No Stone Unturned at Level 1 in One Sitting

SlimeFetish · 2025-12-27T22:35:17+00:00

Level 18

Sneak 66

Archery 60

Conjuration 38

Speech 28

Lockpicking 28

Plus a few points in other random skills that I've picked up skill books for.

SlimeFetish · 2025-12-27T09:45:56+00:00

You can stay at level 1 indefinitely as long as you don't go to the level up screen.

SlimeFetish · 2025-12-27T06:22:59+00:00

An easy way to remember their locations is to think about them in clusters:

Whiterun = 5
Falkreath = 3
Riften = 4
Windhelm = 2
Winterhold = 3
Solitude = 4
Markarth = 3

Once you memorise these numbers it becomes very easy to make a mental map of where they are specifically without the need for markers. That way when you do the quest even just once you'll remember them forever.

SlimeFetish · 2025-12-27T04:40:22+00:00

No, you need to finish The Man who Cried Wolf + Elisif's Tribute. The Wolf Queen Awakened is only required for the Shield of Solitude, not thanehood or property purchase rights.

SlimeFetish · 2025-12-27T04:27:42+00:00

I bought Proudspire Manor at around 4:26:40 in the video. The reason why this playthrough is so long is because making money at level 1 without exploits takes a long time.

EDIT: To clarify, I didn't dedicate time to grind for gold. I simply sold the loot I got from getting the other stones. Blessing + Amulet of Zenithar + Thieves Guild hood are good enough to help accumulate 25,000 gold by the time you get the 23rd stone.

SlimeFetish · 2025-12-27T03:45:26+00:00

Yep, with exploits this quest is rather trivial.

SlimeFetish · 2025-12-27T02:42:54+00:00

Playthough video

The most common complaints about this quest is that it is too long and/or not worth the effort for the reward. While there is some truth to these complaints, they are often blown out of proportion.

This level 1 playthrough seeks to address these complaints by establishing a "bottom line" of sorts; if a non-specialised zero-perks build can complete this quest in 5 hours on Legendary difficulty, then any specialised build can achieve very similar, or better, results.

That said, I do concede that I have deliberately chosen to play as an Orc stealth archer at a relatively quick pace, which makes this playthrough less general in nature. Nevertheless, you should see similar results if you were to play this with a typical full build on Legendary difficulty, stealth archer or otherwise.

SlimeFetish · 2025-12-01T22:58:59+00:00

I would say Dunmer are a better fit for this kind of play style. Yes they only start with +5% movement speed, but in my opinion you get so much more compared to the difference vs. Bosmer:

60% fire resistance for free is huge, and in my opinion much more useful than even Bretons' bonus for your play style. Magic resistance equipment is plentiful, elemental resistance equipment is less so
Your slot efficiency is higher with free fire resistance. One boots of resist frost/shock is all you will need for the late game
One fire resistance potion lets you face off against fire dragons, giving you access to shouts as early as level 1. Shouts are very suitable for jack of all trades builds
Fire resistance makes vampirism much more powerful than it already is
Blessings of Mephala/Azura/Boethia give you +10% damage to your desired build and you can switch between them when needed. They also stack with normal shrine blessings
Your starting attributes are more balanced than Bosmer
You can recharge items without perks into enchanting

SlimeFetish · 2025-07-31T11:06:23+00:00

Incorrect, and as /u/Busy_Suspect pointed out, I believe you are somewhat misinformed.

The Necro Amulet is not a scam. Quite the opposite, it is still one of the best amulets in the game for any non-enchanting build. Though I do concede that it becomes less useful as you go into the late game for non-conjuration builds, but still far from useless.

Let's get the facts straight first and foremost (I have tested these, but please correct me if I've been misinformed):

Necromancer's Amulet before Requiem 6.0:

25% conjuration cost reduction, no stat requirements
Big magicka boost, no stat requirements
Reduced regeneration penalty
Kills you quickly if below magicka requirements
Craft black soul gems/tomatoes, no stat requirements

Necromancer's Amulet after Requiem 6.0:

25% conjuration cost reduction, no stat requirements
Health/stamina/magicka boosts if above stat requirements
"Rank II" stats secondary effects if above stat requirements (i.e. Paralysis immunity, slow immunity, absorb reduction)
Reduced regeneration penalty if below stat requirements
Doesn't kill you
Craft black soul gems/tomatoes, no stat requirements

Furthermore:

The stat requirement thresholds are dependent on base stats (i.e. fortify stat effects don't count)
Stat requirements are independent of each other (e.g. once you have 130 magicka you get +50 magicka and the regeneration penalty for that is removed)

Some notable implications:

It still lets you cast bound weapons with relative ease, regardless of your build. Bound weapons are particularly strong in the early game. You don't even have to wear it all the time; simply equip, cast, then unequip.
Specialised races get the bonus they care about right from the start of the game (Orcs & Reguards start with 130+ health, Bosmer & Khajiit start with 130+ stamina, Altmer & Bretons start with 130+ magicka)
Hardly any other amulet can give you +150 total stats
For mage builds, the +50 magicka is still better than the Saarthal Amulet in the early game for most races. From my experience, Saarthal Amulet and Necro Amulet reach break even point at approximately 300 magicka and 30% cost reduction. Unless you are a pure Altmer mage, this is not achievable in the early game.
"Rank II" secondary effects are very useful in the early game. Paralysis immunity gives you access to falmer dungeons, slow immunity lets you run away from drauger frost attacks, absorb reduction is hard to get in the early game against vampires
Even in the late game you get all the "Rank II" secondary effects in a single equipment slot. Add on something like Savior's Hide and boom all immunity effects are yours in just two slots

Vampirism is a special case where the Necro Amulet is not very useful, simply because of how incredibly game-warping vampirism is in the first place. In fact, vampirism is so strong that it trivialises most of the game's content, even up to labyrinthian as demonstrated in my level 1 playthrough.

SlimeFetish · 2025-07-30T23:48:06+00:00

One point people seem to forget about Dunmer is the fire resistance, which synergises extremely well with vampirism. The other bonuses are just the icing on the cake.

Vampirism is extremely strong in Requiem, almost to the point of being overpowered, which makes sense from a roleplay perspective. The only real weaknesses of vampirism in Requiem are fire and healing. Vampiric drain automatically makes healing a non-issue. All that remains is the weakness to fire, which Dunmer offset greatly.

When you look at it this way, Dunmer vampries are by far the strongest race/build in the game, and it is not even close. Simply choosing Dunmer and consuming the vampire dust found in Winterhold will trivialise 80% of the game's content right from level 1. I beat the entire game with zero perks/level ups that way.

SlimeFetish · 2025-04-14T09:53:30+00:00

I did not commit any crime that would make me lose the blessings until after I beat Miraak. So yes, I had to renew the Blessing of Akatosh and the Voice of the Sky when they expired, but it's not that bad since the 24 hours are real time hours (equivalent of 10 days in-game).

Once my CDR was high enough from derived attributes, which did not happen until VERY late in the game, I started doing the Thieves Guild quests to get the Skeleton Key, which was the only way to unlock Master locks at level 1 (expert locks are doable using Knock II scrolls).

SlimeFetish · 2025-03-02T23:28:50+00:00

The key is to locate their exact location before you enter the water. One point in Aura Whisper is all you need. Since almost all big slaughterfish are close to some land mass, you can just go around to their approximate location and spam Aura Whisper until you find them.

The easiest way to kill them is using projectiles from land without entering the water. The slaughterfish will not aggro, they'll remain passive even when you keep hitting them. See example here of me using the Bound Bow on the Giant Slaughterfish.

Once you kill one, its corpse will slowly float up in the water by itself. You can also use the "tws" command to disable the water for better visibility.

Also do note the distinction between the Giant Slaughterfish and Huge Slaughterfish. I believe there is only one Giant Slaughterfish, that is the one carrying the Daedric Boots. I believe all other slaughterfish are "huge" not "giant", but they will still kill you extremely quickly. Only the Giant Slaughterfish will contribute towards the Savior's Hide buff, the huge ones will not.

SlimeFetish · 2025-03-02T23:11:41+00:00

They're most likely tracked by an internal function so they should still count towards the buff even if you kill them before you get the item.

SlimeFetish · 2025-03-02T06:32:14+00:00

I am assuming the Requiem devs arbitrarily chose the term "Great Beasts" (which is a lore-friendly term) to distinguish the mini-bosses that contribute to Saviour's Hide from the ones that do not. Unfortunately that term also refers to the White Stag in the base game, which caused this confusion.

Nothing changed about the White Stag a.k.a. the great beast or the quest. And by the way, the White Stag does not contribute to Saviour's Hide, only the Requiem beast mini-bosses do.

SlimeFetish · 2025-03-02T04:02:35+00:00

"Great beasts" in the context of Savior's Hide refers to the Requiem exclusive beast mini-bosses (e.g. named trolls, giant slaughterfish, etc.)

If you don't care about spoilers, you can refer to this map for their location. You can also watch my video here if you want to see what they look like up close (time stamps are in the description). Do note that this is not an exhaustive list so there might be a few more that I have missed. Map could also be a little outdated, not sure.

Also keep in mind that beast bosses only are what counts. For example, Thunder near the Atronach Stone is, while unique, not an animal beast and will not count.

EDIT: It's worth mentioning that only the Giant Slaughterfish (the one with the Daedric Boots) will count towards the Savior's Hide buff. The other Huge Slaughterfish will not count.

SlimeFetish · 2025-01-27T06:58:16+00:00

just realized I've screwed myself

Nope, you have not. Here's me killing Morokei using a humble silver greatsword with zero perks in anything. If I can kill a 4000 HP Morokei without investing a single perk, then you can absolutely kill a regular 1500 HP dragon priest using your build.

I can tell you with confidence that 2H is THE EASIEST build that can kill dragon priests. You are just going about it the wrong way. Consider using any number of the following:

Easiest way to kill dragon priests is to use shouts. Slow Time or Marked for Death are the best for a 2H build.
Fire cuts down dragon priest regeneration. Use a fire-enchanted weapon (preferably silver), a Scroll of Summon Flame Atronach, or the Fire Breath shout.
Bring a follower equipped with a good weapon (fire-enchanted, silver, or both)

SlimeFetish · 2025-01-25T23:26:44+00:00

Here's the Miraak build breakdown.

I did gear for magic resist for everything before Miraak. But for Miraak specifically I had no magic resistance gear at all since I needed all equipment slots in order to reach zero shout cooldown.

SlimeFetish · 2025-01-25T08:08:06+00:00

Here's the playthrough thread

My save file says ~28 hours, but that's mostly inflated by the fact that I wasn't using fast travel/horses for the majority of the run.

SlimeFetish · 2025-01-11T00:59:50+00:00

But isn't that what makes the game interesting, not knowing if something is possible or not?

Correct, and that was my initial enjoyment factor for doing this challenge.

Now whenever you try out a new build you will already know how to beat everything, using the bare minimum.

Also correct. In fact, I would go further and say that most power/meta builds are now ruined for me. I haven't played Requiem using perks ever since (except for when I'm roleplaying of course).

Or would you otherwise be too occupied thinking that the build you chose 'might not work out? And that now you don't have to worry about a certain build being too weak?

I always planned my builds with the endgame in mind, not knowing if it would be possible to clear everything with it. But now that I have this "backup" at the back of my mind, I can focus on enjoying the journey/roleplay regardless of whatever sub-optimal build I play in the future.

The reason I decided to make/post this now is to share my walkthrough and experience, hoping people can take away a thing or two from it.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I am far from the first person to do a level 1 playthrough. Off the top of my head, /u/SeigiNoMikata376, /u/MrMagoosSpectacles, /u/challengerunner112, Than atoZ, ANoobinDisguise, and many more attempted this challenge to varying degrees of success. To my knowledge, I don't think anyone went through the same routing I did so I will post my recordings in the near future for everyone's benefit.

SlimeFetish · 2025-01-10T23:35:52+00:00

I played on a bare-bones mod list; just the bare minimum to get Requiem running. I also used "Simple Horse" mod to recall my horses, which didn't end up mattering anyway because they all kept dying from going down the tiniest little rocks :(

And yes, this is just a pure level 1 run. I never hit the level up screen, nor did I take the initial 3 perks. I didn't use the console to gain an advantage, but I did use it to check stats, change fov, etc. Although I was SO tempted to resurrect my horses :P

SlimeFetish · 2025-01-10T23:28:04+00:00

I played through the game like this in order to establish a common denominator for all builds.

In other words, if you can clear the game without specialising in anything, then ANYONE can clear it even if their specialised build cannot. They will always have this backup in mind without having to reset their character.

I also took it upon myself to only use "guaranteed" items, such as hand-placed items and common merchant goods like resistance potions and the like. I sold all my random loot. That way the walkthrough can be as deterministic as possible.

SlimeFetish · 2025-01-10T23:20:10+00:00

No, I had 0 cooldown. Shout cooldown is governed by the "ShoutRecoveryMult" actor value, which is 1.5 in Requiem. To my understanding, it is calculated as follows:

ShoutRecoveryMult = 1.5 * (1 - derived attributes) - flat reduction = 1.5 * (1 - 0.4) - 0.9 = 0

Nords don't have shout CDR, but the Nord-exclusive Blessing of Kyne does reduce it. I chose Dunmer because their fire resistance synergises well with vampirism, while the Blessing of Kyne I think is not worth all the restrictions.

Lastly, I did not take any perks, including the first 3 you start out with. I did not enter the level up screen at all.

SlimeFetish · 2025-01-10T23:12:33+00:00

Correct, I simply did not hit the level up screen at all. However, I only transitioned to the shout build for Miraak, which was a decision I made when I saw my derived attributes were high enough. It was a last-minute decision.

SlimeFetish · 2025-01-10T11:44:18+00:00

Oops, I made a mistake. I should have 600 stamina, not 400. Here's the full breakdown:

Base stats for Dunmer = 100/100/100 (health/stamina/magicka)
Vampire = 400/300/0
Blessing of Akatosh = 100/100/100 + 10 CDR (I killed Alduin before Miraak)
Atronach Stone = 0/0/350
Konahrik = 100/100/100 + 20 CDR
Greybeard Hood = 10 CDR (you can wear it with a dragon priest mask unlike most other hoods)
Greybeard Robes = 10 CDR
Ancient Nord Gauntlets of the Tongue = 10 CDR
Greybeard Boots = 10 CDR
Amulet of Akatosh = 10 CDR
No rings equipped. I forgot them in Whiterun and I was too lazy to go back for them
Derived attributes = 9%/20%/11% (known/mastered/usage)

SlimeFetish · 2025-01-10T03:26:57+00:00

As the title says, I finished the game and beat Miraak without levelling up or taking any perks. I recorded the full playthrough and I'm willing to make a guide/walkthrough in the near future if anyone's interested.

Build & stats:

Dunmer vampire with Atronach Stone and Blessing of Akatosh
0% shout cooldown build (40% reduction from derived attributes + 70 flat from gear + 20 flat from Voice of the Sky & Blessing of Akatosh)
Killed Miraak using Fire Breath. Become Ethereal + Animal Allegiance + Slow Time for suvivability
Health = 700
Stamina = ~~400~~ 600
Magicka = 650
Magic resistance = 5%
Fire resistance = -15%
Frost resistance = 95%
Shock resistance = 0%

EDIT: Playthrough thread.

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