Nightingale Armor

"That armor... it's like nothing I've ever seen. Like forged midnight..."

- Hold Guards

The Nightingale Armor is a unique light armor set that appears in.

The armor is the trademark of the Nightingales, a shadowy faction dedicated to the service of the Daedric Prince Nocturnal. The faction is reformed during the course of the Thieves Guild quest-line and the Dragonborn is given a set of the armor before being inducted into the group.

Because the armor is leveled, the magnitude of the enchantments and value of the sword are contingent upon character level.

Acquisition
The full set is given to the Dragonborn by Karliah before performing the initiation ritual of the Nightingales during the quest "Trinity Restored" for the Thieves Guild. All pieces are obtained when activating the Armor Stone, emblazoned with the Nightingales symbol, inside Nightingale Hall.

Enchantments
Each piece bears an enchantment, the magnitude of which is dependent on character level. Three tiers of armor are available and the set with the strongest enchantments can be obtained after level 32. The character level when the quest "Trinity Restored" is started determines which tier of armor will be granted.

In addition, wearing all four pieces of Nightingale Armor grants the effect "Nightingale Armor Full Set" which increases armor rating by 25 points.

Smithing
All pieces can be upgraded at a workbench with void salts and the Arcane Blacksmith perk, however they do not benefit from any smithing perks.

This means they 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.

Trivia

 * The armor container in the developers' room (accessible on PC only; the command is ) contains three sets of Nightingale Armor with varying armor ratings and enchantment strengths.

Bugs

 * The armor can't be upgraded even when the player has a sufficient Smithing skill, perks, and void salts.
 * Possible solution: If Fine-Cut Void Salts are in the inventory, drop them or put them in a container.
 * Sometimes the coloring of the Hood will go, and it will become white, (as well as Nightingale hoods worn by others). Reinstalling the game seems to fix this, although you may lose saved progress in current games.
 * Solution: fast travel and it should turn back to black or un-equip it and re-equip it.
 * Solution: take off the hood and put it back on repeatedly.
 * Solution: drop the hood on the ground during the daytime and wait until night to pick it back up and equip it.
 * While wearing the gloves, human and wood elf fingers skin tone will always look the same no matter the character's skin tone.
 * Solution: Restart the console.
 * Replacing the Nightingale Hood with a Shrouded Hood still gives the set matching set effect.