ESO Arcanist Tank Guide

ESO Arcanist Tank Guide Introduction

Welcome to our ESO Arcanist Tank Guide. On this page we’ll be taking a deep dive into everything you need to know about the Arcanist Tank, everything about the skills, passives, strengths and weaknesses.

The Arcanist Tank is a good option for Main Tanking in Trials due to being able to offer up to 11 group buffs combined with it’s unique class buff being tied into a taunt skill. Due to having so many buffs and debuffs they would also be really useful in dungeons.

See more: Tank Class Overviews, Skills, Passives & Information

ESO Arcanist Tank Class Skills & Passives

Herald of the Tome

The Unblinking Eye
(Unnecessary)
This skill is not required for tanking but might be used in solo content.

Runeblades
(Unnecessary)
Could be used for solo situation or additional Crux generation but generally not needed.

Fatecarver
(Unnecessary)
Damage skill that’s not needed for a Tank.

Abyssal Impact
(Unnecessary)
This skill offers an Immobilisation but only in front of you and with a very short duration, there is a better option in the Soldier of Apocrypha skills.

Recuperative Treatise → Morph of Tome-Bearer’s Inspiration
(Situational)
This skill restores a decent amount of resources when it’s active and you use Arcanist Class skills. You might find the Stamina sustain a little challenging if blocking a lot so this skill can be helpful on Boss fights especially.

Rune of DisplacementMorph of The Imperfect Ring
(Unnecessary)
This seems like it could be a good skill, it acts like a vacuum where you apply it to an enemy and it will pull all other enemies with 8m right on top of it. The problem generally is it’s just nowhere near as good as Void Bash because you can end up with a stack of enemies in the wrong place and the radius isn’t that great either.

Fated Fortune – Increased crit healing, works really well in combination with the heal from Runespite Ward.

Harnessed Quintessence

Psychic Lesion

Splintered Secrets

(All Optional)
All of these passives are fully damage focussed and so they are optional for Tanking.

Soldier of Apocrypha

Gibbering Shield
(Unnecessary)
This is a shield skill which seems more beneficial for PvP rather than PvE Tanking. Even the morph that provides a group shield isn’t great since it’s not as good as Barrier. Slotting Gibbering Shield will give you additional recovery via the Wellspring of the Abyss passive, you’ll get less Magicka Recovery compared to slotting Barrier but you gain additional Stamina and Health Recovery.

Runic SunderMorph of Runic Jolt
(Vital)
This is one of the Arcanist’s unique benefits. You apply this to an enemy and it will taunt and apply a armor pen debuff of 2200. The reason why this is used is when combined with Tremorscale it can potentially replace the need for Crimson Oath’s Rive and Alkosh in Trial groups. In dungeons it also helps a lot because it’s likely your dungeon Damage Dealers won’t be at the pen cap. You would ideally replace Pierce Armor with this skill however, you’ll need an additional source of Major Breach.

Impervious Runeward Morph of Runespite Ward
(Vital)
This is a huge damage shield and one of the most vial Arcanist survival tools since it also heals. This is my preferred morph and it acts in a reactional way where you gain a bigger shield for the first second that it’s active then an additional smaller shield afterwards. I take this morph over the other because the other will consume Crux to reduce the cost of the shield and I can virtually spam this without the cost reduction thanks to the Arcanist’s huge recovery potential. By using this morph you will heal for more depending on how many Crux you have saved, this is the only Crux spender that I use and this is so

Cruxweaver ArmorMorph of Fatewoven Armor
(Vital)
This is my preferred morph of this skill because it has a longer duration and creates Crux. You gain Major Resolve but you also apply Minor Breach to enemies when they hit you. This makes this skill really useful in dungeons and it’s a easy application of Minor Breach. It also means that dropping Pierce Armor to use Runic Sunder isn’t much of a problem because we’ve already covered the loss of Minor Breach by using this skill, we just have to find a way to apply Major Breach.

Unbreakable Fate Morph of Fatewoven Armor
(Optional)
This is the alternative morph which gives you additional Block Mitigation but it consumes Crux to do so. I limit my Crux consuming skills to just one so I can control it better and an additional 5% Block Mitigation isn’t really very much. If you are struggling to survive Single Target or AoE damage then you could use this morph but you’ll need to make sure you’re actually building up Crux before you use it to gain the benefit.

Runeguard of FreedomMorph of Runic Defense
(Optional)
This is typically the better morph for Trials as it gives you additional resistances and CC immunity when you are low health and the heal procs, so this can be useful on boss fights in Trials.

Runeguard of Still WatersMorph of Runic Defense
(Vital)
This is the generally better morph especially for dungeons and add pulls as it causes an 360 degree immobilisation. Overall this is a vital skill due to the group buff it provides of Minor Resolve which might be needed in some situations. It also gives you Minor Protection which reduces the damage you take. Additionally it’s a auto-heal skill, the heal scales on your Max Health and it will just heal