ESO Tank Subclassing Guide: The 6 Best Subclassing Options for ESO Tanks
Subclassing in The Elder Scrolls Online gives players the flexibility to tap into skill lines from other classes, opening up more options than ever for customising your build. For ESO Tanks, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution like there often is for DPS. The best subclassing choice depends heavily on your group’s needs and the type of content you’re tackling.
That said, most tank builds will lean towards one of two popular combinations. The first mixes Arcanist, Dragonknight, and Warden for strong group utility, while the second combines Arcanist, Dragonknight, and Necromancer for a sturdier, more survival-focused approach.
In this ESO Tank Subclassing Guide we’re looking at six of the most valuable subclass skill lines to unlock and level for ESO Tanking, listed in no particular order.
Soldier of Apocrypha (Arcanist)
The Soldier of Apocrypha skill line from the Arcanist is easily one of the strongest tanking options in ESO, offering top-tier defensive abilities, excellent passives, and valuable group utility.
Rune of the Colorless Pool stands out as a must-have, it effortlessly applies both Minor Vulnerability and Minor Brittle to enemies, helping to significantly boost your group’s DPS. Runic Defense is another solid choice, with both morphs offering utility, granting Minor Protection and also provides Minor Resolve to the group, making you tankier while offering an easier method of upkeep compared to relying on a healer casting Combat Prayer.
Gibbering Shield is a defensive ultimate worth slotting just for the passive recovery boost alone. Runic Sunder functions as your taunt, but also strips armor from enemies and applies Minor Maim. While the armor reduction isn’t essential in every group, it’s crucial in setups where you’re not reaching the 18,200 penetration cap.
Other notable skills include Impervious Runeward, a Max Health-based shield that also heals, and Cruxweaver Armor, which grants Major Resolve while applying Minor Breach to nearby enemies.
This skill line is also packed with powerful passives. You get a significant armor boost, a group-wide Minor Evasion buff, and Wellspring of the Abyss, which increases your resource recovery based on how many Soldier of Apocrypha skills you’ve slotted.
Using this subclass on any tank build has become pretty much essential in the subclassing era, it’s just that good.
Draconic Power (Dragonknight)
The Draconic Power skill line from the Dragonknight is a very strong defensive toolkit for tanks, offering some of the best survival passives in the game.
The real value here comes from the passives. Burning Heart increases your healing received, Elder Dragon boosts health recovery, which can stack up over long fights, and Iron Skin increases the amount of damage you can block. Scaled Armor adds a large boost to your resistances, helping to round out your overall toughness.
Most of the active skills in this line are situational but still useful. Burning Talons is an AoE immobilisation skill that can be great for controlling trash pulls and also provides a synergy for your group. Dragon Blood offers a reliable emergency self-heal, especially when your health drops low. You’ve also got niche tools like Protective Plate, which gives Snare immunity but can also reduce the damage of incoming projectiles, and Deep Breath, a rare AoE interrupt that’s occasionally helpful in specific boss fights.
Hardened Armor gives you Major Resolve, a damage shield, and a bit of offensive pressure by damaging nearby enemies, making it a decent all-round defensive skill although there are many of them available.
While you may not need every ability in this line, Draconic Power is worth including in your setup for its incredibly strong passive bonuses and niche survivability tools that can make a real difference in tough content.
Bone Tyrant (Necromancer)
The Bone Tyrant skill line from the Necromancer is a strong pick for tanks who want better survivability and faster ultimate generation, especially in fights with lots of adds.
The key skill here is Necrotic Potency, which allows you to sap corpses to gain 6 Ultimate, while also healing and slightly reducing your incoming damage. It shines in trash pulls or add-heavy encounters where you can quickly build up Ultimate for high-impact abilities.
Bone Armor is another excellent tool, it grants both Major and Minor Resolve for your own defence and also creates a corpse when cast. If you recast it every 10 seconds, you’ll consistently generate corpses even in boss fights, helping maintain steady Ultimate generation. Empowering Grasp also has some good uses with its Major and Minor Maim that debuffs enemies.
Other usable skills include Agony Totem, which grants Minor Protection to your group and applies Major Cowardice to enemies in an area. While helpful, these effects are often provided more easily and efficiently by other sources. Hungry Scythe can also be useful, it deals damage in a cone and provides a solid heal and heal-over-time, particularly effective when hitting multiple targets.
The passives in Bone Tyrant are also very tank-friendly. Disdain Harm reduces damage taken from DoTs, which is especially valuable in many of the newer PvE encounters. Last Gasp gives a flat Max Health increase, Health Avarice improves healing received, and Death Gleaning gives back Magicka and Stamina when enemies die nearby, providing small but consistent sustain boosts.
If you’re looking to toughen up and get more out of your ultimates, Bone Tyrant is a strong option to include in your subclassing setup.
Winters Embrace (Warden)
The Winter’s Embrace skill line is the Warden’s tank-focused tree, offering a reliable group resistance buff, some niche but useful tools, and solid defensive passives.
At the heart of this line is Expansive Frost Cloak which provides a group Major Resolve buff, significantly boosting your group’s resistances, making it one of the most important survival buffs for any kind of content.
Outside of that, most of the skills have more situational uses. Shimmering Shield is a standout in certain encounters, it’s a strong projectile shield that can absorb heavy incoming ranged attacks, and it also grants Major Heroism if you’re not getting it from another source. Polar Wind offers a solid burst heal with a heal-over-time effect and also heals one nearby ally, making it a helpful emergency tool. Gripping Shards provides an AoE immobilisation effect, particularly useful for controlling dungeon adds during pulls.
The passives here add some extra durability. Frozen Armor gives you bonus resistances when you have Winter’s Embrace skills slotted, and Piercing Cold increases the damage you can block by 8%, which adds up over long fights. The remaining two passives are a bit more situational, Glacial Presence relies on triggering the Chilled status effect, which is often already covered by Blockade of Frost or Rune of the Colorless Pool, and Icy Aura’s bonus to Major Maim isn’t as consistent or effective as using Frost Clench or Scribing alternatives.
If your build focuses on group buffs and strong defensive uptime, weaving Winter’s Embrace into your tank setup is a smart and dependable choice.
Earthen Heart (Dragonknight)
The Earthen Heart skill line from the Dragonknight is a top-tier option for tanks looking to boost group performance while also improving their own sustain.
Igneous Weapons offers a long-duration group buff, providing Major Brutality and Major Sorcery, while the Mountain’s Blessing passive adds Minor Brutality on top, making this line an easy way to keep damage buffs rolling without relying on others. Stone Giant is another standout ability, applying the Stagger debuff to enemies, which increases the damage they take from your group.
You’ve also got access to Magma Shell, which is one of the best defensive ultimates available. It makes you nearly unkillable for a short duration and gives nearby allies a damage shield, making it a strong choice for high-pressure moments or when solo holding mechanics.
Battle Roar is one of the strongest sustain passives in the game. Every time you use an ultimate, you gain a chunk of all three resources, health, magicka, and stamina, keeping your rotation flowing and reducing pressure on your sustain tools.
There are a few other useful skills here as well. Cinder Storm provides a small but decent heal-over-time in an area, which can help with light group/self healing, and Igneous Shield grants a damage shield to you and nearby allies while also giving you Major Mending, boosting any healing you receive but is also a useful tool for proccing the Helping Hands passive.
The passives here are solid too. Helping Hands restores stamina every time you cast an Earthen Heart ability that doesn’t cost stamina, and Eternal Mountain increases the duration of all Earthen Heart skills, helping you maintain key buffs more easily.
This skill line is a great choice for tanks who want to support their group with offensive buffs while making their own resource management much more forgiving.
Restoring Light (Templar)
The Restoring Light skill line from the Templar offers some niche group utility and a few helpful tools that can support your tanking setup in specific situations.
Extended Ritual provides a modest heal-over-time, not particularly strong when used by a tank, but it can still contribute. More importantly, it grants a group-wide Purify synergy, which removes negative effects from allies. This can be especially useful when someone in your group is running the Alkosh set, allowing for reliable synergy uptime.
Restoring Focus is one of the strongest skills, grants Major Resolve, a small self-heal, and stamina recovered over time even while blocking, making it a decent option for tanks looking to boost their self-sustain.
Other situational skills include Radiant Aura, offering Minor Intellect and Minor Endurance to the group. While not essential, it’s worth slotting if no one else is providing these buffs to help improve group sustain. Hasty Prayer can also be slotted during trash pulls to grant Minor Expedition, helping your group move through dungeons a bit faster.
The passives in this line add some low-key value too. Light Weaver grants a bit of Ultimate to group members healed under 50% HP with Extended Ritual, while Mending increases your healing done to low-health allies. Sacred Ground is particularly useful, increasing your block mitigation when standing in your Extended Ritual or Restoring Focus, offering a nice survivability boost.
While Restoring Light isn’t essential for most tank builds, it does offer some situational benefits, especially for groups that need a Purify synergy, a cleanse, or a bit of extra sustain and movement support.
Notable Mentions
While not core skill lines for most tank builds, a few others are worth mentioning for their niche strengths in certain situations:
- Siphoning (Nightblade) – Offers excellent niche ultimate generation thanks to the Catalyst and Transfer passives. If you’re looking to build Ultimate as quickly as possible, especially in add-heavy encounters, this can be surprisingly effective.
- Storm Calling (Sorcerer) – Sometimes used for niche speed pushing with Streak.
- Grave Lord (Necromancer) – Useful for slotting an additional Colossus ultimate to apply Major Vulnerability when needed in specific group compositions. It also has a few corpse-generating skills that pair well with Necrotic Potency from the Bone Tyrant line.
- Daedric Summoning (Sorcerer) – Brings Major Berserk via the Storm Atronach ultimate, which can be helpful if your group needs the damage boost and no one else is providing it. Passives in this line also reduce ultimate cost, improve sustain, and reduce damage taken. Skills like Regenerative Ward, Bound Armor, and Summon Clannfear can offer additional utility depending on the situation.
Arch Angel
Article details provided by Arch Angel from The Tank Club Discord
