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Magicka Sorcerer Solo Build
ESO Guide

Solo Nightblade Sorcerer Subclass Pure Class Magicka Two Bar
Up to date for: Update 49 - 21st March 2026
Last changed: Update 47 - 28th August 2025

Magicka Sorcerer Solo Build for ESO (also known as MagSorc). MagSorc has extremely good healing thanks to Critical Surge skill icon - ESOCritical Surge and Blood Magic passive icon - ESOBlood Magic passive which procs every time you use Crystal Fragments skill icon - ESOCrystal Fragments. Hurricane skill icon - ESOHurricane is a Major Resolve skill that also deals very good damage.

The build uses Nightblade's Assassination as a subclass, swapping out Daedric Summoning because pets are extremely bad for solo content. Assassination gives access to Relentless Focus skill icon - ESORelentless Focus and Soul Harvest skill icon - ESOSoul Harvest, both strong abilities. Relentless Focus skill icon - ESORelentless Focus is also very cheap on Stamina which helps with sustain, and Soul Harvest skill icon - ESOSoul Harvest also generates a lot of Ultimate from kills. It's a significant damage boost and the Sorcerer playstyle doesn't change at all. Pure class setups are also included if you don't want to subclass.

Capable of soloing every Veteran Dungeon that doesn't have a mechanic requiring multiple people, and most Hard Mode Dungeons. Soloed Veteran Bedlam Veil. Parses 66.7k in the regular setup and 56.9k in the crafted setup.

Looking for something simpler? Check out the One Bar Magicka Sorcerer Solo Build which can also solo Veteran Hard Mode dungeons with a single skill bar.

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Subclassing

Subclassing is optional

Subclassing isn't mandatory and the build includes pure class skill setups

Dark Magic skill line - ESO
Dark Magic
Sorcerer
Storm Calling skill line - ESO
Storm Calling
Sorcerer
Assassination skill line - ESO
Assassination
Nightblade

In this build, I'm trying to stick with the Sorcerer theme, which is why we subclass the Daedric Summoning skill line into Nightblade's Assassination. While there are skill lines that would provide more power, such as Herald of the Tome, these skill lines would require us to completely change our playstyle by for example focusing on Beam or Runeblades. Assassination provides a lot of power with very little change in gameplay, allowing us to preserve the "Sorcerer" theme.

If you're looking for the most powerful Subclass combination that doesn't care about keeping the Sorcerer theme, you should look at the Strongest Subclass Solo Build instead

Skill Setups

Base Setup

A base setup that will work for most situations and which should be your starting point when making situational setups

Crystal Fragments skill icon - ESO Ulfsild's Contingency skill icon - ESO Relentless Focus skill icon - ESO Barbed Trap skill icon - ESO Traveling Knife skill icon - ESO Soul Harvest skill icon - ESO
Hurricane skill icon - ESO Critical Surge skill icon - ESO Elemental Susceptibility skill icon - ESO Elemental Blockade skill icon - ESO Soul Burst skill icon - ESO Shooting Star skill icon - ESO
Front Bar Back Bar
Slot 1: Crystal Fragments Slot 1: Hurricane
Slot 2: Ulfsild's Contingency Slot 2: Critical Surge
Slot 3: Relentless Focus Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility
Slot 4: Barbed Trap Slot 4: Elemental Blockade
Slot 5: Traveling Knife Slot 5: Soul Burst
Ultimate: Soul Harvest Ultimate: Shooting Star
INFO
  • Crystal Fragments - a spammable which will heal you for 10% of Max HP thanks to the Blood Magic passive. Casting any ability has a 33% chance to make next Crystal Fragments cast stronger and cheaper
  • Ulfsild's Contingency (Shock, Lingering Torment, Intellect and Endurance) - a 22 second DoT which also grants you Minor Intellect and Endurance, increasing your Stamina and Magicka Recoveries by 15%. It can also be used as an AoE spammable.
  • Relentless Focus - an ability that will cause your Light Attacks to generate up to 10 stacks. You can spend 4 stacks to fire a powerful arrow that also heals you if you're in Melee range. It will also passively grant you Major Savagery and Prophecy.
  • Barbed Trap - a DoT that will also apply Hemorrhage status effect at the start and grant you Minor Force buff, increasing your Critical Damage by 10%. It will also passively grant you 3% Weapon and Spell Damage through the Slayer passive
  • Traveling Knife (Physical, Lingering Torment, Berserk) - a 20 second DoT which grants you Minor Berserk, increasing your damage done by 5%
  • Soul Harvest - a cheap ultimate that increases target's damage taken from you by 20%. This is the ultimate you should use in Single Target fights. Having it slotted will also cause you to regain 10 Ultimate whenever you deal a final blow against an enemy
  • Hurricane - your source of Major Resolve which is a crucial defensive buff, and it also deals decent damage
  • Critical Surge - your source of Major Brutality and Sorcery that will also heal you for 3300 whenever you deal critical damage, up to once every second. The heal itself can also be a critical heal
  • Elemental 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, which is always going to happen at the beginning when you cast Elemental Susceptibility. Minor Brittle increase Critical Damage taken by 10%. The Chilled proc will also synergise with our Elemental Blockade
  • Elemental Blockade - this ability will constantly apply your Weapon Damage enchantment. It will also constantly apply Minor Breach to enemies who are Chilled, and they'll be Chilled thanks to Elemental Susceptibility
  • Soul Burst (Shock, Lingering Torment, Courage) - an AoE DoT which grants you Minor Courage, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 215
  • Shooting Star - a powerful ultimate that deals damage in an AoE and grants you Ultimate for each enemy hit with the initial blast, up to 6 enemies. Use it in AoE fights or when you start fights with high amount of Ultimate stored up
SITUATIONAL

Soul Burst is the first skill that has to go when you need to slot something situational, unless the situational skill specifically says that it's replacing something else. If it has to be a frontbarred skill then the first skill that has to go is Ulfsild's Contingency

  • Resolving Vigor - use it for more difficult fights where the pressure is constant and thus you need the Minor Resolve. It can also be used as your main source of healing in fights with invulnerability phases where you can't heal with Ring of the Pale Order or Critical Surge
  • Silver Leash - a chain ability that you can slot in trash packs to stack enemies and get through them faster
  • Ulfsild's Contingency (Shock, Gladiator's Tenacity, Force) - a replacement for Barbed Trap in fights where you need more damage mitigation. It's a delayed AoE damage that also grants you 8% damage reduction for 8 seconds and Minor Force for 22 seconds, which increases your Critical Damage by 10%. You should recast it every 8 seconds when under pressure and every 22 seconds otherwise
  • Razor Caltrops - a source of AoE Major Breach for trash fights or boss fights with lots of important adds
  • Revealing 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 Aid passive, which increases Magicka Recovery by 10%
  • Precognition - 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
  • Ball of Lightning - an ability that teleports you forward. Use it in fights where you need more mobility or in fights where this teleport allows you to invalidate some mechanic
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 with lots of damage mitigation for bosses that hit very hard

Crystal Fragments skill icon - ESO Revealing Flare skill icon - ESO Relentless Focus skill icon - ESO Ulfsild's Contingency skill icon - ESO Traveling Knife skill icon - ESO Soul Harvest skill icon - ESO
Hurricane skill icon - ESO Critical Surge skill icon - ESO Elemental Susceptibility skill icon - ESO Elemental Blockade skill icon - ESO Resolving Vigor skill icon - ESO Shooting Star skill icon - ESO
Front Bar Back Bar
Slot 1: Crystal Fragments Slot 1: Hurricane
Slot 2: Revealing Flare Slot 2: Critical Surge
Slot 3: Relentless Focus Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility
Slot 4: Ulfsild's Contingency Slot 4: Elemental Blockade
Slot 5: Traveling Knife Slot 5: Resolving Vigor
Ultimate: Soul Harvest Ultimate: Shooting Star

What Changes

Passives

The only passive you specifically have to skip is Tri Focus passive - ESOTri Focus

Class

Weapon

Armor

Guild

Alliance War

Racial

Craft

Class - Dark Magic

Unholy Knowledge - Medium Priority

Blood Magic - High Priority

Persistence - Low Priority

Exploitation - High Priority

Gear

Base Setup

A base setup that will work for most situations and which 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

Don't stress too much about obtaining the best gear. The DPS difference between the best gear and crafted gear is only 14.76% (66,761 DPS vs 56,904 DPS), and the difference is even smaller in Overland content such as World Bosses because the best gear includes Minor Slayer which doesn't work there

Default setup

If you want to switch to a situational set it's best to replace Ansuul's Torment if the situational set you're getting has a Minor Slayer line, and replace Beacon of Oblivion otherwise.

For example, a default setup for trash packs would replace Ansuul's Torment with Sul-Xan's Torment

Situational

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

  • Sul-Xan's Torment - the best set for trash packs and for bosses that regularly spawn smaller adds
  • Order's Wrath - better than Ansuul's Torment in Overland content where you don't benefit from the Minor Slayer and penetration bonus lines
  • Vestments of Olorime - provides 430 Weapon and Spell Damage, 5% damage reduction from Minor Aegis and can be back-barred without losing anything, allowing for much more flexibility with gear. It's the ideal set for more difficult fights
  • Roksa the Warped - a monster set which provides a lot of sustain. You'll only have space for it when back-barring Vestments of Olorime
  • Armor of the Trainee - 1 piece bonus of this set provides 1454 max health. It also comes in any weight so we can use it on the chest piece, which combined with the Reinforced trait will provide a lot of armor
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

No Overland, Dungeon or Trial gear is listed as the Crafted options are superior.

Additional Info

Additional tips

  • Use two Daggers instead of Dagger/Mace if you intend to focus on non-instanced content, where enemies have less armor

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 weight distribution of the setup from the table is 1 Heavy 1 Medium 5 Light so that you can start leveling up all your armor skill lines. Once you transition to Regular setup you'll be using 1 Medium 6 Light most of the time, switching to 1 Heavy 1 Medium 5 Light only against more difficult fights

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

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
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Champion Points

Warfare
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
When soloing extremely difficult dungeons, replace Wrathful Strikes and Fighting Finesse with 2 of the 4 mitigation CPs (Ironclad, Duelist's Rebuff, Enduring Resolve, Unassailable)
More Healing
Reaving Blows is another decent Blue CP for when you need more HPS
Fitness
Boundless Vitality
1400 Max Health
Survivability
Siphoning Spells
1500 Magicka on kills
Sustain
Rejuvenation
90 Health, Stamina and Magicka Recovery
Sustain
Fortified
1731 Armor
Survivability
Block Mitigation
Use Bracing Anchor in fights where you have to block a lot attacks and where you don't have to move that much
Movement Speed
Use Celerity in fights where you have to move a lot
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 Ambush passive.
Feline Ambush 12% Critical Damage
Nimble 915 Max Health, Stamina and Magicka
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. Rugged provides around 5-7% damage mitigation (depending on your current armor), making difficult content significantly more forgiving without sacrificing much damage.
Rugged 2600 armor
Stalwart 1500 Max Stamina, 0.5 Ultimate per second
Reveler 1000 Max Health, 4620 Frost Resistance

Mundus

The Shadow Mundus Stone - ESO
Default
The Shadow
11% Critical Damage (17% with 7 Divines)
When to use
Use most of the time. It increases your Critical Damage
The Thief Mundus Stone - ESO
Situational
The Thief
5.53% Critical Chance (9.04% with 7 Divines)
When to use
When not utilising Subclassing. It increases your Critical Chance
The Lady Mundus Stone - ESO
Difficult Content
The Lady
2744 Armor (4489 with 7 Divines)
When to use
Consider switching for extremely difficult dungeons. It increases your Armor

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 can vary greatly because it's impacted by your armor weight composition, your race and how much blocking/dodge rolling you're required to do in a certain fight. Choose the food with more recoveries if you can't sustain

Max Health Max Magicka
The default option. Solitude Salmon-Millet Soup food - ESOSolitude Salmon-Millet Soup is a cheaper alternative.
Max Health Magicka Recovery
Use it when you need more Magicka Recovery.
Max Health Stamina Recovery Magicka Recovery
Use it when you can't sustain your Magicka skills and also need more Stamina Recovery for blocking or dodge rolling. Jewels of Misrule drink - ESOJewels of Misrule is a cheaper alternative.

Potions

Tri-Stat Potion
Default Tri-Stat Potion
Restore Health Restore Stamina Restore Magicka

Most of the time you should use Tri-Stat potions. They'll greatly improve your sustain.

Heroism Potion
Situational Heroism Potion
Minor Heroism Restore Stamina Restore Magicka

Heroism potions provide 100% uptime on Minor Heroism which generates Ultimate, but they're extremely expensive.

Parses

All parses are recorded on the 6 million Target Dummy

Regular Setup
66,761DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 47

Using Regular setup

CMX Parse
Magicka Sorcerer Solo CMX Parse - Regular Setup - ESO
CMX Setup
Magicka Sorcerer Solo CMX Setup - Regular Setup - ESO
Recording
Parse recording
Crafted Setup
56,904DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 47

Using Crafted Only gear setup

CMX Parse
Magicka Sorcerer Solo CMX Parse - Crafted Setup - ESO
CMX Setup
Magicka Sorcerer Solo CMX Setup - Crafted Setup - ESO

Gameplay

Here you can see this build tackling Veteran dungeons

Bedlam Veil
Dungeon
Bedlam Veil
Dungeon Veteran

Fashion

Outfit
Magicka Sorcerer fashion screenshot
Slot Style Dyes
Head Shadowrend Mask
Guardian Blue
Legate's Black
Legate's Black
Shoulders Ancient Daedric Pauldrons
Guardian Blue
Chest Ancient Daedric Jerkin
Prefect's Gray
Guardian Blue
Obsidian Black
Hands Fire Drake Gauntlets
Guardian Blue
Guardian Blue
Obsidian Black
Belt Bonemold Girdle
Guardian Blue
Legs Ancient Daedric Guards
Guardian Blue
Prefect's Gray
Guardian Blue
Feet Fire Drake Sabatons
Guardian Blue
Guardian Blue
Obsidian Black
Frontbar Main Hand Ancient Daedric Sword
Empty
Empty
Empty
Frontbar Off Hand Ancient Daedric Sword
Empty
Empty
Empty
Backbar Main Hand Waking Flame Staff
Guardian Blue
Guardian Blue
Guardian Blue
Magicka Sorcerer fashion screenshot

FAQ

Can I use a different weapon?

Yes, you can replace the Dual Wield Daggers with other weapons. Greatsword, Lightning Staff and Bow will cause the smallest DPS loss (≈2%), then Inferno (≈4%), and then support-oriented weapons (Ice Staff, Restoration Staff, One Handed and Shield) will cause bigger DPS loss (≈7%). You will also have to replace Traveling Knife skill icon - ESOTraveling Knife with some situational ability, or with an ability from one of the weapons you swapped to (for example Smash skill icon - ESOSmash with the same script combination when switching to Greatsword). Replacing backbar weapon is a lot more troublesome, because Elemental Susceptibility skill icon - ESOElemental Susceptibility is extremely powerful skill for Solo.

Are Sorcerers good for solo in ESO?

Yes, Sorcerer is one of the better classes for solo. Critical Surge skill icon - ESOCritical Surge heals you on every critical hit, Blood Magic passive icon - ESOBlood Magic procs healing every time you use Crystal Fragments skill icon - ESOCrystal Fragments, and Hurricane skill icon - ESOHurricane provides Major Resolve along with strong AoE damage. This build can solo every Veteran Dungeon that doesn't have a mechanic requiring multiple people, and most Hard Mode Dungeons.

What is the best gear for Magicka Sorcerer Solo in ESO?

The best gear for a Magicka Sorcerer Solo build in ESO is Beacon of Oblivion gear set - ESOBeacon of Oblivion with Ansuul's Torment gear set - ESOAnsuul's Torment, Slimecraw gear set - ESOSlimecraw monster set, Ring of the Pale Order gear set - ESORing of the Pale Order, and a Perfected Crushing Wall gear set - ESOPerfected Crushing Wall backbar staff. For overland content, swap Ansuul's Torment gear set - ESOAnsuul's Torment to Order's Wrath gear set - ESOOrder's Wrath because Minor Slayer doesn't work outside of instanced content.

What is the best race for a solo Sorcerer in ESO?

Khajiit is the best race for damage thanks to 12% Critical Damage from Feline Ambush racial passive - ESOFeline Ambush, which won't be wasted in solo content because there are no tanks or healers providing Major Force. Nord is the best race for survivability, providing around 5-7% damage mitigation through the Rugged racial passive - ESORugged racial passive.

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

No, the base setup from this guide works for both Maelstrom Arena and Vateshran Hollows without any changes.

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