ESO Necromancer Tank Guide
Table of Contents
ESO Necromancer Tank Introduction
Welcome to our ESO Necromancer Tank Guide. On this page we’ll be taking a deep dive into everything you need to know about the Necromancer Tank, everything about the skills, passives, strengths and weaknesses.
The Necromancer Tank is a popular choice for Off Tanking in Trials due to their super strong group utility ultimate, and their ability to generate ultimate back very quickly.
See more: Tank Class Overviews, Skills, Passives & Information
ESO Necromancer Tank Skills and Passives
Grave Lord
Frozen Colossus
(Vital)
If you are using a Necro Tank this is one of the reasons why – because your group requires more Major Vulnerability that comes from this Ultimate. This is no longer as important as it was in the past because some groups now choose to use Turning Tide and Archdruid Devyric so it’s not as essential as it used to be but using Necros with Colossus means you can free up space to use different gear sets.
Flame Skull
(Not Needed)
Stalking Blastbones → Morph of Blastbones
(Situational)
The reason you would use this skill is for “farming” corpses. Either morph will work, typically it would be Stalking for a Tank since it’s Magicka costing but if you are playing a Hybrid setup then you might use Blighted Blastbones. This skill is used primarily so you can create a corpse which you can then absorb with Necrotic Potency. When you combine this with other corpses it will increase the speed with which you gain back your Ultimate, which is very valuable with a setup designed for doing it.
Avid Boneyard → Morph of Boneyard
(Situational)
This is the selfish morph that creates a synergy that you can use yourself. This is only worth using if you don’t need the AoE Major Breach provided by the other morph and you want to give yourself the synergy for increasing your personal Alkosh uptime.
Unnerving Boneyard → Morph of Boneyard
(Vital)
Applies Major Breach as an AoE, plus provides your group with a synergy which does damage and heals you for the damage caused. This is the group morph, it’s good for trash fights for the Major Breach and it’s good for supplying a synergy to your group.
Skeletal Mage
(Situational)
This again would be used in a similar way to Blastbones and either morph could be used. The primary function is for creating corpses to absorb with Necrotic Potency for gaining back Ultimate faster. It will provide some additional DPS which would be good for a Hybrid setup. If you cast this skill halfway through its duration it will generate a corpse, so you don’t have to wait for it to die.
Mystic Siphon → Morph of Mystic Siphon
(Situational)
This skill can be used for the additional recovery but is a bit of a wasted skill slot just for 150 recovery. Might also be used when using Elemental Catalyst as this will be your source of damage over time Shock Damage. Using EC is generally not advised for a Tank other than very specific situations.
Reusable Parts
(Situational)
This is the only passive that’s really needed by the Tank but only if you are using Blastbone, Spirit Mender or Skeletal Mage.
Death Knell, Dismember & Rapid Rot
(All Unnecessary)
All of these passives are damage focused that are not essential for Tanking although you could pick them up if you have spare skill points to give you a small damage increase.
Bone Tyrant
Bone Goliath Transformation
(Unnecessary)
This isn’t something you’ll really use, more of a PvP skill. Could use for a real desperate situation but for PvE you’d be better off slotting Colossus, Aggressive Horn or Renewing Animation.
Hungry Scythe → Morph of Death Scythe
(Vital)
This is the Necro Tank’s main heal. It’s a Magicka damage ability which heals based on how many targets it hits and also give you a heal over time. It scales on your Max Health. When dealing with multiple targets it provides a large heal, the only downside is you need to actually hit a target to get healed so if you are out of range or in a transitional fight where you move a lot and you need a heal, you could really struggle.
Ruinous Scythe → Morph of Death Scythe
(Optional)
This is the Stamina morph and generally wouldn’t be used. It does offer a potential group buff with Off Balance, but this is only something worth considering if the damage dealers in your group are using the Exploiter Champion Point passive, otherwise it’s not worth using it.
Beckoning Armor → Morph of Bone Armor
(Vital)
Armor buff that grants Major Resolve and will pull in 1 ranged enemy that is attacking you every 2 seconds and if they are not taunted already it will apply a 15 second taunt. This can pull in ranged enemies quicker than once every 2 seconds if you just recast the ability, it also resets the pull in timer so you can actually pull in a target every second. Not as reliable as using an actual instant pull ability such as Silver Leash and utilising a set like the Void Bash set would be far superior to relying on this skill.
Summoner’s Armor → Morph of Bone Armor
(Situational)
This is the other morph, and it is very useful when you are trying to gain Ultimate back faster by summoning and absorbing corpses. It will reduce the cost of your summoning skills plus create a corpse when it ends. If you recast this once it reaches half of the duration it will also create a corpse, so this is another useful skill to combine with other corpses and Necrotic Potency for generating Ultimate much faster.
Necrotic Potency → Morph of Bitter Harvest
(Vital)
This is a fantastic skill for a Tank. Along with the heal and damage reduction you also gain 6 Ultimate per corpse consumed. This makes it fantastic for 4-person content where there are many adds you can use your Ultimate much more frequently and also in some trials where you have lots of add phases it helps to boost your Ultimate uptimes easily by consuming all the corpses. You can also combine its use by slotting a range of summoning skills to create corpses and then absorb them to get huge Ultimate gain in almost any fight. The other morph Deaden Pain is not worth using since you can just slot Revealing Flare for a more consistent Major Protection if needed.
Agony Totem → Morph of Bone Totem
(Useful)
A skill for add control and also a nice group synergy. Minor Protection is a useful group buff and AoE Minor Vulnerability debuff is a nice addition which increases the damage your group do to enemies by 5%. The crowd control is a Fear which means any enemies that are pulled or chained won’t be affected by the Fear so it’s not as useful as an Immobilisation.
Empowering Grasp → Morph of Grave Grasp
(Optional)
This is no longer as useful due to the changes to Empower but it was previously one of the main reasons why a Necro Tank was useful for group content. It summons 3 patches of skeletal claws from the ground in front of you which snare the enemy, causes Minor Maim and immobilise them, so its a crowd control skill first of all although not a very good one because its only in front of the caster and not very wide. This is also a group buff, it will give up to 6 members Empower who are stood inside each patch.
Death Gleaning
(Vital)
Useful sustain passive.
Disdain Harm
(Vital)
Pretty vital skill especially in DoT heavy fights.
Health Avarice
(Vital)
You’ll likely have at least 1 and sometimes multiple Bone Tyrant Skills slotted which will give a healing boost.
Last Gasp
(Vital)
More Max Health always very helpful for a Tank.