Werewolf (Skyrim)

"I'm telling you, I heard it! Howling! Those werewolf tales are true!"

- Hold Guards

Werewolves are the most commonly known type of lycanthrope found in Tamriel, where they can be found in every province. Werewolves are individuals who assume wolf-like characteristics during the full moon (or in some cases, at will).

While first appearing in, werewolves are featured more prominently in. Werewolves also appear in. The Dragonborn may become one by completing The Companions quests and attending a ritual which involves drinking the blood of Aela the Huntress while she is in Beast Form. From this point onwards, those carrying the gift (or curse, depending on whom one is talking to), will be able to change into a Werewolf once a day, which causes people nearby to retreat and yield or attack. The Dragonborn will also get a bounty if the transformation is witnessed by a citizen.

Members of the Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild/Nightingales, Stormcloaks, or Imperial Legion will not attack the Dragonborn in either humanoid or Werewolf form after joining.

Abilities
Werewolf-Mode affecting skills, perks, spells and abilities:
 * 1) Racial Abilities: Any of the various "Racial skills" do not affect the Werewolf, because Werewolf-mode changes the race. But spells or active abilities such as an Orc's "Berserker Rage" can be cast before transformation, saving the effect.
 * 2) "Skin" Spells: Werewolves are considered unarmored, therefore "skin" spells cast remain effective (such as Dragonhide), but cannot be recast while in Beast Form.
 * 3) One-Handed tree: There is a misconception that a Werewolf's claws are considered one-handed weapons. However, this is not normally the case. There is a bug in which one's sword glitches into their hand, or form inside it after transforming, which will cause attacks with that hand to carry any effects of that weapon, and increase one-handed experience.
 * 4) Tested on PC with Daedric Sword of Vampirism, Dawnbreaker and Silver Sword of Fiery Souls.
 * 5) In the Xbox 360 version, this can happen with most one-handed weapons.
 * 6) On PS3, enchanted glass weapons used in the right hand will almost always appear in the Werewolf body's hand.
 * 7) Alteration: Perk abilities like "Atronach" still affect werewolves.
 * 8) Carry Weight: The base carry weight gained from Beast Form is 1,900 regardless of level, race, or sex. To find the maximum carry weight in Beast Form, add 1,900 to the max carry weight in normal form. This is a useful aspect to exploit as even if the Dragonborn is encumbered, transforming into Beast Form makes the encumberment effect inactive, so one may carry a large amount of loot without being slowed by the effect. This can be exploited even more if one has Hircine's Ring, meaning that the Dragonborn can travel back to towns around Skyrim a lot faster and deposit the loot in their house (if owned).
 * 9) Sleeping: As long as one has the "Blood of the Wolf" in effect, there are no resting bonuses.
 * 10) Disease resistance: All lycanthropes, in Werewolf form or not, have 100% resistance to all diseases. In Skyrim, this is only true for Sanguinare Vampiris, while other diseases may (rarely) still be caught.
 * 11) Other abilities: All effects that are gained through quests and other methods but are not "racial," like spell resistance, still affect Werewolves.
 * 12) Vampires: A vampire cannot drink the blood of a sleeping Werewolf.
 * 13) Power Attacks: In Beast Form, one's power attacks can do large amounts of damage, as well as throwing most foes (aside from dragons and mammoths) off of their feet.

Weaknesses

 * No bonus is gained from sleeping.
 * Transformed Werewolves cannot equip apparel, including armor.
 * When in Beast Form, the Dragonborn cannot pick locks or collect items/loot from corpses, though doors can still be opened (though not ones requiring a key from inventory), and levers, buttons, and pull chains can be activated.
 * When transformed, they may be unable to fit through narrow dungeon doorways. Walking through such doorways backwards may fix this.
 * Increased vulnerability to Silver weapons, even when not transformed.
 * People other than followers will attack a werewolf on sight.
 * If someone sees the Dragonborn transforming, they will recognize them as a Werewolf, even in human form, and may treat them like an outsider or attack on sight.
 * If the Dragonborn is seen transforming, they will incur a 1000 bounty, and most characters will attack them.

Becoming a Werewolf
In, the only way to become a Werewolf is to complete the quest line for the Companions of Jorrvaskr in Whiterun, up until the quest "The Silver Hand." Within the Companions exists the Circle, an inner sub-faction. After some time, Skjor will lead the Dragonborn to The Underforge. There he will offer the opportunity to drink the blood of Aela the Huntress when she is in Werewolf form, and become a Werewolf.
 * Note: With the addition of, characters who already have the Vampire Lord power will lose it at this point, and it will be replaced with Beast Form, and vice versa.

Beast Form lasts approximately two and a half minutes, with only one use per day. Unlike in Morrowind, one does not change into a Werewolf at a set time, as it is a power. To be able to stay in Werewolf mode for a prolonged period of time, one must "Feed" off fallen human NPCs, which adds 30 seconds to the current time per feeding, as well as healing the Dragonborn. With Dawnguard installed, the Dragonborn can choose a perk that allows them to feed on almost any fallen opponent, although it only prolongs the duration for half of what feeding off of humanoid opponents gives. Once returned to normal form, all items will have been unequipped and the Dragonborn will have to wait twenty-four hours to be able to use Beast Form again.

If the Dragonborn has obtained the Ring of Hircine, equipping it will allow the use of a separate power, "Ring of Hircine," which is identical to Beast Form and offers all the same benefits. The only difference is that it is not limited to once-a-day use, it is made available any time the Dragonborn equips the ring. Followers will not react to the Dragonborn's transformation. Due to the restrictions placed on Werewolves interacting with objects and NPCs, one will not be able to interact with a follower while transformed (on Xbox 360, one can bypass this by using Kinect commands). A follower will become hostile if hit while the character is in Beast Form, even if they are a companion.

Eorlund Gray-Mane will defend the Dragonborn if they transform publicly in Whiterun.

Wild wolves become non-hostile when one is in Beast Form, but wild Werewolves, added on by Dawnguard, will still attack.

The Dragonborn can be killed while transforming, if facing a powerful enough foe.

Werewolf
The Werewolf skill tree includes eight perks. ( expansion only)



Known Werewolves

 * Skjor (The Companions)
 * Farkas (The Companions)
 * Aela the Huntress (The Companions)
 * Vilkas (The Companions)
 * Kodlak Whitemane (Harbinger of The Companions)
 * Sinding (Met in the quest "Ill Met by Moonlight")
 * Arnbjorn (The Dark Brotherhood)
 * Farmer (Random Encounter in Wilds)
 * Hunter (Random Encounter in Wilds)
 * Majni (Leader of the Frostmoon Pack)
 * Akar (Frostmoon Pack)
 * Rakel (Frostmoon Pack)
 * Hjordis (Frostmoon Pack)
 * Sebastian Lort's daughter (mentioned only)

Enemy werewolves

 * Werewolf Vargr
 * Werewolf Skinwalker
 * Werewolf Beastmaster
 * Werewolf Savage

Trivia

 * If the Dragonborn is a Werewolf, Hold Guards may comment saying, "Is that fur... coming out of your ears?" or "I find your wolfish grin... unsettling." even if the Dragonborn is a Khajiit. Guards will also comment on the odor of the Dragonborn, saying, "Ugh. Have you been tending to your hounds? You smell like a wet dog!"
 * Pressing square for PS3, X for 360, or R for PC will skip most of the feeding animation. This can be useful when surrounded by enemies and the Dragonborn needs to recover their health immediately.
 * The sound of the Howl of Terror is identical to the roar that Trolls make.
 * If the main menu is accessed, under the "General Stats" tab, and in the magic menu, if one uses Howl of Terror often, it will be listed as the "Favorite Shout," even though Howl of Terror is not a Dragon Shout. This also applies to other Werewolf powers.
 * If the Dragonborn goes up the 7000 steps as a Werewolf, the travelers will not become hostile.