Elder Scrolls
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Elder Scrolls
For other uses, see Controls.

The Controls in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim allow the player to operate their in-game character, and can be altered in the settings menu. There are three different movement speeds in the game, which listed from slowest to fastest are as follows: walking, running/jogging, and sprinting (the only one to drain stamina). Players can also sneak in a relatively slow movement state. Various other controls allow the player to interact with the game world in more complex ways.

The term "toggle" means to set as the default behavior between two or more options. For example, the player can run normally, or they can sneak; pressing Ctrl on PC "toggles" this behavior. If the player's controls are set to have them run by default, then toggling this control sets sneaking as their default movement behavior. If it is pressed again, then running is set as the default movement behavior.

Default controls[]

The following shows the default controls for each platform.

Menu Xbox 360 Xbox One PS3 PS4 Switch PC
Left hand Trigger left

PS3 L1

PS3 L2
ZL M2 (right)
Right hand Trigger right PS3 R1
PS3 R2
ZR M1 (left)
Sprint Bumper left PS3 L2
PS3 L1
L Alt
Shout/Power Bumper right PS3 R2
PS3 R1
R Z
Move Stick left W A S D
Look/Adjust Camera Angle Stick right Mouse
Sneak (toggle) Stick left (Press) Ctrl
Toggle Third/First Person Stick right (Press)

(while in Third Person or while mounted on a horse, press and hold Stick right and move Stick left up or down to adjust the camera zoom.)

F
Toggle Walk/Run N/A Caps Lock
Run (while walking is toggled)

Walk (while running is toggled)

N/A Left shift
Wait Button back View PS3 select Touch Pad - (Minus) T
Journal Button start Menu Button start Options + (Plus) J
Activate Button a PS3 Cross A E
Character Menu Button b PS3 Circle B Tab
Ready Button x PS3 Square Y R
Jump/Rear Button y PS3 Triangle X Space
Move Object Button a (Held) PS3 Cross (Held) A (Held) E (Held)
Favorites D-Pad U/D Q
Quick Keys D-Pad L/R (Under Favorites Menu, Hold to assign) 1–8 Keys

Visual chart[]

Kbd-elder-scrolls-v-the-skyrim

Graphical map of PC keyboard controls.


Quick Keys and dual wielding[]

Xbox - To assign a Quick Key on the Xbox 360;

  1. Add the spell or weapon to the favorites menu,
  2. Open the favorites menu (Using D-Pad U/D)
  3. Highlight the item to be used on a quick key
  4. Hold the D-Pad Left or D-Pad Right button until a number appears next to the item selected (1 and 2 for the respective buttons)

Spells[]

Press the quick key a second time to dual-wield spells - spells will default to the left hand while weapons default to the right hand.

Melee weapons[]

Melee Weapons can't be dual-wielded using quick keys. Unless it's a stackable weapon, pressing the quick key a second time will only replace the previous weapon.

Some enchanted weapons are stackable at first but if the charge levels become different they cease to be stackable and the quick keys can no longer be used for dual-wielding.

Bows[]

Bows are sheathed, unsheathed, equipped, and unequipped as other weapons - by pressing the sheath/unsheathe button (default, R, on PCs). To remove an arrow from a loaded bow without shooting it, press the sheath/unsheathe weapon button. Hold down the right hand button to ready an arrow; how far the arrow will go is determined by how far back the string is drawn, which itself is determined by how long the right hand button is held (up to some maximum which appears to be a few seconds holding - this may be dependent on Marksman level). The arrow will be shot in a trajectory similar to that of a thrown baseball. The arrow goes upwards a little bit for some distance, and then comes back down. The trajectory of the arrow depends on the weight of the bow.

For Xbox360 players that have Kinect, here is a link to the Kinect Voice Commands. Kinect

Third person camera control[]

  •  360   PS3   The camera zoom can be controlled by holding down the right analog stick and moving the left analog stick up or down.
  •  PC   The zoom is controlled by the scroll wheel.

Trivia[]

  •  PC   The PC version allows for screenshots of the game. This is done via the Print Screen key, which is usually found on the top right hand section of the keyboard. The files are labeled Screenshot#.bmp, and written in a deeply buried subdirectory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\skyrim, for example. Using a find tool for Screenshot*.* can help locate the files. Any simple graphics program, such as Paint, can then be used to edit and save as PNG files for common usage - as, for instance, writing and editing in this wiki. PS3 players can press the PS button to bring up the XMB, then navigate to the "Photos" bar and then select the "Save Screenshot" option to take screenshots. The game pauses during this. Xbox 360 players can't take screenshots without a capture card.
  •  PC   An easier method is to use the Ctrl + Print Screen command to create a screenshot on the clipboard which can then be pasted into any program using the Ctrl + V (paste) command.
  •  PC   The PC version has built in Xbox 360 controller support, allowing for those with the Xbox 360 Common Controller to seamlessly transition between mouse and keyboard and a controller.
  •  PS3   PS4  The default bindings for the L1/R1 buttons on the PS3 version are assigned to the L2/R2 triggers and vice versa
  •  PC   When pointing at a follower, and holding down the "activate" key, it is possible to go into "command" mode without going through the dialogue screen. This also works from a distance as well as with some followers that lack the "I need you to do something" dialogue option, such as Serana.

Bugs[]

This section contains bugs related to Controls (Skyrim). Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:

  1. Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening.
  2. If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template  360  /  XB1  ,  PS3  /  PS4  ,  PC  /  MAC  ,  NX  /  PS5  ,  XS  , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on.
  3. Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.
  •  PC   Remapping the sheath/unsheathe action to the middle mouse button will disallow certain actions such as dropping items and crafting. The action only seems to work when it is mapped to a key, making it necessary to constantly change the control temporarily to drop items or craft.
  •  PC   When using a controller, remapping gameplay controls also remaps UI controls; however, the UI does not change to reflect this. For example, if you remap the Character Menu to Left Stick, then you will need to use Left Stick (not B) to back out of menus.

Appearances[]

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