Welcome to the Magicka DPS Sets article. We will discuss some of the best magicka sets that are available at the moment and why they are most commonly used, this article is here to support my builds on the website and to give alternative options.
5-Piece Sets
False God’s Devotion
False God’s Devotion comes in two different versions, Perfected False God’s Devotion and False God’s Devotion. The perfect version has an additional spell damage bonus, the unique five piece bonus is exactly the same on both sets. This is one of the best sets, it gives you extra damage and even more important also increases your sustain by a lot.
Mother’s Sorrow
Mother’s Sorrow can be found in Deshaan. The set is often used in magicka builds . It gives a huge amount of extra spell critical. Most builds frontbar this set even though you loose the 5 piece bonus on the backbar. However, most builds are only on the backbar for a short duration, therefore minimizing the downtime of the 5 piece bonus.
I can highly recommend this set for most situations, it is very strong for both Single Target and AoE damage.
Mantle of Siroria
Mantle of Siroria comes in two different versions, Perfected Mantle of Siroria and Mantle of Siroria. The perfect version has an additional magicka bonus, the unique five piece bonus is exactly the same on both sets. Siroria drops in Cloudrest which is located in Summerset. In terms of raw strength this is the strongest set in the game, with one little downside to it as it is quite difficult to keep all stacks up. When Siroria is fully charged you can get a whooping 520 Spell Damage from this set, technically even more because modifiers also affect the set. You can reach a maximum of 10 stacks with this set.
Whorl of Depths
Whorl of Depths comes in two different versions, Perfected Whorl of Depths and Whorl of Depths. The perfect version has an additional crit bonus, the unique five piece bonus is exactly the same on both sets. Whorl of Depths drops in the Dread Sail Reef trial, which is located in High Isle. Deals good frost damage both single target and AoE (area of effect).
Spell Strategist
Spell Strategist is a very strong single target damage set. In addition, you can also frontbar the set only and still get crazy uptimes of the debuff on the enemy that increases your spell damage. The 500 spell damage can also be further increased with modifiers like increased spell damage from the Major Sorcery buff. Keep in mind that this set is pure single target, that means it will only work on one specific enemy at a time. Therefore the set has one big downside, you will loose a lot of damage on AoE.
Burning Spellweave
Burning Spellweave drops in City of Ash 1 and 2. It is also one of the stronger sets in terms of spell damage. The nice thing about the set is that you can frontbar it only and once the set is activated, the buff will stay even when you go to your backbar. The only downside is that the uptime is not always high as you need some sort of fire damage to proc the set.
Julianos
Law of Julianos is a craftable set, the crafting station is located in the west of Wrothgar in the Boreal Forge. This is one of the most used sets, it can be easily acquired because it can be crafted. It is recommended to run this set fully bared, so the spell damage is always active, the spell damage can also be further increased by modifiers like Major Sorcerer.
Elemental Succession
Elemental Succession drops in the Maelstrom Arena on normal and veteran. This is a very powerful set, whenever you deal Flame, Shock, or Frost Damage, you gain 550 Spell Damage for that element for 4 seconds with a 4 second cooldown. That is more spell damage than any other set offers but you have to be careful, it only works on Flame, Shock or Frost damage!
Necropotence
Necropotence drops in Rivenspire. Necropotence is a niche set and usually used on a pet Sorcerer or a magicka Warden as both of those setups have access to pets. The stats of the set also scale with modifiers like increased max magicka from skills like Inner Light. The set is very strong and should definitely be used when possible.
Scathing Mage
Scathing Mage drops in Imperial City Prison, which is part of the Imperial City DLC. Very good set that can be front barred and the uptime of the set will still be good.
Acuity
Mechanical Acuity is a craftable set, the crafting location can be found in Clockwork City at the Pavillion of Artifice crafting location. The set is often used in burst situations because it offers a 100% critical rating for a short duration. That means it is perfect for Arena boss burst tactics and trash fights!
Spinner’s Garments
Spinner’s Garments drops in Malabal Tor. The set is only useful if you have not reached the spell penetration cap yet. Usually magicka setups in a group setting get close to the cap even without this set, but if you are playing solo you most likely miss out on a lot of group buffs and debuffs and therefore this set can come in handy with the extra spell penetration. Spell penetration is more relevant then spell damage in terms of damage, so the set can really make a difference in your damage output.
Master Architect
Master Architect drops in Halls of Fabrication normal and veteran mode. The set is often used in progression raid groups to help increase dps with proper positioning. The buff will affect you and five other people. The higher the Ultimate usage, the longer the effect will last, therefore you should possibly use this on setups with a lot of Ultimate cost.
The difficulty with this set is that you manage to give the Major Slayer buff to the right targets. When you activate an ultimate, it will give the Major Slayer buff to the five closest group members. You have to make sure to not stand next to a tank or a healer, otherwise the buff is wasted. If several people use this set, make sure to assign positions, otherwise you might end up buffing the same people twice and it will just override the old buff, thus resulting in one player missing out on the Major Slayer buff.
Sul-Xan’s Torment
Sul-Xan’s Torment comes in two different version, Perfected Sul-Xan’s Torment and Sul-Xan’s Torment. The set is often used on trash pack fights. Once an enemy dies you gain a huge boost to critical chance (2160) and critical damage (12%). This will increase your dps by a lot and evaporate enemies. keep in mind this is a medium armor set, preferably you wan’t to wear it on all jewelry pieces and then either the weapon or 2 medium armor pieces.
New Moon Acolyte
New Moon Acolyte is a craftable set from the Dragonhold DLC and can be crafted in the Fur-Forge Cove in Southern Elsweyr. This is one of the most powerful craftable sets in the game, giving you a astonishing 400 Weapon Damage and Spell Damage. However, because it is so powerful it comes with a downside, because it increase the cost of your active abilities by 5%. To reduce the extra 5% cost, you can front bar the set, you will loose the damage on the back bar, but most builds have expensive damage over time effects on the back bar.
Medusa
Medusa drops in the Arx Corinium dungeon, it is a heavy armor set. Magicka damage dealers either run 3 jewelry and a staff or 3 jewelry and 2 armor pieces to get the full set effect. The set is very powerful as it applies a lot of spell critical to you in addition to the already powerful Minor Force buff. In addition, this comes in handy if you don’t have enough skill slots to have Barbed Trap or Channeled Acceleration on your bar.
Tzogvin’s Warband
Tzogvin’s Warband drops in the Frostvault Dungeon which is part of the Wrathstone DLC from the Elsweyr Chapter. This is a good damage set. The set makes it a lot easier to keep up the Minor Force buff that you usually have to get from the Barbed Trap. On most bossfights you usually have around 80-90% uptime of Minor Force with Rearming Trap, now with the Tzogvin’s Warband set you can get a 100% uptime easily. On top of that it will also make your rotation easier as you need to cast Barbed Trap less or you can even remove it from your bars if you have better abilities to slot.
Bahsei’s Mania
Bahsei’s Mania comes in two different versions, Perfected Bahsei’s Mania and Bahsei’s Mania. The perfect version has one additional Spell Damage bonus, other than that both sets are identical. This set can be a very powerful tool if managed correctly. This is a high skill set, if you manage to keep your main resource low you will deal a lot of damage.
Harpooner’s Wading Kilt
Harpooner’s Wading Kilt is a powerful Mythic item. The Mythic item boosts your Critical Chance and Critical damage the more stacks of Hunter’s Focus you have. However, if you get hit by direct damage you loose 5 stacks at once. Therefore, for this set to be useful you need to make sure to avoid direct damage hits.
Diamond’s Victory
Diamond’s Victory is one of the most powerful craftable sets. The set can be used on the frontbar onlym activating the right proc may be challenging with some setups. The set gives you a very high uptime on extra Spell Damage. The 2, 3 and 4 piece bonuses are also very strong, perfect for a damage dealer setup.
Kinras’s Wrath
Kinras’s Wrath is a set that drops in the Black Drake Villa Dungeon from the Flames of Ambition DLC. The set is very powerful because it applies Major Berserk which increases your overall damage by 10% and you can get a 100% uptime on the buff if you stay in combat. It also applies Minor Berserk to you and your allies as long as they stay in the circle.
Pillar of Nirn
Pillar of Nirn is a set that drops in the Falkreath Hold dungeon from the Horns of the Reach DLC. Deals very high bleed damage to the enemy. This is one of the strongest proc sets at the moment and also doesn’t require any micro management as it procs from just dealing damage. It is a medium armor set so preferably wear it on jewelry and weapon. The damage also applies to everyone getting hit in a small radius, giving you good AoE numbers if enemies are stacked tightly.
Runecarver’s Blaze
Runecarver’s Blaze is a set that drops in the Scrivener’s Hall dungeon from the Scribes of Fate DLC in ESO. This is a proc set and deals fairly high flame damage on every 3rd dot tick of your build.
Ability Altering Sets
Crushing Wall (Maelstrom’s Staff)
Perfected Crushing Wall and Crushing Wall drop both in the Maelstrom Arena, the perfected version from veteran mode and the imperfect version from normal mode. This is a must have for every endgame player, the weapon will increase your dps by around 3-5k. This is a huge overall buff to your single target damage as your Light and Heavy Attacks will deal way more damage. The Maelstrom Staff only works in combination with Elemental Blockade and its morphs. Most builds use the staff on the backbar with the skill, the damage on the light/heavy attacks will then carry over to your frontbar.
Destructive Impact (Dragonstar Staff)
Perfected Destructive Impact and Destructive Impact drop in the Dragonstar Arena. The set is often used for AoE (Area of Effect) fights, to boost your overall damage by a huge margin. It is recommended to use a Shock staff for the Destructive Clench ability to make it AoE damage as well.
Concentrated Force (Asylum Staff)
Perfected Concentrated Force and Concentrated Force drop both in the Asylum Sanctorium trial. The perfect version drops in the veteran mode and the normal version drops in normal mode. The set alters the skill Force Shock and adds status effects to the skill. This can be very powerful if you need to keep a high uptime on status effects on an enemy.
Monster Sets
There are various good Magicka dps Monster Sets available that you can choose from. Now keep in mind, you also have the option to combine two one piece bonuses monster sets instead of a full one.
Zaan
Zaan helmet drops in Scalecaller Peak veteran mode and is part of the Dragonbones DLC, the shoulders can be found in the Urgalarg Chief-bane’s undaunted chest. This set is one of the most popular dps Monster Sets. Zaan has the strongest single target dps out of all monster sets. The only real downside to this set is its limited range which is at a maximum of 8 meters. So you have to be able to stay close to your enemy, otherwise the beam will break and the set goes on cooldown.
Maw of the Infernal
Maw of the Infernal helmet drops in The Banished Cells II veteran mode and is part of the base game, the shoulders can be found in the Maj undaunted chest. This is a very strong monster set. However, keep in mind that the Maw if pretty big and it might annoy your group mates, especially the tank.
Valkyn Skoria
Valkyn Skoria helmet drops in City of Ash 2 veteran mode, the shoulder can be obtained from the Glirion undaunted chest. The proc itself also does really nice damage and also has an AoE component attached to it.
Grothdarr
Grothdarr helmet drops in Vaults of Madness veteran mode, the should can be found in the Glirion undaunted chest. Grothdarr is usually used when you want a lot of AoE damage. The set has a nice radius of 8 meters which can affect a lot of enemies if they are properly stacked. The one piece bonus can also come in handy if you want to focus on max magicka.
Ilambris
Ilambris helmet drops in Crypts of Hearts 1 veteran mode, the shoulder can be found in the Glirion undaunted chest. This monster set is usually used on Sorcerers which both have shock and fire damage. You need both shock and fire damage to proc both components of the set. If you only have fire damage then only the fire component will proc. The damage for both single target and AoE is very good.
Balorgh
Balorgh helmet drops in March of Sacrifices and the shoulder can be found in the Urgalarg Chief-bane’s undaunted chest. This is a very niche monster set. The set only really has one good application, usually when you can stack up to 500 ultimate points to get everything out of the monster set. So it is usually used when you can fully charge up your ultimate for big trash packs or for bosses that only last a very short time.
Nerien’eth
Nerien’eth helmet drops in the Crypts of Hears 2 veteran dungeon and the shoulder can be found at the Glirion undaunted chest. The set deals good damage. Once Nerien’eth procs it takes 2 seconds for it to explode, this can sometimes be a bit of a downside when monsters move around a lot.
Slimecraw
Slimecraw helmet drops in Wayrest Sewers 1 and the shoulder can be found in the Maj undaunted chest. If you need access to the Minor Berserk 8% increased damage buff then this is the set you want to use, it is often used on certain setups in the Maelstrom Arena. The set is also often used as a one piece together with a one piece of Iceheart to stack two spell critical bonuses.
Iceheart
Iceheart helmet drops in Direfrost Keep and the shoulders can be find in the Glirion undaunted chest. The set is not used to maximize dps, but to maximize mitigation. The shield that this set provides can be very helpful during tight situations. It is often used in Asylum Sanctorium or Cloudrest.
Kjalnar’s Nightmare
Kjalnar’s Nightmare helmet drops in the Unhallowed Grave veteran dungeon and the shoulder can be found in the Urgalarg Chief-bane’s undaunted chest. The monster set deals incredible damage.
Mythic Sets
Harpooner’s Wading Kilt
Harpooner’s Wading Kilt is a Mythic set that can be obtained by collecting five different leads: Bog-Blue Jasper Fetish Lead, Kothringi-Cut Leather Lead, Silverweave Cord Lead, Tide-Glass Beads Lead, Wolf-Tail Sash Lead. The Mythic set increases your critical damage and critical rating by quite a lot. However, you have to make sure to not get too much direct hits, because that lowers the overall power of the Mythic item during a fight.
Gaze of Sithis
Gaze of Sithis is a Mythic set that can be obtained by collecting five different leads: Glass Skeletal Visage Lead, Nisswo Sacramental Wraps lead, Pad-Sa Shark Teeth Lead, Preserved Wraxu Feathers Lead, Ritual Circlet Lead. Once you have collected all the leads the set will be automatically created in the highest quality. The set is often used in placed where you need to boost your health, for example in trash fights in trials. Please keep in mind that your block mitigation will be 0, but dodge rolling still works with which you can avoid damage better than with blocking in most cases anyway.
Death Dealer’s Fete
Death Dealer’s Fete is a Mythic set that can be obtained by collecting the following five leads: Carved Signet Base Lead, Sturdy Silver Prongs Lead, Warm Asymmetrical Ruby Lead, Weighted Spiked Bridge Lead, Wide Barbed Shank Lead. The mythic set increases your overall resources, which can be very important in certain fights. However, don’t stay out of combat too long, because this will decrease the power of the Mythic set.
Ring of the Pale Order
Ring of the Pale Order is a Mythic set that can be obtained by collecting five leads: Aurmine Ancestra Signet Lead, Direnni Elegy Loop Lead, Onyx Accent Stones Lead, Order-Etched Galery Rail Lead, Pale Order’s Golden Band Lead. It is very important to understand that this Mythic set should only be used while playing solo. This is a powerful Mythic set that will increase your own healing by a lot if you have really good damage. However, nobody else will be able to heal you, therefore it is important to not use this in group content.
Ring of the Wild Hunt
Ring of the Wild Hunt is a Mythic set that can be acquired through collecting five leads: Band of Water Lead, Charm of the Shapeless Lead, Face of the Serpent Lead, Face of the Wolf Beast Lead, Symbol of Y’ffre Lead. The mythic set is often used to speed up your movement speed. For example at the start of a trial to the first trash pack you often have to walk quite a bit. To speed up the process for speedruns this set can be used to shorten the time.
Oakensoul Ring
Oakensoul Ring is a Mythic item set that can be acquired through collecting five leads: Igneous Inlays, Larimar Gems, Petrified Oak Loop, Sacred Resin and Stone Shank Frame. The mythic set limits you to one bar, therefore this is ideal for one bar builds. The Mythic item set gives you access to a lot of very powerful Major and Minor buffs, basically giving you godmode on a one bar setup.
Mora’s Whispers
Mora’s Whispers is a Mythic item set that can be acquired through collecting five leads: Bloodshot Oculus, Lurker-skin Sheath, Sclerotic Tentacle, Seeker-sinew Thread, Twitching Eyeball. The set gives you a total of 1528 Critical Chance (7% Crit) permanently. Only one downside, you have to farm all the Shalidor’s Library books before you get the full effect. You also get more EXP from killing monsters, so this would also be a good item to grind.
