15 Best & Free Animation Mods For Skyrim

Skyrim has a lot of people who use animation mods. Not only do people use them to make better movies, but many casual players also like to improve the game’s animations to make it feel smoother.

But there are a surprising number of mods that try to do the same thing.

And I don’t want you to go around like a chicken with no head installing random mods and hoping for the best.

I should be doing that!

So, I’ve put together a list of the best animation mods that really make Skyrim better.

Keep in mind that most of these mods should work fine with Skyrim SE, but some have not been tested with the original version of the game.

Make a backup of your files before you install.

15. Puppeteer Master

Animation Mods For Skyrim

Allows you to control all NPCs in the world, including player, and make them play different animations, scenes, override AI, change facial expressions and more.

Ever dreamed of being a Puppeteer, able to control your little submissive dolls?

You designed a great scene, a stage play, in your mind, but never was able to actually see it in action?

Or maybe you simply wanted to created some awesome screenshot, but you cannot set your hero in any cool looking pose?

Dream no more! This mod brings you a possibility to control yourself and any NPC into brainless puppet doing anything you want.

Currently mod offers you over 400 animations (including paired, combat and furniture), facial expressions, scenic abilities and AI overriding.

Just think of the screenshoting possibilities!

14. Run Sprint and Jump

New running, sprinting, and jumping animations for male and female to look more natural.

This mod replaces the running, sprinting, and jumping animations for male and female, all except for backstep because I thought that it looked fine.

The running is reflective of a natural jog, and the sprinting is more motivated. The arms are better synched with the legs.

Please, watch the video. I apologize if it is dark during the female part. I encourage you to give the animations a try and see how they look first-hand.

13. TK Dodge

This mod adds dodge animation of using key tapping when player drawn weapons, spell, staff and unarmed

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Dodge using

Keyboard:
Directional keys (W,A,S,D) + Dodge key (Default:Left Alt key)
        or
Double-tapping directional keys

GamePad:
Analog stick + Dodge button(Default:LB)
        or
Double-tilting analog stick (Example:tilt left->neutral position->tilt left = left dodge)

Short press (press and release a button quickly) or double tap in the forward direction.
It can be changed to front direction + Dodge key in MCM.

Feature

  • Quick response.
  • Enable dodge when the player is equipped spell and staff.
  • Player has invincible time at the start of dodge. 
  • Dodge enables cancel attack and block.
  • Enable Double-Tapping.
  • Enable setting in MCM.
  • Light load and stable.

12. Pretty Female Idles

This mod has provide more different style to replace vaniila female stand idle, just try it and you like it. If you like it don’t forgot comeback to endorse for support.

you only can choose one style to use at same time, And all the female NPC will also use the idle when they are not thing to do.

If you want only your character use the idle, I recommend use PC Exclusive Animation 2, And for your skyrim animation system stabilize, Fnis “skeleton arm fix” is always essential.

If you are looking for what armor/cloths I am using on preview, Focus below the description.

11. Fores New Idles

Fores New Idles is basically the mod of all mods, as it enables many of the animation mods on Skyrim to work as intended.

As a mod itself, this one is very difficult to install and you really have to know what you’re doing.

Thankfully the guy who created it has included a tutorial video in the description. Actually, just check the mod page because there’s about 5+ video tutorials and they’re all really helpful.

See this one as a tool, though. Not as much of a mod, but a tool for modding.

FNI is what will let you install other idles animations in Skyrim so this is a must-have, but also not exactly the best animation mod you can find. But definitely start here!

10. FNIS Sexy Move

So this mod is the solution to that problem every Skyrim player has: all women seem to walk the same.

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Why does your wife walk like your warrior friends, man? It makes no sense.

This mod, which has a bit of a cringey name, does improve the way all females move in Skyrim. And makes it so you can actually see the difference between the walk styles of women and men in the game.

No longer will you have to see women walk in the most uninspired way possible. Now every woman in the game will have a much realistic walk style to give far more immersive values into the gameplay.

9. Immersive Animation

If you want to have your game filled with new animations and reinvigorate the way Skyrim looks without altering the “vanilla essence”, this is the mod for you.

The main purpose of Immersive Animations is to make character movement feel much more realistic than it does in the base game.

However, it also aims to keep things faithful to how Bethesda intended TES to look.

You can consider IA to be an overhaul of the game’s base animations, without feeling out of touch with the game itself.

Some mods change the essence of Skyrim. This one reinforces it.

8. The Dance of Death

Oh my effin’ God, yes!

This is by far the most hyped I’ve ever been for an animation mod in my life.

I mean, just check out the video the guy linked in his upload.

The kill moves that this mod adds to the game are absolutely insane. If you have a warrior and you want to see some epic kills, get this mod installed ASAP.

7. Female Facial Animation

All human-looking female characters will get better face animations with this add-on.

The eyes and lips will move in a much more realistic manner, as will all types of brows and the cheeks.

It’s a massive improvement that is sure to make your game even better than vanilla Skyrim.

I recommend installing this mod if you have custom female characters in your game, or if you use a lot of beauty mods. It seems to be tailor-made to work perfectly with custom females.

6. Skyrim Hair Physics Project

This might not have much of a difference overall, but if you’re truly looking to see those beautiful hairs waving as you move… well you might want to give this one a go.

This mod simply enables hair movements by allowing custom physics into the animations.

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It does look quite cool, I have to admit!

And funny enough, this also works with hair mods for Skyrim too!

5. Feminine Running Animation

Gone are the days of your characters moving around looking like a plank – especially if you’re playing as a woman.

This mod adds a custom animation that replaces the traditional Skyrim running movement with a much more girly animation.

Quite adequate for most of you who play females – and it does wonders for immersion.

4. 360 Walk and Run Plus

Yes, this mod adds a feature that virtually every single Skyrim player has always wanted to see: moving your character towards the edges of the screen without losing sight of what you’re looking at.

This move tweaks the way movement works and allows you to have a better perspective of your character when playing in third person.

It may not seem like much at first.

But once you get used to this being installed you’ll never turn back.

3. YY Anim Replacer

This is a very specific mod, as the creator states that it better suits battle mages or people who use a weapon in one hand and magic in the other.

But it’s still definitely worth a try if you’re up for it!

It does improve animations drastically, as the traditional Skyrim animations for hand + magic combos are a bit weak.

They often feel separated when they shouldn’t. This mod fixes the issue vanilla has, along with improving very minor but noticeable differences.

2. Animated Dragon Wings

ADW adds a set of beautiful dragon wings to your character.

The wings react to most animations in the game and respond to them accordingly in the most natural way possible. Neat!

Feel like a sexy dragon traversing through the skies with the Flying Mod, also available for free.

They combine quite well.

1. New Animation for Magic Casting

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a battle mage, a wizard, a necromancer, or merely someone that casts spells very sporadically.

This mod is a must-have.

It changes the way animations look when you cast a spell, making them much more natural and smoother than they are in the base game.

It’s such a huge difference that I really do believe it deserves this spot on my list. Just try it out and you’ll see what I mean.