Shrouded Armor is the iconic black-and-red assassin’s outfit of the Dark Brotherhood. It’s light armor with early-to-mid-game protection – the 29-point cuirass matches Elven Armor – but its enchantments turn it into one of the best stealth kits you can get early in the game. Every member of the Brotherhood family wears it, and once you sign up, so will you.
How to get it
You can’t forge or buy it. The set is a membership gift: in With Friends Like These… you enter the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary near Falkreath, and Astrid welcomes you into the family and hands you the cowl, armor, gloves and boots. Right after that she starts you on Sanctuary, so you’ll be wearing it for your very first contracts.
Other members of the Brotherhood wear the same outfit, so if you take the Destroy the Dark Brotherhood route instead, you can collect copies the hard way.
This page also covers the Worn Shrouded set: a battered, unenchanted version with clearly lower protection (a 20-point cuirass and single-digit gloves and boots). One of each piece is lying around the Dawnstar Sanctuary, the Brotherhood’s old base. It cannot be tempered at a workbench, but it can be enchanted. Beware the gloves: they claim to double backstab damage, but that enchantment isn’t actually applied.
Is it worth wearing?
For any sneaky build, yes. The cowl makes bows do 20% more damage, the cuirass gives 50% poison resistance, the boots muffle your footsteps, and the gloves double sneak attack damage with one-handed weapons – which stacks with the Sneak skill’s own multipliers for absurd dagger hits. The total armor of 58 for 13 weight is respectable for light armor at that stage.
The weakness is long-term protection; by the late game it falls behind Glass and Dragonscale. Many players keep the gloves and boots for their enchantments and swap the rest. If you want the stronger version, go hunting for Ancient Shrouded Armor, which keeps every enchantment and improves most of them.
Good to know
- Tempering uses Leather and requires the Arcane Blacksmith perk.
- There is also a maskless variant of the cowl.
- The gloves’ backstab effect is a favourite for one-handed assassin builds.
- The Worn Shrouded pieces cannot be upgraded at a workbench.
Set pieces
| Piece | Slot | Armor | Weight | Value | Enchantment | ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shrouded Cowl | Head | 13 | 2 | 110 | Bows do 20% more damage. | 000D2842 |
| Shrouded Armor | Body | 29 | 7 | 225 | Increases Poison Resistance by 50%. | 000D2844 |
| Shrouded Gloves | Hands | 8 | 2 | 120 | Double sneak attack damage with one-handed weapons. | 000D2843 |
| Shrouded Boots | Feet | 8 | 2 | 200 | Wearer is muffled and moves silently. | 000D2845 |
| Worn Shrouded Cowl | Head | 8 | 2 | 50 | – | 0010EB5D |
| Worn Shrouded Armor | Body | 20 | 6 | 80 | – | 0010EB5B |
| Worn Shrouded Gloves | Hands | 4 | 2 | 50 | – | 0010EB5E |
| Worn Shrouded Boots | Feet | 3 | 2 | 45 | – | 0010EB5C |
Full set totals
- Shrouded Armor – helmet, cuirass, gauntlets and boots: 58 armor, 13 weight, 655 gold.
- Worn Shrouded Armor – helmet, cuirass, gauntlets and boots: 35 armor, 12 weight, 225 gold.
Crafting and upgrades
This set can’t be forged by the player – you have to find, buy or earn the pieces.
Improve (temper) the pieces at a workbench with Leather.
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.