Shadow Stone
Primary Location Guide
The Shadow Stone is one of the 13 Standing Stones located throughout the lands of Skyrim. Each stone has an associated blessing which may be received by using the shrine, replacing any previous blessing you may already have from these devices upon choosing a new Standing Stone. The Shadow Stone in particular grants a once-per-day ability to turn yourself invisible for a limited time.
Nearby Enemies:
- Conjurer
- Cave Bear
Nearby Items:
- Iron Ore Vein x2
- Canis Root
Where to Find The Shadow Stone in Skyrim
The Shadow Stone is located directly to the south of the capital city of Riften. Near the Snow-Shod Farm and Nightingale Hall, you can reach the stone by any one of three main paths. First, you can follow the road out of the southern side of Riften that runs past the farm to walk around the cliff wall that lies between the farm and stone. Travel west against this rock cliff until it flattens out with the surrounding land, then head around it and walk east to the stone itself.
Alternatively, there are two small, steep paths that can lead you to the standing stone in a more direct manner. One of these paths to the east will take you past Nightingale Hall while the other in the center of the stretch of cliff wall is even more direct. Check the aerial view map below (second thumbnail) to see all three routes clearly.
The Shadow Stone’s Blessing
The Shadow Stone is one of the four standing stones which provides a unique ability that your character can utilize once per day, which costs absolutely no magika to use. As opposed to the more continuous benefits granted by the other stat or skill gain boosting stones, theses ability stones allow you to have this limited use ability to overcome specific hurdles that might be impeding your progress. The Shadow Stone in particular allows you to cast Invisibility on yourself to hide your character from other’s views for 60 seconds.
This power is especially useful for Thieves or Stealth centric character types, as you are insanely hard to detect when Invisible, often being capable of hiding directly in-front of other NPCs while they look in your direction. To some degree you can still be noticed, however, meaning you still should take some care to remain completely hidden. This boost can be an excellent helping hand to break into a heavily guarded location or steal valuable items directly from underneath another’s nose. Finally, you can also utilize the invisibility to get some serious sneak critical shots on a number of enemy targets inhabiting any dungeon or location you may have difficulty in clearing.
The other spell granting stones are the Sepent Stone (paralyze), Ritual Stone (AoE Raise Undead) and Tower Stone (instant lockpick).
Nearby Threats
Upon first reaching The Shadow Stone location, you will find an enemy conjurer standing directly in front of the stone itself. This is the only serious threat you will face here, but the conjurer can be a rather high level. Take caution and use the stone itself and other objects nearby to provide yourself with cover to avoid the casted attacks, then pop out and either charge your target with a melee strike or pop out with quickly ranged attacks before ducking for cover again.
If you take the long way around to the Shadow Stone by proceeding west until the cliff levels out, you can walk around it, and you are likely to encounter a single Cave Bear along the way.
Nearby Items
There are two nearby Iron Ore Veins you can harvest from, the first being on the upper portion of the cliff, directly near some rocks, southwest of the Shadow Stone location. The second can be found also near the Snow-Shod Farm, although also against the cliff, on the lower side. You can check the pictures to the right for more specific details on their locations.
Besides that, there is at least one instance of Canis Root to find on the upper portion of the cliff, also along the rocky edge. There is potentially more that can be found in the area, however, the ingredient is a relatively uncommon one.
Video Guide
Last Updated on October 4, 2020 by Standard of Entertainment