Elder Scrolls Online: The 4 Best Tank Builds | HGG (2024)

Tanking in Elder Scrolls Online is a role that really sets the tone of every encounter, whether it’s calm and collected or chaotic and difficult. One of the best parts of tanking in ESO is the customization that allows you to tailor a tank perfect for your playstyle. Any class can be played as a tank and impact your team for the better — Dragonknights make excellent tanks, but a player with a good understanding of the Sorcerer can bring a lot of creativity to the role. So how can you tell which tanking option is best?

In general, you want to look for classes that provide great damage mitigation, shields, and buffs. Some are better than others at providing group bonuses, so we’ve put together a list of recommendations for ESO’s best tank builds.

In this guide, we’ll cover the best tank builds in ESO according to the game’s most recent updates. Let’s get started!

Best Overall Tank Build: Stamina Dragonknight

Race: Imperial (or Nord) | Mundus: Lord or Lady | Food: Longfin Pasty with Melon Sauce or equivalent (4462 health, 4105 stamina / magicka) and Bewitched Sugar Skulls is a more expensive option for better survivability with more recovery (4620 health, 4250 magicka/stamina, and 462 health recovery) | Attributes: 64 Health, feel free to add some into stamina or magicka depending upon your preference

Our top pick for the best tank build in ESO is the Stamina Dragonknight. StamDKs consistently rank high when it comes to the best tanks in the game, and are the meta for tanking in ESO for a reason. Not only are they very sturdy, boasting some of the most overpowered tanking abilities in the game (looking at you, Magma Armor), but they also have unique skills for increasing their team’s damage. StamDK tanks give you a great mix of hardiness and increased group damage, making them ideal for players who want to get the job done and speed their group along through content.

Imperials are the top tanking race right now due to their extra 2000 health and stamina, along with their 6% cost reduction of all skills. And yes, that does mean a reduction in skills, ultimates, blocking, dodge-rolling, etc. — anything that costs a resource. That said, you can still easily excel with a Nord’s higher base resistances.

Skills

When it comes to tanking skills, Dragonknights have some of the very best skills in the game. Unrelenting Grip is the DK-exclusive magicka equivalent to the staple tanking ability Silver Leash. Use it if you’re having trouble managing your stamina resources, but keep in mind that Silver Leash can be more effective due to the Fighter’s Guild passive it gives you.

The Dragonknight’s Igneous Shield, Hardened Armor, and Green Dragon Blood skills all make them hardy tanks, allowing them to take more hits and heal up quickly at a moment’s notice. The passive Slayer will give you a 3% increase in weapon and spell damage, and Banish the Wicked will give you 3 Ultimate whenever you kill an enemy.

Stone Giant is a StamDKs bread and butter. Once activated, you can throw up to three casts that deal damage and apply Stagger to your target, increasing their damage taken by 65 per stack. With a total of 195 increased damage taken from all sources while active, this skill will boost four-player Dungeons and Trials by a decent amount.

The Magma Armor ultimate makes them even stronger tank contenders, making it so any attack will only cause them up to 3% of their maximum health. For ten seconds, all those frustrating attacks that deal 20K damage per strike will hit like punches in a dream. Magma Shell is the better morph for group content since it gives nearby allies a damage shield equal to their max health, but Aggressive Warhorn is the better option for increasing group stats and DPS.

Build

Easy starting set alternative: 5 Ebon Armory (from Crypt of Hearts), 5 Plague Doctor (from Deshaan), 2 Monster Set / Endurance Set

Our first set is (Perfected) Claw of Yolnahkriin (from Sunspire). It provides the essential group buff Minor Courage after taunting an enemy, giving you and up to eleven group members 215 increased weapon and spell damage from taunting and boost the power of any skill that scales off weapon or spell damage. The set also provides Minor Aegis, which reduces Dungeon, Trial, and Arena damage taken by 5%. If you want to run the new monster helm, Magma Incarnate (which provides Minor Courage), opt for running powerful assault jewelry and weapons instead of Yolnakriin, as the bonuses won’t overlap.

Our second set is (Perfected) Aegis of Galanwe (from Cloudrest). Whenever you block, it provides you and up to eleven group members with Empower for three seconds, increasing the damage of their light and heavy attacks by 40%. If you have ever parsed before, you’ll know that light attacks add a significant portion of DPS, especially as players get their weaving time close to perfect. This makes Galanwe’s buff extremely powerful, and as a tank is almost always blocking, the uptime should be at 100%.

Tanks have a lot of variability when it comes to monster sets, and should switch them out often based on their group setup. Encratis’s Behemoth (from Black Drake Villa) is the best choice for a magicka-focused group. After dealing flame damage (which Dragonknights have plenty of access to), an aura will spawn around you that increases group flame damage by 5% and provides 5% flame resistance. For a stamina-based group, the best option is Tremorscale (from Volenfell). After taunting an enemy, their physical resistance is reduced by 2395, which really helps your stamina teammates reach the penetration cap.

Champion Points: Essentials in Order

Warfare: 20 Tireless Discipline, 20 Preparation, 50 Ironclad (slot), 50 Duelist’s Rebuff (slot), 50 Unassailable (slot), 50 Enduring Resolve (slot), 20 Eldritch Insight, 20 Hardy, 20 Elemental Aegis, 20 Blessed

Fitness: 20 Hero’s Vigor, 50 Boundless Vitality (slot), 50 Fortified (slot), 50 Rejuvenation (slot), 20 Tireless Guardian, 30 Fortification, 30 Tumbling, 20 Defiance, 50 Strategic Reserve (slot)

Craft: 50 Steed’s Blessing (slot), 75 Liquid Efficiency (slot), 30 Rationer (slot), 50 Treasure Hunter (slot), 50 Steadfast Enchantment

Best Health Tank Build: Stamina Necromancer

Race: Imperial (or Nord) | Mundus: Lord | Food: Longfin Pasty with Melon Sauce or equivalent (4462 health, 4105 stamina / magicka) and Bewitched Sugar Skulls is a more expensive option for better survivability with more recovery (4620 health, 4250 magicka/stamina, and 462 health recovery) | Attributes: 64 Health

If you’re looking for a tank that provides great group buffs and is practically unkillable, Necromancer tanks are perfect for you. Stamcro tanks are naturally hardier than most other tanks and easily make any ESO best tank build list. Their Bone Goliath ultimate increases and restores their health by 30K — essentially a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Stamcros pair well with Imperials for their increased health benefits and other great passives. The 2000 additional health and stamina and 6% reduction in all skill cost makes tanking a breeze. Nords are the better option if you want to get closer to the resistance cap, as they grant 2600 physical and spell resistance.

Skills

Necromancers have access to some amazing skills that both increase their survivability as well as boost their group’s damage by a significant amount. If you have a healer actively using Aggressive Warhorn and no other Necromancers in the group, use Glacial Colossus instead to apply Major Vulnerability to any caught inside the AOE. With the debuff on those enemies for twelve seconds, they’ll take 10% more damage from all sources, really boosting up your group’s DPS.

Be sure to keep your Spirit Guardian up at all times, but not because it provides consistent heals for the lowest health ally on your team. Even better is that 10% of the damage you take will be transferred to the spirit instead, making tanking even easier.

Beckoning Armor is another skill that you’ll want up non-stop for its Major Resolve and unique ability to pull in ranged enemies attacking you. This saves you a lot of resources using Silver Chain or Inner Rage to manage enemies that are scattered around the room attacking you from afar.

Hungry Scythe is a flex spot that you can trade out for a different skill if you like it better, but it’s great for dealing some AOE damage and providing decent heals over time. You heal immediately for a flat amount based on your max health, and this heal stacks up to five additional times for each enemy hit. You also gain a heal over time for five seconds after the initial damage done.

Your main CC skills will be your Agony Totem, which fears enemies after two seconds (they stand in the same spot, thankfully). It also gives you and your allies Minor Protection, reducing damage taken by 5%, and applies Minor Vulnerability to enemies, increasing their damage taken by 5%. All around, it’s a great skill that needs to be kept up throughout any fight.

Build

The first set, which provides the most health of any set in the game, is Plague Doctor (from Deshaan). This set only provides health, but it does so in a very impressive way. With every health bonus combined, this set gives 6422 health, making any skill that scales with health much more powerful. It’s also nice to be able to tank some of those hits without having to constantly block with that big buffer of health. You’ll want to make sure you have all of your armor pieces be infused to further increase your health, but you can opt for sturdy or reinforced if you need to.

Our second set is Green Pact (from Grahtwood), which offers a little less (but still substantial) health. Requiring a food buff to be activated, this set gives both health and health regeneration. Because food is a must on any build (with the rare exception of drink builds), it’ll be very easy to get this set running. With every bonus combined, you’ll get 4912 extra health and 485 health recovery. The mix of extra health and health regen will help keep your HP high when you’re tanking blows in a difficult fight. If you don’t want to fully lean into the health build, replace this with a set like Powerful Assault or Claw of Yolnahkriin to give your group some extra damage. Ebon Armory (from Crypt of Hearts) would be the best group focused health buff, giving you a nice 3412 maximum health bonus while everyone else in your party gets a flat 1000 health increase.

Tremorscale and Encratis’s are the usual go-to monster sets for increasing group damage. For this build, though, we’ll lean into a monster set that increases our health further with Lady Thorn (from Castle Thorn). When using a skill that costs health (Overflowing Altar), you spawn a blood ball that acts as a synergy. You or an ally can activate it and it will deal disease damage scaled off the max health of the person who uses it, which in most cases should you. The best effect you get though is that all enemies damaged have Major Maim applied to them for eight seconds, decreasing their damage done by 10%. Very few skills and sets apply this and can really make a difference in the amount of damage you and your allies take during a fight.

Champion Points: Essentials in Order

Warfare: 20 Tireless Discipline, 20 Preparation, 50 Ironclad (slot), 50 Duelist’s Rebuff (slot), 50 Unassailable (slot), 50 Enduring Resolve (slot), 20 Eldritch Insight, 20 Hardy, 20 Elemental Aegis, 20 Blessed

Fitness: 20 Hero’s Vigor, 50 Boundless Vitality (slot), 50 Fortified (slot), 50 Rejuvenation (slot), 20 Tireless Guardian, 30 Fortification, 30 Tumbling, 20 Defiance, 50 Strategic Reserve (slot)

Craft: 50 Steed’s Blessing (slot), 75 Liquid Efficiency (slot), 30 Rationer (slot), 50 Treasure Hunter (slot), 50 Steadfast Enchantment

Race: Imperial (or Nord) | Mundus: Lord or Lady | Food: Longfin Pasty with Melon Sauce or equivalent (4462 health, 4105 stamina / magicka) and Bewitched Sugar Skulls is a more expensive option for better survivability with more recovery (4620 health, 4250 magicka/stamina, and 462 health recovery) | Attributes: 54 Health, 10 Stamina

Stamina Wardens are a very fun class to play, but aren’t often seen tanking. Generally, Wardens in a group are healers or DPS, but they also can tank very efficiently. Wardens are actually my go-to choice for tanking, as they feel more engaging and change up the general feel of tanking in ESO.

Imperial is definitely the best choice at the moment for any tank, as they offer much needed health, stamina, and reduction in all ability cost. I still like using my Nord, though, for their increased 2600 physical and spell resistance and the increased ultimate generation they get while in combat.

Skills

As a Warden tank there are some really efficient, unique tanking abilities you can make great use of. First and foremost, Bull Netch is a wonderfully efficient skill that costs nothing to activate and gives you stamina back over the twenty-five-second duration. The Major Brutality and Sorcery isn’t half-bad either, increasing your weapon and spell damage by 20%.

Ice Fortress is a solid skill to use that makes your whole group tankier. Some teammates just don’t slot a Major Resolve source, but with Ice Fortress, you can give it to them. When you activate it, everyone in an eight-meter radius around you gains 5948 physical and spell resistance for twenty-four seconds. On top of that, you personally gain Minor Protection, reducing your damage taken by 5%.

Some allies will stand in the red no matter how often you tell them not to, so you might as well provide them with some extra resistances to get through the brunt of it. The ultimate Permaforst can help in those situations, giving you and your allies within a ten-meter radius Major Protection, reducing damage taken by 10%. You also get the great bonus of applying the Chilled status effect to enemies hit immediately, which applies Minor Maim, reducing enemy damage done by 5%.

Shimmering Shield is going to be your best friend when you’re taking heavy damage from projectiles, as it basically nullifies three projectiles entirely. The ice shield absorbs nearly 30K damage from three projectiles — when you do get hit, you gain magicka and Major Heroism for six seconds, giving 3 Ultimate every 1.5 seconds. If you hit at the right times, you could theoretically get 36 Ultimate in eighteen seconds! This will also help you get your Aggressive Warhorns off more regularly and speed through fights with ease.

Finally, your Silver Leash alternative is the rarely used Frozen Device. It can definitely feel clunky to use at first, but it’s amazing once you get the hang of it. With a maximum range of twenty-eight meters, you can set ground AOEs that teleport enemies to you. This won’t work on bosses and some larger ads, but neither would Silver Leash. Enemies brought to you are debuffed by Major Maim, reducing their damage by 10%, and it costs magicka to cast, making it easier to maintain your stamina pool for blocking.

Build

Easy starting set alternative: 5 Ebon Armory (Crypt of Hearts), 5 Plague Doctor (Deshaan), 2 Monster Set / Endurance Set

Our first set is the ever useful Claw of Yolnahkriin (from Sunspire). The Minor Courage it provides you and up to eleven group members after taunting an enemy is an amazing buff. Not only does the 215 increased weapon and spell damage increase group damage, but it also makes healing more potent as well, increasing group survivability. The Minor Aegis you gain simply by wearing the set is also a nice bonus, reducing damage from Dungeon, Trial, and Arena enemies by 5%.

The second set is Powerful Assault (from Imperial City). After using an assault skill like Resolving Vigor or Aggressive Warhorn, you and up to five other group members will gain 307 weapon and spell damage. Powerful Assault is efficient for group damage and healing for the same reasons as Yolnahkriin. The only drawback is that while Yolnahkriin covers a whole trial group, Powerful Assault only covers six group members, making it better for Dungeon or Arena group content. Consider subbing it out with Galnwe if you’re running a Trial.

Monster sets are always subject to be swapped out based on group make-up. Encratis’s Behemoth (from Black Drake Villa) set is becoming more and more of a staple for tanks, even those who don’t have easy access to flame-based abilities. Enchanting your sword with a flame glyph works just as well and allows you to give your group the great 5% increased flame damage bonus and 5% reduced damage taken enemies by flame based abilities. Encratis’s is more for magicka groups that gain a lot of damage from their flame based abilities or destruction staff, whereas a stamina group will benefit more so from Tremorscale (from Volnefell). This set reduces the physical resistance of an enemy you apply a taunt on by 2395, boosting stamina DPS by a lot as they can reach the penetration cap more easily.

With Powerful Assault being fully covered by activating every ten seconds on the backbar with Resolving Vigor or Aggressive Warhorn, you can slot Puncturing Remedy (from Dragonstar Arena) on the front bar. This set is great, as it gives you easy access to a lot of extra resistances along with a nice heal over time. After dealing damage with Puncture, you heal and gain physical and spell resistance equal to the amount of healing for five seconds. This scales off of your maximum health, so you can get a large chunk of resistances from this. This can easily exceed the 33K resistance cap, so the Fitness champion point slottable Fortified might be redundant.

Champion Points: Essentials in Order

Warfare: 20 Tireless Discipline, 20 Preparation, 50 Ironclad (slot), 50 Duelist’s Rebuff (slot), 50 Unassailable (slot), 50 Enduring Resolve (slot), 20 Eldritch Insight, 20 Hardy, 20 Elemental Aegis, 20 Blessed

Fitness: 20 Hero’s Vigor, 50 Boundless Vitality (slot), 50 Slippery (or Fortified) (slot), 50 Rejuvenation (slot), 20 Tireless Guardian, 30 Fortification, 30 Tumbling, 20 Defiance, 50 Strategic Reserve (slot)

Craft: 50 Steed’s Blessing (slot), 75 Liquid Efficiency (slot), 30 Rationer (slot), 50 Treasure Hunter (slot), 50 Steadfast Enchantment

Best Magicka Tank Build: Vampire Magicka Nightblade

Race: Dark Elf (Imperial or Nord) | Mundus: Lord or Lady | Food: Longfin Pasty with Melon Sauce or equivalent (4462 health, 4105 stamina / magicka) and Bewitched Sugar Skulls is a more expensive option for better survivability with more recovery (4620 health, 4250 magicka/stamina, and 462 health recovery) | Attributes: 64 Magicka

When it comes to the best magicka tank, the tankiness of Vampires come to mind. Nightblades match the Vampirism skill line most closely in ESO, so a Magblade Vampire is likely to be the most fun for this magicka tank option. You’ll be naturally susceptible to fire, but we have some ways to mitigate that.

Race will be very important for this tank, as you’ll need the extra fire resistance only Dark Elves can provide. Dark Elves give you 4620 Flame Resistance, which is going to offset the susceptibility to fire that Vampirism gives. The 1910 stamina and magicka bonus will make resource management easier as well, and the increased 258 weapon and spell damage will make your abilities more effective as well. Imperials and Nords are also great tanking options, but lack the bonus flame resistance.

Skills

Before we jump in, remember that as a tank, resource management is king. When you take a synergy, spells more often than not are set to restore whichever resource pool has a higher maximum — Energy Orb from healers will restore stamina if your stamina pool is higher than your magicka pool, and vice versa. This becomes very important to setting up attributes, food, and sets, because if you’re mainly blocking on sword and board and your magicka pool has a higher maximum, you’ll find yourself running out of stamina all the time. Sword and board (and weapons other than ice staves) will take stamina to block, while ice staves with the Tri-Focus passive unlocked will cost you magicka.

You’ll need to have two ice staves to make it so your blocking always costs magicka. It’s important to keep Siphoning skills slotted on both skill bars to maintain the the Magicka Flood passive that increases your max magicka by 8%. The use of Siphoning skills also activate the Transfer passive that gives you 2 Ultimate whenever you cast a skill from that tree, with a cooldown of four seconds. Consistently casting Sap Essence will allow you to generate a lot of Ultimate and get back into the Swarming Scion ultimate as soon as possible.

Exhilarating Drain is also going to feed into this Ultimate generation, as it provides 5 Ultimate every second for three seconds while active. It also deals decent damage while also restoring your 25% of your missing health.

Inner Rage will be your primary taunt, so it’ll be easy to grab targets from across the room. This means you miss out on applying Major Fracture, which is where Reaper’s Mark comes into play. This applies Major Fracture and Breach, which decreases their resistances by 5280. When the marked enemy dies within the twenty-second duration, you’ll restore 60% of your max health and gain Major Beserk, increasing your damage done by 10%.

Because you don’t have a skill that actively provides you with Major Resolve, you’ll need to gain it through your Shadow Barrier passive. After activating a Shadow skill, you’ll gain Major Resolve for six seconds. Dark Cloak happens to be the perfect ability for this, as it lasts for six seconds and gives you a solid heal over time scaled off of your max health. It also provides Minor Protection, reducing your damage taken by 5%. Incapacitating Strike should never be used — it’s simply on the front bar so we can gain resources back when light and heavy attacking enemies. Swarming Scion will be the ultimate to use for its great tankiness and lifesteal.

Build

Easy starting set alternative: 5 Ebon Armory (Crypt of Hearts), 5 Plague Doctor (Deshaan), 2 Monster Set / Endurance Set

The first set to use is Saxhleel Champion (from Rockgrove), which allows us to drop the use of Aggressive Warhorn. Saxhleel provides the same Major Force buff that Aggressive Warhorn is mainly used for, and its duration lasts for one second per 15 Ultimate spent. Major Force increases critical damage done by 20%, so this is a very important buff for tanks and healers alike to provide. Depending on your stage of Vampirism and thus the cost of your ultimate, you’ll give your group anywhere between seventeen and twenty-one seconds of Major Force, which is much better than the ten you get from Warhorn.

The second set, Arkasis’s Genius (from Stone Garden), is used to get Ultimate more quickly. Whenever you drink a potion while in combat, you and up to three group members gain 44 Ultimate. This effect can only occur every thirty seconds, which is the potion use cooldown as well. This will get you to your Swarming Scion much quicker, giving your group more Major Force uptime as well.

Encratis’s Behemoth (from Black Drake Villa) is the best monster set to use to for a Vampire Tank for two major reasons. Firstly, after you deal flame damage, you create an aura that reduces incoming flame damage taken by 5%. This will make it much easier to manage fights where you are taking heavy flame damage. Secondly, for magicka-based groups, the increased 5% flame damage dealt to enemies will also make your team much more powerful.

Champion Points: Essentials in Order

Warfare: 20 Tireless Discipline, 20 Preparation, 50 Ironclad (slot), 50 Duelist’s Rebuff (slot), 50 Unassailable (slot), 50 Enduring Resolve (slot), 20 Eldritch Insight, 20 Hardy, 20 Elemental Aegis, 20 Blessed

Fitness: 20 Hero’s Vigor, 50 Boundless Vitality (slot), 50 Fortified (slot), 50 Rejuvenation (slot), 20 Tireless Guardian, 30 Fortification, 30 Tumbling, 20 Defiance, 50 Strategic Reserve (slot)

Craft: 50 Steed’s Blessing (slot), 75 Liquid Efficiency (slot), 30 Rationer (slot), 50 Treasure Hunter (slot), 50 Steadfast Enchantment

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