Combat in Elder Scrolls Online is dynamic. The game offers players a variety of visual and auditory cues about which actions may be appropriate next, including marking the area of impending enemy attacks in red, or by prompting the user to block or interrupt.
Basic Combat ActionsEdit
All players have a variety of abilities that they can use in combat, which do not require any skills to be learned or slotted. Some of these have associated passive skills which reduce their cost or improve their effectiveness.
Light AttackEdit
This is a quick attack that can be performed with any weapon. If an opponent is targeted and in range, it will damage the opponent. It is performed by tapping the attack button.
Light attacks require no Stamina or Magicka. The damage of light attacks, regardless of weapon type, scales with your highest offensive stats. Prior to Update 28, the damage of light attacks scaled with your Maximum Stamina and Weapon Damage, or Maximum Magicka and Spell Damage for staves.
Heavy AttackEdit
This is an attack which must be charged. It does more damage per attack than light attacks, though less damage per second due to the charging time. There may also be further effects. Using a heavy attack against an Off Balance opponent will knock them down. Heavy attacks are performed by holding the attack button.
Heavy attacks require no Stamina or Magicka.The damage of heavy attack, regardless of weapon type, scales with your highest offensive stats. Prior to Update 28, the damage of heavy attacks scaled with your Maximum Stamina and Weapon Damage, or Maximum Magicka and Spell Damage for staves. The return of either stamina or magicka resource points from a heavy attack is still determined by weapon type: staves restore magicka, while bows and melee weapons give you a return in stamina.
- Releasing the attack button before it is fully charged will still result in an attack, which deals more damage than a light attack, but will not restore resources or trigger certain sets or abilities which call for a "fully charged" heavy attack. This is sometimes referred to as a "medium attack" in patch notes.
- Heavy attacks restore Magicka (with staves) or Stamina (other weapons) when fully charged. The amount restored scales to the length of time that the heavy attack takes to charge, so for example, a heavy attack with a 2-handed weapon will restore more Stamina than when dual wielding. The amount restored also scales with player level.
- Restoration staves and Lightning staves will begin channeling damage as soon as the heavy attack begins. This can be a detriment if you don't want to catch the attention of an enemy until the attack is fully charged.
- Heavy attacks with a Frost Staff used to Taunt an enemy if you had points in the Tri Focus skill. As of Update 28, this taunt was moved to Destructive Clench.
BlockingEdit
Blocking can be performed with any weapon or with a 1-handed weapon and shield. For most attacks, a successful block will reduce damage taken by half and prevent any negative disabling effects associated with that attack. The Stamina cost of blocking depends on the player's level. Blocking an enemy's heavy attack will set it Off Balance. It is not possible to light attack or heavy attack while blocking.
- Damage from ground target AOEs like Wall of Elements and effects that are on or inside characters such as Daedric Curse cannot be blocked.
- Secondary effects associated with attacks (such as the Major Fracture from Surprise Attack) cannot be blocked, even if the main damage from the attack can.
Roll DodgingEdit
Area of Effect attacks are often indicated as red areas. Roll dodging allows the player to roll in a given direction in order to escape an area of effect or break free of a rooting effect. The Stamina cost of dodging depends on the player's level. When rolling, all incoming attacks will automatically miss. Roll dodging also disables collision with all NPCs, so you can roll right through any enemy. This is useful for escaping if you're surrounded, but can also be used outside of combat to get past NPCs who are in your way. Performing a roll dodge will give the player dodge roll fatigue, increasing the cost of consecutive rolls until the effect dissipates.
- Damage from ground target AOEs like Wall of Elements or Caltrops and effects that are on or inside characters such as Daedric Curse cannot be dodged.
- Damage from magical AOEs such as Drain Power and beams such as Soul Assault or the heavy attacks from restoration and lightning staves cannot be dodged. The last AoE tick from a lightning staff heavy attack is the exception to this and can be dodged.
InterruptingEdit
Players can interrupt an opponent who is winding up an attack, as long as they are within melee range. Successfully interrupting an opponent throws them off balance. The Stamina cost of interrupting depends on the player's level.
- Some active abilities, such as Venom Arrow, can also interrupt. There is no additional Stamina cost beyond the normal cost of using the ability.
Breaking FreeEdit
Players can break free of some forms of crowd controlling effects, such as stuns. The Stamina cost of breaking free depends on the player's level. After breaking free, the player is immune to crowd control effects for 7 seconds afterwards.
StealthEdit
Stealth enables you to sneak without drawing an enemy's attention, and greatly reduces the distance you can be seen by enemy players in Cyrodiil. Physical attacks inflicted while you are sneaking and undetected will automatically crit, and you will subsequently stop sneaking. When you are in sneak mode, your Stamina will drain while moving, and recharge when you stand still. Moving in stealth also comes with a significant speed penalty, which can be avoided by using certain sets, or with the vampirism passive Dark Stalker.
SkillsEdit
Players can slot 5 active or toggled abilities, in addition to a single ultimate ability. These are the main skills that a player uses in combat, and are known as the combat bar.
- Once a player reaches level 15, they can switch between two combat bars. This requires having two different sets of weapons (or weapons and shields).
- You cannot use the same weapon for both bars, but you can use a second identical weapon for the second bar, if you wish.
- The damage and effect of abilities are calculated regarding the bar that was active when the ability is used, even if the effect or damage carry on after bar switching.
Active AbilitiesEdit
Active abilities usually have an attribute resource cost associated with them.
- Most class abilities require magicka. Some can later be morphed to use stamina.
- Most weapon abilities require stamina.
- The exception is staff abilities (both destruction and restoration), which require magicka.
- Abilities from other skill lines, such as those from factions or armor, usually also require stamina or magicka.
Some active abilities require a hostile target before they can be used. Other abilities may automatically pick a target. Abilities with an area of effect may require the player to target an area on the ground after clicking the key for the ability, while others are simply centered around the player and require no aiming.
Toggled AbilitiesEdit
Some abilities are toggled, which means they remain active until the user disables them. These abilities may have a one-time cost associated with them, in addition to a constant negative effect, such as doing less damage or lowering your maximum magicka.
- Switching to an alternate combat bar that does not include the toggled skill in the same slot will automatically disable it.
Ultimate AbilitiesEdit
Only one ultimate ability may be slotted at one time. Ultimate abilities charge over time by accumulating points of Ultimate. Damaging an enemy with a light or heavy attack will grant 3 Ultimate per second for 9 seconds. Other effects may also grant additional Ultimate, such as the Major or Minor Heroism effect as well as the Banish the Wicked or Combat Frenzy passives. The weapon trait Decisive provides you with a percentage-based chance (up to a maximum of 40%) to gain 1 additional point of Ultimate any time you gain Ultimate normally. Once the ability is fully charged, it may be used.
- Using an ultimate ability completely drains your ultimate points to zero, regardless of whether you had extra ultimate charged.
- Healing a player who is gaining Ultimate will also grant you Ultimate at the same rate.
- You can store up to 500 Ultimate points.
Slotted AbilitiesEdit
While all slotted abilities will fall into one of the above categories, some abilities will also provide a bonus to players simply by being slotted. An example of this is Restoring Aura.
SynergiesEdit
Some skills have synergies, which allow allies to perform a variety of beneficial actions once a skill is used. Allies will see a message informing them that they are able to activate the synergy, which has no cost to the player who activates it. Synergies themselves cannot be slotted. Some examples of skills with synergies are Lightning Splash (with the Conduit synergy) or Nova (with the Supernova synergy). Each synergy has a cooldown preventing the same player from activating it continuously. Other synergies such as the "Brace for Impact" buff (while fighting Lord Warden Dusk in the Imperial City Prison) or the "Use Free Ally" synergy (when fighting Ruzozuzalpamaz in the Crypt of Hearts) are not related to player skills, but are needed to overcome the mechanics of the boss fight itself. These tend not to have cooldowns and can be activated by anyone.
Vulnerable StatesEdit
Players and opponents can be put into a variety of vulnerable states. These states can prevent or hinder movement or the ability to attack. Some abilities, such as Hawk Eye, affect opponents in any vulnerable state, while others, such as Ruffian, affect opponents affected by a subset of effects.
Disabling EffectsEdit
A disabling effect is one that prevents a character or opponent from attacking. Players can break out of this state by using Break Free.
StunEdit
A stunned character will be slumped over while kneeling. An example of a skill that stuns is Crystal Blast.
Off BalanceEdit
An off-balance character will stand dizzily for a short time. Opponents whose heavy attacks are blocked will become off-balance, as will some opponents after charging (such as Kagouti). Using a heavy attack on an off-balance opponent will knock them down. An example of an ability that can set opponents off-balance is Lava Whip.
FearEdit
A character who is feared runs away in a random direction. Fear is cast by some unique monsters as well as some player abilities, including Aspect of Terror and the Werewolf Transformation ultimate.
SilenceEdit
Silenced characters are unable to use Magicka-based abilities, but are still able to move freely and use Stamina-based abilities and Light and Heavy Attacks. Despite its in-game definition, this effect also impedes the use of abilities with Health or Ultimate costs, as well as abilities with no resource cost.
The only instance of this effect available to player characters is Negate Magic, but it also exists in skills only available to enemies, such as a Dro-m'Athra Sun-Eater's Eclipse Field.
Partially Disabling EffectsEdit
Some effects are less severe than full disabling effects, and still allow characters to attack in some form. Breaking free does not remove these effects.
RootEdit
Rooted or Immobilized characters cannot walk or run, but they are still able to attack, block and cast spells. An ability that roots is Dark Talons.
- Players can escape a rooting effect by dodge rolling.
- Bolt Escape allows a player to move, but the rooting effect will still be active on them. Similarly, NPC shock mages will be able to teleport while rooted.
SnareEdit
Snare effects reduce a character's movement speed, but do not otherwise hinder the character's ability to use attacks or other abilities. Snaring appears as a gray cloud at the character's feet. This very common effect can be triggered by any cold damage or by abilities such as Hidden Blade.
- The only way to remove a snare is to dispel the effect with an ability such as Purge or Retreating Maneuver.
- All enemies can apply a ~60% snare called "Hamstrung" for 5 seconds if they hit you while you move away from them with your back on their side.
Status EffectsEdit
Upon damaging with certain types of damage there is a chance to cause certain debilitating effects to an enemy which either deal damage over time or apply a debuff to an enemy. These effects are called status effects.
Chances of applying status effect are different for different types of attacks and are as follows:
| Attack type | Chance to apply status effect |
|---|---|
| Weapon Enchantment's damage | 20% base chance |
| Weapon Alchemical Poison's damage | 20% base chance |
| Single-target direct attack ability | 10% base chance |
| Area-of-effect abilities | 5 % base chance |
| Single-target damage-over-time abilities | 3% base chance |
| Area-of-effect damage-over-time abilities | 1% base chance |
| All weapons' Light and Heavy attack | 0% base chance |
| Werewolf Light/Partially Charged/Heavy attack | 3%/5%/10% base chance |
Damage-over-time abilities have a chance to apply status effect on every tick of damage.
The base chance of applying status effect can be multiplied by the Charged weapon trait, Skill Passives like Elemental Force from the Destruction staff skill tree, Sets like Threads of War and the Champion passives Flawless Ritual and Battle Mastery.
BurningEdit
The Burning status can be applied by dealing Fire Damage to a character. When you apply the Burning status effect on an enemy, they take fire damage over time based on your Max Magicka and Spell Damage. Burning effect lasts 4 seconds and ticks every 2 seconds.
ChilledEdit
The Chilled status can be applied by dealing Frost Damage to a character. A Chilled enemy takes instant damage and suffers from Minor Maim debuff for 4 seconds, reducing their damage by 5%. If you have an ice staff as your active weapon at the time it is applied, it will also apply Minor Brittle, increasing their critical damage taken.
ConcussedEdit
The Concussed status can be applied by dealing Shock Damage to a character. A Concussed enemy takes instant damage, increased by 15% if Concussed was already recently applied, and suffers from Minor Vulnerability for 4 seconds, increasing their damage taken by 5%.
PoisonedEdit
The Poisoned status can be applied by dealing Poison Damage to a character. When you apply poisoned status effect on an enemy, they take Poison damage over time, increased by up to 100% based on their missing Health. Poisoned effect lasts 4 seconds and ticks every 2 seconds.
DiseasedEdit
The Diseased status can be applied by dealing Disease Damage to a character. A Diseased enemy takes instant damage that splashes in a 6 meter radius to enemies, up to once every 4 seconds. The enemy also suffers from Minor Defile debuff for 4 seconds, decreasing their healing received and damage shield strength by 6%.
HemorrhagingEdit
The Hemorrhaging status can be applied by dealing Bleed Damage to a character. When you apply Hemorrhaging status effect on an enemy, they take damage over time, stacking up to 3 times. Each stack increases the damage by 25%. Hemorrhaging effect lasts 4 seconds and ticks every 2 seconds.
SunderedEdit
The Sundered status can be applied by dealing Physical Damage to a character. A Sundered enemy takes instant damage and suffers from Minor Breach debuff for 4 seconds, decreasing their physical and spell resistance by 2974. Applying Sundered will also increase your Weapon Damage and Spell Damage by 100 for 4 seconds.
OverchargedEdit
The Overcharged status can be applied by dealing Magic Damage to a character. An Overcharged enemy takes instant damage and restores 65 Magicka to the caster. They also suffer from Minor Magickasteal for 4 seconds, which restores 168 magicka per second to players dealing damage to them.
Combat EffectsEdit
Certain effects on players or enemies alter the display of the attribute bars (usually health) in relation to the applied effect:
| Status Effect | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
 |
Damaged Attribute | Attribute maximum decreased |
 |
Fortified Attribute | Attribute maximum increased |
 |
Decrease Over Time | Attribute decreases over time (e.g. poison) |
 |
Increase Over Time | Attribute increases over time (e.g. regeneration) |
 |
Damage Shield | Negates damage for the amount of HP added by the shield |
 |
Deflect | (?) |
 |
Decreased Armor | Target takes more damage from attacks |
 |
Increased Armor | Target takes less damage from attacks |
 |
Decreased Power | Target deals less damage with attacks |
 |
Increased Power | Target deals more damage with attacks |
 |
Invulnerable | Immune to damage |
| x32px | Heal Absorption | Negates healing for the amount of HP added by the Heal Absorption |
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Unarmed CombatEdit
Although disadvantageous, it is possible to fight without a weapon equipped. Unarmed damage scales with your level, but you won't have the base damage stats gained by equipping a weapon. A shield can be equipped by itself, although it cannot be used while unarmed. Many non-hostile NPCs will use unarmed combat if they see you commit a crime.
DeathEdit
When you die, you are put into a blue-tinted third-person deathcam which can be rotated to look around. You can view a "Death Recap", which displays the last five attacks dealt to you, and three hints relating to the cause of death. Additionally, all equipped items lose durability each time you die to PvE, but item's efficiency won't decrease until you hit 0 durability at which point the item won't provide any benefit. Death to the players in PvP will not decrease equipped items durability. Durability can be restored by using a repair kit, purchasable from merchants. Most vendors also offer repair services directly, which are usually cheaper and quicker. After dying in PvE, you can resurrect yourself on the spot at the cost of a filled Soul Gem or choose to respawn at the nearest wayshrine. Group Dungeon/Trial boss fights will prevent respawning until every member of your group is dead (including any quest-related NPC companions in some cases). If you die in PvP, you may respawn at any Alliance-controlled keep that is not under attack and has at least one Alliance-controlled resource, or at a forward camp if you are within its radius. Allies may resurrect you on the spot as well, which can prove invaluable in situations where respawning is not an option. However, you cannot remain on the deathcam screen indefinitely and will eventually be forced to respawn at a wayshrine.
Combat TextEdit
With Combat Text enabled, floating text will display incoming and outgoing damage and crowd control. Each category of combat text can be found in the Settings menu, under the Interface category.