If you’re a Skyrim player who loves stealth, thief, or assassin builds, you’ve definitely chased down the Nightingale Armor set at some point in your playthrough. It’s sleek, has unbeatable base passive bonuses for sneaking, lockpicking, and one-handed dagger damage, and it’s tied to one of the most fun questlines in the base game. But once you finally unlock the full set after wrapping up the Thieves Guild main quests, the first question that pops into most players’ heads is can you upgrade Nightingale Armor to keep it viable as you hit higher levels and face tougher enemies? I’ve put over 300 hours into Skyrim stealth builds alone, and I’ve tested every trick for upgrading unique armor sets, so I know exactly what works, what doesn’t, and what hidden rules most players miss.
Can You Upgrade Nightingale Armor Without Mods?
The short answer is yes, you absolutely can upgrade the full Nightingale Armor set in vanilla Skyrim, no mods required, but there’s one non-negotiable requirement you have to meet first. You need to unlock the Arcane Blacksmith perk in the Smithing skill tree before you can make any improvements to enchanted unique gear like the Nightingale set. This perk unlocks at 60 Smithing skill, and it sits right in the middle of the Smithing tree, so you don’t have to invest in either the heavy or light armor specific perk branches to get it.
Without Arcane Blacksmith, you won’t even see the Nightingale Armor pieces pop up as an option when you interact with a grindstone, no matter how many materials you have in your inventory. If you want to get the set to legendary quality for endgame play, you will want to invest in the Light Armor Smithing perk later on, as it doubles the upgrade bonus you get for all light armor pieces. But for basic upgrades to keep the set relevant through level 40 or so, Arcane Blacksmith is all you need.
Materials Required to Upgrade Every Piece of Nightingale Armor
One of the best parts of upgrading the Nightingale set is that it doesn’t require super rare endgame materials like Daedra hearts or dragon bones, even for max tier upgrades. You only need three core materials, most of which you can easily farm or buy as early as level 20. The exact material counts for each piece are:
- Nightingale Hood: 1 x Leather Strip, 2 x Moonstone Ingot, 1 x Void Salts
- Nightingale Armor: 2 x Leather Strip, 3 x Moonstone Ingot, 2 x Void Salts
- Nightingale Gloves: 1 x Leather Strip, 1 x Moonstone Ingot, 1 x Void Salts
- Nightingale Boots: 1 x Leather Strip, 2 x Moonstone Ingot, 1 x Void Salts
Moonstone ingots are easiest to find near Markarth, where you can mine raw moonstone from half a dozen different ore veins just outside the city, or buy them from the city’s blacksmith for a few dozen gold each once you hit level 15. Void salts are dropped by storm atronachs, which you can find spawning in mountainous areas or summoned by mages in dragon lairs and Dwemer ruins. You can also buy void salts from most alchemy vendors in major cities for around 50 gold each.
You won’t need to re-enchant the set after upgrading, all existing passive bonuses stay fully intact no matter how many times you improve its quality. That’s a common misconception a lot of new players have, so you don’t have to worry about wasting soul gems or redoing enchants after you temper the pieces.
How to Max Out Nightingale Armor Stats for Endgame Play
Even at base level, the Nightingale set is strong enough to carry you through most of the base game content, but with a few simple tweaks you can make it viable even for Legendary difficulty playthroughs and DLC content like Dragonborn and Dawnguard. First, get your Smithing skill as high as possible, ideally up to 80 or 100, but you can boost lower skill levels with gear and potions to hit the same upgrade tiers.
I always keep a set of four +25% Smithing enchanted jewelry and clothing pieces in my inventory just for upgrading unique gear, along with a stack of +50% Smithing potions I brew myself with fortify smithing ingredients. If you wear all that gear and drink the potion before you temper each piece of the Nightingale set, you can get it to legendary quality even if your base Smithing skill is only 70. If you’re playing on Legendary difficulty, pairing a maxed Nightingale Armor set with the Lord Stone will give you enough extra damage resistance to handle even dragon attacks without switching to heavy armor.
When fully upgraded and paired with all the Light Armor skill tree perks like Agile Defender and Custom Fit, the full Nightingale set hits a total armor rating of around 380, which is just 20 points lower than a fully upgraded Dragonscale light armor set. The difference is, the Nightingale set has unique passives like permanent muffle, 25% extra lockpicking speed, and 15% extra one-handed and sneak attack damage that Dragonscale doesn’t have, making it far better for any stealth focused build.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Upgrading Nightingale Armor
I’ve made almost every possible mistake with this set over the years, so there are a few key things you’ll want to skip to save yourself time and wasted resources. First, don’t waste materials upgrading individual pieces as you unlock them during the Thieves Guild questline. You get the full set one piece at a time as you complete different quests, so if you upgrade the hood as soon as you get it, you might run out of void salts or moonstone before you unlock the gloves and boots later on.
Second, don’t forget to use your Smithing boosts before you temper the set, even if you have 100 Smithing skill. The extra percentage boost from enchants and potions will push the armor rating up just enough to hit the 567 damage resistance cap when paired with your Light Armor perks, which means all physical damage you take gets cut by 80% no matter what enemy you’re fighting. Never sell or disenchant any piece of the Nightingale set, even if you think you don’t need it, because it can’t be replaced if you lose it in vanilla Skyrim.
Third, don’t assume you have to swap to Dragonscale or Elven armor later on just because they’re higher tier generic sets. The unique passives on the Nightingale set make it far more useful for thief builds than any generic light armor set in the game, even if the base armor rating is slightly lower. If you want to keep the set’s iconic dark aesthetic, don’t use any armor retexture mods that change its appearance unless you’re 100% sure you like the new look first, as most retextures can’t be reversed without starting a new playthrough.
If you’ve been wondering can you upgrade Nightingale Armor to keep up with your level as you play through Skyrim, the short answer is a definite yes, as long as you put in a little work to unlock the right perks and gather the required materials. This set is one of the most iconic unique armor sets in the entire game for a reason, and it’s more than viable for every type of stealth or thief build, even through all the DLC content. You don’t have to abandon it for a generic Dragonscale set once you hit higher levels, just follow the tips we laid out and you’ll have a powerful, great-looking set that will carry you through the entire playthrough. Next time you’re wrapping up the Thieves Guild questline, don’t forget to stop by a grindstone once you have the Arcane Blacksmith perk to make that already great set even better.
