Skyrim: 5 Worst Weapons, Ranked

Highlights

Froki’s Bow deals a tiny amount of stamina damage, is sub-par, and can’t be upgraded without the “Arcane Blacksmith” perk.
Some unique weapons manage to be worse than their base counterparts, like the Poacher’s Axe, which has a bugged rare enchantment that does no extra damage.
The Knife & Fork are the lowest damage weapons, fitting for enthusiastic role-players or unique adventurers. They can’t be upgraded and are more of a novelty.

The land of the Nords is home to some truly terrifying monsters and deadly combatants, which is why any adventurer who seeks fortune and longevity between Skyrim‘s frost-tipped mountains should equip themselves with the best means of self-defense. Thankfully, there is no shortage of powerful weapons in Skyrim just waiting for a worthy wielder.

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However, those players who have done and seen it all may begin looking for ways to up the challenge in their next playthrough. Just as there are blades and bows in Tamriel’s northernmost province touched by the gods, there are also cursed items and shabby arms that can help to balance the odds (in favor of low-level bandits and rats) in a fight.

5 Froki’s Bow

A Regular Bow That Drains A Tiny Amount Of Stamina

Damage: 6 (can only be upgraded with the “Arcane Blacksmith” perk)
Located: in Graywinter Watch, as part of the “Kyne’s Sacred Trials” quest

Froki’s Bow isn’t much to look at, and besides its enchantment, it is, for all practical purposes, a regular longbow. Perhaps because he realized how useless it really is, Froki Whetted-Blade decides to just give away this sub-par item as a reward for completing “Kyne’s Sacred Trails” quest. It can be found halfway through the quest beside an archery skill book and a dead bandit (who presumably died attempting to defend himself with it) in Graywinter Watch, just east of Whiterun. Froki’s best idea for an enchanted weapon is one that stings an enemy for 10 points of extra stamina damage.

This isn’t much when considering how fast stamina regenerates and how long it takes to draw and fire an arrow, assuming it hits its target anyway. With only three charges ready for use before it needs to be charged up with a soul gem, players won’t be seeing much use out of the enchantment. Froki’s Bow can be upgraded, but the Last Dragonborn will need a certain level of mastery (60 points) in Smithing and the “Arcane Blacksmith” perk to up its efficiency, making it worse than any old moldy bow looted off the back of an early-game bandit.

4 The Poacher’s Axe

Worse Than The Most Basic Iron Axe With A Broken Enchantment To Boot

Damage: 5 (can only be upgraded with the “Arcane Blacksmith” perk)
Located: on one of the dead bandits inside Halted Stream Camp, north of Whiterun

Carrying around a woodcutter’s axe as well as regular weaponry might sound inefficient, given that the purpose of both tools is to cut things in half. Sadly, woodcutter’s axes just aren’t that good in combat in Skyrim, and although they can be enchanted, they cannot be improved on a grindstone. The Poacher’s Axe, found on the body of a bandit in Halted Stream Camp, directly north of Whiterun, comes with a rare enchantment, “Huntsman’s Prowess,” which deals three additional damage to animals. This puts it on par with the most basic iron axe, so long as the Last Dragonborn is fighting a creature from Skyrim’s wilds.

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Although its enchantment sounds handy for dispatching predators out to make a quick meal of a hapless woodcutter, games-best-funniest-glitches/”>one of Skyrim‘s unfortunate bugs makes it so that its default maximum charge is 0, which means that animals take no extra damage whatsoever. The one upside to the Poacher’s Axe is that, while other woodcutter’s axes cannot be tempered on a grindstone for improved damage, the Poacher’s Axe can. The Last Dragonborn can upgrade it at a grindstone if they happen to have a steel ingot in their inventory and access to the Arcane Blacksmith perk from the Smithing perk tree. Otherwise, this thing is better off as firewood.

3 The Shiv

A Desperate, Improved Weapon

Damage: 5 (cannot be tempered)
Located: Cidhna Mine (as part of the Forsworn Conspiracy quest)

The usefulness of a weapon depends on the circumstances of its use. For example, in a prison, where anything sharp trumps a bare-handed attack, a shiv can be highly valuable. This isn’t the case in Skyrim, at least for the Last Dragonborn, who, when thrown in jail as part of a Forsworn conspiracy in Markarth, can (even if they haven’t chosen a spellcasting playstyle) still use conjure flames to burn their foes. Not taking into account magic users seems like a bit of an oversight on the warden’s part.

Regardless, the inmates of Cidhna Mine have found a way to produce an improvised one-handed weapon that does one point of damage more than a regular iron dagger. Unlike iron daggers, the shiv cannot be improved on a grindstone. As it does count as a dagger, backstabbing rogue types can take advantage of the One-Handed Assassin’s Blade perk to get 15 times the amount of damage out of the shiv if they can plant it in the back of an unsuspecting enemy.

2 The Wooden Sword

A Literal Children’s Toy For Children

Damage: 2 (can be upgraded with firewood)
Located: Sold by most merchants and traders

As much as they are romanticized, swords are not that effective in warfare, especially against armored foes or dragons with scales as strong as stone, iron, or ebony. That goes doubly for the Wooden Sword, a useable weapon in Skyrim that is primarily intended as a children’s toy and can be given as a gift for adopted orphans. It is the second-lowest damage-dealing item in the game, but it can be upgraded with firewood and enchanted.

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The only advantage to using a wooden sword is the bragging opportunity of potentially knocking down a pile of bad guys with a kid’s plaything. However, that would actually require the player’s character to be a master swordsman, and even the premier games/”>open-world, power-fantasy RPG, Skyrim, isn’t that lenient. Players will still be required to level up plenty before they can stand a chance to play out the “confident weapons master” archetype.

1 The Knife & Fork

The Lowest Damage-Rated Weapons In Skyrim

Damage: knife: 2, fork: 1 (neither can be upgraded)
Located: the balcony of Honeyside in Riften or on one of the tables in High Hrothgar, on the Throat of the World (the highest mountain in Skyrim)

The knife is like a regular dagger weapon, but one that wasn’t designed for combat and one that doesn’t do a particularly good job of cutting anything, although it would probably be great at spreading butter over warm bread. Although it has the same damage rating as an iron dagger, it cannot be upgraded and does not activate the Assassin’s Blade perk. It would, however, make an excellent dual-wield companion for the fork for those players looking to roleplay as an enthusiastic cannibal.

Unfortunately, the fork also has a low damage rating, the lowest in the game, at one damage per hit. Like the knife, the fork cannot be upgraded. Both “weapons” are rare finds. The most reliable locations to find a knife and fork are inside the halls of High Hrothgar atop the Throat of the World, next to the forge in Redwater Den, and on the balcony of Honeyside, a purchasable player home in Riften.