In The Elder Scrolls Online, Monster sets are two-piece armor sets consisting of Head and Shoulder pieces: The Head pieces are dropped by the final boss in veteran dungeons, and the Shoulder pieces are obtainable by purchasing from an Undaunted Pledge Master with Undaunted keys.
Players can also buy Head and Shoulder pieces of Monst sets with a fair amount of ESO money at the special Khajiiti merchant, Adhazabi Aba-daro. The Heads pieces are sold less frequently than the Shoulders, and two styles of either Heads or Shoulders are sold each weekend.
Monster sets are intended to complement players' armor configuration. Their bonuses are very useful and important for end-game content. Which Monster set is the best? Which Monster set does the most damage? Those are questions people often ask.
In fact, The ESO devs have done a good job of making many of the different options "best". But it is up to you to use them in the correct scenario. Skinny Cheeks lists his favorite Monster sets for DPS in ESO.
Kjalnar's Nightmare (Unhallowed Grave)
Kjalnar's Nightmare is a top-tier set for pure single-target damage. To get the skeletal hand to fire, Light Attacks must land on the enemy to build Bone stacks. At five stacks, the set fires, and the enemy will be immune to building Bone stacks for four seconds. That means only one person in the group can really make use of it at a time.
Selene (Selene's Web)
Selene is another nice set for single-target damage. Many people think the bear is AoE, but it only targets one enemy. It is very hard and has a short Cooldown with a guaranteed proc condition. As it adds Max Stamina, it is slightly more useful on Stamina stacking builds than Magicka stacking builds. But it could definitely be used on both builds.
You must use melee weapons to get a primal spirit that mauls the closest enemy. To get the most out of this, ensure your Ligh Attacks are triggering it. Light Attacks from two-handed or dual-willed weapons will work perfectly with the set.
Zaan (Scalecaller Peak)
Zaan is currently the most popular Monster set for fights where you can keep that tether going. The set's proc condition is not pretty reliable: You must land a Critical Strike with your Light or Heavy Attack first, then you will have a 33% chance to proc it. But over the course of a longer encounter, it will even out to produce good results.
Due to the 8-meter tether condition along with the 10-second build-up time to reach its maximum damage ticks, you're out of luck if that beam procs at the wrong time.
Although the flame damage is pretty good damage, Zaan is one of the few sets in the game that can not critically strike. But the damage is cranked up pretty high, so as long as you are getting that full duration and you're getting the max ticks on it, it still does really good damage. However, that damage alone isn't enough to make it as popular as it is. The damage and the guaranteed burning you get with each tick is what pushes it up to the top tier.
Zaan also deals damage in an AoE to anything touching that tether, which was part of the changes ZoS made to this set in the High Isle Update. So if other enemies touch that tether, you can also deal some AoE damage with this set.
One more thing to note is that Zaan now works on the dragons in Sunspire and the final boss in Dreadsail Reef, Taleria.
Nerien'eth (Crypt of Hearts Ⅱ)
Although Nerien'eth deals Area of Effect (AoE) damage, the area is not huge, so it's a single-target damage set. But you can still get benefit from its AoE damage.
Nerien'eth has an extremely short Cooldown of only three seconds, so if you could get it to reliably proc every three seconds, it would be the strongest Monster set in the game. However, it only has a 15% chance to proc from direct damage, so this would be your Light Attacks, spammables, or other abilities that have a direct upfront hit to them before their DoT is applied. That means there is usually a fair bit of downtime added on to that three-second Cooldown.
However, if you are dealing a lot of direct damage, using a multi-hit spammable, such as Force Shock, Puncturing Strikes, Flurry, you will have extra chances to proc Nerien'eth that you wouldn't get with a standard one-hit spammable. Therefore, in those scenarios, Nerien'eth jumps up to one of the better options to go with.
It is worth noting that Nerien'eth has lost a little bit of oomph recently on Templars because Templars' execute ability got buffed up a lot. You are starting that execute phase now with around 40% Health remaining, and you're no longer jabbing at that point, whereas this phase used to not start until 20% Health.
Maw of the Infernal (The Banished Cells Ⅱ)
The two-piece Maw of the Infernal summons a Daedroth that can deal quite a lot of Flame Damage, making it a solid but not top option for any class except Sorcerers.
Sorcerers have a unique interaction with Maw of the Infernal because of their Daedric Prey ability. Daedric Prey buffs the damage from pets by 45%, which is a hefty boost to a set that is already pretty good, making the set a top option to deal single-target damage for Sorcerers.
The Maw of the Infernal does have an AoE attack, but it doesn't seem to account for too much of the total damage that it deals, and the main focus of this set is the single-target damage to your main enemy that you're attacking.
Stormfist (Tempest Island)
Stormfist has an easy trigger condition: 10% chance on any damage, and it has an 8-second Cooldown, so it will be going off pretty often. Stormfist has the strongest proc of any of the monster sets in the game in terms of straight-up DPS potential. The shock and the physical damage added together are pretty amazing.
Stormfist also has some downsides. First, the one-piece bonus is Stamina Recovery. It means you are giving up some damage compared to other options you might go with. Compared to an option with a Magicka or Stamina line, it isn't much. But compared to a set with a crit chance line, it's close to a 2.5% damage loss. So it's something that can't be ignored when looking at how strong the proc hits for. However, Stormfist is still a good set, and the Stamina Recovery can be helpful in some setups, too. So it isn't always a dead stat line by any means.
Second, since it will proc with any damage dealt, you can often run into the scenario where it procs off of one of your DoTs on an enemy that is outside of the main stack, so you're wasting one of your procs on a side add that would have just died to cleave. However, when you can get it to reliably proc on your main target, it hits like a truck.
Stormfist has a 4-meter radius for AoE as well, so it is a mix between the single-target and AoE DPS categories.
Velidreth (Cradle of Shadows)
There are three spores that shoot out from your character: one travels straight, one angles to the left, and one angles to the right. However, only one of the three spores that shoot out can hit each enemy, so you can't hit all of them simultaneously. So once an enemy is hit with one spore, they are immune to the other two. Until the 8 seconds is up, this can be triggered again.
Therefore, for single Target scenarios, Velidreth is an okay option but outclassed by a good number of other sets. However, ZoS changed this set in Update 31: This set's spores no longer explode after hitting a Target. Instead, they continue to travel in a straight line. That means you can hit as many enemies as you can get this to go through.
You need to position your character properly to make the most use of this set. If you're standing far back at range, you are likely not going to get a whole lot out of this set due to the trajectory of the spores: The middle one will probably hit, but the two side ones are likely going to be too far.
But if this is triggering while you're up in the thick of it, it is likely that you can hit all of the enemies stacked up with the three spores. In this kind of scenario, Velidreth does really good damage.
The prop condition of Velidreth is also pretty easy: It's only a 20% chance, but it's on any damage, so it fires on Cooldown once your DoTs are all applied.
Prior Thierric (Red Petal Bastion)
Many sets we've gone through have been situational, but Prior Thierric is even more so. The proc only lasts 7 seconds, and the Cooldown is 15 seconds. You don't even have 50% uptime on it. But for short burst scenarios, the damage from the proc, paired with the 5% boost to all of your AoE damage, is quite strong.
Another nice thing about this set is that since it triggers from dealing direct damage with an AoE ability, you can place it exactly where you want, depending on the skills that you're running. For example, as a Dragonknight, you can use Eruption. If you play a Templar, you can use Blazing Spear to point it where you want it to go off, making it can be helpful in scenarios where you're comfortable with your group and know exactly where the stack points are.
The biggest downside of Prior Thierric is the long Cooldown. To sum up, this set will be great for short burst AoE scenarios, specifically if you know the stack points.
Iceheart (Direfrost Keep)
Iceheart does really nice AoE damage. Even for single-target, its damage is not too far off from some of the heavy hitters like Kjalnar's Nightmare and Zaan. On top of that, you get a nice Damage Shield each time that it procs as well. Iceheart is definitely a really good option when you need a little extra survivability.
One downside of Iceheart is the short range of 5 meters around you. You have to be in melee to get the damage from it. Also, if you are using Iceheart more for its damage, you should know that the damage relies on the Shield being active. That means if Iceheart procs, but you take a hit that eats your Shield one second later, you won't be getting any damage from the set until it's available to proc again after that six-second Cooldown.
Balorgh (March of Sacrifices)
Balorgh is unique in the way that it functions. At 500 Ultimate spent, you get 500 Weapon and Spell damage, along with 11,500 Penetration, and this lasts for 12 seconds. It's so good for short burst scenarios (both AoE and single-target).
500 Ultimate = 500 Weapon/Spell Damage + 11,500 Penetration for 12 seconds
However, the set requires you to get to 500 Ultimate to max it out, and it only lasts for 12 seconds, so make sure the encounter isn't going to linger on as it falls off pretty hard after that initial opening.
Even at only 250 Ultimate, that's still 250 Weapon and Spell Damage and 5,750 Penetration. But, ideally, you'll want to build it up as high as possible before using it.
Balorgh can be pared with Mechanical Acuity and full Medium armor for some encounters that you want to blow up quickly:
1. Mechanical Acuity will take care of all of your Critical Chance for a short period
2. Medium armor will not only give you a lot of Critical Damage but boosts the Weapon and Spell Damage you get from Balorgh even further.
3. You don't need the Penetration from Light armor since Balorgh is covering that part too.
Those factors make it a powerful combo, especially if you're having multiple people run it. Those troublesome add waves will just get obliterated.
Slimecraw (Wayrest SewerⅠ)
In the scenarios where you might only be using a one-piece Monster set, the top option for damage is the one-piece Slimecraw, as Slimecraw adds 771 Critical Chance, which is a bit more than you'd normally get from a one-piece set.
657 Critical = 3% Crit Chance
771 Critical = 3.5% Crit Chance
Although the difference is not huge, it's still a little bit higher, and picking up the Slimecraw at the Wayrest SewerⅠis pretty easy.
Kra'gh (Fungal GrattoⅠ)
One-piece Kra'gh adds 1,487 Offensive Penetration. It can be a little stronger than Slimecraw, assuming you are under the Penetration cap and fully benefiting from that one-piece bonus.
Honorable Mentions
Domihaus (Falkreath Hold)
Domihaus is mostly used for fat Bosses, where you can stand in the ring for your own Weapon and Spell Damage bonus and have that ring damage the enemy.
Grothdarr (Vaults of Madness)
Grothdarr can be used in very short burst AoE scenarios. It only lasts for 5 seconds before a 5-second Cooldown begins.
Ilambris (Crypt of Hearts I)
Ilambris has the same issue as the Stormfist: It doesn't always proc where you want it to. But it's pretty good DPS if it's in the right spot.
Domihaus, Grothdarr, and Ilambris are not as good as the previous 12 sets mentioned before, but they are decent for DPS as well. An interesting thing about these three sets is that they can all be boosted by the Elf Bane set. So if you're messing around with some interesting combos with Elf Bane, these will benefit from it for unique interactions.
Baron Zaudrus (The Cauldron)
Baron Zaudrus can be pretty fun for building Ultimate fast in the right setup. But, in most cases, that won't net you a DPS gain. When using this set in some Barrier-spam builds, you would get some pretty good results.
Encratis's Behemoth (Black Drake Villa)
Encratis's Behemoth is usually for a support to wear. But if you don't have room for it on the support, you can also have a DPS run it to boost the group's damage.
Those are some of the great Monster sets for DPS in ESO. If you like Skinny Cheeks's video, please don't forget to subscribe and give this video a thumbs up.