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ESO Builds

The choices affecting your combate effectiveness in The Elder Scrolls Online can be overwhelming. This guide explains the various build components and where to find builds.

Preface

The most common questions asked by new and veteran players alike, are ‘build’ related. The term build refers to a collection of player choices on race, class, abilities, passives, and equipment. Often builds will include information on food/drink, poison/enchantments, potion recommendations, and championship point distributions. 

Build information is only a starting point for your characters. Effectiveness and enjoyment of any build will vary based on your skill, knowledge of game mechanics, and personal playstyle.

Contents

ESO Build Components

The following are the building blocks of an ESO Character Build (pun intended). If a build is thought out carefully, each of these elements can complement each other to make builds that effective and fun to play.

Note:
Generally speaking, all builds are viable. However, some will require much more mastery to be effective in endgame.

Class / Skill Lines

Each class gives plays the option to play their preferred role (Tank, Damage Dealer – AKA DPS, and Healer), their primary resource pool (Magicka or Stamina).

In addition to class abilities and ultimates, players can customize their character with skill lines and abilities available to all characters. These include:

  • Weapons
  • Armor
  • Guild
  • World
    • Soul Magic
    • Vampire
    • Werewolf
  • Alliance War

Note:
Abilities and skill lines often have passive abilities.
Some have requirements for certain abilities to be on your bar, number of a certain weight of armor to be equipment, or the use of an ability. These will be considered in a good build and affect the selection of which abilities will go on the characters ability bar.

Ability Bar

There are a limited number of abilities and ultimates available to a character during combat. When you start a new player, you are limited to five abilities, an ultimate, and a quickslot item. At level fifteen (15), you are able to “swap” weapon bars to access more.

In rare cases, additional ability bars become available. For example, there is a special bar that is activated when a player transforms into a werewolf or a sorcerer triggers their overload bar.

Race

There are several races available which offer subtle benefits to a character.

Gear

There are a limited number of equipment slots. Gear can have several properties,

  • Set bonuses that unlock with a defined number of the same set is equipped
  • Traits
  • Enchantments
  • Unique bonuses (for example, arena and trial gear) that enhance abilities or benefit group members.

Mundus Stones

Mundus Stones are interactable objects and furnishing in Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) that provides a boost to one or more of your characters statistics. This video explains what they are and where to find them.

Consumables

There are several useful consumables that a character can use. These include Food, Drinks, Potions, Poisons, and Scrolls.

Food / Drink

Notes:
Standard recipes are interchangeable.
Rare recipes listed in preferred order
H – Health HR – Health Recovery
M – Magicka MR – Magicka Recovery
S – Stamina SR – Stamina Recovery

Potions

Champion Points

Once you have leveled a character to level 50, then you will be begin to earn champion points. Champion Points (CP) can limit the level of your gear until you hit CP160 and can be spent (up to the current limit threshold) in various nodes of the Champion Point Trees to enhance your players damage, damage mitigation, resource recovery, and more.

Other Players / Groupmates

One of the endgame strategies to maximize your combat effectiveness is to co-ordinate procs with your groupmates. Check out your guild resources such as discord channels to see their recommendations.

ESO Skills Advisor

With Update 17 / Dragonbones, Elder Scrolls Online introduced a new feature called the Skills Advisor.

Our new Skills Advisor will provide you with guidance on how to build a character based on certain class archetypes. You can access, enable, or disable the Skills Advisor from your regular Skills menu. From within the Skills Advisor tool, you can select a desired class archetype to view a selection of recommended abilities and ability morphs. “But the Skills Advisor is here to give you an idea of how all of the skills work together and provide you with direction as you build your character. (1)

The skill advisor offers five templates for every clase.

  • Initiate (new character base configuration)
  • Healer
  • Tank
  • Damage Dealer
    • Magicka
    • Stamina
Note: This tool generally provides options for class abilities but often excludes armour, weapon, world, and guild skill lines.

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