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Link to old threads that already reached post count:
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Updates 11/24/11
Some great discussion is going on and it looks like you are able to do this build with only 20ish perks. Since http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?app=forums&module=post§ion=post&do=reply_post&f=178&t=1279078&qpid=19445029 everything nicely, I will quote him here:



UPDATES 11-19-11
Summary of what we know so far by Cheshyr
This is a great post. Read it and you will get up to speed quickly.http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1279078-2419-armor-6399-damage-using-smithing-alchemy-enchanting-only-33-perks-329k-backstabs-post-3/page__view__findpost__p__19338884

UPDATE #1: The Physical Armor Cap: 672 Armor
According to testing done by http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1275179-2419-armor-6399-damage-using-smithing-alchemy-enchanting-only-33-perks-329k-backstabs/page__view__findpost__p__19311954 and http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1275179-2419-armor-6399-damage-using-smithing-alchemy-enchanting-only-33-perks-329k-backstabs/page__view__findpost__p__19313539, any armor over 672 doesn't seem to be counted since there is a cap on how much you can soak with armor. This means a couple things:

• You don't need to use fortify heavy armor enchants to make cap. Pick something more useful like fortify weapons, resist magic school etc.
  
• You can get to cap with almost any type of armor... pick whatever you think looks good.
  
• You don't need all the perks to reach cap. Just choose as many as you need depending on the type of armor you have.
  
• The Lord's stone grants you 50 armor. Keep this in mind when choosing feats (Note... you actually may want to use the Arocnoth (sp)? stone instead of Lords once you get your magic resist near cap.

UPDATE #2: Stacking Magical Resistance
We have known for a while that the cap for magical resistance is 85%. After that you can't get any more. Neverar X, however, http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1275179-2419-armor-6399-damage-using-smithing-alchemy-enchanting-only-33-perks-329k-backstabs/page__view__findpost__p__19315094 that you can reduce the 15% of spell damage you take by using elemental resists. http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1275179-2419-armor-6399-damage-using-smithing-alchemy-enchanting-only-33-perks-329k-backstabs/page__view__findpost__p__19317260 found that the elemental protection feat in shields also stacks with magic resist.

Here is how to be practically immune to any spell or elemental effect (includes dragon breath):

• Strive for something near 85% magic resist. You can get it a lot of ways (see further down post for how)
  
• Enchant Resist Lightling, Fire and Cold on your boots, shield or rings (+47% I believe).
  
• Use racial abilities or the help Otar (recommended by http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1275179-2419-armor-6399-damage-using-smithing-alchemy-enchanting-only-33-perks-329k-backstabs/page__view__findpost__p__19317260) to get your elemental resists in the high 70s, low 80s.
  
• You would now only take about 5% spell damage (http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1275179-2419-armor-6399-damage-using-smithing-alchemy-enchanting-only-33-perks-329k-backstabs/page__view__findpost__p__19320029)
  
• After this you can get 80% spell absoption (which acts as all or nothing avoidance) by using the Atronoth stone and Alteration perks. (Thanks http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1275179-2419-armor-6399-damage-using-smithing-alchemy-enchanting-only-33-perks-329k-backstabs/page__view__findpost__p__19329332!)
  
• If you do all these things, You will only be taking about 1% spell damage and be basically immune to elemental effects. Physical attacks will still be dangerous however.

Update #3: What about Mages? Can they get in on this Alchemy goodness to do crazy damage?
Yes... Mages can also use alchemy to do over 1k damage. Here is how... Thanks DieBySword! http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1275179-2419-armor-6399-damage-using-smithing-alchemy-enchanting-only-33-perks-329k-backstabs/page__view__findpost__p__19333960

Frequent Question #1: What about Light Armor, Daggers, Other Races etc?
While a mace may do the most damage, you can get by with almost any weapon / armor combination if you use the methods below. You can also do any race combo and win Masters. Just do what seems fun. Cheshyr plays an uoptimized unarmed and these techniques still help greatly.

Frequent Question #2: Will this make me invulnerable?
You can get nearly invulnerable to magic damage, but physical will always be dangerous. Basically the methods below let you do crazy damage, but if you are not careful or have multiple high level archers shooting you, you can go down quickly.

Frequent Question #3: Where do I find the fortify alchemy / smithing enchants to disenchant?
There are a lot of places, but people have mentioned warmaiden's and the jewelry store in Dawnstar as decent. Just wait outside and check every once in a while.

Frequent Question #4: Won't I kill my companion by mistake?
Just gear them up defensively and they are Godlike. I can barely scratch Lydia with a power attack.

Thanks to Contributersl
I'd like to give a big thanks to Cheshyr, Nerevar X, DieBySword, and Excessive for the amazing theory crafting. Amazing work guys.

Original Post Starts Here

I have been experimenting with crafting and noticed a huge synergy between Smithing / Enchanting / Alchemy. Here are some of my results:

Edit: I redid this with a fresh character and realized that the Lord's stone seemed to be adding a blanket 50 armor. I also rolled an Orc and that gave me double damage.
The new title should read: 2419 Armor. / 6399 Damage using (Smithing, Alchemy, Enchanting) (only 33 Perks!) 32.9k Backstabs!

Armor / Weapons with no training:

• Full Daedric Armor: 160 Armor
  
• Daedric Bow: 24 Damage
  
• Daedric Dagger: 12 Damage (wrote down wrong... I think it was this)
  
• Daedric Two Handed Sword: 26 Damage
  
• Daedric One Handed Sword: 15 Damage

100 skill with Juggernaut 5, Well Fitted, Tower Of Strength, Matching Set and 5 Weapon Perks (13 Perks Total)

• Full Daedric Armor: 538 Armor
  
• Daedric Bow: 57 Damage
  
• Daedric Dagger: 33 Damage
  
• Daedric Two Handed Sword: 72 Damage
  
• Daedric One Handed Sword: 42 Damage

With Daedric Smithing Level 100 (Steel, Dwarven, Orcish, Ebony, Daedric: 5 Perks) (18 Perks Total)

• Full Daedric Armor: 765 Armor
  
• Daedric Bow: 87 Damage
  
• Daedric Dagger: 63 Damage
  
• Daedric Two Handed Sword: 102 Damage
  
• Daedric One Handed Sword: 72 Damage

Level 100 Enchanting (5 X Enchanter, Insighful, Corpus, Extra Effect: 8 Perks) (26 Perks Total)
With Level 100 Enchanted Smithing Gear and Using Store-bought Smithing Potions (+50 Smithing for 30 Seconds)

• Full Daedric Armor: 1107 Armor
  
• Daedric Bow: 141 Damage
  
• Daedric Dagger: 117 Damage
  
• Daedric Two Handed Sword: 156 Damage
  
• Daedric One Handed Sword: 126 Damage

Level 100 Alchemy (5 X Alchemy, Physician, Benefactor: 7 Perks) (33 Perks Total)
You can brew better + Enchanting and + Smithing Potions with Alchemy than you can with store bought (Note you can eek out about 5-10% more by using Enchanting to Improve Alchemy and Alchemy to Improve Enchanting until your potions are +130% Smithing and +32% Enchanting. Your crafting gear is then +29% X 4 (instead of 25% from base enchanting). The potions make a huge difference.

• Full Daedric Armor: 1597 Armor
  
• Daedric Bow: 195 Damage
  
• Daedric Dagger: 171 Damage
  
• Daedric Two Handed Sword: 210 Damage
  
• Daedric One Handed Sword: 180 Damage

At this level it looks like Daggers are the clear winner... but they don't benefit from enchants...

Gear fully Enchanted
4 X Weapon Enchants and 4 X Armor Enchants. (Note I used the +32% self made Enchanting Potion to Power the Enchants... if you don't do this, your results will be 20%ish lower)

• Full Daedric Armor: 2125 Armor
  
• Daedric Bow: 562 Damage
  
• Daedric Dagger: 171 Damage - Too bad one handed enchants don't work for daggers... I guess sneak attacking with fully enchanted swords is better.
  
• Daedric Two Handed Sword: 605 Damage
  
• Daedric One Handed Sword: 518 Damage

Dual wielding One handed weapons seems to be the best for DPS. They also seem to sneak attack for more.

Add 60 Second Weapon + Armor Potions
Custom Made Potions using my enchanted Alchemy gear: Last 60 seconds

• Full Daedric Armor: 2419 Armor
  
• Daedric Bow: 1242 Damage - So much the display reads 124!=P
  
• Daedric Dagger: 171 Damage
  
• Daedric Two Handed Sword: 1391 Damage!
  
• Daedric One Handed Sword: 1192 Damage

Add 60 Second Weapon + Armor Potions + Bugged Marskman Potion
The Marksman potion seems to be bugged and gives a flat 130% to all damage Last 60 seconds

• Full Daedric Armor: 2419 Armor
  
• Daedric Bow: 1242 Damage - So much the display reads 124!=P
  
• Daedric Dagger: 393 Damage- Marksman buffs this too!
  
• Daedric Two Handed Sword: 3199 Damage!
  
• Daedric One Handed Sword: 2742 Damage

Dual wielding One handed weapons now clearly do the most damage followed by Two handed weapons than Weapon + shield. Daggers come in last. Sword Sneak Attack (16452) Dagger Sneak Attack (6288) Bow Sneak Attack (3726)
Pretty much, a one handed weapon sneak attack will kill almost anything at this damage level, even on master. A bow sneak attack will most likely one shot anything except for a boss dragon. Edit: It looks like you get these numbers because of a bug with Marskman Potion that makes it's damage a universal modification. It seems to be stacking with the One-handed and Two-handed Potions.)


All of the Above + the Orc Berkserker Rage
The 100% damage bonus of Berserker Rage seems to stack with everything!

• Full Daedric Armor: 2469 Armor
  
• Daedric Bow: 2583 Damage - So much the display reads 258!=P
  
• Daedric Dagger: 787 Damage Sneak attacks for 23.6k
  
• Daedric Two Handed Sword: 6399 Damage!
  
• Daedric One Handed Sword: 5485 Damage Sneak attacks for 32.9k

Conclusion:
Using 26 points to get these crafting feats seem to no-brainer for any min-maxer playing on Master's difficulty. They synergize incredibly well. Dual Wielding One handed weapons / Archery Seem to be the way to go for DPS with Two handed weapons coming closely behind. Once you are this buffed, your hardest problem will be not accidentally killing your hireling.

If you don't like Daedric Armor you could use an Ebony Chest (That's what I do) This took me from 2175 Armor to 1793 Armor. Still Plenty of Armor. Light Dragon Armor (Less feat intensive when sneaking, but getting staggered hurts your melee dps) yields 1770 Armor.

Thanks for Reading!

- Jerich

Optional build for Archer / Melee Weapon Hybrid who wants damage over armor
Optional Build for a one handed / Archery hybrid. If you don't mind having less armor (1200-1500), you could swap the heavy armor enchants in the rings and gloves for archery / melee weapon enchants. Then put Archery on you helm and melee weapon on your boots. You will do full damage to everything.

Maxing Magic Resist
Magic Resist caps at 85%. Here are the ways I currently know how to get magic resist:
Breton - 25%
Lord's Stone - 25% + block 50 damage: This is hard to get to. It is in the pale South by southwest of Dawnstar.
Agent Of Mara: 15% - Quest starts in the Temple of Mara at Riften
Magic Resistance X 3 in the Alteration Tree: 30% (it may only be +30 and not 30%)
Enchant a Ring, Jewelry or Shield: 23% Each max
Potion of resist magic: 32% each max
Savior's hide armor gives +15%

Non-Bretons will probably want to use at least one ring.

Edit: Other enchants with your extra dual enchanting slots?
- I have toyed following: Boots: Sneak, Carrying Capacity, Stamina, Stamina Regen. Helm: Water Breathing, Magica, Magica Regen. Chest: Health, Health Regen.

Simple Step by Step Directions
1. Once you have max perks and 100 in each skill...
2. Enchant fortify alchemy helm, ring, gloves + necklace. The buff should be +25 on each for + 100 total.
3. Put on the gear and make 4 fortify enchant potions (+ 27ish?)
4. Use those potions to make better fortify alchemy gear. Note... You have to be quick because you only have 30 seconds per potion.
5. Use that gear to make better fortify enchanting potions...
6. Keep repeating 4 - 5 until you can make fortify alchemy + 29 on each piece (116 total)
7. Use 4 +32 enchanting pots to create fortify smithing rings, neck, gloves and chest.
8. Make some fortify smithing potions (+130% with your alchemy gear)
9. Craft daedric armor, shield and weapon.
10. Put on your smithing gear, drink the potion (130 + 116 = +246% to smithing), then improve your weapons.
11. Make about 10 enchanting potions (+32)
12. Enchant a ring gloves and neck with fortify heavy armor and fortify one handed. I believe the number was 29 for armor 47% for weapon? Not in front of computer.
13. Enchant health / heavy armor to chest.
14. Enchant one handed / stamina to boots.
15. Enchant helm with whatever you want... (archery... Magic?)

Leveling Smithing
- Smithing is fairly easy to level and takes relatively few attempts to max.
- Dwarven ruins give a ton of scrap that you can melt down for free dwarven ingots
- You can often steal ingredients.
- You can mine ebony at the Gloombound mine as early as level 8. It is located in Eastmarch's eastern mountains, just south of the Orcish stronhold of Narzublbur. This is the only ebony mine in the game.
- Improving things you find is a quick way to level and often pays for buying the ingredients
- Make sure to save your Daedra hearts for forging daedric weapons and armor later.
- You will be able to forge skyforge items after finishing the companion's quest line. The stats look better than daedric, but I'm not sure if you can upgrade them...
- There is a quest chain, Unfathomable Depths that gives you a perk that gives you +25% armor in dwarven armor and makes smithing increase 15% faster. You can get it once you are level 15 from an argonian named From-Deepest-Fathoms who wanders around the docks of Riften that overlook the lake. This also gives you bunch of dwarven scraps.
- Daedra Armor is better than Dragon armor. So unless you want to make light armor for yourself or your companion... there is no reason to get Dragon Smithing. You also don't need to get enchanted Smithing since you can just pre-improve your weapons / armor before enchanting. It does make life easier, however to be able to improve your existing item.
- Smithing Trainers: Journyman: Ghorza of Markath. Expert: Balimund of Riften. Master: Earlund Gray-Mane of Whiterun.

Leveling Enchanting
- Easiest Method: Do the Black Star quest. (starts at the Shrine of Azura... ask innkeepers for rumors until they place it on the map). This will give you a reusable soul gem (black star: traps humans or Azura's star: traps non-humans). Note: You will have to fight Dremora, so be careful if low level.
- Once you have this item, enchant a weapon with soul trap and keep recharging it each time you fill Azura's star. Each time you do this you gain enchanting xp.
- You gain enchanting xp for disenchanting
- You can steal soul gems if you are stealthy enough. When you enchant something with them, they fill up.
- Make sure to disenchant alchemy and smithing enchants early on.
-Enchanting Trainers: No Journeyman. Expert Trainer: Sergius Turrianus of the College of Winterhold. Master Trainer: Hamal, of Markarth.
- The left side of the tree is pretty worthless (elemental enchants pale in comparison to the other enchants)... so it is best to max the right side of the tree to dual enchant.

Leveling Alchemy
- Leveling Alchemy is a HUGE pain to level. It takes over 10x the combines that smithing and enchanting do. Pick everything you come across... Steal Everything (potions made with stolen ingredients aren't flagged as stolen)...Use your trainer points...Buy cheap ingredients at the shops...
-You gain skill when you learn new uses ingredients... The more you use an ingredient the more you discover about them.
- I would save your trains for alchemy... This might actually be a reason you would want to join the dark brotherhood. (The master trainer is in it)
- Save the books + the Final Daedric Quest Reward for the 90-100 slog
- Fortify Enchanting Ingredients: Blue Butterfly Wing, Hagraven Claw, Snowberries, Spriggan Sap.
- Fortify Smithing Ingredients: Blisterwort, Glowing Mushroom, Sabre Cat Tooth, Spriggan Sap.
- Fortify Marsksman Ingredients: Canis Root, Elves Ear, Juniper Berries, Spider Egg
- Fortify One-Handed: Bear Claws, Canis Root, Hanging Moss, Hawk Feathers, Rock Warbler Egg, Small Pearl
- Fortify Two-Handed: Dragon's Tongue, Fly Amanita, Troll Fat
- Fortify Heavy Armor: Ice Wraith Teeth, Sabre Cat Tooth, Slaughterfish Scales, Thistle Branch, White Cap
- Resist Magic: Bleeding Crown, Chicken's Egg, Crimson Nirnroot (save for quest) Hagraven Claw, Lavender, Nirnroot, Tundra Cotton, Void Salts, Wisp Wrappings.
- Return to your Roots (A side quest): gives you a 25% chance of making a second potion when you craft a potion. It is a ninroot gather quest you can do after you have started the Daedric Quest: Discerning the Transmundane.
- Alchemy Trainers: Journeyman Trainer: Lami of Morthal. Expert Trainer: Arcadia, of Whiterun. Master Trainer: Babette, of the Dark Brotherhood.
- Alchemy Books: A Game at Dinner: (Honningbrew Meadery on the second floor in the bedroom), De Rerum Dirennis: Winterhold (In Midden Dark on the Alchemy Lab), Herbalist's Guide to Skyrim: Whiterun (In Arcadia's Cauldron downstairs), Mannimarco, King of Worms: (Either in Nightcaller Temple near the alchemy lab or Evergreen Grove near the dead mage on the alter in the water), Song of the Alchemist (Anise's Cabin)

Leveling tips for Master Difficulty
- Breton (for the magic resist) or Orc (head start to skills and a REALLY good daily ability) seem to make the best warriors for Masters
- I usually go 50 / 50 Health / Stamina or 60 / 40 Health / Stamina.
- Don't just power your crafting skills right out of the first dungeon... you want to make sure your weapon / armor skills are at least keeping pace or you will get out leveled.
- It is easier if you try to limit gaining skills other than weapon / armor / crafting skills as you will become quickly outleveled.
- It is easier to level your armor skills if you use a melee weapon. If you use sneak a lot and snipe, it will not keep pace.
- The +25% armor and +25% weapon damage are the most important perks you can get. Get them as soon as they are available.
- Important Quests:
-- Black Star (unlimited Soul Gem),
-- Mara's Favor: +15% permanent Magic Resist (Get it from Riften Temple)
-- Lord's Stone: +25% Magic Resist, +50 block damage
-- Main Quest (so you start getting dragon souls, go at least until you get dragon rend so you can make them land, especially if you are not going archery),
-- Unfathomable Depths (See Smithing)
-- Favorite Shout, Slow Time: You get it at Hag's End in the Reach (Dark Brother hood quest the feeble fortune), Karvanjund (The Pale): Civil War Quest the Jagged Crown, Labryinthian (Hjaalmarch): During Winterhold: Staff of Magnus
-- Useful for Travel (Whirlwind Sprint): Dead Men's Respite (Hjaalmarch): Used for Bards' Quest: Tending the Flames, Volskygge (Haafingar)
-- Companions Questline: Awesome Form Abilities and Ability to Forge Skyforge.


I hope these help!

Console Commands
For those of you who want to replicate this before they invest the time into doing this with a character legitimately... here are some console commands you can use:

Raising Skills:
AdvSkill Alchemy 100 - Simulates using the Skill 100 times. You can change the skill name and the number to level up naturally (doesn't screw up stats)

Smithing:
player.additem f 10000 - Adds 10k gold
player.additem 2e4ff 10 - Adds 10 grand gems
player.additem 3ad5b 10 - Adds 10 Daedra Hearts
player.additem 5ad9d 10 - Adds 10 ebony ingots
player.additem 877c9 1 - Adds a diamond ring to enchant
player.additem 877f1 1 - Adds a gold neck
player.additem 3ad53 5 - Adds 5 cave bear pelts (which you can use to make leather)

Alchemy:
For crafting potions I use Spriggan sap, snowberries and glowing mushrooms.
player.additem 63b5f 10 - 10 spriggan sap
player.additem 1B3Bd 10 - 10 snowberies
player.additem 7ee01 10 - glowing mushrooms

For Heavy armor + block potions I use
3ad70, 134aa and 3ad61

For two handed swords I would use
4da00, 889a2, ec870

For archery / one handed I would use
6abcb, 5076e, 6bc02

I'll try to add some hints for leveling up the legit way in a bit.

I'm not familiar with all the formula that's being used here, or the verbiage. I'm not a scholar of TES or anything. Perhaps you, or someone else, can put into plain terms for me the answer to the following question:

I'm a wood elf.
I want to use one-handed swords.
I want to use a shield.
My primary weapon will be a bow.
I will have a stealth character.

I do like the idea of alchemy and smithing already and had planned to do those anyway. I did a lot of alchemy last time. I have zero interest in magic, except of course defending myself from it.

Given these parameters, what's the best build for this character in terms of perks?

I find stamina to be of little use to me currently, but my current character is only level 18 and again, I use a bow most of the time, so perhaps that's why stamina hasn't been an issue for me.

If you could help a layman understand what he should do to maximize his build, I'd certainly appreciate that.

Posting my Summary before this Thread goes active. Please use the other thread until it is locked.

Summary
what we know so far

Shoutout to Jerich, Nerevar X, DieBySword, Excessive, and Dimeron for the hard work.

Minimums required to make this work (perks) [skill]:

• Enchanting (8) [100]: 5/5 Enchanter, Insightful, Corpus, Extra Effect
  
• Alchemy (7) [100]: 5/5 Alchemist, Physician, Benefactor
  
• Smithing (5) [100]: Steel. Dwarven, Orcish, Ebony, Daedric
  
• Weapon Skill (5) [100]: 5/5 Armsman or 5/5 Barbarian
  
• Armor Skill (5) [100]: 5/5 Juggernaut or 5/5 Agile Defender (optional, but makes mid-game easier)

Using an Alchemy Enchanting loop, it is possible to make:

• +29% Fortify Enchanting enchantments
  
• +29% Fortify Smithing enchantments
  
• +32% Fortify Alchemy potions
  
• +130% Fortify Smithing potions

Your process should look something like this:

• Fortify Alchemy enchantments 25% x4
  
• Fortify Enchantment potions 30%
  
• Fortify Alchemy enchantments 28% x4
  
• Fortify Enchantment potions 32%
  
• Fortify Alchemy enchantments 29% x4
  
• Fortify Smithing enchantments 29% x4
  
• Fortify Smithing potions 130%

This enables a total of +246% Weapon and Armor Improvement.

Combined with 100 Smithing Skill, and appropriate perks, it is possible to make:

• Any Armor Type with a final set armor rating in excess of 500. For weaker Armor, additional armor set perks may be required.
  
• Daedric Weaponry with attack damage in excess of 500
  
• 100 Heavy Armor, No Perks, Fully Upgraded Legendary Daedric is 590 with shield, 475 without.

Regarding the Armor Cap:

• Experiments show that the Armor Cap is above 500, but less than 672.
  
• It is impossible to get 100% Damage Reduction.
  
• No known enemy has Armor Ignore abilities, even though the player has access to 75% Armor Ignore.
  
• Lord Stone is a flat 50 Armor Rating added to your final Armor value after all other effects have been calculated.
  
• The UESP wiki lists the Armor Cap as 80%, at 567 Armor Rating.

This means that any Armor Rating above 567 has no effect!

Regarding Armor Perks:

• Heavy Armor Damage Reflection does not decrease damage by 10%; it just reflects incoming damage
  
• It is unknown if Heavy Armor Damage Reflection is before or after Damage Reduction. It appears to be after.
  
• Testing on the Heavy Armor 50% Anti-Stagger perk has been inconclusive. It may not actually be working right now.

Regarding short-term skill buffs:

• Weapon Skill and Armor Skill potions work as intended
  
• Archery Skill buff potion is bugged to give a buff to unrelated skills in addition to it's intended buff; expect a patch
  
• Orc Berserking stacks with all other buffs
  
• In extreme cases, a fully buffed player can hit for between 3k-6k damage without using a Sneak Attack. Ancient Dragons have 3.1k Hitpoints

Regarding the Magic Resistance:

• Magic Resistance Cap at 85%
  
• Magic Resistance and Elemental Resistance stack multiplicatively (( Damage * (1 - MR)) * (1 - ER)) = Damage Taken
  
• Elemental Resistance Cap is unknown, but appears to also be ~85%
  
• Alteration MR Perk is a flat 30% MR added to current MR.
  
• Block Perk: Elemental Protection is Elemental Resistance NOT Magic Resistance
  
• Magic Absorption is applied before Magic Resist is calculated. It acts as a % chance that you will absorb the spell entirely. If it doesn't get absorbed, the MR and ER calc is used.

Regarding Alchemy and Magic:

• Fortify Destruction potion is a +% Damage potion, unlike the Destruction enchants which reduce spell cost.
  
• Fortify Destruction potion caps at +162%. If you maximize an elemental perk, this will turn a 60 point spell into a 235 point spell
  
• Weakness to Element poisons act on the entire damage, so the max 97% Weakness poison turns 235 into 463.
  
• Multiple Weakness poisons stack additively, so 2x 97% Weakness poisons will give them a 194% Weakness (aka 690 damage)
  
• Dual Casting is applied before Weakness, so the effects scale very quickly into the 1000's.

Regarding Unarmed:

• Unarmed only scales with Base Gauntlet Armor Rating of Heavy Gauntlets.
  
• Unaffected by ANY perk except Fists of Steel
  
• Unaffected by ANY enchant except Unarmed Damage enchant (Pugilist Gloves in Riften Ratway)
  
• Untested using Shouts yet
  
• Max Damage is 46 or 61 (+14 Fortify Unarmed x2, +18 Base Daedric Gauntlets Armor Rating, +15 for Khajiit (optional))
  
• For reference, max one-handed mace damage is 536.

Regarding Leveling Difficulty:

• Smithing is Quick and Easy.
  
• Enchanting is Easy, but not so Quick.
  
• Alchemy is Long and Difficult. Plan your Training Points and Skill Books accordingly.

Alchemy Progression Chart: http://bit.ly/tXTbCk

Notes:

• One-handed Weapon Skill enchants don't work on Daggers, so it's damage is limited to 171, although it can get a total x60 dagger-only backstab bonus.
  
• Potion-based skill enhancements are time limited, in some cases to as little as 30 seconds. Be quick when crafting your items and enchantments.
  
• No known enemy has Armor Ignore abilities, but we have not tested whether certain weapon types, such as Daedric, have inherent Armor Ignore.

My final thoughts:
The only part of this that is broken is the Archery Potion bug, and the +246% Enhance Smithing combined effect. Even then, the Armor Cap prevents too much abuse... so the real danger here is weapons with a base damage of 500+. If I was going to prepare for a nerf in the upcoming patch, I would expect the Archery Potion to be fixed, and for the Enhance Smithing effect to be nerfed, or to work differently between Weapons and Armor.

Can anyone help me with finding out the end results of two pieces of armor? Due to being on the 360 I don't have access to the PC console menu.

I'm concerned about wearing the Daedric gloves and boots on a mage and want to see how much armor those two pieces will produce.

100 in each skill, alchemy (all perks), smithing (all perks), enchanting (all perks), heavy armor (only juggernaut x5), and if its possible to list them seperately, ...the armor rating with smithing skill enchantment crafting gear, and the armor rating with smithing enchantment gear + smithing potions.

Thanks!

So your concern is with an without potion, not with and without perks?

With +Smithing Gear and 5/5 Juggernaut, Gloves and Boots are 110 each.
With +Smithing Gear and +Smithing Potions and 5/5 Juggernaut, Gloves and Boots are 180 each.

Well, looks like the old thread is at 11.

I'm wondering how this works out for artifacts and other found items. Many of them don't even have sets, and certainly won't be "improved twice as much."

So it's just pure (boosted) Smithing skill level, Agile Defender / Juggernaut and Custom Fit (if that) or relevant weapon stuff.

Non-armor gear don't get AD / Juggernaut either.

Actually Alchemy leveling can be relatively painless if you know how. The experience you get is directly related to the cost of the potion created. By choosing the highest priced effects, you can level it very fast. For example, using 4 pieces of 25% Fortify Alchemy equipment at 90 Alchemy, making a Fortity Health potion (3000+ GP) will give me around 15% of a level.

you can do the same thing with most (not all ebony blade cant be upgraded at all) artifacts but since there is no smthing perk for them currently they will always be far inferior to deadric ones.

example :

fully upgraded using OPs methods WITHOUT using the temporay potions at the endstep :

dawnbreaker : 315 dmg
mace of molag bal : 350 dmg

compared to deadric 1hand sword with 518 you clearly see they are far inferior. and thats only because beth forget to include them in the smithing perks.

For some reason when I try to enchant my gear with Fortify Alchemy, I'm only getting 20%.

8% Base + 2% (I'm guessing either from 100 Enchanting or Grand Soul Gem) + 10% (Enchanter Perk)

Am I missing 5% from Insightful Enchanter perk? I tried using the console to de-level it and used an actual perk point to re-level it, but I'm still only getting 20%.

Any idea why?

At 85, Enchanting with all relevant perks I was able to get 19% Resist Magic on my shield. At 100%, are you sure that you can get only 23%. Or is it without using potions?

I've seen this a few times now. Sadly, the only way people have fixed it is by reinstalling. No idea why.

Would you mind answering my question in this thread please? I would love to have your input.

What sources for Elemental Resist are there besides the enchants?

Do you think it's worth it to go for magic *and* elemental resist?

Yes, I am certain. I just verified it in-game. 100 Enchanting, Appropriate Enchanting Perks, +32 Enchanting Potion, gives you +23 Magic Resist on an item. I do not know of any way to get higher Enchanting skill or perks that influence this value. The scaling of these enchants is weird... but it normally caps at 10%. After the 5 base perks, you get +100%. The potion adds +32%, giving you a total of +132%, or 10% * 2.32... hence 23%.

Aside from Enchants, there is unique gear. One of the Masks has +30% to each element, but it's Heavy Armor.

As for is it worth both, that depends on how safe you want to be. Magic Resist is good to 85%. Multiple Mages hitting you with lots of magic can still overwhelmed that, but it'll be rare. Elemental Resist will reduce the remaining 15% damage... but it's definitely Diminishing Returns, since you're only applying that ER to 15% damage. Honestly, I couldn't find anything else worth putting on my armor at that point except Regens and Stat Boosts.

Since the elemental resist is applied multiplicatively to the remaining 15%, i wouldn't exactly call it diminishing returns. Call it lost opportunity if there are better enchantments to be had.

Is there an easy way to earn gold while skilling up with crafting aswell?

I want to max the crafting skills uninterupted by having to earn gold by questing and exploring.

What is the lightest heavy armor (as in the heavy armor with the overall lowest total weight) that can hit 672 including a shield without spending any armor perks?

Actually, a few breakpoint listings would be nice. Such as all light armor that hits the cap with no perks, then with the perks, the lightest heavy armor with no shield and no perks, with shield and no perks, with perks and no shield, with perks and shield, etc.

It might also be interesting with that quest that grants you a a bonus when wearing Dwarven Armor. I think it starts in Riften or something?

Cheshyr allready mentioned that you can get any light armor to the armor cap I think. Meaning armor is purely a vanity issue now.

True, but beyond appearances, different armors have different weights. I'm currently concerned about trying to get the lightest-weight heavy armor and shield combination that can hit the cap. I'd also like to know what other light-weight combinations can hit the cap for other characters. Weight will matter to me since I don't intend to get the perks that eliminate armor weight.

By the way, can anyone with a save game that already has the prerequisite skills, perks, and most importantly, the known enchantments share that somewhere? I have a tiny handful of known enchantments, and I would rather not have to endure the monotony of fast traveling to every town trying to buy the weapons to disenchant.

Not all Armour can hit the cap without a single perk invested in the respective HA/LA tree. In particular, the base armour rating of some armour is too low to be upgraded properly.

I happened to had been using a max smithed legendry dragon scale set without perks and without shield. My total armor rating is 450+ if memory serves me correctly. This means at least one perk in light armor is required to hit the cap.

you guys should do some math
you can get +100% to AR from Jugernaut 5/5 and 2x25% from Matching Set/Well fited while the treshold is 672 AR point

X x 2,50 = 672 AR
X = 672 / 2,5 = 269 AR

or if the bonuses dont stack ( first you get 100% to base AR , after that 50% to the visible AR)

(X x 2) x 1,5 = 672 AR
X = (672 AR / 1,5) / 2
X = 448 / 2 = 224 AR

So you only need a total of 269/224 AR points from armor,helmet,groves and boots. If you add shield then its even less. So just find the stats of your armor part and add it together and you will know if its enough or not.

its both ... thus the (all perks) notations. I believe those values you provided were without perks, which helps me also! Thanks! if you're feeling generous, what would the number be with perks included?

85% Magic Resist applied against 100% Damage has a much larger return than 85% Elemental Resist applied against 15%, so the returns are indeed diminished, even if I'm technically using the term incorrectly. :-p

Sneak Enchantments on Armor and Banishing Enchantments on Weapons sell very well, and you can use those on crafted Iron Daggers and Leather Boots... the materials for which you can buy from vendors in town. Leveling Alchemy is a bit tougher, since the ingredients are very expensive, and the local vendors don't usually carry enough to craft in bulk. Enchanting will be the real killer, since I don't know of any way to gather souls without leaving town.

What you're asking for is an incredible amount of work, and I'm not terribly inclined to put together an entire chart. To answer your specific question, Daedric with no Perks and with Shield is 590... so there is no armor that can reach the Armor Cap without perks. Once you start spending Perks, it becomes a gray area of how much you're willing to invest. Also, if you're concerned about weight, you may want to consider the Steed Standing Stone outside Solitude... it gives the same benefit as the 'No Weight' perks, as well as an additional 100 carry capacity.

I'll see about uploading a bare save with all the enchants known, but don't hold your breath. In the mean time, you don't need to travel from City to City finding these enchants. Vendors restock every 48 hours; it's a more effective use of time to just wait outside the shop for 2 days at a time. Also, Whiterun is the best place I've found for this, since Adrianne Avenicci (Warmaidens) has a different inventory than Ulfberth War-Bear before you enter the shop. Talk to her, check for enchants, then go inside and check his enchants. Once you go inside, their inventories are synced.

Correct; there is NO armor that can hit the Armor Cap without perks, unless you plan to spend Fortify (Light/Heavy) Armor enchantments on it.

Amen to that. A few minutes of thought and research will answer many of these questions.

The numbers I provided were with 5/5 Juggernaut, which has +100% Armor Rating. I think you can work backwards from there. Base armor for those pieces will be half what I listed. If you take a perk that gives +25%, then the +100% becomes +125%. Don't nest the modifiers; they're additive. Also, make sure you're meeting the perk set requirements before you assume that perk is active.

edit: Apologies, I guess it's a little harder than expected to work backwards. Look up the equations here: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Armor http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Smithing

These guys have been doing some good work. It appears they're refined the Damage Reduction equation, and also found the Real Armor cap (80%, 567 displayed Armor Rating).

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Armor

I haven't independently verified this data yet, but UESP has been pretty accurate from my experience.

that cap is just ridicolusly low. even lower than oblivions. glad when the cs will be release the first thing i do is remove this brainless cap nonsense from the game.

this means if you have full deadric you are already way over the cap. why do shields have an armor value AT ALL bethesda? it doesnt give anything.... gosh this game needs more mods to get fixed than oblivion.... beth better hurry and get us the cs.