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Our Best 10 Gear Sets for Solo Players in ESO lists incredibly powerful item sets that you should obtain for PvE.
These sets are designed to help you conquer the Elder Scrolls Online solo content like Overland Zones, Story, Dungeons and Solo Arenas like Vateshran Hollows and Maelstrom Arena.
The top 10 list will comprise a variety of gear coming from different sources. We’ve tried to keep this list with as many base game sets as possible and not requiring Mythic, Monster helms or Trials gear. As a solo player, hitting the sweet spot between resource sustain, damage, and healing is imperative. Especially playing stamina, you lack healing initially without a mythic and monster helm. These items below will fill in the gap of what players lack most, with honourable mentions at the end if you want more “hardcore” gear setups that require trials, mythic, etc.
What’s the Best PvE Gear Set for Solo Players in ESO?
The best PvE Gear Set for a solo player in ESO is Order’s Wrath. This set has everything you want, critical chance, critical damage and healing with a blend of stats. The best part about this set is you can use it both in PvE and PvP and obtain it early in the game. Even in late-game scenarios, this set excels because the stats perform nearly the same as a trial set that requires 12 players to complete. 
RELATED: The Best Craftable Set in ESO: Order’s Wrath
The following list presents the top 10 Best Solo PvE Gear Sets in ESO ranked (Last updated: May 15th, 2023, Necrom Chapter):
- Order’s Wrath
- Pillar of Nirn
- Essence Thief
- Overwhelming Surge
- Telvanni Efficiency
- Mother’s Sorrow
- Deadly Strike
- Vengeance Leech
- Robes of the Withered Hand Set
- Briarheart
Read on to learn details about each individual set and when to use it.
10 Briarheart
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- Type: Overland
- DLC Requirement: Orsinium
- Items: Jewelry, Weapons and Medium Armor
- Location: Wrothgar
Stamina builds solo and typically lacks a lot of healing, especially early in the game. This set aims to solve the problem, giving you a 10-second window of increased weapon and spell damage and healing when your critical strike. Since this is a proc set, you can front bar it with weapons and use another two-piece item set on your back bar for even more damage, like Maelstrom Arena Bow or Two-Handed Greatsword.
As you progress to the mid and late end-game, the set because weaker because there are much better-damage-performing sets. You want to use this early on or if you struggle with survivability and obtain a higher-producing set as you progress through the game. Briarheart requires DLC, but since it’s an Overland set, you can purchase the gear from traders, and it is very cheap overall.
9 Robes of the Withered Hand
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- Type: Overland
- Base Game
- Items: Jewelry, Weapons and Light Armor
- Location: Alik’r Desert
Magicka builds are much simpler and easier to use for solo play in the Elder Scrolls Online. They shine with nearly all classes having some passive healing or shield while doing damage. They usually struggle with resource sustain, and this set, Robes of the Withered Hand, is a perfect solution. You regain your primary stat and health when killing enemies within a 28-meter radius. In solo PvE, you are constantly flooded with small minions that can be used to feed your survivability and resource sustain.
The downside of this set is the 3-second downtime which hurts when killing 3-5 mobs. Moreover, a trial set, the Perfected False Gods, is better but requires trials to get. Its core strength is it’s so easy to get being base game and Alik’r Desert. There’s always a Dolmen group going, look and zone chat and follow the leader. You’ll get purple jewellery immediately and a very good Magicka sustain set early in the game.
8 Vengeance Leech
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- Type: PvP
- Base Game
- Items: Jewelry and Weapons
- Location: Cyrodiil, Bruma Elite Gear Vendor (random bags purchased with Alliance Points)
Vengeance Leech is a unique three-piece item set that gives back resources for all your stat pools upon kills. Unlike Robes of the Withered Hand, this item set doesn’t have a cool down. And in a hybrid ESO world, you most likely need your off-stat resource pool. Meaning magicka builds want a bit of stamina recovery, and stamina builds want a bit of Magicka recovery to sustain both pools and use them effectively. With no cooldown and all three resource pools, it’s an amazing set.
The big downside of the set is the lack of a five-piece, and the two-piece gives health. Early in the game, this isn’t a big deal, but later on, you will lose out on damage when optimising your build. You can buy this off traders if you’re not a PvPer and don’t have Alliance Points to spend. But this set will carry your survivability early and mid-game until you can get better five-piece item sets for higher damage.
7 Deadly Strike
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- Type: PvP
- Base Game
- Items: Jewelry, Weapons, and Medium Armor
- Location: Cyrodiil, Bruma Elite Gear Vendor (random bags purchased with Alliance Points)
Speaking of higher damage five pieces, here’s another Cyrodiil set Deadly Strike. This set has a huge 15% damage bonus to your damage over time and channels. This set goes very well with the Templar class due to the main spammable Biting Jabs and execute Radiant Oppression skill, both being channels. And in the Necrom Chapter, the Arcanist will have two abilities that are channels, with your main spammable, Fatecarver being a 4.5-second long channel. Throw on Deadly Strike for PvE or PvP on the right build, and it will absolutely destroy enemies.
The downside of this set is it requires damage over time and channels heavy builds and classes. It just won’t fit every class, especially if your main spammable ability is instanced-based. Also, it comes in medium armor, so typically light armor users will have to get jewellery and weapons, which can be expensive or rare. Worth collecting for specific builds, and expect high damage.
6 Mother’s Sorrow
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- Type: Overland
- Base Game
- Items: Jewelry, Weapons, and Light Armor
- Location: Deshaan
Mother’s Sorrow remains of the highest-producing damage sets for base game content in the Elder Scrolls Online. This set gives you great Critical Chance, which ESO doesn’t have a cap on. Meaning you can stack as much critical chance as you want and will not experience diminishing returns. This set comes from the base game Deshaan and can be collected right away or also bought from traders for very cheap prices.
The downside of the set is the two-piece bonus gives max magicka, so you don’t traditionally use it for stamina builds. It also doesn’t have any resource sustain or weapon and spell damage, so it has an uneven stat pool built for high critical damage. But if you start the game and your solo PvE survivability is high, this is a must to collect early on in the game.
5 Telvanni Efficiency
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- Type: Craftable
- DLC Requirement: Necrom
- Items: Jewelry, Weapons, Light, Medium and Heavy Armor
- Location: Telvanni Peninsula
The next set is a bit unique, and it’s built for solo players who use Telvanni Efficiency companions. This significantly reduces your companions’ cooldowns, giving them much greater survivability, damage and utility. I have a separate video on this, and Companions become a powerhouse with this set, making them a viable combat companion rather than just a mere storytelling battle buddy.
The main disadvantage is, well, this set isn’t for everyone since companions can’t be used in specific content. Moreover, you must sacrifice a five-piece item set for damage, healing or resource sustain and order to optimize your companions. And it does require the Necrom chapter or someone with the crafting station in their home. But it’s worth mentioning for those people who love companions but want more power from them.
4 Overwhelming Surge
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- Type: Tempest Island Dungeon
- Base Game
- Items: Jewelry, Weapons, and Light Armor
- Location: Tempest Island
What if I told you there was a set that gave back resources and did significant area damage? That would be Overwhelming Surge, coming from Tempest Island dungeon, base game. When using a class ability, the set’s bonus deals shock damage in 8 meters and 15% of the damage you deal restores magicka. It rewards aggression and is incredible for solo arenas when you play in melee range. The set has a high uptime, so you’ll constantly be sustaining your resource and doing damage, unlike other sets that just resource sustain.
The downside of the set is you need to play in the melee range. This works great for specific builds like Templar and Dragonknight, but others may find it annoying to be up close and personal. And when you compare the damage with other sets on the list, it is a bit lower but still incredible for a balanced build. You can also run the dungeon on normal mode, so getting the gear early in the game is easy.
3 Essence Thief
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- Type: Dungeon
- DLC Requirement: Imperial City (which is free for everyone in crown store)
- Items: Jewelry, Weapons, and Medium Armor
- Location: White-Gold Tower
The next setup on the list has application for both PvE and PvP and that’s Essence Thief. This spawns a green circle or essence that gives you a unique damage increase of 10% along with health and stamina. The set basically carries your survivability and the 10% damage buff is unique and not a named buff. Meaning, that damage buff of 10% can stack on top of minor and major beserk for essentially a 25% damage increase. The set also can proc every 10 seconds and the buff last 10 seconds so you can have a high uptime with it.
The major downside is, well, you need to chase the essence. This isn’t terribly hard in solo PvE, but in PvP, it can be a challenge. The set comes from the White Gold Tower, which is now a part of the base game, you need to claim the Imperial City DLC in the Crown Store, and everyone has access. While most don’t mention this set, it buffs your damage, heals you and gives you a ton of stamina. Consider farming White Gold Tower if you struggle with sustain and damage.
2 Pillar of Nirn
insane damage, not base game, but absolutely god mode damage that you should get
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- Type: Dungeon
- DLC Requirement: Horns of the Reach
- Items: Jewelry, Weapons, and Medium Armor
- Location: Falkreath Hold
Pillar of Nirn Set is next on our list for those looking for huge damage. This set currently is a meta DPS set and is great for anyone looking for big damage. The set procs from any damage, leaving a fissure (small to the eye) and doing instant damage and damage over time. The set is so powerful that most end-game players use it for trials and hardcore content. While it comes in medium, even light armor users can run it with jewellery and weapons. Throw on a mythic and a monster helm, and you’ll be an absolute wrecking ball in solo PvE.
The major downside to the set is it can be hard to obtain. This set requires a DLC Horns of the Reach, and Falkreath Hold isn’t the most pleasurable dungeon. Also, for beginning players, this set won’t help you with resource sustain or survivability, so you’ll need to be good with that aspect of the game. For everyone else, this is a must-have set for huge damage once you progress through PvE solo or group content.
1 Order’s Wrath
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- Type: Craftable, three traits
- DLC Requirement: High Isle
- Items: Jewelry, Weapons, Light, Medium and Heavy Armor
- Location: High Isle and Amenos
My number one overall favourite set in the game, and especially for solo play, is Order’s Wrath. A craftable set, only requiring three traits with a perfect blend of stats for critical chance, damage and healing. This set can compete with trials in terms of DPS and outside the best PvE gear, which has the minor slayer buff as a three-piece, is ultra simple to use and is useful for literally every player. You can use this as magicka, stamina, and even healing, and it can be crafted very early in the game.
The downside of the set is that it requires the High Isle Chapter, but there are ways around that. Currently, the game has Attunable crafting stations, which allow you or another player to bring the crafting stations to their house. Then anyone who enters the home can use the stations with or without the DLC. Moreover, you can also buy this gear set from traders or have someone in your guild craft it for you for a very low cost. It’s a simple set-and-forget set that works in nearly all contexts of ESO PvE and is amazing in solo.
Honourable Mentions
There are some sets worth mentioning that weren’t on this list. I didn’t list trial sets, monster helmets and mythic options since those are difficult for the average player to obtain.
- Vicious Serpent: coming from base game trials, this set absolutely carries your survivability and resource sustain with an added speed bonus!
- Perfected False God’s Devotion: is the equivalent of Vicious Serpent just with magicka builds coming from Sunspire trial, Veteran or Normal.
- Mechanic Acuity: a five-piece craftable gear set that gives you a flood of critical strike chance every 25 seconds. You can essentially reach 100% critical with this set, giving you an unbelievable burst window that pairs well with the Balorgh monster helm.
- Balorgh: a monster helm coming from March of Sacrifice that gives you a flood of weapon, spell damage and penetration per the ultimate spent. Thus, allowing you to save up to 500 ultimate and nuke bosses within seconds for solo play.
- Thrassian Stranglers: a one-piece mythic item requiring an antiquity system, giving you stacks upon killing enemies. This gives you a huge amount of weapon and Spell Damage but sacrifices max health, ideally for speed runners wanting the most damage possible.
- Pale Order: another one-piece mythic item that gives you healing when you deal damage. This makes you nearly unkillable in solo play but requires the antiquity system.
Below are some gear charts for min-maxed solo builds designed to destroy solo arenas with little effort. Also, a gear chart for those wanting to run Oakensoul one bar mythic, which I did not include in this list because it requires the Antiquities system and Chapter.
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