Looking to protect yourself, or deal some damage?If it’s the latter, in Skyrim, a two-handed weapon is an obvious choice. Theseoversized instruments of brutalityare good for one thing and one thing only:slaying enemies. And usually, slaying them inawesome fashion.
RELATED:Skyrim: Best One-Handed Weapons In The Game, Ranked
For those who have never done atwo-handed runin Skyrim, give it a shot. It’s very fun. Sure, two-handed weapon users can’t cast spells, but who needs spells when the Dragonborn canbreathe fireandshout people off of cliffs? Instead of makingyet another stealth archer,boot up the game, grab the nearestwarhammer, and make sure to keep an eye out for theselegendary two-handed weapons.
10The Rueful Axe
The Rueful Axe is surely anamazing weapon, with acool designon the axehead featuring a pair of snarling wolf heads. It has anoutstanding base damageof 22, and itsStamina draining enchantmentis very useful. It’s easily one of the best two-handed weapons in the game.
However, for every reason to use the Rueful Axe, there’s a better reasonnot to use it. First, it’s theslowest weapon in the game, so there’s that. Second, in order to get it, the Dragonborn is forced to pass up theMasque of Clavicus Vile. It’s franklynot worth the trade-off, hence the axe’s position at the bottom of this list.
9Steel Battleaxe of Fiery Souls
This battleaxe is listed not because it’s great on its own, but because it hasone of the best enchantmentsin the game. With only 18 base damage, the weapon itself is nothing more than anordinary steel battleaxe. However, its unique"fiery soul trap"enchantment deals 10 points of fire damageand alsocarries the effects of the soul trap.
RELATED:Games You Should Play If You Love Skyrim
By the time the enchantment runs out, the Dragonborn will have filled enough soul gems to recharge it, so the damagenever really stops. However, the real fun comes in when the enchantment isstolenandreapplied to a better weapon. The axe itself justisn’t impressive enoughfor a high ranking here.
8Ebony Blade
The Ebony Blade is an iconic weapon sometimes considered to be one of the best two-handers in the entire game. For a two-handed weapon, its base damage isincredibly mediocreat only 11. However, the blade’s unique effects are downright amazing. It’s thefastest two-handed weaponin the game, and its intense speed somewhat makes up for its lackluster damage.
It also has avery solid drain health enchantmentthat cangrow more powerful, as long as the Dragonborn is willing toget their hands dirty. Not only that, this enchantment hasunlimited charge. Unfortunately, the Ebony Blade is held back by itslack of upgradability, and its full damage output is just too low to be considered truly great.
7Dragonbone Battleaxe
With itsincredible base damageof 26, a simple Dragonbone Battleaxe is easily one of the best melee weapons in the entire game — plus, it just looks cool. As the Dragonborn needs 100 smithing to make one, crafting a Dragonbone weapon from scratch feels like atrue accomplishment. When enchanted, a Dragonbone Battleaxe can become a devastating weapon on par with anything at the top of this list.
RELATED:Best Open-World RPGs Of All Time, Ranked
It’s worth noting that Dragonbone greatswords and warhammers are arguablyjust as goodas their battleaxe brethren. The axe is simply the mostbalancedof the three. It does more damage than a sword, but less than a hammer, and its swing speed is anice compromisebetween the two.
6Longhammer
The Longhammer has a base damage of 21, which isexcellent, but not amazing. In terms of raw damage, it’s outstripped by some of its more impressive competition. What makes it great is its inherent effect —“reduced weight”, granting it a30% bonus to swing speed. This effect isnot an enchantment, so it can be usedindefinitely.
When it comes todamage per second, the speed bonus puts this hammer over the top, making it easily one of the best weapons in the entire game. The increased swing speed also makes the weapon moreversatileby allowing the Dragonborn toreact more quicklyto incoming damage.
5Dawnguard Rune Hammer
The Dawnguard Rune Hammer is an awesome Dawnguard weapon with a unique effect. In addition to dealing more damage to vampires (which all Dawnguard weapons do), bash attacks with the Rune Hammer producefire rune traps. Rune traps are nice to have for melee characters, and the rune hammer lets warriors put them downwithout using any magicka. This has a nice bonus effect: it levels theDestructionskill.
Coming in at base damage of 22, as well asupgradabilityin the Steel Weapons category, the Dawnguard Rune Hammer isnothing to sneeze at. Its only real downside is that it can only be acquired if the Dragonborn has joined the Dawnguardrather than the Volkihar vampiresduring the Dawnguard DLC.
4Bloodskaal Blade
This unique weapon doesn’t deal the most damage compared to other two-handed weapons (21 base damage), but it has a great effect. When making a power attack with the Bloodskaal Blade, it releases a wave of energy that shoots forward, dealing 30 damage to enemies at a close range.
The energy wave can hit archers and spellcasters positioned behind melee fighters, making it very useful. It’s also just cool to have a ranged attack on a greatsword. The energy wave can even be used to knock down lanterns and set off rune traps. All in all, the blade’s decent base damage combined with its cool effect make it one of the mostfun and usefultwo-handed weapons to keep around.
Wuuthrad is a legendary weapon that’s especially deadly to elves, as evidenced by thescreaming elf facein its design. It has a base damage of 25, which is comparable to the amazingDaedric Battleaxe. It also has an inherent effect that deals 20% extra damage to all elves — Altmer, Bosmer, or Dunmer.
RELATED:Essential Skyrim Mods For PS5
Its very respectable base damage, combined with its cool design and fairly useful effect, make it one of the best two-handed weapons in the game. This symbol of Nordic triumph is held back only by its lack of upgradability. It’s also situational in that there’sless benefit to using itwhen there areno elves around.
2Champion’s Cudgel
The Champion’s Cudgel, from the Dragonborn DLC, comes with the very fun “chaos” enchantment. It has a 50% chance to inflict an extra 25 points of Fire, Ice, or Shock damage. And it’s noteither/or— these effectsstack. The Cudgel might cause FireandShock damage, orjustIce damage. Or maybe it will hitall threefor a staggering grand total of75 bonus damage. The charge level is alsopretty good, and only needs to be refilled occasionally.
It’s also one of the few unique weapons that can be disenchanted, so that cool “chaos” enchantment can be reapplied to something even more powerful. Of course, this enchantment would be pointless if the weapon itself were bad. Thankfully, the Champion’s Cudgel has arespectable base damageof 24, putting it on par with a glass warhammer.
1Volendrung
Unlike similar unique weapons, Volendrung can be improved at a smelter using ebony ingots, boosting its base damage of 25 even higher. In addition to having a cool look, Volendrung has anextremely powerful enchantmentwhichdrains a ton of stamina. Because two-handed power attacks use so much stamina, this can be absolutegodsend. With enough charge, the Dragonborn can use Volendrung to unleash anever-ending chain of power attacks.
However, the weapon’s main drawback is just that: its low charge. The enchantment runs out fairly quickly, requiring lots of soul gems. Therefore, Volendrung is best used in very difficult fights where constant power attacks are actually helpful.
