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The Elder Scrolls Online
The Elder Scrolls Online
May 26, 2026
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Greater Dangers Means Greater Rewards with Challenge Difficulty

2/5 Minor

PREVIEWNew Challenge Difficulty system arrives June 8 with Update 50, offering four difficulty tiers for overland content with up to 200% more gold and 100% more XP.

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Key Changes

  • 1New Challenge Difficulty system arriving June 8 with Update 50
  • 2Four difficulty tiers: Adventurer, Seasoned, Master, and Vestige
  • 3Vestige difficulty increases damage taken by 600% and gold rewards by 200%
  • 4Difficulty can be toggled at any time via the Character Sheet
  • 5Players on different difficulties can still play together in the same world
  • 6System applies to overland, world bosses, delves, and public dungeons
  • 7Group Dungeons, Trials, Arenas, and PvP modes are excluded from the system

All Changes

📅Coming Soon(11)

  • newChallenge Difficulty: New Challenge Difficulty system allows players to opt into higher difficulty for overland and story content.
  • changeAdventurer: Adventurer difficulty serves as the default setting with standard damage and rewards.
  • newSeasoned: Seasoned difficulty increases damage taken by 100%, reduces damage dealt by 50%, and grants 50% more gold and 20% more XP.
  • newMaster: Master difficulty increases damage taken by 300%, reduces damage dealt by 65%, and grants 100% more gold and 75% more XP.
  • newVestige: Vestige difficulty increases damage taken by 600%, reduces damage dealt by 80%, and grants 200% more gold and 100% more XP.
  • newCharacter Sheet: Difficulty options can be accessed and toggled at any time via the Character Sheet.
  • changeSocial Systems: Players on different difficulty settings can still play together in the same world instances without separation.
  • changeOverland: Challenge Difficulty applies to overland roaming monsters, world bosses, and world events.
  • changeWorld Content: Quest story instances, zone delves, and zone public dungeons are affected by the chosen difficulty level.
  • changeGroup Content: Four-player Dungeons, Trials, Arenas, Infinite Archive, PvP modes, and the Night Market are excluded from Challenge Difficulty scaling.
  • changeBalance: Damage dealt values for Seasoned and Master difficulties were rebalanced following PTS feedback to feel more restrictive.

Summary

Choose Your Challenge

The upcoming Update 50 introduces the highly requested Challenge Difficulty system, allowing players to customize their combat experience in overland and story content. Arriving on June 8 as part of Season Zero, this opt-in system features four distinct difficulty levels that increase both the danger and the rewards of your adventures in Tamriel.

Difficulty Tiers and Rewards

Players can choose between Adventurer (default), Seasoned, Master, and the extreme Vestige difficulty. Higher tiers significantly increase damage taken from monsters and reduce damage dealt, while providing substantial bonuses to gold and experience. This system applies to roaming monsters, world bosses, delves, and public dungeons, but does not affect instanced group content like Trials or PvP.

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