Let’s be real for a second. We’ve all been there. You’re trudging through the snowy wastes near Dawnstar, your inventory is screaming because you’re carrying forty pounds of dragon bones, and a Frost Troll just decided you look like a snack. You don’t want a "challenging tactical encounter." You want that troll gone. You want to fly. You want to be a god. That’s where skyrim all cheat codes come into play, transforming a grueling survival simulator into a personal playground where the laws of physics are merely suggestions.
It’s been over a decade since Todd Howard released this monster, and yet, thousands of people are still hitting that tilde key every single day. Why? Because Skyrim is buggy, beautiful, and sometimes just too slow. Using console commands isn't just about cheating; it's about fixing a broken quest or skipping the five-hundredth walk up the 7,000 steps.
But there’s a catch.
If you just start slamming codes into the console without knowing what you’re doing, you’re going to corrupt your save file faster than a Briarheart can rip your soul out. I’ve seen players lose hundred-hour characters because they tried to spawn 1,000 wheels of cheese in a cramped interior. Don't be that person.
The Basics: How to Even Use These Things
First off, if you’re on a console like a PS5 or Xbox Series X, I have bad news. You can't use these. You’re stuck with mods. Console commands are a PC-only privilege, accessed by tapping the tilde (~) key, which usually sits right under your Escape key. When you hit it, the game pauses, and a little gray box appears. This is your gateway to godhood.
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Type a code. Hit Enter. Hit tilde again to close it. Easy.
Most codes are case-insensitive, so don't sweat the capitalization. However, many require a "Target ID." This means you actually have to click on an object or NPC while the console is open to tell the game who you’re talking to. If you want to kill a bandit, open the console, click the bandit until his ID appears in the center of the screen, and then type your command.
The "Holy Trinity" of Skyrim All Cheat Codes
There are three commands that basically everyone uses. They are the bread and butter of the cheating world.
TGM is God Mode. It’s the big one. Infinite health, infinite magicka, infinite stamina. You also get infinite carry weight, which is honestly the main reason I use it. You can carry the entire contents of a Dwemer ruin and skip back to Whiterun like it’s nothing.
Then there’s TCL. Toggle Collision. Basically, you become a ghost. If you’ve ever gotten stuck between two rocks—which happens a lot in Bethesda games—this is your only escape. You can walk through walls, fly through the air, and skip entire dungeon puzzles. It’s great, but be careful; if you turn it off while you're inside a wall, the game might just give up on life and crash.
TM toggles the menus. This is for the photographers. It hides the HUD, the crosshair, and everything else. Just remember that it also hides the console itself. If you type tm and then can't see what you're doing to turn it back off, don't panic. Just hit tilde, type tm again blindly, and hit Enter.
Breaking the Economy with Player.AddItem
The most powerful command in the game is arguably player.additem. It’s the one that lets you conjure gold out of thin air. The syntax is player.additem [Item ID] [Amount].
Want 100,000 gold? Type player.additem 0000000f 100000.
Need a Lockpick? Use 0000000a.
The "000" at the start of these IDs is actually unnecessary. You can just type f for gold or a for lockpicks. The game understands. It's smart like that, even when it's glitching through the floor.
Leveling Up Without the Grind
Look, I love the Elder Scrolls leveling system. I really do. But I don’t want to spend four hours crouched behind a Greybeard hitting him with a butter knife just to get my Sneak to 100.
You can use player.setav [skill name] [value] to instantly change your stats. If you want 100 Smithing so you can finally craft that Dragonplate armor, just type player.setav smithing 100.
Wait. There’s a distinction here. setav changes the base value, while modav adds to it. If you use modav, the game treats it like a permanent enchantment. If you use setav, it just is that number. Most veterans recommend setav because it’s cleaner and less likely to mess up your level-up calculations later on.
The Dangers of AdvSkill
Then there’s player.advskill [skill] [amount]. This doesn't just set the level; it gives you the experience points. This is "safer" for your save file because it triggers the actual level-up mechanics, giving you perk points and health increases. But the "amount" isn't the level you want—it's the amount of XP. Giving yourself 999999 XP in Alchemy will jump you from level 1 to level 50 instantly, which might be a bit much if you’re trying to maintain some semblance of game balance.
Fixing Broken Quests (The Real Reason We Cheat)
Skyrim is a masterpiece, but it’s a masterpiece held together by digital duct tape. Quests break. NPCs don’t show up. Doors stay locked when they should be open.
When a quest gets stuck, you’ll need skyrim all cheat codes related to quest stages.
- Use
showquesttargetsto find the ID of your current mess. - Use
getstage [Quest ID]to see where you are. - Use
setstage [Quest ID] [Stage Number]to force the game to move on.
I had to do this for "Blood on the Ice" in Windhelm about a dozen times. That quest is notoriously flaky. If the butcher won't spawn or the clues won't trigger, setstage is literally the only way to finish the story without reverting to a save from three days ago.
Bringing Back the Dead
We’ve all accidentally killed an NPC we needed. Or maybe a dragon attacked Whiterun and Adrianne Avenicci decided to fight a literal god with a tanning knife.
If you find a corpse you didn't want, open the console, click the body, and type resurrect.
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They’ll stand right back up. They might be a bit confused, and their inventory might reset, but they’ll be alive. If you lost the body (maybe it de-spawned), you have to get fancy. You’ll need their Base ID from a wiki like UESP. Then use:prid [Base ID]moveto playerresurrect
Suddenly, your favorite blacksmith is back in business. It feels a bit like necromancy, but hey, it works.
Fun Stuff: Changing Your Appearance and Size
Sometimes you realize fifty hours in that your Orc looks less like a "world-destroyer" and more like a "disappointed dad."
Type showracemenu.
This opens the character creator again. You can change your hair, your scars, and even your race. WARNING: Changing your race while mid-game can mess up your stats and racial abilities. It’s usually fine to change your nose shape, but if you go from a Khajiit to a Nord, don't be surprised if your "Claws" ability disappears or your skill bonuses get wonky.
Scaling the World
setscale [number] is pure chaos.
Click on a rabbit, type setscale 10, and enjoy your new kaiju-bunny overlord. Use it on yourself (player.setscale 2) to become a giant. It actually increases your movement speed and damage, too. Just don't go too big, or you'll clip through the skybox and the game will have a heart attack.
The Master List of Essential IDs
You can't really talk about skyrim all cheat codes without mentioning the IDs you'll use most. Since I'm not doing a boring table, here are the ones you actually need to memorize or jot down:
- Gold: 0000000f
- Lockpicks: 0000000a
- Daedra Heart: 0003ad5b (Essential for that high-end gear)
- Dragon Shouts: Use
psbto unlock every spell and shout in the game. It’s overwhelming and fills your menu with junk, but it's effective. - Perk Points: There isn't a direct "give me 5 points" command. You have to use
player.addperk [Perk ID]. You'll have to look those up individually because there are hundreds.
What Happens if You Overdo It?
Honestly? The game gets boring.
Skyrim is about the journey. If you use coc whiterun (Center on Cell) to teleport everywhere and killall to clear every room, you’re just playing a walking simulator with extra steps. The real danger isn't just the boredom, though—it's the "Script Bloat."
The game engine (Creation Engine) keeps track of everything. When you force quest stages or spawn 500 Daedric Swords, you’re adding weight to the save file. Eventually, the save file becomes too large or "dirty," leading to infinite loading screens or the dreaded Crash to Desktop (CTD).
If you're going to use these codes, do it sparingly. Use them to fix what's broken or skip what's tedious. Don't use them to replace the game itself.
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Practical Next Steps for the Aspiring Cheat-User
If you’re ready to start messing with the fabric of reality in Tamriel, do these three things first:
- Hard Save: Never, ever test a new console command on your only save file. Make a fresh save, name it "BEFORE CHEATING," and then go wild. If the world ends, you can go back.
- Bookmark UESP: The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages is the gold standard. If you need an Item ID or a Quest Stage number, that’s where you find it. Don't rely on random forum posts from 2012.
- Get the Unofficial Patch: If you’re on PC, you should already have the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch (USSEP). It fixes many of the bugs that force you to use cheats in the first place.
Using these tools makes you a sort of "Junior Developer" for your own session. You have the power to fix the game, break the game, or turn every guard in Solitude into a chicken. Just remember: with great power comes a very high chance of your save file becoming unplayable. Use the tilde key wisely.