Werewolves exist in Skyrim. The disease is known as lycanthropy (or Sanies Lupus in TES III: Bloodmoon). Any player can choose to become a werewolf by following The Companions Quests or joining the Dawnguard faction made available in the first piece of Skyrim DLC.
The DLC introduces a new Werewolf Perks tree.
You cannot become a
and a
at the same time. Becoming a
removes lycanthropy automatically, but the option to return remains. Lycanthropy can be cured by other means as well. After finishing
‘ questline, you’ll get a quest that offers a cure.
- Totem of The Hunt: Detect Life ability.
- Totem of Brotherhood: Summon 2 Wolf Spirits.
- Totem of Fear: Howling will Fear enemies.
The benefits of lycanthropy are few but rewarding:
- Increased health in human form.
- Immunity to all forms of disease (including Saguinare Vampiris).
- Beast Mode In a transformed state, the werewolf’s innate powers enhance your speed and physical strength.
- The physical damage you inflict increases by level.
- Increased Stamina Regeneration Wolves will fight beside you against enemies while in Beast Mode Howl, see similar spell:Fear Feed on victims to increase time in Beast Mode and regenerate Health. While transformed you can run at full speed when encumbered.
- You have to feed on humans. In doing so, this adds another 30 seconds on to your time limit for being a werewolf.
- Werewolves use their claws to tear enemies asunder and can use a howl ability, during which affected enemies cower or run from battle. Using this power is almost mandatory in combat as werewolves are just as weak against normal attacks as in their human form and you can easily die in seconds if faced by a group of enemies.
- Injuries can be tended to by feeding on the ravaged corpses of human victims. The effect lasts for some time, after which you revert to human form, but a satiated bloodlust can potentially prolong the transformation.
EditDisadvantages:
you cannot access your character menu nor pick up
from the environment in werewolf form. However you can pull levers and interact with most essential puzzle mechanisms. You can’t speak to anyone and most, if not all, of the normal folk will react negatively to your presence.
- The player’s current follower might abandon him/her for fear of being ripped to pieces. The werewolf blood in you also prevents you from receiving the Rested buff from sleeping and Silver weapons will do more damage towards you.
- Werewolves are also weak against the Undead as the Howl power does not equate to the Turn Undead effect, leaving you wide open to their attacks. Thus you should never shift in Graal or Ghost catacombs, or when fighting Liches.
- Cannot get the “Well Rested” bonus anymore.
- Cannot regenerate naturally whilst in werewolf form. People tend not to like werewolves.
- Silver weapons do more damage.
NOTE:If you do shift in Graal or Ghost catacombs using consecutive attacks (holding the attack button down) will knock most undead away from you giving you a moment to rip into them some more whilst they are lying prone on the floor. This will also work for bigger live
that don’t die on your first swing such as
, Saber-cats and
. (This does not work on
,
or
).
A secret among the
of
is that members of
are werewolves. Follow their questline toward becoming a Companion until you reach
quest. It is here that you can choose to partake in a secret ritual, in which you drink another werewolf’s blood to turn you into a werewolf. Take note that if you do not want to commit (it is reversible with a cure), the quest will not advance. After the initial violent outburst, you gain
which is found in the
section of the
menu. Like the other
, you can activate
once a day.
Alternatively, it is possible to become a werewolf through the quest Ill Met By Moonlight. After talking and agreeing to the help the prisoner of the Falkreath Jail (he who kills little girls). The prisoner will give you Cursed Ring of Hircine which is cursed and you will not be able to remove it until the quest ends. This quest leads to The Hunt, in which you need to hunt a great white elk who, when slayed, is revealed to be an aspect of the daedric lord Hircine. Hircine will cleanse the ring if you agree to slay the thief who gave it to you.
Then you take on The Hunt quest which takes you to Bloated Ma’ns Grotto. Here you will join a team of hunters to slay the beast. However, you will have the option to side with the Werewolf as an NPC and slay the hunters. In addition to the
you can actually form a small were-pact at the wrath of
. Or if you complete the quest you will receive the
which has high resistance to poison.
Source: IGN Video Games