Stamina Arcanist Solo Build - ESO Guide
Stamina Arcanist (StamArc) Solo Build for ESO.
Pragmatic Fatecarver is a channeled beam that deals full damage in AoE with no damage falloff and has a 22 meter range. It also grants a massive damage shield on cast.
Cephaliarch's Flail heals you every time you use it, so between the shield and the healing you barely have to think about staying alive.
One of the strongest pure class solo builds in ESO Update 49. It used to be the strongest solo build in the game before subclassing. Easy to play, though vulnerable to content with lots of stuns since they interrupt
Fatecarver.
Soloed Veteran Hard Mode Castle Thorn and Veteran Hard Mode Bedlam Veil. Parses 54k in the Regular setup and 51.6k in the Tanky setup. But those are Single Target numbers that undersell it since
Fatecarver hits everything at full damage in AoE.
Looking for something simpler? Check out the One Bar Stamina Arcanist Solo Build. Or try the Heavy Attack Arcanist Solo Build for a heavy attack playstyle.
Skill Setups
Base Setup
A base setup that will work for most situations and which should be your starting point when making situational setups
For regular content such as Solo Arenas, World Bosses, and the majority of dungeon fights
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Cephaliarch's Flail | Slot 1: Cruxweaver Armor |
| Slot 2: Pragmatic Fatecarver | Slot 2: Ulfsild's Contingency |
| Slot 3: Barbed Trap | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Quick Cloak | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Recuperative Treatise | Slot 5: Fulminating Rune |
| Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker | Ultimate: The Languid Eye |
Cephaliarch's Flail - an AoE spammable that generates Crux, heals you if you hit any enemy and increases the damage enemies take from you by 5%
Pragmatic Fatecarver - extremely powerful Crux spender that deals full damage in AoE, has massive range of 22 meters and grants you a big damage shield while you channel it
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 passively grant you 3% Weapon and Spell Damage through the
Slayer passive
Quick Cloak - an ability that deals damage around you every 2 seconds for 30 seconds and grants you Major Evasion for the duration, reducing your AoE damage taken by 20%. The damage it deals will also continue to proc your weapon enchantments even while you channel
Pragmatic Fatecarver, which is important because you can't Light Attack while beaming
Recuperative Treatise - an ability that deals decent damage, ensures you'll have at least 1 Crux and improves your sustain
Flawless Dawnbreaker - an ultimate we'll keep slotted to activate the
Slayer and
Banish the Wicked passives which increase Weapon and Spell Damage by 3% and generate Ultimate on kills. You can also use it towards the end of the fight if it's obvious you won't get enough Ultimate for another
The Languid Eye
Cruxweaver Armor - your source of Major Resolve which is an extremely important defensive buff. It will also apply Minor Breach to enemies who attack you for 6 seconds and generate Crux when you get hit up to once every 5 seconds
Ulfsild's Contingency (
Bleed,
Lingering Torment,
Resolve) - a 22 second DoT which will also grant you Minor Resolve, increasing your armor by 2974
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. 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, and Ice Staff will be part of the Instanced gear setup. Minor Brittle increases 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. If it's the Ice version, it will also constantly apply Minor Breach to enemies who are Chilled, and they'll be Chilled thanks to
Elemental Susceptibility
Fulminating Rune - a decent DoT which deals damage in an AoE after a delay
The Languid Eye - an Ultimate which deals damage in a small AoE over 6 seconds which can be moved by pressing the ability again (it's off Global Cooldown)
Fulminating Rune,
Quick Cloak and
Ulfsild's Contingency are the first skills that have to go (in that order) if you need to slot situational, 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
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
Runeguard of Still Waters - an ability that places a delayed heal on you which triggers when you take damage below 50% HP. It also grants you Minor Resolve, which increases armor by 2974. It also grants you Minor Protection which is removed when the heal effect procs. It also snares enemies around you when cast
Inspired Scholarship - does more damage than
Recuperative Treatise and should be used if you can sustain fine and want more damage
Runic Sunder - grants 2200 penetration, 2200 armor and generates Crux. It's a Taunt which won't matter since this is a Solo build, but if you decide to use this build in group content (which you shouldn't do anyway) you absolutely cannot use
Runic Sunder
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%
Race Against Time - snare removal which will be crucial for some fights. It replaces
Barbed Trap because it also provides Minor Force
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
Sanctum of the Abyssal Sea - a defensive ultimate that grants you a large damage shield. Use it in fights where you need a panic button
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.
Cruxweaver Armor - 2.
Elemental Susceptibility - 3.
Elemental Blockade - 4.
Barbed Trap - 5.
Flawless Dawnbreaker if it's obvious you won't get enough Ultimate for another
The Languid Eye before the fight ends - 6.
The Languid Eye if it's ready - 7.
Recuperative Treatise - 8.
Ulfsild's Contingency - 9.
Fulminating Rune - 10.
Quick Cloak - 11. (Instanced setup only)
Runic Sunder (if you're not at 3 Crux) - 12.
Cephaliarch's Flail spammable (if you're not at 3 Crux) - 13.
Pragmatic Fatecarver 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 dealing with trash packs
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Cephaliarch's Flail | Slot 1: Cruxweaver Armor |
| Slot 2: Pragmatic Fatecarver | Slot 2: Ulfsild's Contingency |
| Slot 3: Barbed Trap | Slot 3: Razor Caltrops |
| Slot 4: Quick Cloak | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Recuperative Treatise | Slot 5: Silver Leash |
| Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker | Ultimate: The Languid Eye |
What Changes
Razor Caltrops replaces
Elemental Susceptibility
Silver Leash replaces
Fulminating Rune
A setup for instanced content (Arenas and Dungeons), where enemies have 18,200 armor instead of 9,100
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Cephaliarch's Flail | Slot 1: Cruxweaver Armor |
| Slot 2: Pragmatic Fatecarver | Slot 2: Ulfsild's Contingency |
| Slot 3: Barbed Trap | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Quick Cloak | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Recuperative Treatise | Slot 5: Runic Sunder |
| Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker | Ultimate: The Languid Eye |
What Changes
Runic Sunder replaces
Fulminating Rune
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: Cephaliarch's Flail | Slot 1: Cruxweaver Armor |
| Slot 2: Pragmatic Fatecarver | Slot 2: Runeguard of Still Waters |
| Slot 3: Barbed Trap | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Revealing Flare | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Recuperative Treatise | Slot 5: Runic Sunder |
| Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker | Ultimate: The Languid Eye |
What Changes
Runic Sunder replaces
Fulminating Rune
Revealing Flare replaces
Quick Cloak
Runeguard of Still Waters replaces
Ulfsild's Contingency
Passives
The only passive you specifically have to skip is
Tri Focus
Some trees are only needed when using situational skills, for example Psijic Order provides nothing without
Precognition
Class - Herald of the Tome
Fated Fortune - High Priority
Harnessed Quintessence - High Priority
Psychic Lesion - High Priority
Splintered Secrets - High Priority
Class - Soldier of Apocrypha
Aegis of the Unseen - High Priority
Wellspring of the Abyss - High Priority
Circumvented Fate - High Priority
Implacable Outcome - High Priority
Class - Curative Runeforms
Healing Tides - Medium Priority
Hideous Clarity - High Priority
Erudition - High Priority
Intricate Runeforms - High Priority
Weapon - Dual Wield
Slaughter - High Priority
Dual Wield Expert - High Priority
Controlled Fury - High Priority
Ruffian - Medium Priority
Twin Blade and Blunt - High Priority
Weapon - Destruction Staff
Tri Focus - Do Not Unlock
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 - Low 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 - Low Priority
Guild - Fighters Guild
Intimidating Presence - High Priority
Slayer - High Priority
Banish the Wicked - High Priority
Skilled Tracker - High Priority
Bounty Hunter - Not needed
Guild - Mages Guild
Persuasive Will - Not needed
Mage Adept - Low Priority
Everlasting Magic - High Priority
Magicka Controller - Low 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
Base Setup
A base setup that is meant for Overland content and will work for most situations. It should be your starting point when making situational setups
Switching gear for trash packs isn't worth it unless you're using gear-swap addons
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Medium | |||
Chest |
Medium | |||
Hands |
Medium | |||
Belt |
Light | |||
Legs |
Medium | |||
Boots |
Medium | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Inferno Staff |
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
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
Only listing a single alternative because one of the sets from Base Setup,
Tide-Born Wildstalker, is also a crafted set
No Overland, Dungeon or Trial gear is listed as the Crafted options are superior.
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 |
Medium | |||
Hands |
Medium | |||
Belt |
Light | |||
Legs |
Medium | |||
Boots |
Medium | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Inferno Staff |
The setup in the table uses only crafted gear, but if you already own parts of the Base setup like
Ring of the Pale Order you can start using them immediately
This is a setup you should use in Instanced content (Arenas and Dungeons), where enemies have 18,200 armor instead of 9,100
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Medium | |||
Chest |
Medium | |||
Hands |
Medium | |||
Belt |
Light | |||
Legs |
Medium | |||
Boots |
Medium | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Dagger | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Dagger | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
Explanation
Ansuul's Torment replaces
Tide-Born Wildstalker, because in Instanced content you can benefit from the Minor Slayer buff, which makes it better- Inferno Staff is replaced with Ice Staff, because Ice
Elemental Blockade will improve uptime of the Minor Breach debuff
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.
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 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
Your sustain can vary greatly because it's impacted by your armor weight composition, your race and how much blocking/dodge rolling you're required to do in a certain fight. Choose the food with more recoveries if you can't sustain
Potions
Most of the time you should use Tri-Stat potions. They'll greatly improve your sustain.
In situations where you need more damage mitigation and you can spare some sustain, use Armor potions which increase your armor by 5280. You'll most likely need
Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch food to sustain them.
Heroism potions provide 100% uptime on Minor Heroism which generates Ultimate, but they're extremely expensive.
Parses
All parses are recorded on the 6 million Target Dummy
Patch: Update 49
Using Regular setup
Patch: Update 49
Using Tanky skill setup
Gameplay
Here you can see this build tackling some of the hardest Hard Mode dungeons
Fashion
| Slot | Style | Dyes |
|---|---|---|
| Head |
Silvenar Green
Silvenar Green
Silvenar Green
|
|
| Shoulders |
Glenbridge Green
|
|
| Chest |
Thalmor Black
Silvenar Green
Thalmor Black
|
|
| Hands |
Silvenar Green
Thalmor Black
|
|
| Belt |
Silvenar Green
|
|
| Legs |
Silvenar Green
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
|
|
| Feet |
Silvenar Green
Thalmor Black
Thalmor Black
|
|
| Frontbar Main Hand |
Empty
Empty
Empty
|
|
| Frontbar Off Hand |
Empty
Empty
Empty
|
|
| Backbar Main Hand |
Empty
Empty
Empty
|
|
FAQ
Khajiit is the best race for damage thanks to 12% Critical Damage from
Feline Ambush. Nord is the best race for survivability, providing around 5-7% damage mitigation through the
Rugged racial passive.
No, Arcanist is one of the easiest classes to play solo.
Cephaliarch's Flail heals you every time you use it and
Pragmatic Fatecarver grants a massive damage shield, so you barely have to think about staying alive. The only thing to watch out for is stuns interrupting your
Fatecarver channel.
One of the strongest pure class solo builds in the game. It used to be the strongest solo build in ESO before subclassing, and it's now also surpassed by pure Dragonknight. It can solo every Veteran Dungeon and most Hard Mode Dungeons, including Veteran Hard Mode Castle Thorn and Bedlam Veil.
Yes, you can replace the Dual Wield Daggers with other weapons. Greatsword, Lightning Staff and Bow will cause the smallest DPS loss (approximately 2%), then Inferno (approximately 4%), and then support-oriented weapons (Ice Staff, Restoration Staff, One Handed and Shield) will cause bigger DPS loss (approximately 7%). You will also have to replace
Quick Cloak with some situational ability, or with an ability from one of the weapons you swapped to (for example
Carve when switching to Greatsword). Replacing backbar weapon is a lot more troublesome, because
Elemental Susceptibility is 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.
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Head
Shoulders
Chest
Hands
Belt
Legs
Boots
Necklace
Ring
Frontbar Main Hand
Frontbar Off Hand