Skyrim - Is there any way to get decent end game light armor without putting perks into smithing?

[Hisshiss]

As the thread title suggests, Im making my last character in skyrim, a general stealthy bow user with some 1hander/dagger etc for good measure, and was a little concerned about how Im gonna go about getting good armor and weapons when I reach the upper levels.

According to the wiki I frequent, Daedric weapons and dragon armor both require the related smithing perks to gain, as there is absolutely no way to get them without just crafting it yourself, which means I would need to go all the way down the smithing tree to make them, to make matters worse, since dragon has no weapons if I choose to go down the left side with the light armor perks, I still wont have any grade of bow/sword better than Glass or ebony. Plus I don't actually have proof that you can even get a full set of glass armor without smithing it, as ive never seen anything other than the sword and shield.

So I guess what Im asking is if there are ways to get decent high end equipment, or at the very least a daedric bow/sword without sinking like 10 points just to fill out the entire smithing perk. My first character I cleared the game with only made it to level 35, so there may very well be content that I havn't seen yet, but neither wiki's nor youtube have ever suggested anything other than me being boned without that skill.

Alternatively for the TLR crowd I can pose a better question, does anyone have some advice on the best means of getting high end gear/weapons etc for light armor characters, stuff that can potentially hold up (With only a standard smithing level of 100, no perk points in it) all the way to cap?


Alternatively alternatively, Im also willing to potentially accept "Glass is good enough to last", as I have no experience to prove otherwise.

Edit: I suppose there could also be light armor into the game that doesnt fall into the standard material/smithing categories I could make use of, though I was convinced none of it had enough armor to stand up to any enemy of substance at higher levels, thus throwing my "Sword and light shield incase shit gets real" idea out the window. So a confirmation or mention of an armor that actually has defense on it would be just as good.

 

[WolfThomas]

It doesn't really matter what armour you wearing as long you can get to 567, via perk, item or smithing. So with glass that's probably possible. I just wear Nightinggale armour though.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

You can find Dragonscale armour in dungeons once your a high enough level you know

 

[Hisshiss]

You can find Dragonscale armour in dungeons once your a high enough level you know

Can you really? ..I assume that means you can find pretty much anything, since dragonscale seems to be top teir.


If your right about that, which I have no reason to believe your not, that solves all my problems xD. I really appreciate it. That doesn't happen to apply to daedric weaponry as well does it? It's just that all the wiki's only mention dragon and daedric being a crafted item.

 

[Hisshiss]

It doesn't really matter what armour you wearing as long you can get to 567, via perk, item or smithing. So with glass that's probably possible. I just wear Nightinggale armour though.

I had heard about that, the armor cap. I assumed that reaching it was enough of a challenge to require some high grade shit, but I could be wrong about that as well. In fact I probly am, cus I feel like my original sword and board warrior had in the high 400s with just a full set of steel plate and the shield of ysgramor, though Im not sure how the increased AR perk in heavy armor relates to that.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

You can find Dragonscale armour in dungeons once your a high enough level you know

Can you really? ..I assume that means you can find pretty much anything, since dragonscale seems to be top teir.


If your right about that, which I have no reason to believe your not, that solves all my problems xD. I really appreciate it. That doesn't happen to apply to daedric weaponry as well does it? It's just that all the wiki's only mention dragon and daedric being a crafted item.

You can find pretty much anything, Ive found a Dragonscale helmet, a Dragonbone plate, A couple of daedric axes, although they are incredibly rare, if you'd settle for glass though, it becomes quite common in dungeons at later levels

 

[Hisshiss]

You can find Dragonscale armour in dungeons once your a high enough level you know

Can you really? ..I assume that means you can find pretty much anything, since dragonscale seems to be top teir.


If your right about that, which I have no reason to believe your not, that solves all my problems xD. I really appreciate it. That doesn't happen to apply to daedric weaponry as well does it? It's just that all the wiki's only mention dragon and daedric being a crafted item.

You can find pretty much anything, Ive found a Dragonscale helmet, a Dragonbone plate, A couple of daedric axes, although they are incredibly rare, if you'd settle for glass though, it becomes quite common in dungeons at later levels

Man, I love you so much right now because of that information xD. I dont mind farming and respawning dungeons over and over to get it, if it does drop, Im happy. Ive played warcraft for over 5 years, I know how to wait for gear xD..

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I have started to find random Dragon armour at level 53. Just helmets so far. I'm wearing a full set of it and have the points in smithing though so not sure if it effects the drop rate.

 

[Jandau]

1. Dragonscale Armor is found as loot. I'm 100% sure as I've been getting pieces of it (and Dragonbone) lately on my Mage, above level 45.

2. Guildmaster's Armor has even higher base armor rating than Dragonscale.

3. Using Smithing upgrades (even with low smithing, if you use Blacksmith potions/items) quite a few Armor sets can reach the Armor cap (assuming 100 Light Armor and all the %Armor boosting perks). I'm pretty sure you should be able to pimp out a Glass set even with shitty Smithing to reach the cap. Maybe even some of the weaker sets. If you do level Smithing a bit, you should be able to upgrade stuff to solid levels even without spending Perks.

 

[Hisshiss]

1. Dragonscale Armor is found as loot. I'm 100% sure as I've been getting pieces of it (and Dragonbone) lately on my Mage, above level 45.

2. Guildmaster's Armor has even higher base armor rating than Dragonscale.

3. Using Smithing upgrades (even with low smithing, if you use Blacksmith potions/items) quite a few Armor sets can reach the Armor cap (assuming 100 Light Armor and all the %Armor boosting perks). I'm pretty sure you should be able to pimp out a Glass set even with shitty Smithing to reach the cap. Maybe even some of the weaker sets. If you do level Smithing a bit, you should be able to upgrade stuff to solid levels even without spending Perks.

Makes sense, I did plan to grind smithing to 100 so that I could enhance all my gear, just didn't want to invest the perks to go the rest of the way.

 

[Jandau]

1. Dragonscale Armor is found as loot. I'm 100% sure as I've been getting pieces of it (and Dragonbone) lately on my Mage, above level 45.

2. Guildmaster's Armor has even higher base armor rating than Dragonscale.

3. Using Smithing upgrades (even with low smithing, if you use Blacksmith potions/items) quite a few Armor sets can reach the Armor cap (assuming 100 Light Armor and all the %Armor boosting perks). I'm pretty sure you should be able to pimp out a Glass set even with shitty Smithing to reach the cap. Maybe even some of the weaker sets. If you do level Smithing a bit, you should be able to upgrade stuff to solid levels even without spending Perks.

Makes sense, I did plan to grind smithing to 100 so that I could enhance all my gear, just didn't want to invest the perks to go the rest of the way. As for that guildmaster armor thing, any way you can give me a hint on where to find it? I saw a video with it earlier and it looks frikkin beast xD.

Guildmaster Armor is a reward for grinding out the Thieve's Guild sidequests. It's kinda boring to get though. The main guild questline gives you a decent set (Nightingale Armor), but you can get an even better set if you grind the repeatable siequests given by two people in the guild. After you do 5 quests in each Hold, you get a special unique quest in that Hold. Once you finish all those missions, you have restored the Thieves' Guild to its former glory and are rewarded with Guildmaster's Armor.

100 Smithing should let you upgrade your gear quite a bit. I'd suggest you consider at least the Perk that lets you upgrade magic weapons and armor, since it has no prerequisites. If you don't get the Perks for specific materials it will limit how much you can upgrade your gear (the Perks lower the skill requirements for upgrades), but if you get to 100 and then use Potions and Items that boost Smithing you should be able to get your skill so far above 100 that it simply won't matter what Perks you have.

ANY armor set can be upgraded to the Armor cap (assuming maxed out Armor skill and respective perks), Smithing Perks just make it easier to do.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Stealthy archer? Where's the need for armour? My archer slinks around in mourner's clothes and black fine boots.

Though really, here we're seeing a problem that Bethesda should have taken into account: how do I improve my gear without investing in Smithing or Enchanting? Alchemy has a workaround because we can buy a wide range of potions from... everywhere. Enchanted weapons are randomly found in loot or usually being sold by Blacksmiths, though in both cases it's luck of the draw on actually getting an enchanted weapon that's work the gold. And well... there's no way to find improved weapons anywhere.

Really I was hoping for services. Archers can't pay blacksmiths or bowyers to improve their weapons and gear. Warriors can't pay wizards to enchant their weapons and gear.