Siege Weapons

The Alliance War is a very important part of gameplay in ESO. The fight to take control of the ruby throne and crown one of your own as the Emperor is a pivotal part of the game. In order to do this an alliance must control all the keeps around the Imperial city control and this is where siege weaponry plays a very important role.

There are 5 types of siege weapons:

• Battering Ram – can be used against Keep doors and gates only. Can’t be used against players. It’s better to deploy it near the gates because it moves slowly. Your allies must jump into it to help you to attack. There can be maximum 6 players inside the ram. It is impossible to deploy more than 1 ram near the same gates.
• Trebuchets – deals great damage to walls but can also be used against doors and enemies. Requires 1 player per Trebuchet.
• Catapults – can be used against walls and doors but it’s better to use catapults against enemies. There are different types of catapults that can disease enemies, burn or snare them.
• Ballista – can be used against any object or player but there more effective against other siege weapons. A good tactic is to deploy Ballistas on a keep’s wall to take down enemy siege machines fast.
• Flaming Oil – used for defending the keep’s gates against Battering Rams. There are also special places, inside a keep, where you can use the oil against enemies after they have destroyed doors.

Where do you get Siege Weaponry?

Each faction has starting zones in Cyrodiil. Visit your starting zone and find a merchant that sells siege equipment. You can use both gold and alliance points to purchase machines. Very often spending your gold for this is not the best idea but this gives you opportunity to purchase what you need when you are out of Alliance Points.

Deploying

You can find all purchased siege equipment in your inventory. You need to place the machine in one of your quick slots to be able to use it in battle. Go to your inventory, find the weapon you need, hold “Q” button and you will see a circle that demonstrates your quick slots. Drag and drop Trebuchet, Catapult or other machine there. Now you can use your Q button to deploy it fast.

Don’t forget that you can hold Q button to choose what quick slot you are going to use by default. That gives you opportunity to place for example potion in first slot and ballista in the second. You can choose the first slot as a default, and use potions by pressing Q, but when it is time to use a ballista hold Q and choose it from there.

NOTE: only a certain number of siege weaponry can be deployed near the same keep. During the last session the limit was 20.

Repairing

All weaponry can be destroyed by enemies. You can see the amount of “health” left in a special bar when you use the machine. If you see that your ram, ballista, catapult or trebuchet is damaged you can repair it. You need a repair kit for that. Buy the kit from the same merchant that sells weaponry itself, place the kit into the quick slot and use it on the deployed machine. This will repair it.

There are also special kits that allow you to repair walls and doors of the keep. The kit does not cost too much but will help you to re-establish the wall before the enemy comes to take the keep back.

Tips

Make sure you have at least 1 siege machine in your inventory before you go to help your allies in Alliance war. Many players ignore this and that’s why sometimes you see large groups with only one trebuchet.

Don’t forget to use the machines when attacking or defending keeps. The general goal is to destroy walls and doors as fast as possible. 4 trebuchets will destroy walls much faster than only one.