Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim opens with a prisoner on the way to the block and ends, if you follow the main quest, in Sovngarde with Alduin dead. In between sit three expansions and an Anniversary Edition full of Creation Club content, and a good third of the questions readers bring us come down to one thing: which version of the game does this guide assume? That is how this hub is arranged. Every one of our Skyrim pages is filed under the edition it needs, so a base-game player never chases a Solstheim armor set and an Anniversary player knows which pages only open for them.

Base game: the first ten hours

Our complete walkthrough runs the main quest from Unbound, where the choice between Hadvar and Ralof barely matters, through the Bleak Falls Barrow claw puzzle, the Thalmor Embassy party and Alduin's Wall, to Skuldafn and the final fight beside Hakon and Felldir. Before that, pick a race: the best races ranking puts Altmer first and Imperial tenth but still names Imperials, Wood Elves and Orcs the easiest starts, and the archetypes page and our builds guide turn a race into a plan for health, magicka and stamina.

For the first fifteen levels, the early game gear page lists what a level-1 character can already grab: the Longhammer from Liar's Retreat if you sprint past everything, a full Orcish set from Largashbur, the Mace of Molag Bal from House of Horrors and the Wabbajack from Dervenin in Solitude. Lockpicks cost 2 gold each, and the lockpicks page knows who stocks thirty at a time. A stable horse costs 1,000 gold and a stolen one costs a 50 gold bounty, per the horse page. On PC, the console commands page covers everything from God Mode to item codes, the crash fixes page starts with the 24-bit, 44100 Hz sound setting that cures most launch crashes, and the tweaks page goes deeper into the ini files, shadows and uGrids. For a look back at what Bethesda promised before release, tavern brawls and no karma system among them, there is our pre-launch interview write-up.

Base game: systems, factions and standing

The mechanics guide sorts every system by which of the 18 skills it levels and what the 70-perk budget can afford, from the Telekinesis glitch to the capstone of each tree. Factions come next: the all guilds page gives the entry point for each, Kodlak in Jorrvaskr's basement, Tolfdir's First Lessons, Aventus Aretino's Innocence Lost, Brynjolf in Riften's market, an Imperial camp or Galmar's ice wraith. Two of them get their own pages: joining the Companions takes you through Vilkas's sparring and Proving Honor at Dustman's Cairn with Farkas, and joining the College of Winterhold covers Faralda's spell test, Saarthal's pillar puzzles and Jyrik Gauldurson.

Standing in the world is its own set of pages. The Thane page covers all nine holds, the marriage page starts with a 200 gold Amulet of Mara from Maramal and ends with a spouse paying 100 gold a day, and the werewolf page follows the Companions to the beast blood and back out again through Blood's Honor. The one title the base game never offers is High King; the High King page explains that only mods put you on the throne or let you marry Elisif. The quests guide sorts the questlines by the shape of their reward, the characters guide by what each companion, trainer and spouse costs you, the locations guide separates the free finds from the house ladder, and the bosses guide handles the one fight with a level gate and a loot table of its own.

Base game: gear

Three bucket guides carry the gear. The armor guide sorts all 34 sets by the Smithing perk that forges them, the weapons guide divides the unique blades and bows by quest, forge or schematic, and the items guide splits everything else by whether it works once, forever or as a counted set. The heavy versus light page is the decision before any of them: there is no medium armor, light suits stealth and magic, heavy suits standing in front of a giant. If heavy wins, the Heavy Armor leveling page shows how to let those giants raise the skill for you.

Dawnguard

Dawnguard is the vampire expansion, and the all guilds page notes that Fort Dawnguard only opens at level 10. Our vampire page covers the base-game disease first, four stages over 72 hours and a curfew from 5 am to 7 pm, then the Vampire Lord that Harkon offers at Castle Volkihar and the cure through Falion of Morthal. The best horses page starts with Arvak, the summonable Soul Cairn horse, before moving on to Shadowmere's 1,637 health. The mechanics guide covers the three Dawnguard shouts, the weapons guide has Auriel's Bow and the Enhanced Dwarven Crossbow, and the armor guide files Vampire Royal Armor among the sets no forge can make.

Hearthfire

Hearthfire is the house expansion. The house design page prices all three homesteads at 5,000 gold apiece, Heljarchen Hall in the Pale, Windstad Manor in Hjaalmarch and Lakeview Manor in Falkreath, walks through the three wings with three room options each and the materials from Clay to Lock Nails, and picks a layout for each. The best plants page follows up with what to grow once a greenhouse or garden is built: up to 18 fertile plots, a garden ready in three days and a greenhouse in ten, and Creep Cluster, Mora Tapinella, Wheat and Scaly Pholiota as the picks. The locations guide's house ladder and the characters guide's adoption section cover the rest.

Dragonborn

Dragonborn moves the game to Solstheim, and more of our pages depend on it than on any other expansion. The mechanics guide's Stalhrim page needs the Ancient Nordic Pickaxe and two Skaal quests before the frost metal can be forged at Smithing 80, its Dragon Aspect page scatters three words between Miraak's temple, the mine beneath Raven Rock and Hermaeus Mora's realm, and its dragon souls page explains why Miraak keeps most of your souls until he dies. The quests guide covers the Black Books, the armor guide files Bonemold, Nordic Carved, Morag Tong, Deathbrand and Skaal, and the rankings above flag every Solstheim weapon, from Miraak's Sword to the Champion's Cudgel and the Glass Bow of the Stag Prince that Falas Selvayn carries at the Ramshackle Trading Post between midnight and 6 am.

Anniversary Edition and Creation Club

The Anniversary Edition folds the Creation Club into the game and adds Survival Mode, which turns off fast travel and adds cold, hunger and fatigue; the best races page's Survival section picks Nords for their 25 percent cold resistance and Orcs for 10 percent cold plus 15 percent against hunger and fatigue. The best horses page's Anniversary section adds seven tameable Wild Horses, the Unicorn from Creature of Legend with 1,637 health and 698 stamina, the unkillable Dwarven Horse assembled piece by piece, and the Daedric Horse summoned for 60 seconds during The Cause. On the gear side, the armor guide's Creation Club sets are Dark Seducer, Golden Saint, Madness, Divine Crusader, Spell Knight, Silver and Imperial Dragon Armor, the stealth ranking's Gray Cowl and Bow of Shadows are Creation Club too, and the archer ranking's Scout Leather Armor is the Creation Club's level-1 set with Elven-grade stats.

Mods, PC only

Our best mods list runs to 18, from Interesting NPCs and Lockpick Pro to Ordinator, Falskaar and Moonpath to Elsweyr, with install notes for each. The armor mods list ranks 15 and puts Immersive Armors first, and the Immersive Armors install page walks through Nexus Mod Manager and the Reproccer before listing every set, shield and buckler the mod adds. The High King page above belongs here too, since the throne is a mod-only seat.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need every expansion to use these guides?

No. The walkthrough, the guild pages, the mechanics guide and most of the gear rankings are base game. The table at the top and the expansion column in the gear table mark the exceptions, and the biggest single dependency is Dragonborn.

Which page should a brand new player open first?

The walkthrough for the main quest, the early game gear page for what to grab before level 15, and the heavy versus light armor page before spending a perk on either tree.

Where are the console cheats and crash fixes?

Both are PC pages under the first section: console commands for tgm, tcl and item codes, and the crash fixes and tweaks pages for sound, shadow, VSync and ini settings.