How To Use Skill Points
Elder Scrolls Online has so many options for putting your skills to use that it can be quite difficult to figure out the best place to use them. Use the following helpful tips to help guide you:
- Early on, your skill points should be put into spells/class abilities. During the early levels for combat those will be your real bread and butter. You are going to need to have good spells in order to get all the quests completed at your level. Early on, passive abilities won’t be nearly as effective. Therefore, you will want to save putting points into them until later in the game.
- Don’t hold onto skill points too long. At times, you may feel like wanting to level up on a certain skill tree in order to put a skill point in. You will save one or two skill points by doing this. That is acceptable, and at times isn’t such a bad idea. However, you might end up sacrificing much of your combat effectiveness through not using your skill points for a long period of time.
- Don’t use weapon skills unless you are absolutely sure you need to. It can be very risky putting points into weapon skills. During the early leveling stages you will most likely be using many different types of weapons. Weapon skills work with just one type. That is why unless you are will only ever use a Dual Wielding, or a Bow or Destruction staff, don’t put points in the weapon skill tree.
Of course, you can be lenient about these three rules. They are just guidelines for helping you do well during the early ESO stages. If you think it’s a good idea to break one of them, then definitely go for it.
Skyshards
There are other ways of getting skill points besides leveling up. There is another mechanic in ESO for this called Skyshards. They are magical rocks you can find as you are exploring in Tamriel. You can activate as well as gain powers from them. If you find three Skyshards, you will get a skill point that can be used in whatever you’d like. So as you are exploring, be sure to keep a lookout for them. It is easy to spot Skyshards (they are glowing, large rocks), so you can probably find a majority of Skyshards located in an area through questing. They do provide you with a big boost in PvP over players at the same level who haven’t discovered as many Skyshards compared to you.
After you locate a Skyshard, you won’t be able to use it again. What this means is there isn’t a way of exploiting them to obtain additional skill points more quickly. However, Skyshards, unlike Chests, are in set places on the map. So if you spot a Skyshard someplace, everybody else can see it there as well. That makes them much easier to locate, since other players can let you know where they are located.
Game Mechanics
There are some unique game mechanics to Elder Scrolls Online that help make it distinct from other MMOs. There are also traditional game mechanics as well that you might find to be familiar.
Compass And Map System
If you played Elder Scrolls games previously, then you are more than likely familiar with the system used by ESO. In ESO, there is a compass instead of a minimap. It points you towards landmarks, quest objectives, quests and North, East, West and South. To help make it easier, whenever the compass is hovering above a mark, it displays text over it stating what it is. This system is very easy and natural to use. However for individuals who haven’t play other modern Elder Scrolls games like Skyrim, it may seem unfamiliar.
The map makes use of markers that are similar to the compass for showing you where quest points and locations are. This also makes it easier to find things such as Dungeons, Vendors and Wayshrines. Also, the map allows you to set custom waypoints if you need to go to an unmarked place.
Wayshrines
These are important components for getting across Tamriel. They are a substitute for the feature “Quick Travel” in some of the other Elder Scrolls games. These Wayshrines are a type of shrine that can be teleported from any place in the world. However, there is a small gold cost involved. You get to travel for free, if you’re at another Wayshrine. You must discover a Wayshrine to unlock it. Usually you do this through questing.
Combat
- Combat is unique in Elder Scrolls Online. It is a completely immersive experience with many features contributing to it.
- The left mouse button is used for making Basic Attacks. It is the standard whack move, and does small amounts of damage to your enemy. However, you can also chain it along with other basic attacks in quick succession.
- Blocking can be done with any weapon through the use of the right mouse button. You don’t take as much damage when an enemy attacks. It does drain your stamina. However, it lets you shield bash your enemies in order to interrupt the spelling casting they are doing.
- To perform a Power Attack, you hold the left mouse button down. Stamina isn’t required liked it is with some of the other Elder Scrolls game. However, they are very slow and must be perfectly time. Missing a power attack is something you don’t want to have happen.
- In early levels, sprinting is an excellent combat tool in addition to being used in traveling. This enables you to sprint from your enemies. It is excellent for kiting enemies as well (attack and then run way from them).
