The Duke of Crows Tales of Tribute deck is all about card draw and Combos – here’s how to win with this Elder Scrolls Online Patron’s cards.
Of the four Patrons players can use after completing the introductory questline for Tales of Tribute in Elder Scrolls Online, the Duke of Crows provides perhaps the most generally useful cards. The deck has a lot of ways for players to get Coin and draw cards, all set within the theme of the Evergloam's loudest denizens.
The Duke of Crows deck in Tales of Tribute is pretty easy to learn compared to Elder Scrolls Online Patrons like, say, Red Eagle or Rahjin. Acquiring cards from this Patron can be your main focus from the start or one you start leaning into later on when your primary Patrons' options start drying up.
There are many more planes of Oblivion than just the ones known to the regular folk of the Elder Scrolls universe. The Crow's Wood is one of these planes, a pocket dimension contained within the Evergloam of Nocturnal overseen by the Duke of Crows and his Blackfeather Court. One of the few "living" Patrons in Tales of Tribute, players can actually meet the Duke of Crows in the Clockwork City DLC.
However, the Patron ability greatly favors the Hlallu deck with careful planning. The Patron ability is a tricky one, though, as it benefits players who can build up a lot of Coin, and the lack of a Favored ability means it's better to wait until the late game to garner Favor from the Duke of Crows.
In the Duke of Crows Patron deck, there are a lot of combos, and a lot of combos that only trigger after four other cards of the same Patron have been played that turn. As such, if you're going for a Duke of Crows-centric deck, it's important to hoard Purple cards to be able to trigger these combos in the late game. The best Duke of Crows cards take advantage of these late-game situations, though they can be hard to set up if you're not lucky with Tavern choices early on.
The Duke of Crows deck is incredible for card draw, opening up more options each turn and enabling larger combos – necessary to trigger the Combo 4 abilities on some cards. The Plunder and Squawking Oratory cards are key to setting up regular card draw, and Agents like Blackfeather Knave are important for triggering these large combos if you're not lucky with your draws. Toll of Silver gives good Coin and card draw, and Murder of Crows gives Coin and Power – though not in high enough numbers to lead to victory unless paired with another Patron.
The Duke of Crows deck doesn't provide too strong a path to victory on its own – the Power and Coin gain is just too meager, even with Combos. When card draw is added to these effects, though, the Duke of Crows serves as a way to enable other strategies and make them more effective. It's a good idea to go for Duke of Crows cards as early as possible when the game is still slow, then begin to transition into another color after you've gotten a handful of Duke cards.
Patrons to pair with the Duke of Crows are those that let you manipulate your draw deck. Ansei Frandar Hunding cards allow players to put cards from their Cooldown on top of their draw, and then Duke of Crows cards let you draw them immediately. The same thing goes for Psijic Loremaster Celarus, though his draw deck manipulation is not based on the Cooldown pile but on looking ahead and deciding which cards you actually want to draw. If you play these cards before Duke of Crows cards, then you can essentially hand-pick what you want from your deck.
The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle is available for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Stadia, and Xbox One and Series X|S
Elden Ring and Elder Scrolls Specialist, and sometimes Newswriter, at Game Rant. Basically, if it’s an RPG that starts with Elde-, I probably write about it.
