The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim beginner's guide

Need help building your Dragonborn? We got you covered

Words: Daniel_Acaba on November 10, 2011

It is time to once again delve into the land of Tamriel - Skyrim has arrived! It’s taken awhile but the fifth entry in The Elder Scrolls series is finally here in all its glory. Much has changed in the land of Tamriel which means there is a lot to learn even for long time veterans of the series. Almost everything from the ground up has been tweaked or redesigned to create a more action-packed sword and sorcery experience. With blade in one hand and sword in the other it’s time to take on the hordes that stand between your hero and his destiny...

Above: And also, lots of dragons

There is a lot of ground to cover here so let’s get right into it. As usual, this guide is put together for newbies of the game, and is meant to help them out with many of the various intricate systems in this title. While veterans of the older games might find some information to aid with the transition to the new mechanics of this title, newer players will gain the most out of this. With that said, if you have any suggestions or tips you would like to share with the GamesRadar community, please use the comment section below to enlighten your fellows.

To battle!

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Platforms:

Xbox 360, PC, PS3

Topics:

beginner's guide, guide, PC, PS3, The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, walkthrough, Xbox 360

52 comments

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nhilton - February 20, 2012 6:29 p.m.

My character keeps turning into a vampire which makes it impossible to go on with the storyline because everyone tries to kill him. How can I fix this?
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Gamer_Dude69 - January 6, 2012 9:04 a.m.

Quite possibly one of the best games that i have ever played. My personal favorite race is the nord. There isn't anything wrong with this game at all. Anyone who has anything bad to say about this game has no idea what they are talking about.
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KungFoo - January 18, 2012 9:33 a.m.

Couldn't agree more. My only problem is that I have a job which gets in the way of more Skyrim
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TheMasterJeef - November 23, 2011 3:52 p.m.

Thanks to everyone who provided comments on my earlier queries. Much appreciated!
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Seishiro - November 20, 2011 2:31 a.m.

I'm assuming it does, but has anyone tested if Armsman and Assassin's Blade stacks, a good dagger... double chanted, with alchemy bonus poison, well... just sounds painful.
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PieFlingingNinja - November 15, 2011 11:56 a.m.

You guys probably already know this but, for all you thief/rouge types that prefer dual wielding. Daggers don't use stanima at all, unless you use a charged attack. Plus they don't make as much noise as swords or battle axes, adding to the stealth.
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D0CCON - November 20, 2011 1:04 p.m.

Isn't it true that swinging any weapon doesn't use stamina unless it's a charge attack (at least one handed weapons don't, I never use two handed).
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TheMasterJeef - November 15, 2011 9:01 a.m.

Personally? Im bitterly disappointed by Skyrim. I would have LOVED to buy and play this game. But having enchanted weapons needing a 'battery change' drives me insane. To the extent I just can’t play this. I only lasted one weekend with Oblivion due to this. Why Bethesda couldn’t have implemented the system from Morrowind, where weapons charge over time, beggars belief. I can’t recall any fantasy literature when the hero has to worry about how many charges his mighty flaming blade has left!! Plus has Bethesda actually made straight stealth a viable play option? In Oblivion straight stealth (no magic, or two handed weapons) was nigh on impossible. Even critical stealth shots from my bow in Oblivion would just irritate bandits, who would then call all their friends over to bludgeon me to death. It seemed to me that you could only really play as warrior, mage or a hybrid of the two. If someone can confirm if this is playable as a straight ranger/thief/assassin type character (including selling stolen items to normal merchants) and that enchanted weapons aren’t a must have, i would love to pick this up. P.S. I am not trolling, or hating Skyrim. It looks a phenomenal game. However there are elements of gameplay that make this unplayable for me.
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Mr.Bobicus - November 15, 2011 10:36 a.m.

I think not playing this game because of the "charge" is a big mistake, I personally love it. I agree, I was a bit annoyed at first, but you can recharge them I believe. I'm also a (more or less) straight up Wood Elf stealth ranger, and it has worked well so far, although I dabble in one-handed swords and destruction magic (trolls are a nightmare without fire magic).
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TheMasterJeef - November 15, 2011 11:22 a.m.

Thanks for clarifying that Mr Bobicus, seems your pretty much playing the sort of character I would (including the race). Its not so much the charges, as recharging it. I remember the cost (in gold) being quite steep, that or having to level up magic to cast soul trap & cart round shed loads of soul stones. Plus casting soul trap on someone before trying to backstab/shoot them in the eye kind of removed my stealth advantage. Does anyone know if soul trapping or paying for recharges is handled better in Skyrim?
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Hobojedi - November 15, 2011 3:21 p.m.

Simple - give your companion a weapon enchanted with the soul tap ability along with your empty soul gems. Then, let your companion get a little damage near the end of the fight and watch the gems fill up with soul-juice.
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TheMasterJeef - November 16, 2011 4:36 a.m.

Hmmmm. Thats something I never thought of. Thanks. I may pick up a used copy in the new year. I have Battlefield 3, Arkham City, and AC: Revelations to occupy me until then!
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D0CCON - November 16, 2011 3:47 p.m.

The Morrowind way for recharging would have been better, but I personally noticed that recharging was smoother here. Soul gems are everywhere and are sometimes even filled and I got an Axe of Whiterun very early on that was enchanted with soul trap so it was easy for me to get souls (not to mention I got access to a Soul Trap spell sooner. A lady in Solitude sells one). It's also not a requirement. Sure, shooting arrows that electrocute your enemies or something like that is awesome, but it isn't needed to beat the game. Also, I've noticed quite a few more improvements that make stealth actually work. I wear heavy armor and my sneak skill is low, so the enemy finds me a lot, but they are never instantly aware of your location when you attack and new spells and shouts let you trick enemies or set up traps (magic runes are deadly traps and a shout lets you create noise in a specific area causing people to check that area. It's range is huge and you can put it on top of traps). It's also nice that guards aren't instantly aware of your crimes and if you have a crime with witnesses, killing them all before they report you removes your bounty goes away. Bows are also way more powerful and there is a perk that lets sneak attacks with daggers do 15X damage. Combine that with a stronger dagger and you have a weapon that can one hit kill practically any non-boss human if you are stealthy.
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theycallmegep - November 16, 2011 11:03 p.m.

I played as straight stealth with the difficulty slider at about 65-75% in oblivion, and I'm certainly a fan of the series, I've played all 5 in the main series, plus dabbled in the side games. The charge thing is slightly irritating, and was much better in morrowind, but i think it was added for balance purposes, and regardless, it shouldn't be a deal breaker for the whole game. Anyway, straight stealth is certainly possible, as it has been in oblivion, and morrowind, and is a very easy build if you're an elder scrolls veteran. Enchanted weapons aren't required but its not terribly difficult to charge them. Stolen items cannot be sold to normal merchants but entering the thieves guild is very easy, especially with a stealth build, and the first (and only) fence I've encountered so far has 1000 gold that seems to regenerate just about every day. Overall, the arguments you provided against both oblivion and skyrim seem completely unreasonable to me, i did fine with stealth in oblivion as i am in skyrim, and weapon charge certainly shouldn't be something that significantly affects the overall quality of the game.
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Crabhand - November 20, 2011 4:01 a.m.

Stealth characters are 100% viable. Early on I had to use a little destruction magic to deal with some tougher enemies, but once I started getting into the mid ranges with bow and stealth I was pretty much able to take on anything without being caught. At higher levels you can completely shut down entire groups of enemies before they can even reach you. And this playstyle was fairly effective in Oblivion, not sure what problems you were having there.
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Y2Ken - November 21, 2011 3:11 a.m.

Don't worry too much about having to recharge - you find the gems needed for it almost constantly, it really shouldn't be an issue. And yes stealth is completely viable, a friend of mine is almost all bow and dagger stealth and he's had no real trouble. Even against Dragons his archery pulls him through, especially if you're going to be enchanting your bows.
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manto2x - November 23, 2011 6:42 a.m.

dude.. have you tried modding your oblivion... wait for the the construction kit to be released, the wait for the mod related to your interest, ie archery or stealth. in case you haven't try tes nexus for oblivion and skyrim nexus (still new so not so many mod released yet)
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sabimosleh - April 14, 2012 3:03 p.m.

would you recommend it to a newbie of the Elder Scrolls games?
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Mamudo - November 13, 2011 7:59 p.m.

A well written guide with some useful tips. I NEED to get my hands on Skyrim soon.
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