My Legendary Difficulty Guide

This is comprehensive and in-depth guide to beating Skyrim on Legendary Difficulty.

Skyrim too easy for you? Want to do a run without modded support? Want to cleave Alduin's head off on the hardest difficulty? Tired of milk drinking stealth archer legendary builds? Look no further...

How Hard Is Legendary difficultly?

I think that varies person to person. Some people like a challenge others don't so they'll have different view points.

I wouldn't say it "Difficult" as such...more time consuming and frustrating than anything since enemies have massive health pools. Especially dragons early on. Some enemies can kill you VERY quickly.

What you need is patience.

Some people might ask is it harder than Dark Souls? Yep. Sometimes. But i find Dark Souls easy. So as I said it varies person to person. You might find Legendary pretty easy or give up in the first hour. Either way.

Are You Using Exploits?

No but also kinda. The Dawnstar Chest or the Companion Whiterun Gate dupe Glitch. Anything else would ruin the point of legendary difficulty. Especially if you use Alchemy glitches to get weapons and armor that do absurd levels of damage and protection, at that point you might as well just play on Novice.

Reason why the two I listed are fair game is because

1. Smithing is needed to give yourself at least somewhat better odds at surviving and I ain't making them gold rings legit lol. Even then the gate dupe glitch can only dupe non-enchanted items and you can't make ridiculously powerful weapons and armor that way. The Most powerful weapon you can make for this purpose and this guide is like a Legendary Dragonbone sword which even then isn't nearly enough to one shot most things on Legendary Difficulty and that involves killing and getting the bones from one of those flying migraine machines

2. The Dawnstar Chest glitch just gives you useful items to save your gold for more important things. Nothing that spawns in there is game breaking.

If you wanna do a completely glitchless run, more power to you. I just use them to save myself the headache of getting smithing resources and some good starting items early on. But if you use anything that allows you to make absurd 10k damage weapons, you're kinda ruining the point of Legendary difficulty. I don't use console commands or mods either.

If you don't like that i use those two exploits I don't know what to say 🤷‍♂️ The game is already gonna be difficult might as well try and give yourself some ease along the way whenever possible in a non-game breaking way. That's if you don't classify those two glitches as Game Breaking that is.

What Race Do I Pick?

A good question! Because that'll impact your playthrough more than you think. On the lower difficulties you would normally pick a race you just enjoy or find the lore of particularly interesting. Not here folks. You gotta think. And think well.
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Here's a couple races to avoid:

Imperial (Since they have no combat advantages)

Khajiit (Since their only combat advantage is unarmed. Which on this difficulty I don't even want to think about)
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Every other race is viable, but some are better than others. Here's my top two

Orc: (Berserker Rage comes in clutch against all enemies that pose a serious threat, Dragons for example and is viable throughout the whole playthrough. My first Legendary run was with a female orc)

Redguard: Since Adrenaline Rush lets you output some serious DPS but not as much as Berserker Rage sometimes. The 50% Poison Resistance is also kinda neat for Falmer places
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The other races are okay, Dark Elves, Bretons and Nords especially with the 50% Fire and Frost resistance and the 25% magic resistance respectively are nice, since you're gonna be taking loads of damage anyway you might as well have some resistance, but in the later game you'll be able to ignore the majority of the spellcasters to be honest (sometimes)
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What about the rest? Well...Ultimately it's up to you. You can choose whatever race you want to, I'm just trying to make it easier for you short and long term and remember this ain't a stealth archer guide. This is a Warrior/Spellsword guide.

What Weapons or Armor Should I Use?

This is just my personal opinion but steer clear from two handed weapons. Lower DPS, slower and less effective blocking. It's just not worth it. You'll live longer and dish out more damage quicker using One-Handed Weapons than using Two-Handed weapons.

Honestly just stick to Swords for your damage output. You can use Axes and Maces if you want but they're slower. The critical chance perk for swords is also handy for some more troublesome enemies when tied with something like Berserker Rage.

As for armor you can wear either light or heavy but i personally recommend heavy for that extra damage absorption and i also HIGHLY recommend you start using a shield. You'll tank a lot more and die far less. Hotkey your shield and spells for optimal on the fly healing and defence

Upgrade your weapons and armor as you go, obviously.

What Standing Stones Should I use?

It's up to you to be honest. I'd recommend the stones that allow you to level skills faster.

My personal recommended one is The Lover. But that area is difficult early on so stick with the one of the three stones you find on the road to Riverwood.

Obviously if you get the Aetherial Crown then do whatever you want, but personally I'd just get the Mage or the Warrior stone to start of with.

Should I Use Spells?

It's up to you. I personally use some spells but some of them are either not all that great or just bad in general on Legendary

Since you'll be almost dying 90% of the time your potions are gonna run out really quick so I highly recommend boosting your Restoration skill Tree and leaning new spells, mainly Wards and Healing magic.

Restoration has Wards which are especially useful. A dragon's Fire or Frost breath for example will kill you quickly at any level unless you've done some exploits, but we aren't using those. The Steadfast Ward spell can tank and protect you from dragon breath, shouts or magic in general. Also healing magic (especially the better ones) comes in clutch more often than you think. Especially if you've ran out of healing potions which you're gonna at some point.

Alteration has the 'skin' spells like Barkskin, Stoneskin etc. That will help you tank more damage if you seriously need it

Illusion has the Invisibility spell if you need to disengage somewhere to heal or wait somewhere real quick.

Conjuration is really handy since you can take some aggression off you by summoning. I liked using the Atronach's more than anything.

Honestly I didn't like using Destruction magic. The amount of damage you output isn't worth the magicka drain which you could just use on any of the spells i mentioned above instead and sometimes you really, really need magicka to heal.

Ultimately it's up to you.

Should I Use Companions?

Yes, YES!

But be mindful of who you choose and don't get too attached because they will die sometimes. Of course you can just reload a save and try to keep them alive. Ultimately they'll be functioning as something else for your enemies to attack other than you.

My favourite is Aranea because she summons Fire Atronach's which adds another target for your enemies to attack and uses decent spells, another which a lot of people like might be J'zargo because he uses Fireballs and Ice Spikes. Marcurio is another good companion since he uses Lightning magic and has a ward. Serana is great too, especially since she resurrects the dead and is marked as essential so she won't die. Not to mention her magic.

You might see I've chosen just Mages, well that's because melee companions like Lydia for example die too quickly and you're better off just having a mage to back you up.

Should I Wait To Do The Main Quest?

YES, YES AND YES. You don't absolutely have to, but you'll be saving yourself from the headache of having to deal with Dragons on the early stages of the game.

Wait until you have way better gear and spells. Wards especially. Dragons will still be a headache, but you'll at least come out on top most of the time. If you hated dragon encounters before, dragon's on Legendary difficulty will represent migraines and give you unparalleled stress because they take so long to kill and they might kill NPC's you might want later, which they're more than happy to do.

Once you have the appropriate perks and equipment rush the main quest to get Dragonrend, otherwise if you can IF YOU CAN ignore dragons for now. Because *Sigh* when they fly it's so...irritating.

Surviving Helgen

So you're in Helgen and about to fight either the Stormcloaks or The Legion. On the lower difficulties this is pathetically easy, however because we're on Legendary I imagine at this point you've died at least once, and at this difficulty enemies love getting you into instant-kill animations when you're on something like half-health. Find a shield and sword and let Hadvar or Ralof fight as many as they can, but help them out too, because otherwise you'll get ganked and die. Enemies on this difficulty become damage sponges and will take a little while to kill

Shield-Bash, Power Attack, Light Attack, Light Attack, Repeat. Keep your guard up with the shield and wait for openings or just wait for them to recoil from hitting your shield. Baring in mind you'll stick take chip-damage from you getting hit with your shield up, so position yourself well and try to draw out enemy attacks so they hit nothing, a missed enemy power attack means free hits for you. You can also interrupt enemy attacks with a well timed shield bash.

Why did i mentioned the combo:

Shield-Bash, Power Attack, Light Attack, Light Attack, Repeat?

Because after a power attack you can hit twice with your sword super fast, a lot faster than just light attacking regularly, you'll see what I mean when you attempt it.

Find and use whatever equipment/potions you find in the tutorial but don't be afraid to swap between using your healing spell and shield via hotkey whenever you can

After dealing with either faction you'll come across the Frostbite Spiders in the cave connected to the inner Fort. A frostbite spiders venom spit is nothing to joke about. It can easily one tap you or get you on super low HP. So try to get them to either miss or get them into melee range. Other than that they're not the worst thing in the tutorial.

The bear at the end is optional and may take a few attempts but if you've got this far you're more than ready to fight it, think of it as a End Dungeon Boss

Now the real game begins...

What Should I Do In beginning?

Focus on getting used to the combat and get as much XP as possible. Avoid certain places until you think you're ready. Use trainers whenever possible to maximise your skill levelling. The more Perks you have the more you'll survive.

Discover all the towns and cities and above all don't be afraid to get into a fight. Save regularly and be prepared to die often.

I actually recommend doing the Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood and Companions Questlines to start off with. You get good loot and it'll train you for the headaches ahead.

Things To Bring

Before you go out on quests make sure you have a selection of potions

Health potions, Stamina Potions, Magicka potions, Cure Poison Potions and Cure Disease Potions. Cure Poison potions especially against Frostbite Spiders and Falmer.

Other than that, bring anything you normally would when playing Skyrim

Should I do Daedric Quests?

Yeah, definitely, but some rewards are better than others for this run

Dawnbreaker is always good for Draugr, Spellbreaker is great against magic users or enemies that can shout but it will make you stagger when against a dragon breath attack or magic that's very powerful

I also like to jokingly use Mehrunes Razor on the off chance it works, which is very rare, but it's fun I guess, mainly use it on dragons in the hope it ends the encounter there and then.

What Enemies Are The Worst?

Honestly, every enemy lol

But seriously. Here's some to look out for:

Falmer love using poisons and on Legendary (depending on the poison they're using) might just kill you quicker than you can out-heal.

Dragons: Because they're dragons. lots AND LOTS of HP, their breath attacks can kill you very quickly and they fly...

Chaurus's: Their poison and melee attacks will kill you very quickly.

Frostbite Spiders: The larger variants poison spit attacks will kill you super quick.

Draugr: Shouts are one thing but the Overlords and Deathlords are tanks.

Hagraven's: A fireball or two and that's it. You're dead.

Trolls: Yeah they have a weakness to fire which is nice, but they can two hit you, the worst thing
however is that their health regenerates

Dwarven Centurions: Yeah that steam breath attack will pretty much instant kill you.

Mages: Any spell using enemy will just annihilate you. Spells like Icestorm or Icicle are the worst.

An enemy group larger than 2: Ideally you should try to focus on one enemy at a time, but that isn't always possible. Pick your fights and try to position yourself well. Getting ganked by a group of bandits or anything else is great way to die repeatedly.

Weapon and Magic Grinding

Yeah this isn't anything new and most seasoned Skyrim players know this but as soon as you can get Shadowmare get to grinding, this will allow you to farm weapon and magical XP by attacking them.

But honestly you're gonna be hitting enemies so much you probably won't need this method. But it's always there just in case you do.

other than that, I dunno.

What about shouts?

Since in the early game you're gonna be Avoiding dragons and the big bad ruins you're gonna probably be without them, but don't worry! Once you're capable enough You'll be able to take on that first dragon (probably) and get the first word of force

So... What shouts should you use? Honestly, it's up to you, you might like to do things a certain way but to maximise your damage output and to give you an advantage here's my personal favourite's:

Unrelenting Force since it can stagger and knock enemies over to get you some free hits

Dragon Aspect since it basically gives you a uniform buff of attack damage, damage resistance and shout recharge time. Though you have to complete the Dragoborn questline to get it

Elemental Fury since it speeds up your hit speed. Tied with Berserker Rage you can output some SERIOUS dps

Anything else you use is up to you but I'd stay away from some of the elemental ones since for it felt like they didn't do anything.

Does It Get Easier?

Good question! Yes but also no...

Some enemies will always be damage sponges, some enemies will always be a pain in your butt. But after a good few hours of playtime you'll have mastered the majority of the combat and some enemies will now go down pretty quickly and when that happens, when you can reliably kill a Bandit or Forsworn in 1-3 hits that's when you know you've hit that golden point. Hell, even dragons at some point become just an annoyance again rather than a blight on your playthrough

I can't tell you when it'll be easier for you. But I can guarantee that at some point it will. You may even start enjoying this difficulty more than the others like I did, because you have to think strategically and use your brain wherever you go. Items or mechanics you never thought about using before all of sudden become useful or interesting

You'll always have to monitor your HP, Stamina and Magicka reserves, you'll always have to make sure you have everything you need for the journey ahead, but that's part of the fun I guess.

How tough is Alduin?

To be honest...If you're able to kill dragons with "relative" ease, Alduin is nothing. After you get good at killing Dragons he'll be a cakewalk. He isn't really anything to worry about in the grand scheme of things. There're more annoying enemies than him. Regular dragon moves and abilities. You've got this

My Personal Build/Setup

You can copy me if you want. But do whatever you feel you like.

My Top 5 Skills and their perks:

Heavy Armor: Juggernaut, Well fitted, Tower of Strength, Matching Set, Conditioning
One-Handed: Armsman, Fighting Stance, Bladesman, Critical Charge, Paralysing Strike
Restoration: Every Perk
Smithing: Every Perk
Block: Every Perk

Equipment: Dragonbone Armor, Shield and Sword legendary upgraded using non-exploit methods. Dawnbreaker legendary upgraded for undead enemies, Spellbreaker for mages sometimes, Mahrunes Razor for the off chance IT ACTUALLY WORKS

Spells: Greater Ward, Close Wounds, Any Atronach Summon.

Thank You For Reading My Guide

I love Skyrim and i wanted to give something to the community of the game I love.

I hope this guide serves you well and lets you master Legendary Difficultly. If you think I missed anything or would like me to add more let me know