What the hell were you thinking Bethesda? You give me some sweet ass armor that is perfect for my stealth-based rogue build, and looks cool to boot, but it's heavy armor? WHO THE FUCK IS SNEAKING AROUND IN HEAVY ARMOR? Anybody else get this item yet, and find a good use for it? I don't wanna spoil the quest to get it so if you really wanna know just Google it or something. It should suffice to say it's heavy armor that makes you harder to detect, and gives off a constant poisonous aura. Also, when you enter sneak your whole body becomes cloaked in this awesome black smoke. However, it breaks my light armor set-bonus and ends up giving me a worse armor rating since I'm not specced in Heavy Armor. What a fucking cock-tease.

just use muffle

@kingzetta said:

just use muffle

I do, quite often. I just want that poison aura.

Ebony Mail is heavy?

Sweet. I'm going to do this daedric quest right away.

Wtf. Is there some super awesome light armor to use for an assassin/thief build as well, or do I need to train my rogue in heavy armor?

@Renegade_Pixels: Go thieves guild, you won't be disappointed. Especially if you stick it out to the end.

Wtf. Is there some super awesome light armor to use for an assassin/thief build as well, or do I need to train my rogue in heavy armor?

@Getz: What level do you have to be for the Ebony Mail quest?

You're just racist.

It was Heavy in Oblivion wasn't it?

@Hizang said:

It was Heavy in Oblivion wasn't it?

It wasn't in Oblivion, you're thinking of Ebony Armor.

Ebony Mail was a reward in Morrowind for completing the temple faction quest line and it was insanely good and looked cool, but it was medium armor.

Is the aura a spell effect? If it is you could disenchant it and enchant some light armour.

@Dude_What said:

Is the aura a spell effect? If it is you could disenchant it and enchant some light armour.

You can disenchant legendary items?

Oh man...

What, so my heavy armor mega warrior can find armor that will allow him to do the thieves guild/brotherhoos stuff?

Can someone please PM where the quest starts without actually spoiling the quest itself?

@Getz: there is a perk for heavy armor that makes heavy armor weigh nothing.. Then!! in the sneak tree there is 50% reduced armor sound. AND!!! muffle spell.. should be no problem.

I'm playing a Redguard. What is it you have against ebony males?

I actually use the ebony mail for my warrior character. The ebony type is heavy armor, so i don't see why you're surprised bethesda would make it heavy armor. I like the pitch black effect, it makes my char look menacing.

I had all ebony armor right before i got the ebony mail in that quest, so it matches pretty well. I like the look of standard ebony armor better because it has pauldrons, but i really like the proximity poison effect of the mail, so i'm using that until i beef up my enchanting perks to make my regular ebony armor better.

@Casey25 said:

I actually use the ebony mail for my warrior character. The ebony type is heavy armor, so i don't see why you're surprised bethesda would make it heavy armor. I like the pitch black effect, it makes my char look menacing.

I had all ebony armor right before i got the ebony mail in that quest, so it matches pretty well. I like the look of standard ebony armor better because it has pauldrons, but i really like the proximity poison effect of the mail, so i'm using that until i beef up my enchanting perks to make my regular ebony armor better.

I'm not surprised that ebony is heavy, I'm surprised that they would make the armor rogue-friendly. It doesn't add up is all.

@Getz: Pssh, along with that and like 30 points into the Sneak Tree you get 50% muffle bonus. You can be a rogue without using light armor.

I use heavy armor and sneak around all the time. Found some dwarven armor of illusion outside of Whiterun and used muffle to sneak around quietly and shoot dudes with my bound bow. Pretty damn effective.

I use heavy armor and sneak just fine, like byterunner mentioned there's a perk that reduces armor noise. Then you get either muffled or the perk to reduce movement sounds and you're all set.

The reason why heavy armor is so much better than light armor:

@Getz you need to chill, you have so many sets, so its fine

@jarlflowers said:

@Getz you need to chill, you have so many sets, so its fine

None that give off a badass poisonous aura

My stealth build uses the Ebony Mail. The ONLY negatuve thing is that the aura sometimes makes using your bow frustrating. The black smoke of death obstructs your vision!

Boethiah's Ebony Mail (Legendary) - (muffle 100%)

Falmer Helmet (Legendary) - Fortify Archery, Fortify Lockpicking

Gold and Emerald Circlet - Fortify Archery, Fortify Lockpicking

Daedric Gauntlets (Legendary) - Fortify One-handed, Fortify Sneak

Daedric Boots (Legendary) - Fortify One-handed, Fortify Sneak

Gold Diamond Necklace - Fortify Barter, Magic Resistance

Gold Diamond Ring - Fire Resistance, Frost Resistance

Ghostblade (Legendary)

Daedric Bow (Legendary) - Paralyze, Soul Trap

who the fuck uses armor, mage robes is where it's at.

I just used Nightingale Armor with Dark Brotherhood gloves for 30x backstap and the DB hood for 25% sneak and that's all you really need for badass stealth. I felt that ebony armor seemed a bit odd when I found it too.

I get tons of mail about hooking up with ebony girls.

How are you still using that special Ebony set? Maybe I min-maxed wrong, but I had to craft a set with twice the damage protection rating just to eke by at level twenty-eight (ish).

Also you've failed at being stealthy if you ever need heavy armor.

@mlarrabee said:

How are you still using that special Ebony set? Maybe I min-maxed wrong, but I had to craft a set with twice the damage protection rating just to eke by at level twenty-eight (ish).

If this game is anything like Oblivion, it is probably leveled to match what is appropriate to your character. So if you get the armor at level 10, it'll be garbage in the late game, or if you get it at level 60 it'll be crazy overpowered. That's a guess anyway.

I used it on my companion. Looked badass.

I use heavy and I sneak...  It looks fucking cool.  If only you could customize the hood on the dragon masks....

I'm playing a Redguard. What is it you have against ebony males?

I sneak around all the time regardless of armour. Level 60 Orc two handed with 100 sneak, lock picking, pick pocket, speech, archery and block. Sneaky Orc

@HatKing: Yes and no. Some items like the Nightingale Armor are matched to your level, but it seems most of the items in the game have set stats and your Smithing skill is the determinate factor in their improvement.

Also, @Getz, You can totally sneak in Heavy Armor, just make sure your Sneak perks are set to match.

@InsidiousTuna

I'm playing a Redguard. What is it you have against ebony males?

This made my night

@Swoxx: Boom.

@InsidiousTuna said:

@Swoxx: Boom.

Finally! Thank you.

@Swoxx: I know how it is. Took about two months for someone to acknowledge my 'ebony males' joke.

It looks cool but I didn't like the stats so I gave it to my mage partner. It looks pretty awesome when you put it on with the Nightingale hood.

@Getz said:

What the hell were you thinking Bethesda? You give me some sweet ass armor that is perfect for my stealth-based rogue build, and looks cool to boot, but it's heavy armor? WHO THE FUCK IS SNEAKING AROUND IN HEAVY ARMOR? Anybody else get this item yet, and find a good use for it? I don't wanna spoil the quest to get it so if you really wanna know just Google it or something. It should suffice to say it's heavy armor that makes you harder to detect, and gives off a constant poisonous aura. Also, when you enter sneak your whole body becomes cloaked in this awesome black smoke. However, it breaks my light armor set-bonus and ends up giving me a worse armor rating since I'm not specced in Heavy Armor. What a fucking cock-tease.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Ebony_Mail

Uses for Ebony Mail

While Ebony Mail is not the only heavy armor in the game with stealth enchantments, it is the most directly acquired. Other heavy armors with muffle, sneak bonuses, or lockpicking enchantments are randomly generated at traders or in containers and may take significant time to locate due to the many variations possible when the store or chest is first generated. It was originally stated that the Ebony Mail's shrouded effect was only a visual effect, but after further investigation has proven to be a functional part of the armor. The wearer is at least 15-20% harder to detect when sneaking in the armor.

If you're sneaking around and such in the first place, why the fuck do you even care about armor rating? Depending on your skill, you should be practically be invisible, even if you stand right in front of someone.

@HatKing said:

If this game is anything like Oblivion, it is probably leveled to match what is appropriate to your character. So if you get the armor at level 10, it'll be garbage in the late game, or if you get it at level 60 it'll be crazy overpowered. That's a guess anyway.

It's not, they did away with that stupid level-dependent reward crap. If anyone is saying artefacts are bad late-game, it's usually because you can't use Smithing on them, unless you have a mod (unless the latest patch fixed it? I don't remember),.