To unlock a shout in Skyrim, you need two things: a word of power, learned by walking up to a glowing word wall, and a dragon soul, absorbed by killing a dragon. Open the Magic menu, highlight the shout under Shouts, and press R on PC, X on Xbox, Square on PlayStation or Y on Switch to spend the soul and unlock the word.
Below we cover when shouts become available, the unlock and equip steps for every platform, how to find word walls and extra dragon souls, and the shouts that Dawnguard and Dragonborn add.
This guide covers The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition and Anniversary Edition on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. Per the community wiki, the base game has 20 shouts, and the Dawnguard (three) and Dragonborn (four) add-ons raise the total to 27. The unlock process is the same in every edition.
When You Can Start Using Shouts
Shouts open up through the main quest. You can learn your first word early, at the word wall deep inside Bleak Falls Barrow during Bleak Falls Barrow (or The Golden Claw); per the community wiki, it is Fus, the first word of Unrelenting Force.
You cannot use it yet, though. Your first dragon soul comes in the next main quest, Dragon Rising, when Jarl Balgruuf sends you to fight a dragon at the Western Watchtower outside Whiterun. Kill it and you absorb its soul automatically. From that point on, every dragon you kill gives you another soul to spend.
How to Unlock and Equip a Shout
| Action | PC | Xbox | PlayStation | Switch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unlock a word in the Shouts menu | R | X | Square | Y |
| Use the equipped shout | Z | RB | R1 | R |
| Mark a shout as a favorite | F | Right stick click | R3 | Right stick click |
- Open the Magic menu. Press P on PC, or open the character menu (Tab, B on Xbox, Circle on PlayStation, B on Switch) and choose Magic.
- Go to Shouts. Learned words appear under their shout.
- Unlock the word. Highlight the shout and press the unlock button above. One dragon soul is spent per word.
- Equip it. Select the shout to assign it. Only one shout or power can be equipped at a time, so mark your favorites and swap between them from the Favorites menu (Q on PC, up or down on the D-pad on controllers).
- Shout. Tap the shout button for the one-word version. Once you have unlocked more words, hold the button longer to release the two- or three-word version.
After shouting, a blue outline around the compass shows the cooldown; you cannot shout again until it empties. Longer versions have longer cooldowns. Per the community wiki, the Amulet of Talos, the Blessing of Talos from a Talos shrine and the Dragonborn shout Dragon Aspect all shorten it.
Where to Find Word Walls
Most words are carved into word walls at dragon lairs and inside dungeons. When you walk near one, a single word glows and you learn it. Per the community wiki, a wall always gives you the next word you do not already know for that shout, so visiting its walls in any order works.
Two ways to find more walls:
- Ask Arngeir. After you finish The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, ask Arngeir at High Hrothgar whether the Greybeards know of any words of power. He marks a word wall on your map.
- Shout in public. Use a shout in a town, a camp or an inhabited dungeon, and a courier may later find you outdoors with a Letter from a Friend that points to a word wall.
Some shouts are taught by characters instead. The Greybeards teach words of Unrelenting Force and Whirlwind Sprint in The Way of the Voice, and main-quest shouts such as Clear Skies, Dragonrend, Call Dragon and Call of Valor are learned during their quests. Per the community wiki, words taught by characters arrive already unlocked, so they cost you no souls.
Whirlwind Sprint is worth grabbing early: the community wiki notes it works even while overencumbered, a handy trick alongside the fixes in our guide to increasing carry weight in Skyrim.
How to Get More Dragon Souls
Souls are the real bottleneck, since most words need one each. Per the community wiki, random dragons start appearing in the wild once Dragon Rising is complete, and each kill is another soul.
There is also one free soul. Per the community wiki, once you complete The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, you can return to Jurgen Windcaller’s coffin in Ustengrav and activate it to gain a dragon soul. In Dragonborn, the souls Miraak steals from you during that questline are returned when you defeat him.
Your running totals are in the Journal under General Stats, on the Magic page, which lists Dragon Souls Collected and Shouts Learned.
Shouts Added by Dawnguard and Dragonborn
Per the community wiki:
- Dawnguard: Drain Vitality comes from word walls, one at Arcwind Point and two in quest areas. Summon Durnehviir is learned in the Soul Cairn after the quest Beyond Death and needs three souls before it works. Durnehviir then teaches you a word of Soul Tear each time you summon him. At full strength, Soul Tear casts Soul Trap on its target, the same effect our guide to filling soul gems in Skyrim relies on.
- Dragonborn: Bend Will’s first word is at Saering’s Watch, and Hermaeus Mora teaches the other two during The Gardener of Men. Cyclone and Battle Fury come from word walls on Solstheim, with all three Battle Fury words in Vahlok’s Tomb. Dragon Aspect’s walls are split between Solstheim and Apocrypha.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can’t you use a shout you just learned? Learning the word is only half the job. Open the Magic menu, go to Shouts and spend a dragon soul to unlock it, then equip it.
How many shouts are there in Skyrim? Per the community wiki, 20 in the base game and 27 with Dawnguard and Dragonborn.
Do you have to unlock the words in order? No. Word walls always teach the next word you are missing for that shout, whichever wall you visit first.
Does shouting in town get me in trouble? A guard may ask you to stop, but per the community wiki there is no penalty unless the shout hits a citizen.
Where are the other Skyrim guides? Our Elder Scrolls guides hub lists every Skyrim and Oblivion guide we have published, and our guide to saving your game in Skyrim is worth a look before a big dragon fight.