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Although the Vampire Lord form is arguably better in every way than the werewolf form in Skyrim, due in no small part to your ability to turn it on and off at will as well as the powers of a Vampire Lord simply being better, werewolves can still be a lot of fun to play as. However, in order to take full advantage of this form, you will need to find a few key items, such as the Ring of Hircine obtained through the quest Ill Met By Moonlight.

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This ring allows you to transform into a werewolf more than once per day and is essential if you plan on using the werewolf form more frequently or as the main means of battling enemies. In order to begin this quest, you will need to reach Falkreath, found southwest of Helgen, and talks to Sinding inside the Falkraeth Barracks.

Talk To Sinding

To begin Ill Met By Moonlight, you don't need to reach a certain level cap, unlike the majority of other Daedric quests, and can instigate it whenever you want. However, since this quest involves fighting higher level enemies, it might be best to wait until you are a higher level yourself. Since the quest rewards you with either the Ring of Hircine or the Savior's Hide, it might be best to complete the Companions questline first and become a werewolf yourself, as this will help in the final conflict. After talking to Sinding, he will give your the Cursed Ring of Hircine, which is automatically equipped and can't be unequipped, before escaping prison and fleeing to Bloated Man's Grotto.

Get Out Of Falkreath ASAP

Unfortunately, wearing the Cursed Ring of Hircine will cause you to transform into a werewolf at random, even if you weren't a werewolf when you started the quest. With this in mind, run out of Falkreith as fast as you can to avoid accidentally transforming in front of the Hold guards and instigating a fight.

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Once you have successfully fled Falkreath, follow the quest marker to find the White Stag and begin the next phase of the quest. En route, you may have to deal with a handful of bandits, including Bandit Chiefs, so make sure you are always prepared for a fight at any given moment.

Find The White Stag

The White Stag in the Skyrim quest Ill Met By Moonlight

Like all stags in Skyrim, the White Stag is very hard to hit with melee weapons and should be killed using a bow or magic, as getting close to the creature without scaring it off is next to impossible without a very high Sneak skill level. After killing the stag, the Aspect of Hircine will appear and commend your hunting capabilities, taking note of the fact that you are wearing the Ring of Hircine. Whether you accept Hircine's request or not, they will send you to Bloated Man's Grotto, where Sinding is hiding, so that you can end the fight once and for all.

Track Down The Wild Hunt

J'Kier dying after confronting Sinding in Bloated Man's Grotto

After a brief conversation with Hircine, you will enter Bloated Man's Grotto and find that Sinding is single-handedly dealing with the Wild Hunt in his werewolf form. After talking to a dying Khajiit hunter, make your way into the main dungeon area to find Sinding, who pleads with you to help him kill off the rest of the Wild Hunt and leave him in peace to live in the Grotto. If you accept his offer to help, you can simply follow him from a distance while he tears through the Wild Hunt, otherwise, you will have to battle him immediately.

Spare Sinding

Contronting Sinding in Bloated Man's Grotto Skyrim

If you chose to spare Sinding, you will need to fight off multiple low-level enemies that are relatively easy to deal with, especially in werewolf form. While the majority of the Wild Hunter is wearing fairly weak armor and can be defeated pretty easily, there are a couple that are wearing Steel Armor and can be much harder to defeat at low levels.

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After fighting off the Wild Hunt, Sinding will thank you for your help and the Cursed Ring of Hircine will simply become the Ring of Hircine and can now be unequipped as well as no longer randomly triggering werewolf transformations.

Talk To Hircine

Hircine appearing as Sinding after killing and skinning him in Skyrim

After helping Sinding and leaving the Grotto, the Aspect of Hircine will appear to you as the stag once again, standing at the entrance to confront you, where you can either say you failed Hircine or continue to defy them. If you take the dialogue option where you admit you failed to kill Sinding, Hircine will give you another chance to rectify this error and send you back inside the Grotto to finish the job. If, instead, you chose to kill Sinding, he will appear to you as Sinding beside his corpse and congratulate you on a job well done, before turning the skin into the Savior's Hide.

Tear The Skin From Sinding

Sinding's corpse ready to be skinned in Skyrim

If you refuse to help Sinding, or if Hircine sends you back to finish the job, you will have to battle against a fairly difficult werewolf, especially if you are at a low level. If you can transform into a werewolf, even at low levels, this battle should be fairly easy, however, and you should be able to knock him around with ease. After killing him, interact with his corpse to skin Sinding, which will trigger Hircine to appear once again. They will commend your good work and turn Sinding's skin into the Savior's Hide, a low-level armor piece that lacks in armor rating but has decent enchantments with Magicka and Poison Resistance.

It is possible to obtain both the Ring of Hircine and the Savior's Hide as quest rewards, despite the fact that the quest is designed to only give you one of them. If you run out of the Grotto fast enough, you should be able to catch Hircine in time for them to give you a second chance once the Cursed Ring of Hircine has been altered, though you should have before attempting this as it doesn't always work and can result in you having skinned Sinding for no reason.

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