The Dwarven Crossbow is the Dwemer take on the Dawnguard’s standard crossbow, added by the Dawnguard add-on. It fires bolts at the same speed as the Dragonbone Bow’s arrows, so it stays accurate at long range where the basic Crossbow starts to struggle.
With 22 base damage it outhits most bows of its tier. Its mechanism is essentially a compound crossbow with pulleys, so for once a high-damage ranged weapon has a believable reason to be strong.
Stats
| Type | Crossbow |
|---|---|
| Skill | Archery |
| Material | Dwarven |
| Damage | 22 |
| Weight | 20 |
| Value | 350 gold |
| Speed | 1 |
| Stagger | 0.75 |
| Critical damage | 11 |
| Add-on | Dawnguard |
| Item ID | 0200B647 |
Where to find
- Complete the second-to-last Ancient Technology mission for Sorine Jurard to bring her the Dwarven Crossbow Schematic.
- After that she sells the crossbow and can teach you to forge it if you ask.
- Join the Dawnguard to get access to these missions.
Crafting and upgrading
Crafting at a forge: 5 × 
Dwarven Metal Ingot. Requires the Dwarven Smithing Smithing perk.
Improving at a grindstone: 1 × Dwarven Metal Ingot. The Arcane Blacksmith perk doubles the improvement.
Compared with other crossbows
Base stats of all regular (unenchanted) crossbows in Skyrim, weakest first:
| Weapon | Damage | Weight | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crossbow | 19 | 14 | 120 |
| Enhanced Crossbow | 19 | 15 | 200 |
| Dwarven Crossbow | 22 | 20 | 350 |
| Enhanced Dwarven Crossbow | 22 | 21 | 550 |
Tips and notes
- Only forgeable at the blacksmith’s forge in Fort Dawnguard, with the Dwarven Smithing perk and five Dwarven Metal Ingots.
- Dwarven Smithing doubles grindstone improvements.
- Followers such as Lydia may aim it but never fire; give them a regular crossbow instead.
- Calcelmo may send a courier note asking about it once you own one.
- Upgrade path: the Enhanced Dwarven Crossbow.
Stats from the Skyrim LE 1.9 master files (Dawnguard.esm, record DLC1DwarvenCrossBow). Values are base values before perks, smithing improvements and enchantments.
