Heavy Attack Arcanist DPS Build - ESO Guide

• Ulfsild's Contingency (Shock, Class Mastery, Force) - your source of crucial Empower buff, which increases damage done by Heavy Attacks by 70%. Since Ulfsild's Contingency is a Mages Guild skill, it will trigger the Might of the Guild passive, which grants you Empower for 10 seconds. Thanks to the Class Mastery it will generate Crux which you'll need for Tentacular Dread. It also deals decent damage in an AoE and grants you Minor Force buff, increasing your Critical Damage by 10%. Ulfsild's Contingency is delayed until the next skill cast but whenever it's needed you can activate it early by bashing your enemy. If you cast this ability as you're finishing your Heavy Attack, the Empower you gain from it will start working just in time to boost the final tick of that Heavy Attack you just finished
• Camouflaged Hunter - this ability will passively grant you Minor Berserk, which means you won't have to rely on healers for it. It will also grant you 3% Weapon and Spell Damage from the Slayer passive
• Merciless Resolve - an ability that will cause your Light and Heavy Attacks to generate stacks. You can spend 5 stacks to fire a powerful arrow that also heals you if you're in Melee range. It also grants you Major Savagery and Prophecy
• Tentacular Dread - a Crux spender which increases enemies' damage taken from you by 11%
• Banner Bearer (Magic, Cavalier's Charge, Courage) - increases your Magical damage done by 6%, grants Weapon Damage based on your movement speed and grants Minor Courage, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 215
• Soul Harvest - a cheap ultimate that increases target's damage taken from you by 20%. Having it slotted will also cause you to regain 10 Ultimate whenever you deal a final blow against an enemy
• Concealed Weapon - an ability which passively grants you Minor Expedition, which will increase your Weapon Damage thanks to the Cavalier's Charge script on your Banner Bearer. However you're also getting Minor Expedition from Hurricane, so Concealed Weapon is only useful for filling the gaps between Hurricane casts. It's extremely inconsequential, but you won't have enough time for another active ability, so this is the best thing you can slot. Because of that, this is also your flex slot where you should slot situational skills like for example Resolving Vigor, whenever you need them
• Inspired Scholarship - deals additional damage whenever we deal damage with a class skill, up to once every 3 seconds. This damage also generates Crux if we had none. It also passively provides Major Brutality and Sorcery
• Hurricane - an ability which deals ramping up damage around you over 20 seconds. In this setup it's your only class DoT so it's crucial for proccing Inspired Scholarship. It will also be your only source of Minor Expedition whenever you unslot Concealed Weapon, which is a buff you'll need for your Banner Bearer's Cavalier's Charge. Hurricane will also grant you Major Resolve, but normally it should be provided by the tank, so it's only a benefit if you're playing with a bad tank.
• Elemental Blockade - a ground DoT that will constantly re-apply your backbar weapon enchantment. It will also deal increased damage thanks to the Crushing Wall set and proc Off Balance if your supports aren't already doing it
• The Languid Eye - an ultimate which is worth using over Soul Harvest only when you're starting a fight with a lot of Ultimate stored up

• Whenever you need to slot situational skills, replace Concealed Weapon
• Resolving Vigor - a self-heal you'll need for some fights
• Stampede - an alternative for Elemental Blockade if you can rely on your Healers to keep up Lightning Elemental Blockade. Stampede allows you to trigger the Merciless Charge set which provides a decent DPS boost
• Proximity Detonation - extremely good ability for trash packs, you can pre-cast it as you're running into them
• Elemental Rage - the best ultimate for trash packs
• Banner Bearer (Magic, Cavalier's Charge, Heroism) - a Banner Bearer combination which replaces Courage with Heroism. It can be used if your supports are already providing Minor Courage, and it saves you money because the potions that provide Minor Heroism are expensive.
• Inner Light - alternative for Camouflaged Hunter. The 7% Max Magicka it provides is slightly stronger than the 3% Weapon and Spell Damage provided by Camouflaged Hunter so it's a better passive skill if your supports are already providing Minor Berserk

I don't use a static rotation so 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

If you're tracking the Off Balance debuff, you should cancel your Heavy Attack when there's around 1-2 seconds left on the Off Balance Immunity. This way the next Heavy Attack you start will finish its channel during Off Balance and you'll be able to fit 3 Heavy Attacks during a single Off Balance window

With this many active abilities, you can sometimes benefit from replacing fully charged Heavy Attacks with Medium Attacks (hold Left Mouse Button until first damage tick) whenever there are multiple abilities you need to refresh. You can still maintain all abilities while using only fully charged Heavy Attacks, you'll just have a bit more downtime on them.

The best way to weave backbar abilities into your rotation is by swapping to backbar right after your Heavy Attack finished, casting the ability and then immediately going back to frontbar to start channeling the next Heavy Attack. This is however impossible with high ping

Storm Calling setup

Priority List

• Use Ulfsild's Contingency if your Empower is out or if it's going to run out by the end of the Heavy Attack you're channeling
• Use The Languid Eye if you're starting a fight with a lot of Ultimate stored up
• Use Soul Harvest if it's ready. Ideally right before Off Balance starts, but if it becomes ready just as Off Balance ends it isn't worth waiting for the next one.
• Use Tentacular Dread if you're at 3 Crux and the Tentacular Dread debuff is close to running out or has already ran out
• Use Merciless Resolve if you have at least 5 stacks and Soul Harvest is active. Outside of Soul Harvest you should still cast it when it's at or above 8 stacks, to avoid wasting stacks
• Use Elemental Blockade
• Use Inspired Scholarship
• Use Hurricane
• Use Ulfsild's Contingency as a filler

Pre-buff

These abilities can be pre-cast before entering combat

• Ulfsild's Contingency
• Inspired Scholarship
• Hurricane

Ardent Flame setup

With this many active abilities you have to sometimes weave Medium Attacks (hold Left Mouse Button until first damage tick)

Priority List

• Use Ulfsild's Contingency if your Empower is out or if it's going to run out by the end of the Heavy Attack you're channeling
• Use Standard of Might if you're starting a fight with a lot of Ultimate stored up
• Use Flames of Oblivion if Molten Whip stacks are about to expire
• Use Soul Harvest if it's ready. Ideally right before Off Balance starts, but if it becomes ready just as Off Balance ends it isn't worth waiting for the next one.
• Use Tentacular Dread if you're at 3 Crux and the Tentacular Dread debuff is close to running out or has already ran out
• Use Merciless Resolve if you have at least 5 stacks and Soul Harvest is active. Outside of Soul Harvest you should still cast it when it's at or above 8 stacks, to avoid wasting stacks
• Use Elemental Blockade
• Use Venomous Claw
• Use Inspired Scholarship
• Use Flames of Oblivion
• Use Ulfsild's Contingency as a filler

Pre-buff

These abilities can be pre-cast before entering combat

• Ulfsild's Contingency
• Inspired Scholarship
• Flames of Oblivion