It’s been a couple of weeks since Elder Scrolls Online (ESO / TESO) released patch 1.5 which added new dailies via the Undaunted Pledge system and new sets of gear obtained through Veteran Rank (VR) dungeons. Each VR dungeon now has a specific two piece based on a certain boss. Here’s our list which will be updated with videos once we obtain all of them so let’s get started with our ESO Undaunted Gear Guide.
Table of Contents
- Getting Started
- Undaunted Progression
- Banished Cells (Rewards Maw of the Infernal’s set)
- City of Ash (Rewards Valkyn Skoria’s set)
- Crypt of Hearts (Rewards Nerien’eth’s Epaulets set)
- Darkshade Cavern (The Engine Guardian’s set)
- Fungal Grotto (Rewards Mephala’s Guide set)
- Elden Hollow (Rewards Bogdan the Nightflame’s set)
- Spindleclutch (Rewards the Blood Spawn’s Guise set)
- Wayrest Sewers (Rewards Malubeth the Scourger’s set)
- White Gold Tower (Rewards Molag Kena set)
- Imperial City Prison (Rewards Lord Warden’s set)
Version
- Added Undaunted Progression section | 12/2/2014
- Added City of Ash achievement video and guide link | 12/1/2014
- Original release | 11/17/2014
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Getting Started
The two piece come in two forms; the head which can be obtained via killing a specific boss in each dungeon and the shoulders which are random rewards for completing Pledges and earning a gold key. You can start acquiring these set as early as VR 1 though the higher the level, the more value they’ll be at end game.
Both the head and the shoulder drop random traits and armor weight. Meaning, you may run a dungeon 10 times only to get a heavy Maw of the Infernal’s Hat with Exploration as a trait. Most likely, you’re going to run a lot of dungeons and dailies in order to get the specific trait and armor weight that you want or change your build around these gear pieces.
These sets change the current gearing meta because typical magicka DPS builds would wear, two 4 piece sets and one 3 piece set (including jewelry). But these bonuses are extremely powerful and the overall gearing meta will change around these. Here’s some examples how I’ve used them on my current characters.
If you’re new to undaunted pledges, you should receive a piece of mail requesting you to visit these key cities. These are in each factions capital city:
- Aldmeri Dominion (AD) Elden Root zone Grahtwood
- Ebonheart Pact (EP) Mournhold zone Deshaan
- Daggerfall Covenent (DC) Wayrest zone Stormhaven
Once you arrive you’ll do an introduction quest having you talk to the below NPCs. This unlocks two new dailies one for VR dungeons and one for non Vet. Make sure you take the VR dungeons as these ARE THE ONLY ones that drop the sets.
There’s still a purpose to run non-vet undaunted pledges and that’s the new Undaunted skill line passives. The skill line now extends to level 10 which you can increase via achievements and Undaunted daily Pledges. Long term, I see these passives playing a big role in gear set creation (maybe five piece light one heavy and one medium for 6% bonus to all stats).
One more very important part of Undaunted Pledges is dungeon scaling. Let’s say you’re grouped up as a VR 14, VR 2, VR 13, and VR 5. Once someone enters the instance, it will automatically scale to that leaders level. So with the above group, if the VR 2 is the leader, someone enters, all the mobs are now VR 2. This makes it easier, but that also means the loot drops are VR 2 as well (not so much fun for Mr. VR 14).
Additionally, the opposite is true when you go to turn in your key. Say you completed the Pledge with the optional bonus, the rewards you receive (possibly helm) will drop at your current level. So keep in mind, dungeon scale can create problems for a mixed set of Veteran Rank players though get in there and start on these pledging!
Now that you’ve got the quest, it’s time to set out and do some dungeon crawling. Currently the game rewards three keys which unlock the treasure for completing each dungeon.
- Green Keys – Reward for completing non-vet dungeons
- Silver Keys – Reward for completing non-vet dungeons and the optional quest, or reward for completing a VR dungeon
- Gold Keys – Reward for completing VR dungeons with the optional achievement or objective.
Gold keys aren’t exactly easy to get these days. The optional achievements are the “Kill” achievements in your journal. They are optional and make the last boss encounter hard. Examples are Crypt of Hearts leaving four Wraiths up at the end, in Fungal Grotto you can’t enter the area of protection. Don’t give up when trying to get these gold keys. It may take while and 10 deaths, but you’ll be a better player for sticking around and getting that achievement.
Undaunted Progression
Full Undaunted skill line HERE. The Undaunted skill line now has two additional passive abilities that can be gained through achievements and or daily pledges.
Undaunted Command (two ranks) – rank one unlocked at Undaunted level six, rank two at eight.
Undaunted Mettle (two ranks) – rank one unlocked at Undaunted level seven, rank two at nine.
Generally each daily rewards a small amount of Undaunted points per key you unlock.
- Green key = 5 points
- Silver key = 10 points
- Gold key = 20 points
So if you did the Non-Veteran dungeon and received a silver key, as well as completing the Veteran gold key challenge, you could earn up to 25 a day. There’s also a series of achievements you can earn that award Undaunted experience.
Notice that there are different sub categories below Dungeons: General, Trials, Public Dungeons, Group Dungeons and Veteran Dungeons. From what I know, Public and Group dungeons DO NOT awards Undaunted points. Also the corresponding achievement points on the right is not the amount of Undaunted points you’ll earn (I know that doesn’t seem right). Generally speaking, you only get 10 Undaunted points per achievement. In order to move up to Undaunted rank Nine and obtain all the passives, you’ll need a lot of dailies and achievements. One big boost to your scores is buying a drink for each Undaunted member “This One’s On Me” achievement which rewards a whooping 50 Undaunted.
In summary, you’ll need a lot of dailies and achievements to max out your Undaunted. I do not have a complete list of every achievement and what it rewards though I’ll work on that as I obtain the information.
Banished Cells
(Maw of the Infernal set) – Video here
Drops from the lass boss the massive Rilis (Dungeon Guide).
Gold Key Strategy– Achievement is Cursed Hero
Cursed Hero Achievement Video here
The optional part of this quest is very difficult. Your group will need to leave three Daedroth up while killing the boss. How I handle this as the tank is taunt everything! Yep, this is a tank dependent fight as you’ll need tons of stamina to block three or more Daedroth.
Once four have spawned, hopefully the DPS have dwindled Rilis’ health down enough to drop ultimates and nuke him down quickly. As the tank, keep up your stamina and use the Undaunted range taunt with magicka (Inner Beast). You’ll need every ounce of stamina to block. This make take a few attempts, keep up your spirits and keep trying.
Recommended Build – This isn’t a bad set for close range fighters. Ideal for a Dual Wield type character or a Two-Hander. A really good build I’d recommend this for is my Nightblade One-Shot-Willy.
City of Ash
(Valkyn Skoria set) – Video here
Drops from the last boss in the Dungeon Valkyn Skoria (Dungeon Guide).
Gold Key Strategy– There is no gold key because it’s not apart of the daily. There is, however, a Hard Mode achievement that some folks might like completing. Below is the video on that.
World on Fire Achievement Video here
Recommended Build – I’ve made a Dragonknight damage over time (DoT) build specifically for this two piece set. It’s amazing and check out The Shooting Star.
Here’s three drop sets determined by weight:
(Burning Spellweave set)
(Sunderflame set)
(Embershield set)
Crypt of Hearts
(Nerien’eth’s set) – Video here
Drops from the last boss Nerien’eth’s (Dungeon Guide).
Gold Key Strategy – Achievement is The Blade’s Edge
The Blade’s Edge Achievement Video here
I’ll be honest, this one is no push over. You’ll need to leave four Wraiths alive before pushing the boss past 35% health mark. This achievement is really a DPS race vs. a tank challenge. Two ways to do this one, if you have amazing DPS, disregard the first set of mobs and have them single target the boss ASAP. Really good DPS can have the boss sitting at 40% by the time four Wraiths are up. Push him over to 35% then he’ll stun the party and the Wraiths. Once you get up, EVERYONE drops ultimates and nuke down the Wraiths ASAP. Now just survive the last fight and grab that gold key!
If you’re DPS isn’t stellar, you can still get this done. All you do is DPS the first set of adds instead of leaving them alone. This will give you more time to get the boss near 40%. Try to use single target and have the tank only taunt the Wraiths. This will stress your healer, but keep at it. I died 10 times trying this while streaming with Tales of Tamriel so it may take a while.
Recommended Build – My favorite DPS set, even better than the meteor in my opinion. This is what I use on my Nightblade Blade Runner Remastered. It can literally add +100 DPS to this build and I’m now seeing consistent 1,100 DPS (single target). The crystal that it creates does AoE damage and can critical hit (based off spell damage and crit). I’ve seen it hit for 800 damage on up to six mobs. Do the math, this is a game changer.
Darkshade Cavern
(Engine Guardian set) – Video here
Drops from the last Engine Guardian boss (Dungeon Guide).
Gold Key Strategy – Achievement is Deadly Engineer
Deadly Engineer Video here
Move, DPS and stay out of red circles. Sounds easy huh? Mainly there’s three mechanics, adds or sphere mobs. These need to be killed when spawned. The boss goes in a fire phase keep range and DPS. Finally the boss goes in poison phase where you need to clump up and the healer keeps everyone alive. Make sure you take advantage of the poison phase as this should be heavy DPS time.
Recommend Build – I’m currently using this on my T3 build until I get the Spindleclutch shoulders. I love this as it’s kind of a random Warlock set if you will.
Fungal Grotto
(Spawn of Mephala set) – video here
Drops from the Spider boss Mephala (Dungeon Guide).
Gold Key Strategy- Achievement is Fearless Assaulter
Fearless Assaulter Achievement Video here
The optional portion of this quest isn’t too hard. Basically you can’t enter the huge bubble that shields you from damage. Start the fight at range and run to the opposite side of the room when she teleports on top of you. Once she starts channeling massive damage, one of your DPS or a tank needs to swap to healing. With two players spamming heals, you can survive the five seconds or so. Just keep doing range DPS and save magicka for needed heals and you’ll get her down.
Recommended Build – I have yet to obtain two pieces of this set but it sounds awesome for PvP. I’d really recommend a Two-Hander build for this as you constantly need to slow the enemy trying to get away from you. My Templar Harvester build would be ideal for this setup.
Elden Hollow
(The Nightflame set) – Video here
Drops from the last boss and one of my favorite in the game Bogdan (Dungeon Guide).
Gold Key Strategy – Achievement is Closing the Book
Closing the Book Achievement Video here
Another very difficult fight. The optional portion of the quest has you read a book that makes the boss beast mode and harder than nails to kill. There’s an easy way to this and a hard way. Easy way, have two DPS characters with healing debuff abilities (Lethal Arrow from the Bow, Dragonknight Standard, Death Stroke for Nightblades, etc). Once the boss spawns adds for healing, debuff ol’ Bogdan with TWO debuffs as they currently stack. If you keep him heal debuffed, he won’t be able to heal and this fight becomes easy mode.
The hard way (and the way it was intended) is staying on the outside of the fight. Place fire circles on the outside and keep healing. Once adds spawn, DPS needs to immediately kill them. That’s basically it, a lot of moving a lot of healing and a lot of damage. Don’t give up, keep working on it and he’ll go down (such a softy).
Recommended Build – I don’t have a healer build at the moment though I’m working on one for my Templar. This buff gives an extra healing springs which is awesome. The Sorc and the NB both lack burst healing without a staff so I’d go with them for leveling if you’re having problems staying a live.
Spindleclutch
(Blood Spawn set) – Video here
Drops – This is another one that drops early from the DPS Gargoyle (Dungeon Guide).
Gold Key Strategy –Achievement is Compassionate Hero
Compassionate Hero Achievement Video here
The last boss isn’t much of a threat. It’s mainly a DPS race which you can’t kill the adds on the stakes which heal him. Just make sure you block and stay out of red circles and this isn’t too bad.
Recommended Build – Wow, the beast mode gear of all time for tanks. I have the helm and just waiting on the shoulders then I’ll update my Dragonknight T3 build with this new slick gear. Image this on a Werewolf DK tank? WOW!
Wayrest Sewers
(Scourge Harvester set) – Video here
Drops – This drops for the first major boss Malubeth (Dungeon Guide).
Gold Key Strategy – Achievement is Pelligare Ghost Slayer
Pelligare Ghost Slayer Achievement Video here
Best thing to do here is drag zombies from the previous hall way. Have everyone do some sort of self-healing and use Retreating Maneuvers for speed. Once the boss spawns, everyone drops ultimates and clears the zombies. Now just fight the boss like normal for a phat gold key!
Recommended Build – This would be good for a self-healing build like my Lighting Tornado.
White Gold Tower
(Molag Kena set)
Drops –Â This drops from the final fight of veteran White Gold Tower against Molag Kena herself.
Gold Key Strategy –Â Achievement is Ire of the Storm
Ire of the Storm Achievement Video here