There are a surprising amount of players in the game that still have no clue you can be a Vampire or Werewolf in Elder Scrolls Online. As such I’ve provided a quick guide on both to let you in on how you go about becoming one and what the advantages and disadvantages are. 

Overview

Similarly to our Vampire guide, becoming a Werewolf unlocks a set of active and passive skills that you can invest in. Becoming a Werewolf (as with its Vampire counterpart) has both a positive and negative impact on the player. Similarly to the Vampire there are only two methods in the game that allow you to pursue the Werewolf path: contracting the Lupinus disease from a player or NPC. 

If you’re pursuing contracting the disease from a Werewolf, you’ll first need to locate one. Unfortunately there’s no set or guaranteed location for them (yet) with the exception that they tend to be located in high level zones (across all 3 provinces). A quest in Mournhold challenges you to fight off a wave of invading Werewolves which is a good opportunity to get bitten. There’s also some quests in Aldcroft for the Daggerfall Covenant that involves Werewolfs. Once bitten you’ll receive the quest Hircine’s Gift and similarly to the Vampire quest line you simply have to complete the objectives presented before becoming one.

The other option for becoming a Werewolf is to be bitten by a player already infected with the disease, with players only able to transform others once every 7 days. Be aware that if you’re infected with Vampirism you won’t be able to turn into a Werewolf and if you do choose to pursue either Vampirism or becoming a Werewolf, you can remove it for a price. 

Skills and Abilities

Once you’ve completed the Hircine’s Gift quest line you’ll be awarded with a new set of skills and abilities. Similarly to all other skills in game you can more these:

Active Spells:

• Werewolf Transformation- Transforms you into a werewolf and causes nearby enemies to run in fear. Increases your stamina, armor and run speed.
• Pack Leader – Allies gain ultimate faster.
• Werewolf Berserker – Increases attack speed with each hit and adds bleed damage.
• Pounce - Leaps to your target dealing physical damage and stunning off-balance targets.
• Brutal Pounce – Deals damage to all enemies in the area.
• Feral Pounce – Every use increases time in werewolf form.
• Roar - Causes fear, disorientation and off-balance to 3 nearby enemies for 3.5 seconds.
• Ferocious Roar – Killing feared targets leaves nearby allies off-balance and disoriented.
• Rousing Roar – Increases weapon power of nearby allies.

Passive Abilities:

• Pursuit – Increases stamina by 10%.
• Blood Rage – Generates 2 Ultimate by taking damage in humanoid form.
• Devour – Devours humanoid corpses to extend time in werewolf form.
• Savage Strength – Increases max stamina by 3% for every kill, stacking up to 5 times.
• Bloodmoon – Allows you to turn another player into a Werewolf once every 7 days, giving them the Werewolf skill line.
• Call of the Pack – Allows allies to remain in werewolf form for 3% longer. Affects up to five targets and stacks up to five times.

It should be noted that the Werewolf skills rely heavily on Stamina while the Vampire skills rely heavily on Magika. 

Pro’s and Con’s

As mentioned above there are Pro’s and Con’s to becoming a Werewolf. The biggest drawback where a Werewolf is concerned is your weakness to poison (whether transformed into a Werewolf or not) and the threat from the Fighters Guild. Fortunately there aren’t many poison skills in the Elder Scrolls Online but those who’ve specialised in Skilled Tracker through the Fighters Guild deal significantly more damage to Werewolves. Where the positives are concerned, you’ll deal significantly more damage, run quicker and have more armor as a Werewolf and although they only have 2 active actives (thus you’ll rely on light and heavy melee attacks) they do deal significant damage. 

Should I be a Werewolf?

I think the Werewolf option is much better than Vampirism simply because there are fewer drawbacks. The fact most players haven’t - so far - specialised in the Fighters Guild and there are so few poison skills makes this a very positive and viable option. The fact it’s reliant on stamina so much limits its potential, but if you aren’t a Magika user it’s well worth considering. If for nothing else, it’s great for role-playing and it’s even more fun when an opposing player sees you transform. Should you change your mind, it only costs around 1,000 gold to cure.

View our guide: How to Become a Vampire