The Lover Stone is actually broken and nobody uses it right

[WhiterunModder]

I just realized I've been sleeping on the Lover Stone for like 15 playthroughs. Everyone talks about Mage / Warrior / Thief depending on your build, but the Lover Stone gives you a flat 15% boost to all skills. That's not nothing. On my current run I grabbed it at level 5 and I'm leveling everything faster without having to min-max perks or pick a stone that only helps half my abilities.

The catch is obviously you need a hybrid build to make it shine, but like... most people end up doing that anyway once they hit mid-game. Stealth archer with a bit of magic, warrior who uses restoration, whatever. The Lover Stone just scales with whatever mess you're actually playing instead of forcing you into a lane.

Am I the only one who thinks this gets completely overshadowed in build guides because people are obsessed with optimizing one damage type? On Legendary difficulty it doesn't matter as much but on lower difficulties this thing is actually insane for leveling speed.

 

[TamrielTactician]

Yeah I think you're onto something here, but I'd push back a little on the "broken" framing. The Lover Stone is genuinely useful, but the reason guides push Mage / Warrior / Thief isn't really about min-maxing damage - it's about how much faster you level specific trees when you're actually committing to them.

Like, if you're genuinely using Destruction, Conjuration, and Restoration equally, sure, the Lover Stone wins. But most people who grab Warrior stone are spamming sword attacks and power bashing for like 20 levels straight. You get that 25% boost to One-Handed and Block, which stacks multiplicatively with your actual playstyle. By the time you're level 30, you've probably gotten way more mileage out of that than a flat 15% to everything would've given you.

That said, I think you're right that it gets slept on for exactly the reason you mentioned - hybrid builds are the default once you're past the tutorial zone. Stealth archer who uses Mayhem spells, or a melee fighter who dabbles in healing. On my current Legendary run I'm like three playstyles bolted together and honestly the Lover Stone would've saved me from the "why is my Alteration still at 42" problem I've got going.

The leveling speed thing is real too, especially early game when you're still finding your footing. I think the real take is just that it's situational rather than universally worse - depends way more on whether you actually know what you're doing by level 5 than most people admit.