Necromancer Tank Build PvE for Elder Scrolls Online

“Colossus”

Updated: Scalebreaker DLC, Elsweyr Chapter
Type: Dungeon, Trials & Overland

Table of Contents

Introduction
Changes from the previous version
Resource Management
Dungeons & Trials Setup
Build Video
Update Log

Introduction

Welcome to the Necromancer Tank Build PvE “Colossus” for Elder Scrolls Online. Make sure to bookmark the link as I will keep updating the build for each new Update of ESO. The Necromancer Tank Build PvE “Colossus” is optimized for Dungeons, Arenas & Trials. Keep in mind there is a huge variety of different tank builds out there that synergize well depending on your group setup. Remember, each Dungeon or Trial needs some small adjustments to the build. So if you for example feel that you need more health, then go for it!

The Necromancer has a very strong tanking toolkit, especially thanks to the Bone Tyrant skill-line. The sets are similar to other classes but the skills differentiate quite a bit. Beckoning Armor is a nice ability to pull in ranged targets without paying too much attention to them, Agony Totem applies debuffs to the enemies and players can even use a synergy with this skill. The most important skill for a Necromancer Tank is the Necrotic Potency which can increase your ultimate regeneration by a lot. that way you can regain your Ultimate way faster then any other class!

Necromancer Class
Trial, Dungeon & Arena
Tank/ Support Build
Heavy Armor
Great sustain
Great survivability
Great self healing

Changes from the previous version

No changes to the build in the Scalebreaker DLC, Elsweyr Chapter.

Resource Management

Keeping up the Ghost will give you an additional 200 Magicka and Stamina Recovery plus it also heals and mitigates damage, you want to make sure to keep this one up a 100% of the time. Healers can also support you with Energy Orb and Luminous Shards (Templar) to give you around 4000 Stamina back, that is also the reason why we have more Stamina than Magicka, because you gain resources depending on your higher resource stat. So our Stamina should be about 1500 higher than our Magicka pool, which means we will always get Stamina back from the Spears or the Orbs! Also, you do not always need to permablock, so when you have time, do some heavy attacks to restore some resources! Potions are also a key to manage your resources well, use the right potions to really get the edge on your resources! If you still have trouble then use Deep Thoughts (or Spell Sym), just be careful with those abilities, you need to use them in the right moment.

Dungeon & Trial Setup

Unbuffed: Out of combat
Buffed: Major Ward, Major Resolved and the Gost are active

Gear

Remember that there is a ton of good Tank sets to choose from. Here are a few good sets to list them up:

Gear Setup

Lightning vs Frost Staff: You can use both options, a frost staff is better if you want to go the save route and get all the block mitigation on the backbar as well. The Lightning Staff is used in combination with Elemental Blockade to apply Off-Balance to the enemy, that way you can support your group and increase the overall damage output.

Monster Sets: There are various Monster Sets that you can wear along with this combination, you can use Mighty Chudan, Pirate Skeleton, Bloodspawn, Vykosa etc.

Gear	Set	Weight	Trait	Enchantment
Chest	Ebon Armory	Heavy	Reinforced	Tri Stat Enchantment
Belt	Ebon Armory	Heavy	Sturdy	Health Enchantment
Shoes	Ebon Armory	Heavy	Sturdy	Health Enchantment
Pants	Ebon Armory	Heavy	Infused	Tri Stat Enchantment
Hands	Ebon Armory	Heavy	Sturdy	Health Enchantment
Head	Lord Warden	Light	Infused	Tri Stat Enchantment
Shoulder	Lord Warden	Medium	Sturdy	Health Enchantment
Necklace	Roar of Alkosh	Jewelry	Infused	Block Cost Reduction
Ring	Roar of Alkosh	Jewelry	Infused	Block Cost Reduction
Ring	Roar of Alkosh	Jewelry	Infused	Block Cost Reduction
Weapon 1 S&B	Roar of Alkosh	1H-Weap	Decisive	Weakening Enchantment
Weapon 1 S&B	Roar of Alkosh	Shield	Infused	Tri-Stat Enchantment
Weapon 2 Destro	Roar of Alkosh	Lightning Staff	Infused	Crusher Enchantment

Beginner Gear Setup

This beginner setup is here for people that do not have access to the other setup now. You can ask a friend to craft Fortified Brass and Torug’s Pact for you. You could also use Plague Doctor instead of Torug’s Pact as it is very cheap available in the Guild Stores.

Gear	Set	Weight	Trait	Enchantment
Chest	Fortified Brass	Heavy	Reinforced	Stamina Enchantment
Belt	Fortified Brass	Light	Sturdy	Health Enchantment
Shoes	Fortified Brass	Medium	Sturdy	Health Enchantment
Pants	Torug's Pact	Heavy	Infused	Stamina Enchantment
Hands	Torug's Pact	Heavy	Sturdy	Health Enchantment
Head	Night's Silence	Heavy	Infused	Stamina Enchantment
Shoulder	Night's Silence	Heavy	Sturdy	Health Enchantment
Necklace	Torug's Pact	Jewelry	Healthy	Block Cost Reduction
Ring	Torug's Pact	Jewelry	Healthy	Block Cost Reduction
Ring	Torug's Pact	Jewelry	Healthy	Block Cost Reduction
Weapon 1 S&B	Fortified Brass	1H-Weap	Decisive	Weakening Enchantment
Weapon 1 S&B	Fortified Brass	Shield	Infused	Stamina Enchantment
Weapon 2 Destro	Fortified Brass	Lightning Staff	Infused	Crusher Enchantment

Where can I get the gear?

Ebon Armory: Crypts of Hearts
Roar of Alkosh: Maw of Lorkhaj
Bloodspawn: Spindleclutch 2
Lord Warden: Imperial City Prison
Mighty Chudan: Ruins of Mazzatun
Fortified Brass: Craftable
Torug's Pact: Craftable
Night's Silence: Craftable
Plague Doctor: Deshaan, Guildstore

Skills

S&B Mainbar	Destro Staff off-bar
Slot 1: Agony Totem	Slot 1: Necrotic Potency
Slot 2: Heroic Slash	Slot 2: Elemental Blockade
Slot 3: Pierce Armor	Slot 3: Avid Boneyard
Slot 4: Spirit Ward	Slot 4: Inner Rage
Slot 5: Deep Thoughts/ Spell Symmetry	Slot 5: Beckoning Armor
Ultimate: Aggressive Warhorn	Ultimate: Ravenous Goliath

Skills explanation:

Agony Totem: Place this on the ground to give Minor Protection to your group, decreasing their damage taken by 8%. Allies can also use the synergy to apply Minor Vulnerability to the enemy, increasing their damage taken by 8%.
Heroic Slash: Debuffs the enemy with a 15% damage reduction debuff and also gives you Minor Heroism, increasing your Ultimate generation.
Pierce Armor: Your main taunt, also debuffs the enemy with Major Fracture and Major Breach, reducing Spell and Physical Resistance by 5280.
Spirit Ward: The ghost heals you and also mitigates damage you take by 10%.
Deep Thoughts/ Spell Sym: If you have sustain issues, use either one of these skills. If you have access to Psijic Skill Line, I would recommend using Deep Thoughts.
Aggressive Warhorn: Your main Ultimate, to buff the group with 10% more max resources and crit damage boost.
Necrotic Potency: Use this ability on trash fights where you have a lot of corpses, you will gain a lot of extra Ultimate and some health.
Elemental Blockade: If you are using a Shock staff, this can proc off balance on the enemies which increases the damage output of your group. (You could also use Expunge and Modify here)
(optional) Expunge and Modify: Good ability to remove negative effects on yourself, keep in mind this costs health to use.
Avid Boneyard: You can activate your own synergy, especially useful when you are using the Alkosh set.
Inner Rage: This is your ranged taunt, in case you can not get to a mob fast enough.
Beckoning Armor: Buffs your resistances and pulls in ranged enemies that hit you.
Ravenous Goliath: Transform into a Goliath to gain a lot of extra health. Try to use Aggressive Warhorn as much as possible because of the offensive stats for your team members, if you are in a tricky sistuation and you need more mitgation, then use the Goliath.

Championpoints

If you need optimized defensive Champion Points for a specific trial I recommend checking out my Maximize Damage Mitigation in Trials Article.

Championpoints [810]

The Ritual
The Attronarch
47 Physical Weapons Expert, 73 Master-at-Arms
The Apprentice
100 Blessed, 48 Elfborn, 2 Spell Erosion
The Shadow
81 Shadow Ward, 60 Tumbling
The Lover
43 Tenacity
The Tower
56 Warlord, 21 Bashing Focus, 9 Sprinter
The Lord
32 Quick Recovery
The Lady
49 Hardy, 49 Elemental Defender, 48 Thick Skinned
The Steed
66 Ironclad, 26 Spellshield

Championpoints [600]

The Ritual
26 Precise Strikes, 1 Piercing
The Attronarch
73 Master-at-Arms
The Apprentice
100 Blessed
The Shadow
100 Shadow Ward, 50 Tumbling
The Lover
The Tower
50 Warlord
The Lord
The Lady
49 Hardy, 49 Elemental Defender, 23 Thick Skinned
The Steed
61 Ironclad, 18 Spell Shield

Championpoints [300]

The Ritual
The Attronarch
The Apprentice
100 Blessed
The Shadow
44 Shadow Ward
The Lover
43 Arcanist
The Tower
13 Warlord
The Lord
The Lady
27 Hardy, 27 Elemental Defender, 2 Thick Skinned
The Steed
44 Ironclad

Important Info for Necromancer Tank Build PvE

Buff-food

Longfin pasty with Melon Sauce (Max Health+Max Stamina+Max Magicka)

Mundus Stone

The Lord (Max Health)

Race

Nords: Please keep in mind, if you are a Nord you have more resistances than on other races because of your passives.

Nord (Recommended, fastest ultimate generation)
Argonian (Recommended, best sustain)
Imperial
Orc
Redguard

Potions

Tri-Stat Potion
(Health, Stamina, Magicka)
(Bugloss, Columbine, Mountain Flower)

Passives

Grave Lord: Reusable Parts, Death Knell, Dismember, Rapid Rot
Bone Tyrant: Death Gleaning, Disdain Harm, Health Avarice, Last Gasp
Living Death: Curative Curse, Near-Death Experience, Corpse Consumption, Undead Confederate
One Hand and Shield: Fortress, Sword and Board, Deadly Bash, Deflect Bolts, Battlefield Mobility
Destruction Staff: Penetrating Magic, Elemental Force, Ancient Knowledge, Destruction Expert
Heavy Armor: Resolve, Constitution, Juggernaut, Revitalize, Rapid Mending
Medium Armor: Dexterity, Wind Walker, Athletics
Light Armor: Grace, Evocation, Spell Warding
Vampire: Supernatural Recovery, Undeath, Dark Stalker
Fighters Guild: Banish the Wicked
Undaunted: Undaunted Command, Undaunted Mettle
Racial: All
Alchemy: Medicinal Use

I recommend being a vampire for the Undeath passive like listed above.

Attributes

You have to make sure to have a bit more Stamina than Magicka. Because of the Synergies you pick up give you back whatever stat is higher. You can change this to your liking, if you do not need that much health, get more stamina.

10 Magicka, 40 Health, 14 Stamina