Ultimate Dragonknight DPS Build for ESO Update 49

With the release of Update 49 on March 9th, a new ability has been introduced to enhance your Dragonknight DPS build: Engulfing Dragonfire. In this guide, Hyperioxes shares with you his powerful builds centered around this ability, providing you with the tools to maximize your damage output in dungeons, trials, and other PvE content. This guide includes skill recommendations, gear setups, champion points allocation, and more to help you dominate the battlefield.

Overview of the Build

This build is designed to utilize the full potential of the Engulfing Dragonfire ability, a 4.8-second channel attack that breathes fire in front of you. The damage of this ability ramps up by 5% per tick, reaching a maximum of 50% increased damage on the last tick. Additionally, it always deals maximum damage when the Take Flight ultimate's bonus is active. The build has been tested in dungeons like veteran hard-mode Castle Thorn and veteran hard-mode Unhallowed Grave, with impressive results.

 

Core Skills for the Build

Base Setup

The following skills form the core of this build and will work in most scenarios. Use these as your starting point and adjust for specific fights as needed.

1. Engulfing Dragonfire: The centerpiece of this build. A channeled ability that deals increasing damage over time. Its maximum potential is unlocked when paired with the Take Flight ultimate.

2. Searing Claw: Delivers direct damage and applies a 10-second Damage-over-Time  effect that increases in damage every 2 seconds. It also guarantees the Burning status effect on the initial hit.

3. Camouflaged Hunter: Grants the Minor Berserk buff, increasing your damage done by 5% for 5 seconds after dealing critical damage from an enemy's flank. It also triggers the Slayer passive, boosting weapon and spell damage by 3%.

4. Quick Cloak: Provides a burst of movement speed and the Major Evasion buff, reducing AoE damage taken. It also deals damage over 30 seconds and procs weapon enchantments, which is crucial for this build.

5. Banner Bearer (with Shock Damage, Cavalier's Charge and Heroism combination): A toggle ability that drains stamina and magicka but grants significant bonuses:

     •  Focus script: +6% direct damage.

     •  Signature script: Additional weapon and spell damage based on movement speed.

     • Affix script: Provides Minor Heroism, boosting ultimate generation.

6. Take Flight (Ultimate): A low-cost ultimate that grants a 20% damage bonus against monsters for 15 seconds. This buff ensures that Engulfing Dragonfire always deals maximum damage during its uptime.

Back Bar Skills

1. Shatterspike Mantle: Provides Major Resolve, applies a 20-second DoT to nearby enemies, and adds 100 damage to all ticks.

2. Incinerate: Releases a fiery wave every 5 seconds for 15 seconds, with a high chance to trigger the Burning status effect. Passively grants Major Savagery and Prophecy.

3. Molten Whip: A spammable ability slotted primarily for its passive effect. Using Dragonknight abilities builds stacks that increase your damage done by up to 15%.

4. Stampede: A gap closer that leaves a ground DoT under the target, proccing weapon damage enchantments and increasing direct damage done when paired with the Perfected Merciless Charge set.

5. Banner Bearer

6. Flawless Dawnbreaker: Slotted on the back bar for its Slayer passive, which increases Weapon and Spell damage.

Situational Skills

Depending on the fight, you may need to adjust your skill setup. Below are some situational abilities to consider:

- Barbed Trap: A strong DoT that procs Slayer passive and grants Minor Force. If you need to adjust your setup based on the situation, use this skill to replace Camouflaged Hunter in single-target fights and Searing Claw in AoE fights. It can substitute for Camouflaged Hunter in single-target encounters if your healers are providing Minor Berserk. Additionally, it should be part of your base setup before you acquire Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet. Sustaining it can be challenging; if you're wearing light armor, you will likely need potions to restore stamina to maintain casting.

•  Soul Flame: Restores resources based on missing stamina/magicka. Use it if sustainability is an issue. 

•  Igneous Weapons: A support ability that grants Major Brutality and Major Sorcery to your team with minimal DPS loss. 

•  Proximity Detonation: Great for trash fights as it can be pre-cast while engaging enemies.

•  Resolving Vigor: A self-heal useful in high-damage encounters. 

•  Chains of Devastation: A gap closer for high-mobility fights. 

•  Burning Embers: An alternative morph for Searing Claw that provides healing as it ticks—ideal if you need extra survivability. 

•  Elemental Blockade: Serves as a replacement for Stampede when you're using a destruction staff instead of a greatsword on your back bar. It is much easier to sustain than Stampede, especially until you acquire the Merciless Charge set. Both abilities are similar in strength, but Elemental Blockade is generally the better choice.

•  Banner Bearer (with Shock Damage, Cavalier's Charge, and a different third script combination): When using Heroism Potions, you can modify the Heroism script on your Banner Bearer to something else. Typically, it would be set to Brutality and Sorcery, but if you're already receiving those buffs from his weapons or a group member, you can instead use the Berserk or Courage script, depending on the other buffs your team is providing.

Skill Setup for Trash Fights

Front Bar: Engulfing Dragonfire, Incinerate, Camouflaged Hunter, Quick Cloak, Banner Bearer, Take Flight (Ultimate)

Back Bar: Shatterspike Mantle, Proximity Detonation, Molten Whip, Stampede, Banner Bearer, Flawless Dawnbreaker (Ultimate)

Skill Setup for Single Target

Front Bar: Engulfing Dragonfire, Searing Claw, Barbed Trap, Quick Cloak, Banner Bearer, Take Flight (Ultimate)

Back Bar: Shatterspike Mantle, Incinerate, Molten Whip, Stampede, Banner Bearer, Flawless Dawnbreaker (Ultimate)

 

Passives

Class - Ardent Flame

• Combustion - High Priority

• Traumatic Burns - High Priority

• Fan the Flames - High Priority

• A Soul Ablaze - High Priority

Class - Draconic Power

• Burnished Scales - High Priority

• World in Ruin - High Priority

• Elder Dragon - High Priority

• The Storm Voice - High Priority

Class - Earthen Heart

• Heart of Stone - High Priority

• Landslide - High Priority

• Blessing at the Peak - High Priority

• Mountain Giant - High Priority

Weapon - Dual Wield

• Slaughter - High Priority

• Dual Wield Expert - High Priority

• Controlled Fury - High Priority

• Ruffian - Medium Priority

• Twin Blade and Blunt - High Priority

Weapon - Two Handed

• Forceful - Medium Priority

• Heavy Weapons - High Priority

• Balanced Blade - High Priority

• Follow Up - Low Priority

• Battle Rush - Low Priority

Weapon - Destruction Staff

• Tri Focus - Low Priority

• Penetrating Magic - Low Priority

• Elemental Force - High Priority

• Ancient Knowledge - High Priority

• Destruction Expert - Low Priority

Armor - Light Armor

• Grace - Low Priority

• Evocation - High Priority

• Spell Warding - High Priority

• Prodigy - High Priority

• Concentration - High Priority

Armor - Medium Armor

• Dexterity - High Priority

• Wind Walker - High Priority

• Agility - High Priority

• Athletics - High Priority

Guild - Fighters Guild

• Intimidating Presence - High Priority

• Slayer - High Priority

• Banish the Wicked - High Priority

• Skilled Tracker - High Priority

Guild - Undaunted

• Undaunted Command - High Priority

• Undaunted Mettle - High Priority

Alliance War - Support

• Magicka Aid - Medium Priority

Race - Your race

• Get all of your racials, no matter which race you are

Craft - Alchemy

• Medicinal Use - High Priority

 

Gear Setup

Base Gear Setup

This setup achieved an impressive 138.1K DPS on a trial dummy.

If you're still working towards the best-in-slot gear, here are alternative setups. 

Crafted Gear Setup

This is a crafted setup that uses the Tide-Born Wildstalker set or a two-piece Highland Sentinel set. It utilizes an Inferno Staff on the backbar instead of a Greatsword. This setup achieved 111.1K DPS.

When using this setup, it's recommended to replace Camouflaged Hunter with Barbed Trap, as the setup does not provide Minor Force from Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet. Additionally, replacing Stampede with Elemental Blockade can make the setup easier to sustain. 

 No-Trial Gear Setup

This setup is perfect for players who don't have access to trial gear. Unlike the standard setup, it replaces the Whorl of the Depths with the Tide-Born Wildstalker, which is a crafted set. You can create it yourself, ask another player to craft it for you, or buy it from other players using ESO gold coins. This setup has achieved a DPS of 130.6K. 

 Trash Fights Setup

This is a setup you should use in trash mob fights. Compared to the regular setup, it replaces Deadly Strike with Sul-Xan's Torment and Whorl of the Depths with Tide-Born Wildstalker. 

 High Penetration Setup

This setup can be used if your team provides additional penetration. It parsed at 148K DPS, though it was in a single-target setup with Barbed Trap.

For comparison, their regular gear setup with Whorl of the Depths did 140.3K DPS with Barbed Trap. However, this setup can only be used if your team is able to provide the necessary additional penetration through, for example, Roar of Alkosh. 

 

Champion Points

Warfare

1. Master at Arms: +6% direct damage. 

2. Biting Aura: +6% AoE damage. 

3. Wrathful Strikes: +205 weapon/spell damage. 

4. Fighting Finesse: Increases critical damage by 8%. 

Optional: Replace Fighting Finesse with Exploiter if your critical damage is capped due to team buffs. You can use Reaving Blows in that slot if you need more healing.

Fitness

1. Boundless Vitality: +1,400 max health. 

2. Fortified: +1,731 armor. 

3. Celerity: +10% movement speed. 

4. Rejuvenation: +90 recovery for all resources.

For dungeon fights with lots of adds, Bloody Renewal and Siphoning Spells can be good options.

 

Race, Attributes, and Mundus

Race

While race choice accounts for only about a 5% difference in DPS, some races offer slight advantages: 

•  Best for 12-man content: High Elf, Dark Elf 

•  Best for 4-man content: Khajiit 

Other viable options include Orc and Breton.

Attributes

Allocate all 64 Attribute points into Magicka for optimal performance.

Mundus

You should use the Thief Mundus stone, which increases your critical strike chance.

 

Food and Potions

Food

When it comes to optimizing your sustenance, your choice of food depends on factors such as your race, synergies provided by teammates, and armor type. For balanced sustain, Artaeum Pickled Fish Bowl is a top choice, offering maximum health and magicka. A budget-friendly alternative is Solitude Salmon-Millet Soup. If sustain is an issue, consider Clockwork Citrus Filet for magicka recovery, or the economical Witchmother's Potent Brew. For situations like parsing or low-risk content, options like Tomato Garlic Chutney (max magicka) or Ghastly Eye Bowl (max magicka and recovery) are effective.

Potions

• Weapon Power Potions: Ideal for Stamina sustain and Major Brutality.

• Spell Power Potions: For Magicka-focused builds, use Spell Power potions. However, they don't stack with Minor Sorcery from the Elder Dragon passive unless your team provides Minor Sorcery through the Dawn's Wrath skill line.

• Heroism Potions: Offering both Stamina and Magicka restoration, these potions provide 100% uptime on Minor Heroism, allowing you to use alternate skills on your Banner Bearer. However, they require an additional source of Major Brutality or Sorcery (e.g., Igneous Weapon).

• Tri-Stat Potions: A cost-effective alternative to Heroism Potions, these restore both Stamina and Magicka but lack Minor Heroism. Use them if you already have Major Brutality and Sorcery from other sources.

• Armor Potions: Armor potions enhance survivability but require another source of Major Vitality or Sorcery.

 

Rotation Tips

The rotation focuses on maintaining high uptime on DoTs while maximizing the effectiveness of Engulfing Dragonfire. 

1. Recast abilities as they expire, following priority order based on their importance and duration.

2. During the Take Flight window, freely cancel lower-damage ticks of Engulfing Dragonfire to refresh DoTs.

3. Outside the window, let Engulfing Dragonfire complete before refreshing DoTs.

4. Aim to start casting Engulfing Dragonfire when only 2–3 seconds remain on the Take Flight buff to maximize its impact.

 

Conclusion

This Dragonknight DPS build is optimized to take full advantage of the new Engulfing Dragonfire ability introduced in Update 49. With proper skill selection, gear setups, champion point allocation, and resource management through food and potions, you can achieve top-tier DPS in both single-target and AoE encounters.

If you have any questions or need further clarification, feel free to leave a comment. Also, don't forget to subscribe to Hyperioxes's channel for more ESO builds.