ESO Update 49 Complete Guide

This post summarizes everything you need to know about ESO Update 49, including class balance changes, new player experience improvements, the Night Market event zone, and much more!

ESO Update 49 Explained

Update 49 is the first major patch for ESO in 2026, and it’s doing two jobs at once: kicking off the class identity refresh work, and delivering a big batch of player experience improvements.

Update 49 launches March 9, 2026 on all platforms at the same time (ESO’s new simultaneous release for PC and consoles), and it includes a major Dragonknight class update with a visual refresh for many DK class abilities plus skill line adjustments aimed at making the class feel like a more complete kit and helping pure class builds be more viable.

Alongside that, the Two-Handed weapon skill line is also getting a visual refresh. On the quality-of-life side, the “player experience improvements” list tied to the March update is massive, including more mounts purchasable with in-game gold, improvements to vampire and werewolf cures and shrines, reduced bag and bank storage costs, and much more. We have a detailed guide below or you can watch the video explanation.

Player Experience Improvements

Update 49 brings a comprehensive list of “player experience improvements” now that ZOS has a full development team focused on addressing player pain points.

The full list of player experience improvements for Update 49 is found below:

• Mounts For Gold: brand-new mount for gold: 16 shifting to stablemasters (previously unavailable with gold).
• Vampire/Werewolf/Cures: removed from crown store: adding quest starter for vamp/werewolf: cures will be 0 crowns: increasing # of in-world npcs and shrines.
• Mimic Stones & Outfit Tokens: no longer sold individually for crowns.
• Bag & Bank Cost Reduction: reduced gold & crown cost for upgrades.
• Guild Trader Listing: restore 30-day listing window.
• Hide “X”: now able to hide chest, waist, legs, hands, and feet.
• Respec Skills & Attributes In UI: reduce friction and allow players to experiment on builds for free.
• Upgrade Bag In UI: reduce friction & better inform player.
• Zone Guide Improvements: choose what to track vs. just “in-order”.
• Longer Antiquities Lead Times: increased duration for higher difficulties, eso+ timers doubled.
• Quicker Crafting Research: lower timers across the board.
• Treasure Maps: reworked to improve user experience.
• Increased Furnishing Limits: new tiers, increasing limits on all non-notables. eso+ users get extra.
• Increased Transmute Crystal Limit: tripled transmute limit caps. now 1,500 for non eso+ users and 3,000 for eso+.
• Faster Mount Training: get three upgrades to a single stat at once, not one.
• Account-Wide Outfit Slots: slots account-wide: appearance tied to character.
• Guild Name Repping: players can show their guild name without wearing tabard.
• Back Bar Experience: both skill bars earn experience equally.

ESO Class Identity Refresh

ZOS has already begun what it calls the Class Identity Refresh, which is designed to address problems exposed by subclassing and improve how each class feels to play. The studio has indicated this work will roll out over several updates rather than being handled as a one-time balance patch. We also know that the Dragonknight Class will receive the first updates when it comes to the Class Identity refresh, so those changes will likely appear in Update 49 as well.

According to ZOS, “Each class will be addressed one at a time and receive impactful mechanical and balance changes in addition to any needed updates to visuals and audio. We’re starting with the Dragonknight class as the anchor, given its foundational role and the extent of changes needed.”

Dragonknight Class Refresh

Further info from the Class Identity Refresh article explains the DK changes revolving around Refinement and Reconfiguring:

Refinement

Dragonknights are attrition warriors. There will be many adjustments that help reforge this experience, including unique damage over time parameters like shorter durations, higher damage per tick, and ramping effects that let them build their power over the course of a fight. Another area this is improved is with the new Avalanche passive in Earthen Heart, which allows you to slowly build up momentum with a stacking damage bonus while in combat that can be lost if you fail to keep up the pressure.

Reconfiguring

Dragonknights’ flames are ravenous and demand fuel. Dragonknights are designed to require careful resource management, creating the feeling that their flame always needs fuel. This also helps balance the class, preventing them from dominating long battles simply by outlasting their opponents. While we still believe in this design philosophy, we’ve also tried to build more satisfying methods of solving those problems inside their class kit, like reworked Inhale—which has moved to Ardent Flame and now briefly restores a percent of your missing resources over time before unleashing its classic explosion.

All Dragonknight Class Changes

Overall Changes: Dragonknight has seen many changes to abilities and passives to better diversify the distribution of role-based tools in each skill line, while simultaneously creating more incentives to help “pure classing” remain effective compared to subclassing (this won’t be our only effort in aiding this experience). These adjustments are meant to lean into the existing core identity of the Dragonknight while simultaneously trying to improve under-represented roles such as Support. This has resulted in a reshuffling of where abilities are sourced within each kit, and some functionality changes to existing abilities to ensure we cover each role more evenly.

Ardent Flame Skill Line

• Dragonknight Standard: This Ultimate and the Standard of Might morph no longer deal damage to enemies inside or apply Major Defile. Instead, these Ultimates grant you and up to 11 allies standing in the area increased Weapon and Spell Damage (375) and reduced damage taken (12%). Note this effect cannot stack.
  • Standard of Might: This morph increases the bonuses for the caster of the ultimate (adds 425 WD/SD and 13% reduced damage done in addition to the base), rather than granting a unique 12-15% damage done and reduced damage taken effect.
  • Shifting Standard: This morph continues to work as originally designed, dealing damage and applying Major Defile, rather than the new functionality.
• Lava Whip: This ability now becomes Volcanic Whip for 7.9 seconds after it damages an Off Balance enemy, which allows for multiple activations during that window. The time window activation can only occur once every 20 seconds. Volcanic Whip costs half as much, deals 33.3% more damage, and deals its damage in a 5-meter radius around the original target. This change was made to help introduce the Flame Lash morph gameplay element sooner, while also making the window of interaction with Off Balance less restrictive
  • Flame Lash: This morph now heals you anytime the ability deals damage, rather than only when the Power Lash version is active. This morph sees the same changes to activating Power Lash as the base ability does.
  • Molten Whip: This morph continues to rework the ability into a more self-contained building effect, focused on high single-target burst damage. It now builds when activating any Dragonknight ability (aside from itself), rather than only Ardent Flame abilities, to make the build-up more organic and rhythmic to use.
• Searing Strike: This ability and its morphs now last for 10 seconds, down from 20 seconds, but deal 50% more damage-per-second to make up for their shorter duration. This decrease in duration but increase in damage should help make Dragonknight’s damage over time effects stand out as more potent but also more demanding to maintain, while helping reinforce a more rhythmic cadence to their damage rotations.
  • Venomous Claw: This morph has been reworked to Searing Claw, which deals Flame Damage instead of Poison Damage. It remains a Stamina morph that increases damage-per-tick, which has been increased to match the same power increase with the shorter duration.
  • Burning Embers: The heal from this morph now scales off Max Health, rather than damage done, to offer a more helpful tool for tanks to gain some staying power in combat. The initial heal remains stronger than the over-time portion, can now critically strike, but no longer bypasses Battle Spirit.
• Core of Flame (originally Inhale): This ability and its morphs no longer deal damage instantly or heal for the damage caused. These abilities now restore 15% of your missing Magicka and Stamina 3 times over 4 seconds. They continue to deal their original damage around you after the duration ends.
  • Soul of Flame (originally Deep Breath): This morph continues to add an interrupt on the initial activation, but it now interrupts after a 350ms delay instead of instantly, for better visual syncing and counterplay. This morph also continues to increase the damage of the delayed explosion, which has increased to a 33% bonus, up from 25%.
  • Heart of Flame (originally Draw Essence): This morph now heals you for 15% of your missing Health each tick. It no longer adds Magicka when damaging enemies, as that function of resource recovery is now a part of the base ability.
• Hearthfire (originally Ash Cloud): This ability and the original Cinder Storm morph now grant Minor Fortitude and Heroism to allies inside the area, rather than slowing enemies’ movement speed by 70%. Increased the radius to 8 meters, up from 5 meters, on all versions of this ability.
  • Fire Keeper (originally Cinder Storm): This morph continues to increase the healing effectiveness by 50%, but now only does so if the caster is inside the area-of-effect. To make up for this, however, it also causes the Minor Fortitude and Heroism to stick to allies for 15 seconds after being healed.
  • Hearth and Home (originally Eruption): This morph no longer reworks the ability into a damaging effect and instead remains a healing effect, but it now scales off Max Health. This morph continues to reduce enemy movement speed inside the area by 70%. This morph now also grants the caster Major Protection while inside the area, to help the ability be more valuable to tanks.
• Inferno: This ability and the original Flames of Oblivion morph now fire a massive wave of flame in an 8 meter radius, rather than firing a limited number of fire balls to enemies in a 15 meter radius. This removes the original target cap of the abilities. Increased the cost to 4050 per activation, up from 2160 to account for the new area melting potential. Reduced the chance of applying the Burning Status effect to 5%, down from 10%, to account for these changes.
  • Incinerate (originally Flames of Oblivion): This morph now deals 10% more damage and has a 15% base chance of applying Burning, now that the morph can no longer increase the target count.
• Combustion: This passive now grants you 112|225 Magicka and Stamina when applying Burning with an Ardent Flame ability slotted with a 1 second cooldown, rather than 211|423 Magicka and Stamina when applying Burning or Poisoned with a 3 second cooldown. This passive no longer increases the damage done of Burning or Poisoned (the Burning portion has moved to a different passive)
• Traumatic Burns (originally Warmth): This passive now causes enemies you’ve damaged with a direct Ardent Flame ability to take 5% increased Flame Damage while reducing their movement speed for 5 seconds, rather than increasing your damage over time effects against them by 3|6% and reducing their movement speed for 3 seconds.
• Fan the Flames (originally Searing Heat): This passive now increases your chance of applying Burning by 25|50% and the damage it does by 12|25%. These values increase by 5|10% (chance) and 2|5% (damage) per Dragonknight ability slotted. This passive no longer extends the duration or damage of some of your Ardent Flame abilities.
• A Soul Ablaze (originally Burning Heart): This passive now increases Healing Taken at all times by 4% at rank 1 and 8% at rank 2, rather than 4% and 9% when meeting certain conditions.

Draconic Power Skill Line

• Dragon Leap: Rebuilt how this ability handles the movement aspect under the hood to be more modern, fixing numerous inconsistencies compared to other movement abilities and unique bug cases. Fixed numerous issues with the knockback being desynced from the actual damage impact, which should also make it easier to counteract the CC effects as an opponent. This ability and the Take Flight morph now deal Flame Damage rather than Physical Damage. Reduced the damage of the base ability by ~16% to account for the damage change, as there are numerous ways to amplify this effect back to similar (or higher) values.
  • Take Flight: This morph now fills you with draconic fury for 15 seconds after activation, which increases your damage done by 10% and doubles against monsters. This morph no longer extends the range or reduces the cost. Decreased the base damage by ~19% to account for the other potential damage increases.
  • Ferocious Leap: This morph now instantly applies the Damage Shield for 10 seconds, instead of applying it after a delay for 6 seconds. Increased the potency by ~4%. This morph now knocks enemies up, rather than away, to make it more tank friendly so they can control the fight rather than disrupt it.
• Dragonfire Breath (originally Fiery Breath): Decreased the duration to 10 seconds, down from 20 seconds, and increased the damage-per-second by 50%. This ability is now a Stamina ability at its base.
  • Disintegrating Dragonfire (originally Noxious Breath): This morph now deals Flame Damage rather than Poison Damage. It remains a Stamina ability and continues to add Major Breach while applying the respective status effect (now Burning) to all enemies affected by the initial hit.
  • Engulfing Dragonfire (originally Engulfing Flames): This morph is now the rework morph, which costs Magicka instead of Stamina. This morph now channels the flame attack in front of you over 4.8 seconds and deals 20% increased damage when it hits an enemy, up to once every second, and up to a maximum of 80%. While Take Flight is active, this deals maximum damage. The damage is considered direct damage.
• Dark Talons: Fixed an issue where this ability and its morphs’ claws failed to appear if you are immune to the immobilize.
  • Choking Talons: Increased the duration of the Minor Maim on this morph to 17-20 seconds, up from 7-10.
• Dragon Blood: This ability and the Green Dragon Blood morph now heal based on your Max Health and increase based on your missing Health, rather than scaling exclusively off your missing Health. This should make them more reliable and comparable to other self-heals, but with the nuance that they’re weaker at high Health but stronger at lower Health.
  • Blood of the Green Dragon (originally Green Dragon Blood): Just a slight name change.
  • Blood of the Elder Dragon (originally Coagulating Blood): This morph continues to change the heal scaling to offensive stats. It now also heals allies within 10 meters of you for 2/3rds of the original scaling. It also grants Minor Courage and Major Fortitude to any healed target, instead of just Major Fortitude to you. Support builds may like this one!
• Wing Buffet (originally Protective Scale): This ability and the original Protective Plate morph now knock enemies within 6 meters of you back 4 meters after a slight delay. These abilities continue to reduce your damage taken from ranged and projectile attacks by 50% for 6 seconds after activating. These abilities now grant Major Expedition (moved from the original Fiery Grip) for 4 seconds after activating as well.
  • Fleetstep Wings (originally Protective Plate): Just a name change.
  • Protect the Brood (originally Dragonfire Scale): This morph has been reworked to be a support morph. It no longer deals Flame damage back to attackers while active and sacrifices the new area knockback on activation. This morph grants group members within 12 meters 25% reduced damage taken from projectiles for 6 seconds and adds Minor Protection for 20 seconds to you and group members affected. It continues to grant you Major Expedition as well. Note that this effect cannot stack with itself or any other version of the ranged damage reduction.
• Chains of Flame (originally Fiery Grip): This ability and its morphs’ damage now always applies Burning, for more interaction with other parts of the Dragonknight kit. Added a new special sound effect to the act of successfully pulling enemies, helping dial up the satisfaction of controlling your foes. This ability and the original Unrelenting Grip morph now apply Major Cowardice for 10 seconds to the enemy, rather than granting you Major Expedition for 4 seconds, to make them more effective for tanks.
  • Chains of Domination (originally Unrelenting Grip): Increases the duration of Major Cowardice to 15 seconds to match taunt timers. Continues to refund the ability if the target is not pulled.
  • Chains of Devastation: This morph now grants Major Evasion for 10 seconds after activating to help you shrug off some of the damage you may receive for diving headfirst into combat. Increased the duration of the Major Berserk to 6 seconds, up from 4, to help it be ever so slightly more worthwhile to use in a rotation. Note that this with the Burning application helps it do notably more damage, so beware the Dragonknight who pulls themself to you.
• Burnished Scales (originally Iron Skin): Just a name change to something more draconic.
• World in Ruin: This passive now increases your damage done with area- and over-time attacks by 3|7%, rather than increasing your Flame and Poison damage by 2|5%.
• Elder Dragon: This passive now increases your Health Recovery by up to 350|700, rather than by 161|323 per Draconic Power ability slotted. This passive now grants you and nearby group members Minor Brutality for 20 seconds when you activate a Draconic Power ability (moved from what was originally Mountain’s Blessing).
• The Storm Voice (originally Battle Roar): This passive now grants you 8|16 Health, Magicka, and Stamina per Ultimate spent, plus 3|6 to these values per Dragonknight, rather than 18|37 Health, Magicka, and Stamina per Ultimate spent. This should make this passive relatively effective for any who obtain it, while being even more effective for those who go all into the Dragonknight experience.

Earthen Heart Skill Line

• Magma Armor: Increased the base duration to 12-15 seconds of this Ultimate and the Magma Shell morph, up from 7-10 seconds, but removed the Flame damage on both of these versions. This means these effects will no longer scale with Elf-bane.
  • Magma Shell: Increased the radius of the shield granted to 28 meters, up from 8 meters, so more allies actually get the shield. Increased the shield size to 130-133% of the target’s Max Health, up from 100%.
  • Corrosive Armor: This morph now deals Flame Damage, instead of Poison Damage. This means the effect can now scale with Elf-bane. Base duration remains 10 seconds. Increased the damage per tick by 300%. This morph continues to cause you to ignore enemy armor while active but now affects all damaging attacks instead of just direct damage. To account for these massive power buffs, the damage limit has been adjusted to 8% of your Max Health, rather than 3%, causing you to take significantly more damage while the Ultimate is active.
• Superheated Ward (originally Stonefist): This is now a Magicka ability that grants you or an ally a sizable damage shield, scaling off your Max Magicka or Stamina. Increased the cost to 4590 at base. Think of this as superheating the air around your target so intensely that it prevents harm from coming through. This should help the support-oriented Dragonknights have a more direct option to protect their allies while offering something completely different from the standard burst healing effect.
  • Volcanic Ward (originally Obsidian Shard): This morph adds a healing effect when the shield ends, to offer some supplementary healing to those you protect. It also reduces the next instance of damage taken by 10% from any attack. Note that “end” means the following: the shield is replaced, the shield’s duration runs out, or the shield breaks.
  • Magma Fist (originally Stone Giant): This morph continues to be focused on a Stamina morph for damage dealers at range with some support functions behind it but is significantly simpler to use. This morph now deals Flame Damage instead of Physical Damage. This morph no longer splits between two distinct versions or has a cast time. This morph’s debuff has been renamed to Heat Shock (originally Stagger), lasts for 10 seconds, up from 5 seconds, and now causes enemies to take 33 more damage from all sources per stack, down from 65. This morph no longer stuns enemies on the 3rd cast.
• Molten Weapons: This ability and its morphs now cause the caster’s Light and Heavy Attacks to deal an additional hit of Flame Damage, up to once every 2 seconds. The damage is akin to a “sticky” damage-over-time effect in terms of number scaling and should add some more value to this skill line for damage dealers.
• Obsidian Shield: This ability and its morphs now last for 6 seconds, rather than 6.67s. Increased the duration of the Major Mending granted by this ability and the Igneous Shield morph to 4 seconds, up from 2.5s.
  • Igneous Shield: Increased the self-shield size of this morph by 12%. This morph no longer ranks up in power for the ally shield strength.
  • Fragmented Shield: This morph’s damage shield now scales with the higher of your Max Magicka or Stamina, rather than Max Health. This shield is capped at 31% of the recipient’s Max Health. Reduced the duration of the Major Mending from this morph to 6 seconds, down from 6.67s.
• Petrify: This ability and its morphs have seen some adjustments to enable more counter-play in PvP, while also gaining some additional effects for PvE. These abilities no longer instantly stun the target and ignore block and dodge. Instead these abilities now begin to encase the target in molten rock for 1 second while snaring them by 50% and immediately applying Minor Breach to them for 10 seconds. After this 1 second window, the target will be stunned for 4 seconds, or 8 seconds if they are a monster. Reduced the cost to 3780 at base, which ranks down to 3510 at rank IV, to account for the melee stipulation of this ability. The stun from these abilities still ignore block, but can now be dodged. This ability and the Fossilize morph no longer deal damage when the stun ends.
  • Fossilize: This morph now adds Minor Vulnerability and increases the duration of the Minor debuff effects to 17 seconds, ranking up to 20 seconds at rank IV. This morph also continues to immobilize after the stun ends, for 4 seconds, up from 3.
  • Shattering Rocks: This morph keeps the damage and healing on stun end. Increased the amount of damage and healing done by 15% to account for the new delay.
• Earthspike Mantle (originally Spiked Armor): This ability and its morphs now increase your damage done by 100 (all hits) while active, rather than causing you to deal damage back to melee attackers.
  • Shatterspike Mantle (originally Volatile Armor): This morph’s damage over time effect now scales with your offensive stats, rather than your Armor. Additionally, when dealing damage with the effect, you add one additional stack of Avalanche, up to once every 10 seconds.
  • Earthshield Mantle (originally Hardened Armor): Name update to match original change.
• Heart of Stone (originally Scaled Armor): Just a name change inspired by lovers of rocks and stones.
• Avalanche: This passive causes you to slowly build stacks of Avalanche when dealing damage, up to once every 10|5 seconds. Avalanche grants 1% damage done per stack and maxes out at 10 stacks. Failing to deal damage for 2 seconds causes you to lose a stack.
• Blessing at the Peak (originally Mountain’s Blessing): Just a named update. The Minor Brutality effect was moved to the Elder Dragon passive to off-load how support focused this skill line was.
• Mountain Giant (originally Helping Hands): This passive has been reworked and now causes your fully charged Heavy Attacks to apply Off Balance to the target. Rank 2 improves by restoring 1430 Stamina whenever you complete a fully charged Heavy Attack. This passive no longer restores Stamina when activating an Earthen Heart ability, as we’ve increased passive restore in both Combustion and The Storm Voice, while also adding a new resource restore tool with Core of Flame.
  

Other Class And Weapon Skill Changes

• Nightblade
  • Assassination
    • Mark Target: Fixed an issue where multiple users of this ability or its morphs could not benefit from the on-death portion of the abilities when used against the same target.
    • Master Assassin: This passive no longer displays its effects on your character sheet. Fun fact, this passive was treating you as a valid target in its calculation for UI results – and since entering your character sheet visibly turns your character to face you (the camera) on your client, but your actual character remains facing forward, it could count as a success of you flanking yourself.
• Sorcerer
  • Dark Magic
    • Crystal Shard
      • Crystal Weapon: Fixed an issue where the visual effects of this ability were ending earlier than intended on your client, while still rendering their shadows. The shadow and crystals should now persist for their intended duration.
• Templar
  • Dawn’s Wrath
    • Radiant Destruction: Fixed an issue where the visual effects of this ability and its morphs could become stuck or play on the wrong target when activated repeatedly while it was being channeled.
• Weapon Skill Lines
  • Two Handed
    • Berserker Strike: This Ultimate and the Berserker Rage morph’s duration effects now last for 12 seconds, up from 8.
      • Onslaught: This morph now grants Penetration for all damaging attacks and 100% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, rather than only granting Penetration for direct damage attacks for 8 seconds.
      • Berserker Rage: Fixed an issue where the crowd control, snare, and immobilization immunity granted from this Ultimate failed to activate if the ability was dodged.
    • Uppercut: Reduced the cast time of this ability and its morphs to 500ms to match their new animations.
    • Momentum: Increased the duration of this ability and the Rally morph to 30 seconds, up from 20.
      • Rally: This morph now heals 50% more at base. The healing now increases by 20% every 2 seconds, up to a maximum of 200%, rather than 15% every 1 second up to a maximum of 300%. In addition to the base increase, this results in a 12.5% max potency, which is reached at the 20s mark.
      • Forward Momentum: This morph now lasts for 1 minute, up from 40 seconds.

Update 49 Item Sets

ESO Update 49 introduces a small number of new item sets to the game, likely sourced from the Night Market zone.

• Antiquity
  • Shattered Paths Signet
    • 1 Piece: Increase your damage done with status effects by 1% for every 1 Ultimate you have, up to 170%. Both the current and maximum damage done is halved against players. While you have 170 or more Ultimate, your Light and Heavy Attacks apply a random status effect, up to once every 4 seconds. Applies Minor Timidity to you, consuming 1 Ultimate every 1.5 seconds while in combat.
• Monster Masks
  • Thousand Eyes
    • 1 Piece: +657 Crit Chance
    • 2 Pieces: Dealing direct critical damage applies Shivved to your enemy, dealing 0.889 (Wep and Spell Damage) Bleed Damage and increasing their damage taken from you by 3% for 15 seconds. This effect scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage. When the Shivved target dies, Shivved is transferred to the lowest health enemy within 12 meters of the corpse, refreshing the damage and duration and increasing their damage taken from you by 3%, up to 12%. You may only have 1 Shivved target at a time.
  • Glittering Goad
    • 1 Piece: +129 Weapon & Spell Damage
    • 2 Pieces: Dealing damage with a Bash or Heavy Attack deals 0.815625 (Wep and Spell Damage, but enter it as 0.20390625 Der since it’s 4 ticks) Frost Damage over 8 seconds to the enemy. If the effect completes, the enemy applies Minor Brittle to up to of 6 enemies within 12 meters of itself for 10 seconds. If the enemy dies, the enemy releases restorative energy, restoring 847 Magicka and Stamina to you and group members within 12 meters of the enemy. This effect can occur once every 8 seconds.
  • The Ruckus
    • 1 Piece: + 1206 Max Health
    • 2 Pieces: Taking or dealing direct damage grants you 1 stack of Enraged for 10 seconds. You can gain Enraged every 1 second, up to 10 stacks. Lose 1 stack every 5 seconds when not taking or dealing damage. At max stacks, you no longer gain or lose stacks of Enraged and you gain Major Protection, Major Expedition, and Major Force for 10 seconds. When max Enraged ends, your Stamina, Magicka, and Health Recovery is reduced by 422 for 10 seconds.
• PvP
  • Gorethief
    • 2 Pieces: +1096 Max Stamina
    • 3 Pieces: +1026 Max Health
    • 4 Pieces: + 129 Weapon & Spell Damage
    • 5 Pieces: Dealing direct Damage generates a stack of Bloodthief every 0.5 second and lasts for 10 seconds, up to 10 max. Roll dodge to consume a stack and heal yourself for 2021 Health. At max stacks, bash an enemy target to consume all stacks and deal 2272 Bleed Damage to enemies within 8 meters of you.

Increased Furnishing Slots and Home Recategorization

In Update 49, all homes (excluding current Notables) will see an increase in their furnishing slot limits. ESO+ subscribers will continue to have double furnishing slots for all home size categories.

Some homes have also been recategorized to better align the size categories across the board. Now, all homes within a specific size category will have the same number of furnishing slots. Even though Notable home furnishing slots limits remain unchanged, some homes will increase furnishing slots by moving from the Classic to Notable size category.

House Furniture Limit Increases:

• Staple Homes
  • Traditional Furnishing slots increased to 75 (150 for ESO+ subscribers).
  • Special Furnishing slots increased to 2 (4 for ESO+ subscribers).
  • Collectible slots increased to 10 (20 for ESO+ subscribers).
  • Special Collectible slots increased to 2 (4 for ESO+ subscribers).
• Classic Homes
  • Traditional Furnishing slots increased to 250 (500 for ESO+ subscribers).
  • Special Furnishing slots increased 4 (8 for ESO+ subscribers).
  • Collectible slots increased to 25 (50 for ESO+ subscribers).
  • Special Collectible slots increased to 4 (8 for ESO+ subscribers).

House Size Category Adjustments:

The following homes have had their size category adjusted from Staple to Classic:

• Autumn’s-Gate
• Black Vine Villa
• Captain Margaux’s Place
• Cyrodilic Jungle House
• Hammerdeath Bungalow
• Humblemud
• Kragenhome
• Moonmirth House
• Snugpod
• Twin Arches

The following homes have had their size category adjusted from Classic to Notable:

• Alinor Crest Townhouse
• Amaya Lake Lodge
• Antiquarian’s Alpine Gallery
• Bismuth Steam Baths
• Dawnshadow
• Emissary’s Enclave
• Enchanted Snow Globe Home
• Forgemaster Falls
• Forsaken Stronghold
• Gardner House
• Haven of the Five Companions
• Hunding’s Palatial Hall
• Kelesan’ruhn
• Mathiisen Manor
• Merryvine Estate
• Old Mistveil Manor
• Proudspire Manor
• Quondam Indorilia
• Stay-Moist Mansion
• Strident Springs Demesne
• The Gorinir Estate
• Water’s Edge

The Night Market Event Zone

The Night Market, a valuable trade hub for all manner of goods both worldly and daedric, is in constant flux as different patrons vie for control of its resources. There is a power vacuum currently within the Market as the former leader has disappeared and three rival patrons have laid claim to the mantle of leadership. These claims hold little sway as malevolent forces have pushed their way into the Market and districts have fallen. Mortals are normally shunned from this area of Fargrave, but the patrons have opened the pathway to hopefully entice their aid to become the ruler of the Market.

New Zone Type!

• Brand new Zone Type called an “Event Zone.”
• More difficult than your average zone, you will want to find friends or tag along with other adventurers to brave these challenges.
• Pledge to Patrons and engage in activities to win favor for your chosen faction.
  • Glittering Goad: The Glittering Goad gets its name from the amassed wealth of their faction. The faction primarily runs the auctions and stands within the Night Market and takes their own cuts. Prestigious auctions seek out Glittering Goad members to sell their wares as they are sure to fetch the best prices. They are a meritocracy, believing anyone has a chance to make it big in the Night Market, provided they pay for the privilege.
    • Patron: Tachien
  • The Ruckus: This faction seeks to control through strength. They want a cut of everything sold and offer “protection” to those parties wanting to do business in the Night Market. They were primed to be the rulers of the Night Market until their district was overrun with darkness and grief.
    • Patron: Kharakhal Moon-Eye
  • Thousand Eyes: The Thousand Eyes is a faction nearly as old as the Night Market itself. It is comprised of the small, the skittering, the insignificant… but in those numbers, great power. They have banded together to blunt the strength of other factions by seeking knowledge in the crevices and information in overheard conversations.
    • Patron: Molto the Whisperer

Three Themed Districts To Explore

• The Parch: A dry wind sweeps through this district, rattling bones in its arid landscape.
• Skittering Precinct: Overrun with the crawling and skittering creatures making nests in the walls.
• Sorrow’s Friend: This dark and foreboding district is home to all manner of creatures that lurk in the shadows.

Activities To Discover And Conquer

• Bosses and challenging Monsters: Faceted, Brazen, Argent, and Calamitous monsters stalk the streets.
• Daring Races: How quickly can you traverse – and survive – the winding streets of each district?
• Oddities: To challenge those more puzzle oriented.
• Skirmishes: New public style events with goals to accomplish when they’re available.
• 4-Player Bosses: Gilded monsters run each district in specialized instances for 4 players.
• 12-Player Trial Encounter: The culmination of the Night Market for those that have bested its challenges. The Opulent Ordeal is a brand new trial encounter to test your coordination and skill.

Unlocks and Rewards

• Boons: Activities will grant powerful effects within the Night Market. Stacking these effects could be the key to your success.
• Favor: Earned with your chosen faction to unlock new items to purchase on your faction vendor.
• The Night’s Den: A New House! Earned by completing the introductory quest in Night Market. It even has an entrance directly from the Night Market!
• Relics: Each district has an unlockable relic which will allow you to press deeper into the district and explore new areas.
• Even more to discover within the Night Market…

Achievements

• There are 61 achievements, with 6 new titles and 3 new dyes!
  • The title “Firebrand” and the dye “Ruckus Rust” are rewarded to you for completing the “Ruckus Favorite” achievement.
  • The title “The Scurrying” and the dye “Thousand Eyes Ichor” is awarded to you for completing the “Thousand Eyes Favorite” achievement.
  • The title “Priceless” and the dye “Glittering Gold” is awarded to you for completing the “Goad Favorite” achievement.
  • The title “Diamante” is awarded to you for completing the “Bedlam Across the Planes” achievement.
  • The title “Pathwalker” is awarded to you for completing the “Essence of Battle” achievement.
  • The title “Interplanar Victor” is awarded to you for completing the “Night Marketeer” achievement.

Collectibles

• Mementos
  • The Egg of Arac memento is acquired by completing the “Gauntlet Bearer” achievement.
  • The Windglass memento is acquired by completing the “Wind Slicer” achievement.
  • The Gleaming Lamp memento is acquired by completing the “Gloom Warder” achievement.
• Furnishings
  • Various busts and trophies are available for purchase from associated faction vendors.
  • Furnishing versions of the above mementos are also available to purchase.
• Skill Styles
  • Twelve Dragonknight-related skill styles are available for purchase from the Stylemaster Vendor to those who have mastered Dragonknight as a class or subclass.

How To Get Started

• Navigate to eastern Fargrave or use the new icon on the Fargrave Map to teleport directly there. Then speak to the Curator at the entrance!

Overland Difficulty Confirmed for 2026

ZOS has confirmed that optional overland difficulty modes that increase challenge and provide improved rewards. This is an important confirmation because overland difficulty has been a longstanding community request.

What remains unknown is timing and implementation. Overland difficulty could arrive as a later 2026 feature, as a phased rollout, or as a limited test before expanding to more content types. Update 49 is a potential candidate for early groundwork or initial testing, but that is not confirmed.

QoL, PvP, Combat, And Events

In recent messaging, ZOS has identified several broad categories as major areas of work going into 2026. These include quality of life improvements, class and combat changes, PvP additions, and changes to in-game events.

At this stage, these are priority areas rather than confirmed Update 49 patch items. The exact features, timelines, and which update will include what are expected to be clarified during the upcoming 2026 reveal messaging and subsequent follow-up communications.

What Developers Are Saying

While direct Update 49 details remain limited, developer interviews and public statements point to a general direction that aligns with the studio’s stated goals for 2026. The most consistent themes include:

• A stronger focus on core systems and repeatable content improvements
• Continued iteration on combat and class identity over multiple updates
• A release structure that supports faster adjustments based on feedback
• A wider set of quality of life targets rather than isolated changes

These themes are consistent with the new Seasons structure and the broader promise of more transparent and practical communication around what is being tested and why.

Summary

ESO Update 49 is not fully detailed yet, but the direction is clear. ZOS is framing early 2026 as a pivot toward improving the core game, addressing class identity problems highlighted by subclassing, and operating under a new Seasons structure that supports faster iteration. Optional overland difficulty has been acknowledged as a planned feature, and the studio has identified QoL, combat, PvP, and events as major areas of focus.

As more official information is released, this Update 49 overview can be expanded into a confirmed feature breakdown, testing notes, and patch-specific analysis.

The Final Word

Thank you for reading our summary of The Elder Scrolls Online Update 49! We will continue to update this page as we learn more about this important update so check back soon!