Powerful Magicka Dragonknight Build for ESO – Damage Dealer DPS

Table of Contents:

• Magicka Dragonknight Build Setup
  • Gear
  • Skills
  • Scribing Skills
  • Champion Points
  • Important Info (Food, Mundus, Race, Potions, Passives, Attributes)
• Resource Management
• Rotation
• AoE Setup
• Maelstrom Arena & Vateshran Hollows
• Dragonknight Subclassing
• Outfit Style Showcase
• Related Content
• Update Log

Welcome to the Magicka Dragonknight Build for ESO (Elder Scrolls Online). This build is optimized for group content such as dungeons, trials & arenas and has a very glass-cannon approach. The Magicka Dragonknight DPS build is optimized for maximum damage. The build works best in a group but with some minor adjustments can also be played as a solo setup if necessary.

Magicka Dragonknights unleash their maximum damage potential in melee range with abilities like Molten Whip, Burning Embers, Engulfing Flames. Dragonknights also have useful passives such as World in Ruin, Scaled Armor, Combustion and Battle Roar and plenty more!

The ESO Dragonknight DPS Build has 3 different gear setups. Tier 1 with the best gear, Tier 2 with advanced gear and Tier 3 for beginners. If you are a new player I do recommend reading the Magicka Dragonknight Beginners Guide. If you are looking for a solo build then I recommend checking out the Solo Magicka Dragonknight Build.

• Double Destruction Staff Setup
• Amazing Single Target (ST) Damage
• Amazing Area of Effect (AoE) Damage
• Good Sustain
• Easy Survivability due to Magicka Shield
• Optimized for Trials, Dungeons & Arenas

More Dragonknight Builds can be found in the Dragonknight class category.

ESO Magicka Dragonknight Build Setup

Here we are going to take a look at how you can recreate the Magicka Dragonknight Setup for ESO.

5x Perf. Whorl of Depths, 5x Pillar of Nirn, 1x Slimecaw, 1x Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet on a High Elf with Ghastly Eye Bowl buff food.

• Unbuffed: Out of combat, buff food active
• Buffed: Raid Target Dummy buffs, buff food, Spell Power Potion, Weapon Damage Enchantment active.

Gear – Magicka Dragonknight Build

You will find 3 different setups here. Setup 1 is the preferred setup. People who do not have all the gear yet can use Setup 2 which is easier to obtain and beginners can use Setup 3.

• Setup 1 is the primary Gear setup
• Setup 2 is without Trial Gear
• Setup 3 is for Beginners

Gear Setup 1

• Whorl of Depths gives us access to the powerful Minor Slayer buff, increasing damage against monsters by 5%. Additionally, it also deals massive single-target and AOE damage.
• Pillar of Nirn is a strong proc set that deals massive damage both for single-target and AOE damage. We frontbar this set.
• Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet is a Mythic item that gives us an incredible damage boost, but reduces our light and heavy attack damage, which is a small tradeoff!
• Crushing Wall is slotted on the backbar to boost the damage of our Unstable Blockade.
• Slimecraw is only here for the one piece that gives us an extra crit bonus.
• No Mythic? If you don’t have access to the Mythic item, replace the Mythic and the Slimecraw piece with 2x Maw of the Infernal Monster set.

Alternatively, you can also use the Necromancer class-specific Corpseburster set.

Advanced – Gear Setup 2

The Gear setup 2 for the Magicka Dragonknight Build is made for players who don’t have access to trial gear.

Gear Setup 3 Beginner

The beginner setup for the ESO Dragonknight Build is made for players that just started out, you can join a guild and ask someone to craft you Law of Julianos and Magnus’ Gift. Willpower can be bought in Guildstores for very little money.

Where can I get the gear?

Perfected Whorl of Depths: vDreadsail Reef Trial
Whorl of Depths: nDreadsail Reef Trial
Pillar of Nirn: Falkreath Hold
Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet (Mythic): Antiquities
Perfected Crushing Wall: vMaelstrom Arena
Slimecraw: vWayrest Sewers 1
Maw of the Infernal: The Banished Cells 2
Mother’s Sorrow: Deshaan, Guildstores
Perf. Ansuul’s Torment: vSanity’s Edge Trial

Law of Julianos: Craftable
Willpower: Guildstore
Magnus’ Gift: Craftable

Skills ESO Dragonknight DPS Build

Skills explanation:

• Burning Embers: Powerful single target damage over time effect.
• Engulfing Flames: Powerful single target and area of effect damage over time effect. Also applies a debuff on the enemy so they take more fire damage.
• Molten Whip: Your spammable (Alternatively you can also use other spammables such as Elemental Weapon or Force Pulse).
• Mystic Orb: Powerful single target and area of effect damage over time effect.
• Inner Light: Passively slotted to gain more max magicka via the skill and the Magicka Controller passive.
• Shooting Star: We use this ultimate for trash packs, deals great AoE damage and also returns ultimate per enemy it.
• Unstable Wall of Elements: Powerful single target and area of effect damage ability. Also procs our back bar enchantment even when we are on the front bar.
• Eruption: Powerful single target and area of effect damage over time effect.
• Scalding Rune: Strong damage over time skill.
• Burning Talons: Deals AOE damage, roots enemies and provides a synergy to allies that can be activated to deal more damage.
• Flames of Oblivion: Powerful single target and area of effect damage over time effect.
• Standard of Might: Your main ultimate, while the banner is active you will take less damage and do more damage.

Dragonknight Scribing Skills

The ESO Scribing System offers plenty of adjustable skills to add to our build. Right now none of the new ESO Scribing Skills maximizes our DPS. Therefore I don’t recommend slotting any of them. However, there are two viable options that you can test out and play with if you still want to give it a try. More great combos might be discovered over time because there are so many available combinations. Make sure to bookmark this ESO Dragonknight Build and check back later for changes.

Important: Please read here how to get Grimoires, Focus Scripts, Signature Scripts and Affix Scripts for the ESO Scribing System.

Base Scribing Skill:

• Destruction Staff: Elemental Explosion
• World: Wield Soul

To unlock the Elemental Explosion skill, you need to reach level 25 in the Destruction Staff skill line. To unlock the Wield Soul skill you need to complete the Scribing Tutorial Quest.

Elemental Explosion

Elemental Explosion turns into Fiery Explosion with our Scribing scripts.

• Focus Script
  • Fire Damage
• Signature Script
  • Lingering Torment (Damage over time)
• Affix Script
  • Brittle (Applies Brittle to the enemy, increasing their Crit Damage taken)

Wield Soul

Wield Soul turns into Shocking Soul with our Scribing scripts.

• Focus Script
  • Shock Damage
• Signature Script
  • Lingering Torment (Damage over time)
• Affix Script
  • Empower (More Heavy Attack Damage) or
  • Courage (Adds Minor Courage, giving you 215 Weap/Spell Damage)

You can also test more combinations out with the ESO Scribing Simulator.

Champion Points – Magicka Dragonknight Build

Below you can find the Champion Points setup for this build. Work your way from top to bottom in your allocation. For more information on Champion Points, please visit the Champion Points Overview Page on ESO-Hub.com.

Hovering over each perk will give you insights on what it does. Presets are also provided for each of the allocations below.

Click the tab below to open the allocation.

Important Info for Magicka Dragonknight Build PvE

In this section of the Magicka Dragonknight Build we are going to take a look at buff-food, mundus stone, race, potions, passives and attributes. These things are very important for the Magicka Dragonknight Build as they help with damage and sustain.

Mundus Stone

The Thief Mundus Stone increases our overall Spell Critical chance by a lot which will result in more overall damage. You can learn more about all the other Mundus Stones on the Mundus Stone Overview Page.

The Thief Mundus Stone (Increased Spell Critical Chance)

Race

Any race with magicka based passives will work with this setup. You can find out more about all the racial passives in the Racial Overview page.

• High Elf
• Breton
• Darkelf
• Khajiit
• Orc

Potions

Spell-Power Potions
(Spell-crit, Spell Damage, Magicka)
(Cornflower, Ladys Smock, Water Hyacinth)

Passives

• Ardent Flame: Combustion, Warmth, Searing Heat, World in Ruin
• Draconic Power: Iron Skin, Burning Heart, Elder Dragon, Scaled Armor
• Earthen Heart: Eternal Mountain, Battle Roar, Mountain’s Blessing, Helping Hands
• Destruction Staff: Tri Focus, Penetrating Magic, Elemental Force, Ancient Knowledge, Destruction Expert
• Medium Armor: Dexterity, Wind Walker, Improved Sneak, Agility, Athletics
• Light Armor: Grace, Evocation, Spell Warding, Prodigy, Concentration
• Mages Guild: Mage Adept, Everlasting Magic, Magicka Controller, Might of the Guild
• Psijic Order: (Only if you use Channeled Acceleration) Clairvoyance, Spell Orb, Concentrated Barrier, Deliberation
• Undaunted: Undaunted Command, Undaunted Mettle
• Racial: All
• Alchemy: Medicinal Use

Attributes

All into Magicka

Resource Management – Magicka Dragonknight Build

For our Magicka Dragonknight Build we are using a mix of self sustain and sustain through group members such as the healer and thank.

• Battle Roar & Combustion
• Orb Synergy
• Potions
• Heavy Attack

Battle Roar returns resources every time we activate an Ultimate.

Combustion returns Magicka every time we apply the Burning Status effect.

Energy Orb will always be present in a good group. When you get close to the Orb you can activate its synergy to regain resources.

Potions should always be used on cooldown to gain the maximum benefit from them.

Heavy Attacks help you restore Magicka, if you drop low on resources do a few Heavy Attacks between skills to refill your Magicka.

Rotation for the Magicka Dragonknight Build

Here is a quick explanation of what you have to do with all the skills on your bar.

• Your main spammable is Molten Whip.
• Reapply DoTs (damage over time) effects after they run out: Engulfing Flames, Burning Embers, Mystic Orb, Unstable Wall of Elements, Eruption, Flames of Oblivion and Channeled Acceleration.
• Activate Standard of Might Ultimate whenever it is ready. Only use Shooting Star when fighting against many enemies in trash fights.
• Always light attack between each ability.

Area of Effect Setup

Here you can find an optimized AoE setup for the build. There are plenty of other good options available.

Skills

ESO Dragonknight Subclassing Build Options

ESO’s Subclassing offers a lot of variety, allowing you to swap, mix, and match different skill lines of various classes all on one character. Read our How does Subclassing work in ESO guide to get an understanding of how the subclass system works. We also have plenty of ESO Builds optimized for Subclassing.

Take a look at our ESO Dragonknight Subclassing Build if you are interested in what you can all mix and match on a Dragonknight build!

More Magicka Dragonknight Builds & Guides:

• PVE Magicka Dragonknight Beginner Guide
• PVE Magicka Dragonknight Beginner Build (160CP)
• PVE Solo Magicka Dragonknight Build
• PVE Magicka Dragonknight EXP Grind Build
• PVP Magicka Dragonknight Build

Other Magicka DPS Builds:

• Magicka Arcanist
• Magicka Sorcerer
• Magicka Nightblade
• Magicka Templar
• Magicka Necromancer
• Magicka Warden