“Immersive Weapons, the mod for weapons which don’t stick out.” That was the first line of our December 2012 review, and it still sums the mod up. Immersive Weapons adds 230 new weapons to Skyrim and places them in the world so that they look like part of the game. Our old review gave it an Editors Choice.
Immersive Weapons has not been updated since 2018. The version for the original Skyrim reached 1.5 on April 8, 2013. The Special Edition port, version 2, went up on April 26, 2018, and neither page has changed since. Together the two pages count more than 14 million downloads.
This is a refresh of our old review, widened to other Skyrim weapon mods and to gun mods. Nobody here has played Skyrim with any of these mods. Every fact comes from each mod’s official Nexus Mods page, checked on October 20, 2026.
What Immersive Weapons adds
The Nexus summary sets the goal: every weapon should “blend into the lore, balance and feel of the game”. The Special Edition page lists what that means in practice:
- 230 new weapons that you can craft, upgrade and enchant.
- They reach the world through leveled lists, merchants, dungeon loot and specific characters, so you find new weapons from level one “up to level fifty and beyond”.
- 21 new weapon types, where the base game has 8.
- More enemies that fight with a weapon in each hand.
- Smelters can break weapons down into their base materials.
- Some recipes have conditions. You can forge replicas of Daedric artifact weapons only after you own the original, so Azura’s Moon needs Azura’s Star and the Wabba Jackhammer needs the Wabbajack.
Weapon types
Each new type is a variation on a base weapon, rated on five stats: damage, reach, speed, stagger and weight. The names come from historical weapons. Some examples from the mod page:
| Type | Base weapon | Compared with the base |
|---|---|---|
| Halberd | Battleaxe | More reach and stagger |
| Spear | Battleaxe | Much more reach and speed; much less damage, stagger and weight |
| Scythe | Battleaxe | Faster and lighter, less damage |
| Tanto | Dagger | More damage and weight, slower |
| Katana | Sword | More reach, less stagger |
| Wakizashi | Sword | Much faster and lighter, shorter reach, less damage, no stagger |
| Quarterstaff | Warhammer | Much faster and lighter, much less damage and stagger |
The mod is a compilation. Hothtrooper44, Ironman5000 and Eckss put it together from the work of more than 20 other authors. The page says every weapon comes from a resource mod or was used with its author’s permission, and it credits each one.
Versions
| Game | Version | Released | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skyrim Special Edition | 2 | April 26, 2018 | Nothing listed |
| Skyrim, the 2011 original | 1.5 | April 8, 2013 | Nothing listed |
Version 2 is more than a straight port. Its changelog lists an “SSE port of all mod assets” and blood decals on weapons that lacked them. It also replaces 53 weapons with new ones by crazylion, Ghosu and CD Projekt Red, ported by Oaristys.
Version 1.5, the last for the original game, removed seven bows with bugs that could not be fixed and added seven new ones. It also dropped the need for SPIKE.esm, gave Imperial and Stormcloak soldiers only weapons that fit their side, and took staff weapons away from guards and soldiers.
The Special Edition page does not mention the Anniversary Edition. Our Special Edition vs Anniversary Edition guide explains how the two relate.
How to install Immersive Weapons
Use a mod manager such as Vortex or Mod Organizer 2. Our Mod Organizer 2 guide covers the setup.
- Open the Immersive Weapons page for your game: the Special Edition page for current Skyrim, or the original page for the 2011 game.
- On the Files tab, download the main file with Mod manager download.
- Enable the mod and its plugin in your mod manager.
- Start the game. New weapons enter loot, shops and enemy gear as you play, and the recipes show up at the forge.
On the original Skyrim, the old FAQ has one fix worth knowing. If the game crashes when you scroll through the forge menu, set iTexMipMapSkip=1 under [Display] in SkyrimPrefs.ini.
Pros
- 230 weapons made to match the base game
- 21 new weapon types with their own stats
- Spread through loot, shops and enemies, from level one
- No other mods needed
Cons
- No update since April 2018
- No word on the Anniversary Edition
- Edits leveled lists, so it changes loot across the whole game
Other Skyrim weapon mods for Special Edition
Several other weapon packs for Special Edition are on Nexus Mods. The five below are sorted by what they do, with no ranking. Every detail comes from the mod’s own page, and no page is marked as adult content.
Heavy Armory – New Weapons
Heavy Armory, by PrivateEye, adds “roughly 150 new lore-friendly weapons”. Like Immersive Weapons, it spreads them through leveled lists, so you meet them on enemies, in shops, in loot and as rewards, and you can craft them at any forge. It adds 11 weapon types: clubs, halberds, hatchets, glaives, long maces, mauls, quarterstaves, shortspears, shortswords, spears and tridents. Each type uses the perks of a base weapon; halberds, for example, use Battle Axe perks. Two new materials come with them: wood, and a polished silver that the Silver Hand carries at higher levels.
A “lite” mode in the mod’s settings menu switches off the halberds, spears and tridents and keeps the rest. The page calls these mods soft requirements, which you need for some features only:
- SkyUI, for the settings menu. Our SkyUI guide covers it.
- Open Animation Replacer, for the new halberd, spear and staff animations. Without it, those weapons use the base game’s animations.
- FormList Manipulator, to patch a few lists. Without it, you cannot craft the new Daedric weapons at the Atronach Forge, for example.
Version 6.3 went up on August 22, 2026.
Royal Armory – New Artifacts
Royal Armory, also by PrivateEye, gives “the most important characters in Skyrim” weapons that match their status, so Ulfric Stormcloak and General Tullius no longer carry common steel. The page says there are “no quests and no rewards”. You can take some weapons when their owner dies or steal them, and some you may never get. If you want them all, the console command coc PITestSpace takes you to a room with enchanted and unenchanted copies of every weapon. The page lists no requirements. Version 2.2 is from February 21, 2018.
Lore Weapon Expansion SE
Lore Weapon Expansion, by InsanitySorrow, adds weapons “based on designs found in previous games” or on places and characters from the series’ lore. Examples on the page include a Daedric katana, eight Dwemer weapons, and an iron tanto and wakizashi. The weapons come through leveled lists, some are craftable, and all can be upgraded. Silver weapons do extra damage to the undead. Three add-ons, Daedric Crescent, Goldbrand and Relics of the Crusader, work as standalone plugins. The page lists no requirements. Version 1.4c is from April 30, 2017.
Skyrim Weapons Expansion
Skyrim Weapons Expansion, built on weapons by Billyro, Drunkzealot and Zikoru, adds “over 100+ new weapons, mostly swords”. The page says every weapon is rebalanced to the base game, with crafting, tempering and breakdown recipes, and comes from the original authors’ open permissions. You choose one of two plugins:
- Traditional leveled lists adds the weapons to the existing lists, for simple compatibility with other mods.
- Full leveled list integration makes the new weapons appear “at a much higher rate”. If other mods change NPCs or leveled lists, the page says you must resolve the conflicts with Mator Smash or Wrye Bash.
The page lists no requirements. Version 1.3 is from October 21, 2020, and the full integration plugin reached 1.4 on November 14, 2020.
Believable weapons
Believable weapons, by jg1, adds no weapons. It is a mesh replacer for 113 of the base game’s axes, maces, swords and warhammers, with “a slimmer and cleaner design, while keeping the original style”. The page lists no stat changes and no texture changes, so texture replacers still apply. The page also says it has “no effect on save files”. The installer lets you pick which models to include. Version 1.5 is from January 30, 2022.
| Mod | What it adds | How you get the weapons | Requirements listed | Latest main file |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Immersive Weapons | 230 weapons, 21 types | Leveled lists, merchants, loot, crafting | None | 2, April 26, 2018 |
| Heavy Armory | About 150 weapons, 11 types | Leveled lists, crafting | SkyUI, Open Animation Replacer and FormList Manipulator for some features | 6.3, August 22, 2026 |
| Royal Armory | Named weapons for important characters | From their owners, or a test room | None | 2.2, February 21, 2018 |
| Lore Weapon Expansion SE | Weapons from earlier games and lore | Leveled lists, some crafting | None | 1.4c, April 30, 2017 |
| Skyrim Weapons Expansion | Over 100 weapons, mostly swords | Leveled lists, crafting | None | 1.3, October 21, 2020 |
| Believable weapons | New shapes for 113 base-game weapons | Replaces existing models | None | 1.5, January 30, 2022 |
Running several weapon mods together
Immersive Weapons, Heavy Armory, Lore Weapon Expansion and Skyrim Weapons Expansion all add weapons through leveled lists. The Heavy Armory page says its changes are “bound to ‘conflict’ with some mods” and recommends Wrye Bash to merge the lists. The Skyrim Weapons Expansion page names Mator Smash or Wrye Bash for the same job. Heavy Armory also places weapons in the Sleeping Giant Inn and Skyhaven Temple, so the page asks you to load other mods that change those places after it. Believable weapons only changes models, and its page calls it compatible with texture replacers and with changes to weapon stats.
Skyrim gun mods for Special Edition
This section covers four gun mods. Two of their pages say the mod is no longer maintained: Flintlock Pistols for Adventurers and Ordo Legionis. Three of the pages explain their guns with in-game lore, such as Dwemer designs or black powder from the Redguards.
How gun mods work
The pages show two ways to build a gun in Skyrim. Rifles and muskets act like crossbows: Lore Friendly Guns of Skyrim uses the crossbow animations and the archery perks, and Ordo Legionis scales musket damage with archery. Project Flintlock says you need archery perks, as with the bow and crossbow. Pistols act like staves: the Flintlock Pistols for Adventurers page says its pistols “function like reskinned staves”. One result, from that page: like staves, the pistols do not show on your character when sheathed.
Lore Friendly Guns of Skyrim
Lore Friendly Guns of Skyrim, by ENR, adds craftable rifles “for most material types”, from iron to Daedric, plus unique guns such as the Blades Handgun. Anything above iron needs the Dwarven Smithing perk. The page says the mod is “made using vanilla assets”. Separate files add 18 pistols, which use staff animations. Most hold 15 shots before you “reload” them with bullets made at a forge. You choose how the guns reach the world:
- The leveled lists file gives them to bandits, Forsworn, Thalmor and town guards.
- The crafting-only file keeps them at the forge.
- The SPID file hands them out with Spell Perk Item Distributor, which that version requires.
Two more mods are optional. Crosshair-aligned Crossbow lets you aim down the sights of the scoped musket, and AIM FIX lines up shots with the tips of most gun barrels. Version 2.1.1 is from September 22, 2022.
Flintlock Pistols for Adventurers
Flintlock Pistols for Adventurers, by AfriCanuckinOz, adds flintlock pistols from the Dwemer era. The page gives the count as both 14 and 15. Soul gems power the pistols: early models hold six charges, and better ones up to twelve. You find them on enemies and in chests in Dwemer ruins, on other explorers of those ruins, and on some powerful enemies. Optional files hand pistols to Dwemer and main quest characters, with or without armed Thalmor Justicars on the roads. Version 2 uses new animations through Dynamic Animation Replacer, but the page says you do not need it with the base game’s staff animations. Version 2.0 is from October 30, 2021, and the author no longer updates the mod.
Ordo Legionis
Ordo Legionis, by Taveren, adds flintlock, matchlock and wheellock muskets, and blunderbusses. You craft them at the forge with a high Smithing skill and the Dwarven Smithing perk. The main file only adds the recipes and ammunition. Optional overhaul files give muskets to Imperial Legion soldiers and Penitus Oculatus members. The clean overhaul file requires the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch, and the other overhaul files list more requirements. The page says the mod is meant to be played with Flintlock Pistols for Adventurers. The main file is version 1.7, from October 27, 2021, with a fixed plugin, 2.1.1, from November 20, 2021. The page says the mod is no longer maintained.
Project Flintlock
Project Flintlock, by Ghosu, adds flintlock rifles with bayonets, a blunderbuss, a grenade launcher, ammunition and a new area, Outlander’s Camp. Its page is for the original 2011 Skyrim, requires the Dawnguard add-on, and is at version 1.3 from January 11, 2013. Ghosu has quit modding, and the page states: “ALL MY ASSETS ARE FREE TO USE”. On that basis, dragonstormmk1’s Project Flintlock Redux SE ports the mod to Special Edition with an installer and rebalanced crafting recipes. Apart from those changes, that page says, “the mod is the same as in oldrim. Even the stats are the same.” Its latest main file is version 1.3, from July 1, 2018.
| Mod | Guns | Works like | Requirements listed | Latest main file |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lore Friendly Guns of Skyrim | Rifles, a scoped musket, 18 pistols | Crossbows (rifles), staves (pistols) | Spell Perk Item Distributor, for the SPID version only | 2.1.1, September 22, 2022 |
| Flintlock Pistols for Adventurers | Flintlock pistols | Staves | Dynamic Animation Replacer, for the new animations only | 2.0, October 30, 2021 |
| Ordo Legionis | Muskets and blunderbusses | Archery weapons | None for the main file; the overhaul files list requirements, including the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch | 1.7, October 27, 2021 |
| Project Flintlock Redux SE | Flintlock rifles, a blunderbuss, a grenade launcher | Archery weapons | None listed | 1.3, July 1, 2018 |
Sources
- Immersive Weapons for Skyrim Special Edition on Nexus Mods
- Immersive Weapons for Skyrim on Nexus Mods
- Heavy Armory – New Weapons on Nexus Mods
- Royal Armory – New Artifacts on Nexus Mods
- Lore Weapon Expansion SE on Nexus Mods
- Skyrim Weapons Expansion on Nexus Mods
- Believable weapons on Nexus Mods
- Lore Friendly Guns of Skyrim on Nexus Mods
- Flintlock Pistols for Adventurers on Nexus Mods
- Ordo Legionis on Nexus Mods
- Project Flintlock for Skyrim on Nexus Mods
- Project Flintlock Redux SE on Nexus Mods