ONE HANDED AND SHIELD STAMINA DRAGONKNIGHT SOLO GUIDE
Last updated: Update 45 - 28th April 2025
This is a roleplay build where I'm not always choosing the most optimal option
While One Hand and Shield isn’t usually the ideal weapon type for Solo, it has its niche, and that niche are fights with a lot of blockable direct damage, like for example Anthelmir in Oathsworn Pit or basically any fight in the Bal Sunnar dungeon. And even outside of that niche, it’s not that far behind Dual Wield in terms of DPS.
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
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: Shield Throw | Slot 1: Soul Burst |
| Slot 2: Burning Embers | Slot 2: Eruption |
| Slot 3: Noxious Breath | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Barbed Trap | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Flames of Oblivion | Slot 5: Molten Whip |
| Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker | Ultimate: Standard of Might |
Shield Throw -
Physical,
Knight's Valor,
Resolve.
Use
Power Slam instead if you don't
have access to Scribing
Soul Burst -
Bleed,
Lingering Torment,
Courage.
Use
Volatile Armor instead if you
don't have access to Scribing.
Shield Throw - a spammable that
will also interrupt enemies who are channeling and grant you Major Resolve for 10 seconds,
which increases your armor by 5984 and is a crucial defensive buff
Burning Embers - a DoT that
will heal you for 100% of its damage done. It applies the Burning status effect at the
beginning which will also proc the
Combustion passive if it's off
cooldown. It's also going to grant you a stack of
Molten Whip
Noxious Breath - an AoE DoT
that applies the Major Breach debuff, which reduces enemies' armor by 5948 and is crucial
for any non-overland content, though in this build we're also getting Major Breach from
Elemental Susceptibility so
Noxious Breath is used just
because it's a strong AoE DoT, not because of its Major Breach. You can also use it as a
spammable when facing multiple enemies. It will also grant you a stack of
Molten Whip
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
Flames of Oblivion - an ability
that deals lots of damage per cast and passively grants you Major Savagery buff, which
increases your Critical Chance by 12%, though it's less important because you'll already
have that buff from your potion. It will also empower your
Molten Whip
Flawless Dawnbreaker - an
ultimate that we won't be using, unless the fight is about to end and it's clear you won't
be able to get another
Standard of Might.
Flawless Dawnbreaker is there
just to proc the
Slayer passive, which increases
your Weapon and Spell Damage by 3%
Soul Burst - an AoE DoT that
will grant your Minor Courage buff, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 215
Eruption - a ground DoT that
also deals direct damage at the beginning, up to once every 10 seconds. It's crucial for
proccing the
Mountain’s Blessing passive
which will grant you the unique Minor Brutality buff, increasing your Weapon Damage by 10%
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. The Burning status effect will also proc the
Combustion passive if it's off
cooldown. 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
Molten Whip - ability that will
cause our other Ardent Flame abilities to grant us 100 Weapon and Spell Damage and empower
next
Molten Whip by 20%, stacking up
to 3 times and lasting 15 seconds. Use it when it's at 3 stacks. Using up the stacks doesn't
remove the Weapon and Spell Damage buff
Standard of Might - extremely
powerful ultimate that deals damage over time, increases all of your damage done and
decreases all of your damage taken. It will also grant you a stack of
Molten Whip
Molten Whip and
Soul Burst are the first skills
that have to go when you need to slot something situational, unless the situational skill
specifically says that it's replacing something else
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 before you obtain the
Ring of the Pale Order Mythic
or in fights with invulnerability phases where you can't heal with
Ring of the Pale Order
Silver Leash - a chain ability
that you can slot in trash packs to stack enemies and get through them faster
Ulfsild's Contingency (
Flame,
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. Having it slotted on your frontbar will also trigger the
Magicka Controller passive
which will slightly improve your magicka sustain
Temporal Guard - slot it formore difficult fights where you need more damage mitigation. It's an ultimate we canfrontbar for the passive Minor Protection which decreases your damage taken by 5%. It willalso trigger the
Concentrated Barrier passive
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%
Venomous Claw - other morph of
Burning Embers which deals more
damage but doesn't heal you. You can use it when you want to trade survivability for more
damage. Since you're switching a Magicka ability for a Stamina one, you should also change
your
Soul Burst's
Bleed script to
Flame script so that it costs
Magicka instead of Stamina
Power Slam - a replacement for
Shield Throw in fights where
you have to block a lot.
Power Slam has decreased cost
after blocking so it's the only way to sustain this kind of fights. When swapping out
Shield Throw, you have to also
swap
Molten Whip to
Volatile Armor to get your
Major Resolve back
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
Defensive Stance - use it for
fights where you have to block a lot of attacks. This skill will passively increase your
Block Mitigation by 10% and reduce your Block Cost by 10%. It can also be used to gain a
damage shield and reflect the next ranged attack within 6 seconds
Shield Wall (either morph) - a
decent ultimate for fights where you have to hold block for a very long period of time, like
for example Roksa the Warped fight in Bal Sunnar
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
Thanks to the
Deadly Bash passive, this build has
potential to utilise "bash-weaving", which means using a bash after each ability. If you want to
do that, make sure to set a separate keybind for Bash instead of using the Block+Light Attack
combination, as blocking will halt your Stamina Recovery. You should stop bash-weaving once your
stamina gets too low.
- If your
Molten Whip's Weapon and Spell
Damage buff is about to run out while all of your Ardent Flame abilities are already
running, re-cast
Burning Embers or
Noxious Breath early, whichever
has less time remaining
- Use
Shield Throw if you don't have
Major Resolve, you can skip this step in easier fights
- Use
Elemental Susceptibility - Use
Eruption - Use
Elemental Blockade - Use
Barbed Trap - Use
Soul Burst - Use
Molten Whip if it's at 3 stacks
- Use
Flames of Oblivion - Use
Burning Embers - Use
Noxious Breath - Use
Standard of Might - Use
Shield Throw
Pre-buff
These abilities can be pre-cast before entering combat
Flames of Oblivion
Soul Burst
Eruption (place it anywhere to
get the Minor Brutality from
Mountain’s Blessing)
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
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Shield Throw | Slot 1: Burning Embers |
| Slot 2: Revealing Flare | Slot 2: Eruption |
| Slot 3: Noxious Breath | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Ulfsild's Contingency | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Flames of Oblivion | Slot 5: Resolving Vigor |
| Ultimate: Temporal Guard | Ultimate: Standard of Might |
PASSIVES
The only passive you specifically have to skip is
Tri Focus
Class
Weapon
Armor
Guild
Alliance War
Racial
Craft
Class - Ardent Flame
Combustion - High Priority
Warmth - Low Priority
Searing Heat - High Priority
World in Ruin - High Priority
GEAR
Example of a beginner setup made with just crafted gear.
| 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 |
Any 1-handed | |||
![]() Frontbar Off Hand |
Shield | |||
![]() Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
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
If you want to Solo some difficult content without
Ring of the Pale Order you'll have to
add
Resolving Vigor to your skill setup, but for
the easier stuff the healing from
Burning Embers will be enough
The weight distribution of the setup from the table is 1 Heavy 5 Medium 1 Light so that you can start leveling up all your armor skill lines. Once you transition to Regular setup you'll be using 6 Medium 1 Light most of the time, switching to 1 Heavy 5 Medium 1 Light only against more difficult fights
You don't need to start with crafted gear, simply pick 2 sets from the Alternative section that are easiest for you to obtain
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
Overland:
All of these are tradable and can be bought from other players
Mother’s Sorrow (Light) - Deshaan
Back-Alley Gourmand (Light) - Galen
and Y'ffelon
Dragonguard Elite (Medium) -
Southern Elsweyr
Dungeons:
Tzogvin’s Warband (Medium) -
Frostvault
Pillar of Nirn (Medium) - Falkreath
Hold
Leviathan
(Medium) - Crypt of Heart 1 & 2
- 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
- For overland content, you don't need as much penetration so you can replace Ice Staff with Inferno Staff
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 |
Light | |||
![]() Shoulders |
Medium | |||
![]() Chest |
Medium | |||
![]() Hands |
Medium | |||
![]() Belt |
Medium | |||
![]() Legs |
Medium | |||
![]() Boots |
Medium | |||
![]() Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Ring |
Jewelry | |||
![]() Frontbar Main Hand |
Any 1-handed | |||
![]() Frontbar Off Hand |
Shield | |||
![]() Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
If you want to switch to a situational set it's best to replace
Ansuul’s Torment, especially since most good
situational sets also provide Minor Slayer.
Essence Thief
provides a lot of sustain so replacing it only makes sense in fights where you can't retrieve the
Essence Thief pool,
like for example in any Dragon fight. Without
Essence Thief
you can forget about sustaining bash-weaving and you might have to heavy attack once or twice before
Standard of Might will replenish your Stamina
with
Battle Roar
For example, a default setup for trash packs would replace
Ansuul's Torment with
Sul-Xan’s Torment
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
Arms of Relequen - best for easier
Single Target fights. Does a lot of Single Target damage, but this damage doesn't heal you
through
Ring of the Pale Order
Berserking Warrior - replacement
for
Essence Thief
for fights where you can't retrieve the pool. It's a Heavy set, so your weight distribution will
change from 6 Medium 1 Light to 1 Heavy 5 Medium 1 Light. The one body armor piece should
ideally be on the Chest gear slot as it provides the most armor. You can also use the
Reinforced
trait instead of
Divines on that chest piece if you
want more survivability.
- For overland content, you don't need as much penetration so you can replace Ice Staff with Inferno Staff
This is my suggested setup for soloing extremely difficult fights in dungeons.
| 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 |
Any 1-handed | |||
![]() Frontbar Off Hand |
Shield | |||
![]() Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
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 - Use
Bracing Anchor in fights where
you
have to block a lot attacks and where you don't have to move that much
- Use
Celerity in fights where you
have
to move a lot
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
64
MAGICKA
0
For most content you should put all 64 points into Stamina. 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 Stamina, for the extremely difficult stuff you’ll need 64 Health.
FOOD
Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch
- Max Health, Stamina Recovery, Magicka Recovery. You'll need it to sustain.
Jewels of Misrule is a
cheaper alternative
POTIONS
Use the Weapon Power potions (Increase Weapon Power, Weapon Critical, Restore Stamina).
They'll greatly improve your sustain and provide Major Brutality and Major Savagery
which
are crucial. You can craft them by combining
Blessed Thistle,
Dragonthorn
and
Wormwood.
PARSE
46.7k on the 6mil dummy using Regular setup
Recording of the 46.7k parse
OTHER PARSES
Venomous Claw instead of Burning Embers - 47.6k DPS
GAMEPLAY
Here you can see this build tackling Veteran dungeons
Solo Veteran Hard Mode Scalecaller Peak
Solo Veteran Bal Sunnar
Log containing both of these dungeon clears - https://www.esologs.com/reports/Bqr9JGdb8wPFjLtV
THANKS FOR READING
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