The High Isle chapter has arrived on PC/Mac, and after a bit of trouble with the North American server yesterday players are finally able to start their Breton adventures! Included in this chapter is the card game Tales of Tribute. This new game feature has a lot of depth, and to help players learn some of the ESO developers have recently shared some of their favorite Tales of Tribute Strategies. You can find the original news post here, or read on for more information!
With four starting patron decks in addition to four extra ones you can unlock during your High Isle adventures, there’s a near-infinite number of ways you can play and win a game of Tales of Tribute. That said, as the Tribute dev team designed, tested, and tuned ESO’s new deckbuilding card game, they developed their own favorite decks and strategies, too. Check them out below!
Read & React with Celarus
When in a match, Senior Systems Designer John Carlson enjoys the control that Loremaster Celarus’s cards and patron ability provides.
“If I go first, I always start with Celarus. It keeps my options open and lets me react to my opponent’s patron picks with my second choice,” explains Carlson. “Otherwise, I like picking Ansei Frandar Hunding for the patron ability.”
Hunding can help you get an early lead by providing one Coin a turn while favored—a great option for those who want to ensure they always have enough to acquire the card they want from the Tavern. Hunding’s cards can also provide some much-needed Power for a more direct path to victory.
“You generally only want a lot of one patron or the other, but if you have both, you want to see Celarus cards early for the Coin and card filtering, then use them to buy the Hunding cards that provide a lot of Power later. You can use either of the Hunding Agents and two Dreaming Caves so that every turn you can line up a powerful hand. I think Dreaming Cave is my favorite card out of any deck.”
Dreaming Cave is an especially flavorful and powerful choice, allowing you to look at the next four cards in your play deck and select up to four of them to move to your cooldown pile. No Shira Poet, on the other hand, returns a card from your cooldown pile to the top of your play deck. Both are particularly useful if you want to ensure you draw some combos in the following turn.
Buy a Victory with Hlaalu
Tales of Tribute’s Associate UI Engineer, Matthew Haworth, likes to buy their way to the top.
“I tend to gravitate toward Delmene Hlaalu and Sorcerer-King Orgnum patron decks as they’re pretty straightforward, which suits my … less thoughtful approach to the game,” says Haworth. “I’m not a particularly patient player, so I appreciate the early Coin advantage Hlaalu can provide, allowing me to grab whatever I need from the Tavern. Orgnum’s cards combo with themselves a lot for direct Prestige gains, and that allows me to ignore taunting agents (unless they have particularly pesky abilities).”
With a steady income courtesy of Hlaalu, shifting focus to Orgnum’s cards enables a swift Prestige victory.
“Hlaalu provides the fuel for Orgnum’s fire. With the Coin from Hlaalu and Orgnum’s ability to generate cards directly into my deck, it’s easy to get a big deck to take advantage of Orgnum’s patron ability, which scales with deck size. With Contract cards like Tithe or King Orgnum’s Command, I can activate it multiple times for potentially game-winning power gains.”
Both Currency Exchange (when part of a combo) and King Orgnum’s Command allow you to use an additional patron ability in your turn, often leading to a surprise swing, and occasionally, helping you steal away a patron victory in an instant!
Set Up an Explosive Late Game
QA Tester Michael Nichols likes to combine the power of Saint Pelin and the deck-drawing capabilities of the Duke of Crows.
“With Saint Pelin providing Power and Duke of Crows providing Coin, it’s always good to have some cards from both decks, even weak ones, to be sure you never lack something in the late game,” explains Nichols. “The game can play differently based on how heavily you lean into one or the other: steady Prestige gain from Pelin’s cards or explosive end-game pushes from the Duke’s Coin and patron ability. The correct ratio depends on the opponent’s strategy!”
Play the right Duke of Crows cards, and it’s even possible to draw your entire deck in one turn, practically guaranteeing that you hit your combos.
“Duke of Crows’ cards combo well with each other for gaining Coin, but its extra draw cards work with almost any deck. If I can scrape up the Coin for it, I grab the extra draw cards and then shift to strong Power cards like those from Saint Pelin. The extra draws let me keep the Power coming with combo bonuses awarding a crucial little bit extra every time.”
With cards like Rally, Saint Pelin has no shortage of ways to generate Power, and the Duke of Crows’ cards (such as Squawking Oratory) often provide Power via combos. Ultimately, you need Prestige to win, and one of the most reliable ways to gain it is by loading up on Power and allowing it to be converted at the end of your turn. By combining the Duke and Pelin, Nichols has two paths to victory—smart!
Personally, this humble editor loves to combine the deck-slimming elements of Red Eagle with the straight-up power of Saint Pelin to try to race to an early victory before my opponent can flesh out their decks—but that’s just one way to play! What will your grand strategy for victory be when you sit down for a game of Tribute? Let us know via Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook!
The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle now live for PC/Mac and Stadia* and arrives for Xbox and PlayStation consoles on June 21.
*Available only in limited territories.
