Lycanthropy (Skyrim)

Lycanthropy is a disease in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Lycans are men and women who can transform into powerful and monstrous wolf-like creatures with no penalty for daytime or nightime. Some, such as a few of the Companions in Whiterun, see this as a blessing, a way of drawing on the strength and ferocity of their inner beast. Some, such as the Silver Hand, see it as a curse, a twisting of their wills and nature. For some, it is simply a way of life. It is obvious that werewolves in Skyrim are different than the regular werewolves of Earth legend. Lycans and werewolves are different in several ways. Appearance is one of these differences in which Lycans are more like the wolf-like creatures in Skyrim and Werewolves are generally more human-like.

Appearance
The appearance of the werewolf in Skyrim is that of a large wolf-like humanoid creature with razor sharp claws and a set of large teeth. Unlike the more wolf-faced look of the Bloodmoon werewolves, the werewolves of Skyrim have monstrous faces and muscular builds (which is more like lycans than werewolves). Their colouring ranges from light brown to black depending on race and gender. The male gender is darker and blacker, while females are lighter. Their eyes are yellow and the werewolves have less fur than the Bloodmoon werewolves, their arms are long and possess incredible strength.

Becoming a Werewolf
If the player contracts Lycanthropy, he or she will turn into a Werewolf (or Lycan like some would say). The only way to get this disease is by progressing through the Companions questline. The process by which the player becomes a werewolf is activated through the Magic menu, Powers tab: Beast Form. This resembles a standard power in that it can be marked as a Favorite and assigned a quick-change number as any other power, spell or shout.

Lycanthropy can easily be contracted as part of the blood ritual that occurs during The Companions Quest: The Silver Hand. Your first transformation through this disease vector is particularly violent, allowing you to prowl outside the Underforge of Whiterun in bestial form; there are two exits, one to the city, and an alternative one-way exit to the Eastern environs. After you "feed", you black out,the player turns back to human form, as naked as the game allows, being questioned by Aela. Then a series of quests with her is activated.

Removing the curse
At the end of the Companions questline, a radiant quest "Purity" becomes available for those adventurers who wish to rid themselves of the beast within. As part of that quest, you must cut off the head of a Glenmoril Witch, bringing it into the depths of Ysgramor's Tomb, draw the spirit of the wolf from your body, and defeat it. Once the ritual is complete, your cure is permanent, and you cannot contract Lycanthropy again.

In order to remove the curse, the Dragonborn must have killed at least two of the witches, one for Kodlak, one for the Dragonborn.

Beast Form
When you become a werewolf, you acquire a new power known as Beast Form. This allows you to transform into a werewolf once a day. Once transformed, you remain a werewolf for 2.5 minutes of real time. You can extend this time by approaching a corpse and feeding on it by activating it as if you were looting it. This restores 50 points of Health and gives you an additional 30 seconds of time as a werewolf. Beast form can be extremely useful in situations where your equipment is removed, such as during the quest No One Escapes Cidhna Mine.

Shapeshifted
Your damage is base 20 and levels with you gradually until level 45, where base damage is 80. While as a Werewolf you also gain 100 health and stamina, not to mention a much higher sprint speed that makes you faster than anything else in the game and can be utilized for long periods of time. Your stamina also regenerates much faster, and your power attacks are magnified. The standing and moving power attacks knock back opponents more often, and your sprinting power attack gains a massive damage boost. You also have a chance to maul an opponent after knocking them down.

You can transform at will, during day or night, and under the veil of Beast Form your actions do not count towards your normal self's bounty. The exception is if anyone sees you shifting forms in which case a 1000 coin bounty is added to your head in the appropiate hold. This makes it incredibly useful while doing many Dark Brotherhood missions.

Wolves treat you as an ally unless you strike them.

Other
Later in the game you can obtain the Hircine's Ring which will allow you turn into a werewolf anytime you want, having an unlimited number of uses. Equipping it will give you the "Ring of Hircine" power which you technically lose when you use it, giving it to you again when you put the ring on after changing back.

Shifting
As previously stated in the "Other" section above, you have a limited time of changing once per day. When using the power Beast Form, you are able to change whenever you see fit, day or night (which is why this is technically not becoming a Werewolf but a Lycan).

Giants
Normally incredibly difficult (bordering impossible) to defeat for players not using ranged attacks, the werewolf is able to stand against the giant without visiting the graveyard in the sky. The rapid attacks quickly tear away at the health of the giant, and the agility combined with forced third person view makes dodging the power attacks much easier.

Permanent
Your sleep patterns are out the window, and so you may never become well-rested while you remain afflicted.

You also cannot gain the temporary bonus of Lover's Comfort (normally gained by sleeping in your house when your spouse is present) while you are afflicted. This can be solved by using The Lover Stone.

Shapeshifted
Once transformed, you can return to your humanoid character by waiting 2.5 minutes (or you can just use the wait function). Your large, lumbering form has trouble fitting through narrow passages, and it may not fit or handle delicate equipment like armor, weapons, spells or even maps, much less locks. You can also "sheath" your claws by pressing the sheath button which allows you to pan the camera as normal and causes the werewolf to assume a less agressive stance.

You cannot speak while shifted, either (Unless you reach a part of a quest where a character starts a conversation with you then strangely enough you can reply to them in your werewolf form). This makes it difficult to explain your situation to anyone unfamiliar with your form, and they will usually flee or try to attack you. Any followers you may have will not leave your service for simply transforming into a Werewolf or Lycan and will still follow you and attack enemies but if you were to use your roar or purposely or accidentally hit your follower (even if you only hit them once) they would leave your service and flee or attack you so it is advised to be careful around your companions when in your werewolf form.

You can feed upon your fallen foes by activating them, this allows you to regenerate your health. This is the only way to heal while in this form, as spellcasting and passive health regeneration are disabled. It also increases the duration of your form by thirty seconds per person you feed on.

Since all armor and weapons are unequipped when in Beast Form, you will not gain any skill points (one handed stays the same skill level after clawing things to death, which is dissapointing).

Weapon loss
When you leave Werewolf or Lycan form all of your equipment will be unequipped and you will have to re-equip them. Thus you should be wary when in large groups of enemies and turning back. (NOTE: There have been claims that the sword, Ebony Blade, bugs when you transform and allows you to use it in your Lycan form).

Tips
Using the Werewolf or Lycan form can be tricky at first, as the camera is forced to be in third person, but here are a few tips to make yourself as effective as possible.


 * Go hard. As a werewolf, you have two sets of claws. Use them. They can be used with whatever buttons the left and right attack buttons are on your console. Instead of using stamina like a combo attack, you can quickly fan both buttons for no loss in stamina. Which is much more effective than just slapping with one hand.


 * Achieving a critical hit as a werewolf will make you perform an execution (similar to weapon executions) which will instantly kill the opponent. Note that these can only be achieved by using the regular swiping attack by simply pressing either of the attack buttons. This is extremely effective as you may be able to kill an extremely powerful enemy with only a few swipes from your claws rather than hitting them multiple times and risking being killed (Note that these executions can only be performed on races which you can play as e.g. Nords, Imperials, Argonians, Wood Elves and so on...). Execution animations include:
 * You knock your enemy to the floor and begin slashing them with your claws.
 * You knock your enemy to the floor and begin biting their throat.
 * You grab your enemy, lift them off the floor, and throw them to the right or left (depending on what claw you hit them with).
 * You grab your enemy with both hands, lift them up, and rip their head off with your jaws.
 * You grab your enemy by his or her head, lift them up, then squeeze their head in with your hands and claws. (May be the same as above. Normally easily executed by tapping the left and right attack buttons.)


 * Roar. Large groups of enemies will gang up on you and easily destroy your health. Use your roar to startle them and make them flee. Proceed to give chase and take out your opponents one by one. High-level enemies are not affected by the roar, so be wary. This power can be swapped out for alternative powers like Howl of the Pack and Scent of Blood, by praying at the totems in the Underforge, these are acquired by the Radiant quests given by Aela after becoming Harbinger. (verification recommended; possible level scaling on the skill.)


 * The Dash Attack - While sprinting as a Werewolf, press the attack button for a powerful attack which involves you jumping forward with both of your claws. This attack makes easy work of almost any enemy, including giants.


 * Power Attacks. Using the power attacks in werewolf form causes knockback and high damage, like a weaker single-target version of the Unrelenting Force shout. This allows you to send enemies flying off cliffs or knock boss NPCs to the ground where you can hack away at them with your claws without fear of counterattacks or blocks. Make sure to take advantage of this.


 * Alteration magic like "Stoneflesh" can be cast before transforming to improve your armor rating while in werewolf form. The Alteration "Mage Armor" perk helps tremendously since transforming strips you of all your equipment. This is a good alternative approach to combat situations for full mage type characters if magic isn't doing the trick.


 * It is also important to know that when you are in werewolf form you cannot search corpses or containers, or open the menu. Due to these setbacks you should avoid turning into a werewolf in buildings or dungeons.


 * You can cancel the feeding animation by roaring as soon as you go down to feed. You will still regain your health and bloodlust, and you will also become mobile quicker. This can be very helpful when attacking large groups where you need to feed and kill fast.


 * Transforming while in water will allow you to keep your weapons equipped.
 * If you have a sword in your favorites list, draw the sword right before you transform. You will have a chance to wield that sword when you are a werewolf, which will give you a damage bonus as well as normal One-handed experience. (This can happen out of water) (jmas369)


 * Most people you transform in front of will attack you, no matter what bond you share with them. It is best to avoid transforming near people you like or need. This does not affect companions in your party. Among the other exceptions to this are the members of the Dark Brotherhood. Most Daedra worshipers will also accept your werewolf form, and will not attack you when you transform.


 * You are vulnerable to taking damage while you are transforming or feeding.


 * Having the Blade of Woe equipped when you transform will keep it equipped, causing extra damage and raising your One-Handed skill. (Only confirmed on XBOX)
 * Having a Pickaxe equipped during the blood ritual (see above) will keep it equipped making you damage less.
 * If you go back into the cave where the ritual was performed during the blood ritual, you will not run through the streets and cause havoc. You will stay in the cave for the first transformation.
 * Drawing the Ebony Blade as you transform will cause you to wield it while you attack as a werewolf.
 * Having the Dawnbreaker ( a Daedric artifact given by Meridia) in your favorites list will allow you to wield it while you attack as a werewolf. (PS3)

Known Werewolves

 * Aela the Huntress
 * Farkas
 * Sinding
 * Skjor
 * Vilkas
 * Arnbjorn of the Dark Brotherhood, Astrid's husband.
 * Kodlak Whitemane

Quests

 * Ill Met By Moonlight
 * Proving Honor
 * The Silver Hand

Bugs

 * If an Ebony Sword is equipped transforming into werewolf will cause a Daedric sword to be held in the right paw. (unconfirmed)
 * (Xbox 360, PS3) It may not be possible to cure the affliction during the course of the companion questline, clicking upon the brazier with a witches head in your inventory has no effect.
 * The brazier may actually function at a later time, as this bug does not seem to be permanent. Check back often to see if it has repaired itself.
 * Sometimes when in beast form a random one handed weapon will be equipped meaning you can level up in that skill, this also means that the finishing moves will usually glitch which will zoom in on the target they will stay still for several seconds and then collapse after no other animations, it does not crash the game.
 * Sometimes when you die and load back, your roar won't work.
 * If you use a Dragon Shout before you transform, then you won't be able to use your roar, until it finishes cooling down.
 * During your first time going into Beast form for the companions, if you feed while the screen is going black you will be stuck in third person view.
 * It is still sometimes possible to contract a disease as a werewolf. (Xbox 360, PS3)
 * There is a glitch that when you transform into a werewolf your character will never change back to human form. (Xbox 360, PS3)
 * After curing yourself by defeating your wolf spirit, all your specific powers on their respective pages dissapear, but on the general stats page where it says how many days you were a werewolf, the days continue to increase. (Xbox 360, PS3)
 * In addition to the above, this bug may also not be limited to just the number of days as a werewolf on the stats page — guards can still periodically make remarks of your character's supposedly cured Lycantrophy, such as the "wolfish grin" or the fur coming out of your character's ears.
 * Glitch/Bug(Xbox360.) It is possible to be both vampire & werewolf at the same time.
 * (PC) Sometimes your weapon enchantments will be depleted while using beast form.
 * (Xbox 360, PS3) The player may become a Werewolf or Lycan and cure it, though never gain resting bonuses.
 * If you kill a dragon in Werewolf or Lycan form you will not collect its soul
 * One rare occasions, if you own the Axe of Whiterun, it will appear equipped in your right paw after you switch into beast form whether or not you had it unseathed, or even selected. This also depletes your damage when attacking with your right arm.
 * Although 100% disease resistance is listed under Beast Blood in active effects, it is still possible to contract diseases if you sit in a dungeon and get hit repeatedly by traps (i.e. swinging axes etc.). (PC)
 * Sometimes when trying to cure yourself of lycanthropy the flame of the harbinger will not activate. Drop all glenmoril witch heads in inventory and do a hard save. Load the save, pick up a single witch head, and the flame should activate. (PS3)