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Sorcerer Tank Guide

SORCERER TANK GUIDE

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Beginner Sorcerer Tank


This is a simplified guide which skips a lot of nuance and is intended for beginners or players who don't intend to tackle extremely hard content. Every fight in ESO is situational and ideal skill/gear setup is different for almost every boss. This guide is a compromise where I'll be showing you a single skill setup and very few gear setups that might not be perfect for every single situation, but they'll be at the very least good enough for every situation, and won't overwhelm new players with lots of information.

Last updated: Update 44 - 18th December 2024

Sorcerers have one of the best damage shields out of all classes, second only to Arcanists. The Hardened WardHardened Ward will shield you for 44.3% of your max HP while most other damage shields in the game scale to roughly 31% of max HP. If you do not have a pet summoned at the moment of casting it, and most of the time you won’t, it will also heal you for 10% of max HP, which makes it super easy to survive. You have access to Dark DealDark Deal which allows you to trade magicka for stamina, it has a 1s channel time during which you cannot block so it can be dangerous, but if you know a certain fight well and you know the time windows during which it’s safe to not hold block, proper use of Dark DealDark Deal will make managing stamina trivial. You also have access to Bolt EscapeBolt Escape. It will allow you to teleport around, making Sorcerer great for more mobile fights.


In terms of supporting the group, you have access to the Summon Charged AtronachSummon Charged Atronach ultimate, which allows one of your teammates to use a synergy that grants everyone around them Major Berserk, increasing their damage done by 10% and it’s a very rare buff with few other sources. The Atronach will also constantly apply the Concussed status effect, which applies Minor Vulnerability, which increases enemies damage taken by 5% and can be used in combination with Lightning Elemental BlockadeElemental Blockade to also provide Off-Balance, which can trigger the ExploiterExploiter Champion Point. You’ll be able to use Summon Charged AtronachSummon Charged Atronach or any other ultimate more frequently, thanks to the Power StonePower Stone passive, which reduces the cost of your ultimates by 15%. You also have access to the unique Minor ProphecyMinor Prophecy buff, which increases crit chance of everyone in your group by 6% and it’s unique to Sorcerers although Nightblades have access to an almost identical buff, and they do not stack. You also have access to a unique 1000 penetration debuff thanks to Crystal WeaponCrystal Weapon.


SKILL SETUPS


Shield Throw Wield Soul Vibrant Shroud Ulfsild's Contingency Hardened Ward Temporal Guard
Boundless Storm Soul Burst Elemental Susceptibility Elemental Blockade Resolving Vigor Summon Charged Atronach
Front Bar Back Bar
Slot 1: Shield Throw Slot 1: Boundless Storm
Slot 2: Soul Burst Slot 2: Wield Soul
Slot 3: Vibrant Shroud Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility
Slot 4: Ulfsild's Contingency Slot 4: Elemental Blockade
Slot 5: Hardened Ward Slot 5: Resolving Vigor
Ultimate: Temporal Guard Ultimate: Summon Charged Atronach

ADDITIONAL INFO:


GEAR

This is my suggested setup for dungeons. Since you can't fit in that many support sets in 4-man content, any combination of support sets will perform well.

Gear Slot Set Weight/Type Trait Enchantment
Head

Head

Archdruid DevyricArchdruid Devyric Medium ReinforcedReinforced Tri-StatTri-Stat
Shoulders

Shoulders

Archdruid DevyricArchdruid Devyric Light DivinesDivines /SturdySturdy Tri-StatTri-Stat
Chest

Chest

Lucent EchoesLucent Echoes Heavy ReinforcedReinforced Tri-StatTri-Stat
Hands

Hands

Lucent EchoesLucent Echoes Heavy DivinesDivines /SturdySturdy Tri-StatTri-Stat
Belt

Belt

Lucent EchoesLucent Echoes Heavy DivinesDivines /SturdySturdy Tri-StatTri-Stat
Legs

Legs

Lucent EchoesLucent Echoes Heavy ReinforcedReinforced Tri-StatTri-Stat
Feet

Boots

Lucent EchoesLucent Echoes Heavy ReinforcedReinforced Tri-StatTri-Stat
Neck

Necklace

Saxhleel's ChampionSaxhleel's Champion Jewelry HarmonyHarmony /InfusedInfused Reduce Magicka CostReduce Magicka Cost
Ring

Ring

Saxhleel's ChampionSaxhleel's Champion Jewelry HarmonyHarmony /InfusedInfused Reduce Magicka CostReduce Magicka Cost
Ring

Ring

Saxhleel's ChampionSaxhleel's Champion Jewelry HarmonyHarmony /InfusedInfused Reduce Magicka CostReduce Magicka Cost
Mainhand

Frontbar Main Hand

Armor of the TraineeArmor of the Trainee Any 1-handed weapon DecisiveDecisive HardeningHardening
Offhand

Frontbar Off Hand

Druid's BraidDruid's Braid Shield DivinesDivines /SturdySturdy Tri-StatTri-Stat
Mainhand

Backbar Main Hand

Saxhleel's ChampionSaxhleel's Champion Ice Staff InfusedInfused CrusherCrusher

ADDITIONAL INFO:


CHAMPION POINTS

Warfare

Fitness

ADDITIONAL INFO:


RACE

NordNord is by far the best race for tanking, due to the increased armor from RuggedRugged and ulti generation from StalwartStalwart. You can complete any content on any race, you'll just have to work slightly harder with other races, and you'll have to adjust your build and get more armor from somewhere else (for example by using The LadyThe Lady as your Mundus rather than The AtronachThe Atronach).


MUNDUS

The best Mundus is The AtronachThe Atronach which increases your Magicka Recovery by 310 and causes your armor pieces with the Divines trait to increase it by another 28.

If you're struggling with reaching the armor cap (33,000), then The LadyThe Lady can also be a decent choice. It increases your Armor by 2744.


ATTRIBUTES

HEALTH

64

STAMINA

0

MAGICKA

0

Majority of the times you should put all your points into Health. However you need your Max Stamina to be higher than your Max Magicka, because the CombustionCombustion synergy restores your dominant resource and you want it to be Stamina. Because of that, you might have to put some attribute points into Stamina if you have passives (such as for example the Gift of MagnusGift of Magnus racial) or item set bonuses (such as for example 1-piece bonus of Encratis's BehemothEncratis's Behemoth) that increase your Max Magicka. Put just enough points to make your Max Stamina higher than your Max Magicka, and then put the rest into Health.


FOOD

The best food is Orzorga's Smoked Bear HaunchOrzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch, however it's extremely expensive so you should use Jewels of MisruleJewels of Misrule instead, it provides only slightly lower stats than Orzorga's Smoked Bear HaunchOrzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch while being significantly cheaper.

Other decent foods:

  • Orzorga's Red FrothgarOrzorga's Red Frothgar - provides more Max Health and Magicka Recovery at the cost of providing no Stamina Recovery at all. Stamina Recovery doesn't work while blocking so it can be a decent option if you're permablocking
  • Bewitched Sugar SkullsBewitched Sugar Skulls - provides maximum resources instead of recoveries, can be decent for fights where you need to block for a very long time during a very specific period but the pressure is non-existent outside of that specific period so you can recuperate stamina by heavy attacking freely, for example Roksa the Warped boss in Bal Sunnar dungeon. The increased maximum resources will also increase the scaling of some of your healing abilities, such as Vibrant ShroudVibrant Shroud or Resolving VigorResolving Vigor
  • Candied Jester's CoinCandied Jester's Coin - provides only Max Stamina and Magicka Recovery, can be decent when you want to reduce your Max Health during a specific phase of a fight. For example, in Cloudrest you can eat it right as the execute phase starts, because Maximum Health becomes a detriment due to the Baneful Mark mechanic

POTIONS

Tri-Stat Potion

Most of the time you should use Tri-Stat potions (Restore Health, Restore Stamina, Restore Magicka). They'll greatly improve your sustain. You can craft them by combining ColumbineColumbine, BuglossBugloss and Mountain's FlowerMountain's Flower.

Heroism Potion

There are better potions but they're extremely expensive so they're only worth using when you're tryharding for the most difficult achievments, such as trial trifectas. Heroism potions (Heroism, Restore Stamina, Restore Magicka) can provide a 100% uptime on Minor Heroism buff which generates ultimate, but they're extremely expensive because they're crafted by combining Dragon RheumDragon Rheum, Dragon's BloodDragon's Blood and ColumbineColumbine.



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