Magicka Warden Solo Build - ESO U50 PTS Guide
Nothing here is final. This page is being built as I test Magicka Warden on the U50 PTS, and ZOS will keep pushing patches until Week 4. Expect the setup, numbers and section details to keep changing until then. If you want the current live version instead, check the current Magicka Warden Solo Build.
Magicka Warden (MagDen) Solo Build for ESO. The build has insane sustain thanks to
Chilling Soul with the
Druid's Resurgence script as the spammable, which restores 600 Stamina and Magicka on every use.
Blue Betty constantly cleanses debuffs, making some fights with purgable DoTs significantly easier.
One of the strongest solo builds right now in Update 50. It deals a lot of damage and is very tanky.
Soloed Veteran Hard Mode Scalecaller Peak, Veteran Hard Mode Falkreath Hold and Veteran Frostvault. Parses 69.4k in the Regular setup.
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 in any capacity disables Class Mastery, so it's a tradeoff between keeping your native skill lines or subclassing.
Use These
Situational Swap
This is the ability you should replace for situational.
Situational
Not worth it
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: Chilling Soul | Slot 1: Ice Fortress |
| Slot 2: Subterranean Assault | Slot 2: Lotus Blossom |
| Slot 3: Blue Betty | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Traveling Knife | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Arctic Blast | Slot 5: Soul Burst |
| Ultimate: Wild Guardian | Ultimate: Northern Storm |
Every Animal Companions ability on your bar will trigger the
Advanced Species passive, increasing your Critical Damage by 5% each
Chilling Soul (
Frost,
Druid's Resurgence,
Intellect and Endurance) - a spammable which restores 600 Stamina and Magicka with each cast. It also grants Minor Intellect and Endurance, increasing Stamina and Magicka Recovery by 15%.
Subterranean Assault - a delayed ability that deals decent damage in an AoE in front of you. The fact that it's a Stamina ability that has to be re-activated every 6 seconds helps with sustaining Magicka.
Blue Betty - grants Major Brutality and Sorcery, sustain, a 5% damage buff and automatically cleanses debuffs every 5 seconds. You can recast it early if you need to cleanse an important debuff.
Traveling Knife (
Poison,
Assassin's Misery,
Force) - a Stamina skill that increases enemies' chance to be affected by Status Effects and grants Minor Force, increasing your Critical Damage by 10%.
Arctic Blast - your AoE spammable, a 20 second DoT around you which deals a lot of damage by proccing the Chilled status effect. It can also be used as a self-heal if there are no enemies around you.
Wild Guardian - front-barred for the 5% Critical Damage bonus from
Advanced Species.
Ice Fortress - your source of Major Resolve, increasing your armor by 5948. It also grants Minor Protection, reducing your damage taken by 5%.
Lotus Blossom - provides Major Savagery and Prophecy plus some passive healing whenever you Light or Heavy Attack. This healing also triggers the
Nature's Gift passive.
Elemental Susceptibility - a free skill that applies Major Breach and keeps applying Burning, Chilled and Concussed over time. Concussed adds Minor Vulnerability, Chilled adds Minor Maim, and Chilled from your Ice Staff bar also adds Minor Brittle.
Elemental Blockade - constantly applies your
Weapon Damage enchantment and keeps applying Minor Breach to enemies who are Chilled.
Soul Burst (
Bleed,
Lingering Torment,
Resolve) - an AoE DoT that grants Minor Resolve, increasing your armor by 2974.
Northern Storm - a powerful ultimate that deals damage in an AoE, increases your Max Magicka and grants Major Protection, reducing your damage taken by 10%.
Soul Burst,
Arctic Blast and
Traveling Knife are the first skills that have to go if you need to slot situational, in that order, unless the situational skill specifically says it's replacing something else
Resolving Vigor - use it for fights where there's a lot of damage happening in a short burst. The HoT from
Resolving Vigor is short but very strong, so casting it at the right time can help you survive such mechanics. Replaces
Soul Burst since both apply Minor Resolve.
Living Trellis - a healing ability you can spam under big pressure, also good for fights where you're getting hit very frequently
Silver Leash - a chain ability that you can slot in trash packs to stack enemies and get through them faster
Razor Caltrops - a source of AoE Major Breach which can be used instead of
Elemental Susceptibility in AoE fights
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
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.
Ice Fortress - 2.
Lotus Blossom - 3.
Blue Betty - 4.
Elemental Susceptibility - 5.
Northern Storm when available - 6.
Elemental Blockade - 7.
Subterranean Assault - 8.
Traveling Knife - 9.
Arctic Blast - 10.
Soul Burst - 11.
Chilling Soul spammable
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: Chilling Soul | Slot 1: Ice Fortress |
| Slot 2: Subterranean Assault | Slot 2: Lotus Blossom |
| Slot 3: Blue Betty | Slot 3: Razor Caltrops |
| Slot 4: Traveling Knife | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Arctic Blast | Slot 5: Silver Leash |
| Ultimate: Wild Guardian | Ultimate: Northern Storm |
What Changes
Changes compared to the Base Setup
Razor Caltrops replaces
Elemental Susceptibility
Silver Leash replaces
Soul Burst
A setup which trades damage for more survivability. Use it against harder boss fights or if you simply want a tankier build and don't mind fights taking longer
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Chilling Soul | Slot 1: Ice Fortress |
| Slot 2: Subterranean Assault | Slot 2: Lotus Blossom |
| Slot 3: Blue Betty | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Revealing Flare | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Arctic Blast | Slot 5: Soul Burst |
| Ultimate: Wild Guardian | Ultimate: Northern Storm |
What Changes
Changes compared to the Base Setup
Revealing Flare replaces
Traveling Knife on frontbar
Passives
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 - Animal Companions
Bond with Nature - High Priority
Savage Beast - High Priority
Flourish - High Priority
Advanced Species - High Priority
Class - Green Balance
Accelerated Growth - Medium Priority
Nature's Gift - High Priority
Emerald Moss - Low Priority
Maturation - High Priority
Class - Winter's Embrace
Glacial Presence - High Priority
Frozen Armor - High Priority
Icy Aura - High Priority
Piercing Cold - High Priority
Weapon - Dual Wield
Slaughter - Low Priority
Dual Wield Expert - High Priority
Controlled Fury - Not Needed
Ruffian - Low Priority
Twin Blade and Blunt - High Priority
Weapon - Destruction Staff
Tri Focus - Do Not Unlock (only when using Ice Staff)
Penetrating Magic - Low Priority
Elemental Force - Medium Priority
Ancient Knowledge - Medium Priority
Destruction Expert - Low Priority
Armor - Light Armor
Grace - Low Priority
Evocation - High Priority
Spell Warding - High Priority
Prodigy - High Priority
Concentration - High Priority
Armor - Medium Armor
Dexterity - High Priority
Wind Walker - High Priority
Improved Sneak - Not needed
Agility - High Priority
Athletics - High Priority
Guild - Mages Guild
Persuasive Will - Not needed
Mage Adept - High Priority
Everlasting Magic - High Priority
Magicka Controller - High Priority
Might of the Guild - Low Priority
Guild - Psijic Order
Clairvoyance - Low Priority
Spell Orb - Not needed
Concentrated Barrier - Low Priority
Deliberation - Not needed
Alliance War - Support
Magicka Aid - Medium Priority
Combat Medic - Not needed
Battle Resurrection - Not needed
Race - Your Race
Get all of your racials, no matter which race you are
Craft - Alchemy
Solvent Proficiency - Not needed
Keen Eye: Reagents - Not needed
Medicinal Use - High Priority
Chemistry - Not needed
Laboratory Use - Not needed
Snakeblood - Not needed
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |
Inferno Staff |
Fallback Gear
If you don't have it, use in order
Order's Wrath - Crafted
Tide-Born Wildstalker - Crafted
If you don't have it, use in order
Order's Wrath - Crafted
Tide-Born Wildstalker - Crafted
Alternative (same bonus)
Kra'gh - Fungal Grotto I
Archdruid Devyric - Earthen Root Enclave
Lady Malygda - Imperial City
Black Gem Monstrosity - Black Gem Foundry
| 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 |
Inferno Staff |
| 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 |
Fallback Gear
If you don't have it, use in order
Order's Wrath - Crafted
Tide-Born Wildstalker - Crafted
If you don't have it, use in order
Whorl of the Depths - Trial Set (Dreadsail Reef)
Order's Wrath - Crafted
Tide-Born Wildstalker - Crafted
Alternative (same bonus)
Kra'gh - Fungal Grotto I
Archdruid Devyric - Earthen Root Enclave
Lady Malygda - Imperial City
Black Gem Monstrosity - Black Gem Foundry
What Changes
Changes compared to the Overland setup
- Inferno Staff is replaced with Ice Staff
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.
Situational Swaps
Alternative setups for different goals and content types
For More Damage
Shattered Path's Signet replaces
Ring of the Pale Order. More damage, but you lose self-healing and it also drains ultimate
Content-Specific Swaps
- Replace
Sul-Xan's Torment in fights with no adds. Use
Whorl of the Depths in Instanced, and
Order's Wrath otherwise
Additional Tips
- For Ranged fights, replace the Daggers with either a Bow or a Lightning Staff with
Charged trait and
Poison enchant - You can change some (or all) of the
Magicka enchants to
Health ones for extremely hard hitting bosses - Minor Slayer sets are usually not worth running in Overland.
Sul-Xan's Torment is an exception because it's extremely stat-dense, so it works in Overland even with the 3-piece Minor Slayer bonus wasted.
Whorl of the Depths doesn't have that density, so it only pays off in Instanced content where Minor Slayer is active - otherwise it gets beaten by
Order's Wrath
Champion Points
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
Mundus
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.
Food
This build defaults to the tankier sustain setup. If you want more damage, switch to
Artaeum Pickled Fish Bowl and pair it with
Tri-Stat Potion or
Heroism Potion.
Potions
The default option. It gives you the armor while your food covers sustain.
Full damage option. The sustain from it lets you switch from
Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch to
Artaeum Pickled Fish Bowl for more damage.
Same idea as
Tri-Stat Potion, but straight up better because it adds Minor Heroism on top. More damage, just much more expensive to craft.
Parses
All parses are recorded on the 6 million Target Dummy
Gameplay
Here you can see this build tackling Veteran dungeons
FAQ
Yes. Magicka Warden is strong in Update 50. It deals a lot of damage, is very tanky, has great Stamina sustain, and
Blue Betty constantly cleanses debuffs which makes some fights significantly easier. This build soloed Veteran Hard Mode Scalecaller Peak, Veteran Hard Mode Falkreath Hold and Veteran Frostvault.
Khajiit is the best race for damage thanks to 12% Critical Damage from
Feline Ambush, which won't be wasted in solo content. Nord is the best race for survivability, providing around 5-7% damage mitigation through the
Rugged racial passive.
Yes, you can replace the Dual Wield Daggers with other weapons. Inferno Staff, Lightning Staff, Greatsword and Bow will cause the smallest DPS loss (≈2%), and then support-oriented weapons (Ice Staff, One Handed and Shield) will cause a bigger DPS loss (≈7%). You will also have to replace
Traveling Knife with some situational ability, or with an ability from one of the weapons you swapped to. If you switch to Greatsword, use
Smash with
Poison,
Lingering Torment and
Force. Replacing the backbar weapon is a lot more troublesome, because
Elemental Susceptibility is an extremely powerful skill for solo.
No, you don't need a different setup. Use the base skills and the Instanced gear setup from this guide for both Maelstrom Arena and Vateshran Hollows.
THANKS FOR READING
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Head
Shoulders
Chest
Hands
Belt
Legs
Boots
Necklace
Ring
Frontbar Main Hand
Frontbar Off Hand