Breath Dragonknight DPS Build - ESO Guide
Magicka Dragonknight DPS Build built around the reworked
Engulfing Dragonfire ability, a channeled fire breath attack that ramps up in damage over 4.8 seconds and synergizes with the
Take Flight ultimate.
It's a build somewhat similar to Arcanist beams. It is weaker than Regular Dragonknight but has better AoE damage, is much easier to play, and is one of the stronger options in ESO Update 49 overall.
This build parses 148k DPS on the Iron Atronach dummy using a Single Target, Medium Armor setup. The more practical Light Armor, AoE setup sits at 138k.
If you prefer a simpler rotation, check out the One Bar Breath Dragonknight DPS Build which parses 125k DPS with a single bar.
Skill Setups
Base Setup
A base setup that will work for most situations and which should be your starting point when making situational setups
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Engulfing Dragonfire | Slot 1: Shatterspike Mantle |
| Slot 2: Searing Claw | Slot 2: Incinerate |
| Slot 3: Camouflaged Hunter | Slot 3: Molten Whip |
| Slot 4: Quick Cloak | Slot 4: Stampede |
| Slot 5: Banner Bearer | Slot 5: Banner Bearer |
| Ultimate: Take Flight | Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker |
Engulfing Dragonfire - the main ability of this build, a 4.8 second channeled attack which causes you to breathe fire in front of you (0.3 second windup and then deals damage every 0.5 seconds, 10 ticks in total). Its damage ramps up by 5% each tick up to 50% on the last tick, but it always deals maximum damage while
Take Flight's bonus is active. Unlike other channeled abilities, this one doesn't go on cooldown when you get interrupted.
Searing Claw - deals direct damage and applies a 10 second DoT which deals 10% more damage every 2 seconds. The initial hit is guaranteed to proc Burning status effect.
Camouflaged Hunter - this ability will grant you the Minor Berserk buff which increases your damage done by 5% for 5 seconds after you deal Critical Damage from enemy's flank, which has a very wide radius. It's a buff which should be provided by your Healers, but this skill can fill the gaps in uptime. It will also trigger the
Slayer passive, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 3%.
Quick Cloak - an ability that grants a short burst of movement speed, Major Evasion buff which reduces your damage taken from AoE attacks and deals damage over 30 seconds. The damage it deals can proc your weapon enchantments, which is important because you can't proc them with Light Attacks while breathing.
Banner Bearer (
Shock,
Cavalier's Charge,
Heroism) - a toggle which will drain your Stamina and Magicka. The Focus script will grant you a 6% bonus to Direct Damage. The Signature script will grant you 6 Weapon and Spell Damage per 1% of bonus movement speed you have, which will always grant you at least 60 thanks to
Celerity, and 180 briefly after casting
Quick Cloak, with possibly more if your teammates provide other movement speed bonuses. The Affix script will grant you Minor Heroism which will increase your Ultimate generation allowing you to keep up better uptime on
Take Flight.
Take Flight - a cheap ultimate which gives you a 20% Damage Done against Monsters buff for 15 seconds. Your
Engulfing Dragonfire always deals maximum damage while
Take Flight's buff is active.
Shatterspike Mantle - your source of Major Resolve which also applies a 20 second DoT to enemies around you and grants you a buff which adds 100 damage to all of your damage ticks.
Incinerate - an ability which releases a fiery wave around you on cast and then every 5 seconds for 15 seconds. It has increased base chance to proc Burning status effect. Having it slotted passively grants you Major Savagery and Prophecy.
Molten Whip - a spammable which we'll slot only for its passive effect.
Molten Whip gains up to 3 stacks whenever you use a Dragonknight ability which grant you 15% damage done at maximum stacks. They last 10 seconds and with this many Dragonknight abilities in your rotation you'll never have to pay attention to this timer.
Stampede - a gap closer which leaves a ground DoT under your target which will constantly proc your Weapon Damage enchantment and increase your Direct Damage done thanks to the
Merciless Charge set.
Flawless Dawnbreaker - since this build revolves around
Engulfing Dragonfire you'll want to always use
Take Flight as your ultimate.
Flawless Dawnbreaker is slotted on backbar to passively provide some Weapon and Spell Damage through the
Slayer passive.
If you need to slot something situational, replace
Camouflaged Hunter in single target fights and
Searing Claw in AoE fights.
Barbed Trap - a very strong DoT which procs the
Slayer passive and grants Minor Force, which is irrelevant while wearing
Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet. It can replace
Camouflaged Hunter in single target fights if your Healers are providing Minor Berserk. It should also be part of your base setup before you obtain
Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet. It can be difficult to sustain if you're wearing Light Armor then you'll most likely need potions that restore Stamina.
Soul of Flame - an ability which restores resources based on your missing resources. Use it if you can't sustain.
Igneous Weapons - a support ability which provides your entire team with Major Brutality and Sorcery and isn't that big of a DPS loss for you to run. Getting Major Brutality through this will also allow you to use different potions.
Proximity Detonation - extremely good ability for trash packs, you can pre-cast it as you're running into them.
Resolving Vigor - a self-heal you'll need for some fights.
Chains of Devastation - a gap closer which can be useful in fights where you have to move around a lot.
Burning Embers - the other morph of
Searing Claw. It deals less damage but heals you for a decent amount on cast and then continues to heal you whenever it ticks. Use it if you need more healing.
Elemental Blockade - a replacement for
Stampede whenever you're using a Destruction Staff instead of a Greatsword on your backbar. It's much easier to sustain than
Stampede and until you obtain the
Merciless Charge set they're both similar in strength, which makes
Elemental Blockade better.
Banner Bearer (
Shock,
Cavalier's Charge, other script) - when using Heroism potions you can change the
Heroism script to something else. Usually it would have to be
Brutality and Sorcery, but if you're already getting it from
Igneous Weapons or from a group member you could instead use
Berserk or
Courage scripts, depending on what other buffs your team is providing.
Priority List
This is just a list of priorities. Simply recast abilities when they run out and follow this list of priorities when there are multiple things to refresh.
Inside of your
Take Flight window you can freely cancel
Engulfing Dragonfire to refresh DoTs. Outside of
Take Flight, you want to finish
Engulfing Dragonfire and refresh DoTs after it ends.
You ideally want to start a cast of
Engulfing Dragonfire when
Take Flight has 2-3 seconds left, so that the initial weak phase of
Engulfing Dragonfire gets bypassed by
Take Flight's buff, because the later phase deals high damage regardless.
- 1.
Take Flight - 2.
Searing Claw - 3.
Incinerate - 4.
Stampede - 5.
Shatterspike Mantle - 6.
Quick Cloak - 7.
Engulfing Dragonfire
Pre-buff
These abilities can be pre-cast before entering combat
Final Setups
A few examples of final setups you could end up with after applying the situational skills to the base setup
A setup for trash packs
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Engulfing Dragonfire | Slot 1: Shatterspike Mantle |
| Slot 2: Incinerate | Slot 2: Proximity Detonation |
| Slot 3: Camouflaged Hunter | Slot 3: Molten Whip |
| Slot 4: Quick Cloak | Slot 4: Stampede |
| Slot 5: Banner Bearer | Slot 5: Banner Bearer |
| Ultimate: Take Flight | Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker |
What Changes
Proximity Detonation replaces
Searing Claw and swaps places with
Incinerate.
A setup for single target fights
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Engulfing Dragonfire | Slot 1: Shatterspike Mantle |
| Slot 2: Searing Claw | Slot 2: Incinerate |
| Slot 3: Barbed Trap | Slot 3: Molten Whip |
| Slot 4: Quick Cloak | Slot 4: Stampede |
| Slot 5: Banner Bearer | Slot 5: Banner Bearer |
| Ultimate: Take Flight | Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker |
What Changes
Barbed Trap replaces
Camouflaged Hunter.
Passives
Some trees are only needed when using situational skills, for example Destruction Staff provides nothing without
Elemental Blockade
Class - Ardent Flame
Combustion - High Priority
Traumatic Burns - High Priority
Fan the Flames - High Priority
A Soul Ablaze - High Priority
Class - Draconic Power
Burnished Scales - High Priority
World in Ruin - High Priority
Elder Dragon - High Priority
The Storm Voice - High Priority
Class - Earthen Heart
Heart of Stone - High Priority
Landslide - High Priority
Blessing at the Peak - High Priority
Mountain Giant - High Priority
Weapon - Dual Wield
Slaughter - High Priority
Dual Wield Expert - High Priority
Controlled Fury - High Priority
Ruffian - Medium Priority
Twin Blade and Blunt - High Priority
Weapon - Two Handed
Forceful - Medium Priority
Heavy Weapons - High Priority
Balanced Blade - High Priority
Follow Up - Low Priority
Battle Rush - Low Priority
Weapon - Destruction Staff
Tri Focus - Low Priority
Penetrating Magic - Low Priority
Elemental Force - High Priority
Ancient Knowledge - High Priority
Destruction Expert - Low Priority
Armor - Light Armor
Grace - Low Priority
Evocation - High Priority
Spell Warding - High Priority
Prodigy - High Priority
Concentration - High Priority
Armor - Medium Armor
Dexterity - High Priority
Wind Walker - High Priority
Improved Sneak - Not needed
Agility - High Priority
Athletics - High Priority
Guild - Fighters Guild
Intimidating Presence - High Priority
Slayer - High Priority
Banish the Wicked - High Priority
Skilled Tracker - High Priority
Bounty Hunter - Not needed
Alliance War - Support
Magicka Aid - Medium Priority
Combat Medic - Not needed
Battle Resurrection - Not needed
Race - Your Race
Get all of your racials, no matter which race you are
Craft - Alchemy
Solvent Proficiency - Not needed
Keen Eye: Reagents - Not needed
Medicinal Use - High Priority
Chemistry - Not needed
Laboratory Use - Not needed
Snakeblood - Not needed
Gear
Base Setup
A base setup that will work for most situations and which should be your starting point when making situational setups. It assumes your group provides Major Breach, Minor Breach, Infused Crusher and nothing more
Switching gear for trash packs isn't worth it unless you're using gear-swap addons
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Light | |||
Chest |
Medium | |||
Hands |
Light | |||
Belt |
Light | |||
Legs |
Light | |||
Boots |
Light | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Greatsword |
This setup parsed 138.1k DPS
Gear that is easier to obtain and can be used while you work towards the best gear
Crafted
All of these are tradable and can be bought from other players
No Overland, Dungeon or Trial gear is listed as the Crafted options are superior.
Final Setups
A few examples of final setups you could end up with after applying situational rules to the base setup
This is the crafted gear setup you can start with
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Light | |||
Shoulders |
Light | |||
Chest |
Medium | |||
Hands |
Light | |||
Belt |
Light | |||
Legs |
Medium | |||
Boots |
Light | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Inferno Staff |
The crafted setup parses 111.1k DPS
When using it, replace
Camouflaged Hunter with
Barbed Trap since this setup doesn't get Minor Force from
Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet. Replacing
Stampede with
Elemental Blockade makes it easier to sustain and without
Merciless Charge there's very little difference between these two damage-wise.
Barbed Trap replaces
Camouflaged Hunter, because you aren't getting Minor Force from
Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet yet
Elemental Blockade replaces
Stampede, because you don't have
Merciless Charge yet, and this way it's easier to sustain
This is a setup you should use if you don't have access to any Trial gear
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Light | |||
Chest |
Medium | |||
Hands |
Light | |||
Belt |
Light | |||
Legs |
Medium | |||
Boots |
Light | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Greatsword |
This setup parses 130.6k DPS
This is a setup you should use in trash packs
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Light | |||
Chest |
Medium | |||
Hands |
Light | |||
Belt |
Light | |||
Legs |
Medium | |||
Boots |
Light | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Greatsword |
This is a setup you can use if your team provides additional penetration
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Light | |||
Shoulders |
Medium | |||
Chest |
Medium | |||
Hands |
Medium | |||
Belt |
Medium | |||
Legs |
Medium | |||
Boots |
Medium | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Greatsword |
This setup parsed 148k DPS, though it was in a Single Target setup with
Barbed Trap. For comparison, the Regular Gear setup (with
Whorl of the Depths) did 140.3k with
Barbed Trap.
This setup can only be used if your team provides additional penetration, for example through
Roar of Alkosh.
Champion Points
Race
The difference between best and worst race is about 5% of DPS and there is no content in the entire game that you'd be blocked from completing because of choosing a bad race.
Other decent options
Mundus
Attributes
You should always put all 64 attribute points into Magicka.
Food
Your sustain can vary greatly because it's impacted by your race, the amount of synergies provided by your teammates, and by your armor type. Choose the food with more Magicka Recovery if you can't sustain.
Potions
Most of the time you should use the Weapon Power potions. They'll improve your Stamina sustain and provide Major Brutality which is crucial.
Spell Power potions are very similar to Weapon Power potions, except they improve your Magicka sustain instead of Stamina sustain. The drawback is that the Major Sorcery they provide doesn't stack with your Minor Brutality from
Elder Dragon passive, so they're only equivalent to Weapon Power potions if there's someone in your team using the Dawn's Wrath skill line and providing Minor Sorcery with
Illuminate passive.
Heroism potions restore both Stamina and Magicka and can provide 100% uptime on Minor Heroism, allowing you to use a different Affix script on your
Banner Bearer, however you'll need another source of Major Brutality or Sorcery, like for example yours or a groupmate's
Igneous Weapons. You could also put Brutality and Sorcery on your own
Banner Bearer, in which case we're back to square one in terms of buffs, but now our potions restore both Stamina and Magicka. This approach is straight up stronger but isn't recommended as part of regular setup because of how expensive Heroism potions are.
Tri-Stat potions are basically Heroism potions without the Minor Heroism, and they're much cheaper. You can use them if you want potions which restore both Stamina and Magicka and you're already getting Major Brutality/Sorcery from somewhere else.
If you want to greatly improve your survivability you can instead use Armor Potions. You'll need another source of Major Brutality/Sorcery and most likely you'll also have to slot
Soul of Flame, or get more sustain in other ways.
Parses
All parses are recorded on the 21 million Target Dummy
148k on the 6mil dummy using Single Target, Medium Armor setup
Regular (Whorl) gear with Single Target skill setup
Regular (Whorl) gear with standard skill setup
No Trial Gear using Tide-Born setup
Crafted gear only setup
Gameplay
Here you can see this build in action
FAQ
Yes, it's one of the stronger DPS options in ESO Update 49. The gameplay is similar to Arcanist beams - you channel
Engulfing Dragonfire as your main damage source, and
Take Flight synergizes with it for big ultimate dumps. It has great AoE damage and is much easier to play than most DPS builds, parsing 148k single target and 138k in a practical AoE setup.
Yes, you can replace the Dual Wield Daggers with other weapons. Lightning Staff, Greatsword and Bow will cause the smallest DPS loss (≈2%), then Inferno Staff (≈4%), and then support-oriented weapons (Ice Staff, One Handed and Shield) will cause a bigger DPS loss (≈7%). You will also have to replace
Quick Cloak with some situational ability, or with an ability from one of the weapons you swapped to (for example
Carve when switching to Greatsword). Replacing the backbar Greatsword is not recommended because of the
Merciless Charge set which requires a Two Handed weapon.
THANKS FOR READING
If you've enjoyed this guide and want to support me, you can do so through Patreon. Your support will help me produce more guides.
Head
Shoulders
Chest
Hands
Belt
Legs
Boots
Necklace
Ring
Frontbar Main Hand
Frontbar Off Hand