Powerful Stamina Sorcerer PVP Build for ESO

STAMINA SORCERER PVP BUILD

Writer: @xGamx
Role: PVP
Patch: Update 38 – Necrom

Welcome to the Cyclone Stamina Sorcerer PVP Build for The Elder Scrolls Online! Whether you’re a beginner looking to get a dedicated PVP build together for the next PVP event or a veteran player wanting to try something new or improve upon your current build, this build is optimized for all levels of players.

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

The Sorcerer class excels in solo and group-style play in Cyrodiil, Imperial Sewers, and Battlegrounds, providing the ability to lock down an area completely. They have incredible mobility, self-healing, and self-sustain, and can put out some serious burst damage. Sorcerers have three unique skill lines, each with a role to play:

The Daedric Summoning skill line focuses on offensive and defensive abilities. Haunting Curse improves your burst damage output. Placing the Curse on your opponent and stunning them before it explodes does massive damage. Additionally, the Power Stone passive reduces the cost of your Ultimate abilities by 15%.

The Dark Magic skill line focuses on offensive abilities and self-sustaining. Crystal Fragments deals insane burst damage and is only used when its special effect has procced, increasing the damage done by 66% and reducing the cost by 50%. It also heals you and grants the group the Minor Sorcery buff, increasing Spell Critical by 1,314 (6%) due to the Blood Magic and Exploitation passives.

The Storm Calling skill line focuses on offensive and defensive abilities. Power Overload increases the damage of your Light Attacks and allows you to line up some insane burst damage. This Ultimate ability is made even stronger due to the Energized passive increasing your Physical and Shock Damage by 5%.

Whether you’re a returning player, just getting started, or looking to hone your skills, The Stamina Sorcerer PVP Build covers everything you need to know, including a recommended armor setup, skills, champion points, and alternatives to meet various needs. Bookmark the page to stay updated with each new patch.

UPDATE LOG

JUNE 30 / 2023: – UPDATE 38 – NECROM
• Build release date.

RACE

ORC

WOOD ELF

NORD

DARK ELF

While all Stamina-based races work well with the Stamina Sorcerer PVP Build, Orcs, Wood Elves, Nords, and Dark Elves all offer some of the best passives depending on your playstyle. Choose a race that best suits your needs:

Orcs offer the best Health sustain and are the only race that increases your Sprint Movement Speed. They also increase your Maximum Health and Stamina by 1,000 and 258 Weapon and Spell Damage.

Wood Elves are the only race that increases your Offensive Penetration, something that is incredibly useful for this build. They also increase your Movement Speed by 5%, Maximum Stamina by 2,000, and Stamina Recovery by 258.

Nords are the only race with a passive related to building Ultimate, allowing them to do so quickly while taking damage. They also increase your Maximum Health by 1,000, Stamina by 1,500, and Physical and Spell Resistance by 2,600.

Dark Elves are well-rounded and are heavily focused on being on the offensive. They increase your Maximum Magicka and Stamina by 1910, Weapon and Spell Damage by 258, and Flame Resistance by 4,620.

ATTRIBUTES

MAGICKA

HEALTH

STAMINA

Attribute Points should be distributed based on your racial passives and choice of armor setup. The Stamina Sorcerer PVP Build utilizes all resource pools constantly. Your Magicka is used for maintaining buffs and heals and Crowd-Control (CC) your enemies while your Stamina is primarily used for offensive combat. Find a balance that best suits your needs.

Regardless, you should aim to have at least 30,000 Maximum Health and a Maximum Stamina value that exceeds your Maximum Magicka value, even if only slightly. Doing so ensures that you always restore Stamina when you activate the Luminous Shards or Energy Orb synergy provided by support roles.

The distribution of Attribute Points above was done with the Undaunted Mettle and Orc racial passives and Orzorga’s Smoked Bear Haunch food in mind.

ARMOR SETUP - PROC

The below armor setup is can only be used in a campaign that has proc sets enabled. You can expect to see a Crafted Setup and a non-Proc Setup in the future, but not at this time.

The Stamina Sorcerer PVP Build focuses heavily on maximizing damage and mobility by equipping five pieces of Medium Armor, and two pieces of Heavy Armor and utilizing the Well-fitted trait on the medium pieces. The chest and legs provide the most amount of armor, thus why those two pieces were chosen to be the Heavy Armor pieces with the Reinforced trait on them. With this setup, you reach over 35% Physical and Spell Resistance once fully buffed.

You will need two Sharpened Maces with the Lover Mundus Stone to reach an acceptable amount of Offensive Penetration. You also have the option of equipping an Ice Staff on the back bar and replacing Haunting Curse with Elemental Susceptibility during solo play so you can apply the Major Breach debuff to enemies, reducing their Physical and Spell Resistance by 5,948.

Increase Cost Poisons are used on the back bar in place of an enchantment to put additional pressure on your enemy’s self-sustain.

	SET NAME	TRAIT	ENCHANTMENT	WEIGHT/TYPE	ACQUIRED
HEAD	Daedric Trickery	Well-fitted	Maximum Stamina	Medium	Crafted
SHOULDERS	Daedric Trickery	Well-fitted	Maximum Stamina	Medium	Crafted
CHEST	Gallant's Chain	Reinforced	Prismatic Defense	Heavy	Stros M'Kai Main Quest
HANDS	Briarheart	Well-fitted	Maximum Stamina	Medium	Wrothgar or Guild Stores
WAIST	Briarheart	Well-fitted	Maximum Stamina	Medium	Wrothgar or Guild Stores
LEGS	Daedric Trickery	Reinforced	Prismatic Defense	Heavy	Crafted
FEET	Briarheart	Well-fitted	Maximum Stamina	Medium	Wrothgar or Guild Stores
NECKLACE	Briarheart	Bloodthirsty	Physical Harm	Jewelry	Wrothgar or Guild Stores
RING	Briarheart	Bloodthirsty	Physical Harm	Jewelry	Wrothgar or Guild Stores
RING	Ring of the Wild Hunt	Bloodthirsty	Physical Harm	Jewelry	Scrying
FRONT BAR (MAIN HAND)	(Perfected) Stinging Slashes	Sharpened	Shock Damage	Mace	(Veteran) Dragonstar Arena
FRONT BAR (OFF-HAND)	(Perfected) Stinging Slashes	Sharpened	Flame Damage	Mace	(Veteran Dragonstar Arena)
BACK BAR (MAIN HAND)	Daedric Trickery	Decisive	Absorb Stamina	One-handed Weapon	Crafted
BACK BAR (OFF-HAND)	Daedric Trickery	Reinforced	Maximum Magicka	Shield	Crafted

Briarheart is an excellent offensive set with built-in healing when dealing Critical Damage, perfectly complementing Critical Surge. It’s essential to have all five set-piece bonuses active to maximize your Weapon and Spell Damage. Proccing Briarheart on cooldown gives you a 66% uptime.

Daedric Trickery is the perfect back bar set to build up powerful buffs using the damage done by Hurricane. Each buff lasts 21 seconds, and you get a new one every 9 seconds, meaning you can have up to 3 buffs active from Daedric Trickery simultaneously. The key is to let these buffs stack up and rotate through, playing defensively and wearing down your opponent’s resources.

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.

Ring of the Wild Hunt increases your Movement Speed by 15% while in combat and stacks with other buffs, such as Minor and Major Expedition. Movement Speed is incredibly important for this build and PVP in general. Being able to move quickly in combat allows you to keep up with fleeing enemies or run away and recoup your buffs and resources if needed.

(Perfected) Stinging Slashes makes Rending Slashes deal insane damage, making it an even more lethal single-target ability to use to proc Crystal Fragments. The perfected version isn’t going to make or break the build, but it does increase your critical chance by 2.4%, which helps you proc Briarheart.

SKILLS

FRONT BAR

Rending Slashes (Morph of Twin Slashes | Skill Line: Dual Wield)

Streak (Morph of Bolt Escape | Skill Line: Storm Calling)

Critical Surge (Morph of Surge | Skill Line: Storm Calling)

Whirling Blades (Morph of Whirlwind | Skill Line: Dual Wield)

Crystal Fragments (Morph of Crystal Shard | Skill Line: Dark Magic)

Ultimate: Power Overload (Morph of Overload| Skill Line: Storm Calling)

BACK BAR

Haunting Curse (Morph of Daedric Curse | Skill Line: Daedric Summoning)

Dark Deal (Morph of Dark Exchange | Skill Line: Dark Magic)

Shuffle (Morph of Evasion | Skill Line: Medium Armor)

Hurricane (Morph of Lightning Form | Skill Line: Storm Calling)

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

Ultimate: Absorption Field (Morph of Negate Magic | Skill Line: Dark Magic)

ALTERNATIVE SKILLS

DAWNBREAKER OF SMITING

Skill Line: Fighters Guild
Base Skill: Dawnbreaker
Dawnbreaker of Smiting can replace Absorbtion Field during solo play for increased burst damage.

PRECOGNITION

Skill Line: Psijic Order
Base Skill: Undo
Precognition can replace Absorbtion Field during solo play for better survivability and sustain.

RACE AGAINST TIME

Skill Line: Psijic Order
Base Skill: Accelerate
Race Against Time can replace Shuffle if you want the Major Expedition buff and CC immunity; however, this skill can be taxing on your Magicka sustain.

DEEP THOUGHTS

Skill Line: Psijic Order
Base Skill: Meditate
Deep Thoughts can replace Haunting Curse to regain resources after a fight or improve your survivability while standing on the ram during a siege.

BOUND ARMAMENTS

Skill Line: Daedric Summoning
Base Skill: Bound Armor
Bound Armaments can replace Crystal Fragments for more consistency in damage and to ignore LOS; however, it doesn’t provide as much burst damage.

ELEMENTAL SUSCEPTIBILITY

Skill Line: Destruction Staff
Base Skill: Weakness to Elements
Elemental Susceptibility can replace Haunting Curse to apply the Major Breach debuff, reducing Physical and Spell Resistance by 5,948. You must have a Destruction Staff equipped.

ECHOING VIGOR

Skill Line: Assault
Base Skill: Vigor
Echoing Vigor can replace Resolving Vigor during group play to provide more healing to the group; however, doing so sacrifice the Minor Resolve buff.

CHARGING MANEUVER

Skill Line: Assault
Base Skill: Rapid Maneuver
Charging Maneuver can replace Haunting Curse during group play to provide more Movement Speed to the group. It’s also very effective while running an Elder Scroll back to base.

PASSIVES

Almost all passives in the skill lines you use are worth unlocking, but some are more critical to the build than others. Below is a complete list of only the most essential passives to the Stamina Sorcerer PVP Build, which should be unlocked first if possible.

DAEDRIC SUMMONING

Rebate
Power Stone

DARK MAGIC

Unholy Knowledge
Blood Magic
Exploitation

STORM CALLING

All Passives

ONE HAND AND SHIELD

All Passives

DUAL WIELD

All Passives

MEDIUM ARMOR

Dexterity
Wind Walker
Agility
Athletics

HEAVY ARMOR

Resolve
Constitution
Juggernaut
Revitalize

ASSAULT

Continuous Attack
Combat Frenzy

SUPPORT

Combat Medic
Battle Ressurection

UNDAUNTED

All Passives

RACIAL

All Passives

ALCHEMY

Medicinal Use

MUNDUS STONE

THE LOVER

STONEFALLS

GLENUMBRA

AURIDON

The Stamina Sorcerer PVP Build uses The Lover Mundus Stone to increase Offensive Penetration.

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 & POISONS

WEAPON CRIT POTIONS

Weapon Crit Potions are relatively cheap to craft and are the best option for this build. They help sustain your Health and Stamina while increasing your Weapon Critical Rating by 2,629 (12%). This buff maximizes the uptime and healing provided by Briarheart and Critical Surge.

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

Ingredients:
– Dragonthorn (1)
– Mountain Flower (1)
– Water Hyacinth (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)

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)

INCREASE COST POISONS

Increase Cost Poisons are slotted on the back bar and are activated through light attacks while buffing and healing. The goal of these potions is to wear your enemy down so they aren’t able to heal or break-free when you start damaging them.

Bonuses:
– Increases the cost of your victim’s Magicka abilities by 10%.
– Increases the cost of your victim’s Stamina abilities by 10%.

Ingredients:
– Blue Entoloma (1)
– Emetic Russula (1)
– Fleshfly Larva (1)

STAMINA POTIONS

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

Bonuses:
– Restore ~7582 Stamina.
– Gain Major Endurance.

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 your core stats, such as Maximum Health, various methods of recovery, and provides many defensive benefits.

The Champion Point allocation below is optimized with the Stamina Sorcerer PVP Build in mind, focusing on increasing damage mitigation, single-target damage, self-sustain, and Movement Speed.

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)
Precision (+10)
Wrathful Strikes (+50) (Slot 2)
Piercing (+10)
Master-at-Arms (+50) (Slot 3)
Deadly Aim (+50) (Slot 4)
Hardy (+20)
Elemental Aegis (+20)
Tireless Discipline (+10)
Precision (+10)
Piercing (+10)
Battle Mastery (+20)
Mighty (+30)
Battle Mastery (+20)
Eldritch Insight (+20)
Quick Recovery (+10)
Blessed (+20)
Beyond this point, you can continue to unlock passives or more slottable perks based on your preference:
Focused Mending (50) can replace Wrathful Strikes during solo play for better self-healing; however, you will need to spend 10 points in Quick Recovery before you’re able to unlock it.
Force of Nature (50) can replace Wrathful Strikes during group play when your opponents are more likely to be affected by status effects.

FITNESS

Tumbling (+15)
Defiance (+10)
Slippery (+50) (Slot 1)
Mystic Tenacity (+10)
Pain’s Refuge (+50) (Slot 2)
Hero’s Vigor (+20)
Hasty (+8)
Refreshing Stride (+50) (Slot 3)
Celerity (+50) (Slot 4)
Hasty (+8)
Mystic Tenacity (+40)
Sprinter (+20)
Defiance (+10)
Tumbling (+15)
Piercing Gaze (+10)
Tempered Soul (+50)
Beyond this point, you can continue to unlock passives or more slottable perks based on your preference:
Sustained by Suffering (50) can replace Pain’s Refuge during group play or Celerity during solo play to better your self-sustain.
Spirit Mastery (50) can replace Pain’s Refuge during group play to significantly increase your ressurection speed.

ROTATION

The Stamina Sorcerer PVP Build does not follow a traditional static rotation, as most PVP builds don’t. Instead, you are primarily on your back bar (buff bar) in a defensive state for most of the fight, maintaining your healing abilities, resource sustain, and buff abilities.

Once you’re ready to go on the offensive, reapply your buffs and switch to your front bar, where most of your damaging abilities are except for Haunting Curse and Hurricane, but more on that later.

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

Maintaining your buffs and debuffs on any PVP build is critical to staying alive and out-sustaining your opponents. Be sure to always keep skills like Critical Surge, Shuffle, Hurricane, and Resolving Vigor up to maximize your buff uptimes.

Critical Surge grants you the Major Brutality and Major Sorcery buffs, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 20%. It can heal you each second if you deal Critical Damage, which pairs well with Briarheart and Weapon Crit Potions.

Shuffle grants you immunity to nares and immobilizations for 5 seconds and the Major Evasion buff, reducing your damage taken from your opponent’s AOE abilities.

Hurricane is your source of the Major Resolve and Minor Expedition buffs, increasing your Physical and Spell Resistance by 5,948 and Movement Speed by 15%. It grows in size and increases damage as time goes on and helps proc Briarheart and Critical Surge.

Resolving Vigor grants your the Minor Resolve buff, increasing your Physical and Spell Resistance by 2,974. Additionally, it provides you with a strong self-heal.

If you follow along with the armor sets above, much of your build focuses on buffing yourself and increasing your Weapon Damage.

Stamina Sorcerer PVP Build