Skyrim Tip #59 Dungeons and Traps

Delving dungeons? Keep your eyes to the ground for pressure plates and tripwires. Don’t think you can just run around if you’ve got the Sneak perk that makes you invincible to them: your follower will most certainly step on them and hurt you both. Also keep an eye out for long hallways with sudden, wide openings or rooms that are long to the left or right, but thin. The kind of room that you walk past and a battering ram hits you.

Character Archetype: The Archer

Race: Wood Elf

Gender: Male

Statistic Focus: Health 80% Stamina 20% Magicka 20%

Primary Skills (you’ll want to level these ASAP): Archery, Sneak

Secondary Skills: Light Armor, Block

Stone Ability: Thief Stone

Essential Perks: Overdraw (Archery), Eagle Eye (Archery), Power Shot (Archery), Quick Shot (Archery), Stealth (Sneak), Deadly Aim (Sneak)

Weapons: Bows and Arrows (the best you can afford), if you can, find a bow with a fire/shock/frost enchantment. Keep a one-handed weapon for backup.

Armor: Light Armor will give you protection but won’t sacrifice speed or stealth

Follower: If you’re looking for aggression, choose Jenassa or Faendal. If you’re looking for someone sturdy, choose Vorstag or Argis.

Advice:

·       As a Wood Elf, you excel in stealthy archery, with bonuses in all of your critical skills.

·       If you see an enemy, drop into sneak mode and look for a vantage point. If there aren’t any, starting off the battle with a sneak attack will give you a good advantage.

·       If an enemy closes in on you or bum rushes you, bash them with your bow and get some space so that you can keep firing.

·       Use your bow exclusively to level it up as quickly as possible.

·       Every single Archery perk is valuable to a dedicated archer. I recommend getting them all as soon as you can. Don’t neglect the Overdraw perk, it makes a big difference!

·       Eagle Eye and Steady Hand are there to help you line up your shots easier.

·       Deadly Aim and Power Shot are there to increase your damage output.

·       Your Sneak skill will make a huge difference if you want to be a sniper instead of just an archer (low Sneak will make things very, very difficult in comparison). A high sneak will allow you to finish off hordes of draugr in a big room without them ever catching onto your location. To level up Sneak as soon as possible, sneak up on even low-level enemies and always take a stealth shot over a normal one.

·       Light Armor is great for an archer because it doesn’t detract from their Sneak skill or their ability to run, duck, block, or gain some distance.

·       Block is a good backup skill for an archer because perks like Disarming Bash and Power Bash work just as well with a bow and can give you the time to get some distance or get in one last shot.

·       Stat bonuses aren’t going to be a big focus to archers since most enemies won’t make it to melee combat. Just make sure that you have enough stamina to support your playstyle if you’re running, blocking, or bashing a lot.

·       If you’re assaulting an outdoor camp or redoubt, don’t forget that you’ve got access to Command Animal as a wood elf. If you can’t quietly take out the sentries, maybe your new bear/saber cat/mammoth will.

·       The Thief Stone is helpful because it will help your stealth skills (sneak, light armor) to keep up with your archery skill. Skills that fall behind aren’t really effective in combat.

Skyrim Tip #58 Extra Damage

After completing the quest The Heart of Dibella, you get an ability called “Agent of Dibella” which gives you 10% more damage to members of the opposite gender. Since a very large portion of the enemies you’ll face are male, this is very useful for female characters. I also happen to know that in another one of Bethesda’s games, Fallout 3, 90% of the human enemies are male. Just to let you know where the ratio probably is.

Skyrim tip #57 Outside Whiterun Glitch

 Sometimes you’ll get a companions quest to talk to Skjor, but the quest marker will be outside of Whiterun. You can’t leave Whiterun or the quest marker resets (or something). The solution is to use the outside-whiterun glitch. This is the way to get out of whiterun by glitching through a wall. It’s very hard for lower-level characters because they will probably die from fall damage. If possible, use the Become Ethereal shout. Basically, you jump onto Carlotta’s roof, then onto the dragon heads on the right side of the house (the side near the pathway). You stand on those heads and use the height to jump onto the stone, square-but-sloping part of the wall beside you. It’s right in front of you, and should be a pretty easy jump.  Then you sort of step off the platform as if you’re going to walk along the rounded top of the wall, but instead you fall straight through and land on a hill. If you survive, stay to the far left (don’t fall in the ditch!) and walk all the way to Skjor. Ignore the invisible floor, you’ll walk right over it. When you talk to Skjor, you can fast travel back into Whiterun.

Skyrim Tip #56 DLC Dragonborn Quests

 Skyrim add-on: Dragonborn the new expansion pack/add-on. Critics rave that it’s the best yet. Dragonborn gives the dragonborn (heh heh) access to an island called Solsthiem, which is in trouble: some unseen force is hypnotizing people all over the place. Mysterious “black books” bring you to the otherworld realm of Apocrypha, where you fight the original dragonborn, Miraak. There’s also a secondary questline where you are asked to look into a conspiracy against the ruling dark elf family. Oh, and you can ride dragons (but they just fly in circles). 

Dragonborn DLC: Solsthiem Stone Blessings

Stone	Ability	Description
Earth Stone	Bones of the Earth	Ignore 80% of physical damage for 30 seconds
Beast Stone	Conjure Werebear	Summons a werebear for 60 seconds
Sun Stone	Sun Flare	Does 100 points of fire damage centered on the user. Father enemies take less damage
Wind Stone	North Wind	Targets take 20 frost damage to health and stamina for 10 seconds
Water Stone	Waters of Life	Heals everyone around the caster 200 points
Tree Stone	Root of Power	All spells cost 75% less for 60 seconds

Skyrim Tip #55 Equilibrium

 Equilibrium is a spell that converts health to magicka. You can find it in the Labyrinthian Chasm (with the Arcane Enchanter) after/during the quest to find the Staff of Magnus.