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Hyperioxes

Solo Magicka Sorcerer Build - ESO Guide

Solo Two Bar Magicka Pure Class Sorcerer
Up to date for: Update 50 - 8th July 2026
Last changed: Update 50 - 8th July 2026
Proven in solo
Stone Garden Vet Watch the run → Bedlam Veil Vet Watch the run →

Pure Class Magicka Sorcerer (MagSorc) Solo Build for ESO Update 50. gives you constant healing, while gives you a lot of sustain and makes trigger every second. does a lot of damage in execute.

This setup soloed Veteran Bedlam Veil and parses 67.6k DPS in the Regular setup.

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.

Prefer one bar? 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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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, food, potions, target armor and target health. It tracks skill casts, light attacks, DoT ticks, cooldowns, execute scaling, crits and status effect rolls. It assumes 100% of light attacks hit and a 0.027 second weave average.

Most comparison tables use deterministic rolls on a 15 million HP target unless the row says 6m, random, or real CMX. There is no 15 million Target Dummy in ESO. I use that health value because the 6 million dummy dies too fast, so random crits, status effects and execute timing can move the DPS by a lot.

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. For , deterministic sims treat the 33% proc as one proc every 3 skills.

The baseline sim uses instead of because you can't parse with Sul-Xan on the dummy, and I wanted the simulator checked against a real parse. Sul-Xan comparison rows say whether the Soul buff is active.

Run Simulated DPS Notes
15m deterministic sim
68.2k DPS
Used for most comparison tables
6m deterministic sim
68.1k DPS
Same setup on real dummy health
Real 6m CMX parse
67.6k DPS
Recorded in game
100 random 6m sims
P10 66.7k DPS
P90 69.2k DPS
This is why random parses are unreliable when crits and status effects roll differently
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Class Mastery

Class Masteries are a new U50 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

Sorcerer Class Mastery

Static Reverberation

The battlefield crackles with untapped potential. Make use of it.

When you deal damage, you have a 5% chance to deal Shock Damage, up to once every 0.3 seconds.

The chance increases by 1% for every 1% missing Health the target has. The chance is divided by 1 plus every permanent pet you have active.

Shock Damage

Coefficient31.56% Weapon or Spell Damage
Status Chance10%
TagsShockSingle TargetDirect

Notes

Does a lot of damage in execute.

Sorcerer Class Mastery

Conservation of Energy

Spellcasting is second nature to you. A skill honed by tireless study.

Upgrades rank 2 of to work with all abilities with a cost, excluding cost per tick abilities, and restores Magicka and Stamina when it activates.

Magicka

Coefficient2% Max Magicka

Stamina

Coefficient2% Max Stamina

Notes

Gives you a lot of sustain and makes trigger every second.

Situational

Sorcerer Class Mastery

Calculated Defense

Success is a certainty when nothing is left to chance.

While beginning to use a Sorcerer ability or an ability with a cast time, you gain a damage shield for 0.5 seconds that can absorb Damage Shield. This effect is based off your Max Health. If the shield does not break, you and nearby group members gain 6% Weapon and Spell Damage for 20 seconds.

Damage Shield

Coefficient33% Max Health
TagsDamage ShieldSingle TargetDirect

Notes

Replace with if you need more survivability.

Sorcerer Class Mastery

Font of Power

Within you is a wellspring of near unlimited power.

Upgrades rank 2 of to work with any Sorcerer ability and increases your Weapon and Spell Damage for 10 seconds. The Weapon and Spell Damage increases by 1% for every 1750 Max Magicka or Stamina you have, whichever is higher.

Notes

Useful when using weapons different than Dual Wield, see Front Bar Weapons

Not worth it

Sorcerer Class Mastery

Sphere of Influence

Magicka extends your reach, a benefit to those who fight beside you.

Casting a damage shield on yourself or an ally grants an additional shield that absorbs up to Damage Shield for 4 seconds and 225 Health, Magicka, and Stamina Recovery for 12 seconds.

Damage Shield

Coefficient15% higher Max Health or Max Magicka
Cap25% of target's Max Health
TagsDamage ShieldSingle TargetDirect

Notes

Not worth it for this setup.

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: Traveling Knife Slot 1: HurricaneMorph of Lightning Form
Slot 2: Liquid LightningMorph of Lightning Splash Slot 2: Critical SurgeMorph of Surge
Slot 3: Bound ArmamentsMorph of Bound Armor Slot 3: Elemental SusceptibilityMorph of Weakness to Elements
Slot 4: Crystal FragmentsMorph of Crystal Shard Slot 4: Elemental BlockadeMorph of Wall of Elements
Slot 5: Ulfsild's Contingency Slot 5: Barbed Trap
Ultimate: Power OverloadMorph of Overload Ultimate: Summon Charged AtronachMorph of Summon Storm Atronach
  • ( , , ) - a spammable which increases chance to apply Status Effects on affected enemies by 100% for 10 seconds, and grants you for 20 seconds, increasing your damage done by 5%.
  • - a 15 second ground DoT which grants you the Conduit synergy which deals damage around you.
  • - passively gives you and , increasing your Critical Chance by 12%. Your Light and Heavy Attacks build stacks, and at 4 stacks you can cast it to send 4 blades at your target. The tooltip doesn't say it, but these blades have an increased chance to proc Status Effects, and since this is basically 4 hits in one ability, it procs a lot of .
  • - is an ability that has 33% chance to become empowered whenever you use an ability with a cost. Use it whenever it procs. This ability will proc the passive, increasing your Critical Chance by 6%.
  • ( , , ) - deals damage in an AoE, applies a 22 second DoT and grants you , increasing your armor by 2974. It is delayed until the next ability with a cost.
  • - an ultimate we won't be using most of the time, but we'll keep slotted on frontbar for the passive 108 Weapon and Spell Damage from passive.
  • - your source of which is a crucial defensive buff, and it also deals decent damage.
  • - your source of and 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
  • - an extremely strong ability that does a multitude of things. It's completely free to cast so it'll help you sustain. It applies , which reduces enemies' armor by 5948 which is a massive damage increase. It also applies , and status effects at the beginning and then every 7.5 seconds. All of these Status Effects deal decent damage, but will also apply for 4 seconds, increasing enemies' damage taken by 5%. will also apply for 4 seconds, reducing enemies' damage done by 5%
  • - a 15 second ground DoT which constantly applies your enchantment and deals more damage thanks to .
  • - a DoT that applies and grants you , increasing your Critical Damage by 10%.
  • - the most powerful ultimate Sorcerer has access to. It will also keep proccing status effect which will keep up the debuff, which increases enemies' damage taken by 5%

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

  • - 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. It replaces since both apply .
  • - a chain ability that you can slot in trash packs to stack enemies and get through them faster
  • - a source of AoE Major Breach which can be used instead of in AoE fights
  • - a source of for trash packs
  • ( , , ) - a different script combination which trades the DoT from for the mitigation from . Use it in fights where you need more damage mitigation.
  • - slot it for more difficult fights where you need more damage mitigation. It's a skill that passively grants , reducing your damage taken by 10%. It will also trigger the passive, which increases Magicka Recovery by 10%.
  • - 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 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 Simulated Parse Damage Change
Priority List
68.2k DPS
Baseline
Static Rotation
64.6k DPS
-5.3%

Priority List

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. when ready
  • 2.
  • 3. - refresh 1 second early
  • 4.
  • 5.
  • 6. when procced
  • 7.
  • 8.
  • 9. at 4 stacks
  • 10. - refresh 1 second early
  • 11.

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: Traveling Knife Slot 1: HurricaneMorph of Lightning Form
Slot 2: Liquid LightningMorph of Lightning Splash Slot 2: Critical SurgeMorph of Surge
Slot 3: Bound ArmamentsMorph of Bound Armor Slot 3: Razor CaltropsMorph of Caltrops
Slot 4: Silver LeashMorph of Silver Bolts Slot 4: Elemental BlockadeMorph of Wall of Elements
Slot 5: Ulfsild's Contingency Slot 5: Channeled Acceleration
Ultimate: Power OverloadMorph of Overload Ultimate: Summon Charged AtronachMorph of Summon Storm Atronach

What Changes

Changes compared to the Base Setup

  • replaces
  • replaces
  • replaces

Skill Setup Comparison

Setup Simulated Parse Damage Change
Regular
68.2k DPS
Baseline
Tanky
63.1k DPS
-7.5%

Passives

Some trees are only needed when using situational skills, for example Psijic Order provides nothing without

Class

Weapon

Armor

Guild

Alliance War

Racial

Craft

Class - Dark Magic

Unholy Knowledge - Medium Priority

Blood Magic - Medium Priority

Persistence - Low Priority

Exploitation - High Priority

Gear

Overland (Base) is your starting point and works for most situations. Crafted is a beginner version using only craftable sets. Instanced is a swap for Arenas and Dungeons where enemies have higher armor.

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 Light
ChestChest Medium
HandsHands Light
BeltBelt Light
LegsLegs Medium
FeetBoots Light
NeckNecklace Jewelry
RingRing Jewelry
RingRing Jewelry
MainhandFrontbar Main Hand Dagger
OffhandFrontbar Off Hand Dagger
MainhandBackbar Main Hand Lightning Staff

Fallback Gear

Look here You dont need the Trial gear. Crafted is only about a 7.9% damage loss against Overland enemies compared to .
Body
Beacon of Oblivion - Class Set (Infinite Archive)

If you don't have it, use in order

  1. - Crafted
  2. - Trial Set (Dreadsail Reef)
  3. - Class Set (Infinite Archive)
  4. - Crafted
Weapons and Jewelry
Sul-Xan's Torment - Trial Set (Rockgrove)

If you don't have it, use in order

  1. - Trial Set (Lucent Citadel)
  2. - Trial Set (Dreadsail Reef)
  3. - Class Set (Infinite Archive)
  4. - Crafted
  5. - Crafted
Monster Helm
Slimecraw - Monster Set (Wayrest Sewers I)

Alternative (same bonus)

  1. - Direfrost Keep
  2. - Scalecaller Peak
  3. - Moongrave Fane
  4. - Stone Garden
  5. - Bedlam Veil
  6. - Night Market

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.

Gear Set Comparisons

Damage comparison for the set options.

Instanced Enemy - 18,200 Armor

All of these use 6 Light / 1 Medium and .

Weapons + Jewelry

Compares + X weapons and jewelry set.

Source
Set Source Simulated Parse Damage Change
Trial - Sanity's Edge
Interrupt 74.1k DPS
No Interrupt 67.8k DPS
+3.9% -4.9%
Trial - Rockgrove
Soul 71.3k DPS
No Soul 64.3k DPS
Baseline -9.8%
Trial - Lucent Citadel
68.5k DPS
-3.9%
Trial - Dreadsail Reef
68.2k DPS
-4.3%
Crafted
67.0k DPS
-6.0%
Dungeon - Exiled Redoubt
66.3k DPS
-7.0%
Class Set - Infinite Archive
66.2k DPS
-7.2%
Dungeon - Unhallowed Grave
65.9k DPS
-7.6%
Dungeon - Frostvault
65.7k DPS
-7.9%
Crafted
65.6k DPS
-8.0%
Crafted
65.3k DPS
-8.4%
Overland - West Weald
65.2k DPS
-8.6%
Dungeon - Falkreath Hold
64.0k DPS
-10.2%
Overland - Deshaan
63.8k DPS
-10.5%
Crafted
63.8k DPS
-10.5%
PvP - Cyrodiil
63.7k DPS
-10.7%
Overland - Wrothgar
63.5k DPS
-10.9%
Crafted
63.3k DPS
-11.2%
Overland - Blackwood
63.1k DPS
-11.5%
Crafted ( + ) Crafted
62.7k DPS
-12.1%

Front Bar Weapons

Daggers are the default weapon. Lightning Staff is the best ranged weapon when mechanics make melee annoying.

Front Bar Weapon Additional Changes Simulated Parse Damage Change
Dual Wield Daggers none
68.2k DPS
Baseline
Lightning Staff ->
67.4k DPS
-1.2%
Inferno Staff ->
66.1k DPS
-3.1%
Bow ->
66.2k DPS
-2.9%
Greatsword ->
65.9k DPS
-3.4%
Ice Staff ->
64.5k DPS
-5.5%
Restoration Staff ->
62.5k DPS
-8.4%
One Handed and Shield ->
63.6k DPS
-6.7%

Traits and enchants: Daggers use and . Every one-weapon option uses a weapon. One Handed and Shield uses a one handed weapon plus a shield.

Rows using also use and instead of and . gives and , which allows you to sustain .

Situational Swaps

Alternative setups for different goals and content types

  • replaces if you want more damage, but you lose self-healing and it also drains Ultimate. Do not spend Ultimate.
  • Use in fights where you can interrupt something at least once every 30 seconds.
  • Replace in fights with no adds. is the strongest fallback. Use if you don't have it.

Additional Tips

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

Warfare
6% Direct Damage
Because more than 60% of your damage is Direct
6% Single Target Damage
Because more than 60% of your damage is Single Target
8% Critical Damage and Healing
Next strongest CP damage-wise
205 Weapon and Spell Damage
Next strongest CP damage-wise
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
Survivability
1500 Magicka on kills
Sustain
90 Health, Magicka and Stamina Recovery
Sustain
1731 Armor
Survivability
Block Mitigation
Use in fights where you need to block a lot and can afford to be slower
Movement Speed
Use in fights where you have to move a lot
Sustain in fights with lots of adds
Use if you need more Stamina in fights with lots of adds
Craft
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 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 DLC Dungeons. provides around 5-7% damage mitigation, depending on your current armor, 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
Khajiit
72.2k DPS
+5.8%
Dark Elf
71.4k DPS
+4.6%
High Elf
71.4k DPS
+4.6%
Orc
70.5k DPS
+3.3%
Wood Elf
69.4k DPS
+1.7%
Breton
69.3k DPS
+1.6%
Argonian
68.8k DPS
+0.9%
Imperial
68.2k DPS
+0.0%
Nord
68.2k DPS
Baseline
Redguard
68.2k DPS
+0.0%

Mundus

  • Default

    5.53% Critical Chance(9.04% with 7 )
    Use it as the default. It increases your Critical Chance.
  • Difficult Content

    2744 Armor(4489 with 7 )
    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, and for the extremely difficult stuff you'll need 64 Health.

Health
0
Magicka
64
Stamina
0
All points into Magicka. Use it for most content.
Health
32
Magicka
32
Stamina
0
Split evenly between Health and Magicka. Use this whenever you start to struggle.
Health
64
Magicka
0
Stamina
0
All points into Health. Use this for very difficult fights.
Attributes Simulated Parse Damage Change
64 Magicka
68.2k DPS
Baseline
32 Health / 32 Magicka
66.3k DPS
-2.8%
64 Health
64.2k DPS
-5.9%

The damage loss from changing attributes is small enough that you should move points into Health whenever you need it.

Food

  • Default

    Max Health +5,414 Max Magicka +4,938
    The sustain from allows us to use Bi-Stat Food as the default.
  • Sustain

    Max Health +4,312 Health Recovery +406 Stamina Recovery +369 Magicka Recovery +369
    Use this if you need more sustain. It trades Max Magicka for Stamina and Magicka Recovery.
    Cheaper alternative
    Difference Max Health +3,927 −385 Health Recovery — −406 Stamina Recovery +357 −12 Magicka Recovery +357 −12

Potions

  • Default

    Restore Health
    The default option. Gives you 5,280 Armor, which is a lot of damage mitigation.
    Craft with: Bugloss Mountain Flower Mudcrab Chitin
  • Sustain

    Restore Health Restore Stamina Restore Magicka
    Use this if you need more sustain. It restores Stamina and Magicka on use, and also grants you Major Endurance and Major Intellect.
    Craft with: Columbine Bugloss Mountain Flower
  • Sustain

    Restore Magicka Restore Stamina
    Use this if you need more sustain. Basically a , but with the useless Restore Health changed to . It's straight up an upgrade over , but expensive to craft.
    Craft with: Dragon Rheum Dragon's Blood Columbine

Parses

All parses are recorded on the 6 million Target Dummy

Regular Setup
67,601 DPS
Regular Setup
67,601DPS
6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch
Update 50
Armor
6 Light / 1 Medium
Gear Setup
Instanced No Sul-Xan
Skill Setup
Regular
Potion
Food
Mundus
Race
Nord
CMX Parse
Magicka Sorcerer Solo CMX parse - Regular setup
CMX Setup
Magicka Sorcerer Solo CMX setup - Regular setup
Recording
Magicka Sorcerer Solo parse recording

Gameplay

Stone Garden
Dungeon
Bedlam Veil
Dungeon
Stone Garden
Dungeon Veteran
Bedlam Veil
Dungeon Veteran
Stone Garden Veteran Log
Patch: Update 50
Bedlam Veil Veteran Log Guide
Patch: Update 49

FAQ

Yes. Critical Surge gives you constant healing and Conservation of Energy keeps your sustain high, so staying alive solo is rarely an issue. It soloed Veteran Bedlam Veil in Update 49 and handles World Bosses, the solo arenas, Infinite Archive Arcs 1-4, and Veteran Dungeons.

Yes. The Crafted setup is the beginner version, using only craftable sets with no dungeon or trial farming. Crafted gear is tradable, so you can make the whole setup yourself or buy it from other players, which makes it the easiest starting point when you are new or undergeared.

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

Nord is the best all-round pick for solo. The armor from Rugged is worth the small damage loss in hard content, which is why I use it for soloing Veteran DLC dungeons. If you only care about damage, Khajiit parses 5.8% higher, High Elf parses 5.3% higher, and Dark Elf parses 4.9% higher.

Yes, but non-Dual-Wield weapons need the additional changes from the front bar weapon table. Daggers are still best, and Lightning Staff is the best ranged option. Lightning Staff does 1.2% less damage, Inferno Staff does 3.1% less, Greatsword does 3.4% less, Bow does 2.9% less, Ice Staff does 5.5% less, Restoration Staff does 8.4% less, and Sword and Shield does 6.7% less.

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 skills and the Instanced gear setup for both Maelstrom Arena and Vateshran Hollows.

See all Solo Builds

Comparing solo classes? See my ESO Solo Class Tier List.

THANKS FOR READING

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