Best Magicka Dragonknight PVP Build

MAGICKA DRAGONKNIGHT PVP BUILD

Writer: @xGAMxHQ
Creator: @ManB3arDragon
Role: PVP
Patch: Update 40 – Endless Archive

The Pyrotoxin Magicka Dragonknight PVP build for ESO (The Elder Scrolls Online) is optimized for all levels of players, whether you’re looking to get a dedicated PVP build together or a veteran player looking at how you can improve upon your build.

Your typical ESO PVP builds are unlike any role compared to the PVE side of ESO. While you may not have dedicated Tanks, builds can lean toward being more offensive or defensive in playstyle.

The Dragonknight has incredible burst damage and self-healing on its own, and the Magicka Dragonknight PVP build takes this to the next level by using the Oakensoul Mythic Ring to build Ultimate even faster and gain access to out-of-reach buffs at the cost of having access to only one ability bar. Luckily for you, that’s all you need. Dragonknights have three versatile skill lines that each play a critical role in ensuring this build remains at its strongest and a top choice for many.

The Ardent Flame skill line focuses on offensive abilities. Burning Embers is a key part of this build, as it places a long-lasting Damage over Time (DOT) effect on an enemy that also heals you for 100% of the damage done. Hitting multiple targets with Burning Embers significantly increases your incoming healing, allowing you to stay in the fight for longer. The Combustion passive complements Burning Embers by increasing the damage done by the Burning Status Effect which is always applied to an enemy on the initial hit.

The Draconic Power skill line is quite versatile with a balance of offensive, defensive, and healing abilities; however, the only skill you need from there is Coagulating Blood, your primary burst heal. Not only is it an excellent burst heal, but keeping it active at all times increases your healing received by 12% due to the Burning Heart passive, allowing Burning Embers to heal you even more.

The Earthen Heart skill line focuses on defensive and healing abilities with some great group support capabilities tied in. Corrosive Armor is the only Ultimate you will ever need, and the Magicka Dragonknight PVP build maintains a remarkable uptime. When active, it limits your incoming damage to 3% of your Maximum Health and causes your Direct Damage abilities to ignore 100% of your enemy’s Physical and Spell Resistance, making you almost unkillable and hit like a bus for 10 seconds.

This Magicka Dragonknight PVP build covers everything you need to know, including a recommended armor setup, skills, champion points, and alternatives to meet various needs. Please read the entire build and bookmark the page, as it will update with each new patch.

UPDATE LOG

NOVEMBER 21 / 2023: – UPDATE 40 – ENDLESS ARCHIVE
• Replaced Daedric Trickery with Basalt-Blooded Warrior.

RACE

BRETON

DARK ELF

HIGH ELF

ARGONIAN

Bretons, Dark Elves, High Elves, and Argonians all offer solid racial passives, though all races will work. The Magicka Dragonknight PVP build uses the High Elf racial passives, as they provide the best bonuses to your damage and sustain. Choose a race that best suits your needs.

Bretons offer 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. As long as Elemental Susceptibility is around, you will almost always benefit from that doubled stat boost.

Dark Elves are an excellent choice for heavily hybridized builds such as this by increasing your Maximum Magicka and Maximum Stamina by 1910 and Weapon and Spell Damage by 258. They also increase your Flame Resistance by 4620, which helps to offset some of the downsides to being a Stage 3 Vampire.

High Elves offer strong raw damage and 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 2000 and Weapon and Spell Damage by 258.

Argonians provide a more burst-oriented method of sustaining all resources by drinking potions and are an excellent choice if you don’t mind sacrificing some damage output to maximize your sustain. They also increase your Maximum Health, Maximum Magicka, and Maximum Stamina by 1000 and your healing done by 6%.

ATTRIBUTES

MAGICKA

HEALTH

STAMINA

ESO PVP builds typically aim to have at least 30,000 Maximum Health before the Minor Toughness buff. This build primarily uses Magicka, so it’s important to have a a Maximum Magicka value that exceeds your Maximum Stamina value. Doing this ensures that you always restore Magicka when you activate the synergy provided by the Luminous Shards or Energy Orb skills.

The Magicka Dragonknight PVP build reaches:
• 30K Maximum Health
• 24K Maximum Magicka
• 17K Maximum Stamina

It’s important to note that the above distribution of Attribute Points was done with the following buffs, passives, etc.:
• Breton Race
• Orzorga’s Smoked Bear Haunch
• Legendary Quality Armor
• The Minor Toughness Buff
• All Class Passives
• Undaunted Mettle Passive
• All Champion Point Passives

Attribute Points are distributed based on your racial passives and Armor Setup. Most ESO PVP builds use all resource pools constantly, and the Magicka Dragonknight PVP build is no different. It uses both Magicka and Stamina for offensive and healing abilities and maintaining buffs. Find a balance that best suits your needs.

ARMOR SETUP

This Armor Setup can only be used in campaigns with proc sets enabled. Expect to see a non-Proc Magicka Dragonknight PVP build in the future.

The Heavy Armor pieces are the Helmet, Chest, and Legs, as they provide the highest Armor Rating. Utilizing the Reinforced trait on these pieces maximizes your Physical and Spell Resistance.

The Medium Armor pieces are the Shoulders and Boots, as they provide the second-highest Armor Rating. Utilizing the Impenetrable trait helps you while running solo by reducing your incoming Critical Damage; however, changing these pieces to Divines will further increase your damage if you run with a group frequently.

The Light Armor pieces are the Hands and Waist, which provide the least Armor Rating. As said above, the Divines trait on these pieces will increase your damage if you use the Apprentice Mundus Stone.

The Magicka Dragonknight PVP build uses a Greatsword instead of a Destruction Staff as you’re in close quarters at all times due to your class skills anyway. The Two Handed skill line provides a passive that increases your Weapon and Spell Damage.

	SET NAME	TRAIT	ENCHANTMENT	WEIGHT/TYPE	ACQUIRED
HEAD	Bloodspawn	Reinforced	Prismatic Defense	Heavy	Veteran Spindleclutch II
SHOULDERS	Bloodspawn	Impenetrable	Maximum Magicka	Medium	Undaunted Enclave
CHEST	Gallant Chain	Reinforced	Prismatic Defense	Heavy	Stros M'Kai Main Quest
HANDS	Basalt-Blooded Warrior	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	Endless Archive
WAIST	Basalt-Blooded Warrior	Divines	Maximum Magicka	Light	Endless Archive
LEGS	Basalt-Blooded Warrior	Reinforced	Prismatic Defense	Heavy	Endless Archive
FEET	Basalt-Blooded Warrior	Impenetrable	Maximum Magicka	Medium	Endless Archive
NECKLACE	Blessing of the Potentates	Infused	Physical Harm	Jewelry	Vlastarus Elite Gear Vendor
RING	Basalt-Blooded Warrior	Infused	Physical Harm	Jewelry	Endless Archive
RING	Oakensoul	Infused	Physical Harm	Jewelry	Scrying
FRONT BAR	Blessing of the Potentates	Decisive	Absorb Health	Greatsword	Vlastarus Elite Gear Vendor

Bloodspawn increases your Stamina Recovery and is an incredible set for building Ultimate. Despite its low chance of triggering its effect, it consistently activates when you’re affected by many status effects and DOT abilities. The additional Physical and Spell Resistance it provides helps counterbalance the DOT pressure and some debuffs placed on you, such as Major Breach.

Basalt-Blooded Warrior plays a vital role in this build, granting you Major Heroism for 10 seconds after casting an Earthen Heart ability, such as Shattering Rocks. Major Heroism generates 3 Ultimate every 1.5 seconds, and this effect is significantly amplified by utilizing the Decisive trait on your weapon.

If you’re still farming for Basalt-Blooded Warrior, Daedric Trickery is a fantastic craftable alternative.

Blessing of the Potentates significantly reduces the cost of your Ultimate abilities, making them easier to reach. It also reduces damage taken from Players by 3%.

Gallant’s Chain (Armor of the trainee) is a staple for all PVP players as it is one of the only sets that provide a bonus for wearing one piece of the set. Gallant’s Chain is very easy to get and is guaranteed to drop with the Reinforced trait, saving you the trouble of needing to transmute.

Oakensoul Ring provides many powerful buffs at all times at the cost of removing your ability to access your back bar. Many of these buffs aren’t easily accessible to the Magicka Dragonknight PVP build otherwise, including Minor Berserk, Minor Courage, Minor Protection, Minor Mending, Minor Intellect, Minor Endurance, and perhaps most importantly, Minor Heroism.

SKILLS

FRONT BAR

Molten Whip (Morph of Lava Whip | Skill Line: Ardent Flame)
• This is your main single-target damage ability, and sustaining this skill is relatively easy because it costs both Magicka and Stamina. To get the most out of Molten Whip, cast other Ardent Flame skills beforehand three times, such as Noxious Breath to debuff enemies and Burning Embers on two different targets to increase self-healing. Doing so will grant you three stacks of Seething Fury, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 300 for 15 seconds and the damage of your next Molten Whip by 60%. Casting Molten Whip consumes all stacks of Seething Fury.

Burning Embers (Morph of Searing Strike | Skill Line: Ardent Flame)
• Afflicts targets with the Burning Status Effect and puts a long-lasting DOT on them that heals you for 100% of the damage dealt. While fighting multiple targets, put Burning Embers on each of them to significantly increase your self-healing.

Coagulating Blood (Morph of Dragon Blood | Skill Line: Draconic Power)
• Provides a huge burst heal that gets stronger depending on how much Health you’re missing. Keeping Coagulating Blood active at all times increases your healing received by 12% due to the Burning Heart passive from the Earthen Heart skill line. This affects the healing you receive from Burning Embers.

Noxious Breath (Morph of Fiery Breath | Skill Line: Ardent Flame)
• This will almost always be the first skill you activate when entering combat. It is primarily used to apply Major Breach to all enemies in front of you, reducing their Physical and Spell Resistance by 5948. It also puts a long-lasting DOT effect on them.

Shattering Rocks (Morph of Petrify | Skill Line: Earthen Heart)
• This powerful, versatile skill stuns your target, deals Flame Damage to them, and heals you after 2.5 seconds. Once you have your DOTs on your target and max stacks of Seething Fury, cast Shattering Rocks on a target and hit them with Molten Whip to deal insane damage. If you have Corrosive Armor active, you ignore their Physical and Spell Resistance, dealing even more damage. Additionally, the Mountain’s Blessing passive from the Earthen Heart skill line gives you 3 Ultimate and grants group-wide Minor Brutality, increasing Weapon Damage by 10%.

Ultimate: Corrosive Armor (Morph of Magma Armor| Skill Line: Earthen Heart)
• Limits your incoming damage to 3% of your Maximum Health, making you incredibly tanky and almost unkillable for 12 seconds. Corrosive Armor is also a powerful offensive Ultimate, as it deals Poison Damage to nearby enemies and causes your direct damage abilities, such as Molten Whip, to ignore 100% of an enemy’s Physical and Spell Resistance. When you’re taking enemies down, and Corrosive Armor is ready, pop it, cast Shattering Rocks, and watch your foes melt. Corrosive Armor restores up to 25,000 Health, Magicka, and Stamina due to the Battle Roar passive from the Earthen Heart skill line.

ALTERNATIVE SKILLS

FOSSILIZE

Skill Line: Earthen Heart
Base Skill: Petrify
Fossilize can replace Shattering Rocks if you want even more CC pressure and don’t need the extra healing.

PASSIVES

Most passives in your skill lines are worth unlocking, but some are more critical to the Magicka Dragonknight PVP build than others and should be unlocked before others. This build utilizes Stage 3 Vampirism to significantly increase survivability at the cost of some self-sustain. If you’re having trouble sustaining as a Vampire, you can cleanse, and the build is still powerful.

Below is a list of the most essential passives to the Magicka Dragonknight PVP build.

ARDENT FLAME

All Passives

DRACONIC POWER

Burning Heart
Scaled Armor

EARTHEN HEART

All Passives

TWO HANDED

Heavy Weapons
Battle Rush

LIGHT ARMOR

All Passives

MEDIUM ARMOR

Dexterity
Wind Walker
Agility
Athletics

HEAVY ARMOR

Resolve
Constitution
Juggernaut
Revitalize

VAMPIRE

Undeath

ASSAULT

Continuous Attack
Combat Frenzy

SUPPORT

Combat Medic
Battle Ressurection

UNDAUNTED

All Passives

RACIAL

All Passives

ALCHEMY

Medicinal Use

MUNDUS STONE

THE ATRONACH

SHADOWFEN

RIVENSPIRE

GREENSHADE

Above all else, having strong self-sustain is one of the most important things for a PVP build, as it allows you to stay in the fight for longer. Having high damage output is great, but what’s the good in that if you don’t have the resources to cast your skills?

The Magicka Dragonknight PVP build uses the Atronach Mundus Stone to increase your Magicka Recovery by 310. Each piece of Divines armor further increases this by 9.1%.

If Magicka sustain isn’t an issue, switch to The Apprentice Mundus Stone to increase your Spell Damage by 238.

CONSUMABLES

FOOD

ORZORGA'S SMOKED BEAR HAUNCH

The Orzorga’s Smoked Bear Haunch food is very expensive to craft due to it requiring a Perfect Roe. It gives you all the same benefits that the Jewels of Misrule food does, but slightly better.

Bonuses:
– Increase Maximum Health by 4312.
– Increase Health Recovery by 406.
– Increase Stamina Recovery by 369.
– Increase Magicka Recovery by 369.
– Lasts 2 hours.

Ingredients:
– Frost Mirriam (1)
– Perfect Roe (1)
– Red Meat (1)
– Tomato (1)
– White Cap (1)

JEWELS OF MISRULE

The Jewels of Misrule food is relatively cheap to craft and is the best option if you don’t want to spend a lot of gold on food.

Bonuses:
– Increase Maximum Health by ~3927.
– Increase Stamina Recovery by ~357.
– Increase Magicka Recovery by ~357.
– Scales with your level.
– Lasts 2 hours.

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

POTIONS

TRI-STAT POTIONS

Tri-Stat Potions can be costly to craft but are your best option if you want to maximize your Health, Magicka, and Stamina sustain. These potions are the same as the Crown Tri-Restoration Potions given for free from the Daily Login Rewards Calendar.

Bonuses:
– Restore ~9373 Health.
– Restore ~7582 Stamina.
– Restore ~7582 Magicka.
– Gain Major Fortitude.
– Gain Major Endurance.
– Gain Major Intellect.

Ingredients:
– Bugloss (1)
– Columbine (1)
– Dragonthorn (1)

DETECTION POTIONS

Detection Potions are very useful when you’re dealing with those pesky stealthy Nightblades. If you see one of them go invisible, drink one of these and charge them down. They will likely die quickly.

Bonuses:
– Increase Stealth Detection by ~20 Meters.

Ingredients:
– Torchbug Thorax (1)
– White Cap (1)
– Wormwood (1)

MAGICKA POTIONS

Magicka Potions are generic world-dropped potions that should only be used to sustain your Magicka if you cannot afford to craft Tri-Stat potions.

Bonuses:
– Restore ~7582 Magicka.
– Gain Major Intellect.

These potions are not worth crafting.

CHAMPION POINTS

The Champion Point system in ESO is unlocked once you reach Level 50 and maxes out at 3600 points, though, once you get CP1506, most points gained after are for quality of life purposes.

Champion Points unlock many powerful benefits that allow you to customize and strengthen your build. 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 focuses on increasing damage, healing, and damage mitigation.
• The Fitness constellation focuses on increasing your core stats, such as Maximum Health, self-sustain by recovery, and other defensive benefits.

The Champion Point allocation below is optimized with the Magicka Dragonknight PVP build in mind, focusing on increasing single-target damage, damage mitigation, self-healing, and self-sustain.

Follow the recommended path below while levelling up and spending your Champion Points to see strong progression.

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)
Beyond this point, you can continue to unlock passives or more slottable perks based on your preference.

WARFARE

Tireless Discipline (+10)
Quick Recovery (+10)
Ironclad (+50) (Slot 1)
Piercing (+20)
Master-at-Arms (+50) (Slot 2)
Deadly Aim (+50) (Slot 3)
Eldritch Insight (+10)
Blessed (+10)
Focused Mending (+50) (Slot 4)
Tireless Discipline (+10)
Eldritch Insight (+10)
Flawless Ritual (+20)
War Mage (+30)
Battle Mastery (+20)
Mighty (+30)
Flawless Ritual (+20)
Battle Mastery (+20)
Precision (+20)
Elemental Aegis (+20)
Hardy (+20)
Quick Recovery (+10)
Blessed (+10)
Beyond this point, you can unlock more slottable perks based on your preference:
Wrathful Strikes (50) can replace Focused Mending while in a group with a Healer to increase your damage.

FITNESS

Tumbling (+15)
Defiance (+10)
Slippery (+50) (Slot 1)
Mystic Tenacity (+10)
Pain’s Refuge (+50) (Slot 2)
Sustained by Suffering (+50) (Slot 3)
Survival Instincts (+50) (Slot 4)
Hero’s Vigor (+20)
Hasty (+16)
Mystic Tenacity (+40)
Sprinter (+20)
Defiance (+10)
Piercing Gaze (+10)
Tempered Soul (+50)
Beyond this point, you can continue to unlock passives or more slottable perks based on your preference:
Celerity (50) can replace Survival Instincts for increased Movement Speed.

ROTATION

The Magicka Dragonknight PVP build does not follow a traditional static rotation, as most PVP builds don’t. Typically, most ESO PVP builds have a back bar (buff bar) for defensive combat to maintain your healing abilities, resource sustain, and buffs; however, due to the Oakensoul Mythic ring, you do not have a back bar. Instead, your buffs are always active, and you can focus more on self-healing and taking your enemies down.

As said above, you only have a front bar consisting primarily of offensive abilities. Please read the Skills section of this build guide for a complete overview of what these abilities do and why they are essential.

Understanding your build and why you use the recommended armor sets and skills is critical to becoming great at PVP in ESO.