Skyrim- On Legendary Skills (Part Three)

Restoration is slightly slower to regain than Block.  With sufficient durability and Magicka, though, you can easily stand out in the wilderness in heavy armor while getting chewed on by wolves for hours, only healing yourself and not doing anything to stop the beasts.  While this is slower than blocking a giant, there is considerably less risk in it, as a sufficiently high-level character may well never risk death by one or two wolves, regardless of their level.  If you don’t like this option for making your Restoration skill Legendary, you can always find a ledge to jump off of repeatedly and injure yourself that way so that you can cast healing spells to recover from the damage.

Of particular note is the fact that these two methods can be combined- standing in front of a giant in heavy armor with a shield in one hand and a healing spell in the other, you can work on both skills simultaneously.  This does require a significant investment in Magicka and Stamina, but once you start reaching higher levels, this shouldn’t be too much of a concern.

One thing to keep in mind is that you can make skills Legendary multiple times.  This is of particular import at higher character levels, because of the way experience gained by improving a skill operates.  The amount of experience you gain for improving a skill one rank depends on the rank of the skill you are improving- a lower-ranked skill will generate less experience points when ranked up.  Similarly, the amount of skill experience needed to improve a skill increases as the skill ranks up.  It eventually becomes necessary to use enemies like giants and dragons to improve your skills both for the sake of reaching the maximum rank at all, and for the sake of gaining ranks fast enough for it to be worthwhile.

Lastly, you can use the ability to make skills Legendary to alter the way your character works.  As an example, if you have a character who sneaks about performing archery and has one-handed weapons for use in melee emergencies, you will likely find that by the time your Archery skill is rank 100, your One-Handed Weapons skill is in the fifties- you can then make Archery legendary, put the talent points into One-Handed Weapons, and use Archery as a secondary or to wear down enemies before facing them in melee, thus shifting your character into a more melee-focused sort of sneak.  Keep an eye out for opportunities like this, as they will enable you to improve your character’s overall level that much further and enable you to experience the game in that many more methods without having to give up the possessions, ranks, and capabilities of a character you’ve already been using.