Skyrim:Ebony

thumb|right|Ebony Ingot
thumb|right|Ebony Ore vein
Ebony is a hard, durable, black glass-like substance that can be forged into high-quality armor and weapons. The primary ebony mine in Skyrim is Gloombound Mine, in the Orc Stronghold of Narzulbur, while the primary ebony mine in Solstheim  is Raven Rock Mine. See the lore article for general information.

Overview

Three ebony ores are obtained by mining ebony ore veins.
One ebony ingot is obtained by smelting two ebony ores.
Ebony Smithing requires 80 Smithing skill.
Ebony armor is level 32 heavy armor, made from ebony ingots and leather strips.
Ebony weapons are level 36 weapons, made from ebony ingots and leather strips.
Ebony ingots can rarely be found in chests.

Mineral Sources
In addition to the following guaranteed sources, the best random locations are:
Ebony ingots may be sold by blacksmiths starting at level 27 and general goods merchants starting at level 14.
Ebony ore may be randomly found in Falmer loot starting at level 13.
Ebony ore may sometimes be found in the ash pile remains of ash spawn  or gargoyle  corpses.
These ore vein locations are also listed in the Ebony Veins category, and the exterior ore veins are shown on  .


Ebony Smithing
Ebony Smithing is the third perk in the heavy armor branch of the Smithing skill's perk tree. Unlocking it requires a minimum Smithing skill of 80, and the Orcish Smithing perk must have already been unlocked. It allows both ebony armor and ebony weapons to be crafted.

The Ebony Smithing perk also causes tempering of ebony weapons and armor to be twice as effective.  This perk applies to both unenchanted ebony gear and enchanted gear (generic armor, generic weapons, or custom), as long as the Arcane Blacksmith perk has been unlocked. Tempering of the Savior's Hide is also improved by Ebony Smithing, even though it does not use an ebony ingot.

With the addition of the Dragonborn add-on, Ebony Smithing is required in order to craft stalhrim weapons and armor.

Ebony Armor
Ebony armor is the high-quality heavy armor. It appears in leveled lists starting at level 32 (enchanted varieties at level 33). All items can be tempered using one ebony ingot, and having the Ebony Smithing perk doubles the quality improvement.

The Fearsome Fists Creation adds the Brawler's ebony gauntlets, a new gauntlet variant. The base pair can be crafted and differ only in appearance, while a pair with a 16 point Fortify Unarmed enchantment can be bought from vendors and found in random loot.
thumb|right|A male Skyrim:Nord|Nord wearing ebony Armor

Bugs
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ebony Plate is a variant added by the Alternative Armors - Ebony Plate creation. It can be crafted after completing Heart of Crimson , while also appearing in random loot.

Its armor rating is slightly better than the regular versions and it has a higher value, though no shield variant exists.
thumb|right|A female Skyrim:Imperial|Imperial wearing ebony plate armor

 

Ebony Weapons
Ebony weapons are generally the second-best standard weapons in the original version of the game, behind only Daedric weapons. However, the ebony mace and ebony war axe are actually slightly better than their Daedric equivalents. These two weapons have identical damage statistics to the Daedric versions, but weigh less and do not require the use of a valuable Daedra Heart to create, making them somewhat better overall, something changed by the Unofficial Skyrim Patch. The Dawnguard add-on introduces dragonbone weapons, making ebony the third-best standard of weapon.

Ebony weapons appear in leveled lists starting at level 36 (enchanted varieties at level 37). All items except ammunition can be tempered using one ebony ingot, and having the Ebony Smithing perk doubles the quality improvement. Arrows can only be smithed if the Dawnguard add-on has been installed.

The Ghosts of the Tribunal Creation adds two new ebony weapons which can be crafted once you've killed the heretic during the related quest.


 
 
 

Notes
Ebony ore can be sold to Dushnamub for the quest Mine Ore.
Ebony ingots are needed to create and temper Daedric armor and weapons, and to create a random enchanted armor or weapon at the Atronach Forge.
Several artifacts and unique weapons are tempered using ebony ingots.
Ore veins (all types) sometimes do not respawn normally. See Mining (Bugs) and elsewhere on that article and its talk page.