Type: Solo Dungeons, Overland, Maelstrom & Vateshran Hollows Arena
Buildname: Solo Magicka Necromancer
- Solo Setup
- Resource Management
- Rotation
- Bad Habits
- Vateshran Hollows & Maelstrom Arena Setup
- Endless Archive Setup
- Gameplay
- Update Log
Welcome to the “SOLO Magcro” Magicka Necromancer Build for PvE in ESO (Elder Scrolls Online). This build is optimized for solo play. Make sure to bookmark the link as I will keep updating the build for each new Update of ESO.
If you are new I recommend checking out the Magicka Necromancer Beginner Guide and the Magicka Necromancer Beginner 160CP Build before you tackle on this setup. You can also find a META Magicka Necromancer Group Build that is made for dungeons and trials.
Other Magicka Necromancer Guides:
- Magicka Necromancer Beginner Guide (Read first if you are a new player)
- Magicka Necromancer Beginner 160CP Build (Made for new players, after you finished the Beginner Guide)
- META Magicka Necromancer Group Build (Endgame META build)
This build here is specifically designed for SOLO play. You can play this build in Overland, Dungeons (normal and veteran), Maelstrom Arena or Vateshran Arena. I also made sure to give you a few gear choices below because it is not always easy to get the right gear in Elder Scrolls Online.
Magicka Necromancers are very powerful in a Solo environment both in dealing damage and keeping you alive. Having abilities such as the Spirit Guardian means that we constantly get heals and also an extra 10% damage mitigation. Blighted Blastbones takes care of most enemy groups by dealing amazing explosion damage. More about skills in the skills section.
- Solo Build for Normal & Veteran Dungeons
- Solo Build for Maelstrom & Vateshran Hollows Arena
- Solo Build for Overland
- Easy to get Gear & Advanced Setups
- Big Shields
- Powerful Self Healing
Solo Setup Magicka Necromancer
5x Perf. False God, 5x Mother’s Sorrow, 1x Pale Order, 1x Swarm Mother on a High Elf with Clockwork Citrus Filet.
- Unbuffed: Out of combat, and buff food active.
- Buffed: In combat, buff food, Skeletal Arcanist, Major Sorcery, Major Prophecy and Weapon Damage enchantment active.
Gear Solo Magicka Necromancer
If you want to see more viable gear options I recommend reading the Magicka DPS Gear Sets Article which explains all of the sets in detail.
- Setup 1 Most Optimal Setup
- Setup 2 Easy to get Gear
- Setup 3 Beginner Setup
Gear Setup 1 – Solo Magicka Necromancer
- Monster Set: We are only using a one-piece Monster Set because we have the Ring of the Pale Order Mythic item equipped. The reason we use Swarm Mother is simple, it provides us with extra stats for both Magicka and Stamina. It has a double bonus compared to most other one-piece monster sets.
- False God’s Devotion: False God’s Devotion is very powerful in both the imperfect and perfect versions, I can highly recommend this set. You can farm it fairly easily in normal mode Sunspire.
- Ring of the Pale Order: The Mythic item Ring of the Pale Order provides us with a lot of extra passive healing as long as we deal damage.
- No Ring of the Pale Order? You can also keep using 2x Iceheart like before.
| Gear | Set | Weight | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chest | False God’s Devotion | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Belt | False God’s Devotion | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Shoes | False God’s Devotion | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Pants | False God’s Devotion | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Hands | False God’s Devotion | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Head | Swarm Mother | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Shoulder | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Necklace | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
| Ring | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
| Ring | Ring of the Pale Order | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
| Weapon 1 | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Lightning | Precise | Absorb Magicka Enchant |
| Weapon 2 | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Lightning | Infused | Weapon Damage Enchant |
Gear Setup 2 – Solo Magicka Necromancer
This setup is easier to acquire and also has more defensive stats compared to the first one, which means it’s safer to play. Once again, make sure to use the Iceheart Monster Set, it really makes a huge difference in terms of defense, it procs very easily and gives you a huge shield that absorbs a lot of damage.
Julianos can be crafted and Mother’s Sorrow can be farmed in the Deshaan Overland zone or you can also buy them via the Guild Store. It would be preferable if you get the gear with the divine trait, but you can also use any other trait, you will not lose that much power. And non-divine gear pieces are usually very cheap to buy.
| Gear | Set | Weight | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chest | Julianos | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Belt | Julianos | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Shoes | Julianos | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Pants | Julianos | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Hands | Julianos | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Head | Iceheart | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Shoulder | Iceheart | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Necklace | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Jewelry | Arcane | Spell Damage |
| Ring | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Jewelry | Arcane | Spell Damage |
| Ring | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Jewelry | Arcane | Spell Damage |
| Weapon 1 | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Lightning | Precise | Shock Enchant |
| Weapon 2 | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Lightning | Infused | Weapon Damage Enchant |
Setup 3 Beginner – Solo Magicka Necromancer
Ask a guildmate to craft you Julianos. Mother’s Sorrow can be obtained for a pretty cheap price in the guildstores if you do not pick the best in-slot trait. More important is that you just get the full sets together as fast as possible, even if you do not have the best traits.
| Gear | Set | Weight | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chest | Julianos | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Belt | Julianos | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Shoes | Julianos | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Pants | Julianos | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Hands | Julianos | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Head | Magnus’ Gift or Monster Set | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Shoulder | Magnus’ Gift or Monster Set | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Necklace | Mother’s Sorrow or Tzogvin’s Warband | Jewelry | Arcane | Spell Damage |
| Ring | Mother’s Sorrow or Tzogvin’s Warband | Jewelry | Arcane | Spell Damage |
| Ring | Mother’s Sorrow or Tzogvin’s Warband | Jewelry | Arcane | Spell Damage |
| Weapon 1 | Mother’s Sorrow or Tzogvin’s Warband | Lightning | Precise | Shock Enchant |
| Weapon 2 | Mother’s Sorrow or Tzogvin’s Warband | Lightning | Infused | Weapon Damage Enchant |
Where can I get the gear?
False God’s Devotion: Sunspire
Perfected False God’s Devotion: vet Sunspire
Ring of the Pale Order Antiquities
Mother’s Sorrow: Deshaan Overland, Guildtrader
Tzogvin’s Warband: Frostvault Dungeon
Julianos: Craftable
Swarm Mother: vSpindleclutch 1
Iceheart: Head: Direfrost Keep, Shoulder: Glirion Undaunted Chest
Magnus’ Gift: Craftable in Rivenspire, Greenshade, Shadowfen
IMPORTANT: You can get a Lightning Mother’s Sorrow Staff by doing a simple quest, that way you earn the staff! You will receive the “Argonian Muck Minder of Mother’s Sorrow” from the Quest in Silent Mire, Deshaan.
Skills Solo Magicka Necromancer
- Remember, you can change out some of the abilities if you want or never use them. And you can also adjust the bars.
| Destruction Staff Mainbar | Destruction Staff bar |
|---|---|
| Slot 1: Harness Magicka | Slot 1: Unstable Wall of Elements |
| Slot 2: Blighted Blastbones | Slot 2: Consuming Trap |
| Slot 3: Ricochet Skull | Slot 3: Elemental Susceptibility |
| Slot 4: Avid Boneyard | Slot 4: Skeletal Arcanist |
| Slot 5: Spirit Guardian | Slot 5: Mystic Siphon |
| Ultimate: Glacial Colossus | Ultimate: Ravenous Goliath |
Skill explanation for the Solo Magicka Necromancer Build:
- Harness Magicka: Activate this if you are expecting to get a huge punch in the face (Boss Heavy Attack for example). This will bolster your health.
- Blighted Blastbones: Powerful Single Target and AoE damage ability.
- Ricochet Skull: Your main spammable, deals very good damage and also bounces off to nearby targets.
- Avid Boneyard: Great AoE damage ability, you can also activate your own synergy that deals damage. You can also use the other morph if you want AoE Major Breach.
- Spirit Guardian: While active, gives you 10% damage mitigation and also heals you for a lot. On death also provides you a corpse that you can use with for Mystic Siphon.
- Glacial Colossus: Applies Major Vulnerability to the enemy, increasing their damage taken by 10%. Also deals a lot of impact damage.
- Unstable Wall of Elements: Your main AoE ability, has to be on the ground all the time.
- Consuming Trap: Consuming Trap deals decent damage and is a good resource management tool, if you place it on an enemy before it dies it will return 7000 Magicka.
- Elemental Susceptibility: Applies Major Breach and procs random status effects on the enemy.
- Skeletal Arcanist: Increases your magicka recovery by 200 and deals damage too. On death also provides you a corpse that you can use with for Mystic Siphon.
- Mystic Siphon: Can only be used when a corpse is on the ground, returns a lot of magicka and deals plenty of AoE damage!
- Ravenous Goliath: If you use this ultimate, you gain 30k extra health and you get way tankier. You can replace this with another ultimate if you want to.
Champion Points for Solo Magicka Necromancer
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 into what it does. Presets are also provided for each of the allocations below.
Click the tab below to open the allocation.
Important Info for Solo Magicka Necromancer
Buff-food
You have the option between two different buff foods/drinks for this build. It is crucial that you use either one of these because they give very important stats, health, magick and magicka recovery. You can use the more expensive Clockwork Citrus Filet or the less expensive version Witchmother’s Potent Brew.
The difference between both is very small, I only use the expensive one for very difficult content to get a tiny bit more stats. Otherwise, I always use the less expensive version to save money.
Info: If you click on the URL you will get directed to a detailed page of the buff food/drink where you can see the prices too.
Clockwork Citrus Filet
(Max Health, Max Magicka, Magicka Recovery, Health Recovery)
Witchmother’s Potent Brew
(Max Health, Max Magicka, Magicka Recovery)
Mundus Stone
The Lover Mundus Stone is the best choice for this setup, it increases our overall spell penetration, which boosts our damage. You can also visit the Mundus Stone Overview Page for additional information regarding all the Mundus Stones.
The Lover Mundus Stone (Increased Spell Penetration)
Race
All Magicka-based races work with this setup. More about each race can be found on the racial overview page.
High Elf
Breton
Dark Elf
Argonian
Khajiit
Orc
Potions
Necromancer doesn’t have access to Major Sorcery or Prophecy through class skills. You have two options:
Use the Spell Power Potions which give you Major Sorcery and Prophecy, 20% Spell Damage and 12% Spell Critical.
Or use Degeneration and Inner Light to gain the same buffs and then just use normal cheap Essence of Magicka potions.
Spell-Power Potions
(Spell-crit, Spell Damage, Magicka)
(Cornflower, Ladys Smock, Water Hyacinth)
Essence of Magicka Potion
(Magicka)
(Bought in Guild Stores, fairly cheap)
Important: Make sure to get alchemy to level 50 to unlock the Medicinal Use passive. That way you can keep up the buffs of potions a 100% of the time.
Passives
- Grave Lord: Reusable Parts, Death Knell, Dismember, Rapid Rot
- Bone Tyrant: Death Gleaning, Disdain Harm, Last Gasp
- Living Death: Curative Curse, Corpse Consumption, Undead Confederate
- Destruction Staff: Tri Focus, Penetrating Magic, Elemental Force, Ancient Knowledge, Destruction Expert
- Light Armor: Grace, Evocation, Spell Warding, Prodigy, Concentration
- Undaunted: Undaunted Command, Undaunted Mettle
- Psijic Order: All for Vateshran Hollows Arena
- Racial: All
- Alchemy: Medicinal Use
Attributes
All into Magicka. I recommend getting around 18-20k Health.
64 Magicka, 0 Health, 0 Stamina
Resource Management – Solo Magicka Necromancer
Resource management with a solo build is slightly different compared to a group setup because you can’t really rely on your healer to give you resources back. Now that doesn’t really matter because we have other means of restoring resources. Your main tool for restoring resources is your heavy attacks, they are pretty slow but you will regain a lot of resources.
You can also use your potions on cooldown which will return a lot of extra resources. The ability Mystic Siphon is another very important tool.
Try to drain corpses and keep this up, it deals nice AoE damage and also gives you magicka back. Keeping up your Skeletal Arcanist will also activate the Undead Confederate passive, it is also important to keep this ability activate all the time.
- Heavy Attacks
- Potions
- Mystic Siphon
- Undead Confederate passive
Rotation
If you want to learn more about weaving light attacks, you can check out this guide: “Weaving Beginner Guide”.
For this kind of setup, there is not a fixed rotation at all, your main goal should always be to stay alive and you do that by keeping up your shield and healing abilities.
- Keep up your DoTs, you have 5 DoTs that should always be active as much as possible. Unstable Wall of Elements, Consuming Trap, Skeletal Arcanist, Spirit Guardian and Mystic Siphon.
- Skeletal Arcanist and the Spirit Guardian both have a 16s duration, whereas Unstable Wall of Elements and Mystic Siphon have around 10-12 seconds.
- If you can not keep track of all these buffs, just make sure to prioritize your two summons and the Unstable Wall of Elements.
- Reapply Elemental Susceptibility when needed every 30 seconds.
Rotation
Before the fight: Activate Skeletal Arcanist, Spirit Guardian and apply Elemental Susceptibility to the enemy.
Unstable Wall of Elements > LA > Elemental Susceptibility (if needed) > Weapon Swap
LA > Blastbones > 2x LA > Ricochet Skull > LA > Blastbones > 2x LA > Ricochet Skull > LA > Blastbones > Restart
- The main technique is that you activate Blastbones, and in between, you can always use two other skills and then reapply Blastbones.
- If you have to reapply DoTs, replace the Ricochet Skull, and make sure to keep the Blastbones rotation going.
- Always prioritize shielding with Harness Magicka over damage if you drop low on health.
Bad Habits
- A lot of people have a bad habit of forgetting their back bar abilities, you should really focus on always weapon swapping enough to re-apply the DoTs and buffs on your back bar.
- Keeping up your shield Harness Magicka 24/7 is key to this build, that way your health can never really be damaged.
- Always keep moving your character around, if you just stand on the ground you take unnecessary damage from melee monsters, that damage can easily be avoided by kiting (running away backward from the enemy and still dealing damage to him.
- Keep your summons active, they help with damage mitigation, healing, resource management and also deal damage!
Vateshran Hollows & Maelstrom Arena Setup
Magicka Necromancer Vateshran Hollows Buid Setup.
- For specific tips and tricks please check out the Vateshran Hollows Guide and the Maelstrom Arena Guide which explains everything in detail.
- Ring of the Pale Order provides a lot of extra healing, I recommend getting this Mythic item, it makes the arena a lot easier.
- If you don’t have access to Mythic items, please use the gear setups above.
Gear Setup
| Gear | Set | Weight | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chest | False God’s Devotion | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Belt | False God’s Devotion | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Shoes | False God’s Devotion | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Pants | False God’s Devotion | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Hands | False God’s Devotion | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Head | Swarm Mother | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Shoulder | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Necklace | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
| Ring | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
| Ring | Ring of the Pale Order | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
| Weapon 1 | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Lightning | Precise | Shock |
| Weapon 2 | Tzogvin’s Warband (or Mother’s Sorrow) |
Lightning | Infused | Weapon Damage Enchant |
Skills
Most of our damage is focused on AoE, which will make the Ring of the Pale Order even more powerful when we hit several targets. Always keep your buffs/debuffs active.
Endless Archive Setup for Solo Magicka Necromancer Build
Here you can find a setup that works well inside ESO’s Endless Archive when you play solo with the Solo Magicka Necromancer Build. Make sure to read the ESO Endless Archive Guide to understand what is going on inside the archive.
- Endless Archive gets progressively harder
- You need to know boss mechanics, otherwise one-shots will occur often.
- Understanding how the Endless Archive works is important
- If you get stuck, change gear or skills and try again.
Gear Setup
Inside the Endless Archive, we recommend running the following setup for our Solo Magicka Necromancer Build: 5x Whorl of Depths (Frontbar), 5x Pillar of Nirn (Backbar), 1x Ring of Pale Order, 2x Iceheart. All the sets are procing automatically, therefore you won’t have to worry about keeping track of any of them. This is great, that way we can focus more on the combat and our abilities.
| Gear | Set | Weight | Trait | Enchantment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chest | Pillar of Nirn | Medium | Divine | Magicka |
| Belt | Whorl of the Depths | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Shoes | Whorl of the Depths | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Pants | Whorl of the Depths | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Hands | Druid’s Braid | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Head | Iceheart | Light | Divine | Health |
| Shoulder | Iceheart | Light | Divine | Magicka |
| Necklace | Pillar of Nirn | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
| Ring | Pillar of Nirn | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
| Ring | Ring of the Pale Order | Jewelry | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
| Weapon 1 | Whorl of the Depths | Fire | Precise | Shock |
| Weapon 2 | Pillar of Nirn | Fire | Infused | Weapon Damage Enchant |
Where can I get the gear?
- Whorl of the Depths: Dreadsail Reef
- Pillar of Nirn: Falkreath Hold Dungeon
- Druid’s Braid: Guildstores, Craftable in High Isle and Amenos zone
- Ring of the Pale Order Antiquities
- Iceheart: Head: Direfrost Keep, Shoulder: Glirion Undaunted Chest
Skills
Most of our damage is focused on AoE, which will make the Ring of the Pale Order even more powerful when we hit several targets. Always keep your buffs/debuffs active.
Buff-Food
If you have sustain issues then it is recommended to use the Ghastly Eye Bowl buff food because it gives us a huge amount of Magicka Recovery and Max Magicka, but your Health will be lower. If you don’t have sustain issues, then it is recommended to use the Clockwork Citrus Filet or the less expensive version Witchmother’s Potent Brew.
Gameplay – Solo Magicka Necromancer
Vateshran Hollows Arena Veteran Full Run
I highly recommend checking out the written guide to learn more about the Vateshran Hollows arena. The written guide explains everything in detail and also has some nice tricks explained, that you can use to make your life easier!
Icereach Solo Run
If you want to learn more about the Icereach dungeon, you can check out the Icereach overview page.
Update Log
26.01.2020 Added the Solo Magicka Necromancer Build for the Harrowstorm DLC.
15.05.2020 Updated the build for the GREYMOOR CHAPTER.
23.10.2020 Updated the build for the MARKARTH DLC, Greymoor Chapter.
05.03.2021 Updated the Build for the FLAMES OF AMBITION DLC, Blackwood Chapter.
25.05.2021 Updated the Build for the BLACKWOOD CHAPTER.
09.08.2021 Updated the Build for the WAKING FLAME DLC, Blackwood Chapter.
13.10.2021 Updated the Build for the DEADLANDS DLC, Blackwood Chapter.
04.03.2022 Updated the Build for the ASCENDING TIDE DLC, High Isle Chapter.
13.05.2022 Updated the Build for the HIGH ISLE CHAPTER.
03.08.2022 Updated the Build for the LOST DEPTHS DLC, High Isle Chapter.
24.10.2022 Updated the Build for the FIRESONG DLC, High Isle Chapter.
08.03.2023 Updated the Build for the SCRIBES OF FATE DLC, Necrom Chapter.
01.06.2023 Updated the Build for the ESO NECROM CHAPTER.
23.10.2023 Updated the Build for Update 40.
06.03.2024 Updated the Build for the Scions of Ithelia DLC Update 41, Gold Road Chapter
