ESO PVP Build Guide

The Best PVP Build Guide for ESO! This guide will show you How to Build your Character for success in ESO PVP Gameplay by offering a detailed look at the basics of building your character in The Elder Scrolls Online. Learn all the little details you have to take into consideration when creating a Build, what you need to do and the best practices to create a successful PVP Build. Creating a PVP Build in The Elder Scrolls Online offers more freedom and flexibility than PVE! A few more Beginner Guides you can read are:

• ESO Class Guide
• ESO Best Solo Class Guide
• ESO Race Guide

Attributes – ESO PVP Build Guide

Distributing your Attributes properly is very important for PVP in ESO! Attributes determine the skills you can use and how effective your character can be in PVP. Putting all your points in Stamina or Magicka is the best practice, since this will allow you to use more skills of your choice in combat. Putting a few points into Health might be good for specific builds but the majority will benefit from a single attribute setup.

Armor Sets – ESO PVP Build Guide

The Armor Sets you wear in PVP will determine your efficiency and how offensive or defensive your play style can be! Some Sets offer great defense and allow you to control fights easier while other focus on damage and aim to assist you to get the kill as fast as possible. Usually a combination of an offensive and a defensive Set is the best way to create a balanced PVP Build. However there are times when you want to focus more on offence, so you can get the kill faster and leave the area. This is mostly used by Gank, Assassin-like Glass Cannon PVP Builds though.

In general PVP offers greater flexibility and freedom when creating a Build than PVE. Sets that focus on sustain, damage/penetration or defense are always a good option for a strong PVP Build. Heavy Armor is common in PVP Builds because of the better survivability it offers. Crafted Sets are also a nice option since you can choose their weight(Light, Medium or Heavy). Some good examples of Crafted PVP armor include Clever Alchemist and Shattered Fate. Additionally Monster Sets, Mythic Items and Ability Altering Weapons can also be very helpful when creating a PVP Build.

Armor Passive Skills – Build your Character for PVP ESO

Armor in ESO offers passive skills that affect your Build and play style! Light, Medium and Heavy Armor offer bonuses and penalties, that determine how effective you will be in specific content. These are some of the most important Armor passives you should take into consideration before picking the weight of your Armor and your Sets.

Light Armor:

• Boosts Magicka Recovery
• Boosts Spell Resistance
• Boosts Critical Chance
• Boosts Penetration

Light Armor is a good option if you wish to boost your Magicka Recovery and Penetration in PVP.

Medium Armor:

• Boosts Critical Damage
• Boosts Stamina Recovery
• Boosts Weapon and Spell Damage
• Reduces the Cost of Sneak

Medium Armor is a great option to boost your Weapon and Spell Damage, as well as reduce the cost of Sneak.

Heavy Armor:

• Boosts Armor
• Boosts Health and Health Recovery
• Boosts Magicka and Stamina Restore
• Boosts Healing received

Heavy Armor is the best option to boost your Health, Health Recovery and Armor. It is possible to mix and match different types of Armor in order to gain the desired bonuses. Wearing Heavy Armor is common in PVP because of the extra Health, Health Recovery, Armor and in general Defense it provides. Medium Armor is another great option for Gank and Offensive PVP Builds while Light Armor is useful if you have sustain issues as a Magicka player or want to boost your Penetration!

Weapons – ESO PVP Build Guide

Weapons are also very important for your character in PVP! Depending on your play style you can pick melee or ranged weapons. Ranged Weapons like the Bow or the Staff allow you to keep your distance and kite your enemies. Melee weapons suit better brawler type of Builds and Gank play style! However there is greater flexibility in ESO PVP, which means that you can mix and match different types of weapons regardless of your preferred play style and still be successful! Magicka based characters can use anything from Staves to Dual Wield and One Hand and Shield for protection. Stamina based Builds can utilize all Physical damage weapons as well as Staves for a more Hybrid approach.

Traits – ESO PVP Build Guide

Traits determine your effectiveness with the gear you are using in PVP. Impenetrable is the best Armor Trait while Infused and Well-Fitted are also useful. Divines is good only for Gank Builds. Infused is the best trait for Jewelry, so you can boost your enchants. The basic Arcane, Robust and Healthy Traits can be useful as well. Sharpened, Nirnhoned and Charged are the most common and helpful traits for Front Bar weapons while Defending is a great back bar option.

Enchantments – ESO PVP Build Guide

Enchantments complement your Build and offer great assistance. Boosting your attributes is the most important thing you can do with Armor Enchants. Focusing on boosting your main attribute(Magicka or Stamina) or applying a Tri Stat Enchantment to boost all three is up to you! A combination of single Attribute Enchantments and Tri-Stat Enchantments is usually the most balanced way.

For jewelry you can again focus on increasing Weapon or Spell damage for better overall offense. However boosting your Attributes Recovery with Prismatic Recovery Enchants is also another great option. As for your Weapons, Enchantments do not matter as much. This is because you should be using Crafted Poisons along with your weapons, that disable their Enchantments.

CP Distinction in ESO PVP

PVP in ESO is divided in CP enabled and No-CP, where Champion Points are disabled. Battlegrounds and No-CP Cyrodiil and Imperial City Campaigns disable Champion Points. CP Cyrodiil and Imperial City Campaigns have them enabled! This distinction allows you to choose which type of PVP you wish to play.

Playing No-CP PVP disables your Champion Points, which means that you can have your Champion Points set up for PVE but still enjoy and be effective in No-CP PVP. For CP enabled PVP though, you will have to setup your Points for PVP to be effective. Champion Points will shape up your Build and help you perform better in PVP. There are three constellations with passive and active perks to choose from.

• Warfare, focusing on combat and Traits that help you deal more damage or reduce incoming damage.
• Fitness, focusing on Defense, attributes and recovery boosts.
• Craft, focusing on bonuses to your every day life activities in ESO, that can also offer a few benefits to Stealth gameplay.

Picking the right active perks will determine how effective your build will be. You can find more details for the Champion Points System by reading my Champion Points Guide.

Important Stats and Mundus for PVP in ESO

Weapon and Spell Damage is an important stat for every PVP Build. You should try to get it as high as possible without hurting your defense though. Resistances are rather important as well since the higher they are, the easier it is to survive. Penetration is the best offensive stat for PVP in The Elder Scrolls Online! Unlike PVE, there is no Penetration Cap you must reach in PVP, the more you have, the better your chances to defeat enemies. Having a large pool of your main Attribute(Stamina or Magicka) and high recovery stats is also very helpful.

Finally Critical Chance and Critical Damage are not very helpful in PVP, because of the high Critical Resistance(Impenetrable Trait) PVP Builds (should)have. Having said that, the best Mundus for a PVP Build is The Apprentice or The Warrior, stones that boost Spell and Weapon Damage respectively. The Lover is a nice alternative that boosts Penetration. The Atronach and The Serpent are also quite useful when you need to boost your Magicka or Stamina Recovery. Finally The Thief(Critical Chance) and The Shadow(Critical Damage) are not that helpful.

Skills – ESO PVP Build Guide

Burst Damage is King in PVP! Sustain is secondary(unless you are focusing on a support role). Your goal in PVP is to execute your combo and deliver your damage as fast as possible. Your Skills distribution should include:

• Buffs and Debuffs
• At least one Stun or Immobilization skill
• Hard Hitting damage skills
• An Execute ability
• Heals and Shields

Buffs and Debuffs are skills that either boost your stats, like Spell and Weapon Damage or reduce the stats of your enemies. Buff abilities can be active or passive. You have to activate manually active buffs and use resources to get their effect. Critical Surge and Boundless Storm from the Sorcerer Class are two nice examples of active buff skills.

Passive buffs only need to be slotted to work. A good example of a passive buff is Inner Light from the Mages Guild Line. Abilities that Stun enemies are vital for PVP! They immobilize your targets and allow you to execute your combo. Flame Clench, Fossilize, Invasion are a few examples of immobilization skills.

Hard Hitting abilities are skills that deal massive damage when hitting the enemy. Crystal Fragments, Death Stroke and Morphs, Dizzying Swing are a few examples. Execute abilities are also vital for PVP and will help you finish your targets faster. Executioner, Whirling Blades, Assassin’s Blade and Morphs, Mages’ Fury and Morphs are examples of execute abilities. Heal abilities either from the Restoration Staff line or from your Class, can help you and your team survive.

Finally Shield Abilities are more commonly used in PVP to increase survivability. Shadowy Disguise from the Nightblade Class is your only option if you wish to play a Stealth(Gank) Build. There are several skills combinations you can make in PVP, depending on your Class and Main Attribute. But your rotation is always simple and clear: Buff and Debuff, Stun or Immobilize enemy, use Massive Damage and Execute abilities, Heal and Shield yourself and your team.

Passive Skills

Passive Skills are very important for every build in PVP. You should invest skill points to them as soon as possible. The Passive skills every Build should have include:

• All Passive Skills from your Class’ Lines
• All Passive Skills from Weapon Lines you are using
• All Passive Skills from Armor Lines you are using
• Vampire or Werewolf Passives if your character uses any of the two
• Passive Abilities from Guild lines(Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, Psijic Order) that affect your skills/Build
• Undaunted Passives
• Your Racial Passives
• Medicinal Use Passive from Alchemy to boost the effectiveness of Potions

One Bar Builds – Build your Character for PVP ESO

Playing with an One Bar Build is a viable and fun way to experience everything ESO has to offer, in PVE and PVP Gameplay! Most of the points(Armor, Stats, Skills) presented above affect normal Two Bar Builds and One Bar Builds equally! However One Bar Builds have a few important differences from normal Builds that make them feel unique.

First of all with one only bar for skills, there is not enough space for everything you need. You will have to sacrifice abilities to get a good mix of damage and defense skills to kill enemies. This is why the Oakensoul Ring Mythic Set is a must have item for One Bar Builds! The Oakensoul Ring offers a plethora of Minor and Major Buffs that cover all of your needs and allow you to focus more on offense! The introduction of the Oakensoul Ring is actually what made One Bar Builds more mainstream and successful in ESO.

One Bar Builds are a lot of fun in ESO PVP because they allow you to focus mostly on offense! They may lack some of the utility normal Two Bars Builds offer but they pack quite a punch, thanks to the Oakensoul Ring’s Buffs! Oakensoul Ring PVP Builds can focus on Light Attack Weaving Build or deal their damage with mostly Heavy Attacks. It is entirely up to you and your favorite play style.

Scribing

The Scribing System introduces new Skills to ESO that can alter and enrich your PVP Build! With Scribing you can pick one of the available Grimoires(special skills) and customize it with a variety of Scripts to deal damage, heal you, buff or debuff enemies. Scribing is a revolution for ESO Builds and allows you to experiment with different options. The Available Scribing Skills are:

• Traveling Knife(Dual Wield)
• Vault(Bow)
• Mender’s Bond(Restoration Staff)
• Elemental Explosion(Destruction Staff)
• Shield Throw(One Hand and Shield)
• Smash(Two Handed)
• Soul Burst(Soul Magic)
• Wield Soul(Soul Magic)
• Torchbearer(Fighters Guild)
• Ulfsild’s Contingency(Mages Guild)
• Trample(Alliance War)
• Banner Bearer(Alliance War)

Picking the right skill for your Build can enhance your damage and complement your character with Buffs or effects your ESO Class is missing!

Subclassing

Subclassing is another major feature that affects your PVP Build in ESO! With Subclassing you can now pick skills from every available Class in the game(can combine up to three Classes), in order to complement your Build and become stronger. However the above principles still remain when building your character. You just have more flexibility and can pick your favorite skills when creating Subclassing Builds!

Food, Potions and Poisons

Poisons play a big role in ESO PVP! They are very important to apply additional effects to your targets or deal massive damage. Because of how important they are for PVP gameplay, you should prefer them over using normal Weapon Enchantments. The Best Poisons you can use are crafted. Among the Best are Poisons that Drain Health, Stamina and Magicka, Immobilize and Debuff Enemies.

Crafted Potions will also help you remain alive and defeat your enemies faster. Potions that restore attributes, make you immune to immobilizations or detect enemies in Stealth are valuable to have. Specific Builds can utilize simple Magicka or Stamina potions as well, even use Essence of Spell or Weapon Power with success. You can find the recipes for many important Potions and Poisons in my ESO Alchemy Guide. Finally for Food, choose Foods and Drinks that will boost your main Attribute(Stamina or Magicka) and Health, in order to boost your survivability.

FAQ – Build your Character for PVP ESO