and I still haven't finished it.
I blame mods, I love/hate them. Skyrim is by far my favorite game of all time. So a throwback to Vanilla Skyrim, I share my tips of getting you 21 tips for the Early game even on Legendary Difficulty:
1: Go with Hadvar. After spending more than 1.5 years worth of time in Skyrim I finally side with the Imperials. So save your self the trouble. Other than that; When you head to Riverwood and talk to Alvor you can basically take the Iron and Steel ingots he has and some equipment without having to steal. Its a great starting bonus for Smithing and get you on your way. Learn to smith from Alvor for some extra XP.
2: Talk to Sven and tell Camilla he is lying about Faendal thus siding with Faendal. This nets you an easy follower for the early game and he can train your archery. He is the easiest archery trainer to find in the game and u r gonna spam the stealth archer build the first time around, easily abused.
3: Next to the standing stones, check your HUD on the top for a mining Icon. Go there, the place is Embershard Cave. It is an easy Starter Dungeon where u can sneak archer through the entire place to get some major loot and armor to outfit yourself with. Furthermore there is plenty of Ore you can mine in there and There is a Skill book at the end called: Light Armor Forging, which gives u a level in Smithing thus making life easier.
4: Equip a Pickaxe and slash at an ore vein to mine it faster rather than boringly wait while your player does it via action.
5: Cross the River the flows by Riverwood and head South. There is a Lone Cabin ahead whose Logo can be spotted on your HUD. Kill the Witch there with a power attack or a Sneak attack if you are on Legendary Difficulty. It wont give u bounty as she will turn hostile anyway when u break into her basement. She has mages robes and a skill book called Song of Alchemists which gives u +1 Alchemy, Furthermore keep the book as you will need it for the Alchemy Vendor who lives in Morthal as she gives a quest to find the said book. Pick the lock into her basement and steal EVERYTHING. Plenty of ingredients to eat and make potions with plus plenty of ready made poisons and paralysis poisons that come very handy against bosses. Plus its like a free Player home for you with a bed, enchanting table, alchemy table and crops. Don't actually store anything here as it gets reset after 48 hours.
6: Any standing stone is fine, but there is one to the West if you swim in the lake south of Anise Cabin and East of the Standing Stones, there is another standing stone far ahead in-front of "Inilaltas Deep" Fort, "The Lady stone", While it doesn't give u an XP Boost like the first 3 standing stones the 25% Boost to HP and Stamina Regen is a big boon for a Non Mage play-through as you can pretty much run around in battle and let your hp and stamina Regen at a reliable rate before engaging thus more reliable than your warrior stone or thief stone.
7: Go to the Riverwood trader and talk to the vendor, he will tell you about a break in thus prompting you to go to bleak falls barrow. You will have Faendal with you (unless your RPing or decided to torture yourself by siding with Sven) so Bleak falls barrow will be fairly easy for you to beat (I can beat it under 3 Minutes now on a modded run at legendary difficulty with 10 minutes on the vanilla legendary)
8: Level your Stamina for the first 10 levels. Ur enemies Scale every 10 levels with you so 100 HP for the early game is sufficient as other than giants u can’t be one shotted off the bat unless you are begging for it. Stamina lets u run around more so massive mobility advantage and it also increases your carrying capacity which is a must for the early game as you are expected to HOARD EVERY LOOT. So you can sell it.
9: HOARD ALL THE LOOT
10: Don't sell your stuff at River wood trader after finishing the Quest. Head to Whiterun, There is a smelter there next to the Smithy where u can smelt all the useless gear you have into ingots that you can use to level your Smithing Skill.
11: When you finish bleak falls barrow and exit from the back there is a potion of true shot hanging by your left so watch out for it, it will come in handy against the dragon later on, also When u leave from the back of bleak falls barrow, you will see a black symbol of a cave close by. Jump your way to it, this is Brittleshin pass. Its fairly easy as all the skeletons inside can be one shotted. There are just 3 Things u need to be careful of: There is a Frost Rune in-front of the Door just when you enter so save your game or if you are on a perma death play-style then shimmy along the side or jump over it, it can instant kill u unless you are on easy mode. Next, the boss is a necromancer mage who can reanimate the dead and has frost bolts which are either extremely deadly or just a pain to deal with, but he is facing away so stealth for the win. Use the poisons if u didn't already, lastly beware the soul gems at the center of the dungeon, you will know them when you see them. They are like trip wires that trigger a frost bolt at you (it doesn’t always happen but when you are on high difficulty you can’t be certain so take care). Exiting Brittleshin pass from the end will get you an easy entry to Whiterun as it bypasses the entire round trip you would normally take. I don't normally do this as I need to go back to Riverwood for the golden claw and since u pass by anise cabin i can disenchant the weapon of the final boss to level my enchanting and stock up on a sweet enchantment. but if u r in a hurry to get into the good bit or want to speed run, Brittleshin pass is perfect to get to Whiterun asap.
12: Keep your eyes and ears out when heading to Whiterun, the Pelagia Farm has a Giant which 3 Companions are fighting. Go and help them out, it will give you a feel for fighting a giant (don't actually face one alone until end game tho NASA) and will get you a good word with the Companions who are a fighters guild that you can join.
13: Remember when i told you to do bleak falls barrow, well here u go. When Balgruuf sends u to Farengar he wants u to get the Dragonstone from bleak falls barrow, so rather than making the trip back u can just give him the stone there and be done with it. This fast track gets you to the Dragon Rising quest and also gives you both of the Jarl's weapons at the same time, a good reward for early game.
14: Now that you are in Whiterun, You might want to take the time to hunt for skill books, leveling fast in the early game is essential if u want to have fun exploring Skyrim without the fear of dying to OP bosses. So here is the lite version: Dragonsreach Jarl's Quarters top right Room: Before Ages of Men is an Illusion skill book, there is also a master level case at the bottom floor with an Elven sword inside, its a great early game item to have when u most have either iron or steel. Companions Jorvasker: Halgreds Tale is a Two Handed skill book that is lying on the table on the right side of the hall. Jorvasker Quarters the farthest room where Vilkas and Kodlak are sitting, Cherims Heart: Is a Heavy Armor Skill Book. Aela's room that u will visit if u join the companions: There is a Archery skill book locked in her display case along with a sweet Bow. Arcadias Cauldron: The first room you see when you walk in has an Alchemists Guide to Skyrim which is a +1 to Alchemy. Do note u can talk to Farengar about other wizards in Whiterun which prompts a quest to give frost salts to Arcadia, its a simple quest that can get u some neat potions from her and allows u to nick all the ingredients and simple potions from her shop so do it. Belethors General Good store: your usual squeeze for selling all your junk, he has a Skill book on the bookshelf left of him: Biography of the Wolf Queen which gives you +1 to speech, must have for bonus selling stuff. The Drunken Huntsmen underneath the counter is the Black Arrow skill book which gives +1 to Archery, self-explanatory why u will need it. Go to the Hall of the dead and talk to the friendly priest of Arkay who will send u to the crypt full of restless dead to get his amulet, be nice and do it because there is a skill book in the left room Death Blow to Aberrant which gives +1 Block. Plus the small reward is nice to have if none at all. Lastly there is in Carlotta Valentina's house if u can break in but for some reason I don't always find it, and I’m forgetting what skill book was it there. kudos if u find it, if not then its fine nothing important.
15: ALWAYS GIVE CHARITY, THE +15 TO SPEECH IS INVALUABLE WHEN SHOPPING,
16: Keep Petty and Common Soul gems as recharge batteries for enchanted weapons, Use Lesser and Greater Soul gems on the random jewelry you find to level your enchanting and then sell it for a profit, Use Grand souls on your Equipment for the best Enchantments.
17: Remember the boss at bleak falls barrow, well his enchantment is frost damage which u can stick on your weapon. Be sure to improve it at the grindstone because you need Arcane Smithing perk to improve enchanted gear which is like level 40 on the vanilla Smithing perk tree. Scale the slider to 1 frost damage per hit, right now investing in a grand soul gem is bad as u have low speech so its expensive, plus u have low enchanting skill so it won’t be that strong anyway and because its low level weaponry that is gonna get replaced real fast (When u reach Glass/Silver/Scaled/Nordic/Wolf category is when its worth investing into unique equipment because getting Daedric and Dragonbone equipment is Endgame stuff. Elven Dwarven and Orc is Mid-game stuff that u will want at this point so investing into your steel and iron is useless.) What this does tho is give u the slow frost effect on your hits. U get around 100 hits if u use a petty so a lesser or even a greater can be for a good score of hits on your weapon. It will not do much damage but the enemy is still slowed due to the frost and if u leveled stamina, u can block hit and jump away repeat against enemies as they will be too slow to counter u thus making boss battles easier.
18: There is a mammoths tusk behind Hulda in the Bannered mare and one in the Jarl's quarters in the room with the illusion skill book, steal one of em because u will need it for Ysoldas quest and she gives u some fine cash and a speech lesson. If u did everything then doing Carlottas quest to shut up Mikael will be easy as u can persuade or intimidate the guy for easy 400 septims. Also steal the Argonian ale for Brenuin the beggar as he gives u a super health potion. When u talk to Idolaf Battleborn tell him you are a Battleborn as it will make u a friend of the Battleborns and u will need this for making the quest: Missing in ACTION easier as u can go into house battle born without being shooed out, note u get this quest by talking to the Gray mane lady after she is done talking to the Battleborns. Adriannes quest for sword to Balgruuf is not very rewarding especially if u decide to go storm-cloak so its better not to do it as Proventus wears the sword, instead accept the Steel Great Sword and use it until you get something better.
19: Lastly, be sure to buy the "CALM" Spell from Farengar. At level 10 some Alik'r dudes will come knocking for a Redguard woman, the Woman is Saadia in the Bannered Mare, so for the most profitable outcome u need calm. i advise u to wait until level 15 for this quest unless you are playing a mage. The Lite version is: Talk to Saadia, talk to prisoner and pay his fine, go to swindlers den and talk to Kematu, agree to lure out Saadia, Take your 500 gold bounty from Kematu, Kill Kematu, yes just outright attack him, You should have a follower to back u up but be warned this guy is tough as nuts, especially on high difficulty and he uses 2 curved swords. I recommend climbing the stable house roof and sniping him and come down often to bait him out of cover. Loot 500 gold from Kematu now u have 1000 gold. Saadia will wake up now but she will be hostile to u for ratting her out, this is where your calm spell shines as u cast it on her and talk to her telling her Kematu is dead. She will give u 500 gold as a reward, u can kill her and get 53 gold off her which totals to 1553 gold against 500 if u had decided to side with either one. Be warned the Alik'r will still be at swindlers den so don't go back there unless u have serious help. Speaking of which u can climb the rocks at the start of the swindlers den to reach Kematu by bypassing all the bandits for an easy quest.
20: Yea, this is a lot xD. Anyhow 2nd last tip: You probably had Faendal for most of the early game now. By level 20 you are Mid-game material so its advisable to ditch him. If u complete dragon rising u can get Lydia but she is a pack mule who is more effective than trumps wall at blocking you so i advise not to get her as her stats aren't that good either. In the drunken huntsman u will meet a Dark Elf Beauty quietly brooding in the corner: "Blade and Shadow, these are my arts, for a modest fee I can make great art for you" cough up 500 Gold and this will be the best investment you make as Janessa has excellent stats, is a mad archer and a sneak skill good enough that you won't get caught by enemies because your follower is a terrible sneak plus shes waifu material if you use mods. She will make for an excellent follower for the mid game and arguably till late game but by then you probably have: Aela, Serana, Cicero, as your follower because they have the best stats, progression and kit in the game. There is also Farkas, Vilkas, DB initiates, and a couple of dozen others but these 3 are the best ones in my opinion. If you level your smith and enchant kit well then u can even have Janessa scale into late game with you.
21: Finally the last tip: Keep a torch or a flame spell on you or a follower who can use it, because when u head up to High Hrothgar to meet the grey-beards the most vicious creature in all of Skyrim pays you a visit: THE DREADED SNOW MONKEY (Frost Troll). This thing lives at the canyon on the way to the throat of the world, he has massive health and regenerates real freaking fast. Unless u came prepped with very good equipment or are playing on easy difficulty, this dude is gonna wipe the floor with you. You can speed away and outrun him but your follower is definitely gonna die because they will face him alone. Fortunately, a Trolls Weakness is Fire as it does bonus damage, makes your attacks deal more damage and Stops Regen for the Troll. Have your follower tank hits and attack while u fire your flames from the side, or use the shield bash with your torch with a hit and jump away repeat tactic i mentioned to chip at the troll and kill it. It will save you plenty of trouble.
That should be it, everything you need to know to set up a perfect Skyrim Early Game with excellent progression into Mid game. Mid game usually starts on or after Skyhaven Temple quest or when u hit level 20 and arguably is the best time to start exploring Skyrim as u will be strong enough to face bosses and challenges while your enemies won’t be a pushover so it’s not boring. You are also set to spend your days Smithing iron daggers to max Smithing to get Daedric armor by level 30 rather than the usual level 40 ish and dominate the mid game.
A final bonus tip, if u do the dark brother hood quest-line: go to Windhelm, talk to Aventus Aretino, join the brother hood. U will reach the quest line to kill Victoria Vicci where Astrid gives u a very potent poison to use. If you are playing on easy difficulty, this poison lets you Oneshot Alduin in the final battle so my suggestion is to rush the quest until u get this and then speed run the main quest-line without leveling up to finish Skyrim ASAP. And that's it, oh and
before I leave: If you crawl jump your way up from Valtheim Towers, north east of Whiterun, you reach Shearpoint where u find Krosis. A light armor dragon priest mask that gives u 20% Archery, Alchemy and Lock-picking. It is advised to do this before Dragon rising as this is a dragons nest. Killing the dragon priest is no easy task either. Unless you are ready to sink HOURS AND HOURS of your time, Tone the difficulty down to easy and make sure you don't have trash like Faendal. Any of the Companions or Janessa will suffice, just give em plenty of HP potions and stock up on arrows and just snipe the dragon priest all day. The Mask is worth it because Stealth archer IS the easiest and most Broken build.
That's all, "Some parting advice: Women love Sonnets"
Now Imma return to my ultra modded Skyrim.
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