The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Dawnguard DLC is themed around vampires and their mission to black out the sun by using another Elder Scroll. Dawnguard are Vampire Hunters of sorts where their job is to defeat the vampires. The DLC is believed to be around 15 hours worth of gameplay and will be an Xbox exclusive 30-day release. After that time, the DLC will be available for other platforms.
New Features
Mounted combat (released prior to Dawnguard DLC)
This is something many players had hoped would be part of any DLC. Players can now have their characters ride horses and strike at enemies from horseback. Included in the Dawnguard DLC is the ability to summon a magical mount from an undead realm. Although we can’t confirm just yet, rumors indicate steeds may be dressed in armor. If true, that would make horses valuable companions during future adventures.
Crossbows & Weapons
The addition of crossbows means more advanced, powerful ranged attacks. An accompaniment of new or converted arrows known as crossbolts for the crossbow will be added as well. The improved arrows should provide a more powerful and substantial arsenal to fight the vampires.
Dragonbone weapons make their way into Skyrim and are higher up the scale than Daedric, which should add some new gear options to even the most decked out characters.
Shouts
There is at least one new shout called Soul Tear which lets you rip the souls out of people by shouting at them. They then become your character’s undead minion.
New Skills
The Dawnguard DLC allows for a choice. To become a vampire and pursue blacking out the sun or join the Dawnguard and take up arms against the vampires and eradicate them once and for all.
There are advantages to both. Those who join the vampires will gain access to an entirely new skill tree. Vampire Lords can transform at will and use new powers including turn into bats, throwing people and summoning gargoyles. Killing people as a vampire unlocks perks to improve your Vampire Lord and progress along the skill tree.
Dawnguard members also receive special bonuses including the use of armored trolls.
Another nice addition are new skills for Werewolves in a Lycanthropy skill tree. If it’s one thing werewolves needed was skills, so this is a welcome addition. Mauling enemies will unlock perks and increase level points in your werewolf form.
Locations
We don’t expect a new province or extremely large scale area to be added, however the trailer itself acknowledges a vampire fortress. The vampire fortress is expected to be expansive and it would make sense that a Dawnguard fortress/area also exists.
The actual location of the Dawnguard is still unknown although there have been clues as to it’s location. The informal consensus is that Dawnguard is likely to appear near Dawnstar in the north. Speculation is highly based on the shared name parts. The trailer shows a brief glimpse at a map which looks as though the area is situated between, Dawnstar and Morthal or perhaps Markarth and Solitude. Both seem like logical assumptions and we agree, Dawnguard is likely to be in the north near the coastline and more precisely near frozen water areas.
Release Info
Beta will be released the week of June 10-16 and if all goes according to plan, the official release will be June 26th, 2012.
Cost: $20.00 (US dollars)
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Why does every site I go on insist that mounted combat is a part of Dawnguard? It is clearly not. It is part of the update that was already released. Unless you’re not signed into the internet, there is no reason you shouldn’t have the mounted combat. I just figured everything that comes out with the DLC is actually part of the DLC.
@Danny – Thanks for commenting Danny! I’ll try to clear it up. Mounted combat was presented as though it would be an inclusion in the Dawnguard DLC. Media and bloggers alike then wrote about it. However, as you stated, mounted combat was released with the most recent update. The conflict you’re seeing is due to the timing of the mounted combat release and the publishing of articles about Dawnguard, which occurred prior to the patch release. In an effort to maintain accuracy, we’re modifying this article to reflect the mounted combat inclusion prior to Dawnguard.
Hope that helps!