Nightingale Armor

The Nightingale Armor is a unique light armor set that appears in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The armor is the trademark of the Nightingales, a shadowy faction dedicated to the service of the Daedric Prince Nocturnal. The faction is reformed during the course of the Thieves Guild questline and The Dragonborn is given a set of the armor before being inducted into the group.

Because the armor is leveled, the magnitude of the enchantments and value are contingent upon character level.

Acquisition

The full set is given to the Dragonborn by Karliah before performing the initiation ritual of the Nightingales during the quest "Trinity Restored" for the Thieves Guild. All pieces are obtained when activating the Armor Stone, emblazoned with the Nightingales symbol, inside the Nightingale Hall.

Enchantments

Each piece bears an enchantment, the magnitude of which is dependent on character level. Three tiers of armor are available and the set with the strongest enchantments can be obtained after level 32. The character level when the quest "Trinity Restored" is started determines which tier of armor will be granted.

In addition, wearing all four pieces of Nightingale Armor grants the effect "Nightingale Armor Full Set," which increases armor rating by 25 points.

Smithing

All pieces can be upgraded at a workbench with void salts and the Arcane Blacksmith perk, however they do not benefit from any Smithing perks. This means they cannot be improved past flawless quality without boosting the Smithing skill over 100. This can be achieved by using enchanted items and/or blacksmithing potions to fortify Smithing.

Attributes by piece

Level 1–18

Piece				Enchantment	ID
Nightingale Armor	34	12	1249	Increases stamina by 20 points. Increases Frost Resistance by 15%.	0005DB86
Nightingale Boots	10	2	213	Wearer is muffled and moves silently. (0.25 points)	000FCC0C
Nightingale Gloves	10	2	819	Lockpicking is 15% easier. One-handed attacks do 15% more damage.	0005DB87
Nightingale Hood	15	2	804	Illusion spells cost 12% less to cast.	0005DB88
Total	69	18	3085	–	–

Level 19–31

Piece				Enchantment	ID
Nightingale Armor	34	12	1553	Increases stamina by 30 points. Increases Frost Resistance by 30%.	000FCC0E
Nightingale Boots	10	2	293	Wearer is Muffled and moves silently. (0.5 points)	0005DB85
Nightingale Gloves	10	2	1054	Lockpicking is 20% easier. One-handed attacks do 20% more damage.	000FCC10
Nightingale Hood	15	2	902	Illusion spells cost 15% less to cast.	000FCC13
Total	69	18	3748	–	–

Level 32+

Piece				Enchantment	ID
Nightingale Armor	34	12	1949	Increases stamina by 40 points. Increases Frost Resistance by 50%.	000FCC0F
Nightingale Boots	10	2	5434	Wearer is muffled and moves silently. (35 points)	000FCC0D
Nightingale Gloves	10	2	1294	Lockpicking is 25% easier. One-handed attacks do 25% more damage.	000FCC11
Nightingale Hood	15	2	969	Illusion spells cost 17% less to cast.	000FCC12
Total	69	18	9646	–	–

Gallery

Female Armor

Male Armor

Brynjolf and Karliah in the Armor

Bugs

•  PC   360   PS3   The armor can't be upgraded even when the player has a sufficient Smithing skill, perks, and void salts.
  • Possible solution: If Fine-Cut Void Salts are in the inventory, drop them or put them in a container.
•  360   PS3   Sometimes the coloring of the Hood will go, and it will become white, (as well as Nightingale hoods worn by others). Reinstalling the game seems to fix this, although you may lose saved progress in current games.
  •  PS3   Solution: Fast travel and it should turn back to black or un-equip it and re-equip it.
  •  PS3   Solution: Take off the hood and put it back on repeatedly.
  •  PS3   Solution: Drop the hood on the ground during the daytime and wait until night to pick it back up and equip it.
• While wearing the gloves, human and wood elf fingers skin tone will always look the same no matter the character's skin tone.
  •  PS3   Solution: Restart the console.
•  360   Replacing the Nightingale Hood with a Shrouded Hood still gives the matching set effect.
•  360   The Muffle effect on the boots may not work as intended, as enemies will still detect the player, even far away. Tested with 90 Sneak and the Muffled Movement perk.

Trivia

• The armor container in the developers' room (accessible on PC only through the console command: coc qasmoke) contains all three versions of the Nightingale Armor.

See also

• Nightingale Blade
• Nightingale Bow

Appearances

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim