i dont really need (just kinda exserimenting) so my third caracter is going to be planned ouit heaps better. i used this wepsight http://au.ign.com/builds/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim/create to figure out what perks i want and it tells you what caracter levl you have to be . so for instance im making a pure warrior caractor next so im going into block, one handed, smithing , enchanting, heavy amour and possibly 2h or some kind of magic i dunno yet, so i was able to plann out what perks i needed and it tells me i need to be atleast 35 befor i conplete my ideal build. i suggest you do the same because you can still go smithing and get your dedric wepons and dragon scale amour and still be able to go into some more combat by your next couple of leavls.... hope it helps =)

That's kind of what I was saying. In oblivion, weak monsters still gave you the top tier armour and weapons. In skyrim they don't, at least not yet. I've got some good stuff, but I've earned it the hard way. By killing tough monsters. I suppose solving puzzles or finding a hard to reach location is ok too.

What I DON'T want is to walk into a cave, kill a bandit, and find a full set of Daedric armour. That's why I prefer skyrim over oblivion.

There is a way to get daedric armor and weapons without smithing them. But saying more would probably be a spoiler. Only way I know of for sure for dragon armor is smithing.

Edit: This is not counting very low chances of randomly finding them.

Thanks helped a lot, around level 45 I should be done with idel build then I will work on smithing perks.