Dawnbreaker

Dawnbreaker is a unique one-handed sword and one of the best early-game weapons in Skyrim – especially if you are about to spend a lot of time in draugr tombs. It is a Daedric artifact belonging to Meridia, the Daedric Prince who has a deep, personal hatred of the undead.

How to get Dawnbreaker

Dawnbreaker is the reward for the Daedric quest “The Break of Dawn.” It usually starts when you pick up a beacon from a chest somewhere in Skyrim (often around level 12) or when you approach Meridia’s statue on Mount Kilkreath. Meridia sends you into Kilkreath Temple to cleanse it of a necromancer called Malkoran and his undead – and rewards you with her sword.

Enchantment: Meridia’s Retribution

Every hit burns the target with fire damage (10 points, more with the Augmented Flames perk). The real fun starts against undead: hit a draugr, skeleton or vampire and then kill it, and there is a chance it explodes in a burst of holy light that damages, turns or destroys other undead nearby. The more times you strike before the killing blow, the higher the chance.

Smithing

Dawnbreaker can be improved at a grindstone with an Ebony Ingot. No special smithing perk is needed.

Good to know

• It is one of the few Daedric artifacts you can get without doing anything morally questionable – Meridia is, by Daedric standards, one of the “nicer” ones.
• Its value of 740 gold makes it surprisingly cheap compared to how good it is against the undead hordes of Skyrim.