Dwarven Dagger

A sharp, angular Dwemer dagger: light, quick, and craftable once you learn Dwarven Smithing.

The Dwarven Dagger is a compact, angular blade of Dwemer make. It deals 7 base damage, weighs only 3.5 and swings quickly, which makes it handy for sneaky types who like to get close and personal.

Dwarven metal sits in the middle of Skyrim’s heavy material path, after steel and before orcish. The dagger is a natural match for Dwarven Armor, and smiths get to practice on it cheaply since the recipe uses just one ingot of each metal.

Stats

Type Dagger
Skill One-handed
Material Dwarven
Damage 7
Weight 3.5
Value 55 gold
Speed 1.3
Reach 0.7
Stagger 0
Critical damage 3
Add-on Base game
Item ID 00013996

Where to find

  • Unenchanted versions appear from level 12, enchanted ones from level 13, from blacksmiths, general goods merchants, enemies and random loot.
  • Alftand: two on a table in the Glacial Ruins, near four Dwarven helmets, and one on the table where Valie lies (watch out for high-level Falmer).
  • A display case in the Arch-Mage’s Quarters at the College of Winterhold, free to take after The Eye of Magnus.
  • A display case in Bits and Pieces in Riften.
  • Carried by Ildari Sarothril.

Crafting and upgrading

Crafting at a forge: 1 × Dwarven Metal Ingot, 1 × Steel Ingot, 1 × Leather Strips, 1 × Iron 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 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

  • Forging needs Smithing 30 and Dwarven Smithing, plus one Dwarven metal ingot, one steel ingot, one iron ingot and a leather strip.
  • Improve it with a Dwarven metal ingot; the perk doubles the improvement.
  • Calcelmo wrote at length about Dwemer blades, if you need bedtime reading.

Stats from the Skyrim LE 1.9 master files (Skyrim.esm, record DwarvenDagger). Values are base values before perks, smithing improvements and enchantments.

Quest reward from

Characters linked to this weapon

Calcelmo is the elderly Altmer Dwemer scholar of Markarth’s Understone Keep – keeper of the Dwemer Museum, the Falmer stone and the key to Hard Answers.
Valie in Skyrim: a High Elf thief and mage from Windhelm who joined the Alftand expedition and ended up on a Falmer torture table in the Animonculory.

Where it appears

Alftand in Skyrim: the frozen Dwemer ruin of Elder Knowledge – the doomed expedition, Falmer, a Dwarven Centurion, the Blackreach entrance and scrap metal tips.
The College of Winterhold is Skyrim’s school of magic, standing alone on a cliff above the sea – home of the Arcanaeum, Urag gro-Shub and the mage questline.
Riften is the canal city of the Rift – autumn forests, the Black-Briar family, the Temple of Mara and the Thieves Guild beneath its streets.
Sources checked: Skyrim game files (WEAP + COBJ records), Fandom Elder Scrolls wiki

Dwarven Dagger

Type
Material
Damage
7
Weight
3.5
Value
55 gold
Enchantment
Upgrade with
Smithing perk
Arcane Blacksmith, Dwarven Smithing
How to get
Crafted, Looted, Bought
Where

Forge it with Smithing 30 and the Dwarven Smithing perk, buy it from merchants, or loot it from level 12. Fixed copies sit in Alftand and Bits and Pieces.

Game
Item ID
00013996