Whether you're just starting your journey in The Elder Scrolls Online (TESO) or are a seasoned player looking to optimize your character builds, joining the Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, and Undaunted is essential. These NPC guilds offer unique skill lines, powerful abilities, and game-changing passives that enhance your gameplay across all levels. In the video by YouTuber CharlieEcho101x, you will discover the advantages of joining these guilds early, how to unlock them, and effective strategies for leveling their skill lines.
Tip from MmoGah: As you explore Tamriel, having enough resources can greatly enhance your experience. While questing and battling can earn you gold, consider how having a little extra gold in TESO can help you unlock powerful gear and crafting materials. This way, you can focus more on enjoying the game and less on the grind, making your journey through Tamriel even more rewarding.
Why Join These NPC Guilds Early?
Joining the Fighters Guild, the Mages Guild, and the Undaunted at the start of your adventure offers immense advantages. Not only do these guilds provide powerful skills and passives that can benefit all types of characters, but they also play a key role in many high-end builds. Starting early allows you to passively level up these skill lines as you progress through quests and explore Tamriel. The earlier you unlock them, the sooner you can reap their rewards.
Additionally, joining these guilds is quick and straightforward. The Fighters Guild and Mages Guild can be unlocked within minutes of reaching your first main alliance story zone after completing the starter island. The Undaunted, however, requires you to reach level 10 before you can join.
How to Join Each Guild
Fighters Guild
To join the Fighters Guild, travel to your alliance's main city:
- Ebonheart Pact: Daven's Watch in Stonefalls
- Aldmeri Dominion: Vulkhel Guard in Auridon
- Daggerfall Covenant: Daggerfall in Glenumbra
If you're playing the base game or own the Vvardenfell DLC, you can also visit Vivec City. There is also a main city in each DLC zone, which is listed below:
DLC Zones and Main Cities
• Orsinium, Wrothgar
• Anvil, Gold Coast
• Abah's Landing, Hews Bane
• The Brass Fortress, Clockwork City
• Alinor, Summerset
• Lilmoth, Murkmire
• Rimmen, Northen Elsweyr
• Senchal, Southern Elsweyr
• Solitude, Western Skyrim
• Markarth, The Reach
• Leyawiin, Blackwood
• Gonfalon Bay, High Isle
• Vastyr, Galen
• Necrom, Telvanni Peninsula
• Skingrad, West Weald
• Sunport, Solstice
Locate the Fighters Guild hall marked with a sword icon on the map. Inside, speak with the hall steward NPC who has a quest marker above their head. They will introduce you to the guild and unlock its skill line for you.
Be prepared to encounter Bera Moorsmith, a rather vocal NPC who will often remind you that "The guild has need of you, comrade!" whenever you pass a Fighters Guild hall.
Mages Guild
The Mages Guild is found in the same city as the Fighters Guild. Look for its symbol on the map and enter the guild hall. Speak to the NPC inside to join and unlock the Mages Guild skill line.
It's highly recommended to unlock both the Fighters Guild and Mages Guild as early as possible—ideally around levels 3 or 4—before diving deep into questing. Each guild offers a passive skill that can save you time during quests:
- Fighters Guild: Intimidating Presence allows you to intimidate NPCs during dialogues.
- Mages Guild: Persuasive Will enables persuasion options in conversations.
These passives can help you bypass certain quest objectives, making your adventures more efficient.
Undaunted
Joining the Undaunted requires a bit more effort and is only available once you reach level 10. Head to the tavern in your alliance's main city:
- Stonefalls: The tavern near the docks
- Auridon: The single tavern in Vulkhel Guard
- Glenumbra: The single tavern in Daggerfall
Inside, look for NPCs such as Turuk Redclaws, Mighty Mordra, or Kailstig the Axe (depending on your faction). They'll give you a quest to visit (but not necessarily complete) a group dungeon in your alliance zone:
- Stonefalls: Fungal Grotto I
- Auridon: The Banished Cells I
- Glenumbra: Spindleclutch I
You can either enter and leave the dungeon or complete it using the dungeon finder tool. Completing the dungeon on normal difficulty grants a skill point, experience points, and starts earning Undaunted reputation. Afterward, return to the tavern to complete your initiation into the Undaunted with some lighthearted chanting and singing.
How to Level Each Skill Line
Once you've joined these guilds, leveling their skill lines requires earning reputation with each respective faction. Here's how to do it:
Fighters Guild
To gain the Fighters Guild reputation:
- Defeat Daedra and undead enemies.
- Complete Dolmens (Dark Anchors) for significant reputation boosts.
- Participate in repeatable daily quests at Fighters Guild halls.
Early in the game, you'll naturally encounter plenty of Daedra and undead while following the main storyline. Each kill grants one reputation point, while completing a Dolmen for the first time awards 20 points. This makes Dolmens an efficient way to level up this skill line while enjoying your adventures.
Mages Guild
Leveling the Mages Guild skill line requires collecting lore books scattered throughout Tamriel:
- Each purple-glowing lore book grants five reputation points.
- Completing a set of lore books awards 20 reputation points.
- Repeatable daily quests from the Mages Guild involve retrieving relics from public dungeons for 10 reputation points per quest.
Unlike the Fighters Guild, you won't gain the Mages Guild's reputation simply by playing through quests or defeating enemies. Instead, you'll need to actively search for lore books or complete daily quests. Add-ons (available on both PC and console) can make locating lore books much easier.
Undaunted
To earn Undaunted reputation:
- Complete group dungeon achievements.
- Finish daily Undaunted pledges (available from level 45 onward).
- Participate in repeatable daily delve quests provided by Bolgrul at the Undaunted Enclave.
Each new group dungeon completed on normal difficulty awards 25 reputation points. Completing it again on veteran difficulty or achieving no-death or speedrun achievements will grant additional points. While it's possible to reach max level with just base game dungeons, DLC group dungeons provide more flexibility for leveling this skill line.
Are These Skill Lines Worth It?
The short answer is yes—these guild skill lines offer significant benefits for all characters:
Fighters Guild
The Fighters Guild skill line is highly beneficial and worth unlocking for all characters, regardless of their build type. Its abilities, such as Dawnbreaker, Beast Trap, and Camouflaged Hunter, remain integral components in many top-tier builds. These skills offer versatility and utility, making them valuable even for non-stamina-based characters.
One of the most noteworthy benefits is the passive ability "Banish the Wicked," which generates extra ultimate upon defeating enemies as long as a Fighters Guild skill is slotted. Given the importance of ultimate generation in recent meta builds, this passive is a game-changer.
Additionally, the "Slayer" passive boosts weapon and spell damage simply by having a Fighters Guild skill slotted, providing a significant advantage without requiring active use of the skill.
Incorporating a Fighters Guild ability on a secondary or back bar is a strategic way to maximize these passives and enhance overall performance. This skill line is undoubtedly a valuable asset for optimizing character builds in any scenario.
Mages Guild
The Mage's Guild skill line offers significant benefits, particularly for magicka-based characters, though it provides utility for other builds as well.
The Meteor ultimate remains a reliable choice for characters. Magelight is another valuable skill, providing increased magicka and weapon/spell critical, making it useful in both PvP and PvE scenarios. While Entropy was once a popular spammable ability, it still holds potential when paired with Mage's Guild passives. Additionally, the Persuasive Will passive is highly advantageous during questing, allowing players to navigate dialogue options more effectively.
While collecting lore books to level up the skill line can be time-consuming, the availability of add-ons on both PC and console has greatly streamlined this process, making it more accessible and manageable for players. Overall, the Mage's Guild skill line offers a range of practical tools that can enhance gameplay across various activities.
Undaunted
The Undaunted skill line provides exceptional group utility and is a valuable asset for any character build. Its passives, such as Undaunted Command and Undaunted Mettle, enhance stats and recoveries, making them highly beneficial when incorporating all three armor types into your setup. The skills within this line are versatile and widely used across various roles.
For tanks, the Inner Fire remains a critical tool, while healers benefit greatly from the utility provided by abilities like the Blood Altar and Necrotic Orb.
Given its relevance in dungeon content, leveling this skill line is highly recommended as part of your character's progression. While it may naturally level up through regular dungeon gameplay, some targeted efforts may be required to fully maximize its potential. Overall, the Undaunted skill line is an essential component for enhancing group performance and ensuring success in cooperative PvE content.
Final Thoughts
Joining the Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, and Undaunted early in your ESO journey is a smart move that will pay off throughout your adventures in Tamriel. These guilds offer powerful skills, passives, and utility that enhance your character's performance at any level. While some effort is required to level these skill lines—particularly for the Mages Guild—the rewards are well worth it.
If you found this video helpful, please share it and leave a comment about which skill line you find most valuable. Don't forget to subscribe to CharlieEcho101x's channel for more tips and tricks related to The Elder Scrolls Online.
