ESO Status Effects Guide
Status effects in ESO are additional damage procs triggered by the type of damage you deal. They also apply important buffs and debuffs like Minor Breach, Minor Vulnerability, and Minor Brittle. Understanding how they work, including proc chances, damage type interactions, and how traits like Charged multiply them, helps you make better gear and skill decisions across every build.
Overview
There are 9 damage types in ESO but Oblivion doesn't have a status effect, so that leaves 8. They split into two categories: Martial (Physical, Poison, Disease, Bleed) and Magical (Magic, Flame, Frost, Shock).
Most damage can proc status effects, but Light Attacks, Heavy Attacks, and status effects themselves can't (werewolves are the exception). All status effect buffs and debuffs last 4 seconds, which lines up with the cooldown of damaging weapon enchants, the source with the highest proc chance at 20%.
| Damage Source | Base Chance | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon Enchants | 20% | Glyph of Flame |
| Single Target Direct Damage | 10% | Uppercut |
| AoE Direct Damage | 5% | Brawler |
| Single Target DoT (per tick) | 3% | Degeneration |
| AoE DoT (per tick, ground DoTs tick every 1s) | 1% | Razor Caltrops |
| Light Attacks, Heavy Attacks, Status Effects | 0% |
You can check these values in-game by searching "status effects" in the Help tab.
Proc Calculator & Modifiers
Toggle your active modifiers to see the final proc chance. All modifiers are additive.
Damage
Assassin's Misery
Focused EffortsMartial Effects
Sundered
Sundered is the Physical damage status effect, and it applies Minor Breach, a very important debuff that you'll need to fully penetrate your enemies' armor. Of course Sundered isn't its only source, tanks usually provide it with Pierce Armor or Elemental Blockade , but it can also be applied by Deep Fissure and Fatewoven Armor . There are also 5-piece item sets that apply it, but they're not worth using because this debuff has so many other more convenient sources.
In some builds Damage Dealers will want to constantly proc Sundered, through the use of Absorb Stamina enchant or other physical damage, to keep up the 100 Weapon and Spell Damage buff. This in turn will also keep up the Minor Breach debuff in single target fights, so with DDs running certain builds tanks don't have to pay attention to that anymore.
- Power of the Light
- Biting Jabs
- Focused Aim
- Surprise Attack
- Rip and Tear
- Tarnished Nightmare
- Aetheric Lancer
- Tools of the Trapmaster
Poisoned
Poisoned is the Poison damage status effect, and it works like an execute. It starts outdamaging Burning, the highest damage status effect, once the target drops below 50% HP.
- Lethal Arrow
- Noxious Boulder
- Poisonous Serpent
Diseased
Diseased is the Disease damage status effect. It applies Minor Defile and explodes in a small AoE around the target every few seconds.
- Blighted Blastbones
- Pestilent Colossus
- Corpseburster
- Thurvokun
- Affliction
- Plaguebreak
Hemorrhaging
Hemorrhaging is the Bleed damage status effect, and it stacks. At 2 stacks it roughly matches Burning's damage, and at 3 stacks it overtakes it.
- Barbed Trap
- Werewolf Berserker
- Wild Guardian
- Eviscerate
- Pounce
- Bloody Gnash
- Lacerate
- Rending Slashes
- Ruinous Scythe
- Unleashed Terror
Magical Effects
Overcharged
Overcharged is the Magic damage status effect, and it applies Minor Magickasteal. The same debuff can also be applied by the Elemental Drain ability but it's rarely being used, because Magic damage type is very common so most of the time the debuff will be kept up by random Overcharged procs, not to mention that Elemental Drain's other morph - Elemental Susceptibility , is way stronger.
- Debilitate
Burning
Burning is the Flame damage status effect and the most straightforward one. It simply deals damage and that's it.
- Searing Strike
- Disintegrating Dragonfire
- Elemental Susceptibility
- Fan the Flames
- Combustion
- Chains of Flame
- Elemental Weapon
- Incinerate
- Spell Attunement
- Wall of Elements
- Elemental Ring
- Elf Bane (extends duration)
- Burning Spellweave
- Cinders of Anthelmir
- Explosive Rebuke
- Flame Blossom
- Zaan
- Concentrated Force
Chilled
Chilled is the Frost damage status effect. It applies Minor Maim, and if you proc it while on your Ice Staff bar it also applies Minor Brittle.
- Glacial Presence
- Tundra's Maw
- Impaling Shards
- Arctic Blast
- Permafrost
- Elemental Susceptibility
- Elemental Weapon
- Spell Attunement
- Wall of Elements
- Ghostly Embrace
- Frozen Watcher
- Frostbite
- Hrothgar's Chill
- Concentrated Force
Concussion
Concussion is the Shock damage status effect. When combined with Lightning Elemental Blockade , it also procs the Off Balance debuff. Off Balance increases enemies' damage taken from Heavy Attacks by 70% and doubles the amount of resources restored by Heavy Attacks against them, and it also lets your group benefit from the Exploiter Champion Point.
- Summon Charged Atronach
- Elemental Susceptibility
- Elemental Weapon
- Spell Attunement
- Wall of Elements
- Concentrated Force
- Livewire
Status Effect Gear
Item sets that interact with status effects but couldn't be categorized under a specific one.
| Set | Effect |
|---|---|
| Threads of War | Light and Heavy Attacks are guaranteed to proc status effects. |
| Spattering Disjunction | Arcanist only. Increases status effect damage by 40% while worn. Applies two random status effects when you deal damage with an Arcanist ability and generates a Crux when it activates. |
| Serpent's Disdain | Extends status effect debuff duration. Extremely common bait set in Infinite Archive builds which isn't actually worth using. |
| Baron Zaudrus | Generates Ultimate when you apply status effects. |
| Caluurion's Legacy | Critical Light or Heavy Attacks launch a projectile that deals random elemental or disease damage and applies the matching status effect. |
| Xanmeer Spellweaver | Increases status effect damage. Only boosts elemental status effects. |
| Symmetry of the Weald | +200% Status Effect Chance while above 50% Health. |
| Glacial Guardian | Blocking tethers your attacker, dealing Frost Damage and increasing your Status Effect Chance against them by 200%. |
| Shattered Paths Signet | Boosts status effect damage based on your current Ultimate. At 170+ Ultimate, Light and Heavy Attacks also apply random status effects. Drains 1 Ultimate every 1.5s while in combat. The status effect damage bonus is reduced while Feral Guardian or its morphs are active. |
FAQ
They deal extra damage based on the damage type that triggered them, and most of them also apply useful buffs or debuffs. For example, Concussion applies Minor Vulnerability and Sundered applies Minor Breach.
Status effect damage scales off the higher of your Max Stamina or Magicka and the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage. You can also directly boost it with the Focused Efforts vision in Infinite Archive, the Spattering Disjunction, Shattered Paths Signet, and Xanmeer Spellweaver sets, and class passives like Fan the Flames, Glacial Presence, and Psychic Lesion.
Charged is best in slot on most builds. It massively increases status effect proc chance, which means more damage and better uptime on important debuffs like Minor Breach and Minor Vulnerability.
Proc the Chilled status effect while on your Ice Staff bar. Any Frost damage has a chance to apply Chilled, and the Charged trait, Elemental Force passive, and Glacial Presence passive all increase that chance.
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