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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
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