Skyrim Tips and Tricks » Discussions


A Comprehensive List of Tips and Tricks

Tags: #Tips and Tricks Showcases 
  • Member
    November 27, 2013

    This is more or less Ponty's Fun Facts thread in a reader friendly list. Please let me know what I am missing, how to increase readability, and if you think something belongs in a different or new category. If you don't know what a named thing is below, please refer to Elder Scrolls Wiki or UESPWiki for answers.

    COMBAT TACTICS

    “Advanced Atronach” Stone (drink two different kinds of fortify restoration potion to achieve 100% spell absorption when activating the atronach stone ex: The Obsidian Sentinel)

    “Advanced Apprentice” Stone (much like the atronach stone exploit, we can use the Aetherial Crown to make an advanced version of both the Atronach and Apprentice stone, removing the negative effects of both, resulting in a single piece of gear that grants extra magicka, magicka regeneration, and 100% spell absorption, so refrain from removing it ex: The Celestial Warlock)

    Non-Exploit Spell Absorption (Any character can achieve 100% spell absorption with the Atronach Stone, 3 ranks of Atronach perk, and Miraak’s Outfit, useful for non-exploit characters)

    Ash Guardian Battery (a character with 100% spell absorption can conjure an Ash Guardian without a heart stone, which will then attack the player and refill their magicka bar)

    Sanguine Rose Battery (a character with 100% spell absorption can cast the Sanguine Rose staff and regain magicka as you absorb the spell the staff would have cast)

    Aetherial Crown (a character can use this crown to have infinite uses of a daily standing stone power by putting the power “in the crown”, whenever you need the power, equip the crown  and use it, you can then switch to preferable headgear and switch back and forth as you see fit)

    Archmage’s Headgear (circlets and dragon priest masks can be worn with archmage robes; also works with hooded dunmer outfits, but has a less useful enchantment, but useful aesthetic)

    Infinite Power Attacks (vegetable soup will constantly regen health and stamina 1 point per second, a single point of stamina is all that is needed to successfully power attack; one can also use the Bardic Knowledge power from Dragonborn DLC to regenerate stamina)

    Vegetable Runes (the Dawnguard Rune Hammer can be used in conjunction with vegetable soup, which regenerates stamina, to cast many runes; very useful for non-ranged warriors)

    Dawnguard Rune Axe (temper the axe so the power does not reset each day ex: The Heretic; also doesn’t reset if follower equips it)

    Shadow Warrior (the last perk in the Sneak skill grants us a second of invisibility which can be used to quickly backstab an enemy or use in a dark corner to lose detection)

    Critical Roll (stealth characters can also close in on their targets with the Sneak perk Silent Roll while power attacking for a critical charge, requires corresponding one-handed or two-handed perk, distance must be judged correctly to work; one can also use shield charge, the very last perk in block, during a silent roll to paralyze, also requires precise timing)

    Stun and Stagger (Windshear and the Staff of Chain Lightning have a 100% chance to stagger on strike and Valdr's Lucky Dagger stuns enemies 25% of the time, useful given a dagger's speed, effectively leaving your enemies stagnant and unable to attack)

    Olympic Torch (a character can sprint forever by equipping a torch and one-handed weapon, sheathing the weapon, spam left bumper until you run out of stamina, immediately hold the left bumper down once the stamina is dry and you should remain sprinting)

    SPELLS/SHOUTS/POWERS

    Ethereal Cloaks (if a character casts a cloak spell before using the shout Become Ethereal they can still damage enemies while taking no damage themselves; another damage that doesn’t break Ethereal form is the ranged attack of the Bloodskal Blade)

    Cursed Ring of Arcana (the Ring of Arcana can be worn during the quest Ill Met by Moonlight to keep the spells without having to wear the ring, simply have it equipped when the cursed ring is equipped and the spells will be locked into your list, and you can equip any ring when the quest is finished)

    “Advanced Blizzard” Spell (drink a weakness to frost poison to enhance the damage done by your master frost spell “Blizzard” ex: The Obsidian Sentinel)

    More Shouts (if item stacking or restoration glitching isn’t your cup of tea, try leaving High Hrothgar while Paarthurnax is teaching you a shout and you will have very short cooldowns)

    Silent Shouts (ironic, but the Illusion perk Silent Casting will even silence dragon shouts, very useful for stealth characters to close in on targets with Whirlwind Sprint for dagger attacks)

    Black Book Powers (if you have used a daily power and wish to use it again, go into the black book that contains it, must be on Solstheim, and reacquire it; black books can also be used as free storage by entering the book and putting items in storage or on the ground)

    Secret of Arcana (this black book power from Dragonborn will allow you to cast a channeled spell for free forever; very useful for lightning storm during a difficult dragon fight)

    Ignite and Melt (the spell Ignite gained from Ahzidal’s Ring of Arcana stacks on itself and is boosted by Augmented Flames perks AND Aspect of Terror perk, resulting in HUGE DoT)

    Marked for Death (the Marked for Death shout decreases armor rating into the negatives, increasing damage done exponentially throughout a fight; HOWEVER, any creature hit with this shout, including followers, retains the negative armor even after respawning, think twice before letting your follower get in the way or shouting at an enemy you plan to revisit upon respawn)

    Slow Time More (the alteration perk Stability and potions of alteration lengthen the time of the shout Slow Time, lengthening it so the cooldown is possibly finished before the shout has even ended)

    Fire Wyrms! (many fire wyrms can be created by combining the ritual stone power with the ring of necromancy to instantly kill all of your summons and turn them into fire wyrms, more details here)

    Clear Stagger (the Clear Skies shout can be used in combat to stagger opponents much like the first word of Unrelenting Force but with a ⅓ of the recharge time)

    Invisible Mage (if you can handle the magicka use, you can cast a concentration spell in one hand and cast invisibility afterwards in the other so you will remain invisible while dealing damage; may not be useful unless Illusion perk Silent Casting is unlocked)

    CRAFTING

    Fortify Restoration (drink potion, remove and equip alchemy gear, make another potion under boosted alchemy, repeat to desired strength, make powerful potions of smithing enchanting and more; can also be used to gain unlimited shouts or unlimited spell casting by using while the Amulet of Talos or Diadem of the Savant is equipped)

    Dunmer Shoes (this item is classed as torso in-game; very useful for having extra chest enchantments instead of less useful feet enchantments)

    Fortify Marksman (the fortify marksman potion increases the damage of all weapons as opposed to just bows; can be used with other fortify weapon potions to essentially double the damage buff)

    Enchantment Potency (when enchanting a weapon with an elemental damage in which you have the perks to augment its damage, a second enchantment will have extra potency as well, this can be done with two elemental damages with perks for both of them for extra effect)

    Chaos Damage (stalhrim weapons boost the damage of both frost and chaos enchantments)

    Permanent Enchantments (weapon enchantments will never run out of charges if your armor is enchanted with 100% reduction in the magic school they use ex: destruction for flames)

    Ash Guardian Free Greater Soul (a character who requires recharging weapons/staves can capture a conjured Ash Guardian’s soul, ideally in Azura’s/Black Star, for a “free” recharge)

    Item duplication (if the item is on a dead body, loot them and use the ritual stone to raise them, enter a new cell, and they will have an entirely new set of gear, works well for ancient shrouded armor; if it is just an item you have in your inventory, you can give a mannequin the items and immediately take them back without leaving the screen, exit and enter the cell; or you can drop an item and have a follower pick it up, exit and enter the cell and it might be on the ground and in their inventory; save before trying, may not work or cause unwanted glitches)

    VAMPIRISM/LYCANTHROPY

    Necromage + Vampirism (vampire characters who take the Restoration perk “Necromage” will experience a 25% boost to magnitude, such as armor enchantments, and 50% boost to duration, such as alteration spells, as vampires are undead)

    Werewolf Apparel Stacking (become a werewolf, get a follower, talk to your follower and activate beast form at the same time, choose to give them items and wait for thform to complete, now equip any apparel you want through that screen, achieving 100% shout cooldown with amulets of talos, large armor rating, and using heavy armor gauntlets to increase unarmed damage through “Fists of Steel” ex: Master Monk)

    Vampire Lord Spells (equip bound sword in left hand, use vampire lord power and immediately cast bound sword, once transformed equip the vampire lord spell you desire such as vampiric grip, use the revert form power but as the screen blurs bring up your quick select menu, it will say the spell is equipped but it isn’t so you must quickly click the spell and exit the menu, immediately charge the left hand spell after exiting the menu and it should remain once your revert form is complete; this will likely take multiple tries/practice; if a character has 100% spell absorption, they can cast vampiric grip forever)

    Advanced Vampire/Werewolf (a character can cast alteration spells for defense or cloaking spells for offense before activating beast form; the muffle spell also remains, as does the Shadowcloak of Nocturnal which can aid werewolves in their lengthy, glitchy transformation; as well as use potions to regenerate health/stamina; dragon aspect shout may help as well, needs confirmation)

    Power Wolf (a werewolf can power attack while moving as well as power attack with a pounce while sprinting forward which will do extra damage and fling enemies to the ground, most notably giants)

    Vampire/Werewolf Hybrid (not very useful and notably glitchy, however, watch this video for the full tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcH8sHr7iaQ; this is either the only method that still works or the best method with best results; may not be able to cure self with this glitch)

    FOLLOWERS

    Multiple Followers (Serana, Cicero, and the Dark Brotherhood Initiates can be recruited as legitimate followers in addition to your primary follower; a character must dismiss their regular companion, rehire, and immediately open dialogue with these characters to gain them as a follower; save beforehand, timing takes a few tries)

    Quest Followers (less legitimate followers can be acquired through certain quests where characters follow you; during Thieves Guild questline, a character can gain Mercer Frey or Brynjolf as a follower; during Namira’s quest Brother Verulus can become a follower; during Clavicus Vile’s quest Barbas the invincible dog can become a follower; during the main questline Esbern and Delphine can become followers; less useful followers that can die easily or don't use good gear are Thonnir, Maurice Jondrelle, and Enmon P.S. can freeze your game with too many)

    Stacking Courage (a character can stack Call to Arms, Rally, and Courage spells on their followers to increase their stats and skills, very useful for follower-dependent characters)

    Follower Soul Gems (give a follower a weapon of soul trapping, give them as many petty soul gems as you can and they will fill all the gems with one kill; useful for recharging)

    Rieklings! (they use the pet slot but can hold gear like a normal follower and, although it can be glitchy, they can equip some normal weapons, such as dragonbone arrows which they will furiously toss at your enemies and greatswords which they will attack with no animation; they can also equip armor for the rating, but not for aesthetics)

    LEVELING

    Follower Training (free training can be acquired through followers who train skills, such as Faendel in Riverwood who can train you to level 50 archery at the very start of the game; note, training gets more expensive the more you do it, possibly costing tens of thousands at if used the maximum 5 times each level)

    Free Training (a character can pickpocket large amounts of gold spent training by paralyzing the trainer and then pickpocketing for 100% success; recommend Ice Form while hidden)

  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    Just to add. the Critical Roll works with Two Handed weapons with Great Critical Charge. You could also add you can shield charge with a weapon if you time blocking+sprinting right, as well as sneak roll + shield charge with a shield or weapon to paralyze when rolling into an enemy.

  • November 28, 2013

    Here's one: Effortless dual wield power attacks. Pressing both shoulder buttons for a regular dual wield attack while executing a dual wield power attack results in the power attack costing no stamina.

  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    Can't pull up my game to try at the moment; can you explain a bit more in depth? I do a dual wield attack and in the middle of the swing hold down a dual wield power attack?

  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    Added, although I've never done it so I'm hoping I'm explaining it correctly. Feel free to suggest wording changes to make it clearer to readers. Thanks.

  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    So we recommend Tips and Tricks here then? Awesome. An interesting one I use is bow bow-blocking, equip your bow, enter Eagle Eye mode (Left trigger when you have the perk), quickly unequip and equip the bow via hotkey and you should be blocking with a bow.

  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    Nice work, Theo. I was expecting this to be largely redundant, but you presented it well, and it actually could be a useful resource for people who don't have the time to sift through dozens of pages of comments in the Questions/Requests and Fun Facts threads. I'd like to see you keep this updated as new info comes in. This could help out a lot of people. 

    A few comments:

    • Probably not worth mentioning Shadow Warrior here, since it functions exactly how the game describes.

    * On the other hand, you might want to add for Werewolves that the Shadowcloak of Nocturnal allows for invisibility during transformation (but you do become visible upon turning). Muffle spells also carry over into beast form and VL form.

    * May also be worth mentioning that werewolf directional power attacks will ragdoll everything but mammoths, dragons, centurions, and giant spiders. (And they'll stagger those large enemies.)

    * You can also get free training by buying training from an active follower, then trading with him to take back your money. Especially useful for archers who can train to level 50 with Faendal straight from Helgen. Also useful for any warrior who finishes the Companions quest line.

    * Probably worth mentioning that Fortify Archery potions actually buff all physical damage, including from swords, fists, bashes, etc. You can combine Fortify Archery and Fortify One-handed to create a superpotion for your sword.

    * Necromage isn't just a 25% boost — it's 50% boost to duration and 25% boost to magnitude for all spells/enchants/shouts "on self". This can be especially useful with Slow Time, Elemental Fury, or Become Ethereal.

    * Speaking of Slow Time, it might be worth mentioning that it benefits from the Stability perk in Alteration for +50% duration, as well as from drinking any potion of Fortify Alteration. With the right setup (e.g., my Montalion) you can achieve constant Slow Time.

    * I actually read that you can get constant Slow Time a different way: Pick up 2/2 Steady hand from the Archery tree, walk through a door so the new cell loads, then nock your bow to activate Steady Hand, and then reload your autosave while steady hand is active, and the effect will be applied when your save loads, even though your bow won't be nocked. I haven't tested this personally though, but UESP says it works.

    * Might be worth mentioning that Valdr's Lucky Dagger stuns enemies on critical hits. 25% chance to crit means that, if you buff its speed (i.e., Dual Flurry, Elemental Fury, Slow Time, etc.) you can basically stun lock anything.

    * Windshear and the Staff of Chain Lightning also have a constant stagger effect that has a 100% chance to proc on strike.

    A couple of things you listed here no longer work:

    Enchanted Werewolf (if a character does a power attack dual wielding enchanted daggers while activating beast form, the werewolf’s claws will use the enchantments) PATCHED

    Ring of Namira/Hircine (if a character is wearing the Ring of Namira at the start of the quest to get the Ring of Hircine, they will retain the feeding benefits from the ring in werewolf/vampire form) PATCHEDbut you can use this exploit with Ahzidal's Ring of Arcana to have two active rings in human form (i.e., the Ring of the Erudite, Ring of Namira, Ring of the Beast, etc. can all be worn "actively" while keeping the passive benefits of the Ring of Arcana.)

  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    Probably best if you recommend new info in the Fun Facts thread. If there's something that you think Theo should add/remove, then it's okay to post in the comments. But let's try to keep new info in the Fun Facts thread, and this can be more of an index/archive of that info as it comes in.

  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    Correct. Ponty's thread is great for discussion. This discussion I want to be kept neat so I can find and update things. Teccam has a great post below of what should go in the comments here, which is basically fixes for the list.

  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    Perfect. Just to clarify, does the ring glitch mean you keep "Ignite" and "Freeze"? Also, have people tested other unique rings (Necromancy, etc.)? I'm on XBOX so it's quite a task to test these things. :/

    Thanks.