There are two ways to go about completing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and it's either the most efficient way or the most story-heavy way. Of course, each player will bring their own unique pacing to the playthrough, but these are the two approaches that players use to tackle the main quest of Skyrim.
While slow and steady might help get into the game more and immerse the player into the universe, it's sometimes nice to have a bit of a challenge and try to complete things as fast as possible. Speedrun exploits aside, here are a few simple pieces of advice to help players push through the main quest as fast as possible.
10 Choose An Imperial
Creativity aside, each race of Skyrim brings forward some unique abilities and skills. Some are better at magic right off the bat while others, like Imperials, tend to find more gold when looting dungeons and other areas.
Gold being the main currency, it's always good to have more of it, especially if the player plans on doing things fast by either breaking the law (which requires them to pay off the guards) or by hiring a horse carriage.
9 Find The Lover Stone
All across Skyrim's province there are these mysterious standing stones, which provide lasting bonuses for the player. While each stone is specialized and great for a specific character build, there's one stone in particular that will help with building skills quickly.
The Lover Stone is located near Markarth and Kolskeggr mine, and when activated will give the player a 15% faster rate when building skills. This will come in handy when grinding to beat the main quest's bosses.
8 Ignore Conversations
Most of the dialogue in Skyrim is just there for appearances. Skipping or running through it won't usually damage the player's run through the main quest very much, since all the instructions for what needs to happen next will appear in their quest log anyway.
So, next time Delphine wants to spend 20 years talking about dragons, just skip the dialogue and move on to the action part. No need to feel guilty about it.
7 Use The Wait Function
When wanting to meet certain NPCs or entering areas that are only open at a certain time, the player doesn't just have to walk around and do nothing; they can use the wait function which will allow them to skip ahead in time.
Even better, if they have an inn or someplace where they can sleep nearby, or even a home with a spouse, it's a great idea to use that to skip ahead until an NPC or other area can be interacted with.
6 Get A Horse Or Carriage
In just about any major city in Skyrim, the player has the opportunity to purchase a horse. This is a great idea since horses are excellent for traveling quickly to locations that haven't been discovered yet (as well as climbing steep hills). This is why playing an Imperial with more gold is vital.
Another option is just traveling to every major city using the horse carriage service that awaits at the city stables. This unlocks fast travel options to the four corners of the map, making travel quicker and more convenient.
5 Avoid Combat
Not all fights are necessary, and many of them can actually be ignored. When traveling in the wilderness, the Dragonborn is likely to get assaulted by a whole host of creatures, and even dragons. This is why that horse comes in handy.
Even in dungeons, most enemies can be avoided by running past them and just proceeding to the next area. By skipping these small enemies and focusing on boss fights, the player will save a lot of time, especially in large dungeons.
4 Use Leveling Exploits
Since combat takes a lot of time, there are better, more efficient ways to level up in the game. Fans have come up with a ton of different tricks to do this, but perhaps the classic example of power-leveling is just switching the game's difficulty to a higher one and whacking away at a horse.
Another way is to sneak behind a meditating Greybeard in High Hrothgar and sneak-attacking them multiple times until they get up and turn. As essentials, they won't die and the player can level up infinitely.
3 Ignore Side Quests
It might sound obvious, but yes, all eyes should be focused on the main quest. This can be surprisingly hard to do in Skyrim, given how the main quest is built in a way that forces the Dragonborn to interact with other factions and some secondary quests.
The trick is to do the bare minimum of secondary quests, which will allow the main quest to proceed once certain NPCs have warmed up to the Dragonborn and agreed to help them.
2 Use Fast Travel
Fast travel has often been seen as the number one enemy of immersion. However, for players who truly just want to get things done, this is the best way to go around in Skyrim. As mentioned previously, unlocking all the major cities by hiring the horse carriage is a great start.
After that, when traveling to new locations, the player can simply fast travel to the closest discovered place and then continue with their horse to the final destination. Note, however, that usually following the roads is faster than going over a mountain, even if it might seem like it isn't.
1 Invest In Stamina
Skyrim has three categories the player can invest points in: Stamina, Health, and Magicka. For players who are eager to finish the main quest line quickly, the best attribute to invest in is without a doubt Stamina.
Not only does this allow them to run longer when traveling distances without a horse, but it will also allow secondary attacks and better maximum carrying weight.