Skyrim Speed running guide/tutorial

NOTE: You're overall goal for armor, will be to make the "Infinity" Set, which can technically be any armor type due to perk placement. You'll need to do the alchemy glitch, which I'll have a link to another page written by me explaining a few common glitches. You'll start by needing 4 Grand Soul Gem (Grand)s and a Helmet, Gloves, Necklace, and Ring. Hopefully you've found the Smithing and Alchemy enchantments by now, but if you haven't swing by Warmaiden's or even Belethor's to do the Auto-Reset vendor glitch until you come across them both. This will but a small or large dent into your funds, but in the long run will be very useful. In the glitch link, read the Restoration/Alchemy glitch and make the potions you'll need with a decent kick to them (anything like 10,000,000% is pretty good, you're looking for never-ending, not just super-human) and when you acquire all the required enchantments, enchant them like so:
Potion count:
Potion of Fortify Enchanting x6
Potion of Fortify Restoration x5-7
Potion of Smithing x1-3
Helmet: Fortify Magicka and Fortify Alchemy
Necklace: Fortify Healing Rate and Fortify Stamina Regeneration
Chest Piece: Fortify Smithing and Fortify Health
Gauntlets: Fortify Lockpicking and Fortify Pickpocketing
Ring: Fortify Magicka Regeneration and Fortify Stamina
Boots: Fortify Carry Weight and Muffle
This will cover you to infinite health, magicka, and stamina. Also you'll have practically infinite regen on them, so you technically don't need the rest of the armor aside the Ring and Necklace. The boots have Carry Weight and Muffle so you can carry pretty much anything without needing to stop to put things away, and I'll explain your favorites in a moment.
Favorites:
You'll want only 4-6 things.
1. Your glitched overkill bow, dagger, and sword.
2. Dragonrend
3. Whirlwind Sprint
and
4. Your Muffle spell until you acquire the enchantment

Total Gamerscore: 65/1250 Total Trophies: 4/60 (50)

Starting out: A Noob's Life

Just as you thought things couldn't get any better for you, you start Skyrim off on the chopping block for something you'll never know you did. However, just as you thought your "average" day couldn't get any worse, a dragon drops in to visit. He crashes the party, yet saves your life by knocking the executioner out of the way. Rolof helps you to your feet and tells you to run away. After running and running and more killing, you'll get to a stealth part, where Rolof gives you a bow and arrows. Now when you killed the torturer mage in the prison/dungeon hopefully you grabbed his Steel Dagger as it's most effective. When reaching the sneak area, and Rolof gives you the bow, you need to situate him into a corner, with his back facing you. Here is where you get your wonderful first set of achievements. You'll earn 3 new achievements, Apprentice, Adept and Skill Master, for a whopping 55 total Gamerscore, or 3 trophies. to get the Skill Master this early, you need to hit Rolof with sneak hits for roughly 45 minutes (average on my 3 level 81 runs) to hit 100.

To get the other two, just simply level up and switch between back and forth between health and stamina for the time being. You won't level up for quite a while (try not to until later) and you'll be around 16-18 after 100 Sneak. Follow the rest of the quest and get out of the Helgen cave system and earn your next achievement "Unbound". You now have 65 Gamerscore, or 4 Trophies and you just started. Thus begins the next Chapter, which takes a bit of dedication and skill. Making a speed run for a much more advanced player.

Posted Image Total Gamerscore: 75/1250 Total Trophies: 5/60 (50)

Dedication, Chapter 1: The New Frontier

Right after finishing Unbound head directly for that first Standing stone and train for the Warrior Stone and earn Blessed for 10G and run to Riverwood. You won't be spending very long here and I'm going to give you all a treat, a summary of my Oghma Infinium guide. Yes, that is right everybody, you are getting one of the most time consuming things out of the way first, you are going to hit 81 before you start the main quest, or the side Guild quests. You'll be heading up to Septimus Sigmus's Outpost in the very northern tip of Skyrim, past the College of Winterhold.

NOTE: You need to make sure that on the way there you discover Alftand and if you want, the College of Winterhold (for later). This is because Alftand is set as your quest marker for the quest you need to hit 81. This quest is none other than "Discerning the Transmundane".

You need to be at least level 15 to start the rest of this quest, but upon meeting Septimus, he'll ask you to retrieve an Elder Scroll. Try to get as many locations as you can, just don't go way out of your way, as you'll have plenty of time later to get Explorer. Once your journey brings you to his outpost, the "real fun" begins and now starts a somewhat frustrating endeavor.

(No new achievements earned here) Total Gamerscore: 75/1250 Total Trophies: 5/60 (50)

Dedication, Chapter 2: Gotta Catch 'em All!

You've now accepted the quest and you are off to Alftand which you should fast travel to for effort of saving time. You'll run and hopefully find the muffle spell like I found on my speed run, which was incredibly lucky, however, you may not be as lucky as I am. Try to pick as many locks as possible and even save before you attempt if you're running low so you can try again. Your goal is to get a decent enough weapon to kill the higher leveled enemies (normally if you can kill as single falmer, take the weapon and you should be good.) And reach the end and snipe the Dwarven Centurion with your bow until he falls. Loot both of them and head to through the gate, you'll see two people fighting, let them fight, and clear the leftovers, though be aware that the Spellsword/Battle-mage uses decently high spells and can kill you pretty easily.

Use the things Septimus gave you and journey into Blackreach. (NOTE: there are 3 Dwarven Centurions on the map of Blackreach, one in front of you and two spread around the map. One is on a dock around the Tower of Mzark (Your objective) and the other is under a bridge around a giant.) You can do what is in the parentheses, or quickly power through to the Tower and do the quick puzzle to get the scroll, HOWEVER, do not forget to take Ruined Lexicon from the holding platform next to the mechanism's buttons. Head top-side and return to Septimus.

Total Gamerscore: 85/1250 Total Trophies: 6/60 (50)

Dedication, Chapter 3: Gotta Catch 'em All! Part II

After doing the challenge of Alftand and return to Septimus, he gives you (surprise, right?) another mundane and frustrating task. You must find the blood of all the Mer races (a.k.a Elves) and extract their fallen and fresh blood. (NOTE: to start this part, you MUST be level 15+ or he'll tell you he'll tell you when he need your assistance and the quest glitches) This is a good time to quickly earn 8,000 gold and head by carriage to Markarth. The reason you are heading there, is upon clearing a little bit of forsworn and retrieving a shield for the Jarl, you can now buy property and quickly get a house. I also chose this one, because it is a house you can buy for free by a glitch that'll be mentioned later.

For now, after doing these and gaining some new locations, head out to Whiterun via carriage and enter the main gate. you'll want to make an immediate right and then another into a tiny room with a lone barrel in it. Jump on the barrel and step to the outside (right) edge of the barrel and jump. if you complete a full jump, that means you are "outside the barrier" and then jump forward onto the fortification ledge. You have now hopefully gotten out of Whiterun, now run along the wall to your left and head for the Skyforge. I can't 100% explain the invisible barrier you'll pass, just that it is close to the wall on the rubble pile's right side. climb up it and glitch under Whiterun to find a chest, Eurland Grey-mane's inventory chest as a matter of fact. Which upon reset, or your first time in the city, will ALWAYS carry 1,000 gold at least on average. After looting the chest, head back into the map (via fast travel or walking towards the stairs then heading back up) and talk to him for the first time and see what he has. his inventory will reset and you do it again. Since he is flagged as essential, you cannot reset his inventory via the "Save-Kill-Load" method, and you must wait 48 in-game hours and talk again for it to reset. Do this until you have your 8,000 gold and return to Markarth to do your next glitch. (NOTE: For xbox players, if you press your guide right after setting a wait cycle for 24 hours, you'll increase your wait speed astronomically making the wait significantly less, this is HIGHLY advised)

Talk to the steward and tell him you'll buy the house for 8,000 gold. right after he starts the dialogue saying how you bought it, immediately back out of the conversation and turn around and activate the chest behind you, and deposit all of your gold. Wait for him to finish all of his dialogue and retrieve your money. Rinse and repeat to buy everything Vlindrel Hall has to offer then be on your way. You'll pick up the Citizen Achievement/Trophy and can return to working on the "Discerning the Transmundane" quest.

Total Gamerscore: 160/1250 Total Trophies: 9/60 (50)

Dedication, Chapter 4: Gotta Catch 'em All! Part III

This part is rather short because with the help of a previously made guide by myself revolving around the entire quest, here is generally how to do the glitch, and it is HIGHLY recommended to save after every branch of skills are completed. http://eldersouls.co...-glitchexploit/ This is the link to my guide, and hopefully you'll be able to find bloods faster, as some are harder than others, such as Altmer (a.k.a High Elves) If you are having trouble finding one, you'll have to risk a -1,000 gold dent in your pocket to kill one of the High Elves populating Markarth's very own Understone Keep. Once you finally and hopefully quickly find all the Mer bloods, return to Septimus and watch him inject it, beholding the "falsimily" as he put it, open the giant and deep Dwarven box. you'll finish the quest and become Hermaeus Mora's daedric champion and earn an honest 10G for Daedric Influence. Now quickly return to Vlindrel Hall and get all your skills to 100 and level to 81, earning Expert and Master for a total of 75G, almost doubling your total in about a half hour.

Your perks should be very simple, such as this build I created, however there are a few discrepancies with what perks should be put in and for the Whiterun glitch, you may want to find something to replace so you can get +1,500 Gold added to his chest via the Speech perks (+500 for investing and another +1,000 for the last perk) but try it like this anyways, I'm currently at almost 90,000 gold after a 9 days. (Build thread link: http://eldersouls.co...speedrun-build/ )

Total Gamerscore: 350/1250 Total Trophies: 18/60 (50)

Quest Shenanigans, Chapter 1: Dragon?, This isn't the dragon you're looking for...

Alright, fantastic, if you've made it this far, you have your first Daedric quest under your belt and you can now start the mass and fast ownage of the somewhat short Main Quest line. Time to put on your Skyrim A-Game and go for a Main-Quest single sitting beat for a large Achievement/Trophy boost. Burn quickly through the short dungeon of Bleak Falls Barrow and earn the achievement for the quest. Continue to do the Main-Quest line as fast as you can, taking a real life eating break or whatever whenever you need to (no sense in dying) and keep going.

Congratulations for completing the Main-Questline, there aren't really any shortcuts to it, aside for maybe knowing a certain part that makes the quest shorter, etc. Now you'll want to use that College of Winterhold marker you found earlier, as that is your next quest-line.

I Forgot to add, but upon completing "Bleak Falls Barrow", you'll absorb your first dragon soul, no matter what, thus getting the Dragon Soul achievement.

Total Gamerscore: 400/1250 Total Trophies: 21/60 (50)

Quest Shenanigans, Chapter 2: Staves, and more reasons to hate Altmer

Alright, head to your favorite hold, Winterhold and walk up to the "Gatekeeper" Foralda and talk to her about joining. Normally you'd have to do the beginning task, however because you have maxed speech, you can persuade her and she'll do it for you. Upon entering, you unlock the "gatekeeper' achievement for 10G, now talk to the mage giving the tour, then head straight into the Hall of Elements to learn your Ward lesson with Tolfdir and his other apprentices. After finishing that, he'll tell you to meet him at Saarthal and do that.

For this Quest set, I don't think there are any shortcuts, so just continue through the questline as fast as you feel comfortable, and earn your next set of quest achievements and a shiny new staff, the Staff of Magnus.

Total Gamerscore: 450/1250 Total Trophies: 24/60 (50)

Quest Shenanigans, Chapter 3: Jealousy, and Anger Don't Mix Well

Oh the Dark Brotherhood, possibly one of the most interesting questlines to watch unfold and you'll see a lot of jealousy and anger play into how things work as a paid assassin. Like most of the other Guild Questlines, there are really no shortcuts for this aside for fast traveling, and by now, if you have been walking to your objectives, or use carriages, you should be close to "Explorer" or have it already. I'll post it however at the end in the Misc Chapter. Most of the Dark Brotherhood quests are very straight-forward, but on the first quest, you are best off killing the Khajit.

Posted Image Total Gamerscore: 540/1250 Total Trophies: 28/60 (50)

Quest Shenanigans, Chapter 4: WIth a Golden Touch, 100,000 isn't that hard

Larceny is your biggest friend in this speed run, however you'll get the last Thieves Guild achievement later. This is because of what is required of it. There are 7-8 things you NEED to get while doing this questine to make extra money. These are the optional "Larceny target" objectives that are hidden to you until picking them up. These items are the Queen Bee Statue, the HonningBrew Decanter, the East Empire Map, the Model Ship, the Dwemer Puzzle Box, the Bust of the Grey Fox and the Left Eye of the Falmer. The Queen Bee Statue is in the master bedroom at the first job. the Decanter is in an expert locked room just past the previous owner's bedroom. The empire map is found in the wardens room on the top of a ledge to the left inside the storage area/docking bay. The model ship is in the Sanctum in an offset room, to find it, you just need to look around a little, however it'll be obvious when you find it, just watch out for traps as it's surrounded by oil. The Puzzle box is found on a small holder inside the second area of the Dwarven Museum. The Bust of the Grey Fox is found on the table to the left of Mercer's plans inside his house. and Finally the Eyes of the Falmer are found very easily as you loot them off of Mercer's body.

These quests are harder than the Dark Brotherhood and the College, but are worth it, and by now you should definitely have 100 locations found, along with at least 13 standing stones found. (Both explorer and Standing Stones are added here)

Total Gamerscore: 680/1250 Total Trophies: 34/60 (50)

Quest Shenanigans, Chapter 5: Twilight, the Skyrim Love Story

Welcome to Dawnguard. Where the apparent threat of Vampires are ever present and a threat to deal with. At the start of Dawnguard, no matter what you decide, on the start you are looking for the cause of a Vigilant camp being destroyed. What you find is something much much more... unique. You find a dormant vampire clutching onto an Elder scroll... but you ask, wasn't there only one? Not anymore there isn't, and there is quite a story behind them all. Here is where you meet Serana and get the achievement "Awakening". Throughout your time on the Vampire side, and using it as much as you can, you'll hopefully hit Mastery on it before completely finishing Dawnguard. There are several things that come from the experiences, but none cooler than visiting the Soul Cairn. The Soul Cairn is where souls go when they are soul trapped. By the time you leave, you'll learn a new shout, and get the achievement "Beyond Death". Finally, and there is a large spoiler here, but to get the last achievement "Kindred Judgement" You must kill the lord of the Vampires, Lord Harkon. That is the good side, however you can side with him and kill Serana instead as a sacrifice. You can also quickly get the Soul Tear achievement as well, becasue all you need to do is use the Soul Cairn dragon shout. You'll also be able to get the Auriel's Bow achievement by shooting a Bloodcursed Elven arrow into the sun during the day.

Total Gamerscore: 730/1250 Total Trophies: 37/60 (50)

Quest Shenanigans, Chapter 6: For Skyrim!!!

This is the Civil war, Tullius versus Stormcloak. So many options, so little difference. Choose whichever you want, all you need to do is just help the other in conquering most of Skyrim. These are incredibly straight-forward and fast to complete, especially with your weapons. There isn't much to put here, because these are that straight-forward, and are no shortcuts aside for fast-traveling.

Posted Image Total Gamerscore: 800/1250 Total Trophies: 41/60 (50)

Quest Shenanigans, Chapter 7: Team Jacob, Still Under Powered

The final questline, saved to get the Werewolf Mastery achievement. Go through this questline, and finish it, but upon finishing it, if you used your werewolf at all, you'll have a head start. What you do, is you save wherever you are, then turn werewolf and kill EVERYTHING, eat EVERYTHING, until you hit mastery, because you probably won't get it any other way. It takes longer than Vampire Lord to hit 11, and the only way you gain experience for it is to eat the hearts of your fallen foes. Conveniently eating hearts are the only way to regain health as well. I wish you luck in getting the werewolf Mastery, as it is, in my opinion, much harder to master.

Total Gamerscore: 910/1250 Total Trophies: 48/60 (50)

Miscellaneous, Chapter 1: "Easy" Achievements

Easy achievements that you could have gotten either during a questline, or very quickly in your spare time. These achievements, in order of image appearance are: Hard Worker, Snake Tongue, Wanted, Married, Artificer, Legendary, and A New You. all of these are fairly simple and have simple objectives, such as getting married or doing a couple common things like chopping wood or making a meal. Legendary is in this list, because you are level 81 and you are much more likely to come across a Legendary dragon, over some lower tier dragon.

Posted Image Total Gamerscore: 1030/1250 Total Trophies: 53/60 (50)

Miscellaneous, Chapter 2: "Medium" Achievements

Medium achievements that take a little bit of time, or aren't just acquirable by doing a questline or by just taking a few moments of "off-time" These achievements, in order of appearance by image are: Sideways, Hero of the People, Master Criminal, Delver, and Reader. These achievements are all here, because they require several different objectives, or require a little bit of time to move around all of them.

Total Gamerscore: 1250/1250 Total Trophies: 60/60 (50)

Miscellaneous, Chapter 3: "Hard" Achievements

Hard achievements that can take quite a deal of time to complete, and have rather challenging objectives to them. If you don't have the Thief achievement yet, use the "One with the Shadows" achievements and the easiest for the achievement, is to do numbers jobs, however if you don't have Thief, then go for a "Fishing" Job. For the Daedric Artifacts Achievement, I am working on a guide, and is currently the only unfinished part of my Speedrun guide. The achievements, in order of image shown are: One with the Shadows, Thief, Golden Touch, Oblivion Walker, Dragon Hunter, Th'um Master, and Lost to the Ages. Daedric Artifact Guide: http://eldersouls.co...h-walkthroughs/

I hope you enjoy this guide, It isn't extremely detailed, however most of the Questlines don't have many shortcuts, So it's all about just doing what you can. Hopefully this helps people out, and If I missed anything, Please comment and let me know so I, or Traaginen, or Blexun can fix it.

Credit:
http://www.xbox360ac...v/achievements/ For their Achievement Images
Bethesda for their Game, which I own no rights to and post this strictly for educational purposes.
Microsoft, for possible achievement names, or the Xbox 360 title
Sony, for the use of the PS3 Trophy title.
and any other source i could have possibly used any information from, however, I do claim this as my own work, as I wrote it out completely with my own thoughts

David · August 13, 2012

Very good guide. It's taken me a long time to reply because I don't like doing so until I've gone through the entire thing, but I don't know how long it will take me since it's quite large. Good work on it. :smile:One suggestion I would have is potentially shortening the paragraphs and instead doing numbered steps limited to a sentence or two. When people look for guides they generally want something moderately quick and easily readable. With that said, you shouldn't remove in-depth instructions where their needed. Infact, perhaps you could have a quick 1. 2. 3. step walk-through and then have in-depth instructions after it for those who need it.

Unknown ProbLem · August 13, 2012

I already tried to make them as short a possible but there is only enough vagueness to show on something like this. Also, it takes quite a bit of skill to start a speed run of skyrim, and still requires a lot of explaination. also my questline choice was a little unorthodox already and I would make it shorter if you could help, because I really don't know how much shorter it could be

Blake · August 13, 2012

For example, you could have the larceny target items and the "elf blood" bit in a bullet-ed list.Really good guide though. You covered a lot in a relatively short article.

Unknown ProbLem · August 13, 2012

The elf bloods would've cluttered it, and Unless i wanted to put in my entire Oghma guide, i though'd it would be a little more friendly to put the guide there, and I need to finish up my Daedric artifact guide.

Unknown ProbLem · November 7, 2013

*Important Update*= Due to the 1.9 patch, to start off this speedrun, you MUST be offline. The fastest way to level 81 was through Oghma infinium. There are probably more official easy ways to ACTUALLY speedrun this game, however this is a more casual run that gets all of the achievements. Through 3 days of inconsistent play, I had 800 gamerscore for it.

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Skyrim Speed running guide/tutorial

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Unknown ProbLem's Personal Speed running guide for Skyrim!

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