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I play as an archer, which means sneaking and killing foes off at long range. Problem is, once a creature gets too close to me, I am in a world of troubles. (A random dragon encounter is fair game if I can snipe it off, but a random bear encounter is the thing I fear mostly. Three strikes of such a vicious beast and I drop dead.)

At short range, I use a one-hand sword with shield, but I do not want to put much perks into those skills, as I want to be a sneaky archer first.

Which leaves Light Armor. But to get certain perks I need some skill points, e.g., 30 points are required for the "Custom Fit"- and 40 for "Agile Defender 2/5"-perk. Yet I have no clue how to accumulate those points.

Many enemies won't even see me, so I seldom will be hit. Getting hits means getting skills point. Letting some enemies come close to me and let me hit me on purpose sometimes helps, but since I cannot stand much damage I mostly die erasing any hard earned process.

So is there a teacher for Light Armor like there is for other skills? And if not, how should I go on to improve the Light Armor skill?

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    As you said, you should focus on using the teacher, and then pickpocketing the money back. You should also focus on leveling sneak up fairly quickly, as your life depends on it.
    – Domocus
    Commented Nov 26, 2011 at 18:43
  • Have you got enough stamina? You can usually outrun a bear if the terrain is a bit allowing, especially in light armor.
    – Konerak
    Commented Nov 27, 2011 at 0:10
  • once you have enough sneak to perform the dodgeroll, you can cover a lot of ground while sneaking by constantly rolling, similar to sprinting. I had the same problem with bears dominating me, so I began sneaking while traveling to new locations.
    – user15640
    Commented Dec 1, 2011 at 1:01
  • Hey mate. I play an archer too. I'm Level 19 now, wear a (nearly) complete set of the elven-armor and made it better with smithing. Besides that i pushed the damage for bows to +80%. Therefore I prefer using the bow even in close combat, because it makes a lot more damage. If it's possible, then kite the enemies and shoot your arrows at them as often as possible. For me this is much more efficent to me :) Of course this doesn't skill your armorlevel, but may help you to survive some situations! :)
    – Streuner
    Commented Mar 6, 2012 at 7:11

4 Answers 4

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There are three trainers for light armor (source):

  • Scouts-Many-Marshes | Located: Windhelm | Adept (0 - 50)
  • Grelka | Location: Riften | Expert (0 - 75)
  • Nazir | Location: Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary* | Master (0 - 90)

**Nazir eventually moves to the Dawnstar Sanctuary if you are doing the Dark Brotherhood quest*

@Layke outlines an effective way to use a trainer to level up without needing to worry about money, and also level up your pickpocketing skill at the same time. You just train, then pick pocket back your money, rinse and repeat.

A method to level light armor without making use of a skill trainer is to find a weak enemy (like a mud crab), and just let them attack you for awhile. If you use a healing spell to keep your health up, you shouldn't run into any problems. Using this method you'll be able to level up your Restoration skill as well.

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  • The pickpocket method is great. I went from character level 22 to 31, just by buying five skill levels of light armour and pickpocketing the money back (and enough pickpocketing skill to ding). I also ended up around 80 pickpocketing skill. I forget which skill level my light armour was at by the end but it cost around 2100 gold a level, too high for me to pickpocket at the time.
    – Delameko
    Commented May 2, 2012 at 13:05
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A really easy and fairly safe way is to buy a house, stand in front of it, and shout at the guards.

They will fight back and try to kill you. Just stand there and take the abuse, and when your health gets low walk into your house to let it refill. Walk back out to the waiting mob of guards and repeat the process.

It will take a while and you may develop a bit of a fine, but if you can afford it it's worth it, especially compared to how much the trainers cost.

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Getting hits means getting skills point.

You want to take damage, as fast as you can survive. For such low skill levels (below 40), I recommend getting shot at by bandit archers.

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Get your best light armour, turn difficulty settings to novice, find a reasonably easy enemy and let them attack you. Use your healing spell, which is available from the beginning of the game, if your life gets too low. Doing this will get your restoration up as well as light armour. Do not use a shield as it will contribute to block instead.

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