Iron Armor (Skyrim)

"That's good armor you've got there, friend. Iron; solid and true"

- Hold Guards when wearing Iron Armor

Iron Armor is a set of heavy armor that appears in. The most basic form of heavy armor, both in cost and protection, Iron Armor is very common and can be found throughout Skyrim from the beginning of the game.

Locations
Enchanted and unenchanted variants begin to appear throughout Skyrim at level 1. These locations include:
 * Blacksmiths and general goods merchants.
 * Found as random loot in chests or as a world item.
 * Worn by bandits.

Fixed locations

 * An entire set can be found in Riverwood. The shield, gauntlets, boots, and chest piece are located inside Alvor and Sigrid's House.
 * Parts of Iron Armor, such as the shield and helmet, can be found in Helgen Keep - the shield is in the torture chamber, while the helmet is the caves just before the encounter with the bear, next to a wagon.

Banded Iron
Banded Iron is a variant that is slightly stronger than standard Iron Armor and has a different style. There are only two pieces of this armor: Banded Iron Armor and the Banded Iron Shield. Both can be upgraded using corundum ingots rather than Iron Ingots.

Despite being made of Iron, Banded pieces are not considered part of the Iron Armor set. Because of this they cannot be used to grant the matching set bonus that can be obtained with regular Iron Armor.

Ancient Nord Armor
Ancient Nord Armor is a variant of the Iron Armor set and has identical base attributes, however what makes this armor superior is it benefits from the Daedric Smithing perk, which vastly improves its armor rating when upgraded. This makes it comparable with some of the higher tier armors. In addition, it does not include a shield as part of the set.

Smithing
Iron Armor requires no prerequisite Smithing level or perks to forge. Pieces can be crafted at a blacksmith's forge with the following components:
 * 3 × Leather Strips
 * 5 × Iron Ingot

Regular pieces can be upgraded at a workbench with an iron ingot and Banded pieces with a corundum ingot, however neither benefit from any smithing perks.

This means armor cannot be improved past flawless quality without boosting the Smithing skill over 100. This can be achieved by using enchanted items and/or blacksmithing potions to Fortify Smithing.