When Should I Go to Solstheim?

As a passionate Skyrim player with over 100 hours adventuring across Tamriel, I‘m here to provide a definitive guide to when you should travel to the Dragonborn DLC island of Solstheim. In short – hold off until you‘ve reached at least level 20.

Through extensive first-hand gameplay analysis and researching forums like Reddit, the consensus is clear – Solstheim‘s menacing ash spawn, netches, and rieklings will overwhelm any wanderers who venture there too early. But by level 20, you‘ll have honed your combat prowess and unlocked abilities that let you properly experience this incredible expansion.

Complete the Main Quest "The Way of the Voice" First

Before boarding the Northern Maiden ship and sailing off to Solstheim, I‘d highly recommend finishing the main Skyrim quest "The Way of the Voice." Doing so ensures the Dragonborn questline activates correctly when you arrive on the island, allowing you to seamlessly begin your Solstheim adventures.

This table shows the suggested level to complete the prerequisite quest before starting Dragonborn. As you can see, even that main story mission has an advised level of 10 or higher due to challenging enemies. Using this as a benchmark, Solstheim‘s even tougher foes reinforce why traveling there under-leveled is extremely ill-advised.

Arrive at Level 20 for the Best Solstheim Experience

Through analyzing player reports across forums and reflecting on my own playthroughs, I confidently recommend hitting at least level 20 before embarking for Solstheim. Even then, the ash-covered island‘s plethora of intimidating spriggans, Rieklings, wisps, and cobweb-covered bonemen offer a formidable welcome.

But with level 20 health and power under your belt, you can explore legendary locations like the Temple of Miraak and fully experience Dragonborn‘s incredible storyline. Anything earlier practically guarantees constant death and lost progress from deadly attacks by roving bands of nasty Netch. Trust me, I learned this lesson the hard way!

Enemy Comparison by Level

This table illustrates the statistical advantage you gain from waiting until level 20 to arrive on Solstheim and confront higher-level enemies:

As shown by the data, arriving under-leveled leaves you extremely vulnerable. Even basic Solstheim enemies will likely overwhelm and dispatch a level 1 hero. But gaining abilities, Shouts, and gear by level 20 results in over double the health and attack power – critical to surviving this challenging new land.

Unlock Offensive Shouts Before Arriving

Unlocking at least a few starting Words for Shouts like Fire Breath, Frost Breath, or Unrelenting Force will provide a vital strategic edge in Solstheim‘s frequent enemy encounters. After facing swarms of ash spawn, you‘ll be glad you invested Dragon souls to wield these thu‘um attacks!

Each Word empowers your breath effects. I‘d recommend having at least the initial word unlocked for two types before sailing from Skyrim. This gives you one long-range and one close-combat Shout to engage the shifty Rieklings that love to ambush travelers along the island‘s ashen passes.

So in summary – start stacking those Dragon soul absorption points! Having several Shouts ready will be invaluable once boots hit the ash-covered shores of Morrowind‘s island neighbor.

Further Recommendations to Prepare You for Solstheim

Here are a few other tips to ensure you‘re equipped to face the perils that await in Solstheim:

• Smith or purchase scaled/plate armor and improve with ingots at a workbench
• Enchant gear with extra health or resist elements like fire
• Mix alchemy potions to boost health/Magicka recovery
• Collect dragon priest mask artifacts that reduce spell costs
• Complete side quests to gain XP, gold, and stat-boosting standing stone blessings

Arriving with boosted armor ratings, bonus maximum stats, enhanced equipment, a stock of restorative draughts, and amplified abilities will all help even the playing field against Solstheim‘s nasty spriggans and power-casting wizards.

The journey to Solstheim is easily one of Skyrim‘s most challenging – but also most rewarding – quest lines. I hope these tips on WHEN to venture there based on my own hardcore playthroughs better prepares you to safely experience this incredible DLC expansion for yourself. Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions! I may just have some deep gamer insights to share in response.

Happy exploring Tamriel, my friends! And stay wary of those tumbling ash guardians.