I'm around level 39 things are starting to get a little slow. I've been trying to level other skills but since I have no perks in them they don't really help me in a fight. Is there any faster way to level up? Should I invest perks into a new skill tree?

Invest perks into the skills you use...but you'll need to level all skills to 100 to get to level 81.

To be honest with you, i wouldn't worry too much about slow leveling. You can easily reach level 81 with only 3/4 of the game completed. Your character will be so over powered by then the game will lose it's fun.

Disagree. It is NOT easy to get to 81. Even if you train every level, you can only get 400 skill levels, 4 trees. All of the rest, you have to advance honestly through play and the fixed number of books in the game. Levelling a skill you do not use is a slow, and incredibly tedious, process. Basically, you'll have to spam spells, potions, whatever. For instance, Illusion. You'll have to spam Candlelight or Magelight hundreds of times, hours and hours worth of spamming, just to level that tree. Using normal skills, completing EVERY quest in the game, including the DG DLC, unless you "change class" (i.e. completely switch your PCs character), you'll still be in the low/mid 50s to mid 60s. Grind away, if that's your thing. Me, I'd rather just play the game.

I'm not really worried about it that much but I would like to get that falmer harden armor. I got one piece from the forgotten vale but they won't spawn anywhere else yet. Also, I would like to fight tougher enemies like Vampire nightlord and the new dragons.

not really, though if you get everything to 100 your level will be 81 (plus half the progress to the next level).

OP, you kind of have to either be playing a character meant to get there from the start, or get really crafty. What are your perks in and what value do you have in each skill so far?

I've almost maxed out my main skills and those are conjuration(100), one handed(79), Enchanting(68). My minor skills are restoration(43), Heavy armor(35),Light Armor(40) and speech(51). I was thinking about putting some perks into destruction and maybe two handed but I really don't know what else to level at this point.

Oh ok, I get what you're saying. I got the wrong assumption and assumed that you were trying to power level. My apologies. I don't really have any tips on leveling but I would recommend raising the difficulty. I'm sure you're already aware of that but I found the game much more enjoyable with a tougher challenge.


Also, I misspoke when I said it's easy to get to level 81. What I was trying to say is if you're motivated and interested in "power leveling" or "grinding" it doesn't take too long to max a character out. Especially with things like the Oghma Infinium glitch.

Like I said, you have t level everything, and that's gonna get real tedious.

I wouldn't suggest actually boosting all of your levels non-stop just to get to level 81, it's not very fun, and not very rewarding in the end. Nothing wrong with leveling up, but do not see getting to the highest level as a primary goal. Skyrim places differently from other RPGs when it comes to the leveling system. My character is a pretty high level, being 62. He uses about 8 skills and is nearly full with leveling his last two skills, Conjuration and Enchanting. I don't see him getting to level 81, as I am not going to bore myself to death by forcing skills that do not interest my character.

Nothing wrong with leveling up, but wanting to always be the greatest thing ever and being level 81 isn't necessary to have fun.

I agree with you 100% Legion. You basically said everything so I really don't have much else to add.

You don't need many perks to get many skills up to a quite usable level (a few of the first tier "20% better" perks, for instance). Also, if you (for example) run Smithing up, you can then use boosted equipment to make up for the fact that the combat or armor skills you're trying to use are low-level.

Another important thing would be to make sure to get your 5 levels of NPC training that you're allowed each level - figure out which skills you'll find the hardest to skill up, and put the training towards those.

(Oh, and making sure to pick whichever of the Mage/Warrior/Thief Guardian stones that best supports the skills you're working on.)



...note that this is just from the standpoint of "maxing out all skills". I wouldn't really suggest playing this way normally. (But, then, getting to level 81 isn't remotely playing normally - it's a very specific metagaming goal)

I've played through this game a lot of times and I had a lot of fun on each playthrough. I just never really got past level 44 because things got easy and I became bored. Right now I just want to get unique armor and fight different enemies because I need to get the best out of this 20$ DLC. I'm not in a rush to get to level 81 and don't really need to hit the hard cap. I just want to get to a level where more enemies and armor appear. Maybe I should've re worded my question.At level 62 does your character run into warmongers, nightlords or legendary dragons? are they challenging? I'm just asking because I've been having to gimp myself to make the game harder . I play on master and I'm not even one of those guys who one shots ancient dragons. I just can't find it a good challenge once I get around level 25.

Goooood. I can work with this.

First things first, get the ebony blade and use it for a while. Its power is based on one handed and one handed perks, but it gives you skill in 2h. Very useful.

Work on getting that enchanting to 100 next. As I'm sure you've noted, it's really easy to level enchanting. You're gonne want the five levels of the first perk, and insightful enchanter. With these you can make a set of equipment that will lower casting cost to 0 for any given school of magic.

Best spell to level Alteration once you have such equipment is Telekinesis (~10 minutes to max). Restoration should be obvious enough, but don't forget to turn undead. Dunno if it's been patched, but you used to be able to level it by casting heal other on corpses. It's one of your focussed skills anyway, so grinding may not be necessary. Destruction's gonna be the hardest magic school to level; The only solution is to just USE it. For illusion, cast muffle and invisibility around NPC's.

Next, focus on block. This one can take a LONG TIME to level up... If you're a pansy. Set the difficulty as high as you dare, then take the best shield you can find (or spellbreaker, I'm fond of spellbreaker for normal use) and pick a fight with a giant (or ancient dragon, if you're feeling lucky, though I don't believe you'll be seeing those for a while yet). Just absorb their melee attacks and get in a bash whenever you can... Block goes up incredibly fast this way. You can also level light and heavy armour like this, though it's even riskier.

Smithing is pretty easy to level. Get all the gold you can (the transmute spell helps), and then make bajillions of rings. You'll hit 100 in no time. Requires no perks, too.

Alchemy is tougher. A potion of blue mountain flower, blue butterfly wing and giant's toe levels it up pretty quickly, but without taking any perks, it will still be incredibly tedious at higher skill points, especially with the scarcity of giants toes... Enchanting equipment with fortify alchemy may offset this somewhat, not sure if that affects the experience gained by value of the potion.

For speech... Level it up normally if you like. If you want to exploit a small flaw, go to the blackbriar meadery inside of riften, and talk to the wood elf behind the counter there. Ask him about Maven, and spam persuasion. This will max out speech pretty quickly (~35 minutes, 20 from where you already are). Otherwise, sell expensive items one at a time to level speech faster. The giants toe potions are a good item for this.

Pickpocket is the easiest stealth skill to level normally, you may have to save scum though (save the game before attempting a pickpocket, then reloading if you fail). Depends on whether you can talk your way out of the situation. Stealing more valuable items/gold lets you level pickpocket up crazy fast.

So, what's that leave? Sneak, lockpicking? Lockpicking should be increasing in the course of normal gameplay. If you're having trouble, once you have 200+ lockpicks, just find a master-level lock and keep forcing the lock continuously. As the picks break your skill will increase. Sneak is the trickiest... I can't give any advice there that wouldn't be extremely obvious anyway.

Of the three categories of skills, stealth seems like the runt of your litter, so if you haven't used your Oghma Infinium yet, save it for the later levels in those skills. And don't forget you can pay to raise skills five times each level, and then pickpocket/trade your money back!

EDIT: I lied. I just remembered that if you have Shadowmere, you can cast Wall of Flames with two hands (NOT dual cast!) underneath her continuously to level up destruction quickly and easily, her health regeneration is faster than the damage she takes on normal difficulty.

Wow, you really know your stuff. I found this information very useful and I'm surprised I couldn't find this on wikia or something. I really appreciate the amount of detail and it will definitely help me in the long run. Oh and even though restoration is my focused skill I was having trouble leveling that but now that you mention turn lesser dead it gave me an idea that may or may not work. I just got the dead thrall tome and I figure If I use turn lesser dead on my thralls it will level me up? I'm not sure but I'll give it a try. Thanks again for all you guys help!