Necromancer Tank Build for ESO – Elder Scrolls Online

“Colossus”

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Changes from the previous version
• Resource Management
• Dungeons & Trials Setup
  • Gear
  • Skills
  • Champion Points (810, 600, 300)
  • Important Info (Food, Mundus, Race, Potions, Passives, Attributes)
• 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!

Other Tank Guides:

• Beginner’s Tanking Guide
• Advanced Tanking Guide
• Endgame Tank Sets

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. Unnerving Boneyard applies debuffs to the enemies and players can even use a synergy with this skill.

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

Changes to the previous Version

Update 28 Markarth DLC brings the following changes to the build:

Updated the Sets, Skills, Champion Points and Mundus Stone.

Major Vulnerability can now be kept up a 100% of the time again and doesn’t have a cooldown. But the modifier took a hit from 25% to now being 10% but it will also last longer now.

Frozen Colossus:

• Removed this Ultimate and the morphs’ Major Vulnerability invulnerability.
• Increased the duration of Major Vulnerability applied from these to 12 seconds per hit, up from 8. This will increase the total duration to 15 seconds per cast.
  • Major Vulnerability: Decreased to 10%, down from 25%.

Major Breach:

• Increased to 5948, up from 5280.
• Major Breach now affects both Physical and Spell Resistance equally.

Resource Management

Spirit Guardian reduces your damage taken by 10%, heals you and also keeps the Undead Confederate passive active to boost your sustain.

Spell Symmetry returns Magicka, you can use this as much as you want, but be careful that your Healer is healing you. Because you loose Health while using this.

Energy Orb is a skill that Healers use to throw into the group. You can use the synergy this skill provides to regain around 4000 resources. Our max Stamina is a bit higher than our Max Magicka, that is because you will get resources depending on your higher max Stamina or Magicka. And because we are a tank, Stamina is definitely more important.

Heavy Attacks restore a big amount of stamina, if you hit an off-balanced enemy it gives twice the amount back. You don’t need to permablock, try to find time to do Heavy Attacks in your rotation.

Potions are also a key to manage your resources well, I recommend using Tri-Stat potions to regain all three resources at the same time. Further below you will learn how to craft the right potions.

• Spirit Guardian
• Spell Symmetry
• Heavy Attacks
• Potions
• Orbs (Undaunted skill-line)

Choosing an Argonian as a race for your tank will also increase sustain due to the Resourceful racial passive.

Dungeon & Trial Setup

5x Ebon Armory, 5x Battalion Defender, 2x Earthgore on a Nord with Bewitched Sugar Skulls food.

• Unbuffed: Out of combat, buff-food active
• Buffed: Buff-food, Raid Target Dummy buffs, Beckoning Armor, Spirit Guardian and Tri-stat potions were active.

Gear

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.

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.

Where can I get the gear?

Ebon Armory: Crypts of Hearts
Battalion Defender: Cyrodiil, Guildstores
Earthgore: vBloodroot Forge, Urgarlag Undaunted Chest
Lord Warden: vImperial City Prison
Fortified Brass: Craftable
Torug’s Pact: Craftable
Night’s Silence: Craftable
Plague Doctor: Deshaan, Guildstore

Skills

Skills explanation:

• Unnerving Boneyard: Applies Major Breach to all enemies in the skill area, debuffing their resistances and also provides a Synergy.
• Heroic Slash: Debuffs the enemy with a 5% damage reduction debuff and also gives you Minor Heroism, increasing your Ultimate generation.
• Inner Rage: This is your main taunt ability.
• Deaden Pain: 3% Damage mitigation, heals you and also applies Major Protection increasing your damage mitigation even further.
• Hungry Scythe: This ability scales of your Max Health and can be used whenever you need a heal.
• Temporal Guard: This is only passively slotted for the extra 5% damage mitigation that we gain through Minor Protection. While blocking, we also gain a small shield.
• Spirit Ward: The ghost heals you and also mitigates damage you take by 10%. It also keeps the Undead Confederate passive active.
• 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)
• Sanguine Altar (Flex Spot): Applies Minor Lifesteal to enemies standing in it, also provides a Synergy.
• Spell Symmetry (Flex Spot): Trade Health for Magicka, be careful as this reduces healing done for 50%.
• Beckoning Armor: Buffs your resistances and pulls in ranged enemies that hit you.
• Pestilent Colossus: Applies Major Vulnerability for 15 seconds, so bosses take 10% more damage.

Champion Points

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

• Calculator: In case you need help distributing your Champion Points, make sure to check out the Champion Points Calculator!

Champion Points [810]

The Ritual
40 Thaumaturge, 34 Precise Strikes, 43 Mighty
The Atronach
2 Physical Weapons Expert, 31 Master-at-Arms
The Apprentice
75 Blessed, 44 Elfborn, 1 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

Champion Points [600]

The Ritual
27 Precise Strikes, 26 Thaumaturge, 43 Mighty
The Atronach
26 Master-at-Arms, 2 Physical Weapon Expert
The Apprentice
49 Blessed, 26 Elfborn, 1 Spell Erosion
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

Champion Points [300]

The Ritual
23 Mighty, 13 Thaumaturge, 13 Precise Strikes
The Atronach
12 Master At Arms, 2 Physical Weapon Expert
The Apprentice
23 Blessed, 13 Elfborn, 1 Spell erosion
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)

Bewitched Sugar Skulls

This is a slightly more advanced version that has a bit higher stats and also includes health recovery. Though it also costs more.

Mundus Stone

The Atronach Mundus Stone increases our Magicka Recovery by a lot, thus making it easier to sustain the many Magicka support abilities that we have.

The Atronach Mundus Stone (Increased Magicka Recovery

Race

You can find more about racial passives in the ESO Race Overview page.

Nord (Fast ultimate generation, extra resistances)
Argonian (Best sustain)
Imperial
Orc
Redguard
Dark Elf

Potions

You can use both the crafted or the crown store Tri-Stat potion.

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 Averice, 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: Tri Focus, 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
• Fighters Guild: Banish the Wicked
• Undaunted: Undaunted Command, Undaunted Mettle
• Psijic Order: Clairvoyance, Spell Orb, Concentrated Barrier, Deliberation
• Racial: All
• Alchemy: Medicinal Use

Attributes

I recommend placing all attributes into health. However, you can adjust the values yourself, if you feel you have too much health, then place some points in either stamina or magicka.

0 Magicka, 64 Health, 0 Stamina

Update Log

Related Topics

• Dragonknight Tank Build PvE
• Sorcerer Tank Build PvE
• Nightblade Tank Build PvE
• Warden Tank Build PvE
• Templar Tank Build PvE