Races - Elder Scrolls Online

Should I worry about Race and Racial Bonuses?

While Race is not the most important component of your Build in ESO, their Passives do have an impact, particularly in more challenging content or PvP. Many players start out not knowing what commitment level they will have to the game, and often times they become much more “hardcore” than they originally intended. For this reason, it does make some sense to spend time researching what Race to play, even if you don’t anticipate playing in any serious capacity. While you can change your Race later if you really want to, it will cost you money, and a bit of investigation could save you nearly 30 USD.

It is also important to know that Races are locked into Factions in ESO. Each Faction has 3 races, and Imperials are also available as a special buy that allows you to join any of the Alliances. The alliance you belong to has only one effect in modern ESO: locks you into that faction’s group in PvP (in Cyrodiil). This is not a big issue for most newcomers, but you should check out the Factions page to familiarize yourself with what they stand for, just so you know the company you’ll keep!. You may also unlock “Any Race, Any Alliance” for 1500 crowns in the crown store – but be mindful you cannot change faction after character creation!

How do I pick a race in ESO?

There are two parts to selecting your character’s race. On one side, there’s Roleplay purposes – maybe you want to roleplay an unusual Khajiit raised by High Elves who has discovered an aptitude for Magic. Maybe you want to roleplay a fierce Dunmer Warrior, or maybe you are trying to make your character match your own looks, and discover High Elves don’t have dark hair so you have to pick a Wood Elf or human instead.

• If you are picking your race for roleplay, you can still try to optimize it by selecting a Class that matches its strengths, so in that case you’ll want to look at our Classes article and our many, many builds.

The second part of race selection is optimization for the best possible build. If this is the route you’re taking, it starts by thinking “What is my playstyle?”. Do you want to use a bow or a greatsword? Then you’ll be focusing your points into Stamina. Are you looking to manipulate the elements and command minions? Then you’re looking at Magicka and spell buffs. Do you want to be an unbreakable wall of indisputable power? Then you’ll be looking for Health and Stamina boosts.

• When selecting a race for optimization, first decide a Weapon focus for your playstyle. Read the Weapon Skills to get an idea of what you’ll do. The second step is to look at the available Classes and select one that will match the role you want to play with that weapon. Once you know your role and if you’re Magicka or stamina based (or health), you can look at the races and optimize for any of the roles available in game

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