The Dragonknight Tank build for ESO Update 49 is a pure class setup for players who don't want to use Subclassing. It's fairly self-sufficient and beginner-friendly, with
Soul of Flame letting you get away with permablocking and
Earthshield Mantle being a big cheap shield that lets you survive most encounters.
The main weakness compared to a Subclass Tank is group utility, pure class Dragonknight just has less of it. Survival is good though, and
Standard of Might is genuinely strong in any fight where your group isn't constantly moving.
The build handles all Veteran Dungeon and Trial content. It's weaker than a Subclass Tank overall, but if you want to play Pure Class Dragonknight this is the best option in ESO Update 49.
Base Setup
A base setup that will work for most situations and which should be your starting point when making situational setups. It prioritizes survivability over group damage.
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Shield Throw | Slot 1: Hearth and Home |
| Slot 2: Trample | Slot 2: Wield Soul |
| Slot 3: Earthshield Mantle | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Soul of Flame | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Blood of the Elder Dragon | Slot 5: Ulfsild's Contingency |
| Ultimate: Temporal Guard | Ultimate: Standard of Might |
Why no Inner Rage in the Regular setup?
The synergy from Inner Rage taunt is extremely strong but because of the way it works it always turns out extremely weak in Group Finder runs. The way it works is, instead of granting the synergy to 11 people and disappearing once 3 people use it, it first selects 3 people and only those 3 people have the option to use the synergy at all. And if one of those 3 people don't use it, it will never pass onto the remaining players, no matter how many times you recast your Inner Rage. Which is why, 3 clueless players not pressing their synergy in a Group Finder run are enough to completely "clog" your Inner Rage. Which is why I decided to go with Shield Throw taunt as a default option.
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 trash packs in Dungeons
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Inner Rage | Slot 1: Razor Caltrops |
| Slot 2: Power Slam | Slot 2: Wield Soul |
| Slot 3: Earthshield Mantle | Slot 3: Pulsar |
| Slot 4: Soul of Flame | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Blood of the Elder Dragon | Slot 5: Ulfsild's Contingency |
| Ultimate: Temporal Guard | Ultimate: Standard of Might |
WHAT CHANGES
The only passive you specifically have to skip is
Tri Focus
Some trees are only needed when using situational skills, for example Support provides nothing without
Revealing Flare or
Reviving Barrier
Class - Ardent Flame
Combustion - High Priority
Traumatic Burns - High Priority
Fan the Flames - High Priority
A Soul Ablaze - High Priority
Class - Draconic Power
Burnished Scales - High Priority
World in Ruin - High Priority
Elder Dragon - High Priority
The Storm Voice - High Priority
Class - Earthen Heart
Heart of Stone - High Priority
Landslide - High Priority
Blessing at the Peak - High Priority
Mountain Giant - High Priority
Weapon - One Hand and Shield
Fortress - High Priority
Sword and Board - High Priority
Deadly Bash - Medium Priority
Deflect Bolts - High Priority
Battlefield Mobility - Medium Priority
Weapon - Destruction Staff
Tri Focus - Do Not Unlock
Penetrating Magic - Low Priority
Elemental Force - High Priority
Ancient Knowledge - High Priority
Destruction Expert - Low Priority
Armor - Light Armor
Grace - Low Priority
Evocation - High Priority
Spell Warding - Medium Priority
Prodigy - Medium Priority
Concentration - Low Priority
Armor - Medium Armor
Dexterity - Low Priority
Wind Walker - High Priority
Improved Sneak - Not needed
Agility - Medium Priority
Athletics - High Priority
Armor - Heavy Armor
Resolve - High Priority
Constitution - Medium Priority
Juggernaut - High Priority
Revitalize - High Priority
Rapid Mending - High Priority
Guild - Mages Guild
Persuasive Will - Not needed
Mage Adept - High Priority
Everlasting Magic - High Priority
Magicka Controller - Medium Priority
Might of the Guild - Low Priority
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
Base Setup
A base setup - the item sets shown are intended for Dungeons specifically, but the weights, traits and enchants are meant for any boss fight
Most support sets provide a similar group DPS increase. The most important thing is making sure your sets don't overlap with other Tank's and Healers' sets, though you can overlap sets which provide imperfect uptimes like
Saxhleel's Champion or
Archdruid Devyric
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 |
Light | |||
Chest |
Heavy | |||
Hands |
Heavy | |||
Belt |
Heavy | |||
Legs |
Heavy | |||
Boots |
Heavy | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Any 1-handed weapon | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Shield | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
Other Setups
Starting setup if you only have access to crafted gear
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Light | |||
Chest |
Heavy | |||
Hands |
Heavy | |||
Belt |
Heavy | |||
Legs |
Heavy | |||
Boots |
Heavy | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Any 1-handed weapon | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Shield | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
Setup if you don't have access to Trial gear
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Light | |||
Chest |
Heavy | |||
Hands |
Heavy | |||
Belt |
Heavy | |||
Legs |
Heavy | |||
Boots |
Heavy | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Any 1-handed weapon | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Shield | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
Additional Info
Setup for trash packs, the item sets shown are intended for Dungeons specifically, but the weights, traits and enchants shown are meant for any trash
Dungeon Trash
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Light | |||
Chest |
Heavy | |||
Hands |
Heavy | |||
Belt |
Heavy | |||
Legs |
Heavy | |||
Boots |
Heavy | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Any 1-handed weapon | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Shield | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
Explanation
Trial Trash
A Trash setup for Trials could look like this. Unlike Dungeon trash setup, it doesn't switch away from Ultimate sets because Trial trash packs can be difficult so it's worth spending Ultimate on them
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Light | |||
Chest |
Heavy | |||
Hands |
Heavy | |||
Belt |
Heavy | |||
Legs |
Heavy | |||
Boots |
Heavy | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Any 1-handed weapon | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Shield | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
Setups for tanking Trials
These are just 2 examples of setups the 2 Tanks could use in a PUG Trial run. If you're in a more organized team, the gear your Raid Lead wants you to wear takes priority
Setup 1
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Light | |||
Chest |
Heavy | |||
Hands |
Heavy | |||
Belt |
Heavy | |||
Legs |
Heavy | |||
Boots |
Heavy | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Any 1-handed weapon | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Shield | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
Setup 2
| Gear Slot | Set | Weight/Type | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Head |
Medium | |||
Shoulders |
Light | |||
Chest |
Heavy | |||
Hands |
Heavy | |||
Belt |
Heavy | |||
Legs |
Heavy | |||
Boots |
Heavy | |||
Necklace |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Ring |
Jewelry | |||
Frontbar Main Hand |
Any 1-handed weapon | |||
Frontbar Off Hand |
Shield | |||
Backbar Main Hand |
Ice Staff |
Additional Info
Put all 64 points into Health. However, your Max Stamina must be higher than your Max Magicka, because the
Combustion synergy restores your dominant resource and you want it to be Stamina. If you have passives (such as
Gift of Magnus) or item set bonuses that increase Max Magicka, put just enough points into Stamina to keep it higher than your Max Magicka, then put the rest into Health.
Use
Jewels of Misrule as your default.
Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch provides slightly higher stats but is expensive.
Most of the time you should use Tri-Stat potions. They'll greatly improve your sustain.
When not using
Hearth and Home, you can get your Minor Heroism from Heroism potions instead, but they're expensive.
Here you can see this build in action
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