Bolts (Dawnguard)

Bolts are projectiles fired by crossbows in.

Unlike arrows, which are slung across the back, bolts are worn at the hip in a quiver. Similarly to arrows, bolts can be forged using the smithing skill.

Crafting
Recipes yield bolts in stacks of ten. Forging Exploding Bolts requires ten steel or dwarven bolts and either fire salts, frost salts, or void salts, which yields Fire Bolts, Frost Bolts, and Shock Bolts respectively.

Note: You will only be able to begin crafting bolts after you have started Sorine's quests to retrieve schematics for new crossbows.

Unlimited bolts
To obtain an unlimited number of bolts, perform one of the following methods:

Method A

 * 1) At the beginning of the quest, Dawnguard, bring Agmaer to Fort Dawnguard.
 * 2) Upon completion of the quest, Agmaer will be given a crossbow by Isran, and told to shoot at a set of crates.
 * 3) Begin to collect. Collection is a slow process, as he fires a bolt roughly every 8 seconds. He continues to fire bolts until completion of the next quest.

Method B

 * 1) Find a Hold Guard that is shooting arrows repetitively at a target/practice dummy. The best place to do this is in Solitude near the Castle Dour courtyard.
 * 2) Pickpocket his bow and arrows. May require perks to be unlocked first.
 * 3) Replace the bow with a crossbow (any kind) and give him a bolt (any kind will do, and only one of the bolts needs to be given).
 * 4) Retrieve the bolts as they are fired at the target.

Method C

 * 1) Give a Crossbow to a follower and take away their melee weapons, giving them only a few bolts.
 * 2) Engage in a series of battles.
 * 3) Search the corpses of enemies to find the bolts. Since followers have an unlimited number of projectiles, this method can be used endlessly.

Trivia

 * Enchanted bolts can be only made at the forge in Fort Dawnguard.
 * Dwarven Bolts may also be looted from Dwarven Spheres or Dwarven Ballistas.

Bugs

 * The bolt quiver does not fit several armor or clothing pieces not found in the DLC and actually has a visible space between it and the equipped apparel.

Appearances


Bolts (Dawnguard) Virotes (Dawnguard)