Skyrim trainers: every skill trainer and where to find them

How training works

Talk to a trainer and pick the training line to pay for one skill point. Three rules shape how useful that is:

• Five sessions per level. Every character level resets a counter that allows five paid skill points. Spread across any trainers and skills, once the five are used you need to level up before buying more. Training points count towards your next character level, which speeds up the reset.
• Tiers and caps. Common trainers stop at skill level 50, Expert trainers at 75 and Master trainers at 90. The final ten points to 100 must come from using the skill, skill books or quest rewards.
• Cost. The price depends on the skill's current level, not your character level. Below 50 it is roughly 10 gold per point of skill, so a session at level 30 costs a few hundred gold. From 51 to 75 the rate triples, and above 75 it rises again to around 50 gold per point, so pushing a skill from 76 to 90 costs tens of thousands of gold in total.

Some trainers refuse you until you meet a condition: joining their faction (Companions, College, Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Dawnguard or Volkihar), finishing a quest for them, or becoming Blood-Kin for the Orc strongholds. The table's notes column shows which.

Free training from followers

Seven trainers can also be your follower: Faendal, Aela, Njada, Athis, Farkas, Vilkas and, on Solstheim, Talvas Fathryon. Because followers let you open their inventory, you can pay for a lesson and then take the gold straight back. The five per level limit still applies, so the trick saves money rather than time, but over a full playthrough it can easily be worth twenty thousand gold or more. Farkas (Heavy Armor) and Vilkas (Two-handed) are the most valuable since both are Master trainers. See our Skyrim followers guide for how to recruit each of them.

Best master trainers

Master trainers matter most because they take you from 75 to 90, the range where levelling by use is slowest. These are the ones worth building a route around:

1. Farkas and Vilkas (Heavy Armor, Two-handed): both followers, so effectively free, and both in Jorrvaskr in Whiterun.
2. Eorlund Gray-Mane (Smithing): at the Skyforge just above Jorrvaskr, so all three Companions masters are within a few steps of each other.
3. Danica Pure-Spring (Restoration): also in Whiterun, at the Temple of Kynareth. Finish The Blessings of Nature (the Gildergreen quest) to unlock her.
4. The College trio at the College of Winterhold: Tolfdir (Alteration), Faralda (Destruction) and Drevis Neloren (Illusion) are all Masters, and joining the College only needs a single spell at the gate.
5. Thieves Guild masters in the Ragged Flagon under Riften: Niruin (Archery), Vex (Lockpicking), Vipir (Pickpocket) and Delvin (Sneak). Four Master trainers in one room, unlocked as soon as you join the guild.
6. Giraud Gemane (Speech): the only Master with no faction or quest gate. Walk into the Bards College in Solitude and pay.
7. Neloth (Enchanting): in Tel Mithryn on Solstheim, useful because the only other Enchanting Master, Hamal, needs The Heart of Dibella done first.

Trainer hubs on the map

Three places give you most of the Master trainers in one trip. Whiterun has five (Farkas, Vilkas, Eorlund, Danica and the Expert trainers Aela, Njada, Athis and Arcadia). Riften's Ragged Flagon has four Masters plus Balimund and Grelka above ground. The College of Winterhold has three Masters and three Experts. Fort Dawnguard is the fourth hub once Dawnguard is installed, with Sorine, Isran, Gunmar and Florentius all Masters. Use the map button above to see every trainer pinned by hold.