Understanding Cyrodiil Objectives
What you’re fighting over — and why it matters
Cyrodiil is not just a big PvP map. It is a strategic war zone where every objective affects scoring, movement, respawns, resources, and the ability to attack or defend other locations. Winning a campaign comes from controlling the map, not chasing kills.
Keeps: The Backbone of Cyrodiil
What a keep is
Keeps are the primary objectives in Cyrodiil. They control territory, enable forward movement via the Transitus Network
(fast travel), and determine where your alliance can safely operate.
Why keeps matter
Keeps generate campaign score on the hourly scoring tick. Holding more keeps than the enemy increases your alliance score
over time and improves your chance of winning the campaign. Controlling the ring of keeps around the Imperial City is also
key to crowning an Emperor.
Keeps control movement
Keeps act as fast travel hubs via Transitus Shrines. You can only fast travel to alliance-controlled keeps and outposts that
are connected through valid links. If your chain breaks, reinforcements slow down and “the long run back” begins.
Keep Resources: Farm, Lumbermill, Mine
What resources do
Each keep has three resources: a farm, a lumbermill, and a mine. These resources fuel automatic upgrades to the keep over time,
as long as your alliance controls them. Losing resources weakens the keep and can disrupt travel routes.
Farm
The farm produces food, enabling upgrades that improve the keep’s NPC guard effectiveness over time (stronger guards, improved durability,
and better performance in fights). It does not directly control respawn rates.
Lumbermill
The lumbermill produces wood, enabling upgrades that strengthen keep doors over time (durability/regen improvements) and improves defensive
capacity and utility as the keep upgrades.
Mine
The mine produces ore and stone, enabling upgrades that strengthen keep walls over time (durability/regen improvements) and improving the keep’s
defensive structure as upgrades progress.
Why resource control matters
Resources also contribute to campaign scoring on the hourly tick. Taking resources weakens a keep before a siege even begins, slows enemy upgrades,
and (when fully stripped) can disrupt fast-travel and reinforcement flow. Defending them buys time and prevents a keep from being softened up for a push.
Outposts: Strategic Pressure Points
What outposts are
Outposts are smaller than keeps, but they still generate campaign score and act as tactical footholds for fast travel and staging.
Why outposts are important
Outposts can connect (or block) Transitus routes, enabling fast travel deeper into contested territory and making it harder for enemies to move freely.
They also reduce respawn travel time because they place you closer to the action.
Outposts and campaigns
Ignoring outposts allows the enemy to reposition quickly and keep pressure on multiple fronts. Controlling them limits enemy options and stabilizes your lanes.
Towns: Quest Hubs and Gear
What towns are
Towns (Bruma, Cropsford, Vlastarus, etc.) are capturable locations that flip via three flags each. When your alliance controls a town,
it becomes a safer hub for respawning and access to local services.
Why towns matter
Towns are valuable for repeatable quests and access to town merchants (including a quartermaster-style vendor selling purple-quality set pieces for Alliance Points).
They are not primary score engines like keeps/scrolls, and they are often fought over for convenience, quests, and “denying” the enemy a safe hub.
Towns create conflict
Towns attract players for quests and vendors, which makes them frequent PvP hotspots even when the main keep line is quiet.
Elder Scrolls: Power with a Price
What Elder Scrolls do
Each alliance has two Elder Scrolls (commonly thought of as one offensive and one defensive). Holding scrolls grants powerful alliance-wide bonuses that
impact overall combat effectiveness.
Scrolls affect the map
Scrolls are carried by players and are visible on the map, creating predictable conflict points: Scroll Temples, bridge routes, and choke points.
Stealing or defending them forces alliances to split attention and commit to escort/ambush play.
Scrolls are not just trophies
Scroll ownership is one of the highest-impact objective types: it boosts alliance strength and heavily influences scoring pressure. It also paints targets
on the keeps required to access or protect the scroll routes.
Siege Weapons: How Objectives Are Taken
What siege is
Siege weapons are the tools used to damage keep walls, doors, and groups of players. Without siege, objectives cannot realistically be taken,
because normal player damage is not intended to break structures.
Offensive siege
Ballistae, trebuchets, rams, and catapults are used to break doors, breach walls, and pressure defenders off ramparts and choke points.
Defensive siege
Oil pots, meatbags, defensive ballistae, and defensive catapults punish attackers, slow pushes, and disrupt “stacked” groups trying to force a breach.
Siege placement matters
Poor siege placement is wasted. Good placement controls space, denies repairs, pressures revive attempts, and forces repositioning.
As a keep upgrades, its defensive siege capacity and defensive advantages improve.
How Scoring Actually Works
Score is generated on hourly ticks
Alliances gain campaign score at scoring intervals (commonly referred to as “ticks”) based on the type and number of objectives held.
Kills do not generate alliance score ticks — they create opportunities to take objectives.
Home objectives score double
“Home” objectives (your alliance’s native side of the map) provide a double-score bonus compared to non-home equivalents.
| Objective | Points per Tick | Home Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Elder Scroll | 10 | x2 (20) |
| Keep | 5 | x2 (10) |
| Outpost | 1 | x2 (2) |
| Resource | 1 | x2 (2) |
Scrolls and keeps are worth the most
Scrolls are top value, followed by keeps. Outposts and resources are low individually, but their combined impact adds up quickly
and they directly affect keep strength and travel flow.
Momentum wins campaigns
Holding objectives consistently over time matters more than short bursts of dominance. A “map flip” right before a tick can swing scores hard.
Why Kills Still Matter (Indirectly)
Kills create opportunity
Wiping defenders enables siege placement, prevents repairs, and gives time to flip flags and secure captures.
Kills delay responses
Dead players are not repairing, manning siege, or reinforcing. Removing defenders is often the real “damage” that wins a keep.
Kills are a tool, not the goal
Kills earn personal Alliance Points (AP) for ranks, skills, and rewards — but campaign wins come from objective control and scoring ticks.
Final Takeaway
Cyrodiil is a game of control, pressure, and timing. Objectives determine fast travel chains, respawns, defenses, and campaign score. Siege enables progress, resources upgrade (or weaken) keeps, and sustained control — especially scrolls and keeps — wins campaigns.
Key Corrections
Resource effects
Farm strengthens guards, lumbermill strengthens doors, mine strengthens walls/defenses. The farm is not a respawn-rate mechanic.
Towns
Towns are primarily about quests, respawn convenience, and vendors/gear — not the main scoring backbone of a campaign.
Scoring clarity
Score comes from objective ownership on scoring ticks. Scrolls are the largest single objective value; home objectives score double.