Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Skyrim: Achieving Max Resistances

When designing a well balanced character it's important to think about defense as much as offense. Tonight I'm going to talk about achieving maximum resistances.

Let's start out with magic resistance. The maximum value this can be is 85%. Anything over that is waste, just like with the max armor value I discussed in a previous post. Let's talk about how you can achieve max magic resist with minimal effort.

From the beginning of the game you can have a 25% bonus just by choosing Breton as your race. Bretons start with a 25% magic resistance bonus as a racial trait. To me this is more valuable than any other racial benefit, which is why I only ever play a Breton.

After I have used the guardian stone benefits to get max Enchanting, Smithing, and Alchemy I always switch to the Lord Stone for the rest of the game, which gives me another 25%. That makes 50% resist total with very little effort.

Next I recommend completing the The Book of Love quest chain to get the Agent of Mara ability which grants another 15% bonus that is permanent. In order to start this quest chain you must go to Riften and talk to Dinya Balu, a dark elf priestess of Mara. She is almost always in the Temple of Mara in Riften. If she's not there wait an hour and most likely she will pop up. Talking to her will activate the quest. You will have to complete 3 tasks for Mara: One in Ivarstead, one in Markarth, and the final one is southeast of Rorikstead. Once these three tasks are completed return to Dinya. After talking to her the permanent 15% Magic Resist will then be added to your character.

At this point my character now has 65% resist. That means all she lacks is another 20% bonus to get the maximum 85%.

There are two ways to go about getting the other 20%. You could enchant an item to give you that extra bonus or you could pick up the Magic Resistance perks in the Alteration tree. I personally do not recommend the Magic Resistance perks in the Alteration tree because to would require 5 perk points in order to get that small bonus, and in my personal opinion it isn't worth the 5 perk points.

Instead I recommend enchanting an item.

Before you do that, let me tell you about the Shield of Solitude. This unique shield, when broken down, teaches you a more powerful version of Resist Magic: 30% instead of the normal 20%. (It also has the Fortify Blocking effect on it.) If you so choose you can actually stack the two different Resist Magic bonuses on a single item.

In order to get the Shield of Solitude you must go to the palace in Solitude and talk to Falk Firebeard who will send you on a quest called "The Man Who Cried Wolf". Once you complete the quest talk to Falk again. After that it may seem like he has nothing left for you to do, but if you go do some more questing a courier will find you with a letter asking you to return to Falk in Solitude.When you talk to him again he will give you the quest "The Wolf Queen Awakened". Once that quest is complete you will be rewarded with the Shield of Solitude.

When using max Enchanting Potion with Crafting Equipment the values of the two Resist Magic Enchantments is 23% and 29%. You can actually put both enchantments on the same item. While testing this I got a shield with a total of 52% Resist Magic. That's a big overkill since I already have 65%, but if you played a race other than a Breton and want to use a different Stone other than the Lord Stone, this trick could help you reach max bonus. :)

Now let's talk about the difference between Magic Resist and Elemental Resistances. Magic Resist is for things like health drain, slow, and other spells that weaken your other resistances. Magic Resist does not protect you from elemental damage delivered from magic. If you catch fire due to a fireball you will still take the fire damage unless you have "Resist Fire".

There are three kinds of Elemental Resists: Fire, Frost, and Shock. And just like Magic Resist, they cap out at 85%. I already purchased the Blocking perk "Elemental Protection" which gives me 50% resist to Fire, Frost, and Shock so long as I have my shield raised. That's perfectly fine by me, since I rarely let an enemy caster get the jump on me. So the objective is to get an additional 35% resist for all 3 elements on equipment     in order to get max element resist with my shield raised.

After drinking my Max Enchanting pots and using Grand Soul gems I enchanted my Dragonscale equipment and jewelry the following ways:

Amulet: One-handed attacks do 48% more damage. Shock Resist 44%.
Armor: Magicka regens 74% faster. Stamina regens 37% faster.
Boots: One-handed attacks do 48% more damage. Frost Resist 44%.
Gloves:  One-handed attacks do 48% more damage. Bows do 48% more damage.
Helm: Bows do 48% more damage. Magicka regens 74% faster.
Ring: One-handed attacks do 48% more damage. Fire resist 44%.
Shield: Block 48% more damage with your shield. Magic resist 29%.

Resistance Totals:

94% Magic Resistance (Racial + Agent of Mara + Equipment + Lord Stone)
44% Shock Resistance; 94% Shock Resistance w/ Shield Raised
44% Fire Resistance; 94% Fire Resistance w/ Shield Raised
44% Frost Resistance; 94% Frost Resistance w/ Shield Raised
50 pts Damage Reduction from Lord Stone
48% Damage Reduction with Shield Raised

Damage Dealing Bonuses on Apparel:

192% bonus to One Handed Attacks
96% bonus to Archery Attacks

Other Bonuses:

148% Magicka Regen
37% Stamina Regen

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