The Iron Dagger is about as basic as weapons get in Skyrim, and that is precisely why you see it everywhere. With 4 base damage, 2 weight and a value of 10 gold, it is one of the first weapons the Dragonborn gets their hands on, and a huge share of Skyrim’s ordinary folk carry one.
It needs nothing but an 
iron ingot and a leather strip to forge, no perks required. Few people fight with it for long, but it makes great Smithing fodder, and it pops up all over the game’s set dressing, from notes pinned to walls to dinner tables.
Stats
| Type | Dagger |
|---|---|
| Skill | One-handed |
| Material | Iron |
| Damage | 4 |
| Weight | 2 |
| Value | 10 gold |
| Speed | 1.3 |
| Reach | 0.7 |
| Stagger | 0 |
| Critical damage | 2 |
| Add-on | Base game |
| Item ID | 0001397E |
Where to find
- Available enchanted and unenchanted from level 1.
- During Unbound, following Ralof lets you take one from each of the first two Imperials you meet.
- Ask Alvor about using his forge and he hands over a fine iron dagger for free.
- Sold by blacksmiths and general goods merchants, carried by countless NPCs and lying around as loot.
Crafting and upgrading
Crafting at a forge: 1 × Iron Ingot, 1 × 
Leather Strips.
Improving at a grindstone: 1 × Iron Ingot. The Arcane Blacksmith perk doubles the improvement.
Compared with other daggers
Base stats of all regular (unenchanted) daggers in Skyrim, weakest first:
| Weapon | Damage | Weight | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Dagger | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| Steel Dagger | 5 | 2.5 | 18 |
| Orcish Dagger | 6 | 3 | 30 |
| Dwarven Dagger | 7 | 3.5 | 55 |
| Elven Dagger | 8 | 4 | 95 |
| Nordic Dagger | 8 | 3.5 | 115 |
| Skyforge Steel Dagger | 8 | 2.5 | 25 |
| Glass Dagger | 9 | 4.5 | 165 |
| Ebony Dagger | 10 | 5 | 290 |
| Stalhrim Dagger | 10 | 4.5 | 395 |
| Daedric Dagger | 11 | 6 | 500 |
| Dragonbone Dagger | 12 | 6.5 | 600 |
Tips and notes
- Improve it at a grindstone with an iron ingot. No Smithing perk boosts it.
- Forging piles of these is a classic cheap way to level Smithing early.
- The Dragonborn uses one when working a tanning rack, and to cut their hand for the Blood Seal in Alduin’s Wall.
- An iron dagger is left wherever the Black Sacrament has been performed.
- With Hearthfire you can give them to your children.
Stats from the Skyrim LE 1.9 master files (Skyrim.esm, record IronDagger). Values are base values before perks, smithing improvements and enchantments.
