Nordic Carved Armor (Dragonborn) is a heavy set of dark, intricately engraved steel with a proud, old-Nord silhouette – the sort of armor you’d expect a jarl’s champion to wear. It’s a strong mid-to-late game set: the four pieces total 93 armor, above Orcish (90) and just behind Ebony (96). The cuirass alone matches Ebony’s 43.
How to get it
This is a crafted set. You need the Advanced Armors perk (Smithing fifty), the same perk that unlocks Steel Plate Armor. The recipe is mostly Steel Ingots and Leather Strips, plus one Ebony Ingot and one Quicksilver Ingot per armor piece (the shield skips the ebony). That makes it very affordable compared with true ebony sets.
With Dragonborn installed, you don’t need to be on Solstheim to forge it – any forge works once you have the DLC and the perk. Nordic gear is part of the generic leveled lists, so high-level bandits on the mainland can carry it, but mainland merchants don’t sell it. On Solstheim, the merchants of Raven Rock and the blacksmith in Skaal Village commonly stock it, enchanted versions included. Temper it with Quicksilver Ingots, which you can smelt from quicksilver ore or buy from smiths now and then.
The one bottleneck is the Advanced Armors perk itself. It sits at the end of the Steel branch of the tree, so many players reach it before Ebony Smithing anyway, and this set gives them a reason to stop there for a while.
Is it worth wearing?
Yes, especially compared with its direct rival, Steel Plate. Both use the Advanced Armors perk, but Nordic Carved gives more protection (93 versus 87) and is a hair lighter at 56 total weight. For players who don’t want to walk the Elven side of the Smithing tree for Ebony, it’s arguably the best heavy armor you can reach with fifty Smithing.
Late game, Stalhrim, Dragonplate and Daedric pull ahead, but with Matching Set, Well Fitted and good tempering it stays competitive surprisingly long. And it simply looks great.
Good to know
- The matching shield is just called Nordic Shield (26.5 armor).
- Requires the Dragonborn DLC.
- Tempering uses Quicksilver Ingots, not steel.
Set pieces
| Piece | Slot | Armor | Weight | Value | ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nordic Carved Helmet | Head | 20 | 7 | 550 | 0401CD99 |
| Nordic Carved Armor | Body | 43 | 37 | 1600 | 0401CD97 |
| Nordic Carved Gauntlets | Hands | 15 | 6 | 220 | 0401CD98 |
| Nordic Carved Boots | Feet | 15 | 6 | 220 | 0401CD96 |
| Nordic Shield | Shield | 26.5 | 10 | 335 | 04026236 |
Full set totals
- Nordic Carved Armor – helmet, cuirass, gauntlets and boots: 93 armor, 56 weight, 2590 gold; with the Nordic Shield: 119.5 armor, 66 weight.
Crafting and upgrades
Recipes at the forge – requires the Advanced Armors perk:
- Nordic Carved Helmet: 1 Ebony Ingot, 2 Leather Strips, 1 Quicksilver Ingot, 4 Steel Ingot
- Nordic Carved Armor: 1 Ebony Ingot, 3 Leather Strips, 1 Quicksilver Ingot, 6 Steel Ingot
- Nordic Carved Gauntlets: 1 Ebony Ingot, 2 Leather Strips, 1 Quicksilver Ingot, 3 Steel Ingot
- Nordic Carved Boots: 1 Ebony Ingot, 2 Leather Strips, 1 Quicksilver Ingot, 4 Steel Ingot
- Nordic Shield: 1 Leather Strips, 1 Quicksilver Ingot, 4 Steel Ingot
Improve (temper) the pieces at a workbench with Quicksilver Ingot.
Stats from the Skyrim game files (Skyrim.esm and the official add-ons): base armor rating, weight and value before Smithing improvements and perks. The ID is the item’s form ID for the console.