The Witches Festival is returning to ESO in 2023! Battle Tamriel’s monsters, get double XP, and earn creepy new rewards during the ESO Witches Festival in-game event! learn everything you need to know about the frightening fete here.
How to Participate in the Witches Festival 2023
To get started in the Witches Festival Event in the Elder Scrolls Online, complete the following steps:
- Navigate to the Events section of the Crown Store and acquire the free quest.
- Complete the quest “The Witchmother's Bargain" to receive the Witchmother's Whistle memento.
- If you completed the quest in previous events, you don’t need to acquire the Crow Caller or complete the quest again, and you can use the whistle already found in your Collections menu.
- Use the whistle to summon the “Witchmother's Cauldron," which grants you and your party a 100% XP buff that stacks with other XP bonuses.
- Use the Witchmother's Cauldron to transform your character into one of the undead.
Note that you don't have to use the Witchmother's Cauldron to gain the XP buff, just the whistle. The Cauldron can't be summoned in Cyrodiil.
What are Plunder Skulls and How to Get Them
Plunder Skulls are reward containers that you will be able to obtain during the ESO Halloween Event. They will drop from defeated bosses and can contain various kinds of rewards, including the following:
- Alchemy reagents
- A festival-themed furnishing recipe
- A festival-themed provisioning recipe
- A complete festival-themed furnishing
- A festival-themed treasure
- A small chance for one of the following:
- A Hollowjack style item
- A Dremora style items
- Worms, Crawlers, Guts, Insect Parts
See the bottom of this page for a full list of the recipes and furniture that can drop from the Plunder Skulls.
Special Dremora Plunder Skulls
In addition, the first boss of each type that you defeat each day will drop a special Dremora Plunder Skull.
Dremora Plunder Skull possible items:
- Dremora motif chapter
- A Witches Festival Writ
- A Glenmoril Teasure Map or Glenmoril armor outfit style page
- A Grave Dancer weapon style page
- NEW A Tome of Forbidden Appetites Memento Runebox
- NEW A Witches Festival Ghost Netch pet fragment
- NEW A tradeable style page for the Crowborne Hunter outfit style
If you are hunting for specific motif style pages make sure to not forget what bosses drop which part of style pages.
- Arena Final Bosses: Bows or Legs
- Invasion Bosses: Daggers or Gloves
- Delve Bosses: Staves or Belts
- Dungeon Final Bosses: Helmets or Maces
- Public Dungeon, Sweeper and Quest bosses: Shields or Boots
- Trial Final Bosses: Swords or Chests
- World Bosses: Shoulders or Axes
The Crownborne Horror Extra Loot
When you defeat the creepy beast The Crowborne Horror you have will receive a special Dremora Plunder Skull that has a small chance to grant you an incredible offering of tradeable Witches Festival items instead of the regular Dremora Plunder Skull loot:
- 10 Witch-Tamed Bear-Dog fragments
- The FULL style book for the Dremora motif
- A folio of ALL Glenmoril Treasure Maps
- Runebox: Tome of Forbidden Appetites
- A random Crowborne Hunter outfit style page
You will have to complete the Plucking the Crow quest to fight against the Crowborne Horror. More on that further below in the quest section.
How to Earn Event Tickets during the Halloween Event
You will be able to earn 2 Event Tickets per Day during the Witches Festival. You can obtain them by defeating boss enemies.
You can spend the Event Tickets at the Impresario, ESO’s special merchant who only appears during Events.
Impresario Rewards - What can I Buy with Event Tickets?
Each event in ESO has its own unique rewards that the Impresario Event Merchant will sell for the duration of the event, and the Witches Festival is no different. Here is a list of everything she will have for sale in this year’s Witches Festival:
- All three Passion Dancer Blossom pet fragments: Chartreuse Lily Petals, Enchanted Silver Flute, Mystical Sheet Music
- The first fragment for Hoardhunter Ursauk mount: Blessed Honeycomb
- Crowborne Hunter outfit style pages
- Witches Festival Ghost Netch pet fragment
- Tome of Forbidden Appetites memento
- Assorted Spooky Witches festival-themed Furnishings: Webs, Cone furnishing, Hollowjack Lantern, Ouroboros furnishing, Specimen Jar, Spare Brain furnishing, Ruby Candlefly Gathering furnishing, Vampiric Lamp, Azure Tall furnishing, Vampiric Lightpost, Azure Single furnishing, Vampiric Container, Yellow Liquid furnishing.
- Group Repair Kit
- Companion Guild Commendations
- Witches Grab Bag (Only visible if you haven’t yet collected all the items contained within)
Witches Grab Bag Rewards
Several rewards from previous Witches Festival events can no longer be obtained from Plunder Skulls. These rewards can however be obtained from the Witches Grab Bag, available from the Impresario for 2 Event Tickets each. Here are the rewards that you can get from the Witches Grab Bag:
- Skeletal Marionette memento
- Spectre Mask Variants: Hollowjack Spectre Mask, Pumpkin Spectre Mask, Scarecrow Spectre Mask, Thicketman Spectre Mask.
- Apple-Bobbing Cauldron fragment
- Throwing Bones Memento fragment
- Marshmallow Toasty Treat emote
- Witch's Bonfire Dust
- Ghastly Visitation memento
- Witch-Tamed Bear-Dog pet fragment
- Witchmother's Servant outfit style pages
Lastly, the Impresario’s Assistant is offering the following, which you can acquire with Event Tickets:
Nenulaure - Indrik Vendor
Nenulaure the Indrik Vendor will have the following items available during the Witches Festival:
- Nascent Indrik Feathers
- Pure-Snow Indrik Berries
- Crimson Indrik Berries
- Frost-Light Indrik Pet
- Rosethorn Indrik Pet
Quests during the Witches Mother Festival
There are two quests unique to the Witches Festival. Plucking the Crow is a repeatable daily quest, while The Witchmother's Bargain is the Event's Intro quest, which can easily be picked up from the Crown Store for free:
- Plucking the Crow
- The Witchmother's Bargain
Plucking the Crow Quest
With the ESO Witches Festival in 2021, a new quest was introduced called “Plucking the Crow”.
At the Witches Coven, you will find an NPC called Witchmother Taerma. She will offer you the Daily Quest. Its objective is to collect 30 Feathers in order to defeat a powerful Wraith-of-Crow from the Evergloam. She tells you that you will find these among “the most vile creatures throughout Tamriel and hidden among the feathers of crow-like beings.”
This sounds more complicated than it actually is.
You will receive these feathers from the Plunder skulls which you can find from any boss monsters. As soon as you have received all the feathers, you can return to Olyve’s Brewery and turn to the alchemy table to craft the effigy. You then have to show Witchmother Taerma the effigy and hand her the effigy.
Following a ritual, a portal will open and lead you to a pocket dimension in which the Crowborne Horror is waiting for you to defeat it. It is absolutely advisable to bring friends!
Completing this quest will reward you with three Plunder Skulls!
The Witchmother's Bargain Quest
You can redeem this Quest in the Crown Store. Witchmother Olyve will appear and offer you a quest which asks you to bring her a boon. When you have collected all ingredients you need to find her in either Stonefalls, Glenumbra or Grahtwood.
You will receive a memento, the Witchmother's Whistle. Upon use it will summon the Witchmother's Brew and when you drink it you will turn into a skeleton. The most important part though is that you will receive Witchmother's Boon which will boost your experience gain by 100%.
What is the fastest/easiest way to earn Plunder Skulls during the Witches Festival?
The fastest and easiest way to earn Plunders Skulls is by completing Fungal Grotto 1 with 4 Damage Dealers. Fungal Grotto can be completed very fast when you speedrun it with 4 DDs. The bosses are easy to defeat and the mechanics aren't difficult. Please read the Fungal Grotto Guide if you aren't familiar with the dungeon.
New Overland World Events that you can encounter during the Witches Festival
There are a few new World Events in the overland zones that you can encounter during the Witches Festival in ESO. Info from this thread here posted by Benefactor. The events either happen on a Side Raod (S) or on a Main Road (M)
The following Events can happen:
- Bandits Event (S) - You encounter a group of Bandits.
- Hollowjack Broken (S) - You encounter a person called Hollowjack Broken
- Ereel-Julan Event (M) - You encounter two Argonians
- Gunozag the Extorter Event (M) - You encounter an orc with a Spectre Mask
- The Weeper Event (S) - You encounter a bosmer kneeling by a gravestone
- Mother Semuzi Event (M) - You encounter Mother Semuzi, a Khajiit
- Festive Witch Event (S) - You encounter a witch
- Witch-killer Caurdreth Event (M) - You encounter an Altmer with his dog
- Priestess Noebelle Event (M) - You encounter a priest standing over a dead body
- Hollowjack Portal Event (S) - You encounter portals that spawn enemies
- Crafter Skaldof Event (M) - You encounter an Altmer with a gravestone
- Khal H. Hughez Event (M) - You encounter a masked man (only happens if you have no Hollowjack Haunted buffs)
- Portal Event (M) - You encounter a chest (need to complete other main road events)
- Khal H. Hughez Second Event (M) - You encounter Khal again (Give him the Skull from the Portal Event)
- Khal H. Hughez portal Event (M) - You encounter Khal one last time before he leaves through a portal.
Recipes for the Witches Festival in ESO in 2023
You can obtain the following Provisioning Recipes from the Plunder Skulls in the Witches Festival:
- Recipe: Sweet Sanguine Apples
- Recipe: Crisp and Crunchy Pumpkin Snack Skewer
- Recipe: Crunchy Spider Skewer
- Recipe: Ghastly Eye Bowl
- Recipe: Bowl of "Peeled Eyeballs"
- Recipe: Frosted Brains
- Recipe: Witchmother's Potent Brew
- Recipe: Witchmother's Party Punch
- Recipe: Bewitched Sugar Skulls
- Recipe: Purifying Bloody Mara
- Recipe: Corrupting Bloody Mara
- Recipe: Pack Leader's Bone Broth
Furniture Recipes for the Witches Festival in ESO
You can obtain the following Furnishing recipes from the Plunder Skulls in the Halloween Event:
- Blueprint: Coffin, Lid
- Blueprint: Gibbet, Single
- Blueprint: Stockade
- Blueprint: Witches Brazier, Primitive Log
- Blueprint: Witches Totem, Antler Charms
- Design: Argonian Totem of Skulls
- Design: Pumpkin, Display
- Design: Common Bowl of Stew, Display
- Design: Pumpkin, Display
- Design: Sugar Pumpkin, Wax
- Design: Wood Elf Bone Chimes
- Diagram: Cage, Covered
- Diagram: Common Cage, Hunting
- Diagram: Common Cleaver, Cooking
- Diagram: Common Trap, Hunting
- Diagram: Vampiric Candlestick
- Pattern: Common Pack, Backpack
- Pattern: Witches Corpse, Wrapped
- Praxis: Hagraven Cauldron, Ritual
- Praxis: Vampiric Sconce, Azure
Witches Event Festival Furniture
You can obtain the following furniture from Plunder Skulls in the Witches Festival Event:
- Animal Bones, Fresh
- Animal Bones, Gnawed
- Animal Bones, Jumbled
- Bear Skeleton, Picked Clean
- Bear Skull, Fresh
- Branch, Curved Burnt
- Branch, Curved Laurel
- Branch, Forked Burnt
- Branch, Forked Laurel
- Branch, Sturdy Burnt
- Branch, Sturdy Laurel
- Crop, Wheat Pile
- Crop, Wheat Stack
- Gravestone, Small Broken
- Gravestone, Broken
- Hagraven Cauldron, Ritual
- Mushroom, Emerging Stinkhorn
- Mushroom, Large Puspocket
- Mushroom, Lavaburst Bud
- Mushroom, Poison Pax Shelf
- Mushroom, Poison Pax Stool
- Mushroom, Puspocket Sporecap
- Mushrooms, Large Puspocket Cluster
- Pumpkin, Frail Pumpkin, Sickly
- Saplings, Burnt Cluster
- Shrub, Burnt Brush
- Toadstool, Bloodtooth Cluster
- Tool, Harvest Scythe
- Vampiric Container, Congealed Liquid
- Vampiric Container, Yellow Liquid
- Vampiric Lamp, Azure Tall
- Vampiric Lightpost, Azure Single
- Witches Bones, Offering
- Witches Brazier, Primitive Log
- Witches Remains, Hagraven
- Witches Skull, Horned Ram
- Witches Totem, Bone Charms
- Witches Totem, Emphatic Warning
- Witches Totem, Gnarled Vines and Skull
- Witches Totem, Twisted Vines and Skull
- Witches Totem, Wooden Rack
If you have further questions about the Witches Festival in ESO (The Elder Scrolls Online please visit our community Discord server.
