Be as the landslide. Let nothing stop you.
Improves your passive to increase the potency of your damage done, healing done, and damage shield strength by 1% per stack.
Stamina Dragonknight Solo
Update 51
Magicka Dragonknight Solo
Update 51
Werewolf Solo
Update 51
Breath Dragonknight Solo Build for ESO, built around
Engulfing Dragonfire, a channeled fire breath that ramps up in damage over 4.8 seconds and synergizes with the
Take Flight ultimate.
It has less DPS and survivability than regular Magicka Dragonknight and Stamina Dragonknight, but has better AoE damage, is much easier to play, and is still a good option in ESO Update 51.
Capable of soloing every Veteran dungeon that doesn't have a mechanic requiring multiple people, including Veteran Hard Mode Falkreath Hold and Veteran Castle Thorn. It parses 69.6k DPS on the 6 million dummy.
Looking for something simpler? Check out the One Bar Breath Dragonknight Solo Build which can also solo Veteran Hard Mode dungeons with a single skill bar.
Simulated DPS is up by 1.8% compared to U50.
Skills
Dragonknight
Gear
Consumables
I built a simulator that takes the current setup from the guide and plays it through the listed rotation. It uses the listed gear, skills, Champion Points, race, Mundus, food, potions, target armor and target health. It tracks skill casts, light attacks, DoT ticks, cooldowns, execute scaling, crits and status effect rolls. It assumes 100% of light attacks hit and a 0.025 second weave average.
Every comparison table in this guide is the average of 10 deterministic sims, with the dummy's health spread between 5.55 and 6.45 million HP. A single sim can be off by up to 1.5%, because the result depends on when the killing hit lands. The Base Setup with the Instanced gear is treated as the default.
For comparison tables I keep the setup identical and change one thing at a time. That makes the tables better for comparing options than random dummy parses, where one run can get better crits, different status effects or a better execute window.
| Run | DPS |
|---|---|
| Deterministic sim (5.55-6.45m average) |
70.4k DPS
|
| Real 6m CMX parse |
69.6k DPS
|
| 100 random 6m sims |
Lowest 68.6k DPS
Highest 74.4k DPS
|
Class Masteries are a system where each class picks 2 of 5 passive bonuses (Class Mastery Points, not Skill Points). Activating subclassing disables Class Mastery, so it's a tradeoff between keeping your native skill lines or subclassing.
Be as the landslide. Let nothing stop you.
Improves your passive to increase the potency of your damage done, healing done, and damage shield strength by 1% per stack.
Simply the best damage option. It also improves your healing.
Fire forged within can never be extinguished. Fan the flames.
When your Dragonknight damage over time effects end, you apply Wildfire Embers to the target, dealing Flame Damage over 12 seconds. This effect stacks up to 12 times and increases in damage by 25% per stack.
| Total Coefficient | 7.01% Max Stamina/Magicka + 73.95% Weapon/Spell Damage | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tick Rate | Every 2s (6 ticks) | ||
| Status Chance | 3% | ||
| Tags | FlameSingle TargetDoT | ||
Simply the best damage option.
You are as unyielding as a mountain.
Each second you remain Bracing, you increase the amount of damage you block by 6%, up to 5 times.
Blocking damage has a 20% chance to restore 500 Stamina. This effect can occur once every block cost.
Replaces
Wildfire Embers in fights where you have to block a lot.
Let your voice echo across the peaks.
Activating rank 2 of now also grants 5 Health, Magicka, and Stamina Recovery for every Ultimate spent for 10 seconds after a delay of 15 seconds.
Not useful for this setup.
Let others be swept along in the wake of your flame.
Activating rank 2 of grants you and group members within 28 meters of you and for 1 second per 15 Ultimate spent, increasing damage done and reducing damage taken by 10%.
Not useful for this 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: Searing Claw | Slot 2: Incinerate |
| Slot 3: Quick Cloak | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Ulfsild's Contingency | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Soul of Flame | 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
Searing Claw.
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
Inside of your
Take Flight window you can freely cancel
Engulfing Dragonfire to refresh DoTs. Outside of
Take Flight, you want to finish
Engulfing Dragonfire and refresh DoTs after it ends.
When
Take Flight has about 3 seconds left, cancel
Engulfing Dragonfire and cast it again, even if you just started it.
Take Flight makes it deal max damage anyway, so the weak start of the new cast doesn't matter, and it's already ramped up when
Take Flight ends.
Pre-buff
These abilities can be pre-cast before entering combat
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: Soul Burst | Slot 2: Incinerate |
| Slot 3: Quick Cloak | Slot 3: Razor Caltrops |
| Slot 4: Chains of Dominance | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Soul of Flame | Slot 5: Igneous Weapons |
| Ultimate: Take Flight | Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker |
Changes compared to the Base Setup
A setup which trades damage for more survivability. Use it against harder boss fights or if you simply want a tankier build and don't mind fights taking longer
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Engulfing Dragonfire | Slot 1: Shatterspike Mantle |
| Slot 2: Revealing Flare | Slot 2: Incinerate |
| Slot 3: Quick Cloak | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Ulfsild's Contingency | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Soul of Flame | Slot 5: Igneous Weapons |
| Ultimate: Take Flight | Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker |
Changes compared to the Base Setup
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
Class
Weapon
Armor
Guild
Alliance War
Racial
Craft
Class - Ardent Flame
Combustion - High Priority
Traumatic Burns - High Priority
Fan the Flames - High Priority
A Soul Ablaze - High Priority
Class - Draconic Power
Burnished Scales - High Priority
World in Ruin - High Priority
Elder Dragon - High Priority
The Storm Voice - High Priority
Class - Earthen Heart
Heart of Stone - High Priority
Landslide - High Priority
Blessing at the Peak - High Priority
Mountain Giant - High Priority
Weapon - Dual Wield
The tooltips for
Focused Killer and
Ruffian are misleading. They also buff Light and Heavy Attacks.
Focused Killer - High Priority
Ambidextrous - High Priority
Controlled Fury - High Priority
Ruffian - Medium Priority
Twin Blade and Blunt - High Priority
Weapon - Destruction Staff
Tri Focus - Do Not Unlock (only when using Ice Staff)
Penetrating Magic - Low Priority
Elemental Force - Medium Priority
Ancient Knowledge - Medium Priority
Destruction Expert - Low Priority
Armor - Light Armor
Grace - Low Priority
Evocation - High Priority
Spell Warding - High Priority
Prodigy - High Priority
Concentration - High Priority
Armor - Medium Armor
Dexterity - High Priority
Wind Walker - High Priority
Improved Sneak - Not needed
Agility - High Priority
Athletics - High 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 - High Priority
Skilled Tracker - Medium Priority
Bounty Hunter - Not needed
Guild - Mages Guild
Persuasive Will - Not needed
Mage Adept - High Priority
Everlasting Magic - High Priority
Magicka Controller - High Priority
Might of the Guild - Low Priority
Guild - Undaunted
Undaunted Command - Not needed
Undaunted Mettle - High 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
Overland (Base) is your starting point and works for most situations. Crafted is a beginner version using only craftable sets. Instanced is a swap for Arenas and Dungeons where enemies have higher armor.
Switching gear for trash packs isn't worth it unless you're using gear-swap addons
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Medium | |||
Chest |
Heavy | |||
Hands |
Medium | |||
Belt |
Light | |||
Legs |
Medium | |||
Boots |
Medium | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Inferno Staff |
Fallback Gear
If you don't have it, use in order
If you don't have it, use in order
Alternative (same bonus)
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Medium | |||
Chest |
Heavy | |||
Hands |
Medium | |||
Belt |
Light | |||
Legs |
Medium | |||
Boots |
Medium | |||
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 Base setup like
Ring of the Pale Order you can start using them immediately
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Medium | |||
Chest |
Heavy | |||
Hands |
Medium | |||
Belt |
Light | |||
Legs |
Medium | |||
Boots |
Medium | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
Fallback Gear
If you don't have it, use in order
If you don't have it, use in order
Alternatives
Changes compared to the Base Setup
Use the Penetration Calculator to fine-tune your penetration for different content. Overland enemies have 9,100 armor while Instanced enemies (Arenas and Dungeons) have 18,200.
Damage comparison for the set options.
Instanced Enemy - 18,200 Armor
All of these use
Valkyn Skoria with the
Lover Mundus.
Body
Compares
Whorl of the Depths + X body set.
| Body Set | Source | Simulated Parse | Damage Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| |
Trial - Sanity's Edge |
72.2k DPS
|
+2.5% |
| |
Class Set - Infinite Archive |
70.4k DPS
|
Baseline |
| |
Dungeon - Frostvault |
68.4k DPS
|
-2.9% |
| |
PvP - Cyrodiil |
67.5k DPS
|
-4.2% |
| |
Crafted |
67.4k DPS
|
-4.3% |
| |
Trial - Lucent Citadel |
66.9k DPS
|
-5.0% |
| |
Crafted |
66.8k DPS
|
-5.1% |
| |
Trial - Sanity's Edge |
66.8k DPS
|
-5.2% |
| |
Crafted |
66.2k DPS
|
-6.0% |
| |
Dungeon - Unhallowed Grave |
65.6k DPS
|
-6.8% |
| |
Dungeon - Falkreath Hold |
64.9k DPS
|
-7.9% |
| |
Crafted |
64.8k DPS
|
-8.0% |
| |
Crafted |
64.7k DPS
|
-8.2% |
| |
Crafted |
64.2k DPS
|
-8.9% |
| |
Overland - Wrothgar |
64.1k DPS
|
-9.0% |
Belt + Weapons + Jewelry
Compares
Pyrebrand + X belt, weapons and jewelry set.
| Set | Source | Simulated Parse | Damage Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| |
Trial - Sanity's Edge |
74.4k DPS
|
+5.5% |
| |
Trial - Rockgrove |
72.1k DPS
|
+2.3% |
| |
Trial - Dreadsail Reef |
70.4k DPS
|
Baseline |
| |
Trial - Lucent Citadel |
70.2k DPS
|
-0.3% |
| |
Trial - Sanity's Edge |
68.8k DPS
|
-2.3% |
| |
PvP - Cyrodiil |
68.7k DPS
|
-2.5% |
| |
Dungeon - Frostvault |
68.2k DPS
|
-3.1% |
| |
Crafted |
67.9k DPS
|
-3.7% |
| |
Crafted |
67.7k DPS
|
-3.9% |
| |
Crafted |
67.1k DPS
|
-4.7% |
| |
Dungeon - Unhallowed Grave |
67.0k DPS
|
-4.9% |
| |
Overland - West Weald |
66.9k DPS
|
-5.0% |
| |
Trial - Rockgrove |
66.7k DPS
|
-5.3% |
| |
Dungeon - Falkreath Hold |
66.2k DPS
|
-6.0% |
| |
Overland - Deshaan |
66.2k DPS
|
-6.1% |
| |
Crafted |
66.2k DPS
|
-6.1% |
| |
Crafted |
65.9k DPS
|
-6.5% |
| |
Overland - Wrothgar |
65.7k DPS
|
-6.7% |
| |
Crafted |
65.7k DPS
|
-6.7% |
| |
Overland - Blackwood |
65.3k DPS
|
-7.4% |
| Crafted ( |
Crafted |
64.3k DPS
|
-8.7% |
Overland Enemy - 9,100 Armor
All of these use
Selene with the
Warrior Mundus.
Body
Compares
Whorl of the Depths + X body set.
| Body Set | Source | Simulated Parse | Damage Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| |
Trial - Sanity's Edge |
77.9k DPS
|
+2.5% |
| |
Class Set - Infinite Archive |
76.1k DPS
|
Baseline |
| |
PvP - Cyrodiil |
73.7k DPS
|
-3.1% |
| |
Dungeon - Frostvault |
73.7k DPS
|
-3.1% |
| |
Trial - Lucent Citadel |
73.2k DPS
|
-3.8% |
| |
Crafted |
73.0k DPS
|
-4.0% |
| |
Crafted |
72.6k DPS
|
-4.5% |
| |
Crafted |
72.2k DPS
|
-5.1% |
| |
Trial - Sanity's Edge |
71.9k DPS
|
-5.4% |
| |
Dungeon - Unhallowed Grave |
71.6k DPS
|
-5.8% |
| |
Dungeon - Falkreath Hold |
71.0k DPS
|
-6.7% |
| |
Crafted |
70.8k DPS
|
-6.9% |
| |
Crafted |
70.8k DPS
|
-7.0% |
| |
Crafted |
70.2k DPS
|
-7.7% |
| |
Overland - Wrothgar |
70.2k DPS
|
-7.8% |
Belt + Weapons + Jewelry
Compares
Pyrebrand + X belt, weapons and jewelry set.
| Set | Source | Simulated Parse | Damage Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| |
Trial - Sanity's Edge |
79.5k DPS
|
+4.6% |
| |
Trial - Rockgrove |
77.7k DPS
|
+2.2% |
| |
Trial - Dreadsail Reef |
76.1k DPS
|
Baseline |
| |
Trial - Lucent Citadel |
75.8k DPS
|
-0.4% |
| |
PvP - Cyrodiil |
74.0k DPS
|
-2.8% |
| |
Trial - Sanity's Edge |
73.7k DPS
|
-3.1% |
| |
Crafted |
73.2k DPS
|
-3.7% |
| |
Dungeon - Frostvault |
73.2k DPS
|
-3.8% |
| |
Crafted |
72.4k DPS
|
-4.8% |
| |
Dungeon - Unhallowed Grave |
72.2k DPS
|
-5.0% |
| |
Crafted |
72.2k DPS
|
-5.0% |
| |
Overland - West Weald |
72.0k DPS
|
-5.3% |
| |
Trial - Rockgrove |
71.9k DPS
|
-5.4% |
| |
Dungeon - Falkreath Hold |
71.6k DPS
|
-5.9% |
| |
Overland - Deshaan |
71.6k DPS
|
-5.9% |
| |
Crafted |
71.2k DPS
|
-6.4% |
| |
Crafted |
71.1k DPS
|
-6.5% |
| |
Overland - Wrothgar |
70.9k DPS
|
-6.8% |
| |
Crafted |
70.8k DPS
|
-6.9% |
| |
Overland - Blackwood |
70.5k DPS
|
-7.3% |
| Crafted ( |
Crafted |
69.6k DPS
|
-8.5% |
Dual Wield is the default weapon.
| Front Bar Weapon | Simulated Parse | Damage Change |
|---|---|---|
| Dual Wield |
70.4k DPS
|
Baseline |
| Bow |
69.1k DPS
|
-1.9% |
| Greatsword |
69.0k DPS
|
-2.1% |
| Lightning Staff |
68.6k DPS
|
-2.7% |
| Inferno Staff |
68.4k DPS
|
-2.9% |
| Ice Staff |
66.9k DPS
|
-5.0% |
| Restoration Staff |
65.7k DPS
|
-6.7% |
| One Handed and Shield |
65.6k DPS
|
-6.9% |
Every option other than Dual Wield replaces
Quick Cloak with
Barbed Trap, because Quick Cloak is a Dual Wield skill. Dual Wield uses a
Nirnhoned
Poison Dagger and a
Charged
Absorb Stamina Dagger. Every one-weapon option uses a
Precise
Poison weapon. One Handed and Shield uses a
Precise
Poison one handed weapon plus a
Divines
Magicka shield.
Alternative setups for different goals and content types
Content-Specific Swaps
For solo you need both damage and survivability, so every race brings something to the table. I use Nord because in difficult solo content the armor racial is worth the DPS trade-off. If you want to use a different race, the table shows comparison between their DPS.
| Race | Simulated Parse | Damage Change |
|---|---|---|
| High Elf |
73.5k DPS
|
+4.3% |
| Dark Elf |
73.4k DPS
|
+4.2% |
| Khajiit |
72.7k DPS
|
+3.2% |
| Orc |
72.5k DPS
|
+2.9% |
| Breton |
71.3k DPS
|
+1.3% |
| Wood Elf |
71.0k DPS
|
+0.8% |
| Argonian |
70.9k DPS
|
+0.7% |
| Nord |
70.4k DPS
|
Baseline |
| Redguard |
70.4k DPS
|
0.0% |
| Imperial |
70.4k DPS
|
0.0% |
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.
| Attributes | Simulated Parse | Damage Change |
|---|---|---|
| 64 Magicka |
70.4k DPS
|
Baseline |
| 32 Health / 32 Magicka |
68.8k DPS
|
-2.3% |
| 64 Health |
67.1k DPS
|
-4.7% |
The damage loss from changing attributes is minimal, and you gain up to 7808 Health, so change attributes whenever you struggle with some harder enemy.
Your sustain is completely trivialized by
Soul of Flame, so you don't need any recoveries from your food.
| Setup | Simulated Parse | Damage Change |
|---|---|---|
| |
70.4k DPS
|
Baseline |
| |
70.1k DPS
|
-0.5% |
Armor potions are the default. Force potions are for going full damage, Tri-Stat if you're struggling with sustain, and Magicka Power when running the Trash setup.
All parses are recorded on the 6 million Target Dummy
Yes. Breath Dragonknight has better AoE damage and is significantly easier to play than Magicka or Stamina Dragonknight. The tradeoff is less single target DPS and survivability. If you want a relaxed playstyle with strong AoE from
Engulfing Dragonfire, pick this. If you want maximum performance, go with one of the regular DK builds.
Every Veteran dungeon that doesn't have a mechanic requiring multiple people, including Veteran Hard Mode Falkreath Hold and Veteran Castle Thorn.
Engulfing Dragonfire is a morph of
Dragonfire Breath from the Draconic Power skill line.
It's direct damage. It hits every 0.5 seconds while you channel it, but the game counts every hit as direct damage.
High Elf and Dark Elf do the most damage, around 4% more than Nord. Nord is the best race for survivability, providing around 5-7% damage mitigation through
Rugged.
Yes, you can replace the Dual Wield Daggers with other weapons. Bow and Greatsword will cause the smallest DPS loss (≈2%), then Lightning Staff and Inferno Staff (≈3%), Ice Staff (≈5%), and One Handed and Shield (≈7%).
Quick Cloak is the only Dual Wield skill on the frontbar, so you'll have to replace it, for example with
Barbed Trap. Replacing the backbar weapon is a lot more troublesome, because
Elemental Susceptibility is an extremely powerful skill for solo.
Yes, for Infinite Archive Arcs 1-4. Those arcs are still close enough to normal solo PvE content that a standard solo build works well, and you usually will not have enough important Visions yet to build around them. Some effects become more valuable in Infinite Archive, especially enemy Weapon and Spell Damage reductions, but you do not need a dedicated deep-IA build for Arcs 1-4.
For deep Infinite Archive runs, such as Arc 10+, this is not the right type of build. Deep IA setups have to change heavily around the Visions earned during that run, so they are usually built very differently from standard solo builds.
Yes, you can use this build at any Challenge Difficulty, including Vestige. Mobs hit a lot harder and you do less damage on the higher tiers, so fights take longer, but the build itself doesn't change.
No, you don't need a different setup. Use the base skills and the Instanced gear setup from this guide for both Maelstrom Arena and Vateshran Hollows.