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One Bar Stamina Dragonknight DPS Build - ESO Guide

DPS One Bar Stamina Pure Class Dragonknight
Up to date for: Update 44 - 5th March 2025
Last changed: Update 44 - 5th March 2025

This build focuses on using Lethal Arrow which is extremely powerful on a Dragonknight because of the World in Ruin and Combustion passives, one of which straight up boosts Lethal Arrow's damage by 5% and the other one boosts the damage of the Poisoned status effect which Lethal Arrow is guaranteed to apply by 40%.

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Skill Setups

Base Setup

A base setup that will work for most situations and which should be your starting point when making situational setups

A skill setup that combines Single Target and AoE capabilities. It won't be perfect for any fight, but it's what you should use if you don't want to ever swap your skills

Lethal Arrow Acid Spray Eruption Engulfing Flames Flames of Oblivion Standard of Might
Front Bar
Slot 1: Lethal Arrow
Slot 2: Acid Spray
Slot 3: Eruption
Slot 4: Engulfing Flames
Slot 5: Flames of Oblivion
Ultimate: Standard of Might
  • Lethal Arrow - an extremely powerful spammable that synergizes extremely well with Dragonknight's passives because it deals increased damage thanks to the World in Ruin passive and the Poisoned status effect it applies deals increased damage thanks to the Combustion passive
  • Acid Spray - a decent AoE DoT that becomes your spammable when you need to damage multiple enemies
  • Eruption - a ground DoT that also deals direct damage at the beginning, up to once every 10 seconds. It's crucial for proccing the Mountain’s Blessing passive which will grant you and your group the unique Minor Brutality buff, increasing everyone's Weapon Damage by 10%
  • Engulfing Flames - a decent DoT that's going to increase enemies' Flame damage taken by 6%
  • Flames of Oblivion - an ability that deals lots of damage per cast
  • Standard of Might - extremely powerful ultimate that deals damage over time, increases all of your damage done and decreases all of your damage taken
  • Resolving Vigor - a self-heal you'll need for some fights depending on mechanics you're assigned to deal with (for example if you're assigned to Reef Hearts in Reef Guardian fight). Replace Engulfing Flames with it

Final Setups

A few examples of final setups you could end up with after applying the situational skills to the base setup

AoE focused skill setup for dealing with trash packs

Acid Spray Burning Talons Eruption Engulfing Flames Flames of Oblivion Standard of Might
Front Bar
Slot 1: Acid Spray
Slot 2: Burning Talons
Slot 3: Eruption
Slot 4: Engulfing Flames
Slot 5: Flames of Oblivion
Ultimate: Standard of Might
  • Acid Spray - a decent AoE DoT that's also your spammable
  • Burning Talons - a very strong short AoE DoT that also grants your allies the Ignite synergy
  • Eruption - a ground DoT that also deals direct damage at the beginning, up to once every 10 seconds. It's crucial for proccing the Mountain’s Blessing passive which will grant you and your group the unique Minor Brutality buff, increasing everyone's Weapon Damage by 10%
  • Engulfing Flames - a decent DoT that's going to increase enemies' Flame damage taken by 6%
  • Flames of Oblivion - an ability that deals lots of damage per cast
  • Standard of Might - extremely powerful ultimate that deals damage over time, increases all of your damage done and decreases all of your damage taken

Passives

There are no passives you need to skip with this build, you should get all of them.

Gear

Base Setup

A base setup that will work for most situations and which should be your starting point when making situational setups

Default setup for dungeons and trials

When choosing different sets, at least one of your sets has to be Medium weight. When choosing a Light set, use it on Weapon, Jewelry and the Shoulder or Head piece, so you end up with 6 Medium/1 Light combination. Keep in mind that Crafted sets and Monster sets come in all weights

For example, a default setup for trash packs would replace Arms of Relequen with Sul-Xan's Torment

How to choose which set to replace:

  • Arms of Relequen - extremely powerful but Single Target focused, so you won't want to use it in AoE fights. It's also less optimal in Single Target fights where you constantly have to switch targets, which means you can't keep up Relequen stacks
  • Ansuul’s Torment - less powerful than Relequen, but extremely reliable. There is no fight in the game that invalidates Ansuul. It can also gain slight edge in fights where you can interrupt your enemies

Gear that can be stronger than the setup from the table in specific situations or when specific circumstances are present

  • 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
  • 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 trial groups. Using Alkosh in dungeons will also allow you to keep using The Thief Mundus even if your tank doesn't use any penetration sets

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

Dungeons:

Final Setups

A few examples of final setups you could end up with after applying situational rules to the base setup

Setup for parsing on the practice dummy

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Champion Points

WarfareWarfare
Master-at-Arms
6% Direct Damage
Deadly Aim
6% Single Target Damage
Fighting Finesse
8% Critical Damage and Healing
Wrathful Strikes
205 Weapon and Spell Damage
AoE Fights
Replace Deadly Aim with Biting Aura in AoE fights.
Adds
In fights with lots of adds Siphoning Spells and Bloody Renewal can be stronger than Rejuvenation and Sustained by Suffering.
FitnessFitness
Boundless Vitality
1400 Max Health
Sustained by Suffering
150 Health, Stamina and Magicka Recovery when debuffed
Rejuvenation
90 Health, Stamina and Magicka Recovery
Fortified
1731 Armor
CraftCraft
Steed's Blessing
20% Movement Speed out of combat
Extremely useful utility
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 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.

Dark Elf
Best for 12-Man
Dark Elf
Why pick this
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 Dynamic 1910 Max Stamina & Magicka
Resist Flame Resist Flame 4620 Flame Resistance
Ruination Ruination 258 Weapon & Spell Damage
Khajiit
Best for 4-Man
Khajiit
Why pick this
Khajiit's Critical Damage is more valuable than Dark Elf's Weapon/Spell Damage in 4-man content, because it's unlikely your two supports (or in many cases a single support) will be able to provide enough Critical Damage buffs for you to reach the 125% Critical Damage cap
Feline Ambush Feline Ambush 12% Critical Damage
Lunar Blessings Lunar Blessings 915 Max Health, Stamina and Magicka
Robustness Robustness 90 Health, Stamina, Magicka Recovery

Other decent options

Orc
Orc
Brawny Brawny 1000 Max Stamina
Unflinching Rage Unflinching Rage 1000 Max Health, ≈531 Healing per Second
Swift Warrior Swift Warrior 258 Weapon & Spell Damage, -12% Sprint Cost, +10% Sprint Speed
High Elf
High Elf
Spell Recharge Spell Recharge ≈104 lower resource per second, 5% less damage taken while channeling
Syrabane's Boon Syrabane's Boon 2000 Max Magicka
Elemental Talent Elemental Talent 258 Weapon & Spell Damage
Wood Elf
Wood Elf
Hunter's Eye Hunter's Eye 950 Penetration, 5% Movement Speed
Y'ffre's Endurance Y'ffre's Endurance 258 Stamina Recovery
Resist Affliction Resist Affliction 2000 Max Stamina, 2310 Poison and Disease Resistance
Imperial
Imperial
Tough Tough 2000 Max Health
Imperial Mettle Imperial Mettle 2000 Max Stamina
Red Diamond Red Diamond Reduce cost of all abilities by 6%
Redguard
Redguard
Martial Training Martial Training 8% Reduced Weapon Skill Cost, 15% Reduced effectiveness of snares
Conditioning Conditioning 2000 Max Stamina
Adrenaline Rush Adrenaline Rush 201 Stamina per second

Mundus

The Thief
Default
The Thief
5.53% Critical Chance (9.04% with 7 Divines)
When to use
Use most of the time
The Lover
Instanced
The Lover
2744 Penetration (4489 with Divines)
When to use
Use in 4-man dungeons if your group is not providing enough penetration
The Warrior
Parse
The Warrior
238 Weapon and Spell Damage (389 with Divines)
When to use
Use for dummy parsing when Highland Sentinel already gives enough Critical Chance

Attributes

You should always put all 64 attribute points into Stamina.

Health
0
Stamina
64
Magicka
0
All points into Stamina

Food

Max HealthMax Stamina
Use for most content.
Max HealthMax StaminaStamina Recovery
Use when you need more sustain. Dubious Camoran Throne is a cheaper alternative.
Max Stamina
Max Stamina only. Use for parsing or content where you can get away without Max Health.
Max StaminaStamina Recovery
Use when you need Stamina Recovery without Max Health.

Potions

Tri-Stat Potion
Default Tri-Stat Potion
Restore HealthRestore StaminaRestore Magicka

Most of the time you should use Tri-Stat potions for the extra resources and healing.

Weapon Power Potion
Default Weapon Power Potion
Restore StaminaMajor BrutalityWeapon Critical

Use the Weapon Power potions. They'll improve your Stamina sustain and provide Major Brutality.

Parses

Parse
109k DPS
One Bar Stamina Dragonknight Parse
109kDPS
Patch
Update 44
Armor
6 Medium / 1 Light
Gear Setup
Parse
Skill Setup
Parse
Potion
Weapon Power Potion
Mundus
The Warrior
Race
None
Combat Metrics screenshot of the 109k parse.
CMX Parse
One Bar Stamina Dragonknight 109k CMX parse
CMX Setup
One Bar Stamina Dragonknight 109k CMX setup
109k Parse Recording
Parse recording


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