Elder Scrolls
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Elder Scrolls

Windshear is a unique scimitar found in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Although its appearance is identical to the Scimitar, the enchantment is one of a kind and cannot be disenchanted.

Acquisition[]

This sword can be obtained during the Dark Brotherhood quest "Hail Sithis!" on a ship called The Katariah; this ship can only be accessed during or after the quest is finished.

Proceed onto the main deck of the boat. Follow the stairs that lead to the bow (the front of the ship). Here a long wooden beam protruding from the bow (Bowsprit) is located. Carefully walk up the beam to the top where Windshear will be visible, wedged into the wood.

Enchantment[]

The enchantment of Windshear is described as, "Bash attacks made with this weapon have a chance of knocking enemies down." In combat, this translates to block-bashing having a 39% chance to paralyze an enemy for 0.1 seconds. The brief paralysis results in the target entering rag doll mode, and it takes several seconds for them to get back up. Block-bashing is only possible when the off-hand is unarmed.

Additionally, Windshear inflicts a powerful stagger effect when used regularly in combat. This effect is more powerful than the aforementioned enchantment; rather than chance, every attack staggers any enemy 100% of the time, unless they possess Tower of Strength or Reflect Blows from the heavy armor skill tree. The first reduces stagger by 50%, making the effect weaker, the latter can reflect the stagger effect back onto the Dragonborn.

Smithing[]

Windshear can be upgraded with a steel ingot at a grindstone, and also benefits from the Steel Smithing perk, which doubles the improvement.

Usefulness[]

  • The stagger effect of Windshear is useful in defeating almost any enemy, as repeated strikes completely inhibits them from attacking or retreating.
  • Whilst Riding a horse, if the Dragonborn positions themselves behind the creature they are attacking, the enemy will sometimes get launched away, instantly killing some foes. This works especially well with bears.

Bugs[]

This section contains bugs related to Windshear. 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   360   PS3   The weapon may spawn under the forward mast, hovering in mid air making the weapon difficult if not impossible to acquire normally. One can, however, simply shoot this down using an arrow or a destruction spell, and retrieve it from the water below.
  •  PC   360   PS3   This weapon also seems to get "stuck" in your hand when unequipped. This can be fixed by unequipping and reequipping any gloves/gauntlets.
  •  PC   360   PS3   The weapon may spawn normally, but then fall into the water below.
  •  360   If the weapon is not in the water or embedded in the forward mast, sitting in the throne will yield a sound like that of moving a weapon, meaning it is possible that Windshear is stuck inside the throne.

Appearances[]

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