Is it Good to Make a Skill Legendary in Skyrim?
Making a skill legendary in Skyrim can seem like a great way to optimize your character’s leveling process. However, in this article, we will explore the pros and cons of making a skill legendary and provide a balanced opinion on whether it is ultimately a good strategy.
Refund of Perks
One of the biggest benefits of making a skill legendary is that every single perk point is refunded back to your character. This means that you gain access to more perks more quickly, allowing you to specialize your character in even more ways. [1] With this consideration in mind, it would seem that making a skill legendary is a no-brainier. However, we must consider the other side of the coin.
Speed of Leveling
An often overlooked aspect of level-upping in Skyrim is the speed of the leveling process. Most skills in the game benefit from being leveled up progressively, with each subsequent rank granting new abilities and statistical boosts. Making a skill legendary does not give you an immediate bonus, it simply resets the experience counter back to 100, allowing you to further level up the skill (albeit more slowly).[2] This may ultimately lead to a false sense of progress, which can be frustrating and hinder your overall experience in the game.
Staggered Progression
If we look at the various skills in Skyrim, there are those that Benefit from staggered progress (e.g. Archery, Magic Schooling, etc.). While it may seem advantageous to level up these skills continuously, doing so would miss out on the opportunities other skills provide. Not every skill is equally adept at level-upping; some have unique effects associated with them.[2]
Difficulty of Stages
Skyrim’s level design is intentionally linked to the player’s level. As the player’s difficulty level increases, certain areas become inaccessible, including higher-level enemies, challenging dungeons, and special bosses. Leveling-up your character can only mitigate this problem so far before reaching the ceiling of leveling speed.[1]. If your skill of focus is one that levels much faster than others, an unbalanced progression can be realized.
Inconspicuous Skill Advancements
Making a skill legendary is an all-or-nothing proposition. If one chooses to level a few skills in a perceived optimal manner, ignoring the possibility of resetting at the highest level (at least once), you essentially lose access to any bonuses gained. Any accrued benefits would be null and void, and a return to normal leveling becomes unnecessary.[1].
*Table 1: Overview of Pros and Cons
| | |
| Pros | Cons | |
|---|---|---|
| Increase | Reset to zero | |
| Level and | ||
| gain less | ||
| Benefit | Stagger | All-or-nothing |
| in speed | Approach for | |
| Perk Refund | skills leveling |
In consideration of these points, weighing the advantages against the drawback of leveling a skill slower in the long run ultimately leaves me to believe making a skill legendary in Skyrim is a balancing act, and may result in less than ideal, albeit slightly improved progression
For further clarification on an optimally legendary system, a well-circulated table summarizing points mentioned can be constructed.
*Table 2:
| Legendary Level Unlock | Benefits |
| 100th% Legendary Level | Each subsequent legendary level gives even more bonuses |
| | Allows for increased level progression |