ONE BAR TWO HANDED HEAVY ATTACK SOLO BUILD
Last updated: Update 48 - 2nd January 2026
This build is capable of soloing most Veteran dungeons that dont have a specific mechanic that requires multiple people. Its also capable of soloing some Hard Mode dungeons, and with some adjustments even the more difficult ones.
SUBCLASSING
Combination
Warden - Animal Companions
Nightblade - Assassination
Sorcerer - Storm Calling
Base Class
This build doesn't use any class set or class script so the base class can be either Nightblade, Warden or Sorcerer
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 |
|---|
| Slot 1: Ulfsild's Contingency |
| Slot 2: Deep Fissure |
| Slot 3: Merciless Resolve |
| Slot 4: Dizzying Swing |
| Slot 5: Hurricane |
| Ultimate: Soul Harvest |
Ulfsild's Contingency (
Shock,
Lingering Torment,
Force) - your source of crucial Empower buff, which increases damage done by Heavy Attack by 70%. Since
Ulfsild's Contingency is a Mages Guild skill, it will trigger the
Might of the Guild passive, which grants you Empower for 10 seconds. It also deals decent damage in an AoE and grants you Minor Force buff, increasing your Critical Damage by 10%.
Ulfsild's Contingency is delayed until the next skill cast but whenever it's needed you can activate it early by bashing your enemy.
Deep Fissure - deals a lot of damage per cast, applies crucial Major and Minor Breach debuffs and provides 5% Critical Damage through the
Advanced Species passive
Merciless Resolve - an ability that will cause your Light and Heavy Attacks to generate stacks. You can spend 5 stacks to fire a powerful arrow that also heals you if you're in Melee range. It also grants you Major Savagery and Prophecy
Dizzying Swing - an ability you'll use to apply Off Balance to your enemy. Off Balance is a 7 second debuff that increases damage taken from Heavy Attacks by 70%. After it expires, the enemy is immune to Off Balance for 15 seconds.
Hurricane - your source of Major Resolve which is a crucial defensive buff. It also deals decent damage and grants Weapon and Spell Damage through the
Expert Mage passive.
Soul Harvest - a cheap ultimate that increases target's damage taken from you by 20%. Having it slotted will also cause you to regain 10 Ultimate whenever you deal a final blow against an enemy.
Merciless Resolve 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
Critical Surge - extremely strong self-heal which you can slot when you need more consistent healing
Resolving Vigor - a burst heal which is better than
Critical Surge in fights where there's a lot of incoming damage in a quick burst. It also grants you Minor Resolve, increasing your armor. It can also be used in fights with invulnerability phases where you can't heal with
Ring of the Pale Order,
Reaving Blows or
Critical Surge
Ulfsild's Contingency (
Shock,
Gladiator's Tenacity,
Force) - a different combination which uses
Gladiator's Tenacity script instead of
Lingering Torment, which trades the DoT for an 8% damage reduction. Use it in more difficult fights.
Trample (
Physical,
Lingering Torment,
Off Balance) - an alternative source of Off Balance which could replace
Dizzying Swing. Thanks to the DoT component it ends up dealing more damage than
Dizzying Swing, but the 1.5 second cast time makes it difficult to pull off in fights with lots of stuns and staggering mechanics
Silver Leash - a chain ability that you can slot in trash packs to stack enemies and get through them faster
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
Priority List
I don't use a static rotation so 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
- Use
Ulfsild's Contingency if you have no Empower or it has less than 2 seconds remaining - Use
Soul Harvest - Use
Dizzying Swing if Off Balance is ready - Use
Deep Fissure - Use
Hurricane - Use
Merciless Resolve - Use
Ulfsild's Contingency as a 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 you should use when using the
Oakensoul Ring
| Front Bar |
|---|
| Slot 1: Critical Surge |
| Slot 2: Deep Fissure |
| Slot 3: Merciless Resolve |
| Slot 4: Dizzying Swing |
| Slot 5: Hurricane |
| Ultimate: Soul Harvest |
EXPLANATION:
Critical Surge replaces
Ulfsild's Contingency. Empower and Minor Force which were provided by it are now being provided by
Oakensoul Ring. Since this setup doesn't use
Ring of the Pale Order, it requires the additional healing from
Critical Surge.
Dizzying Swing is now your spammable, and because of that replacing it with
Trample is no longer an option
A setup I've used when fighting the Minotaur Party wandering boss in West Weald
| Front Bar |
|---|
| Slot 1: Ulfsild's Contingency |
| Slot 2: Deep Fissure |
| Slot 3: Resolving Vigor |
| Slot 4: Dizzying Swing |
| Slot 5: Hurricane |
| Ultimate: Soul Harvest |
EXPLANATION:
Resolving Vigor replaced
Merciless Resolve, because a burst heal was needed to be cast right after the chain mechanic, which couldn't be interrupted in a Solo fight and applied a massive DoT
PASSIVES
Class
Weapon
Armor
Guild
Alliance War
Racial
Craft
Class - Animal Companions
Bond with Nature - Medium Priority
Savage Beast - Medium Priority
Flourish - High Priority
Advanced Species - 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
Default setup
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Head |
Medium | |||
![]() Shoulders |
Medium | |||
![]() Chest |
Heavy | |||
![]() Hands |
Medium | |||
![]() Belt |
Light | |||
![]() Legs |
Medium | |||
![]() Boots |
Medium | |||
![]() Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Frontbar Main Hand |
Greatsword |
Anthelmir’s Construct is an extremely strong Monster Set for Heavy Attack builds, to the point where it becomes worth it to ditch the 2nd 5-piece set just to be able to fit
Anthelmir’s Construct in. Because of that, we're using 4 pieces of
Highland Sentinel for the Critical Chance bonuses.
Gear that can be stronger than the setup from the table in specific situations or when specific circumstances are present
Oakensoul Ring - alternative to
Ring of the Pale Order. Does slightly more damage but has much worse survivability. It can be more convenient for most fights because it removes the need to prebuff most skills, but don't use it against difficult World Bosses and anything above their level
Tide-Born Wildstalker - alternative to
Anthelmir’s Construct in fights where
Anthelmir's axe can't be picked up due to bosses' hitbox being too large. Pair it with 1 piece of
Slimecraw, or any Monster Set with 1 piece Critical Chance bonus.
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 tips
- For instanced content you should use 1 Heavy 3 Medium 3 Light armor composition instead of 1 Heavy 5 Medium 1 Light. Change the Hands and Boots slots from Medium to Light. This is because enemies in instanced content have more armor so you'll need the armor penetration provided by
Concentration passive
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 |
Heavy | |||
![]() Hands |
Medium | |||
![]() Belt |
Light | |||
![]() Legs |
Medium | |||
![]() Boots |
Medium | |||
![]() Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Frontbar Main Hand |
Greatsword |
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 use if
Anthelmir’s Construct can't be picked up, for example in fights against bosses with massive hitboxes
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Head |
Medium | |||
![]() Shoulders |
Medium | |||
![]() Chest |
Heavy | |||
![]() Hands |
Medium | |||
![]() Belt |
Light | |||
![]() Legs |
Medium | |||
![]() Boots |
Medium | |||
![]() Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Frontbar Main Hand |
Greatsword |
This is the setup with
Oakensoul Ring
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Head |
Medium | |||
![]() Shoulders |
Medium | |||
![]() Chest |
Heavy | |||
![]() Hands |
Medium | |||
![]() Belt |
Light | |||
![]() Legs |
Medium | |||
![]() Boots |
Medium | |||
![]() Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Frontbar Main Hand |
Greatsword |
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)
Rejuvenation (90 Health, Stamina and Stamina Recovery)
Fortified (1731 armor)
Celerity (10% Movement Speed)
ADDITIONAL INFO:
- When soloing extremely difficult dungeons you should replace
Wrathful Strikes and
Fighting Finesse with 2 of the 4 mitigation CPs (
Ironclad,
Duelists Rebuff,
Enduring Resolve,
Unassailable )
Reaving Blows is another decent Blue CP for when you need more HPS. It should be used when using Oakensoul to make up for lack of Pale Order, but in more difficult fights where you need even more HPS it can be used alongside Pale Order- Use
Bracing Anchor in fights where you have to block a lot attacks and where you don't have to move that much
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
ATTRIBUTES
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 youll be able to get away with 32 Health 32 Magicka, for the extremely difficult stuff youll need 64 Health.
It's possible to play this build as a Stamina build with all attribute points into Stamina and armor enchants changed to Stamina, but this is only sustainable with the
Oakensoul Ring setup
FOOD
You should use the
Artaeum Pickled Fish Bowl. If you need a cheaper alternative,
Solitude Salmon-Millet Soup provides only slightly lower stats.
Other decent foods:
Orzorga's Tripe Trifle Pocket provides Stamina Recovery at the cost of Maximum Magicka. It will lower your damage, but its very useful for fights where you have to dodge roll a lot.
POTIONS
Use the Spell Power potions (Increase Spell Power, Spell Critical, Restore Magicka). They'll greatly improve your sustain and provide Major Sorcery buff which is crucial and isn't present in regular skill setup. You can craft them by combining
Lady's Smock,
Namira's Rot and
Corn Flower.
When using
Oakensoul Ring, you should instead use the Armor potions, which will increase your armor by 5280. You can craft them by combining
Bugloss,
Mountain's Flower and
Mudcrab Chitin.
PARSE
39.7k on the 6mil dummy using Regular setup
Recording of the 39.7k parse
OTHER PARSES
Oakensoul - 41.9k DPS
A setup with Ring of the Pale Order changed to Oakensoul and Wrathful Strikes changed to Reaving Blows
GAMEPLAY
Here you can see this build tackling Veteran dungeons
Solo West Weald Wandering Boss
THANKS FOR READING
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