ESO Warden Class Beginner Guide

This Warden Beginner Guide will teach you everything you need to know about the Class in ESO! Warden is the Class of Nature and Ice in The Elder Scrolls Online! A great option for Damage Dealers and Healers in PVE or PVP gameplay. Wardens can also fulfill the role of Tank in ESO with great success. The Warden Class is available for purchase and is not available with the base game. Despite this fact, it is one of the easiest classes to begin with and very beginner friendly for almost every role in ESO. If you wish to learn more about every available ESO Class, you can read my ESO Class Guide!

Why Choose the Warden Class in ESO

The Warden is a very flexible Class with several offensive and defensive spells at its disposal. This gives the Class the opportunity to create strong Magicka or Stamina DPS characters in PVE and PVP gameplay. At the same time the Warden Class is one of the best for Healer and Tank roles. An excellent option for new but also veteran players, no matter the type of gameplay you wish to complete.

One more detail that makes Wardens unique is their ability to deal Ice Damage! It is the only class with an entire skill line dedicated to Frost damage in the game. Thanks to these skills, Magicka Wardens can make pure Ice damage mage builds, while Stamina based Wardens can create Frost Tank setups with ease. For their offensive capabilities, they rely too much on their Bear Ultimate. They are also not available with the base game, which means that you will have to buy the class. Overall, a Warden is a great option for DPS characters, Healers and Tanks!

Warden Beginner Builds:

• Magicka Warden Beginner Build
• Stamina Warden Beginner Build

What Skills are the Best for Warden – Warden Beginner

Before we go through the most important Warden skills, you have to decide what kind of Warden you wish to create! A Magicka based or Stamina based one. This will determine the type of gameplay and the morphs of skills you should choose as you level up. To create a Magicka based Warden(DD or Healer) allocate all your available attribute points to Magicka. To create a Stamina one, allocate your points to Stamina. You can also mix them up if you wish to make a Tank character.

Leveling a Warden and its skills is similar to leveling any other class in the game. There are several methods you can follow to level up fast and efficiently, like grinding XP at specific locations, clearing Dolmens and completing group content. You can find a lot more info on how to level up a character fast and efficiently in my ESO Leveling Guide.

There are several important skills you should unlock and level up as soon as possible. Class, Weapons and Guild Skills that will help you create the build of your dreams! To level up skills and skill-lines, always have one or more of their skills in your active bar, even if you are not using them. So let’s start with the most important Warden Class skills.

Class Skills – Warden Beginner

The Warden has three unique skill lines with abilities suitable for every role in the game. Both Magicka and Stamina Wardens rely a lot on the Animal Companions skill line for DPS Builds.

The Warden Skill lines are:

• Animal Companions, with their offensive skills based on Morrowind animals
• Green Balance, focusing mostly on Healing and support
• Winter’s Embrace, dedicated to Ice damage

Animal Companions

The most important skill line for a Stamina and Magicka DPS Warden! The Eternal Guardian and Wild Guardian Morphs of Feral Guardian offer a Stamina and Magicka based strong Ultimate for both types of Warden DPS. This is going to be your most important Ultimate when playing a Warden DPS.

Dive offers two ranged spammables for both Magicka and Stamina Builds. Cutting Dive is more useful for Stamina Builds while Screaming Cliff Racer can assist some Magicka builds. Scorch is the most important offensive Warden skill! This skill again offers a Magicka and a Stamina version. Subterranean Assault is a must have for DPS thanks to its great damage, while Deep Fissure debuffs enemies and is great to use in Solo gameplay!

Swarm and its two morphs, Fetcher Infection and Growing Swarm are also very important thanks to the additional debuff they offer. Blue Betty and Bull Netch(Betty Netch Morphs) offer better sustain and boost damage. Finally Bird of Prey(Falcon’s Swiftness morph) boosts passively your damage and should always be in your bar. The other morph, Deceptive Predator, assists with defense and is a great option for a Warden Tank.

Green Balance

This line is dedicated to Healing and support with great Skills for a Warden Healer! Secluded Grove offers two strong Healing Ultimates that can assist your group and keep them alive, Enchanted Forest and Healing Thicket. Enchanted Growth(Fungal Growth morph) is the Class’ main Healing ability that can also restore stamina and magicka.

Healing Seed offers two ground based Heals while Living Vines and its morphs offer a heal over time to you or an ally. Lotus Flower is another very important Warden skill, mostly for DPS characters and for solo gameplay. Its Green Lotus and Lotus Blossom morphs heal you with every Light or Heavy attack and boost Critical Chance.

Winter’s Embrace

The skill line that makes Warden a truly unique Class! This line offers access to several offensive, defensive and support skills, based on Frost damage! Sleet Storm and its morphs, Northern Storm and Permafrost, deal Frost damage and boost defense. Excellent options for solo gameplay or when you want to crowd control enemies in PVE or PVP content.

Ice Fortress(Frost Cloak morph) is an important self buff ability that boosts resistances and defenses. Important for Solo PVE or PVP. Winter’s Revenge(Impaling Shards morph) is a powerful Frost damage AOE ability that empowers Magicka Frost Wardens. Arctic Wind offers two Healing spells that also deal damage and are great for PVE and PVP gameplay. Crystallized Shield and its morphs, protect you from projectiles and will be more useful against enemies in PVP. Frozen Gate finally and its two morphs, Frozen Device and Frozen Retreat, give Warden Tanks the ability to pull enemies closer and assist with crowd control.

Warden Subclassing

Subclassing allows you to combine skills from up to three Classes in ESO, in order to create powerful Builds! The Animal Companions line offers an alternative option for DPS but to be effective you will still have to use a few of its skills and rely on the Bear Ultimate. Green Balance is an amazing line for Healers while Winter’s Embrace works well with Tank and Frost DPS, thanks to its Piercing Cold Passive.

Skills Priority – Warden Beginner

Unlocking and leveling up your Class active skills and passives, should be your number one priority. This will unlock the potential of your Class and allow you to combine them for better results. Weapon and Guild Skills should follow after. Of course everything depends on your goals and preferred play style.

Getting a strong spammable and a good AOE ability early will allow you to level up faster and more efficiently. Regarding Passives, I always recommend getting everything from skill lines you are using. Again Class Passives, along with Racial ones, should come first, followed by Weapon and Guild ones.

Mundus Stones – Warden Beginner

Mundus Stones offer strong buffs to your character that can help you complete content faster. They are located all around Tamriel and based on their offered buff are more suitable for PVE or PVP gameplay. When you are leveling up you should get the Atronach Mundus that boosts Magicka Recovery or the Serpent Mundus that boosts Stamina Recovery. This will assist you with sustain and will allow you to use your skills for longer.

As you are getting more experienced and can sustain better, switch to the Lover Mundus. The Lover boosts your Offensive Penetration, making it easier to kill enemies. A great option for early gameplay but also Solo content. For group PVE you want to switch to the Thief (better Critical Chance). For PVP get the Warrior(more Weapon Damage), the Apprentice(more Spell Damage) or even the Atronach/Serpent for better sustain! Tank characters can benefit from the Atronach Mundus while Healers can use the Atronach, the Apprentice or even the Ritual(better Healing).

Champion Points – Warden Beginner

After level 50 you will start earning Champion Points. These allow you to unlock Passive and Slottable Stars in the Champion Points tab, that can further empower your character. You can earn Champion Points by simply playing the game and leveling up. In total there are three constellations in the Elder Scrolls Online:

• Warfare
• Fitness
• Craft

Each constellation offers different Stars that can help with different roles and activities. Warfare is the constellation that is focusing more on combat and provides bonuses to Damage Dealers, Tanks and Healers. Allocating your Champion Points appropriately and unlocking the right Stars for the role you wish to fulfill is rather important. You can find more info on Champion Points and the right Passive and Slottable Stars for every Role in my Champion Points Guide.

Vampire or Werewolf – Warden Beginner

Being a Vampire or Werewolf is not necessary to fully enjoy your Warden. You can find a lot more info on Vampires and Werewolves in my ESO Vampire vs Werewolf Guide.

Build Examples

There are more than one ways you can setup your Magicka or Stamina Warden. It all depends on your favorite play style and the content you wish to complete. Some setups are better for Solo PVE, other for Group Trials content and other for Battlegrounds or Open World PVP. Here are some more Builds you can use, depending on gameplay.

• Magicka Warden DPS Subclassing Build
• Stamina Warden DPS Subclassing Build
• Magicka Warden Solo Build
• Stamina Warden Solo Build
• Magicka Warden PVP Build
• Stamina Warden PVP Build
• Stamina Warden Bow PVP Build