Dragonknight Tank Build
ESO Tank Guide
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.
Skill Setups
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 |
Shield Throw (
Taunt,
Sage's Remedy,
Maim) - ranged taunt which will heal you and apply the Major Maim debuff for 10 seconds, which decreases enemies' damage done by 10%
Trample (
Magic,
Assassin's Misery,
Heroism) - a 1.5 second channel that will grant you Major Heroism for 10 seconds which translates to roughly 20 Ultimate per cast
Earthshield Mantle - a big and cheap damage shield which also grants you Major Resolve for 20 seconds, increasing your armor by 5948. Having it frontbarred will trigger the
Mountain Giant passive
Soul of Flame - interrupts enemies around you, restores 15% missing Stamina and Magicka every 2 seconds over 4 seconds (ticks 3 times) and deals damage in an AoE at the end. It's a great sustain tool that will also let you regenerate Stamina while blocking
Blood of the Elder Dragon - a self-heal which also heals allies around you and grants up to 6 allies Minor Courage for 20 seconds, increasing Weapon and Spell Damage by 215. It will also grant everyone Minor Brutality because it will trigger the
Elder Dragon passive
Temporal Guard - an ultimate we won't be using, but we'll keep slotted for the passive Minor Protection which reduces damage taken by 5%. It will also trigger the
Concentrated Barrier passive
Hearth and Home - a 15 second ground HoT which heals based on your Max Health, grants everyone inside Minor Heroism and grants you Major Protection if you're standing inside of it. It also slows enemies by 70%
Wield Soul (
Pull,
Druid's Resurgence,
Cowardice) - a chain ability for stacking smaller adds that also restores 600 Stamina. It should also be used on unchainable enemies to apply the Major Cowardice debuff which reduces enemies' Weapon and Spell Damage by 430
Elemental Susceptibility - a free ability that applies the crucial Major Breach debuff which reduces enemies' armor by 5948 and applies Burning, Concussed and Chilled status effects every 7.5 seconds. Concussed applies Minor Vulnerability for 4 seconds which increases enemies' damage taken by 5% and can trigger Off Balance when paired with Lightning
Elemental Blockade from your Healer. Chilled applies Minor Maim for 4 seconds which reduces enemies' damage done by 5%. If you were holding an Ice Staff at the moment Chilled procced, it will also apply Minor Brittle for 4 seconds which increases enemies' Critical Damage taken by 10%
Elemental Blockade - this ability will constantly apply the enchant of your backbar weapon, which in our case will be
Crusher. It will also apply Minor Breach debuff to enemies who are Chilled which reduces enemies' armor by 2974, and they'll always be Chilled thanks to
Elemental Susceptibility. It will also grant projectile-only damage shields to you and your teammates
Ulfsild's Contingency (
Damage Shield,
Gladiator's Tenacity,
Resolve) - a damage shield for yourself and your teammates that also provides 8% damage mitigation for 8 seconds and Minor Resolve for 22 seconds, increasing armor by 2974
Standard of Might - an Ultimate with a cost of 200 which calls down a standard for 15 seconds. Standing inside of the Standard grants everyone 300 Weapon and Spell Damage and 10% damage reduction. You gain additional 300 Weapon and Spell Damage and additional 15% damage reduction on top of that. It also gives a single use of the Shackle synergy which deals direct damage and immobilizes enemies in the area. These buffs don't stack so choose a different Ultimate if you have Dragonknight DDs in your team already using
Standard of Might.
If you need to slot something situational, replace
Trample if it's a difficult fight,
Soul of Flame if you don't need the sustain, or
Blood of the Elder Dragon if you don't need the self-heal and someone else provides Minor Courage. You can also replace
Hearth and Home if the fight is too mobile for you to properly utilize it
Magma Fist - an ability which applies Heat Shock debuff for 7 seconds, which increases enemies damage taken by 66, stacking up to 3 times. It's roughly a 4% damage increase at full stacks. Keeping it up will drain a decent amount of Stamina, so use it only in fights where you're completely comfortable with surviving. It doesn't stack so there's no point in using it if there's already a Damage Dealer using it in your group
Igneous Weapons - a skill which provides entire group with Major Brutality and Sorcery for 60 seconds and adds direct damage to your Light and Heavy Attacks. Use it if there's a decent amount Damage Dealers in your group who don't source these buffs themselves from their own builds. It's an extremely strong skill for DDs themselves so if you have a Dragonknight DD in your team they're most likely already using it.
Inner Rage - a replacement for
Shield Throw for easier fights. You're giving up the 10% damage reduction and the heal from
Shield Throw but you're providing an extremely strong synergy for your group
Chains of Dominance - a chain which compared to the Scribing version provides Major Cowardice for 5 seconds longer and doesn't consume any Magicka when used against CC immune targets. It can be better than
Wield Soul if you're using it mostly against bosses, just to keep up the Major Cowardice, but when used to actually chain smaller enemies it's much harder to sustain than
Wield Soul because
Wield Soul can utilise the
Druid's Resurgence script. You also have to use this chain over
Wield Soul if you decide to unslot
Blood of the Elder Dragon because then it becomes your only ability which procs the
Elder Dragon passive which grants your entire group Minor Brutality. You can of course ignore it if you know someone else will provide Minor Brutality or Minor Sorcery.
Soul Burst (
Damage Shield,
Anchorite's Potency,
Courage) - a damage shield for yourself and your teammates that consumes a Soul Gem to grant 3 Ultimate to you and your teammates up to once every 5 seconds. It also grants everyone Minor Courage for 20 seconds, increasing Weapon and Spell Damage by 215. It can be a good replacement for
Blood of the Elder Dragon in fights where Damage Shields are more effective than healing. It also provides your team with more Ultimate.
Burning Embers - a 10 second DoT which heals you for a decent amount at the beginning and then for a smaller amount every time the DoT ticks. The healing scales with your Max Health. It can be very useful in fights with multiple targets, because you can stack it up in anticipation of a more difficult phase
Resolving Vigor - extremely strong HoT that can help you survive more difficult fights, which also provides Minor Resolve. It can be used to proc
Powerful Assault set
Echoing Vigor - alternative to
Resolving Vigor which heals for a similar amount but over 16 seconds instead of 5. It now heals 6 allies (including you) instead of just you and doesn't provide Minor Resolve anymore. Use it to help your teammates survive in fights which are easy for you to survive. It can be used to proc
Powerful Assault set
Revealing Flare - a source of Major Protection for fights where you have to move around a lot and can't get Major Protection from standing inside of your
Hearth and Home
Defensive Stance - an ability which grants you a damage shield and allows you to reflect the next projectile within 6 seconds. It also passively reduces your block cost and increases block mitigation by 10%. Use it in fights where you're blocking a lot or in fights where you can do a lot of damage by reflecting projectiles
Immovable - use it in fights where you need lots of block mitigation or CC immunity
Crushing Shock - use it in fights where you need to interrupt an enemy who's standing far away from you
Razor Caltrops - source of AoE Major Breach for trash fights or boss fights with lots of adds
Pulsar - a skill that combined with Charged Ice Staff provides almost guaranteed AoE Chilled procs. Use it in trash packs
Charging Maneuver - provides your entire group with a total of 45% bonus movement speed. Very useful in trash packs, but it consumes a lot of Stamina
Power Bash - a skill for proccing the
Void Bash item set if you're switching to that in trash packs
Protect the Brood - an extremely situational skill which grants you 50% damage reduction against projectiles for 6 seconds, while your allies get a 25% damage reduction instead. The 6 target cap makes it very unreliable for protecting teammates in Trials. You and allies also get Minor Protection for 20 seconds which reduces damage taken by 5%. You also gain Major Expedition for 4 seconds, increasing your movement speed by 30%
Fleetstep Wings - the other morph of
Protect the Brood which doesn't protect your teammates and doesn't provide Minor Protection but grants you immunity to snares and immobilizations
Magma Shell - an Ultimate which limits incoming damage to 3% of your Max Health, making you basically immortal in fights without Oblivion Damage. Nearby allies also gain a damage shield which scales with their Max Health on activation
Reviving Barrier - an Ultimate that grants you and your allies a massive shield and applies a HoT. Use it when your group needs help with survival
Aggressive Horn - an Ultimate which grants a 30 second buff which increases Max Stamina and Max Magicka by 10%, and 10 seconds of Major Force to your entire group. Use it if you want to focus more on group damage, especially if your Dragonknight DDs are already using
Standard of Might. It's especially useful when not using
Saxhleel's Champion, since they both provide Major Force, though it doesn't mean you should never pair it with
Saxhleel's Champion
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
Inner Rage replaces
Shield Throw. Trash mobs in dungeons don't hit hard so the synergy from
Inner Rage is much more useful than the Major Maim from
Shield Throw
Power Slam replaces
Trample. This will allow us to proc the
Void Bash item set which will stack up smaller enemies
Razor Caltrops replaces
Hearth and Home
Pulsar replaces
Elemental Susceptibility. It'll apply Chilled status effect in an AoE which will apply Minor Brittle which increases Critical Damage taken by 10%. Chilled enemies inside of your
Elemental Blockade will also get debuffed with Minor Breach, reducing their armor by 2974
A setup for trash packs in Trials
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Shield Throw | Slot 1: Razor Caltrops |
| Slot 2: Ulfsild's Contingency | 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: Charging Maneuver |
| Ultimate: Temporal Guard | Ultimate: Standard of Might |
WHAT CHANGES
Charging Maneuver replaces
Trample and then swaps places with
Ulfsild's Contingency
Razor Caltrops replaces
Hearth and Home
Pulsar replaces
Elemental Susceptibility. It'll apply Chilled status effect in an AoE which will apply Minor Brittle which increases Critical Damage taken by 10%. Chilled enemies inside of your
Elemental Blockade will also get debuffed with Minor Breach, reducing their armor by 2974
A setup which focuses on your own survivability
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Shield Throw | Slot 1: Hearth and Home |
| Slot 2: Burning Embers | Slot 2: Chains of Dominance |
| Slot 3: Earthshield Mantle | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Soul of Flame | Slot 4: Elemental Blockade |
| Slot 5: Resolving Vigor | Slot 5: Ulfsild's Contingency |
| Ultimate: Temporal Guard | Ultimate: Standard of Might |
WHAT CHANGES
Burning Embers replaces
Trample
Resolving Vigor replaces
Blood of the Elder Dragon
Chains of Dominance replaces
Wield Soul, because without
Blood of the Elder Dragon you need another Draconic Power skill to proc Minor Brutality through
Elder Dragon passive
ADDITIONAL INFO
- Since
Resolving Vigor already grants you Minor Resolve, you can change the Affix script on
Ulfsild's Contingency to
Intellect and Endurance
A setup which sacrifices survivability, both yours and your group's, for more group damage
| Front Bar | Back Bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Inner Rage | Slot 1: Hearth and Home |
| Slot 2: Trample | Slot 2: Wield Soul |
| Slot 3: Earthshield Mantle | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Magma Fist | 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
Inner Rage replaces
Shield Throw
Magma Fist replaces
Soul of Flame
Passives
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
Gear
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 |
Gear that can be better than the setup from the table in specific situations
Vestments of Olorime - replacement for
War Machine when playing without a Healer
Alternative gear that can also be used and might be easier to obtain
It lists all useful gear, even sets that are already in the gear table and Situational tab
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
PvP
All of these are tradable and can be bought from other players
Dungeons
Trials
Monster Sets
Body
Sturdy and
Divines - both are very good options, which one is better depends on the specific encounter
Reinforced - depending on your race and many other aspects you might be over the armor cap, in which case you can change
Reinforced pieces to
Sturdy /
Divines
Jewelry
Harmony and
Infused -
Harmony is stronger whenever you have at least 2 different synergies available to you, which means that
Harmony will be better in the vast majority of situations, but
Infused can be better when playing with randoms or if the specific encounter makes it really difficult for your teammates to provide you synergies
Swift - extremely useful for trash packs
Weapons
Charged - an option for the backbar Ice Staff for trash packs. It will cause
Pulsar to be almost guaranteed to proc Chilled status effect
Infused - an option for the frontbar One Handed weapon when playing without a Healer. You can then combine it with the
Weakening enchant to reduce enemies' damage done
- You can double-bar
War Machine if you want to be able to provide Major Slayer also with your frontbar Ultimate
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
Powerful Assault is another good set that doesn't come from a Trial, but it would require you to include
Resolving Vigor or
Echoing Vigor in your boss skill setup
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
Archdruid Devyric changes to
Spaulder of Ruin because
Archdruid Devyric is extremely buggy and has issues hitting moving targets
Saxhleel's Champion changes to
Turning Tide because you don't want to spend your Ultimate in trash
War Machine changes to
Powerful Assault because you don't want to spend your Ultimate in trash and because you can proc it with
Razor Caltrops. Swap your
Razor Caltrops around with
Expansive Frost Cloak when using
Powerful Assault. If you're playing without a Healer keep using
Vestments of Olorime
Void Bash is extremely good for stacking enemies in dungeon trash packs- Backbar Ice Staff trait changes to
Charged so that
Pulsar becomes almost guaranteed to proc Chilled status effect - Jewelry traits change to
Swift as movement speed is extremely useful while running through trash
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
- This setup requires you to fit either
Resolving Vigor or
Echoing Vigor on your backbar
Champion Points
Race
Mundus
Attributes
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.
Food
Use
Jewels of Misrule as your default.
Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch provides slightly higher stats but is expensive.
Potions
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.
Gameplay
Here you can see this build in action
THANKS FOR READING
If you've enjoyed this guide and want to support me, you can do so through Patreon. Your support will help me produce more guides.
Head
Shoulders
Chest
Hands
Belt
Legs
Boots
Necklace
Ring
Frontbar Main Hand
Frontbar Off Hand