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The Elder Scrolls Online: Introducing the Combat System

Principles of combat

Any character in the game will have a skill bar with six slots: the first two are allocated for weapon skills, class skills occupy the next three slots, and players can place a maximum skill in the sixth slot.

Weapon skills are derived from the type of weapon the character is currently equipped with. There will be more than two available, but players can only place two on the skill bar for active use. The same goes for class skills. Basically, any three-class skill can fill all three related slots on the skill bar. However, they must be chosen to support each other. All characters have an ultimate skill set, which is suspected to be very powerful. That is precisely the reason why only one can be used, so fill in the designated slot for the skill bar.

Armor abilities also exist in the game. They are passive, so they won’t fill any slots on the skill bar. These abilities will depend directly on the type of armor that the player is wearing. Characters don’t need to wear just one armor type, but more pieces of the same armor type will provide access higher up in the related skill tree.

In ESO, the main character’s stats are health, stamina, and magic. Health is the character’s total number of health points (how much damage he can take before death occurs). Stamina is a necessary resource for weapon attacks, sprinting, blocking, and dodging. Casting spells requires magic.

Orientation Mechanics

TESO’s soft-lock targeting allows the player to select their target through the use of a mouse-controlled reticle. That means the character has to face and aim at his target to hit him with an attack afterwards. The target can only escape the attack by using dodge or evasion abilities. There is also a hard blocking targeting option that allows the player to focus on one target, very useful during massive encounters (with many players and / or NPCs).

Damage avoidance and combat

For these purposes, The Elder Scrolls Online has three specific abilities.

Dodge and Block can be used to avoid being hit by an opponent, be it a monster or another player. By dodging, the player basically gets out of the way of an incoming attack. Using his shield or weapon, the player can also block an attack.

The stealth ability allows the player to move undetected in the vicinity of enemies without engaging in combat. The costumes will also be available in-game as loot. Players can use these outfits to walk unrestrictedly near enemies.

All of these skills along with sprinting (running) require various amounts of endurance.

Synergy and delicacy

Synergy is a system in ESO that practically rewards two players for working together. This means that when one player uses a skill, the other player can interact with it at a certain time and improve it. In other words, players are rewarded for paying attention to the fight and reacting promptly at the right times. The benefits range from simply helping the team kill faster, finesse points, additional experience, loot, and special rewards.

Synergy is not limited to players. Monsters also use this system to increase the power of their abilities, making them more difficult to kill.

Finesse is the other system that offers benefits to players who can use their skills efficiently during fights. On top of that, it maintains a fair reward system where no effort means no profit. As a result, successful attacks, interrupts, blocking, using synergies, and other actions will yield points of finesse. Finesse Points are required for Ultimate Skills, so by earning them faster, players will be able to use their Ultimate Skills more often. Based on the number of finesse points earned, players will also receive additional loot, gold, and experience.

Player versus player

PvP in ESO will be available in an organized way, but it can also occur naturally anywhere. Players will have unrestricted access to enemy areas. The developers created bottlenecks between the three territories of the alliance to increase the difficulty of advancing towards the regions controlled by the opponents.

During the Alliance vs Alliance battles, players will fight for resources and fortresses to reach the ultimate goal, to take control of the Imperial City. The highest ranked player in the winning alliance, he becomes Emperor and receives special abilities that significantly increase his combat abilities. Players, Guilds, and Alliances will have leaderboards and achievements to display their progress and fighting skills.

ESO’s combat system is very refined but easy to understand. By rewarding team play and good fighting skills, players are encouraged to do the best job possible during fights. TESO fans are invited to share their thoughts and discover more combat-related facts on the Elder Scrolls Online forum.

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