How to Increase Skills in Skyrim

Last Updated: January 20, 2022

Living in Skyrim is all about choices; meaning, the type of warrior you want to be is completely up to you. If you prefer forging your own armor, you can concentrate on raising your Smithing skills. There are several ways to increase your skill levels in order for you to customize your character.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Knowing the Different Skills

1
Know the different skills. Just like there are many races in Skyrim, there are a plethora of skills you can learn, making it very easy to customize your character to be the kind of fighter, criminal, hero, or community contributor you want. The following are all skills you can increase over the course of the game.
- Enchanting – the ability to bind magic to weapons and armor.
- Alteration – makes your magic stronger for affecting the world around you, like giving yourself the ability to stay underwater longer or paralyze your enemies.
- Restoration – the ability to use healing and protective magic.
- Destruction – the ability to cast harmful natural spells, like fire, ice, or lightning.
- Conjuration – the ability to cast spells that bind, such as Soul Trap.
- Illusion – the ability to cast spells that mess with your enemies’ minds, such as fear, calming, and invisibility.
- Alchemy – the ability to make potions and poisons.
- Speech – the ability to get better prices when bartering and to persuade people to do what you want.
- Pickpocket – the ability to get away with stealing from others without them noticing.
- Lockpicking – the ability to open chests and doors without keys (there are some chests and doors that you cannot pick, but most of them are fair game).
- Sneak – the ability to maneuver around Skyrim without being seen or heard.
- Light Armor – lets you work better in the lighter types of armor (Hide, Leather, Elven, and Glass)
- Archery – determines how accurate your shots are and how critical the hits will be.
- One-handed – lets you increase the damage inflicted and agility when using one-handed weapons (daggers, swords, maces, and axes).
- Two-handed – lets you increase the damage inflicted when using two-handed weapons (great swords, battle axes, and warhammers).
- Block – the ability to stop an enemy’s physical attack or to ward off negative status from a strong attack (such as staggering). This does not apply to magical attacks.
- Heavy Armor – lets you work better in the heavier types of armor (Iron, Steel, Dwarven, Ebony Armor)
- Leather Armor – lets you work better in the lighter types of armor (Hide, Leather, Elven, Elven, Orcish, and Daedric).
- Smithing – the ability to make different types of armor (both heavy and light).
2
Familiarize yourself with the skill matrix. Each of these skills has its own skill matrix from which you can choose to take your skill to a new level.
- For example, the Lockpicking matrix lets you make it easier to open different skill levels of locks, starts the lock pick close to the opening position, or even makes your lock picks unbreakable.
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3
Open perks. Opening perks helps to speed up how quickly you level up your skills. Every perk on the matrix has a required skill level before you can unlock the skill.
- For example, to open the Golden Touch perk (you find more gold when you open chests), your Lockpicking skill must be at least 60.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Increasing Your Skills

Through Practice

1
Use your skills. Every time you do, you start to level up. Sneak around to increase your Sneak skill; spend time at Alchemy Labs or Arcane Enchanter to increase your alchemy and enchanting skills. Opt to pick locks instead of using keys when you can.
2
Equip the armor, weapons, and spells that you want to become most skilled at wearing or using. The more you use a bow and arrow, the better your Archery skill will be. If you want to simultaneously level up One-handed and a particular magical ability, you can equip a one-handed weapon in one hand and a magical spell in the other.
- The more often you use a skill or equip something associated with a particular skill, the more it will level up.

Through Leveling Up

1
Level up. Every time you level up, you have the ability to buy a particular skill from its matrix.
2
Focus on one or two skills to improve your ability to fight, steal, or barter. That way when your character levels up, you are more likely to have the requirements for the next level on the skill matrix.
- If you want to be harder to detect but have not taken the time to sneak around towns and the wild, you may not be able to open the Muffled Movement perk, which means you will continue to be noisy when you are trying to sneak.
3
Start working on your skills and use them every opportunity you get. For things like armor, make sure you are consistent in the type of armor you wear (avoid mixing light and heavy armor).
- Take your weapon of choice into battle, and take every available opportunity to work on skills that require a particular environment (such as alchemy, enchanting, and lockpicking).

Through Reading

1
Locate a skills book. They are all over Skyrim, but many of them are surprise finds.
- For example, there is a book on Stealing in the Bleak Falls Barrow.
2
Take the time to fully explore an environment. This is to make sure you have read all of the available skill books. As soon as you pick up and open a books, your skill level will automatically increase.
3
Buy books from shops, inns, and merchants. This is the easiest and most expensive way to increase your skill.
- Don’t forget to “read” the book once you buy it because unlike finding a book, buying a book does not automatically mean you read it.