Skill leveling tips

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[edit] Combat Arts

[edit] Armorer

Always repair all your own equipment. Bring 20-30 Repair Hammers with you into the field, for this purpose. Repair the equipment and weapons of your fallen foes too, for extra gain. Use Disintegrate Weapon or Disintegrate Armor to increase the total wear on their equipment. This is most effective on foes with better, heavier armor, since it takes a larger number of attempts to fully repair.
You could also create a spell of Disintegrate Armor at the Arcane University to wear down your own armor and build up your Destruction magic simultaneously in the safety of your own home.
Or you could use the Amulet of Disintegration found in the Shivering Isles in The Coming Storm quest, it has disintegrate armour and disintegrate weapon 10,000 on Self. It doesn't necessarily break all of your armour instantly, but it will eventually. If you have done the quest, you can still murder/pickpocket Ahjazda to get it back. She has a store named Things Found in Crucible. Keep putting on/taking off the amulet until your equipped weapons and armor are broken, then repair them.

[edit] Athletics

Find a body of water with a suitable wall and use auto-run to keep swimming into the wall. Go for lunch. Works with running into a corner too, but your athletics will level slower. (PC only)
For people playing on the Xbox 360/PS3, use a rubberband on the controller's left control stick to keep running. It may be easier to use the cord used to charge the controller's batteries by plugging it in and wrapping it around the left control stick in the same way.

[edit] Blade

A good way to level blade, or any other combat skill is when baurus tells you to stay with the Emperor in that little room and runs off,run after him because when you kill the 4 mythic dawn members in the room 4 more will run in so just keep slashing away at them and cloning repair hammers if you have any arrows to fix you armour and weapons.
The most effective way to level blade, or any other melee combat skill, is to go to Peryite's Shrine before having done the quest and attack the frozen worshippers. They won't move, fight back, or die which makes for quick and effective leveling.
- The worshippers will move slightly and occasionally fall down when being attacked. For easier levelling try moving a worshipper so that he/she gets pushed against a crook in a rock and you will be able to simply hold down the attack button (a rubber band on the controller works well if playing on the XBox version). Simply leave it going for a time and it will level itself with no interaction.
- Note the sheer number of unreported assaults may freeze or slow your game. To fix this, commit a crime that you know will be reported (walk into a shop and steal a worthless item, for example), then pay the fine; this will clear all of your unreported crimes.
Use Conjuration to summon a skeleton and bash it from behind (this will also level you in Conjuration as well). Most of the time they go down before they turn on you. The safe way is to cast, attack 2-3 times and recast, dispelling the first skeleton.
A very effective technique is to obtain a blade with very few hit points (e.g. rusty iron dagger) and conjure a ghost. The weapon will have almost no impact and you can strike 15-20 times before the spell expires.
If you have the Vile Lair plug-in, you can just keep hitting your prisoner with a blade. He won't wake up and because he won't die you can train your blade as much as you want.
Another way to increase any skill that derives experience from attacking is to somehow obtain 100% chameleon and set the difficulty to max. This way, you can hit enemies many, many times; and since difficulty has nothing to do with experience gain, you can easily level up any skill.
Wear the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal in a main city (like the Imperial City) and then attack the guards. If you're low on health, take the Cowl off and yield to them.
Obtain a horse, set the difficulty to the right of the slider, travel away from civilization, and slash away with a dagger. When the health of the horse becomes low, simply wait one hour and repeat. You should also stock up on repair hammers, so you can improve your armorer skill at the same time and prevent your dagger from breaking.
If you have downloaded the Fighter's Stronghold official plug-in and have hired the combat trainer, simply pickpocket the Sparring Dagger from him and then ask him to spar with you. Equip the dagger and start sparring with him, since the dagger does no damage you can hit him as much as you want.
During the Whom Gods Annoy quest, you can beat up the scamps as long as you want.
In the beginning, when The Emperor and his blades split off from you, attack The Emperor five times as he is about to go through the doorway and he will go though but come back without his blades and he will attack you. At first run away from him and collect all the weapons and equipment in the room, and then just stand there and let him hit you till his sword breaks, at which point he most often cowers in the corner, allowing you to attack him freely, greatly increasing your skill faster than normal, because your class is not assigned yet. Note: On the PS3 version, your skills revert back to 30 when you assign your class, so this is for Xbox 360 and PC only.
Note: While leveling any of the offensive skills (Blade, Blunt, or Hand to Hand), you may not receive the skill increase message if you attack back-to-back very quickly until you stop attacking. This does not stop the skill from increasing, however.

[edit] Block

See Heavy Armor, below.
Often use block whenever attacking.
Or in the Fighter's Stronghold expansion you can hire Shagrol gro-Uzug as a combat partner. Then when sparring with him, tell him to use a dagger as it is very light and can be used very quickly, simply hold block whilst he is attacking you. Shagrol's weapons have no attack power, so evidently his attacks cannot damage you or kill you. If you have a Reflect Damage enchantment on one of your items or if you have a Reflect Damage spell on you, unequip the items with the enchantment and use Dispel to rid the Reflect Damage spell of you.
Go in the sewers in the Imperial City, find a rat, put up your shield and let it attack. Every now and then do a Heal Minor Wounds spell between rat attacks. Improves Restoration skills as well. Of course this risks for desease so a mud crab would be a better option.
if you have the Fighter's Stronghold you can go down the the training room and tell Shagrol to spar with you using a dagger. When he starts attacking you can just tape down the block button on your controller and back into a corner. By doing this he will continuously attack and with your block button taped down you can set down the controller and go watch TV or other things, just be sure to move your analog stick or press a button every so often so your controller does not disconnect.
Go to Hackdirt Caverns, turn the difficuly to 0. Block as the 4+ hackdirt brethren attack you

[edit] Heavy Armor

The best way to level Heavy Armor is at the very start of the game, in the Imperial City sewers. If you collected all the Heavy armor possible in the very beginning of the game (Helm, Cuirass and Greaves (there may even be more)) there is a pen within the Goblin caves with three rats inside. Within the same cave, there are many Repair Hammers that you can use on your armor before and after. If you turn the difficulty slider all the way down and let them attack you (casting the healing spell every once in a while), you can get your skill to 40+ before your armor breaks. Then after you choose a class, you can get to Journeyman and almost halfway to Expert before you even exit the sewers. You can do the same with light armor at the same time, but it breaks down faster and you will not get as many skill points.
One way to level Heavy Armor is to start the first Fighters Guild quest in Anvil. Do the rat quest up until the point where you have killed all 6 mountain lions and make sure all four rats in the basement survived. Then go to the Fighters Guild and sleep for an hour which makes the rats regenerate all hp they lost by the mountain lions. You can always sleep in the west wing of the Fighters Guild since you are a member there after starting the quest. Return to the basement and attack each rat once causing them to attack you. Four rats attacking you at the same time will make you level Heavy Armor really fast. When you get low on hp, just return to the Fighters Guild, sleep for an hour and repair your armor.
Once you've gained some semi-decent armor, find a rat and let it hit you over and over again. Optionally level Restoration at the same time by using a tiny healing spell to counter the damage.
After you've beaten the Arena and can fight the Minotaur Lords, turn the difficulty to very easy and just let them hit you until your skill raises as much as you'd like. You can also use restoration spells to increase restoration while doing this.
Once you get the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal, you can put it on and the guards will come after you. You can just let them hit you over and over, and improve your heavy armor. This also works well with light armour (although you take heavier damage). When you get low on health or want to repair your armor, just take off the mask and yield to them. Be careful if you have a reflect damage effect on, since the guards will get damage when hitting you, making them think it was an assault.
Once you've achieved level 2 or higher, go to the Imperial City Arena and join as a combatant. When in fight, let your opponent attack you and your heavy armor skill will increase quite a bit.
If you have the Staff of the Everscamp from the Whom Gods Annoy quest then take the Everscamps into a house or into the Arena Bloodworks and turn the difficulty slider to the right. Then hit all four scamps and turn the difficulty back to the left. Doing so will have all four Everscamps attack you all at once increasing your heavy armor skill really quick. And then when you need to rest/sleep/repair then just hit them and afterwards repeat.

[edit] Magic Arts

As experience is not based on the level or cost of the spell cast, one should cast the cheapest spell in the school possible as rapidly as possible if they want to level the skill as quickly as possible. Holding block increases casting speed considerably. Access to the Arcane University or having the spellmaking altar activated at the Wizard's Tower will allow you to create the cheapest possible spells, reducing or eliminating your need to cease casting to regenerate mana.

[edit] Alchemy

Alchemy is trivial to level up, if you collect all the ingredients you see as you're doing other things. Occasionally visit the nearest Mages Guild to "borrow" a Mortar and Pestle, and just start making potions. Since it's only the number of potions that is important rather than their usefulness, buying food from tavern owners is also an option for getting ingredients.
If you want quick, simple leveling, go outside Skingrad and gather grapes. Also gather all the vegetables from the multiple farms in Cyrodiil, such as Odiil Farm east of Weynon Priory and Gweden Farm east of Anvil, or even go through barrels and crates in any town. Then go crazy creating Restore Fatigue potions. Selling these potions is also a good source of earning money. (Note: This is a good way to get your Mercantile skill up but be sure to sell each potion alone, if you sell in a bunch your mercantile will only go up for each sale not each item sold.)
Another way to level Alchemy is to go to the Imperial City Market District and buy all the food at the Feed Bag and all of the cheap 'Restore Fatigue' foods in the other nearby shops. There is also lots of food in the barrels and sacks located in the middle of the shop area. If you have a Mortar and Pestle (Mages Guild has tons) then make all the food into potions and sell it for profit. You can do this every time the store's stock updates.
Eat stuff. Ingredients are available for free almost eveywhere outdoors, weigh very little, and eating alchemical ingredients ("wortcraft") will increase your Alchemy skill. Getting into the habit of picking up ingredients as you go, and eating them every once in a while when you have a good-sized load, will steadily raise your Alchemy skill. The Shivering Isles are a particularly easy place to gather a lot of ingredients in a short time.
- Keep in mind that this method gives much less experience than making potions.
To get more money for your potions you can go to Frostcrag Spire (if you have it) and use the Frostcrag Alchemy Lab to get + 15 [Alchemy] with Alchemical Brilliance. If you are at 85 and use this to get to 100 your skill in alchemy will not go up while making potions. But being at 100 with Alchemical Brilliance will give you the ability to make single-ingredient potions and poisons (very profitable).

[edit] Alteration

Cast the smallest Shield spell you have over and over again on yourself. Spell level does not affect gains, so cast as cheap a spell as possible. Even faster is casting Open Very Easy Lock on any lock of a harder grade (i.e. at least an Easy lock) -- the lock won't open, but the skill will increase quickly. This also works on some doors that don't lock like the large ones in Imperial City. (You can do this to any lock with any "Open lock..." spell)

The easiest way to build any magic skill up, is to gain access to the Arcane University and create your own spells (or just use Frostcrag Spire). You just have to make sure they are the minimum and are targeted at self. This works with all types of magic, you can just tape down the cast button on the controller or balance a roll of pennies on the C button on the keyboard and go get some food. You can even time it so you can get a +5 to intelligence and willpower before each level. For the 360 or PS3 you can switch your t.v. set to regular t.v. and just keep hitting right bumper. Check on your skill advancement during comercials. (This works for the other non-alchemy magic skills as well)

[edit] Conjuration

The fastest and most efficient way to level in Conjuration is to summon a Bound Dagger If you have access to the Arcane University, you can create a spell for Bound Dagger that lasts for 1 second. The dagger will disappear so fast that you can simply hold down the cast button and not be interrupted.
If you go to the Arcane University to create the above spell then you might as well add a Bound Mace with it and add a couple of seconds to it. Thus, you'd have Bound Dagger and then Bound Mace both for 3 seconds. The reason for this is a free, weightless Daedric Mace. Once it is cast, look into your inventory and you'll find that your Bound Dagger is equipped. However, drop the Bound Mace and you can stock up on it. You can also use bound axes, hammers, swords, etc. as long as it is a weapon (no armor) both bound to self at the same time.
If you don't have access to the Arcane University, a fast way to level Conjuration is to summon a skeleton and continuously cast a Turn Undead spell on him.
If your level is low, say 20-30, an extremely quick way to increase your level (also good for overall level) is to find a really low Magicka summon and just run around aimlessly in capital cities casting it over and over again. When you run out of Magicka, you can use "wait" for an hour and your Magicka will be filled. This method works well because you don't gain experience from the difficulty of the thing you want to summon is, but how much you summon. Summoning a Ghost will get you about the same amount of experience as a Daedra Lord.

[edit] Destruction

After gaining access to the Arcane University, create a damage fatigue, 3-point for 1-second damage-on-self spell and cast it over and over again. An efficient way to do this automatically, is to stack a bunch of coins onto the cast-button, if this is however not possible, then it should be noted that you will cast spells significantly faster while blocking.
Once you reach apprentice level, create a new spell of Weakness to Fire with the same parameters. This way you don't have to worry about dying and go take a break.
A simple way to raise this is with the Vile Lair prisoner. Simply cast Destruction spells on him, as he won't wake up or die.
Following The Purification you can use Shadowmere for target practice seeing as it is an NPC that won't die or attract the guards.
The most useful way is probably to buy a bunch of repair hammers and cast a disintegrate armor 3 pts. for 1 second on self. This not only levels destruction, but you can level armorer rather quickly as well, which is a major help throughout the game.

[edit] Illusion

Cast a tiny Light spell over and over.
After gaining access to the Arcane University, create a Charm spell with a magnitude of 3 which is active for 1 second, make it so it is activated by touching. Go to the nearest NPC and keep using the spell on the NPC. As the spell is not in any way harmful to the NPC, the person will not attack you. Also, as the spell is so weak, it barely uses any Magicka.

[edit] Mysticism

Cast Minor Detect Life consecutively. If you are looking to increase your intelligence, this would be the thing for you to do. You can easily get the +5 multiplier to your intelligence attribute.

[edit] Restoration

See Destruction or Heavy Armor, above.

Or if you just want to focus on Restoration alone, all you need to do is cast a Restoration spell over and over. To see if casting a spell is increasing that skill level just check the current skill bar before casting, cast it a lot, and recheck the status bar to make sure it is adding up.

The cheapest skill for Restoration is a Restore Fatigue spell found at most chapels.

Make a spell that restores Restoration on touch. Create a spell with Dispel 3 pts for 1 sec, Fortify Willpower whatever degree your skill is at, Fortify Magicka whatever degree your skill is at, Disintegrate Weapon or Armor (x) points, and Weakness to Magic. This combination of effects ensures that you always have magicka because it will never fall below the spell's magicka cost. The key word is touch here because you can cast spells faster on touch than if you cast spells on your self. To increase your casting speed, hold down block while you cast this. Holding block and casting a touch Restoration spell (or other schools of magic spells) is three times faster than any self or target spell. This works on all schools of magic too.

Make a Fortify Magicka 3 Points for 1 Second on self spell. Since it only costs 1 Point to cast and you gain 3 points each cast you will not run out of magicka casting this spell continuously. Cast it until you reach your desired level.

[edit] Stealth Arts

[edit] Acrobatics

You can increase Acrobatics quickly by finding a ledge or something that is just slightly taller than your character, running underneath it, and jamming on the jump button. The goal is to find a spot where your jumps are as small as possible. Be sure to keep moving forward or use auto run as well, as that seems to be required for this rapid-improvement technique.
Jump from high places that cause damage to yourself, the more damage you take the more your skill bar increases. Just don't kill yourself doing it; learn where a safe height is and always save before you leap.
Find a steep mountain or a little steep hill where it is possible to just walk up it. Jump up the mountain until you're at the top, then jump off bit by bit, but enough to take damage each time (you can heal yourself while doing this). Repeat as needed.
Simply jump everywhere you go. Slow method but adds up over time.
An easy way to level Acrobatics is to go to Benirus Manor (Anvil)and there will be this box/crate on the right of the door. Jump on top of it, and keep pressing the jump button as fast as you can. You barely jump at all, but it still counts as Acrobatic exp. It is possible to get stuck on the crate but then just use Fast Travel to get free.
Also in Benirus Manor, in your bedroom you can jump on the headboard and keep pressing the jump button for raising Acrobatics

Note: I do not know if that box is there after you get rid of the curse.

[edit] Light Armor

See Heavy Armor, above.
Making sure you have at least 5 gold for stealing an item or 40 gold for attacking a guard or other NPC simply pick grab an item that isn't yours while someone is watching you (the best place to do this is in a shop) put on whatever type of armor you wish to improve the skill of, and make sure you have nothing on that will reflect damage. Then wait for a guard to come along and when they do just simply resist arrest, or simply find a city guard and cast a very weak destruction spell, such as flare. Let them attack you until your skill is to the desired level; this is also a good way to improve your block, restoration, and armorer skills, as long as you can repair that type of armor (you must be at least journeyman to repair enchanted armors).
If you havent finished the arena and you are still at a low level you can go into an arena match with the light raimnent and don't attack the other combatant and keep useing a spell to heal yourself if your skill is low enough and you have enough magika you can get your light armor to 100 in a few matches (if you do this a long time on a single combatent their weapon will break and you will level up a lot slower.) another benifit to this is when you are leveling on archers you get all the arrows they shoot at you.

[edit] Marksman

Get a weak bow and about 20 arrows - then buy a Summon Skeleton spell, cast it and fire away until it dies and repeat - If you want your skeleton to last longer then don't charge your shots, just tap the fire button. The reason the skeleton is the best for target practice is because arrows will always bounce off the bones and land nearby so you will never run out - just keep picking them up after about 10-15 shots or the start to oddly disappear. This is great for training Conjuration too.
Buy 200+ Iron Arrows and two or three Iron Bows. Find Umbra in Vindasel. Jump on top of the pillar in the middle of the room using the table. Make sure Umbra can't hit you from your spot. If she can, make a higher step with a paint brush. Shoot Umbra as much as possible (having the difficulty slider all the way up helps). After she is dead, you can also get her sword, Umbra and her full Umbra's Ebony Armor set.
Use an Iron Bow and as many Iron Arrows as you can carry. Find a troll, then climb up onto a steep cliff or rock, where it is unable to follow, and start shooting. The Painted Trolls seem to be especially tough, with plenty of rocks in the environment. Between the low damage of Iron Bows and Arrows and the trolls' natural regeneration, the only limit is the number of arrows you can carry.
Just keep killing the featured scamps in the Whom Gods Annoy quest. As a mage at the Mages Guild tells you, new ones will keep on appearing to replace the ones you kill, plus cheap arrows will do the trick with little chance of harm in return.
Take your horse to the wilderness where no one is around and use a weak bow and arrow to shoot your horse. Your horse is very strong and can take a lot of hits (100+ arrows). When your horse is about to die use a Restore Health on Target to bring its health back to 100%. Your horse will not attack you, nor will he move or call for help. If you do not have a Restore Health spell, simply wait one hour.
After becoming the Grand Champion of the Arena and reaching level 18, arrange a fight against Minotaur Lords. Sit in the tunnel area leading up to the Arena and shoot at them; they will, for the most part, be unable to enter. On occasion they will be able to squeeze in; when this happens, simply run for the opposite tunnel and repeat.
If you have the Vile Lair plug-in, you can just keep shooting at your prisoner. He won't wake up and because he won't die you can shoot him as much you want.

[edit] Mercantile

Find an item that both buys and sells for 1 gold (such as the Rusty Iron Dagger gained in the tutorial). Buy and sell said item over and over and over again. Barring that, sell all items one at a time, even arrows and other large stacks. Remember to move the haggle bar high enough to get your bargaining through the merchant.
Sell items for the highest price possible. Increase the haggle percentile by 1 after you’ve sold three or four items. When the offer is refused go back by 2%.

[edit] Security

Continuously fail to pick a lock (quick double clicks do it). This is expensive, however, as you keep breaking your lockpicks and need to purchase new ones.
Find a lock and pick all of the tumblers except one, then stop picking the lock and start again. This allows you to train without losing lockpicks.
The Skeleton Key can be a way to render this skill obsolete, but it is simultaneously a perfect tool for leveling the skill up as it will let you "fail to pick" any lock as much as you like (for min/maxing stat gains).
The Training chest in The Thieves Den mod also allows lockpicking practice. Especially if you have access to a few fences, one method is to buy as many lockpicks as you can ( from the two fences in The Thieves Den, and any others you have access to) and simply press X and break as many as you want. For reference, it takes about 1600 lockpicks to get from level 75 to level 100.
In reference to the above method, If you have access to Frostcrag Spire or the Arcane University you can create a spell to reduce your Security skill for a few seconds, cast it before using the training chest and it will help you level up a little quicker as you can repeatedly auto attempt and your character will likely not succeed in picking the lock, therefore speeding up the process.

[edit] Sneak

Enter Baenlin's House from the Accidents Happen Dark Brotherhood quest, go into the crawlspace at the end of a bedroom on the top floor and Sneak in autorun for whole days on end. You can't be discovered and there always seems to be at least one person in the house. Very easy if left overnight.
Crouch in a corner where you are near someone that doesn't pay attention and sneak at the wall - the door guards at Imperial City and behind the fans in the Arena, for example.
You can also go to a chapel, and follow someone through the dark areas, while you keep sneaking at a prudent distance.
Just find someone sleeping in a bed, and sneak while walking against the bed. You have about 8 hours of game time to level up, then just wait until the NPC sleeps again.
Go to the tavern (i. e. Imperial City, Market District) sneak near to door to the basement and keep walking on the door, wall or barrier ( whatever you found there ).
Go to a secluded place (with no guards or citizens around) with your Adoring Fan, and then enter sneak and continually pickpocket him, he will neither run nor call for help so you may pickpocket him all you want. This will also work with a highwayman, if you pay instead of choosing to fight, and Amusei.
If you have not yet completed the Dark Brotherhood mission A Knife in the Dark then Rufio's room makes for the perfect location to level up your sneak skill quickly. Merely take off any boots you have on and sneak continuously into the corner made between the wall and his bed.
Beginning of the game where it explains sneaking, just sneak run into the wall where the goblin is. He never moves and can get a 100 in sneak in no time!
EASY way to level up. Go into a guild you belong to, find someone who is sleeping in a bed and begin sneaking, literally, into a wall. THEN, simply secure your L-stick (movement)with a rubber band so your character is still sneaking into the wall. Leave your controller and when you come back you'll have leveled up!
Another easy place: The corner in Bloodworks within the arena. Just set sneak on, and auto-run into the corner behind the Matron of the Arena. Easy skill points.
Easy place: continuosly walk into the the corner of any prison cell and the guards will never notice you.

[edit] Speechcraft

Keep playing the persuasion mini-game with the random townsfolk including guards and beggars. After some Speechcraft level increases, you can play the game against the same people again (but usually only one or two rounds). In practice, use the small wedge for the hated reaction (it will rotate clockwise as you make choices) and one of the larger wedges for the best reaction. See Persuasion for more information.
When you first talk to somebody, make sure that your weapon is sheathed (the x button toggles this on the 360). If you reach the character's maximum disposition and you don't want to find another person, let them see your sword/mace/fists-of-fury and talk to them again. This will slightly reduce their disposition and let you play the minigame. Just lose a few times before restarting the technique below.
A slightly less graceful way to level up is to continually spin the wedge around in a circle while repeatedly tapping the A button. Rounds will go by in seconds and you will level up very quickly. The NPC's disposition will rise and fall, but the skill is increased by the number of times the Speechcraft mini-game is played, not successful increases of disposition.

[edit] See also

Leveling

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