How to Get Daedric Armor and Weapons Without Smithing in Skyrim

Obtaining Pre-assembled Daedric Weapons and Armor

Loot high-level boss chests at the end of dungeons. The easiest way to randomly find Daedric equipment is to reach a high enough level and start clearing out as many dungeons as you can. This involves making your way through the dungeon, fighting monsters, bypassing traps and then defeating the boss monsters at the end of the dungeon. You will eventually reach the end of the dungeon where you will find a large, prominent chest containing valuable loot - the boss chest of the dungeon. Daedric weapons and armor start appearing in the boss chests you find at the end of each dungeon; typically before you find a shortcut leading out of the dungeon you just cleared. All you need to do is roam Skyrim, find random dungeons to explore and clear them out. Unenchanted Daedric weapons start appearing at level 46, enchanted Daedric weapons start appearing at level 47, unenchanted Daedric armor starts appearing at level 48 and enchanted Daedric armor starts appearing at level 49.

Buy from the Dremora Merchant at higher levels. If you have the Dragonborn expansion installed, you will come across Black Books that grant you a variety of powers for you to use as you need them. The Black Book: Untold Legends can be found in Benkongerike in Solstheim, and choosing the Black Market power will give you the ability to summon a Dremora Merchant for 15 seconds that you can buy from and sell to. Once you reach level 47, the Black Merchant will begin selling enchanted and unenchanted Daedric equipment. The Dremora Merchant is the only merchant not affiliated to the Thieves Guild that will sell Daedric armor and weapons to you.

Buy from two of the Thieves Guild fences. Becoming a member of the Thieves Guild and progressing through the Guild’s questline will open up fences that you can sell stolen goods to while offering a variety of equipment, consumables and crafting components. Two of these fences, Tonilia and Niranye, will occasionally stock Daedric weapons that you can buy once you hit level 47. Tonilia can be found in the Ragged Flagon, and you can begin trading with her once you complete the quest “Taking Care of Business.” She will stock up all sorts of Daedric weaponry at random. Niranye can be found in the market district of Windhelm, and she becomes available to trade with after finishing the quest “Summerset Shadows.” She will usually stock Daedric bows, so archers will have a much easier time finding their weapons of choice with Niranye.

Slay Revered or Legendary Dragons. If you have the Dawnguard expansion installed, you can begin encountering Revered Dragons at level 59 and Legendary Dragons at level 78. They will be really, really hard to kill if you are not properly equipped and prepared to deal with them. This means preparing potions to restore health, restore magicka, restore stamina, resist fire, resist frost and resist magic. Wearing enchanted equipment that boosts resistances against fire, frost and magic will also help you better survive their hard-hitting blows. Also, shouts like Dragonrend and Become Ethereal are particularly useful against these types of dragons as they’ll help you better survive their nasty breath attacks and Drain Vitality shouts. The fact that you can loot Daedric equipment from their bodies, however, makes killing them a particularly nice reward for the effort required. If you have trouble slaying Revered and Legendary dragons, you may find this WikiHow article on killing dragons in Skyrim very useful.

Using the Atronach Forge

Craft your own Daedric Equipment. If you are a mage that has the sigil stone from the quest “Conjuration Ritual Spell,” then you can craft Daedric weapons and armor using the Atronach Forge in the Midden. You will need to undertake specific steps to use the Forge to create Daedric equipment as well as obtain the necessary equipment for the process. This makes the whole process a lot complicated than simply increasing your Smithing capabilities, but it’s nonetheless a viable option for creating Daedric equipment without spending a single point on Smithing.

Obtain a sigil stone. Raise your Conjuration to 90, join the College of Winterhold and speak with Phinis Gestor. He will give you the “Conjuration Ritual Spell;” telling you that he needs a sigil stone. He will teach you how to summon an unbound dremora, which you will use to summon the said dremora. Summon and kill the dremora twice, and it will yield to you. Summon the dremora once more, and it will return with a sigil stone. Give the stone to Phinis Gestor, and he will use it give you a spell tome that will allow you to cast Flame Thrall before giving the stone back to you.

Place the sigil stone in the Atronach Forge. Once you have the Sigil Stone, enter the Midden in the College of Winterhold and make your way to the Atronach Forge. Place the sigil stone in a pedestal on the Forge, and you will open up a new line of items to craft – including Daedric equipment.

Craft unenchanted Daedric Equipment. You will need a Black Soul Gem (filled or unfilled), a Centurion Dynamo Core, a Daedra Heart and the Ebony equivalent of the weapon or armor you want to craft. If you want to craft, say, a Daedric Sword, you will need an Ebony Sword to complete the recipe. Do note that crafting Daedric Boots using the Atronach forge is bugged, as it will give you a pair of inferior Dremora boots instead. This is fixed in the Unofficial Skyrim Patch version 1.2 or higher, which can be installed on PC versions of Skyrim.

Craft a random enchanted Daedric equipment. Prepare a filled Greater Soul Gem or better (Grand and Black gems count), an ebony ingot and void salts for armor or a silver sword/greatsword for weapons. This is the most efficient way to craft Daedric equipment with the Forge once you consider the commonness of the required components, although you won’t be able to control what enchantments will pop up as a result of the crafting process. These enchantments will thus cover all possible enchantments, ranging from dealing bonus fire/frost/lightning damage and banishing summoned Daedra for the weapons to fortifying your skills and increasing the damage you do with certain weapons for the armor. Crafting random enchanted Daedric weapons is bugged, as this will only produce warhammers and war axes. This is fixed by the Unofficial Skyrim Patch version 2.0.5 or higher – again, for PC versions of Skyrim.