As with any of the Elder Scrolls games,Skyrimhas plenty of weaponry, armor, and overall items that you can equip your character with. No matter what sort of dragonborn you want to play as, even if it isn’t the stealth archer, you will have plenty of choices in the way of equipment.
Of this equipment available to you, some of the rarer sort can be given to you by the Daedric princes. Embodiments of some of the darker or more misunderstood facets of the mortal realm, the Daedric princes, are not to be taken lightly. But, through pact, favor, or necessity, you can wield some of these items. Which of them, though, are best suited for your character?
10Sanguine’s Rose
The Best For Mages
One of the more straightforward and less peculiar weapons the Daedra may “bless” you with. In fact, it feels rather bland when considering it comes from the so-called Prince of Hedonism. The rose-shaped staff summons a dremora to help you fight.
This summoned creature is leveled compared to your own, so thankfully, you can keep using it even if you find it early on. If you enjoy having an extra set of hands to take stress off you in battle, then this isn’t a bad idea. But compared to the other Daedric artifacts, it leaves something to be desired.
9Wabbajack
The Weirdest
Perhaps the weirdest weapon in Skyrim, you’d only expect something like the Wabbajack to come from the mind of Sheogorath. The Wabbajack seems like a normal stave, the design at its head is a series of screaming faces. That only makes sense, considering who gave it to you.
The effects of the Wabbajack are as weird as they are random. It can do ice, lightning, or fire damage, as well as instantly killing those it hits or just turning them invisible or into an inanimate object. This amount of randomness is quite fun but definitely unpredictable in combat situations.
8Mehrunes Razor
The Best Light Weapon
In a world with so many weapons, a dagger may not be your first choice of fighting implements. That is, unless it’s Mehrune’s Razor. Longtime fans of the series will be familiar with Mehrunes Dagon as the antagonist of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. Even having been defeated, he isn’t done interfering with the lives of mortals.
After completing the Pieces of The Past quest, you can carry around Mehrunes Razor as a reward. It works similarly toany other Daedric dagger, with one simple addition: any hit you make against an enemy has a chance to instantly kill them. It’s a small chance, but it can definitely come in handy when fighting larger bosses. It doesn’t do much damage otherwise, though, which is an unfortunate drawback.
7Spellbreaker
The Best Against Spellcasters
Peryite, the draconic Prince of Pestilence, may not seem like a Daedra that you’d want to align yourself with, but a deal with him may actually be beneficial. That’s especially so when you consider
Spellbreaker. It looks like a rather ornate shield of dwarven design, but it holds a secret ability that makes it inherently valuable: by blocking with it, you can negate spell damage up to a certain point.
This is a great shield to have on you at lower levels and even into the middle ones, especially as you run into more and more mages. The Spellbreaker can be the saving grace as you close the distance with a spellcaster to be able to strike at them with your melee weapons.
6Dawnbreaker
The Best For Dungeons
Dawnbreaker is one of the least corrupt items that can be given to you by the Daedra. Meridia is a powerful figure, even among the other Daedra, and their quest for purity isn’t the worst idea considering the ideals of their brothers and sisters.
Dawnbreaker is a powerful and unique sword that also does fire damage and has unique benefits against any undead enemies. This makes it uniquely valuable in certain dungeons, but the drawback is that you have to go through one of Skyrim’s most annoying questlines to get it. Such is working with Daedra; there’s always a negative.
5Skeleton Key
The Best For Thieves
It may not be a weapon, but the Skeleton Key is an impressively handy tool that any sneak-thief would be happy to have in their pocket. This is one of the rare items given to you at the end of theThieves Guild questlineand is one of the Daedric Prince Nocturnal’s boons.
As the lord of thieves, this infinite lockpick is great regardless of how good you are at breaking into locked doors and chests. It doesn’t do any good for those who prefer more direct and violent approaches to problems, but sooner or later you will need to pick a lock, and that’s where the Skeleton Key has no alternative.
4Ring of Hircine
The Best For Lycanthropes
Since Hircine is the Daedric Lord of The Hunt, you would expect his ring to be pretty wild. When you first get this item, it’s more of a pain than a boon, as you will randomly transform into a werewolf, which normal folk don’t take kindly to.
Once you finish his quest, you can keep the ring and control when you want to transform. While you can only do so once per day, it is a great way to add some extra damage to your normal play style. Unfortunately, the ability to transform into a werewolf isn’t unique to this item, so if you want to align yourself with The Circle, then this won’t be of much use.
3Ebony Blade
The Best Offensive
Mephala is one of the more obscure daedra out there, but her weapon, the Ebony Blade, is actually pretty straightforward. It is a large nodachi-type weapon made of ebony and somewhat resembles the swords The Blades use. It does a fair amount of damage but also has the special ability that allows you to steal health from your enemies on each hit.
As you move through Mephala’s quests and kill friendly NPCs, this amount will increase. It definitely helps to be able to heal as you do damage, and this makes the Ebony Blade stand out among many of the other Daedric artifacts, especially for those who enjoy using two-handed weaponry.
2Masque Of Clavicus Vile
The Best For Speechcraft
It’s not too often that the items given to mortals by the Daedra take the form of armor. That’s part of the reason that the Masque of Clavicus Vile stands out from the rest. The other reason is the stack of abilities the Masque comes enchanted with.
It gives you a fair amount of points to persuasion and barter. It also provides a small amount of magic regeneration. Plus, it’s a heavy helmet, so it has a fair amount of defensive ability, too. The quest to get it is definitely one of the more odd and gruesome of the Daedra quests, but what do you expect from someone named Clavicus Vile?
1Oghma Infinium
The Best For Any Player
A dark tome with the ability to grant the reader strength, stealth, or wisdom depending on their pursuits. The Oghma Infinium is a book created by the corrupt Hermaeus Mora. It can be found as a reward for the College of Winterhold quest Discerning The Transmundane. Although, obtaining the book is only the start.
From there, you must pick a path, which you choose determines which skills will be improved, then you must feed the book the blood from a Falmer, Dunmer, Altmer, Orsimer, and Bosmer. Then, upon reading the book, your specific skill path will be improved. It’s a passive buff, but one that helps boost your character quite a bit regardless of your specialty, especially at early to mid-level.
