ESO Stamina Dragonknight PvE Build

This guide explains how to use the best Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) Stamina Dragonknight PvE Build, skills, gear, champion points, and more!

This build has been updated for the Update 42 patch of the Elder Scrolls Online.

Why Should You Play the ESO Stamina Dragonknight PvE Build?

Welcome to our ESO Stamina Dragonknight PvE Build called the Butcher! The build relies heavily on damage over time effects and buffs. Consider this a hard-to-play, stamina-based, melee damage dealer because there are so many buffs and a complex rotation. However, I’ve listed flexible options to make it simpler and more survivable. High damage, you bet ESO Stamina Dragonknight PvE Build rocks!

ESO Stamina Dragonknight PvE Build Features and Mechanics

Below are some of the features found using the ESO Stamina Dragonknight PvE Build

• Class – Dragonknight
• Weapon One – Dual Wield
• Weapon Two – Flame Staff
• Armor Types: 5 Medium, 2 Light
• Mythic: Harpooner’s Wading Kilt
• Race: Dark Elf
• Attributes: 64 Stamina
• Mundus Stone: Thief
• Best Grimoires: Ulfsild’s Contingency, Traveling Knife, Torchbearer

Use the following rotation as the starter point. After, apply your buffs and cast the DoT skills on cooldown for the best, highest DPS. In total, the Damage over Time skills (DoTs) do more damage than your main spammable. Thus, they need to be cast less often and are easier to maintain, for example, The Degeneration from Mages Guild or the Barb Trap from Fighters Guild. Maintain DoTs and use your spammable skill as filler until you need to reapply the DoTs.

Survival:

Use the healing skill when your health drops below 50% or the shield skill when you anticipate damage. Also, always use the suggested food and potions as they significantly increase your damage, survivability, and resource sustain.

If you run out of resources, do a heavy attack and return to your rotation. Remember that a heavy attack on off-balance enemies will return double the resources.

Skills

Front Bar – Dual Wield

Front Bar Weapon choice options:

1. Dual Wield
2. Two-handed
3. Bow

Molten Whip (Morph of Lava Whip | Skill Line : Ardent Flame) – Molten Whip is still great except you run out of magicka. Consider Silver Shard a hard hitting, spammable that increases your overall weapon damage for merely slotting and good AoE with range. Another option is Rapid Strikes from Dual Wield which is channel and optimal single target.

Noxious Breath (Morph of Fiery Breath | Skill Line : Ardent Flame) – Breathe a poisonous flame onto enemies dealing poison damage and inflicting them with major fracture. Could also swap out for Engulfing Flames.

Flames of Oblivion (Morph of Inferno | Skill Line : Ardent Flame) – AoE and single target nuke that cost magicka.

Barbed Trap (Morph of Trap Beast | Skill Line : Fighters Guild) – A trap that immobilizes target, procs minor force buff and does good single target damage.

Deadly Cloak (Morph of Blade Cloak | Skill Line : Dual Wield) – Great damage in AoE and AoE damage reduction.

Flawless Dawnbreaker (Morph of Dawnbreaker | Skill Line : Fighters Guild) – The performance of Dawnbreaker is very good now that it grants a massive spell damage boost of 300 for 20 seconds. Not to mention added spell damage from Fighters guild, Slayer passive. This is a great ultimate to use that’s low cost.

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Back Bar – Flame Staff

Back Bar Weapon choice options:

1. Flame Destruction Staff
2. Two-handed
3. Bow

Blockade of Fire (Morph of Wall of Elements | Skill Line : Destruction Staff) – AoE deals magic damage plus additional effect depending on type of staff

Eruption (Morph of Ash Cloud | Skill Line : Earthen Heart) – Hard hitting DoT that cost magicka per second and is great if you can sustain the magicka cost. Consider this your flex spot.

Anti Cavalry Caltrops (Morph of Caltrops | Skill Line : Assault) – Causes physical damage, movement reduction, and stamina drain.

Venomous Claw (Morph of Searing Strike | Skill Line : Ardent Flame) – Deals poison damage to an enemy and increases the damage over time effect

Degeneration (Morph of Entropy | Skill Line : Mages Guild) – Single target damage and grants you Major Brutality. Can replace with Vigor if you receive Igneous weapons from the DK tank.

Standard of Might (Morph of Dragonknight Standard | Skill Line : Ardent Flame) – Deals flame damage to nearby enemies, applying major defile to them. You can stand in the area to reduce damage to you, and increase the damage given to enemies

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Scribing Skills & Grimoires – ESO PvE Stamina Dragonknight Build

Ulfsild’s Contingency, Traveling Knife, and Torchbearer are the best Grimoires (skills) for the ESO PvE Stamina Dragonknight Build  Contingency grants powerful area-based damage and buffs. Traveling Knife gives you a ranged bleed attack that does damage on the return. Torchbearer also gives you a good spammable when in melee range or if your class is single-target heavy. You can also use the Bow Vault skill as an immobilization or mobility tool. Below are the suggested combination of Grimoires, focus, signature, and affix scripts:

• Ulfsild’s Contingency (Mage Guild) – Flame Damage (focus script), Class Mastery (signature script), Vulnerability (Affix Script)
• Traveling Knife – Bleed (focus script), Lingering Torment (signature script), Berserk (Affix Script)
• Torchbearer (Fighters Guild) – Flame Damage (focus script), Class Mastery (signature script), Breach (Affix Script)

The Scribing System utilizes one of 11 new skills from the Gold Road Chapter called Grimoires.  With Grimoires, you can customize spells via Scripts.  The scribing feature requires the purchase of the Gold Road Chapter (sponsored link).  To learn more about scribing, check out our full guide here.

Passives Skills

Below are passive skill lines that add power without requiring a skill slot while playing the ESO One Bar PvE Stamina Dragonknight Build. Consider taking all the skill passives in the skill tree listed below:

• Ardent Flame (class skill line)
• Draconic Power (class skill line)
• Earthen Heart (class skill line)
• Dual Wield (weapon skill line)
• Destruction Staff (weapon skill line)
• Light Armor
• Medium Armor
• Undaunted
• Fight’s Guild
• Racial
• Alliance War Support
• Alliance War Assault
• Crafting, Alchemy Medicinal Use

Rotation and Parse

Unfortunately, the Stamina Dragonknight just is not as strong as its magicka counterpart. This is because sustaining Talons is incredibly difficult without building into magicka. Instead, we chose to run either Noxious Breath for aoe Major Breach or Engulfing Flames to boost your groups flame damage. Engulfing will probably be better in most content. With how much magicka you need on the DK, you may have trouble sustaining while using Engulfing Flames, however.

We opted to run Ansuul and Runecarver here, since Runecarver is hitting so hard in this recent patch. This build will feel very good in dungeons or runs where you don’t meet the penetration cap on your targets. Both Ansuul and Runecarver offer lines of penetration, which is going to really push your damage up in content when you don’t have group buffs. If you do have group buffs, something like Aegis Caller/Depths will also perform very well, and you could also switch your mythic to Velothi for constant Minor Force uptimes.

To start, you can prebuff with Flames of Oblivion>Deadly Cloak. Then, you’ll run up to your target, drop Barbed Trap>Engulfing Flames>Bar Swap>Blockade>Degeneration>Eruption>Venomous Claw>Standard>Bar Swap>Flames of Oblivion>Deadly Cloak>Barbed Trap>Whip, then continue casting Whip as your spammable, keeping your DoTs up.

Gear – Best in Slot

The gear chart below represents the best gear for ESO Stamina Dragonknight PvE Build:

Slot	Type	Set	Trait	Glyph
Head	Medium	Perfected Ansuul’s Torment	Divines	Stamina
Shoulders	Medium	Slimecraw	Divines	Stamina
Chest	Medium	Perfected Ansuul’s Torment	Divines	Stamina
Legs	Medium	Harpooner’s Wading Kilt	Divines	Stamina
Gloves	Light	Runecarver’s Blaze	Divines	Stamina
Boots	Medium	Perfected Ansuul’s Torment	Divines	Stamina
Belt	Light	Runecarver’s Blaze	Divines	Stamina
Weapon One	Dagger	Perfected Ansuul’s Torment	Charged	Poison
Secondary	Dagger	Perfected Ansuul’s Torment	Charged	Absorb Stamina
Weapon Two	Flame Staff	Perfected Crushing Wall	Infused	Weapon Damage
Necklace		Runecarver’s Blaze	Bloodthirsty	Weapon/Spell Damage
Ring 1		Runecarver’s Blaze	Bloodthirsty	Weapon/Spell Damage
Ring 2		Runecarver’s Blaze	Bloodthirsty	Weapon/Spell Damage

Monster Helms and Mythic

Harpooner’s Wading Kilt Set: Obtained through the Antiquity system, Blackwood Chapter. You need five items/leads to complete the mythic gear piece.

Slimecraw: Obtained in Wayrest Sewers I Veteran dungeon and Maj Undaunted Vendor. Gives us the highest critical chance for a one-piece item.

FLEX OPTIONS

1. Harpooner’s Wading Kilt Set = great mythic if avoiding damage and can keep the stacks up.
2. Mora’s Whisper = This provides up to 10% critical chance but requires collections of Mages Guild Books on your specific character.
3. Death Dealer’s Fete = is a great option because it boosts max stats with zero downsides.
4. Zaan – high DPS monster helm
5. Kra’gh – one pc is great for pen, two-piece does good single-target damage
6. Stormfist – always works, easy to obtain and  AoE DPS set.

Gear Sets

Perfected Ansuul’s Torment: Obtained in Sanity’s Edge, Necrom Chapter Trial. It is the best overall damage-dealing set that comes in medium armor. If you struggle with resources, you can swap to a light armor setup but it will be less damage.

Runecarver’s Blaze: Obrained in Scrivener’s Hall, a Scribes of Fate DLC dungeon. Adds additional flame damage to damage over time ticks.

Perfected Crushing Wall: From Veteran Maelstrom Arena in Orsinium. Increase your overall DPS due to the ability of the wall of elements and more damage.

FLEX OPTIONS

1. Pillar of Nirn: Obtained in Falkreath Hold dungeon, Horns of the Reach DLC.
2. Perfect Whorl of the Depths: Trial set found in Dreadsail Reef, High Isle chapter.
3. Kinra’s Wrath = Dungeon set that drops in Black Drake Villa, Flames of Ambition DLC.
4. Perfected Arms of Relequen = the bust pure damage set in the game.
5. Perfected Coral Riptide = god tier damage if you run low stamina (dodge roll a bit before pull)
6. Order’s Wrath = great craftable option though watch for too much critical damage (125% cap)
7. Leviathan = easy base game dungeon set with high critical

Gear – Z’enkosh DK

This Gear setup is traditionally used in trials for the buffs provided from Z’en’s and Alkosh.

Slot	Type	Set	Trait	Glyph
Head	medium	Zaan	Divines	Stamina
Shoulders	light	Zaan	Divines	Stamina
Chest	medium	Roar of Alkosh	Divines	Stamina
Legs	medium	Roar of Alkosh	Divines	Stamina
Gloves	medium	Roar of Alkosh	Divines	Stamina
Boots	medium	Roar of Alkosh	Divines	Stamina
Belt	medium	Roar of Alkosh	Divines	Stamina
Weapon One	Dagger	Z’en’s Redress	Nirnhoned>Precise	Fire
Secondary	Dagger	Z’en’s Redress	Charged	Poison
Weapon Two	2H Sword	Perfected Merciless Charge	Infused	Weapon Damage
Necklace		Z’en’s Redress	Bloodthirsty	Weapon Damage
Ring 1		Z’en’s Redress	Bloodthirsty	Weapon Damage
Ring 2		Z’en’s Redress	Bloodthirsty	Weapon Damage

• Z’en’s Redress: Used to debuff enemy with a light attack which aids entire parties’ DPS. Dungeon set drops in the Lair of Maarselok, Scalebreaker DLC.
• Roar of Alkosh: Lowers armor with synergies, and increases group DPS. Trial set which drops in the Maw of Lorkhaj, Thieves Guild DLC.
• Perfected Merciless Charge: Provides damage using Merciless Charge. Found in veteran Maelstrom Arena, Orsinium DLC.
• Zaan: Powerful DPS melee monster helm. Head drops from Scalecaller in Veteran Scalecaller Peak, Shoulder from Urgarlag Chief-bane’s reward chest at Undaunted Enclaves.

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Gear – Beginner

Starter setup for someone just starting ESO.

Slot	Type	Set	Trait	Glyph
Head	medium	Briarheart	Divines	Stamina
Shoulders	medium	Briarheart	Divines	Stamina
Chest	medium	Hunding’s Rage	Divines	Stamina
Legs	medium	Hunding’s Rage	Divines	Stamina
Gloves	medium	Hunding’s Rage	Divines	Stamina
Boots	medium	Hunding’s Rage	Divines	Stamina
Belt	medium	Hunding’s Rage	Divines	Stamina
Weapon One	Dagger	Agility	Precise or Sharpened	Damage Health Poison
Secondary	Dagger	Agility	Precise or Sharpened	Damage Health Poison
Weapon Two	2H Sword	Agility	Infused	Weapon Damage
Necklace		Briarheart	Robust	Stamina Recovery
Ring 1		Briarheart	Robust	Weapon Damage
Ring 2		Briarheart	Robust	Weapon Damage

FLEX OPTIONS FOR BEGINNERS

• Briarheart: obtained in overland Wrothgar (Orsinium DLC) or from traders. WHY? great burst damage and nice healing and easy to obtain set.
• Hunding’s Rage: craftable 6 traits, crafting stations found in Bangkorai, Reaper’s March, The Rift. WHY? Craftable set that has well-balanced stats.
• Agility: found in Imperial City with keys or Dungeon Finder via random dungeons and or traders sell. WHY? easy to obtain with massive stats as a two-piece set.

Race

The best racial choice for the PvE Stamina Dragonknight is below:

1. Dark Elf: Gain max magicka, stamina, and weapon and spell damage. The flame resistance is also helpful and considered the strongest overall PVE DPS race.
2. Orc: Gain weapon damage and max stamina, though there is no magicka bonus.
3. Khajiit: This race gets recovery, max stats, and critical damage and healing. Consider the Khajiit a great option if you aren’t over the critical cap of 125%.

Attributes

The best Attribute point choice for the ESO Stamina Sorcerer PvE Build is 64 points into Stamina. This will increase your damage, healing and shields.

Mundus Stone

The Thief is the best Mundus Stone for PvE Builds because it gives Increases Weapon and Spell Critical Strike a chance.

Champion Points

Craft	Warfare	Fitness
Treasure Hunter	Fighting Finesse	Bloody Renewal
Liquid Efficiency	Wrathful Strikes	Boundless Vitality
Gifted Rider	Master-at-Arms	Rejuvenation
Steed’s Blessing	Thaumaturge	Fortified

Warfare Constellation Champion Points

Below is a step-by-step method for slotting your champion points in the Warfare tree (blue).  We have used the minimum possible to reach 4 slottable selections all maxed out.  If you have more CP, consider taking more in the passives for optimal performance.

Below are recommended Warfare Champion Point selections for the ESO Stamina Dragonknight PvE Build:

1. Precision 10
2. Wrathful Strikes (slottable) 50
3. Fighting Finesse (slottable) 50
4. Extended Might – sub constellation – piercing 10
5. Thaumaturge (slottable) 50
6. Master – at- Arms (slottable) 50

This would be the bare minimum setup, spending 220 CP (660 total required). The next step is to max out passives, that do not require a slottable but increase performance.

1. Precision 10
2. Piercing 10
3. Tireless discipline 20
4. Eldritch insight 20
5. Blessed 20
6. Quick recovery 20
7. Flawless ritual 40
8. War mage 30
9. Battle mastery 40
10. Mighty 30
11. Elemental aegis 20
12. Hardy 20
13. Preparation 20

This would max out the Warfare tree with all active and passive champion points at 520 spent 1,560 total spent.

Fitness Constellation Champion Points

Below are recommended Fitness Champion Point selections for the ESO Stamina Dragonknight PvE Build:

1. Fortified (slottable) 50
2. Boundless vitality (slottable) 50
3. Rejuvenation (slottable) 50
4. Sprinter 10
5. Winder chaser – sub con – hasty 8
6. Hero’s Vigor 10
7. Bloody Renewal (slottable) 50

This would be the bare minimum setup, spending 228 CP (684 total required). The next step is to max out passives, that do not require a slottable but increase performance. 

1. Hero’s Vigor 10
2. Tumbling 30
3. Sprinter 10
4. Defiance 20
5. Hasty 8
6. Tireless guardian 20
7. Fortification 30
8. Nimble 6
9. Mystic tenacity 50
10. Tempered soul 50
11. Piercing gaze 30
12. Savage defense  30
13. Bashing brutality 20

This would max out the fitness tree with all active passive champion points at 542 cp spent and 1,626 total spent.

Craft Constellation Champion Points

Below are recommended Craft Champion Point selections for the ESO Stamina Dragonknight PvE Build:

1. Steed’s blessing (slottable) – 50
2. Breakfall 10 
3. Wanderer 15
4. Steadfast 10
5. Treasure hunter 50 (slottable)
6. Master gatherer 15
7. Gifted rider (slottable) 100
8. Rationer 10
9. Liquid Effiency (slottable) 75

This would be the bare minimum setup, spending 370CP (1110 total required). The next step is to max out passives, that do not require a slottable but increase performance.

1. Steadfast enchantment 40cp
2. Breakfall 40 cp
3. Wanderer 60
4. Fortunes favor 10
5. Rationer 10
6. Friends in low places 25
7. Out of sight 30
8. Fleet of Phantom 40
9. Soul’s Reservoir 33
10. Gilded fingers 50
11. Fortunes favor 40
12. Inspiration boost 45
13. Infamous 30

This would max out the crafting tree with all active passive champion points at 823 cp spent 2,469 total spent.

Consumables – Stamina DK PvE Build

The best consumables for the Stamina Dragonknight PvE build are Braised Rabbit with Spring Vegetables and Essence of Health tri-stat potions. Braised Rabbit with Spring Vegetables gives a massive amount of health and stamina, stats that give you both the most survivability and damage of any other consumable. DKs have very good sustain. If you struggle with stamina sustain, you could switch to Artaeum Takeaway Broth or Dubious Camoran Throne as a cheaper option. These both give up some stamina and health for stamina sustain.

For your potions, both of your major weapon/spell damage and critical chance buffs are sourced through the build, so you can run tri-pots. This gives you a large burst of resources when you need them. You can of course switch these out for heroism potions, but with Update 42, many groups can source Minor Heroism through group scribing skills instead.

• Braised Rabbit with Spring Vegetables: Increase Max Health by 5395 and Max Stamina by 4936 for 1.5 hours. Ingredients: Greens (1), Seasoning (1), Small Game (1).
  • Artaeum Takeaway Broth: Increase Max Health by 3326, Health Recovery by 406, Max Stamina by 3080, and Stamina Recovery by 338 for 2 hours. Ingredients: Fish (20), Melon (5), Powdered Mother of Pearl (5), Torchbug Thorax (5).
• Essence of Health (tri-stat): Restore 7329 Health, 6618 Magicka, and 6618 Stamina immediately. Grants Major Fortitude, Major Intellect, and Major Endurance, which increase your Health Recovery, Magicka Recovery, and Stamina Recovery by 20% for 31.7 seconds. (effects are scaled based on your level) Ingredients: Bugloss, Columbine, Mountain Flower.

Build Summary – ESO Stamina Dragonknight PvE Build

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