General:Orsinium Guide: Maelstrom Arena

Originally published October 23, 2015. The original article can be found here.

500px|thumb|center|''In our final Orsinium guide, you'll learn all about the solo-challenge called Maelstrom Arena. We'll give you the ins and outs of how to enter, what to expect, what you can win, and how you can land on the leaderboards.''

Journey into the churning void of Oblivion to do battle in the legendary Maelstrom Arena! Designed by the eccentric Demiprince Fa-Nuit-Hen, this bizarre Daedric crucible will push even the most powerful adventurers to their limits. It is a contest without allies and without mercy. In the Maelstrom, only the strong survive.

Maelstrom Arena is a single-player progressive challenge located in the northeastern mountains of Wrothgar. To enter the Maelstrom Arena, simply travel to Orsinium and navigate to the arena's POI icon on the map. You can also directly travel into the Maelstrom Arena via the fast-travel network by selecting its map icon. 

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Once inside, you'll need to battle your way through nine arenas, all with a different theme. You'll be thrown into Sheogorath's Realm to face-off against Dark Seducers and Golden Saints, fight Lamia and Argonians in a Murkmire-themed arena while avoiding electrified water, balance on rickety icebergs in a Wrothgar-themed arena while avoiding giants and trolls, and more! You'll also want to pay particular attention to your surroundings as there may be ways to use the environment or certain features to your advantage.

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While fighting to survive, you can get an edge by taking advantage of four different types of Sigils that appear in each arena. They're easily identified as floating blue icons on the arena floor. To use a Sigil, simply walk near it and the Synergy prompt will appear. Press your Synergy key or button, and the Sigil will be activated, providing you with a powerful, temporary buff. Sigils will re-spawn between each round within an arena, so don't be afraid to use them! The Sigils that will be available to you include:

Sigil of Defense: Grants damage reduction to all attacks, and reflects physical- and spell-based ranged attacks.
Sigil of Haste: Grants increased resource regeneration and the Major Expedition buff.
Sigil of Healing: Grants you a powerful heal over time.
Sigil of Power: Grants increased weapon power.

Once you reach Veteran Rank 16, you will qualify for the Maelstrom Arena leaderboards. There are leaderboards for every class, and at the end of each week the top 100 players of each class will be granted special rewards via in-game mail.

Points for the Maelstrom Arena leaderboards are rewarded in multiple ways:

You will be granted points every time you complete an arena.
The Sigils that appear in each arena can bestow special powers, but each round that you survive without using a Sigil will grant you bonus points.
If you complete the Maelstrom Arena in full (all nine arenas) within 1 hour and 30 minutes, you will be granted additional points. Faster times net increased point gains.

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In addition to competing against other players to be the best on the leaderboards, there are also new item sets available specifically to the Maelstrom Arena that you can receive in both the Normal and Veteran versions. You can also obtain unique weapon and jewelry sets in Veteran Maelstrom Arena, similar to Veteran Dragonstar Arena.

Do you have what it takes to survive and conquer the Maelstrom Arena?