ESO Tank Class Tier List

Welcome to the comprehensive Elder Scrolls Online tank class tier list. We understand that different tanking roles, such as dungeons, trials main tank, and trials off tank, have distinct requirements. Therefore, we have categorized our tier list accordingly to provide accurate rankings for each role.

In evaluating tank classes, we consider not only their contributions to a group but also their effectiveness in fulfilling the tanking role, their sustainability, and their survivability. Our tier list aims to offer insights into the strengths and weaknesses of each class in these aspects.

For more information on each individual class you can see our Tank Class Overviews.

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Top 3 Tank Classes | Elder Scrolls ...

Dungeons

We’ve placed the Arcanist really high for Elder Scrolls Online Necrom and this is because they can offer over 10 group buffs that are combined into their Tank skills, they have great sustain, good survival and can crowd control enemies almost as good as a Dragonknight.

DK drops into second but they are great at sustain and survival along with having useful abilities for almost every situation. They have some good group buffs but these are sometimes specific to certain group types so not always completely useful.

Necro comes into 3rd but quite honestly you could use almost any class after the Arcanist and Dragonknight. Every ESO class can Tank and for dungeon content that are all strong in their own right, the only difference between the classes becomes more of how much group benefit you can offer.

Trials Main

For Main Tanks the top class is either Dragonknight or Arcanist. They are both equally able to be the top class but for different reasons.

In most cases the Dragonknight is always useful for a Main Tank spot in a group for the Stagger buff and if needed the other buffs too. However, if your group decides they don’t want to use the gear sets Roar of Alkosh or Crimson Oath’s Rive and they want an Arcanist, then you MUST be an Arcanist Main Tank.

The unique group buff of an Arcanist is a taunt skill that debuffs the enemy by removing 2200 armor, so if your group want this then you have no choice other than to be the Main Tank, combined with the Arcanist offering a bunch of other extremely useful buffs they can very quickly become the top Main Tank. On the flip side, you can provide all of the Arcanists buffs with someone else playing one so they are not essential if you don’t use the armor pen debuff.

Sorcerers are in at 3rd thanks to their strong defensive capabilities and the fact that they can now provide a full group synergy of Major Berserk and you’ll need 2 Sorcs in a group, providing an opportunity for a Sorc Main Tank to come into the mix. They have a couple of other groups buffs too but the big thing is they are easy to play, one of the easiest to sustain and their survival is great, only beaten by a Necromancer when dealing with DoT damage.

The remaining classes are tricky to rank. Necros are great for DoT damage reduction and many groups will switch the Main Tank and Off Tank around for certain fights for that reason. This doesn’t mean Necro Main Tank is a mainstay for the role though.

Nightblades actually make incredible Main Tanks and they are probably the best “Tank” in ESO as they can buff themselves up a lot and debuff the enemy more than any other class but the benefits they offer a group are severely lacking.

Warden Tanks, I personally prefer to play as Off Tanks because they really have poor quality passives and are not great defensively but they do offer some nice group benefits, these are typically covered by a Warden Healer however.

Trials Off

The top Off Tank has to be the Necromancer but the reason for this is only due to the current game content. The newest content has really high stacked damage over time and bleed effects and the Necro is vastly superior at dealing with this. Necros can also provide the group with Major Vulnerability from their Colossus but this can also be replaced by gear sets. Aside from that the Necro doesn’t offer a huge amount of benefit so especially in older content you could use a different class of Tank but the Necro performs so well in the newest content and will often switch with the Main Tank in some fights where the DoTs are incredibly high.

Second we have the Dragonknight and this is mainly for the situation where your group have chosen an Arcanist Main Tank, you still want to have that Stagger debuff on the enemy. it’s harder to maintain stagger from an Off Tank because you’re often not fully 100% focussed on the target like the Main Tank, but it is much easier to sustain.

Third is the Warden, BUT if you have a Warden Healer then they are simply not needed at all. You will need to have the Warden buffs in every group so if your group has no Warden, playing on as an Off Tank will be extremely important for the group mostly for the increased Max Health buff and Major Resolve.

Next again is the Sorcerer but it’s probably joint third. If you have one or less Sorcs in your group then you really want a second one to provide that Major Berserk group buff, but you can also provide an Armor shred which is better than the Arcanist’s armor shred when you’re an Off Tank because it’s not a Taunt skill.

Arcanist comes in next and they are not rated highly for an Off Tank because the main reason you would have one as a Tank in a group is for the armor shred they provide with their Taunt skill. They do have a ton of other buffs and benefits but these could be supplied by anyone else playing an Arcanist.

Templar are next just because they do offer a group buff and it’s often just not needed at all. Nightblade are last because they are so strong defensively you’d want them in a position where they are actually Tanking and the group buff they offer is good but they really only have the one.