There are a number of Light Armor pieces to choose from in Skyrim to protect and enhance the player’s character. The most basic pieces provide a bit of armor while the best pieces offer incredible perks and enchantments.
The best pieces for the player will entirely depend on their build and playstyle. If a player doesn’t intend to do magic than having a piece of armor that boosts magic is rather useless. That being said there are some light armor pieces so strong that they serve many builds rather well. Here are some of the best pieces that can be found in the game and how to get a hold of them.
Helmet Of The Old Gods
The Helmet of the Old Gods is a piece of unique armor that grants the wearer 12 armor when worn. It also comes with the handy perk of Fortifying Magicka by 30 points. This gives the player a deeper well of Magicka to pull from when casting spells.
How To Get It
- Complete the quest The Forsworn Conspiracy to be imprisoned in the Cidhna Mine.
-
Gain access to Madanach:
- Find a shiv
- Persuade the guard
- Bribe the guard with Skooma
- Intimidate the guard
- Brawl with the guard and win.
- Side With Madanach
- Escape with Madanach and the Forsworn through the Markarth Ruins.
Doing the above will result in the player receiving the Helmet of the Old Gods. Attacking any of the Forsworn prisoners or Madanach will still result in completing the quest but will not reward the player with the Helmet.
Gray Cowl Of Nocturnal
The Gray Cowl Of Nocturnal is a powerful artifact for stealthy minded players. The Cowl provides 13 armor, Fortifies Sneak by 25 points, and increases the player’s carry weight capacity by 50. It also comes with a permanent Life Detect that lets the player see living beings through walls. The downside to this helmet is that all guards will become immediately hostile upon seeing the player wearing it. But for stealthy players who want to avoid detection anyway, it’s a good choice.
How To Get It
- Install the Creation The Gray Cowl Of Nocturnal Returns!
- Travel to The Gray Fox’s gave site in Riften.
- Kill the thief
- Read the Note to obtain a secret phrase.
- Repeat the secret phrase to either Edda or Snilf
-
Steal a Forged Deed from a chest in Bolli’s House
- Intimidate Nivenor to gain access
- Persuade Nivenor to gain access
This starts the next part of the quest The Solitude Job:
- Break into Erikur’s House
-
Replace the real deed with the fake one
- Confront Gisli with the Letter of Gisli to get the real deed.
- Persuade Gisli to hand the real deed over.
- Take the real dead to a meeting spot behind The Winking Skeever
- Steal the Ancestral Sword of Clan Ice-Blade from the Silverdrift Lair.
Leaving the dungeon will start the final part of the quest called Meeting With A Stranger:
- Return to the graveyard in Riften
- Read the Stranger’s Journal
- Meet with the Gray Fox and receive the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal
Reforged Cuirass Of The Crusader
The Reforged Cuirass of the Crusader is a powerful piece of body armor that provides 38 armor when worn. It also comes with a ten-point Health bonus and Fortifies Restoration by eight points. Basically, the player is well armored, has a deeper health pool, and can cast Restoration spells better.
How To Get It
Players will need to complete the quest Relics of the Crusader:
- Install the Divine Crusader Creation
- Travel to Four Skull Lookout
- Defeat the two Bandit Thieves carrying the original set and the Reforged set of the Crusader Relics.
- One of the pieces looted from the Thieves will be the Reforged Cuirass of the Crusader.
Deathbrand Gauntlet
Deathbrand Gauntlets provide 11.5 to armor when worn. They also come with a base 10% boost to one-handed attack damage. This bonus can be raised by wearing additional pieces of the Deathbrand set for a total bonus of 40%.
How To Get It
Players will need to complete the side quest Deathbrand which rewards the player with the entire Deathbrand set of armor. To start the quest players need to read the book Deathbrand.
The Deathbrand book can be found:
- Bloodskal Barrow
- Deor Woodcutter’s house
- Fort Frostmoth
- Geathall
- Morvayn Manor Chambers
- The Retching Netch
- Tel Mithryn
- Tel Mithryn Steward’s House
- Temple
The Book sends the player to Haknir’s Shoal where they’ll find pirates squabbling over a treasure map. The player can either steal the map from the Pirate Captain or kill him to get it. Once the player has the map the quest to find the four chests starts.
- The Third Chest contains the Deathbrand Gauntlets. It’s near the hidden dock Northshore Landing in the northwest corner of the map. Inside the nearby Bristleback Cave is the chest.
Armor Of The Old Gods
The Armor of the Old Gods is perhaps the best piece of light body armor in the game. It offers a 24 armor rating and Fortifies Destruction by 15 points. This is fantastic for Spellsword builds or players that enjoy wearing light armor while using Destruction magic.
How To Get It
The Armor is obtained in the same manner as the Helmet Of The Gods:
- Complete the quest The Forsworn Conspiracy to be imprisoned in the Cidhna Mine.
-
Gain access to Madanach:
- Find a shiv
- Persuade the guard
- Bribe the guard with Skooma
- Intimidate the guard
- Brawl with the guard and win.
- Side With Madanach
- Escape with Madanach and the Forsworn through the Markarth Ruins.
Doing the above will result in the player receiving the Helmet of the Old Gods. Attacking any of the Forsworn prisoners or Madanach will still result in completing the quest but will not reward the player with the Helmet.
Ancient Shrouded Cowl
The Ancient Shrouded Cowl is best for players who like to use bows. It provides 15 to armor rating and more importantly Fortifies Archery by 35 points. If the player intends to use bows while wearing light armor this is the helmet they should be wearing.
How To Get It
Players will need to initiate the quest Locate The Assassin Of Old. This requires having completed the Dark Brotherhood quest Breaching Security. Gabriella will then send the player on the quest:
- Speak With Olava The Feeble in Whiterun behind Breezehome.
- Follow Olava’s direction to seek out Deepwood Redoubt.
- Find the ruin Deepwood Redoubt
- Navigate the traps and Forsworn enemies inside.
- Kill the Forsworn in the final room to get the Redoubt key
- Enter The Deepvale
- Find the entrance to Hag’s End
- Kill the Witches and the Hagraven.
- Use the latch behind the throne to open the secret chamber
- Loot the Ancient Shrouded Cowl off the dead assassin.
Ancient Shrouded Gloves
The Ancient Shrouded Gloves provides a helpful 12 armor rating. The main perk is dealing twice the normal damage when performing a backstab, one-handed sneak attack. Normal Backstabs do six times regular damage so this perk makes it a whopping 12 times the damage for a successful sneak attack.
How To Get It
Players will need to initiate the quest Locate The Assassin Of Old that was used to find the Ancient Shrouded Cowl. This requires having completed the Dark Brotherhood quest Breaching Security. Gabriella will then send the player on the quest:
- Speak With Olava The Feeble in Whiterun behind Breezehome.
- Follow Olava’s direction to seek out Deepwood Redoubt.
- Find the ruin the ruin Deepwood Redoubt
- Navigate the traps and Forsworn enemies inside.
- Kill the Forsworn in the final room to get the Redoubt key
- Enter The Deepvale
- Find the entrance to Hag’s End
- Kill the Witches and the Hagraven.
- Use the latch behind the throne to open the secret chamber
- Loot the Ancient Shrouded Gloves off the dead assassin.
Krosis
The Krosis facemask is a powerful choice for Thief-types that like to use poisons or other potions. It provides 21 armor, Fortify Archery 20, Fortify Lockpicking 20, and Fortify Alchemy 20. Essentially it makes it easier to break into places, kill enemies from a distance, and become a master of Alchemy.
How To Get It
Getting this mask is simple enough but can be tough to accomplish. Players need to kill the Dragon Priest Krosis and take the mask from his body. He’s found in the Dragon Lair Shearpoint which is north of the Throat of the World between Fellglow Keep and Irkngthand.
Morokei
The Morokei face mask doesn’t provide as much protection as Krosis, in fact, it’s rather low at a five armor rating. But it offers double the natural Magicka regeneration rate. With this mask on players will now regain 6% of their maximum Magicka every second out of combat and almost 2% per second in combat. This is huge for Magicka users and saves a lot on potions. Depending on the build it may even be the best piece of Light Armor in the game.
How To Get It
This mask is worn by the dragon priest Morokei so players will have to pull it off his cold dead corpse. He’s found in the Labyrinthian, a massive ruin in Hjaalmarch. It’s south of Morthal and just north of Hamvir’s Rest. The quest The Staff of Magnus sends the player here.
Miraak
Perhaps the best piece of Light Armor in the game is the mask of Miraak. It boasts a comfortable 27 armor rating and has the immensely helpful Fortify Magicka 70. This gives players a larger Magicka pool to draw from and helps support more expensive spells. When combined with a race like Altmer it can lead to a hefty Magicka reserve.
How To Get It
Coincidentally the Miraak mask is probably one of the hardest to obtain in the game. It requires completing the vents of the Dragonborn add-on and killing the primary villain Miraak. The final quest At The Summit Of Apocrypha challenges the player to kill Miraak. Upon doing so the player can rip the mask from his body.