The Nightingale Blade is a leveled, unique, one-handed weapon that appears in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It once belonged to the Nightingale and former Thieves Guild Guildmaster Gallus Desidenius.
Acquisition
Karliah gives the blade to the Dragonborn as a reward for completing the Thieves Guild quest "Hard Answers."
Enchantment
The blade bears a unique enchantment called "Nightingale's Talon." This enchantment cannot be learned or applied to other items, though one who has the Extra Effect perk in Enchanting can place Absorb Health and Absorb Stamina on another weapon to emulate the Nightingale's Talon effect:
Smithing
The Nightingale Blade can be upgraded with an ebony ingot with the Arcane Blacksmith perk. However, it does not benefit from any Smithing perks. This means that the weapon cannot be improved past flawless quality without boosting the Smithing skill over 100. This can be achieved by using enchanted apparel or blacksmith's potions to fortify Smithing.
Levels
The damage, weight, value and magnitude of the enchantment is based on the Dragonborn's level when the weapon is obtained. The best possible version is available at level 46.
| Level | 
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Effect | Charges/cost=uses | ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–18 | 10 | 11 | 426 | Absorb 5 points of health and stamina | 500/28=17 | 0007A917 |
| 19–26 | 11 | 12 | 851 | Absorb 10 points of health and stamina | 1000/62=16 | 000F6524 |
| 27–35 | 12 | 13 | 1424 | Absorb 15 points of health and stamina | 2000/96=20 | 000F6525 |
| 36–45 | 13 | 14 | 2248 | Absorb 20 points of health and stamina | 3000/145=20 | 000F6526 |
| 46+ | 14 | 15 | 1665 | Absorb 25 points of health and stamina | 3000/55=54 | 000F6527 |
Trivia
- The Nightingale Blade has the same sheath as Dawnbreaker and Chillrend.
- At level 46, it has the same base damage as the Daedric sword.
- The Nightingale Blade has the Nightingale insignia on the hilt.
Bugs
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This section contains bugs related to Nightingale Blade. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:
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- PC 360 PS3 PS4 The highest level version of the Nightingale Blade does not show up in the improvement menu after interacting with a grindstone. All other versions do show up and can be improved.
- PC To avoid the bug above, edit the improvement recipe of the blade using the Creation Kit : open, in Items / Constructable Object, TemperWeaponNightingaleBlade05 and set Created Object to NightingaleBlade05 (instead of NightingaleBlade04, a false value) ; save the change in a plugin (a .esp file) and active this one when starting the game.
- There is a bug that allows players to acquire multiple copies of the Nightingale Blade. This occurs as a result of Karliah not returning to the Thieves Guild for the quest "The Pursuit" (another glitch). The fix is to return to the Dwemer Museum, repeat the quest "Hard Answers" and bring a new copy of the Charcoal Rubbing of the translation to the Frozen Hearth. When spoken to, Karliah will give the player a second Nightingale Blade (assuming the quest was already completed once).
- PC 360 PS3 The Nightingale Blade can slip through display cases or fall off weapon racks.