Looking to get into Skyrim again or for the first time? Matters not. You’re in the correct place. Welcome to the best Skyrim DLCs guide for those who wish to play best game ever, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
SSE BEST VOICED FOLLOWER MODS < You need a partner in this journey.
Some gaming companies’ milk DLCs like crazy. Luckily, Bethesda is not one of them. Skyrim has few DLCs and those DLCs are filled with amazing content. Especially the top 3 ones. Can’t think of a Skyrim without Hearthfire, Dawnguard, and Dragonborn. They don’t just add new questlines, there are many other improvements are in those DLCs. All in all, Skyrim DLCs are worth every penny.
By the way, some people are asking, why Bethesda hide DLCs on steam? The answer is simple. Bethesda hide DLCs because they want you to buy Skyrim Special edition or Skyrim Anniversary edition. They’re the improved version of the game also including all DLCs. That’s why they hide and rightfully so. Because buying DLCs alone cost lot more than buying the latest compact version of Skyrim with all DLCs. Bethesda do us a favor by hiding the standalone DLCs of the old version of Skyrim.
Important notice: Buy DLCs only on sale! Never pay full price for DLCs. So that developers put the content into the base game instead of a DLC for more money. I think that covers everything you need to know about Skyrim’s downloadable content situation. So, let’s get to the ranking.
Skyrim DLC tier list:
1. Hearthfire
Hearthfire is absolutely the best Skyrim DLC by far. Not because it adds lots of content, but because it makes you feel like you’re really living the game. It’s super immersive.
In short, you buy a land, chop wood, mine metals, craft furniture and build your dream house from scratch in Hearthfire. Once the house is complete, you can decorate it the way you like. Also, your wife / husband, children, steward, and pets will live in the house with you! What more you can ask?
Skyrim Hearthfire features:
- New 3 empty lands for sale to build a player house from scratch.
- Fully customizable houses. (Armory, alchemy tower, kitchen, trophy room, greenhouse, fish hatchery, enchanting tower, stables, mills, smelters, gardens, and more.)
- Home invaders such as giants, bandits, kidnappers, skeevers, etc.
- Follower to house steward mechanics.
- Adoption.
2. Dawnguard
First of all, Dawnguard is the first DLC of Skyrim. Before dawnguard, there were only vanilla Skyrim and mods. After Dawnguard receiving overwhelmingly positive reaction from players, Bethesda decided to release 2 more amazing DLCs for Skyrim.
Dawnguard or Dragonborn? I couldn’t prefer one over other. Both are amazing. But since I’m a vampire fan, I ranked Dawnguard number 2. If you share the same interest, check out my collection of best vampire RPGs.
Vampire side is absolutely amazing. They’re the ancient vampires of Skyrim with immense power and knowledge. On the other hand, Dawnguard people are the toughest, bravest, and strongest vampire hunters ever. The game asks you to choose one side! Needless to say, I’ve tried both sides in different playthroughs. Still can’t decide which is better because both side of the stories are deeply satisfying.
Heard they’re reforming the Dawnguard. Vampire hunters or something… – Fellow town guard.
Skyrim Dawnguard features:
- New weapons, armor, spells, shouts, quests, locations, player homes, and dragons.
- New guild. You can join either vampire hunters (dawnguard) or vampires themselves.
- Improvements on both base vampires. Plus, vampire lord transformation.
- Werewolf improvements including perks, skills, and models.
- Appearance change option via a new NPC called Riften’s Ratway face butcher!
3. Dragonborn
By far Dragonborn is the biggest DLC of Skyrim. It adds huge amount of content to the game. The other two DLCs can’t compete with the quantity.
The DLC takes you back to the Morrowind. A coast of it specifically. You find yourself in a completely new environment, biome, and among quite different people. Basically, TES: Morrowind meets TES: Skyrim. The perfect crossover!
The land has many quests. But the main quest of this DLC is about a dragonborn, not the player… I don’t want to spoil it more but, you’re not the only dragonborn in this DLC.
Skyrim Dragonborn features:
- Huge new location. (Island of Solstheim)
- Epic twist on the story of dragonborn.
- New quests, equipment, spells, shouts, towns, houses, dungeons, enemies, dragons, etc.
- 90+ new characters.
- Return of some of the content from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
4. Anniversary Upgrade
Skyrim Anniversary Upgrade requires you to have Skyrim Special Edition.
The Anniversary Upgrade includes pre-existing and new Creation Club content like quests, dungeons, bosses, weapons, spells, and more.
That’s the only thing written on the DLC page. Pretty vague description if you ask me. This upgrade adds nothing more than a 74 Creation Club mods to the game. They mess-up the balance though…
But the worst thing about Anniversay Edition is the game update. Since it’s also updating the game, you need to buy it to make Nexus / Workshop mods working. I know it sucks… Guess Bethesda needs money again.
5. Creation Club Content
After seeing how much traffic Skyrim mods generate, Bethesda decided to milk it for money… Of course, they abandon that foolish endeavor immediately after receiving huge backlash from community.
It’s just microtransaction with a twist… Much better mods are completely free on Nexus mods or Steam workshop. I guess Creation Club credits only worth buying on Xbox because of the lack of real mod support.
If you have Skyrim Special Edition, you can buy The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Upgrade. It works like a DLC that introduces new Creation Club contents such as quests, dungeons, bosses, weapons, spells, and more. Meaning, you don’t have to pay a dime for Creation Club if you buy Anniversary upgrade.
There is also one last DLC called the Creation Kit. It’s registered as DLC on Steam but actually Creation Kit is a mod developing application. So, all those beautiful Skyrim mods you’ve installed are made with Creation Kit. If you want to get into modding, which is quite hard, you must get learn to use CK tool. Good thing is that it’s free. Therefore, you can always give it a try and bail out if things gets hard without committing.
Oh, I almost forgot; Skyrim also has Downloadable Soundtrack content. Covers 53 Skyrim atmosphere songs created by Jeremy Soule. You can find it on steam as well.