Elder Scrolls Online Update 25 Harrowstorm Major Changes

The latest patch update for Elder Scrolls Online is a big one as it comes with a number of performance improvements and the requirement to reinstall the game client. It also released along the latest dungeons for the Harrowstorm DLC, Icereach and Unhallowed Grave. There are also a number of new collectibles, armor sets, titles and additions.

Elder Scrolls Online Update 25 Harrowstorm Major Changes

Update 25 for Elder Scrolls Online is a little out of the norm as it requires everyone to reinstall the game, but also comes with the good news that you will save a chunk of space on your harddrive as Zenimax have now consolidated a number of duplicate files and older data that is now obsolete.

The entire update is 64.22 GB and will dramatically decrease future patch updates, so that’s good news all round. Once you’re done updating you will also receive a free Crimson Torch Pet in the Crown Store for your troubles. The update is now live for PC players, but console players will also go through the same process on March 10th for Xbox One and Playstation 4.

New Dungeons – Harrowstorm DLC

There are new 4 player dungeons now available with the Harrowstorm DLC in both normal and Veteran difficulty with plenty of news sets to gain including Undaunted Monster Sets. This DLC is available for purchase separately in the crown store or as part of ESO Plus monthly subscription. This introduces the first of the Dark Heart of Skyrim content. Complete the unique achievements be rewarded with a unique body marking, a unique weapon style, several titles and unique housing items.

Icereach

Players will venture strange isle of Icereach across the Seas of Ghosts . Expect to face the Icereach Coven, ruthless witches and face terrible storms that may lead to the loss of longboats as you sale from Northern Wrothgar.

Unhallowed Grave

There is also the dungeon Unhallowed Grave, where soldiers long ago buried something deep in the Bangkorai Garrison. This mysterious item is quite evil and is too dangerous to be left unguarded.

New Item Sets

New items sets gained from these dungeons include 2 Light Armor, 2 Medium Armor, 2 Heavy Armor and 2 Unique Monster Masks, totalling 8 sets. There are also additional Cyrodiil crafted sets that can be made at the stations in town Vlastrus, Cropsford and Bruma. In order to get to these areas your alliance must have captured and gained control of these towns.

You can find the list of sets, new dyes, achievements, titles and furnishings listed below:

Icereach
- Hiti’s Hearth – Light Armor
  - 2 – Adds 129 Magicka Recovery
  - 3 – Adds 129 Magicka Recovery
  - 4 – Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
  - 5 – When you heal yourself or an ally with an ability, gain a Warming Aura for 10 seconds. While in the Warming Aura, you and group members restore 1020 Health every 1 second and reduce the cost of Sprint, Block, and Roll Dodge by 5%. This effect can occur once every 12 seconds.
- Titanborn Strength – Medium Armor
  - 2 – Adds 1487 Physical Penetration
  - 3 – Adds 129 Weapon Damage
  - 4 – Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
  - 5 – Adds 110 Weapon Damage and 1240 Physical Penetration. This bonus doubles to 220 Weapon Damage and 2480 Physical Penetration when you are under 75% Health. This bonus quadruples to 440 Weapon Damage and 4960 Physical Penetration when you are under 50% Health.
- Bani’s Torment – Heavy Armor
  - 2 – Adds 4% Healing Taken
  - 3 – Adds 1206 Maximum Health
  - 4 – Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
  - 5 – When you taunt a nearby enemy, you tether to them for 5 seconds. While tethered, you apply Major Maim to your enemy, reducing their damage done by 30%, and you gain Major Vitality, increasing your healing taken by 30%. The tether is broken if the enemy moves 8 meters away from you. This effect can occur once every 14 seconds.
- Mother Ciannait – Monster Mask
  - 1 – Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
  - 2 – While in combat, casting an ability with a cast time or channeling an ability grants you a damage shield that absorbs 5000 damage for 6 seconds. This effect can occur once every 6 seconds. This set also restores 600 Magicka if the shield is broken.
Unhallowed Grave
- Draugrkin’s Grip – Light Armor
  - 2 – Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
  - 3 – Adds 1487 Spell Penetration
  - 4 – Adds 129 Magicka Recovery
  - 5 –When dealing direct damage to an enemy, you will curse them, causing them to take 617 extra damage from all your damage abilities. This effect can occur once every 9 seconds.
- Aegis Caller – Medium Armor
  - 2 – Adds 129 Weapon Damage
  - 3 – Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
  - 4 – Adds 129 Weapon Damage
  - 5 – When you deal critical damage with a melee ability, summon a Lesser Aegis for 11 seconds. After 2.5 seconds, the Lesser Aegis spins its blades, dealing 3730 Bleed Damage every 1 second. This effect can occur once every 12 seconds.
- Grave Guardian – Heavy Armor
  - 2 – Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
  - 3 – Adds 1206 Maximum Health
  - 4 – Adds 1206 Maximum Health
  - 5 – Summon a stone aura while blocking, hardening you and your nearby group members, increasing your Physical and Spell Resistance by 4430.
- Kjalnar’s Nightmare – Monster Mask
  - 1 – Adds 129 Spell Damage
  - 2 – Dealing damage with a Light Attack puts a Bone stack on your enemy for 5 seconds. You can only apply 1 stack every 1 second.At 5 stacks, an undodgeable skeletal hand attacks your enemy after 1 seconds, knocking them into the air and stunning them for 3 seconds, or dealing 14500 Magic Damage if they cannot be stunned. An enemy that has reached 5 stacks cannot gain Bone stacks for 3 seconds.
Cyrodiil Crafting
- Critical Riposte – Located in Vlasterus
  - 2 – Adds 424 Critical Resistance
  - 3 – Adds 1206 Maximum Health
  - 4 – Adds 424 Critical Resistance
  - 5 – When you take critical damage, you apply Minor Uncertainty and Minor Enervation to the enemy for 9 seconds, reducing their Physical and Spell Critical by 1314 and reducing their Critical Damage by 10%. An enemy can only be affected by your Critical Riposte once every 10 seconds.
- Unchained Aggressor – Located in Bruma
  - 2 – Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
  - 3 – Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
  - 4 – Adds 129 Weapon Damage
  - 4 – Adds 129 Spell Damage
  - 5 – After Breaking Free, gain Major Berserk for 6 seconds, increasing your damage done by 25%. This effect can occur once every 16 seconds.
- Dauntless Combatant – Located in Cropsford
  - 2 – Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
  - 3 – Adds 1206 Maximum Health
  - 4 – Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
  - 5 – Adds 1206 Maximum Health
  - 5 – When you are affected by a disabling effect, you automatically Break Free for no cost. After using this effect, you become winded and cannot retrigger this effect for 21 seconds.

New Collectibles & Dyes

Several new Collectibles can be obtained by participating in the new Harrowstorm dungeons and completing various achievements:

The Lyris’ Icereach Battle Axe outfit style is earned by completing the “Icereach Conqueror” achievement, accomplished by defeating all the bosses in Icereach on Veteran difficulty.
The Bloodrune Body Markings are earned by completing the “Unhallowed Grave Conqueror” achievement, accomplished by defeating all the bosses in Unhallowed Grave on Veteran difficulty.
The Bloodrune Face Markings are earned by completing the “Knock Knock” achievement, acquired by discovering Voria’s Sanctum in the Unhallowed Grave dungeon and killing the beast found there.
The Wickerman Mishap emote is awarded for completing the “Harrowstorm Explorer” achievement, accomplished by entering either the Icereach or Unhallowed Grave dungeons.
The Frozen Blood dye can be obtained by completing the “Harrowstorm Delver” achievement for completing both dungeons on Veteran difficulty.

New Achievements & Titles

Harrowstorm introduces over 30 achievements for proving your prowess in the Icereach and Unhallowed Grave dungeons. Additionally, there are four titles to obtain:

The “Storm Foe” title is obtained by completing the “No Rest for the Wicked” achievement.
The “Witch Hunter” title is obtained by completing the “Cold-Blooded Killer” achievement.
The “Bonecaller’s Bane” title is obtained by completing the “In Defiance of Death” achievement.
The “Sanctifier” title is obtained by completing the “Skull Smasher” achievement.

New Furnishings

New Bust and Trophy furnishings have been added to commemorate victory in the Icereach and Unhallowed Grave dungeons.

Base Game Improvements to Performance

This is the first wave of improvements Zenimax are rolling out in terms of Performance Improvements. They have previously announced a number of updates that will release this year. Update 25 introduces better frame rate stability, smoother display of motion and optimisation.

New PVP Campaigns

There are 4 new PVP campaigns that are all based on the theme of Dark Hear to Skyrim: Blackreach, Ravenwatch, Gray Host and Icereach. Any previous campaigns have been closed and players will be assigned to the new campaigns once End of Campaign rewards are given. You can check out the new campaigns below:

Blackreach: 30 day CP-enabled, Non-Alliance Locked
Ravenwatch: 30 day No CP, Non-Alliance Locked
Gray Host: 30 day CP-enabled, Alliance Locked
Icereach: 10-49 Campaign

New Collectibles

You can also now gain new collectibles called the Knight of the Circle Armor and Weapon Outfit Styles which can be purchased from the Knight’s Resolve or Knight’s Rebuke from a War Researcher in Cyrodiil. Each can be traded and are not bound.

Knight’s Resolve – 20 Arena Gladiator Proofs to generate a random style page for armor in the Knight of the Circle style.

Knight’s Rebuke – 40 Arena Gladiator Proofs to generate a random style page for a weapon in the Knight of the Circle style.

Master Writ Furnishings

Faustina Curios has now got a new shipment of Jounrneyman and Master Furnisher’s Documents from Elsweyr meaning new superior and epic furnishing plans:

- Elsweyr Journeyman Furnisher’s Documents are available for 20 Master Writs, while the Elsweyr Master Furnisher’s Documents are priced at 50 Writ Vouchers. These become available for purchase once you complete either of the following quests: “Rage of Dragons” in Northern Elsweyr, or “The Dragon’s Lair” in Southern Elsweyr.

You can also sought out new furnishing recipes that are available from Rolis Hlaalu:

- Diagram: Elsweyr Gong, Ornate
- Pattern: Elsweyr Bed, Senche-Raht
- Blueprint: Elsweyr Well, Covered
- Praxis: Khajiit Sigil, Moon Cycle
- Formula: Elsweyr Mortar and Pestle, Engraved
- Design: Elsweyr Bread Basket, Feast-Day
- Sketch: Elsweyr Game, Swan Stones

Undaunted Achievement Furnishings

Undaunted Quartermasters now offer two new furnishings associated with the Harrowstorm dungeons:

Gray Reliquary: This ominous stone vessel contains the charred remains of an ancient army of the night. A haunting addition to even the darkest crypts.
- Purchase requires completing Unhallowed Grave at any difficulty.
Icereach Coven Totem, Emblem: The witches of Icereach Coven mark their territory with unsettling totems that showcase their emblem. Some claim this blood-hued wicker spiral represents their eternal hunger for power no matter the cost.
- Purchase requires completing Icereach at any difficulty.

Combat & Gameplay

Probably one of the significant takeaways from the patch notes for combat and abilities is how block has been updated. The calculation for block by the server for sets and passives that key off block, which should now provide a more accurate transition between actively blocking and not. While the core mechanics of block cancellation hasn’t changed nor has the cost, it will now carry out more of the animation of your previous attack animation, providing hopefully a better gameplay experience.

An issue has also been fixed for when your character could still activate Block even when they had depleted Stamina.

Reduced Morph and Abilities Costs

There has also been a reduction for a number of morph abilities costs for balance changes:

Necromancer’s Boneyard – Reduced cost of ability and morph from 4950 to 3780.
Sorceror’s Summon Unstable Familiar –
- Reduced cost of ability and the Summon Volatile Familiar morph from 4500 to 3510.
- Lightning Splash – Reduced cost ability and morph from 3780 to 4950
Templar – Spear Shards – Reduced cost ability and morph from 4950 to 3780
Weapon
- Bow – Volley Reduced cost ability and morph from 4600 to 3510
- Destruction Staff – Wall of Elements reduced cost ability and morph from 4950 to 3780
- Dual Wield – Blade of Cloak reduced reduced cost ability and morph from 4950 to 3780

For the full list of changes including fixes and improvements you can check out our Elder Scrolls Online wiki.

If you’re currently playing ESO be sure to drop by our Elder Scrolls Online wiki for all you adventuring needs. You can also check out our ESO guides sections.

Elder Scrolls Online Update 25 Harrowstorm Major Changes