Complete Guide to Skyrim - Items, Quests, Mods, Builds, and Tips

Quick Links

Getting Started – Beginner Tips

New Skyrim Anniversary Edition Content

Followers & Factions

Weapons, Armor, and Spells Guides

Alchemy, Enchanting, Smithing, and Beyond

Skyrim Build Tips And Curses

Unique Items Guides

Daedric Princes And Artifacts

Skyrim Mods and Addons

Quests, Puzzles, And Locations

Advanced Skyrim Tips And Exploits

The release of Skyrim Anniversary Edition marks the ten-year birthday of one of the most celebrated RPGs of all time. A decade is a long time for any game to last, yet somehow Skyrim still feels as fresh as it did on its initial release all the way back on November 11, 2011. It's no wonder that Skyrim is also one of the most re-released RPGs of all time, too.

Over the last ten years, Skyrim has seen a lot of updates and additions which make it a very replayable game. This collection of Skyrim tips and guides covers almost everything in the game including crafting, quests, and builds ranging from beginner tutorials to tips that even the most knowledgable Skyrim experts might not know.

Updated January 7, 2022 by Erik Petrovich: This Complete Skyrim Guide has been updated to include several new entries throughout each overarching section, including new build and gameplay tips, more specific Alchemy guides, and things all players should know about, like Legendary Skills or what a Steward does. This guide has also been updated to include a new section dedicated to all things Daedric, including Daedric Princes and their Artifacts as well as some lore information about the Elder Scrolls' most meddling gods.

Getting Started – Beginner Tips

Screenshot from The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim showing the opening cart ride cutscene from a different angle.

Compared to many fantasy RPGs on the market (and certainly compared to previous Elder Scrolls titles), Skyrim is a relatively easy game to get into. Players stepping into the world of Tamriel for the first time get a basic introduction to the game and its mechanics after the cart ride to Helgen, but there's plenty of things the game doesn't fully explain when starting out.

New Skyrim Anniversary Edition Content

Skyrim Complete Guide Anniversary Edition Content

Skyrim Anniversary Edition, released on the 10th birthday of Skyrim, includes every single Creation Club element alongside 26 of its own unique addons, ranging from new questlines to new homes and much, much more. The following is a collection of guides for new content introduced with SkyrimAnniversary Edition, including new unique items, new mechanics like Fishing and Horse Taming, and a few guides for new questlines and expansion-like addons included with the upgrade such as The Cause and Ghosts of the Tribunal.

Followers & Factions

Skyrim offers players a wide range of followers to accompany them on their travels, as well as factions to join that affect the story's progression. Followers can be combat-oriented, made to carry gear and fight for the player, or married, where they typically maintain the homestead and allow the player to have a family. While there is no Fighter's Guild or Mage's Guild in Skyrim, other similar factions take their place in addition to a variety of new causes the player can join.

Weapons, Armor, and Spells Guides

Complete Guide To Skyrim Hub Shout Spell Weapon Armor

Weapons and armor in Skyrim are as varied as the races that inhabit it, with hundreds of pieces of gear available for players to find in their journeys across the Nord homeland. Some are found easily through the main questlines, while others require players to complete specific tasks to be acquired. The most unique weapons in the game are even more enigmatic.

Weapons

Armor

Spells and Shouts

Alchemy, Enchanting, Smithing, and Beyond

There are three main crafting skills in Skyrim: Alchemy, Enchanting, and Smithing. Each of these skills has an associated skill line to progress through, though there are other types of crafting skills in the game like Cooking, Tanning, Woodcutting, Mining, and Smelting. The Skyrim crafting system is robust, though very different from previous entries in the franchise.

Alchemy

Enchanting

Smithing

Other Crafting Skills

Skyrim Build Tips And Curses

Complete Guide To Skyrim Hub Vampire Werewolf Builds

Skyrim prides itself on letting players do just about everything in the game on a single character, though it can be fun to go for a specific build and roleplay in the universe of The Elder Scrolls. Builds in Skyrim vary from cosmetic-only to being utterly game-breaking, but sometimes the only way to get the skills and gear you want is by learning how to level effectively.

Builds and Tips

Curses

Unique Items Guides

Complete Guide To Skyrim Hub Unique Items

There are dozens and dozens of unique items in Skyrim, most of which are given a name to differentiate them from more common equipment. Some unique items can only be acquired by serving a Daedric Prince, but others are only found in the game's DLC packs, hidden in side quests, or included in out-of-the-way content out in the world.

Unique Weapons

Unique Armor

Other Unique Items

Daedric Princes And Artifacts

Split image: Azura, Sheogorath, Mehrunes Dagon Elder Scrolls

The Daedric Princes of The Elder Scrolls series are some of the most iconic "villains" in fantasy RPG gaming, if one would go as far as to call them evil. With the exception of Molag Bal and a few others, the Daedric Princes are generally protective or at least friendly to their followers, and the Dragonborn can become the champion of just about all of them. They often bequeath special artifacts that are some of the most coveted items in the entire game, too, each of which is well worth hunting down for their unique effects, stats, or aesthetic.

Skyrim Mods and Addons

Skyrim would not have maintained its place in the cultural zeitgeist if not for its dedicated and talented modding community. In fact, almost everything in the Special Edition Creation Club being added officially to the Anniversary Edition was created by fans, not Bethesda. With tens of thousands of mods for Skyrim out there it can be hard to figure out which ones are worth downloading and which ones aren't. Keep in mind, too, that mods not downloaded through the Creation Club or the Steam Workshop must be installed manually.

Quests, Puzzles, And Locations

Complete Guide To Skyrim Hub Quests Puzzles

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of quests available for players to take on in Skyrim. Though the main questline feels short, the sheer volume of side content and explorable locations makes it one of the most fully realized open-world RPGs ever made. This section is dedicated to helping players figure out puzzles, find unmarked map locations, and decide the best way to take on complex quests.

Quest and Puzzle Guides

Skyrim Locations

Advanced Skyrim Tips And Exploits

Skyrim is by no means a new game – while the Anniversary Edition seeks to modernize it significantly, it doesn't change the fact that many have already played hundreds of hours exploring the game. For veteran players returning to Skyrim, it can be more fun to try playing the game in a completely new way – and there are lots of ways to totally break the game (and one's immersion), too.