Unlocking the True Potential of Skills: An Expert‘s Guide to Legendary Levels
Reaching the pinnacle Level 100 mark in a skill tree has always been a celebrated achievement in Skyrim. But prior to Patch 1.9, that mountain peak also represented an impassable limit to further progression. Now with the introduction of Legendary Skills, that summit suddenly becomes a footstool to even greater heights.
By unlocking the ability to reset a skill back to 15, Skyrim‘s level cap vanishes. But simply knowing how to trigger that reset is just the first step to mastering this powerful capability. This guide will reveal expert strategies to utilize Legendaries to reshape your character growth in ways never before possible.
Legendary Skill Reset Mechanics
When a skill reaches Level 100, a new dialogue box pops – offering the chance to make that skill legendary. Upon activating this, two key things occur:
1. Skill Level instantly resets from 100 back down to 15.
This enables the skill to level up again, with all the standard benefits of skill gains.
2. All Perk Points invested into that skill tree reset and become available for reallocation.
This presents an opportunity to re-specialize your build by assigning those perks into other trees.
Additionally, any progress made towards the next level pre-legendary persists. For example if your One Handed skill was 20% towards next level, it would reset to 15 with 20% already filled to Level 16.
This entire process can repeat each time a skill hits Level 100 again, enabling repeated legendary resets.
Optimal Legendary Skill Strategies
Simply knowing how to trigger a legendary reset isn‘t enough – optimizing your order and timing is crucial to maximize the benefits.
Analyze Advantages vs Disadvantages First
Before resetting combat skills, consider both advantages and disadvantages:
| Disadvantages | Advantages |
| – Temporarily reduces damage output and survivability | + Frees up perks for reallocation |
| – Loose weapon/spell effectiveness | + Enables higher overall level cap |
| – Lose access to high level perks | + Boosts skill leveling speed |
Resetting crafting skills carries fewer risks – so I‘d advise starting there first.
Prioritize Non-Combat Skills Initially
The first skills you reset can give perk points to strengthen combat skills. I‘d suggest the following order:
- Smithing – Armor/weapons remain just as strong after reset
- Enchanting – Enchants still work even with lower skill level
- Speech
- Lockpicking
- Pickpocketing
This theft trio is perfectly safe to reset early for a quick influx of perk points.
Top Off Combat Skills Before Resetting
Before resetting combat skills I recommend two things:
First, craft a full set of maxed out tempered gear – this ensures you retain devastating damage/protection even after the reset.
Second, max out all desired perks before reset. Reapply those perks after resetting for exponential perk combos.
Some key perks to grab before reset:
- One-Handed: Dual Flurry, Dual Savagery
- Two-Handed: Devastating Blow, Sweep
- Archery: Overdraw 5/5, Eagle Eye
Repeated Level 100 Legendaries Grant More Perks
Due to the repeatable nature of Legendary Skills, you can unlock every single perk in the game despite perks normally maxing at Level 80.
To illustrate, here‘s a sample breakdown:
- Skills first reach level 100 by character Level ~60
- Resetting those initial skills provides enough Perk Points to max out remaining trees
- Repeat Legendary process five times each by Level 252
- Total Perk Points: 276
- Perk Points Possible: 277
So repeating Legendary Skills directly enables blazing past the old Level 81 soft-cap up to Level 252 and beyond!
My Personal Legendary Skills Journey
Resetting my first skill felt scary – would I regret losing 100 levels of progress? But the perk point payoff was instantly gratifying. And racing back to 100 felt extra rewarding knowing greater power awaited.
Overall I‘ve found balancing risk vs rewards with Legendaries thrilling and addictive. Nothing beats the satisfaction of unlocking my 278th perk at Level 270!
Now I always have an eye towards the next exciting Legendary. I‘ve reset most Skills at least 3 times now. Outside combat I‘ve pushed Enchanting the highest – resetting it 9 times so far!
If you have any other questions on mastering Legendaries I‘m happy to share more insights from my ongoing adventures. This guide should fully equip you to shatter all limits and transform your Dragonborn into a true master of Skyrim!
