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ESO Witches Festival Tips

/ Elder Scrolls Online, Guides, Quests, Writs / By

Tamriel’s most ghoulish gala returns! Put monsters to the sword to receive ghastly goodies and double XP during the Witches Festival in-game event!

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Making the Most of Event

  • Pick up the daily quest titled Plucking the Crow from Witchmother Taerma, who is within Olyve’s Brewery AND at every Impresario tent in Tamriel.
    • Her daily quest charges you with collecting 50 Cursed Feathers, found within Plunder Skull containers. 
  • Double-dip on while collecting your Dremor Skulls each day by doing an associated daily for a boss of each type. DLC’s have Delve, World Boss, and Insurgency / Event Dailies. There are also base game dailies for Delves, Public Dungeons, and Dolmens
  • Maximize your Double Experience
    • Unlock your double experience by using the Witch Mother’s Whistle
    • Use the cauldron to turn in to a skeleton to remind you when your double experience buff expires.
      • When you return to normal form, it’s time to use the whistle again.
    • Experience Scrolls / Potions (One or the other but not both) stack with the bonus experience.
    • Unlock the insane experience in a box by completing your crafting writs during event
  • Speed up completion of all seven Dremora skulls each day by parking alternate characters at each of the locations.
    • Delves
      • Find a delve with few campers. Ideally, a delve used in a daily quest. The usual delve boss timer is 5 minutes but will spawn when a daily quester appears in the room: will likely only get gold off mobs. Skulls can also be found on any named, Dolmens, World Bosses, etc..
      • You can gather skulls in Cyrodiil but you have leave Cyrodiil to activate the buff.
    • Public Dungeons
      • Remote locations are often less crowded
      • Best locations for farming plunder skulls are public dungeons with multiple nameds in same room. They spawn every 5 minutes.
      • Easiest way to get this dremora skull at Dark fissures / “mini dolmens” / insurgent daedra spawns. These are spawns in more remote locations where waves of 3 daedra spawn. These are on a 5 minute timer.
    • World Bosses
      • The World Bosses in the starter zones (Stonefalls, Glenumbra, and Auridon) tend to be easier
    • Dolmens
      • Most dolmens will be popular during the event as players use them to level lower level players and farm jewelry.
      • Obtaining a Dremora skull may be problematic as you will need to hit the boss at the end. They spawn just left of the dolmen stairs.
    • Group Dungeons
      • Best option is to double-dip. Grab the three pledges from the Undaunted and queue up in the group finder (normal for a faster run).
      • If you are leveling a lower character, grab the pledges and then queue for a random dungeon daily. You may get lucky and get one of the daily pledges and the bonus experience the first time you do a random dungeon.
    • Trials
      • If you are not in a trial guild, Craglorn zone chat is a good place to find a Trial Pick Up Group (PUG)
    • Arena
      • If you are comfortable with your character build, you can complete Maelstrom Arena on average about 40 minutes.
      • If you have some good DPS friends, normal Blackrose Prison or Dragonstar Arena could be an option.

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Walk-through

Tip: If you obtained the Crow Caller and completed the event quest previously, you do not need to do the quest or obtain the crow caller again.

  1. Open the crown store and obtain your free Crow Caller found in the Holiday section.
  2. Use the Crow Caller to summon Witchmother Olyve to begin The Witchmother’s Bargain quest.
    1. Collect Pumpkin
      1. Available from Grocer for 150g
      2. Found laying around

        Tip: There is a spawn outside Bad Man Hollow’s Public Dungeon Entrance that is very close to Daggerfall. Also, there’s a pumpkin spawn behind the luxury vendor in Hollow City. Some are also found in the Faction base camps in Cyrodiil.
      3. Found in some food containers
    2. Collect Some Guts
      1. Small animals like squirrels, foxes, guar, chickens, snakes, frogs, etc.
    3. Collect an Essence of Death
      1. Named in any Delve
    4. Find the Witchmother Olyve in her brewery.
      Pull up the quest and bring up your map to see location.  
      1. Aldmeri Dominion
        Go to Auridon’s Greenwater Wayshrine (Southwest of Firsthold) in Northwest Auridon. The brewery is a short distance to the the northwest of the wayshrine.
      2. Daggerfall Covenant
        Go to Glenumbra’s Crosswych Wayshrine (northern Glenumbra) and head West. The brewery is just northeast of Cath Bedraud and east of Par Molag crafting centre.
      3. Ebonheart Pact
        Go to Stonefalls by the southern dolmen. Fastest way is to travel to the Serk Quarantine Wayshrine in north Deshaan and travel North and East.
    5. Complete the quest to obtain your Witchmother’s Whistle.
  3. Use the whistle to summon the “Witchmother’s Cauldron,” which grants you and your party a two-hour 100% XP buff that stacks with all other XP bonuses.

Witches Festival Writs

The writs will ask for Witch Festival recipes or Alchemy poisons or potions. You can premake all the items needed before accepting the writs to speed up the process.  You turn the completed writs into one of the daily crafting writ turn-in locations at either the Provisioning or Alchemy box depending of the writ requested. Also, my max crafter obtained 6.5k Inspiration, usual masterwrit experience, and received 1 – 20 master crafter vouchers.

Sample Witches Writs Items

  1. Bewitched Sugar Skulls
  2. Crunchy Spider Skewer – 1 Voucher
  3. Crisp and Crunchy Pumpkin Snack Skewer
  4. Frosted Brains – 1 Voucher
  5. Ghastly Eye Bowl – 1 Voucher
  6. Pack Leader’s Bone Broth – 20 Vouchers
  7. “Peeled Eyeballs” – 1 Voucher
  8. Purifying Bloody Mara – 20 Vouchers
  9. Sweet Sangine Apples – 1 Voucher
  10. Witchmother’s Potent Brew
  11. Witchmother’s Party Punch
  12. Essence of Ravage Health (Ravage Health, Invisible, Defile) – 1 Voucher
  13. Damage Health Poison (Ravage Health, Invisible, Defile) – 1 Voucher

Recipes

  1. Recipe: Sweet Sanguine Apples (Green)
  2. Recipe: Crisp and Crunchy Pumpkin Snack Skewer (Blue)
  3. Recipe: Crunchy Spider Skewer (Blue)
  4. Recipe: Ghastly Eye-Bowl (Blue)
  5. Recipe: Bowl of “Peeled Eyeballs” (Blue)
  6. Recipe: Frosted Brains (Blue)
  7. Recipe: Witchmother’s Potent Brew (Purple)
  8. Recipe: Witchmother’s Party Punch (Purple)
  9. Recipe: Bewitched Sugar Skulls (Gold)
  10. Recipe: Purifying Bloody Mara (Gold)
  11. Recipe: Double Bloody Mara Recipe (Gold)
  12. Recipe: Pack Leader’s Bone Broth

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Furniture Recipes

  1. Blueprint: Coffin, Lid
  2. Blueprint: Gibbet, Single 
  3. Blueprint: Stockade
  4. Blueprint: Witches Brazier, Primitive Log
  5. Blueprint: Witches Totem, Antler Charms
  6. Design: Argonian Totem of Skulls
  7. Design: Pumpkin, Display
  8. Design: Common Bowl of Stew, Display
  9. Diagram: Common Trap, Hunting
  10. Design: Pumpkin, Display
  11. Design: Sugar Pumpkin, Wax
  12. Design: Wood Elf Bone Chimes
  13. Diagram: Cage, Covered
  14. Diagram: Cleaver, Butcher’s
  15. Diagram: Common Cage, Hunting
  16. Diagram: Common Cleaver, Cooking
  17. Diagram: Common Trap, Hunting
  18. Diagram: Vampiric Candlestick
  19. Formula: Vampiric Alchemy Rack,Tubes
  20. Formula: Vampiric Lab Jar, Large
  21. Formula: Vampiric Lab Jar, Red
  22. Pattern: Common Pack, Backpack
  23. Pattern: Witches Corpse, Wrapped 
  24. Praxis: Hagraven Cauldron, Rough Stone
  25. Praxis: Hagraven Cauldron, Ritual
  26. Praxis: Vampiric Sconce, Azure
  27. Praxis: Vampiric Lamp, Azure Triple
Note: There was a scandal over the Cauldron recipe where it looked like the Wood Elf Cauldron. To be fixed.

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Furnishings

Click to enlarge.
  1. Animal Bones, Fresh 
  2. Animal Bones, Gnawed
  3. Animal Bones, Jumbled
  4. Bear Skeleton, Picked Clean
  5. Bear Skull, Fresh
  6. Branch, Curved Burnt
  7. Branch, Curved Laurel
  8. Branch, Forked Burnt
  9. Branch, Forked Laurel
  10. Branch, Sturdy Burnt
  11. Branch, Sturdy Laurel
  12. Crop, Wheat Pile
  13. Crop, Wheat Stack
  14. Gravestone, Small Broken
  15. Gravestone, Broken
  16. Hagraven Cauldron, Ritual
  17. Mushroom, Emerging Stinkhorn
  18. Mushroom, Large Puspocket
  19. Mushroom, Lavaburst Bud
  20. Mushroom, Poison Pax Shelf
  21. Mushroom, Poison Pax Stool
  22. Mushroom, Puspocket Sporecap
  23. Mushroom, Puspocket Group
  24. Mushrooms, Large Puspocket Cluster
  25. Primal Brazier, Rock Slab
  26. Pumpkin, Frail
  27. Pumpkin, Sickly
  28. Ruby Candlefly Gathering
  29. Saplings, Burnt Cluster
  30. Saplings, Burn Sparse
  31. Saplings, Burn Tall
  32. Shrub, Burnt Brush
  33. Specimen Jar, Spare Brain
  34. Toadstool, Bloodtooth Cluster
  35. Tool, Harvest Scythe
  36. Vampiric Container, Congealed Liquid
  37. Vampiric Container, Yellow Liquid
  38. Vampric Flask Stand, Double
  39. Vampiric Lamp, Azure Tall
  40. Vampiric Lightpost, Azure Single
  41. Vampiric Lightpost, Azure Double
  42. Webs, Cone
  43. Witches Bones, Offering
  44. Witches Brazier, Primitive Log
  45. Witches Remains, Hagraven
  46. Witches Skull, Horned Ram
  47. Witches Totem, Bone Charms
  48. Witches Totem, Emphatic Warning
  49. Witches Totem, Gnarled Vines and Skull
  50. Witches Totem, Twisted Vines and Skull
  51. Witches Totem, Wooden Rack

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Bewitching Alchemy Reagents

  • Blue Entoloma (5)
  • Beetle Scuttle (5)
  • Crawlers (3- 6)
  • Fleshfly Larva (5)
  • Guts (3 – 6)
  • Imp Stool (3 – 5)
  • Insect Parts (3 – 5)
  • Namira’s Rot (5)
  • Nightshade (5)
  • Nirnroot (5)
  • Spider Eggs (5)
  • Stinkhorn (5)
  • Worms (4)

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Treasure Items

  1. “Barbas” Dog Collar
  2. Ashes of Lamae Beolfaf
  3. Anesthestizer Coil
  4. Black Mage’s Spellbook
  5. Blood-Curse Talisman
  6. Charm of Ill Omens
  7. Coral Stain-Scrubber
  8. Crimson Kerchief
  9. Crimson Rose Walking Stick
  10. Crystal Leech Jar
  11. Driftwood Idol
  12. Giant’s Lucky Thumb
  13. Goldtips Bronzer
  14. Horrible Mummified Banekin
  15. Ivory Teeth
  16. Jeweled Bloodletter
  17. Matikora Teeth
  18. Mummified Hand
  19. Mummified Monkey Paw
  20. Nocturnal Weeping Stone
  21. Plush Hagraven Doll
  22. Red Squirrel Paw
  23. Self-Chewing Teeth.
  24. Skull of a Slave
  25. Spool of Daedric Thread

Retired

Note:
Now, these items are only available from Witches’ Grab Bags purchased from the Impresario.

Runeboxes

  • Pumpkin Spectre Mask
  • Scarecrow Spectre Mask
  • Hollowjack Spectre Mask
  • Thicketman Spectre Mask
  • Marshmallow Toasty Treat emote
  • Bonfire Memento

Apple-Bobbing Cauldron (Fragments)

  1. Apple-Bobbing Aged Fetid Fish
  2. Apple-Bobbing Cold Iron Cauldron
  3. Apple-Bobbing Fenwood Ladle
  4. Apple-Bobbing Fresh Fall Gorapples
  5. Apple-Bobbing Poise Guide
  6. Apple-Bobbing Stale Creek Water
  7. Apple-Bobbing Viscous Slime

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Outfit Styles

  • Dremora Style pages
  • Glenmoril Weapon Style pages
  • Glenmoril Armor Outfit Style pages
  • Grave Dancer Weapon Style pages
  • Hollowjack Motif
  • Witchmother’s Servant Style page
Check out Tianlein’s YouTube Channel

Achievements

Tip:  
The Exorcised Coven Cottage will be available for purchase with crowns in the in-game Crown Store for the duration of the event, and if you earn the Witches Festival achievement “An Unsparing Harvest" you'll unlock the ability to acquire this bewitching home for in-game gold!
  • Sacking Skeletons
    Kill 100 Skeletons while under the effects of the Witchmother’s Brew
  • Cauldron Conjurer
    Use the Witchmother’s Whistle 10 times.
  • Gruesome Feast
    • Consume all 9 of the recipes listed below.
  • An Unsparing Harvest
    • Complete Pumpkin Pairs Well With Guts, Plunder Skull Fanatic, Reaper’s Harvest, Happy Work for Hollowjack
    • Title: Sun’s Dusk Reaper
  • Plunder Skull Fanatic (15pts)
    • 1, 5, 100 Plunder Skulls
  • Happy Work for Hollowjack
    1. Hollowjack Style for Axes
    2. Hollowjack Style for Belt
    3. Hollowjack Style for Boots
    4. Hollowjack Style for Bows
    5. Hollowjack Style for Chests
    6. Hollowjack Style for Chests
    7. Hollowjack Style for Daggers
    8. Hollowjack Style for Gloves
    9. Hollowjack Style for Helmets
    10. Hollowjack Style for Legs
    11. Hollowjack Style for Maces
    12. Hollowjack Style for Shields
    13. Hollowjack Style for Shoulders
    14. Hollowjack Style for Staves
    15. Hollowjack Style for Swords
  • Pumpkin Pairs Well With Guts
    Drink the Witchmother’s Brew during the Witches Festival
  • Reaper’s Harvest
    Complete the Witchmother’s Bargain quest.
  • Bare Bones Puppet
    Consume 10 skeletal Marionette Parts.
    Momento: Skeletal Marionette
  • Wicked Writ Initiate
    Complete Witches Festival Writs
    Hat: Witch’s Infernal Hat (13 Writs Completed)
    Title: Witch (28 Writs Completed)
  • Gruesome Snack
    • Disastrously Bloody Mara
    • Pack Leader’s Bone Broth
    • Bewitched Sugar Skulls
  • The Plundered Masses
    • Dremora Plunder Skull, Arena
    • Dremora Plunder Skull, Insurgent (Dolmens)
    • Dremora Plunder Skull, Delve
    • Dremora Plunder Skull, Dungeon
    • Dremora Plunder Skull, Pulbic & Sweeper
    • Dremora Plunder Skull, Trial
    • Dremora Plunder Skull, World
    • Plunder Skull
  • Dremora Style Master
Pictures? https://eso.mmo-fashion.com/hollowjack/ 

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Impresario

Who is the Impresario?

During the event, The Impresario will sell various items including fragments for the current quarter’s special event fragments and fragments for the base item to morph to the quarter item..

It is a good idea if you are interested in the special item to grab it’s fragments first. Unless it is the last quarter of the year, you will have other opportunities to obtain tickets for the base item fragments.

Generally, all items sold for 5 or less tickets, can be obtained from the event reward boxes.

What are Grab Bags?
These curious containers have a chance to contain a collectible from a previous Witches Festival event. When you open a Grab Bag, it will only ever contain items you don’t already own or know, and once you’ve acquired every possible item within them, they’ll no longer be available for purchase. Be sure to open each bag and remove its items as soon as you acquire it (to avoid duplicate items from subsequent bags).

If you have acquired every collectible but still have Grab Bags to open, they’ll contain Group Repair Kits instead—useful! For this event, a Grab Bag can contain Hollowjack Motif pages, the Skeletal Marionette memento, Apple-bobbing Cauldron fragments, and the Spectre Mask collectibles.

Related

References:

EN (NA): https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/58951
EN (UK): https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/news/post/58951
FR: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/fr/news/post/58951
DE: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/de/news/post/58951
RU: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/ru/news/post/58951