What are all the Skyrim achievements? There are many reasons for wanting to explore a game's achievements. The most obvious, perhaps, is the pride of attaining full completion and showing off your prowess to others. In a game like Skyrim though, some achievements might guide your journey or help you make important decisions.

As a sprawling open-world RPG game, Skyrim invites you to make decisions on your character's behalf. Which faction do you choose to join? Do you play lawfully or break the rules? Where should you build a house? If you aren't sure how you want to play through the action-adventure game, some of these achievements may guide you one way or the other. Or, if you simply want to know how to complete every single achievement in the game, we've got the full list of Skyrim achievements right here.

All Skyrim achievements list

Icon Achievement Requirement Unbound Complete 'Unbound' Bleak Falls Barrow Complete 'Bleak Falls Barrow' The Way of the Voice Complete 'The Way of the Voice' Diplomatic Immunity Complete 'Diplomatic Immunity' Alduin's Wall Complete 'Alduin's Wall' Elder Knowledge Complete 'Elder Knowledge' The Fallen Complete 'The Fallen' Dragonslayer Complete 'Dragonslayer' Take Up Arms Join the Companions Blood Oath Become a member of the Circle Glory of the Dead Complete 'Glory of the Dead' Gatekeeper Join the College of Winterhold Revealing the Unseen Complete 'Revealing the Unseen' The Eye of Magnus Complete 'The Eye of Magnus' Taking Care of Business Join the Thieves Guild Darkness Returns 'Complete Darkness Returns' One with the Shadows Return the Thieves Guild to its former glory With Friends Like These… Join the Dark Brotherhood Bound Until Death Complete 'Bound Until Death' Hail Sithis! Complete 'Hail Sithis!' Taking Sides Join the Stormcloaks or the Imperial Army War Hero Capture Fort Sungard or Fort Greenwall Hero of Skyrim Capture Solitude or Windhelm Sideways Complete ten side quests Hero of the People Complete 50 miscellaneous Objectives Hard Worker Chop wood, mine ore, and cook food Thief Pick 50 locks and 50 pockets Snake Tongue Successfully persuade, bribe, and intimidate Blessed Select a Standing Stone blessing Standing Stones Find 13 Standing Stones Citizen Buy a House Wanted Escape from jail Married Get married Artificer Make a smithed item, an enchanted item,  and a potion Master Criminal Have a Bounty of 1,000 Gold in all nine holds Golden Touch Have 100,000 Gold Delver Clear 50 dungeons Skill Master Get a skill to 100 Explorer Discover 100 different locations Reader Read 50 skill books Daedric Influence Acquire a Daedric Artifact Oblivion Walker Collect 15 Daedric Artifacts 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

Skyrim DLC achievements

Icon Achievement Requirement DLC Awakening Complete 'Awakening' Dawnguard Beyond Death Complete 'Beyond Death' Dawnguard Kindred Judgement Complete 'Kindred Judgement' Dawnguard Lost to the Ages Complete 'Lost to the Ages' Dawnguard Soul Tear Learn all three words of Soul Tear Dawnguard Auriel's Bow Use the special power of Auriel's Bow Dawnguard Werewolf Mastered Acquire 11 werewolf perks Dawnguard Vampire Mastered Acquire 11 vampire perks Dawnguard A New You Change your face Dawnguard Legend Defeat a Legendary Dragon Dawnguard Proud Parent Adopt a Child Hearthfire Landowner Buy a plot of land Hearthfire Architect Build three wings on a house Hearthfire Land Baron Buy three plots of land Hearthfire Master Architect Build three houses Hearthfire Outlander Arrive on Solstheim Dragonborn The Temple of Miraak Complete 'The Temple of Miraak' Dragonborn The Path of Knowledge Complete 'The Path of Knowledge' Dragonborn At the Summit of Apocrypha Complete 'At the Summit of Apocrypha' Dragonborn Dragon Aspect Learn all three words of Dragon Aspect Dragonborn Hidden Knowledge Learn the secrets of five Black Books Dragonborn Stalhrim Crafter Craft an item out of Stalhrim Dragonborn Dragonrider Tame and ride five dragons Dragonborn Raven Rock Owner Own a house in Raven Rock Dragonborn Solstheim Explorer Discover 30 locations on Solstheim Dragonborn

What is the hardest Skyrim achievement?

Among the most difficult Skyrim achievements are Legend, Master Criminal, and Reader. Legend is oft-considered the hardest Skyrim difficulty mostly because Legendary Dragons don't even start to appear until you reach level 78 - then you have to actually defeat one.

Master Criminal requires you to have a Bounty of 1,000 in all nine holds which in itself isn't difficult, you can just go around killing people. However, doing this of course affects your game going forward. If you're happy to do so, some people suggest saving before completing this achievement and returning to the older save once done.

Finally, the difficulty of Reader isn't so much about the achievement itself - read 50 skill books - but the challenge of actually locating all these books.

How long does it take to get all Skyrim achievements?

If you're dedicated to hunting down achievements, we think it would be possible to get all of the Skyrim achievements in around 40 hours. This takes into account the fact that you need to reach level 78 before Legendary Dragons start to spawn, which obviously requires a grind to get there. That's just for the base game though. With DLC included, we think you're looking at more like 60-80 hours of playtime, deliberately seeking out those achievements.

Can you get Skyrim achievements when using cheats?

Using some Skyrim console commands disables achievements, so it's worth just not risking cheats in Skyrim if you're trying to complete your achievement list.

Completing all of these Skyrim achievements of course takes some time, so you might want to freshen up your experience with some of the best Skyrim mods. When you do defeat the dragon to 100% complete the open-world game, there are plenty of other games like Skyrim to get your hands on next.