If you don’t have max Enchanting and Smithing skills, then Deathbrand Armor is probably the best armor in the game; it can be obtained one piece at a time during the “Deathbrand” Dragonborn quest.
Deathbrand with relevant armor perks is probably your best bet. At least in terms of pure defense, Deathbrand with no smithing or enchanting offers +100. Nightingale and Shrouded also provide complete set bonuses.
Is Deathbrand armor better than daedric?
Deathbrand is better, when we talk about an armor without heavy armor perks; otherwise Daedric is better. Compared to Deathbrand without Heavy Armor perks, Daedric has more enhancement opportunities (because improvement percentages for both Light and Heavy skills are without the aditional armor provided by enchantments).
Can you get Daedric armor in Skyrim without smithing?
In order to craft a weapon or armor, you will need a Black Soul Gem (filled or unfilled), a Centurion Dynamo Core, and an Ebony equivalent of that weapon or armor. But keep in mind that there is a bug in crafting Daedric Boots using the Atronach forge; you will receive a pair of Dremora boots instead.
There is also a way to make daedric gear without using smithing. Many players are unaware that there is a technique to create Daedric armor and weapons without ever having to use a smithing forge. While raising up the Smithing tree involves diligent, ongoing crafting, Daedric gear can be created once the Conjuration tree reaches level 90. This introduces a new arcane method to Skyrim that doesn’t require the use of any perk. It’s also a reliable technique to make scrolls, rare alchemy ingredients, magic staffs, and even spell tomes, in addition to Daedric items. Read more on screenrant.com.
Can you reach armor cap without smithing?
With 9 perks and modest un-perked assistance from alchemy or enchanting, you may attain 610 armor rating. The armor cap is 567.
The loot is level dependent. The best armor will be Ebony and Daedric at the higher levels (I think 30+).
What is the best heavy or light armor you can get without smithing?
You can choose from Deathbrand, Ancient Shrouded, Blackgaurd, Armor of the Old Gods, Ebony Mail, etc. If you are on PC/Special Edition, you have an entire plethora of mods!
You should consider Alteration. With all of the available bonuses, Ebonyflesh will grant you 300 armor and 30% magic resistance in your underwear. Dragonhide provides you with an maximum of 80% resistance to all damage. Unfortunately, it’s a two-handed spell that takes three seconds to cast and, even with all the perks available, only lasts 66 seconds.
Glass, which drops from Thalmor when they reach a high enough level, is the best armor in vanilla. For heavy armor, ebony can be transformed into daedric at the attronach forge or purchased from the dremora merchant.
Ebony armor isn’t actually required. Only 1 Daedra Heart, 1 Ebony Ingot, 1 Void Salts, and 1 Soul Gem are needed (filled with Greater Soul). If you can’t find a Daedra Heart, 1 Human Heart and 1 Black Soul Gem can be combined to make one.
However, you may still want to reconsider levelling the smithing. Why don’t you try level smithing? It’s really simple to achieve once you run a few alchemy loops to create a ring of fortify smithing by a few thousand percent, which then raises smithing levels in one or two iron daggers. Once you’ve leveled up your smithing, you may enhance any armor you find or create your own.
Even without employing crafting exploits, player-made or improved armor at high levels is always better than what you can get in the world.
What is the fastest way to upgrade smithing in Skyrim?
While smithing iron daggers used to be the quickest method to achieve this, a patch fixed the issue and modified Smithing levels to scale with item worth rather than quantity. As a result, making gold rings is the fastest way to level up your Smithing skill.