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WARDEN HEALER BUILD

The Lotus Warden 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 ESO, 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 group buffs and enemy debuffs by using your various armor sets, skills, and Ultimate abilities.

The Warden Healer is beginner-friendly and is likely the best Healer in ESO. It has remained a top choice for many players since the release of the Morrowind Chapter due to its unique ability to grant the Minor Toughness buff to all group members, excellent healing output, self-sustain, easy access to the Minor Vulnerability debuff, and versatility. Wardens have three unique skill lines:

The Animal Companions skill line focuses on offensive abilities and self-sustain. The Fetcher Infection skill is critical to the Warden Healer as it is the primary method of applying the Minor Vulnerability debuff to enemies for most groups. Enemies afflicted by Minor Vulnerability have their damage taken increased by 5%. The placement of your skills is important, as the Flourish passive increases your Magicka Recovery and Stamina Recovery by 12% if an Animal Companions skill is slotted.

The Green Balance skill line focuses on healing abilities. Even though this build does not utilize the abilities from this skill line often, investing in the Maturation passive is a must. The Maturation passive allows you to grant the Minor Toughness buff to all group members simply by healing them, increasing Maximum Health by 10%.

The Winter’s Embrace skill line focuses on offensive and defensive abilities. The Expansive Frost Cloak skill covers a massive area, allowing you to easily grant the Major resolve buff to all group members, increasing Physical and Spell Resistance by 5,948.

Whether you’re a returning player, just getting started, or looking to hone your skills, The Warden 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.

NOVEMBER 06 / 2024: – UPDATE 44
• Warden Healer Build 2.0 Released – Almost every aspect of this build has been updated and tweaked in some way from U39 to U44.
• Added a Scribing Options section.

RACE

HIGH ELF

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BRETON

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ARGONIAN

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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%.

Though, all races are capable of Healing, the Warden Healer Build utilizes the High Elf racial passives for the increased Weapon and Spell Damage, Maximum Magicka, and ability to sustain Magicka more easily. Choose a race that best suits your needs.

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

MAGICKA

64

HEALTH

0

STAMINA

0

All Attribute Points are distributed into Magicka regardless of your choice of race and armor setup, as Maximum Health is not critical to the Warden 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 Warden 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 overhealing them and proving Ultimate generation to the group with Pillager’s Profit.

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

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Medium

Veteran Scrivener’s Hall

SHOULDERS

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Undaunted Enclave

CHEST

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

White-Gold Tower

HANDS

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

(Veteran) Dreadsail Reef

WAIST

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

(Veteran) Dreadsail Reef

LEGS

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

White-Gold Tower

FEET

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

White-Gold Tower

NECKLACE

Infused

Magical Harm

Jewelry

Scrying

RING

Infused

Magicka Recovery

Jewelry

(Veteran) Dreadsail Reef

RING

Infused

Magicka Recovery

Jewelry

(Veteran) Dreadsail Reef

FRONT BAR

Decisive

Weapon/Spell Damage

Restoration Staff

White-Gold Tower

BACK BAR

Infused

Weaken

Ice Staff

(Veteran) Dreadsail Reef

Ozezan the Inferno increases your group’s healing received when they are not overhealed by your healing abilities. When your healing abilities overheal your group members, they have their Armor stat increased.

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

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.
 • Alternative: 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.

OFF-HEALER SETUP

SET NAME TRAIT ENCHANTMENT WEIGHT/TYPE ACQUIRED

HEAD

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Medium

Veteran Depths of Malatar

SHOULDERS

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Undaunted Enclave

CHEST

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Scalecaller Peak

HANDS

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Scalecaller Peak

WAIST

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Scalecaller Peak

LEGS

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Scalecaller Peak

FEET

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Scalecaller Peak

NECKLACE

Infused

Magical Harm

Jewelry

(Veteran) Kyne’s Aegis

RING

Infused

Magicka Recovery

Jewelry

(Veteran) Kyne’s Aegis

RING

Infused

Magicka Recovery

Jewelry

(Veteran) Kyne’s Aegis

FRONT BAR

Decisive

Weapon/Spell Damage

Restoration Staff

(Veteran) Dragonstar Arena

BACK BAR

Infused

Weaken

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.
 • Alternative: The Blind is an incredible Monster Set if your group already has no issues with sustain. It grants a damage shield for 6 seconds every 6 seconds that grants the Minor Force buff while it holds and for 3 seconds after it breaks.

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.

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.

INTERMEDIATE SETUP

The Intermediate Setup for the Warden 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.

If you have a surplus of Transmute Crystals and think you will be using this setup for a while, you could Transmute your jewelry from Robust to Infused.

SET NAME TRAIT ENCHANTMENT WEIGHT/TYPE ACQUIRED

HEAD

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Medium

Veteran Darkshade Caverns I

SHOULDERS

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Undaunted Enclave

CHEST

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

White-Gold Tower

HANDS

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

White-Gold Tower

WAIST

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

White-Gold Tower

LEGS

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

White-Gold Tower

FEET

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

White-Gold Tower

NECKLACE

Robust/Infused

Magical Harm

Jewelry

Imperial Sewers or Guild Stores

RING

Robust/Infused

Magicka Recovery

Jewelry

Imperial Sewers or Guild Stores

RING

Robust/Infused

Magicka Recovery

Jewelry

Imperial Sewers or Guild Stores

FRONT BAR

Decisive

Weapon/Spell Damage

Restoration Staff

Imperial Sewers or Guild Stores

BACK BAR

Infused

Weaken

Ice Staff

Imperial Sewers or Guild Stores

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.

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.

Powerful Assault increases the group’s Weapon and Spell Damage by 307, improving overall group damage and healing. Powerful Assault requires you to cast an ability from the Assault skill line to trigger it. Healers commonly use Echoing Vigor because it’s a strong HOT with a large radius and low cost.

BEGINNER SETUP

Your options for beginner gear are typically limited to crafted sets or something cheap in guild stores. The Beginner Setup for the Warden 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

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Medium

Crafted

SHOULDERS

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Heavy

Crafted

CHEST

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Crafted

HANDS

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Crafted

WAIST

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Crafted

LEGS

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Crafted

FEET

Divines

Maximum Magicka

Light

Crafted

NECKLACE

Infused

Magical Harm

Jewelry

Crafted

RING

Infused

Magicka Recovery

Jewelry

Crafted

RING

Infused

Magicka Recovery

Jewelry

Crafted

FRONT BAR

Decisive

Weapon/Spell Damage

Restoration Staff

Crafted

BACK BAR

Infused

Weaken

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

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FRONT BAR

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

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

Overflowing Altar (Morph of Blood Altar | Skill Line: Undaunted)

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

Budding Seeds (Morph of Healing Seed | Skill Line: Green Balance)

Ultimate: Feral Guardian (Unmorphed | Skill Line: Animal Companions)

BACK BAR

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

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

Blue Betty (Morph of Betty Netch | Skill Line: Animal Companions)

Expansive Frost Cloak (Morph of Frost Cloak | Skill Line: Winter’s Embrace)

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

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

SCRIBING OPTIONS

Soul Burst (Warding Burst | Skill Line: Soul Magic)
  • Grants you and your allies within 8m of you a damage shield, Minor Courage, and heals you over 10 seconds. To scribe this skill, combine the following scripts:
    • Focus Script: Damage Shield
    • Signature Script: Sage’s Remedy
    • Affix Script: Courage

Torchbearer (Heroic Torch | Skill Line: Fighters Guild)
  • Each sweep of the torch generates 1 Ultimate to you and allies in front of you, reduces your damage taken by 17% for 2.2 seconds, and grants Minor Heroism for 20 seconds. Heroic Torch is an excellent option to help your group build Ultimate. To scribe this skill, combine the following scripts:
    • Focus Script: Generate Ultimate
    • Signature Script: Gladiator’s Tenacity
    • Affix Script: Heroism

Ulfsild’s Contingency (Warding Contingency | Skill Line: Mages Guild)
  • Grants you and your allies a large damage shield for 6 seconds and Minor Protection for 20 seconds. Warding Contingency is a must-have skill for all Healers. To scribe this skill, combine the following scripts:
    • Focus Script: Damage Shield
    • Signature Script: Growing Impact
    • Affix Script: Protection

ALTERNATIVE SKILLS

REPLENISHING BARRIER

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Skill Line: Support
Base Skill: Barrier
Replenishing Barrier can replace Feral Guardian or Aggressive Horn. It’s incredibly useful when you know a specific trash pull or boss mechanic requires a lot of healing. If you replace Feral Guardian, slot another Animal Companion skill on the front bar to benefit from the Flourish passive.

ENCHANTED FOREST

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Skill Line: Green Balance
Base Skill: Secluded Grove
Enchanted Forest can replace Aggressive Horn if you can’t yet access that skill. It provides a strong HOT effect while being a low-cost Ultimate. If you cast it on an ally below 50% of their Maximum Health, you are refunded 20 Ultimate.

BONE SURGE

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Skill Line: Undaunted
Base Skill: Bone Shield
Bone Surge can replace Overflowing Altar or Budding Seeds to provide a synergy to your allies that grants a damage shield and the Major Vitality buff when activated.

FETCHER INFECTION

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Skill Line: Animal Companion
Base Skill: Swarm
Fetcher Infection can replace Overflowing Altar or Budding Seeds to apply the Minor Vulnerability debuff to enemies for 20 seconds.

DECEPTIVE PREDATOR

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Skill Line: Animal Companions
Base Skill: Falcon’s Swiftness
Deceptive Predator can replace Overflowing Altar or Budding Seeds when you need extra Movement Speed.

BURSTING VINES

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Skill Line: Green Balance
Base Skill: Nature’s Grasp
Bursting Vines can replace Budding Seeds for a stronger, single-target burst heal that also grants you 10 Ultimate if your ally is below 60% Health.

MYSTIC GUARD

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Skill Line: Support
Base Skill: Guard
Mystic Guard can replace Overflowing Altar or Budding Seeds on the front bar and Blue Betty 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.

EFFICIENT PURGE

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Skill Line: Support
Base Skill: Purge
Efficient Purge can replace Overflowing Altar, Budding Seeds, or Blue Betty to remove DOTs and other negative effects on you and your allies.

RING OF PRESERVATION

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Skill Line: Fighters Guild
Base Skill: Circle of Protection
Ring of Preservation can replace Overflowing Altar or Radiating Regeneration to grant your group the Minor Protection buff and another HOT effect. Because this skill’s radius is so small, it can only be used in fights where your group is tightly stacked.

ELEMENTAL SUSCEPTIBILITY

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Skill Line: Destruction Staff
Base Skill: Weakness to Elements
Elemental Susceptibility can replace Blue Betty if you need to apply the Major Breach debuff to targets.

HEALING SPRINGS

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Skill Line: Restoration Staff
Base Skill: Grand Healing
Healing Springs can replace Illustrious Healing if you need more Magicka sustain.

CRUSHING SHOCK

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Skill Line: Destruction Staff
Base Skill: Force Shock
Crushing Shock can replace Blue Betty or Echoing Vigor if you need a ranged interrupt.

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 Warden Healer build, which should be unlocked first if possible.

ANIMAL COMPANIONS

  • All Passives

WINTER'S EMBRACE

  • Glacial Presence
  • Icy Aura

GREEN BALANCE

  • All Passives

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

SUPPORT

  • Magicka Aid

UNDAUNTED

  • Undaunted Command
  • Undaunted Mettle

RACIAL

  • All Passives

ALCHEMY

  • Medicinal Use

MUNDUS STONE

THE RITUAL

EASTMARCH

ALIK'R DESERT

MALABAL TOR

The Warden Healer Build uses The Ritual Mundus Stone to increase your healing effectiveness by 8%. Boosting the amount of healing you output ensures you keep your allies topped up and overhealed, proccing your set bonuses like Spell Power Cure.

Each piece of Legendary Quality Divines armor increases this value by 9.1%. While wearing 7 pieces of Legendary Quality Divines armor, The Ritual Mundus Stone increases your healing effectiveness by 13%.

If you’re having trouble with your Magicka sustain, The Atronach Mundus Stone will increase your Magicka Recovery by 310. While wearing 7 pieces of Legendary Quality Divines armor pieces, this value is increased to 507.

CONSUMABLES

FOOD

CLOCKWORK CITRUS FILET

Clockwork Citrus Filet offers the best stat boosts to your Maximum Health, Maximum Magicka, and Magicka Recovery; however, it’s expensive because you need Perfect Roe. Witchmother’s Potent Brew is a cheaper alternative with a slight 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)

WITCHMOTHER'S POTENT BREW

Witchmother’s Potent Brew offers slightly decreased stat boosts to Clockwork Citrus Filet, increasing your Maximum Health, Maximum Magicka, and Magicka Recovery. This food is a much cheaper alternative and scales with your level.

Bonuses:
  • Increase Maximum Health by up to 3094.
  • Increase Maximum Magicka by 2856.
  • Increase Magicka Recovery by 315.
  • Lasts 2 hours.

Ingredients:
  • Bervez Juice (1)
  • Nightshade (1)
  • Rice (1)
  • Small Game (1)

POTIONS

SPELL POWER POTIONS

Spell Power Potions provide the Major Sorcery and Major Prophecy buffs, which are critical to all builds 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)

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)

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 (CP) system in ESO provides many powerful benefits that allow you to customize and strengthen your build. It is unlocked at Level 50 and maxes out at 3600 points. 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 and various methods of recovery, and provides many defensive benefits.

The Champion Point allocation below is optimized for the Warden Healer Build, focusing on increasing the strength of your healing abilities, sustain, and survivability.

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

  • 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)
  • Treasure Hunter (+50) (Slot 4)
  • Master Gatherer (+15)
  • Gifted Rider (+100) (Replace Slot 4)
  • Rationer (+20)
  • 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.
  • Eldritch Insight (+10)
  • Blessed (+10)
  • Soothing Tide (+50) (Slot 1)
  • Enlivening Overflow (+50) (Slot 2)
  • From the Brink (+50) (Slot 3)
  • Rejuvenator (+50) (Slot 4)
  • Quick Recovery (+10)
  • Preparation (+20)
  • Elemental Aegis (+20)
  • Hardy (+20)
  • Eldritch Insight (+10)
  • Precision (+20)
  • Piercing (+10)
  • Flawless Ritual (+40)
  • Tireless Discipline (+20)
  • Blessed (+10)
  • Beyond this point, you can continue to unlock passives or more slottable perks for group flexibility:
  • Hope Infusion (50) can replace Enlivening Overflow or From the Brink if another Healer already has these slotted.
  • Swift Renewal (50) can replace Enlivening Overflow or From the Brink if another Healer already has these slotted.
 
  • Rejuvenation (+50) (Slot 1)
  • Boundless Vitality (+50) (Slot 2)
  • Fortified (+50) (Slot 3)
  • Sprinter (+10)
  • Hasty (+8)
  • Celerity (+50) (Slot 4)
  • Tumbling (+15)
  • 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:
  • Expert Evasion (50) can replace Fortified or Celerity to Roll Dodge for no cost once every 30 seconds.
  • Slippery (50) can replace Fortified or Celerity to break free for no cost once every 21 seconds.

TIPS & TRICKS

The Warden Healer build does not follow a traditional rotation. Instead, you must be able to 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, Blue Betty, and Expansive Frost Cloak 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 and Budding Seeds 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.

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 and Symphony of Blades 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 Healing, Combat Prayer, Radiating Regeneration, Energy Orb, 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, Deceptive Predator is a must-have. Most of your skills can remain the same without much of an issue, but skills such as Elemental Drain 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 a Warden Healer can stay on top of sustainability:

Your class skills and passives significantly improve your sustain:
 • The Blue Betty skill restores your Magicka.
 • The Flourish passive increases your Magicka Recovery and Stamina Recovery by 12% while any skill from the skill line is active. Maintaining a high uptime of Blue Betty allows you to easily take advantage of this passive.

There are also universal buffs often provided by Healers that improve sustain, such as Enchanted Growth. The Minor Fortitude, Minor Intellect, and Minor Endurance buffs increase Health Recovery, Magicka Recovery, and Stamina Recovery by 15%.

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 Warden Healer build uses The Ritual Mundus Stone to increase your healing effectiveness; 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.

Feral Guardian is slotted on your front bar to make use of the Flourish passive only, as it requires any skill from the Animal Companions skill line needs to be slotted to benefit from it.

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

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.

Enchanted Forest is a low-cost Ultimate ability that gives you and your group powerful healing that can save your group in a pinch. Casting this Ultimate ability when one of your allies is below 50% of their Maximum Health generates 20 Ultimate, allowing you to quickly rebuild your Ultimate back up.

AUGUST 30 / 2023: – UPDATE 39
• Skills:
  • Replaced Deceptive Predator on the front bar with Budding Seeds.
  • Moved Deceptive Predator to the Alternative Skills section.
• Alternative Skills:
  • Added Bursting Vines.

JUNE 20 / 2023:
• Dungeon Setup:
  • Changed the name of the Dungeon Setup to Intermediate Setup to more accurately convey what the setup achieves.
    • Expect a dedicated end-game Dungeon Build for all classes in the future.

JANUARY 24 / 2023:
• Build Published.