The Elder Scrolls Online: Complete Guide

What new and returning players need in ESO right now: character creation, combat fundamentals, progression to level 50 and Champion Points, the subclassing and Class Mastery systems, crafting, the endgame loop, and what's in the current season.

Researched September 2026 — current as of Update 51 / Season One (Update 51 launches September 28, 2026 on PC/Mac). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Content model note: ESO dropped the yearly "Chapter" format in 2025 and now ships seasons. Season Zero ran April 2 to July 8, 2026 (Updates 49 and 50; Update 50 itself launched June 8). Season One runs July 8 to October 21, 2026 and covers Updates 50 and 51. The Tamriel Tomes reward track (free and premium tiers) runs alongside each season.

Quick Start

• Play any race and class combination. Racial passives matter a little. Class matters more, but with subclassing (below) no build is locked in forever.
• Every zone scales to you. One Tamriel level scaling means you can go anywhere and quest with friends of any level. Follow the story that interests you.
• Collect Skyshards. Every 3 Skyshards give 1 skill point, and there are plenty in each zone. Public dungeons and world bosses give skill points too.
• Join the Fighters Guild and Mages Guild early and slot a skill from each line to level them. Also level Undaunted (from dungeons) for its passives.
• Light attack between skills. Weaving a light attack before each skill cast is the single biggest early damage boost.
• Do crafting writs once your crafting skills allow it. They're daily gold, materials and eventually master writs.
• Don't over-invest in leveling gear. Gear scales to your level until level 50. After that, gear tops out at CP 160 quality, and that's where real sets matter.
• Try an ESO Plus trial if one comes up. The Craft Bag (unlimited crafting material storage) and DLC access are the biggest quality-of-life perks.
• Group Finder + Random Normal Dungeon is the best daily XP and gear loop while leveling.
• Season One is live: Update 51 adds Rumors, the Nowhere Vault, and the High Seas of Tamriel event (Sept 30 to Oct 14, 2026).

Classes at a Glance

All seven classes can fill every role (DPS, tank, healer). Class Mastery now has options for every class.

Class | Flavour | Known for

Dragonknight | Fire, earth, draconic armor | Tanky brawler. Its refresh made it a strong force in PvP (the combat team announced nerfs to its burst/sustain for Update 51)

Nightblade | Shadows, stealth, siphons | Burst, stealth ganking, strong single-target

Sorcerer | Lightning, daedric pets | Pet builds, strong mobility (Streak)

Templar | Holy light, spears | Excellent healer, strong execute

Warden | Nature, ice, animals | Great healer/tank, bear pet. Currently getting a class refresh (dev letter Sept 1, 2026)

Necromancer | Bones, corpses | Corpse-based skills, strong tank and support

Arcanist | Hermaeus Mora, Crux | Beam DPS, resource building (Crux), strong tank

Core Combat

• Resources: Health, Magicka and Stamina. Most skills now scale off your higher offensive stat, so hybrid gear is viable. Pick one and invest in it.
• Bars: You get two weapon bars of 5 skills plus 1 ultimate each. You unlock the second bar at level 15. Swap bars to use both kits.
• Light attack weaving: Light attack, skill, light attack, skill. The skill cancels the light attack's recovery.
• Block (right mouse), dodge roll (double-tap direction), interrupt (block + light attack when an enemy channels), break free (block + light attack when crowd-controlled). Dodge-rolling costs stamina, and consecutive rolls cost more, so don't roll constantly.
• Buffs and debuffs to know: Major/Minor Brutality and Sorcery (weapon/spell damage), Major/Minor Breach (armor reduction on the enemy), Major Resolve (resistances), Major Berserk (damage done). Groups rely on supports to provide these.
• Damage over time makes up a large share of DPS. Keep DoTs up and use your spammable (a filler skill) in between.

Default keyboard controls

Key | Action

1–5 / R | Skills / Ultimate

~ (tilde) | Swap weapon bar

Left / right mouse | Light (tap) or heavy (hold) attack / block

Shift | Sprint

Ctrl | Crouch / sneak

Q | Quickslot item (potions)

E | Interact

J / M / K / I | Journal / map / skills / inventory

Progression: Level 50 and Champion Points

• Levels 1–50: Quest, do dungeons and explore. Each level gives attribute points (Health/Magicka/Stamina) and skill points.
• Champion Points (CP): Account-wide progression past 50. CP is split into three constellations: Warfare (blue, offense/healing), Fitness (red, defense/sustain) and Craft (green, utility/gathering). You slot a limited number of "slottable" stars in each tree plus passive stars.
• Gear cap: Gear quality caps at CP 160. Get there before you spend real gold on endgame sets.
• Skill lines worth leveling on every character: your class lines, weapon lines, Fighters Guild (Expert Hunter, Dawnbreaker), Mages Guild (Meteor, Degeneration), Undaunted, Assault (Rapid Maneuver for movement), Psijic Order (quest-based, Meditate and Channeled Acceleration), and Soul Magic.

Subclassing and Class Mastery

These two systems are mutually exclusive. A character uses one or the other.

Subclassing (added in Update 46)

• Requires one level 50 character on the account. Then complete the quest "A Study in Discipline" (from Bahtra at-Hunding in Dune, Evermore or Riften) on each character you want to subclass.
• Replace up to two of your three class skill lines with lines from other classes.
• Subclass skills cost two skill points to unlock instead of one. Their progress is account-wide, so leveling a line on one character helps all of them.
• You can have up to three unlevelled subclass lines at a time.

Class Mastery (added in Update 50)

• For characters who keep all three of their native class lines and have leveled all three to 50.
• Choose two passives from five class-specific options.
• Every class has Class Mastery options. Its goal is to make "pure" class builds competitive again, and the combat team says it has noticeably shaken up the PvE meta.

Which one to pick: For PvE DPS, compare your class's Mastery passives against the best subclass combinations on a current meta site (the meta shifts each patch). Pure-class players and newer characters without leveled cross-class lines often do best with Mastery.

Building a Character

Stat/gear priorities for DPS (general, patch-stable principles)

• Weapon damage or spell damage, crit chance and crit damage, and penetration (roughly enough to cover the target's armor after group debuffs).
• Mundus Stone: The Thief (crit chance) or The Shadow (crit damage) for DPS, The Lover (penetration) if you're solo and short on pen.
• Traits: Weapons usually Precise, Sharpened or Infused. Armor Divines (to boost the Mundus). Jewelry Bloodthirsty or Infused.
• Food and drink: Tri-stat or bi-stat buff food, plus a DPS-oriented drink.

Common set structure: two 5-piece sets (body and/or weapons and jewelry), a 2-piece Monster Set (head + shoulders from Veteran dungeons and the Undaunted chest), and sometimes a Mythic item (from Antiquities).

Beginner-friendly sets that are easy to get and hold up while you learn:

• Crafted sets (made at crafting stations with enough traits researched), e.g. Order's Wrath, Deadly Strike, Law of Julianos, Hundings Rage. You can have them crafted by a guildmate in exactly the traits you want.
• Overland sets from zone chests and delves.
• Support staples: Powerful Assault, Pillager's Profit, Pearlescent Ward (support/tank-oriented). What's best in slot changes almost every update, so check current meta pages before you farm.

Crafting

Seven professions: Blacksmithing, Clothing, Woodworking, Jewelry Crafting, Alchemy, Enchanting, Provisioning.

• Research traits early on every character that will craft, because research takes real time. ESO Plus speeds this up.
• Daily crafting writs (from the notice boards in major cities) give Inspiration, materials, and occasionally master writs, which reward Writ Vouchers.
• Transmutation: Use Transmute Crystals at a Transmute Station to change a gear piece's trait. Update 50 added Mages Guild transmute stations.
• Surveys: Survey maps from writs lead to large material nodes.

The Endgame Loop

Activity | Group | Main rewards

Random Normal/Veteran dungeons | 4 | Daily XP, gold, Transmute Crystals, set gear

Undaunted pledges | 4 | Undaunted Keys, Monster Set shoulders

Trials (raids) | 12 | Top-tier sets, weapons, cosmetics, titles

Infinite Archive | 1–2 | Endless roguelike dungeon, Archival Fortunes, class sets

Arenas (e.g. Maelstrom, Vateshran Hollows) | 1 | Weapons, titles

Cyrodiil / Imperial City / Battlegrounds | PvP | Alliance Points, Tel Var Stones, PvP sets, PvP Veterancy rewards

Antiquities (scrying/excavation) | 1 | Mythic items, furnishings

Tales of Tribute | 1v1 | In-game card game with its own rewards

Housing | – | Deep decorating system

Season One / Update 51 additions

• Rumors: "Old-school" investigation content with most of the quest UI assistance removed. You gather clues, work out where to go, and sometimes decide how the rumor resolves.
• Nowhere Vault: A new puzzle-focused PvE space for solo or group play, run by Urli (the curator) on behalf of Sage Voernet. You need a Nowhere Key to take on its trials.
• High Seas of Tamriel event: September 30 to October 14, 2026. Ship battles and underwater exploration with the ghostly Baron-Captain Olsien Guy Mard.
• Earlier in Season One (Update 50 era): a Thieves Guild storyline in Glenumbra, a Sheogorath questline, Dynamic Encounters (multi-step world events), and Favors (character-specific daily stories). Per UESP these systems are free with the base game.
• Update 50 also brought: opt-in Challenge Difficulty for overland (Adventurer, Seasoned, Master, Vestige), PvP Veterancy, the full-time Vengeance campaign, a daily quest cap raised from 50 to 100, and Guild Mail.

Currencies and What to Spend On

Currency | Source | Best use

Gold | Everything | Guild traders, repairs, housing, mount training

Crowns | Real money / ESO Plus stipend | ESO Plus, DLCs, housing, cosmetics

Seals of Endeavor | Endeavors (daily/weekly), Golden Pursuits | Crown Crate items, cosmetic unlocks, upgrade materials

Transmute Crystals | Dungeons, PvP, Archive | Changing traits, reconstructing collected sets

Alliance Points / Tel Var | PvP | PvP gear, siege, Imperial City vendors

Writ Vouchers | Master writs | Crafting motifs, furnishing plans

Tome Points | Tamriel Tomes challenges | Advancing the seasonal Tome

Spend priority for new players: mount training daily (it's slow and permanent), bag space and bank upgrades (gold), then guild trader gear. Save Crowns for ESO Plus or permanent unlocks rather than crates.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Spreading attribute points evenly. Put almost everything into your main resource (Magicka or Stamina) for DPS, or Health for tanking.
• Holding block or rolling constantly. Both drain stamina and ruin your damage. Block only big telegraphed hits.
• Skipping mount training. It takes 20 hours of real time per point, so start on day one at any stable.
• Selling everything to merchants. Guild traders pay much more for crafting materials, motifs and furnishing plans.
• Farming endgame sets before CP 160. Gear under that point is replaced anyway.
• Mixing subclass and Class Mastery expectations. Picking a subclass line disables your Class Mastery passives.
• Running veteran dungeons as a fresh 50. Build up with normal dungeons and the Archive first.

Advanced Tips

• Parse on the target dummy (the Crown Store has a free one, and guild halls usually have them) to test rotations and see your uptime on DoTs and buffs.
• Use the Armory to save full builds (gear, skills, CP, Mundus) per character and swap between roles without re-slotting everything.
• Golden Pursuits campaigns (in the Activity Finder) give free rewards for easy activities. The August 2026 campaign handed out up to 20 Crown Crates.
• Leads from Antiquities unlock Mythics. Many are great for early builds (e.g. utility or sustain Mythics), so scry whenever you're in an old zone.
• Alchemy for PvP and trials: Brew your own potions (e.g. tri-stat or weapon/spell power potions) instead of buying them.
• Keep an eye on the Warden refresh. The devs posted a letter on September 1, 2026 about the ongoing Warden/class refresh, so Warden skills may shift in later updates.

FAQ

Is ESO free to play? No. You buy the base game, but there is no required subscription. ESO Plus is optional and adds the Craft Bag, most DLC, double bank space, bonus XP/gold, and a monthly crown stipend.

What should I play first? Start with the base-game story (the Main Quest) or the zone where you begin. Everything scales, so you can then hop to any zone or DLC.

What is the max level? Level 50, then Champion Points. Gear stops improving at CP 160, but CP keeps rising and adds more stars to spend.

What's the difference between subclassing and Class Mastery? Subclassing lets you replace up to two class lines with other classes' lines. Class Mastery gives two powerful passives if you keep your three original lines at level 50. You can't use both.

What's in Season One? The Thieves Guild in Glenumbra, Sheogorath's quests, Dynamic Encounters and Favors (Update 50), plus Rumors, the Nowhere Vault and the High Seas of Tamriel event (Update 51). The Season One Tome runs alongside it. The season ends October 21, 2026.

Can I play solo? Yes. Almost all story and overland content is solo-friendly, and the Infinite Archive, Arenas and Rumors are solo options for harder content. Only trials and veteran dungeons really need groups.

Is PvP balanced right now? Dragonknight and Werewolf were dominant on the Update 51 PTS after their refreshes. The combat team announced targeted nerfs to Dragonknight burst/sustain in response. Check the live Update 51 patch notes for the final numbers.

Sources

• ESO official news
• ESO on Steam — announcements (Rumors, Nowhere Vault, High Seas, Combat Updates Update 51 PTS)
• UESP: Update 50
• UESP: Update 51
• UESP: Season One
• UESP: Subclassing
• UESP: Class Mastery
• UESP: Patch history