Elves have been a vital part of fantasy works since times immemorial.
And I’m always excited when I find some “Elven” equipment in any game like Dragon Age or The Elder Scrolls.
But the vanilla Elven armor in Skyrim is anything but masterful. The color is off, it looks super bulky, and overall, there’s really no reason to wear it.
As an Elf lover, I’d like to right Bethesda’s wrongs with the help of the modding community.
Here’s our collection of the best mods that’ll elevate the default Elven armor in Skyrim.
First up, we’ve got a simple but meaningful re-coloring of Skyrim’s vanilla Elven armor and weapons – now updated to a very nice palette of silver and red.
The unapologetic brightness of the silver Elven armor set contrasts starkly with Skyrim’s subdued Winter tones, while the red details add some Imperial vibes.
It’s so different from the usual Skyrim armor that it’s almost vintage.
The colors and sheen of the armor send me back to my days of playing TES IV: Oblivion.
I’ve always felt the vanilla Elven armor colors were a little out of place in Skyrim.
The greenish golden hue is unappealing in a way that’s hard to describe, and it looks too bright and goofy next to the more earthly tones of the iron, steel, ebony, and dragonbone sets.
On top of that, they’re made from Moonstone – a material that’s an entirely different color!
This mod by Ice885 addresses both issues by making the armor closer to the color of Moonstone – a lot closer.
It’s almost as if it was made from marble. And it looks phenomenal.
The idea of living in sync with nature and protecting the land is just beautiful. The Amazon could definitely use a couple of ‘em.
Vanilla Skyrim is criminally low on Wood Elf content, and none of the armors make sense when you’re playing a Bosmer.
To end the discrimination and empower Wood Elves all across Skyrim, modder Jameza created this sleek “leaf” armor for Bosmer and any kind of forest protector.
The leafy cowl is just roguish enough, and the shiny silver and green scales in irregular patterns are an incredible detail.
It’s a bit like light bouncing off the ripples in a flowing river – precisely the kind of Bosmer aesthetic I’m looking for.
It’s always bothered me that the vanilla Elven armor set is classified as Light Armor.
It’s way too big and bulky for a roguish character to wear!
I understand it’s meant to showcase Elven craftsmanship and Moonstone as a lightweight material. Still, this lack of a clear direction made me skip over this armor altogether in most playthroughs.
And this custom armor mod by Letstryagain tweaks the vanilla armor by removing some parts, and reducing others in size, so that way the armor hugs the body and actually looks lightweight.
We’re getting close to the top of our list – and here we have a pair of incredible custom armor sets with intricate detail, and even some fancy glowing effects.
The Dark Nemesis is a thoroughly ornamented ebony armor, which looks great, but we’re not focusing on that here because it has nothing to do with Elves.
On the other hand, we also have the Eternal Shine Armor. This is a badass steely version of the original Elven armor with a fair share of tweaks – chief among them the glowing blue highlights on the arms, knees, and helmet.
If you liked the idea of Moonstone-colored armor but felt our previous mod was a little bit too subdued, this shiny remastered Elven Armor mod could be the thing for you.
It’s a complete rework of the vanilla set by KiraxSkyrim.
Other than the change in color and generous polish, the model itself is higher-poly, and the textures have much better resolution.
Put simply, this is how Elven armor should always have looked.
It looks ethereal and almost mystical – the kind of armor that inspires bards to write songs – and really showcases Elven craftsmanship.
Plus it also reworks the shield and weapons as well.
The first place on our ranking goes to a set of armor that blows anything vanilla Skyrim has to offer out of the water – while also looking 100% lore-friendly.
This Elven Chainmail set is everything I expect from something made by and for elves.
It’s elegant, intricately detailed, and flows dynamically which allows freedom of movement while looking phenomenal.
The main mod link above includes a fair amount of alternate colors to craft, but you should definitely check out the HD Snow Elf version, and the essential CBBE Bodyslide version too.
Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.
