TANK GUIDES
ARCANIST TANK DRAGONKNIGHT TANK NECROMANCER TANK NIGHTBLADE TANK SORCERER TANK TEMPLAR TANK WARDEN TANKINFINITE ARCHIVE
IMMORTAL DRAGONKNIGHT TANK IMMORTAL DRAGONKNIGHT SOLOOTHER
CLASS TIER LIST SETSThis is a simplified guide which skips a lot of nuance and is intended for beginners or players who don't intend to tackle extremely hard content. Every fight in ESO is situational and ideal skill/gear setup is different for almost every boss. This guide is a compromise where I'll be showing you a single skill setup and very few gear setups that might not be perfect for every single situation, but they'll be at the very least good enough for every situation, and won't overwhelm new players with lots of information.
Last updated: Update 42 (Gold Road)
Dragonknights have access to an absurd amount of useful tools when it comes to tanking. They have access to Hardened Armor - a very strong and at the same time extremely cheap damage shield, which shields you for 31% of your max hp while costing only 2600 magicka. They also have access to Helping Hands - a passive which restores your stamina whenever you use an Earthen Heart ability, which you’ll be proccing with Igneous Shield and it’ll trivialize sustaining stamina, which is why DK is such an easy and beginner-friendly class. The Iron Skin and Scaled Armor passives grant you block mitigation and armor, which are extremely important stats for a tank.
But enough about defense. Dragonknights also provide a unique Stagger debuff which increases the targets’ damage taken, a unique Engulfing Flames debuff which increases enemies’ flame damage taken and the unique Minor Brutality buff which increases the group’s weapon damage by 10%.
Front Bar | Back Bar |
---|---|
Slot 1: Pierce Armor | Slot 1: Hardened Armor |
Slot 2: Stone Giant | Slot 2: Wield Soul |
Slot 3: Igneous Shield | Slot 3: Destructive Clench |
Slot 4: Ulfsild's Contingency | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
Slot 5: Coagulating Blood | Slot 5: Resolving Vigor |
Ultimate: Temporal Guard | Ultimate: Aggressive Horn |
Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Druid's Braid | Medium | Reinforced | Magicka |
Shoulders |
Druid's Braid | Light | Divines/Sturdy | Health |
Chest |
Wretched Vitality | Heavy | Reinforced | Health |
Hands |
Wretched Vitality | Heavy | Divines/Sturdy | Stamina |
Belt |
Wretched Vitality | Heavy | Divines/Sturdy | Magicka |
Legs |
Wretched Vitality | Heavy | Reinforced | Stamina |
Boots |
Wretched Vitality | Heavy | Reinforced | Health |
Necklace |
Druid's Braid | Jewelry | Harmony/Infused | Reduce Magicka Cost/Reduce Block Cost |
Ring |
Druid's Braid | Jewelry | Harmony/Infused | Reduce Magicka Cost |
Ring |
Druid's Braid | Jewelry | Harmony/Infused | Reduce Magicka Cost |
Main Hand |
Druid's Braid | Any 1-handed weapon | Decisive | Hardening |
Off Hand |
Druid's Braid | Shield | Divines/Sturdy | Stamina |
Main Hand |
Druid's Braid | Ice Staff | Infused | Crusher |
Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Archdruid Devyric | Medium | Reinforced | Tri-Stat |
Shoulders |
Archdruid Devyric | Light | Divines/Sturdy | Tri-Stat |
Chest |
Lucent Echoes | Heavy | Reinforced | Tri-Stat |
Hands |
Lucent Echoes | Heavy | Divines/Sturdy | Tri-Stat |
Belt |
Lucent Echoes | Heavy | Divines/Sturdy | Tri-Stat |
Legs |
Lucent Echoes | Heavy | Reinforced | Tri-Stat |
Boots |
Lucent Echoes | Heavy | Reinforced | Tri-Stat |
Necklace |
Powerful Assault | Jewelry | Harmony/Infused | Reduce Magicka Cost |
Ring |
Powerful Assault | Jewelry | Harmony/Infused | Reduce Magicka Cost |
Ring |
Powerful Assault | Jewelry | Harmony/Infused | Reduce Magicka Cost |
Main Hand |
Puncturing Remedy | Any 1-handed weapon | Decisive | Hardening |
Off Hand |
Puncturing Remedy | Shield | Divines/Sturdy | Tri-Stat |
Main Hand |
Powerful Assault | Ice Staff | Infused | Crusher |
Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Archdruid Devyric | Medium | Reinforced | Tri-Stat |
Shoulders |
Archdruid Devyric | Light | Divines/Sturdy | Tri-Stat |
Chest |
Pearlescent Ward | Heavy | Reinforced | Tri-Stat |
Hands |
Pearlescent Ward | Heavy | Divines/Sturdy | Tri-Stat |
Belt |
Pearlescent Ward | Heavy | Divines/Sturdy | Tri-Stat |
Legs |
Pearlescent Ward | Heavy | Reinforced | Tri-Stat |
Boots |
Pearlescent Ward | Heavy | Reinforced | Tri-Stat |
Necklace |
Crimson Oath's Rive | Jewelry | Harmony/Infused | Reduce Magicka Cost |
Ring |
Crimson Oath's Rive | Jewelry | Harmony/Infused | Reduce Magicka Cost |
Ring |
Crimson Oath's Rive | Jewelry | Harmony/Infused | Reduce Magicka Cost |
Main Hand |
Puncturing Remedy | Any 1-handed weapon | Decisive | Hardening |
Off Hand |
Puncturing Remedy | Shield | Divines/Sturdy | Tri-Stat |
Main Hand |
Crimson Oath's Rive | Ice Staff | Infused | Crusher |
Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Magma Incarnate | Medium | Reinforced | Tri-Stat |
Shoulders |
Spaulder of Ruin | Light | Divines/Sturdy | Tri-Stat |
Chest |
Saxhleel's Champion | Heavy | Reinforced | Tri-Stat |
Hands |
Saxhleel's Champion | Heavy | Divines/Sturdy | Tri-Stat |
Belt |
Saxhleel's Champion | Heavy | Divines/Sturdy | Tri-Stat |
Legs |
Saxhleel's Champion | Heavy | Reinforced | Tri-Stat |
Boots |
Saxhleel's Champion | Heavy | Reinforced | Tri-Stat |
Necklace |
Powerful Assault | Jewelry | Harmony/Infused | Reduce Magicka Cost |
Ring |
Powerful Assault | Jewelry | Harmony/Infused | Reduce Magicka Cost |
Ring |
Powerful Assault | Jewelry | Harmony/Infused | Reduce Magicka Cost |
Main Hand |
Puncturing Remedy | Any 1-handed weapon | Decisive | Hardening |
Off Hand |
Puncturing Remedy | Shield | Divines/Sturdy | Tri-Stat |
Main Hand |
Powerful Assault | Ice Staff | Infused | Crusher |
Warfare
Fitness
Nord is by far the best race for tanking, due to the increased armor from Rugged and ulti generation from Stalwart. You can complete any content on any race, you'll just have to work slightly harder with other races, and you'll have to adjust your build and get more armor from somewhere else (for example by using The Lady as your Mundus rather than The Atronach).
The best Mundus is The Atronach which increases your Magicka Recovery by 310 and causes your armor pieces with the Divines trait to increase it by another 28.
If you're struggling with reaching the armor cap (33,000), then The Lady can also be a decent choice. It increases your Armor by 2744.
HEALTH
64
STAMINA
0
MAGICKA
0
Majority of the times you should put all your points into Health. However you need your Max Stamina to be higher than your Max Magicka, because the Combustion synergy restores your dominant resource and you want it to be Stamina. Because of that, you might have to put some attribute points into Stamina if you have passives (such as for example the Gift of Magnus racial) or item set bonuses (such as for example 1-piece bonus of Encratis's Behemoth) that increase your Max Magicka. Put just enough points to make your Max Stamina higher than your Max Magicka, and then put the rest into Health.
The best food is Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch, however it's extremely expensive so you should use Jewels of Misrule instead, it provides only slightly lower stats than Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch while being significantly cheaper.
Other decent foods:
Most of the time you should use Tri-Stat potions (Restore Health, Restore Stamina, Restore Magicka). They'll greatly improve you sustain. You can craft them by combining Columbine, Bugloss and Mountain's Flower.
There are better potions but they're extremely expensive so they're only worth using when you're tryharding for the most difficult achievments, such as trial trifectas. Heroism potions (Heroism, Restore Stamina, Restore Magicka) can provide a 100% uptime on Minor Heroism buff which generates ultimate, but they're extremely expensive because they're crafted by combining Dragon Rheum, Dragon's Blood and Columbine.