Last updated: Update 49 on PTS - 17th February 2026
Tooltips of new abilities and passives will be wrong until 9th of March, which is when Update 49 launches
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.
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: Engulfing Dragonfire | Slot 1: Shatterspike Mantle |
| Slot 2: Trample | Slot 2: Incinerate |
| Slot 3: Molten Whip | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Ulfsild's Contingency | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Barbed Trap | Slot 5: Igneous Weapons |
| Ultimate: Take Flight | Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker |
Ulfsild's Contingency is the first skill that has to go if you need to slot something situational, unless the situational skill specifically says it's replacing something else. If it's a difficult fight where you need all the mitigation you can get, then the skill that has to go is
Barbed Trap. When replacing
Barbed Trap you ideally also want to replace
Deadly Strike with
Tzogvin, but even without that set replacing
Barbed Trap is the right call
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
This rotation is for maximizing damage. In actual content you'll sometimes have different priorities. When under pressure you should always keep up defensive abilities like
Shatterspike Mantle and
Ulfsild's Contingency, even if it means wasting
Take Flight's buff
After casting
Take Flight you ideally want to spend the next 15 seconds spamming
Engulfing Dragonfire. If one of your very important buffs/debuffs (
Elemental Susceptibility and
Igneous Weapons) has less than 15 seconds remaining as you're about to
Take Flight, refresh them early before casting your Ultimate
If you're not using Heroism potions you ideally want to also cast another
Trample right before casting
Take Flight, so that you end up with higher Ultimate after the 15-second phase of breathing fire ends
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 trash packs
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Engulfing Dragonfire | Slot 1: Shatterspike Mantle |
| Slot 2: Trample | Slot 2: Incinerate |
| Slot 3: Molten Whip | Slot 3: Razor Caltrops |
| Slot 4: Chains of Dominance | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Soul Burst | Slot 5: Channeled Acceleration |
| Ultimate: Take Flight | Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker |
The only passive you specifically have to skip is
Tri Focus, but it's only important when using an Ice Staff
Some trees are only needed when using situational skills, for example Psijic Order provides nothing without
Precognition or
Race Against Time
Class - Ardent Flame
Combustion - High Priority
Traumatic Burns - High Priority
Fan the Flames - High Priority
A Soul Ablaze - High Priority
Base Setup
A base setup that is meant for Overland content and will work for most situations. It 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
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Head |
Light | |||
![]() Shoulders |
Light | |||
![]() Chest |
Medium | |||
![]() Hands |
Light | |||
![]() Belt |
Light | |||
![]() Legs |
Medium | |||
![]() Boots |
Light | |||
![]() Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
![]() Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
![]() Backbar Main Hand |
Inferno Staff |
Gear that can be stronger than the setup from the table in specific situations or when specific circumstances are present
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
Only listing a single alternative because one of the sets from Base Setup,
Tide-Born Wildstalker, is also a crafted set
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 |
Light | |||
![]() Shoulders |
Light | |||
![]() Chest |
Medium | |||
![]() Hands |
Light | |||
![]() Belt |
Light | |||
![]() Legs |
Medium | |||
![]() Boots |
Light | |||
![]() Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
![]() Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
![]() Backbar Main Hand |
Inferno Staff |
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
This is a setup you should in Instanced content (Arenas and Dungeons). Enemies in instanced content have 18,200 armor, while Overland enemies have only 9,100, so this setup will need much more penetration.
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Head |
Light | |||
![]() Shoulders |
Light | |||
![]() Chest |
Medium | |||
![]() Hands |
Light | |||
![]() Belt |
Light | |||
![]() Legs |
Light | |||
![]() Boots |
Light | |||
![]() Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
![]() Frontbar Off Hand |
Mace | |||
![]() Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
Warfare
Fitness
When it comes to solo PvE, you need both damage and survivability so pretty much all races have useful racials.
The best race for dealing damage is Khajiit. While the Critical Damage from
Feline Ambush can sometimes be wasted due to Critical Damage being capped at 125%, it will never happen in solo content, because there will be no tanks or healers providing you with the Major Force buff.
The best race for survivability is Nord. The
Rugged racial will provide around 6% damage mitigation.
HEALTH
0
STAMINA
0
MAGICKA
64
For most content you should put all 64 points into Magicka. 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 Magicka, for the extremely difficult stuff you’ll need 64 Health.
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 recoveries if you can't sustain
Heroism potions (Heroism, Restore Stamina, Restore Magicka) can provide 100% uptime on Minor Heroism, increasing your
Take Flight uptime so they're the best potions for this build, but they're extremely expensive because they're crafted by combining
Dragon Rheum,
Dragon's Blood and
Columbine.
Tri-Stat potions (Restore Health, Restore Stamina, Restore Magicka) are a much cheaper alternative to Heroism potions, which don't provide the Minor Heroism but still provide the sustain buffs. You can craft them by combining
Columbine,
Bugloss and
Mountain's Flower.
In more difficult fights you should use Armor potions. In order to sustain them you'll have to switch your food to
Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch or
Jewels of Misrule. You can craft them by combining
Bugloss,
Mountain's Flower and
Mudcrab Chitin.
Spell Power potions (Increase Spell Power, Spell Critical, Restore Magicka) are the potions you should use if you switch to the Trash skill setup, since they allow you to drop
Igneous Weapons. You can craft them by combining
Lady's Smock,
Namira's Rot and
Corn Flower.
65.8k on the 6mil dummy using Regular setup
Recording of the 65.8k parse
Tanky Skill Setup and Tzogvin - 61.2k DPS
Here you can see this build tackling Veteran dungeons and other content
Solo Veteran Hard Mode Falkreath Hold
Log - https://www.esologs.com/reports/ad2w7PbMxfqnvzRX?fight=14
Solo The Prime Cataloger World Boss
Log - https://www.esologs.com/reports/rPBxgJqTw8WXbGa7?fight=last
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