Dragonknight Tank Build - ESO Guide

• 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%
• Exhilarating Drain - a 3 second channel that generates 20 Ultimate over its duration. Use Trample instead if you aren't a Vampire, or Magma Fist if Major Heroism is already provided by a Warden with Bountiful Harvest .
• 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
• Heart of Flame - heals you for 15% of your Max Health and 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 and self-healing 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 Exhilarating Drain first, Heart of Flame if you don't need the sustain and self-heal, 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

• Soul of Flame - replaces Heart of Flame if you need an AoE interrupt. You lose Heart of Flame's heal, but gain an interrupt against enemies that are casting
• Trample (Magic, Assassin's Misery, Heroism) - replaces Exhilarating Drain if you aren't a Vampire, or if you don't have a Warden Healer or Tank providing Major Heroism with Bountiful Harvest . It grants you Major Heroism for 10 seconds, which is roughly 20 Ultimate per cast
• 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. Also your default taunt when running double Ice Staff. It can also be used if you're struggling with Stamina, as it costs Magicka unlike Shield Throw
• Destructive Clench - use it if you're running double Ice Staff but still need Major Maim . It only lasts 5 seconds compared to 10 from Shield Throw, so only slot it over Inner Rage if you know your team needs the Maim (for example in Kyne's Aegis where you need to apply Major Maim before Instability goes off, and if you time it correctly the 5 seconds is enough)
• 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. Since it already provides Minor Resolve , it can replace Ulfsild's Contingency instead of the usual flex skills
• 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. The Major Force portion is usually redundant if an Arcanist is using Ink-Scribe's Verve , and it also overlaps with Saxhleel's Champion. Horn still has value for the Max Stamina and Max Magicka buff, or as backup when your group does not have reliable Major Force . Use it over Standard of Might if your Dragonknight DDs are already using Standard of Might, or if the group specifically wants the max resource buff.