Skyrim's world is huge and filled with a variety of colorful factions. One of the biggest of these groups is the Thieves' Guild, a safe haven for robbers, cutpurses, and conmen alike.
For players wanting to pursue this faction and its quest, or just pursue a gaming life of crime, there are certain skills they'll need. There are 18 skill trees to gain experience in, and each tree has a variety of perks to aid in any playthrough. Here, however, are ten of the best perks specifically for a thief.
10 Sneak: Stealth - Tier One
A key skill for any aspiring thief is Sneak — it contains the perks that directly impact their ability to pick a pocket or cut a purse and not get caught. The Stealth perk plays an important role in sneaking about, and it's impertinent to start building it up. It's tiered into five levels, each increasing stealth by five percent, starting from a 20 percent boost.
Fortunately for players, Stealth and its first tier are the earliest perks to unlock in Sneak. This means that no matter what race players choose, they can immediately unlock a base increase of 20 percent in Sneak. And it's surprising how much difference a meager 20 percent can make between detection and remaining hidden.
9 Lockpicking: Quick Hands
Another key aspect to thievery is Lockpicking. From safe-cracking to dungeon delving and more, many goods in Skyrim are hidden behind secured locks. If those locks just happen to have an owner, Quick Hands is an invaluable asset when it comes to avoiding being busted. Simply put, the skill makes it easier for players to lockpick without getting noticed. Whether sneaking or not, being able to avoid detection when doing crime is valuable to any thief.
The skill has some prerequisites to unlocking. Players will need to have unlocked the Novice and Apprentice Lock skills on the tree. The former can be unlocked without any experience, but the latter will need a minimum leveling of 20. Quick Hands itself requires experience to be leveled to 40 to be unlocked. So players best get safe-cracking.
8 Pickpocket: Light Fingers - Tier One
Being able to swipe goodies directly off an unsuspecting victim is another key skill for thieves. This is where Pickpocketing and the Light Fingers perk come into play. Like Sneak and the Stealth perk, this specific perk is tiered into five sub-levels. Also like Stealth, Light Fingers boosts successful pickpocketing by 20 percent.
Unlike Stealth, it then increases those chances by another 20 percent for each subsequent tier. Light Fingers and its first tier are the very first perk of the Pickpocketing tree, meaning players can automatically gain the 20 percent boost without training their Lockpicking skill. And it's best if they get this trait as soon as possible.
7 Speech: Fence
Once players have acquired the stolen goods, it'll be time to make a profit off of them. Unfortunately, if they haven't joined the Thieves Guild, there won't be anyone to fence the merchandise off to. Even if they have, there'll still be one major fence throughout most of the questline — unless they unlock the Speech perk, Fence.
As the name suggests, it can turn every average Skyrim shopkeep into a possible Fence, so long as players previously invested money in them. This is, however, one of the last perks on the Speech tree. Players will need a skill level of 90 to unlock it, alongside the prerequisite perks of Haggling, Allure, Merchant, and Investor. But it's definitely worth it should players want a quick way to offload goods and churn out a profit.
6 Alchemy: Benefactor
Alchemy is a supportive skill tree, able to briefly boost the abilities of other trees, regenerate health, stamina, magicka, and so much more. For any would-be thief, the foremost effects are of extreme importance. There are many ingredients and potions around Skyrim that can boost swindling skills. And the success and duration of these effects depend on a litany of factors.
One of the aforementioned factors is the Benefactor perk. It boosts the effects of beneficial potions by 25 percent, guaranteeing a heightened minimum effect to any future potions. It's a mid-tree perk, however, meaning players will need an Alchemy skill of 30 and will need to have unlocked at least tier one of Alchemist and Physician beforehand. But gaining this ability definitely has its benefits.
5 Sneak: Silence
General Stealth isn't the only benefit that thieves gain from Sneak. Another useful perk is that of Silence. Even if undetected in the act of stealing, trespass is still as serious a crime in Skyrim. Being able to move about any location undetected can definitely prove useful to thieves.
The perk removes general walking and running noises, meaning so long as players aren't seen, they can book it through any place and steal whatever they like. Silence is also a high-tree perk, meaning players will need their skill level at 70 and have unlocked other Sneak skills beforehand: Silent Roll, Light Foot, Muffled Movement, and at least tier one of Stealth. But not worrying about making noise makes thievery all the easier.
4 Lockpicking: Locksmith
There are two methods to obtaining lockpicks in Skyrim. The first is to buy them from the various shopkeeps around the land. The second is to randomly loot them out of dungeons and NPCs. While there's a great abundance of lockpicks, it can take a long time to amass such a hefty collection, especially with their fragility.
That's where the Locksmith perk comes in. It'll automatically place a pick near the correct position of a lock upon starting the lockpicking animation. This cuts down the trial-and-error portion of finding that sweet spot, alongside saving players many broken picks. It's a rather high perk on the Lockpicking tree, though, requiring the skill to be at level 80. Players will also need to have unlocked the Novice, Apprentice, Adept, and Expert perks too.
3 Pickpocket: Night Thief
The night is a friend to many a thief, and it's the best time to commit all sorts of crimes. Pickpocketing unsuspecting NPCs is one of them, and as it so happens, this skill tree has a specific perk designed just for that: Night Thief.
The perk increases the chances of a successful pickpocket by 25 percent, with the caveat that the target is sleeping, as most NPCs tend to do at night. It's a low-level perk on the skill tree, requiring players to only get the skill to 30 and unlock tier one of Light Fingers. But a 25 percent boost to pickpocketing is a big benefit, especially with items that are normally difficult to snatch.
2 Speech: Bribery
A risk for any criminal is getting caught in the act. The following punishment usually involves varying fines, jail time, or immediate death, should the action be bad enough. All of which take a negative toll on any thief, be it to their coin purse, ill-gotten goods, or life.
The perk of Bribery can remedy this. For a small fee, players can persuade guards to ignore the crime, allowing them a clean getaway with all their treasures in tow. These bribes can be rather hefty (sometimes higher than any bounty) but can easily be assuaged through fencing any stolen goods. It's a low-level perk too, as players only need to get the skill to 30 and unlock one tier of Haggling to access it.
1 Lockpick: Unbreakable
Master locks can be the bane of any thief's existence. The absolute precision needed to bust them open has cost many a player quite a few lockpicks. But the Unbreakable perk can easily remedy this. As the name suggests, this perk makes lockpicks unbreakable, allowing players to trial-and-error their way to success on all locks without wasting any picks in the process.
However, this is an extremely difficult perk to acquire. The skill tree will need to be maxed out at level 100, and players will have to unlock every perk up to Locksmith. But with it in tow, any thief can save themselves a load of time, money, and headache on lockpicking. Who needs Nocturnal's Skeleton Key when they have Unbreakable?