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Strongest Subclass Solo Build - ESO Guide

Solo Nightblade Templar Arcanist Necromancer Dragonknight Sorcerer Warden Subclass Stamina Two Bar
Up to date for: Update 49 - 21st March 2026
Last changed: Update 49 - 21st March 2026

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.

This build uses the strongest Subclass combination available - Sorcerer's Storm Calling and Arcanist's Herald of the Tome, and it can be used with any base class. It achieves up to 67.6k DPS on the 6 million dummy with the Regular setup.

Looking for a simpler Solo build? Check out the One Bar Strongest Subclass Solo Build which can also solo Veteran Hard Mode dungeons with a single skill bar.

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Subclassing

You can use this build with any base class.

Storm Calling
Sorcerer
Herald of the Tome
Arcanist

We will always use Sorcerer's Storm Calling and Arcanist's Herald of the Tome. Herald of the Tome gives us access to Pragmatic FatecarverPragmatic Fatecarver and Cephaliarch's FlailCephaliarch's Flail. Storm Calling provides HurricaneHurricane for Major Resolve and damage, and Critical SurgeCritical Surge as a situational self-heal.

Choose one of these as your 3rd skill line. If your base class is Sorcerer or Arcanist you can choose any of them, otherwise you're locked to a single possible combination

Assassination
Nightblade
Aedric Spear
Templar
Animal Companions
Warden
Earthen Heart
Dragonknight
Grave Lord
Necromancer

The DPS numbers below come from 6 million dummy solo parses. Additional Benefits are bonuses that may not be fully reflected on a dummy parse, but can be useful in actual fights.

Storm Calling
Storm Calling
Sorcerer
Herald of the Tome
Herald of the Tome
Arcanist
Assassination
Assassination
Nightblade
DPS 67,677 DPS
Usable by Nightblade Sorcerer Arcanist

Additional Benefits

Great sustain in trash from ExecutionerExecutioner passive
Ultimate generation on kills from Soul HarvestSoul Harvest

Cons

Some Critical Chance is tied to Master AssassinMaster Assassin which requires flanking, but you can keep it active most of the time by circling around the enemy
Storm Calling
Storm Calling
Sorcerer
Herald of the Tome
Herald of the Tome
Arcanist
Aedric Spear
Aedric Spear
Templar
DPS 65,229 DPS
Usable by Templar Sorcerer Arcanist

Additional Benefits

Additional sustain from Luminous ShardsLuminous Shards
6% Armor from Balanced WarriorBalanced Warrior

Cons

N/A
Storm Calling
Storm Calling
Sorcerer
Herald of the Tome
Herald of the Tome
Arcanist
Animal Companions
Animal Companions
Warden
DPS 66,234 DPS
Usable by Warden Sorcerer Arcanist

Additional Benefits

Great sustain from FlourishFlourish and Bull NetchBull Netch
Built-in purge from Bull NetchBull Netch

Cons

N/A
Storm Calling
Storm Calling
Sorcerer
Herald of the Tome
Herald of the Tome
Arcanist
Earthen Heart
Earthen Heart
Dragonknight
DPS 64,323 DPS
Usable by Dragonknight Sorcerer Arcanist

Additional Benefits

2974 additional Armor from Heart of StoneHeart of Stone

Cons

N/A
Storm Calling
Storm Calling
Sorcerer
Herald of the Tome
Herald of the Tome
Arcanist
Grave Lord
Grave Lord
Necromancer
DPS 63,902 DPS
Usable by Necromancer Sorcerer Arcanist

Additional Benefits

Strong execute from Death KnellDeath Knell passive

Cons

Corpse interaction mechanics are extremely buggy

Skill Setups

Base Setup

A base setup that uses Assassination, Storm Calling and Herald of the Tome skill lines and which should be your starting point to which you'll later apply situational skills and class-specific changes

The base setup uses Assassination, Storm Calling and Herald of the Tome. This is the Nightblade version which should be your starting point

Cephaliarchs Flail Pragmatic Fatecarver Inspired Scholarship Quick Cloak Camouflaged Hunter Soul Harvest
Hurricane Wield Soul Elemental Susceptibility Elemental Blockade Barbed Trap The Languid Eye
Front Bar Back Bar
Slot 1: Cephaliarch's Flail Slot 1: Hurricane
Slot 2: Pragmatic Fatecarver Slot 2: Soul Burst
Slot 3: Inspired Scholarship Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility
Slot 4: Quick Cloak Slot 4: Elemental Blockade
Slot 5: Camouflaged Hunter Slot 5: Barbed Trap
Ultimate: Soul Harvest Ultimate: The Languid Eye
Info
  • Cephaliarch's FlailCephaliarch'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%. It will also trigger the Splintered SecretsSplintered Secrets passive, increasing your penetration by 1240
  • Pragmatic FatecarverPragmatic 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. It will also trigger the Splintered SecretsSplintered Secrets passive, increasing your penetration by 1240
  • Inspired ScholarshipInspired Scholarship - an ability that deals lots of damage and ensures you'll have at least 1 Crux when your beam ends. It will also trigger the Splintered SecretsSplintered Secrets passive, increasing your penetration by 1240
  • Quick CloakQuick Cloak - an ability that grants a short burst of movement speed, Major Evasion buff which reduces your damage taken from AoE attacks and deals damage over 30 seconds. The damage it deals can proc your weapon enchantments, which is important because you can't proc them with Light Attacks while beaming
  • Camouflaged HunterCamouflaged Hunter - this ability will passively grant you the Major Savagery and Major Prophecy buffs, which will increase your critical chance by 12%. It will also grant you the Minor Berserk buff which increases your damage done by 5% for 5 seconds after you deal Critical Damage from enemy's flank, which has a very wide radius and can be done by simply walking to the side. It will also trigger the SlayerSlayer passive, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 3%.
  • Soul HarvestSoul Harvest - a cheap ultimate that increases target's damage taken from you by 20%. This is the ultimate you should use in Single Target fights. You need it on your frontbar to trigger passives of the Assassination skill line. Having it slotted will also cause you to regain 10 Ultimate whenever you deal a final blow against an enemy
  • HurricaneHurricane - an ability which provides a crucial Major Resolve buff which provides 5948 armor and it deals very good damage. It also grants you a 15% movement speed buff during its duration
  • Soul BurstSoul Burst (ShockShock, Lingering TormentLingering Torment, CourageCourage) - an AoE DoT which grants you Minor Courage, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 215
  • Elemental SusceptibilityElemental 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, which is always going to happen at the beginning when you cast Elemental SusceptibilityElemental Susceptibility. Minor Brittle increase Critical Damage taken by 10%. The Chilled proc will also synergise with our Elemental BlockadeElemental Blockade
  • Elemental BlockadeElemental Blockade - this ability will constantly apply your Weapon DamageWeapon Damage enchantment. It will also constantly apply Minor Breach to enemies who are Chilled, and they'll be Chilled thanks to Elemental SusceptibilityElemental Susceptibility
  • Barbed TrapBarbed 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%
  • The Languid EyeThe Languid Eye - an extremely powerful ultimate that deals damage in a small AoE. Use it in AoE fights or when you start fights with high amount of Ultimate stored up
Situational

Quick CloakQuick Cloak 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

  • Resolving VigorResolving 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 OrderRing of the Pale Order Mythic or in fights with invulnerability phases where you can't heal with Ring of the Pale OrderRing of the Pale Order
  • Critical SurgeCritical Surge - ability that will heal you for 3300 whenever you deal critical damage, up to once every second. The heal itself can also be a critical heal. Use it whenever you need more healing
  • Silver LeashSilver Leash - a chain ability that you can slot in trash packs to stack enemies and get through them faster
  • Ulfsild's ContingencyUlfsild's Contingency (BleedBleed, Gladiator's TenacityGladiator's Tenacity, ForceForce) - a replacement for Barbed TrapBarbed 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
  • Revealing FlareRevealing 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 AidMagicka Aid passive, which increases Magicka Recovery by 10%
  • Consuming TrapConsuming Trap - a very weak DoT which replenishes your resources when the affected target dies, it can provide you with a lot of sustain in fights which constantly spawn weak adds
  • PrecognitionPrecognition - 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 LightningBall 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
ROTATION

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

Pre-buff

These abilities can be pre-cast before entering combat

Final Setups

These setups show what changes when your base class is a specific class

A setup with chains for dealing with trash packs

Cephaliarchs Flail Pragmatic Fatecarver Inspired Scholarship Silver Leash Camouflaged Hunter Soul Harvest
Hurricane Wield Soul Elemental Susceptibility Elemental Blockade Barbed Trap The Languid Eye
Front Bar Back Bar
Slot 1: Cephaliarch's Flail Slot 1: Hurricane
Slot 2: Pragmatic Fatecarver Slot 2: Soul Burst
Slot 3: Inspired Scholarship Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility
Slot 4: Silver Leash Slot 4: Elemental Blockade
Slot 5: Camouflaged Hunter Slot 5: Barbed Trap
Ultimate: Soul Harvest Ultimate: The Languid Eye
WHAT CHANGES

Changes compared to the Base Setup

Passives

The only passive you specifically have to skip is Tri FocusTri Focus

Class

Weapon

Armor

Guild

Alliance War

Racial

Craft

Class - Storm Calling

CapacitorCapacitor - High Priority

EnergizedEnergized - High Priority

AmplitudeAmplitude - High Priority

Expert MageExpert Mage - High Priority

Gear

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.

If you want to switch to a situational set it's best to replace Ansuul's TormentAnsuul's Torment if the situational set you're getting has a Minor Slayer line, and replace Tide-Born WildstalkerTide-Born Wildstalker otherwise. When replacing Tide-Born WildstalkerTide-Born Wildstalker with a Medium armor set, change your SlimecrawSlimecraw head-piece to Light armor type.

For example, a default setup for trash packs would replace Ansuul's TormentAnsuul's Torment with Sul-Xan's TormentSul-Xan's Torment

The strongest gear combination without any trial gear is Deadly StrikeDeadly Strike combined with Tide-Born WildstalkerTide-Born Wildstalker

Situational

Gear that can be stronger than the setup from the table in specific situations or when specific circumstances are present

  • Sul-Xan's TormentSul-Xan's Torment - the best set for trash packs and for bosses that regularly spawn smaller adds
  • Deadly StrikeDeadly Strike - better than Ansuul's TormentAnsuul's Torment in Overland content where you don't benefit from the Minor Slayer and penetration bonus lines
Additional Info
  • For overland content, you don't need as much penetration so you can replace Ice Staff with Inferno Staff
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Champion Points

WarfareWarfare
Master-at-Arms
6% Direct Damage
Because more than 60% of your damage is Direct
Biting Aura
6% AoE Damage
Because more than 60% of your damage is AoE
Fighting Finesse
8% Critical Damage and Healing
Next strongest CP damage-wise
Wrathful Strikes
205 Weapon and Spell Damage
Next strongest CP damage-wise
More Mitigation
Replace Wrathful StrikesWrathful Strikes + Fighting FinesseFighting Finesse with 2 mitigation CPs: IroncladIronclad, Duelist's RebuffDuelist's Rebuff, Enduring ResolveEnduring Resolve, or UnassailableUnassailable (depending on the type of damage the Boss deals to you)
More Healing
Reaving BlowsReaving Blows is a decent Champion Point if you need more HPS
FitnessFitness
Boundless Vitality
1400 Max Health
Survivability
Bastion
15% stronger damage shields
Synergizes with Pragmatic Fatecarver's damage shield
Rejuvenation
90 Health, Magicka and Stamina Recovery
Sustain
Fortified
1731 Armor
Survivability
Block Mitigation
Use Bracing AnchorBracing Anchor in fights where you block a lot and don't have to move much
Movement Speed
Use CelerityCelerity in fights where you have to move a lot
Sustain in fights with lots of adds
Use Bloody RenewalBloody Renewal in fights with lots of adds for extra sustain
Craft Craft
Steed's Blessing
20% Movement Speed out of combat
Extremely useful utility
Quality of Life
Green Champion Points don't affect Combat, choose whatever Quality of Life you prefer

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

Khajiit
Best for Damage
Khajiit
Why pick this
The strongest race for solo damage. Critical Damage is one of the most valuable stats in Solo play and Khajiits get 12% of it from Feline AmbushFeline Ambush passive.
Feline Ambush Feline Ambush 12% Critical Damage
Nimble Nimble 915 Max Health, Stamina and Magicka
Robustness Robustness 90 Health, Stamina, Magicka Recovery
Nord
Best for Survivability
Nord
Why pick this
The tankiest race. Nord is also what I use for soloing Veteran Hard Mode DLC Dungeons. RuggedRugged provides around 5-7% damage mitigation (depending on your current armor), making difficult content significantly more forgiving without sacrificing much damage.
Rugged Rugged 2600 armor
Stalwart Stalwart 1500 Max Stamina, 0.5 Ultimate per second
Reveler Reveler 1000 Max Health, 4620 Frost Resistance

Mundus

The Thief
Default
The Thief
5.53% Critical Chance (9.04% with 7 Divines)
When to use
Use most of the time. It increases your Critical Chance
The Lady
Difficult Content
The Lady
2744 Armor (4489 with 7 Divines)
When to use
Consider switching for extremely difficult dungeons. It increases your Armor

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.

Health
0
Stamina
64
Magicka
0
All points into Stamina. Use it for most content
Health
32
Stamina
32
Magicka
0
Split evenly between Health and Stamina. Use this whenever you start to struggle
Health
64
Stamina
0
Magicka
0
All points into Health. Use this for very difficult fights

Food

You'll need Stamina Recovery to sustain your abilities in longer fights

Max Health Stamina Recovery
You'll need it to sustain
Max Health Max Stamina
Use it if you have additional sustain from some other source, like Luminous ShardsLuminous Shards when choosing the Aedric Spear skill line, sustain racial, or alternative gear options like Essence ThiefEssence Thief

Potions

Tri-Stat Potion
Default Tri-Stat Potion
Restore Health Restore Stamina Restore Magicka

Most of the time you should use Tri-Stat potions. They'll greatly improve your sustain.

Heroism Potion
Situational Heroism Potion
Minor Heroism Restore Stamina Restore Magicka

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

Regular Setup
67,677DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 47
CMX Parse
Strongest Subclass Solo CMX Parse - Regular Setup - ESO
CMX Setup
Strongest Subclass Solo CMX Setup - Regular Setup - ESO
Recording
Parse recording
Templar
65,229DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 47
CMX Parse
Strongest Subclass Solo CMX Parse - Templar - ESO
CMX Setup
Strongest Subclass Solo CMX Setup - Templar - ESO
Warden
66,234DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 47
CMX Parse
Strongest Subclass Solo CMX Parse - Warden - ESO
CMX Setup
Strongest Subclass Solo CMX Setup - Warden - ESO
Dragonknight
64,323DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 49
CMX Parse
Strongest Subclass Solo CMX Parse - Dragonknight - ESO
CMX Setup
Strongest Subclass Solo CMX Setup - Dragonknight - ESO
Recording
Parse recording
Necromancer
63,902DPS
Target: 6mil Skeleton Dummy
Patch: Update 47
CMX Parse
Strongest Subclass Solo CMX Parse - Necromancer - ESO
CMX Setup
Strongest Subclass Solo CMX Setup - Necromancer - ESO

Gameplay

Here you can see this build tackling Veteran Hard Mode Dungeons

March of Sacrifices
Dungeon
Scalecaller Peak
Dungeon
March of Sacrifices
Dungeon Veteran Hard Mode
Scalecaller Peak
Dungeon Veteran Hard Mode

FAQ

WHAT IS THE BEST SOLO CLASS SUBCLASS IN ESO?

The strongest subclass combination for solo content is Nightblade's Assassination, Sorcerer's Storm Calling and Arcanist's Herald of the Tome. It achieves 67.6k DPS on the 6 million dummy while having strong survivability from Pragmatic FatecarverPragmatic Fatecarver's damage shield and HurricaneHurricane's Major Resolve. You can also situationally slot Critical SurgeCritical Surge for a lot of healing per second.

WHAT BASE CLASS SHOULD I USE FOR THIS BUILD?

Any base class works. Nightblade, Sorcerer and Arcanist can use the strongest default combination and achieve 67.6k DPS. Templar, Warden, Dragonknight and Necromancer have their own variants that perform within 5% of the default. Pick whichever class you enjoy most.

CAN I USE A DIFFERENT WEAPON?

Yes, you can replace the Dual Wield Daggers with other weapons. Greatsword, Lightning Staff and Bow will cause the smallest DPS loss (≈2%), then Inferno (≈4%), and then support-oriented weapons (Ice Staff, One Handed and Shield) will cause bigger DPS loss (≈7%). You will also have to replace Quick CloakQuick Cloak with some situational ability, or with an ability from one of the weapons you swapped to (for example CarveCarve when switching to Greatsword). Replacing backbar weapon is a lot more troublesome, because Elemental SusceptibilityElemental Susceptibility is extremely powerful skill for Solo.

DO I NEED A DIFFERENT SETUP FOR MAELSTROM ARENA AND VATESHRAN HOLLOWS?

No, the base setup from this guide works for both Maelstrom Arena and Vateshran Hollows without any changes.

Changelog

Update 49 - 21st March 2026

  • Changed Dragonknight variant from Ardent Flame to Earthen Heart - now uses Shatterspike MantleShatterspike Mantle instead of Flames of Oblivion, Venomous Claw and Standard of MightStandard of Might
  • Added Dragonknight parse (64,323 DPS)
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