Skyrim: best Shouts for adventurous dragonborns of all kinds

Now that Skyrim is on Switch and VR, it’s time to revisit the eternal debate of which Shouts are best.

Skyrim introduced Shouts to the Elder Scrolls, a rare ability which manifests after years of training … or because you happen to be Dragonborn.

As part of the Skyrim guide we’re republishing in honour of Skyrim Switch and VR’s release, we’ve rounded up our favourite shouts.

There are almost 30 shouts to master in Skyrim, so think of this less as “the best of” and more “you should get these asap because they’re super useful,” or something along those lines. Some of them complement certain classes and builds quite nicely which is always a bonus.

Aura Whisper

This shout detects living and undead, friend and foe in your general vicinity. The more words you have, the longer their location will be displayed. The range increases significantly outdoors.

Considering you can also tell which way enemies are facing, this is perfect for stealth builds and assassins who favour sneak attacks.

Become Ethereal

This shout renders your form ethereal and you’ll be immune to physical and magic attacks. Your stamina won’t deplete, you can survive any fall distance, you won’t be able to drown and won’t be sensed by traps.

It doesn’t last a huge amount of time and if you attack, open a container, talk to someone or pick up an item, it will immediately lose effect. Basically you can’t interact with anything if you want it to persist.

Aside from bypassing environmental obstacles, you can use this power to better position yourself in combat without the risk of getting hit while running in for a close quarters hit, lining up a ranged shot, or casting a particularly long spell for example.

Elemental Fury

The speed of your weapons increases with this shout with the exception of bows, bare fists, and enchanted weapons.

It’s useful for two-handed weapons and dual-wielding. If you haven’t checked out our dual-wielding build page, get over there now, because this shout pairs perfectly with it, turning you into a veritable slicing and dicing machine.

Marked for Death

While not actually causing imminent death, this shout significantly reduces enemy armour and continues to inflict damage on enemies for an entire minute.

You’ll want to use it at the start of a battle to negate most – if not all – of your enemies armour and get that exra damage in while you mercilessly beat them. What’s more, the effects stack so you can make short work of large groups or big beasties.