Werewolf Update From The Combat Refresh Team

ZOS_Erin · April 10

Greetings! The Combat Refresh team would like to give a quick update on what to expect for the Werewolf refresh coming to the PTS next week. We’ve been hard at work making sure it’s up to snuff and we’re very excited to let you sink your teeth into all the new stuff that’s been updated! To recap, here is what to expect with the Werewolf refresh that we’ve already brought up through previous developer streams and reveals:

Two new Werewolf models, one male and one female. Female characters will automatically use the new female model.
New animations, visual effects, and sound effects for almost every Werewolf action including but not limited to:
- Locomotion (movement, jumping, etc)
- Core combat mechanics (Block, Roll Dodge, etc)
- Abilities
A new ability tied to your Ultimate to cast while in Werewolf form, which lets you unleash the beast for a duration and grants a handful of stark power bonuses
A completely overhauled way to manage and sustain Werewolf form, now using Ultimate to both activate and sustain the form. Ultimate is now enabled and heavily awarded through certain Werewolf actions and overall you will find it significantly easier to maintain Werewolf form in most cases.
And two new mechanics we’ve added, named “Prowl” and “Slaughter” - which we’ll touch loosely on, but we want you to go on the hunt and sniff them out yourself!
- Slaughter is a synergy-based ability, operating similarly to things like Blade of Woe or Vampire’s Feed
- Prowl is a mechanic override for Crouch, which is designed to help utilize Slaughter more regularly, as well as a tool to help you hunt those who would prefer to remain hidden. Your nose knows! While this is not ‘true’ Crouch or Stealth, we hope that Werewolves appreciate the chance to be a bit more sneaky.

When we first showed off the updated model for the Werewolf, we saw a lot of positive feedback with some reservations that largely boiled down to three core criticisms: the size and bulk of the model, the mangy appearance of the model, and the methods of sustaining Werewolf form. Based on that feedback, we’ve made some notable adjustments to try and improve the Werewolf refresh. Some of the most noteworthy adjustments are:

Increased the size of the model by roughly 20%, making it substantially larger. This will ensure that you loom over normal player characters and humanoid enemies.
Adjusted and added more fur to the model based on feedback that noted how the previous iteration felt like it was mottled and bare.
- There is more fur coverage overall along the back, shoulders, and forehead.
- The tail is now bigger, floofier, and blends better into the fur on the Werewolf’s back.
- The fur along the spine now covers more area, helping to add some extra size and aura.
- There are performance constraints that we had to work within in regards to adding more fur to the model. While we know that some of you really wanted to see a model completely covered in fur, we cannot match the fur coverage from the Werewolf’s cinematic design due to run-time limitations.
The color of the skin now more closely matches the color of the fur and the fur now blends more seamlessly into the remaining areas where there is exposed skin.
While we didn’t go into all the details of sustaining Werewolf form in any of our reveals, we did see a lot of discussion around the cost out of combat. After pawing with the idea for a while, we’ve made the cost of sustaining Werewolf out of combat a nonfactor (it is now completely free instead of being reduced by 75%).
- The cost was originally part of an intentional gameplay design that tried to enforce the need to constantly be on the hunt. Hircine will not be entertained unless the chase continues, after all. This pressure helped lean into the fantasy that Werewolves are fast, aggressive creatures that need combat to maintain their form – but ultimately the reality of gameplay clashed with this, creating more experiences of frustration than highlighting the positive sensations we wanted.

Lastly, on the note of another larger topic we’ve seen for Werewolves, crouch and stealth. This is something we’re not adding to the Werewolf in the traditional sense, as there’s a lot more than meets the eye with getting those systems to function and be supported between content interaction, blending every unique animation (and having those animations be loaded in Cyrodiil, which cuts into how many unique animations we can make for other classes), and a handful of other things. It’s also something that we’re not keen on enabling for balance or identity’s sake – we want to keep Werewolves direct, imposing, and terrifying as they rip apart their foes – which means we need to keep messaging clear and readable for PvP while focusing on the big and loud. Prowl is our compromise to this difference of desire and intent, as it lets you get some sneak-adjacent benefits by making you harder to detect by monsters, which was mainly done to ensure you can actively use the new Slaughter synergy.

That about wraps up the coverage of what we’ve directly changed based on your feedback we heard between our reveal for the Werewolf and what’s coming in PTS 1. There’s still plenty more to discover that we haven’t discussed, but we want to make sure we leave some meat on the bone for you when PTS rolls around. As always, we’ll continue to monitor your feedback as you get to experience it firsthandpaw throughout the PTS and launch. Thank you as always for your time, passion, and support in making Elder Scrolls together. See you in Tamriel!

Malyore · April 10

I'm not a WW main so take my word with a grain of salt, but I almost like the WIP model more than the new one 😅. Maybe that is also just due to the A-posing... I can't really describe my impression of the new style, yet.

I do appreciate that there is some attempt for a "unique" look for this affect of Hircine, rather than it just being generic.

Glad to see that they are larger, though.

One step closer to those sexy werewolves the devs were talking about (and one step further from the pickles...)

Erickson9610 · April 10

There are a lot of long-requested community asks here! Thank you so much!

AScarlato · April 10

Like the model, and the news that the timer won't drop out of combat if I understand that correctly.

If that is the case, it's great for WW Roleplayers who won't be stuck in the Hircine house if they want to keep the form up.

Malyore · April 10

Now I want to see a werewolf and those giant khajiit grapple in a fight

Celas_Dranacea · April 10

I like all this, thank you for the work! I'm particularly excited about some form of stealth detection, and the changes to werewolf transformation timer/maintenance sound very positive.

Regarding the model - I think the new model is an improvement over the first but my first reactions include:

1) Why do the ears have to be so pointy and long still?
2) I get there being technical limitations to fur coverage, but is it possible to simulate fur coverage more with texture like we see on this pet wolf, without causing the sort of technical strain you are talking about? If nto, I suggest just going even darker on the skin color
3) Size increase is cool and unexpected
4) Maybe it's just the angle of the screenshot but the tail looks short / nonexistent - I'm sure we'll get a better sense when we see in on PTS monday.

Overall we very much appreciate you guys at ZOS giving werewolf attention. I look forward to testing on PTS.

DeathandDebauchery · April 10

Love the changes here, very excited about Werewolf update!

IncultaWolf · April 10

Malyore wrote: »

I'm not a WW main so take my word with a grain of salt, but I almost like the WIP model more than the new one 😅. Maybe that is also just due to the A-posing... I can't really describe my impression of the new style, yet.

I do appreciate that there is some attempt for a "unique" look for this affect of Hircine, rather than it just being generic.

Glad to see that they are larger, though.
One step closer to those sexy werewolves the devs were talking about (and one step further from the pickles...)

I also prefer some features of the original WIP model over the one shown here. In particular I really don't like the fur patch on the forehead and the haircut. Really happy about all the other changes though. Love the size increase.

MaverickWerewolf · April 10

My immediate impression is that this is somehow actually much worse than the previous new model (which in itself is still not as good as the original one). Artistically, the original one remains the best, but this new one is the absolute worst.

Please, please FIX THOSE SAGGING, WEAK, NARROW SHOULDERS.

They look awful! They are narrow and sagging and make the werewolf's entire frame look weak and silly. The old shoulders were not great, but they are better than this (stronger, broader, squared off).

Otherwise, my other impressions and complaints:

He has very separated lizard toes...
His body shape is just not good. His shoulders to waist has no real taper and his torso looks like a thick bar of soap instead of having a muscular shape to it. It somehow looks even worse than the already chonky original model, which had the same problem of having a baggy torso.
His arms and legs are still too stubby and short, imo.
What exactly happened to his tail? Why is it a mega fluffy featherduster? I do not like this. The big and floofier his tail is, the less scary he looks, and now it also looks strangely short? If he has a little fluffy stubby puff there, he is not going to look frightening.
What's with his crazy hairdo?
His brow and eyes are still very forward out from his face. His brow needs to be heavier to make him look angrier and more threatening, and his eyes need to be deeper set and shadowed (see: original model).

What I like:

Thank you for leaving his abs visible. I like the fur distribution. I personally do not want super fluffy werewolves any more than I want hairless werewolves, and this is meeting a good middle ground.
I like the new ears and his teeth.
I LOVE the size increase! But the funky weak shoulders negate it completely for me.

That said, this is still not at all a net improvement; I'm sorry to be so critical, but I desperately do not want this to be the final werewolf model. Please look into this again. I am not kidding. I cannot play as my werewolves anymore if those shoulders remain like that. That's incredibly upsetting to me.

Soarora · April 10

I liked the original WIP because it was visually satisfying to look at, but I’m happy with the body of the new model!! I will agree though that the ears look too long and the haircut is a bit odd but I’ll take a look at it in-game first since I’m sure it not being in an A-pose would help hahaha.

This is the first time I’ve been excited about werewolf ever since I learned we could be a werewolf. Can’t wait for Monday to delve into the prowling mechanic!

Ataskir · April 10

Absolute banger changes! I can’t wait to see how prowl and slaughter will work, and I’m so happy that we won’t have to deal with a timer drain out of combat anymore.

Really is a new era!

Elvenheart · April 10

Maybe it’s just me, but the hair on the head looks too much like a mohawk. Does any of the new skills styles belt out a snippet of “Achy Breaky Heart” when you use them?

coop500 · April 10

MaverickWerewolf wrote: »

My immediate impression is that this is somehow actually much worse than the previous new model (which in itself is still not as good as the original one). Artistically, the original one remains the best, but this new one is the absolute worst.

Please, please FIX THOSE SAGGING, WEAK, NARROW SHOULDERS.

They look awful! They are narrow and sagging and make the werewolf's entire frame look weak and silly. The old shoulders were not great, but they are better than this (stronger, broader, squared off).

Otherwise, my other impressions and complaints:
He has very separated lizard toes...

His body shape is just not good. His shoulders to waist has no real taper and his torso looks like a thick bar of soap instead of having a muscular shape to it. It somehow looks even worse than the already chonky original model, which had the same problem of having a baggy torso.

His arms and legs are still too stubby and short, imo.

What exactly happened to his tail? Why is it a mega fluffy featherduster? I do not like this. The big and floofier his tail is, the less scary he looks, and now it also looks strangely short? If he has a little fluffy stubby puff there, he is not going to look frightening.

What's with his crazy hairdo?

His brow and eyes are still very forward out from his face. His brow needs to be heavier to make him look angrier and more threatening, and his eyes need to be deeper set and shadowed (see: original model).

What I like:
Thank you for leaving his abs visible. I like the fur distribution. I personally do not want super fluffy werewolves any more than I want hairless werewolves, and this is meeting a good middle ground.

I like the new ears and his teeth.

I LOVE the size increase! But the funky weak shoulders negate it completely for me.

That said, this is still not at all a net improvement; I'm sorry to be so critical, but I desperately do not want this to be the final werewolf model. Please look into this again. I am not kidding. I cannot play as my werewolves anymore if those shoulders remain like that. That's incredibly upsetting to me.

I was working on trying to make a post addressing these things but this one came first, and I want to say that I agree wholeheartedly. I'll still try to make my own post, and even address some of the gameplay mentions too. But the shoulders, stubby arms and hair are especially the first two things that stood out to me as looking very strange, especially compared to the original model but even the old WIP one too looked better in these departments.

I hope changes to the mesh can be made during the PTS. I don't think it needs fur plastered all over either, but I also don't think that's what most people meant when they mentioned the werewolf in the cinematic. What most people were meaning was the actual SHAPE of it, especially the head, being more fully wolflike, without a weird hairo. Like Maverick says here, the brow and eyes could be tweaked to achieve this effect and also make the beast look more threatening, aggressive and imposing.

Even looking at the 2026 anniversary cake werewolf, that looks much more imposing and beast-like, with full shoulders and a defined waist (for a cake decoration).

I do want to say a heartfelt thank you for enlarging the model however, I did not expect that and I want to give credit where credit is due. This was something that bothered me profoundly and it's a relief to see adjusted. But I think the mesh itself needs dire help, and I hope we can see some adjustments like what we saw with DK Spikes during PTS 49. I know at this point it's more or less set in stone, but I also know some mesh adjustments CAN be made, and if I had to pick only a few things, I'd certainly start with those shoulders, and trim the hair back on the top of the head.

Erickson9610 · April 10

@ZOS_Erin

Will PvE encounters like March of Sacrifices or the Lord Hollowjack boss fight during the Witches Festival be modified to allow Werewolves who are Prowling to function like players who are stealthed?

It's particularly frustrating in March of Sacrifices when you can't interact with the hunting wisps in Werewolf form unless you do the side content, which itself requires you to interact with the hunting wisps.

Please make start-to-finish Werewolf only runs of March of Sacrifices possible!

SneaK · April 10

Not much info here.

IncultaWolf · April 10

Elvenheart wrote: »

Maybe it’s just me, but the hair on the head looks too much like a mohawk. Does any of the new skills styles belt out a snippet of “Achy Breaky Heart” when you use them?

I'm glad other players are having the same thoughts about the hair on the head. Definitely needs to be adjusted during the pts cycle. 🐺

coop500 · April 10

I am also admittedly confused about the tail changes, as I don't believe I saw anyone asking for a bigger tail? Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but that didn't seem like anything that was highly asked for.

coop500 · April 10

Angnos wrote: »

[snip]

That's update 51, it's a long ways off still. We might see information about this more closer to the end of the PTS 50 run cycle.
[edited to remove quote]

Lycanthrope1997 · April 10

I appreciate the changes. The Van Helsing Werewolf Vibes going on here.

AmarokRend · April 10

MaverickWerewolf wrote: »

My immediate impression is that this is somehow actually much worse than the previous new model (which in itself is still not as good as the original one). Artistically, the original one remains the best, but this new one is the absolute worst.

Please, please FIX THOSE SAGGING, WEAK, NARROW SHOULDERS.
They look awful! They are narrow and sagging and make the werewolf's entire frame look weak and silly. The old shoulders were not great, but they are better than this (stronger, broader, squared off).

Otherwise, my other impressions and complaints:
He has very separated lizard toes...

His body shape is just not good. His shoulders to waist has no real taper and his torso looks like a thick bar of soap instead of having a muscular shape to it. It somehow looks even worse than the already chonky original model, which had the same problem of having a baggy torso.

His arms and legs are still too stubby and short, imo.

What exactly happened to his tail? Why is it a mega fluffy featherduster? I do not like this. The big and floofier his tail is, the less scary he looks, and now it also looks strangely short? If he has a little fluffy stubby puff there, he is not going to look frightening.

What's with his crazy hairdo?

His brow and eyes are still very forward out from his face. His brow needs to be heavier to make him look angrier and more threatening, and his eyes need to be deeper set and shadowed (see: original model).

What I like:
Thank you for leaving his abs visible. I like the fur distribution. I personally do not want super fluffy werewolves any more than I want hairless werewolves, and this is meeting a good middle ground.

I like the new ears and his teeth.

I LOVE the size increase! But the funky weak shoulders negate it completely for me.

That said, this is still not at all a net improvement; I'm sorry to be so critical, but I desperately do not want this to be the final werewolf model. Please look into this again. I am not kidding. I cannot play as my werewolves anymore if those shoulders remain like that. That's incredibly upsetting to me.

I think it's less that the shoulders are sagging and more the trapezius muscles are more noticeable on the new model. I'm not in-game at the moment, but from the comparison pictures, I think if you adjusted the current model's head position to match the new model's, the profiles would be pretty close.
I do think filling out the deltoids a bit more would go well toward balancing the proportions though. The overall impression I get is more 'powerlifter' than 'bodybuilder', which would make sense.

I might thicken the toes a bit. It's fine if they're longer with more separation than wolf toes normally would be, but a bit of thickness to give the impression they'd leave wolf-like tracks would be nice.

It's hard to tell, but I think the tail is pointing straight at the camera, it'd be good to get a side profile picture.

I agree with you about the brow and eyes.

And fully agreed on the abs / fur distribution, ears, teeth and size.

Overall, I'd say it's a neutral / improvement on the initial WIP model, but some refinements would be appreciated.

EDIT: I meant to say this, then it completely slipped my mind, but... I'm eager to see what the Prowl and Slaughter abilities introduce, and look forward to testing them on the PTS.

GatheredMyst · April 10

I think the jury's going to be out on the hair until we see it on PTS. The A Pose isn't going to have any animations, and if they're using new hair tech as they said on livestream, i'm going to guess that it animates somehow. It might not come out as spiky as it seems.

Beyond that, I agree that the model is an overall improvement. The fur blending is a lot better. If I were to change anything, it would be the length of the ears (They look more elven than they do canine), and the haunches don't look very paw-like at all.

Looking good otherwise.

dark_hunterxmg · April 10

Looks like some good improvement ideas. I'm excited to see how it plays on the PTS. I am particularly interested to see if the healing has been improved.

Techwolf_Lupindo · April 10

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

Lastly, on the note of another larger topic we’ve seen for Werewolves, crouch and stealth. This is something we’re not adding to the Werewolf in the traditional sense, as there’s a lot more than meets the eye with getting those systems to function and be supported between content interaction, blending every unique animation (and having those animations be loaded in Cyrodiil, which cuts into how many unique animations we can make for other classes), and a handful of other things. It’s also something that we’re not keen on enabling for balance or identity’s sake – we want to keep Werewolves direct, imposing, and terrifying as they rip apart their foes – which means we need to keep messaging clear and readable for PvP while focusing on the big and loud. Prowl is our compromise to this difference of desire and intent, as it lets you get some sneak-adjacent benefits by making you harder to detect by monsters, which was mainly done to ensure you can actively use the new Slaughter synergy.

This really smells of Brian Wheeler doing. The werewolf had a crouch sneak system in game, but was disabled and had the side effect of eating all the time feature until that was removed.

The werewolf timer bar could have been converted into a Rage bar that increases when certion activities are done, like kill, attacks, and so on. Similar to DK stacks, ARC Crux stacks, and so on with other classes and would have worked a lot better then the minigame system.

randconfig · April 10

I like the new model a lot, big hairy werewolf = perfect.

Maybe bigger delts and less of a cone head/fur shape when viewed from behind.

Spin · April 10

I love the idea of updating visuals, structures, skills and refresh the identity of the game, but this time the visual changes are off. The WW looks like a Werehyena, also you dont need to add a 5th toe (dewclaw), Hind legs usually have 4 (90% of the cases) because they are digitigrade animals. Sorry, I know it's fantasy, but since it draws from reality in some aspects we need to do the biology-check.

The ears are too point and too big, the facial expression is off as well.

I know ESO wants to build its own distinct identity (in relation to other TES titles), but the WW could borrow from Skyrim's lectures.

Also, a little retcon on how the skills works would be nice since Lorewise WW can't cast magic, and it would be nice if this is still respected, not saying a skill shouldn't cost magicka resource, but the explanation behind needs to be addressed properly.

Techwolf_Lupindo · April 10

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

Defentelly better then the first preview we got. Kudos to the artists that actually listened to good feedback. Keep up the good work. :-)

One thing that does concern me is there is no side view to see if they fixed the "bat ears" look.

Techwolf_Lupindo · April 10

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

[*]There are performance constraints that we had to work within in regards to adding more fur to the model. While we know that some of you really wanted to see a model completely covered in fur, we cannot match the fur coverage from the Werewolf’s cinematic design due to run-time limitations.

Fur is rendered client side. Has no impact on server performance. Would be nice to have a adjustment added to video settings on how much fur to rendered. Want to see all the fur and run PC? Put it on max. Running on console, put it on medium or low for performance.

Techwolf_Lupindo · April 10

Erickson9610 wrote: »

@ZOS_Erin

Please make start-to-finish Werewolf only runs of March of Sacrifices possible!

When I started playing ESO, I went all in werewolf style. I went into MoS as a werewolf and ended up getting kicked after a while. Does ZOS really want new players to get kick from dungeons just because they are werewolves?

Erickson9610 · April 10

Techwolf_Lupindo wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

@ZOS_Erin

Please make start-to-finish Werewolf only runs of March of Sacrifices possible!

When I started playing ESO, I went all in werewolf style. I went into MoS as a werewolf and ended up getting kicked after a while. Does ZOS really want new players to get kick from dungeons just because they are werewolves?

March of Sacrifices is one of the two upcoming Solo Dungeons, so now is the right time to inquire about Werewolf's new "sneaking" mechanic in relation to the werewolf dungeon.

tohopka_eso · April 10

I like it very much. Has a much better werewolf feel then before IMO. and as someone posted a picture it does have a Van Helsing feel to it.
I might have respec back into it and give a try again.

huskandhunger · April 10

Initial first thought: please give a haircut to the Mohawk hair on top of the head