HEAVY ATTACK WARDEN PVE DPS BUILD
Last updated: Update 45 - 24th April 2025
This build focuses on amplifying Heavy Attacks with the Sergeants Mail item set and the Empower buff, sourced from the Might of the Guild passive, procced by constantly using Ulfsild's Contingency. Warden is the perfect class for that because of passives like Piercing Cold which straight up boosts all damage done by 8% and Glacial Presence which buffs the Chilled status effect, which makes long duration skills like Elemental Susceptibility worth it, which gives us more time to channel Heavy Attacks.
SKILL SETUPS
This is the regular skill setup
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Ulfsild's Contingency | Slot 1: Bull Netch |
| Slot 2: Deep Fissure | Slot 2: Arctic Blast |
| Slot 3: Barbed Trap | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Inner Light | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Banner Bearer | Slot 5: Banner Bearer |
| Ultimate: Wild Guardian | Ultimate: Wild Guardian |
- Ulfsild's Contingency - Frost, Lingering Torment, Force. Use Scalding Rune instead if you don't have access to Scribing
- Banner Bearer - Magic, Cavalier's Charge, Berserk. You can change Berserk to Heroism if you can rely on your Healer to provide the Minor Berserk buff. Use Camouflaged Hunter on frontbar and Winter’s Revenge on backbar instead if you don't have access to Scribing
- Ulfsild's Contingency - 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. 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
- Deep Fissure - deals a lot of damage per cast and provides 4% Critical Damage through the Advanced Species passive
- Barbed Trap - a DoT that will also apply Hemorrhage status effect at the start and grant you Minor Force buff, increasing your Critical Damage by 10%. It will also trigger the Slayer passive
- Inner Light - passively provides 7% Max Magicka - 5% from the skill itself and 2% from the Magicka Controller passive
- Banner Bearer - increases your Magical damage done by 6%, grants 60 Weapon Damage thanks to the Celerity Champion Point and grants Minor Berserk or Minor Heroism, depending on the script you used. It also severely decreases your sustain but it's not an issue on a Heavy Attack build
- Wild Guardian - a free ultimate that has to be double-barred that summons a permanent Bear pet, that deals decent damage to your enemies. While the Bear is summoned, you can activate this ability for 75 Ultimate to command the Bear to maul an enemy. Deals 100% more damage to enemies below 25% Health. It's also going to trigger the Advanced Species passive, increasing our Critical Damage by 4%
- Bull Netch - an ability that grants us a 5% damage buff and automatically cleanses a debuff every 5 seconds. You can recast it early if you need to cleanse an important debuff. The skill's duration is 25 seconds but the 5 second 5% damage done buff refreshes at the end so you only have to recast it every 30 seconds
- Arctic Blast - an ability witha higher chance to proc the Chilled status effect, which deals increased damage thanks tothe Glacial Presence passive
- Elemental Susceptibility - an ability which procs Burning, Concussed and Chilled status effects at the start and every 7.5 seconds for 30 seconds. It will deal a lot of damage per cast thanks to the Glacial Presence passive
- 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
- Whenever you need to slot situational skills, replace Inner Light
- Resolving Vigor - Stamina-costing heal over time which also grants you Minor Resolve which reduces your damage taken. Use it when you need a self-heal
- Living Trellis - Magicka-costing ability that heals you when you take damage and at the end, which means you can spam it to constantly re-proc the direct heal. Use it when you need a self-heal you can spam under pressure. This ability can also target allies which can be either a good or a bad thing depending on the situation
- Winter’s Revenge - replacement for Barbed Trap for trash fights and boss fights which require more AoE damage
Priority List
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
For maximum DPS, it's more optimal to switch from Heavy Attack weaving to Light Attack weaving when you have many DoTs to refresh, though it's not mandatory and you can do massive DPS even while sticking to just Heavy Attacks
- Always start a Heavy Attack roughly a second before Off Balance immunity ends, this way you'll be able to fit 3 Heavy Attacks within an Off Balance window
- 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 Wild Guardian if it's ready
- Use Elemental Blockade
- Use Deep Fissure
- Use Barbed Trap
- Use Bull Netch
- Use Elemental Susceptibility
- Use Arctic Blast
- Use Ulfsild's Contingency
Pre-buff
These abilities can be pre-cast before entering combat
PASSIVES
There are no passives you need to skip with this build
Class
Weapon
Armor
Guild
Alliance War
Racial
Craft
Class - Animal Companions
Bond with Nature - Medium Priority
Savage Beast - Medium Priority
Flourish - Low Priority
Advanced Species - High Priority
GEAR
Default setup for dungeons and trials
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Head |
Anthelmir's Construct | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Shoulders |
Anthelmir's Construct | Light | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Chest |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Hands |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Belt |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Legs |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Boots |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Necklace |
Sergeant's Mail | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
![]() Ring |
Sergeant's Mail | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
![]() Ring |
Sergeant's Mail | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
![]() Frontbar Main Hand |
Sergeant's Mail | Lightning Staff | Charged | Poison |
![]() Backbar Main Hand |
Crushing Wall | Lightning Staff | Infused | Weapon Damage |
When choosing different situational sets you can only replace Ansuul's Torment, Crushing Wall and Anthelmir’s Construct. Sergeant’s Mail is too strong and too crucial for this build to ever be replaced. Ideally you want your 2nd 5-piece set to be Medium weight, but choosing a Light set is also an option in dungeons if none of your group members are providing any penetration
For example, a default setup for trash packs would replace Ansuul's Torment with Sul-Xan’s Torment
Gear that can be stronger than the setup from the table in specific situations or when specific circumstances are present
- Mora’s Whispers - combined with 1 piece of Slimecraw it's an alternative to Anthelmir’s Construct in fights where you can't retrieve the Anthelmir axe
- Domihaus - alternative to Anthelmir’s Construct if you don't have enough lorebooks to make use of Mora’s Whispers
- Sul-Xan’s Torment - the best set for trash packs and for bosses that regularly spawn smaller adds
- Highland Sentinel - the strongest set if you are able to stand still in a certain encounter. Usually when using it you should also change Anthelmir’s Construct to Mora’s Whispers or Domihaus, as Anthelmir’s Construct requires you to stand very close to the boss, which means they'll be pushing you around, which will cause you to lose Highland Sentinel stacks
- Roar of Alkosh - a support set that allows you to provide 6000 penetration for your team, as long as they provide you with at least 1 synergy every 10 seconds. It's extremely beneficial to have at least 1 Alkosh user in groups. If your team isn't providing any penetration your two most efficient options for getting it yourself are Alkosh and the Light Armor Concentration passive, and you'll get better DPS with Alkosh even though it's a support set, because Medium Armor passives are just that good
- Noble Duelist - the best option for dungeons if you can't rely on your team to provide penetration and they're not providing you with synergies, which means you can't use Roar of Alkosh
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
Overland:
All of these are tradable and can be bought from other players
- Mother’s Sorrow (Light) - Deshaan
- Back-Alley Gourmand (Light) - Galen and Y'ffelon
- Dragonguard Elite (Medium) - Southern Elsweyr
PvP:
All of these are tradable and can be bought from other players
- Deadly Strike (Medium) - Bruma Elite Gear Vendor
Dungeons:
- Storm Master (Medium) - Tempest Island
- Undaunted Infiltrator (Medium) - Arx Corinium
- Undaunted Unweaver (Light) - Blackheart Haven
- Tzogvin’s Warband (Medium) - Frostvault
Some additional tips
- If you can rely on your supports to provide Off Balance you can replace backbar Lightning Staff with an Inferno Staff
- For purely Single Target fights with no adds that could accidentally "eat" your backbar enchant proc, you can change Weapon Damage enchant to Frost
Setup for parsing on the practice dummy
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Head |
Anthelmir's Construct | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Shoulders |
Anthelmir's Construct | Light | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Chest |
Highland Sentinel | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Hands |
Highland Sentinel | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Belt |
Highland Sentinel | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Legs |
Highland Sentinel | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Boots |
Highland Sentinel | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
![]() Necklace |
Sergeant's Mail | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
![]() Ring |
Sergeant's Mail | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
![]() Ring |
Sergeant's Mail | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
![]() Frontbar Main Hand |
Sergeant's Mail | Lightning Staff | Charged | Poison |
![]() Backbar Main Hand |
Crushing Wall | Inferno Staff | Infused | Frost |
CHAMPION POINTS
Warfare
- Weapons Expert (20% Light and Heavy Attack Damage)
- Deadly Aim (6% Single Target Damage)
- Master-at-Arms (6% Direct Damage)
- Exploiter (10% Damage against Off Balance enemies)
Fitness
- Boundless Vitality (1400 Max Health)
- Fortified (1731 armor)
- Celerity (10% Movement Speed)
- Rejuvenation (90 Health, Stamina and Magicka Recovery)
ADDITIONAL INFO:
- Replace Deadly Aim with Biting Aura in AoE fights
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.
Best race for 12-man content - High Elf, Dark Elf
Best race for 4-man content - Khajiit
Other decent options: Orc, Breton
MUNDUS
Most of the time you should use The Thief Mundus, which increases your Critical Chance
If your group isn't providing penetration you have to either put on Roar of Alkosh, put on some Light Armor set (like for example Noble Duelist) or switch your Mundus to The Lover.
Roar of Alkosh is the best option as long as you can rely on your teammates to provide synergies, because even though Alkosh is a support set it has really good stat lines and a Minor Slayer line, so youll end up with more DPS with Alkosh and The Thief Mundus, rather than with a Light Armor set, or with a regular Medium DPS set and The Lover Mundus.
ATTRIBUTES
HEALTH
0
STAMINA
0
MAGICKA
64
You should always put all 64 attribute points into Magicka
FOOD
- Artaeum Pickled Fish Bowl - Max Health, Max Magicka. Use it for most of regular content. Solitude Salmon-Millet Soup is a cheaper alternative
- Tomato Garlic Chutney - Max Magicka. Use it for practice dummy parsing
POTIONS
Use the Spell Power potions (Increase Spell Power, Spell Critical, Restore Magicka). They'll provide Major Sorcery and Major Prophecy which are crucial buffs. You can craft them by combining Lady's Smock, Namira's Rot and Corn Flower.
If you need more damage mitigation you can use the Armor potions, though this is only possible if you didn't replace Inner Light with any situational skill. It will be a small DPS decrease as you will no longer have Major Savagery and Prophecy on your backbar. You will also have to refresh Bull Netch every 25 seconds instead of 30, as it will now be your only source of Major Brutality and Sorcery. You can craft them by combining Bugloss, Mountain's Flower and Mudcrab Chitin.
PARSE
Combat Metrics screenshot of the 121k parse
Recording of the 121k parse
OTHER PARSES
Anthelmir's Construct / Ansuul's Torment / Sergeant's Mail - 116.8k DPS
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.










The Thief
The Lover