The 10 best one-handed swords in Skyrim - GamingTopTens (2023)

VonGeorge Wood Jr.

The rugged alpine tundra of northern Tamriel is no place for heartfelt diplomacy beyond the mountainous borders. A battle-ready blade and a chilled will to survive are the only deterrents from the death of Skyrim's many aggressive denizens.

Luckily, this is a country known for breeding some of the best blacksmiths in the world, a necessity if anyone leaving town to trek encounters giant swarms, giant ice trolls, or even a fire-breathing dragon. .

The one-handed sword is a popular choice in Skyrim.These blades rotate significantly fasterthan their two-handed counterparts, and leave your hand open for shields, spells, or another weapon. Below are some of the best options for cutting through anything that stands in your way in the frigid home of the Nords.

The golden holy light emanating from Dawnbreaker's hilt indicates the incredible power this blade inflicts on the damned, all agents of darkness and those like them.

Meridia, the Daedric Prince of Life who bequeathed this weapon to the player, has a particular disdain for the undead. Its blessing over Dawnbreaker makes it exceptionally effective against Draugr, Skeletons, and Vampires. Each attack has the potential to ignite these enemies with a massive explosion, causing all nearby enemies to crumble into heaps of smoldering cinders.

Meridia's Vengeance, this sword's unique enchantment, deals massive incendiary damage to all enemies, undead and otherwise.

This demonic katana with bat wing handle is the weapon of choice for those who like to crawl at night and suck the blood of the living. Her bite is the perfect antidote for any cute Meridian devotee who genuinely believes in the power of good.

The Sword of Harkon is a vampire's best friend, which makes sense considering its namesake is the most ruthless vampire lord in Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard. While it doesn't deal as much base damage as the Dawnbreaker, the weapon's enchantment is much more effective in combat. Harkon's sword absorbs 15 points of health, magicka, and stamina with each swing when wielded by a vampire.

By far the most vicious feature of this sword is that the screen fades to a somber blackness with each successful swing. If you go to black, your opponent knows that his impending doom is imminent.

If you'd rather steal people's possessions than their blood, the Nightingale Blade is a better fit for your kind of addiction. Formerly owned by the master of the Thieves' Guild, Gallus Desidenius, this is the signature sword for warriors who have pledged allegiance to the Daedric Prince of the Night, Nocturnal. His followers form a secret faction of master thieves known as the Nightingales.

Nightingale's Talon is this blade's special enchantment, absorbing an impressive 25 points of health and stamina with each swing. This is somewhat similar to the Sword of Harkon, but you don't have to be a vampire to drain your enemy. This versatile enchantment and the damage dealt by this glaive-like sword make the Nightingale Blade a powerful and silent assassin.

This serrated ebony scimitar pulses with the demonic blood of a freshly squeezed Daedra heart, by far one of the most powerful blades in the game.

Forging the Daedric Sword requires a Dragonborn to have a near-perfect smithing skill of 90. With luck, it can also be found in certain chests in Skyrim after level 46.

Without enhancement, this evil sword easily tears and tears through the flesh of most enemies encountered in Skyrim. In fact, the Daedric Sword has a base damage equal to that of the Nightingale Blade at its highest tier. The Daedra Sword's additional buff with a corpulent enchantment is a death guarantee for bodies falling to the ground.

This cursed pair of scurvy blades was once wielded by the legendary pirate king Haknir Deathbrand, a man known for his insatiable thirst for torture and frequent bouts of raging insanity. During his unusually long life, he ruthlessly ruled the sea of ​​spirits. No one was ever able to defeat the swordsman in battle, and he died for refusing to appoint a successor.

Individually, Bloodscythe and Soulrender have high base damage, but neither can use their enchantments without their sibling equipped. When used together, not only do they consume 15 Health and Magicka on each hit, but they also have a chance to reduce your target's Armor and Magic Defense. Longer fights only mean an increasingly vulnerable enemy.

Despite only being ranked 6th on this list, when we make another list of the best one-handed sword names in Skyrim, Bloodscythe and Soulrender win with a blood tide.

The Akaviri Katana is the traditional peacekeeper of the Blades, a cult of warriors in the service of the Emperor of Tamriel. Sometimes you have to slay dragons to be a soldier for the ruler of a continent.

Dragonbane is an enchanted Akaviri katana that specializes in killing scaled-winged fire breathers. The enchantment deals a base 10 shock damage to anyone who feels their blade merging with light, plus a significantly larger amount of bonus damage when fighting dragons. It's a one-handed level sword, meaning that the sword's enchantment and its basic slash damage become even more vicious as the player levels up.

The Sword of Miraak is a tentacled monstrosity resembling a giant thorn immersed in poisonous swamp water. It claims the highest base damage among all other swords of its kind, but is only available in The Elder Scrolls V: Dragonborn. Interestingly, it is also the second lightest sword available in Skyrim, next to the Ghostblade.

The only way to get hold of this pathetic blade is to defeat the banished Dragon Priest Miraak, a man believed to be the first Dragonborn. He is a cursed being with tremendous power, capable of controlling multiple dragons at once and sucking their souls to replenish their health. His mask resembles Cthulus tentacle face and matches his sword, whose hilt is composed of several writhing squid arms.

The Sword of Miraak is a repulsive blade that only gets worse with your swing, which extends a tentacle arm to punish its target. This move drains 15 stamina from your opponent, even though the weapon's charge is so low that you drain only a small amount of your stamina before needing a recharge. Luckily, this only requires a small soul gem to fully charge it again.

The Dragonbone Sword appears to have been created by slightly modifying a broken Dragonbone thigh bone. It's crude and easy to craft, but when imbued with a high level enchantment, it's among the most dangerous weapons in the game.

It should be noted that while the player can forge dragonbone armor in the main game, the expansion requires The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard to craft weapons from the bones of this beast.

With a full suit of armour, including this sword and a matching Dragonbone Shield, your Dragonborn will look like an absolute destroyer of worlds. Dragons will shudder at the sight of a mortal adorned with the bones of their brethren.

This modest peak at number two is a confusing dark horse on this list. Wedge in the Katariah's bowsprit, Windshear can only be retracted during or after the Dark Brotherhood mission "Hail Sithis!"

In terms of base damage, this Steel Saber is weaker than the Dawnbreaker that tops this list. Its gold value is a meager 40 Septim, which is roughly the equivalent of two potions of minor healing.

Even the listed enchantment, which has a 39% chance to stun an enemy with a shield block, is pretty unremarkable given its placement on the list.

To all appearances, Windshear is an ordinary steel sword. But as a meek date who turns out to be an absolute hellcat in the sheets, this thing shows its true power in action.

Windshear has a 100% chance to stun most attackers, meaning each hit will nullify your opponent's ability to counterattack or even run for their life. They become a reclusive mess, unable to respond to your attacks until death takes them. It doesn't work on all enemies, but for many it's a powerful nuisance of a weapon.

Chillrend, a blade elegantly crafted from ice and malachite, tops this list as number one. The beauty of this blade for such a powerful sword is that with the help of some parkour and some lock picks, it's possible to acquire this weapon as early as level one.

This is a leveled weapon that evolves with the Dragonborn, eventually becoming just as damaging as the formidable Dragonbone Sword. When extended, it throws ice crystals into the air and emits a crackling sound as the ice melts and refreezes at an ever-constant rate.

Frozen Food is Chillrend's signature enchantment and contains a sting worse than Frost. Each hit deals high points of cold damage to your opponent's health and stamina, and has a good chance of paralyzing them for a period of time. This paralysis leaves them vulnerable to further attacks and steadily weakens their will to fight until they succumb to their blade like the sleep of frostbite.

One of the great things about Skyrim is the myriad of ways you can continuously improve the power of your weapons. High smithing and enchanting skills mean a deadly blade filled with magical power. Learning other skills in the various skill trees can also degrade your weapon's characteristics such as: B. increasing heat-on-fire damage and increasing cold damage to Blizzard-level ferocity.

Now that you have an idea of ​​the best one-handed swords in the game, it's up to you to decide whether to equip a shield, spell, or even another weapon for your off-hand. In this respect, you have the choice.