How Do You Kill Sigdis Gauldurson in Skyrim?

So, you’re at Geirmund’s Hall and preparing to procure the final piece of the Gauldur Amulet in the Forbidden Legend quest. STOP. If you think this is going to be just another typical dungeon raid, you’re in for a big surprise. As there are ample walkthroughs for this quest available on the internet, I’m not going to waste time taking you through the whole quest. Actually, I’m going to skip right to the end—the final battle with Sigdis Gauldurson.

In the final chamber, when you engage Sigdis Gauldurson in battle, it quickly becomes clear that Sigdis is not your typical Draugr Deathlord. Unlike other boss level Draugr, Sigdis has the ability to create two additional clones of himself that equal him in power and abilities—which, by the way, include the Unrelenting Force dragon shout which they all use liberally. Think that’s bad? Well, unfortunately, it gets worse. Not only can Sigdis create two clones of himself at will, all three can teleport back and forth between four different raised platforms. The preferred combat method for Sigdis and his clones is to shoot you with arrows while periodically blasting you across the room with the Unrelenting Force dragon shout.

How to Defeat Sigdis Gauldurson

Defeating Sigdis boils down to two approaches:

1. Identify the true Sigdis by his helmet. Sigdis wears the Ancient Nord style of helmet, which features the horns coming out the sides and pointing forward. The clones wear helmets with the horns pointing up. You will also notice that when you hit the real Sigdis his health bar displays the damage he’s taken. The clones are always at full strength.
2. Sit back in sneak mode near the coffin and shoot ranged attacks at all three Sigdises. This is a good approach for lower-level characters that don’t have enough health to absorb all the arrow damage coming your way. If you’re high enough level (25th+) and have the ability to really dish out some damage, it’s probably easier to just chase down the real Sigdis as he appears on the various platforms and hit him with your most powerful attack. In terms of health, Sigdis is approximately equal to a Draugr Deathlord.

However, there are two major challenges facing you even if you apply the strategies above:

1. The crosshairs of your bow or staff frequently will not accurately indicate the health bars of the various Sigdises. It’s very difficult to figure out from the health bars whether you’re actually aiming at the real Sigdis or a clone. This is the problem with the ranged attack approach.
2. While it’s true that Sigdis wears the helmet with the horns facing forward rather than up, at a distance, you can’t really tell the difference between the various helmets, especially while you’re dodging arrows and being blasted about the room by Unrelenting Force shouts, not to mention that it’s pretty dark in the chamber. Thus, high-level characters should forgo the ranged attack approach and just get after Sigdis close up so you can distinguish between the helmets.

Lastly, Sigdis does regenerate health at a slow pace, so if you do not hit him for a while, you will notice his health bar begin to rise again. Good luck! For a powerful weapon against all Draugr, be sure to obtain the enchanted sword Dawnbreaker. To obtain Dawnbreaker check out this guide to obtaining the enchanted sword Dawnbreaker. Dawnbreaker is an excellent early-game weapon that is devastating against the undead, especially Draugr and Vampires.

Comments

Skyrimnight on December 06, 2019:

Don’t use any torch or light. Clones glow in the dark. Real Sigil does not. Just stay behind the coffing and shoot with the bow. You can grind him down on health pretty easily this way.

KMG on May 14, 2018:

@Ries : What I did was as soon as he was getting out of the coffin, whack him a few times and his health will be shown (the stronger the weapon the better), then stand behind his coffin and blast away with arrows. I generally dont sell or deposit my arrows because they’re weightless in your “metaphorical” bag. I used Ebony bow with Dwemer/dwarf arrows, still got blown back a few times but eventually he crumbled.

Ries on August 14, 2017:

I’ve gone through 5 ultimate health potions, and I still havent had a chance to get off the ground from the unrelenting force shouts