ARCANIST HEALER BUILD

Writer: @xGAMxHQ
Role: PVE Healer
Patch: Update 40 – Infinite Archive

The Fortune Arcanist Healer Build for ESO (The Elder Scrolls Online) is optimized for all players looking for the ultimate build guide on setups for Trials, Dungeons, and Arenas, whether you’re a beginner, a long-time veteran, or just returning to the game.

As the Healer role in The Elder Scrolls Online, not only are you responsible for healing the group with Area of Effect (AOE) and Healing over Time (HOT) abilities, but you are also responsible for self-sustaining, providing your group with multiple forms of Magicka and Stamina sustain, and maintaining high uptimes on group buffs and enemy debuffs using your various armor sets, skills, and Ultimate abilities.

The Arcanist Healer has a dedicated healing skill line, is incredibly beginner-friendly, and has quickly made its way to one of the top choices for Healers overall due to their versatile skill set, powerful group damage shields, and the ability to grant the Minor Courage buff to the entire group without the need of a gear set that drops from Trial content.

Arcanists bring a new unique playstyle involving Crux. The Crux system is a combo building mechanic, where some abilities generate Crux, and others allow you to consume Crux stacks to improve it in some way, such as restoring Magicka and Stamina to you and your group. You may only have up to 3 stacks of Crux active at one time.

Arcanists have three unique skill lines that each provide strong skills and passives to help make the Fortune build perform its best:

The Curative Runeforms skill line focuses on healing abilities. Chakram of Destiny grants the group powerful damage shields and generates Crux with each cast. What makes this skill even better is casting it on a group member that already has a damage shield increases its strength by 30%. Additionally, the Intricate Runeforms passive further improves this skill by reducing its cost and increasing its strength by another 10%.

The Herald of the Tome skill line focuses on offensive abilities; however, the passives from this skill line significantly improve your healing capability. Fated Fortune increases your Critical Healing by 12% for 7 seconds each time you generate a Crux, which occurs often.

The Soldier of Apocrypha skill line focuses on enemy debuffing and defensive abilities. Rune of the Colorless Pool allows you to apply the Minor Vulnerability and Minor Brittle debuffs to an enemy, increasing their damage taken by 5% and their Critical Damage taken by 10%. This is the only ability that allows you to directly apply the Minor Brittle debuff without needing an Ice Staff equipped.

The Arcanist Healer build covers everything you need to know, including recommended armor setups, skills, champion points, and many alternatives to meet various needs. Please read the entire build and bookmark the page, as it will update with each new patch.

RECENT UPDATES

NOVEMBER 27 / 2023: – UPDATE 40 – INFINITE ARCHIVE
• No Changes.

RACE

HIGH ELF

BRETON

ARGONIAN

The races that offer the best passives for Healers are High Elf, Breton, and Argonian, though all races are capable of Healing. The Arcanist Healer build utilizes the High Elf racial passives, as they offer the best raw healing potential. Choose a race that best suits your needs.

High Elves offer strong raw healing power and an easy way to restore Magicka, only requiring you to cast an ability to take advantage of the passive. They also increase your Maximum Magicka by 2,000 and Weapon and Spell Damage by 258.

Bretons provide the best Magicka sustain. They increase your Maximum Magicka by 2000, Magicka Recovery by 130, and reduce the cost of your Magicka abilities by 7%. Additionally, Bretons improve your survivability by granting 2310 Spell Resistance that doubles if you’re afflicted with Burning, Chilled, or Concussed.

Argonians are an excellent choice for beginners who may want additional help with self-sustain, as they provide a more burst-oriented method of sustaining all resources. They also increase your Maximum Health, Maximum Magicka, and Maximum Stamina by 1,000, and your healing done by 6%.

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

MAGICKA

HEALTH

STAMINA

All Attribute Points are distributed into Magicka regardless of your choice of race and armor setup, as Maximum Health is not critical to the Arcanist Healer build. As a Healer, you will primarily use Magicka to maintain your and your group’s Health sustain.

You should aim to have a Maximum Magicka value that exceeds your Maximum Stamina value. Doing so ensures that you always restore Magicka when you activate the Luminous Shards or Energy Orb synergy provided by another Healer.

TRIAL SETUPS

Below are two Trial Setups for the Arcanist Healer build, each optimized for their respective role in Trial content. The Perfected versions of the Trial sets give additional stat boosts for wearing all five pieces, but they do not make or break the build.

The Group Healer often follows the group and is responsible for maintaining a consistent uptime of the Spell Power Cure set by over-healing them. They usually have the most flexibility with item sets.

The Off-Healer (also called the Kite Healer) is responsible for taking care of any out-of-group mechanics and taking mechanics that follow the farthest group member away from the group entirely. The Off-Healer doesn’t typically have much flexibility with item sets as Jorvuld’s Guidance is rarely equipped without Roaring Opportunist and vice-versa.

GROUP HEALER SETUP

	SET NAME	TRAIT	ENCHANTMENT	WEIGHT/TYPE	ACQUIRED
HEAD	Ozezan the Inferno	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Medium	Veteran Scrivener's Hall
SHOULDERS	Ozezan the Inferno	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Heavy	Undaunted Enclave
CHEST	Spell Power Cure	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	White-Gold Tower
HANDS	Spell Power Cure	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	White-Gold Tower
WAIST	Spell Power Cure	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	White-Gold Tower
LEGS	Spell Power Cure	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	White-Gold Tower
FEET	Spell Power Cure	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	White-Gold Tower
NECKLACE	Powerful Assault	Arcane	Magical Harm	Jewelry	Imperial City or Guild Stores
RING	Powerful Assault	Arcane	Magicka Recovery	Jewelry	Imperial City or Guild Stores
RING	Powerful Assault	Arcane	Magicka Recovery	Jewelry	Imperial City or Guild Stores
FRONT BAR	(Perfected) Grand Rejuvenation	Decisive	Absorb Magicka	Restoration Staff	(Veteran) Dragonstar Arena
BACK BAR	Powerful Assault	Infused	Weapon/Spell Damage	Ice Staff	Imperial City or Guild Stores

Ozezan the Inferno helps you proc Spell Power Cure by increasing your group’s healing received when they are not overhealed by your healing abilities. When your healing abilities overheal your group members, they gain a significant increase to their Armor stat.

If you want to greatly increase your Ultimate generation, you could use the Pearls of Ehlnofey Mythic necklace; however, doing so requires you to keep your Magicka below 50% and slot a piece of Powerful Assault on your head or shoulders. You can keep Ozezan in the other slot for increased Magicka Recovery.

If you’re unable to obtain Ozezan or Scry for Mythic items, use the Nightflame monster set to provide a strong AOE heal that helps you overheal your allies, triggering Spell Power Cure more easily.

Spell Power Cure requires that you only overheal your group members to apply the Major Courage buff, increasing Weapon and Spell Damage by 430.

If you want more Magicka Recovery and the Minor Aegis buff, the (Perfected) Vestment of Olorime set does just that while also granting the Major Courage buff; however, it requires accurate placement and your group to notice the small AOE.

Powerful Assault allows you to grant a unique buff to your group that increases Weapon and Spell Damage by 307 for 15 seconds after casting any ability from the Assault skill line. While in a Trial, you must cast the Assault ability twice to hit all group members. Healers commonly use Echoing Vigor because it provides a strong heal with a large radius and low cost, and the duration of the set effect and skill line up well. The Arcanist Healer build uses an Ice Staff as it grants the best utility as a support role; however, the Ice Staff of the Powerful Assault can be pretty expensive for many players. If this is you, equip a Lightning Staff instead.

Some groups may have a Tank running Powerful Assault, so it’s best to have alternatives:
• (Perfected) Pillager’s Profit allows you to increase your group’s Ultimate regeneration when you cast your Ultimate ability, improving group damage. Because this set caps the amount of Ultimate you can share at 20 per tick, it’s best to cast an Ultimate no later than a maximum of 400 Ultimate.
• (Perfected) Saxhleel Champion allows you to grant the Major Force buff when you cast any Ultimate ability, but it is primarily used to further increase the uptime of the Major Force buff while using Aggressive Horn.

(Perfected) Grand Rejuvenation improves group sustain, restoring Magicka and Stamina every 2 seconds for 6 seconds to all group members hit by the initial heal. Equip a Restoration Staff of the Powerful Assault if you don’t have this arena set yet or wish to slot Echoing Vigor on the front bar.

OFF-HEALER SETUP

	SET NAME	TRAIT	ENCHANTMENT	WEIGHT/TYPE	ACQUIRED
HEAD	Symphony of Blades	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Medium	Veteran Depths of Malatar
SHOULDERS	Symphony of Blades	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Heavy	Undaunted Enclave
CHEST	Jorvuld's Guidance	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	Scalecaller Peak
HANDS	Jorvuld's Guidance	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	Scalecaller Peak
WAIST	Jorvuld's Guidance	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	Scalecaller Peak
LEGS	Jorvuld's Guidance	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	Scalecaller Peak
FEET	Jorvuld's Guidance	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	Scalecaller Peak
NECKLACE	(Perfected) Roaring Opportunist	Arcane	Magical Harm	Jewelry	(Veteran) Kyne's Aegis
RING	(Perfected) Roaring Opportunist	Arcane	Magical Harm	Jewelry	(Veteran) Kyne's Aegis
RING	(Perfected) Roaring Opportunist	Arcane	Magical Harm	Jewelry	(Veteran) Kyne's Aegis
FRONT BAR	(Perfected) Roaring Opportunist	Decisive	Absorb Magicka	Restoration Staff	(Veteran) Kyne's Aegis
BACK BAR	(Perfected) Roaring Opportunist	Infused	Weapon/Spell Damage	Ice Staff	(Veteran) Kyne's Aegis

Symphony of Blades significantly improves group sustain by targeting each group member independently and restoring resources rather than increasing the recovery stat, meaning Tanks can restore Stamina even while blocking.

A non-DLC alternative that is easy to obtain is Sentinel of Rkugamz, which also increases group sustain by restoration, but it only affects a small area and spawns on a random group member most of the time.

Jorvuld’s Guidance provides great self-sustain and increases the duration of all Major and Minor buffs, including the Major Mending buff granted by the Essence Drain passive from the Restoration Staff skill line, increasing your healing done by 16%. Jorvuld’s Guidance is primarily equipped to increase the maximum duration of the Major Slayer buff granted by Roaring Opportunist from 12 seconds to 16.8 seconds.

Roaring Opportunist allows you to grant the Major Slayer buff to all group members by simply heavy attacking, increasing damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 10%. While in a Trial, you must heavy attack twice for it to apply to all group members.

Equipping Roaring Opportunist on both bars allows you to heavy attack on either bar to activate the set; however, if you get comfortable with managing a good uptime utilizing the back bar only, you can equip the (Perfected) Grand Rejuvenation set on the front bar to improve group sustain.

INTERMEDIATE SETUP

The Intermediate Setup for the Arcanist Healer build is optimized for Healers that may not be ready for Trial content but want to replace crafted sets. Many Dungeon and Overland sets are easy to collect while effective in early to mid-game content.

The selection of sets below will help increase group damage and sustain.

	SET NAME	TRAIT	ENCHANTMENT	WEIGHT/TYPE	ACQUIRED
HEAD	Sentinel of Rkugamz	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Medium	Veteran Darkshade Caverns I
SHOULDERS	Sentinel of Rkugamz	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Heavy	Undaunted Enclave
CHEST	Spell Power Cure	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	White-Gold Tower
HANDS	Spell Power Cure	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	White-Gold Tower
WAIST	Spell Power Cure	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	White-Gold Tower
LEGS	Spell Power Cure	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	White-Gold Tower
FEET	Spell Power Cure	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	White-Gold Tower
NECKLACE	Hollowfang Thirst	Arcane	Magical Harm	Jewelry	Moongrave Fane
RING	Hollowfang Thirst	Arcane	Magicka Recovery	Jewelry	Moongrave Fane
RING	Hollowfang Thirst	Arcane	Magicka Recovery	Jewelry	Moongrave Fane
FRONT BAR	Hollowfang Thirst	Decisive	Absorb Magicka	Restoration Staff	Moongrave Fane
BACK BAR	Hollowfang Thirst	Infused	Weapon/Spell Damage	Ice Staff	Moongrave Fane

Sentinel of Rkugamz is an excellent beginner Healer monster set. This set heals and restores Magicka and Stamina to your allies, meaning blocking Tanks will still benefit from the Stamina granted.

If you want more healing power, the Nightflame and The Troll King monster sets are fantastic options with use in late-game content as well.

Spell Power Cure is easy to farm for beginner Healers while also being one of the best Healer sets in end-game content. It requires that you only overheal your group members to apply the Major Courage buff, increasing Weapon and Spell Damage by 430.

Hollowfang Thirst increases group Magicka sustain and grants the Minor Vitality buff to allies affected by the orb, increasing their healing received by 8%. This helps you overheal your group more easily, thus, activating Spell Power Cure as well.

A non-DLC alternative that still increases group sustain is The Worm’s Raiment. It’s easy to obtain; however, it increases the group’s Magicka Recovery rather than providing a burst of Magicka through restoration.

If you want a non-Dungeon set, Winter’s Respite drops from Western Skyrim overland or can be purchased from guild stores. It provides you with an additional method of healing your group members as long as they are standing within the healing circle.

BEGINNER SETUP

Your options for beginner gear are typically limited to crafted sets or something cheap in guild stores. The Beginner Setup for the Arcanist Healer build includes only crafted sets and is optimized for freshly created characters and CP160 Healers looking for an excellent build to start farming more challenging content.

	SET NAME	TRAIT	ENCHANTMENT	WEIGHT/TYPE	ACQUIRED
HEAD	Druid's Braid	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Medium	Crafted
SHOULDERS	Druid's Braid	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Heavy	Crafted
CHEST	Law of Julianos	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	Crafted
HANDS	Law of Julianos	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	Crafted
WAIST	Law of Julianos	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	Crafted
LEGS	Law of Julianos	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	Crafted
FEET	Law of Julianos	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	Crafted
NECKLACE	Armor of the Seducer	Arcane	Magicka Recovery	Jewelry	Crafted
RING	Armor of the Seducer	Arcane	Magicka Recovery	Jewelry	Crafted
RING	Armor of the Seducer	Arcane	Magicka Recovery	Jewelry	Crafted
FRONT BAR	Armor of the Seducer	Powered	Absorb Magicka	Restoration Staff	Crafted
BACK BAR	Armor of the Seducer	Infused	Weapon/Spell Damage	Ice Staff	Crafted

Druid’s Braid is equipped until you can obtain a suitable monster set to replace it. Some great beginner options are Sentinel of Rkugamz to increase group sustain and Nightflame to give the group an additional HOT effect.

Law of Julianos increases your core stats like Critical Chance and Spell Damage which increases the effectiveness of your healing abilities.

Armor of the Seducer significantly increases your Magicka sustain by granting Magicka Recovery and reducing the cost of your Magicka abilities.

While this configuration is not required, it will provide the most optimal progression path for a beginner Healer. After obtaining a crafted gear setup, you may begin farming the other setups.

SKILLS

FRONT BAR

Illustrious Healing (Morph of Grand Healing | Skill Line: Restoration Staff)

Combat Prayer (Morph of Blessing of Protection | Skill Line: Restoration Staff)

Curative Surge (Morph of Remedy Cascade | Skill Line: Curtive Runeforms)

Radiating Regeneration (Morph of Regeneration | Skill Line: Restoration Staff)

Chakram of Destiny (Morph of Chakram Shields | Skill Line: Curative Runeforms)

Ultimate: Replenishing Barrier (Morph of Barrier | Skill Line: Assault)

BACK BAR

Energy Orb (Morph of Necrotic Orb | Skill Line: Undaunted)

Elemental Blockade (Morph of Wall of Elements | Skill Line: Destruction Staff)

Rune of the Colorless Pool (Morph of Rune of Eldritch Horror | Skill Line: Soldier of Apocrypha)

Zenas’ Empowering Disc (Morph of Arcanist’s Domain | Skill Line: Reconstructive Domain)

Echoing Vigor (Morph of Vigor | Skill Line: Assault)

Ultimate: Aggressive Horn (Morph of War Horn | Skill Line: Assault)

ALTERNATIVE SKILLS

GIBBERING SHELTER

Skill Line: Soldier of Apocrypha
Base Skill: Gibbering Shield
Gibbering Shelter can replace Replenishing Barrier if you can’t yet access that skill. It works much like Replenishing Barrier in that it provides you with a massive damage shield that also provides your allies with a damage shield when you’re damaged.

GLYPHIC OF THE TIDES

Skill Line: Curative Runeforms
Base Skill: Vitalizing Glyphic
Glyphic of the Tides can replace Aggressive Horn if you can’t yet access that skill. Glyphic of the Tides spawns a rune that heals the group within a large area each second and gets stronger the more it’s healed, granting up to 200 Weapon and Spell Damage and the Major Protection buff once at full Health, reducing damage taken by 10%.

OVERFLOWING ALTAR

Skill Line: Undaunted
Base Skill: Blood Altar
Overflowing Altar can replace Curative Surge or Echoing Vigor to apply the Minor Lifesteal debuff to enemies and provide a synergy to your group that gives them a strong burst heal when activated.

BONE SURGE

Skill Line: Undaunted
Base Skill: Bone Shield
Bone Surge can replace Curative Surge or Echoing Vigor to provide a synergy to the group that grants damage shields and the Major Vitality buff to 6 allies when activated, increasing their healing taken by 16%. Bone Surge is a must-have skill for all Healers interested in Veteran Trials.

ELEMENTAL SUSCEPTIBILITY

Skill Line: Destruction Staff
Base Skill: Weakness to Elements
Elemental Susceptibility can replace Rune of the Colorless Pool or Echoing Vigor to apply the Major Breach debuff to targets as a Kite Healer or if you have an Arcanist Tank without a source of the debuff. Major Breach reduces an enemy’s Physical and Spell Resistance by 5,948.

RACE AGAINST TIME

Skill Line: Psijic Order
Base Skill: Accelerate
Race Against Time can replace Curative Surge or Echoing Vigor to grant yourself Major Expedition, increasing your Movement Speed by 30%. This skill can be incredibly useful in the Kite Healer role.

FULMINATING RUNE

Skill Line: Herald of the Tome
Base Skill: The Imperfect Ring
Fulminating Rune can replace Curative Surge, Rune of the Colorless Pool, or Echoing Vigor to provide a synergy to up to 3 allies that deals massive damage to enemies in the area when activated.

RECUPERATIVE TREATISE

Skill Line: Herald of the Tome
Base Skill: Tome-Bearer’s Inspiration
Recuperative Treatise can replace Curative Surge, Rune of the Colorless Pool, or Echoing Vigor to improve your Magicka and Stamina sustain and generate Crux. It also grants the Major Brutality and Major Sorcery buffs, significantly increasing the strength of your healing abilities.

EVOLVING RUNEMEND

Skill Line: Curative Runeforms
Base Skill: Runemend
Evolving Runemend can replace Curative Surge or Radiating Regeneration to generate Crux and provide an additional HOT effect to your allies. Each active Crux reduces the cost of this ability by 3%, meaning at max stacks, the cost is reduced by 9%.

MYSTIC GUARD

Skill Line: Support
Base Skill: Guard
Mystic Guard can replace Radiating Regeneration on the front bar and Rune of the Colorless Pool or Echoing Vigor on the back bar to absorb a portion of your Tank’s damage taken. This skill is best used in progression groups and must be slotted on both bars to remain active.

RING OF PRESERVATION

Skill Line: Fighters Guild
Base Skill: Circle of Protection
Ring of Preservation can replace Echoing Vigor during fights where the group is tightly stacked to provide them more healing and the Minor Protection buff, reducing their damage taken by 5%.

EFFICIENT PURGE

Skill Line: Support
Base Skill: Purge
Efficient Purge can replace Curative Surge, Rune of the Colorless Pool, or Echoing Vigor to remove DOTs and other negative effects on you and your allies.

CRUSHING SHOCK

Skill Line: Destruction Staff
Base Skill: Force Shock
Crushing Shock can replace Rune of the Colorless Pool or Echoing Vigor if you need a ranged interrupt.

HEALING SPRINGS

Skill Line: Restoration Staff
Base Skill: Grand Healing
Healing Springs can replace Illustrious Healing if you need more Magicka sustain. It is most effective in Trials where the group is tightly stacked.

PASSIVES

Most passives in the skill lines you utilize are worth investing in; however, some are more critical to the build than others.

One important thing to note is the absence of the Tri Focus passive. The Tri Focus passive significantly harms your Magicka sustain, as it causes your block ability to cost Magicka while on your Destruction Staff bar and should be avoided.

Below is a complete list of only the most essential passives to the Arcanist Healer build, which should be unlocked first if possible.

CURATIVE RUNEFORMS

All Passives

HERALD OF THE TOME

Fated Fortune
Harnessed Quintessence

SOLDIER OF APOCRYPHA

Wellspring of the Abyss
Circumvented Fate
Implacable Outcome

DESTRUCTION STAFF

Elemental Force
Ancient Knowledge
Destruction Expert

RESTORATION STAFF

All Passives

LIGHT ARMOR

Evocation
Spell Warding
Prodigy

MEDIUM ARMOR

Dexterity
Wind Walker
Agility
Athletics

HEAVY ARMOR

Resolve
Juggernaut
Revitalize

SUPPORT

Magicka Aid

UNDAUNTED

Undaunted Command
Undaunted Mettle

RACIAL

All Passives

ALCHEMY

Medicinal Use

MUNDUS STONE

THE THIEF

EASTMARCH

ALIK'R DESERT

MALABAL TOR

Having a high Critical Strike rating on a Healer is incredibly important, as it increases the rate at which your healing abilities will critically heal your group members. Doing so keeps the group overhealed, allowing Spell Power Cure to have an even better uptime.

The Arcanist Healer build uses the Thief Mundus Stone to increase your Critical Strike rating by 1212. Each piece of Divines armor further increases this by 9.1%.

If Magicka sustain is an issue, switch to The Atronach Mundus Stone for increased Magicka Recovery.

CONSUMABLES

FOOD

GHASTLY EYE BOWL

The Ghastly Eye Bowl food is the best option to increase your Magicka sustain. It is quite cheap to craft, and the ingredients are easy to find. It can also be purchased from guild stores if you haven’t learned the recipe.

Bonuses:
• Increase Maximum Magicka by ~4592.
• Increase Magicka Recovery by ~357.
• Scales with your level.
• Lasts 2 hours.

Ingredients:
• Bervez Juice (1)
• Lotus (1)
• Mint (1)
• Rose (1)
• Columbine (1)

SOLITUDE SALMON-MILLET SOUP

The Salmon Salmon-Millet Soup food is the best option if you already have great Magicka sustain and you want to maximize your Magicka resource pool. It is very cheap to craft, and the ingredients are easy to find. It can also be purchased from guild stores if you haven’t learned the recipe.

Bonuses:
• Increase Maximum Health by 5395.
• Increase Maximum Magicka by 4936.
• Lasts 1 hour.

Ingredients:
• Fish (1)
• Millet (1)
• Tomato (1)

CLOCKWORK CITRUS FILET

The Clockwork Citrus Filet food is a great option for a blend of Maximum Health, Maximum Magicka, and Magicka Recovery; however, it’s expensive due to requiring Perfect Roe to craft. If gold is an issue, you can use Witchmother’s Potent Brew instead for a minimal decrease in stats.

Bonuses:
• Increase Maximum Health by 3326.
• Increase Maximum Magicka by 3080.
• Increase Health Recovery by 406.
• Increase Magicka Recovery by 338.
• Lasts 2 hours.

Ingredients:
• Frost Mirriam (1)
• Lemon (1)
• Perfect Roe (1)
• Red Meat (1)

POTIONS

HEROISM POTIONS

Heroism Potions are your best option for building Ultimate; however, using these potions requires that you gain the Major Brutality, Sorcery, Savagery, and Prophecy buffs from another source. Unfortunately, each ingredient in this potion is relatively expensive.

Bonuses:
• Restore ~7582 Magicka.
• Restore ~7582 Stamina.
• Gain Major Intellect.
• Gain Major Endurance.
• Gain Minor Heroism.
• ~47.6-second duration.

Ingredients:
• Columbine (1)
• Dragon’s Blood (1)
• Dragon Rheum (1)

SPELL POWER POTIONS

Spell Power Potions provide the Major Sorcery and Major Prophecy buffs, which are critical to the build and significantly increase the strength of your healing abilities. The ingredients in this potion are much cheaper than those in Heroism potions.

Bonuses:
• Restore ~7582 Magicka.
• Gain Major Sorcery.
• Gain Major Prophecy.
• ~47.6-second duration.

Ingredients:
• Corn Flower (1)
• Lady’s Smock (1)
• Namira’s Rot or Water Hyacinth (1)

ESSENCE OF MAGICKA

The Essence of Magicka potion should only be used to sustain your Magicka if you cannot afford to craft your Heroism or Spell Power potions.

Bonuses:
• Restore ~7582 Magicka.
• Gain Major Intellect.
• ~47.6-second duration.

These potions are generic world-dropped potions and are not worth crafting.

CHAMPION POINTS

The Champion Point system in The Elder Scrolls Online allows you to unlock many powerful passives and perks that you can use to customize and strengthen your build. It is unlocked once you reach Level 50 and maxes out at 3600 points; however, once you get CP1506, most points gained after can be used for quality-of-life.

The CP system has three unique constellations: Craft, Warfare, and Fitness. The Warfare and Fitness constellations each have three subtrees.
• The Craft constellation focuses on crafting, gold gain, movement speed, stealth, and increasing material yields.
• The Warfare constellation increases your damage and healing output and damage mitigation.
• The Fitness constellation increases your self-sustain, survivability, and core stats, such as Maximum Health.

The Champion Point allocation below is optimized for the Arcanist Healer build, focusing on increasing the strength of your healing abilities, group and self-sustain, and self-survivability.

Following the recommended path will unlock essential passives and perks for strong progression as a Healer.

CRAFT

Steed’s Blessing (+50) (Slot 1)
Gilded Fingers (+10)
Fortune’s Favor (+10)
Wanderer (+15)
Steadfast Enchantment (+10)
Rationer (+10) (Slot 2)
Liquid Efficiency (+75) (Slot 3)
Rationer (+20)
Treasure Hunter (+50) (Slot 4)
Master Gatherer (+15)
Gifted Rider (+100) (Replace Slot 4)
Gilded Fingers (+40)
Breakfall (+50)
Steadfast Enchantment (+40)
Soul Reservoir (+33)
Beyond this point, you can continue to unlock passives or more slottable perks based on your preference.

WARFARE

Eldritch Insight (+10)
Blessed (+10)
Soothing Tide (+50) (Slot 1)
Swift Renewal (+50) (Slot 2)
Enlivening Overflow (+50) (Slot 3)
Precision (+10)
Fighting Finesse (+50) (Slot 4)
Eldritch Insight (+10)
Piercing (+10)
Flawless Ritual (+40)
Quick Recovery (+10)
Preparation (+20)
Elemental Aegis (+20)
Hardy (+20)
Precision (+10)
Blessed (+10)
Tireless Discipline (+20)
Beyond this point, you can continue to unlock passives or more slottable perks for group flexibility:
From the Brink (50) can replace Enlivening Overflow if another Healer in your group already has it slotted.
Hope Infusion (50) can replace Fighting Finesse if your group already has strong healing and you want to increase group damage instead.
Arcane Supremacy (50) can replace Fighting Finesse if you want a larger Magicka pool for sustain reasons.

FITNESS

Rejuvenation (+50) (Slot 1)
Tumbling (+15)
Expert Evasion (+50) (Slot 2)
Sprinter (+10)
Hasty (+8)
Celerity (+50) (Slot 3)
Boundless Vitality (+50) (Slot 4)
Mystic Tenacity (+10)
Hero’s Vigor (+20)
Defiance (+20)
Tumbling (+15)
Tireless Guardian (+10)
Fortification (+30)
Sprinter (+10)
Hasty (+8)
Beyond this point, you can continue to unlock passives or more slottable perks based on your preference:
Slippery (50) can replace Boundless Vitality if you have many break-free mechanics eating at your Stamina.
Fortified (50) can replace Clerity if you’re not moving around that much and want increased armor.

TIPS & TRICKS

The Arcanist Healer build does not follow a traditional rotation. Instead, you must adapt to meet the needs of whatever situation you find yourself in.

Below, you will find tips on effectively fulfilling the Healer role during enemy and boss encounters. Every Dungeon, Trial, and Arena has different mechanics, and it is essential that you understand your build and why you use the recommended armor sets and skills you do. Be sure to read this build guide entirely.

BUFFING AND DEBUFFING

Pre-buffing is an essential habit to pick up as early as possible to increase your efficiency as a Healer, allowing you to use your time once in combat more effectively. Always activate skills such as Radiating Regeneration, Chakram of Destiny, and Zena’s Empowering Disc on your allies before your Tank initiates combat. Once combat has begun, it’s a matter of understanding when it makes the most sense to activate your skills.

Illustrious Healing should be placed directly on the group as soon as the Tank has chosen an area to group enemies.

Combat Prayer should be kept up at all times as it grants the Minor Berserk and Minor Resolve buffs, increasing your and your allies’ damage done by 5% and Physical and Spell Resistance by 2,974.

Curative Surge is incredibly useful for restoring Magicka and Stamina to your group while also offering a massive heal-over-time effect.

Energy Orb should be cast often to ensure the group has plenty of primary resources.

Echoing Vigor can be cast upon entering combat if you have Powerful Assault equipped to increase the group’s Weapon and Spell Damage by 307.

If you follow along with the armor sets above, much of your build already focuses on buffing your group members. Fulfilling the Healer role in ESO means much more than just healing your allies.

Sets like Spaulder of Ruin, Spell Power Cure, Powerful Assault, and Roaring Opportunist are all phenomenal sets that grant powerful buffs that significantly increase group damage. Sets like Ozezan the Inferno, Symphony of Blades, and Hollowfang Thirst are utility sets that increase group survivability and sustain.

Sets such as Kagrenac’s Hope, Sanctuary, Wisdom of Vanus, and Healer’s Habit should be avoided, as they offer no buffs to your group and Healers should be the last ones to resurrect others.

POSITIONING AND KITING

Positioning yourself as a Healer is critical to ensuring everyone remains alive and buffed. Your Tank will almost always be on the opposite side of the enemies, directing cleave damage away from the group. The Damage Dealers (DPS) should be close to one another in most cases, and the Healer typically stands slightly behind them.

When the group positions this way, your AOE skills, such as Illustrious Springs, Combat Prayer, Curative Surge, Radiating Regeneration, Chakram of Destiny, Energy Orb, Zena’s Empowering Disc, and Echoing Vigor easily benefits all group members.

In some cases, you may need to take on the role known as a Kite Healer. Kite Healers are responsible for making themselves the target of specific mechanics by standing a certain distance from the group, most often the furthest away.

For example, in the Veteran Cloudrest Trial, during the Z’Maja fight, a mechanic called Crushing Darkness targets the most distant group member away from Z’Maja. Crushing Darkness is a small circle that follows you everywhere you go and can be a problem if it finds its way into the group of Damage Dealers.

If these kinds of mechanics are kited properly, the rest of the group should almost never have to worry about them. If you are the Kite Healer, most of your skills can remain the same without much of an issue, but skills such as Elemental Susceptibility can come in handy.

SUSTAIN

Healers primarily rely on Magicka for healing, buffing allies, and debuffing enemies, while Stamina is used for blocking, roll dodging, and breaking free. In this section, you will learn of the various ways an Arcanist Healer can sustain:

Your class skills and passives significantly improve your sustain:
• The Curative Surge skill restores a massive amount of Magicka and Stamina to you and your group when cast with Crux.
• The Zena’s Empowering Disc skill grants the Minor Fortitude, Intellect, and Endurance buffs, increasing Health, Magicka, and Stamina Recovery by 15%.
• The Hideous Clarity passive from the Curative Runeforms skill line restores Magicka and Stamina each time you generate a Crux.
• The Erudition passive from the Curative Runeforms skill line increases your Magicka and Stamina Recovery by 18%
• The Intricate Runeforms passive from the Curative Runeforms skill line reduces the cost and increases the strength of your damage shields by 10%, meaning they will be easier to sustain.

Your potions grant the Major Intellect buff, increasing your Magicka Recovery by 30% on top of restoring a burst of Magicka, depending on the potion you use.

Heavy attacks are the best way to stay on top of your Magicka sustain as a Healer. Many of your healing abilities have long durations, meaning you have plenty of time to weave a few heavy attacks in your rotation while your HOTs are active. Doing so with a Restoration Staff equipped and the Cycle of Life passive unlocked restores an additional 30% Magicka with heavy attacks.

Two of your jewelry enchantments increase your Magicka Recovery by up to 169 each at maximum quality for a total of 338 Magicka Recovery.

The Arcanist Healer build uses The Thief Mundus Stone to increase the likelihood that your HOTs will critically heal; however, if you struggle with Magicka sustain, The Atronach Mundus Stone increases your Magicka Recovery by 310. Because you only have the Divines trait on your armor, this bonus increases to up to a maximum of 507 Magicka Recovery.

It is important to note the difference between “recovery” and “restore,” especially when it comes to providing sustain to your Tank. Resource recovery occurs over time, whereas resource restore typically happens all at once, though it can happen over time if the skill states as such. This is important because Stamina Recovery is locked to 0 while blocking or sprinting, meaning it continues to deplete until there’s nothing left.

ULTIMATES

The buffs granted by most Ultimate abilities do not stack, so it’s a good idea to coordinate with your group on when you should use yours. The most commonly used Ultimate abilities by support roles are Aggressive Horn and Replenishing Barrier:

Aggressive Horn is your primary offensive Ultimate ability. It increases the group’s Maximum Magicka and Maximum Stamina by 10% for 30 seconds and grants them the Major Force buff for 10 seconds, increasing Critical Damage by 10%. Many groups will have their support roles rotate through their Aggressive Horns as the Magicka and Stamina buffs near the end of their duration to maximize uptimes; however, depending on the group composition of class, skills, sets, etc., and if Ultimate can be built up fast enough, some groups may rotate as the Major Force buff runs out to push DPS.

Replenishing Barrier is a powerful defensive Ultimate ability that grants massive damage shields to all nearby allies. It’s good to have in fights with phases of high-damage enemy attacks and mechanics, as it significantly increases the group’s survivability. Additionally, it restores your Magicka, generates Ultimate as the wards dissolve, and if you invest in the Magicka Aid passive from the Support skill line, increases your Magicka Recovery by up to 10% while slotted. If you’d prefer more group healing, Reviving Barrier heals your allies while they have the damage shield active on them.

As an Arcanist Healer, you have a few other alternative options while you work on unlocking the above Ultimates:

Gibbering Shelter grants you a large damage shield that applies smaller damage shields to allies after yours takes damage. This skill is an excellent alternative to Replenishing Barrier.

Glyphic of the Tides allows you and your group to heal an orb-like object called a Glyphic that heals them every second and gets stronger the more it’s healed. It grants up to 200 Weapon and Spell Damage and once it reaches full Health, it also provides the Major Protection buff to everyone in the area, reducing damage taken by 10%. This skill is an excellent alternative to Aggressive Horn.

ARCHIVED CHANGES

AUGUST 29 / 2023: – UPDATE 39
• No Changes.

JULY 13 / 2023: – UPDATE 38 – NECROM
• Build Published.