Pickpocket is the art of crouching behind someone and helping yourself to whatever they carry, or quietly adding something to it. Your skill level, perks and Fortify Pickpocket gear decide your odds, while heavy and valuable items make a theft harder. It belongs to the Stealth group, so the Thief Stone helps it grow, and Khajiit, Bosmer and Argonians start with a small bonus.
On its own it is the most situational skill in the game, but it shines for anyone running the Thieves Guild questline, for stealth builds that want to disarm or strip a target before a fight, and for assassins who like their kills silent and untraceable. Its perks also hide one of Skyrim’s most generally useful bonuses: a hefty boost to carrying capacity. Just remember that getting caught means a bounty and a very irritated victim.
How Pickpocket works
The basics
Sneak up to a person, ideally while hidden, and use the activate button to open their inventory. Each item shows a success chance; take it and the game rolls the dice. Succeed and the item is yours (marked as stolen if it has value). Fail and the target notices, which usually means a bounty in that hold and an angry owner. Even at the very top, your chance never quite reaches certainty, so saving first is wise.
What affects your chances
Your Pickpocket level and Light Fingers ranks are the main factors. Heavier and more valuable items are harder to lift, so a coin purse is easier than a war axe. Fortify Pickpocket enchantments and potions add to the odds. Several perks open whole new options: stealing equipped weapons, then equipped clothing and armor, and planting poisons.
Reverse pickpocketing
You can also place items into someone’s inventory. This is how Thieves Guild jobs frame people (it is the heart of A Chance Arrangement), how you hand a target a poison with the Poisoned perk, and a way to make someone wear a piece of clothing you give them.
What earns experience
Every successful theft raises the skill, and more valuable items give more experience.
Pickpocket perk tree
The Pickpocket tree has 8 perks with 12 ranks in total. Required levels are the Pickpocket skill level needed for each rank.
| Perk | Ranks | Skill level | Requires | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light Fingers | 5 | 0 / 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 | – | Rank 1: Pickpocketing bonus of 20%. Item weight and value reduce pickpocketing odds. Rank 2: Pickpocketing bonus of 40%. Item weight and value reduce pickpocketing odds. Rank 3: Pickpocketing bonus of 60%. Item weight and value reduce pickpocketing odds. Rank 4: Pickpocketing bonus of 80%. Item weight and value reduce pickpocketing odds. Rank 5: Pickpocketing bonus of 100%. Item weight and value reduce pickpocketing odds. |
| Night Thief | 1 | 30 | Light Fingers | +25% chance to pickpocket if the target is asleep. |
| Cutpurse | 1 | 40 | Night Thief | Pickpocketing gold is 50% easier. |
| Poisoned | 1 | 40 | Night Thief | Silently harm enemies by placing poisons in their pockets. |
| Extra Pockets | 1 | 50 | Night Thief | Carrying capacity is increased by 100. |
| Keymaster | 1 | 60 | Cutpurse | Pickpocketing keys almost always works. |
| Misdirection | 1 | 70 | Cutpurse | Can pickpocket equipped weapons. |
| Perfect Touch | 1 | 100 | Misdirection | Can pickpocket equipped items. |
Perk guide
Pickpocket’s tree is small, and how far you take it depends on whether you just want the carry weight or are building a true thief.
Light Fingers is the base perk, with ranks at 0, 20, 40, 60 and 80 that add a pickpocketing bonus of 20% per rank, up to 100%. Buy ranks as you level the skill; without them, anything valuable stays out of reach.
Night Thief (30) adds 25% chance against sleeping targets and leads to everything else. Sleeping victims are the easiest marks in the game, so it pairs well with night-time burglaries.
From Night Thief the tree branches three ways. Extra Pockets (50) increases carrying capacity by 100, a flat bonus that any character can enjoy; it is the reason plenty of non-thieves dip into this tree. Poisoned (40) lets you plant poisons in someone’s pockets to harm them silently, a favourite of Dark Brotherhood players who pair it with strong Alchemy. Cutpurse (40) makes stealing gold 50% easier.
After Cutpurse come Keymaster (60), where lifting keys almost always works and doors stop being an obstacle, and Misdirection (70), which lets you steal equipped weapons, perfect for disarming a dangerous foe before a fight. The capstone, Perfect Touch (100), lets you take equipped items such as armor, clothing and jewelry.
For a light investment, take Light Fingers to taste, Night Thief and Extra Pockets. A committed thief adds Cutpurse, Misdirection and Perfect Touch. The skill naturally supports Sneak, since being hidden is half the job, and Lockpicking and Speech for opening doors and fencing stolen goods.
How to level Pickpocket fast
- Steal valuable items. Experience scales with value, so pocketing a gem or a pricey potion is worth more than a dozen loaves of bread.
- Work at night. Sleeping targets are much easier marks, especially with Night Thief, and fewer witnesses are awake.
- Do the Thieves Guild jobs. Delvin Mallory and Vex hand out side jobs in the Ragged Flagon, several of which involve lifting or planting items, and they pay well.
- Use Fortify Pickpocket gear and potions. Better odds let you go after more valuable items sooner, which speeds things up.
- Save before attempts. A failure costs you a bounty and the target’s goodwill, so save before practising on anyone you care about.
- Pay a trainer. Silda the Unseen in Windhelm trains up to Expert, and Vipir the Fleet of the Thieves Guild in Riften up to Master.
- Get the Stealth-wide boosts. Finn’s Lute grants a level in every Stealth skill, and the skill books add one each.
Trainers
| Trainer | Trains up to | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Silda the Unseen | Expert (up to 75) | |
| Vipir the Fleet | Master (up to 90) |
Each trainer can teach up to five levels per character level, and training costs more gold the higher your skill is.
Pickpocket skill books
Reading each of these books for the first time raises Pickpocket by one level:
Tips and notes
- Planting a poison with the Poisoned perk kills without a struggle in plain sight, and it is a favourite way to finish Dark Brotherhood contracts cleanly.
- Misdirection makes a fine opener against a dangerous named enemy: take their weapon first, then start the fight.
- With Perfect Touch you can leave a target in their underwear, a classic Skyrim prank and a surprisingly effective way to weaken an armored foe before you strike.
- Pockets can surprise you: guards, merchants and quest givers often carry keys or notes that open up otherwise locked doors and side stories.
Perk tree, required levels and trainer levels from the Skyrim LE 1.9 master files (AVIF AVPickpocket, PERK and CLAS records).
