Bow Solo Build - ESO Guide
This build is capable of soloing every Veteran dungeon that doesn't have a specific mechanic that requires multiple people. It's also capable of soloing most Hard Mode dungeons, and with some adjustments even the more difficult ones.
In this guide I'll be regularly using the terms Regular and Difficult. Regular refers to content that is intended to be solo-ed (such as Maelstrom Arena or Vateshran Arena) and to any overland content such as World Bosses, Dolmens, Dragons, Volcanic Vents, Harrowstorms, Mirrormoor Incursions, etc. Majority of dungeon fights will also fall under that category. Difficult refers to extremely difficult dungeon fights.
Subclassing
Combination
This build uses Nightblade's Assassination, Warden's Animal Companions and Sorcerer's Storm Calling skill lines. Your base class does not matter.
Assassination provides a lot of Critical Chance and Critical Damage with its passives and grants us access to extremely strong skills like Merciless Resolve and Soul Harvest
Animal Companions skill line is crucial because in this Bow build we do not have access to Elemental Susceptibility and Elemental Blockade so we need a different source of Major Breach and Minor Breach, and that source will be the Deep Fissure skill from Animal Companions skill line. It also grants us access to Bull Netch which grants a damage boost, sustain and purges debuffs.
Storm Calling is a skill line with decent passives that's also going to give us access to the Major Resolve buff through the Hurricane skill.
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: Focused Aim | Slot 1: Hurricane |
| Slot 2: Deep Fissure | Slot 2: Poison Injection |
| Slot 3: Merciless Resolve | Slot 3: Bull Netch |
| Slot 4: Killer's Blade | Slot 4: Endless Hail |
| Slot 5: Bird of Prey | Slot 5: Barbed Trap |
| Ultimate: Soul Harvest | Ultimate: Shooting Star |
- Focused Aim - a ranged spammable with massive range that applies Sundered status effect
- Deep Fissure - deals a lot of damage per cast, provides around 9,000 penetration by debuffing enemies with both Major and Minor Breach and provides 5% Critical Damage through the Advanced Species passive
- Merciless Resolve - an ability that will cause your Light 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
- Killer's Blade - an execute you should switch to when your enemy is below 30% Max Health
- Bird of Prey - passively provides Minor Berserk which increases your damage done by 5%. It also provides 5% Critical Damage through the Advanced Species passive and it can be used for a movement speed burst and snare removal
- Soul Harvest - a cheap ultimate that increases target's damage taken from you by 20%. This is the ultimate you should use in Single Target fights. Having it slotted will also cause you to regain 10 Ultimate whenever you deal a final blow against an enemy
- Hurricane - a skill that deals a lot of damage per cast and grants you Major Resolve buff increasing your armor by 5948
- Poison Injection - a strong DoT which deals increased damage against low health enemies
- Bull Netch - provides a lot of Stamina sustain, a 5% damage boost, constantly purges debuffs and provides 5% Critical Damage through the Advanced Species passive
- Endless Hail - a ground DoT which will apply your Weapon Damage enchantment
- 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%
- Shooting Star - an ultimate that deals damage in an AoE, leaves a ground DoT and grants you Ultimate for each enemy hit with the initial blast, up to 6 enemies. Use it in AoE fights or when you start fights with high amount of Ultimate stored up
Poison Injection is the first skill that has to go when you need to slot something situational, unless the situational skill specifically says that it's replacing something else. If it has to be a frontbarred skill then the first skill that has to go is Killer's Blade
- Critical Surge - a very strong self heal. It can also be used as your main source of healing before you obtain the Ring of the Pale Order Mythic
- Resolving Vigor - use it for more difficult fights where the pressure is constant and thus you need the Minor Resolve. It can also be used in fights with invulnerability phases where you can't heal with Ring of the Pale Order , Reaving Blows or Critical Surge
- Soul Burst ( Bleed , Lingering Torment , Courage ) - AoE DoT which grants you Minor Courage, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 215. Use it in fights where you need more AoE damage.
- Silver Leash - a chain ability that you can slot in trash packs to stack enemies and get through them faster
- Ulfsild's Contingency ( Bleed , Gladiator's Tenacity , Force ) - a replacement for Barbed Trap in fights where you need more damage mitigation. It's a delayed AoE damage that also grants you 8% damage reduction for 8 seconds and Minor Force for 22 seconds, which increases your Critical Damage by 10%. You should recast it every 8 seconds when under pressure and every 22 seconds otherwise
- Revealing Flare - slot it for more difficult fights where you need more damage mitigation. It's a skill that passively grants Major Protection, reducing your damage taken by 10%. It will also trigger the Magicka Aid passive, which increases Magicka Recovery by 10%
- Acid Spray - a decent AoE DoT for when you need more AoE damage
- Precognition - an ultimate that breaks you out of some otherwise unavoidable stuns, you'll need it to get around some mechanics which are otherwise impossible or very difficult to solo, like for example Inferno's Hold in Zaan the Scalecaller fight
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
- 1. Bull Netch
- 2. Deep Fissure
- 3. Endless Hail
- 4. Barbed Trap
- 5. Hurricane
- 6. Poison Injection
- 7. If it's an AoE fight or you're starting at or close to 200 Ultimate, use Shooting Star
- 8. If it's a Single Target fight, use Soul Harvest
- 9. If enemy is below 15% HP, use Killer's Blade
- 10. If you're at 9 stacks and the enemy is above 15% HP, use Merciless Resolve
- 11. If enemy is below 30% HP, use Killer's Blade
- 12. Focused Aim
Pre-buff
These abilities can be pre-cast before entering combat
Final Setups
A few examples of final setups you could end up with after applying the situational skills to the base setup
A setup for dealing with trash packs
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Focused Aim | Slot 1: Hurricane |
| Slot 2: Deep Fissure | Slot 2: Silver Leash |
| Slot 3: Merciless Resolve | Slot 3: Bull Netch |
| Slot 4: Acid Spray | Slot 4: Endless Hail |
| Slot 5: Bird of Prey | Slot 5: Ulfsild's Contingency |
| Ultimate: Soul Harvest | Ultimate: Shooting Star |
What Changes
Changes compared to the Base Setup
- Acid Spray replaces Killer's Blade because it can be used as an AoE spammable
- Ulfsild's Contingency replaces Barbed Trap because it deals damage in an AoE while also providing Minor Force
- Silver Leash replaces Poison Injection because it allows you to stack enemies
A setup with lots of damage mitigation for bosses that hit very hard
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Focused Aim | Slot 1: Hurricane |
| Slot 2: Deep Fissure | Slot 2: Critical Surge |
| Slot 3: Merciless Resolve | Slot 3: Bull Netch |
| Slot 4: Revealing Flare | Slot 4: Endless Hail |
| Slot 5: Bird of Prey | Slot 5: Ulfsild's Contingency |
| Ultimate: Soul Harvest | Ultimate: Shooting Star |
What Changes
Changes compared to the Base Setup
- Revealing Flare replaces Killer's Blade , because it grants 10% damage mitigation
- Ulfsild's Contingency replaces Barbed Trap , because it grants 8% damage mitigation while also providing Minor Force
- Critical Surge replaces Poison Injection because it provides a lot of HPS
A setup I've used when fighting Orzun the Foul-Smelling and Rinaerus the Rancid in the Scalecaller Peak dungeon
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Focused Aim | Slot 1: Hurricane |
| Slot 2: Deep Fissure | Slot 2: Poison Injection |
| Slot 3: Merciless Resolve | Slot 3: Bull Netch |
| Slot 4: Acid Spray | Slot 4: Endless Hail |
| Slot 5: Bird of Prey | Slot 5: Barbed Trap |
| Ultimate: Soul Harvest | Ultimate: Shooting Star |
What Changes
Changes compared to the Base Setup
- Acid Spray replaces Killer's Blade so you can damage both Ogres and Skeevers
A setup I've used when fighting Zaan the Scalecaller in the Scalecaller Peak dungeon
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Focused Aim | Slot 1: Hurricane |
| Slot 2: Deep Fissure | Slot 2: Poison Injection |
| Slot 3: Merciless Resolve | Slot 3: Bull Netch |
| Slot 4: Killer's Blade | Slot 4: Endless Hail |
| Slot 5: Bird of Prey | Slot 5: Barbed Trap |
| Ultimate: Precognition | Ultimate: Soul Harvest |
What Changes
Changes compared to the Base Setup
- Precognition replaces Shooting Star so you can get out of the Inferno's Hold mechanic
A setup I've used when fighting Domihaus the Bloody-Horned in the Falkreath Hold dungeon
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Focused Aim | Slot 1: Hurricane |
| Slot 2: Deep Fissure | Slot 2: Soul Burst |
| Slot 3: Merciless Resolve | Slot 3: Bull Netch |
| Slot 4: Acid Spray | Slot 4: Endless Hail |
| Slot 5: Bird of Prey | Slot 5: Barbed Trap |
| Ultimate: Soul Harvest | Ultimate: Shooting Star |
What Changes
Changes compared to the Base Setup
- Acid Spray replaces Killer's Blade to help with cleaving down the Atronachs
- Soul Burst replaces Poison Injection to help with cleaving down the Atronachs
Passives
Class - Assassination
Master Assassin - High Priority
Executioner - High Priority
Pressure Points - High Priority
Hemorrhage - High Priority
Class - Animal Companions
Bond with Nature - Low Priority
Savage Beast - Medium Priority
Flourish - High Priority
Advanced Species - High Priority
Class - Storm Calling
Capacitor - High Priority
Energized - High Priority
Amplitude - High Priority
Expert Mage - Medium Priority
Weapon - Bow
Vinedusk Training - High Priority
Accuracy - High Priority
Ranged - High Priority
Hawk Eye - High Priority
Hasty Retreat - Low Priority
Armor - Light Armor
Grace - Low Priority
Evocation - Low Priority
Spell Warding - Low Priority
Prodigy - High Priority
Concentration - High Priority
Armor - Medium Armor
Dexterity - High Priority
Wind Walker - Low Priority
Improved Sneak - Not needed
Agility - High Priority
Athletics - Low Priority
Armor - Heavy Armor
Resolve - Medium Priority
Constitution - Low Priority
Juggernaut - Medium Priority
Revitalize - Low Priority
Rapid Mending - Low Priority
Guild - Fighters Guild
Intimidating Presence - Medium Priority
Slayer - High Priority
Banish the Wicked - Medium Priority
Skilled Tracker - Medium Priority
Bounty Hunter - Not needed
Guild - Mages Guild
Persuasive Will - Not needed
Mage Adept - Low Priority
Everlasting Magic - Medium Priority
Magicka Controller - Low Priority
Might of the Guild - Low Priority
Guild - Psijic Order
Clairvoyance - Low Priority
Spell Orb - Not needed
Concentrated Barrier - Low Priority
Deliberation - Not needed
Alliance War - Support
Magicka Aid - Medium Priority
Combat Medic - Not needed
Battle Resurrection - Not needed
Race - Your Race
Get all of your racials, no matter which race you are
Craft - Alchemy
Solvent Proficiency - Not needed
Keen Eye: Reagents - Not needed
Medicinal Use - High Priority
Chemistry - Not needed
Laboratory Use - Not needed
Snakeblood - Not needed
Gear
Base Setup
A base setup that will work for most situations and which should be your starting point when making situational setups
Switching gear for trash packs isn't worth it unless you're using gear-swap addons
Default setup
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Slimecraw | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Shoulders |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Chest |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Hands |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Belt |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Light | Divines | Stamina |
Legs |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Boots |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Necklace |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Ring |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Ring |
Ring of the Pale Order | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Frontbar Main Hand |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Bow | Precise | Shock |
Backbar Main Hand |
Thunderous Volley | Bow | Infused | Weapon Damage |
If you want to switch to a situational set it's best to replace Ansuul's Torment if the situational set you're getting has a Minor Slayer line, and replace Tide-Born Wildstalker otherwise. When replacing Tide-Born Wildstalker with a Medium armor set, change your Slimecraw head-piece to Light armor type.
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
- Sul-Xan's Torment - the best set for trash packs and for bosses that regularly spawn smaller adds
- Order's Wrath - better than Ansuul's Torment in Overland content where you don't benefit from the Minor Slayer and penetration bonus lines
- Vestments of Olorime - provides 430 Weapon and Spell Damage, 5% damage reduction from Minor Aegis and can be back-barred without losing anything, allowing for much more flexibility with gear. It's the ideal set for more difficult fights
- Roksa the Warped - a monster set which provides a lot of sustain. You'll only have space for it when back-barring Vestments of Olorime
- Armor of the Trainee - 1 piece bonus of this set provides 1454 max health. It also comes in any weight so we can use it on the chest piece, which combined with the Reinforced trait will provide a lot of armor
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
No Overland, Dungeon or Trial gear is listed as the Crafted options are superior.
Final Setups
A few examples of final setups you could end up with after applying situational rules to the base setup
This is the crafted gear setup you can start with
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Medium | Training / Divines | Stamina |
Shoulders |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Medium | Training / Divines | Stamina |
Chest |
Order's Wrath | Heavy / Medium | Training / Reinforced | Stamina |
Hands |
Order's Wrath | Medium | Training / Divines | Stamina |
Belt |
Order's Wrath | Light | Training / Divines | Stamina |
Legs |
Order's Wrath | Medium | Training / Divines | Stamina |
Boots |
Order's Wrath | Medium | Training / Divines | Stamina |
Necklace |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Ring |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Ring |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Frontbar Main Hand |
Assassin's Guile | Bow | Precise | Shock |
Backbar Main Hand |
Assassin's Guile | Bow | Infused | Weapon Damage |
The weight distribution of the setup from the table is 1 Heavy 5 Medium 1 Light so that you can start leveling up all your armor skill lines. Once you transition to Regular setup you'll be using 6 Medium 1 Light most of the time, switching to 1 Heavy 5 Medium 1 Light only against more difficult fights
The setup in the table uses only crafted gear, but if you already own parts of the Regular setup like Ring of the Pale Order you can start using them immediately
If you want to Solo some difficult content without Ring of the Pale Order you'll have to switch to Critical Surge or add Reaving Blows to your CP setup
This is a setup you should use if you have no access to any Trial gear
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Slimecraw | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Shoulders |
Order's Wrath | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Chest |
Order's Wrath | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Hands |
Order's Wrath | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Belt |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Light | Divines | Stamina |
Legs |
Order's Wrath | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Boots |
Order's Wrath | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Necklace |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Ring |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Ring |
Ring of the Pale Order | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Frontbar Main Hand |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Bow | Precise | Shock |
Backbar Main Hand |
Thunderous Volley | Bow | Infused | Weapon Damage |
This is the ideal setup for trash packs
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Slimecraw | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Shoulders |
Sul-Xan's Torment | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Chest |
Sul-Xan's Torment | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Hands |
Sul-Xan's Torment | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Belt |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Light | Divines | Stamina |
Legs |
Sul-Xan's Torment | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Boots |
Sul-Xan's Torment | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Necklace |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Ring |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Ring |
Ring of the Pale Order | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Frontbar Main Hand |
Tide-Born Wildstalker | Bow | Precise | Shock |
Backbar Main Hand |
Thunderous Volley | Bow | Infused | Weapon Damage |
This is my suggested setup for soloing extremely difficult fights in dungeons.
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Roksa the Warped | Medium | Divines / Well-Fitted | Stamina |
Shoulders |
Roksa the Warped | Medium | Divines / Well-Fitted | Stamina |
Chest |
Armor of the Trainee | Heavy | Reinforced | Stamina |
Hands |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines / Well-Fitted | Stamina |
Belt |
Vestment of Olorime | Light | Divines / Well-Fitted | Stamina |
Legs |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines / Well-Fitted | Stamina |
Boots |
Ansuul's Torment | Medium | Divines / Well-Fitted | Stamina |
Necklace |
Vestment of Olorime | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Ring |
Vestment of Olorime | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Ring |
Ring of the Pale Order | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Increase Physical Harm |
Frontbar Main Hand |
Ansuul's Torment | Bow | Precise | Shock |
Backbar Main Hand |
Vestment of Olorime | Bow | Infused | Weapon Damage |
What Changes
Changes compared to the Base Setup
- Ansuul's Torment is now front-barred instead of being fully on body
- Tide-Born Wildstalker and Thunderous Volley get replaced by back-barred Vestments of Olorime
- This creates space for adding a Monster Set - Roksa the Warped , and 1 piece Armor of the Trainee on your chest slot, with Heavy armor weight and Reinforced trait
- You can change some (or all) of the Stamina enchants to Health ones for extremely hard hitting bosses
Champion Points
Race
For solo PvE you need both damage and survivability, so every race brings something to the table, but these two stand out as the best options for damage and survivability respectively
Mundus
Attributes
For most content you should put all 64 points into Stamina. For difficult content you should devote as many attribute points as necessary to Health - for some content you'll be able to get away with 32 Health 32 Stamina, for the extremely difficult stuff you'll need 64 Health.
Food
Your sustain can vary greatly because it's impacted by your armor weight composition, your race and how much blocking/dodge rolling you're required to do in a certain fight. Choose the food with more Stamina Recovery if you can't sustain
Potions
Most of the time you should use Tri-Stat potions (Restore Health, Restore Stamina, Restore Magicka). They'll greatly improve your sustain.
There are better potions but they're expensive. Heroism potions (Heroism, Restore Stamina, Restore Magicka) can provide a 100% uptime on Minor Heroism buff which generates ultimate, but they're extremely expensive.
Parses
All parses are recorded on the 6 million Target Dummy
Gameplay
FAQ
No, you don't need a different setup. Use the base skills and the Regular gear setup from this guide for both Maelstrom Arena and Vateshran Hollows.
THANKS FOR READING
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Head
Shoulders
Chest
Hands
Belt
Legs
Boots
Necklace
Ring
Frontbar Main Hand