Welcome to the Tales of Tribute Guide for ESO (The Elder Scrolls Online). Tales of Tribute is a new card game that will launch with the High Isle Chapter in ESO. In this guide we are going to take a look at the basics of the Tales of Tribute card game. At first it can look a bit overwhelming but once you understand how the basics work, you will have no issues with playing.
Note: You can find all the Decks & Card on the Tales of Tribute Overview Page
Tales of Tribute is a two player collectible card game that provides a fresh, new challenge for the heroes of Tamriel. Over the course of a Tribute match, players assemble decks from a shared pool of cards and attempt to “tell the great tale” by combining those cards into a winning strategy. While players can participate in Tales of Tribute strictly for fun, ample rewards await those who relish a challenge! Find renown with Roister’s Club daily quests, seek out hidden Founders, and climb the Tales of Tribute leaderboard to become a Tales of Tribute master!
Yes, the Tales of Tribute card game in ESO will have its own leaderboard (ranked mode). However, if you are new to the card game don’t worry about that just yet, focus on learning the game and participate in unranked social matches).
How to Access The Tales Of Tribute Card Game in ESO
You will have to purchase the High Isle Chapter to to play matches in the Tales of Tribute cards game in ESO. However, even if you don’t have the chapter you can still collect Tales of Tributes decks and card upgrades, you just won’t be able to use them. This is similar to how the Antiquities System works, you can get leads, but you just can’t use them.
First you must visit Gonfalon Gaming Hall which is located in Gonfalon Bay on High Isle. Once you are inside the gaming hall find Bragas (a Wood Elf) and Master Razhamad (a Redguard). These two NPCs are Tales of Tribute card game enthusiasts and will guide you through your training and they will also hand you two starter decks.
Important: Tales of Tribute progress and unlocks are shared between all characters on your account. You only need to complete the tutorial once to unlock matchmaking with the card game. Once you have completed the tutorial, you can play matches on any character on your account. You can still complete the full Tales of Tribute questline on every character, if you wish to do so.
To start a match you can visit the Group & Activity Finder and select the Tales of Tribute card game.
How to Play Tales of Tribute in ESO
Each player has to select two decks (Patrons) at the start of a Tales of Tribute Match in ESO (Elder Scrolls Online). The first player picks the first and last deck, while the second player picks the second and third deck. Once you have selected all four, they will create a “Tavern”, which is a shared collection of cards arrayed on the center of the mat (middle). There are currently 8 different decks available in the game.
While playing the Tales of Tribute card game players take turns acquiring cards from the Tavern. Players will also try to gain the favor of deck Patrons (right side of the mat). And they will also try to accrue prestige, which is the resource that determines victory in the match. The player who reaches 40 prestige first or gains the favor of all four patrons wins.
What are Decks and Cards and how to get them
There are different decks and cards in the Tales of Tribute card game. Every Tales of Tribute card deck has plenty of different cards and one Patron. All decks consist of a starter card and standard cards, some of those are upgradeable. Unlocking the upgraded cards can improve a deck. Both players will benefit from the upgraded cards because you pick your whole deck at the start and everything gets mixed together for both players.
Initially you start out with 4 decks that were gifted to you by Master Razhamad. You can also acquire more decks by completing Tales of Tribute activities, earning certain achievements and completing specific content on High Isle. The hints to upgrade cards can also be found in the Collections menu of the Tales of Tribute card game in ESO.
Explaining the Turn Timer of Tales of Tribute
Each player has 90 seconds to complete their turn in the Tales of Tribute card game. If 90 seconds pass, the active player’s turn ends automatically. However, if a player is idle for a full turn, meaning they don’t activate any cards, their next turn will be 20 seconds long. If a player is idle for 3 turns in a row they automatically forfeit the game.
This is done to avoid AFKers in the card game. You still have to deal with them but the turns get a lot shorter if they just don’t do anything.
Tales of Tribute Game Modes
There are different ways of playing the Tales of Tribute card game in ESO (Elder Scrolls Online). The Tales of Tribute card game allows you to PVP (ranked, casual) or PVE (NPC matches).
Ranked matches allows players to face off against other players to increase their tier and standing on the Tales of Tribute leaderboard. Players receive rewards for winning or losing, and these matches count toward advancing Tribute quests.
Casual matches allows players to face off other players without increasing or decreasing their tier or standing on the Tales of Tribute leaderboard. Players receive rewards for winning or losing and the matches also count towards advancing Tribute quests.
NPC matches don’t affect a player’s tier or standing on the leaderboards. Players will earn rewards for winning or losing based on the challenged NPCs difficulty rating. Players can also make progress on quests when playing against NPCs.
Friendly matches with other players are entirely for fun and offer no rewards and don’t advance quests.
How to Start a Match in Tales of Tribute Card Game
You have several options to start a match in the Tales of Tribute card game in ESO.
Activity Finder – You can challenge other players through the Activity Finder. Select either RANKED or CASUAL play in the Tales of Tribute section of the Activity Finder to be paired off with an opponent of similar skill level.
NPCs – You can challenge certain NPCs that you encounter in the world. You can preview an NPCs skill level before you confirm the match.
Other Players – You can also challenge other players that you encounter in the world by using the social interaction wheel and choosing the Tales of Tribute Match option. If the invited player accepts, the duel begins immediately.
Friend/ Guild List – You can also challenge friends or guild mates via the friends and guild list tool.
To accept or offer a Tales of Tribute match invitation, both players must own the U34 High Isle Chapter and both players must have unlocked the Tales of Tribute card game by finishing the tutorial in Gonfalon Bay.
Tales of Tribute Leaderboard and Ranked Tiers
Competitive Tales of Tribute features four tiers of play and one leaderboard that resets every month.
At the start of each Tales of Tribute seasons, you must complete five placement matches. Victories and losses in these initial matches determine your starting tier. Players can also benefit from their previous season’s tier. You can potentially earn up to four free placement match wins based on how far you progressed. Each ranked match will earn you points that increase your tier and your standing on the leaderboard of the Tales of Tribute card game in ESO.
After reaching Rubedite tier, players enter the Tales of Tribute leaderboard where placement is determined by win rate. At the end of the season, players receive rewards based on both tier and placement on the leaderboard, with the top 10% and 2% of the leaderboard earning special rewards.
Tales of Tribute Tips and Tricks
There are many useful skills you can develop to improve your Tales of Tribute play. Critical among them is deck management. Effectively curating your deck allows you to keep it lean, thus increasing your chances of drawing your more powerful cards every turn.
A common way to curate your deck in the early game is by trading your starting cards to the Treasure patron for a Writ of Coin card, which generates two gold when activated. You can also use the Destroy ability to remove cards from your deck, so you are more likely to draw your best cards.
Oust and Refresh abilities are also great ways of guaranteeing which cards you will draw every turn. Oust sends cards from your draw pile to your discard while Refresh pulls card from your cooldown and puts them on top of your play deck.
Another useful skill is understanding the order that combos are resolved. The order that you can activate your cards every turn will trigger their effects and combos accordingly. When playing a card, its play effects are resolved first, followed by any combos on the card itself and then any combos on other cards that were triggered. Combos on other cards are resolved by their play order with cards that were played earlier being triggered first.
Before activating your cards, consider what abilities you wish to trigger first. For example, if you have an Oust and Draw ability, you may wish to activate the Oust first so you can choose what cards to discard before activating your Draw ability.
Card and Patron Types in the Tales of Tribute Card Game in ESO
Tales of Tribute cards come in a few types:
- Action
- Agents
- Contract Actions
- Contract Agents
Action cards are sent to your cooldown at the end of your turn.
Agent cards remain on the field until they are knocked out, either via your opponent’s power or a card effect.
Contract Action cards are put into play as soon as they are acquired and never go to your cooldown. At the end of your turn, any played Contract Actions go to the Tavern’s discard.
Contract Agent cards remain on the field until they are knocked out and then go to the Tavern’s discard.
Patrons – You may interact with Patrons once per turn if you meet their requirements. When you meet a Patron’s requirements and call upon them, their state towards you shifts to neutral or favored. IF you are already favored it cannot improve further. Having the favor of all patrons immediately results in victory.
Some Patrons abilities change depending on which state they are in. For example, the Duke of Crows will not let you interact with it when it favors you, but your opponent may still use it. The Treasury Patron favors no one and does not affect Patron victory.
Now you know the basics of the Tales of Tribute card game in ESO (Elder Scrolls Online), developed by ZOS (Zenimax Online Studios). ESO is a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game).
