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Skyrim Standing Stones: All 13 Effects and Locations
Short answer: Skyrim has 13 Standing Stones, but only one works at a time, and you can swap whenever you like. Activating a new stone replaces the blessing from the last one (UESP). Nine of the stones give a permanent effect. The other four (Ritual, Serpent, Shadow, Tower) give a power you can use once a day.
On sources. Effects and locations follow UESP's "Skyrim:Standing Stone" page (revision of 2 March 2026) and each stone's own page, checked on 20 October 2026. We assume Special Edition 1.7.104 (released 27 August 2026), the latest version we confirmed on 10 September 2026. We did not test all 13 stones in game. The numbers are UESP's, and they can differ on other versions or with unofficial patches.
All 13 stones: effects and locations
| Stone | Type | Effect | Location (UESP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Mage Stone | Permanent | All magic skills improve 20% faster (Enchanting included) | Roadside between Helgen and Riverwood, one of the three Guardian Stones |
| The Thief Stone | Permanent | All stealth skills improve 20% faster (Archery and Alchemy included) | Same spot |
| The Warrior Stone | Permanent | All combat skills improve 20% faster (Smithing included, Archery excluded) | Same spot |
| The Lover Stone | Permanent | All skills improve 15% faster | Northeast of Markarth, north of Kolskeggr Mine. Approach from the west; the east side is a cliff |
| The Lady Stone | Permanent | Health and Stamina regenerate 25% faster | On an island in the lake directly north of Falkreath |
| The Lord Stone | Permanent | Armor +50, Resist Magic +25% | East of Morthal, northeast of the Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon, up the mountain |
| The Atronach Stone | Permanent | Spell Absorption 50%, Magicka +50, Magicka regeneration -50% | Southern edge of the Eastmarch hot springs, east-northeast of Darkwater Crossing |
| The Apprentice Stone | Permanent | Magicka regeneration +100%, Weakness to Magic 100% | Island in the Hjaalmarch marsh, just north of Fort Snowhawk |
| The Steed Stone | Permanent | Carry weight +100; worn armor weighs nothing and carries no speed penalty | Northwest of Solitude, near Ironback Hideout, on a cliff |
| The Ritual Stone | Once a day | Reanimate nearby corpses to fight for you (Dead Thrall, 75 pts) | East of Whiterun, above the entrance to Graywinter Watch |
| The Serpent Stone | Once a day | Ranged 5-second paralysis plus 25 damage | Icy island directly east of the College of Winterhold, northeast of the Wreck of the Pride of Tel Vos |
| The Shadow Stone | Once a day | 60 seconds of invisibility, applied instantly with no casting | South of Riften, near Nightingale Hall |
| The Tower Stone | Once a day | Automatically opens a lock of Expert difficulty or lower | Roughly halfway between Dawnstar and Winterhold, on a snowy cliff |
The first three stones are the Guardian Stones. UESP notes they sit on the path Ralof or Hadvar leads you down to Riverwood after Helgen. The other ten stand alone.
The nine permanent stones in detail
- Mage, Thief, Warrior (20% each): skill experience is multiplied by 1.2, but only for one skill group. Magic covers Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Illusion, Restoration and Enchanting. Stealth covers Sneak, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, Alchemy, Light Armor and Speech. Combat covers One-handed, Two-handed, Block, Heavy Armor and Smithing. Archery is boosted by the Thief Stone, not the Warrior Stone. UESP says it is unclear whether that is intended; the Unofficial Skyrim Patch moves it to the Warrior Stone (UESP lists this at version 1.2).
- Lover (15%): a smaller number, but it applies to every skill. It makes the most sense if you spread points across several groups.
- Lady (+25% regeneration): a plain regeneration boost. The loading screen reads as if it were a power, but UESP says it is a permanent effect.
- Lord (Armor +50, Resist Magic 25%): UESP calls it a generic, all-round defense. The Atronach Stone is stronger against magic, but it gives no physical protection and halves magicka regeneration.
- Atronach (50% absorb, +50 Magicka, -50% regen): UESP puts base out-of-combat magicka regeneration at 3% per second, dropping to 1.5%. Because regeneration scales with your total magicka, a bigger pool recovers more per second: 200 Magicka at half regeneration recovers as much as 100 Magicka at normal speed. UESP also lists a bug where summoning spells fail 50% of the time, marked as fixed by the unofficial patch. We did not check whether it still happens on current Special Edition or Anniversary Edition.
- Apprentice (+100% regeneration, 100% Weakness to Magic): the loading screen says it doubles magicka too, but only regeneration is doubled (UESP).
- Steed (+100 carry weight, weightless armor): heavy armor stops costing weight or speed. With the Creation Club Survival Mode it adds only +50, and UESP says Survival Mode weakens Standing Stones generally. A listed bug: if you carry several copies of the same armor, the extras in your inventory also become weightless.
The four once-a-day powers
- Ritual: UESP's list gives 75 pts, 200 seconds, 75 ft, while the stone's own page says about one in-game hour, so the duration is described inconsistently. It works on corpses up to level 75, including mammoths and giants that normal Reanimate cannot raise. Horses cannot be raised.
- Serpent: 5 seconds of paralysis and 25 damage in total (5 per second for 5 seconds). An ice wraith guards the island.
- Shadow: 60 seconds of invisibility. Unlike the spell, it takes effect instantly. A respawning conjurer or necromancer waits near the stone.
- Tower: opens locks up to Expert. Locks opened this way do not count in the "Locks Picked" stat (UESP). UESP also suggests it for the two chests when you escape prison, since both should be Expert locks.
UESP does not say whether a power you already used is available again if you switch away and back. That is unverified.
Which stone to pick (our reading of the numbers)
This is an editorial summary of the numbers above. It is not a ranking and not an in-game test.
| Goal | Candidates | Why, and the catch |
|---|---|---|
| Focus on one skill group | Mage / Thief / Warrior | 20% applies to one group only |
| Level many skills | Lover | All skills, but it blocks the Rested bonus (see below) |
| Take less damage overall | Lord | Armor and magic resistance together |
| Cut only magic damage | Atronach | 50% absorb and +50 Magicka, but half regeneration |
| Wear heavy armor freely | Steed | Zero armor weight; weaker in Survival Mode |
| Situational utility | Ritual / Serpent / Shadow / Tower | Once a day, with no permanent effect |
The Lover Stone and the Rested bonus
UESP says that while the Lover Stone is active you cannot gain the Rested bonus from sleeping. Its stone page qualifies this as "in the original version of the game", and we could not confirm that it is the same on Special Edition 1.7.104. Sleep once in game to check before you rely on it. UESP adds that if you are a werewolf, sleeping gives you no benefit anyway, so the trade costs nothing.
Running two at once: the Aetherial Crown
The Aetherial Crown is one of three rewards from the Dawnguard quest "Lost to the Ages". While you wear it, it keeps the previous stone's blessing on top of your current one (UESP).
- It holds only one. Choose a third stone and the first one you stored is lost.
- Store the Lover Stone in the crown, then take the crown off before sleeping to get the Rested bonus, and put it back on afterwards.
- Storing the Ritual Stone lets you cast it repeatedly by removing and re-equipping the crown.
- UESP lists bugs: a stored Lord Stone can make the armor bonus apply at the wrong time, and the stored effect sometimes fails to apply. Taking the crown off and putting it back on often fixes it.
- Giving the crown to a follower does nothing, because followers cannot use Standing Stones.
Finding the stones
- Reading An Explorer's Guide to Skyrim marks four spots on your map: the Guardian Stones, the Ritual Stone, the Shadow Stone and the Lover Stone (UESP).
- The Unofficial Skyrim Patch corrects the Lord Stone's hold to The Pale (UESP lists this at version 2.1.1). The patch's version history says the stone was wrongly assigned to Hjaalmarch; it does not say the stone moves. UESP's main entry, used in the table above, puts it east of Morthal.
- There are two related achievements: activating a blessing (Blessed) and discovering all 13 stones (Standing Stones).
- Followers will not pray at a stone if you tell them to.
Where the sources disagree, and what is unverified
- Ritual duration: UESP's list (200 seconds) and the stone page (about an hour) differ.
- Lover Stone and Rested: UESP limits the claim to the original version; the current version is unchecked.
- Atronach summon failure: listed as fixed by an unofficial patch; whether it occurs on current Special Edition or Anniversary Edition is unchecked.
- Powers after switching: UESP does not say how the once-a-day limit behaves when you change stones.
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