ESO Main Tank Builds For Every Trial

ESO Main Tank Builds

Updated: Lost Depths (September 2022)

ESO Main Tank Builds Information

Welcome to The Tank Club: ESO Main Tank Builds.

These builds are designed for generic use in 12-person trial content more specifically for veteran and hardmode trials.
If you are looking for a more beginner friendly trial build, then check out the Beginner Tank Builds page and our YouTube channel.

When it comes to an optimised build for 12-person trials, it’s impossible to suggest one individual setup since every group will expect something different. You are also limited on what is useful to your group depending on many factors including the level of experience, your ability as a Tank and the difficulty of the trial.

When it comes to trial content there are a few generic good options for a Tank setup with some more niche options for certain situations.

Race

Nord
Redguard
Imperial
Any

Mundus

The Atronach
Mundus Info

Food

Bewitched Sugar Skulls
Orzorga’s Smoked Bear Haunch

Potions

Potion Info

ESO Main Tank Builds Gear

Generic 1

Piece	Set	Weight	Trait	Enchantment
Head	Nazaray / Tremorscale / Encratis’s Behemoth	Medium	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Shoulder	Nazaray / Tremorscale / Encratis’s Behemoth	Light	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Chest	Turning Tide / Pearlescent Ward	Heavy	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Hands	Turning Tide / Pearlescent Ward	Heavy	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Waist	Turning Tide / Pearlescent Ward	Heavy	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Legs	Turning Tide / Pearlescent Ward	Heavy	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Feet	Turning Tide / Pearlescent Ward	Heavy	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Necklace	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Jewellery	Infused	Magicka Recovery
Ring	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Jewellery	Infused	Magicka Recovery
Ring	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Jewellery	Infused	Magicka Recovery
Main Hand	Puncturing Remedy	Any 1H	Charged	Shock
Off Hand	Puncturing Remedy	Shield	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Main Hand Backup	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Ice Staff	Infused	Crusher

Generic 2

Piece	Set	Weight	Trait	Enchantment
Head	Nazaray / Archdruid Devyric / Encratis’s Behemoth	Medium	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Shoulder	Nazaray / Archdruid Devyric / Encratis’s Behemoth	Light	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Chest	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Hands	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Waist	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Legs	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Feet	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Necklace	Crimson Oath’s Rive	Jewellery	Infused	Magicka Recovery
Ring	Crimson Oath’s Rive	Jewellery	Infused	Magicka Recovery
Ring	Crimson Oath’s Rive	Jewellery	Infused	Magicka Recovery
Main Hand	Puncturing Remedy	Any 1H	Charged	Shock
Off Hand	Puncturing Remedy	Shield	Sturdy/Divines	Prismatic Defence
Main Hand Backup	Crimson Oath’s Rive	Ice Staff	Infused	Crusher

Piece	Set	Weight	Trait	Enchantment
Head	Tremorscale / Encratis’s Behemoth / Troll King / Engine Guardian	Medium	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Shoulder	Tremorscale / Encratis’s Behemoth / Troll King / Engine Guardian	Light	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Chest	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Hands	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Waist	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Legs	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Feet	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Necklace	Saxhleel Champion	Jewellery	Infused	Prismatic Cost Reduction
Ring	Saxhleel Champion	Jewellery	Infused	Prismatic Cost Reduction
Ring	Saxhleel Champion	Jewellery	Infused	Prismatic Cost Reduction
Main Hand	Puncturing Remedy	Any 1H	Charged	Shock
Off Hand	Puncturing Remedy	Shield	Sturdy	Prismatic Defence
Main Hand Backup	Saxhleel Champion	Ice Staff	Infused	Crusher

Piece	Set	Weight	Trait	Enchantment
Head	Archdruid Devyric / Tremorscale / Encratis’s Behemoth	Medium	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Shoulder	Archdruid Devyric / Tremorscale / Encratis’s Behemoth	Light	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Chest	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Hands	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Waist	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Legs	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Feet	Claw of Yolnahkriin	Heavy	Divines	Prismatic Defence
Necklace	Elemental Catalyst	Jewellery	Infused	Prismatic Cost Reduction
Ring	Elemental Catalyst	Jewellery	Infused	Prismatic Cost Reduction
Ring	Elemental Catalyst	Jewellery	Infused	Prismatic Cost Reduction
Main Hand	Elemental Catalyst	Any 1H	Charged	Shock
Off Hand	Elemental Catalyst	Shield	Sturdy	Prismatic Defence
Main Hand Backup	Elemental Catalyst	Ice Staff	Infused	Crusher

Useful Main Tank Gear Sets

Claw of Yolnahkriin – This is the most common and useful Main Tank set. It offers a group damage buff while also being easy to activate and maintain making it the perfect Tank set. Always used by Main Tanks since they will taunt the most.
Crimson Oath’s Rive – With the current meta, many damage dealers will use medium armor meaning they will be under the pen cap. You can provide additional pen via gear but you only need one of the three options. You can use Crimson on the Main or Off Tank, the Main Tank can use Tremorscale or a damage dealer can use Roar of Alkosh.
Turning Tide – This is another very good set, it replaces the need for Necromancers using the Colossus Ultimate. This is particularly good when either you don’t have enough Necros in your group or you want them to use an alternative Ultimate. When combined with Archdruid or Nazaray monster sets you can keep virtually a 100% Major Vulnerability uptime which is a great group damage boost.
Pearlescent Ward – If your group has Alkosh or Tremorscale and Necromancers using Colossus then you start to run out of gear options. You can then consider Pearlescent Ward as this provides both a damage buff when your group are alive and a damage reduction buff when people are down and you don’t have to do anything at all to maintain it, it’s active 100% of the time with zero effort so its a good set for a Main Tank and perfect for a beginner especially.
Saxhleel Champion – This set is only usually seen on Main Tanks in Cloudrest but it has other uses if you aren’t required to use some of the other sets. If you are progressing harder content and your group are struggling then using Sax will allow you to use a defensive ultimate such as a Barrier while still providing the Warhorn damage buff. It can also be good to extend your Major Force buff duration.
Powerful Assault – This is typically an Off Tank set however there are specific occasions where you may need it as a Main Tank. It can be a really good Main Tank set for Cloudrest since this is a hard stacked fight and places where you might only use one Tank such as Aetherian Archive, you may be asked to use this. It requires a large amount of micro-management so typically not a good thing when you’re the Main Tank.
Elemental Catalyst – This is often required for a Main Tank when doing Asylum Sanctorium simply because you are glued to the boss as the Main Tank and you’re group are often at range from you so you want to apply boss debuffs more than group buffs and Turning Tide doesn’t work very well in there so it’s really one of the only options.
Way of Martial Knowledge – Another very uncommon Tank set but you might sometimes see it used in Sunspire. When fighting Lokkestiiz, you’re usually expected to range Tank and reflect the damage back to the boss, this usually means casting a lot of Defensive Stance which drops your Stamina low making it perfect for the use of MK.