Courtesy of Bethesda
Controls and Keybindings:
Movement – Menus – Combat – General
Quests and Objective Tracking – Exploration – Lockpicking – Fishing – Fast Travel – Mounts
Inventory – Equipment – Item Comparison – Quickslots – Buying, Selling, and Repairing – Bank
Allocating Attribute Points – Skill Lines and Types of Abilities – Learning Abilities – Slotting Abilities – Ability Morphs
Weapon Attacks – Active Abilities – Blocking – Interrupting Enemies – Stealth – Dodging and Escaping – Synergies – Looting – Death
Communicating with Other Players – Forming a Party – Interacting with Others – Looking for Group System – Travel to Player – Adding Friends – Forming a Guild – Guild Banks and Stores
Dungeons – Dark Anchors – Overland Bosses
Finding Materials – Harvesting Resources – Crafting – Smithing – Alchemy – Provisioning – Enchanting
Campaigns – Alliance Points and Emperorship – Keeps – Siege Weapons – Forward Camps – Transitus Shrines – Elder Scrolls
Recommended & Minimum System Specs:
W, A, S, D – Move character
Mouse – Look around
Shift (hold) – Sprint (depletes stamina)
Spacebar – Jump
Ctrl – Enter stealth mode (moving in stealth depletes stamina)
Num Lock – Activate auto-run
I – Inventory
C – Character screen
M – Map
J – Quest journal
K – Skills
O – Contacts
P – Group
G – Guilds
L – Alliance War
N – Notifications
H – Toggle mount
Alt – Open last-used UI menu
Esc – Game menu
F1 – Help
Left Mouse Button – Attack with equipped weapon. Tap to execute a light attack, hold down for a heavy attack
Right Mouse Button – Hold to block
Right Mouse Button + Left Mouse Button – Perform a bash, interrupting some enemy attacks
1 through 5 – Use slotted active abilities
R – Use slotted ultimate ability
W, A, S, D (double-tap) – Dodge
Tab – Cycle preferred enemy target
Q (hold) – Open quickslot radial menu
Q (press) – Use selected quickslot item
X – Activate synergy
` – Swap weapons (level 15+)
E – Interact (use, talk, gather)
F – Interact with another player
. – Activate cursor
T – Cycle active quest objective
V – Toggle first- and third-person camera mode
Mouse Wheel – Zoom camera in or out. Zooming all the way in activates first-person mode
Z – Sheathe/unsheathe weapon
Enter – Start chat
*Tip: UI menus often contain several sub-menus. When you open a menu, you’ll see a row of icons across the top of the screen. Accessible sub-menus are displayed directly beneath these icons in text and can be navigated to by clicking the menu name.
Several icons appear in the top right of the character creation screen. The icons represent four character creation menus:
- Race and gender
- Class selection
- Body appearance
- Facial appearance
Click on these icons to access the menus and customize your character. Don’t forget to choose your class!
Once you’re happy with your selections and have entered a name, press “Create,” and you’ll be ready to play.
If a quest is available nearby, you’ll notice a tracking icon on your compass and over the questgiver’s head. Speak with them to obtain the quest.
You can access your quest journal by pressing “J” to:
- Review your active quests
- Set a quest as your focus (objectives appear on the compass)
- Share quests with group members
- Abandon quests
You can press “T” as you explore to change your current quest focus. “T” cycles through your list of active quests.
In ESO, you won’t only find quests in towns, so get out there and explore to find them all!
There are lots of reasons to step off the beaten path in ESO. Scattered throughout Tamriel, you’ll find:
- Points of interest with challenging enemies
- Treasure chests with locks you can pick
- Dark Anchors threatening to pull Tamriel into Coldharbour
- Mundus Stones that grant special buffs
- Skyshards you can collect to earn skill points
- Lore books
- Treasure maps that lead to hidden chests
- Crafting resources
- And more!
Some of the treasure chests you encounter in the world are locked. If you have lockpicks, you can attempt to pick the lock. Be warned that this is a timed activity—you need to pick the lock before the timer bar empties!
To pick a lock:
- Position the lockpick over a tumbler using the mouse
- Click and hold the left mouse button until the tumbler tightens (note the visual and audio cues)
- If you’re successful, the tumbler stays locked down when you release the mouse button
- Position the lockpick over the next tumbler and repeat!
You also have the option to attempt to force the lock. If this attempt fails, your lockpick will break.
Some locks are more difficult to pick than others, so practice on every chest you come across!
As you explore, you’ll come across fishing holes in bodies of water. If you have any bait (obtained from vendors or by looting some creatures), you can interact with these locations by holding “E” to select your bait and begin fishing. The bait you use can determine the types of fish you obtain.
Wayshrines can be found all over Tamriel. These shrines activate when you approach them and allow you to travel quickly between them.
You can travel from anywhere on the map (“M”) to a Wayshrine you’ve visited before by clicking the Wayshrine icon on your map and paying a small fee in gold. You can travel between Wayshrines with no fee if you approach a Wayshrine and interact with it.
Mounts, which allow you to travel more quickly, range in price starting at 17,200 gold in any major city. Once you have a mount, you can use “H” to summon it.
At a stable master, you can feed and name your mount. The food you choose determines your mount’s statistics. Food for mounts can be purchased at stables.
The items you acquire are kept in the inventory (“I”). When you open your inventory, all of your items are displayed on the right side of the screen. Clicking on the icons at the top of the list allows you to view all of your items or just items of a specific type.
When you right-click an item, a list of options appears. Right-clicking an item opens a menu that allows you to:
- Equip an item
- Destroy an item
- Add an enchantment to an item (if you have an enchantment)
- Link the item in chat
- Mark an item as junk to sell later
- Repair the item (if you have a repair kit)
- Split a stack of items
On the left side of the inventory screen, you can review your equipped items. To equip an item, drag it from the inventory on the right to the appropriate slot, double-click the item, or right-click it and select “equip.”
Some items require you to attain a certain level before you can equip them.
When you mouse over an item in your inventory, you’ll notice a tooltip that displays the item’s stats, bonuses, and enchantments. If you have an item already equipped in that slot, the tooltip compares your equipped item and the item you’re currently mousing over, allowing you to view the differences and choose the better item.
The quickslot radial menu allows fast access to consumables and other items. Here’s how to use the quickslot menu:
- Open the inventory (“I”)
- Click the “Quick Slot” icon on the top right
- Drag items from the list on the right to the circular menu to slot them
While you’re playing, you can hold “Q” to bring up the quickslot menu and click on an item to place it in your quickslot. Pressing “Q” activates the item you chose.
Buying, Selling, and Repairing
Some NPCs are merchants. By speaking with them, you can view their wares or sell your own or repair your damaged equipment.
Select “buy” or “sell” from the top of the store screen after opening a shop to see its items or review your own for sale. Double-clicking an item buys or sells it, or you can right-click an item to buy, sell, or buy several of the same item. If you accidentally sell an item you wanted to keep, you can get it back by accessing the “buyback” tab.
Click the “repair” icon from the top of the store screen to view your damaged items and repair them one at a time or all at once. Equipment loses durability when you die. You can also purchase repair kits, which allow you to repair items anywhere.
A shopkeeper’s inventory can be sorted, just like the player’s inventory.
All of your characters (regardless of alliance) share a common bank that can be accessed through Bankers in large cities throughout Tamriel. Crafting materials stored in your bank can be directly accessed at crafting stations.
As you gain experience, you’ll earn levels. Every time you gain a level, you’ll receive attribute and skill points to distribute. You can see your current level progress on the top-left of the character menu (“C”).
When you level up, you’ll gain an attribute point that you can distribute to health, magicka, or stamina.
- Health determines the number of hit points you have
- Magicka is used to power magical abilities
- Stamina is used by physical abilities and by sprinting, blocking, dodging, interrupting, and sneaking.
An ability’s magicka or stamina cost is displayed in its tooltip, which you can see by mousing over the ability.
To spend attribute points, press “C” to open the character menu. Click the plus icons to allocate points, and when you’re satisfied, press “E” to commit your changes.
Skill Lines and Types of Abilities
All abilities are sorted into skill lines. As you use abilities, you gain experience in the associated skill line. Some abilities cannot be purchased until you reach a particular skill line level.
Note: your level with a skill line is separate from your overall character level; your level in a skill line represents your use of and experience with that particular set of abilities.
Abilities are divided into three main types:
- Active abilities that can be used on your shortcut bar
- Passive abilities that are “always on” once purchased
- Ultimate abilities are powerful active abilities. You can only have one ultimate ability on your shortcut bar at once
You can see all of your skill lines by pressing “K.” Clicking on a category (such as “Class”) expands the list to show you available skill lines in that category. Clicking on a skill line displays that line’s abilities on the right side of the screen.
Note that you don’t start the game with all possible skill lines—there are some skill lines (such as the Mages and Fighters Guild skill lines) that you can discover in the world.
You receive skill points as you level up and as you discover the Skyshards hidden throughout the world.
Note: You need to discover three Skyshards to gain a skill point.
To spend skill points:
- Press “K” to open the skills menu
- Select the category and skill line you want from the menu list
- Abilities you can purchase are indicated by a plus icon
- Click the plus icon to purchase the ability
- Confirm your selection
Slotting Abilities
Your shortcut bar is displayed at the bottom of the skills menu (“K”).
You can drag any active ability icon to your shortcut bar from its skill line. This assigns it to a number key 1 through 5 (or “R” in the case of ultimates). When you press that key, you’ll use that ability.
You can only have one ultimate ability slotted per shortcut bar, so choose carefully.
At level 15, you gain the ability to have two different weapon sets equipped. Each weapon set has an ability shortcut bar, so your second weapon set can have its own set of 6 abilities. To set your secondary abilities, swap your weapon set by pressing “`” and slot abilities as outlined above.
Many abilities can be morphed. When an ability is ready to morph, you’ll see an icon next to it in the skills menu. By clicking this icon, you’ll be presented with a choice, allowing you to customize that ability. Confirming an ability morph requires you to spend a skill point, just like purchasing a new ability.
Use the left mouse button to perform attacks with your equipped weapon. There are two types of basic attacks:
- Click to perform a light attack
- Hold the mouse button to perform a heavy attack
The number keys 1 through 5 allow you to activate the abilities you’ve chosen for your shortcut bar (see the “Skills and Leveling Up” section for instructions).
Every ability has an activation cost, generally in magicka or stamina. If you have enough resources, you can press the corresponding key to execute that ability.
Ultimate abilities are executed by pressing the “R” key. When you use your ultimate, you’ll notice that its icon becomes darker. To use it again, fill the icon up by engaging in combat.
Some abilities can be toggled on and off by pressing their related hotkey. Ability tooltips help you recognize toggled abilities.
Hold the right mouse button to block and reduce damage from enemy attacks. Any weapon can block, but shields are the best-suited for it. Blocking consumes stamina.
If you block an enemy’s strong attack (indicated by a glowing yellow effect around the enemy), you’ll knock the enemy off balance and open it up for a devastating counterattack. To counterattack, use your heavy attack on an off-balance enemy.
When you see a glowing red effect around an enemy, the attack they are using (or are about to use) can be interrupted. To interrupt the attack, approach the enemy and press the left and right mouse button at the same time. Interrupting consumes stamina.
Press the “Ctrl” button to enter stealth mode. This decreases the chance that enemies will detect you, and some abilities can only be used while in stealth.
In this mode, your targeting reticule becomes an eye. If the eye begins to open, you’re in danger of being detected and may need to move. If it opens all the way, you’ve been spotted.
As you move in stealth, you consume stamina.
To dodge enemy attacks, double-tap the movement keys in the direction you’d like to dodge. If you time it right, you’ll avoid damage from the attack. Dodging costs stamina.
Some enemy attacks may hold you in place. To break this effect, you can press both mouse buttons at once. This also costs stamina.
When you engage in combat with a group of allies, you may discover combat synergies between abilities. Synergies trigger secondary effects that can be activated by pressing “X” when prompted.
When you defeat enemies, they often leave behind loot. To collect the loot from nearby defeated enemies, approach the corpses and press “E.” You automatically collect loot from several corpses—no need to interact with each one.
If your health is reduced to zero, you’ve died, and your equipped items will suffer durability loss. If you have a full soul gem of the appropriate level in your inventory, you have the option to revive at the location where you fell. If you don’t, you can return to the nearest Wayshrine.
To fill soul gems, you’ll need Soul Trap, an ability gained through the Soul Magic skill line.
If you come across a dead player, you can use a full soul gem to revive them.
Communicating with Other Players
To open the chat window, press “Enter.” From here, you can use various chat commands to communicate with other players. Here are some common chat commands:
/say <message> sends the message to players in close proximity
/party <message> sends the message to players in your party
/zone <message> sends the message to all players in the zone
/tell <player> <message> sends a private chat message to the indicated player
/guild 1 or /g1 <message> sends the message to the first guild you’ve joined. If you join multiple guilds, you can use the numbers 2-5 to speak to your other guilds (ex. /guild 2 or /g2).
You can also perform a variety of emotes—fun animations that add flavor to your interactions with others. Try a /dance!
There are several chat options you can access by clicking the gear icon in the upper-right of the chat window. This allows you to adjust the font size, the chat channels you see, and more.
To invite another player to your party:
- Open the chat window by pressing “Enter”
- Type /invite <character name>
- Press “Enter”
- The player will be prompted to join your party
You can also invite a character that is nearby by approaching them and pressing “F” to bring up the interaction radial menu.
Incoming party requests appear as a small, glowing chat bubble icon in your chat window.
By pressing “F” while another player character is highlighted, you can perform several interactions, such as inviting that player to a party or initiating a trade with them.
The Looking for Group tool can assist you in finding other players to join with. To access the tool:
- Press “P” to open the group menu
- Select the search menu in the top right
- Select content you’d like to participate in and your preferred role(s)
- Now you can find other players to group with
Once you’re grouped, you can use the “Wayshrine Network” or “Travel to Player” options to join up.
The social menu also allows you to set your desired group role to let others know what types of abilities and responsibilities you can to bring to the party (damage-dealing, healing, etc).
You can travel to players of your alliance in your group, guild, or contacts list. All you need to do is right-click on their name in the contacts, group, or guild menu and select “travel to player.” In the Alliance War area of Cyrodiil, this will allow you to travel to a frontier keep. You cannot leave Cyrodiil in this fashion.
Your friends list helps you keep track of players you like to socialize with in-game. To add a friend:
- Open the contacts menu (“O”)
- Press “E” to open the “Add Friend” dialog
- Enter your friend’s character name or UserID
- (Optional) enter a message to send your friend
- Hit “Request”
You can also send friend requests by right-clicking a character’s name in chat, or by aiming at them and pressing “F” to activate the interaction menu (if they’re close by).
Guilds allow large groups of players to organize, coordinate, and socialize. They each have their own private chat channel and several other benefits.
To form a guild:
- Open the guilds menu (“G”)
- Press “E” to create your guild
- Enter your desired guild name
- Select your guild’s alliance for the Alliance War
- Choose “Create Guild”
You can invite other players to join your guild by selecting the “Roster” section of the guild menu and pressing “E” to add a member by their character name or UserID.
If you’re invited to join a guild, you’ll receive a notification that allows you to accept or decline the invitation.
When a guild reaches the appropriate size, it unlocks the ability to use the guild bank and store. Guild banks are accessible through Bankers in large cities, and bank permissions can be set by the guild leader. Guild stores are also accessed by interacting with a Banker. Your guild members buy items from other guild members and post items for sale in the guild store.
Dungeons are designed to be a challenge for a party of four players of the appropriate level. Each party of four that enters has its own version of the dungeon—no one else can wander in. In dungeons, you’ll encounter tough enemies and bosses that you’ll need to work together with others to overcome.
Molag Bal threatens to pull Tamriel into his Oblivion realm of Coldharbour, and the Dark Anchors will allow him to succeed if they aren’t driven back. You’ll know when you see a Dark Anchor—there will be a large event and very visible disturbance. Make sure to gather some allies before you try to drive back the Daedra and destroy the Anchor!
You’ll sometimes encounter creatures in the world that are too powerful for one person to challenge. If you do, put out the call for allies!
In ESO, you can gain experience as a Clothier, Woodworker, Blacksmith, Alchemist, Enchanter, and Provisioner. Crafting skills can be accessed and improved in the skills menu (“K”).
In cities and other settlements, you’ll find crafting materials in barrels, crates, and other containers. Open them all and you’ll build up a big supply of crafting resources!
In addition to the materials you find in crates and barrels, resources can be found throughout the wilderness. Plants, minerals, mushrooms, and many other materials can be gathered in the wild. If you approach a harvestable resource, you can press “E” to gather it.
With all the materials you find, you’ll be able to create a wide variety of items.
To craft, you’ll need to approach the appropriate crafting station for the skill (an anvil for blacksmithing, a cooking fire for provisioning, etc). Once there, you can use the materials you’ve gathered to begin crafting.
There are three types of smiths: Woodworkers, Blacksmiths, and Clothiers. Smiths create armor and weapons from raw materials. The materials used determine a crafted item’s level. You can use style components to craft items in racial styles and add traits that you’ve researched to them.
To learn new traits, you must research an item with the trait you wish to learn. This deconstructs the item and takes an increasing amount of time based on how many traits you’ve already learned for that kind of item. Research progresses even if your character is not online. You can access research at the appropriate crafting station (in the upper-right of the crafting menu).
Smiths can also deconstruct items to obtain raw materials, style and trait components, and tempers, tannins, or resins. Tempers, tannins, and resins can be used to improve the quality of an item. The higher the quality of the item, the more of these “boosters” you’ll need to ensure successful upgrading. Boosters can be traded to other players.
Alchemists use plants, mushrooms, and other ingredients to create potions. To create potions, gather these items in the world, and approach an Alchemy Station. From here, you can combine the reagents and solvents you’ve found to try and discover new potions. By combining ingredients that have the same trait, you’ll create a potion with that effect. You can sample ingredients by using them from you inventory to discover the first trait of an ingredient, but you’ll need to experiment to discover more.
Provisioners can create food items that provide buffs. To create these items, you’ll first need to find a recipe. Once you have a recipe, all you need to do is find the ingredients it calls for and combine them at a cooking fire to create it.
Enchanters combine mysterious runes of Potency, Essence, and Aspect to create glyphs that add new properties to weapons and other equipment. You’ll need at least one of each rune type to create a glyph at an Enchanting Station, and you can extract runes from glyphs you find there as well. Runes can be found throughout the world as you explore.
When you reach level 10, you can travel to Cyrodiil and participate in the Alliance War. If your character is not level 50, you’ll be scaled up so you can effectively participate in combat. Press “L” to bring up the Alliance War menu at any time.
If you are slain in Cyrodiil by another player, your items will not lose durability.
You’ll be automatically assigned to a home campaign when you enter Cyrodiil. You can travel to Cyrodiil from the “Campaign” tab of the Alliance War menu (“L”). When multiple campaigns are active, you’ll be able to become a guest in your friends’ campaigns or choose a new home campaign.
Alliance Points and Emperorship
You’ll earn Alliance Points as you participate in battle throughout Cyrodiil. Killing enemy players and defending or capturing keeps and resource sites are some of the way you’ll earn AP. With AP, you can purchase gear, siege equipment, and more from your alliance’s merchants.
Alliance Points also help determine your overall score. You can see the top players in your campaign on the “leaderboard” tab of the Alliance War menu (“L”). The top player in a campaign that captures the keeps that ring the Imperial City will become the Emperor!
Capturing and defending keeps is a key strategy for winning in the Alliance War. You’ll need allies to successfully assault an enemy keep and the resources that surround it, so gather your friends and lay siege! Once you’ve breached a keep’s defenses, your alliance must occupy the two inner banners of that keep long enough for it to change ownership.
If you are defending a keep, the walls, doors, and siege weapons can be repaired with the proper repair kit. To repair, target the object you want to work on and use the repair kit from your quickslot.
You can use Alliance Points to purchase rams, boiling oil, trebuchets, catapults, and ballistae from the merchants at your alliance main gate or keeps to assist in sieging and defending keeps. To deploy a siege weapon, assign it to your quickslot and use it. A yellow circle will appear on the ground in valid deployment locations.
Each siege weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses, so try them out to learn more.
Forward camps provide additional respawn points. They are placed like siege weapons but have a limited duration and can’t be placed near another forward camp. You can destroy an enemy’s forward camp by approaching it and pressing “E” when prompted.
Transitus Shrines allow fast travel in Cyrodiil between your alliance’s gate and keeps or outposts it controls (provided there is an unbroken link between the locations). Use them to travel quickly to the action.
Each alliance protects an Elder Scroll, a powerful relic that provides benefits to the entire alliance. If your alliance can manage to steal an Elder Scroll from the enemy’s heavily-guarded shrines and return it to your alliance’s shrine, the entire alliance will gain a bonus. Elder Scrolls are not easy to capture, but are well-worth the effort.
- Tutorials: We will be adding in pop-up help and NPC conversations which aid players in more clearly understanding some of our gameplay systems, including things like crafting. These are not yet fully implemented into the current build, but we will continue to optimize throughout our beta testing period.
- Balance: As we are still in beta and actively testing, game balance is going to be in flux. This also includes things such as the economy.
- Questing: Some quests could be broken, but we continue to address those throughout our beta testing period.
- PvP: Getting into Cyrodiil and testing PvP during this beta preview will not fully emulate the experience of the live game. Without a larger population, the Alliances may be imbalanced as there is not a big enough pool from which to balance properly.
- NPCs: We are still working on a number of things related to NPCs. Including facial animation issues and irregular popping issues. Sometimes the client and the server do not agree on where a specific NPC is in the world. This is due to many factors, but basically it can mean you see NPCs suddenly lurch ahead or animate in a strange way. We are correcting these as we see them and they vary depending on connection.
- We are committed to delivering fresh content on a regular basis post-launch and have many things that are already in the works, but that won’t be available April 4. For instance, we’ve previously announced that both The Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood are planned, but won’t be in at launch. We not only use our beta testing for polish and balancing, but also to hear from our community on things they would like us to consider for future content updates.
PC RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit or Windows 8 64-bit
Processor: Quad Core 2.3GHz or equivalent processor
Memory: 4GB System RAM
Hard Disk Space: 60GB free HDD space
Video Card: DirectX 11 compliant video card with 2GB of RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 560 Ti / ATI Radeon 6950 or better)
Sound: DirectX compatible sound card
PC MINIMUM SPECS:
Operating System: Windows XP 32-bit
Processor: Dual Core 2.0 GHz or equivalent processor
Memory: 2 GB System RAM
Hard Disk Space: 60 GB free HDD space
Video Card: DirectX 9.0 compliant video card with 512 MB of RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 8800, ATI Radeon 2600 or better)
Sound: DirectX compatible sound card
MAC Recommended SPECS:
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.7.0 or Later
Processor: Intel i5 processor
Memory: 4 GB System RAM
Hard Disk Space: 60 GB free HDD space
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M, ATI Radeon HD 5770 or better.
Resolution: 1024X768 minimum display resolution
MAC MINIMUM SPECS:
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.7.0 or Later
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor
Memory: 4 GB System RAM
Hard Disk Space: 60 GB free HDD space
Video Card: Intel HD Graphics 4000, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, ATI Radeon HD 6490M or better; Resolution: 1024X768 minimum display resolution
Getting Help
If you encounter a problem that prevents you from accessing your account or that keeps you from playing the game, we’re here to help. You can contact Customer Support during the test through any of these means:
- Press “F1” to open the help menu and submit a ticket in-game
- Submit a ticket at http://help.elderscrollsonline.com
- Call 855-296-3170