Stop Making These 15 Skyrim Mistakes: Essential Beginner Guide

Skyrim gives you an enormous amount of freedom, but that freedom also makes it very easy to make mistakes that can quietly ruin your early game.

Some of these mistakes make combat harder than it needs to be. Some waste valuable perk points. Some can get useful NPCs killed. And one of them involves attacking Skyrim’s most sacred creature: the humble chicken.

So if you’re starting Skyrim for the first time — or returning after years away — here are 15 common beginner mistakes you should avoid.

1. Falling Into the Level Scaling Trap

One of the easiest ways to make Skyrim harder by accident is to level the wrong skills too quickly.

Skyrim’s character level increases as your skills improve. That includes combat skills like One-Handed, Archery, and Destruction, but also non-combat skills like Smithing, Enchanting, Alchemy, Speech, and Pickpocket. As you level up, many enemies become stronger too, which can create a trap for new players.

For example, you might spend hours at the start of the game grinding Smithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy because you want powerful gear before properly adventuring. That sounds sensible, but it can backfire.

Your character level shoots up, enemies scale with you, but your actual combat skills are still terrible. So now you’re facing tougher enemies with bigger health pools while you’re still swinging like you’ve brought a wet noodle to a war.

The fix is simple: level your build in a balanced way.

It’s fine to craft. It’s fine to experiment. That’s part of what makes Skyrim great. But don’t grind Smithing from 20 to 100 at level 5 and then wonder why every bandit suddenly feels like a raid boss.

Make sure at least one combat skill is improving alongside your crafting skills.

2. Building a Jack of All Trades Too Early

Skyrim lets you do basically anything, but that doesn’t mean you should try to do everything at once.

A common beginner mistake is spreading perk points and skill progression too thinly. A little One-Handed. A little Two-Handed. A bit of Destruction. Some Sneak. Some Smithing. A random perk in Lockpicking. Before long, you’ve got lots of mediocre skills and nothing that actually carries your build.

The problem is that Skyrim’s combat feels much better when you specialise early.

If you alternate between bows, greatswords, destruction spells, and daggers, none of those skills will improve as quickly as they would if you focused on one or two main combat styles. That means you miss out on the power spikes that come from stronger perks and higher skill levels.

The better approach is to pick a primary combat style early.

That might be:

One-Handed and Shield
Two-Handed weapons
Archery
Destruction magic
Sneak Archer
Conjuration-based mage
Spellsword

Once your core build feels strong, then you can branch out.

And remember: you can go back to the Guardian Stones near Riverwood, or other Standing Stones across Skyrim, if you want to change your blessing and focus on levelling a different type of skill later.

3. Wasting Your Perk Points

Perk points feel easy to come by at the start of Skyrim, but they become much more precious as the game goes on.

You only gain one perk point each time your character levels up. And because each new level requires more skill progress than the last, those perk points gradually become slower to earn.

That makes it painful when you waste them.

You can reset perks, but it isn’t especially convenient. One option is making a skill Legendary once it reaches 100, which resets that skill and refunds its perk points. Another option comes from the Dragonborn DLC, where after completing the main Dragonborn questline, you can spend a dragon soul to reset the perks in a specific skill tree.

Neither option is something you’ll want to rely on casually in the early game.

So have a rough plan.

You don’t need a spreadsheet. You don’t need to min-max every single point. But you should know what your main combat skills are and prioritise perks that make those skills stronger.

Don’t scatter perk points across five different playstyles before your main build has even come online.

4. Neglecting a Ranged Option

Even if you want to play a melee-focused warrior, you should still carry some kind of ranged option.

Skyrim will regularly put you in situations where ranged combat is extremely useful. Dragons are the obvious example, but you’ll also fight mages, archers, and enemies standing on walls, ledges, towers, or awkward terrain.

Yes, dragons usually land eventually. But waiting around while a dragon circles overhead, breathes fire, and potentially kills nearby NPCs is not ideal. Dragon attacks can begin after completing “Dragon Rising,” the early main quest where you kill your first dragon near Whiterun.

A ranged option doesn’t have to mean fully investing in Archery.

You could use:

A bow
A crossbow
Destruction spells like Firebolt or Ice Spike
Staffs
Shouts

If you have the Dawnguard DLC, crossbows are especially useful because they hit hard without needing heavy perk investment. Crossbows are added by Dawnguard, and the basic crossbow becomes available through the Dawnguard questline.

Later in the main quest, Dragonrend is specifically designed to force dragons to land, which makes dragon fights much less annoying for melee builds.

5. Forgetting to Use Shouts and Racial Powers

A lot of new players simply forget to use shouts.

That’s understandable. Skyrim gives you loads of tools, and it’s easy to fall into the habit of just swinging your sword or casting the same spell over and over. But shouts are a major part of the Dragonborn’s toolkit.

Some are situational. Some are underwhelming. But others are incredibly powerful.

Elemental Fury, for example, increases weapon swing speed, making it extremely strong for certain melee builds. Unrelenting Force can stagger enemies, push objects, and blast enemies around the environment.

The same goes for racial powers.

Some are forgettable, but others can completely swing a fight. Orcs get Berserker Rage, which makes them take half damage and deal double physical damage for 60 seconds. Bretons get Dragonskin, which helps absorb hostile spells.

These powers are usually once-per-day abilities, so you don’t want to waste them on a random wolf. But when you’re fighting a dragon priest, a powerful mage, or a boss that’s about to flatten you, they can make a massive difference.

6. Hoarding Consumables Forever

Many RPG players are guilty of this: saving potions, scrolls, poisons, and other consumables for the “perfect moment.”

Then the perfect moment never comes.

By the end of the game, you’re walking around with 50 minor healing potions, 12 resist fire potions, a bag full of poisons, and a scroll you’ve been “saving” since level 4.

Don’t do this.

Skyrim gives you plenty of consumables, and you can make more through Alchemy. Potions can easily swing difficult fights in your favour. A resist fire potion can help against flame mages or dragons. A fortify damage potion can help you survive a dungeon that’s slightly above your level.

Unless something is genuinely rare or important, use it.

The point of consumables is to consume them.

7. Messing With Giants Too Early

Giants are not normal early-game enemies.

They may look like part of the open world, and they usually won’t attack unless you get too close or provoke them, but they are absolutely not balanced like wolves, bandits, or mudcrabs.

Giants have a fixed level of 32 and do not scale down to meet you, which makes them extremely dangerous for low-level characters.

If you try to fight one too early, you will probably be introduced to the Skyrim space programme.

The classic giant launch is one of the most famous Skyrim moments, and honestly, every player should experience it once. But save first.

Which brings us neatly to the next mistake.

8. Forgetting to Save Often

Nothing hurts quite like clearing half a dungeon, dying to a trap or boss, and realising your last save was an hour ago.

New players often rely too much on autosaves. The problem is that autosaves usually happen around transitions, loading screens, sleeping, waiting, or fast travel. If you’re exploring the open world for a long time, you can lose a lot of progress.

Use quicksave.

On PC, the default quicksave key is F5. On console, get into the habit of manually saving before difficult fights, risky exploration, or anything that looks suspiciously like a trap.

How much you save-scum is up to you.

Saving before every lockpick or pickpocket attempt is where I personally draw the line, but if you want to live that life, you do you.

9. Rushing Straight Through the Main Quest

There’s nothing wrong with doing the main quest if that’s what you want. But new players often don’t realise just how much Skyrim opens up once you stop following the quest marker.

The game strongly encourages you to follow the main story early on. Helgen leads to Riverwood, Riverwood points you toward Whiterun, and Whiterun leads into the first dragon fight.

But Skyrim is often at its best when you wander.

If you rush the main quest, you can miss dozens of side quests, guild storylines, hidden dungeons, unique rewards, and strange little moments that make the world memorable.

There’s also a practical downside: after completing “Dragon Rising,” random dragon encounters can begin appearing in the world.

That doesn’t mean you should never do it. Unlocking dragons also lets you absorb dragon souls and unlock shouts, which is a major part of the game. But it is worth knowing that once you open that door, Skyrim becomes a more dangerous place.

And if you’re playing on a higher difficulty, you may want to strengthen your build before dealing with tougher main quest encounters — including dragons, and of course, the famously annoying frost troll on the way to High Hrothgar.

10. Over-Encumbering Yourself With Low-Value Items

Skyrim lets you pick up almost everything.

Cabbages. Tankards. Iron swords. Wolf pelts. Boots. Baskets. Plates. Every item of clothing from every bandit you’ve just killed.

But eventually, your inventory will betray you.

Once you exceed your carry weight, you become over-encumbered. This slows you down, stops you from running, and prevents fast travel unless you’re using certain workarounds, such as being on a horse.

The beginner mistake is grabbing everything just because it has a value.

Don’t think only in terms of value. Think in terms of value-to-weight.

Good loot usually includes:

Potions
Gems
Jewellery
Enchanted items
Light armour
Expensive weapons
Crafting materials you actually need

Bad loot is usually bulky, low-value junk that fills your inventory and forces you to crawl back to town like you’re wading through treacle.

A follower can also help massively, because followers can carry extra items for you. And once you get a player home, you’ll have a safe place to store items you don’t want to sell yet.

Your knees will thank you.

11. Stealing Without a Fence to Sell To

Stealing is tempting in Skyrim.

Once you realise you can break into shops, sneak around houses at night, and walk off with half of Riverwood’s possessions, it’s very easy to go full kleptomaniac.

But there’s a problem: stolen items are marked as stolen, and normal merchants usually won’t buy them. To sell stolen goods properly, you need access to a fence, commonly through the Thieves Guild or related Speech perk options.

Until then, stolen items just clog your inventory.

Even worse, if guards catch you and arrest you, stolen items can be confiscated. So you might spend ages robbing half of Whiterun, only to lose everything because you accidentally committed some unrelated minor crime.

The safest solution is to join the Thieves Guild before going on a serious stealing spree.

There is also a sneaky workaround: crafted items made from stolen ingredients or materials are generally not marked as stolen. So stolen alchemy ingredients can become potions, stolen smithing materials can become gear, and stolen food ingredients can become cooked food.

In other words, if you insist on becoming a criminal before joining the Thieves Guild, at least launder your stolen goods through crafting.

12. Accidentally Killing Your Followers

Followers are incredibly useful in Skyrim.

They help in combat, carry your excess loot, distract enemies, and generally make the early game much easier. Lydia, Faendal, and other early companions can be a huge help for new players.

But many followers are not truly immortal.

Most permanent followers become “protected” while actively following you, meaning enemies generally won’t finish them off once they’re down. However, protected followers can still be killed by the player, which means your own stray sword swings, fireballs, and shouts can absolutely end them.

And if they were carrying all your dragon bones when they died?

Enjoy your slow walk home.

You can avoid this by being careful with melee swings, shouts, and area-of-effect spells. But honestly, that can make combat less fun.

A better option is to use an essential follower who cannot die. Serana, added by Dawnguard, is one of the most famous examples of an essential follower.

13. Accidentally Becoming a Vampire

Yes, you can become a vampire by accident.

When fighting vampires, you can contract Sanguinare Vampiris. If you don’t cure it within three in-game days, it progresses into full vampirism.

This catches a lot of new players out because the early disease stage can be easy to miss. You might see a small message, ignore it, continue questing, and only realise something is wrong when sunlight starts becoming a problem.

If you catch it early, curing it is easy.

During the three-day Sanguinare Vampiris stage, you can cure it with:

A Cure Disease potion
Praying at a shrine
Eating hawk feathers

If it progresses into full vampirism, curing it becomes more involved. You’ll need to complete the “Rising at Dawn” quest, involving Falion in Morthal and a filled black soul gem.

Of course, maybe you want to be a vampire. Vampirism has benefits, especially with Dawnguard. But if you don’t want it, check your active effects after fighting vampires.

14. Being Too Proud to Adjust the Difficulty

This one is more about mindset than mechanics.

Some players start on Adept because it’s the default “normal” difficulty, then stubbornly refuse to change it even when they’re clearly not having fun. Others jump straight to a harder difficulty because they assume it’s the “proper” way to play.

But Skyrim’s difficulty settings mostly adjust damage multipliers. Harder settings make you deal less damage and take more damage, rather than adding complex new enemy behaviour.

So if combat feels like a slog, lower the difficulty.

If everything feels too easy, raise it.

Skyrim lets you change difficulty through the menu, and there’s no shame in using that setting as a tool for enjoyment. This isn’t a competitive game. Nobody is checking your gamer licence because you dropped the difficulty for one annoying encounter.

Skyrim is old, its scaling isn’t perfect, and sometimes a fight is difficult for reasons that don’t feel especially fair.

Adjust it. Have fun.

15. Attacking the Chickens

Finally, we reach the most dangerous mistake of all: attacking Skyrim’s most revered creature.

The humble chicken.

New players often see a chicken in Riverwood and assume it’s just another harmless animal. Maybe it drops food. Maybe it’s funny to punch it. Maybe you just want to see what happens.

What happens is crime.

Attacking NPC-owned chickens gives you a bounty, and in places like Riverwood, the locals may react much more aggressively than you expect. UESP confirms that attacking owned chickens earns a bounty, and Bethesda developers have even discussed the infamous Riverwood chicken reaction as one of Skyrim’s memorable emergent moments.

Forget Alduin. Forget dragons. Forget civil war.

Harm one feather on Skyrim’s sacred poultry, and the entire village may decide you are the true threat to the province.

Don’t believe me?

Save your game first. Then punch the chicken in Riverwood.

You’ll understand.