ESO Events 2023: Witches Festival Event Guide

The highly anticipated Witches Festival makes its annual return to The Elder Scrolls Online starting October 26, 2023. This spooky seasonal celebration offers players tremendous value through double experience gains and an extensive array of exclusive rewards that can be converted into substantial ESO gold coins through player trading. Whether you’re a festival veteran or first-time participant, this comprehensive guide delivers the strategic insights you need to maximize your event participation.

Each October, adventurers across Tamriel join the Witches Festival, a beloved holiday event featuring unique collectibles, powerful 100% XP buffs, and temporary skeletal transformations. The celebration centers around The Witchmother’s Bargain quest, which repeats annually with consistent mechanics. Plunder Skulls serve as the primary reward containers, packed with event-exclusive items that make this one of ESO’s most rewarding seasonal activities.

Beyond the obvious rewards, experienced players leverage the festival’s XP bonus to power-level new characters or complete challenging skill lines. The 100% experience gain applies to all sources—quests, kills, and discoveries—making it ideal for tackling content you’ve been postponing.

Mark your calendars carefully: this year’s Witches Festival commences on October 26 at 10:00 AM EDT and concludes on November 7 at 10:00 AM EST. Note the timezone shift from Eastern Daylight Time to Eastern Standard Time during the event period—this isn’t a mistake but reflects real-world time changes.

With precisely 13 days of festival access, proper time management becomes crucial. I recommend establishing a daily routine: complete your ticket-earning boss kill, then focus on farming additional Plunder Skulls during peak play hours when group content is most accessible.

Pro Tip: The most efficient players start their farming sessions immediately after the daily reset at 10:00 AM EST to maximize available time.

Initiating your Witches Festival journey requires a simple but specific process. Navigate to the Crown Store interface and claim the free quest titled The Witchmother’s Bargain. Upon successful completion, you’ll receive the essential Witchmother’s Whistle tool—a permanent addition to your collections that persists between annual events.

If you’ve participated in previous years, you can bypass the introductory quest entirely. Your existing Witchmother’s Whistle remains functional, saving valuable time for reward farming.

When activated, the whistle conjures the Witchmother’s Cauldron, which provides a transformative brew. Consuming this concoction temporarily morphs your character into an animated skeleton, granting both the visual transformation and the crucial 100% XP bonus.

Find the Witchmother’s Whistle tool in your Collection

Common Mistake: New players often waste time re-acquiring the whistle. Check your Collections under Tools before visiting the Crown Store.

Throughout the Witches Festival, every boss monster you defeat drops a Plunder Skull container. These special loot caches contain diverse rewards including alchemy ingredients, festival-themed furniture patterns, provisioning recipes, complete furnishings, and seasonal treasures. Additionally, you have a limited probability of obtaining Hollowjack or Dremora style items, alongside various creature parts like Worms, Crawlers, Guts, and Insect Parts.

Hollowjack Style

The real treasure hunting begins with daily unique boss kills. Your first distinct boss defeat each day yields a Dremora Plunder Skull containing enhanced rewards: Dremora motif chapters, Witches Festival Writs, Glenmoril Treasure Maps, Grave Dancer weapon styles, and several new additions including the Tome of Forbidden Appetites Memento Runebox, Witches Festival Ghost Netch pet fragments, and tradeable Crowborne Hunter outfit style pages.

Crowborne Hunter outfit style

Eligible bosses span multiple categories: arena champions, invasion commanders (from Dark Anchors, Harrowstorms, Volcanic Vents), delve bosses, final dungeon bosses, public dungeon bosses, and world bosses. Strategic farming involves creating a rotation through different boss types to maintain daily eligibility for premium drops.

During the event, Tamriel teems with monstrous threats, but none compare to the Crowborne Horror. Confronting this fearsome entity requires obtaining the daily quest “Plucking the Crow” from Witchmother Taerma, located near the Impresario or within Olyve’s Brewery.

Quest completion rewards a special Dremora Plunder Skull with exclusive drop potential including 10 Witch-Tamed Bear Dog fragments, complete Dremora motif books, full Glenmoril Treasure Map collections, Runebox: Tome of Forbidden Appetites, and random Crowborne Hunter outfit style pages.

Pro Strategy: Group with friends to tackle world bosses efficiently. The XP bonus applies to all participants, making this perfect for power-leveling together while farming premium rewards.

The Witches Festival presents excellent opportunities to accumulate event tickets—special currency for exclusive items. Each day, your initial boss defeat grants two event tickets, totaling 26 tickets across the entire event if you maintain perfect attendance.

Hollowjack Lantern Ouroboros furnishing

The Impresario

The Hoardhunter Ursauk mount

At the Impresario, strategically spend your tickets on: all Passion Dancer Blossom pet fragments, the initial Hoardhunter Ursauk mount fragment (Blessed Honeycomb), Crowborne Hunter outfit style pages, Witches Festival Ghost Netch pet fragments, Tome of Forbidden Appetites mementos, and assorted spooky furnishings including Webs Cone, Hollowjack Lantern Ouroboros, Specimen Jar with Spare Brain, Ruby Candlefly Gathering, and various Vampiric lighting fixtures.

Additional offerings include Group Repair Kits, Companion Guild Commendations, and the Witches Grab Bag (available only if you haven’t collected all contained items). The grab bag may contain Skeletal Marionette mementos, Spectre Mask collectibles (four variations), Apple-Bobbing Cauldron fragments, Throw Bones Memento fragments, Marshmallow Toasty Treat emotes, Witch’s Bonfire Dust, Ghastly Visitation mementos, Witch-Tamed Bear-Dog pet fragments, and Witchmother’s Servant outfit style pages.

The Impresario’s assistant, Philius Dormier, provides fragments for the Unstable Morpholith pet and Dagonic Quasigriff mount.

ESO Witch-Tamed Bear-Dog pet

Indrik Vendor

The Impresario’s colleague, Nenulaure, specializes in Indrik-related items: Nascent Indrik Feathers, Pure Snow Indrik Berries, Crimson Indrik Berries, Frost-Light Indrik Pet, and Rosethorn Indrik Pet.

Priority Purchase Recommendation: Focus on mount fragments first, as these typically require multiple events to complete. The Hoardhunter Ursauk mount represents one of this year’s most valuable acquisitions.

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