The Elder Scrolls Online’s Nine Playable Races Profiled

Fans of The Elder Scrolls are already going to be intimately familiar with the races available in Bethesda’s sprawling RPGs, but in case you want to know more about them or how they’ll be adapted to The Elder Scrolls Online, this new feature on OXM UK should do the trick. A few profiles to start you off:

The Nords – Ebonheart Pact

Nords are conquerors, strong melee warriors and weapon masters, hailing from the snowy land of Skyrim. Their thick accents appear to stem from a rich living room diet of the early films of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Or dragon sandwiches. Your guess is as good as ours.

Nord Jorunn the Skald-king leads the Ebonheart Pact, the most tenuous of The Elder Scrolls alliances, which brings the Nords, Dark Elves and Argonians together by way of the Akaviri invasion. Nords are disapproving of magic use, and as such, they’re probably best suited to the Dragon Knight class in The Elder Scrolls Online, a flexible build that focuses on tanking and melee damage-dealing.

The Dunmer (Dark Elves) – Ebonheart Pact

Morrowind natives the Dunmer, or dark elves, are a well-balanced race – decent warriors talented in magic use. They tend to have quite a high opinion of themselves, and as a result of their perceived superiority the Dunmer society is built on a long history of enslaving other races, especially ‘beast races’, including their new allies the Argonians and the Khajit.

They also prefer to eat horse, rather than ride them, a trait that the series’ developers used to explain away the absence of rideable horses in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Gifted with fire resistance, and thus useful against mages, Dunmer are excellent all-rounders, naturally suited to almost any class.

The Argonians – Ebonheart Pact

The reptilian Argonians (or Saxhleel in their native tongue) originate from the swamplands of the Black Marsh, where their scales and hardy constitutions protect them from the tropical climate and poisonous plant life.

Having been enslaved by the Dark Elves for thousands of years, the Argonians are naturally distrustful of outsiders, but they’ve put the past aside – for the moment, at least – to protect the land from the machinations of Daedric prince Molag Bal. They are decent magic users, and can also make stealthy assassins. Their ability to breathe underwater means they’re comfortable on land and at sea, and they are resistant to most poisons and diseases.