Last updated: Update 49 on PTS - 21st 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: 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 |
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
Disintegrating Dragonfire, or
Searing Claw if you need a lot of AoE damage for that fight.
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
| 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: 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 |
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 - 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 |
Medium | |||
![]() Shoulders |
Medium | |||
![]() Chest |
Medium | |||
![]() 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 |
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,
Order’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
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Head |
Medium | |||
![]() Shoulders |
Medium | |||
![]() Chest |
Medium | |||
![]() 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 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.
Medium Armor ends up dealing less damage than Light Armor in Instanced content since Light Armor provides penetration through
Concentration, but the difference is small (2%) and Medium Armor provides more armor, improves Stamina sustain, reduces Dodge Roll cost and doesn't increase your block cost the way Light Armor does through its
penalties.
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Head |
Light | |||
![]() Shoulders |
Medium | |||
![]() Chest |
Medium | |||
![]() Hands |
Medium | |||
![]() Belt |
Medium | |||
![]() Legs |
Medium | |||
![]() Boots |
Medium | |||
![]() Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
![]() Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
![]() Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
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.
Light Armor allows you to continue using
The Thief Mundus even in Instanced content, thanks to
Concentration passive. It ends up dealing more damage than the Medium Armor Instanced setup, but it has worse survivability.
| 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 |
Dagger | |||
![]() 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.
Most of the time you should use
The Thief Mundus, which increases your Critical Chance.
When using the Medium Armor Instanced setup you have to switch your Mundus to
The Lover, which increases your penetration
For extremely difficult dungeons you should consider switching to
The Lady Mundus, which increases your Armor. Though keep in mind that if you're a Nord using Medium Armor,
Ulfsild's Contingency and Armor Potions, you'll already be at the armor cap and won't benefit from
The Lady
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 is completely trivialized by
Soul of Flame, so you don't need any recoveries from your food
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 Flame. You can craft them by combining
Bugloss,
Mountain's Flower and
Mudcrab Chitin.
Heroism potions (Heroism, Restore Stamina, Restore Magicka) 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 because they're crafted by combining
Dragon Rheum,
Dragon's Blood and
Columbine.
72.9k on the 6mil dummy using Full DPS setup
Recording of the 72.9k parse
Food changed to Bewitched Sugar Skulls - 72.2k DPS
Here you can see this build tackling Veteran dungeons and other content
Solo Veteran Hard Mode Scalecaller Peak
Solo Veteran Scrivener's Hall
Solo Normal Trials
Ra Kotu Log - https://www.esologs.com/reports/zQCqVaTANDZfLP3r?fight=29
Lightning Storm Atronach Log - https://www.esologs.com/reports/zQCqVaTANDZfLP3r?fight=35
Possessed Mantikora Log - https://www.esologs.com/reports/zQCqVaTANDZfLP3r?fight=38
Stonebreaker Log - https://www.esologs.com/reports/zQCqVaTANDZfLP3r?fight=41
Solo Night Market Bosses
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