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Necromancer Tank Build - ESO Guide

Tank Two Bar Pure Class Necromancer
Up to date for: Update 50 - 1st June 2026
Last changed: Update 50 - 1st June 2026

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Pure Class Necromancer Tank Build for ESO Update 50 is one of the stronger pure class tank options because of how much damage mitigation it gets passively. , , and the passive stack to give more mitigation than most other tank classes.

gives you a lot of Ultimate generation and sustain. Combined with corpse consumption from , you can keep or any other Ultimate up almost constantly.

also extends for the group, adding offensive utility on top of the mitigation. The build handles all Veteran Dungeon and Trial content.

Works in normal and veteran dungeons, trials, hard modes, Dragonstar Arena, Blackrose Prison, and early arcs in Infinite Archive.

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Class Mastery

Class Masteries are a new system where each class picks 2 of 5 passive bonuses (Class Mastery Points, not Skill Points). Activating subclassing in any capacity disables Class Mastery, so it's a tradeoff between keeping your native skill lines or subclassing.

Default

Necromancer Class Mastery

Malevolent Promise

Death's knell is a familiar song. Share it with your enemies.

Upgrades rank 2 of to mark the closest non-player enemy to you with death's touch for 6 seconds, allowing you to use a corpse consuming ability on them. Consuming or replacing this effect forcibly triggers rank 1 of 's Ultimate generation and triggers rank 2 of .

This effect can occur once every 2 seconds.

Notes

Lots of Ultimate generation and sustain.

Necromancer Class Mastery

Veil's Forfeit

Call souls back from an early grave. Only you may grant them release.

While you are in combat, directly healing a target below 66% Health relinquishes them from death's clutches and allows you to use a corpse consuming ability against them within 10 seconds, up to once every second.

Extends the duration of you apply by 50%.

Notes

Longer .

Situational

Necromancer Class Mastery

Nothing Wasted

As an abattoir of death, no remnants of life are wasted.

Upgrades rank 2 of to also grant a stack of Nothing Wasted for 15 seconds, which increases your Max Health by 2% and Weapon and Spell Damage by 2% per stack, up to 10 times. Stacks decay three at a time instead of all at once.

Not in Tooltip

The tooltip is misleading. won't work without passive, but it isn't tied to proccing (which has a 16 second cooldown). You simply get a stack whenever you consume any corpse, without any cooldown.

Notes

Up to 20% additional Max Health and 20% Weapon and Spell Damage which can boost healing of skills that scale with offensive stats such as or . Good defensive situational Class Mastery for fights that don't have damage that scales with your Max Health.

Necromancer Class Mastery

Pound of Flesh

Knock upon death's door and demand your due.

When you take damage you have a 10% chance to heal 2467 Health and restore 5% of your missing Stamina, up to once per second. This chance increases by 1% for every missing Health percent you have and the healing is based off your Max Health.

Notes

Useful in fights where you have to permablock to survive and need the sustain.

Not worth it

Necromancer Class Mastery

Cycle Unending

The cycle of life and death continues: you will live, others will die.

Upgrades rank 2 of to grant Cycle Unending for 25 seconds, increasing the potency of your damage done by 1% for every 1% Health you have more than your target. The damage bonus caps at 25%, or 10% against players.

Not in Tooltip

The tooltip is wrong. Cycle Unending's damage potency scales at one quarter of the Health percent gap. At full Health against a 75% Health target, it gives about 6.25% damage, not 25%.

Notes

Not useful for this setup.

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: Summoner's ArmorMorph of Bone Armor
Slot 2: Trample Slot 2: Wield Soul
Slot 3: Necrotic PotencyMorph of Bitter Harvest Slot 3: Elemental SusceptibilityMorph of Weakness to Elements
Slot 4: Soul Burst Slot 4: Elemental BlockadeMorph of Wall of Elements
Slot 5: Hungry ScytheMorph of Death Scythe Slot 5: Spirit GuardianMorph of Spirit Mender
Ultimate: Temporal GuardMorph of Undo Ultimate: Glacial ColossusMorph of Frozen Colossus
  • (Taunt, Sage's Remedy, Maim) - ranged taunt which will heal you and apply the debuff for 10 seconds, which decreases enemies' damage done by 10%
  • (Magic, Assassin's Misery, Heroism) - can provide a lot of Ultimate generation, but the same buff can be provided by Wardens with
  • - consumes corpses to generate Ultimate. This also triggers for more Ultimate generation
  • (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 for 20 seconds, increasing Weapon and Spell Damage by 215
  • - a self heal which requires you to hit at least a single target, and heals you for more if you've hit more enemies. Also grants a 10 second HoT.
  • - 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 passive
  • - an ability that will grant you and , increasing your armor by 8922. It also triggers the passive, which reduces your damage taken from DoTs by 15%. It turns you into a corpse on cast, up to once every 10 seconds.
  • (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 debuff which reduces enemies' Weapon and Spell Damage by 430
  • - a free ability that applies the crucial debuff which reduces enemies' armor by 5948 and applies , and status effects every 7.5 seconds. applies for 4 seconds which increases enemies' damage taken by 5% and can trigger when paired with Lightning from your Healer. applies for 4 seconds which reduces enemies' damage done by 5%. If you were holding an Ice Staff at the moment procced, it will also apply for 4 seconds which increases enemies' Critical Damage taken by 10%
  • - this ability will constantly apply the enchant of your backbar weapon, which in our case will be . It will also apply debuff to enemies who are which reduces enemies' armor by 2974, and they'll always be thanks to . It will also grant projectile-only damage shields to you and your teammates
  • - an ability that will summon a wraith that reduces your damage taken by 10% and heals you every 2 seconds. It will also create a corpse when it expires
  • - an ultimate that applies in a large area for 19 seconds in total when you count all the slams, extended to 27.5 seconds with

If you need to slot something situational, replace first, then if you don't need the shield and someone else provides

  • - a replacement for for easier fights. You're giving up the 10% damage reduction and the heal from but you're providing an extremely strong synergy for your group. Also your default taunt when running double Ice Staff setup. It can also be used if you're struggling with Stamina, as it costs Magicka unlike
  • - use it if you're running double Ice Staff setup but still need . It only lasts 5 seconds compared to 10 from , so only slot it over if you know your team needs the Maim (for example in Kyne's Aegis where you need to apply before Instability goes off, and if you time it correctly the 5 seconds is enough)
  • - replacement for if you don't have Scribing
  • (Damage Shield, Gladiator's Tenacity, Intellect and Endurance) - replaces if you need more survivability. It is cheaper and also provides 8% damage mitigation for 8 seconds, and for 22 seconds
  • - slot it for more difficult fights where you need more damage mitigation. It passively grants , reducing your damage taken by 10%. It will also trigger the passive, which increases Magicka Recovery by 10%
  • - extremely strong HoT that can help you survive more difficult fights, which also provides . It can be used to proc set
  • - alternative to 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 anymore. Use it to help your teammates survive in fights which are easy for you to survive. It can be used to proc set
  • - 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
  • - use it in fights where you need lots of block mitigation or CC immunity
  • - use it in fights where you need to interrupt an enemy who's standing far away from you
  • - source of AoE for trash fights or boss fights with lots of adds
  • - applies in an AoE and creates a corpse if at least one enemy was hit. Use it in trash packs
  • - provides your entire group with a total of 45% bonus movement speed. Very useful in trash packs, but it consumes a lot of Stamina
  • - a skill for proccing the item set if you're switching to that in trash packs
  • - an Ultimate which grants a 30 second buff which increases Max Stamina and Max Magicka by 10%, and 10 seconds of to your entire group. The portion is usually redundant if an Arcanist is using , and it also overlaps with . Horn still has value for the Max Stamina and Max Magicka buff, or as backup when your group does not have reliable .
  • - an Ultimate that grants you and your allies a massive shield and applies a HoT. Use it when your group needs help with survival
InnerRageIcon

Why no Inner Rage in the Regular setup?

The synergy from 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 . Which is why, 3 clueless players not pressing their synergy in a Group Finder run are enough to completely "clog" your . Which is why I decided to go with 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 RageMorph of Inner Fire Slot 1: Summoner's ArmorMorph of Bone Armor
Slot 2: Power Bash Slot 2: Wield Soul
Slot 3: Necrotic PotencyMorph of Bitter Harvest Slot 3: Ghostly EmbraceMorph of Grave Grasp
Slot 4: Soul Burst Slot 4: Elemental BlockadeMorph of Wall of Elements
Slot 5: Hungry ScytheMorph of Death Scythe Slot 5: Razor CaltropsMorph of Caltrops
Ultimate: Temporal GuardMorph of Undo Ultimate: Glacial ColossusMorph of Frozen Colossus

WHAT CHANGES

  • replaces . Trash mobs in dungeons don't hit hard so the synergy from is much more useful than the from
  • replaces . This will allow us to proc the item set which will stack up smaller enemies
  • replaces
  • replaces . It'll apply status effect in an AoE which will apply which increases Critical Damage taken by 10%. enemies inside of your will also get debuffed with , reducing their armor by 2974. It also creates a corpse if at least one enemy was hit

Passives

The only passive you specifically have to skip is

Some trees are only needed when using situational skills, for example Support provides nothing without or

Class

Weapon

Armor

Guild

Alliance War

Racial

Craft

Class - Grave Lord

Reusable Parts - High Priority

Death Knell - Low Priority

Dismember - Low Priority

Rapid Rot - Low Priority

Gear

These are the best general-use setups when you're playing with randoms or do not know your group comp. Coordinated groups can do better with more specialized setups.

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 or

Switching gear for trash packs isn't worth it unless you're using gear-swap addons

General-Use PUG Setups

These are the default setups once you have the gear for them. Trash setups are optional swaps for players using gear-swap addons.

If your group does not have an Arcanist using , use so the group still gets . In Dungeons, replace . In Trials, replace .

Gear Slot Set Weight/Type Trait Enchantment
HeadHead Medium /
ShouldersShoulders Light /
ChestChest Heavy
HandsHands Heavy /
BeltBelt Heavy /
LegsLegs Heavy
FeetBoots Heavy
NeckNecklace Jewelry /
RingRing Jewelry /
RingRing Jewelry /
MainhandFrontbar Main Hand Any 1-handed weapon
OffhandFrontbar Off Hand Shield /
MainhandBackbar Main Hand Ice Staff

Setup Notes

  • can replace when playing without a Healer

Progression Setups

Use these until you can move into the general-use PUG setups above.

Start with the Crafted Only / Starter Gear setup if you only have access to crafted gear. Use the No Trial Gear / Dungeon Gear setup once you can farm dungeon and monster sets but do not have trial gear yet.

Both progression setups work in Dungeons and Trials if that's all you have right now.

Starting setup if you only have access to crafted gear

Gear Slot Set Weight/Type Trait Enchantment
Head Head Medium /
Shoulders Shoulders Light /
Chest Chest Heavy
Hands Hands Heavy /
Belt Belt Heavy /
Legs Legs Heavy
Feet Boots Heavy
Neck Necklace Jewelry /
Ring Ring Jewelry /
Ring Ring Jewelry /
Mainhand Frontbar Main Hand Any 1-handed weapon
Offhand Frontbar Off Hand Shield /
Mainhand Backbar Main Hand Ice Staff

Explanation

  • You can use a mix of , and enchants instead of , because enchants are very expensive and this is a temporary gear that you'll outgrow very fast

Additional Explanations

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

  • and - both are very good options, which one is better depends on the specific encounter
  • - depending on your race and many other aspects you might be over the armor cap, in which case you can change pieces to /

Jewelry

  • and - is stronger whenever you have at least 2 different synergies available to you, which means that will be better in the vast majority of situations, but can be better when playing with randoms or if the specific encounter makes it really difficult for your teammates to provide you synergies
  • - extremely useful for trash packs

Weapons

  • - an option for the frontbar One Handed weapon when playing without a Healer. You can then combine it with the enchant to reduce enemies' damage done

Body

  • enchants are very expensive so you can use a mix of , and enchants before you can afford them

Weapons

  • - an option for the frontbar One Handed weapon when playing without a Healer. You can then combine it with the trait to reduce enemies' damage done
  • You can double-bar if you want to be able to provide Major Slayer also with your frontbar Ultimate
  • If you want to provide , you can replace your frontbar Sword and Shield with an Ice Staff. Use trait with a enchant. The frontbar Ice Staff should usually be , but you can also move your backbar set to frontbar and put on backbar. You can also frontbar when using
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Champion Points

Use these Champion Points as default for Boss and Trash fights respectively. Further below you'll find a list of all useful CPs with explanations on when to use them.

WarfareWarfare
6% Direct Damage Reduction
Reduces damage taken from direct damage attacks
6% ST Damage Reduction
Reduces damage taken from single target attacks
1900 Armor
Increases your armor while you have a shield or frost staff equipped, which should be at all times anyway
10% Single Target Healing
Boosts your , and 's Sage's Remedy
If you're already at the armor cap
Replace with
Other mitigation options
(DoT Reduction), (AoE Reduction) - choose based on the type of damage you're taking
FitnessFitness
1400 Max Health
Great for survivability in fights without max HP based damage
1731 Armor
Can help you reach the armor cap if you're missing it in other parts of the build
90 of all recoveries
Sustain
20% Block Mitigation, -16% Movement Speed
Great for boss fights with constant direct blockable damage. Don't combine with as the combined movement speed penalties will reduce your movement speed to 0, which also prevents you from dodge rolling
Craft Craft
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

All Useful Champion Points

A full list of useful Champion Points with explanations on when to slot them.

  • - reduces damage taken from direct damage attacks by 6%
  • - reduces damage taken from damage over time attacks by 6%
  • - reduces damage taken from single target attacks by 6%
  • - reduces damage taken from area of effect attacks by 6%
  • - increases your armor by 1900 while you have a shield or frost staff equipped, which should be at all times anyway
  • - increases your single target healing by 10%. Boosts your , and 's Sage's Remedy


Race

Nord
Best for Tanking
Nord
Why Nord
Nord is by far the best race for tanking, due to the increased armor from and ulti generation from . You can complete any content on any race, you'll just have to work slightly harder with other races and adjust your build to compensate.
Rugged 2600 Armor
Stalwart 1500 Max Stamina, 0.5 Ultimate per second
Reveler 1000 Max Health, 4620 Frost Resistance

Mundus

The Atronach
Default
The Atronach
310 Magicka Recovery (507 with Divines)
When to use
The best Mundus for tanking. The Magicka Recovery helps sustain your skills throughout a fight.
The Lady
Armor Cap
The Lady
2744 Armor (4489 with 7 Divines)
When to use
Use if you're struggling to reach the armor cap (33,000). It increases your Armor by 2744, or 4489 with Divines trait on your armor pieces.


Attributes

Put all 64 points into Health. However, your Max Stamina must be higher than your Max Magicka, because the synergy restores your dominant resource and you want it to be Stamina. If you have passives (such as ) 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.

Health
64
Stamina
0
Magicka
0
All points into Health. Use this if your Max Stamina is already naturally higher than your Max Magicka
Health
≈45
Stamina
≈19
Magicka
0
Put just enough points into Stamina to make Max Stamina higher than Max Magicka, then put the rest into Health. The exact split depends on your gear and passives

Food

Use as your default. provides slightly higher stats but is expensive.

Jewels of Misrule
Default
Max Health Stamina Recovery Magicka Recovery
Provides slightly lower stats than Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch but is significantly cheaper.
Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch
Expensive
Max Health Stamina Recovery Magicka Recovery
The best food for tanking. Provides Max Health, Stamina Recovery and Magicka Recovery. Extremely expensive.
Orzorga's Red Frothgar
Permablocking
Max Health Magicka Recovery
Provides more Max Health and Magicka Recovery but no Stamina Recovery. Stamina Recovery doesn't work while blocking, so this can be a decent option if you're permablocking.
Bewitched Sugar Skulls
Specific Fights
Max Health Max Stamina Max Magicka
Provides maximum resources instead of recoveries. Decent for fights where you need to block for a very long time during a specific period but the pressure is non-existent outside of it, so you can recuperate Stamina by heavy attacking freely - for example the 1st boss in Lucent Citadel or Roksa the Warped in Bal Sunnar.
Candied Jester's Coin
Specific Fights
Max Stamina Magicka Recovery
Provides only Max Stamina and Magicka Recovery with no Max Health. Useful 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
Default
Restore Health Restore Stamina Restore Magicka

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

Craft with: Columbine Columbine Bugloss Bugloss Online:Mountain_Flower Mountain's Flower
Heroism Potion
Situational
Restore Stamina Restore Magicka

Necromancer Tank doesn't have a class skill that provides , so Heroism potions are your only way to get it as the Tank. They're expensive but useful for fights where you want extra Ultimate generation.

Craft with: Dragon Rheum Dragon Rheum Online:Dragon%27S_Blood Dragon's Blood Columbine Columbine

FAQ

Yes. Necromancer Tank is one of the stronger pure class tank options in ESO Update 50. It has some of the best damage mitigation of any tank class through , , and , plus a lot of Ultimate generation from and corpse consumption.

Necromancer Tank is strong, but it's not the easiest tank to learn. You have to manage corpses, watch Ultimate generation, and rely on consistently keeping up buffs instead of reactive gameplay. Dragonknight, Warden, and Templar are easier starting points if you're new to tanking.

Yes. Necromancer Tank can clear Veteran Dungeons and Trials, including hard content, when built and played correctly. The page includes setups for regular fights, trash packs, and situational swaps depending on the encounter.

Yes, for Infinite Archive Arcs 1-4. Those arcs are still close enough to normal PvE content that this Tank setup works well, and you usually will not have enough important Visions yet to build around them. is especially useful here because it applies , reducing enemy Weapon and Spell Damage. Damage reductions like that become more valuable in Infinite Archive because enemies in IA have extremely low base Weapon Damage.

For deep Infinite Archive runs, such as Arc 10+, this is not the right type of build. Deep IA setups have to change heavily around the Visions earned during that run, so they are usually built very differently from standard dungeon, trial, or Arcs 1-4 tank builds.

Necromancer Tank's main strength is survivability through damage mitigation and Ultimate sustain. , , , and corpse-based tools help it survive heavy pressure while still supporting the group.

Subclass Tank usually has stronger overall group utility. If you want to stay fully Necromancer, Pure Class Necromancer Tank still holds up better than most other pure class options because of its damage mitigation and Ultimate generation, and it handles Veteran Dungeon and Trial content without issue.

Nord is the best general race for Necromancer Tank because of its resistances and Ultimate generation. Imperial and Argonian are also strong alternatives. Race helps, but it is not required to clear content.

See all Tank Builds


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