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Hyperioxes

Heavy Attack Dragonknight Solo Build - ESO Guide

Solo Two Bar Magicka Heavy Attack Pure Class Dragonknight
Up to date for: Update 51 - 5th November 2026
Last changed: Update 51 - 5th November 2026
Proven in solo
Moon Hunter Keep 3 Misfortunes Watch the run → March of Sacrifices 3 Misfortunes Watch the run →

Pure Class Heavy Attack Dragonknight Solo Build for ESO Update 51. gives you for 30 seconds, so you don't have to recast a Mages Guild ability every 10 seconds to keep it up like other Heavy Attack builds do. That leaves room to keep up more abilities. It's very easy to play, but damage is only a bit higher than Heavy Attack Sorcerer and a lot lower than Heavy Attack Nightblade.

This setup cleared Solo Moon Hunter Keep and Solo March of Sacrifices with 3 Misfortunes, and parses 59.4k DPS on the 6 million dummy.

Works for all kinds of solo content - overland at any Challenge Difficulty up to Vestige, World Bosses, Maelstrom Arena, Vateshran Hollows, early arcs in Infinite Archive, and Veteran Dungeon soloing.

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Simulated Parse Tables

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, heavy attacks, DoT ticks, cooldowns, execute scaling, crits and status effect rolls.

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 0.6%, because the result depends on when the killing hit lands. The Base Setup 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.

Base Setup

Run DPS
Deterministic sim (5.55-6.45m average)
57.1k DPS
Real 6m CMX parse
59.4k DPS
100 random 6m sims
Lowest 53.8k DPS
Highest 61.1k DPS
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Class Mastery

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.

Default

Dragonknight Class Mastery

Inexorable Descent

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.

Notes

Simply the best damage option. It also improves your healing.

Dragonknight Class Mastery

Lead From the Front

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%.

Notes

Similar in power to , at least at dummy fight length, but it also gives you some . You could unslot and you'd still have 25% uptime on .

Situational

Dragonknight Class Mastery

Wildfire Embers

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.

Flame Damage

Total Coefficient7.01% Max Stamina/Magicka + 73.95% Weapon/Spell Damage
Tick RateEvery 2s (6 ticks)
Status Chance3%
TagsFlameSingle TargetDoT

Notes

Doesn't work well on this build, since it can't fit many Dragonknight DoTs. It's 0.2% more DPS than , but it could be more in actual fights, since the dummy fight is only 1:42.

Dragonknight Class Mastery

Resolute Defense

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.

Notes

Replaces Lead From the Front in fights where you have to block a lot.

Not worth it

Dragonknight Class Mastery

Booming Voice

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.

Notes

Not useful for this setup.

Class Mastery Simulated Parse Damage Change
57.2k DPS
+0.2%
57.1k DPS
Baseline
56.2k DPS
-1.6%

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: Ulfsild's ContingencyFlame Damage / Gladiator's Tenacity / Resolve Slot 1: Shatterspike MantleMorph of Earthspike Mantle
Slot 2: Barbed TrapMorph of Trap Beast Slot 2: IncinerateMorph of Inferno
Slot 3: Blood of the Elder DragonMorph of Dragon Blood Slot 3: Elemental SusceptibilityMorph of Weakness to Elements
Slot 4: Burning EmbersMorph of Searing Strike Slot 4: Blockade of StormsMorph of Wall of Elements
Slot 5: Revealing FlareBase Skill Slot 5: Molten ArmamentsMorph of Molten Weapons
Ultimate: Flawless DawnbreakerMorph of Dawnbreaker Ultimate: Standard of MightMorph of Dragonknight Standard
  • (, , ) - reduces your damage taken by 8% for 8 seconds after it goes off. It also deals decent damage in an AoE and grants you , increasing your armor by 2974.
  • - a DoT that applies at the start and grants you , increasing your Critical Damage by 10%.
  • - a self-heal which also grants you for 20 seconds, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 215. It will also grant you because it will trigger the passive.
  • - a 10 second DoT which heals you for a decent amount at the beginning and then for a smaller amount every time the DoT ticks. The healing scales with your Max Health. The initial hit is guaranteed to proc status effect.
  • - a skill that passively grants , reducing your damage taken by 10%.
  • - an ultimate we'll keep slotted to activate the and passives which increase Weapon and Spell Damage by 3% and generate Ultimate on kills. You can also use it towards the end of the fight if it's obvious you won't get enough Ultimate for another .
  • - your source of 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.
  • - 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 status effect. Having it slotted passively grants you .
  • - a very strong ability that does a lot. It applies , which reduces enemies' armor by 5948 and is a big damage increase. It also applies , and status effects at the beginning and then every 7.5 seconds. will apply for 4 seconds, increasing enemies' damage taken by 5%. will apply for 4 seconds, reducing enemies' damage done by 5%. The proc will also synergise with our .
  • - this ability will constantly apply your enchantment. It will also constantly apply to enemies who are , and they'll be thanks to . Enemies who are take 70% increased damage from Heavy Attacks.
  • - your source of crucial buff, which increases damage done by Heavy Attacks against monsters by 150%. It lasts 30 seconds and also grants you , increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 20%, and makes your Light and Heavy Attacks deal extra Flame damage.
  • - increases your Weapon and Spell Damage by 600, increases your damage done by 15% and reduces your damage taken by 25%.

is the first skill that has to go if you need to slot something situational, unless the situational skill specifically says that it's replacing something else. If you don't need the survivability, you can also replace .

  • - 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 which can be useful against hard hitting bosses. If you already slotted it to deal with the adds you might as well use it on the boss. is extremely good in Infinite Archive and Solo Dungeons, because enemies there have extremely little Weapon Damage.
  • - the other morph of . It deals more damage, but doesn't heal you.
  • - use it for fights where there's a lot of damage happening in a short burst. The HoT from is short but very strong, so casting it at the right time can help you survive such mechanics.
  • - a decent damage shield which also reduces the next instance of damage you take by 10% and heals you after the shield ends. It has a similar use case to , 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. You can't reliably use it in fights with friendly NPCs, as it can just target them instead.
  • - the other morph of . It heals you for more, but you lose the . Its healing scales off your Max Health, so it's only better while your attributes are in Health. If you move them to Magicka, will heal you more.
  • - a heal over time which also restores 12% of your missing Magicka and Stamina. Use it if you need more sustain, for example in fights where you have to block a lot.
  • - a source of AoE which can be used instead of in AoE fights.
  • - replaces in trash packs, because it also grants . It can be pre-cast before entering combat.
  • - the other morph of . It's snare removal which will be crucial for some fights.
  • - an extremely situational ability which can be useful in fights with lots of projectile damage. It also provides for 20 seconds after casting.
  • - the other morph of , which should be used in fights where you need to both mitigate projectiles and remove snares. Otherwise, is better against just projectiles and is better when you just need the snare removal.
  • - replaces , because replacing with it would lose you DPS. It's around a 4.3% DPS gain, but it drains 2500 Health every 2 seconds while it's on. Becoming a Vampire for it also makes your abilities cost more and increases your Flame damage taken.
  • (, , ) - a different script combination which trades the mitigation from for the DoT from . It's around a 2% DPS gain. Use it in fights where you don't need the mitigation.
  • - 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.
  • - an Ultimate which limits incoming damage to 3% of your Max Health, making you basically immortal in fights without Oblivion Damage. Having it slotted on your front bar will trigger , which means every Heavy Attack will restore 1430 Stamina.

Bar Swap

Channel all your Heavy Attacks on the front bar. When you need to use a back bar ability, do the Heavy Attack on the front bar, bar swap at the end, cast the back bar skill and then swap to the front bar again.

If the quick swap is too hard for you, Light Attack weave on the back bar. You lose about 2.0% DPS.

If you don't want to do the quick swap or Light Attack, you can also simply channel Heavy Attacks on the back bar, but that's about 5% less damage.

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. - if has run out or will run out before the final hit of your Heavy Attack lands
  • 2. - refresh 1 Heavy Attack early
  • 3. - every 22 seconds
  • 4. - when ready
  • 5. - refresh 1 Heavy Attack early
  • 6. - refresh 1 Heavy Attack early
  • 7. - refresh 1 Heavy Attack early
  • 8. - refresh 1 Heavy Attack early
  • 9. - refresh 1 Heavy Attack early
  • 10.

Sometimes, if you have many things running out at the same time, it can be good to Light Attack 1 or 2 times instead of Heavy Attacking, to refresh them faster.

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: Ulfsild's ContingencyFlame Damage / Gladiator's Tenacity / Resolve Slot 1: Shatterspike MantleMorph of Earthspike Mantle
Slot 2: Channeled AccelerationMorph of Accelerate Slot 2: IncinerateMorph of Inferno
Slot 3: Blood of the Elder DragonMorph of Dragon Blood Slot 3: Razor CaltropsMorph of Caltrops
Slot 4: Chains of DominanceMorph of Chains of Flame Slot 4: Blockade of StormsMorph of Wall of Elements
Slot 5: Revealing FlareBase Skill Slot 5: Molten ArmamentsMorph of Molten Weapons
Ultimate: Flawless DawnbreakerMorph of Dawnbreaker Ultimate: Standard of MightMorph of Dragonknight Standard

What Changes

  • replaces
  • replaces
  • replaces

Passives

There are no passives you need to skip with this build

Class

Weapon

Armor

World

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

Vampirism

is worth it on this build if you want to push more damage because of . As a Heavy Attack build you don't have time to keep up as many skills as regular builds, and is a toggle, so it gives you damage without taking a spot in your rotation. It's around a 4.3% DPS gain.

You should stay at Stage 1 of . Higher stages make you take more Flame damage and make your abilities cost more.

Gear

Base is your starting point and works for most situations. Crafted is a beginner version using only craftable sets.

Switching gear for trash packs isn't worth it unless you're using gear-swap addons.

Gear Slot Set Weight/Type Trait Enchantment
HeadHead Medium
ShouldersShoulders Medium
ChestChest Heavy
HandsHands Light
BeltBelt Light
LegsLegs Medium
BootsBoots Light
NecklaceNecklace Jewelry
RingRing Jewelry
RingRing Jewelry
Frontbar Main HandFrontbar Main Hand Lightning Staff
Backbar Main HandBackbar Main Hand Lightning Staff

Fallback Gear

Weapons and Jewelry
Sergeant's Mail - Dungeon Set (Wayrest Sewers I & II)

If you don't have it, use in order

  1. - Dungeon Set (Arx Corinium)
  2. - Dungeon Set (Tempest Island)
  3. - Dungeon Set (Blackheart Haven)
  4. - Crafted
  5. - Crafted
Body
Noble Duelist's Silks - Dungeon Set (Blessed Crucible)

If you don't have it, use in order

  1. - Dungeon Set (Arx Corinium)
  2. - Dungeon Set (Tempest Island)
  3. - Crafted
  4. - Crafted
Monster Helm
Anthelmir's Construct - Monster Set (Oathsworn Pit)

If you don't have it, use in order

  1. - Earthen Root Enclave
  2. - Banished Cells II

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.

Tool Penetration Calculator Check your total armor penetration in ESO and see exactly how much DPS you're losing. Find out if you've hit the penetration cap for the type of content you're doing.

Gear Set Comparisons

Damage comparison for the set options.

Overland Enemy - 9,100 Armor

Weapons + Jewelry

Compares + X weapons and jewelry set.

Source
Replacement Set Source Simulated Parse Damage Change
Dungeon - Wayrest Sewers I & II
59.8k DPS
Baseline
Dungeon - Arx Corinium
57.3k DPS
-4.2%
Dungeon - Tempest Island
54.8k DPS
-8.3%
Crafted
53.2k DPS
-10.9%
Dungeon - Blackheart Haven
52.8k DPS
-11.7%
Trial - Sanity's Edge
Interrupt 55.9k DPS
No Interrupt 52.5k DPS
-6.4% -12.2%
Crafted
3 Stacks 54.3k DPS
0 Stacks 52.3k DPS
-9.2% -12.4%
Crafted
52.0k DPS
-13.0%
Trial - Rockgrove
Soul 57.4k DPS
No Soul 52.0k DPS
-3.9% -13.0%
Crafted
51.6k DPS
-13.6%
Crafted
51.4k DPS
-13.9%

Additional Tips

  • You can change some (or all) of the enchants to ones for very hard hitting bosses.
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Champion Points

Unlock Order

Warfare
20% Light and Heavy Attack Damage
6% Single Target Damage
8% Critical Damage and Healing
205 Weapon and Spell Damage
More Mitigation
Replace + with 2 mitigation CPs: , , , or (depending on the type of damage the Boss deals to you)
More Healing
is a decent option if you need more HPS
Fitness
1400 Max Health
1731 Armor
20% Block Mitigation, -16% Movement Speed
90 Health, Magicka and Stamina Recovery
Movement Speed
Use in fights where you have to move a lot
Damage Shields
You can use if you slot , it makes damage shields 15% stronger
Craft
20% Movement Speed out of combat
Quality of Life
Green Champion Points don't affect Combat, choose whatever Quality of Life you prefer

Race

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.

Nord
Nord
The tankiest race. Nord is also what I use for soloing Veteran Hard Mode DLC Dungeons. provides around 5-7% damage mitigation depending on your current armor, making difficult content easier to survive without sacrificing much damage.
Rugged 2600 armor
Stalwart 1500 Max Stamina, 0.5 Ultimate per second
Resist Frost 1000 Max Health, 4620 Frost Resistance
Race Simulated Parse Damage Change
High Elf
59.3k DPS
+3.8%
Dark Elf
59.3k DPS
+3.8%
Khajiit
59.2k DPS
+3.8%
Orc
58.6k DPS
+2.7%
Wood Elf
57.8k DPS
+1.3%
Breton
57.8k DPS
+1.2%
Argonian
57.4k DPS
+0.6%
Imperial
57.1k DPS
+0.0%
Nord
57.1k DPS
Baseline
Redguard
57.1k DPS
+0.0%

Mundus

  • Default

    5.53% Critical Chance(9.04% with 7 )
    Use in all content

Attributes

Attributes are the one part of the build where the damage vs survivability trade-off heavily favors survivability. Going 64 Health instead of 64 Magicka costs you 4.3% DPS and gives you 8277 Max Health, which is a 31% increase. Your healing scales with your Max Health, so it gets bigger too. That's why 64 Health is the default here.

If a fight is easy enough that you don't need the extra Health, you can put everything into Magicka for up to 4.5% more damage, or split it 32/32 for something in between. If you're running , switch back to when you move out of Health, since Green Dragon's healing scales off your Max Health.

Health
64
Magicka
0
Stamina
0
Attributes Simulated Parse Damage Change
64 Magicka
59.6k DPS
+4.5%
32 Health / 32 Magicka
58.3k DPS
+2.1%
64 Health
57.1k DPS
Baseline

Food

  • Default

    Max Health +5,414 Max Magicka +4,938
    The default option. Gives Max Health and Max Magicka.
    Cheaper alternative
    Difference Max Health +5,395 −19 Max Magicka +4,936 −2
  • Situational

    Max Health +4,620 Max Stamina +4,250 Max Magicka +4,250 Health Recovery +462
    Slightly lower damage and slightly less Max Health, but it gives you Max Stamina, so you have a bigger Stamina pool if you need a few more dodge rolls.
  • Sustain

    Max Health +5,395 Stamina Recovery +493
    Provides Stamina Recovery at the cost of Maximum Magicka. It will lower your damage, but it's very useful for fights where you have to dodge roll a lot.
  • Sustain

    Max Health +4,312 Health Recovery +406 Stamina Recovery +369 Magicka Recovery +369
    Provides Magicka and Stamina Recovery at the cost of Maximum Magicka, and has less Max Health and Stamina Recovery than . Only worth it if you have to spam during some phase, since most of the time heavy attacking takes care of your Magicka sustain.
    Cheaper alternative
    Difference Max Health +3,927 −385 Health Recovery — −406 Stamina Recovery +357 −12 Magicka Recovery +357 −12
Setup Simulated Parse Damage Change
57.1k DPS
Baseline
56.9k DPS
-0.4%
55.4k DPS
-3.0%
55.4k DPS
-3.0%

Potions

  • Default

    Restore Health
    Since your sustain is being taken care of by the fact that Heavy Attacks restore resources, you can instead use the Armor potions, which will increase your armor by 5280.
    Craft with: Bugloss Mountain Flower Mudcrab Chitin
  • Situational

    Restore Magicka Restore Stamina
    Bi-Stat Force potions give you 15.7 second , so they're the option if going for pure damage, but it's a decent nerf to your survivability. They also restore Stamina, which helps if you have to dodge roll a lot.
    Craft with: Fossilized Verminous Bones Columbine Lady's Smock
Setup Simulated Parse Damage Change
58.3k DPS
+2.1%
57.1k DPS
Baseline

Parses

All parses are recorded on the 6 million Target Dummy

Base Setup
59,366 DPS
Base Setup
59,366DPS
6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch
Update 51
Armor
3 Light / 3 Medium / 1 Heavy
Gear Setup
Base
Skill Setup
Base
Potion
Food
Mundus
Race
Nord
CMX Parse
CMX Setup
Recording

Gameplay

March of Sacrifices
Solo Dungeon
Moon Hunter Keep
Solo Dungeon
March of Sacrifices
Solo Dungeon 3 Misfortunes
Moon Hunter Keep
Solo Dungeon 3 Misfortunes
March of Sacrifices 3 Misfortunes Log
Patch: Update 51
Moon Hunter Keep 3 Misfortunes Log
Patch: Update 51

Fashion

Outfit
Heavy Attack Dragonknight fashion screenshot
Slot Style Dyes
Head Annihilarch's Chosen HelmetAnnihilarch's Chosen Helmet
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Legate's Black
Shoulders Annihilarch's Chosen PauldronsAnnihilarch's Chosen Pauldrons
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Chest Scorianite Gladiator JackScorianite Gladiator Jack
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Hands Annihilarch's Chosen GauntletsAnnihilarch's Chosen Gauntlets
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Belt Annihilarch's Chosen GirdleAnnihilarch's Chosen Girdle
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Empty
Legs Annihilarch's Chosen GreavesAnnihilarch's Chosen Greaves
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Feet Annihilarch's Chosen SabatonsAnnihilarch's Chosen Sabatons
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Frontbar Staff Iron Atronach StaffIron Atronach Staff
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Backbar Staff Annihilarch's Chosen StaffAnnihilarch's Chosen Staff
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
Heavy Attack Dragonknight fashion screenshot
Collectibles
Slot Collectible
Skin Deadlands ScorcherDeadlands Scorcher

FAQ

Yes. gives you for 30 seconds, so you don't have to recast a Mages Guild ability every 10 seconds like other Heavy Attack builds do, and it's very easy to play. Damage is only a bit higher than Heavy Attack Sorcerer though, and it cleared Solo Moon Hunter Keep and Solo March of Sacrifices with 3 Misfortunes.

The Base setup uses , , , and . If you're a beginner, the Crafted setup uses only craftable sets.

Khajiit, Dark Elf and High Elf do the most damage, around 3.8% more than Nord. Nord is the best race for survivability, with around 5-7% damage mitigation from .

Yes. This is a pure class setup, so it keeps Dragonknight skill lines and uses Class Masteries instead of subclassing.

Yes. 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.

Yes, for Infinite Archive Arcs 1-4. Those arcs are still close enough to normal solo 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. Use the Base skill and gear setups for both Maelstrom Arena and Vateshran Hollows.

Builds ESO Solo Builds ESO solo builds proven to clear Veteran Hard Mode DLC Dungeons. Tested with recordings and logs. Covers all classes and playstyles.


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