While housing in The Elder Scrolls Online is primarily a creative outlet, there are plenty of reasons to collect houses for convenience and utility. In this guide, Kalam0n shows a list of the six most utility homes you should have in ESO. Even if you're not a housing enthusiast, his video will provide a short list of homes that you will probably want to pick up to help save your time and hassle while you explore Tamriel.
Why Own a Home in ESO and Which House Should You Buy?
The main reason to own a home in ESO is for its cosmetic aspects, so ultimately, you should choose the one you like the most. However, ESO homes do offer some utility, such as serving as a creative outlet and providing storage expansion. Additionally, they come with benefits like quick travel and convenience. You can teleport to the front door of any home you own from anywhere in the game other than Cyrodiil or the Imperial City, which means that you have a quick free option to get back to crafting stations, merchants, daily quest hubs, and more. Here are the top picks for each category of home.
Best Inn Room – Sugar Bowl Suite
Location: Rimmen, Northern Elsweyr
Achievement: n/a
Price: Free or 3,000 Gold Coins
Traditional Furnishings: 30
Collectible Furnishings: 2
Special Collectibles: 2
Despite two very nice inn rooms in the form of journeys and lodgings in Necrom and Rosewine Retreat in the West Weald, the Sugar Bowl Suite in Rimmen remains the top inn room. Rimmen is the chapter hub of the Elsweyr expansion and is located in a nicely laid out city that has a few killer features.
First of all, the Sugar Bowl Suite remains the only inn room in the game with an exterior facing front door. This means it is the only inn room in the game where quick-traveling to the outside of it will put you within steps of a Wayshrine without having to go through any additional loading screens. Rimmen also benefits from the fact that it was the last chapter hub city added to ESO that wasn't broken up into multiple sections with loading screens between them. Ever since Greymoor, cities in ESO have been split up into two or three different micro zones, and that can result in loading screens when switching between them.
Once you're in Rimmen, you can quickly visit all of the major city amenities of that chapter hub, get your daily Writs done, and get back to adventuring without needing to wait for any extra loading screens.
The Rimmen crafting area is one of the better ones in the game, with a very satisfying loop and plenty of long sight lines that make navigation easier. The Stable Master, battle master, and Impressario are all conveniently located just outside the front gate of the city, and the bank indoors loads fairly quickly. Best of all, you can claim inn rooms for free by completing the Room to Spare quest. So, this one won't set you back a thing.
The main downside of inn rooms is the furnishing limits, even with ESO Plus. The Sugar Bowl Suite doesn't sport enough furnishing slots to fit all of the convenience furnishings you'd probably like to have on hand.
Best ESO Apartment – Flaming Nix Deluxe Garret
Location: Mournhold, Deshaan
Achievement: n/a
Price: 13,000 Gold Coins
Traditional Furnishings: 100
Collectible Furnishings: 2
Special Furnishings: 2
There are only three apartments in ESO, and all were added at the introduction of housing with no new apartments since.
Apartments have the same number of collectible and furnishing slots as inn rooms, so they aren't much more useful when it comes to outfitting them with convenience furnishings. But all three are in very convenient locations. The Flaming Nix Deluxe Garret of Mournhold takes the top spot thanks to the fact that it's in one of the original capital cities and relatively close to the Mournhold crafting area.
Flaming Nix Deluxe Garret has always been in the top five overall picks, and its value only continues to increase as ESO improves the rewards from daily quests that can only be picked up in the original capitals of Mournhold, Wayrest, and Elden Root, which host the Undaunted Enclave, Mages Guild dailies, and the Fighters Guild dailies.
As the capital of the Ebonheart Pact, Mournhold is also one of the busiest trading hubs in the game, and you will probably be visiting regularly to buy items from those Guild Traders. The Mournhold crafting area and Writ turning in aren't quite as optimized as newer cities, but if you prefer to keep all your business in one spot, it is sufficient. Regardless of your daily routine, it is highly recommended to pick up the Flaming Nix, as it is so cheap, and it can be pretty fun to decorate with that slightly more generous furnishing limit without being overwhelming, like some of the larger homes in ESO.
Best ESO Small Home – Snugpod
Location: Elden Root, Grahtwood
Achievement: Reliquary Retriever
Price: 45,000 Gold Coins
Traditional Furnishings: 200
Collectible Furnishings: 10
Special Collectibles: 4
Snugpod is located in Elden Root, which is an important trading hub as the capital of the Aldmeri Dominion and also supports all of the amenities that come with a capital city.
Snugpod is not only the best small home but also the No. 1 overall home choice in ESO. It is the closest home to a Stable Master as well as an Undaunted Enclave. Plus, unlike the Flaming Nix Deluxe Garret, Snagpod has an exterior door. The Elden Root Wayshrine, Outlaw Refuge, and Master Writ turning in are also just a few steps away from this house.
Snugpod was already a must-buy house, but the ever-increasing value of the Undaunted, Mages Guild, and Fighters Guild daily quests only serves to further boost the value of homes in the original capital cities.
Snagpod is a very affordable home priced at 45,000 coins. If you're an ESO Plus subscriber, it has enough furnishing slots to fit all of the housing storage chests, all of the service NPCs, and probably enough room for crafting stations and training dummies. This might be the cheapest home you could theoretically turn into a well-outfitted Guild Hall.
Best ESO Medium Home – Sleek Creek House
Location: Rawl'kha, Reaper's March
Achievement: Hallowed Moons
Price: 335,000 Gold Coins
Traditional Furnishings: 400
Collectible Furnishings: 20
Special Collectibles: 6
The Sleek Creek House is located in Rawl'kha. Besides being a key trading hub, Rawl'kha is a solid base game city for crafting and daily Writs with a conveniently located Banker and Wayshrine. Most importantly, this home provides immediate access to an Outlaws Refuge with no patrolling guards between your front door and the fence NPC. If you're a Khajiit looking to lead a life of larceny, this one is a must-buy. At 335,000 coins, it's going to set you back a bit, but this home is still a great pick if you need something with a little bit more space than smaller homes. All these factors together contribute to its continuing popularity with the player base.
If you do not have access to ESO Plus, you will need a medium home to have enough furnishing slots to place all of the service NPCs and housing storage chests, making Sleek Creek a great choice for you.
Best ESO Large Home – Gardner House
Location: Wayrest, Stormhaven
Achievement: Stormhaven Adventurer
Price: 1,015,000 Gold Coins
Traditional Furnishings: 600
Collectible Furnishings: 40
Special Collectibles: 8
To complete your collection of homes in the original capital cities, you'll want to pick the Gardner House in Wayrest. This is the best large home when it comes to utility and convenience.
Wayrest features all of the same amenities as Mournhold and Elden Root, with a more traditional medieval fantasy aesthetic. The Gardner House gets extra points for its extremely close proximity to the Master Writ turning in and the Wayrest Bank.
In ESO, Gardner House is an expensive home priced at over 1 million coins, but it is the only home you can buy in Wayrest, and it provides access to all of the standard services of an Alliance capital, as well as the seven Guild Traders calling Wayrest home. If you can afford it, this is probably the highest utility large home you can buy, and it's the only way to unlock free quick travel into the capital of the Daggerfall Covenant. You'll also benefit from more generous fishing limits, making it much easier to squeeze in all of your fancy furnishings, crafting stations, training dummies, and more. If you've only got enough cash for one large home, this is a great one to pick up.
Best ESO Manor Home – Hall of the Lunar Champion
Location: Rimmen, Northern Elsweyr
Achievement: Two Moons
Price: Free
Traditional Furnishings: 700
Collectible Furnishings: 110
Special Collectibles: 10
In ESO, you can obtain six manors without spending Crowns, and one of them is free. Fortunately, the free manor, the Hall of the Lunar Champion, is also the most useful.
The Hall of the Lunar Champion benefits from all of the same perks as the Sugar Bowl Suite, as it is also located in Rimmen. It does lose a few points as its entrance isn't quite as conveniently located as the inn rooms, but it is close enough to those city services that it still provides far more convenience than the other manor homes that you can acquire for gold.
Like the Sugar Bowl Suite, you need to own the Elsweyr expansion to get this home. If you don't own Elsweyr, you probably should pick it up, as the northern Elsweyr and the Season of the Dragon storyline have so many beautiful vistas, cool characters, and memorable encounters.
Best ESO Premium Home – Highhallow Hold
Location: Gonfalon Bay, High Isle
Achievement: n/a
Price: 10,000 Crowns
Traditional Furnishings: 700
Collectible Furnishings: 110
Special Collectibles: 10
Unlike the houses mentioned above, Highhallow Hold is only obtainable by spending Crowns. If you happen to be sitting on a big pile of Crowns from your ESO Plus subscription and you're curious about which premium home offers the most utility, then Highhallow Hold is the answer.
Most of the premium homes are tucked away in scenic locations and offer little to no utility beyond their interior furnishings. In contrast, the Highhallow Hold of Gonfalon Bay is more useful.
The utility of Highhallow Hold is sort of redundant if you already own the High Isle inn room or the Hall of the Lunar Champion for extra storage space. But if you want a manor home located in a major city with a quality crafting hub and easy access to the Tales of Tribute daily quest giver, then Highhallow Hold is the way to go.
Homes of the West Weald
With the Gold Road chapter being introduced to the game, there are two new homes: Rosewine Retreat and and Merryvine Estate.
Rosewine Retreat
Location: Skingrad, West Weald
Achievement: n/a
Price: Free or 3,000 Gold Coins
Traditional Furnishings: 30
Collectible Furnishings: 2
Special Collectibles: 2
The Rosewine Retreat inn room narrowly missed unseating Sugar Bowl Suite as the top pick for an inn room, thanks to the fact that Skingrad currently has the most efficient crafting hub.
This home is only held back by the lack of an exterior facing door and the placement of the Stable Master, battle master, and Impressario outside of Skingrad city gates. If those things aren't that important to you, Rosewine Retreat quickly overtakes Sugar Bowl Suite. Even with that second soft load to get outside the inn, it's still a quicker trip to the Wayshrine, Bank, or crafting stations than most other homes in the game. Plus, you're probably going to be grinding out West Wield dailies to get scripts for a while. Therefore, to make your life much easier, it is highly recommended to grab Rosewine Retreat before diving into Gold Road content.
Merryvine Estate
Location: Colovian Highlands, West Weald
Achievement: Gold Road Grand Adventurer
Price: 1,300,000 Gold Coins
Traditional Furnishings: 600
Collectible Furnishings: 40
Special Collectibles: 8
Merryvine Estate is quite the contrast to Rosewine Retreat. It is a spectacular home for decorators with almost no utility due to its location in the West Wield countryside. If you have the gold coins, this is definitely worth picking up to get your Colovian Windmill furnishing that's included.
Merryvine Estate would make an excellent Guild Hall, despite the fact that it's only a large home. But it's not really one to pick up if you don't care about furnishing a home for the aesthetics.
Discounted Player Homes
Annually, in ESO, there's an event known as Zeal of Zenithar. During this event, the prices of homes for purchase with gold are discounted by 10%. If you've been eyeing any homes on the list that require gold coins for purchase, or if you're interested in any other house that can be bought with gold coins, it might be worthwhile to wait for the Zeal of Zenithar event. While the 10% discount may not make a big difference for smaller homes, it could potentially save you hundreds of thousands of gold coins on larger properties.
That is the list of the best homes you should own in The Elder Scrolls Online. If you find this video helpful, please don't forget to subscribe to Kalam0n's channel and share this video with your friends.
