The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Armor Guide: Shields

We have built our Skyrim character, we have chosen his race and we have developed his skills to customize him as much as we wanted. We have developed our magic skills and took a good look at the different Dragonshouts, the power that only the Dragonborn can wield. All’s well and good but we still need a certain something to be able to go adventuring in Tamriel: weapons. And just as you may expect, there are a lot of different weapons to be found in Skyrim, allowing adventurers to chose what really suits them and the character they have created.

There are a lot of different weapons in Skyrim, ranging from swords and maces to aces, bows and dagger. Even if there are so many weapons, they are grouped together in only three different type: one handed, two handed and bows. If you have checked out our perks and skills guides you already know that you can improve your skills with these weapon types by using the weapons themselves in battle.

The weapons’ level depends on the material: the weakest weapons are the one made from iron while the strongest are the unique Daedric Weapons. If you have downloaded the Dawnguard DLC pack you’ll also be able to obtain the Dragonbone weapons which are even stronger than Daedric Weapons.

Weapons can be obtained in a variety of ways: they can be bought, looted, stolen, forged, or received as a reward. Weapons can also be upgraded at a grindstone with the right material.

Grindstones are found all over the world of Skyrim: using them will also improve your smithing skills. Since weapons don’t have durability in Skyim, the only weapon stat you’ll be able to improve is damage. You can also apply enhancements on the weapons to enhance their battle performance. While most weapons require ingots of their material to improve, some others will require some unique materials which are harder to find. Weapons upgrades are ranked as fine, superior, exquisite, flawless, epic, and legendary: each quality level requires a certain Smithing level which can be decreased with a few perks.

Everything that’s been said about weapons is the same for armors and apparel items. Included in the category are armor, mage robes, rings, amulets and other garments and jewelry. Armor gives the wearer protection by increasing his armor rating: the higher the rating, the less the damage. Using a shield will also increase the Armor Rating.

Armors can be found all over Tamriel. To get some special pieces of armors you will have to smithe them yourself, just like for weapons. Rare armor pieces require a high level in smithing before being able to be created.

• Shields

Shields are armor pieces that have to be held in hand to deflect blows. Just like other armor pieces, they have a light and heavy variants: depending on your character’s specifics, a light or heavy shield may be more effective.

The block skill dictates how good you are with a shield: you can increase the block skills with perks from the Block Perk Tree as well as the ones from the heavy and light armor. When your blocking skills have improved, you’ll also be able to block arrows and even magical damage. Using the bash ability you’ll also be able to deal some damage with them.