The MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) is a versatile game that can be a bit overwhelming at the beginning. That’s why we’ve put together 13 tips in this beginner’s guide to help you get started. So let’s start the ESO Beginner Tips guide.
What is ESO anyway? The Elder Scrolls Online takes place in the same universe as the games in the single-player series The Elder Scrolls. It shouldn’t be an MMORPG in the classic sense but also relies on a lot of single-player content. It is one of the best MMOs for solo players.
In addition, you can experience anywhere and everything in ESO with every level. With the addition “One Tamriel” your character will always be scaled appropriately. ESO convinces above all with its beautiful setting and the stories told with love. And that is both for players who prefer to play solo, as well as for group players.
More information about the development of ESO since its release, as well as some gameplay, can be found in the video of our colleagues from GameStar for you:
This guide is intended to provide tips for beginners with appropriate links to detailed guides. It is always updated and expanded as required.
Is it worth starting The Elder Scrolls Online in 2022?
Without hesitation, yes! Released in 2014, The Elder Scrolls Online benefits from a plethora of content that continues to be enriched through the Chapters and Game Packs that come out each year, all without a compulsory subscription. In 2022, players were able to follow the story of the Black Heart of Skyrim and starting next year, a new adventure called Gates of Oblivion will allow you to participate in the defense of Tamriel. When we ask ourselves this question, we are often afraid of being behind the players who have been using ESO for several years. However, the developers have it all figured out, and you can quickly join players on current content. In addition, the level of the game adapts to that of the player, which means that all areas can be explored, even if you are a beginner.
Can I play The Elder Scrolls Online alone?
Yes. Although The Elder Scrolls Online is a massively multiplayer role-playing game, and therefore you will come across many players on your adventures, you can play alone.
The main plot can be played solo, and if you wish, you can join a group at any time to discover dungeons and enjoy the rewards available to players who unite to defeat the most powerful monsters.
Of caves, dungeons kinds of mini-open, are available in each area and you can play alone. If you want, you can also enter the public dungeons. These are spaces designed for multiplayer, but you can try to venture there on your own, which will be easier as soon as you reach the maximum level and your equipment improves in quality.
In solo, you can also try your luck in two arenas, the arena of Maëlstrom and the Hollow of Vateshran. These are places dedicated to a single player. But be aware that there are other arenas for groups.
If multiplayer catches your eye, you’ll find 4-player dungeons that you can complete with a pre-defined party or by using the party finder. These have some great rewards, so I recommend going as soon as possible. Finally, the events are ESO raids and are dedicated to groups of 12 players. Here we enter the high-level PvE, and it is mandatory to join a guild because there is no research module for this activity.
How to begin?
1. Be careful when creating characters
As in every MMORPG, you have to start with the hurdle of character creation. Before you can devote yourself to the incredible number of settings for skin, voice, face, hair and more, you have to choose a faction, race and class.
There are these factions: There are three different factions at ESO:
- The Aldmeri Domion
- The Ebony Pact
- The Daggerfall Alliance
For quests and playing with others, the choice is initially irrelevant. Your faction only has an influence on the starting area and for PvP in the Cyrodiil area. After the starting area, thanks to One-Tamriel, you can go anywhere, including the areas of the other factions.
First of all, each alliance starts in its own area and in Cyrodiil, the contested PvP map, you ride under the banner of your chosen faction. The starting areas are as follows, depending on the alliance:
- The village “Khenarthis Rast” – starting area of the Aldmeri Dominion
- The island “Stros M’Kai” – starting area of the Daggerfall Alliance
- The snow-covered “Ödfels” – the starting area of the Ebonheart Pact
The faction can, however, have an influence on your possible choice of race at the beginning, as there are 3 of them per faction and an additional neutral race, which you can purchase in the shop.
There are these breeds:
- Orsimer (Orcs) – Daggerfall Alliance
- Redguards – Daggerfall Alliance
- Bretons – Daggerfall Alliance
- Altmer (High Elves) – Altmeri Dominion
- Khajiit – Altmeri Dominion
- Bosmer (Wood Elves) – Altmeri Dominion
- North Ebony Pact
- Dunmer (Dark Elves) – Ebony Pact
- Argonians – Ebony Pact
- Imperial – From the Crown Store
To cancel the assignment of races to factions, you can purchase the “Far From Home” package in the Crown Shop. With this you can unlock the fact that every race is playable in every alliance. You are completely unrestricted with the imperial ones.
You can find more about each individual race, what makes it special, what skills it has, etc., in our ranking for all ESO races .
2. Which class to choose?
In The Elder Scrolls Online, all classes can fulfill the role of DPS, Tank or Healer depending on the points you assign in Magic or Stamina during your leveling.
Each class has its own identity and has abilities that make it unique to play. However, some classes still perform better than others in certain activities.
Six classes are available in ESO:
- Dragon Knight: Mastering several elements (poison, fire, earth), the Dragon Knight is an excellent Tank but can also offer very good DPS, both in Magic and Stamina. However, avoid making him a healer. Whether in PvE or PvP, its tanking skills work wonders, not to mention that it is also very easy to play for beginners.
- Sorcerer: Excellent for doing Magic or Stamina DPS. This class can strike down lightning on enemies and can summon pets to aid them in battle. You are free to use a familiar or not, but be aware that Sorcerer Magic is a great class to get started in ESO.
- Black Blade: It’s sort of ESO’s Thief, able to blend in with shadows and with several stealth abilities. Very versatile, the Black Blade is an excellent DPS and can do a decent tank or healer. If you are into PvP, this is also a class to consider. The Black Blade, on the other hand, is a bit more difficult to pick up.
- Templar: He is a character guided by the Light who can become a wonderful healer and, therefore, a player loved by all in a group. He also excels in DPS but will be significantly less powerful in Tanks.
- Guardian (available with the Morrowind Chapter): Extremely versatile, the Guardian is the class closest to nature and can pride itself on leaving the choice of playstyle to its player: DPS, Tank or Healer. The Guardian is also very easy to access and has very useful buffs/debuffs. It offers frost-based or animal-based skills along the skill lines.
- Necromancer (available with the Elsweyr Chapter): A slightly different class, based on death and elemental damage. Like the Sorcerer, the Necromancer summons familiars. He can become an excellent Tank, but also a very good DPS. He is able to support his teammates with several skills, which makes him often appreciated by his fellow adventurers. The class is a little more difficult to handle due to the management of pets, which have a very short lifespan.
3. Understanding the skills system
In The Elder Scrolls Online, each class has multiple skill lines within which you gain access to multiple abilities. As you kill monsters and complete quests, your skill lines gain experience, which allows you to unlock new abilities and boost the ones you already have. Plus, skill points can be reassigned, so feel free to use them, you never do anything wrong.
In order for your skills and skill lines to gain XP, you need to place them in your hotbar. Do not hesitate to place skills that you do not use systematically, this will allow them to increase in power all the same, which will be useful to you later. Note that the more skills you have in the same row on your shortcut bar, the faster the progress will be. At level 15, you will receive a second skill bar, which will allow you to quickly switch between shortcut bars.
Each character has many skill lines. Some are specific to its class, but there are also active and passive skills for other elements. Let’s tackle some of them to explain the principle of operation.
Class: Each class has three skill lines, each offering Ultimate, Active, and Passive skills. Place one skill from each row in your hotbar, so that you can evolve all three rows in parallel, rather than favoring a single row.
Weapons: There are six skill lines, such as two-handed weapons, bows, or staves. To activate the “Arc” skill line, you must of course wear a bow, which will give you access to skills and then make them evolve over the course of the fights.
Don’t panic, you don’t need to climb all the skill lines. You should prioritize some over others, depending on whether you have a Spell or Stamina character. However, the more different weapons you carry, the more skills you will advance.
Armor : There are three skill lines namely Light Armor (Magic), Medium Armor (Stamina) and Heavy Armor (Tank). To unlock these lines, but also to increase their power, you must wear at least three items of the same type. To unlock skills in Light Armor, for example, you must wear a helmet, chest armor and shoulder pads of the “light” type.
Note that there are other skill lines such as the World, Guilds, Alliance War (PvP) or Crafting.
Each skill starts at level 1 and can go up to level 4. Once level 4 is reached, certain skills give you the choice and make them evolve. In this case, you will have the choice between two evolutions and you will determine which one best suits your style of play.
In some skill lines, there is an ultimate skill. It’s a particularly powerful ability that requires a special resource called Ultimate Cost. This resource accumulates during combat and when you have enough of it you can use the ultimate skill.
To unlock new skills, you need skill points. These are obtained by leveling up, completing quests, playing in a dungeon, completing the campaign as well as finding Celestial Shards in the world. You can also gain skill points by improving your Alliance rank.
4. NPC Guilds and Gaming Community
Players can get together and form guilds, but The Elder Scrolls Online also offers a system of guilds managed by NPCs.
These guilds not only have their own history, with quests to complete but also give you active and passive skills, which is interesting if you want to gain power or obtain abilities that will increase your character’s versatility:
- Guild of Warriors
- Mages Guild
- The Indomitable
- Thieves Guild
- The Dark Brotherhood
- The Psijic Order
If you need help, feel free to get in touch with other players. The community of ESO is caring, and if your heart tells you, you can even join up to 5 guilds.
The Guild Finder will allow you to search for a guild that meets your priorities. Several categories exist, including group PvE, Role-play, PvP, Quests or Crafting.
Finally, feel free to participate in the conversations on the official ESO Forum. There you will find the latest announcements from the developers as well as precise information on game mechanics, tips and much more.
5. Pay attention to the correct skill
This is how you distribute your attributes: At ESO you have three attributes that you can skill on your character:
- Magicka
- Life
- endurance
It is important that you do not fill these attributes evenly. If you want to play a magic damage dealer, you should invest your points in magicka. This also applies to the role of the healer.
If you prefer to be a DD with physical damage, endurance is the attribute of your choice. If you want to play a tank, which may be a bit difficult at the beginning of your ESO career, you should keep an eye on life.
There is also: In addition to the attributes, you have skill trees that depend on your class, as well as skills that are based on the equipment you use. We at Mein MMO have put together 3 builds in a guide to help you get started with ESO . In this article you will also learn how exactly this works with the skill and what you should pay attention to.
6. Use class guides and area guides
This will help you with skills: If you need more help with skills, there is also the class guide. It shows you a simple list next to your skills, which you should definitely take with you. This gives you valuable tips at the beginning if you don’t necessarily feel like reading a lot beforehand
This will help you with exploring: Otherwise, there are already a few things to help you with exploring. You have an area guide with your map. This list shows you the number of all way shrines, dungeons, sky shards and Co. So you can always follow your area progress at a glance.
The above-mentioned sky shards in particular are important for a good introduction to ESO. Three of these, scattered in the world, crystals give you a skill point together.
You also get such skill points by completing some area missions, so you should take them with you. The more skill points you collect, the stronger your character and leveling will be easier for you.
7. Use buffs
Buffing through Food: Choosing the right class and skill for you is only part of your journey through Tamriel. To strengthen your character additionally, you should use buffs. In return, you can have drinks and food that you buy from the dealer or that you cook yourself.
In the world of ESO, there are plants and other resources on every corner. Collect diligently and use the ingredients for buff food and potions. So you have a much easier game against upcoming opponents.
Mundus stones for that extra kick: In ESO there are also so-called Mundus stones for a permanent buff. These stones are scattered all over the world of Tamriel and give you an extra buff. However, you can only have one active Mundus Stone at a time:
- Atronach – Increases Magicka regeneration
- Thief – Increases the critical strike chance
- Warrior – Increases weapon power
- Lord – Increases the maximum life
- Lady – Increases physical and magical resistance
- Mage – Increases the maximum magicka
- Apprentice – Increases magic power
- Lovers – Increases armor and magic penetration
- Ritual – Increases the amount of healings
- Shadow – Increases critical damage
- Snake – Increases stamina regeneration
- Warhorse – Increases health regeneration and movement speed
- Tower – Increases maximum stamina
8. Enjoy your rewards from leveling 1 to 50
Throughout your leveling, you will receive rewards. Some are more important than others, starting with the mount you get at level 10. Use it systematically to move around and thus speed up your movements.
This mount can be upgraded daily by going to your faction’s stable. You can thus spend points to improve its movement speed, its vigor (duration of the sprint) and its carrying capacity, that is to say its inventory.
These dozens of gifts, accessible simply from your interface, will be very useful to you. At level 15 for example, you will receive a higher quality weapon (blue). At level 25, it will be an epic piece of equipment (purple). Gold and Crown Crates of Atronach are also part of the rewards. These contain consumables, such as potions, but also cosmetic items such as mounts or items for your home.
Since we are talking about items, know that there are 5 quality levels for items:
Gray (Scrap) -> White (Common) -> Green (Uncommon) -> Blue (Rare) -> Purple (Epic) -> Gold (Legendary)
Note that the Greymoor Chapter introduced Mythical Items, accessible through the Antiquities system. These have the particularity of providing very powerful bonuses, but at the cost of a detrimental effect for your character. For example, some items can increase the damage you deal, but in return, you will no longer deal critical damage.
9. Don’t neglect the craftsmanship
The profession system is particularly important in The Elder Scrolls Online. You can get into sewing, blacksmithing, woodworking, alchemy and cooking.
In general, it is advisable to start building your trade skills as quickly as possible because you will benefit fully in the long run. Focus on traits that reduce the costs for your future recipes, but also those that will be useful to you to place on the equipment that you will craft at high level. If the first searches last only a few hours, others take several weeks!
In addition to the equipment that a blacksmith can make for example, alchemy allows you to concoct potions that provide temporary buffs. The most interesting especially increase physical or magical damage.
Food provides particularly useful buffs . This is an advantage that should absolutely not be underestimated because they last one to two hours. Depending on the dishes, you will receive different bonuses to health, Magicka, Stamina, etc.
You can make your own food through Cooking, fishing, or by completing certain quests.
Also Read: Eso Sip of Stamina | Sip of Health | Sip of Ravage | Sip of Magicka