Are you looking for a fast and easy way to get Madness Ore in Skyrim and forge it into weapons and armor?
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim may be a decade-old game, but its popularity and expansions seem to be never-ending.
In the Anniversary Edition, Bethesda gave the gamers a whole lot of new content, quests, ores, weapons, armor, and so much more. But the most-talked-about addition to the Anniversary Edition was the 500+ Creation Club elements.
If you own a copy of the original Skyrim (2011), you can’t access the Creation Club. The expansion was released by Bethesda for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition and Anniversary Edition. So, if you own any of these editions, you can access the Creation Club and its add-ons for free.
One of the people-favorite Creation Club content is the Saints & Seducers pack. This pack opens up new quests, characters, and, most importantly, the legendary Madness Ore.
Madness Ore contains the souls of dead heroes and can be used to craft Madness weapons and armor. The Madness Armor is more powerful than the iconic Daedric armor, and the Madness Weapons are much more powerful than the Dragonbone weapons.
But the main question is: how to get Madness Ore in Skyrim?
You can find Madness Ore by killing bosses and looting their dungeon chests, but that will take you a lot of time. But there’s another way!
So, in this article, I will share a much quicker and easier way to get Madness Ore. With this method, you can enjoy the complete questline of the Saints & Seducers expansion pack and get Madness Ore to craft new weapons for yourself.
What is Madness Ore in Skyrim?
Madness Ore is a brown metal with golden veins across it. It is malleable and can be turned into high-quality weapons and armor. Although Skyrim players associate Madness Ore with the Saints & Seducers pack, it has been featured in the Oblivion DLC – The Shivering Isles.
Madness Ore is one of the rarest resources to find in Skyrim, and trust me; you don’t want to skip them because they are not easily found. Also, Madness Ore deposits do not replenish as Iron Ore deposits do.
So, once you mine a Madness Ore deposit, you won’t be able to mine it again. In the Shivering Isles DLC, you could find these natural ores in the ruined forts around the Isles. However, the ways to find them in Skyrim are a little different.
How to Get Madness Ore in Skyrim?
As I mentioned, Madness Ore is rare to stumble upon. As these Ores were originally discovered in the Shivering Isle, their natural occurrences in Skyrim are pretty irregular.
Here are some instances where I stumbled upon the legendary Madness Ore:
- Without starting the Saints & Seducers questline: Embershard Mine (in a locked chest behind the gate)
- With the Saints & Seducers questline: Evethra’s table (a piece of Amber and Madness Ore). At the end of the Solitude Sewers, after killing Thoron.
Please keep in mind that I am talking about Madness Ore (pieces) here and not the mines. If you find a mine, you can extract even higher amounts of ore from it.
Now, let’s see how to get Madness Ore easily!
➡️ Method 1: Kill Bosses, Loot Chests (Slow and Difficult)
All over Skyrim, you can find treasure chests. In these chests, you will sometimes obtain Madness Ore. You can also find the ore on the bodies you loot, again, sometimes.
You may also get ores in dungeon boss chests, which are all across Skyrim. The Dungeon bosses are the most challenging opponents you can fight in the world of Skyrim, and you will find a treasure chest once you defeat them.
With only a few locations with the pieces of Madness Ore, these dungeons can range from caves to castles. Since Skyrim is an open-world game, you are free to roam around, find these dungeons, kill the bosses, and loot the chest.
But you are here to know how to get Madness Ore fast and easily. So, let’s see that.
➡️ Method 2: Buy Madness Ore from Khajiit Traders (Fast and Easy)
Instead of going on a scavenger hunt for the dungeon treasure chests, just start playing the main questline of the Saints & Seducers pack. This pack contains two main missions: Balancing the Power and Restoring Order.
To start with the first mission, locate Ri’saad, a vendor for the Khajiit Caravan. The caravan travels between Markath and Whiterun.
Walk up to Ri’saad and choose the dialogue option, “I’ve heard you’ve been running into trouble along the road.” He will give you a letter, which will begin “Balance of Power,” the first primary quest of Saints & Seducers.
Oh, by the way, you can find Ri’saad in Whiterun.
(If you don’t, just “wait”!)
After completing the Saints & Seducers questline, you’ll get a letter – “Note on New Wares” – from Ri’saad saying that he has stocked new items in his inventory, including Madness Ore. You can find Ri’saad right in front of the gates of Whiterun.
Walk up to Ri’saad and ask him, “What have you got for sale?”
This will open up Ri’saad’s inventory, and you can get the Madness Ore in exchange for gold.
As long as you have enough gold, you can buy Madness Ore from Ri’saad repeatedly. After buying, just run up to a corner and wait for 48 hours.
Now, if you are a long-time Skyrim player like me, you know that shops restock their inventories every two days. So this way, after waiting for 48 hours, you can buy Madness Ore from Ri’saad again.
You can buy Madness Ore from Ri’saad or Ahkari. While Ri’saad’s caravan group travels between Whiterun and Markarth, Ahkari’s group travels between Dawnstar and Riften.
This is how to get Madness Ore easily and quickly – sans the gruesome fights with the dungeon bosses. 😀
But here’s some bad news: Madness Ore in itself is of no use. You still need to acquire proper knowledge to craft the Madness Ore into Madness armor and weapons.
So, let’s understand how to forget Madness weapons and armor out of the Madness Ore.
How to Craft Madness Armor and Weapons in Skyrim?
Now that you know how to get Madness Ore, let’s understand how to forge weapons from it.
Once you complete the “Restoring Order” quest, you will find a note – Note on Amber and Madness Ore – at Thoron’s table. This will start a miscellaneous quest to Mistwatch.
Mistwatch is a bandit fort located north of the border of the Rift and Eastmarch. In Mistwatch, you need to kill Eventhra – a mysterious Blacksmith with the power to forge Amber and Madness equipment.
After killing Evethra and her skeleton minions, you can loot and read her journal to learn the secret of how to forge Madness and Amber equipment.
On a side note, collect the Arcane Blacksmith’s Apron as well. This apron is enchanted with Fortify Smithing and grants you 20% better equipment-build when smithing items.
Note: You need the Ebony Smithing perk to be unlocked before you can craft Madness equipment. Ebony Smithing requires level 80 Smithing Skills. For crafting Amber equipment, you only require the Glass Smithing perk.
So, in a case where you don’t have high enough smithing skills to unlock Ebony Smithing, consider crafting Amber equipment instead of Madness.
You can find an anvil nearby and start crafting your Madness armor and weapons.
Your Madness Ore will be smelted into Madness Ingots, which will eventually be used in crafting your weapons and armor. Keep in mind that you also need Leather Strips and Ebony Ingots, along with Madness Ingots, to craft weapons and armor.
Madness Weapons and Equipment ⚔️
Most armor pieces and weapons will require a combination of Madness Ingots, Ebony Ingots, and Leather Strips. Madness Arrows are the only weapon that requires Firewood instead of Ebony and Leather.
The complete list of required resources for these armor pieces is listed below:
➡️ Armor
| Madness Armor Pieces | Madness Ingots | Ebony Ingots | Leather Strips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armor | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| Boots | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Gauntlets | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Helmet | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Shield | 4 | 2 | 1 |
➡️ Weapons
| Madness Weapons | Madness Ingots | Ebony Ingots | Leather Strips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sword | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Warhammer | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| War Axe | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Mace | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Greatsword | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| Dagger | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Bow | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Battleaxe | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Arrows | 1 + 1 Firewood | 0 | 0 |
Final Thoughts
The Saints & Seducers add-on, available through the Creation Club, closely resembles an official Bethesda DLC. The add-on is rooted in The Elder Scrolls: IV Oblivion Shivering Isle DLC and stays true to The Elder Scrolls lore, and establishes the series as one of the best adventurous games of all time.
Additionally, this add-on brings a plethora of new adventures to Skyrim players.
I highly recommend checking out this add-on if you own it. Skyrim’s Madness weapons and armor, while somewhat heavy, are incredibly powerful and will provide excellent protection against formidable bosses, even dragons.
Follow my step-by-step guide on how to get Madness Ore, and you can rapidly acquire abundant Madness Ore. Remember, it is advised not to sell any Madness Ore or crafting materials that you need to forge Madness weapons and armor.
Instead, store them in your house or keep them in your followers’ inventory to ensure their preservation.
Speaking of followers, do you know how to get Serana as a follower?
So, that’s all, folks. Enjoy the world of Skyrim!
