Skyrim: Here’s What the Level Cap Is (With & Without Legendary Skills)

In one of our previous guides, we’ve covered legendary skills. We’ve mentioned how important it is to utilize legendary skills correctly in order to keep leveling and unlock all perks related to skill trees. Today’s guide is going to be similar; we’re going to focus on leveling alone in an attempt to answer some of your burning questions about it. Let’s start from the basics and see what’s the level cap in Skyrim with and without legendary skills.

How does leveling in Skyrim work?

Skyrim leveling has seen a major overhaul compared to previous games in the Elder Scrolls series. It has been described as much more simplified, and personally, I have to agree. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is a matter of personal preference. I’m just lucky I don’t have to use an Excel spreadsheet to level my character correctly. (looking at you Oblivion)

Now, there are two types of leveling in Skyrim. Character leveling and Skill leveling.
Skill level is gained every time you use a skill; for example, every time you pick a lock, you will get some XP that goes toward increasing your skill; if you break a lockpick, you will still get some determined amount of XP but less than you would get if you managed to break open a lock successfully. The same goes for all other skills where “difficulty” may apply.

Leveling up magic-based skills is solely determined by how much magicka spells require. Spells that require a great amount of magicka will contribute more to your overall Skill XP than spells that require less magicka. Skills can also be upgraded passively by using trainer services or reading skill books.

The other leveling type is character leveling. Character leveling needs character XP, and you get that by leveling your skills.
It doesn’t sound all that complicated, and it isn’t. Attribute bonuses gained at level-up have been simplified which means you don’t need that spreadsheet to plan your skill-ups.

Leveling affects plenty of stuff in the game’s world. For instance, most NPCs will level with you, humanoid and non-humanoid alike. Some NPCs, as well as some locations, have “fixed” levels, so they can deter a player from accessing them until he has reached a higher level. Most loot you can come across during your adventure levels with you. Which is both a good and a bad thing at the same time. Since it can become impossible to find some items at higher levels.

One such example was mentioned in our previous guide: it can be impossible to find items with muffle enchantment after you hit level 70 due to all other, more powerful enchantments getting priority in the loot tables.

In short, leveling affects most NPCs you fight, and most items you loot as you level up the world of Skyrim levels up with you.

What is the level cap in Skyrim without legendary skills?

The level cap in Skyrim if you’re not using the legendary skills mechanic is 81. This is due to the inability to gain more experience after you’ve maxed out all your skills. Of course, as a consequence, you are unable to acquire all perk points needed to unlock every single perk in skill trees. This was, of course, a reality before patch 1.9 went live and legendary skills were introduced.

What is the level cap in Skyrim with legendary skills?

There is no leveling cap if you are utilizing legendary skills. You can keep resetting your skills over and over again and gain experience indefinitely. However, there is no real purpose in leveling after you’ve hit level 252 since you acquired all perk points needed to unlock every single perk. You can, of course, still raise your health, magicka, and stamina. That stops being fun quickly after you’ve realized that most NPCs stopped leveling a long time ago and are laughably easy to defeat at this point.

Can you get level 100 in every skill Skyrim?

Yes, it is possible to get level 100 in every skill in Skyrim and it is possible to unlock all perks in the game. However, the process of doing that might be slower than you imagined. Some skills, for example, smithing, level quickly and relatively easily, and some skills are harder to max out, for example, two-handed skills.

What happens when you level a skill to 100 in Skyrim?

When you hit level 100 on a certain skill, you can make that skill legendary. Making that skill legendary will result in your skills being downgraded to level 15 and all perk points that you have invested in that specific perk tree to e refunded to you.

Can you get to level 1000 in Skyrim?

Theoretically, it is possible. It would take a long time, though, and it’s not worth the trouble. Leveling stops being useful after level 252 when all needed perk points have been acquired.

That’s pretty much it. We’ve covered some important info related to leveling in Skyrim. We’ve covered two types of leveling as well as two different level caps. As you can see, leveling is more important in the earlier stages of the game. At later stages, when you’ve started utilizing the legendary skills mechanic, it’s less important, and it turns to pure grind as the rest of Skyrim’s world has stopped leveling with you.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!