Skills ( Skyrim ) Skills represent the ability of characters to perform actions in the game . There are 18 skills in total and the development of each is tracked separately . Skill points are a measure of how proficient the Dragonborn ( or any other character in the world ) is at these skills . Increasing them not only improves the actions performed ( e . g . , more points in the One - Handed skill increase the damage done in attack actions using such weapons , and a higher Lockpicking skill makes the lockpicking minigame easier ) but also grants access to perks that may be learned upon leveling up . Also , when a certain level is reached in some skills , guards and other NPCs will comment on it . By class archetype . All 18 skills can be grouped into 3 distinct categories based on the three guardian signs ( shown in order , 3 of them are located ambiguously between the signs ) : Raising skill level . The level of a given skill is increased as the skill is used successfully - Archery is increased when an arrow hits its target ; Destruction is increased when a spell causes damage to the target ; Sneak increases when the Dragonborn remains undetected in Sneak mode while in range of NPCs who otherwise could detect them , etc . Conjuration increases a little bit each time the Dragonborn summons a Bound Weapon or creature , for example an Atronach . However , most skills must be used in combat in order to gain the increase . Some skills , specifically Lockpicking , can increase when an attempt to pick a lock is unsuccessful ( when a lockpick breaks ) . Crafting skills ( Alchemy , Enchanting and Smithing ) , of course , increase mostly by crafting items . When taken from an in - character context , the idea is that " practice makes the master " . Each release of a bow , swing of a sword , spell cast successfully , lock picked , etc . makes the character more " skilled " ( experienced ) . While the impact of learning is always more visible at the beginning ( i . e . , less experience is needed for a skill increase when your skill level is still low ) , difficult actions require experts or even masters to perform them . Skill experience points and character level up . Increasing skills is key to the character development . When the Dragonborn reaches a pre - specified value of skill increases , they level up . However , most of the opponents in the game are tied to the Dragonborn ' s experience level ( in other words , they also level up when you do ) , therefore it is advisable to employ a bit of strategy ( forward - thinking ) when selecting which skills to improve . The effort required to level up a given skill increases with the current level of that skill . Generally , using a more advanced feature of a skill , such as an adept spell , advances the skill more than a novice feature or spell . Contrary to , it is not possible to have very skilled low level characters . Every skill increase counts for the level - ups , and the increases of skills of already high level count even more . Temporary skill increases . The use of potions , enchanted item s and some active effect s can temporarily increase the level of a skill , in the sense that the enhanced skill level is used when calculating the impact . Even though the enhancements are visible in the impact ( e . g . , a potion is better if created while the Alchemy skill is fortified ) , they are disregarded when the skill requirement for learning a new perk is checked ( i . e . , a base skill score of 30 is needed to learn Dwarven Smithing . See Enchanting for further information on skill and ability bonuses provided by enchanted gear . Learning perks . Perks are cornerstones of character development , enabling some new actions ( e . g . , crafting a type of armors and weapons such as Dwarven ) , providing significant boosts to some actions ( e . g . , + 20 % damage with a type of weapons ) or negating restrictions or penalties ( e . g . , equipped armor is considered weightless ) . Of course , there are more perks to choose from than points available ( at least until very high levels ) , so which perks to pick is also a question of strategy . Leveling skills without perks . Perks are very useful but not necessary . One example is the Lockpicking skill tree , where all perks can be avoided - the lockpicking minigame is harder without them but it is still possible to open any lock that does not require a key . In general , tactical creativity , potions , smithing and enchantments can also greatly improve effectiveness , so it is not impossible to play with very few perks - or none at all . Skill Trainers . As in previous " Elder Scrolls " titles , the Dragonborn can pay certain NPCs for training . Each training session provides a single level up for a particular skill and the Dragonborn can train at most five times per character level . Unlike , master trainers in Skyrim cannot advance a Dragonborn ' s skills beyond level 90 . The cost of training grows as the Dragonborn ' s current skill level increases . Legendary Skills . Legendary skills is a mechanic introduced in with patch 1 . 9 . Prior to this patch , the maximum level of a character was 81 without console commands ( cheats ) . The patch allows the player to reset one or more skills , thereby the character can gain additional skill increases leading to level ups and more points that can be spent on perks . Once a skill has reached 100 , it can be made " Legendary . " This resets the skill back to level 15 , and refunds any Perk points that were spent in that skill tree . The dragon symbol , commonly associated with the Imperial Legion , will be displayed under the skill ' s name , indicating that it has been made Legendary , and a number appears beside it to track how many times this has occurred . Legendary skills level up normally , and have no added benefits compared with non - Legendary skills . When a Legendary skill is mastered , it can be made Legendary again . This effectively removes any level cap , since the player can continue to maximize then reset skills an infinite number of times . It also allows them to level using only a small number of skills , so they can level while ignoring unwanted skills or focus on easily leveled skills for faster level gain . It is generally inadvisable to make core combat skills Legendary . For instance , a character whose primary means of attack is with bows will find themselves severely handicapped by making Archery legendary . One should also take into account the ease of leveling various skills . Maximum level . In order to gain all 251 perks available , a skill must be made Legendary a total of 146 times , or between 8 – 9 times for each skill , if starting at level 81 . While there is no maximum level cap , reaching level 252 is sufficient to gain all perks . The math used to reach this answer can be seen below : Note : DLC not accounted for Appearances .