Hyperioxes
Hyperioxes

Breath Dragonknight DPS Build | 163k DPS | ESO Guide

DPS Two Bar Magicka Pure Class Dragonknight
Up to date for: Update 51 - 9th October 2026
Last changed: Update 51 - 9th October 2026

Magicka Dragonknight DPS Build built around the reworked ability, a channeled fire breath attack that ramps up in damage over 4.8 seconds and synergizes with the 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 51 overall.

This build parses 162,988 DPS on the 21 million HP Iron Atronach trial dummy with the Medium Armor setup.

If you prefer a simpler rotation, check out the One Bar Breath Dragonknight DPS Build which parses 131.6k DPS with a single bar.

Works in normal and veteran dungeons, trials, hard modes, Dragonstar Arena, and Blackrose Prison.

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Simulated DPS is up by 3.1% with the Light Armor setup and 1.9% with the Medium Armor setup compared to U50.

Skills

  • now costs 3510 Magicka instead of 3780 Magicka and reduces damage taken by 15% while channeling
  • now grants only , which provides both Weapon and Spell Critical Chance
  • now grants only , which provides both Weapon and Spell Damage

Dragonknight

  • now stacks up to 12 times instead of 10, generates a stack every 4 seconds instead of 5 at maximum rank, and loses a stack after 6 seconds without generating another
  • also uses the higher stack cap and new decay behavior
  • grants , which now increases both Weapon and Spell Damage

Gear

  • now grants a stack of when it activates, up to once every 10 seconds

Consumables

  • replace
  • now uses the Essence of Spell Protection name and updated icon
Article ESO Update 51 PTS Patch Notes & Changes ESO Update 51 PTS patch notes covering buff hybridization, class and weapon changes, Werewolf, item sets, Solo Dungeons, and undocumented changes.

Simulated Parse Tables

I built a simulator that takes the current setup from the guide and plays it through the listed rotation. It uses the listed gear, skills, Champion Points, race, Mundus, food, potions, target armor and target health. It tracks skill casts, light attacks, DoT ticks, cooldowns, execute scaling, crits and status effect rolls. It assumes 100% of light attacks hit and a 0.025 second weave average.

Every comparison table in this guide is the average of 10 deterministic sims, with the trial dummy's health spread between 20 and 22 million HP. A single sim on exactly 21 million HP can be off by up to 0.6%, because the result depends on when the killing hit lands. The Base Setup is treated as the default.

For comparison tables I keep the setup identical and change one thing at a time. That makes the tables better for comparing options than random dummy parses, where one run can get better crits, different status effects or a better execute window.

Base Setup

Run DPS
Deterministic sim (20-22m average)
151.0k DPS
100 random 21m sims
Lowest 146.9k DPS
Highest 156.4k DPS

Full Damage Setup

The real parse was recorded with the Full Damage setup: Medium Armor setup, and swap places, replaces , replaces

Run DPS
Deterministic sim (20-22m average)
157.0k DPS
Real 21m CMX parse
163k DPS
100 random 21m sims
Lowest 150.3k DPS
Highest 167.1k DPS
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Class Mastery

Class Masteries are a system where each class picks 2 of 5 passive bonuses (Class Mastery Points, not Skill Points). Activating subclassing disables Class Mastery, so it's a tradeoff between keeping your native skill lines or subclassing.

Use and .

Default

Dragonknight Class Mastery

Inexorable Descent

Be as the landslide. Let nothing stop you.

Improves your passive to increase the potency of your damage done, healing done, and damage shield strength by 1% per stack.

Notes

Simply the best damage option.

Dragonknight Class Mastery

Wildfire Embers

Fire forged within can never be extinguished. Fan the flames.

When your Dragonknight damage over time effects end, you apply Wildfire Embers to the target, dealing Flame Damage over 12 seconds. This effect stacks up to 12 times and increases in damage by 25% per stack.

Flame Damage

Total Coefficient7.01% Max Stamina/Magicka + 73.95% Weapon/Spell Damage
Tick RateEvery 2s (6 ticks)
Status Chance3%
TagsFlameSingle TargetDoT

Notes

Simply the best damage option.

Situational

Dragonknight Class Mastery

Lead From the Front

Let others be swept along in the wake of your flame.

Activating rank 2 of grants you and group members within 28 meters of you and for 1 second per 15 Ultimate spent, increasing damage done and reducing damage taken by 10%.

Notes

4.6% less damage than but provides your group with roughly 44% and uptime. Worth running if your group doesn't have another source of .

Not worth it

Dragonknight Class Mastery

Resolute Defense

You are as unyielding as a mountain.

Each second you remain Bracing, you increase the amount of damage you block by 6%, up to 5 times.

Blocking damage has a 20% chance to restore 500 Stamina. This effect can occur once every block cost.

Notes

Not useful for this setup.

Dragonknight Class Mastery

Booming Voice

Let your voice echo across the peaks.

Activating rank 2 of now also grants 5 Health, Magicka, and Stamina Recovery for every Ultimate spent for 10 seconds after a delay of 15 seconds.

Notes

Not useful for this setup.

Class Mastery Simulated Parse Damage Change
151.0k DPS
Baseline
144.0k DPS
-4.6%

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 DragonfireMorph of Dragonfire Breath Slot 1: Shatterspike MantleMorph of Earthspike Mantle
Slot 2: Searing ClawMorph of Searing Strike Slot 2: IncinerateMorph of Inferno
Slot 3: Camouflaged HunterMorph of Expert Hunter Slot 3: Igneous WeaponsMorph of Molten Weapons
Slot 4: Quick CloakMorph of Blade Cloak Slot 4: StampedeMorph of Critical Charge
Slot 5: Banner BearerMagic / Cavalier's Charge / Heroism Slot 5: Banner BearerMagic / Cavalier's Charge / Heroism
Ultimate: Take FlightMorph of Dragon Leap Ultimate: Flawless DawnbreakerMorph of Dawnbreaker
  • - 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). While channeling, you take 15% less damage. Its damage ramps up by 5% each tick up to 50% on the last tick, but it always deals maximum damage while 's bonus is active. Unlike other channeled abilities, this one doesn't go on cooldown when you get interrupted
  • - 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
  • - this ability will grant you the 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 passive, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 3%
  • - an ability that grants a short burst of movement speed, 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
  • (, , ) - a toggle which will drain your Stamina and Magicka. The Focus script will grant you a 6% bonus to Magical 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 , and 180 briefly after casting , with possibly more if your teammates provide other movement speed bonuses. The Affix script will grant you which will increase your Ultimate generation allowing you to keep up better uptime on
  • - a cheap ultimate which gives you a 20% Damage Done against Monsters buff for 15 seconds. Your always deals maximum damage while 's buff is active
  • - your source of 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
  • - 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
  • - a 60 second buff which grants to you and your entire group, and causes your Light Attacks to deal additional damage up to once every 2 seconds
  • - 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 set
  • - since this build revolves around you'll want to always use as your ultimate. is slotted on backbar to passively provide some Weapon and Spell Damage through the passive

If you need to slot something situational, replace (and replace with ) first, then in single target fights and in AoE fights.

  • - an ability which restores resources based on your missing resources. Use it if you can't sustain
  • - a DoT that applies the status effect at the start and grants , increasing your Critical Damage by 10%. Use it if you don't have
  • - extremely good ability for trash packs, you can pre-cast it as you're running into them
  • - a self-heal you'll need for some fights
  • - the other morph of . 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
  • - a replacement for whenever you're using a Destruction Staff instead of a Greatsword on your backbar. It's much easier to sustain than and until you obtain the set they're both similar in strength, which makes better
  • (, , other script) - when using Heroism potions you can change the script to something else. Use or scripts, depending on what other buffs your team is providing
Rotation Simulated Parse Damage Change
Priority List
151.0k DPS
Baseline
Static Rotation
148.9k DPS
-1.4%

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 window you can freely cancel to refresh DoTs. Outside of , you want to finish and refresh DoTs after it ends.

When has about 3 seconds left, cancel and cast it again, even if you just started it. makes it deal max damage anyway, so the weak start of the new cast doesn't matter, and it's already ramped up when ends.

Light Attacks

Don't light attack after . Cast your next skill right away instead, it goes out about 250ms faster than if you wait for the 1 second global cooldown.

The only exception is casting twice in a row (outside of the window). Light attack between those two, because there's a bug where if you cast right after another without any break in between, the second one starts at 0% and only ramps up to 45%, instead of starting at 5% and ramping up to 50%.

Pre-buff

These abilities can be pre-cast before entering combat

  • (only the and damage done buff, the DoT doesn't carry over)

Other Setups

A few examples of other 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 DragonfireMorph of Dragonfire Breath Slot 1: Shatterspike MantleMorph of Earthspike Mantle
Slot 2: IncinerateMorph of Inferno Slot 2: Proximity DetonationMorph of Magicka Detonation
Slot 3: Camouflaged HunterMorph of Expert Hunter Slot 3: Igneous WeaponsMorph of Molten Weapons
Slot 4: Quick CloakMorph of Blade Cloak Slot 4: StampedeMorph of Critical Charge
Slot 5: Banner BearerMagic / Cavalier's Charge / Heroism Slot 5: Banner BearerMagic / Cavalier's Charge / Heroism
Ultimate: Take FlightMorph of Dragon Leap Ultimate: Flawless DawnbreakerMorph of Dawnbreaker

What Changes

Changes compared to the Base Setup

  • replaces and swaps places with

Passives

Some trees are only needed when using situational skills, for example Destruction Staff provides nothing without

Class

Weapon

Armor

Guild

Alliance War

Racial

Craft

Class - Ardent Flame

Combustion - High Priority

Traumatic Burns - High Priority

Fan the Flames - High Priority

A Soul Ablaze - High Priority

Gear

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 , , and nothing more

Switching gear for trash packs isn't worth it unless you're using gear-swap addons

Light Armor gives penetration through the passive, so it doesn't depend on your group composition. Medium Armor can be stronger but needs your group to provide penetration, for example through . Use Light Armor if you don't know what your group brings, Medium Armor if you do.

Gear Slot Set Weight/Type Trait Enchantment
HeadHead Medium
ShouldersShoulders Light
ChestChest Medium
HandsHands Light
BeltBelt Light
LegsLegs Light
FeetBoots Light
NeckNecklace Jewelry
RingRing Jewelry
RingRing Jewelry
MainhandFrontbar Main Hand Dagger
OffhandFrontbar Off Hand Dagger
MainhandBackbar Main Hand Greatsword

This setup does 151.0k DPS

Fallback Gear

Body (Light)
Whorl of the Depths - Trial Set (Dreadsail Reef)

If you don't have it, use in order

  1. - Crafted
  2. - Class Set (Infinite Archive)
  3. - Crafted
Weapons and Jewelry
Slivers of the Null Arca - Trial Set (Lucent Citadel)

If you don't have it, use in order

  1. - Dungeon Set (Unhallowed Grave)
  2. - PvP Set (Cyrodiil)
  3. - Crafted
  4. - Class Set (Infinite Archive)
  5. - Crafted
Monster Helm
Slimecraw - Monster Set (Wayrest Sewers I)

Alternative (same bonus)

  1. - Direfrost Keep
  2. - Scalecaller Peak
  3. - Moongrave Fane
  4. - Stone Garden
  5. - Bedlam Veil
  6. - Night Market

Use the Penetration Calculator to fine-tune your penetration for different content. Overland enemies have 9,100 armor while Instanced enemies (Arenas and Dungeons) have 18,200.

Tool Penetration Calculator Check your total armor penetration in ESO and see exactly how much DPS you're losing. Find out if you've hit the penetration cap for the type of content you're doing.

Gear Set Comparisons

Damage comparison for the set options.

Body (Light)

Compares X Light set + weapons and jewelry.

Source
Body Set Source Simulated Parse Damage Change
(3 Stacks) Crafted
152.1k DPS
+0.7%
Trial - Dreadsail Reef
151.0k DPS
Baseline
Crafted
148.8k DPS
-1.5%
Class Set - Infinite Archive
148.2k DPS
-1.9%
Overland - Deshaan
147.3k DPS
-2.4%
Crafted
147.0k DPS
-2.7%
(0 Stacks) Crafted
146.4k DPS
-3.0%
Crafted
146.4k DPS
-3.1%
Crafted
145.2k DPS
-3.9%

Front Bar Weapons

Daggers are the default weapon. Bow is the smallest DPS loss, with Greatsword and Lightning Staff close behind.

Front Bar Weapon Simulated Parse Damage Change
Dual Wield Daggers
151.0k DPS
Baseline
Bow
148.4k DPS
-1.7%
Greatsword
147.5k DPS
-2.3%
Lightning Staff
146.7k DPS
-2.8%
Inferno Staff
143.8k DPS
-4.8%
Ice Staff
141.2k DPS
-6.5%
Restoration Staff
140.9k DPS
-6.7%
One Handed and Shield
140.8k DPS
-6.7%

Only the front bar weapon changes. Daggers use and . Every one-weapon option uses a weapon. One Handed and Shield uses a one handed weapon plus a shield.

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Champion Points

Unlock Order

WarfareWarfare
6% Direct Damage
6% AoE Damage
205 Weapon and Spell Damage
8% Critical Damage and Healing
Critical Damage Cap
Replace with if your supports are providing enough Critical Damage for you to reach the 125% cap without Fighting Finesse
More Healing
is a decent Champion Point if you need more HPS
FitnessFitness
1400 Max Health
1731 Armor
10% Movement Speed
90 Health, Stamina and Magicka Recovery
Sustain in fights with lots of adds
and are good sustain CPs for dungeon fights with lots of adds. Use them instead of and .
CraftCraft
20% Movement Speed out of combat
Quality of Life
Green Champion Points don't affect Combat, choose whatever Quality of Life you prefer

Race

The difference between best and worst race is up to 4.4% of DPS and there is no content in the entire game that you'd be blocked from completing because of choosing a bad race.

High Elf
High Elf
Provides Max Magicka and Weapon/Spell Damage. In Trials that's usually stronger than Khajiit's Critical Damage racial, because with 4 supports your team will (usually) provide enough Critical Damage buffs for you to reach the cap regardless
Spell Recharge ~104 lower resource per second, 5% less damage taken while channeling
Syrabane's Boon 2000 Max Magicka
Elemental Talent 258 Weapon & Spell Damage
Dark Elf
Dark Elf
Provides Max Magicka and Weapon/Spell Damage. In Trials that's usually stronger than Khajiit's Critical Damage racial, because with 4 supports your team will (usually) provide enough Critical Damage buffs for you to reach the cap regardless
Dynamic 1910 Max Stamina & Magicka
Resist Flame 4620 Flame Resistance
Ruination 258 Weapon & Spell Damage
Race Simulated Parse Damage Change
High Elf
151.2k DPS
Baseline
Dark Elf
151.0k DPS
-0.1%
Orc
148.9k DPS
-1.5%
Khajiit
148.0k DPS
-2.1%
Breton
146.4k DPS
-3.2%
Wood Elf
145.5k DPS
-3.7%
Argonian
145.5k DPS
-3.8%
Redguard
144.5k DPS
-4.4%
Imperial
144.5k DPS
-4.4%
Nord
144.5k DPS
-4.4%

Mundus

  • Default

    5.53% Critical Chance(9.04% with 7 )
    Use in all content
  • Situational

    2744 Penetration(4489 with 7 )
    An option if you're using Medium Armor and your group isn't providing enough penetration, but a Light Armor set with Mundus is always going to be stronger

Attributes

You should always put all 64 attribute points into Magicka.

Health
0
Stamina
0
Magicka
64
All 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.

  • Default

    Max Health +5,414 Max Magicka +4,938
    Use for most content.
    Cheaper alternative
    Difference Max Health +5,395 −19 Max Magicka +4,936 −2
  • Sustain

    Max Health +3,326 Max Magicka +3,080 Health Recovery +406 Magicka Recovery +338
    Use when you need more sustain.
    Cheaper alternative
    Difference Max Health +3,094 −232 Max Magicka +2,856 −224 Health Recovery — −406 Magicka Recovery +315 −23
  • Full Damage

    Max Magicka +6,048
    Max Magicka only. Use for parsing or content where you can get away without Max Health. adds Magicka Recovery if needed, at the cost of some of the Max Magicka.
Setup Simulated Parse Damage Change
152.2k DPS
+0.8%
151.0k DPS
Baseline
149.0k DPS
-1.3%

Potions

  • Default

    Restore Magicka
    Most of the time you should use Magicka Force potions. You can replace Stinkhorn with Crimson Nirnroot to add Restore Health, but it's mostly useless.
    Craft with: Lady's Smock Stinkhorn Bugloss
  • Situational

    Restore Magicka Restore Stamina
    Use Bi-Stat Power potions if you're unslotting and need another source of .
    Craft with: Blessed Thistle Columbine Corn Flower
  • Situational

    Restore Magicka
    Use Heroism potions if you want to put a different Affix script on your . They give the same effects as the default potion plus 100% uptime on .
    Craft with: Dragon Rheum Fossilized Verminous Bones Lady's Smock
  • Situational

    Restore Magicka Immovability
    If there's an Arcanist running in your group, you're already getting from them, so you don't need it from potions. Magicka Speed potions are the expensive option in that case. gives you Weapon and Spell Damage thanks to on your . They also make you Unstoppable for 10.4 seconds, so CCs won't stop your .
    Craft with: Namira's Rot Dragon Rheum Columbine
  • Situational

    Restore Health Restore Stamina Restore Magicka
    Tri-Stat potions are the cheap option if you don't need from potions, like when there's an Arcanist running in your group. They give you Magicka and Stamina sustain, and the extra Stamina lets you block and dodge roll more.
    Craft with: Columbine Bugloss Mountain Flower
  • Survivability

    Restore Health
    If you want to greatly improve your survivability you can instead use Armor Potions. You'll most likely have to slot , or get more sustain in other ways.
    Craft with: Bugloss Mountain Flower Mudcrab Chitin

Parses

All parses are recorded on the 21 million Target Dummy

Base Setup, Medium Armor
162,988 DPS
Base Setup, Medium Armor
162,988DPS
21mil Iron Atronach Dummy
Patch
Update 51
Armor
6 Medium / 1 Light
Gear Setup
Base Setup (Medium)
Skill Setup
Base
Potion
None
Food
Mundus
Race
Dark Elf
CMX Parse
CMX Setup
Recording

Gameplay

Dreadsail Reef
Trial
Rockgrove
Trial
Unhallowed Grave
Dungeon
Castle Thorn
Dungeon
Dreadsail Reef
Trial Veteran
Rockgrove
Trial Veteran
Unhallowed Grave
Dungeon Veteran Hard Mode
Castle Thorn
Dungeon Veteran Hard Mode
Dreadsail Reef Veteran Log
Patch: Update 51
Rockgrove Veteran Log
Patch: Update 51
Unhallowed Grave Veteran Hard Mode Log
Patch: Update 50
Castle Thorn Veteran Hard Mode Log
Patch: Update 50

FAQ

Yes, it's one of the stronger DPS options in ESO Update 51. The gameplay is similar to Arcanist beams - you channel as your main damage source, and synergizes with it for big ultimate dumps. It has great AoE damage and is much easier to play than most DPS builds, parsing 163k DPS on the trial dummy.

High Elf or Dark Elf. The difference between the best and worst race is only up to 4.6% DPS, so your race won't block you from any content.

and , plus , and on the back bar. With Light Armor you wear Whorl on the body and Slivers on weapons and jewelry, and with Medium Armor they swap. Without trial gear, use and for Light, or and for Medium.

Yes. It's much easier to play than most DPS builds, because most of your damage comes from channeling . If you want an even simpler rotation, check out the One Bar Breath Dragonknight DPS Build.

Yes, you can replace the Dual Wield Daggers with other weapons. Bow will cause the smallest DPS loss (≈2%), then Greatsword and Lightning Staff (≈2-3%), then Inferno Staff (≈5%), and Ice Staff, Restoration Staff and One Handed and Shield (≈7%). You will also have to replace with some situational ability, or with an ability from one of the weapons you swapped to (for example when switching to Greatsword). Replacing the backbar Greatsword is not recommended because of the set which requires a Two Handed weapon.

Builds ESO DPS Builds DPS builds for Veteran Trials, Hard Modes, and 4-man arenas, verified through gameplay and clears. Pure class, subclass, one bar, heavy attack.


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