Highlights

• The choice of race in Skyrim gives players a head start on a particular play style and provides exclusive traits and powers.
• The best race in Skyrim is subjective and dependent on personal preference.
• Some races, like the Argonian and Wood Elf, have abilities that may seem useful on paper but are ultimately ineffective compared to other races.

Although character creation is very much streamlined in comparison to earlier titles in The Elder Scrolls franchise, Skyrim still offers at least one definitive choice that directly impacts the player's starting skills and innate powers: race. There are ten choices in all for Skyrim, ranging from magically gifted High Elf to the strong, sturdy, and combat-ready Orc.

Though the choice hardly pigeonholes the player into a given role, it certainly gives them a head start on a particular play style and provides them with a select few traits or powers that are exclusively available to their chosen race. As far as which one makes for the best and most beneficial pick, well, that's precisely what we're looking at today. Players can definitely check out every playable race in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and gauge how useful they are... but the race they wish to choose in the game is a totally subjective decision that is highly dependent on personal preference rather than anything else.

Updated on October 31, 2023, by Ritwik Mitra: Skyrim is one of the greatest video games of all time, and the release of Starfield has just reinforced the notion that Bethesda is yet to make a game that reaches the level of this masterpiece. Multiple re-releases and an active modding community have ensured that players can still jump into this game and enjoy a relatively modern experience as they get completely immersed in this amazing world. The land of the Nords is beautiful in every way, and players will have a great time picking the best race in Skyrim for their Dragonborn and investing hundreds of hours in this masterpiece.

10 Argonian

• Domain: Black Marsh
• Passive Bonuses: Waterbreathing and 50% Disease Resistance
• Active Power: Histskin (Regenerate health 10x faster for 60 seconds)

Argonians look really good on paper. They can breathe underwater, they get a power that regenerates their health ten times faster, and they've got a healthy resistance versus disease. As a bonus, they also get a head start on a nice suite of stealthy thief skills. This makes them a great pick for a character focusing on stealth—or so would most players think, before realizing how ineffective the Argonian is compared to other races.

When it comes down to it, though, breathing underwater really isn't all that necessary. Underwater sections are few, and there's a potion for that. Diseases don't tend to be much of a nuisance, and they're easily cured. Their power is sort of lackluster considering healing potions work better and faster. This leaves their nice array of starting skills, of course, but they're easy to catch up on within a few levels.

9 Wood Elf (Bosmer)

• Domain: Valenwood
• Passive Bonuses: 50% Disease & Poison Resistance
• Active Power: Command Animal (Make an animal an ally for 60 seconds)

Wood Elves initially seem like a great foundation for a stealth archer, as their starting skills are specifically geared towards that. They also get the ability to temporarily charm an animal to fight on their behalf once per day and get a resistance boost versus both disease and poison. It seems like a good character on paper, but its abilities are pretty weak and don't really justify choosing this race over anyone else.

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Disease is handled easily enough without the additional resistance, but poison is encountered frequently enough to make resisting it a pretty decent little bonus. The Command Animal power is extremely niche, though. One needs a fantastic stroke of luck in order for it to actually end up being useful, and in the many dungeons that the player will inevitably end up fighting in, it's going to be useless.

8 Khajiit

• Domain: Elsweyr
• Passive Bonuses: +15 Base Unarmed Damage
• Active Power: Night Eye (Night vision for 60 seconds)

The infamous and ever-popular cat people of Elsweyr boast a promising set of starting skills geared towards stealth and archery along with a welcome boost to alchemy, which can be an absolute pain to level. However, they also possess some of the most useless race-specific abilities in the game. It's a shame since the Khajiit could've easily become a unique and interesting playthrough had their abilities been just a bit more useful.

Night Eye allows Khajiit to see better in the dark for sixty seconds and has limitless uses per day. However, not being able to see in the dark is usually a non-issue, and most players choose to surmount that obstacle with their gamma settings if it's a problem. They also get a bonus for unarmed damage, which isn't particularly useful outside of specific challenge runs or role-playing.

7 Imperial

• Domain: Cyrodil
• Passive Bonuses: Find more gold than usual
• Active Power: Voice of the Emperor (Nearby people are Calmed for 30 seconds)

The Imperial is the average Joe of the Elder Scrolls universe. They're regular, basic humans. They're not particularly bad at anything, but neither are they remarkable in any way. The iteration seen in Skyrim strays no great distance from this established role, making them a great choice for beginners to the game who don't mind sticking to the basics until they understand what an Elder Scrolls game is all about.

Their starting skills are geared towards an average sword-and-board warrior, with boosts to Heavy Armor, Block, and One-Handed. They get a small bonus that boosts the amount of gold they find, and their Voice of the Emperor power calms nearby humanoid combatants for a minute, allowing a reprieve from combat. It's not a bad power to have, but players will eventually forget that it's there because of how much more efficient it really is to just kill enemies outright instead of relying on basic trickery.

6 Orc

• Domain: High Rock and Orsinium
• Passive Bonuses: Can enter Orc Strongholds without becoming Blood-Kin
• Active Power: Berserker Rage (Take half damage and do double physical damage for 60 seconds)

If players want to engage in melee combat quite a bit, then they can't go wrong with an orc. They're famed craftsmen and mighty warriors, and this is reflected in their skillset. They get bonuses to both smithing and enchanting, allowing them to handily DIY their equipment, as well as bonuses to practically every skill involved in melee combat.

Their power is among the more useful ones, though painfully limited to one use per day. It's called Berserker Rage, and it reduces damage taken by the Orc for sixty seconds, while also effectively doubling the damage they're dishing out during that time. It's a great power to barrel through multiple opponents or dish the pain on a tough boss that might be giving players a hard time. Players who want to brute force their way through the game using melee weapons and heavy armor will find this race to be a perfect pick for them.

5 Redguard

• Domain: Hammerfell
• Passive Bonuses: 50% Poison Resistance
• Active Power: Adrenaline Rush (Regenerate stamina 10x faster for 60 seconds)

The Redguard's starting skills are a bit all over the map, but they focus on one-handed weapons and blocking, gearing them towards sword-and-board fighting. Given their combat-heavy focus, it can confidently be said that beginners should try their hand at this race. Of course, it's their racial abilities that really pull them together as a considerably useful option to choose in Skyrim.

Their Adrenaline Rush ability will cause them to regenerate stamina ten times faster for sixty seconds, allowing the player to recklessly spam flurries and power attacks, which is always a good time. They also get a hefty bonus to poison resistance, which is never a bad thing. After all, most players don't really bother with using poison resistance potions anyway, so this bonus is welcome indeed.

4 Nord

• Domain: Skyrim
• Passive Bonuses: 50% Frost Resistance
• Active Power: Battle Cry (Nearby enemies are Frightened for 30 seconds)

Unsurprisingly, players going to meet a lot of Nords in Skyrim because Skyrim is... well, the home of the Nords. Their starting skills are a mixed bag, but provide a sound basis for pretty much any sort of melee fighter a player might want to play. A little bonus to Heavy Armor wouldn't have hurt them, though. As it stands, the Nord is another easy character to play, with his great combat skills giving him an edge during the brutal starting slog of Skyrim.

Their racial abilities are very sound, all things considered. Their Battle Cry power allows them to send enemies running for thirty seconds, once per day, which can really get players out of a bind if they're outnumbered or feeling overwhelmed. They also have an innate resistance to frost damage, which players will learn the value of when they start fighting ice dragons with frost breath. Players who want to genuinely feel like a native resident of Skyrim should look no further than this race to kickstart their playthrough of the game!

3 Dark Elf (Dunmer)

• Domain: Morrowind
• Passive Bonuses: 50% Fire Resistance
• Active Power: Ancestor's Wrath (Surrounds the Dragonborn in fire for 60 seconds)

The storied natives of Morrowind are a popular choice and with good reason. They have an unfocused spread of starting skills, largely devoted to both spellcasting and being stealthy, but they're still versatile enough to lean either way or hybridize between the two. The fact that they feature heavily in one of the best Elder Scrolls games of all time is also a pretty hefty bonus in its own right.

They start with an extra spell, Sparks, which is the lightning equivalent to Flames. Their racial power is Ancestor's Wrath, which causes anything in melee range to take eight points of fire damage per second for sixty seconds. Finally, they get a healthy boost to fire resistance, which is super useful in a game where players will be fighting a ton of dragons. Given how popular and beloved Morrowind is, players who want to feel like a resident of that area should definitely try playing through the game as a Dunmer.

2 Breton

• Domain: High Rock
• Passive Bonuses: 25% Magic Resistance
• Active Power: Dragonskin (Absorb 50% of magicka from all incoming spells for 60 seconds)

Bretons are essentially just magical Imperials. That said, their racial abilities are magnitudes more useful than those of their Imperial cousins. Their starting skills are, predictably, geared toward practically every kind of spellcasting that there is. Given how fun it is to cast magic in Skyrim, this isn't a bad thing at all!

They start with an extra spell, Conjure Familiar, which allows them to summon up a ghostly wolf pal to aid them in combat. Their racial ability, Dragonskin, lets them absorb 50% of magicka from incoming spells for sixty seconds, which has its perks. But perhaps best of all, they get a general resistance to magic. Considering the amount of pain that magic users can inflict, this is potentially life-saving and makes the Bretons one of the best races players can choose in Skyrim.

1 High Elf (Altmer)

• Domain: Summerset Isles
• Passive Bonuses: +50 Magicka
• Active Power: Highborn (Regenerate 25% of the Dragonborn's maximum magicka per second for 60 seconds)

Although the Altmer essentially serves as secondary antagonists in the events of the game, selecting them as a starting race probably packs in the most useful benefits out of every other potential selection. They aren't very useful outside of playing as a mage, but they still have the most measurable impact on gameplay if the player is magically inclined. This, coupled with the fact that magic in Skyrim has become infinitely more powerful than ever before, makes this race even better for a fresh playthrough.

Their Highborn power essentially turns them into a Magicka battery for sixty seconds, pumping up their Magicka regeneration and allowing them to wildly fling out spells. They also start with a big boost to their Magicka stat. It's the equivalent of leveling up five times, which is a clear-cut edge on every other race choice if players are going for a magic-heavy build.