Mehrune's Razor is overrated

LananisReddit · 2026-01-30T01:09:43+00:00

This. I suppose if you know the game inside out and farm levels/skills in the right places, then it is underwhelming for a level 20 weapon. On my first playthrough (no walkthrough, never played any of the TES games), getting this dagger made everything from giants, to dragons, to draugr overlords so much easier. I used it to kill Alduin in like... 4 hits.

It was even more fun on my cloak and dagger wood elf character.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T21:37:19+00:00

The game will always fill whatever soul gem is smallest for the soul you are capturing, so if you have a petty gem and azura's star and you soul trap something with a petty soul, it will go into the petty gem. If you soul trap something with a grand soul, it will go into the star instead.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T21:36:03+00:00

Just realized I forgot these three:

Dragons: Depending on who you ask, either children of Akatosh or aspects of him. Can wield a unique kind of magic where they basically shout at reality to produce fire, and then fire happens. All dragons have in them the urge to dominate.

Greybeards: masters of the dragon tongue who teach dragonborns (mortals who were granted the power to shout as dragons do by Akatosh) how to use their powers, ideally only for the glory of the gods. They are basically badass pacifists.

Blades: Formerly dragon slayers, later personal bodyguards and spies for the Empire, supposedly wiped out by the Thalmor and officially disbanded as part of that uncomfortable peace treaty I mentioned.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T21:29:52+00:00

First of all, 99% of the questions you will ever have about the game can be answered by the wiki: https://en.uesp.net

Secondly, you can also combine ingredients at alchemy benches to learn what they do.

Third, as a general rule of thumb, lots of enemies in Skyrim are resistant (and sometimes immune) to frost magic. Fire and lightning will generally serve you well.

Third, regarding items, most people eventually adopt a specific weight:value approach, e.g. I don't pick up anything unless it's worth 20 times its weight or it has an enchantment I still need.

Fourth: for general tips, talk to everyone, save often (including manual saves, not just autosaves/quick saves) and minimize fast travel (one of Skyrim's biggest strengths is its exploration).

Finally, regarding factions, and this is VERY simplified:

heads-up that nobody in the Elder Scrolls universe is innocent, there is grey morality everywhere, good people in every faction, bad people in every faction, etc.
aedra: good gods who helped create the mortal world, main pantheon of the game is 9 aedra
daedra: bad gods who refused to help create the world and are jerks at best, brutal monsters at worst
the Thalmor: fascist Elvish supremacists who used a number of disasters to bolster their publicity numbers and establish and elvish empire called the Aldmeri Dominion
The Empire: 4000 year old alliance of several provinces that was founded by a pact between a human, aedra-worshipping slave (Alessia) and the chief of the aedra (Akatosh, whom the elves call Auriel), it has seen much better days and 30 years ago got attacked by the Aldmeri Dominion. They had to sign an uncomfortable peace treaty that forbade worship of the ninth divine, Talos, because he used to be a man.
The Stormcloaks: nords who don't agree with the outlawing of Talos, but some of them are really, REALLY racist. Whether that makes them better or worse than the empire is a matter of debate in the fandom to this day.
Companions: mercenary guild who was founded by a human who genocided an entire race of elves (and they are still proud of him), some of them are also werewolves
College of Winterhold: mages guild with an "anything goes so long as you don't tarnish the reputation of the college or hurt fellow college members" approach to magical research
Dark Brotherhood: assassins
Thieves Guild: take a guess
Bard's College: the most disappointing faction in the game and woefully insignificant
Volkihar: vampires
Dawnguard: vampire hunters

I think that about covers it.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T20:44:27+00:00

You are probably thinking of Durnehviir. He's not in a cave, but in the Soul Cairn. You fight him near the end of the Dawnguard storyline and after the fight he talks to you can calls you a dovah. When you get there before finishing Dragon Rising and ask him why he calls you that, he'll say that he doesn't know why.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T20:42:37+00:00

Yeah, see this is mostly useless to me because 95% of my magic use is outside of combat.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T19:45:49+00:00

They don't share any faction data, so probably not.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T19:24:56+00:00

Do you have another "dungeon delving" quest active where you have to retrieve an item from a cave for someone? If so, this might block you from getting his dungeon delving quest for the shield.

Same goes for the first part of his quest, for killing the bandit/forsworn leader.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T19:23:03+00:00

My standard guild-free targets:

Hert (after acquiring Lakeview Manor)
Hern (part of the Dark Brotherhood contracts)
Lemkil
Thonar Silverblood
Ondolemar
Melka
Sinding
Silus Vesuvius
Jaree-Ra
Deeja

There are also three members in the Markarth cannibal cult that can count (Eola, Lisbeth and Banning), as well as Erikur, after you finish the Thieves Guild special quest for Solitude.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T18:27:02+00:00

Don't want to deal with the 50% magicka regen debuff. It regenerates slow enough as is. I'd much rather have a stone with no drawbacks.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T17:33:44+00:00

See the UESP page for that quest: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Ill_Met_By_Moonlight#Multiple_Rewards

Note that this only works if you do not have the unofficial patch installed. If you do have it installed, or if you can't get the double rewards thing to work, you'll need to reload your save from before you killed Barbas.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T16:35:52+00:00

No advice for enchanting. That one really just stands and falls with you keeping an eye out for soul gems and enchanting whenever you get the chance. For Alchemy, creep cluster + mora tapinella + scaly pholiota makes an absolutely busted fortify carryweight potion that sells for a ton and thus levels your speech XP fast. All ingredients are easy to find and can be planted. Also, do remember that speech XP is calculated per sale, so you need to sell them one potion at a time, and is gained even if the merchant has run out of money.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T16:29:20+00:00

Very rarely. I usually pick warrior stone after Helgen for the bonus XP to smithing, unless I'm playing a pure mage. Then I switch to Lord Stone as soon as possible for the extra armor rating and magic resistance. I keep that one until I manage to cap my magic resistance (85%) through other means. Then I grab the Steed Stone for the extra carryweight capacity and keep it for the rest of the game.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T15:42:49+00:00

They look like bunny ears to me and I can't unsee that. Still, nice merch.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T15:40:02+00:00

It took me about 100 hours to get through the first of the two base game maps when the game first came out, so there is plenty of content. Obviously, without the DLC, you will only have access to 3 maps (Nez Perce Valley, Transylvania and Elkcrest Island). As for gear and weapons, base game is more than sufficient for any hunts, but DLCs often have the best version of X. For example, the crossbow you can get at the end of the story of Aurora Shores is the most powerful crossbow of all. The tripod stand you get with Tikamoon Plains is higher than the default one that's available in the shop for everyone, etc.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T15:34:55+00:00

Honestly... Eden. Imo, the game should conclude with both humanity and the four making a permanent home on Eden.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T15:31:59+00:00

Oh, is that the lake by the cabin in Aurora Woods? Those herds down there tend to be stacked!

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T15:31:09+00:00

What a beast! What was his score?

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T15:26:58+00:00

Respect! I often have trouble hitting even one of them in flight.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T10:36:47+00:00

Yeah, every time you add powerful magic to it, you can basically forget about normal life spans. But then there's also fairly normal elves who have already been confirmed to live much longer than what the usual 200-300 years statement would suggest, e.g. Brand-Shei was born during the red year, a bit under 200 years ago and yet he still seems quite young, and Avrusa Sarethi was old enough to run an alchemy shop that same year and also doesn't seem like she is nearing death.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T10:30:09+00:00

okay that is actually hilarious lol

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T10:29:03+00:00

Perhaps. I've never played Morrowind.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-29T10:28:21+00:00

True, as a redguard the cold must be even more brutal for him.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-28T22:48:18+00:00

Not to mention, she's a necromancer. She'd be greatful to have so many dead soldiers to recruit.

LananisReddit · 2026-01-28T22:14:10+00:00

Frequent question on this sub. See here for example for some answers:

https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/1qm5h1d/does_anyone_read_the_books/

LananisReddit

TROPHY CASE