Skyrim:Dawnguard

This article is about the DLC. For other uses, see Dawnguard (disambiguation).

Add-on: Dawnguard
Released	26 June 2012 (Xbox 360) 2 August 2012 (PC) 26 February 2013 (PS3, US) 27 February 2013 (PS3, English-speaking EU)
Size	1.12 GB (PC) / 583.12 MB (Xbox) / 667 MB (PS3)
Availability
PC	Available from Steam ($19.99/€19.99/£13.99/¥2499/$24.23 AUD/429 RUB)
Xbox 360	Available from Xbox Marketplace ($19.99 US & Canada, was 1600 MS Points)
PS3	Available from the Playstation Store ($20/$25 AUD/¥2400)
Other	Included with Special Edition, Switch Edition, Skyrim VR, and Anniversary Edition
Requirements
Patch	1.6.90.0.6

Dawnguard box art

The image that was the centerpiece of the announcement of Dawnguard

Dawnguard is the first major official add-on for Skyrim. The add-on revolves around the Dawnguard, an ancient organization dedicated to hunting vampires and thwarting the schemes of Lord Harkon, who intends to use an Elder Scroll to permanently blot out the sun. You can choose to aid the Dawnguard in their quest to destroy the vampires, or join the vampire clan and gain the powers of a Vampire Lord.

Dawnguard™ is the first official game add-on for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim® - the 2011 Game of the Year. The Vampire Lord Harkon has returned to power. By using the Elder Scrolls, he seeks to do the unthinkable - to end the sun itself. Will you join the ancient order of the Dawnguard and stop him? Or will you become a Vampire Lord yourself? Featuring an all new faction questline and locations, the ultimate choice will be yours. —Official Summary

Quest Information

• Quests — 39 quests have been added by the add-on, with both a main questline and multiple side quests. There is no quest immediately added to the quest journal when you first install the add-on.
• Surgery — A face sculptor has appeared in Riften and can change your character's appearance.

Gameplay Information

• Creatures — Of the creatures added by the add-on, most are new variants of creatures already present in the original version of the game. A few creatures added are entirely new types, and there are several unique creatures added as well.
• Items — New items added by the add-on include apparel, armor, books, jewelry, weapons, and more.
• Magic — Three new blessings, four new dragon shouts (only three of which are player-accessible), and nine new spells are added by the add-on. In addition, new features have been added to Lycanthropy and general Vampirism, while the Vampire Lord form is entirely new.
• NPCs — Over 80 new NPCs have been added by the add-on, many of which are aligned with one of the two new major factions. Some can be found at their main location immediately after installing the add-on, while others can only be encountered during certain quests.
• Places — Almost 30 new places have been added by the add-on, though none appear on the map immediately. Some places may not be entered until the related quests have been started, and many quests will send the player to places that already existed in the original version of the game.

Factions

Two new factions are added with this add-on:

The Dawnguard — A group of vampire hunters dedicated to destroying the Volkihar vampire clan.

• All players who complete the first quest in the add-on's main questline must help this faction initially.
• Membership in this faction allows you to freely enter and use all areas within Fort Dawnguard.

Volkihar Vampire Clan — The Volkihar vampire clan, led by Lord Harkon, intends to blot out the sun and dominate Skyrim.

• Players may choose to join this faction during the add-on's main questline, or destroy the faction altogether.
• Membership in this faction allows you to freely enter and use all areas within Volkihar Keep.

Notes

• Ten new achievements can be earned after installing the Dawnguard add-on.
• Eighteen new loading screens are added by the add-on.
• Many new world interactions are added by the add-on which do not have their own individual article pages.
  • Several of these have been removed from the Special Edition and Switch versions of the game, to prevent the random vampire attacks in cities which often result in the death of innocent NPCs.
• Dawnguard was subject to a 30-day exclusivity deal with Microsoft, where it was only available on the Xbox 360 (from 26 June 2012). As it turned out, it was released for the PC after 36 days, and due to severe performance issues, it was February 2013 before it was released for the PS3.

Bugs

• The alchemy lab in Breezehome may become unpurchasable, or may not appear after it has been purchased.
  • The Unofficial Dawnguard Patch, version 1.0, fixes this bug.
  • Hearthfire inadvertently fixes this by resetting the steward's dialogue to include the children's room.
  • This may be fixed via the console by entering "e4ef9".disable followed by "e4ec8".enable.

See Also

• Official Trailer
• Pre-Release Screenshots