Modding is a huge part of the Elder Scrolls community, hundreds of mods are created daily and you’re bound to find whatever it is you’re after. Some mods are really helpful while some provide some, lets just say “adult” features. Either way, these mods can keep games going strong for years after their sell-by-date so they should be appreciated. This is why I’ve created a list recognising 10 of the best!

This list is completely opinionated but I’ve included mods that I think would add to any playthrough, but that also don’t take up too much disk space or require other high end hardware.

 

 

 

 

10. Animated Clutter

There’s no reason not to install this mod. As you can see from the gif, it adds a nice little animation to all the random containers you never search. This includes sacks, chests, barrels etc. It’s something that you feel should have been in the final game release anyway.

 

 

9. Helgen Reborn

You only see the pre-destruction Helgen once in the game and it’s a decent place, after you leave and continue with the storyline, Bandits eventually take over. That is until you download this mod!

I don’t want to ruin much for you but as the title says, Helgen is reborn (specifically, by you). The story is awesome and so are the rewards, overall something well worth installing.

 

 

8. Falskaar

Falskaar is an entire new land outside of Skyrim that provides an entire new storyline. The land is in-depth, as are the NPC’s and the lore. It’s a great mod for those who have nothing left to do.

 

 

7. Static Mesh Improvement

Look at the difference between chains in the pictures and then tell me you don’t want the mod immediately. I didn’t want to add a graphic-enhancing mod (for those with lower end PCs) but this one doesn’t use much resources. If you play 100 hours of vanilla Skyrim and then add this mod, it’d feel a lot different.

 

 

6. Climates of Tamriel

The only mod on this list I don’t actually use myself, Climates of Tamriel completely overhauls the weather system to increase the immersion and realism of Skyrim. Why don’t I have it myself? Well I only just found out about it whilst researching the list entries.

 

 

5. SkyUI

My personal favourite mod, SkyUI overhauls the inventory system to make it highly efficient. I know a lot of you may think that there’s no need for a new UI when there’s nothing wrong with the old one but trust me, this is well worth installing. One of the most tedious tasks in Skyrim is going through all of your items, this makes it a breeze so you spend more time decapitating Falmer than trying to find that random item you picked up accident.

 

 

4. Interesting NPCs

Note: I would not recommend this mod if you’re the kind of person who skips all dialogue.

This mod is a godsend for those who love speaking to people and learning more about the Skyrim people. It adds a load of new NPCs, from followers to quest starters but also adds some new dialogue to current NPCs. I’ll give you a little sneak peak, the NPC shown in the picture is a follower and he’s pretty badass. Comment to see if you can tell where he is from the background!

 

 

3. Warzones

Ever think that there’s supposed to be a huge civil war going on, but you never encounter any battles beyond a handful of soldiers? Or that the Forsworn are supposed to be powerful but hide away in their camps? This mod sorts that out.

It adds huge battles to the lands of Skyrim, these battles are known for but not limited to Imperials vs Stormcloaks, Forsworn vs Imperails/Stormclocks and Necromancers vs Mages (sometimes Dragons get involved too), If you don’t have a good PC, you can tone the settings down to your level. It’s lore friendly, fun and great for earning loot/exp. It has been known to be quite temperamental so make sure you backup before installing (well you should be doing that before installing any mod anyway).

 

 

2. Immersive Amours/Weapons/Creatures

This mod simply increases immersion by adding new armour sets, weapons and creatures. It doesn’t just add a few, it adds hundreds and dozens of completely new items. It adds things like capes, scythes, staves (hand to hand combat staves rather than magic ones), masks, shoulder equipment and much more. They do take up a fair bit of disk space but it’s worth it.

 

 

1. Unofficial Skyrim Patch

A game like Skyrim has to have bugs, there’s simply no getting around it. It hosts one of the largest lands ever created in a video game, combined with a huge amount of features, NPCs and player choice defining events. These bugs can’t all be ironed out by one company so a group of modders stepped in to take some of the weight off Bethesda’s shoulders. They delivered, Skyrim is now a lot healthier and easier to run with less of those annoying bugs that prevent you from continuing past a certain quest or getting stuck in between a few tiny rocks.

 

Hope you enjoyed the list!