Best Skyrim Mods

Key Takeaways

• Bethesda’s Skyrim remains popular due to the extensive modding community presence, with newer mods constantly enhancing gameplay.
• Various mods, like Combat Gameplay Overhaul SE and Forgotten Creatures, improve aspects like combat mechanics and enemy designs.
• Immersive mods such as Skyrim Together Reborn and RaceMenu enhance the experience, offering co-op play and character customization.

Bethesda might not have the most stellar reputation right now — given their track record in modern times — but there’s no denying the fact that they still have a bunch of brilliant and imaginative titles under their belt to this day. One need only look at the sheer enduring popularity of Skyrim to understand why this is the case. The handcrafted world and amazing sense of exploration were a huge reason why players loved Skyrim to bits, and it’s a shame that this was abandoned for Starfield in favor of bland procedurally generated planets that felt like a waste of time to explore.

The fifth entry in the popular Elder Scrolls series is still going strong to this day as one of the most played games around, mainly due to its incredible modding support. The game might’ve been released in 2011, but the sheer number of mods that tweak — if not completely improve — the overall experience is so immense that most people will never notice the age of this game. Players who want to revisit the magic of this title should do themselves a favor and download the best Skyrim mods around to modernize the experience and make it more palatable, especially since a lot of this game’s mechanics haven’t aged all that well.

Updated on November 2, 2024, by Benjamin Joe: Despite being released well over a decade ago, Skyrim is still going strong. The modding community around this game is among the best out there. There are countless mods that improve and change various aspects of the game. Because of the sheer quantity of Skyrim mods, there are always new entries that deserve to be featured on this list. While the original list features all of the most downloaded mods, it doesn’t take any of the newer mods into consideration. So, this article has been updated with some fan favorites from recent times. While newer mods don’t have as many downloads as the older mods, they are still worth downloading and enjoying.

35 Fluted Armor

Downloads: 2,767

There are lots of armor types to find, craft, and use in Skyrim. Fans of heavy armor sets may want to take a look at the Fluted Armor mod. This mod brings in a new heavy armor type; Fluted Armor. This armor looks stunning. It’s incredibly well-made and contains lots of intricate details.

While this armor set can’t be crafted, it can easily be found in Weynon Stones. This mod is perfect for those players who want to give their character a more medieval look.

34 Skytactics

Downloads: 13,867

Skytactics is a relatively new mod that is gaining a lot of attention for all the right reasons. This mod adds over 80 dynamic combat styles to NPCs. For this mod to work, players will also need to download SkyPatcher. However, all of the details regarding that are provided in the link above.

One thing that gets a bit stale in Skyrim after a while is combat. It doesn’t take long for players to begin knowing what an NPC is about to do before they do it. This mod brings in a lot of great styles that bring a fresh feel to combat in Skyrim.

33 NPC Lookup

Downloads: 123,008

As players progress through the game, traveling back and forth to various NPCs or finding certain NPCs can get a little tedious and time-consuming. This mod takes out the hassle involved with tracking down NPCs by providing the player with an in-game menu that allows them to teleport and spawn every NPC in the game.

While this mod isn’t great for those who don’t want to break immersion, for those who want an easier ride, this mod is a great choice. Players can also mark up to 16 reference points on the map, making finding and traveling to lesser-known areas much easier.

32 Forgotten Creatures

Downloads: 271,185

Not all mods need to add wild and unique inclusions of their own to make the game more engaging. After all, some players still treasure the vanilla experience and only want to improve this feel with mods instead of completely overhauling it.

This is where the Forgotten Creatures mod comes into the picture. It provides a re-texture of many enemies in the game without compromising too much on the vanilla design, which is exactly what many players want with their mods.

Downloads: 1,241,711

Sometimes, it’s the simplest of Skyrim mods that end up making the game feel as modern as possible. Such is the case with the Show Player in Menus mod, which is pretty self-explanatory.

It lets players look at the Dragonborn whenever the inventory is opened, which is helpful for obvious reasons. Suffice it to say, that players will have a great time checking out what the Dragonborn looks like in real time as they switch and swap their equipment.

30 Combat Gameplay Overhaul SE

Downloads: 1,275,308

There’s no denying that Skyrim’s combat is pretty bare-bones and serviceable at best. There aren’t any combos to speak of, hits don’t feel weighty, and weapons aren’t balanced properly. Most people gave this gameplay pillar’s shortcomings a pass back in the day because of how enjoyable the overall package was. However, in recent years, it has become harder and harder to ignore what is objectively a poor combat system.

Thankfully, modders have come to save the day yet again. One of the best Skyrim mods, Combat Gameplay Overhaul SE, adds everything from combos to dodge rolls into the game to make this aspect of gameplay more exciting than ever before. Players will love whipping out their skills and avoiding damage with great finesse after they download this mod and figure out how things work.

29 Skyrim Together Reborn

Downloads: 1,461,837

Skyrim Together Reborn is easily one of the most impressive achievements in the modding community. It deserves a spot on this list simply because of the technical expertise required to integrate such a massive change in the first place.

This mod adds co-op into the world of Skyrim, which is amazing for obvious reasons. However, this mod isn’t very compatible with others and is pretty buggy, which is why it doesn’t rank higher.

28 Vanargand Animations – Crossbows

Downloads: 1,530,231

Crossbows were added in the Dawnguard expansion and are fun to use in the game. Of course, modders have no problems with overhauling the animations of this weapon and improving some gameplay systems too.

Vanargand Animations does this exact task and makes the act of using crossbows more fun. Players who want to focus on this weapon for their playthrough should check this mod out.

27 Sofia — The Funny Fully Voiced Follower

Downloads: 1,861,019

Various fan-made mods of Skyrim add new and unique followers to spice up one’s experience with the game. However, out of all these followers, one has to admit that Sofia is easily the most popular and well-developed one of the lot.

Featuring excellent voice acting and some truly well-written dialogue — almost overshadowing Bethesda’s character writing in many aspects — Sofia is a great companion mod to add to the game if the base game’s companions end up being rather boring and one-note.

26 Animation Queue Fix

Downloads: 1,979,395

Skyrim is a pretty old game, so it’s only a given that some of its mechanics are going to be pretty dated as well. The animations in this game are a great example of this, with bugs occurring if too many animations are queued up at once.

To take care of these issues, players can download the Animation Queue Fix. It’s a must-have mod for players who have downloaded a bunch of custom animations and don’t want NPCs to glitch out every single time multiple complex processes are being executed at once.

25 EVG Conditional Idles

Downloads: 1,985,983

Skyrim‘s wooden NPCs had an odd charm to them back in the day that added to the novelty of playing this game. However, more than a decade has passed since players were charmed by Bethesda’s magnum opus. Now, players who want to get immersed in a video game like Skyrim need tweaks to ensure that the lifeless residents of this world don’t take them out of the experience.

This makes it easy to see why so many people consider EVG Conditional Idles to be one of the best Skyrim mods around. It is highly valuable for players who want to preserve the sense of immersion as they walk around in towns. It may be a simple change, but watching NPCs organically react to things around them instead of standing around cluelessly does wonders for the game’s overall presentation.

24 Valhalla Combat

Downloads: 2,107,164

Modern combat systems have evolved quite a bit, and it can be pretty challenging for new Skyrim players to enjoy the rudimentary combat mechanics of Skyrim. Thankfully, some mods have taken up the responsibility of modernizing the combat system.

Valhalla Combat strives to integrate modern fast-paced combat mechanics into Skyrim, including parrying, timed blocks, a better stamina system, and other changes. It’s a pretty impressive mod that Skyrim players should check out.

23 Precision – Accurate Melee Collisions

Downloads: 2,386,279

Melee combat in Skyrim is pretty serviceable but can get rather boring and monotonous after a point. Thankfully, many mods for Skyrim change the combat, and players will be spoiled with the sheer number of options at their behest.

One of the simpler combat mods that change the mechanical aspects of combat in Skyrim is the Precision mod. Now, hitboxes in the game are more accurate and won’t frustrate players who feel like they avoided an attack only to receive damage instead.

22 Gesture Animation Remix (DAR)

Downloads: 2,455,929

NPCs in Skyrim can feel pretty lifeless and similar, which can hamper immersion a bit. Players who want the people in this game to emote realistically and in a unique manner can enjoy the same with the Gesture Animation Remix mod.

It’s a simple yet great mod that does a great job of injecting more life into the world of Skyrim and its residents. Players who prioritize immersion over everything else in the game will love the changes brought about by this mod.

21 Wyrmstooth

Downloads: 2,562,826

There are many expansion mods present in Skyrim, with Wyrmstooth being pretty notable in its own right. It tasks the Dragonborn with hunting down a particularly aggressive dragon to a whole new domain made painstakingly by modders.

Wyrmstooth is a massive technical achievement in its own right, which is enough for players to download and check out the mod for itself. Players who remember the areas of Skyrim and its expansions by heart will be quite well-serviced with this mod that will reinvigorate the magic of exploration in them once again.

20 Carriage And Ferry Travel Overhaul

Downloads: 2,768,269

Fast travel may be convenient for players, but there was a time when the Silt Striders and boats in Morrowind were the only viable way to explore large distances. They also did wonders for players who wanted to get immersed in these rich fantasy settings, letting them take logical in-game transport methods instead of just opening their map and magically teleporting to a settlement they’d already explored.

Players who want to enjoy the same kind of immersive fast travel in Skyrim can use a mod to do so. Carriage and Ferry Travel Overhaul is one of the best Skyrim mods for players who want to explore the world organically without relying on a mechanic that reminds them that they’re playing a video game. It’s simple to install and goes a long way in making a player’s exploration in Skyrim an even bigger highlight of this magical experience.

19 Falskaar

Downloads: 3,122,180

Skyrim‘s modding community has gone above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to integrating a ton of total conversion mods that allow for a fresh and unique experience, with Falskaar being one such mod that easily stands in a class of its own as an excellent fully-voice conversion mod for fans of Skyrim.

Any player who’s tired of making the same old trek through the land of Skyrim over and over again would enjoy playing through a new world with more than 20 hours of gameplay, supplemented by voiced dialogue and great level design.

18 Bandit Lines Expansion

Downloads: 3,277,986

There are many enemies that players will encounter in Skyrim. While most of these are towering and intimidating fantasy creatures that can flatten the player at a moment’s notice, there are several human enemies that players can encounter in the game as well.

Bandits are the most common human enemies in the game, and players might get irritated listening to the same voice lines playing over and over again. With the Bandit Lines Expansion mod, these issues will quickly become a thing of the past with the whole host of additional lines that are added to the pool for these annoying enemies in the game.

17 aMidianBorn Book of Silence

Downloads: 4,304,819

There’s no denying that Skyrim is a game that shows its age in more ways than one. Despite the release of a Special Edition that enhanced the visuals of the game, most people would agree that the title’s graphics can be a bit hard to get into, especially for those who prefer their video games as visually impressive as possible.

Thankfully, there are several Skyrim mods worth checking out for players who want to make the game look as good as ever, with aMidianBorn Book of Silence being a great highlight in this regard. Players will love exploring the land of Skyrim and looking upon familiar creatures, items, locations, and everything else, but with a new, modernized visual improvement, one that enhances the game without feeling like the original design has been sacrificed.

16 Serana Dialogue Add-On

Downloads: 5,135,666

Several companions in Skyrim are all pretty memorable in their own right. With the advent of the Dawnguard expansion, players were introduced to one of the best and most fleshed-out companions in the entire game, Serana.

This vampire is a force to be reckoned with, and her narrative plays a key role in the events of Dawnguard as well. With this mod, her dialogue and NPC behavior are both expanded upon and improved considerably, leading to a player’s experience with her as a companion being enhanced in a satisfying manner.