One-Handed (Skyrim)

''The art of combat using one-handed weapons such as daggers, swords, maces, and war axes. Those trained in this skill deliver deadlier blows.''

"You're like me, eh? Don't fancy those clunky two-handed weapons."

- Hold Guard

One-Handed is a skill in and is one of the six skills that falls under The Warrior play-style. One-Handed directly affects the damage you deal with one-handed weapons. The perks obtained in this skill tree only affect one-handed weapons (Due to a glitch, this includes the Ebony Blade & Headsman's Axe, both of which are Two-Handed weapons).

The One-Handed tree gives you the opportunity to increase your damage output through wielding two one-handed weapons simultaneously. This is referred to as "dual-wielding". While this potentially doubles damage output, it also removes the ability to block any attacks. It is advisable, though not necessary, to back up a dual-wielding playstyle with defensive skill trees, such as Heavy Armor or Restoration.

Despite not adding towards the One-Handed skill, unarmed attacks do benefit from some One-Handed perks, including the Dual Wielding perks.

One-Handed weapons
The following are the weapons that benefit from this skill:

Craftable weapons
This is a list of One-Handed weapons that can be crafted by the player at a Forge (or conjured by the player as in the case of the Bound Sword).


 * Dagger - Iron, Steel, Orcish, Dwarvish, Elven, Glass, Ebony, Daedric.
 * Mace - Iron, Steel, Orcish, Dwarven, Elven, Glass, Ebony, Daedric.
 * Sword - Iron, Steel, Silver, Orcish, Dwarven, Elven, Glass, Ebony, Daedric, Bound Sword, Nord Hero.
 * War Axe - Iron, Steel, Orcish, Dwarven, Elven, Glass, Ebony, Daedric, Nord Hero.

Non-Craftable Weapons
This is a list of weapons the cannot be crafted by the player. They are either received as a quest reward or looted throughout the world. They may or may not be unique.


 * Daggers - Alessandra's Dagger, Blade of Sacrifice, Blade of Woe, Bloodthorn, Borvir's Dagger, Keening, Kahvozein's Fang, Mehrunes' Razor, Nettlebane, Rundi's Dagger, Shiv, Skyforge Steel, Valdr's Lucky Dagger
 * Maces - Mace of Molag Bal, Rusty Mace
 * Swords - Amren's Family Sword, Ancient Nordic, Bolar's Oathblade, Blades Sword, Ceremonial Sword, Chillrend, Dawnbreaker, Dragonbane, Drainheart Sword, Eduj, Falmer, Forsworn Sword, Gauldur Blackblade, Ghostblade, Grimsever, Hjalti's Sword, Imperial, Nightingale Blade, Red Eagle's Fury, Scimitar, Skyforge Steel, The Pale Blade, Queen Freydis's Sword, Windshear
 * War Axes - Ancient Nordic, Falmer, Forsworn, Notched Pickaxe, Okin, Poacher's Axe, Skyforge Steel

With very few exceptions, many of these can be upgraded at a grindstone.

Perks
The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up.

Skill Effect on One-Handed Weapon Damage
The One-Handed skill directly increases the damage dealt with One-Handed weapons. For each skill level, weapon damage increases by 0.5%. This increase is multiplicative with bonus damage from the Armsman perk and weapon improvements.

Fortify One-Handed Enchantments
One-handed weapons receive increased attack power from boots, bracers, and rings enchanted with the Fortify One-Handed enchantment. However, Daggers are uniquely unaffected by these enchantments.


 * Whether this is an oversight, a glitch or an intended decision is not clear. Some would argue that this was an intentional decision on the part of the game designers, in order to prevent the use of Fortify One-Handed in conjunction with Assassin's Blade and/or the Shrouded Gloves, which could be so damaging as to seriously unbalance the game.

Training

 * Amren (Adept): Whiterun
 * Athis of The Companions (Expert): Jorrvaskr
 * Chief Burguk (Master): Dushnikh Yal in The Reach

Books and quests
The following books also increase your skill: The following Miscellaneous Quests increase the One-handed Skill:
 * 2920, Morning Star, v1
 * Fire and Darkness
 * Mace Etiquette
 * Night Falls on Sentinel
 * The Importance of Where
 * Retreive Amren's family sword for Amren in Whiterun (note:completing this also increases Block skill)
 * Retreive Hjalti's sword for The Ghost of Old Hroldan at Old Hroldan Inn (note: also increases block skill)
 * Retrieve Rjorn's Drum for Giraud Gemane in The Bard College in Solitude ( note: also increases Block, Two-handed, Smithing, Heavy Armor and Archery)

Notes and Tips

 * Gaining progress towards the next skill up is determined by the base weapon damage and not the number of hits or the damage done. Thus, the best weapon to use for leveling is a base Daedric Dagger, due to its damage and speed. Drinking Fortify One-handed by 75% potions, or using Fortify One-handed enchantments, or smithing your weapons to legendary and multiplying their damage by x5, or sneak attacking by x15 does not benefit the leveling. Also as these methods damage your target faster, using these are not advised while leveling One-handed. These findings are b ased on extensive controlled environment testing and are accurate.
 * One of the fastest ways to level up is to equip a plain Daedric Dagger, Amulet of Talos, obtain the Blessing of Talos, use the Elemental Fury shout, then hammer the attack button against Shadowmere. You'll dish out a good 3 to 4 swings per second while the shout is active.
 * Leveling from 94 to 95 is done in 170 hits with Daedric Dagger and takes approximately 3 minutes if you are hitting Frost or Shadowmere, and much more if you are hitting an enemy. Thus it is advised to put this hard to level skill on your training priority list.
 * When you come across the bear while escaping Helgen at the beginning of the game your companion (Hadvar or Ralof) will not progress forward so an easy way to rank your one handed skill is to attack him. He will never die in this way. Doing this while crouched behind him will also rank your sneak skill as well. You can also do this in the first room in Helgen Keep if you went with Ralof. Right as the heavily armored Imperial dies, loot the key and Ralof is stuck until you decide to open the gate.
 * Hitting immortal characters when they kneel due to near death condition, doesn't count against leveling. It's better to let them to recover, or even heal them if you are planning to level by this method.
 * Becoming Harbinger of The Companions will allow training to expert level with Athis, the player can also have him as a follower which allows all the gold spent training to be returned (take it from his inventory).'
 * Arguably, the most important perk is the Armsman, for it increases your damage by 20% per rank.
 * Another way how to level One-Handed skill is to conjure an Atronach or Familiar and kill him over and over again.
 * Attack you follower, wait for their health display to disappear, repeat. Lower level skills will benefit most from this (also works with bows and two-handed weapons).