Welcome to The Elder Scrolls.

I have been playing the series since the third entry, Morrowind, and have been a pretty dedicated player over the years, but have until recently stopped short of ESO due to its MMO nature and distance in mechanics to its predecessors. I have found myself, however, just as immersed in this game as the others after refusing to follow the advice of 90% of Youtubers and playing it MY way -- most HUD elements turned off or with a toggle switch, in first-person, chat ignored, and following the story in chronological order.

This final piece proved to be rather challenging. There are guides that outline order of zones and even forums that outline which guild and main quests to complete and when, but I found them to be short on information in some places and needlessly repetitive in others, so I decided to make this guide. Initially, as a personal source, then a source to be shared to friends, and now available to you.

Of course, this is a work in progress that I will continue to add to, but if you're reading this then it's got enough in it already to be published.


Your first step after character creation is putting yourself in the correct starting area. You have three options to find yourself in the proper Starting Zone. As of May 2025, you will always begin in your starting zone after finishing/skipping the tutorial.

There are three types of quests you encounter the most in this guide:

Zone These are essentially the main story of the alliance whose zone you are in. These quests will eventually earn you the trust of the faction's leaders, a trust needed if one hopes to save the world.
Fighter's Guild Uncover a conspiracy embedded within the guild's ranks alongside the events of the main quest.
Mage's Guild Recover the arch-mage's personal sanctuary from a certain bored god.

Main Quest (The Planemeld): Thwart the plans of the Daedric Prince of Schemes to enslave all man and mer and recover your stricken soul.

This guide will lead you through zone quests, guild quests, and the main quest in an order that is agreeable to the roleplaying and narrative experience. TIP: Open your map and select "Open Zone Guide" and "Explore Zone" if you get lost doing the zone quests. This will also lead you to points of interest, side quests, skyshards, etc. once you've finished zone quests, if that is something you wish to do.


When you arrive in your Starter City after completing your Starter Zone, there are a few things you should do to ensure you save lots of time before getting lost in the world.

Unlock Skill and Quest Lines
Armor and Weapons
If you haven't already, equip at least three of each type of armor (light, medium, heavy) to unlock their skill trees. Choose which to prioritize of course, but you can also have a mixture of two or three to maximize skill training and mix their benefits. Also, kill an enemy with one of each weapon to unlock their skill trees.
Crafting
Use each of the crafting stations to unlock their skill lines, including Blacksmithing, Clothing, Alchemy, Enchanting, Provisioning (cooking fire), and Woodworking (and Jewelry if you have the Summerset chapter). There is usually an NPC nearby who will give a tutorial on their respective crafting if you desire it as well as certify you to perform daily crafting writs for pay (the NPC for the Jewelry tutorial can be found in Alinor, Summerset). You can also research traits infused into armor and weapons so you can apply them yourself when crafting anew.

Undaunted
Go to the nearest tavern and talk to Turuk Redclaws, Mighty Mordra, or Kailstig the Axe to join the Undaunted, unlocking it's skill tree and allowing experience gain when completing public dungeons and their quests.

Mage's Guild
Visit the Mage's Guild and speak with Curinure, Nemarc, or Rudrasa to join, unlocking its quest and skill line which includes the Persuade ability and gaining experience when reading Lorebooks. This questline is best completed alongside your Zone Stories and the Main Quest. These quests unlock as you progress the skill tree.

Fighter's Guild
Visit the Fighter's Guild and speak with Aicessar, Basile, or Halan to join, unlocking its quest and skill line which includes the Intimidate ability and gaining experience when killing Undead and Daedra. This questline is best completed alongside your Zone Stories and the Main Quest. These quests also unlock as you progress the skill tree.

Dark Brotherhood/Thieves' Guild
If you have the DLC, it might be worth it to acquire their skill lines and the ability to stealth kill or search Thieves' troves while on your coming journey. The Thieves' Guild can be begun by travelling to any Outlaw's Refuge and speaking with Quen (beginning the "Partner's In Crime" quest), while the Dark Brotherhood requires that you travel to Anvil and speak to Amelie Crowe near the docks (beginning the "Voices in the Dark" quest).

There are also daily quests related to some factions as well as Tales of Tribute, Endeavors, and Pledges that you might be interested in.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There are some zone story quests that work only as pointers bringing you to the next quest in the zone story chain, such as "Missive to the Queen." These are denoted on UESP as "missable pointer quests," and many (but not all) of them will not be included in this guide due to their essentially "optional" nature. I made a judgement call on which ones not to include.

After completing "Council of the Five Companions," or all of your Alliance's Zones Stories, you will be given the quest, "Messages Across Tamriel" by your Alliance's leader (Ayrenn, Emeric, Jorrun) or by Vanus Galerion. Complete it to begin "The Weight of Three Crowns," regardless of alliance. Complete this quest to advance to the final Zone.

After completing the quest, "God of Schemes," you will be given this quest by Cadwell to then experience an opposing alliance's zone stories as if your current alliance's never happened.

The following quests will begin their respective chapters. The first quest is generally a prologue while the quest following will continue the chain of zone quests where applicable.

Craglorn
"The Star-Gazers"

Imperial City
"City on the Brink"

Thieves Guild
"Partners In Crime,"

Dark Brotherhood
"Voices in the Dark"

Shadows of the Hist
"Sap and Stone" and "Silk and Shadow"

Orsinium
"Invitation to Orsinium"

MORROWIND CHAPTER
"The Missing Prophecy" and "Divine Conumdrum"

Horns of the Reach
"Blood for Blood" and "Falkreath's Demise"

Clockwork City
"Of Knives and Long Shadows" and "To the Clockwork City"

Dragon Bones
"Casting the Bones" and "Plans of Pestilence"

SUMMERSET CHAPTER
"Through a Veil Darkly" and "The Queen's Decree"

Psijic Order Questline
"The Psijic's Calling"

Wolfhunter
"Moonlight Ascent" and "The Great Hunt"

Murkmire
"Ruthless Competition" and "Sunken Treasure"

Wrathstone
"Lock and Keystone"

ELSWEYR CHAPTER
"The Demon Weapon" and "A Rage of Dragons"

Scalebreaker
"The Sanguine Successor"

Dragonhold
"The Dragonguard's Legacy," "The Horn of Ja'Darri," "The Dragon's Lair," and "The Dark Aeon"

Harrowstorm
"The Frozen Isle" and "Unhallowed Grave"

GREYMOOR CHAPTER
"The Coven Conspiracy" and "The Gathering Storm"

Stonethorn
"Blood of the Past" and "Method and Madness"

Markarth
"The Ravenwatch Inquiry" and "The Despot of Markarth"

Flames of Ambition
"Into the Deep" and "Burning Secrets"

BLACKWOOD CHAPTER
"A Mortal's Touch" and "A Deadly Secret"

Waking Flame
"A Rose of Many Thorns" and "Quaking Dread"

Deadlands
"An Apocalyptic Situation" and "The Celestial Palanquin"

Ascending Tide
"An Order Gone Awry" and "Wright of Passage"

HIGH ISLE CHAPTER
"Ascending Doubt" and "A King's Retreat"

Lost Depths
"Haunted Depths" and "The Stonelore Defense"

Firesong
"Sojourn of the Druid King" and "A Sea of Troubles"

Scribes of Fate
"A War of Scribes" and "Unstuck From Time"

NECROM CHAPTER
"Eye of Fate" and "Fate's Proxy"

Scions of Ithelia
"The Forgotten Vault" and "Victory Through Strife"

GOLD ROAD CHAPTER
"Paths of Chaos"

Fallen Banners
"Undying Requiem" and "Upstart Emperor"