Confirmed Werewolf Changes with Wolfhunter! (Updated with PTS Notes!)

Glaiceana

From the PTS Patch Notes here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/5289420/#Comment_5289420

Old original post:

As per this post here: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/26439
We are getting improvements to the Werewolf Skill Line!!

Werewolves Updated

If you have a character that carries the curse of lycanthropy, you can enjoy a series of broad improvements and changes to how the Werewolf Skill Line plays with Update 19. These changes place an emphasis on improving their ferocity and momentum in combat, and they affect both the Skill Line's Passive and Active Abilities. For example, the Blood Rage Passive will now increase the duration of your transformation when you deal damage instead of when you take it, and the Roar Active Ability is now instant cast.

Very excited for this change, I believe it will be a very good thing for us! Looking forward to hearing more about this, as it sounds like these are not the only two things changing. What do you guys think?

UPDATE:

In the spoiler below is all the werewolf related patch notes from the PTS:

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Werewolf
Developer Comments – Werewolf Changes: There were a significant number of changes made to Werewolf this update. Some of these changes were made to improve the quality of life with leveling and maintaining the form, while others open up new gameplay possibilities.

First, you’ll find leveling and maintaining your Werewolf is now considerably easier. The Devour passive is now granted automatically from the very start, so you can sustain the form better at lower levels before you’ve unlocked all the other skills. We’ve also significantly reduced the experience requirements to morph all skills.

Second, you’ll be able to do more core combat actions as a Werewolf, such as resurrecting your allies or using Synergies. Werewolves will have a much easier time engaging in group content now that they can help their friends more effectively. This, coupled with some other changes such as the Blood Rage passive triggering on damage dealt instead of damage taken, means they can be more viable in group PvE activities such as dungeons.

Finally, many morphs and abilities were changed to improve the cohesiveness of the Werewolf kit. Some combos and effects that weren’t very effective have been removed, while others were tweaked to better support the fast and ferocious playstyle of the Werewolf. As an example, we removed the stuns from Pounce and Piercing Howl, but dramatically improved Roar by making it instant cast, fear more targets, and have more competitive morph effects.

• Werewolf Transformation:
  • You can now resurrect other players while transformed.
  • You can now use synergy abilities while transformed. You will use a unique Werewolf-themed animation instead of the synergy’s usual animation.
  • You can now use Siege Weapons while transformed.
  • Your Werewolf timer will no longer tick down while you are reviving in place while transformed.
  • Updated the tooltip of this ability and its morphs to better describe all the additional effects of transforming.
  • This ability and its morphs no longer increase your Movement Speed or your Spell and Physical Resistance as a baseline effect. These bonuses have been moved to passive abilities in the skill line.
    Developer Comments:
    These bonuses were moved to passive abilities to help reinforce the feeling of progression you get from leveling the Werewolf skill line. It also allows for extra space to add more information to the Werewolf Transformation tooltip about all the other bonuses you have while transformed, such as your Max Stamina being increased or your Heavy Attacks dealing splash damage.
    • Pack Leader (morph):
      • The direwolves now scale with the bonuses from damage done.
      • The direwolves now randomly alternate between 2 direct damage abilities, previously 4, and they no longer use a non-damaging snare ability.
      • Fixed an issue where the direwolves would throttle their attacks against the same target. They now attack much more rapidly.
      • Fixed an issue where the direwolves would not respawn with you whenever you respawned.
• Blood Rage: This ability now increases the timer of your Werewolf Transformation when you deal damage, rather than when you take damage. It adds 2/4 seconds to your timer with a 5 second cooldown.
• Devour:
  • This is now the first passive you unlock in the skill line, and is a free passive that does not require you to spend a skill point. Points already spent into this will be automatically refunded.
  • The devour corpse ability is now a 4-second channel, instead of a 4-second cast time. Every second you spend devouring a corpse increases your Werewolf timer and restores Health. Each corpse can be devoured for up to 4 seconds.
  • Updated the visual effects on enemy corpses that can be devoured.
  • Improved the targeting and reliability for devouring corpses.
• Hircine’s Bounty: This ability and its morphs now heal based on your Max Health; Hircine’s Bounty and Hircine’s Rage heal for 45% of your Max Health, while Hircine’s Fortitude heal for 60% of your Max Health.
  • Hircine’s Rage (morph): This morph now grants Major Brutality for 20 seconds.
• Infectious Claws: Updated the visual effects for this ability and its morphs.
• Piercing Howl:
  • This ability and its morphs no longer stun the target.
  • Decreased the cost of this ability and its morphs to 3510 Stamina from 4050.
  • Updated the visual effects for this ability and its morphs.
    • Howl of Despair (morph): The synergy now grants the ally Empower for all Light Attacks for 5 seconds. Previously, it granted 10% more Light and Heavy Attack damage for 15 seconds.
• Pounce: This ability and its morphs no longer stun the target if they were already set Off Balance.
• Pursuit: This ability now also increases your Movement Speed by 15/30%.
  • Note: This bonus was moved from a baseline effect of Werewolf Transformation to this passive.
• Roar:
  • This ability and its morphs are now instant-cast, previously 1 second.
  • This ability and its morphs can now fear up to 6 targets, previously 3 targets..
  • This ability and the Rousing Roar morph no longer set enemies Off Balance.
    • Ferocious Roar (morph): This morph now sets feared targets Off Balance.
    • Rousing Roar (morph): This morph has been renamed to Deafening Roar, and now applies Major Fracture for 10 seconds to feared targets.
• Savage Strength: This ability now also increases your Spell and Physical Resistance by 5000/10000.
  • Note: This bonus was moved from a baseline effect of Werewolf Transformation to this passive.
• All Werewolf abilities now require less experience to morph. The experience requirements to level up the Werewolf abilities now match the Weapon Skill Line abilities, and the Werewolf Transformation Ultimate experience requirement now matches Class Ultimate abilities.
• Curing Lycanthropy will now refund all Skill Points that are invested in the Skill Line.
• Fixed an issue where casting another ability while in the middle of a Werewolf Heavy Attack would cancel the Heavy Attack, instead of queuing the ability to cast when the Heavy Attack completed.

Key points:
We will be able to resurrect and use synergies.
Devour Unlocks immediately.
Blood Rage: Increases your timer from your damage, 2/4 sec with 5 sec cooldown.
Levelling and morphing skills is easier.
Can use siege weapons.
Many dire wolf fixes.
Devouring a corpse is a channel now, (increasing your timer the longer you press it, up to 4 seconds)
Many changes to all the skills (See main spoiler above for full details)

When you hear about these improvements to werewolf:

Sandman929

Sounds like soon changing to a werewolf will crash your game.

DuskMarine

theyve got to increase the power of werewolf or its just going to tank it is still mostly useless in pve which i hope this changes.

Defilted

Seems like a interesting update. Will be nice to see what the changes really are once they hit the PTS.

coop500

HYPE I'm so happy RN, I love werewolves and everything in that article looks awesome

Samadhi

Werewolves Updated

If you have a character that carries the curse of lycanthropy, you can enjoy a series of broad improvements and changes to how the Werewolf Skill Line plays with Update 19. These changes place an emphasis on improving their ferocity and momentum in combat, and they affect both the Skill Line's Passive and Active Abilities. For example, the Blood Rage Passive will now increase the duration of your transformation when you deal damage instead of when you take it, and the Roar Active Ability is now instant cast.

suppose this prolly also marks the end of any hope to get a decent Taunt while transformed and be able to tank in WW form
Q_Q

DuskMarine

Samadhi wrote: »

Werewolves Updated

If you have a character that carries the curse of lycanthropy, you can enjoy a series of broad improvements and changes to how the Werewolf Skill Line plays with Update 19. These changes place an emphasis on improving their ferocity and momentum in combat, and they affect both the Skill Line's Passive and Active Abilities. For example, the Blood Rage Passive will now increase the duration of your transformation when you deal damage instead of when you take it, and the Roar Active Ability is now instant cast.

suppose this prolly also marks the end of any hope to get a decent Taunt while transformed and be able to tank in WW form
Q_Q

werewolves arent meant to be tanks lol. their suppose to be massive damage dealers which they kindve suck at.

Strider__Roshin

What's this? Werewolves might actually become good? I guess I need to start putting points into that skill line again. Good news for you werewolves out there! You guys are in a terrible state right now lol. I'm glad to hear that you're getting some love. Heck if the changes are good enough I might play around with WW again

Samadhi

DuskMarine wrote: »

Samadhi wrote: »

Werewolves Updated

If you have a character that carries the curse of lycanthropy, you can enjoy a series of broad improvements and changes to how the Werewolf Skill Line plays with Update 19. These changes place an emphasis on improving their ferocity and momentum in combat, and they affect both the Skill Line's Passive and Active Abilities. For example, the Blood Rage Passive will now increase the duration of your transformation when you deal damage instead of when you take it, and the Roar Active Ability is now instant cast.

suppose this prolly also marks the end of any hope to get a decent Taunt while transformed and be able to tank in WW form
Q_Q

werewolves arent meant to be tanks lol. their suppose to be massive damage dealers which they kindve suck at.

mechanically speaking, everything in this game is "suppose to be massive damage dealers"
Werewolf tanking could have potential for interesting new mechanics, but all ZOS ever does is focus on making twitchy players burst down content faster

Sparr0w

The individual morph change tho

coop500

I would love for werewolf healer to be a thing but... I think that's a pipe dream, even moreso than tanking

Aliyavana

So ig the original ww models are staying the same

DuskMarine

Samadhi wrote: »

DuskMarine wrote: »

Samadhi wrote: »

Werewolves Updated

If you have a character that carries the curse of lycanthropy, you can enjoy a series of broad improvements and changes to how the Werewolf Skill Line plays with Update 19. These changes place an emphasis on improving their ferocity and momentum in combat, and they affect both the Skill Line's Passive and Active Abilities. For example, the Blood Rage Passive will now increase the duration of your transformation when you deal damage instead of when you take it, and the Roar Active Ability is now instant cast.

suppose this prolly also marks the end of any hope to get a decent Taunt while transformed and be able to tank in WW form
Q_Q

werewolves arent meant to be tanks lol. their suppose to be massive damage dealers which they kindve suck at.

mechanically speaking, everything in this game is "suppose to be massive damage dealers"
Werewolf tanking could have potential for interesting new mechanics, but all ZOS ever does is focus on making twitchy players burst down content faster

no actually your 100% wrong. werewolves in lore are not meant to be tanky they can still take damage(even if anything nonsilver is useless in actual lore) but their far from tanky. but they can rip you to ribbons and rip you apart in seconds with brute force. they were never meant to be tanks they were ferocious creatures built for speed and power and killing ability not a ability to be tanky. sorry but lore takes any "mechanically speaking" that anyone can throw out.

Glaiceana

Aliyavana wrote: »

So ig the original ww models are staying the same

Possibly @Aliyavana , but it definitely sounds like they are changing much more for werewolves than just this, so there is still hope yet.

Koolio

I really hope the duration doesn’t change in pvp werewolf. Needing to kite while almost out of werewolf now requires you to attack to stay in form. Before I could pop my head around the corner take a Dot from an enemy and keep form. Now I have to jump back in the group do damage then kite.

Samadhi

coop500 wrote: »

I would love for werewolf healer to be a thing but... I think that's a pipe dream, even moreso than tanking

This would be real nice for something of a Glenmoril Wyress sort of build
Breton Warden Werewolf healer

You get an awesome

Ladislao

What the majority expects: total rework of the entire skill line with different options for tanking, healing and damaging, viability in end-game PVE content, click-to-win in PVP.

What werewolf players expect and most likely will be: several tweaks for individual skills in favor of ease of use, maybe improving animations and general appearance.

Samadhi

DuskMarine wrote: »

Samadhi wrote: »

DuskMarine wrote: »

Samadhi wrote: »

Werewolves Updated

If you have a character that carries the curse of lycanthropy, you can enjoy a series of broad improvements and changes to how the Werewolf Skill Line plays with Update 19. These changes place an emphasis on improving their ferocity and momentum in combat, and they affect both the Skill Line's Passive and Active Abilities. For example, the Blood Rage Passive will now increase the duration of your transformation when you deal damage instead of when you take it, and the Roar Active Ability is now instant cast.

suppose this prolly also marks the end of any hope to get a decent Taunt while transformed and be able to tank in WW form
Q_Q

werewolves arent meant to be tanks lol. their suppose to be massive damage dealers which they kindve suck at.

mechanically speaking, everything in this game is "suppose to be massive damage dealers"
Werewolf tanking could have potential for interesting new mechanics, but all ZOS ever does is focus on making twitchy players burst down content faster

no actually your 100% wrong. werewolves in lore are not meant to be tanky they can still take damage(even if anything nonsilver is useless in actual lore) but their far from tanky. but they can rip you to ribbons and rip you apart in seconds with brute force. they were never meant to be tanks they were ferocious creatures built for speed and power and killing ability not a ability to be tanky. sorry but lore takes any "mechanically speaking" that anyone can throw out.

Have already come to terms with the fact that ZOS will not be doing anything more mechanically interesting with this game,
it is a DPS race-hell, VMA evidences that most clearly with environmental hazards f

my hopes are that Fallout 76 will do something more in my style of desired play, given that the engine is more closely related to the one utilized for traditional TES titles

the Dwemer are the Brotherhood of Steel, that is why Nirnroot is on the Prydwen
Josajeh and Nocturnal are the same Redguard from different timelines
the rabbit hole keeps going deeper

DuskMarine

Samadhi wrote: »

DuskMarine wrote: »

Samadhi wrote: »

DuskMarine wrote: »

Samadhi wrote: »

Werewolves Updated

If you have a character that carries the curse of lycanthropy, you can enjoy a series of broad improvements and changes to how the Werewolf Skill Line plays with Update 19. These changes place an emphasis on improving their ferocity and momentum in combat, and they affect both the Skill Line's Passive and Active Abilities. For example, the Blood Rage Passive will now increase the duration of your transformation when you deal damage instead of when you take it, and the Roar Active Ability is now instant cast.

suppose this prolly also marks the end of any hope to get a decent Taunt while transformed and be able to tank in WW form
Q_Q

werewolves arent meant to be tanks lol. their suppose to be massive damage dealers which they kindve suck at.

mechanically speaking, everything in this game is "suppose to be massive damage dealers"
Werewolf tanking could have potential for interesting new mechanics, but all ZOS ever does is focus on making twitchy players burst down content faster

no actually your 100% wrong. werewolves in lore are not meant to be tanky they can still take damage(even if anything nonsilver is useless in actual lore) but their far from tanky. but they can rip you to ribbons and rip you apart in seconds with brute force. they were never meant to be tanks they were ferocious creatures built for speed and power and killing ability not a ability to be tanky. sorry but lore takes any "mechanically speaking" that anyone can throw out.

Have already come to terms with the fact that ZOS will not be doing anything more mechanically interesting with this game,
it is a DPS race-hell, VMA evidences that most clearly with environmental hazards f

my hopes are that Fallout 76 will do something more in my style of desired play, given that the engine is more closely related to the one utilized for traditional TES titles

the Dwemer are the Brotherhood of Steel, that is why Nirnroot is on the Prydwen
Josajeh and Nocturnal are the same Redguard from different timelines
the rabbit hole keeps going deeper

fallout 76 is gonna be a failure. as nobody who likes fallout for fallout is gonna play a open world pvp game. especially since you cant mod it, nor can you enjoy it as people will likely be killing you ever 2 minutes. so that games gonna flop hard. so eso is gonna be god for awhile

Samadhi

Ladislao wrote: »

What Werewolf players are expressing hopes for in this thread: total rework of the entire skill line with different options for tanking, healing and damaging, viability in end-game PVE content, click-to-win in PVP.

What werewolf players expect and most likely will be: several tweaks for individual skills in favor of ease of use, maybe improving animations and general appearance.

Hi there,
have multiple Werewolf characters,
with my Bosmer Stamina Werewolf Sorc going all the way back to before the original skill addition to the line (you know, back before Stamina Class skills were a thing either)

So here are my hopes expressed as a Werewolf player in this thread: total rework of the entire skill line with different options for tanking, healing and damaging, viability in end-game PVE content,

And here are my actual expectations for what ZOS intends to do: Moar DPS

DuskMarine

Ladislao wrote: »

What the majority expects: total rework of the entire skill line with different options for tanking, healing and damaging, viability in end-game PVE content, click-to-win in PVP.

What werewolf players expect and most likely will be: several tweaks for individual skills in favor of ease of use, maybe improving animations and general appearance.

they dont need to be tanky or healers just no. werewolf lore they should be fast swift killers. so they should do amazing dps. if you wanna be a tanky healer be a vampire as their lore matches up with that want.

Glaiceana

Just wanted to highlight the key takeaway points to this message, which are the reasons I am very excited to find out more.

broad improvements
improving their ferocity and momentum in combat
And the fact that the two mentioned changes were just examples, which means there is more

AuldWolf

There are lots of things I want, really.

The #1 desire, though, is the updated werewolf aesthetic. I, at least, hope they put that on the store. It'd be the most disappointing ESO release to date if they didn't at least give werewolves that. Frankly, I'd be so depressed about that I'd likely just give ESO a break for a bit. I'm usually very loyal but that'd feel like too much of a backstab. Stardew Valley multiplayer is just around the corner, I suppose... It would also mean hundreds of pounds less spent each month.

I mean, I'd even pay for the new werewolf aesthetic. At a premium, if need be. It's just that the old model isn't very good at all, what with it being based off of the Skyrim model. I'm honestly worried that I'll be met with that disappointment. ZOS hasn't been too kind to werewolf players thus far, despite our loyalty, so that'd feel... It'd feel not great, I'll put it that way.

Sandman929

ESO Live tomorrow to talk about the next DLC...exciting stuff. I'm counting on the last DLC working by then.

Qbiken

Daus wrote: »

What's this? Werewolves might actually become good? I guess I need to start putting points into that skill line again. Good news for you werewolves out there! You guys are in a terrible state right now lol. I'm glad to hear that you're getting some love. Heck if the changes are good enough I might play around with WW again

Werewolfs are already good (at least in PvP). People just don´t know how to use them properly

A few bug-fixes and similar "QoL" changes (like things that are mentioned in the article) would be enough to bring them back even more

Takes-No-Prisoner

coop500 wrote: »

HYPE I'm so happy RN, I love werewolves and everything in that article looks awesome

I don't play as a WW, but I love fighting them and helping them in PvP. There are some neato WW builds for PvP that hit like a tank.

RouDeR

If they release a cool Skin/Polymorph for the WW form in the crown store , this will be the FIRST deam thing that i will fkin buy from there. SO EXITED ^^.
PS. Hope that they wont screw the great magicka heal with some stam bullshet.

Lykanus

Qbiken wrote: »

Daus wrote: »

What's this? Werewolves might actually become good? I guess I need to start putting points into that skill line again. Good news for you werewolves out there! You guys are in a terrible state right now lol. I'm glad to hear that you're getting some love. Heck if the changes are good enough I might play around with WW again

Werewolfs are already only good in PvP. People just don´t know how to use them properly

I've fixed that sentence for you

In PvE they are current in dire need of help. Blood Rage change will already be a great step in the right direction- with others it could get something great. I am at least very excited already for the patch notes and details about all passives&actives and overall skill changes.

Strider__Roshin

Qbiken wrote: »

Daus wrote: »

What's this? Werewolves might actually become good? I guess I need to start putting points into that skill line again. Good news for you werewolves out there! You guys are in a terrible state right now lol. I'm glad to hear that you're getting some love. Heck if the changes are good enough I might play around with WW again

Werewolfs are already good (at least in PvP). People just don´t know how to use them properly

A few bug-fixes and similar "QoL" changes (like things that are mentioned in the article) would be enough to bring them back even more

Lol no they're definitely not good in PvP. They're free AP for me every time I see one. Their burst is easy to avoid, and they are easy to kill. Maybe a pack of them would be a pain, but that could be said about anything honestly.

Lykanus

Daus wrote: »

Lol no they're definitely not good in PvP. They're free AP for me every time I see one. Their burst is easy to avoid, and they are easy to kill. Maybe a pack of them would be a pain, but that could be said about anything honestly.

About PvP (and only there), he's right.
That what he said is just true: People just don´t know how to use them properly. Many think they are a killing machine and behave like that on PvP battlefield, but WW playing correctly isnt about being a glass cannon.

We will see however how the changes will impact overall the werewolf, as major changes are coming up i think the pvp wolf will change quite heavily too.

greenmachine

Prediction/Speculation:
Werewolves will get

an AOE Taunt!

You heard it here first.