ESO tips & tricks, Looking for help with ESO? This is the right thread for you! Options

[King Of Beasts]

Post any tips and tricks you have for those new to or those looking to improve the ESO experience.


One of my tips:

Unless you're super dedicated to the stealth playthrough in RPG's, don't use the nightblade class. It's horrible. May improve with the release of the Dark Brotherhood DLC but I'm unsure.

This post has been edited by King Of Beasts: May 20 2016, 02:16 AM

[Grits]

Great idea for a thread, KoB!

I agree, the Nightblade class is not very rewarding at present. Hopefully there will be a boost (especially healing) for that class as well as for stealth Stamina characters, like dedicated archers.

I suggest starting to learn equipment traits early, even if you don’t think you’ll want to do crafting. It takes a long time to research traits.

Along similar lines, wear at least one piece of Light, Medium, and Heavy armor to increase all of the skills while you’re leveling. Even if you think you will only wear one type, the rules change so it’s best to be prepared to adjust your plan.

I have (unsurprisingly) a number of characters. All of them have some way to earn enough gold every day to train their riding skills when they’re not adventuring. One Provisioning writ will do the trick after around level 15, or they can craft a few items for sale, or one guy is parked in Auridon stealing stuff. By the time some of them get to play for real they will have fully trained mounts. That will help immensely.

Even solo players like me should join a trade guild to unload loot such as surplus crafting materials and style books. Also I’ve found a few traits to research and fun recipes in the guild stores.

[hazmick]

I'm going to have to disagree with you guys on Nightblades. Some of the strongest PvP players are Nightblades, dishing out over 20k damage in a single attack. I'd say it's a class for players who are good at managing the minute details of a character's stats, since all of their abilities need to be perfectly in sync.

Echoing Grits, start crafting and researching traits as soon as you can. It can take a while to level it up but I'd say it's essential to be able to craft your own high level gear sets. I'm still trying to do trait research, because I ignored it for ages.

Visit stables and level up your riding skills every day, even if you don't have a mount. The skills applies to all mounts that character has or will have, and once you get a certain number of points in each category your mount gets aesthetic upgrades like armour and saddlebags!

DON'T SPEND CROWN POINTS TO RE-DO YOUR SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES. Took me several months before I realised that some cities have shrines which can be used to reset your skill and attribute points using in-game gold rather than buying those reset scrolls from the crown store.

As an extension to the point above - Don't be afraid to try new abilities and skills, since you can easily reset your points and rebuild your character with the abilities you've tested out and enjoyed. I can't tell you how often I've overlooked a skill for ages, only to find it to be essential to my play style further down the line.

[Grits]

hazmick, sorry I should have specified my context for the Nightblade skills is solo stealth archer Lil, who is still leveling and has no interest in PvP. The issue is self-healing in PvE at her level. Also the flashy melee-style class skills are not her thing, just the stealth ones.

That brings up another point, the importance of context. Attribute distribution including gear and other bonuses makes a big difference in how skills work. Also building a solo adventurer is different from building an optimized character with PvP as the goal, not to mention that things are different while leveling. Aand the many updates have made a lot of online information obsolete, so when reading comments make sure they’re still relevant.

When you play has a big impact as well. I often play without seeing another player outside of towns, which means that materials and treasure chests are plentiful but help is non-existent. On the occasions when someone (Lildereth, poor thing) needs help with something I’ll play when it’s more crowded. Then everything seems easy because other players are helping, but there is no point in trying to get anything but your own loot from the environment.

hazmick, I also played for a long time before I realized what those respec shrines are for. It’s very cheap to switch morphs, so don’t be afraid to try different ones to see what combinations work best.

[King Of Beasts]

I'm going to have to disagree with you guys on Nightblades. Some of the strongest PvP players are Nightblades, dishing out over 20k damage in a single attack. I'd say it's a class for players who are good at managing the minute details of a character's stats, since all of their abilities need to be perfectly in sync.

I need to learn their secrets because Nightblade sucks for me lmao

[hazmick]

I need to learn their secrets because Nightblade sucks for me lmao

There are usually threads about Nightblade character builds over on the ESO forums. People always have specific abilities, attribute, champion point, enchantment, item, and gear recommendations.

Classes are always getting messed around with in updates and such too. One update might nerf a Nightblade ability so players need to rework their entire play style, the next update might nerf a different class and Nightblade will need to be reworked again. If you just do PvE then it's not too hard, but if you do lots of PvP then you need to be good at balancing all that stuff.

[Grits]

Deltia’s Gaming videos have helped me a lot. He explains the changes and their implications very well.

Here’s a tip that I may have heard before but just finally sunk in: you can start leveling your second weapon skill by putting it on your bar even while you use the main weapon. It seems obvious now, but I would never have come up with that on my own.

[hazmick]

As an extension of that ^ point:

You level up any item or skill that you have equipped at the moment you receive any experience. Want to level up an ability? Put it in your current ability bar. When you get two ability bars (at level 15) your exp will only go to the abilities on the bar you are currently using, so keep switching them around to level them evenly, or make sure to have important abilities equipped when you get any exp.

As Grits mentioned earlier, wearing a mix of light, medium, and heavy armour will level all of them up. Of course the more of one type you wear, the faster that will level. Read up on the different armour types' passive skills to see which ones you might be interested in.

The best way to level up a second weapon is to equip it just before you turn in a quest and get the reward exp. I got my two-handed sword skill to max level without ever using it in combat.


This one is really obvious, but READ EVERYTHING. Don't ignore any bookshelves, because you might find skill books lurking there.


In order to level up your Mages Guild skill line you will need to find rare books from Shalidor's library. These can be found dotted all over the world, in a variety of locations, and can be identified by their purple/blue covers and magical glow.

To level up your Fighters Guild skill line you need to kill Daedra and Undead. You'll encounter endless numbers of both over the course of your adventures so it's not something to worry about.

This post has been edited by hazmick: May 26 2016, 12:29 AM

[hazmick]

Here's one that I wish I could go back in time and tell myself - Don't sell weapons and armour. You get very little gold, and would be better off breaking them down into components or researching traits.

Once you hit Vet rank 16, (or champion rank 160 I suppose it is now), you will need lots of materials for max level gear. I'm talking 150 Rubedo Leather to craft a medium chest piece.

If you do need gold, then crafting writs are a good source. If you have the Thieves Guild or Dark Brotherhood expansions then they provide radiant quests that pay out really well for very little work.

There's not much in the game to actually spend gold on. The only thing I buy is the occasional style motif book from guild traders, though most of my spending goes towards repairing my gear.

You DON'T need to be part of a guild in order to BUY things from any guild traders you see in the world. You DO need to be part of a guild if you want to SELL things to guild traders.

Always check out guild traders, and shop around before buying something since there are no set prices. There have been a few occasions where I've bought a style book from one guild trader and then found the same thing for half the price at another trader.

[Grits]

Here’s a tip. If you are using a costume, make sure that you are WEARING YOUR ARMOR underneath it. Last night Jerric went bare-chested into the Banished Cells. *palms face*

[Acadian]

Here’s a tip. If you are using a costume, make sure that you are WEARING YOUR ARMOR underneath it. Last night Jerric went bare-chested into the Banished Cells. *palms face*

'Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.'
- Guildmagister Kud-Ei, Bravil

Edit: Gosh, Grits, what a beautiful picnic screenshot you have currently in your sig! The animals, dear friends, good food. . . and your game looks simply beautiful.

This post has been edited by Acadian: Jul 3 2016, 06:52 PM

[Acadian]

Is there a way to unnock an arrow (to save charges) rather than just firing it?

[mirocu]

Is there a way to unnock an arrow (to save charges) rather than just firing it?

Yeah, you flip forward while magically zooming in without using a scope

[Grits]

Acadian, I don't know a way to cancel the shot once you start to draw. I wish I did!

[Acadian]

I'm confused about weapon enchantments. Do they take effect with every strike?

The reason I ask is because of two weapon traits -

Charge says it increases your chance to apply status effects by X%. I would have thought the weapon simply applied the charge on every strike?
Infused says (in part) ...and reduces enchantment cooldown by X%. Cooldown for a weapon enchantment?

If they don't take effect simply on every shot and I can't unnock an arrow to save charges and they do eat soul gems to stay charged, I'm wondering if I might prefer enchantless bows. . . . I'm hoping that there is something I don't understand.

Edit: Oh, Grits, I simply love that misty shot of gorgeousJerricalloneword in his ancestral snowy homeland.

This post has been edited by Acadian: Sep 3 2016, 02:57 PM

[Grits]

Acadian, thank you, that was a magical morning in the woods!

As far as I know the enchantments do not apply to every strike, and neither does poison. Putting poison on the weapon suppresses the enchantment, but I don’t know how that works as far as using up the weapons’ charges. I suspect that an enchanted weapon’s charge would not be used while a poison was equipped on the weapon, which could save on soul gems. This is something I’m curious about as well, since Jerric runs through a ton of soul gems and often does not need the extra boost from the weapon’s enchantment. He gets a lot of grand soul gems from his adventuring and greater soul gems from Darnand’s Enchanting writs, but he hates to waste the energy.

So I think that a Charged-trait weapon would have an increased chance to apply a status effect such as the chilled/concussed/burning secondary elemental effects, while an Infused weapon would have a reduced internal cooldown for applying the enchantment effect such as frost/shock/fire, perhaps 3 seconds instead of 4 seconds.

I am still in the dark as to how the applied poisons work with weapon traits. I think it would depend on if applied poison (meaning from Alchemy and not a poison enchantment) is a status effect.

[Acadian]

Thanks. Heh, looks like weapon enchantments remain a bit mysterious.

Another question. Buffy has the 'hide helmets' option checked. Does anyone know if that applies to costumes? She quite likes costumes. Some of the ones that come with headgear would be fun - as long as they don't cover her hair!

[hazmick]

Yep, it applies to costumes too. Haa-Rei often hides his headgear since most helmets in the game look ridiculous when shaped to Argonian heads. If it ain't a hood, he ain't wearing it.

[Acadian]

Oh thanks so much for letting me know. I didn't want to buy a costume just to find out. Thanks!

[mALX]

Thanks. Heh, looks like weapon enchantments remain a bit mysterious.

Another question. Buffy has the 'hide helmets' option checked. Does anyone know if that applies to costumes? She quite likes costumes. Some of the ones that come with headgear would be fun - as long as they don't cover her hair!

I also keep my helmet hidden all the time, so was really surprised when I saw my latest helmet for the first time after wearing it quite a while, lol. It looks ilke someone killed a bird and stuck it on her head, lol. I do have some costumes for the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild that come with hoods when I see others wearing them; but don't remember seeing Misa's face covered; so I think the hidden helmet does apply to costumes too.







This post has been edited by mALX: Sep 6 2016, 07:03 PM