Dragonknight

PvE DPS GUIDE

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Dragonknight is heavily geared towards Flame and Poison Damage, mostly delivered as damage over time. Its long-lasting ultimate makes it especially dominant in fights or burst phases that last 20-40s, and its balance of single target and AOE pressure perform extremely well in multi-target fights. As ESO’s original tanking class, its toolkit is stacked with buffs, debuffs and other utilities, and its long-lasting class DOTs are ideal for keeping up the Touch of Z’en debuff in organised groups.

KEY PASSIVES

Burning and Poisoned are powerful DOTs, and Dragonknights apply them more easily than other classes. An extra 40% is a massive boost, making these status effects a major source of damage.

Minor Brutality is the unique buff provided by this class. When there are no other Dragonknights around, you will be expected to keep it active. This passive is also a nice source of extra ultimate.

This 5% bonus is quite significant and applies to most of the class abilities we use for damage. It also boosts non-class abilities like Unstable Wall of Fire, Scalding Rune and Lethal Arrow.

Depending on your ultimate for sustain can be a disadvantage, but the ability to store up large amounts of resources (including Health) for when you need them can also be extremely useful.

Magicka

No setup is perfect everywhere. Check your tooltips regularly and tweak your setups depending on the group and the content.

Boss Setups


Relequen + Runecarver + Kilt

SLOT ITEM TRAIT ENCHANTMENT
Head Slimecraw's Mask Divines Magicka
Shoulders Relequen's Arm Cops Divines Magicka
Chest Relequen's Jack Divines Magicka
Hands Runecarver's Blaze Gloves Divines Magicka
Waist Runecarver's Blaze Sash Divines Magicka
Legs Harpooner's Wading Kilt Divines Magicka
Feet Relequen's Boots Divines Magicka
Necklace Runecarver's Necklace Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Runecarver's Ring Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Runecarver's Ring Bloodthirsty Damage
Front Bar Main Hand Relequen's Dagger Charged Flame
Front Bar Off Hand Relequen's Dagger Charged Poison
Back Bar Main Hand The Maelstrom's Greatsword Infused Weapon Damage
Back Bar Off Hand - - -

Ansuul + Azureblight + Ur-Mage

SLOT ITEM TRAIT ENCHANTMENT
Head Slimecraw's Guise Divines Magicka
Shoulders Ansuul's Arm Cops Divines Magicka
Chest Azureblight Jack Divines Magicka
Hands Azureblight Bracers Divines Magicka
Waist Azureblight Belt Divines Magicka
Legs Azureblight Guards Divines Magicka
Feet Azureblight Boots Divines Magicka
Necklace Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Ansuul's Ring Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Ansuul's Ring Bloodthirsty Damage
Front Bar Main Hand Ansuul's Dagger Nirnhoned Absorb Stamina
Front Bar Off Hand Ansuul's Dagger Precise Poison
Back Bar Main Hand Maelstrom Inferno Infused Weapon Damage
Back Bar Off Hand - - -

Order's Wrath + Forest Wraith + Pale Order

SLOT ITEM TRAIT ENCHANTMENT
Head Valkyn Skoria's Mask Divines Magicka
Shoulders Forest Wraith's Epaulets Divines Magicka
Chest Order's Wrath Jack Divines Magicka
Hands Order's Wrath Gloves Divines Magicka
Waist Order's Wrath Sash Divines Magicka
Legs Order's Wrath Guards Divines Magicka
Feet Order's Wrath Boots Divines Magicka
Necklace Forest Wraith's Amulet Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Forest Wraith's Ring Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Ring of the Pale Order Bloodthirsty Damage
Front Bar Main Hand Forest Wraith's Dagger Charged Absorb Stamina
Front Bar Off Hand Forest Wraith's Dagger Charged Poison
Back Bar Main Hand Forest Wraith's Inferno Staff Infused Weapon Damage
Back Bar Off Hand - - -

Null Arca + Sentinel + Zaan

SLOT ITEM TRAIT ENCHANTMENT
Head Zaan's Guise Divines Magicka
Shoulders Zaan's Arm Cops Divines Magicka
Chest Highland Sentinel Jack Divines Magicka
Hands Highland Sentinel Bracers Divines Magicka
Waist Highland Sentinel Belt/Sash Divines Magicka
Legs Highland Sentinel Guards Divines Magicka
Feet Highland Sentinel Boots Divines Magicka
Necklace Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Null Arca Ring Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Null Arca Ring Bloodthirsty Damage
Front Bar Main Hand Null Arca Dagger Charged Flame
Front Bar Off Hand Null Arca Dagger Charged Poison
Back Bar Main Hand The Maelstrom's Greatsword Infused Weapon Damage
Back Bar Off Hand - - -

  • Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.

  • 1-2 x Light is recommended. Monster sets can be Medium or Light depending on your sustain and penetration.

  • If your group has Encratis you can swap the Maelstrom 2H for a Maelstrom Inferno with Blockade.

  • The Kilt is a good default, but not suitable everywhere. Swap in other Mythics depending on the situation, or use Backstabber plus a monster set such as Zaan (e.g. without Runecarver).

CHAMPION POINTS

Deadly Aim - Exploiter - Thaumaturge - Wrathful Strikes

These are for when Off-Balance, Brittle, Catalyst, Alkosh/Crimson and all necessary buffs/debuffs are provided.

Outside of these conditions, use Backstabber and/or Fighting Finesse to reach the 125% Critical Damage cap, and Force of Nature to meet the 18,200 penetration cap (adjusting Medium-to-Light Armor ratio also helps). If Off-Balance is not being triggered on cooldown, drop Exploiter and slot Master-at-Arms to boost your direct damage instead.

FOOD & POTIONS

Firsthold Fruit & Cheese Plate
or
Thrice-Baked Gorapple Pie
or
Tomato Garlic Chutney

Increase Max Magicka by 6048 for 35 minutes.

Food > Fruit
Jazbay Grapes, Cheese
Apples, Saltrice
Tomato, Garlic

Tri Restoration Potion
or
Essence of Health

Restore 8369 Health, 7582 Magicka, and 7582 Stamina immediately.

Grants Major Fortitude, Major Intellect, and Major Endurance which increase your Health Recovery, Magicka Recovery, and Stamina Recovery by 30% for 36.3 seconds.

These effects are scaled based on your level. (45 second cooldown)

Bugloss, Columbine, Mountain Flower

+

These are recommended for practice and easy content. Other options include:

Max-level Savoury recipes for Health + Magicka
Ghastly Eye Bowl for Magicka + Magicka Recovery
Crunchy Spider Skewer for Magicka + Stamina Recovery
Witchmother’s Potent Brew for Health + Magicka + Magicka Recovery
Bewitched Sugar Skulls for Health + Magicka + Stamina

Essence of Spell Power for Major Sorcery + Prophecy + Intellect
Essence of Weapon Power for Major Brutality + Savagery + Endurance

Essence of Heroism for Major Intellect + Endurance and Minor Heroism
(very expensive and very rarely needed)

ABILITIES

ROTATION
127k DPS

Magicka Dragonknight is highly effective, especially in organised trial groups. Performance varies based on fight time and support, particularly Encratis and Pillager’s, but if we properly manage our uptimes we can deal great damage in any situation.

The priority is Talons every 5s, Stampede and Eruption after every third Talons, and the rest of your DOTs as dynamically or statically as you like. Minor Heroism (via potions or supports) can add even more oomph if your group is super ambitious, but is certainly not needed. If your group has Encratis you can swap to Maelstrom Inferno with Blockade of Fire on the back bar. The rotation stays the same.

The default consumables here are Max Magicka food and tri-stat potions, so we need Degeneration for Major Brutality & Sorcery unless Igneous Weapons is provided. Switch food and/or potions for Health or sustain as needed. If Magicka is tight, skip some Talons casts near the start of the fight. Recast Trap, Claw and Degen dynamically.

Prebuff with Oblivion, Cloak and Trap. Depending on fight time, drop Standard immediately or once all DOTs are up.

You can recast Oblivion dynamically to keep up Seething Fury stacks, or if your weaving is so fast that you’re skipping the last tick (it lasts a little longer than 15s). Recasting Eruption early as shown is a slight DPS loss, but it helps with sustain and eases bar swaps after Stampede. Always try to drop Standard the instant it is ready, but save the last one for the final 20s. If it is not ready but Dawnbreaker is, use that in execute instead. In the last 8s make sure Trap and Stampede are rolling, cast one last Talons and spam Whip until the target is dead.

SLOT ITEM TRAIT ENCHANTMENT
Head Grothdarr’s Mask Divines Magicka
Shoulders Grothdarr’s Arm Cops Divines Magicka
Chest Jack of Sul-Xan’s Torment Divines Magicka
Hands Burning Spellweave Gloves Divines Magicka
Waist Burning Spellweave Sash Divines Magicka
Legs Guards of Sul-Xan’s Torment Divines Magicka
Feet Burning Spellweave Shoes Divines Magicka
Necklace Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Ring of Sul-Xan’s Torment Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Ring of Sul-Xan’s Torment Bloodthirsty Damage
Front Bar Main Hand Dagger of Sul-Xan’s Torment Nirnhoned Absorb Stamina
Front Bar Off Hand Burning Spellweave Dagger Precise Disease
Back Bar Main Hand Burning Spellweave Inferno Staff Infused Weapon Damage
Back Bar Off Hand - - -

CHAMPION POINTS

Biting Aura - Exploiter - Master-at-Arms - Wrathful Strikes

The best choices depend on your group and how long the fight lasts. Use Backstabber if you are below the crit cap (or Fighting Finesse if you cannot flank). Drop Exploiter if no one in your group is triggering Off-Balance consistently. And if trash pulls are lasting longer, DOTs will provide a higher proportion of your damage and Thaumaturge may be worth slotting.

ABILITIES

Stamina

No setup is perfect everywhere. Check your tooltips regularly and tweak your setups depending on the group and the content.

Single Target

Relequen + Pillar + Master’s Bow + Kilt

SLOT ITEM TRAIT ENCHANTMENT
Head Slimecraw’s Guise Divines Stamina
Shoulders Relequen’s Arm Cops Divines Stamina
Chest Relequen's Jack Divines Stamina
Hands Relequen's Bracers Divines Stamina
Waist Relequen's Belt Divines Stamina
Legs Harpooner's Wading Kilt Divines Stamina
Feet Relequen's Boots Divines Stamina
Necklace Pillar of Nirn Necklace Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Pillar of Nirn Ring Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Pillar of Nirn Ring Bloodthirsty Damage
Front Bar Main Hand Pillar of Nirn Bow Charged Flame
Front Bar Off Hand - - -
Back Bar Main Hand The Master's Bow Infused Weapon Damage
Back Bar Off Hand - - -

  • Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.

  • 1 x Light is recommended. It depends on your sustain, penetration and Critical Damage.

  • You can swap Pillar of Nirn for Whorl or other sets according to situation or preference.

  • You can swap Relequen for Riptide if your sustain allows it. This works great when cleave damage is a priority.

  • The Kilt is a good default, but not suitable everywhere. Swap in other Mythics depending on the situation.

CHAMPION POINTS

Deadly Aim - Exploiter - Master-at-Arms - Wrathful Strikes

These are for when Off-Balance, Brittle, Catalyst, Alkosh/Crimson and all necessary buffs/debuffs are provided.

Outside of these conditions, use Backstabber and/or Fighting Finesse to reach the 125% Critical Damage cap, and Force of Nature to meet the 18,200 penetration cap (adjusting Medium-to-Light Armor ratio also helps). If Off-Balance is not being triggered on cooldown, drop Exploiter and slot Thaumaturge to boost your DOTs instead. This setup is about 52% direct damage and 48% damage over time, so it doesn’t take much for Thaumaturge to pull ahead, especially against multiple targets.

FOOD & POTIONS

Candied Jester's Coins

Increase Max Stamina by 4592 Magicka Recovery by 459 for 2 hours.

Delightful confection coins for the famished numismatist.

Food > Delicacies
Flour, Coffee, Imp Stool, Bervez Juice

Essence of Weapon Power

Grants Major Brutality which increases your Weapon Damage by 20% for 47.6 seconds.

Grants Major Savagery which gives you 2629 Weapon Critical Rating for 47.6 seconds.

Restore 7582 Stamina immediately.
Grants you Major Endurance which increases your Stamina Recovery by 30% for 47.6 seconds (45s cooldown).

Blessed Thistle
Dragonthorn
Water Hyacinth / Wormwood

+

These are recommended for practice and easy content. Other options include:

Max-level Ragout recipes for Health + Stamina
Max-level Vegetable recipes for maximum Stamina
Lava Foot Soup-and-Saltrice for Stamina + Stamina Recovery
Dubious Camoran Throne for Health + Stamina + Stamina Recovery
Bewitched Sugar Skulls for Health + Magicka + Stamina

Tri Restoration Potion for Major Intellect + Endurance + Fortitude
Essence of Spell Power for Major Sorcery + Prophecy + Intellect

Essence of Heroism for Major Intellect + Endurance and Minor Heroism
(very expensive and very rarely needed)

ABILITIES

Front Bar: Barbed Trap, Flames of Oblivion, Lethal Arrow, Burning Talons, Arrow Barrage, Flawless Dawnbreaker

Back Bar: Poison Injection, Eruption, Venomous Claw, Acid Spray, Molten Whip, Standard of Might

ROTATION
122k DPS

This Bow setup is still one of the strongest and most fun ways to play Stamina Dragonknight. Single target damage is good and cleave is excellent - you can even swap Nirn for Azureblight for the right fight - but if you want to use Runecarver a standard Dual Wield setup will be more effective.

The Bow rotation is quite frenetic and can take some getting used to, but eventually the 5s rhythm takes care of itself and it becomes easy to keep up. Talons and Spray every 5s, Barrage every 10s, and Injection, Eruption and Trap every 20s. Keep up Oblivion and Claw dynamically, and switch Spray and Barrage around if the constant bar-swapping is too much for you!

Open with Oblivion, Barrage and Trap, and drop Standard immediately after Injection.

Use Jester’s Coins for Magicka sustain (or Tri-Stat potions if Igneous Weapons is provided). Try to recast Oblivion early where needed to keep up Seething Fury stacks and take pressure off your Stamina. Drop Standard the instant it is ready, but save the last one for the final 20s of the fight (use Dawnbreaker if it is not ready). Keep Trap and Injection rolling until the end, refresh Talons and Spray in the last 5s and spam Lethal Arrow until the target is dead. Enjoy!

The following video is from U40 and damage has since fallen slightly, but the rotation is unchanged.

SLOT ITEM TRAIT ENCHANTMENT
Head Slimecraw’s Guise Divines Stamina
Shoulders Burning Spellweave Epaulets Divines Stamina
Chest Jack of Sul-Xan’s Torment Divines Stamina
Hands Bracers of Sul-Xan’s Torment Divines Stamina
Waist Belt of Sul-Xan’s Torment Divines Stamina
Legs Guards of Sul-Xan’s Torment Divines Stamina
Feet Boots of of Sul-Xan’s Torment Divines Stamina
Necklace Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Burning Spellweave Ring Bloodthirsty Damage
Ring Burning Spellweave Ring Bloodthirsty Damage
Front Bar Main Hand The Master’s Greatsword Nirnhoned Absorb Stamina
Front Bar Off Hand - - -
Back Bar Main Hand Burning Spellweave Inferno Staff Infused Weapon Damage
Back Bar Off Hand - - -

  • Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.

  • 1-2 x Light is recommended. It depends on your sustain, penetration and Critical Damage.

  • You can swap Slimecraw for a Stormfist, Kra’gh or Skoria 1-piece, depending on what you need.

  • It’s important to reach the penetration cap of 18,200 on priority targets. Using a Sharpened Master’s Maul on the front bar, upgrading to the Perfected version, wearing more Light pieces and casting Noxious Breath on enemies are some of the things you can do to help you get there.

CHAMPION POINTS

Biting Aura - Exploiter - Master-at-Arms - Wrathful Strikes

The best choices depend on your group and how long the fight lasts. Use Backstabber if you are below the crit cap (or Fighting Finesse if you cannot flank). Drop Exploiter if no one in your group is triggering Off-Balance consistently. And if trash pulls are lasting longer, DOTs will provide a higher proportion of your damage and Thaumaturge may be worth slotting.

ABILITIES

Recent Changes

Update 44

  • Banner Bearer Grimoire introduced.

  • Azureblight Reaper set reworked. Base damage reduced, scaling damage per target massively increased.

  • Critical strike chance removed from Pyrebrand set. Damage adjusted.

  • Golden Pursuits and 2-sided Battlegrounds introduced.

  • Imperial City Keys and Vaults system replaced with Imperial Fragments and merchants.

Dragonknight

  • Cauterize changed to target up to 4 allies, tick rate increased, healing ticks reduced by 33%.

Update 43

  • Pyrebrand set added.

  • Curation added to dungeon-specific Undaunted Monster set shoulder coffers.

  • Undeath passive damage reduction lowered to 15% from 30%.

  • New arenas, bosses, Verses and Visions added to Infinite Archive.

  • Various Scribing tooltips tweaked, Affix Script compatibility increased.

  • Home Tours introduced.

Gold Road (Update 42)

  • Scribing and Skill Styling systems introduced

  • Lucent Echoes and Highland Sentinel sets added.

  • Gradual Ravage Health potions fixed to not trigger item sets.

  • Various damage reduction effects fixed to be multiplicative rather than additive.

  • Mages Guild passive Everlasting Magic duration increased changed from 20% to 2s.

  • Delay added to Rush of Agony proc, range increased from 10m to 12m.

  • Various Werewolf abilities tweaked to increase its general effectives in PvE.

Scions of Ithelia (U41)

  • Status Effects system overhauled, bringing them closer together in power.

    • Burning damage reduced by 6%.

    • Chilled damage increased by 106%.

    • Concussed damage increased by 106%, plus 15% extra to recently Concussed enemies.

    • Diseased damage increased by 88%, AOE damage added.

    • Hemorrhaging damage reduced by 20%, stacking added, Mangle removed.

    • Overcharged damage increased by 106%, Magicka restore added.

    • Poisoned damage reduced by 30%, duration reduced, ramping execute added.

    • Sundered damage increased by 106%, bonus Weapon & Spell Damage added.

  • Charged trait reduced from 365% to 235% increased status effect chance.

  • Barbed Trap changed to apply Hemorrhaging only on the initial hit.

  • Guaranteed Sundered status effect added to Snipe.

  • Guaranteed Hemorrhaging status effect added to every tick of Lacerate.

  • Executioner changed from Physical to Bleed Damage.

  • Runecarver’s Blaze fixed to apply Burning more often; a significant damage increase.

  • Mantle of Siroria perfected bonus changed from Max Magicka to Weapon & Spell Damage.

  • Vitality and Defile changed to affect damage shield strength as well as healing.

  • Inner Rage cost reduced by 40%, damage reduced by 10%, multi-synergy added.

  • Inner Beast damage increased by 80%, Minor Vulnerability & Minor Maim added

  • Torc of the Last Ayleid King Mythic introduced.

  • Rewards system updated for XP, gold and Undaunted Keys

  • Buff/debuff tray updated to track taunt stacks.

  • Unified repair kits and stackable siege weaponry introduced

  • Role Play and Story playstyle options added to the Group Finder.

Dragonknight

  • Combustion Burning & Poisoned damage bonus increased from 33% to 40%.

  • Stamina and Magicka restoration from this passive added to BOTH status effects.

  • Engulfing Flames debuff changed to scale to highest offensive stats.