One-handed governs every weapon you can swing with a single hand: daggers, swords, war axes and maces. Higher skill means harder hits, and the perk tree adds weapon-specific bonuses – critical strikes for swords, bleeding for axes, armour penetration for maces – plus power-attack tricks and a full dual-wielding branch.
It belongs to the Combat category, so the Warrior Stone boosts how fast it improves. Because a one-handed weapon leaves your other hand free, the skill fits almost any character: a shield for Block, a spell for a spellsword, or a second weapon for a dual-wielding berserker. It is also the natural partner of Sneak, since daggers are the classic assassin’s tool.
How One-handed works
How One-handed rises
The skill improves whenever you hit something with a one-handed weapon in combat. Normal attacks, power attacks and sneak attacks all count, and so does a conjured weapon from the Bound Sword spell. Missed swings and attacks on empty air give nothing, and unarmed punches do not raise it at all.
Weapon types
Daggers are the fastest and weakest weapons. They get no specialty perk in this tree, but they shine with the Sneak tree’s sneak-attack bonuses. Swords are the balanced option and gain extra critical hits from Bladesman. War axes are a bit slower and stronger, and Hack and Slash makes them cause bleeding damage. Maces are the slowest and hardest-hitting, and Bone Breaker lets them ignore much of the target’s armour.
Power attacks and dual wielding
Holding the attack button performs a power attack, which costs stamina but hits much harder and can stagger. The direction you move while attacking changes the move: standing, sprinting forward and stepping backward each have their own perk in this tree. Equipping a one-handed weapon in each hand lets you dual wield; attacking with both hands at once unleashes a dual power attack. Dual wielding trades the safety of a shield for raw damage output.
One-handed perk tree
The One-handed tree has 10 perks with 21 ranks in total. Required levels are the One-handed skill level needed for each rank.
| Perk | Ranks | Skill level | Requires | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armsman | 5 | 0 / 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 | – | Rank 1: One-Handed weapons do 20% more damage. Rank 2: One-Handed weapons do 40% more damage. Rank 3: One-Handed weapons do 60% more damage. Rank 4: One-Handed weapons do 80% more damage. Rank 5: One-Handed weapons do twice as much damage. |
| Fighting Stance | 1 | 20 | Armsman | Power attacks with one-handed weapons cost 25% less stamina. |
| Bladesman | 3 | 30 / 60 / 90 | Armsman | Rank 1: Attacks with swords have a 10% chance of doing critical damage. Rank 2: Attacks with swords have a 15% chance of doing more critical damage. Rank 3: Attacks with a swords have a 20% chance of doing even more critical damage. |
| Bone Breaker | 3 | 30 / 60 / 90 | Armsman | Rank 1: Attacks with maces ignore 25% of armor. Rank 2: Attacks with maces ignore 50% of armor. Rank 3: Attacks with maces ignore 75% of armor. |
| Dual Flurry | 2 | 30 / 50 | Armsman | Rank 1: Dual wielding attacks are 20% faster. Rank 2: Dual wielding attacks are 35% faster. |
| Hack and Slash | 3 | 30 / 60 / 90 | Armsman | Rank 1: Attacks with war axes cause extra bleeding damage. Rank 2: Attacks with war axes cause more bleeding damage. Rank 3: Attacks with war axes cause even more bleeding damage. |
| Critical Charge | 1 | 50 | Fighting Stance | Can do a one-handed power attack while sprinting that does double critical damage. |
| Savage Strike | 1 | 50 | Fighting Stance | Standing power attacks do 25% bonus damage with a chance to decapitate your enemies. |
| Dual Savagery | 1 | 70 | Dual Flurry | Dual wielding power attacks do 50% bonus damage. |
| Paralyzing Strike | 1 | 100 | Critical Charge or Savage Strike | Backwards power attack has a 25% chance to paralyze the target. |
Perk guide
Start with Armsman, the backbone of the tree. Its five ranks raise one-handed damage by 20% per rank up to double damage at rank 5, and are unlocked at 0, 20, 40, 60 and 80. Take each rank as soon as it becomes available – no other perk adds as much damage.
Then pick the specialty perk for the weapon you actually use, and only that one:
- Bladesman (30/60/90) gives swords a 10%, 15% and finally 20% chance of a critical hit.
- Hack and Slash (30/60/90) adds increasing bleeding damage to war axes.
- Bone Breaker (30/60/90) lets maces ignore 25%, 50% and finally 75% of armour, which is strongest against heavily armoured foes.
Dagger users can skip all three and spend the points in Sneak instead. For dual wielders, Dual Flurry (30/50) makes dual-wield attacks 20% and then 35% faster, and Dual Savagery (70) adds 50% damage to dual power attacks – together they are the core of any dual-wield build.
The power-attack branch starts with Fighting Stance (20), which cuts the stamina cost of one-handed power attacks by 25% and is worth taking for nearly everyone. From there, Savage Strike (50) gives standing power attacks 25% bonus damage and a chance to decapitate, while Critical Charge (50) lets you power attack while sprinting for double critical damage – good for opening fights. Paralyzing Strike (100) gives backward power attacks a 25% chance to paralyse; it is fun, but it costs a perk point at the very end of the tree and is the first one to skip if you are short.
Synergies: Smithing improves your weapon’s base damage, Enchanting adds elemental damage or Fortify One-handed gear, and Heavy Armor or Light Armor keeps you standing at melee range.
How to level One-handed fast
- Just fight: every hit on an enemy counts, so melee-heavy dungeons such as Bleak Falls Barrow level the skill steadily in the early game.
- Dual wield or use a fast weapon like a dagger or sword – more hits per fight means more experience per fight.
- Sneak attacks with a dagger raise One-handed and Sneak at the same time.
- Cast Bound Sword when you need a weapon: hits with it train One-handed while casting it trains Conjuration.
- Read the skill books: 2920, Morning Star, v1, Fire and Darkness, Mace Etiquette, Night Falls on Sentinel and The Importance of Where.
- Train with Amren in Whiterun (up to 50), Athis of the Companions (up to 75) and Chief Burguk in Dushnikh Yal (up to 90).
- Pick the Warrior Stone early to learn all Combat skills faster.
Trainers
| Trainer | Trains up to | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Amren | Journeyman (up to 50) | |
| Athis | Expert (up to 75) | |
| Chief Burguk | Master (up to 90) |
Each trainer can teach up to five levels per character level, and training costs more gold the higher your skill is.
One-handed skill books
Reading each of these books for the first time raises One-handed by one level:
- 2920, Morning Star, v1
- Fire and Darkness
- Mace Etiquette
- Night Falls on Sentinel
- The Importance of Where
Tips and notes
- Daggers have no specialty perk in this tree – their real damage bonus comes from the sneak-attack perks in the Sneak tree.
- When dual wielding you cannot block; a shield-and-weapon setup is much safer for a first playthrough.
- The weapon specialty perks only care about weapon type, so if you switch from a sword to a mace mid-game, the Bladesman points stop helping.
- Paralyzing Strike can be reached through either Savage Strike or Critical Charge, so you only need one of the two to get it.
Perk tree, required levels and trainer levels from the Skyrim LE 1.9 master files (AVIF AVOneHanded, PERK and CLAS records).
