The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition Achievement Guide

This guide was created and intended to help those looking to 100% this game. There are no difficult achievements to get, only ones that require time put in, and just a few achievements that require some DLCs (Dragonborn, Dawnguard, Hearthfire). Some do require effort to be put in, but not a significant amount.

• Main Quests •

‣ Unbound




‣ Bleak Falls Barrow




‣ The Way of the Voice




‣ Diplomatic Immunity




‣ Alduin's Wall




‣ Elder Knowledge




‣ The Fallen




‣ Dragonslayer (Final Quest)





Playing Through the main story will give you these achievements.

• Companions •

‣ Take Up Arms




Join the Companions. Take the steps up to the upper level of Whiterun, next to the market, and then head right to Jorrvaskr. Talk to Kodlak, who is downstairs and will begin your training.

‣ Blood Oath




Completing the quests Hired Muscle and The Silver Hand are require in order to get this achievement. After completing both, head to Jorrvaskr and talk to Skjor in the evening, he will be under the skyforge at the 100% hidden door, which you definitely can't see at all.

‣ Glory of the Dead




The final quest in the Companions' main questline, require the player to head to Ysgramor's Tomb after Kodlak's funeral. Go through the tomb as you would with any other, and you will be given the achievement once completed.

• College of Winterhold •

‣ Gatekeeper




Head to Winterhold, which is in the Most Northeast of the map. Once completed the tour, head to Grand Teacher Tolfdir. After completing the "First Lessons" quest, you'll have joined the College of Winterhold.

‣ Revealing the Unseen




There are a few quests that need to be completed before getting this achievement, They include:
Under Saarthal - head to the dig site Saarthal and complete the quest.
Hitting the Books - Speak to Urag Gro-Shub and accept the quest that has you head off to Fellglow Keep to grab some stolen books.
Good Intention - Speak to Augur of Dunlain after following Ancano.
Revealing the Unseen - The final quest, head to the ruins of Mzulft.

‣ The Eye of Magnus




The final quest in the College of Winterhold questline. Requires you to finish:
Containment - Report to Mirabelle Ervine and complete her quest.
The Staff of Magnus - Head to the Labyrinthian and find the Staff of Magnus.
The Eye of Magnus - Complete the Final Quest.

• Thieves Guild •

‣ Taking Care of Business




Head to the market area of Riften and talk to Brynjolf, between 8am and 8pm. Do his little thieving and talk to him once completed. He'll want to meet you at the Ragged Flagon, which is under Riften in the ratway. Once you're down their and you've talked to Brynjolf, the quest "Taking Care of Business will begin.

‣ Darkness Returns




This achievement requires quite a few other quests to be completed before being able to get this one, they include:
⁃ Loud and Clear - Head to the Goldenglow Estate, clear out the safe of Aringoth and burn some beehives.
⁃ Dampened Spirits - Shut down the Honningbrew Meadery outside of Whiterun.
⁃ Scoundrel's Folly - Someone named Gulum-Ei has been working against the guild, put a stop to him.
⁃ Speaking With Silence - Head to the Snow Veil Sanctum and confront Karliah.
⁃ Hard Answers - Find a way to translate Gallus's Encoded Journal which is written in Falmer
⁃ The Pursuit - Infiltrate Mercer Frey's house in Riften and find where he has fled to.
⁃ Trinity Restored - Join the Nightingales.
⁃ Blindsighted - Find Mercer Frey in Irkngthand and recover the Skeleton key.
⁃ Darkness Returns - Return the Skeleton Key to the Twilight Sepulcher and fulfil their oath to Nocturnal.

‣ One with the Shadows




For this achievement you have to first complete about 40 jobs for Delvin and Fex after Darkness Returns. You will be given 4 quests for 4 of the major cities, not including Riften.

Delvin
⁃ The Numbers Job – Forge a specific ledger.
⁃ The Fishing Job – Pickpocket a specific item.
⁃ The Bedlam Job – Steal 500 gold of goods from one city.

Vex
⁃ The Burglary Job – Steal a specific something from someone’s house.
⁃ The Shill Job – Plant a specific stolen object in someone’s house.
⁃ The Sweep Job – Steal a series of specific valuable items from someone’s house.
⁃ The Heist Job – Steal from a shop.

Then you’ll have to do the following quests in each city:
⁃ Imitation Amnesty - Whiterun.
⁃ Silver Lining - Markath.
⁃ Summerset Shadows - Windhelm.
⁃ The Dainty Sload - Solitude.

Finally you will be given "Under New Management", which requires you to speak to Brynjolf.

• Dark Brotherhood •

‣ With Friends Like These...




To join the Dark Brotherhood, head to Windhelm and before heading to the Palace of the Kings, take a right and there is a building that is locked. Enter the house and talk to Aventus Aretino to get the quest to join the Dark Brotherhood. Once completed, wait to receive a note with a black hand, and then sleep.

‣ Bound Until Death




Once you are apart of the Dark Brotherhood, head to the Sanctuary near Falkreath. A few quests are needed in order for this achievement, them being:
Sanctuary:
⁃ Contract: Kill Beitild.
⁃ Contract: Kill Narfi.
⁃ Contract: Kill Ennodius Papius.
Mourning Never Comes
Whispers in the Dark:
⁃ Contract: Kill Lurbuk.
⁃ Contract: Kill Hern.
The Silence Has Been Broken:
⁃ Contract: Kill Deekus.
⁃ Contract: Kill Ma'randru-jo.
⁃ Contract: Kill Anoriath.
Bound Until Death:
⁃ Contract: Kill Agnis.
⁃ Contract: Kill Maluril.
⁃ Contract: Kill Helvard.
⁃ Contract: Kill Safia.

‣ Hail Sithis!




The Final quest of the Dark Brotherhood. Like most, all it requires is for the quests up to this point to be completed:
⁃ Breaching Security.
⁃ The Cure for Madness.
⁃ Recipe for Disaster.
⁃ To Kill an Empire.
⁃ Death Incarnate.
⁃ Hail Sithis!

• Civil War •

‣ Taking Sides




There are two ways for this: you can either go to Castle Dour at Solitude and talk to Legate Rikke, or go to Windhelm and talk to Galmar Stone-Fist in the Palace of the Kings. For the purpose of the achievements, we're going to go with the Imperial Army, due to it being what I always do. You'll earn this achievement after you prove yourself to whichever side you choose.

‣ War Hero




A few quests are needed to get this achievements, those being:
⁃ The Jagged Crown.
⁃ Message To Whiterun.
⁃ Defense Of Whiterun.
⁃ Reunification Of Skyrim (Ongoing).
⁃ A False Front.
⁃ The Battle For Fort Dunstad.
⁃ Compelling Tribute.
⁃ The Battle For Fort Greenwall.

There isn't a whole lot to explain, It's very straight forward for the Civil War questline.

‣ Hero or Skyrim




The Final few quests are all that is needed.
⁃ Rescue From Fort Kastav.
⁃ The Battle For Fort Amol.
⁃ Battle For Windhelm.

• General Achievements Part 1 •

‣ Sideways




Complete 10 side quests. In skyrim, a side quest is a quest that is large enough to not be miscellaneous, but isn't part of a questline (Main quests, Guild quests, Civil War quests, Daedric Quests). Quests like returning the Golden Claw to the Riverwood Trader is a side quest, whereas going someone to find the source of a power are not.

‣ Hero of the People




Complete 50 miscellaneous objectives. So this is all of the quests in the miscellaneous section. Quests like finding the source of power, clearing out a bandit camp, following up on a lead and visiting X person are all included. Talk to barkeepers and ask if they've heard any rumors/

‣ Hard Worker




⁃This is quite easy. In Riverwood, head over to the saw mill and interact with the wood that is stacked by the machine to load it on, and then go to the other side of the log and pull the lever. If this doesn't give the achievement, head to the chopping block in Riverwood and interact with that, but make sure to have an axe with you.

⁃On your way to Riverwood, you should pass by a mine. It's got a few bandits, but nothing difficult and can be done immediately after leaving Helgen.

⁃ You can use any cooking pot, and a few ingredients. Ingredients can be found all over the place, and for the pot you can use the Breezehome one if you've bought it, or the one in the inn that is in Whiterun. Some of the simplest recipes are:

⁃ Apple Cabbage Stew – Requires cabbage, red apple and salt pie.
⁃ Cabbage Potato Soup – Requires cabbage, leak, salt pie and potato.
⁃ Salmon Steak – Requires salmon meat and salt pie.
⁃ Vegetable Soup – Requires tomato, leek, potato, cabbage.
⁃ Venison Chop – Requires 1 venison and 1 salt pie.
⁃ Venison Stew – Requires leek, potato, 2 salt pies and venison.

‣ Blessed




Select a Standing Stone Blessing. On your way to Riverwood, and before the mine, you should pass by 3 Standing Stones.

‣ Standing Stones




Find 13 Standing Stones. This is quite easy, just don't fast travel a whole lot and you should come by them without and difficulty.

‣ Married




Getting married in Skyrim is actually pretty easy; just head to the settlement of Riften, and enter the Temple of Mara. Speak to the priest and ask about weddings, to receive information about how the process works. Purchase an amulet of Mara, then wear it when speaking to your potentially betrothed. If they agree to marry, return to the Temple of Mara to request the ceremony then wait 24 hours. Once the service is complete, speak to your partner to decide where you will settle down and make your home.

• General Achievements Part 2 •

‣ Master Criminal




Bounty of 1000 gold in all nine holds. There are nine holds in Skyrim, and for each hold there is a major city/town, those being:

⁃ Falkreath (Falkreath)
⁃ Whiterun (Whiterun)
⁃ Morthal (Hjaalmarch)
⁃ Dawnstar (The Pale)
⁃ Winterhold (Winterhold)
⁃ Solitude (Haafinger)
⁃ Riften (The Rift)
⁃ Markarth (The Reach)
⁃ Windhelm (Eastmarch)

Before doing this, I would recommend making a duplicate save so you can just load back and nothing would have happened. Go into each hold's major city/town, and cause as much mayhem as possible, and then leave. Once the achievement has popped, you can reload your older save.

‣ Delver




Clear 50 Dungeons. A dungeon does not mean that is looks like one, is can basically be anything that is overrun by enemies. They don't have the same map icon, but monuments, major cities and places within the city are not classified as dungeons.

‣ Daedric Influence




Acquire a Daedric Artifact. See guide included.

‣ Oblivion Walker




Collect 15 Daedric Artifacts. See guide included.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271384500

• Basic Achievements - No explanation •

‣ Skill Master




Get a Skill to 100.

‣ Reader




Read 50 Skill Books.

‣ Dragon Soul




Absorb a dragon soul.

‣ Dragon Hunter




Absorb 20 dragon souls.

‣ Words of Power




Learn all three words of a shout.

‣ Thu'um Master




Learn 20 shouts.

‣ Apprentice




Reach Level 5.

‣ Adept




Reach Level 10.

‣ Expert




Reach Level 25.

‣ Master




Reach Level 50.

‣ Artificer




Make a smithed item, an enchanted item, and a potion.

‣ Citizen




Buy a house, I suggest Breezehome as it is the cheapest.

‣ Wanted




Escape from prison.

‣ Thief




Pick 50 locks and 50 pockets.

‣ Snake Tongue




Successfully persuade, bribe, and intimidate.

‣ Golden Touch




Have 100,000 Gold.

‣ Explorer




Discover 100 Locations.

A lot of these should just come to you over time.

• DLC - Hearthfire •

‣ Proud Parent




Once Hearthfire is installed, you are able to adopt children, if you have a house with a child's bedroom. Visit the orphanage in Riften and talk to Constance Michel about adopting, then go talk to one of the kids that you like. Alternatively, if you do not wish to go to Riften, you can adopt a kid that is in Whiterun and by yourself.

‣ Landowner




There are three plots of land, Dawnstar, Falkreath and Morthal. To purchase the land, you must be in good standing with the Jarls of each City, which requires you to talk to them and complete quests for them. Each plot of land costs 5000 gold.

‣ Land Baron




This simply requires you to have purchased each plot of land, for a total of 15000 gold.

‣ Architect




Fully build all three available plots of land, which are the three wing additions to houses. To do this quickly, make sure you have a steward at your house and a sizeable amount of gold. Purchase iron and corundum ingots from blacksmiths, and then order plenty of wood and stone from your steward.

‣ Master Architect




This requires you to build on all three plots of land fully, which also means that you need to have a large amount of gold necessary.

• DLC - Dragonborn •

‣ Outlander




This achievement simply requires you to arrive in Solstheim. To start the DLC, you must be inside a major city, and you will be attacked by 2 cultists. You will recognize them easily due to their robes. Once you have dealt with them, search both their bodies for a note, and read said note. A quest will activate, which requires you to talk to a ship captain at Windhelm. After a short conversation, he will reluctantly allow you to come with him.

In order to be attacked, you must have completed "The Way of the Voice", and received the quest "The Horn of Jurgen Wincaller".

‣ Dragon Aspect




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FprXp2Ep__c&feature=emb_title

‣ Hidden Knowledge




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY8BAyprJzo&feature=emb_title

‣ Stalhrim Crafter




Stalhrim is a new ore that is added in with the Dragonborn DLC. To get this achievement, you must be able to mine and craft it.

To mine it, you need an ancient nordic pickaxe, which you can acquire from the Raven Rock blacksmith, Glover Mallory. It was stolen from him and he gives you the task of retrieving it from Crescius Caerellius.

To be able to craft Stalhrim weapons and armor, you must be taught by the Skaal village blacksmith, Baldor Iron-Shaper.

Before talking to him, you must finish a quest given by Fanari Strong-Voice, the leader of the Skaal Village. After completing this task, ask around town about a blacksmith who has gone missing, which will then give you a quest to go and rescue him.

Once you have rescued him, he will ask you to go and find a map from a newly arrived Thalmor leader, which reveals the locaiton of Stalhrim on Solstheim. After retrieving this map and taking it back to Baldor Iron-Shaper, he will finally teach you how to craft Stalhrim weapons and armor.

You must be at least level 80 in blacksmith, as you need the perk to be able to craft Ebony weapons and armor.

‣ Dragonrider




During the story for this DLC, you will learn a new shout called "Bend Will". Once you have learnt all three words, go to any dragon location in Skyrim and use the shout on a dragon when it is close. Approach it and interact with it and ride it for a little bit.

‣ Raven Rock Owner





You can get a free house after completing a series of side quests. The first of these is called 'March of the Dead' and is acquired from the town Guards captain, Captain Veleth, just outside and south of Raven Rock at a location called 'Old Attius Farm' when you save him from being killed.

The second required quest is called 'The Final Descent' and is acquired from Crescius Caerellius who can be found just inside the entrance of Raven Rock Mine. The mission takes you through the mine, so you can start it immediately upon acquiring it.

The third and final required mission is called 'Served Cold' and can only be activated once 'The Final Descent' has been completed. This too is acquired from Captain Veleth, who then sends you to one of the towns councilors to start the mission.

the reward for this final mission is a property in Raven Rock and upon receiving this reward, the achievement will unlock.

‣ Solstheim Explorer




For this you have to discover 30 locations on Solstheim. There is about 58 of them, and you will travel to at least 10 during the main quest, but if you do not fast travel you will come by them quite quickly.

‣ The Temple of Miraak




Main Quest.

‣ The Path of Knowledge




Main Quest.

‣ At the Summit of Apocrypha




Main Quest.

• DLC - Dawnguard •

‣ Awakening




This is the quest given to you by Isran when you go to meet him for the first time at Dawnguard fort. Complete the quest and the achievement is yours.

When you are at the waypoint in the crypt and have some podiums surrounding you; you need to move the podiums until they light on fire. Do this for each one and then press the button on the podium in the middle. A monolith will rise up and some one will comeout.

‣ Beyond Death




This quest leads off from the quest Chasing Echoes. In order to enter the Soul Cairn you must gather Purified Void Salts and Ground Bone meal. Both of which lie in the lab.

The ground bone meal should be downstairs on a table across the balcony on which the vessel stands. Sits on the left hand side of the table.

The purified void salts are on the far bookcase on the right hand side upstairs while facing the rest of the room.

On your way out Durnehviir should stop you and wish to talk. Oblige and he will give you a shout to summon him to Tamriel which you will need later to earn the Soul Tear Achievement. Just make sure you have his summoning shout before you leave the Soul Cairn.


‣ Kindred Judgement




This leads off of the quest touching the sky. This is also the last quest in the main story for the Dawnguard DLC.

‣ A New You




Go to the ragged flagon in Riften and talk to Galathil and pay her 1,000 gold. You don't even have to actually to change anything as it pops right away.

‣ Legend




Being level 70 is the minimum that I have found for a legendary dragon to show up in the wild, but it is rare. While being level 78+ and travelling to Arcwind Point will guarantee one.

‣ Vampire Mastered




First chance you get to become a Vampire lord is after the quest Awakening. When you take Serana to her father Harkon. Harkon will offer you the gift of becoming a Vampire lord. If you take the Dawnguard route instead Serana has the ability to make you a vampire lord instead. She can change you infinitely.

The only perk I can recommend getting as soon as possible is unearthly will as it will increase the amount of times you can you the area drain attack before having to recharge. Do not have an ally with you while you do this as you need to be the killer, also save the perk night cloak for last as the bats will steal kills.

‣ Werewolf Mastered




To become a werewolf you need to playthrough the companions guild from the main game for a little way. If you are already a werewolf when the DLC is installed then you can complete this before going for the Vampire Mastered achievement.

If you lose lycanthropsy by becoming a vampire lord you can go back to Aela the Huntress once to get it back. If you lose it again you will need to revert back to a save in which you are a werewolf.

When picking you perks for the werewolf tree do the right branch first as it has has Savage feeding which feed off more then dead humans. Allows for feeding off dead animals like bears, horses and wolfs. This decreases the amount of time between feeding and gives you more things to gain experience off of.

The Ring of Hircine (a daedric artifact) also gives you an extra Werewolf transformation which comes in handy when grinding this achievement as you have less hassle with waiting so you can re-transform.

‣ Auriel's Bow




The earliest this is available is after you finish the quest touching the sky. You can do this on the balcony in which you claim the bow. Since the the bow comes with 12 sunhallowed just shoot 1 sunhallowed arrow directly into the sun. You can also do this with the blood tainted arrows you can get from Serana after the story is over.

‣ Soul Tear




You remember Durnehviir the dragon from the beyond death quest? In your conversation with him on your way to leave the Soul Cairn he gives you a shout to be able to summon him in Tamriel. You need all three words of the shout.

Now each time you summon him in Tamriel he will teach you a word for a shout called soul tear. Summon him 3 times and the achievements yours. The shout must be aimed at the ground while charging the shout otherwise it will not summon him.

The main issue unlocking this achievement is finding a spot to summon him in. Since he needs to be able to fit uninterrupted. The windmills by whiterun worked for me and others aswell the area across the water from Harkon's castle. Also make sure to charge up the shout otherwise it won't summon him.

‣ Lost to the Ages




This is a sidequest from the DLC. There are 2 ways to trigger it. You can find a book called The Aetherium Wars or you can go to Arkngthamz and you can meet up with Katria's ghost to activate the quest. This is a somewhat lengthy quest and you will need a good amount of lockpicks and a decent lockpicking skill (I was around 60) Also Bring a crossbow/bow and a good chunk of Arrows/bolts. Projectile style Destruction magic also works for the tonal locks.

The book ''The Aetherium Wars'' can be found:

⁃ Dawnguard fort.
⁃ Castle Volkihar Undercroft.
⁃ Bard's College.
⁃ Hall of the Vigilant.
⁃ Ruunvald Temple.

Objectives:

⁃ Reach the summit of Arkngthamz.
⁃ Solve the Tonal lock.
⁃ Claim the treasure of Arkngthamz.
⁃ Speak with Katria.
⁃ Search for Aetherium Shards.
⁃ Locate the Aetheium Forge.
⁃ Retrieve Aetherium Crest.
⁃ Stand Clear.
⁃ Find Aetherium Forge.
⁃ Shut off the steam.
⁃ Defeat the guardians of the forge.
⁃ Speak with Katria.
⁃ Use the Aetherium forge.

The tonal lock requires a something like a bow or crossbow to complete, which you can acquire at the begin with the Zephyr bow, or you can just use a full form Unrelenting Force. You must shoot each of the 5 parts in a certain order in order to unlock the door. Start bottom left to bottom right to top left to top right to middle.

• Conclusion •

Thank you for using my guide, if you have any questions make sure to leave a comment and I will answer as soon as possible. If I missed anything, then let me know and I'll include it.

[PalladorffBR]

Thanks a lot! I was wondering about different names than cities

[Adrian]

HEHE

[Hamas Palpatine Piker]

you do do but steam will take that up with you no worries :)

[MistyAngel]

@acid If you read the title It's called an achievement guide, so although I didn't explicitly say achievements in my statement that you quoted, I didn't need to.

[Hamas Palpatine Piker]

the thing is you can never 100% the game it depends on what 100% completion means for you
if it means getting all achievments then sure its possible

but if you mean do every single quest the game has to offer then sorry this is not possible
and this is def not a guide to complete the game 100% its a guide to get 100% achievments
because to complete the game a 100% you need multiple saves as choices you make in the game lock and unlock quests so no not really possible in one save and i woudnt waste time on completing the game a 100%

so the statment you made in the beginning is not correct and i quote

"This guide was created and intended to help those looking to 100% this game."

[The Reanimated Ranger]

Relatively easy way to level up Werewolf/Vampire is to progress through the Civil War quest-line (doesn't matter which side you choose) until you get to where you have to attack a fort. When you get to this point, trigger the side you're on to attack the fort, then sneak away so that way no one sees you transform. Then, try to only kill your side as this will not fail the quest and they will respawn endlessly until the quest is completed i.e. the other side reaches 0%. Some of your guys will end up killing the opposing side inevitably. Simply clear out the fort, fast travel away to another area then fast travel back. As long as you traveled out of the fort's cell, the soldiers will have respawned and will be friendly as long as you weren't spotted transforming. Each subsequent respawn should net around a level (don't forget to soul trap if you're a werewolf to level up 2x as fast).

[Mastapacin]

The tonal locks can also be activated using the full form of unrelenting force if you don't want to waste crossbow bolts.

[The Reanimated Ranger]

Also, if you don't want to wait around for the feeding animation, press the 'R' key (or whatever your sheath/holster key is) to end the animation. Don't worry, the feeding will still count towards your progress.
Btw, you don't need a crossbow for the tonal lock, I just used the Zephyr bow which I got at the beginning of the level.

[The Reanimated Ranger]

Note regarding Werewolf Mastered, you can double your progress by feeding on corpses first, then use either the Soul Trap spell or Aura Whisper shout on the same corpses. Also, after getting the Savage Feeding perk but before you fill out the entire perk tree, fill out Bestial Strength to avoid a Steam detection bug for the achievement that comes up if you leave that perk last. I found that last part out the hard way :/

[MistyAngel]

@M4TY45ツ After the first encounter, which is when you kill him, you will encounter him again and will learn the "Summon Durnehviir" shout. Once you have that, you summon him three times and you will learn the three shouts of Soul Tear, but you still need dragon souls to unlock them.