ESO Off Tank Build

This build is designed for 12-player trial content, especially veteran and hardmode trials.

In trials, group optimization is key. Each group will use different sets and classes, making a single optimal build impossible. Adapt your setup based on your group’s composition and strategy. Your build’s effectiveness depends on factors like the group’s experience, your tanking skills, and the trial’s difficulty. Stay flexible and adjust your build to meet your group’s specific needs for the best results.

Table of Contents

ESO Off Tank Information

Mundus

The Atronach
Mundus Info

Food

Orzorga’s Red Frothgar
Bewitched Sugar Skulls
Orzorga’s Smoked Bear Haunch

Potions

Potion Info

Race: Nord is ideal for long-term progression due to its resistances. Nord helps you easily reach the resistance cap, crucial for enduring DoT and Bleed damage and big hitting mechanics without excessive focus on buffing resistances.

Mundus: The Atronach is essential for Magicka Recovery, aiming for around 2500 to sustain all abilities.

Food:

  • General Use: Red Frothgar for Magicka Recovery and Max Health, though it reduces Max Magicka and Stamina.
  • Harmony Jewellery Users: Sugar Skulls to maximize stats and benefit from Harmony bonuses.
  • Stamina Skill Focus: Smoked Bear Haunch is ideal if you frequently use Stamina skills and know when to safely drop block or when Off Tanking, don’t need to block as much.

Potions:

  • General Use: Tri-Stat potions for recovery and resource restoration.
  • Advanced Raiding: Minor Heroism potions for faster Ultimate generation.
  • Situational: Immovability or Lingering Health/Speed potions for specific needs.

Resistances: Aim for the 33,100 cap using Major & Minor Resolve, Passives, Champion Points, Reinforced gear. Mostly important in the newest Trials where you actively need to Tank, not so much the case in older trials.

Magicka Recovery: Ensure a minimum of 2500 Magicka Recovery to maintain 100% uptime on skills, buffs, and debuffs. More recovery allows frequent use of abilities like Igneous Shield.

Stats and Attributes:

  • Health: Aim for 38k+ Max Health to ensure comfort and survivability in most trials.
  • Stamina & Magicka: Adjust according to your personal preference and the specific trial. The role of an Off Tank can vary, sometimes requiring more active tanking and other times less. Balance your Stamina and Magicka to suit the demands of each individual trial.

By following these guidelines, you can build an effective and resilient main tank suitable for any trial scenario.

ESO Off Tank Gear

PieceSetWeightTraitEnchantment
HeadMagma Incarnate / NazarayMediumDivinesPrismatic Defence
ShoulderSpaulder of Ruin / NazarayLightDivinesPrismatic Defence
ChestSaxhleel Champion / Lucent EchoesHeavyDivinesPrismatic Defence
HandsSaxhleel Champion / Lucent EchoesHeavyDivinesPrismatic Defence
WaistSaxhleel Champion / Lucent EchoesHeavyDivinesPrismatic Defence
LegsSaxhleel Champion / Lucent EchoesHeavyDivinesPrismatic Defence
FeetSaxhleel Champion / Lucent EchoesHeavyDivinesPrismatic Defence
NecklacePowerful AssaultJewelleryInfusedPrismatic Cost Reduction
RingPowerful AssaultJewelleryInfusedPrismatic Cost Reduction
RingPowerful AssaultJewelleryInfusedPrismatic Cost Reduction
Main HandPuncturing RemedyAny 1HDecisiveInfused Stamina
Off HandPuncturing RemedyShieldDivinesPrismatic Defence
Main Hand BackupPowerful AssaultIce StaffInfusedCrusher

Gear Enchants: Prismatic Defense enchants are the best option, boosting Max Magicka, Stamina, and Health, providing over 2000 additional Max Stats compared to single stat enchants.

Gear Traits:

  • Divines: Excellent for most situations due to the increased sustain needed to maintain all uptimes.
  • Reinforced: Necessary for hard content where you need to tank enemies.
  • Well-Fitted: Useful in trials like vAS+2, where sprinting to stack bosses is essential, or in vCR when tanking Gryphons.

One-Handed Weapon:

  • Traits: Decisive for more Ultimate, Infused to enhance weapon enchant, or Defending for increased resistances.
  • Enchants: Absorb Stamina or Magicka for sustain, Hardening for a damage shield, Weakening if not applied by a Healer’s Staff.

Ice Staff:

  • Traits: Infused with Crusher enchant is essential. Maintain Frost Blockade to keep Crusher uptime.
  • Add Pulls: Consider a Charged Staff with Pulsar to further debuff enemies.

Jewelry Traits:

  • Infused: Generally the best option, allowing the Main Tank or Alkosh user to benefit from most synergies.
  • Harmony: Useful in high-damage situations, such as Bahsei Hardmode in Rockgrove, where you’ll be in a critical situation and need extra resources. Use Harmony when physically tanking a boss or enemy with high damage; otherwise, use Infused.

Jewellery Enchants:

  • Prismatic Cost Reduction: Beneficial for Off Tanks who often maintain more Stamina skills compared to Main Tanks, such as keeping up Powerful Assault with Caltrops or Vigor.
  • Magicka Recovery: Usually outperforms other enchants, essential for maintaining buff and debuff uptimes.

  • Powerful Assault – This is the most essential Off Tank set, it provides a large group buff but it does require you to cast an Assault skill twice every 15 seconds so it can be quite resource intensive.
  • Saxhleel Champion – Very easy set to use that’s good for allowing the Off Tank to use an Ultimate that provides additional benefits or safety while still providing the Major Force buff or for extending your Major Force buff duration where you have low uptimes like Asylum Sanctorium.
  • Lucent Echoes – Another easy to use set that will provide a good group buff, potentially as a replacement for Elemental Catalyst in high performing groups or used with it in groups who are under the crit cap.
  • Pearlescent Ward – Good Off Tank set if it’s not being used by the Main Tank, gives a group DPS buff, gives a group defense buff when people are dead and requires absolutely no micromanagement so it’s just always active even when you die.
  • Crimson Oath’s Rive – Needed for reaching the penetration cap of 18,200. Useful in Medium Armor wearing groups if your group doesn’t have a Damage Dealer using Roar of Alkosh, an Arcanist with Runic Sunder or a Main Tank using Tremorscale.

  • Archdruid Devyric – If you don’t have enough Necromancer’s or Colossus Ultimates in group then this might be needed to provide Major Vulnerability.
  • Encratis’s Behemoth – This is a good group set if your team are using Flame Enchants, Staves and Skills, especially with Dragonknight Damage Dealers in group. It’s also very useful for fights that have a lot of Fire Damage such as Dreadsail Reef 1st boss and vHoF Triplets.
  • Nazaray – A good set to use if it’s not being used already, it will extended the duration of negative effects applied to bosses which can be really strong especially when it extends the duration of short duration debuffs such as Minor Brittle or helps to maintain a very high uptime on Major and Minor Vulnerability.
  • Nunatak – This can be used when someone in the group is also using Nazaray, when combining the two sets you can get a huge Major Brittle uptime which you should be able to maintain almost 100%. This means you can drop Saxhleel Champion since you can cover the loss of Major Force with this, Major Force is a group buff to Crit where as this works as the opposite where its a enemy debuff effecting increasing Crit received.

  • Spaulder of Ruin – Spaulder is the most common Mythic used by an Off Tank as it provides a group buff but it’s only for 6 people so it can be used by two people per trial group in an attempt to give the benefits to a whole group. It’s usually combined with a Magma Incarnate or Baron Thirsk Helmet to recover some of the losses of recovery.

ESO Off Tank Scribed Skills

Wield Soul

Focus Script: Pull
Deals ? Magic Damage to an enemy, pulls them to you, and taunts them for 15 seconds if they are not already taunted.

Signature Script: Druid’s Resurgence
Restores 1000 Magicka and 1000 Stamina.

Affix Script: Cowardice
Afflicts the enemy with Major Cowardice for 10 seconds, reducing Weapon and Spell Damage by 430.

This is really useful for dropping the unsustainable Silver Leash and having a Magicka pull but it also acts like a Stamina sustain tool, allowing you to cast it for Magicka and return Stamina each time. Alongside that you can attach another useful Major buff or debuff, Major Cowardice and Vitality are both great options for trials.

Torchbearer

Focus Script: Generate Ultimate
Generates 1 Ultimate to you and your allies with each sweep.

Signature Script: Gladiator’s Tenacity
Reduces damage taken by 30% for 2.2 seconds.

Affix Script: Heroism
Grants Minor Heroism for 20 seconds with each sweep, generating 1 Ultimate every 1.5 seconds.

This skill is fantastic but has a 2-second cast time, which is a significant drawback. However, Off Tanks often have the flexibility to cast riskier skills like this. It provides substantial group benefits, including Ultimate gain, Minor Heroism for increased Ultimate generation, and significant damage reduction, which can be strategically timed for hard-hitting moments or mechanics.

Trample

Focus Script: ?

Signature Script: ?

Affix Script: ?

There are numerous ways to set this up to provide group benefits or apply enemy debuffs. It’s worth exploring and utilizing based on the additional effects your group may need.

ESO Off Tank Champion Points

Warfare

Ironclad

Duelist’s Rebuff

Bulwark 

Enduring Resolve (DoT damage fights)

Unassailable (AoE damage fights)

Fitness

Boundless Vitality 

Fortified

Rejuvenation

Bracing Anchor (Bosses)

Celerity (Adds)