There are two ways of acquiring crossbow exploding bolts. You either buy them from Sorine Jurard or spend a maximum of two perks into Smithing (Steel and Dwarven) and craft them yourself. Sadly, buying won't get you enough bolts to clear a dungeon since they're always stock limited. Crafting on the other hand requires you to combine Fire / Frost / Void Salts with normal bolts at the forge in Fort Dawnguard. Again, sadly, these special salts are classified as Rare Ingredients. This means that you'll always find only one or two for sale at an ingredients vendor. There is however an alternative, easy way of acquiring huge amounts of salts without grinding by making use of the Atronach Forge and the Prowler's Profit. I also want to mention that you need no skill in Conjuration for this. This is not a glitch or an exploit!
How to do it:
- Collect every type of Soul Gem you find or buy. It doesn't matter if it's filled or not, petty or grand;
- Acquire all the stones of Barenziah and the crown. You can find their locations here. Once done, you'll receive an (invisible) active effect known as The Prowler's Profit. This will enable you to loot precious gems from every chest or burial urn you open;
- Out of all this precious loot keep the Rubies, Sapphires and Amethysts (Flaweless versions included). After some testing, Bonelord and I found out that every chest or burial urn gives you an average combination of two or three of these gems;
- Go to an inn keeper or ingredients vendor and buy all the Salt Piles you find. This is the most commonly found ingredient in Skyrim and it's cheap;
- Go to the Atronach Forge and combine:
- 1x Ruby, 1x Soul Gem and 1x Salt Pile to craft a bowl of Fire Salts;
- 1x Sapphire, 1x Soul Gem and 1x Salt Pile to craft a bowl of Frost Salts;
- 1x Amethyst, 1x Soul Gem and 1x Salt Pile to craft a bowl of Void Salts;
- Go to the forge in Fort Dawnguard and combine:
- 10x Steel / Dwarven Bolt and a bowl of Fire Salts to craft 10x Exploding Steel / Dwarven Bolt of Fire;
- 10x Steel / Dwarven Bolt and a bowl of Frost Salts to craft 10x Exploding Steel / Dwarven Bolt of Frost;
- 10x Steel / Dwarven Bolts and a bowl of Fire Salts to craft 10x Exploding Steel / Dwarven Bolt of Shock;
Conclusion
With the Prowler's Profit, for every chest or burial urn you loot, you'll be able to craft an average of 20 or 30 more exploding bolts. This method also enables you to no longer break the game's economy by giving you the opportunity to make something useful with those precious gems, instead of simply selling them.
There are two ways of acquiring crossbow exploding bolts. You either buy them from Sorine Jurard or spend a maximum of two perks into Smithing (Steel and Dwarven) and craft them yourself. Sadly, buying won't get you enough bolts to clear a dungeon since they're always stock limited. Crafting on the other hand requires you to combine Fire / Frost / Void Salts with normal bolts at the forge in Fort Dawnguard. Again, sadly, these special salts are classified as Rare Ingredients. This means that you'll always find only one or two for sale at an ingredients vendor. There is however an alternative, easy way of acquiring huge amounts of salts without grinding by making use of the Atronach Forge and the Prowler's Profit. I also want to mention that you need no skill in Conjuration for this. This is not a glitch or an exploit!
How to do it:
- Collect every type of Soul Gem you find or buy. It doesn't matter if it's filled or not, petty or grand;
- Acquire all the stones of Barenziah and the crown. You can find their locations here. Once done, you'll receive an (invisible) active effect known as The Prowler's Profit. This will enable you to loot precious gems from every chest or burial urn you open;
- Out of all this precious loot keep the Rubies, Sapphires and Amethysts (Flaweless versions included). After some testing, Bonelord and I found out that every chest or burial urn gives you an average combination of two or three of these gems;
- Go to an inn keeper or ingredients vendor and buy all the Salt Piles you find. This is the most commonly found ingredient in Skyrim and it's cheap;
- Go to the Atronach Forge and combine:
- 1x Ruby, 1x Soul Gem and 1x Salt Pile to craft a bowl of Fire Salts;
- 1x Sapphire, 1x Soul Gem and 1x Salt Pile to craft a bowl of Frost Salts;
- 1x Amethyst, 1x Soul Gem and 1x Salt Pile to craft a bowl of Void Salts;
- Go to the forge in Fort Dawnguard and combine:
- 10x Steel / Dwarven Bolt and a bowl of Fire Salts to craft 10x Exploding Steel / Dwarven Bolt of Fire;
- 10x Steel / Dwarven Bolt and a bowl of Frost Salts to craft 10x Exploding Steel / Dwarven Bolt of Frost;
- 10x Steel / Dwarven Bolts and a bowl of Fire Salts to craft 10x Exploding Steel / Dwarven Bolt of Shock;
Conclusion
With the Prowler's Profit, for every chest or burial urn you loot, you'll be able to craft an average of 20 or 30 more exploding bolts. This method also enables you to no longer break the game's economy by giving you the opportunity to make something useful with those precious gems, instead of simply selling them.
Check the tag man. This will be in the Bonelords's upcoming R.E.D. Artifacts event build.
