Skip to Content

Skyrim: Best One Handed Weapons

This is our Skyrim: best one handed weapons guide. Find out which weapon is the best!

Skyrim: Best One Handed Weapons

One-handed weapons have a special appeal to them that attracts most newer players towards them. When you played Skyrim for the first time, chances are that you primarily used one handed weapons for your main character due to how effective they are and how easy it is to come across them. That is why we will take a look at the best one-handed weapons in Skyrim in 2022. 

Skyrim: Best One Handed Weapons

Here are some of the best one-handed weapons in Skyrim:

  • Miraak’s Sword
  • Windshear
  • Dragonbone Sword
  • Nightingale Blade
  • Chillrend

Now we’ll delve a little deeper into each weapon. You’ll notice that all of these weapons are swords. That’s because Skyrim has great one handed swords that are extremely strong and effective to use. To find out about the detailed stats of these weapons, let’s get started and find out more. 

Miraak’s Sword

Skyrim: Best One Handed Weapons
  • Base Damage: 12–16
  • Weight: 3
  • Base Value: 410–1250

After completing the grueling “At The Summit Of Apocrypha” quest and killing Miraak, you can obtain this weapon. As you can see from the stats above, it has a good amount of damage and has a light weight which will save you the trouble of emptying your inventory for it. 

Plus, the design of this beautiful sword is quite unique and looks great! However, you will want to have The Elder Scrolls V: Dragonborn add-on. Otherwise, this weapon is not available in the base game. If you want to upgrade this sword, you’ll need an ebony ingot, a Daedra heart, and the Arcane Blacksmith perk.

The best part about this is that every time you successfully hit your enemy with it, you will drain 15 stamina from them. What’s more, is that the charge time isn’t that high so you can use this ability quite frequently. Once you run out of charges, the tentacle will stop appearing so you’ll get a visual queue to let you know that the effect is no longer taking place. 

WindShear

Skyrim: Best One Handed Weapons
  • Base Damage: 11
  • Weight: 10
  • Base Value: 40

This scimitar is considered to be one of the best one-handed weapons in the game. If you want to get your hands on this bad boy, you will need to complete the “Hail Sithis!” Dark Brotherhood quest. While you might not immediately be impressed with its stats at first, upgrading it will yield the results you desire. 

However, its hefty weight can be somewhat of a problem if you want to carry a lot of items in your inventory. One of the reasons why this weapon is so good is due to its passive enchantment. It allows you to stagger enemies thanks to your bashing attack. If used correctly, your opponent will struggle to attack you thanks to this passive effect. 

Dragonbone Sword

Skyrim: Best One Handed Weapons
  • Base Damage: 15
  • Weight: 19
  • Base Value: 1500

The Dragonbone Sword – not to be confused with the Dragonsword –  is a one-handed weapon found in The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard. This is one of the most iconic and aesthetically pleasing to look at one-handed swords. It can be dropped by Legendary Dragons or the Revered. Although, the drop rate isn’t guaranteed so you’ll have to farm a lot. 

Alternatively, you can purchase it from Blacksmiths once you hit level 46. Fill it with the correct high-level magical abilities and you’ll have a deadly sword that no one wants to mess with. Grab yourself a nice set of armor and watch enemies as they shudder at your mere existence. 

Plus, if you are in need of some quick and easy gold, you can always sell it for 1500. Although, I would suggest that you carry this beautiful sword and destroy those pesky dragons. 

Nightingale Blade

Skyrim: Best One Handed Weapons
  • Base Damage: 14
  • Weight: 15
  • Base Value: 1665

If you’ve visited the Thieves Guild or read up on their lore, you’ll know that this sword represents the Nightingales. Originally belonging to Gallus Desidenius – a former Nightingale and the former leader of the Thieves Guild; you can get your hands on this blade by completing the “Hard Answers” quest. 

Its damage is pretty nice but after upgrading a few times, you’ll be surprised to see how well this weapon performs. Plus, it has a great effect that absorbs 25 points of health and stamina from enemies; leaving them useless.

Chillrend

Skyrim: Best One Handed Weapons
  • Base Damage: 15
  • Weight: 16
  • Base Value: 1442

Before we talk about how great this sword is, let’s take a moment to appreciate how beautiful it looks and how well-designed it is. Plus, this weapon is a nice trip down memory lane for Oblivion fans. You can find it in the possession of Mercer Frey who is the current leader of the Thieves Guild. It’s funny how two of the best one-handed weapons belong to the leader or former leader of the Thieves Guild.

If you want to get this weapon, you will want to complete the “The Pursuit” quest. The best part is that you can finish this quest as early as level 1. Plus, its stats improve the more you level up. 

Conclusion

And that is all we have for our Skyrim: best one handed weapons guide, which includes all the add-ons of the game. There are other weapons as well that are superb but these stand out the most due to their damage, stats, or great enchantments. 

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is available to play on Steam.

Looking for more Skyrim content? Check out these guides: