Skyrim:Ebony

Ebony Ingot

Ebony Ore vein

Ebony is a hard, durable, black glass-like substance that is said to be the petrified blood of the gods. See the lore article for general information. The primary ebony mine in Skyrim is Gloombound Mine, in the Orc Stronghold of Narzulbur, while the primary ebony mine in Solstheim is Raven Rock Mine.

Overview

	Name	ID	Weight	Value
	Ebony Ore	0005acdc	1	60
	Ebony Ingot	0005ad9d	1	150

• Three ebony ores are obtained by mining ebony ore veins.
• One ebony ingot is obtained by smelting two ebony ores.
• Ebony Smithing requires 80 Smithing skill.
• Ebony armor is level 32 heavy armor, made from ebony ingots and leather strips.
• Ebony weapons are level 36 weapons, made from ebony ingots and leather strips.
• Ebony ingots can rarely be found in chests.

Mineral Sources

In addition to the following guaranteed sources, the best random locations are:

• Ebony ingots may be sold by blacksmiths starting at level 27 and general goods merchants starting at level 14.
• Ebony ore may be randomly found in Falmer loot starting at level 13.
• Ebony ore may sometimes be found in the ash pile remains of ash spawn.

These ore vein locations are also listed in the Ebony Veins category, and the exterior ore veins are shown on (map).

Region	Location	Veins	Ores	Ingots	Details
Eastmarch	Gloombound Mine	16	16	1	Mine is located inside the Orc stronghold of Narzulbur.
SolstheimDB	Raven Rock Mine	9			Mine is located inside the city of Raven Rock. Requires beginning The Final Descent to gain access.
Winterhold	Blackreach	6			Near the waterfalls to the south.
The Rift	Redbelly Mine	3	3		Mine is located outside Shor's Stone. The ores are outside the mine, next to the smelter.
Whiterun Hold	Throat of the World	2			Very top of the mountain (map).
The Reach	ArkngthamzDG	1
SolstheimDB	Northshore Landing	1
SolstheimDB	Horker Island	1
Hjaalmarch	Labyrinthian		1	3	Ore is in Labyrinthian Chasm; ingots are in Labyrinthian, Tribune.
The Pale	Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon			3	Found within the shrine. Must complete the quest Pieces of the Past.
Falkreath Hold	Pinewatch		1		Ore is in Pinewatch Bandit's Sanctuary.
The Pale	Wreck Of The Brinehammer		1		Ore is in The Brinehammer Below Deck.
The Pale	Raldbthar		1		Ore is in Raldbthar Deep Market.

Ebony Smithing

Ebony Smithing is the third perk in the heavy armor branch of the Smithing skill's perk tree. Unlocking it requires a minimum Smithing skill of 80, and the Orcish Smithing perk must have already been unlocked. It allows both ebony armor and ebony weapons to be crafted.

The Ebony Smithing perk also causes tempering of ebony weapons and armor to be twice as effective. This perk applies to both unenchanted ebony gear and enchanted gear (generic armor, generic weapons, or custom), as long as the Arcane Blacksmith perk has been unlocked. Tempering of the Savior's Hide is also improved by Ebony Smithing, even though it does not use an ebony ingot.

With the addition of the Dragonborn add-on, Ebony Smithing is required in order to craft stalhrim weapons and armor.

Ebony Armor

Ebony armor is the third-best heavy armor, behind dragonplate and Daedric armors. It appears in leveled lists starting at level 32 (enchanted varieties at level 33). All items can be tempered using one ebony ingot, and having the Ebony Smithing perk doubles the quality improvement.

A female Imperial wearing Ebony Armor

A male Nord wearing Ebony Armor

	Name (ID)	Weight	Value	Rating	Raw Materials		Delta		Ratio
					Ebony	Strips	Weight	Value	Weight	Value
	Ebony Armor (00013961)	38	1500	43	5	3	32.7	741	7.17	1.98
	Ebony Boots (00013960)	7	275	16	3	2	3.8	-181	2.19	0.60
	Ebony Gauntlets (00013962)	7	275	16	2	2	4.8	-31	3.18	0.90
	Ebony Helmet (00013963)	10	750	21	3	2	6.8	294	3.12	1.64
	Ebony Shield (00013964)	14	750	32	4	1	9.9	147	3.41	1.24
Totals (with shield):		76	3550	128	17	10
Totals (without shield):		62	2800	96	13	9

Bugs

• Ebony armor is unaffected by the Heavy Armor perk Matching Set.
  • This bug is fixed by version 1.9 of the Official Skyrim Patch.
• In third person view, a male wearing ebony armor has an uncovered gap with visible skin around the neck area and the head will not cast a shadow.
  • PC Only This bug is fixed by version 1.0 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch.
• An ebony shield will be invisible if the person wearing it is a vampire.
  • PC Only This bug is fixed by version 1.0 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch.

Ebony Weapons

Ebony weapons are generally the second-best standard weapons in the original version of the game, behind only Daedric weapons. However, the ebony mace and ebony war axe are actually slightly better than their Daedric equivalents. These two weapons have identical damage statistics to the Daedric versions, but weigh less and do not require the use of a valuable Daedra Heart to create, making them somewhat better overall. The Dawnguard add-on introduces dragonbone weapons, making ebony the third-best standard of weapon.

Ebony weapons appear in leveled lists starting at level 36 (enchanted varieties at level 37). All items except ammunition can be tempered using one ebony ingot, and having the Ebony Smithing perk doubles the quality improvement. Arrows can only be smithed if the Dawnguard add-on has been installed.

	Name (ID)	Weight	Value	Damage	Crit. Critical Damage	Speed	Reach	Raw Materials		Delta		Ratio
								Ebony	Strips	Weight	Value	Weight	Value
	Ebony Dagger (000139ae)	5	290	10	5	1.3	0.7	1	1	3.9	137	4.55	1.90
	Ebony Sword (000139b1)	15	720	13	6	1	1	2	1	12.9	417	7.14	2.38
	Ebony War Axe (000139ab)	17	865	15	7	0.9	1	2	2	14.8	559	7.73	2.83
	Ebony Mace (000139b0)	19	1000	16	8	0.8	1	3	1	15.9	547	6.13	2.21
	Ebony Greatsword (000139af)	22	1440	22	11	0.7	1.3	5	3	16.7	681	4.15	1.90
	Ebony Battleaxe (000139ac)	26	1585	23	11	0.7	1.3	5	2	20.8	829	5.00	2.10
	Ebony Warhammer (000139b2)	30	1725	25	12	0.6	1.3	5	3	24.7	966	5.66	2.27
	Ebony Bow (000139ad)	16	1440	17	8	0.56	1	3	0	13	990	5.33	3.20
	Ebony Arrow (000139bf)	0	7	20	N/A			1 Ebony + 1 Firewood = 24 Ebony ArrowsDG		-6	13	0.00	1.08

†	In earlier versions of the game, the speed of an ebony dagger is 1 instead of 1.3. This bug also applies to all generic enchanted ebony daggers. This bug is fixed by version 1.5.24 of the Official Skyrim Patch.

Notes

• Ebony ore can be sold to Dushnamub for the quest Mine Ore.
• Ebony ingots are needed to create and temper Daedric armor and weapons, and to create a random enchanted armor or weapon at the Atronach Forge.
• Several artifacts and unique weapons are tempered using ebony ingots.
• Ore veins (all types) sometimes do not respawn normally. See Mining (Bugs) and elsewhere on that article and its talk page.