Skyrim Q&A [Ask Your Skyrim Questions Here! Spoilers]

[Prof.Moriarty]

1. What is the best way to deal with mages that use frost spells as a lvl. 23 melee heavy redguard? The health damage I can tank, but they drain my stamina so quickly. I've got some anti magic equipment and potions, but when they are in groups, I can't close the distance or kill them fast enough.

2. What kind of companion compliments my melee style the best?

3. I ran into some Thalmor justicars, killed them and displayed them next to the road. Are they of any importance, or are they just like the random free souls thieves.

4. Is it smart to invest points in the first perk of speech? because the difference seems really small 10-15 etc.

5. Is orc armour better then steel plate armour?

6. What are some good ingredients for health potions? I seem to be running low quite often on them.

7.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Instead of becoming a werewolf to get more quests from the companions, can I just stab them in the throat? I'm not becoming a werewolf and those abominations are not gonna live in my Skyrim.

[Kilo]

6. Some good Health potion ingredients would be Butterfly wings, blue mountain flowers and wheat


and my question, when you bound weapons, does it always give the daedra equivalent of the weapon? eg when I bound sword or bow, it gives me a daedra sword / daedra bow

[Ghoul_Sunday]

Need locations where i can mine ebony I have everything to get the Daedric stuff (i have dragons already) but i cannot find ebony... I bought 5 luckily from here and there but it's just no that easy to get more.

[.Mitch.]

Need locations where i can mine ebony I have everything to get the Daedric stuff (i have dragons already) but i cannot find ebony... I bought 5 luckily from here and there but it's just no that easy to get more.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Theres a mine south/east of Whiterun. Behind an Orc stronghold (which you can bypass). It houses a LOT of Ebony ore, and quite a fair few iron deposits. It will suffice for a full set of Ebony/Daedra armour.

[Tischdecke]

Need locations where i can mine ebony I have everything to get the Daedric stuff (i have dragons already) but i cannot find ebony... I bought 5 luckily from here and there but it's just no that easy to get more.

The orcmine north of Riften has plenty of Ebony

[xcorps]

What exactly does (cleared) next to the name of area's mean?

Does it mean it's permanently cleared, or it's just cleared until the area respawn timer kicks in?

[VOP2288]

What exactly does (cleared) next to the name of area's mean?

I wondered about this too but from what I've seen it means that the area is...well...cleared - no more enemies. I'm assuming this means forever as well since I still have the cleared tag next to caves I went through hours and hours before. However, take note that if the cleared tag doesn't appear for a location you've gone through it either means you missed an enemy or, as is mostly the case, the location is actually tied to a quest and won't get the cleared tag until you do it.

1. What is the best way to deal with mages that use frost spells as a lvl. 23 melee heavy redguard? The health damage I can tank, but they drain my stamina so quickly. I've got some anti magic equipment and potions, but when they are in groups, I can't close the distance or kill them fast enough.

I'm playing a melee character too (with some archery skill) and what I've been doing when facing mages is either spare with them from a distance using my bow or charge right at them and start swinging (using health and stamina potions when necessary). To close the distance between you and the mage I would recommend using either the force dragon shout to stagger them and then sprint in or use that other dragon shout you get from the Greybeards which acts as mega-ultra-sprint.

5. Is orc armour better then steel plate armour?

I believe so but I'd have to confirm this.

[gaiusjulii]

I have a couple of questions... What is skyrim? I know it's a game open world and quest based, but is it anything like fallout 3, and also what kind of weapons are there... And is it worth playing elder scrolls first or is it standalone and superior in every way?

I can't figure out if I will enjoy it as no one gives a decent description of what the bloody game is about




Going underground

[Kilo]

What exactly does (cleared) next to the name of area's mean?

Does it mean it's permanently cleared, or it's just cleared until the area respawn timer kicks in?

No it just means you've explored the entire cave, I've gone back to "cleared" caves and there are new enemies there

[Knight of Heaven]

I have a couple of questions... What is skyrim? I know it's a game open world and quest based, but is it anything like fallout 3, and also what kind of weapons are there... And is it worth playing elder scrolls first or is it standalone and superior in every way?

I can't figure out if I will enjoy it as no one gives a decent description of what the bloody game is about




Going underground

If you like fallout 3 you will like skyrim, Waaaaaaay better Also its not that skyrim is like fallout 3
its more fallout 3 its like Elders Scroll games.

You dont need to play the other Elders scrolls games to play Skyrim.
But if you are interested, might try Morrowind and Oblivion though.

[Geleco]

Does anyone know if Daedric armor spawns in game, eventually? I already have my set because I made it, but I want to know if it spawns on enemies too.

[The Holy Pilgrim]

6. Is there any ideal level to be when engaging a giant? I tried to fight one at level 23 and I still got smashed with one hit.

It's brains and strategy (and running ) over levels for this one. I killed a giant when I was level two by shooting it with an arrow, running like a madman, and then shooting him again when he turned. By level 20 or so, my character became so adept at magic I could take on a giant without having to run away (fireballs rule! ). Now that I'm level 27, giants are no issue. But I guess that's just because my magicka powers are just so awesome

Friendly tip: When running from a giant after making him mad, do not, I repeat, do NOT turn around! That's how he gets you. In that one second you turn, he has caught up to you and you go flying all of the way to Cyrodiil.

[Krieglord]

I have a question

I was just reading the guide to the empire that came with Oblivion special edition and it was talking about battles around Saarthal, it made Saarthal seem very important.

I know Saarthal is the first mission in the CoW questline and you find the "special item" their but what exactly was the importance of Saarthal?

[VOP2288]

I have a couple of questions... What is skyrim? I know it's a game open world and quest based, but is it anything like fallout 3, and also what kind of weapons are there... And is it worth playing elder scrolls first or is it standalone and superior in every way?

Think Fallout 3 (in terms of gameplay) but set in a medieval fantasy world with orcs, elves, men, monsters, and in Skyrim's case dragons. Your weapons and such are your usual medieval fantasy fare (swords, shields, bows, axes, daggers, maces, warhammers, etc) but you can also use magic. I would also argue that Elder Scrolls games in general are a bit more detailed and provide a crap-ton more side quests and other activities for you as opposed to Fallout 3.

As far as playing the other games goes...it's up to you. You don't really need to play them to understand what's going on in the story as each game is usually set quite awhile after the previous one and doesn't feature characters or anything from previous games. Granted there's certainly numerous things that connect them all but it's mostly lore and events that are referenced to which can be easily researched and read on things like the elder scrolls wiki. However, if you're interested in the past games take into consideration that the first elder scrolls game came out in 1994 as a PC DOS game, the second released in 1996, Morrowind was 2002, and Oblivion was 2006. Thus if you're someone who has a little trouble dealing with dated graphics you might want to pass on them - even Oblivion (I personally found the environment and especially the character models to be atrocious).

[Magicman2051]

As explained in that mission it was the first major human city on Tamriel.

[VALIS]

How do I get daedric armour?
And
I had a really cool staff of fireballs that dealt 40pts of damage a shot, but it ran out of power! How do I recharge it?
And
Dumb question but

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

How does Azura's Star/soul gems in general work? How do I use them?

[Krieglord]

As explained in that mission it was the first major human city on Tamriel.

I guess I wasnt listening enough I never heard any of the mages mention that , they all made it seem like it was just a special tomb for nords, its to bad they didnt put any above ground ruins around saarthal, wouldve made it more interesting.

Also why exactly are the cities in Skyrim so small compared to the cities of Cyrodil? they cant even really be called cities theyre more like walled towns with 10 to 15 houses in them.

I mean the cities of Cyrodil didnt have that many homes either but they covered more space and looked somewhat like mini cities or large towns, in Skyrim I cant understand why places like Winterhold or Falkreath are even considered cities they have less then 20 buildings in them put together.

[Kilo]

How do I get daedric armour?
And
I had a really cool staff of fireballs that dealt 40pts of damage a shot, but it ran out of power! How do I recharge it?
And
Dumb question but

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

How does Azura's Star/soul gems in general work? How do I use them?

You can get Daedric armor by making it yourself with ebony ingots and daedra hearts.

You recharge enchanted items with filled soul gems i believe.

And soul gems in general are used for capturing souls, enchanting weapons and recharging enchanted items

[VOP2288]

New question:

Can you change a companions armor?

I know that if you give them a weapon that's more powerful then they're default they'll use it but does this also apply to armor?

I still can't understand why Bethesda insists on putting tag along characters in their games but doesn't allow you to customize their weapons/armor and skills nor gives them any sort of personality for the player to converse with and connect with.

[VALIS]

How do you use soul gems?
And where do I get Daedra hearts?