Skyrim fun facts (useful for playing, too)

[Pandamatak]

Here are mine, tell me if you found any here that you didn't know about before

Post your own

-Using any of the single burst healing spells (like fast healing) you can open the favourites menu just after casting the spell, and time will be frozen while your health regenerates, essentially making health regen infinitely fast (minus spell charge up time)

-Potions weigh more than you think (at level 20, I had 120 "weight units" of potions alone)

-Nirnroot respawns and is just like any other ingredient in the game (no longer special like in Oblivion, and there I was hoarding them)

-Invisibility is practically useless without muffle - if you make noise enemies will lock on and have a 100% hit rate on you

-Sneak attack multipliers for archery only affect the arrow's damage - upgrading your bow (via smithing, or getting a better one) isn't going to change your sneak bonus

-Paralyse is extremely underpowered/overly expensive when it comes to potions and enchantments (black soul gem = 1 second of paralysis with 25 charges (excluding perks)) but the paralysis spell lasts for ten seconds, making it one of the best spells in the game.

-No matter what shout you get, unrelenting force will always be one of the best considering you have adequate elevation

-At master difficulty, trolls regenerate health faster than you can deal damage with the flames spell (assuming you wait for magicka to recharge)

-The destruction perk that makes it so that fire spells make enemies flee is actually a hinderance since they retreat only at low health, and by that time you could have easily killed them anyways = less loot

-Giants can make you fast travel

-Reanimating a second corpse before the animation for the first is finished results in a frozen creature

-When you try doing a sneak attack with dual daggers (power attack), stand 1 meter back and you won't be detected for four strikes which is enough to kill almost anything (and I play on master)

-The overdraw perks for archery make it so that it takes longer to draw your bow

-The steady aim perk for archery slows down time, but you lose stamina at the same rate, which means you lose stamina at a faster rate relative to other game elements

-You can't reanimate corpses that you've decapitated

-Khajiit have claws when using unarmed attacks

-The only way to get night-eye is by being Khajiit, but the Argonians' water breathing and resistances can be found as enchantments in the game.

-You can swing a sword while casting a constant healing spell - which is easily better than using a shield until you run out of magicka

-The restoration perk for restoring stamina is really useful with single burst healing spells, essentially allowing you to sprint and use power attacks indefinitely

-Necromancer robes cost 55 septims and have 75% magicka regen (compared to the cost of apprentice robes, which is 2k+)

-Upgrading stamina increases your maximum encumbrance

-Just like the unlimited spells exploit, you can reach 100% resistance to a particular element and be invulnerable to it (fire is especially useful against dragons)

-The standing power attack for daggers does more damage than a power attack for a sword made of the same material

-...

[Anderband]

"-Sneak attack multipliers for archery only affect the arrow's damage - upgrading your bow (via smithing, or getting a better one) isn't going to change your sneak bonus"

Based on my gaming experience, I did not believe this to be true.

I copied this from the wiki's sneak page, and I believe its acurate. Correct me if I'm wrong:

Only the base damage of a weapon (the value that you see in your inventory) will be multiplied by the sneak attack multiplier.
Poison and enchant damages do not get multiplied.
Blacksmithing improvements that increase damage do benefit from damage multipliers.
For bow and arrow, both bow and arrow damage is multiplied.
Dual-wielded weapons and power-attacks are also multiplied.

[unokitsune]

((this needs testing)) Opening up the menu by pressing b ((xbox 360)) while a dragon is shouting at you and then waiting for the sound of his breath to go away, significantly reduces the damage you take from the shout breath attack. Happened to me more than once as I needed to get a heal spell considering I got suprised by an Elder dragon.

Up on North Summit peak ((where the abandoned mine and mining camp is where one of the Aura Whisper words of power is)) standing behind the word wall the dragon can't figure out how to harm you and if you summon a flame atronauch that flame atronauch can freely damage the dragon even when the dragon flies down doing the dust slide which now serves only as comic relief as you are hiding to regain majika ((I was out of mana pots and low on health pots ))

[Pandamatak]

"-Sneak attack multipliers for archery only affect the arrow's damage - upgrading your bow (via smithing, or getting a better one) isn't going to change your sneak bonus"

Based on my gaming experience, I did not believe this to be true.

I copied this from the wiki's sneak page, and I believe its acurate. Correct me if I'm wrong:

Only the base damage of a weapon (the value that you see in your inventory) will be multiplied by the sneak attack multiplier.
Poison and enchant damages do not get multiplied.
Blacksmithing improvements that increase damage do benefit from damage multipliers.
For bow and arrow, both bow and arrow damage is multiplied.
Dual-wielded weapons and power-attacks are also multiplied.

I did a simple test and was able to disprove this.

I using an unenchanted/unupgraded bow, I was able to barely take out a bandit in three hits.

However, using a sneak attack (with the 3.0x damage perk) on this same bandit resulted in some health being left over. This health was probably bow damage (or arrow damage times 2).

While this test does not 'prove' what I had mentioned, we can safely say based on this evidence that either the bow damage or arrow damage is not factored into sneak multipliers.

I'll see if I can do more tests using a weak bow + powerful arrows and a powerful bow + weak arrows.

[azuarc]

If it has to be one and not the other, I'd assume it be more likely be the arrow not getting multiplied. Sneak attacks definitely do roughly triple damage for me. But is damage always a fixed amount? There's no variance and nothing else that could be affecting the damage on a per-hit basis? You're sure your third arrow wasn't a crit? Armor didn't somehow influence this? While fighting, the bandit didn't take damage from another source, like tripping over some bones?

Other comments:
* The game says Nirnroot doesn't regenerate, via the alchemy quest in Riften. Was that an error then?
* Overdraw slows your rate of fire? That's...terrible. The other weapon skills don't suffer this, do they?
* How is swinging a sword constantly necessarily better than blocking while casting a heal spell? I happen to be a pretty good blocker. If an enemy breaks through me waving my arm in their face, I take damage. If I block them, I don't.
* Definitely agree on the potion weight thing. Potion encumbrance adds up really freaking quickly.

[Check-Nate]

-Giants can make you fast travel

what does that mean

[Dark Spark]

...I did a simple test and was able to disprove this.

I using an unenchanted/unupgraded bow, I was able to barely take out a bandit in three hits.

However, using a sneak attack (with the 3.0x damage perk) on this same bandit resulted in some health being left over. This health was probably bow damage (or arrow damage times 2).

While this test does not 'prove' what I had mentioned, we can safely say based on this evidence that either the bow damage or arrow damage is not factored into sneak multipliers.

I'll see if I can do more tests using a weak bow + powerful arrows and a powerful bow + weak arrows.

Take one other factor in consideration: just how long you took to draw the bow. Mind this, you do not obtain full damage from a bow until you've held the draw long enough so the bow stops creaking.

An early loose will result in a shot with less-than-full damage potential.

[Hawu]

-The only way to get night-eye is by being Khajiit, but the Argonians' water breathing and resistances can be found as enchantments in the game.

when you get Sanguinare Vampiris (Vampirism), you gain access to night eye as a power too, called Vampire Sight, Aren't both the same spell ? or khajiit night eye is still better ? (never compared)

[Pandamatak]

If it has to be one and not the other, I'd assume it be more likely be the arrow not getting multiplied. Sneak attacks definitely do roughly triple damage for me. But is damage always a fixed amount? There's no variance and nothing else that could be affecting the damage on a per-hit basis? You're sure your third arrow wasn't a crit? Armor didn't somehow influence this? While fighting, the bandit didn't take damage from another source, like tripping over some bones?

Other comments:
* The game says Nirnroot doesn't regenerate, via the alchemy quest in Riften. Was that an error then?
* Overdraw slows your rate of fire? That's...terrible. The other weapon skills don't suffer this, do they?
* How is swinging a sword constantly necessarily better than blocking while casting a heal spell? I happen to be a pretty good blocker. If an enemy breaks through me waving my arm in their face, I take damage. If I block them, I don't.
* Definitely agree on the potion weight thing. Potion encumbrance adds up really freaking quickly.

-Well, I haven't confirmed that one yet, but I made a thread a long while back on the subject and everyone else said it did. I think its crimson nirnroot that doesn't respawn.

-Well, it doesn't slow your fire rate, but to do the extra damage you have to, well, overdraw your bow. So there really isn't any harm in getting the perk - if you maintain your previous rate of fire, you do the same amount of damage as before, but it gives you the option to draw it back even further if you so wish.

-Suppose you block and save yourself 75 damage. Let's assume that blocking an attack takes approximately two seconds. The spell fast healing heals 75 damage in a mere two seconds, so you could have gotten about two sword hits in, and healed (because you can swing while you use the spell, but not while you're blocking). There may be better shields/higher levels at which you will be able to block more damage, but there are also better healing spells and I usually find (even on master difficulty) that the best restoration spell available to you if you use restoration regularly will also heal at a faster rate than the amount of damage the average enemy does. Of course, I didn't take into account shield bashing and staggering, but what I tried to say was that when it comes to the defensive properties of either, healing is better.

-I don't carry any potions save for a single invisibility in case I need to make a swift escape (made with

Spoiler:

nirnroot

)

[SlfTh3Chl3f]

-Reanimating a second corpse before the animation for the first is finished results in a frozen creature

When i do that the first creature turns into ashes.

Here are some mage facts.

-If you plan on using destruction as your main offense,consider that you will require an immense amount of mana.Except if you use enchanting to reach 100% magicka cost reduction, but that needs a lot of enchanting skill and perks.Also it can make the game a bit boring if you seek challenge, as you can endlessly spam spells

-Dual casting while having dual cast perk in alteration and conjuration makes the spell have a longer cooldown.

-Dual casting perk in destruction isn't worth it by itself as it reduces damage/magicka cost efficiency.However,it can be quite useful if combined with the stagger perk.

-Adept destruction spells are the best choice for their damage/magicka cost ratio.Imo fireball is the best destruction spell,as it also has a great aoe damage.

-The extra effects added to destruction spells by the perks Deep Freeze,Disintergrate and Intense Flames are actually useless as they usually apply when your opponent is one spell from death.In fact intense flames makes you have to chase your opponent to kill him and disintergrate can sometimes disintergrate dragons making you lose a soul.Their only use is for the satisfaction of watching your opponent get frozen,set aflame or electrocuted to ashes.

-Dwarven machinery is immune to frost and generally resistant to magic.

-Fire deals equal or better damage than frost or shock against every creature except Dragons that breathe Fire,flame Atronachs and Dunmer.

-If you play an armorless mage, always use the flesh alterations spells before a battle.There is a great chance that you will be one-shot killed by an arrow if you don't.Especially on master difficulty.

-Use become ethereal shout to fall from cliffs.However be sure that you don't hesitate,as you don't want it to go out just as you reach the ground.And if you use hotkeys or favorites for shouts be sure you pressed the right one as you don't want to whirwind sprint to your death.

[azuarc]

-Suppose you block and save yourself 75 damage. Let's assume that blocking an attack takes approximately two seconds. The spell fast healing heals 75 damage in a mere two seconds, so you could have gotten about two sword hits in, and healed (because you can swing while you use the spell, but not while you're blocking). There may be better shields/higher levels at which you will be able to block more damage, but there are also better healing spells and I usually find (even on master difficulty) that the best restoration spell available to you if you use restoration regularly will also heal at a faster rate than the amount of damage the average enemy does. Of course, I didn't take into account shield bashing and staggering, but what I tried to say was that when it comes to the defensive properties of either, healing is better.

I use restoration after every battle rather than using potions, but not during. It's simply too slow. Maybe if I had perks in it, but I don't. I *do* have perks in Block, though. When I block something, I don't just stop 75 damage, I pretty much stop ALL damage. Shields aren't perfect for archers and mages, but fully perked, they do help. In one-on-one battles, I'd rather use a shield. In larger battles...I'd rather use Sneak. >.>


* Poisons only affect living creatures, not mindless undead or dwemer machinations.

* Putting a bucket on a person's head breaks line-of-sight and lets you steal from right in front of them.

* Arrows are weightless.

* Followers can not follow you through a drop if there is no other path to reach there. If there is and it forces them to take a ridiculous loop to reach you, they'll only aggro creatures that are within a certain radius of you.

* Aura Whisper (or detect undead) makes it very obvious which draugr will rise from their pallets.

* If you have more than one copy of an item that is on your favorite menu, you will lose your shortcut to it. (On PC, anyway.) That is, if you have a glass bow quick-keyed, and then you find a second glass bow, the quick key will no longer work.

* There are tutorials for various skills that will raise your rating in those skills by several points, including smithing (in Whiterun) and archery (from a lonely woman in the southwest mountains.)

* Most "claw" puzzles have the solution printed on the claw itself. Look at it in your inventory.

[Dark Spark]

* Aura Whisper (or detect undead) makes it very obvious which draugr will rise from their pallets.

I simply shoot the 'sleeping Draugr' who look exactly like the 'waking Draugr'— asleep.

[enyamerT]

* Aura Whisper (or detect undead) makes it very obvious which draugr will rise from their pallets.

I simply shoot the 'sleeping Draugr' who look exactly like the 'waking Draugr'— asleep.

Yeah, just look for the ones wearing armor (males) or strategically placed cloth wrappings (female).

[SilentPsycho]

* Followers can not follow you through a drop if there is no other path to reach there. If there is and it forces them to take a ridiculous loop to reach you, they'll only aggro creatures that are within a certain radius of you.

Some followers can. During the Thieves Guild questline, I had two followers following me, and while sneaking past the outskirts of a Falmor village they went over a ledge after me rather than sneak straight through the middle of the village.

[Laryngitis]

* Aura Whisper (or detect undead) makes it very obvious which draugr will rise from their pallets.

I simply shoot the 'sleeping Draugr' who look exactly like the 'waking Draugr'— asleep.

Yeah, just look for the ones wearing armor (males) or strategically placed cloth wrappings (female).

This is very true, I do the same thing myself, however Aura Whisper will also reveal which of those sealed coffins contain draugr that will pop out.

And a nice rune on those coffins will generally wake them up so you can pick them off at your leisure.

[Talamare]

Most of the tips are good but I think youre underestimating the power of shields

It only takes a quarter second of shield blocking to completely negate ~100 damage
but it takes 1-3 seconds of casting to negate the damage from ~100 damage

Not to mention while its true you can channel the healing spells while swinging, you essentially dont "move" if you swing while channeling, making you either miss more often or get hit more often

Overall the tips are good tho and thanks for posting them

[Valus]

Not sure if anyone else has seen this, but there is a pond Northwest of Whiterun and just Northeast of Bleakwind Basin that has a skeleton arm sticking out of it holding a relatively high-level sword. When I first found this I was level 2 or 3 and it was holding an Orcish Longsword. On my other character I went to it when I was level 20 and it was holding an Elven Longsword. So, it's pretty good.

[Iaius Amaius Heron]

Also it can make the game a bit boring if you seek challenge, as you can endlessly spam spells

Says you. I find it fun as hell to hadoken fireball after fireball, so speak for yourself. And how's that any worse than endlessly spamming sword-swings?

Also, define "challenge" would you please, so we all know you aren't just being part of the forum echo chamber here.

[ajrman]

The most important fact you will ever need to know

Spoiler:

Cicero is annoying

[Gideon Dragontongue]

* Aura Whisper (or detect undead) makes it very obvious which draugr will rise from their pallets.

I simply shoot the 'sleeping Draugr' who look exactly like the 'waking Draugr'— asleep.

Yeah, just look for the ones wearing armor (males) or strategically placed cloth wrappings (female).

I like that...

Also, with a steel sword enchanted with the maximum (25 pts) absorb health effect, and all of the Bladesman perks on the one-handed tree, it's possible to lock most humanoid enemies into a stagger from which they will not recover, even draugr deathlords.

[Redguard_Master]

-Giants can make you fast travel

what does that mean

A giant's power attack can hurl you pretty darn far.