What springs to mind when you first think ofSkyrim’s Dragonborn hero? No, not “an arrow to the knee” (it’s not 2012 anymore).
Of course,the iconic Unrelenting Force shout that splits the air and sends foes ragdolling through the open battlefield.
Shouts have become synonymous with Skyrim, and yet, they’re an oddly underutilized mechanic that many players forget to use,favouring magic or a trusty sword.
It seems odd that such a core feature ends up being left a bit in the dust.Many shouts don’t even see the light of day, mostly because it’s not obvious how to effectively use them.
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Today, we’re going to look at some of the most powerful shouts that may make you reconsider their usefulness and perhaps spur you to go back in for the 234th playthrough.
10Ice Form
IIS-SLEN-NUS
Anyone who remembers seeing funnySkyrimmontages back in the day will remember the infamous Ice Form bugs, where a frozen character starts hovering and glitching around in midair, only to zoom off into the distance after a short while.
But this shout isn’t just used for fun, it’s very reliable to slow your enemies down and give yourself a bit of breathing room.
With an effect that lasts up to 30 seconds, you can immobilize a target and not have to worry about it until the battle is over.
And for anyone from the Thieves Guild reading, a helpful little glitch allows you to pickpocket items you couldn’t normally take just as the character starts their standing animation.
Be careful not to freeze your fingers in the process!
9Dragonrend
JOOR-ZAH-FRUL
Dragons will be a constant threat throughout yourSkyrimjourney, always roaring in the near distance and swooping down on you from out of nowhere.
While they aren’t so much of a nuisanceas a ranger or with some well-placed spells, if you’re melee-focused you may be having a bit of a tough time.
I’ve had times when the dragon has been flying around and simply refused to come down to the ground to play. What a pain.
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Dragonrend is your best friend here. Using this shout will force a dragon to come crashing down to Earth so you can fight it one-on-one, just as it was supposed to be.
Using the full shout will force a dragon to be grounded for a longer time.What’s more, this shout is free! What’s not to like?
8Aura Whisper
LAS-YAH-NIR
Have you ever been skulking through a dungeon, only to have a bunch of enemies drop down on you from out of nowhere and splatter you against the rocks?
Hiding enemies are fairly commonplace inSkyrim’s dungeons, but this little shout will help you prepare in advance.
Aura Whisper will highlight enemies that are waiting ahead, allowing you some time to plot your route and ready your weapons.
If you’re a bit more stealthy, you can even catch monsters off guard and gain those stealth multiplier bonuses.
In addition, this shout is more powerful than the Detect Life spell, allowing you to identify pretty much every enemy in the game from a distance. You’ll never be surprised again after using this shout!
7Slow Time
TIID-KLO-UL
Ever wanted to be in The Matrix? Well, this shout may just be your best shot.
Using Slow Time will, well, slow time, allowing you to get in some bullseyes as your enemies are wading through the mud towards you.
Every level of this shout will slow time down by a larger margin, eventually reaching 90% for a minimum of 16 seconds.
What’s even better is that your enemies will move slower than you do, giving you a huge upper hand.
Any sneaky stealth builds can use this shout to their advantage by combining it with theIllusion Perk Quiet Castingto roam around enemy encampments and take them down one by one.
They’ll never see you coming.
6Unrelenting Force
FUS-RO-DAH
The classic. The iconic. Fus-ro-dah. We all know it. We all love it.
Unrelenting Force is the first shout that you will learn all three words of and one that will be used throughout the entirety of the game by some folks.
Of course, generally, you’re not going to be using this shout for damage.
Instead, it’s much better for clearing areas of large groups of enemies or sending them flying off of the closest available cliff.
Of course, if you’ve completed the quest “The Gardener of Men” in the Dragonborn DLC, suddenly, this shout becomes a force to be reckoned with, blasting enemies into smithereens and clearing those tight dungeons of any who dare stand in your path.
Always keep his shout close to hand. You won’t regret it.
5Summon Durnehviir
DUR-NEH-VIIR
While you may kill a lot of dragonsthroughout your playthrough ofSkyrim, not all of these are your enemies. Adventuring through the Dawnguard DLC will grant you the shout Summon Durnehviir, allowing you to conjure this fearsome beast from the Soul Cairn and onto the battlefield.
Not only can this ghastly dragon use shouts like Frost Breath and Drain vitality, but he can also summon skeletal allies to fight for your cause.
Not only do you get a dragon, but an army too! Neat.
Conjurors who have unlocked the Twin Souls Perk will gain the most from this shout, as they can summon Durnehviir and another familiar to their side at the same time.
With this many summons, you’re able to let them do the job while you sit back and munch on a sweet roll.
4Soul Tear
RII-VAAZ-ZOL
Speaking of Soul-infused undead dragons, every time you summon Durnehhviir, he will give you a new level of Soul Tear, our next brilliant shout.
This ability will cause opponents to take 300 fixed damage and also trap them in an available Soul Gem if you have any spare.
No more messing around with the Soul Trap spell.
In addition, if you trap their soul, they will also be reanimated to fight by your side for up to a minute.
While usually, you aren’t able to reanimate certain large enemies like Giants, for example,this shout bypasses that restriction, allowing you to expand your growing army even more.
While this shout certainly falls off a little bit as you reach the late game due to the fixed nature of the damage, it will always be useful for collecting souls and knocking weapons out of warriors' hands.
3Marked For Death
KRII-LUN-AUS
This shout is rather infamous for how overpowered it can be under the right circumstances.
Is it supposed to function like this? Possibly not. Will we still use it? Definitely.
Using all three words of this shout can lower an opponent’s armor by up to4500while chipping away at their life points.
What’s particularly broken about this is that the shout can be used multiple times, stacking armor reduction over and over again on high-armour monsters like Dragons.
When the armor value hits zero,it doesn’t stop, with the numbers going into the negative and constantly going down.
At this point, a little gust of wind is going to rip apart anything that has been targeted by this brutal shout. So pull out your Iron Dagger and give that Dragon a nudge. He’ll fall right over.
2Become Ethereal
FEIM-ZII-GRON
This is a famously overlooked and underutilized shout that has some of the most potential in the entire game.
When most players read that they can’t deal damage while using this shout, they may think it is rather worthless, but oh are they wrong.
Oftentimes, you may find yourself in a situation where you’re surrounded by enemies, unable to fight them all at once. You’re life is falling, and you start to panic.
Simply use this shout and enjoy 18 seconds where you take no damage and drain no stamina.You can reposition or simply run out and rethink your strategy.
This shout is perfect for getting out of sticky situations or avoiding traps.
What’s more is that due to your invulnerability, you may jump off of cliffs and take no fall damage, so it’s even perfect for traversing the map and skipping vertical dungeons.
This shout is as powerful as the player’s creativity and ingenuity.Once you start to mess around with it, you’ll never look back.
1Dragon Aspect
MUL-QAH-DIIV
You are Dragonborn, able to speak the words of dragons and bring them down from the sky. But do you ever actually feel like a dragon? Maybe not.
Dragon Aspect is a ridiculously overpowered shout learned by completing the main questline of the Dragonborn DLC.
Once you learn all three levels of this ability, you will gain an extremely awesome-lookingset of ethereal Dragon Armour,increased resistance to Fire and Frost, increased Armour Value and your power attacks will be boosted too!So many effects in one shout.
But that’s not all. If your health happens to fall under 50% from an enemy attack,you will automatically summon an Ancient Dragonborn to assist you in the fight.
This is perfect for large assaults on forts or even battles against bosses, where you may have a long-drawn-out combat.
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Of course, it’s not all sunshine and roses. The main drawback of this shout is that it acts like a Character Power, which means you’re able to only use it once per day.
Some will see this as too long a wait, but I believe the power level makes up for that.
Once the battle is over, you can always just use the Wait function to skip forward 24 hours and refresh your shout.
Now you are truly Dragonborn, and Skyrim shall kneel before you.
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