Skyrim: How to be a master thief

Skyrim thief guide
It may not be the most heroic class in Skyrim, but playing as a thief is arguably one of the most fun (and profitable) experiences you can have in the game.
We show you the best weapons, armour and accessories for thieves, what skills to level up, how to make loads of money and sneak like the best of them in our Skyrim thief guide. Note: Spoilers.

Choose a sneaky character
At the start of the game pick a race that lends itself well to stealing and being light on your feet. The Khajit or Wood Elf are both wise choices. For more information on racial perks read our Skyrim skills and race guide.
You’ll want to focus on the Sneak, Lockpicking and Pickpocket skill trees, as well as the Light Armour, Archery and One-Handed trees depending on how you want your character to feel. Speech and Alchemy can also be useful to have.
Get a skill boost
Near the start of the game you’ll come across three skill stones. Make sure you select the Thief Stone and you’ll level up your thievery skills 20% faster than usual.
 
How to sneak in Skyrim
Learn to Sneak
Click the left analog stick in to make your character sneak. In this mode, it’s harder for you to be spotted by enemies, and you’ll get attack bonuses for firing an arrow or swinging your weapon at someone.
Get into the habit of sneaking around new areas if you’re not sure if there are enemies. If the sneak line in the centre of the screen starts to widen into the shape of an eye, someone is suspicious you’re around. Move behind an object or into the shadow and wait for ‘hidden’ to appear again. Get really good at this and you’ll even be able to sneak up on sleeping dragons (see above).
Join the Thieves Guild
This one goes without saying. Head to Riften and go into the Bee and the Barb inn. Talk to Brynjolf to start the quest line. You can get to Riften by heading to the far South East or bottom-right of the map. You can also pay a horse and cart rider to take you there.
Even if you don’t want to be a thief it’s well worth joining the guild. You’ll get some of the best equipment in the game and make loads of money along the way. Make sure you talk to Delvin and Vex to complete extra side missions for more loot and money.

Make invisibility potions
At an alchemy table mix Chaurus Eggs with Ice Wraith Teeth to make your own invisibility potions. Make around ten of these, highlight them in your inventory and press Y (or Triangle on the PS3) to favourite them. While playing in normal time, press up or down on the D-pad to quickly access your favourites and select Invisibility Potion to use one. These are handy for when you want to sneak past an enemy or two in a difficult-to-sneak area.
You can find loads of Charus Eggs deep in Raldbthar which is in between Lake Yorgrim and the White River. You can find Ice Wraiths in particularly cold areas such as Ancients Ascent.
Get married
You might think getting married as a thief is a bad idea, but it’s not if you want to make some extra money. Read our Skyrim: How to get married guide and head to Shor’s Stone in The Rift. You’ll want to marry Sylgja. Upon moving in with her, she’ll open a shop and earn 100g for you every day. You can also sell stuff to her to make more money.
We bought the house in Riften so we were close to the Thieves Guild. You can buy this by becoming Thane of Riften. Just help out characters in Riften with mini-quests and you’ll eventually be asked to visit the Jarl, who lets you purchase the property.
Get the right garb
Skyrim thief
You’ll want equipment that gives a boost to things like sneak attacks, sneaking, pickpocketing, one-handed, lockpicking and archery.
Joining the Thieves Guild is a good start. After a mission or two you’ll get the Thieves Guild armour which gives you a boost to sneaking, picking pockets, lockpicking and bartering. Joining the Dark Brotherhood is worth it too if you like to kill as you sneak. To start this quest, talk to inkeepers in Riften to start the Innocence Lost quest. Alternatively, head to Windhelm and break into the house of Aventus Aretino.
Know how to kill
Thieving is the most important thing, but killing quickly and quietly is also essential for any master thief. The Dark Brotherhood’s fingerless gloves will double your single-handed sneak attacks. Combine this with the Assassin’s Blade technique in the Sneak skill tree and your stealth backstabs will now do 30x normal damage (this requires a Sneak skill of 50 to unlock). Also, make sure you pick up Deadly Aim in the same skill tree (40 Sneak skill required) to do 3x normal damage when sneaking with a bow. And always aim for the head.
Find a decent bow
For a great starting bow, go back to the Bee and the Barb in Riften and take on the drinking challenge from the guy at the bar. Make sure you save the game first before talking to him. Complete that hilarious questline (A Night to Remember) and towards the end you’ll have to go through a portal. Look left before entering and you’ll find a treasure chest. There’s an Elven Bow inside, which not only looks the part, but packs a mean punch too.
Find a decent dagger
You can find and steal a great starting dagger in the College of Winterhold. It’s an Elven Dagger and can be found in the grand mage’s room. You can also buy a dagger and enchant it yourself.
Mehrune’s Razor is also a particularly special dagger. You can get this by completing the Pieces of the Past quest which can be picked up by visiting the museum in Dawnstar.
Think like a thief
Get out of the mindset that stealing is bad. Ignore the red text when you hover over an item that’s not yours. Treat every object you want as an item that’s ripe for the taking. As long as you’re hidden, it’s yours.
When you’re breaking and entering, scout the place out first in the daytime. Find out where the beds and chairs are, as the owner could be sitting there when you return. Go back at night (after 8pm) and plunder. Make sure you stay sneaking and always close doors behind you. You can often steal items in the day, as long as no-one else can see you.
Make a mint
Sell stolen goods to fence characters. These include:

  • Tonilia in the Thieves’ Guild, Riften
  • Mallus Maccius in Honningbrew Meadery, South-East of Whiterun (after the Dampened Spirits quest)
  • Gulum-Ei in The Winking Skeever, Solitude (after the Scoundrel’s Folly quest)
  • Enthir in Winterhold (after the Hard Answers quest)
  • Complete the extra Thieves’ Guild quests with Vex and Delvin to unlock more

Avoid getting  arrested when you have stolen goods. You’ll have to spend time escaping and searching the prison for the Evidence Chest with all your stuff in. Get skilled at spotting valuable items and you’ll have that 40G achievement for reaching 100,000 gold in no time.
You can also unlock a perk at Speech level 70 which lets you invest in stores so merchants can buy up to thousands of gold in goods off you each day.
Steal anything (almost)
To take advantage of a hilarious and cheeky exploit, view our How to steal almost anything in Skyrim video guide.
Pay off guards
Even if you get caught, if you’re in the Thieves Guild or have the ‘Bribery’ perk in the Speech skill tree, you’ll be able to pay around 100g to pay a guard to forget the crime.
Make your own gear
Find items that have decent enchantments on them, such as Necklace of Deft Hands (+15% pickpocketing) or Ring of Minor Archery (+15% Archery). Use an Enchantment table to disenchant them and learn how to make your own items.
Taking a standard Dwarven Dagger and adding +10 Fire Damage to it is also handy for assassinating someone. We named that particular blade Phoenix. Why not make your own?
Learn to lockpick
Even if you don’t have any lockpick skills, you can still unlock Expert and Master locks. It’s just harder. Make sure you have a large amount of lockpicks on you (we always carry at least 80), start on the far left hand side and work your way around clockwise. When picking a lock, tap the right stick every few notches to see if the lock turns.
Once you’ve found the sweet spot, hold the right stick very lightly. If the pick snaps, move the next lockpick a notch or two to the right or left of where you had it positioned before. Eventually you’ll find that perfect point and the lock will open. Even if you break lockpicks, your lockpicking skill will still improve.
Know your Shadowmarks
In the main central room in the Thieves Guild, search the tables for a book on Shadowmarks, written by fellow thief Delvin Mallory. It’s worth keeping this in your inventory.
The book lists all the Shadowmarks – small etchings outside houses and next to doors which indicate whether the place is good to plunder or a dangerous area. The Shadowmarks are as follows:

  • The Guild – indicates a safe Thieves Guild haven
  • Safe – a house or area which is safe to search
  • Danger – someone inside this building will be hostile
  • Escape Route – if you get put in prison, look for this mark. It will indicate an escape route
  • Protected – this building is protected by the Thieves Guild. Don’t steal goods from it
  • Fence – someone will buy stolen goods from you here
  • Thieves Cache – loot this to find some extra goodies planted by the Thieves Guild
  • Loot – there’s some decent stuff worth stealing here
  • Empty – there’s nothing to see here, move along

Thanks to The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.
Discover sneaky shouts
Killing dragons and finding shout stones aren’t without their benefits for a thief.
The following are useful:

  • Aura Whisper – detects life around you (find this from inside a dragon’s lair, Northwind Summit, The Rift, and inside Volunruud in The Reach. You can find another during The Silence Has Been Broken Dark  Brotherhood quest).
  • Throw Voice – tricks your enemies into thinking you’re somewhere else (get this from Shearpoint, The Pale)
  • Whirlwind – lets you escape quickly by running fast (obtained from The Way of the Voice main questline)

Find The Shadow Stone
After a while, once your thief skills are high enough, you might want to change your 20%+ levelling up bonus for the ability to turn invisible for 60 seconds once per day.
You can get this by activating The Shadow Stone, which can be found south of Riften. You’ll have to kill a necromancer to gain access to it (or just activate it and run for the hills).
The Nightingales: Fact or Fiction?
Warning: Spoilers.
Progress through the Thieves Guild questline and you’ll eventually hear about these.
By the end of the questline, you’ll have the awesome Nightingale Armour, bow, sword and a skeleton key which is an unbreakable lockpick. Choose to complete the last quest (Darkness Returns), and you’ll exchange the skeleton key for access to one of three awesome perks. It’s worth it, as if you level your lockpicking up far enough you won’t need the skeleton key.
If you don’t like a perk, you can always change to another one by returning to the Twilight Sepulcher. You can only do this once a day.
The perks – which you can also use just once a day – are:

  • Agent of Stealth – This lets you turn invisible (not necessary if you have The Shadow Stone, unless you want two stealth perks for every 24 in-game hours)
  • Agent of Subterfuge – Makes enemies fight among themselves (this is a lot better than it sounds and our choice of Nightingale skills)
  • Agent of Strife – Lets you draw health from an enemy

What are your top tips and tricks for thievery in Skyrim? Let us know in the comments box below.

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Freegames in English
12 years ago

Thank you for the usefull tips. I am just starting to play the game, so I found your blog just in time. Maybe ww will meet in the virtual space one day 😉

Gamer
12 years ago

I always have a problem with stealing. thanks for TUT

Fred
Fred
12 years ago

If anyone has more questions about Shadowmarks I found a this helpful guide on YouTube.
/watch?v=RePY5aAuZOM

someone
someone
12 years ago

there’s also a nice elf bow in whiterun at the start (if u have 2 points in pickpocket) .. pickpocket ireleth

Cody
Cody
12 years ago

Becoming a vampire may be exactly what your thief is looking for.

cole
cole
12 years ago

The illusion tree is great. Silent casting and invisibility are a must. Much easier than potions

ck
ck
12 years ago

Is it easy to use the invisibility spell without taking perks from the illusion skill tree? I know there’s a limited number of perks and I dont want use any more than I have to

andrew
andrew
12 years ago

you can level one-handers and sneak up really well at the beginning by beating the hell out of ralof in helgen keep

Meh
Meh
12 years ago

Thanks for the tips on thievery it has made me playing through the game much easier, even though I have completed the game already as a Orc warrior and Dark-elf mage I wanted to beat the game as a Khajit theif, Thanks

LOLCAT (khajhit theif)
LOLCAT (khajhit theif)
12 years ago

really helpful. i just started a new game cuz i wanted 2 be a thief and this really helped. and as andrew said, beating up ralof (or hadvar) is really helpful. i had 42 sneaking and was level seven in about 3 minutes.

piderman
piderman
12 years ago

Um in that treasure chest u were talking about there wuz only a shield and a glass dagger

Anonymous
Anonymous
12 years ago

You just read this sentence

Jack
Jack
12 years ago

Im a wood elf and I focused on archery a lot in the beginning but since I made my personal Darrick daggers and got the blade of woe and mehrunes razor I have focused more on stealth one handed and surprisingly heavy and light armor but you’ve gotta love the nightengale armor and I enjoy the sword and bow as well as my legendary daedric bow

Jack
Jack
12 years ago

Daedric daggers sorry lol

Merazar(DB n' TG)
Merazar(DB n' TG)
12 years ago

I might try that with my lvl 11 Argonian named Kest(Tempest).That is right,I named my Argonian with a dragon word!She is pretty far in the questline,and is in no guild,so I guess I will have to try!

Archer
Archer
12 years ago

Thank you so much, this page was a life saver for skyrim and I read it just in time. I put this website in my favorites after reading this

blergness
blergness
12 years ago

if you dont want to wait for the nightingale perks or the shouts, people will react to an arrow hitting a wall. Shoot at a wall in an opposite direction to get guards or others to move

Ash
Ash
12 years ago

Don’t neglect smithing, if you get it to 60 you can upgrade magical armour so your nightingale set or thieves guild set can be updgraded. The best way to upgrade smithing is to buy leather and iron from arianne avenici and her boss inside warmaidens and the skyforge guy all in windhelm and then make dozens of iron daggers and hide bracers. Also given you have x15 damage on daggers it is worth upgrading them as well, a good smith can double the damage output of a weapon. Even +10 damage on a dagger will give you an extra 150… Read more »

shayne
shayne
12 years ago

lol, i played as every character, warrior, thief and mage, but thief are my favourite, female vampire, sneaking boots, and max sneaking is kind of fun to have in the game, also, if u find a way to keep ur analog stick pointing up, go in a sleeping persons house, go to the corner of the bed and u can raise your sneaking withought doin anything, i read that from others, so this isnt really me who made it up, just sayin ^^

Tonks
Tonks
12 years ago

Thieving is the shit. I’m only lvl 34 and my female wood elf looks tight in the brotherhood armor. I’m not going to lie pickpocketing still is a bitch. Though it’s fun stealing arrows from guards at lower levels in town. Do that untill you need better ammo get high speech skill sell them for better arrows. 😛 I’m lvl 30 at poitions 57 on enchanting, and 59 at Smithing…. Le Sigh when ever I have time off I’ll be getting those slippery points.

Nos
Nos
12 years ago

I have found that as a dual-wielding dagger thief, that having the Elemental Fury shout, or slow time (Depending on whether you have enchanted daggers or not) is amazing. I prefer using slow time as it has more uses than Elemental Fury, but elemental fury is amazing if you don’t kill your target on the first kill. Also, if you want to have more fun as a thief, and don’t mind the game being more challenging, turn the difficulty all the way. It makes the stakes way higher, but makes the game more fun (in my opinion). Thanks for this… Read more »

Dan
Dan
12 years ago

The best way that I found to level up pickpocketing, sneak and lock picking early in the game was to get arrested in Whiterun. There is a reasonably easy trap door in your cell to pick (and several other optional opportunities along the way), and the a barracks full of sleeping guards. I would break out of my cell, try to pick locks until my 1 pick was broken, sneak to the barracks, pickpocket guards until I was caught and sent back to jail. I repeated this process until I had taken all inventory from every guard, then you can… Read more »

Matt
Matt
12 years ago

Make your own weapons and potions? WHY?!?
You’re a THIEF, so you steal EVERYTHING!

Pat
Pat
12 years ago

Matt, I know your a thief but stolen daggers are not Half as good as earned or upgraded daggers.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaa
Aaaaaaaaaaaaa
11 years ago

I found a glass bow instead of an elven bow. Even better. So it isn’t always elven

ayyyyy
ayyyyy
11 years ago

No the weapon quality depends on you lvl . Higher lvl, better weopon

Anonymous
Anonymous
11 years ago

I agree with Ash about smithing being very important and also, there is an Elven Bow in the Huntress girl’s room in the basement of the Companions in Whiterun. You need to unlock the Expert lock but it’s very early in the game and fighting the Fire Mage at the end of the Drinking Game Quest proves to be quite a challenge early in the game, even when shooting with my sneaking enchanted bow.

Demosthenes
Demosthenes
11 years ago

Instead of smithing, which is a lot harder because of the new patch, I would suggest enchanting instead because even with an average weapon, a good enchantment can double or triple a weapons damage early in the game.

Anonymous
Anonymous
11 years ago

I’ve already played as a pure archer and am now a bit bored of bows.my current build is a thief that uses daggers,but when I crouch and walk up behind someone to sneak attack it just does normal damage with no sneak bonuses.is there a certain way of sneak attacking with daggers???

Anonymous
Anonymous
11 years ago

If you want a good dagger, do the Dark Brotherhood questline. You get a dagger called the Blade of Woe, which deals 20 damage (more than most swords).

Sneaky
Sneaky
11 years ago

Get Paralysis from Alteration (I think) SERIOUSLY helps in combat if you can’t sneak attack

Zach
Zach
11 years ago

If you have the nightengale armor, 2 daedric daggers, a daedric bow, money, and skill perks you can easily be a flawless thief

Zach
Zach
11 years ago

Get a lot of invisibility potions

alpha_patchouli
alpha_patchouli
11 years ago

If you’re a thief, you shouldn’t put perks into enchanting or smithing. You’re a thief, you steal shit. You also should put little or no points into light armor. A thief only gets close for stealing stuff, and placing deadly potions in their pockets. Save your damage output for bows after your run away and turn invisible.
This is a “Pure Thief” build, and its quite fun. Check it out:
http://skyrimcalculator.com/#116407

Lian
Lian
11 years ago

I like the argonion race-i can run away from gaurds by swiming underwater…
I jusr want to notify a good place for pickpocketing…
Just pickpocket everyone in the thieves guild…
They wont attack or get you kicked… and you can come back later if they caught you!

lod shadowhawk( xbox live gt)

if you have the spell telekenesis you can use that to put a basket or other objects over the owners head and steal stuff with out getting cought but if they move it may fall off.

Anonymous
Anonymous
11 years ago

if you have the spell telekenesis you can use that to put a basket or other objects over the owners head and steal stuff with out getting cought but if they move it may fall off.

MasterThief
MasterThief
11 years ago

An easy exploit for smithing is train off of Ballimund (Smith in Riften) then pickpocket your gold back ( I went from 15 smithing to 70 in an hour and 30 pickpocket to 100)

Ahovi Gravina
Ahovi Gravina
11 years ago

Any spouse in Skyrim that will not follow you will open a shop and gain 100g each day.

Me
Me
11 years ago

One way to level your archery early on is to talk to Faendal in Riverrun early in the game. If you do his quest and help him you can have him follow you, pay him for Archery skill training then trade things with him and get your gold back. Alternatively you can try pickpocketing him. But get him to like you first so he won’t have you arrested. The samee can be done with Aela the Huntress after completing the Companions questline. Eventually you may want followers I recomend playing through the Brotherhood for the awesome dagger and other bonuses… Read more »

Sorken
Sorken
11 years ago

If you dont mind starting with slightly lower thief stats, go orc and then berserk+backstab oneshot anything to death pretty much…
Only doable once a day, say when that pesky boss wont let you pass.

Oz
Oz
11 years ago

If you notice the perk tree separated by colored backgrounds – red warrior, green thief, blue mage – I was wondering how a player might be able to play investing points in only the thief skills (light armor, sneak, lockpicking, pickpocketing, speech, and alchemy). Remember that other skills can still be used as all skills can be raised to 100 (such as one-handed or archery). Also, with light armor and sneak as your defensive, can alchemy (poisons) be used offensively once the tree has been filled for peak performance? Is this idea feasible? (I’d still recommend a bow as the… Read more »

IZAYAH__
IZAYAH__
11 years ago

Ok these tips are great! Me having to figure out how to become the best thief in skyrim by myself was worth it, I agree with the wood elf cuz that’s what my character was because they are natually skilled in archery but I’m trying out the khajiit so far the female khajiit it exceeding my expectations but everything on this web page is basically all that I would sum up

Snowgross347
Snowgross347
11 years ago

What is that armour

Dinin
Dinin
11 years ago

Don’t underestimate the argonian thief, waterbreathing and +10 to pickpocket. To level up your pickpocket simply pickpocket people, the higher the weight of an item the higher your skill will increase, always save first though. If it fails then just reload. Make sure to always visit the thieves guild AND the dark brotherhood, why dark brotherhood? Because their gloves let you do double damage on sneak attacks and x30 damage crit is no joke. Alchemy is fun but youll notice late game no one can kill you you’ll be too OP so your poisons will be very little of your… Read more »

Chigiri
Chigiri
11 years ago

I’d like to know some tips for killing dragons, i’m an thief/assassin and its pretty hard to kill one

Rachel
11 years ago

Let the games begin$$$$!!!!!!!

Rachel
11 years ago

I keep trying to get biten by a blooded vampire but it never works!!!!!!

?????
?????
11 years ago

U no u can get lvl 100 archery and lvl up real fast by helping fenral or whatever his name is in river wood then he follows u then ask him 2 trade with u after u ask him 2 teach u about archery then u just take his money and its not even pickpocketing tada

Daniel
Daniel
11 years ago

If you really want to be a level whore, I suggest using the Ogma Infinium cheat. Seriously… No. Seriously.