Today we are going to take a look at how good you can solo content in ESO (Elder Scrolls Online) to answer the question “Can I play ESO solo?”. Almost all content in ESO can be played solo with any of the six classes. The only content that can’t be played solo are 12 Player Trials and the higher difficulty 4 Player Dungeons.
In this article we will take a look at all the content that you can play solo, this should give you a great overview of whether you might enjoy ESO or not. Of course it never hurts to bring a friend along with you, playing together, theorycrafting and exploring the world with a buddy is always great.
Note: If you are looking for solo builds please visit the Solo Builds Overview Page which has builds for all the six classes (Sorcerer, Necromancer, Dragonknight, Templar, Nightblade, Warden).
Table of Contents
- Questing and Story Content
- Overland Zones
- Delves and Public Dungeons
- Solo Arenas
- Group Dungeons normal and veteran
- PvP Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds
- What ESO Content can’t be played Solo?
Can you Solo Quests and Story Content in ESO?
The main purpose of ESO is to let you enjoy the awesome story and all the quests that are fully voice-acted. The story and quest content in ESO is made for solo players and if you want to go through all the content it will take you several hundred hours to complete everything.
However, as a new player you won’t have to grind through old content, you can immediately start with the newest chapter that just launched if you like. This is possible because the whole world scales to your level. Thus making it possible to start a fresh character with the newest content. The scaling is important because many players that used to play older Elder Scrolls games like Skyrim aren’t used to a MMO. Therefore ESO has to ensure to be very solo friendly.
Of course we still recommend that you play the older content as well, because the story and quests in the older zones are amazing as well, sometimes even better than the new content. At the end of the tutorial in the game you will actually have a choice to pick whatever content you want to do first. If you want to play the ESO in chronological order please visit the ESO Chronological Timeline Guide.
Can you Solo Overland Zones in ESO?
Yes, you can solo overland zones in ESO (Elder Scrolls Online). There are plenty of zones to explore and all the content you find there is made for solo players. Zones can be fully explored on your own and you can complete the quests that you find there on your own as well. Zones also have small delves and public dungeons that can be completed on your own, though often you will find other players already inside that can help you, or you can help them.
The main focus of zones is to let you explore the area, complete quests, visit towns, gather resources, gather Skyshards to get more skill points, complete Daedric Dolmens, do some fishing and complete delves and public dungeons.
You can also find world bosses in any of the zones, they are more difficult and while most of them can be soloed by experienced players, I do recommend to bring a group along to kill them.
Can you Solo Delves and Public Dungeons in ESO?
Yes you can solo Delves and Public Dungeons in ESO. They are essentially easy dungeons and can be found in every zone. Delves are very short and often just contain one boss at the end. Public Dungeons can be huge in size and it might take you over an hour to go from the start to the end if you are a new player. The Public Dungeons also contain more than one boss and they have their own little story content. You can usually pick up a quest outside or inside at the start of the Public Dungeon. Alongside the quest you can also complete specific achievements for these dungeons.
For example here I was exploring the Sunhold Public Dungeon alone, you can find this one in the Summerset zone.
Solo Arenas in ESO
There are only two solo arenas in ESO, Maelstrom Solo Arena and Vateshran Hollows Solo Arena. They have two modes, a normal mode and a veteran mode. As a new player make sure to avoid the veteran mode, because the difficulty is very high and you will get destroyed. However, the normal mode is a lot easier and can be completed by newer players as well. We still do recommend to have a maximum level character complete either one of the solo arenas.
We do recommend that you try out the solo arena on normal mode once you are maximum level, this will test your skills and you can see how a bit more difficult content plays. For the veteran mode you will need maximum level and a very high amount of Champion Points. Either way you can also give it a try but you will notice but even the first stage will be very difficult. The gap between normal and veteran mode is insane.
Below you can see an image of the entrance of the Maelstrom Arena, one of the most popular arenas in the game because some of the most powerful weapons drop here.
Can you Solo Group Dungeons in ESO? (Normal/Veteran Mode)
Yes you can also solo group dungeons in ESO. Group dungeons are meant to be played with 4 players. However, if you are good enough you can also solo them on normal mode or even veteran mode if you like the challenge. Group dungeons often have mechanics that are meant to be played as a group, but if you are good enough you can actually deal with most of it alone. Of course there is no benefit at all soloing these 4 player dungeons unless you really want to put your ESO knowledge to the test and brag about it to your buddies.
The Solo Builds on this website all have been tested soloing veteran dungeons. For example the Solo Magicka Sorcerer Build has soloed the Cradle of Shadows Veteran Hardmode version. Or the Solo Stamina Necromancer Build has cleared City of Ash 2 Veteran hardmode solo.
If you want more examples you can visit the Solo Yolo Youtube Playlist with more examples.
Can you Solo PvP in Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds?
Yes you can play solo in Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds. Obviously you will still play together with other players or against other players because it is PvP. Solo PVPing is quite difficult, you really need to know what you are doing to actually survive, otherwise it can take a few seconds and you are already dead. Solo players often use builds that have high mobility or great stealth techniques. The Magicka Sorcerer PvP Build has very high mobility and is very well equipped for solo gameplay in PVP. Other great examples would be the Bow Gank Nightblade Build which fights from far away. Or the other Stamina Nightblade Gank or Magicka Nightblade Build which both have active stealth mechanics that makes it easy to get away from enemies, or approach them without the enemy knowing.
Solo PVP is tough and only recommended for very experienced players.
What ESO Content can’t be played Solo?
There is only very little content that can’t be soloed in ESO. For example all the 12 Player Trials can’t be soloed. because often they are just too difficult or involve mechanics that doesn’t allow you to continue if you aren’t a full party. And of course the very difficult 4 Player Arenas and 4 Player Dungeons can’t be soloed.
The image below is from the 12 Player Sunspire Trial.
