The Elder Scrolls: Arena – Beginners Guide

General information and tips about how to play Vanilla TES Arena.

Guide for New Players

All credit goes to RedBerylFTW!

First

Forget what you know about other Elder Scrolls games, and put yourself into a Dungeons&Dragons mindset.

You are not guaranteed to win. You are only guaranteed an adventure.

TESA is a dice rolling game. Everything is calculated by dice rolls. You will never actually “see” these dice, but they are constantly working everywhere. Everything from your chance to hit to what loot you find is determined by a formula made up of several dice rolls. Just like D&D, your stats, equipment and status will greatly effect the outcome of those rolls, but you are never guaranteed a %100 success rate.

What this is NOT

• An in-depth guide on the inner workings of every system. (e.g. spellmaking, questing, stats etc.)
• A long-winded walkthrough that teaches you the intro quest.
• A build guide.

What this IS

• The most fundamental principals for playing TESA. The most basic basics.

Movement

The first hurdle every player must pass is the basic movement. Here are some tips to get you walking.

• Put your WASD hand on the arrow keys, and use your pinky finger for RShift and RCtrl

• Arrow Keys: Walk + Turn
• Arrow Keys + RCtrl: Walk+Strafe
• L+R Mouse Click: Jump
• L+R Mouse Click + RShift: Long Jump
• RShift + M: World Map

Don’t even bother using the “A” key to ready your weapon. Instead, learn to click on your icon bar (entire bottom of the screen). It’s faster than moving your whole hand over to press a key.

For bridges: Long Jumping over a bridge is faster than waiting to fall from every step

Other Helpful Hints

• You can long jump between many different platforms. Even if it isn’t directly in front of you, any platform can be jumped to within reach. Even at weird diagonal angles in dungeons. Jumping will make your gameplay faster by cutting down time you spend climbing/swimming. Even if you don’t hit a platform, long jump into water to get a head start.
• You can “dodge” enemy attacks by taking steps backward when they attack. Just make sure you watch where you’re walking.
• If a monster is blocking a platform, ready your weapon, climb up, hold the up arrow, and slash as fast as you can. You have time to kill the mobs before you fall. Watch your health, or you may die instead.
• You can jump attack, but not if you are carrying too many kilograms. The first major kilogram status effect is removing the ability to jump with your weapon drawn.

If you are a little bit too diagonal, you can control the speed of turning with the mouse pointer. Closer to the center moves slower, closer to the edge moves faster.

Combat

Right Click and drag: Swing

Simple right? Well, not really.

From the Codex Scientia

Combat Formula to hit:

Note: The monsters ALWAYS have a 20% chance of hitting you.

• 50+((ALV – DLV) * 5) + (AAG – DAG) + (ALK
• DLK) + MAG + GEN- DAR- SHD=%HIT

What does that formula mean?

It means you (or humanoids) always begin with a %50 chance to hit. That chance is then changed by the variables. You will never have a chance to hit below %50.

Formula legend

• ALV = Attacker’s Ievel
• DLV = Defender’s level
• AAG = Attacker’s Agility Modifier
• DAG = Defender’s Agility Modifier
• ALK = Attacker’s Luck Modifier
• DLK = Defender’s Luck Modifier
• DAR =Defender’s Armor Value Modifier
• AIN = Attacker’s Intelligence Modifier
• DWI = Defender’s Willpower Modifier
• GEN = General Modifiers (enchantments, diseases, etc)
• MAG = Magical Modifiers (resistances, weaknesses, etc)
• SHD = Shield Bonus Modifler

The location of the hit requires an extra roll and is determined as follows:

• Location | Armor Piece | Roll
• Head – Helm 1-2
• RIght Shoulder – Pauldron 3-5
• Left Shoulder – Pauldron 6-8
• Chest/Back – Cuirass 9-12
• Elbow/hand – Gauntlets 13-16
• Waist/Thighs – Tassel 17-19
• Knee/Feet – Boots 20

But wait, there’s more. From the Player’s Guide:

• Diagonal slash left: Pull the mouse sharply down to the left -5% to hit, +2 damage
• Diagonal slash right: Pull the mouse sharply down to the right -5% to hit, +2 damage
• Horizontal cut: Pull the mouse left or right – 0 –
• Vertical chop: Pull the mouse downward -10% to hit, +4 damage
• Thrust: Push the mouse upward +10% to hit, -4 damage

Missile weapons

Clicking the right mouse button will fire arrows directly to the cursor while it is in the ‘X’ shape.

There is also the matter of Saving Throws.

When a saving throw is successful, the roller (defender) takes half damage. Some classes take no damage (like the monk) and some NPC characters take no damage. The saving throw is the single most important part of the combat formula. No matter how well-calculated your stats and attacks are, you always run that chance that a very powerful enemy rolls a successful saving throw.

General Advice

• You can poke some locked doors with your sword to unlock them (brute force STR req)
• Do not explore towns at night. Especially during one specific holiday. The logic is that when night comes, monsters think towns are the easiest target to attack (From the Codex Scientia). So you should head for the wilderness or the nearest inn to avoid getting bombarded by town mobs. Resting in the wilderness is also safer at night than it is during the day.
• Check your weapon/armor enchantments at the mages guild.
• You cannot walk between provinces. You have to fast travel.
• Minotaurs chase you down even if they can’t see you. They can “smell” you.
• Hellhounds are fire resistant.
• Ghosts and Wraiths, Vampires, and Daemons can see you when you are invisible.
• Silver does double damage to Vampires, but they also regenerate health.
• Daemons are fire resistant and usually only take damage from enchanted or high grade weapons
• Medusa has a high INT and cannot be hit by low grade weapons.
• Humanoid enemy stats and bonuses are various. They may be more or less dangerous than you.
• There is a dungeon directly south of Ebonheart in the Morrowind Province.
• Your inventory limit has nothing to do with carried kilograms. The kilogram system specifically is used for status effects. The effects gradually get worse as you get more full. If you are carrying too heavy a load, you won’t even be able to swing your sword anymore.
• Different monsters are different levels. Just because you can kill an orc in one dungeon (or even three orcs) doesn’t mean you can kill a single Minotaur in that same dungeon. Know what you can and can’t fight.
• Knights are immune to Paralysis. They can also repair their own gear.
• If you want better immediate combat, roll for above 50 to your essential stats and then stack all of your first bonus skill points into Luck. A luck above 60 is ideal for the beginning.
• This lock has nothing to fear from you? You quite literally aren’t smart enough. Locks all have different levels. The more difficult it is, the higher Intelligence stat you need to open it. See the Codex Scientia for detailed info.
• There are only 3 classes: Mage, Warrior and Thief. Every other class is a subclass based on those. Read the Codex Scientia for more info on classes/subclasses. They have individual bonuses.
• The main quest is effectively %5 of the entire game. The wilderness is the real star here. Many very crazy things can happen while you’re exploring. Did you know there’s somebody in the wilderness of Valenwood who needs your help to cure lycanthropy? Or perhaps you’ve been donating a lot of gold to one of the various church branches, and a divine has taken notice of you. Maybe you’ll even get attacked by assassins while escorting somebody. If you only ever play the main quest, this game is very short. So is every other Elder Scrolls main quest
• You need a good reputation to get to the deeper and more intricate quests. Some rulers require you to pretty much be a hero before they’ll ask you to do anything.
• The lore is in the small details. Major cities are divided from the empire as City-States. A city state might be at war with a neighboring city state. Goblins are digging tunnels into fortresses for wide-scale invasions. There’s growing disdain for necromancers. Rulers are afraid of a major collapse, and many of them are having their biographies written. Economic shambles have turned success into poverty. That doesn’t even cover a fraction of it.
• If you follow a long river or large body of water, you’re likely to find a boat.
• There is a %1 chance to encounter an Artifact rumor. That can be increased up to %15. If you are asking in a province where an artifact is supposed to be, the NPC will tell you it’s in a different province. You will not get that rumor again. It’s fitting that the rumors are broken, because many of the artifacts themselves are also broken. Also, not every class can use every artifact.