Heavy Attack Warden Solo Guide & Build | ESO

Table of contents

Skill Setups
Gear
Champion Points
Race
Mundus
Attributes
Food
Potions
Gameplay

Last updated: Update 44 - 25th January 2025

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.

SKILL SETUPS

Front Bar	Back Bar
Slot 1: Ulfsild's Contingency	Slot 1: Ice Fortress
Slot 2: Deep Fissure	Slot 2: Lotus Blossom
Slot 3: Bull Netch	Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility
Slot 4: Screaming Cliff Racer	Slot 4: Elemental Blockade
Slot 5: Banner Bearer	Slot 5: Banner Bearer
Ultimate: Wild Guardian	Ultimate: Wild Guardian

SCRIBING:

Use the Frost, Gladiator's Tenacity and Force combination on your Ulfsild's Contingency
Use the Magic, Cavalier's Charge and Berserk combination on your Banner Bearer
Use Scalding Rune instead of Ulfsild's Contingency if you don't have access to Scribing
Use Bird of Prey (frontbar) and Barbed Trap (backbar) instead of Banner Bearer if you don't have access to Scribing

Front Bar	Back Bar
Slot 1: Ulfsild's Contingency	Slot 1: Resolving Vigor
Slot 2: Ice Fortress	Slot 2: Lotus Blossom
Slot 3: Bull Netch	Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility
Slot 4: Revealing Flare	Slot 4: Elemental Blockade
Slot 5: Banner Bearer	Slot 5: Banner Bearer
Ultimate: Wild Guardian	Ultimate: Wild Guardian

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Whenever you need more bar space for a situational skill, replace frontbar Banner Bearer with Bird of Prey and replace backbar Banner Bearer with the situational skill you need
Another way of gaining a skill slot for a situational skill is replacing Anthelmir’s Construct with Mighty Chudan and ditching Ice Fortress
Shimmering Shield is a very good situational skill for some fights
Structured Entropy is a very good situational skill for some fights
You can change the Cavalier's Charge script on your Banner Bearer to Warmage’s Defense for fights where you need even more survivability, or to Class Mastery when you need more sustain.
You can change the Frost script on your Ulfsild's Contingency to Damage Shield for extremely difficult fights, but it's going to be a rather big damage loss

SCRIBING:

Use the Frost, Gladiator's Tenacity and Force combination on your Ulfsild's Contingency
Use the Mitigation, Cavalier's Charge and Berserk combination on your Banner Bearer
Use Scalding Rune instead of Ulfsild's Contingency if you don't have access to Scribing
Use Bird of Prey (frontbar) and Barbed Trap (backbar) instead of Banner Bearer if you don't have access to Scribing

GEAR

This is the crafted gear setup you can start with.

Gear Slot	Set	Weight/Type	Trait	Enchantment
Head	New Moon Acolyte	Medium	Training /Divines	Magicka
Shoulders	New Moon Acolyte	Medium	Training /Divines	Magicka
Chest	Order's Wrath	Heavy	Training /Reinforced	Magicka
Hands	Order's Wrath	Light	Training /Divines	Magicka
Belt	Order's Wrath	Light	Training /Divines	Magicka
Legs	Order's Wrath	Medium	Training /Divines	Magicka
Boots	Order's Wrath	Light	Training /Divines	Magicka
Necklace	New Moon Acolyte	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Physical Harm
Ring	New Moon Acolyte	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Physical Harm
Ring	New Moon Acolyte	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Physical Harm
Frontbar Main Hand	Assasin's Guile	Lightning Staff	Precise	Absorb Stamina
Backbar Main Hand	Assasin's Guile	Lightning Staff	Infused	Weapon Damage

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Use Training traits if you're still leveling. If you're already max level and have enough Champion Points you can instead use Divines and Reinforced on the chest piece

This is my suggested setup for regular content, such as Solo Arenas, World Bosses, Dolmens, Dragons, Volcanic Vents, Harrowstorms, Mirrormoor Incursions and majority of the dungeons.

Gear Slot	Set	Weight/Type	Trait	Enchantment
Head	Anthelmir's Construct	Medium	Divines	Magicka
Shoulders	Anthelmir's Construct	Medium	Divines	Magicka
Chest	Sergeant's Mail	Heavy	Reinforced	Magicka
Hands	Noble Duelist	Light	Divines	Magicka
Belt	Noble Duelist	Light	Divines	Magicka
Legs	Armor of the Trainee	Medium	Divines	Magicka
Boots	Noble Duelist	Light	Divines	Magicka
Necklace	Sergeant's Mail	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Physical Harm
Ring	Sergeant's Mail	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Physical Harm
Ring	Ring of the Pale Order	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Physical Harm
Frontbar Main Hand	Sergeant's Mail	Lightning Staff	Precise	Absorb Stamina
Backbar Main Hand	Noble Duelist	Lightning Staff	Infused	Weapon Damage

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Replace Anthelmir’s Construct with Mighty Chudan when you need an additional skill slot. When doing that, you should also change the weight of your Head or Shoulder piece from Medium to Light to make up for the lost penetration

This is my suggested setup for soloing extremely difficult fights in dungeons.

Gear Slot	Set	Weight/Type	Trait	Enchantment
Head	Anthelmir's Construct	Medium	Divines /Well-Fitted	Magicka
Shoulders	Anthelmir's Construct	Medium	Divines /Well-Fitted	Magicka
Chest	Sergeant's Mail	Heavy	Reinforced	Magicka
Hands	Vestment of Olorime	Light	Divines /Well-Fitted	Magicka
Belt	Vestment of Olorime	Light	Divines /Well-Fitted	Magicka
Legs	Armor of the Trainee	Medium	Divines /Well-Fitted	Magicka
Boots	Vestment of Olorime	Light	Divines /Well-Fitted	Magicka
Necklace	Sergeant's Mail	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Physical Harm
Ring	Sergeant's Mail	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Physical Harm
Ring	Ring of the Pale Order	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Physical Harm
Frontbar Main Hand	Sergeant's Mail	Lightning Staff	Precise	Absorb Stamina
Backbar Main Hand	Vestment of Olorime	Lightning Staff	Infused	Weapon Damage

ADDITIONAL INFO:

You can change some (or all) of the Magicka enchants to Health ones for extremely hard hitting bosses
Replace Anthelmir’s Construct with Mighty Chudan when you need an additional skill slot. When doing that, you should also change the weight of your Head or Shoulder piece from Medium to Light to make up for the lost penetration

CHAMPION POINTS

Warfare

Weapons Expert (20% Light and Heavy Attack Damage)
Deadly Aim (6% Single Target Damage)
Fighting Finesse (8% Critical Damage and Healing)
Exploiter (10% Damage against Off Balance enemies)

Fitness

Sustained by Suffering (150 Health, Stamina and Magicka Recovery when debuffed)
Fortified (1731 armor)
Celerity (10% Movement Speed)
Rejuvenation (90 Health, Stamina and Magicka Recovery)

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Depending on your Racials you might have to remove some points from Hero’s Vigor so your health is below 30,000 for Piercing Cold passive
Replace Sustained by Suffering with Boundless Vitality for very difficult fights where staying under 30,000 Max Health for Piercing Cold is not possible anyway
When soloing extremely difficult dungeons you should replace Exploiter and Fighting Finesse with 2 of the 4 mitigation CPs (Ironclad, Duelist’s Rebuff, Enduring Resolve, Unassailable)

RACE

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.

MUNDUS

For overland content you should use The Thief Mundus, which increases your Critical Chance.

For instanced content you should use The Lover Mundus, which increases your Penetration.

For extremely difficult dungeons you should consider switching to The Lady Mundus, which increases your Armor.

ATTRIBUTES

HEALTH

STAMINA

MAGICKA

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.

FOOD

You should use the Artaeum Pickled Fish Bowl. If you need a cheaper alternative, Solitude Salmon-Millet Soup provides only slightly lower stats.

Other decent foods:

Orzorga's Tripe Trifle Pocket 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.
Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch provides Magicka and Stamina Recovery at the cost of Maximum Magicka. It will lower your damage, but it’s very useful for fights where you have to both dodge roll a lot and spam your Hardened Ward.

POTIONS

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. You can craft them by combining Bugloss, Mountain's Flower and Mudcrab Chitin.

In fights where you need to dodge roll a lot you can use Tri-Stat potions instead. You can craft them by combining Columbine, Bugloss and Mountain's Flower.

Heroism potions are an expensive alternative to Tri-Stat potions. They provide Minor Heroism on top of the sustain. They're crafted by combining Dragon Rheum, Dragon's Blood and Columbine.