hey everybody, I'm new to Skyrim and the Elder Scrolls games, and i was wondering, what can i get the best one-handed sword one can get early in the game and where can i find it.

extra info: just finished alduin's wall, so I'm not that far in the game, i'm level 17, like to use dual swords, dual magic, and sometimes sword and flames/sparks/healing.

Steel swords are the best early game swords, I think I used dual steel swords until level 20 on my warrior and had no problem killing everything (I upgraded them of course)

There's a really nice frost sword you can get by defeating a skeleton king in one of the early mountain ruins. Generally, I agree with matthias that steel swords are great early on. If you can get a steel sword with some kind of enchantment, that's great. I used a frost-enchanted steel sword that I got from that boss(plus an awesome helmet) for quite a while.

thanks everybody. Right now i'm using a steel sword and a blades sword both enchanted with fire, and i'm doing okay.

Dawnbreaker is the best one handed sword in the game in my opinion.  You can get it very early on but you need to of high enough level to do the task which allows you to keep it.

Do you really need a sword or will a mace do? If so then do the Molag Bal daedric quest. Go to Markarth and listen to the rumors at the tavern. Then there will be a guy standing outside an Abandoned House in the town, which will trigger the mission.

get to level 20, go to Meridia's shrine, do what she says, receive Dawnbreaker......profit.

It's the Drake Sword. Shoot the dragon on the bridge in the tail a bunch of times and it pops out. You can't miss it.

A skyforge steel sword (or any skyforge weapon, really) would be all you need if you strengthen it enough. Got mine up to an attack power of over a hundred, I think. Just need to finish a couple of quests for the Companions and you'll get it.

Dragonbane in the Blades temple is pretty good.

thanks everybody.

@MrKlorox: I've never given maces a chance, but i will give it a try tonight, who knows, i might switch.

tried maces yesterday and i found out that i really like them, i will definitely use maces more often.

Do the Companions questline and get a Skyforge steel sword (it comes pretty early). Alternatively, Google search for the Dawnbreaker quest, find it, and get that one. But you'd better be prepared for a challenge if you go that route at a low level.

iron daggers are pretty bad ass.

@McGhee said:

It's the Drake Sword. Shoot the dragon on the bridge in the tail a bunch of times and it pops out. You can't miss it.

I seriously hope I am not the only person who noticed this comment.

@xyzygy said:

@McGhee said:

It's the Drake Sword. Shoot the dragon on the bridge in the tail a bunch of times and it pops out. You can't miss it.

I seriously hope I am not the only person who noticed this comment.

Don't worry, I saw it too.

@xyzygy said:

@McGhee said:

It's the Drake Sword. Shoot the dragon on the bridge in the tail a bunch of times and it pops out. You can't miss it.

I seriously hope I am not the only person who noticed this comment.

Don't worry, I saw it too.

don't worry either, i saw it.

I need two hands to hold my sword ;) uhh..

Yeah Dawnbreaker is the way to go. Great when your fighting Draugr. And Dragonbane is great and very powerful, u said you finished ALduin's Wall so hopefully you picked that up.

Chillrend is pretty epic. Frost damage and a chance to freeze enemies! Made me mad I didn't do the theives guild quest eariler! Its awesome to hit a guy and have him freeze and fall to the ground!

If you want to get it you gotta do a good chunk of the Theives Guild quest. It's in the house you break in a glass case near the quest item for that quest.

Well if you finish the civil war (specifically from the Stormcloaks side), Ulfric gives you a pretty badass daedric sword that saps the enemies health.

Same with General Tulius. he gives you a glass sword (depending on your level) that steals health. Anyways for early game I suggest Shmitars which you can obtain from pirate. Btw, if you want to forge your own swords, go to Lunar forge, since your weapons there will have a nigh bonus. My favourite sword is the imperial one and ofc the Dawnbreaker.

@ManU_Fan10ne: Worry not. Saw it too, did I.

I personally used dual steel swords, not hard at all to get your hands on, and once you've upgraded, they will do the job just fine.

bound weapons are pretty overpowered in early/midgame. Especially with the perk in conjuration that makes them nearly as strong as deadric and is very easy to reach.

By 17 you should be finding a good amount of dwarven or elvish weapons. Steel should only last you until level 8 or so.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Windshear

Although I guess it doesn't fit the criteria of early game very well. It doesn't have the best damage by any stretch of the imagination but it staggers enemies all the time. It says that it only staggers with a bash attack, but it actually procs on most attacks.

Your fist.

If you keep up with the crafting, you can make or improve the swords easy to get the better ones & agreed that early on the steel works fine but once you can improve/sharpen them it makes it a lot better along with putting stuff in the 1handed skill to just do more damage (or better still decapitate foes).

Dawnbreaker's pretty good, but I'd really recommend putting time into levelling up your Smithing and Enchanting skills. That way you can make, upgrade and enchant your own weapons to be exponentially better than anything you'll find otherwise.

Leveling up blacksmithing is way to easy (craft Iron daggers), that the best way to get a good weapon.

They recently slowed it down in a patch, but I'm not sure by how much. Now the quality of the item factors into the skill increases. Is spamming Iron Daggers still an easy way to level smithing? And besides that, high level smithing and enchanting kinda' ruins the game.

Generally crafting+enchanting tends to be the best way to potent gear. As for unique weaponry like Chillrend from the thieves guild questline it is pretty good, but due to the scaling aspect in the game the weapon is set with stats relative to your level upon acquisition. Which means getting it early in the game will mean that it is a lot less useful than what the item will be like if you go get it at a higher level.

@tangmcgame: No, using the Iron dagger method would take hours. You need to create like 6000 daggers to get to level 70 smithing. Jewelry is now the fastest way to level due to the high value of the items.

@TheIronYuppie said:

get to level 20, go to Meridia's shrine, do what she says, receive Dawnbreaker......profit.

Level 20 is not early in the game, by that point the person would already have money to buy cool weapons.

@Hizang said:

@TheIronYuppie said:

get to level 20, go to Meridia's shrine, do what she says, receive Dawnbreaker......profit.

Level 20 is not early in the game, by that point the person would already have money to buy cool weapons.

You actually only need to be level 12 to do that quest, which still isn't that early unless you know how to level up quickly.