So I got 3 characters, a warrior, a mage and a sneak archer, and it's a pity you don't get a robe or a bow as an artifact, or even some light armor with an unique enchantment etc. Only my warrior profits from doing the daedric quests.

1. Black Star - Unbreakeable soul gem is nice, but you get a sh*tload of normal soulgems if you clear dwemer ruins/mage ruins, it's pretty nice for refilling your weapon but that's it.

2. Ebony Mail - Heavy armor, muffle and poison tick; Maybe good for warriors trying to skill sneak a bit. For assassins or mages useless.

3. Masque of Clavicus Vile - +Speech, heavy armor, useful for low lvl warriors.

4. Oghma Infinium - every branch benefits, no one excluded.

5. Savior's Hide - Lame resist xy enchantment...

6. Ring of Hircine - Werewolf transformation

7. Volendrung - 2H Hammer -> warrior

8. Mehrunes' Razor - Dagger, nice addition to an archers gear but not really substancial, but ok useful because u get 16x dmg while sneaking plus insta kill chance.

9. Ebony Blade - 2H sword -> warrior

10. Dawnbreaker - 1H sword -> warrior

11. Mace of Molag Bal - 1H mace -> warrior

12. Ring of Namira - +Stam ring -> since you don't get problems with your stamina, pretty useless -> warrior

13. Spellbreaker - Shield -> warrior

14. Sanguine Rose - Conjure Dremora, useless for mages since you can only conjure one at a time, if it would be an additional Dremora it would be useful till u reach Conjuration 100

15. Wabbajack - Fun item

16. Skull of Corruption - weak ass staff
__________

8 of the 16 items are made for Warriors?!
Is that supposed to be good balancing?

As a warrior you can almost full equip with daedric sruff but as a mage you get nothing?

Guess you should play a warrior. Or use the Nightengale bow, which is technically a daedric artifact (Nocturnal)

Well, i am a happy thief assassin myself one handed, and i have in my inv:

- Nightingale Bow
- Nightingale full armor
- Mehrunes' Razor
- Black Star
- Mace of Molag Bal (For heavy armor dudes)
- Sanguine Rose (For help when i need backup cause i don′t use companions.

Mages don't need enchanted weapons and armour because, guess what, they don't use them. The best you could hope for is a staff, of which there are two.

As for Archers, they can easily use the Saviour's hide, or better they could simply use the Nightingale gear.

You're right, but those artifacts will never change, since the're part of the Elder Scrolls lore.

Besides, the Deadric quests aren't cool because of the reward but because they are usually messed up

Mehrune's razor is pretty good for theif characters
and azura's star is awesome for a mage character

Resist Magic is the best effect in the game (acting as resistance to all three spell damage types as well as reducing other magic effects), and Savior's Hide is the only way you can get it on your body armor. This is, IMO, the best light armor in the game for this reason. Archers and Mages shouldn't be taking melee hits very often, so their number one threat remains enemy mages... and this armor is the only one that defends against magic.

"Oh, but the Armor Rating is too low."

a: Then wear Ebony Mail. Since mages and archers don't need much stamina, the only negative for heavy armor is the noise it makes... and the Ebony Mail doesn't make any. There's no downside to wearing this.
b: Maxing out your Armor Rating at the cap of 456 is not diffcult, even when you've got a low-AR item on.
c: Why are you getting hit so much you need good AR? You're either killing your enemies from 40+ yeards away with your bow, stun-locking them with dual-cast destruction spells, letting your summons take the beating, or using your illusion skills for crowd control.

"But... but... but... mages need -25% spell cost in all 4 slots!"

No. LTP.

I don't see the issue here, skull of corruption isn't weak when its first obtainable, and yes rose of sanguine is good for starting mages.

But there are no good daedric artifacts for any class.

All the daedric weapons are worse then glass/ebony.

The armors have enchants easily surpassed.

And the Oghma and the Stars are equally good for everyone.

So why should mages get something that is always useful? No one else has such a thing.

Savior's hide is always useful, because it's properties cannot be replicated on any other piece of body armor. It makes total magic immunity possible without being a Breton or a heavy-alteration mage.

I'll also note that Spellbreaker is also indispensable, for similar reasons, but obviously you need to be able to have a hand free to take advantage of it (ie, not mages or archers).

Was. Was awesome for a mage character. Back when you could soul trap summoned creatures and Grand Souls were fairly easy to come by.

They are now functionally useless. It is faster and in the end more economical to just BUY filled Grand Soul Gems than it is to even think about using Azura's Star.

There are barely any good mage items in this game at all apart from Arch-Mage/Master robes.

My warrior on the otherhand has found several Warrior artifacts that are still usefull at 40+.

FYI: spoilers go in spoilers section...and most of the daedric artifacts svck anyway.

Most daedric artifacts are gimp compared to player crafted gear anyway.

The items fit their respective Gods not the player. This is a good example where lore took precedence over game balance. Considering you can make your own items, it doesnt really seem to be a big issue.

Meridia could've easily give you something other than a sword, it wouldn't contradict her character.
Clavicus Vile too.

And the f-ing GOD OF HUNTING doesn't give you a bow?

Hold it. Your thread title: "There's not a single daedric artifact that is useful for a mage or sneak archer"

Highlights from your list:

4. Oghma Infinium - every branch benefits, no one excluded.. It only benefits one branch at a time. Have you actually used it yet? If you select stealth it doesn't buff your armor

5. Savior's Hide - Lame resist xy enchantment... 'Resist XY" isn't useful for a mage or archer? How so?

Mehrunes' Razor - Dagger, nice addition to an archers gear but not really substancial, but ok useful because u get 16x dmg while sneaking plus insta kill chance. So, it actually is useful for a mage or archer

14. Sanguine Rose - Conjure Dremora, useless for mages since you can only conjure one at a time, if it would be an additional Dremora it would be useful till u reach Conjuration 100 Useful for an archer

15. Wabbajack - Fun item which is useful since it can turn enemies into something else, so yes, useful for a mage or sneak archer that wants some...fun

16. Skull of Corruption - weak ass staff So, in order to be 'useful' it has to be approved by you in terms of power, otherwise, a mage or archer can't use it

I'm not tracking with you, sorry

So op ignored nightingale weapons/set on purpose? just swap helm for the DB hood.

Truth be told anything you can craft is better then any of the daedric artifacs, with the exception of some artifacts like dagon dagger, hircine ring, meridia is ok against undead, but you can already craft much stronger weapons, spell breaker is a very interesting item, but thats about it, the others are good but not amazing in a min maxing perspective.

surely the spellbreaker sheild beats chaneling a ward in your left hand? making it useful for a mage ( as it doesn#t cost mana/prevent regen ( when not going full offensive dual casting)?

Female version of savior's hide is easily the best looking cuirass. I gladly accepted the reduction in protection just for the looks.

Playing as an ranger/scout/skirmisher I miss a real good bow... Light armor users are also somewhat penalized. All the best dragon priests masks are heavy armor too. I cannot comment on mages as my sole mage character wore heavy armor and used a shield!

The nightingale set quest doesn't count as daedric quest or even as a daedric artifact (see Oblivion walker achievement/ on Xbox). It's a guild quest - mages and warriors have those quests and loot too. Mages -> Archmage robe & Mask, Warriors -> Wuuthrad & Shield of Ysgramor.


For me it feels like cheating when I use the enchanting/alchemy/smithing loop, so I don't do this.

I just wanted to use/enjoy some quest items I worked for. But only Wabbajack is nice for me - and it feels like cheating too when you transform a dragon/ dwarven centurio to a sweet roll...

I just keep all my artifacts with me since I'm some Mage [censored] warrior [censored] archer kind of person.

Quick question: Does the ebony blade actually get stronger when you kill innocent people?

Anything that gives Stamina is useful to a Sneak Archer if they took that slo-mo zoom-in perk. Many people argue that this perk is useless and is for people with bad aim. However, this perk is not for lining up your shots better--rather, it's about being able to get more shots out in a quick amount of time. Room crowded with multiple opponents? Get a good vantage point, zoom-in, and annihilate everything as it runs to you very, very slowly.

I guess if you're the kind of sneak archer that sneaks a single arrow shot at a time then leaves the area, killing every opponent one sneak attack at a time, then you don't need stamina at all. For me, however, it seems a bit unrealistic to take advantage of slightly poor AI design by continually sneak attacking and enjoying the fact that the health on opponents doesn't reset (unless they're a healer), as well as the fact that these opponents believe they just "heard something" when there is an arrow sticking out of their head.

Anyhow, stamina is good for that sneak archer who isn't sneaking anymore and needs to kill quickly. Steady Hand (that's the perk name) accomplishes this well.

Lastly, crafted gear seems vastly superior to most of the artifacts in this game, anyhow.

Oh, and many of the Daedra are evil. Stop sacrificing your friends/innocent people for shiny objects.

When I play a mage, I play a full on mage. Not some concoction of a Paladin Mage that wears full plate or even Leather armor.

As a mage, I wear nothing but robes, hoods, circlets, plain gloves, boots, rings, amulets, etc. I MIGHT use a dagger instead of a staff.

Considering the Staves are underpowered once you reach higher levels that means there are no worthwhile staves.
You can't really enchant well enough until your enchant skill is over 80, and most of the items you find are better than anything you can craft (without using the enchant/smith eploit).
The fact that the Master Robes are better than the Arch-Mage Robe is beyond me and was a complete let down.

Overall I think the enchant types being limited to a certain type of item is just asinine.

Mages have their dragon priest masks & circlets, so I don't mind if they don't get any daedric artifacts. Also enchanting and smithing will basically overpower any daedric artifacts, so unless you are after the achievement or unique looks they are purely a collectible in my mind. Only unique item that can't be beaten is the Dragonbane as it can't be disenchanted and therefore more damage to dragon can be never learnt. Perhaps this and maybe the Azura/Black Star are the most unique items in the game interms of pure benefit they can provide over crafted/enchanted items.

Edit: Maybe that skull wand too, although it seems pretty useless to me.