Leather Armor is the classic adventurer’s outfit: boiled and stitched leather that keeps you nimble while turning aside the odd arrow. It’s the strongest light set you can forge without any Smithing perk, sitting above Hide Armor and Fur Armor and just below Elven Armor on the protection scale. Hunters, scouts and plenty of bandits wear it.
How to get it
Crafting is the obvious route. No perk and no Smithing level is required, so you can make a full set the first time you walk into a smithy, whether that’s Alvor‘s forge in Riverwood or the one outside Whiterun‘s Warmaiden’s. All it takes is leather and leather strips, which you get by tanning animal hides at a tanning rack. Deer, goats, wolves and bears all count, so a quick hunting trip covers the cost.
If you’d rather not craft, Leather Armor is common in early leveled loot and in blacksmith stock, for example from Adrianne Avenicci or Balimund in Riften. Bandits drop it regularly too.
Is it worth wearing?
For the first stretch of a light armor playthrough, absolutely. The four pieces add up to 52 armor rating for 12 weight, a solid jump over Hide for the same raw materials. Because the set has a helmet, cuirass, bracers and boots, it qualifies for the Matching Set perk and for Custom Fit, and tempering it with leather is cheap. Stealth archers in particular like it because it’s light and quiet-looking.
The catch is that it doesn’t scale into the late game. Once you pick up Elven Smithing, Elven Armor is lighter and stronger, and by Smithing 50 Scaled Armor leaves it behind. Leather also has no matching shield, so sword-and-board players will need to borrow one from another set.
Good to know
- No perk or skill level is needed to forge any piece.
- Leather Armor is a cheap and popular way to level Smithing early.
- Unlike Hide Armor, there is no Leather Shield.
Set pieces
| Piece | Slot | Armor | Weight | Value | ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leather Helmet | Head | 12 | 2 | 60 | 00013922 |
| Leather Armor | Body | 26 | 6 | 125 | 0003619E |
| Leather Bracers | Hands | 7 | 2 | 25 | 00013921 |
| Leather Boots | Feet | 7 | 2 | 25 | 00013920 |
Full set totals
- Leather Armor – helmet, cuirass, gauntlets and boots: 52 armor, 12 weight, 235 gold.
Crafting and upgrades
Recipes at the forge – no perk needed:
- Leather Helmet: 2 Leather, 1 Leather Strips
- Leather Armor: 4 Leather, 3 Leather Strips
- Leather Bracers: 1 Leather, 2 Leather Strips
- Leather Boots: 2 Leather, 2 Leather Strips
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.