Skyrim guide: weapons, mods, guilds, factions - everything you need to know

If you're returning to Skyrim or making your first ever visit, we've got you covered.

Skyrim, one of the best RPGs ever made, has finally made its way to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation VR. It joins the Special Editions on PC, PS4, and Xbox One from last year, throwing in the original DLC for good measure.

Skyrim is a bloody sprawling, enormous place. There's a shed load of weapons and gear, a number of optional guilds and factions and a hell of a lot of choice. Can't find something you're after? Maybe we can help.

If you've got the Skyrim Special Edition it also includes support for mods for the first time on console, allowing those players to experience the type of fan-made stuff that's helped Skyrim to remain one of Steam's best sellers even after all these years. How does the mod system work, and what are some of the best ones? Hit the bottom of the page below.

Skyrim hints, tips, builds and how-tos

We've got a nice little collection of beginner's guides here - but Skyrim is such a big game that veterans may learn something new, too. Take a peek at the pages below for all sorts of intel on Skyrim.

• Best shouts in Skyrim

  Hunting for Shouts? Check out our suggestions for the best offerings before you go dungeon diving in search of Stormcall, or something equally useless.

• Skyrim build: Necromage Vampire

  Borderline OP base build stacked with wonderful bonuses, making it suitable for progression through stealth, mage or warrior. Our preference? Combine with the other option below...

• Skyrim build: dual wield for fun and profit

  The most deadly melee build in the game, dual wield turns you into a slice and dice death machine - if you know what you're doing, that is.

• Cooking in Skyrim: the 4 best, over-powered recipes

  Don't dismiss cooking as Alchemy's unloved little brother; price for price, some of the dishes are far more powerful than any potion. Especially if you use them as we suggest.

• Skyrim romance options: who's available and how to win their heart

  Looking for love, or just a bonus to how quickly your skills level up in Skyrim? Get hitched. Solve both problems.

• Make your Skyrim followers work for you

  Don't just use Lydia to cart your stuff around! There are many ways to make your followers more useful - and a neat trick for gathering half a dozen of them, too.

• Skyrim save cheats and tricks

  Obviously you should save scum in Skyrim, but that's not all you can do with the save and load menus. Ah ha ha! Sorry, Bethesda.

• Skyrim armour: best heavy and light sets, no armour options and more

  How to find and craft the best armour in Skyrim, best armour alternatives, how the armour cap actually even works, and more.

• Skyrim secrets, hints and Easter eggs

  Just a lil collection of things you might not yet have tried in Skyrim, that'll bring you a bit of fun or profit. Have a go.

• Skyrim: how to get the best unique weapons

  Looking for a lovely, deadly weapon to have by your side? Look no further. Here are our picks for the best unique weapons in Skyrim - and many of them can be grabbed from level 1 if you so choose.

How to find and join the guilds and factions in Skyrim

While Skyrim has a pretty epic main story, some of the best and most exciting quests in the game can be found as part of the world's various factions and guilds. Many of these are optional, and the world of Skyrim so large and sprawling it'd be easy to lose them. Here's how to find them all.

• How to join The Dark Brotherhood assassin's guild

  The Dark Brotherhood is one of the most popular quest lines in The Elder Scrolls, and for good bloody reason – who doesn’t love a bit of the art of assassination? Here's how to join.

• How to join the Thieves Guild

  If sneaking and taking down enemies quietly if at all is your sort of thing, The Thieves Guild is likely one of your top choices for a job in the world of Skyrim. Here's how to join the guild.

• How to join the College of Winterhold Mages Guild

  The Mages Guild in Skyrim takes the form of the College of Winterhold, and they’ve got one of the coolest faction bases in the land of Skyrim. You might reach this base as part of the story, but it can also easily be skipped - so here's how to find it and how to join the mages guild.

• How to join the Companions Fighters Guild (and become a werewolf)

  The Companions have a grand old name and all, but truth be told these guys should be familiar to those who have explored other lands in the world of The Elder Scrolls: They’re the Fighters Guild. Here's how to join.

• How to join the Stormcloaks Faction

  If law and order as part of the great Imperial Regime isn’t to your tastes, the Stormcloaks might well be the faction for you. Join the revolution - here's how.

• How to join the Imperial Legion Army Faction

  I mean, their symbol is on the game’s cover. Of course you want to join up and crush some rebel scum. Here's how to do just that.

• How to join the Dawnguard Faction and start the DLC quests

  The Dawnguard faction is home to the main and major quest for the appropriately-named Skyrim Expansion/DLC Dawnguard, and is a group of vampire-hunting warriors. They’re a pretty cool lot. We explain how to find and join them.

Skyrim Special Edition: Finding and using the best mods

Mods are a major new addition to Skyrim Special Edition, and so they very much seem like the smartest place to fully kick off our guide. Here's how to use them on each format, plus some of our favourite ones.

• Where to find the Skyrim: Special Edition mods list for Xbox One and PS4

  Skyrim: Special Edition brings mods to console players at last. Unfortunately, it’s not super obvious how you actually get them, and Googling just generates a stack of headlines rather than anything useful - so allow us to explain.

• The best mods on PS4 and Xbox One

  We’ve trawled through the 150-plus available mods for consoles and found a wide range of additions to improve the base game so you don't have to. Some fix problems, others introduce new magic and weapons or make life just that little bit more convenient for the adventurer. A few introduce entirely new locations and quests.

Do you have any hot Skyrim tips to share for players starting fresh runs on Switch or VR? Chime on in.