So, a seeker of knowledge? Power? Do you wish to travel Hermaeus Mora's realm in search of the secrets hidden there? Then this guide is for you!
Guide to the Black Books
Throughout Solstheim are scattered 7 Black Books. These powerful artifacts transport you to Apocrypha when read, and after a short dungeon, you can acquire one of three powerful bonuses. This guide details each of these bonuses, which book they are in, and where to find each book.
Contents
- Waking Dreams
- Epistolary Acumen
- Untold Legends
- The Winds of Change
- The Sallow Regent
- Filament and Filigree
- The Hidden Twilight
- Other Tips
Waking Dreams
Location: Temple of Miraak
The Black Book inside Waking Dreams is only accessible at the end of the Dragonborn questline.
Once opened, a series of symbols appear around you, corresponding to each skill. Activating one of the symbols consumes one Dragon Soul resets all your perks in that skill, allowing you to spend them elsewhere (it still maintains your skill rank however). Some potential uses for this include shifting perks around for different situations, crafting powerful items and then moving your crafting perks elsewhere, or leveling up a new skill (eg moving perks from one handed into two handed).
Epistolary Acumen
Location: Nchardak
This book can only be acquired during the Path of Knowledge quest, but grants one of three powerful bonuses to shouts.
The first bonus, Dragonborn Flame, causes a Fire Wyrm to emerge from the corpse when you slay a creature with the Fire Breath shout. This can be done with any level of the shout. The Wyrms stay around and fight for you for 60 seconds, and explode upon death. There is no limit to the number of Wyrms under your command at any given time.
The second bonus, Dragonborn Frost, causes enemies to be encased in ice for 15 seconds (only 10 seconds however on large enemies like Giants and Lurkers) when using the Frost Breath shout, not unlike Ice Form. This works with any number of Words or enemies, and attacking frozen enemies does not break the ice, unlike Ice Form.
The third bonus, Dragonborn Force, causes Unrelenting Force to do increased damage. It now deals 10/25/50 damage for each word - an appreciable amount - and disintegrates enemies that are killed by the third word of the Shout. This only applies to the damage done by the blast, not fall damage. One possible use of this is to disintegrate enemies when battling necromancers, to prevent them from being raised.
Untold Legends
Location: Benkongerike
This Black Book grants a variety of summoning abilities.
The first bonus, Black Market, allows you to summon a Dremora merchant unlimited times per day. He sells leveled Heavy armor and weapons, both enchanted and unenchanted, a few arrows, and carries 2000 gold. His inventory resets every 2 days. After summoning him, he will dissapear after a short time. He does not fight nearby hostile NPCs. The punch-reload glitch for resetting merchant inventories does work on him.
The second bonus, Secret Servant, is similar to Black Market. It summons a Dremora Butler, unlimited times per day, to carry items for you. His maximum capacity is 148. The Secret Servant does not reset when choosing a different buff, so you have no fear of losing your items.
The third bonus, Bardic Knowledge, allows you to summon a spectral drum unlimited times per day, improving stamina regeneration of you and all allies by 50% for 5 minutes. Yes, that is a virtually permanent 50% stamina regen boost!
The Winds of Change
Location: Bloodskal Barrow (through the Raven Rock Mine)
This Black Book grants one of 3 widely varying insights.
The first, Scholar's Insight, grants an extra Skill Point when reading a skill book. This a great for leveling, especially at higher levels. I highly doubt it would work with the Oghma Infinium, I may test this in the future though.
The second buff, Companion's Insight, pretty much turns off friendly fire. You can't harm your followers with attacks, shouts or spells. This doesn't extend to summons however.
The third buff, Lover's Insight, lets you deal 10% more damage and have 10% better prices with the opposite sex. These boosts stack with the Agent of Dibella and Allure bonuses.
The Sallow Regent
Location: White Ridge Barrow
This Black Book has a much shorter route to the book itself, and grants three bonuses, one for each of the 3 skill types.
The first, Seeker of Might, makes all combat skills 10% 'better'. What this really means is it improves the armor rating from heavy armor by 10%, reduces damage recieved when blocking by 10%, increases all weapon damage by 10%, and you can improve items 10% more. The wiki says this also decreases the cooldown on Shouts, this is false however.
The second bonus, Seeker of Sorcery, reduces the spell cost of all spells by 10%, as well as making all enchantments 10% stronger. Nothing too fancy here, but when combined with Archmage Robes and the Diadem of the Savant, that's 30% spellcost reduction for every school of magic - pretty useful for a pure mage!
The third bonus, Seeker of Shadows, makes stealth skills 10% more effective, meaning that light armor gives you 10% more armor rating, you're 10% harder to detect, lockpicking and pickpocketing are 10% easier, prices are 10% better, and created potions are 10% more powerful.
Filament and Filigree
Location: Kolbjorn Barrow
This Black Book is by far my favorite, with many powerful uses for each ability. Each of the abilities can only be used once per day, but they're well worth it. You need to complete the Kolbjorn Barrow questline to get it though, which will cost you 11 000 gold!
The first bonus, Secret of Strength, makes power attacks cost NO STAMINA for 30 seconds (bashing and sprinting still use stamina as normal). This is insanely powerful on dual-wielders - you can activate Secret of Strength, shout Elemental Fury, and then mash both attack buttons and start screaming.
The second bonus, Secret of Arcana, causes spells to cost no magicka for 30 seconds. This can be used in a number of ways. Firstly, you could use it to cast powerful master level spells like Dead Thrall or dual cast other spells you wouldn't have the magicka to cast otherwise. Secondly, channeled spells like Lightning Storm or Telekinesis continue to use no magicka if you start casting them during the effect and don't let go of the button. Lightning Storm can easily decimate dragons, and telekinesis can be used to easily level your Alteration skill.
The third bonus, Secret of Protection, reduces all damage taken by 50%, including magical damage. It just chops all damage taken in half, so armor rating and magic resistance are taken into account first. This stacks multiplicatively with the Orc's Berserker Rage, giving you a total of 75% damage reduction (on top of armor).
The Hidden Twilight
Location: Tel Mithryn
To get this book you need to do Neloth's quests at Tel Mithryn until he lets you use his Staff Enchanter, as this book is locked in that room. This book contains 3 1/day powers.
The first power, Mora's Agony, fires a projectile which explodes into a small field of tentacles, similar to Miraak's Staff - only larger. It lasts for 30 seconds, dealing about 30 damage per second and staggering enemies. It deals poison damage, meaning automatons, undead and some other enemies are immune, but it will still stagger them. This is ridiculously effective when fighting in close quarters, with the ability to keep multiple enemies staggered and taking constant damage. From my testing it staggers all enemies except for dragons.
The second power, Mora's Grasp, places a single enemy in statis for 30 seconds. While in this state they are locked in place (unlike paralysis, their frozen bodies don't move) and can't take any damage. Good for getting some distance on a boss enemy, or even freezing an NPC in a doorway to block it. As with Mora's Agony, it works on all enemies bar dragons.
The third power, Mora's Boon, is simply a no strings attached full heal, restoring all your Health, Magicka and Stamina.
Other Tips
All of these 1/day powers can be used against instantly by going back to the book you got it from and picking it up again. (by Ponty)
Black Books can be used as free storage, as they do not reset. Simply drop items at the end of the book, and reading it again will transport you straight to them.(by Ben C)
Thanks for reading! Comment below about your favorite uses for Black Book abilities, I might even add them up here!
So, a seeker of knowledge? Power? Do you wish to travel Hermaeus Mora's realm in search of the secrets hidden there? Then this guide is for you!
Guide to the Black Books
Throughout Solstheim are scattered 7 Black Books. These powerful artifacts transport you to Apocrypha when read, and after a short dungeon, you can acquire one of three powerful bonuses. This guide details each of these bonuses, which book they are in, and where to find each book.
Contents
- Waking Dreams
- Epistolary Acumen
- Untold Legends
- The Winds of Change
- The Sallow Regent
- Filament and Filigree
- The Hidden Twilight
- Other Tips
Waking Dreams
Location: Temple of Miraak
The Black Book inside Waking Dreams is only accessible at the end of the Dragonborn questline.
Once opened, a series of symbols appear around you, corresponding to each skill. Activating one of the symbols consumes one Dragon Soul resets all your perks in that skill, allowing you to spend them elsewhere (it still maintains your skill rank however). Some potential uses for this include shifting perks around for different situations, crafting powerful items and then moving your crafting perks elsewhere, or leveling up a new skill (eg moving perks from one handed into two handed).
Epistolary Acumen
Location: Nchardak
This book can only be acquired during the Path of Knowledge quest, but grants one of three powerful bonuses to shouts.
The first bonus, Dragonborn Flame, causes a Fire Wyrm to emerge from the corpse when you slay a creature with the Fire Breath shout. This can be done with any level of the shout. The Wyrms stay around and fight for you for 60 seconds, and explode upon death. There is no limit to the number of Wyrms under your command at any given time.
The second bonus, Dragonborn Frost, causes enemies to be encased in ice for 15 seconds (only 10 seconds however on large enemies like Giants and Lurkers) when using the Frost Breath shout, not unlike Ice Form. This works with any number of Words or enemies, and attacking frozen enemies does not break the ice, unlike Ice Form.
The third bonus, Dragonborn Force, causes Unrelenting Force to do increased damage. It now deals 10/25/50 damage for each word - an appreciable amount - and disintegrates enemies that are killed by the third word of the Shout. This only applies to the damage done by the blast, not fall damage. One possible use of this is to disintegrate enemies when battling necromancers, to prevent them from being raised.
Untold Legends
Location: Benkongerike
This Black Book grants a variety of summoning abilities.
The first bonus, Black Market, allows you to summon a Dremora merchant unlimited times per day. He sells leveled Heavy armor and weapons, both enchanted and unenchanted, a few arrows, and carries 2000 gold. His inventory resets every 2 days. After summoning him, he will dissapear after a short time. He does not fight nearby hostile NPCs. The punch-reload glitch for resetting merchant inventories does work on him.
The second bonus, Secret Servant, is similar to Black Market. It summons a Dremora Butler, unlimited times per day, to carry items for you. His maximum capacity is 148. The Secret Servant does not reset when choosing a different buff, so you have no fear of losing your items.
The third bonus, Bardic Knowledge, allows you to summon a spectral drum unlimited times per day, improving stamina regeneration of you and all allies by 50% for 5 minutes. Yes, that is a virtually permanent 50% stamina regen boost!
The Winds of Change
Location: Bloodskal Barrow (through the Raven Rock Mine)
This Black Book grants one of 3 widely varying insights.
The first, Scholar's Insight, grants an extra Skill Point when reading a skill book. This a great for leveling, especially at higher levels. I highly doubt it would work with the Oghma Infinium, I may test this in the future though.
The second buff, Companion's Insight, pretty much turns off friendly fire. You can't harm your followers with attacks, shouts or spells. This doesn't extend to summons however.
The third buff, Lover's Insight, lets you deal 10% more damage and have 10% better prices with the opposite sex. These boosts stack with the Agent of Dibella and Allure bonuses.
The Sallow Regent
Location: White Ridge Barrow
This Black Book has a much shorter route to the book itself, and grants three bonuses, one for each of the 3 skill types.
The first, Seeker of Might, makes all combat skills 10% 'better'. What this really means is it improves the armor rating from heavy armor by 10%, reduces damage recieved when blocking by 10%, increases all weapon damage by 10%, and you can improve items 10% more. The wiki says this also decreases the cooldown on Shouts, this is false however.
The second bonus, Seeker of Sorcery, reduces the spell cost of all spells by 10%, as well as making all enchantments 10% stronger. Nothing too fancy here, but when combined with Archmage Robes and the Diadem of the Savant, that's 30% spellcost reduction for every school of magic - pretty useful for a pure mage!
The third bonus, Seeker of Shadows, makes stealth skills 10% more effective, meaning that light armor gives you 10% more armor rating, you're 10% harder to detect, lockpicking and pickpocketing are 10% easier, prices are 10% better, and created potions are 10% more powerful.
Filament and Filigree
Location: Kolbjorn Barrow
This Black Book is by far my favorite, with many powerful uses for each ability. Each of the abilities can only be used once per day, but they're well worth it. You need to complete the Kolbjorn Barrow questline to get it though, which will cost you 11 000 gold!
The first bonus, Secret of Strength, makes power attacks cost NO STAMINA for 30 seconds (bashing and sprinting still use stamina as normal). This is insanely powerful on dual-wielders - you can activate Secret of Strength, shout Elemental Fury, and then mash both attack buttons and start screaming.
The second bonus, Secret of Arcana, causes spells to cost no magicka for 30 seconds. This can be used in a number of ways. Firstly, you could use it to cast powerful master level spells like Dead Thrall or dual cast other spells you wouldn't have the magicka to cast otherwise. Secondly, channeled spells like Lightning Storm or Telekinesis continue to use no magicka if you start casting them during the effect and don't let go of the button. Lightning Storm can easily decimate dragons, and telekinesis can be used to easily level your Alteration skill.
The third bonus, Secret of Protection, reduces all damage taken by 50%, including magical damage. It just chops all damage taken in half, so armor rating and magic resistance are taken into account first. This stacks multiplicatively with the Orc's Berserker Rage, giving you a total of 75% damage reduction (on top of armor).
The Hidden Twilight
Location: Tel Mithryn
To get this book you need to do Neloth's quests at Tel Mithryn until he lets you use his Staff Enchanter, as this book is locked in that room. This book contains 3 1/day powers.
The first power, Mora's Agony, fires a projectile which explodes into a small field of tentacles, similar to Miraak's Staff - only larger. It lasts for 30 seconds, dealing about 30 damage per second and staggering enemies. It deals poison damage, meaning automatons, undead and some other enemies are immune, but it will still stagger them. This is ridiculously effective when fighting in close quarters, with the ability to keep multiple enemies staggered and taking constant damage. From my testing it staggers all enemies except for dragons.
The second power, Mora's Grasp, places a single enemy in statis for 30 seconds. While in this state they are locked in place (unlike paralysis, their frozen bodies don't move) and can't take any damage. Good for getting some distance on a boss enemy, or even freezing an NPC in a doorway to block it. As with Mora's Agony, it works on all enemies bar dragons.
The third power, Mora's Boon, is simply a no strings attached full heal, restoring all your Health, Magicka and Stamina.
Other Tips
All of these 1/day powers can be used against instantly by going back to the book you got it from and picking it up again. (by Ponty)
Black Books can be used as free storage, as they do not reset. Simply drop items at the end of the book, and reading it again will transport you straight to them.(by Ben C)
Thanks for reading! Comment below about your favorite uses for Black Book abilities, I might even add them up here!
Can Dremora Merchant be exploited with usual punching method?
