This game Skyrim: Elder Scrolls V, have you heard of it? It was given to me as a gift, and so far I’m really enjoying it. I understand that as a skill reaches 100 on the skill scale, I have the option of making it legendary. I’m not yet there, but I am approaching it. Can anyone explain to me the benefits and drawbacks of making a skill legendary?
(My guy, named Guy, is so far most proficient with 2-handed, sneak, and lockpicking.)
You gain levels by gaining skill points. So if you concentrate on leveling in a few areas, they will hit 100 and no longer be able to increase, stopping you from advancing any more. Making it legendary allows you to keep increasing by use which makes it so you can start advancing over all levels again.
The drawback is hardly noticable, which is that by the time this even comes up, the game is generally extremely easy, and this just makes it more so. Sneak near 100, for example, is basically “easy mode,” especially if you have all the damage multiplier perks.
(I think sneak + archery + enchanting + lockpicking is the easiest build of all, though. Most things just die without ever being aware of you.)
If this is another name for the Master level skill in magic, it unlocks certain spells that are unavailable unless you do a quest. The main one I used was the Destruction spell, which is a channeled lightning bolt with a 6 second casting time, does 100 damage per second for as long as you channel it. Quite handy for fighting dragons or killing everybody in town, not much use otherwise, as by the time you get to this spell, you’re probably a one-shot killing machine with the standard spells you can buy from vendors. There’s also a nova spell which is supposed to do a huge amount of damage in an area, which would probably kill or annoy your minion or any nearby villagers or chickens pretty badly, and a cold spell which is an area of effect freezing spell that will also make you unpopular in populated areas.
No, it’s basically a mechanic to get around the level “cap” imposed by all your skills maxing out. Details: Skills (Skyrim) | Elder Scrolls | Fandom
Short version: At 100, you can choose to reset the skill to 15 and re-level it (losing all the perks in so doing). This lets you keep levelling (and hence getting HP/Stamina/mana bonuses).
Contrary to what I said above, this actually makes the game a little harder, since you’re lower level in that skill. I thought that the reset kept the original skill level “hidden” and you were adding to that, but it actually just resets the skill to 15.
Well, depends on the skill in question. Many of them can be leveled without risk. Although doing so can be really, really tedious.
Have we heard of one of the most popular games of the last decade?
Certain skills like smithing are trivially easy to level (buy a bunch of iron ingots/ore and leather strips, make daggers, sell for more than you spent, repeat a bunch). These are the skills you’d probably want to make legendary without crippling yourself. If you reset your primary combat skill, you can make things difficult unless you plan on changing an emphasis. Others like enchanting are a pain to level, so you’re reversing a lot of progress.
For the most part, this feature is for completists/bragging rights and isn’t usually necessary. Thankfully the leveling system isn’t a godawful as in previous TES games where you need to plan your leveling better.
I hope Guy is a Breton (ghee, not gai).
Yes, I read this on a wiki, and it confused me. Revert back to level 15, lose my perks in that skill, and start again from there? I am confused about the upside of this.
Something like 2-handed, I’m pretty glad to be getting good at, and would not enjoy taking a step back. Perhaps I’ll leave the legendary stuff alone for now.
Guy is a Nord, ugly as hell, but the ladies keep commenting that it’s a damn fine day with Guy around!
Just wait 'til you start talking back to them.
Or maybe that’s just me…
I’ll give a numeric example. I don’t have a copy installed right now and won’t double check everything so the actual numbers are almost certainly incorrect but illustrate the point:
At level 1, you have ~15 points in 18 different skills (actual number would vary depending on race, allowing for you to raise your skills (100-15)*18 = 1530 times. Let’s say you gain a level every 10 skill raises (not true, it gets harder each level, but for ease of math), allowing for a maximum level of 1530/10+1 = a player character level 154 maximum (Wiki says it’s actually 81). This was the case before a patch introduced Legendary skills. But now you decide to make Light Armor legendary, so it goes back to 15, allowing for 85/10 = 8.5 extra character levels.
As others have said, you’re already pretty godly way before even level [del]154[/del] 81, so it’s mainly for people who need to do everything twice.
IIRC that’s usually women who like you, if you’ve done a quest for them or their faction/town.
Guy used to be fine, then he took an arrow to the face.
as for me skyrim is the biggest disappointement. it’s only my opinion
Uh, OK?
Do not Legendary Sneak, or weapon, armour, or magic skills. This will screw you hard, if you use them enough to actually get 100 - the enemies are still at the same character level they would otherwise be for your character level, and their combat skills and HP are commensurate, but one of your skills to damage them or avoid being damaged is now back where it was at the beginning of the game. Pickpocket is a bad idea, too, if you use it - though not insurmountable. Legendarying Lockpick can screw you up a bit, but there’s enough real-world skill involved that it isn’t a killer, at least on PC…I don’t know how the controls are on consoles - any lock under Expert is easily picked without any levels or perks with some practice, and Expert and Master aren’t too bad if you have enough lockpicks to spend a few dozen (this is a pretty good (if expensive) way to level it, actually, since even failing improves your skill). The crafting (smithing, alchemy, enchanting) skills can be safely Legendaried, and doing this with smithing is one of my favourite ways to grind for perk points*.
- Don’t do this too much at one time, or you’ll unbalance your character level and combat skill levels, just like if you’ve legendaried them (though not to the same extent, unless you do it a ridiculous number of times). But getting more than a level or two this way will be way tedious, so I doubt you’ll be tempted… (And it’s impractical if you don’t have a house with a smithy, due to encumberance.)
When your skill is reset, the perk points aren’t lost (just returned to the pool of available perk points) and can be allocated to different skills. Additionally, assuming that the skill is relatively easy to level, you can get more perks by leveling up as you improve the legendary skill.
I actually find grinding crafting addictive. Well, it’s hard to find a place to stop because it’s all a cycle. You buy all the alchemical ingredients in a town. Often you can stand right there in the shop and brew a bunch of high value potions that nobody would use. Run around selling them to whomever will buy them. Soon you’re making much more than you’re paying out. That pays for the expenses of Smithing and Enchanting. Buy filled soul gems and iron ingots whenever you see them. Enchant items that increase Alchemy. Brew potions that increase Enchantment. Smith daggers in job lots. Improve any weapons or armor you find, picking up perks along the way that allow you to do more valuable varieties. And brew more expensive potions. And enchant more expensive items. Run from town to town selling, mostly potions, in exchange for cash and soul gems and ingots where you can find them. Your bartering ability goes up. Eventually you buy the perks that allow you to sell anything to anybody.
Eventually you are able to create the best weapons and armor available because you have enchanted your smithing gear to boost your Smithing using potions that improve your Enchanting that were brewed wearing gear that boosts your Alchemy. And of course your maxed Alchemy is also good for making your weapons and armor better. It doesn’t kite to the moon, but these skills do kite until you can squeeze no more out of them, at which point you can make one of these skills Legendary because you already have maxed out gear and skills in the other two to help you make money to rebuild the skill you’ve knocked down.
Next thing you know, you’re 400 hours into the game with maxed out gear and you’ve barely scratched the surface of the main story line. Then they come out with an enhanced edition. You start again.