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Master Criminal achievement in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Master Criminal

Bounty of 1000 gold in all nine holds

Master Criminal0
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How to unlock the Master Criminal achievement

  • The One SaxtonThe One Saxton
    14 Nov 2011 14 Nov 2011 03 May 2012
    Use Bjorlam's carriage outside of Whiterun Stables to travel to all the major cities. These are Dawnstar, Falkreath, Markarth, Morthal, Riften, Solitude, Windhelm, Winterhold and Whiterun. Once you have traveled there you will be able to fast travel back to them at your leisure.
    NOTE: It will cost you 290gold to travel to all the cities.

    *At this point it would be wise to create an extra save. This is so you don't have to pay off all your bounty after getting the achievement. It also prevents any important and quests giving NPCs from ending up dead by your hands. Just reload after the achievement has popped.

    Then all you need to do is commit a murder in each hold, this can be a guard or a civilian, and make sure there is witness. Once you have done that run away till the music changes, then fast travel to another city. You need to have the bounty in each hold at the same time.
    You don't actually need to run away after the kill. If you're quick enough, you can just press B and fast travel before anyone has time to react, and you'll still get the bounty. ~ Thanks to Nekrose for this information.

    If you are having trouble. Go on your menu, general stats then down to crimes. Here you can see the bounty for each hold. If the hold isnt on there, then you haven't got a bounty in it.
    Which are as follows;
    The Pale (Dawnstar)
    Falkreath
    The Reach (Markarth)
    Hjaalmarch (Morthal)
    The Rift (Riften)
    Haafingar (Solitude)
    Eastmarch (Windhelm)
    Winterhold
    Whiterun

    Hope this helps you all :D

    EDIT: It seems that this achievement may be glitched for non-english copies of the game.
    EDIT: European gamers should now be able to get this achievent with the new 1.4 Patch.

    Guide not helping? View 10 more guides for this achievement.

    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    The One SaxtonAll i can suggest is check it against the list to make sure, try killing someone in one of the holds see if that "unsticks" the achievement. or if that don't work reload and try again with, or try with the murder method.
    Posted by The One Saxton On 23 May 13 at 19:31
    LadyKillerinaThanks, this helped a lot. :)
    Posted by LadyKillerina On 01 Sep 13 at 00:07
    NeonNyteJust a quick tip with this one, if you use the carriage to go to all the destinations and instead of killing someone to get 1000 bounty, just pop your vampire lord ability and you'll automatically get 1000 on your head.
    Posted by NeonNyte On 23 May 21 at 13:01
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  • dadudadu
    12 Nov 2011 13 Nov 2011 10 Feb 2012
    Believe it or not this one is actually pretty simple. Use the carriage to travel to all the major cities. (Falkreath, Whiterun, Morthal, Dawnstar, Winterhold, Solitude, Riften, Markarth, and Windhelm)

    Once you have traveled there you will be able to fast travel. Once you have that done, all you need to do is kill a guard, turn and run. (It is easier if you can kill the guard by the stables, then steal a horse and get out of there.) Once you get enough distance between you and the guards, the music will go down and you will be able to fast travel to the next spot. Kill Guard, get away, rinse and repeat. You do not need to be that deep into the game (I was a level 10 Nord). It took me a total of 20 minutes and I was done.

    Edit: It does appear that this achievement is glitched for all non-English Skyrims. Thanks to Inflamez80 for pointing it out!

    Edit 2: The most recent patch (1.4) seems to have fixed the problem. Check out TAI JASON's solution below if you would like more information.
    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    LizardKingv666Installed the patch today. Unlocks now in the german version.
    Posted by LizardKingv666 On 09 Feb 12 at 18:40
    TORSUViiI think 1.4 just broke it for English copies now. I just tried to do this today after updating a couple hours ago and it's not working. I have well over 1000 bounty in each hold, but nothing it popping.
    Posted by TORSUVii On 11 Feb 12 at 05:38
    XboxFreak36@bricoli: Nope its not! check which Holds you need in [[General Stats --> Crime]]
    Posted by XboxFreak36 On 11 Feb 12 at 23:21
  • ShadowPandaShadowPanda#3487
    30 Apr 2012 20 Nov 2011
    You don't need to kill anyone to get this Achievement

    All you need to do is become a Werewolf
    (Advance to a certain point in the Companions Quest Line and you'll become one)(At the end of their Quest Line you find out how to be cured)(Just make sure to take two head's instead of one)

    Best thing about this is that you decide when to change into a Werewolf in the game (It's a Power that you can use once a day :D)

    Now what you do is go to a Major City and just transform into a Werewolf. Boom 1000g Fine straight away :D Run Away (Note you run faster than a Horse in Werewolf form :D)

    Then wait a day and go straight to the next Major City.. Lather Rinse Repeat :D

    Here is some info on Werewolf's in Skyrim :D
    http://uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Werewolves

    So yeah Good Luck
    ShadowMonkey987..
    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    L0RD MelchettGreat solution, the most effective one on here. Thanks for posting it.
    +1 vote, you negative voters are such hypocrites.
    Posted by L0RD Melchett On 01 Jan 13 at 21:53
    LavindatharIts the best solution in here, but I still voted negative. Purely because of the spoiler, and the authors refusal to spend two seconds adding an alert. Didn't spoil it for me, but shame for those it did.
    Posted by Lavindathar On 06 Jan 13 at 18:39
    KILLERTHANwhy so many negative votes? I was going to post a guide like this one but I checked if someone did it first, and I found yours, this method is so good and easy you cant get it this way in no time! AND PEOPLE IF YOU DON'T WANT A F******G SPOILER DON'T LOOK FOR GUIDES!.....
    Posted by KILLERTHAN On 13 Feb 13 at 14:42
  • Toxic KittyyToxic Kittyy
    04 Apr 2012 04 Apr 2012
    *This achievement had been bugged on some imported/non-English versions of the game, but it has supposedly been fixed with the latest patch (patch 1.4) (I have an English version of the game, so I cannot confirm this).

    There seems to be some problems and a bit of confusion about this achievement.

    To clear things up:
    -You need to receive a bounty of AT LEAST 1,000g in each of the nine holds. It does NOT have to be exactly 1,000).
    -It is NOT a total of 1,000 bounty throughout all 9 holds; it is 1,000 from each hold.
    -You must have 1,000 bounty in each hold ALL AT ONCE! i.e.- You cannot achieve your bounty, pay it off, and then continue onto another hold.

    You may achieve your bounty any way you choose:
    -Killing a person within that hold (with a witness to the murder) gives an instant 1,000 bounty. If you do this, make sure the person you murder is NOT a quest-related NPC. Most of these people are invulnerable, and therefore it will only give you a bounty of 40 for harm, rather than the 1000 for murder.
    -If you are a member of the Companions' Circle, transforming into a werewolf also gives an instant 1,000 bounty.
    -You may, if you choose, commit other crimes (Trespassing, stealing, etc.) to achieve the bounty.

    Once you have the achieved bounty in a hold, fast travel (if possible- you can not fast travel while guards are pursuing you.) to the next destination.
    -If you have not yet traveled to all holds, the carriage in Whiterun can take you to each (for a small fee).

    The 9 holds of Skyrim are as follows:
    -The Pale (Dawnstar)
    -Falkreath
    -The Reach (Markarth)
    -Hjaalmarch (Morthal)
    -The Rift (Riften)
    -Haafingar (Solitude)
    -Eastmarch (Windhelm)
    -Winterhold
    -Whiterun

    If you are unsure as to your current bounty in each hold, or if you think you have missed a hold: Press the 'Start' button and 'RT' over to "General Stats". Scroll down until you see "Crime". On the right, it will show your current bounties for each hold.

    That's it! Hope this helped. Good luck on your criminal mischief ;D

    **The following video is NOT mine, but it could prove useful to you. All credit for this video goes to pms00@Youtube.com.**
  • TAI JASONTAI JASON
    09 Feb 2012 09 Feb 2012 14 Feb 2012
    Ok this solution is for EUROPEAN gamers!

    So we got the Skyrim Patch 1.4 and now all european gamers can get the achivement.

    9 Kingdoms, german version:

    Winterfeste
    Weißlauf
    Rift
    Reach
    Pale
    Hjaalmarsch
    Haafingar
    Falkenring
    Ostmarsch

    English:

    Dawnstar
    Falkreath
    Markarth
    Morthal
    Riften
    Solitude
    Windhelm
    Winterhold
    Whiterun



    Get a bounty with 1000 Gold in every one, try to run away (sometimes this is reaaalyyy boring, because the guards hunt you like 10 minutes)

    Remember that some of the kingdoms get a different name after the patch, i was wonderin about this, but i think it´s one of the bugs in the unpatched game. Don´t worry, just kill one person for 1000 Gold IN the city and you get this.

    I used my old game save, game complete, all other achivements. If you still got bounty in your old gamesave IT DOESEN`T COUNT! You must get 1000 gold NEW BOUNTY in each of the nine kingdoms to get the achivement.

    Believe me, it works. Got the achivement right away!
  • Official PSWHOfficial PSWH
    21 Mar 2012 25 Apr 2012
    This video shows both the EARLIEST, and EASIEST possible way to grab yourself this Achievement.

    Full instructions are given in the video, along with hints and tips.
  • Dave SimonDave Simon
    24 Feb 2012 28 Feb 2012 28 Feb 2012
    EDIT: Ah, ShadowMonkey987 above beat me to it. Missed his post when I looked initially. I'll leave this anyway lol

    Pretty easy if you've become a werewolf in the Companions questline (got to the Jorrvaskr building in Whiterun to start the questline). Create a save before you do this if you want to load without the bounties afterwards.

    Fast travel to the 9 holds;
    Dawnstar
    Falkreath
    Markarth
    Morthal
    Riften
    Solitude
    Windhelm
    Winterhold
    Whiterun

    Then transform into a werewolf for instant 1000 bounty, and just sprint off in any direction until you can wait 1 hour or fast travel again. You can only transform once a day so take note what time you transformed last and then wait X hours and do it in the next city/hold.
    It won't take long, and once you are done you can just load a previous save to erase bounties.
  • MagnustheJustMagnustheJust
    01 Dec 2012 01 Dec 2012
    Heh... I took the fun route on this one!!

    Step 1 : Do not even worry about this quest until you get all three words for the Storm Call shout unlocked.

    Step 2 : SAVE GAME!!... You do not want everything in the game trying to take yer head off.

    Step 3 : Find a nice high point that the guards can not easily get to, and open up a can of weather-based whoop arse on the capital city you are in for that hold.

    Step 4 : Rinse, Lather, and Repeat until you hear that PWOK!! and the achievement pops up!!

    Step 5 : PROFIT!! $$

    Step 6 : Laugh at yourself a bit to try to get some of the dirty you may or may not feel for killing all those innocent NPC's, and load up your save from before you started...
  • ticker1978ticker1978
    15 Oct 2016 15 Oct 2016
    Regarding the werewolf solution, I'd like to add that getting the Ring of Hircine from the quest Ill Met by Moonlight allows you additional transformations. You don't have to wait a day to get your power ability back each time in this case. Equip the ring, go to your powers and instead of your beast power, select Hircine's. You can then transform as much as you want without waiting the day. After you return to normal form, equip the Ring again and repeat.
  • NsantyCentrlNsantyCentrl
    02 Feb 2012 12 Feb 2012
    All of the above guides are true but this achievement can glitch you out of it. (SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT) If you tried fighting the guards at the end of "The Forsworn Conspiracy" quest line, even after you complete "No One Escapes Cidhna Mine" the guards will still come after you and go through the dialogue but when you submit to go to prison, nothing happens. YOU HAVE TO FIX THIS GLITCH BEFORE YOU ARE ABLE TO GET THIS ACHIEVEMENT!

    To do this, go to Markarth and avoid all guards (if two guards see you, you'll get trapped in forced dialogue) go to the shrine of Talos. The guards will still be there(the guide I read said that the middle guard will trap you dialogue and the other two will straight up attack you, but that didn't happen to me. So be prepared) you then go through the dialogue, kill all 3 of them( You'll get 3000 bounty but it's the only fix I could find.) Leave the shrine and run out of Markarth and come back and pay your fine.

    I got this achievement by sneaking up behind guards with a one-handed weapon and slit their throats, run, then off to the next one. I would recommend doing this after getting the achievement for 100,000 gold. IF THERE IS A DRAGON ATTACKING THE CITY, NO BOUNTY WILL BE ACCUMULATED FROM KILLING GUARDS, so dragon first, then kill a guard and run.
  • Removed Gamer
    Gamer has been removed
    Instead of killing people, I changed into a werewolf in certain places – you can get the werewolf power during the Companion’s questline.

    I left everything in my house in Whiterun, and then saved.

    It is important to save before starting this achievement hunt.
    Make sure you have visited all the places listed at the end before you begin this achievement.


    I changed into a werewolf in the middle of Whiterun. Instant 1000 bounty. I left the city and ran, until the music changed. I waited an hour, and then reclothed my character. I then fast travelled to Winterhold. Wait 24 hours, select the werewolf power, and change again. Instant 1000 bounty.

    It’s a simple little routine.

    Go to the place, stay by the entrance to the village/town, make sure guards can see you, change, run from the place. Wait an hour, reclothe, and fast travel to the next place. Wait 24 hours, reselect the power, change and run. Repeat in the following places:

    1. Whiterun
    2. Winterhold
    3. Falkreath
    4. Windhelm (You might be better off doing this in front of The Palace of the Kings)
    5. Dawnstar
    6. Solitude
    7. Markarth
    8. Riften
    9. Morthal

    Once done, and the achievement has popped, load the save you made before beginning this achievement (stops you paying 9,000 [and any extra] bounty).
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