ESO GUIDE: Currencies Explained
In ESO there are many types of currencies, and it can be a bit confusing to know what each one is used for and how you can earn them in-game. That is where this ESO GUIDE: Currencies Explained comes in!
In this Guide, I will break down:
💠 The Different Types of Currencies.
💠 How you can earn them.
💠 What they are used for
💠 Where you can spend them
In ESO there are 4 categories of currency ( as of May 2026 )
Unrestricted Currencies
These are currencies that you can deposit in your personal account-wide bank or store on your character in the currency section of your inventory. They do not take up bank slots or bag spaces.
Restricted Currencies
These are currencies that you will also store in the currency section of your inventory. They do not take up bank slots or bag spaces. What makes these ones different from Unrestricted Currencies is that these types are ones that are locked to your account. This means you cannot sell or trade them with other players directly. There are a few exceptions to get around this rule, and I will cover those below.
Service Tokens
Service Tokens are also locked to your account; however, you will not find them in the currency section of your inventory. These Tokens can be found on your character selection screen in the bottom right-hand corner.
Currency Items
These currencies are unique items that DO take up space in your inventory and can be deposited into your bank should you want to do so.
You can find your currency wallet by opening your inventory and looking in the top right corner of the window. You will see a tab with a coin symbol right beside your ESO+ Crafting bag.
GOLD
GOLD is an unrestricted currency and is probably the first currency you will ever interact with in ESO. It is the main currency of the game and is used to buy things from vendors and guild kiosks, pay for services, upgrade bags and bank vaults, buy mounts, and so much more! GOLD is something you will interact with every time you play ESO in one way or another. You can earn gold through many means, such as by picking up random objects and selling them to vendors, killing mobs & bosses, completing quests, completing Golden pursuits, completing Tamriel Tome pages, stealing, pick pocketing, selling things to other players, opening treasure chests/thieves’ troves, & completing antiquities.
GOLD can be traded directly with other players, including through the mail.
CROWNS AND CROWN GEMS
CROWNS are the currency used in the Crown Store. They can be obtained in 3 ways.
1. Purchased through the ESO Website with real-world cash. The crown packs are typically sold in bundles of 750, 1500, 3000, 5500, 14,000, and 21,000. They typically stay around the same price all year; however, they do go on sale occasionally. The sales tend to be near April, August, and December and can be up to 40% off!
2. ESO+ Membership grants you 1650 CROWNS for each month that you are subscribed.
3. CROWNS can be indirectly purchased for in-game gold by trading with other players. ( KNOWN AS “SELLING CROWNS” ). This method does NOT give you crowns. What you need to do is give someone GOLD, and in exchange, they will buy you the item(s) you want from the Crown Store and gift them to you. This method is something I would highly recommend you be cautious with, as it requires you to trust the person you are trading with. It is far better, IMO, to “buy” crowns like this during Guild Auctions as typically this means the purchase/trade is guaranteed by the guild and therefore much safer!
CROWN GEMS are a currency that you get from opening Crown Crates. The Crown Crates can be purchased in the Crown Store for CROWNS, or you can get them as Twitch Drops by linking your ESO and Twitch accounts together. When opening Crown Crates, you will get cards dealt to you by Pacrooti. These cards will have items on them that can be found in the Crown Crates. If you already have the item, or if you do not want to keep the item you receive on the card, it can be salvaged into CROWN GEMS. CROWN GEMS can then be used to purchase anything that you find in the Crown Crates. Saving up your CROWN GEMS will allow you to directly buy items you want from the Crown Crates without the gambling factor that the Crates normally have.
SEALS ( Formerly known as Seals of Endeavor )
SEALS are a currency earned in-game and cost you no real-world cash. They are used as an alternative way to buy the items found in Crown Crates. Just like the CROWN GEMS, they take the gambling risk out of the picture as you will be able to directly buy the item you want with no game of chance needed. SEALS can be earned in the pages of the Tamriel Tome.
TAMRIEL TOME, TOME POINTS, CACHES OF TOME POINTS, & PREMIUM TOME TOKENS
Tamriel Tome is one of the newest features to ESO ( as of April 2026 ). It replaced the old daily log-in rewards and SEALS of endeavor systems – rolling them into one larger reward system.
The Tamriel Tome system has 3 parts to it.
1. FREE TO ALL PLAYERS – Each season ( lasting approx. 1/4 of the year ), you can complete challenges that will grant you TOME POINTS. TOME POINTS can be spent to unlock rewards. There are multiple pages of rewards to unlock and earn. In Season Zero: Dawn and Dusk, which runs from April 2nd,2026, to July 8th, 2026, you could unlock 10 pages of rewards plus 2 bonus pages. The rewards feature many items, including multiple currencies such as SEALS, AP, TEL VAR, and TRADE BARS!
2. Premium Tamriel Tome – includes everything in the Free track above, plus gives you access to additional rewards you can choose to claim, as well as allowing you to continue earning rewards from this Season after the season ends.
3. Premium PLUS Tamriel Tome – includes everything from the Premium level, plus it also gives you two Caches of TOME POINTS and a Unique Collectible.
TOME POINTS are used to buy the rewards on the TAMRIEL TOME. They expire at the end of the season. The system will automatically do the following with your TOME POINTS.
1. 2000 TOME POINTS will carry over to the next season.
2. Any TOME POINTS above 2000 will be used to auto-claim items that you forgot to click on. They will NOT collect things that are consumable, like potions or poisons, and they will NOT collect things that are in bundles – such as furniture bundles.
3. Any TOME POINTS above 2000 that are left over AFTER the auto collector is finished will be converted to GOLD at a rate of 10g per TOME POINT
TOME CACHES are bundles of 2000 TOME POINTS that you get through subscribing to ESO+ ( one per month ) or TAMRIEL TOMES PREMIUM PLUS ( Two per season ). TOME CACHES can be opened anytime. THEY DO NOT EXPIRE AT THE END OF THE SEASON! I highly recommend that you do not open TOME CACHES unless you know you are going to spend them right then and there. Once they are open, they count as TOME POINTS and will be treated as listed above.
PREMIUM TOME TOKENS are a currency given for each month of ESO+ you subscribe to. Once you have 12 Tokens saved up, you can use them to buy an upgrade to PREMIUM PLUS for any Season you want to use them for.
ESO+ Members also earn 10% more TOME POINTS per challenge as a perk of subscribing to ESO+
The challenges that you complete to earn TOME POINTS are either Seasonal, meaning you have until the season ends to finish them, or weekly, which means you have until the weekly reset on Tuesdays to finish them. You can re-roll challenges that you do not like each week as well, so you are never forced to do things you don’t like doing in the game.
TOME POINTS, CACHES OF TOME POINTS, & PREMIUM TOME TOKENS cannot be directly traded with other players; however, you can trade a lot of the items you can buy with TOME POINTS, so it can be used as a great way to make GOLD!
TRADE BARS
TRADE BARS are an account-wide currency you spend at the Gold Coast Bazaar. While, sadly, this is not a specific location in-game, it is a Great place to find all kinds of things that you might want to purchase for your character! TRADE BARS replaced the old “Event Tickets” system we used to have. They do not have a cap, they do not expire, and you cannot purchase them with CROWNS. They are earned by completing pages in the Tamriel Tome or by participating in the in-game events, or sometimes as Twitch Drops. TRADE BARS can be used to purchase all kinds of collectible items that were released during past events, or from old crown crates!
To spend your TRADE BARS, open the crown store and click on the Gold Coast Bazaar icon at the top of the window. Items in the store are sectioned into two categories – the Seasonal section is things that will come and go from the Bazaar – these should be your priority. Items listed as “Gold Coast Wares” will remain in the Bazaar year-round so there is no rush to buy these items.
TRADE BARS cannot be directly traded with other players, nor can you trade the things you buy with them, so it cannot be used as a way to make GOLD!
ALLIANCE POINTS
ALLIANCE POINTS, or “AP”, is the unrestricted currency you earn when participating in PVP activities such as The Alliance War in Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds. This currency can be used to purchase PVP Gear, siege weapons, Repair kits, & other PVP-related items. You earn AP by killing other players, capturing or defending keeps and resources, recovering Elder Scrolls, and completing PVP-related quests. This currency can also be earned by completing pages in Tamriel Tomes.
Accumulating AP counts towards your Alliance War rank, provides inspiration for the Alliance War skills, and determines your position on the leaderboard. Each time you rank up in the Alliance War, you will gain 1 skill point ( up to a max of 50 ), so earning this currency is another way to level up your skills in ESO as well! Earning AP will also unlock other perks for you as well. You will be able to get furniture items, Dyes, & Titles as you rank up!
During the ESO Event Whitestrake’s Mayhem, you will receive a boost to the amount of AP you earn. This event happens a couple of times per year for 11-12 days. You can also boost your AP earned by 20% by killing bosses in delves in Cyrodiil. This will grant you a buff called “Blessing of War”.
AP cannot be directly traded with other players; however, you can trade some of the items you can buy with this currency, so it can be used as a way to make GOLD!
TEL VAR STONES AND IMPERIAL FRAGMENTS
TEL VAR STONES are another type of PVP currency earned and found in the Imperial City. This currency can be used to purchase gear, crafting materials, and other items. You can receive these stones in the pages of the Tamriel Tomes, or by fighting in the Imperial City. They drop from enemy mobs in multiples of 4. The more difficult the enemy, the more stones they drop. Completing quests in the Imperial city will also grant you TEL VAR STONES; however, they will show up in your inventory as either a Light Tel Var Satchel, Medium Tel Var Sack, or Hefty Tel Var Crate instead of in your currency wallet.
The reason this currency is considered a PVP currency is that you will lose TEL VAR STONES if you die in the Imperial City while carrying them. 50% of what you have showing in your inventory wallet will be lost if you are killed in the Imperial City. If a mob kills you, the stones are just lost. If other players kill you, they will receive an equal share of the 50% you have lost. If you die outside the Imperial city, you will not lose any Tel Var. Keeping the Light Tel Var Satchel, Medium Tel Var Sack, & Hefty Tel Var Crates in your bags keeps the currency safe, so do not open them until you are at your bank – or – the vendor where you can use them. You can, and should, store the majority of your TEL VAR STONES in your bank for safekeeping most of the time; however, carrying 100, 1000, or 10,000 stones on you will give you a multiplier boost to how many stones you receive from monster kills, so this is a risk you will have to decide if you are willing to take!
The Tel Var vendors can be located in the Imperial Sewers Alliance bases.
💠 Aldmeri Dominion Base is located in the Irrigation Tunnels of the Temple and Arboretum Districts.
💠 Daggerfal Covenant Base is located in the Lambent Passage of the Elven Gardens and Nobles Districts.
💠 Ebonheart Pact Base is located in the Harena Hypogeum of the Memorial and Arena Districts.
IMPERIAL FRAGMENTS (Formerly Key Fragments) are an account-wide currency you earn in the Imperial City from killing enemies or opening chests. Patrolling Horrors are guaranteed to drop one. These Fragments are not lost upon death. They can be used at the Trophy Vaults at vendor Tur. These Fragments can be used to purchase Motifs, armor/weapon coffers, and other items such as crafting materials.
TEL VAR STONES and IMPERIAL FRAGMENTS cannot be directly traded with other players; however, you can trade some of the items you can buy with these currencies, so they can be used as a way to make GOLD!
OTHER TYPES OF CURRENCIES
WRIT VOUCHERS – In-game currency earned by completing Master Writs. Master Writs are turned into the Mastercraft Mediators, Rolis Hlaalu, and Faustina Curio. They are Found in Elden Root, Wayrest, and Mournhold.
WRIT VOUCHERS cannot be directly traded with other players, but you can trade most of the things you buy with them, so they can be used as a way to make lots of GOLD!
ARCHIVAL FORTUNES – In-game currency earned by completing pages in Tamriel Tomes or by completing stages in the INFINITE ARCHIVE.
ARCHIVAL FORTUNES cannot be directly traded with other players, but you can trade several of the things you buy with them, so it can be used as a way to make lots of GOLD!
TRANSMUTE CRYSTALS – In-game currency used to transmute traits on gear/weapons. It can be earned through activities in-game and in the pages of the Tamriel Tome.
TRANSMUTE CRYSTALS cannot be directly traded with other players, nor can you trade the things you buy with them, so they cannot be used as a way to make GOLD!
UNDAUNTED KEYS – In-game currency used to purchase items from Undaunted Pledge Masters. These Keys can be earned by completing tasks for the Undaunted.
UNDAUNTED KEYS cannot be directly traded with other players, nor can you trade the things you buy with them, so they cannot be used as a way to make GOLD!
OUTFIT CHANGE TOKENS can be purchased in the Gold Coast Bazaar and are used to style your outfit at an outfit station instead of using GOLD.
OUTFIT CHANGE TOKENS cannot be directly traded with other players, nor can you trade the things you buy with them, so it cannot be used as a way to make GOLD!
ALLIANCE CHANGE TOKENS, APPEARANCE CHANGE TOKENS, NAME CHANGE TOKENS, AND RACE CHANGE TOKENS – are all purchased through the Crown Store. They do not show up in your currency wallet. They are only seen on the character selection screen and must be used from there. They cannot be traded; however, they can be purchased as a gift using the method listed above for selling CROWNS.
ARENA GLADIATOR’S PROOF – one per day can be earned from Conquest Daily in Cyrodiil.
BATTLEMASTER TOKEN – one per day can be earned from Battlemaster Rivyn’s Quest
SIEGE OF CYRODIIL MERIT – one per day can be earned from Imperial City Daily Quests
All three of these currencies will appear as items in your inventory and can be deposited in your bank. They are all used to buy special collectibles from these PVP Vendors.
These Three Tokens cannot be directly traded with other players, nor can you trade the things you buy with them, so they cannot be used as a way to make GOLD!
I hope that this ESO GUIDE: Currencies Explained has helped you make heads or tails of all the Currencies ESO has to offer!
As always, if you would like to discuss the things found in this Guide, or if you have any questions, please hop into our Guides-Discussion Chat on Discord!