The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dawnguard is a downloadable content add-on for the action role-playing open world video game . It was developed by and published by . The Xbox 360 version of Dawnguard was launched in English-speaking territories on June 26, 2012, and in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain in mid-July 2012. It was released on via on August 2, 2012. Due to performance issues, the release of Dawnguard was delayed until February 26, 2013.
Dawnguard revolves around an ancient prophecy predicted by an Elder Scroll. The Dawnguard is an organization dedicated to hunting vampires who attempt to stop the return of a powerful clan of named the Volkihar who possess the power to turn into monstrous "vampire lords". The Volkihar's leader Lord Harkon intends to use an Elder Scroll to permanently blot out the sun. The player can choose to either aid the Dawnguard or join the Volkihar, becoming a vampire lord themselves in the process. DLC includes different armors, items, weapons, characters, etc. Two unique are introduced in Dawnguard, one for vampirism and one for . Players are given the choice to join forces with the vampiric Volkihar Clan or to fight them alongside an order of vampire hunters known as the Dawnguard. Players will be granted access to one of two home bases: Castle Volkihar or Fort Dawnguard. New armors, , and weapons are introduced, including a crossbow for the Dawnguard. Crossbows remain loaded while moving in the world, allowing a quicker reaction than bows at the cost of being slower to reload and reducing the player's movement speed during reloading. Crossbows fall under the archery perk tree and all points assigned to archery will also apply to them. Crossbow bolts can be crafted with enchantments to create bolts with additional magical damage.