One Bar Magicka Sorcerer Solo Guide & Build | ESO

Table of contents

Skill Setups
Vampirism
Gear
Champion Points
Race
Mundus
Attributes
Food
Potions
Gameplay

Last updated: Update 44 - 12th February 2025

This guide is not completely finished. It's powerful enough because I've used it to solo Veteran Castle Thorn, but I still have to test different options, like for example the Beacon of Oblivion item set.

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: Crystal Fragments	Slot 1: Bound Aegis
Slot 2: Haunting Curse
Slot 3: Hurricane
Slot 4: Barbed Trap
Slot 5: Wield Soul
Ultimate: Summon Charged Atronach

SCRIBING:

Wield Soul - Physical, Lingering Torment, Breach. Use Razor Caltrops instead if you don't have access to Scribing

INFO:

Crystal Fragments - a spammable that will proc the Exploitation passive, increasing your Critical Chance by 6%. It will also heal you for 10% of your Max Health thanks to Blood Magic passive. Having it slotted will also trigger the Expert Mage passive, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 2%
Haunting Curse - this ability simply deals a lot of damage per cast. Having it slotted will also trigger the Expert Mage passive, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 2%
Hurricane - your source of Major Resolve which is a crucial defensive buff, and it also deals decent damage. Having it slotted will also trigger the Expert Mage passive, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 2%
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 trigger the Slayer passive
Wield Soul - a DoT that will also apply the Major Breach debuff, which reduces enemies' armor by 5948 and is crucial for any non-overland content. Since it's a Stamina ability that has to be re-cast every 10 seconds, it's going to improve our Magicka sustain by a lot
Summon Charged Atronach - the most powerful ultimate Sorcerer has access to. It will also keep proccing Concussion status effect which will keep up the Minor Vulnerability debuff, which increases enemies' damage taken by 5%. Having it slotted will also trigger the Expert Mage passive, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 2%
Bound Aegis - an ability you can keep slotted on your backbar to gain its passive benefits. It will grant you Minor Resolve, Minor Protection and increase your Max Magicka by 8%

SITUATIONAL:

Simmering Frenzy - depending on how much you dislike barswapping, you can use Simmering Frenzy which goes on your backbar and only has to be activated once at the start of the fight

Front Bar	Back Bar
Slot 1: Crystal Fragments	Slot 1: Bound Aegis
Slot 2: Revealing Flare
Slot 3: Hurricane
Slot 4: Ulfsild's Contingency
Slot 5: Wield Soul
Ultimate: Summon Charged Atronach

SCRIBING:

Wield Soul - Physical, Lingering Torment, Breach. Use Razor Caltrops instead if you don't have access to Scribing
Ulfsild's Contingency - Shock, Gladiator's Tenacity, Force. Use Barbed Trap instead if you don't have access to Scribing

INFO:

Crystal Fragments - a spammable that will proc the Exploitation passive, increasing your Critical Chance by 6%. It will also heal you for 10% of your Max Health thanks to Blood Magic passive. Having it slotted will also trigger the Expert Mage passive, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 2%
Revealing Flare - this skill will passively grant you Major Protection, reducing your damage taken by 10%. It will also trigger the Magicka Aid passive, which increases Magicka Recovery by 10%
Hurricane - your source of Major Resolve which is a crucial defensive buff, and it also deals decent damage. Having it slotted will also trigger the Expert Mage passive, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 2%
Ulfsild's Contingency - 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. Having it slotted on your frontbar will also trigger the Magicka Controller passive which will slightly improve your damage and sustain
Wield Soul - a DoT that will also apply the Major Breach debuff, which reduces enemies' armor by 5948 and is crucial for any non-overland content. Since it's a Stamina ability that has to be re-cast every 10 seconds, it's going to improve our Magicka sustain by a lot
Summon Charged Atronach - the most powerful ultimate Sorcerer has access to. It will also keep proccing Concussion status effect which will keep up the Minor Vulnerability debuff, which increases enemies' damage taken by 5%. Having it slotted will also trigger the Expert Mage passive, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 2%
Bound Aegis - an ability you can keep slotted on your backbar to gain its passive benefits. It will grant you Minor Resolve, Minor Protection and increase your Max Magicka by 8%

SITUATIONAL:

Simmering Frenzy - depending on how much you dislike barswapping, you can use Simmering Frenzy which goes on your backbar and only has to be activated once at the start of the fight

VAMPIRISM

Becoming a Vampire can allow you to use Simmering Frenzy if you don't mind switching to your backbar once per fight

GEAR

This is the crafted gear setup you can start with.

Gear Slot	Set	Weight/Type	Trait	Enchantment
Head	Claw of the Forest Wraith	Light	Training /Divines	Magicka
Shoulders	Claw of the Forest Wraith	Light	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	Claw of the Forest Wraith	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Magical Harm
Ring	Claw of the Forest Wraith	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Magical Harm
Ring	Claw of the Forest Wraith	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Magical Harm
Frontbar Main Hand	Assassin's Guile	Mace	Nirnhoned	Absorb Stamina
Frontbar Off Hand	Assassin's Guile	Mace	Charged	Shock

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Use Daggers instead of Maces if you don't plan on using this gear setup for any instanced content (Dungeons, Arenas)
For Ranged build, replace Maces/Daggers with a Bow of the same set with Sharpened (for instanced content) or Precise (for overland content) trait and Absorb Stamina enchant
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	Slimecraw	Light	Divines	Magicka
Shoulders	Whorl of the Depths	Light	Divines	Magicka
Chest	Ansuul's Torment	Medium	Divines	Magicka
Hands	Whorl of the Depths	Light	Divines	Magicka
Belt	Whorl of the Depths	Light	Divines	Magicka
Legs	Whorl of the Depths	Light	Divines	Magicka
Boots	Whorl of the Depths	Light	Divines	Magicka
Necklace	Ansuul's Torment	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Magical Harm
Ring	Ansuul's Torment	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Magical Harm
Ring	Ring of the Pale Order	Jewelry	Bloodthirsty	Increase Magical Harm
Frontbar Main Hand	Ansuul's Torment	Dagger	Nirnhoned	Absorb Stamina
Frontbar Off Hand	Ansuul's Torment	Mace	Charged	Shock

ADDITIONAL INFO:

For Ranged build, replace Maces/Daggers with a Bow of the same set with Precise trait and Absorb Stamina enchant
Order’s Wrath is an extremely powerful set despite being crafted so it's a good replacement for Whorl of the Depths if you don't have access to it
Tzogvin’s Warband is a good replacement for Ansuul’s Torment if you don't have access to it
You can change your Slimecraw head piece to Heavy weight for more difficult encounters

CHAMPION POINTS

Warfare

Master-at-Arms (6% Direct Damage)
Deadly Aim (6% Single Target Damage)
Fighting Finesse (8% Critical Damage and Healing)
Wrathful Strikes (205 Weapon and Spell Damage added to damaging skills)

Fitness

Boundless Vitality (1400 Max Health)
Sustained by Suffering (150 Health, Stamina and Magicka Recovery when debuffed)
Rejuvenation (90 Health, Stamina and Magicka Recovery)
Fortified (1731 armor)

ADDITIONAL INFO:

When soloing extremely difficult dungeons you should replace Wrathful Strikes and Fighting Finesse with 2 of the 4 mitigation CPs (Ironclad, Duelist’s Rebuff, Enduring Resolve, Unassailable)
In fights with lots of adds Siphoning Spells and Bloody Renewal can be stronger than Rejuvenation and Sustained by Suffering

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

You should use The Shadow Mundus, which increases your Critical Damage.

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'll have to use the Orzorga's Red Frothgar in order to sustain.

Other decent foods:

Clockwork Citrus Filet - if your sustain is good enough you can use this food instead, which compared to Orzorga's Red Frothgar will lower your Magicka Recovery and Max Health but it will grant you additional Max Magicka which will increase your damage
Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch - if a certain fight requires much more blocking and/or dodge rolling you can use this food instead, which compared to Orzorga's Red Frothgar will lower your Magicka Recovery and Max Health but it will grant you additional Stamina Recovery. Jewels of Misrule is a much cheaper alternative version of this food

POTIONS

Use the Spell Power potions (Increase Spell Power, Spell Critical, Restore Magicka). They'll greatly improve your sustain and provide Major Sorcery and Major Prophecy which are crucial. You can craft them by combining Lady's Smock, Namira's Rot and Corn Flower.