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Magicka Dragonknight Solo Build - ESO Guide

Two Bar Magicka Dragonknight Solo Pure Class
Up to date for: Update 49 - 19th March 2026
Last changed: Update 49 - 10th March 2026

Magicka Dragonknight (MagDK) Solo Build for ESO, carried by Soul of FlameSoul of Flame, a reworked Deep Breath that restores resources based on your missing resources. It's completely broken and lets you use armor potions and Medium armor with absolutely no sustain issues.

Both Stamina and Magicka Dragonknight use Soul of Flame, but Magicka Dragonknight has an easier time keeping it up since the skill costs Magicka. It's the strongest solo build in ESO Update 49.

Capable of soloing every Veteran dungeon that doesn't have a mechanic requiring multiple people, including Veteran Hard Mode Fang Lair and Veteran Hard Mode Scalecaller Peak. Also cleared Normal Trials and Night Market bosses solo. Parses 72.9k in the most offensive setup, and only drops to 66.6k in a defensive setup that hits the 33k armor cap.

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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

Molten Whip Searing Claw Disintegrating Dragonfire Soul of Flame Ulfsild's Contingency Take Flight
Shatterspike Mantle Incinerate Elemental Susceptibility Elemental Blockade Igneous Weapons Standard of Might
Front Bar Back Bar
Slot 1: Molten Whip Slot 1: Shatterspike Mantle
Slot 2: Searing Claw Slot 2: Incinerate
Slot 3: Disintegrating Dragonfire Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility
Slot 4: Soul of Flame Slot 4: Elemental Blockade
Slot 5: Ulfsild's Contingency Slot 5: Igneous Weapons
Ultimate: Take Flight Ultimate: Standard of Might
INFO
  • Molten WhipMolten Whip - a spammable which grants you a stack of Seething Fury whenever you use another Dragonknight ability. Seething Fury lasts 10 seconds, increases your damage done by 5% and increases damage of your next Molten WhipMolten Whip by 33% per stack, stacking up to 3 times. The damage done buff does not disappear when you use the empowered whip.
  • Searing ClawSearing Claw - deals direct damage and applies a 10 second DoT which deals 10% more damage every 2 seconds. The initial hit is guaranteed to proc Burning status effect.
  • Disintegrating DragonfireDisintegrating Dragonfire - deals direct damage in a cone in front of you and applies a 10 second DoT to all enemies hit and debuffs them with Major Breach, reducing their armor by 5948
  • Soul of FlameSoul of Flame - interrupts enemies around you, restores 15% missing Stamina and Magicka every 2 seconds over 4 seconds (ticks 3 times) and deals damage in an AoE at the end
  • Ulfsild's ContingencyUlfsild's Contingency (FlameFlame, Lingering TormentLingering Torment, ResolveResolve) - a 22 second DoT which will also grant you Minor Resolve, increasing your armor by 2974. Having it slotted will also increase your Max Magicka and Magicka Recovery through Magicka ControllerMagicka Controller passive. This is also your AoE spammable
  • Take FlightTake Flight - a cheap ultimate which deals damage, stuns enemies and grants you a 20% Damage Done against Monsters buff for 15 seconds
  • Shatterspike MantleShatterspike Mantle - your source of Major Resolve which also applies a 20 second DoT to enemies around you and grants you a buff which adds 100 damage to all of your damage ticks
  • IncinerateIncinerate - an ability which releases a fiery wave around you on cast and then every 5 seconds for 15 seconds. It has increased base chance to proc Burning status effect. Having it slotted passively grants you Major Savagery and Prophecy.
  • Elemental SusceptibilityElemental Susceptibility - an extremely loaded ability that does a multitude of things. It's completely free to cast so it'll help you sustain. It applies Major Breach, which reduces enemies' armor by 5948 which is a massive damage increase. It also applies Burning, Chilled and Concussed status effects at the beginning and then every 7.5 seconds. All of these Status Effects deal decent damage, but Concussed will also apply Minor Vulnerability for 4 seconds, increasing enemies' damage taken by 5%. Chilled will also apply Minor Maim for 4 seconds, reducing enemies' damage done by 5% and it will also apply Minor Brittle for 4 seconds if you were on your Ice Staff bar while the Chilled effect procced, and Ice Staff will be part of the Instanced gear setup. Minor Brittle increase Critical Damage taken by 10%. The Chilled proc will also synergise with our Elemental BlockadeElemental Blockade
  • Elemental BlockadeElemental Blockade - this ability will constantly apply your Weapon DamageWeapon Damage enchantment. If it's the Ice version, it will also constantly apply Minor Breach to enemies who are Chilled, and they'll be Chilled thanks to Elemental SusceptibilityElemental Susceptibility
  • Igneous WeaponsIgneous Weapons - a 60 second buff which grants you Major Brutality and Sorcery and causes your Light Attacks to deal additional damage up to once every 2 seconds.
  • Standard of MightStandard of Might - an ultimate which calls down a standard which increases your Weapon and Spell Damage by 600, increases your damage done by 15% and reduces your damage taken by 25%. It's always a DPS decrease compared to Take FlightTake Flight, but it can be used to survive difficult mechanics thanks to the 25% damage reduction
SITUATIONAL

Ulfsild's ContingencyUlfsild'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 Disintegrating DragonfireDisintegrating Dragonfire, or Searing ClawSearing Claw if you need a lot of AoE damage for that fight.

  • Resolving VigorResolving Vigor - use it for fights where there's a lot of damage happening in a short burst. The HoT from Resolving VigorResolving Vigor is short but very strong, so casting it at the right time can help you survive such mechanics. It can also be used in fights with invulnerability phases where you can't heal with Ring of the Pale OrderRing of the Pale Order or Reaving BlowsReaving Blows
  • Burning TalonsBurning Talons - a replacement for Ulfsild's ContingencyUlfsild's Contingency which does more damage but doesn't provide the armor buff, and just like UlfsildUlfsild, it can be used as AoE spammable
  • Chains of DominanceChains of Dominance - a chain ability that you can use to stack enemies. Use it in trash packs or in boss fights with adds that have to be chained. It also applies Major Cowardice which can be useful against hard hitting bosses. It isn't worth slotting just for the Major Cowardice alone, but if you already slotted it to deal with the adds you might as well use it on the boss
  • Chains of DevastationChains of Devastation - a gap closer which can be useful in fights where you have to move around a lot
  • Soul BurstSoul Burst (PullPull, Class MasteryClass Mastery, BreachBreach) - an 8 meter AoE pull with a 2 second delay which will debuff your enemies with Minor Breach and grant you Weapon and Spell Damage based on number of enemies hit
  • Ulfsild's ContingencyUlfsild's Contingency (FlameFlame, Gladiator's TenacityGladiator's Tenacity, ResolveResolve) - a different script combination which trades the DoT from Lingering TormentLingering Torment for the mitigation from Gladiator's TenacityGladiator's Tenacity. Use it in fights where you need more damage mitigation.
  • Revealing FlareRevealing 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 AidMagicka Aid passive, which increases Magicka Recovery by 10%
  • Quick CloakQuick Cloak - an ability which provides Major Evasion, which reduces your AoE damage taken by 20%. Use it in fights with lots of AoE damage.
  • Burning EmbersBurning Embers - the other morph of Searing ClawSearing Claw which doesn't deal more damage with time, but instead heals you on cast and every time the DoT ticks. Use it if you need more healing.
  • Protect the BroodProtect the Brood - an extremely situational ability which can be useful in fights with lots of projectile damage. It also provides Minor Protection for 20 seconds after casting
  • Fleetstep WingsFleetstep Wings - the other morph of Protect the BroodProtect the Brood which should be used in fights where you need to remove snares
  • PrecognitionPrecognition - 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
  • Corrosive ArmorCorrosive Armor - an ultimate that limits any damage you take to 6% of your max HP for 10 seconds, useful in fights with infrequent hard hitting mechanics
  • Volcanic WardVolcanic Ward - a decent damage shield which also reduce the next instance of damage you take by 10% and heals you after the shield ends. It has a similar use case to Resolving VigorResolving Vigor, but it costs Magicka instead of Stamina, and damage shields will perform better than healing in some fights, where you need to prepare for a bigger hit
ROTATION

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

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

Molten Whip Chains of Dominance Disintegrating Dragonfire Soul of Flame Ulfsild's Contingency Take Flight
Shatterspike Mantle Incinerate Wield Soul Elemental Blockade Igneous Weapons Standard of Might
Front Bar Back Bar
Slot 1: Molten Whip Slot 1: Shatterspike Mantle
Slot 2: Chains of Dominance Slot 2: Incinerate
Slot 3: Disintegrating Dragonfire Slot 3: Soul Burst
Slot 4: Soul of Flame Slot 4: Elemental Blockade
Slot 5: Ulfsild's Contingency Slot 5: Igneous Weapons
Ultimate: Take Flight Ultimate: Standard of Might

What Changes



Passives

The only passive you specifically have to skip is Tri FocusTri 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 PrecognitionPrecognition

Class

Weapon

Armor

Guild

Alliance War

Racial

Craft

Class - Ardent Flame

CombustionCombustion - High Priority

Traumatic BurnsTraumatic Burns - High Priority

Fan the FlamesFan the Flames - High Priority

A Soul AblazeA Soul Ablaze - High Priority



Gear

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

Different Weapon Types If you want to use a different frontbar weapon type make sure its trait is ChargedCharged and the enchant is PoisonPoison. You can find parses done with an Inferno Staff, Lightning Staff and a Greatsword in the Parses section. They're roughly a 2.18% damage loss compared to Daggers
Gear Slot Set Weight/Type Trait Enchantment
HeadHead SlimecrawSlimecraw Medium DivinesDivines MagickaMagicka
ShouldersShoulders Order's WrathOrder's Wrath Medium DivinesDivines MagickaMagicka
ChestChest Tzogvin's WarbandTzogvin's Warband Medium DivinesDivines MagickaMagicka
HandsHands Order's WrathOrder's Wrath Medium DivinesDivines MagickaMagicka
BeltBelt Order's WrathOrder's Wrath Light DivinesDivines MagickaMagicka
LegsLegs Order's WrathOrder's Wrath Medium DivinesDivines MagickaMagicka
FeetBoots Order's WrathOrder's Wrath Medium DivinesDivines MagickaMagicka
NeckNecklace Tzogvin's WarbandTzogvin's Warband Jewelry BloodthirstyBloodthirsty Increase Magical HarmIncrease Magical Harm
RingRing Tzogvin's WarbandTzogvin's Warband Jewelry BloodthirstyBloodthirsty Increase Magical HarmIncrease Magical Harm
RingRing Ring of the Pale OrderRing of the Pale Order Jewelry BloodthirstyBloodthirsty Increase Magical HarmIncrease Magical Harm
MainhandFrontbar Main Hand Tzogvin's WarbandTzogvin's Warband Dagger ChargedCharged PoisonPoison
OffhandFrontbar Off Hand Tzogvin's WarbandTzogvin's Warband Dagger ChargedCharged Absorb StaminaAbsorb Stamina
MainhandBackbar Main Hand Crushing WallCrushing Wall Inferno Staff InfusedInfused Weapon DamageWeapon Damage
SITUATIONAL

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

  • Sul-Xan's TormentSul-Xan's Torment - the best set for trash packs and for bosses that regularly spawn smaller adds
ALTERNATIVE

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, Order's WrathOrder's Wrath, 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

The setup in the table uses only crafted gear, but if you already own parts of the Regular setup like Ring of the Pale OrderRing of the Pale Order you can start using them immediately

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Champion Points

WarfareWarfare
Master-at-Arms
6% Direct Damage
Because more than 60% of your damage is Direct
Deadly Aim
6% Single Target Damage
Because more than 60% of your damage is Single Target
Fighting Finesse
8% Critical Damage and Healing
Next strongest CP damage-wise
Wrathful Strikes
205 Weapon and Spell Damage
Next strongest CP damage-wise
More Mitigation
Replace Wrathful StrikesWrathful Strikes + Fighting FinesseFighting Finesse with 2 mitigation CPs: IroncladIronclad, Duelist’s RebuffDuelist’s Rebuff, Enduring ResolveEnduring Resolve, or UnassailableUnassailable (depending on the type of damage the Boss deals to you)
More Healing
Reaving BlowsReaving Blows is a decent Champion Point if you need more HPS
FitnessFitness
Boundless Vitality
1400 Max Health
Survivability
Fortified
1731 Armor
Survivability
Celerity
10% Movement Speed
Next best thing since you don't need sustain CPs
Expert Evasion
Free Dodge Roll every 30s
Next best thing since you don't need sustain CPs
Block Mitigation
Use Bracing AnchorBracing Anchor in fights where you block a lot and can afford to move slower
Sustain in fights with lots of adds
Use Bloody RenewalBloody Renewal if you need more if you need more Stamina in fights with lots of adds
Craft Craft
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

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

Khajiit
Best for Damage
Khajiit
Why pick this
The strongest race for solo damage. Critical Damage is one of the most valuable stats in Solo play and Khajiits get 12% of it from Feline AmbushFeline Ambush passive.
Feline Ambush Feline Ambush 12% Critical Damage
Nimble Nimble 915 Max Health, Stamina and Magicka
Robustness Robustness 90 Health, Stamina, Magicka Recovery
Nord
Best for Survivability
Nord
Why pick this
The tankiest race. Nord is also what I use for soloing Veteran Hard Mode DLC Dungeons. RuggedRugged provides around 5-7% damage mitigation (depending on your current armor), making difficult content significantly more forgiving without sacrificing much damage.
Rugged Rugged 2600 armor
Stalwart Stalwart 1500 Max Stamina, 0.5 Ultimate per second
Reveler Reveler 1000 Max Health, 4620 Frost Resistance


Mundus

The Thief
Default
The Thief
5.53% Critical Chance (9.04% with 7 Divines)
When to use
Use in all Overland content and most situations. It increases Critical Chance
The Lover
Instanced
The Lover
2744 Penetration (4489 with Divines)
When to use
Switch when using the Medium Armor Instanced setup. Provides penetration to compensate for the higher armor of Instanced enemies
The Lady
Difficult Content
The Lady
2744 Armor (4489 with 7 Divines)
When to use
Consider for extremely difficult dungeons, though Nord using Medium Armor with Ulfsild's Contingency and Armor Potions is already at the armor cap

Attributes

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.

Health
0
Stamina
0
Magicka
64
All points into Magicka. Use it for most content
Health
32
Stamina
0
Magicka
32
Split evenly between Health and Magicka. Use this whenever you start to struggle
Health
64
Stamina
0
Magicka
0
All points into Health. Use this for very difficult fights


Food

Your sustain is completely trivialized by Soul of FlameSoul of Flame, so you don't need any recoveries from your food.

Max Health Max Stamina Max Magicka
The default option. Having higher Maximum Stamina means you'll restore even more Stamina through Soul of FlameSoul of Flame, so it's a better default option despite providing less Maximum Health and Maximum Magicka.
Max Health Max Magicka
Slightly more Max Health and slightly better damage, but will cause Stamina issues in any fight which requires constant Dodge Rolling and Blocking. Solitude Salmon-Millet SoupSolitude Salmon-Millet Soup is a cheaper alternative.


Potions

Your sustain is completely trivialized by Soul of FlameSoul of Flame, so you don't need any recovery from your potions. Use Armor Potions as your default.

Armor Potion
Default Armor Potion
Restore Health +5280 Armor

Most of the time you should use Armor potions. They'll provide you with 5280 armor and you don't need sustain from your potions thanks to Soul of FlameSoul of Flame.

Heroism Potion
Full Damage Heroism Potion
Minor Heroism Restore Stamina Restore Magicka

Heroism potions can provide 100% uptime on Minor Heroism, so they're the best option if going for pure damage, but it's a small DPS gain and a decent nerf to your survivability. On top of that, they're extremely expensive.



Parses

All parses are recorded on the 6 million Target Dummy

Full Damage Setup
72,946DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 49

Using Full DPS setup

CMX Parse
CMX Parse - Full DPS Setup
CMX Setup
CMX Setup - Full DPS Setup
Recording
Parse recording
Sugar Skulls
72,272DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 49

Food changed to Bewitched Sugar Skulls

CMX Parse
CMX Parse - Sugar Skulls
CMX Setup
CMX Setup - Sugar Skulls
Armor Potions
69,748DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 49

All previous changes + Armor Potions

CMX Parse
CMX Parse - Armor Potions
CMX Setup
CMX Setup - Armor Potions
Regular Setup
68,063DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 49

All previous changes + Regular Skill Setup

CMX Parse
CMX Parse - Regular Setup
CMX Setup
CMX Setup - Regular Setup
Medium Armor
66,695DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 49

All previous changes + Medium Armor

CMX Parse
CMX Parse - Medium Armor
CMX Setup
CMX Setup - Medium Armor
64 Health
64,145DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 49

All previous changes + 64 attribute points into Health

CMX Parse
CMX Parse - 64 Health
CMX Setup
CMX Setup - 64 Health
Inferno Staff
65,239DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 49

Medium Armor setup (66.6k DPS) with Daggers changed to Inferno Staff

CMX Parse
CMX Parse - Inferno Staff
CMX Setup
CMX Setup - Inferno Staff
Lightning Staff
65,166DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 49

Medium Armor setup (66.6k DPS) with Daggers changed to Lightning Staff

CMX Parse
CMX Parse - Lightning Staff
CMX Setup
CMX Setup - Lightning Staff
Greatsword
65,171DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 49

Medium Armor setup (66.6k DPS) with Daggers changed to Greatsword

CMX Parse
CMX Parse - Greatsword
CMX Setup
CMX Setup - Greatsword

Gameplay

Here you can see this build tackling Veteran dungeons and other content

Fang Lair
Dungeon
Scalecaller Peak
Dungeon
Scrivener's Hall
Dungeon
Oakenclaw
World Boss
The Prime Cataloger
World Boss
Dragon
World Event
Normal Trials
Trial
Night Market Bosses
Miscellaneous
Fang Lair
Dungeon Veteran Hard Mode
Scalecaller Peak
Dungeon Veteran Hard Mode
Scrivener's Hall
Dungeon Veteran
Oakenclaw
World Boss
The Prime Cataloger
World Boss
Dragon
World Event
Normal Trials
Trial
Night Market Bosses
Miscellaneous


Fashion

Outfit
Magicka Dragonknight fashion screenshot
Slot Style Dyes
Head Online:Annihilarch%27S_Chosen_StyleAnnihilarch's Chosen Helmet
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Legate's Black
Shoulders Online:Annihilarch%27S_Chosen_StyleAnnihilarch's Chosen Pauldrons
Thalmor Black
Chest Scorianite Gladiator JackScorianite Gladiator Jack
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Hands Online:Annihilarch%27S_Chosen_StyleAnnihilarch's Chosen Gauntlets
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Belt Online:Annihilarch%27S_Chosen_StyleAnnihilarch's Chosen Girdle
Thalmor Black
Legs Online:Annihilarch%27S_Chosen_StyleAnnihilarch's Chosen Greaves
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Feet Online:Annihilarch%27S_Chosen_StyleAnnihilarch's Chosen Sabatons
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Frontbar Main Hand Ilambris SwordIlambris Sword
Thalmor Black
Legate's Black
Legate's Black
Frontbar Off Hand Ilambris SwordIlambris Sword
Thalmor Black
Legate's Black
Legate's Black
Backbar Main Hand Online:Annihilarch%27S_Chosen_StyleAnnihilarch's Chosen Staff
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Magicka Dragonknight fashion screenshot
Collectibles
Slot Collectible
Skin Deadlands ScorcherDeadlands Scorcher
Personality Deadlands FirewalkerDeadlands Firewalker

FAQ

Is Magicka Dragonknight good for solo in ESO?

Yes, Magicka Dragonknight is the strongest solo build in ESO Update 49. Soul of FlameSoul of Flame makes sustain a non-issue, letting you run Medium armor and armor potions while still having resources to spare.

What can Magicka Dragonknight solo in ESO?

Every Veteran dungeon that doesn't have a mechanic requiring multiple people, including Veteran Hard Mode Fang Lair and Veteran Hard Mode Scalecaller Peak. Also Normal Trials and Night Market bosses solo.

Can I use a different weapon?

Yes, you can replace the Dual Wield Daggers with other weapons. Inferno Staff, Lightning Staff, Greatsword and Bow will cause the smallest DPS loss (≈2%), and then support-oriented weapons (Ice Staff, One Handed and Shield) will cause a bigger DPS loss (≈7%). This build doesn't use any Dual Wield skills on the frontbar, so you won't need to change any skills when switching. This guide includes parses for Inferno Staff, Lightning Staff and Greatsword in the Parses section so you can see the exact numbers. Replacing the backbar weapon is a lot more troublesome, because Elemental SusceptibilityElemental Susceptibility is an extremely powerful skill for solo.

Do I need a different setup for Maelstrom Arena and Vateshran Hollows?

No, you don't need a different setup. Use the base skills and one of the Instanced gear setups from this guide for both Maelstrom Arena and Vateshran Hollows.

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