So I've recently got the nightingale armor and think that it's the only armor in this game that doesn't look like crap. However wearing it would bring my defense and attack skill down dramatically.

I'm currently wearing legendary glass armor, with gauntlets and boots enchanted with fortify two-handed.

So I'm wondering, can I do the following:

Smith the nightingale armor to legendary and enchant it? If so, do I need daedric smithing perk and the highest enchanting perk to achieve this?

Thanks for the help.

You can't smith the Nightingale armor, unless you're on PC and have a mod that allows you to do so.

Edit: Oh my, you meant improve, not smith. Silly me went all up and about to find a mod link to put here. *facepalm*

As Cicero would say, I was no help at all!

You can improve it past the Armor Cap with Void Salts, but you have to have Fortify Smithing gear (probably 4 pieces) and a powerful Fortify Smithing potion.

The enchantments are permanent. You cannot override them regardless of skill, perks, or otherwise.

No Smithing perk allows improved tempering of the armor, sadly. But with crafting gear and a perk or two in Light Armor, you can still hit the armor cap.

Since the can't smith-it topic is already covered... I had a similar dilemma with glass armor. I hate the way it looks but it's the best light armor in the game. Eventually I decided I'll just take the hit in my rating and go back to Master TG armor rather than wearing an outfit that looks like it was designed by Richard Simmons.

Hmm, thanks guys. So I can improve it, though probably not above my current uber glass armor level. That's a shame that I cant enchant on top it either. Assuming DLC doesn't completely blow PS3s then maybe we'll get similar kind of armor in the future...

My Armor Rating is 751 after improving the Nightingale set while wearing 4 pieces of +25% Fortify Smithing gear and drinking 1 +120% Fortify Smithing potion. FWIW: I have all the relevant perks in Light Armor.

Dragonscale?

Get a mod that makes your glass armour better.

Stat wise, yes but it doesn't look as good as Nightingale.

Here's a pic of the stats of the body piece of Nightingale that I improved as described above.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc398/buckomccane/Skyrim/Nightingale_Armor_01.jpg

its Capealicious...

I improved mine past the armor cap with Peerless Fortify Smithing gear I bought from Radiant Rainment and Warmaidens and a Fortify Smithing potion I crafted wearing Fortify Alchemy gear I bought from the same places. Im on the Xbox. Too bad the Nightingale Blade is bugged and cant be improved. It's a useless weapon untill they fix it but when they do it will be one of the most powerful weapons in the game.

You don't really need to be at the Armor Cap to be Effectively Protected. And, Battle Tactics can go a long way to minimizing damage received.

Maximizing my armor is my battle tactic.

My current armor is something like 900 at the moment, lol. Yeah you can say battles are easy, but I'd rather that than pause the game every five seconds to chug 10 health potions. That's not good gameplay at all. Bethesda don't even have the sense to have a Dragon Age style tactic circle tool, no you literally have to pause the game to drink potions and whatnot. Don't even bother talking to me about the horrible favourites option, scrolling up and down is ridiculous.

So basically, yeah I like having high armor and the ability to move around a battle and have it last longer than pausing the screen every five seconds. Just a shame I'm doing it in something that looks stupid.

I see you've recently slaughtered two Thalmor scum. Well done.

Funny, there are people who think the game is so easy that Health Potions are not even needed.......

You can improve Linwe's armor set just as good as the Master TG set and I prefer by far the bonuses on that set : muffle, 15% bonus to archery, 15% to one-handed, stamina increased by 15. It doesn't beat enchanted stuff but it looks great and when I don't use enchanting it's perfect for ranger-type (bow, sneak, one-handed, stamina).

Definitely one of my favourites.

Yeah, that's basically my rationale for Smithing the hell out of my armor and weapons. A hot key would be better, but, yeah, it feels weird pausing the game to chug potions.

Edit: You don't like the look of the Glass stuff? I think it's fine as hell...if you can get past the feathery/wingy Elven look, but the malachite makes it look really good. I put a set on one of my Mannequins even.

Four or more actually (the Elven Light armor was on the Thalmor Soldiers). Just finished A Cornered Rat and I came across a few other 'rats'.

It gets easier with over-smithed armor, but I don't mind so much because I earned the Smithing and I play on Adept because I'm more interested in experiencing the story than elevating my heart rate in every fight.

I think glass armor is one of the better looking armors in the game. Steel Plate is probably the best visually for me, followed by glass and then elven.

I think the game suffers because of it's insistence for 'realism'. I can imagine most of the armor in the real world, they all look physically possible to recreate, but that ultimately makes it boring to look at. This game needed more outlandish fantasy stuff to give it some flavour and identity. I like the nightingale set because it's got an Assassin's Creed thing going on.

This rant probably belongs in another thread, but I have to say how disappointed I was with all of the daedric loot in Skyrim, I haven't used any of them. They're so underpowered compared to my ebony greatsword, or even my ebony dagger. How does that make any sense? How can daedric treasures be so mundane!?

Yeah, most armor in RPGs are more aesthetic than practical. Take the Daedric, for example: no one in their right mind would won't all those 'spikes' sticking off it because it would catch a weapon and snap your neck or drag you to the ground. I love the look and wear it on my heavy armor guy, but in real life I would choose Ebony.

My take on why the Ebony and Daedric are so close in stats is that a pure good character might have issues wearing/wielding Daedric because it requires the heart of a formerly living humanoid to craft it so ebony is an option for lawful good types.

Speaking of daedric weapons, when can I expect to find a two-handed daedric sword? I'm level 56 but haven't seen one yet. I've seen a few daedric bows for sale, but that's it. Don't have the smithing perk yet.

Soon-ish I would think, but Daedric "loot" is rare as hell. I have come across Daedric items, but even at 70 they are rare.