Welcome to my Stamina Dragonknight guide! This is a basic guide to the gear, skills, and passives you can use to burn, poison, and smite your foes to death
This guide is mostly designed for PvE group play but can work to some degree for solo play as well. (For extensive solo play, you may need to make a number of adjustments for survivability)
For a nontraditional but incredibly effective and easy-to-use alternative build, check out my Heavy Attack Build guide as well!
Table of Contents
Dragonknight Basics
Dragonknights are, as their name implies, dragon themed. Many of their damage skills deal flame and poison damage, and they have several passives that double down on these damage types by allowing us to deal additional damage of these types. DKs tend to be especially good at:
- DoT damage: Dragonknights have some very strong damage-over-time (DoT) abilities that will do a large portion of our damage
- AoE damage: Dragonknights are also one of the better classes at dealing area-of-effect (AoE) damage, allowing them to hit many enemies at once with their attacks
- Melee combat: Many of dragonknights’ damage skills have short range, making dragonknights best suited for melee fighting
Gear
Basics
- We’ll use mostly medium armor. The Medium Armor skill line provides damage bonuses and stamina recovery that will be very helpful to doing as much damage as possible and keeping up our resources
- One or two light armor pieces can be helpful as well, as the Light Armor skill line provides penetration, one of the most potent of all stats. Most endgame dragonknights use one light armor piece and six medium
- We’ll use dual wield daggers on our frontbar. Dual daggers will provide the best damage stats of any weapon, mostly because of the Twin Blade and Blunt passive providing a large critical chance bonus
- If you’d like, you can also use a different weapon such as a bow or a two-handed sword. These will generally do a little less damage, but they’ll still do just fine
- We have a few different good options for our backbar weapon. Two-handed greatswords, bows, or even inferno staves will do nicely. My preference is a greatsword, so this guide will favor that option; however, a few different setup options will be shown for bows and staves
- Note that despite the magical inclination of a staff, we can still use a staff on a stamina-based build. There’s no penalty or disadvantage for doing so; in fact, using a staff backbar can be helpful to regulating our stamina usage, since staff skills cost magicka and won’t dip into our stamina
Gear Setups
There are many great options for gear. These are some of my favorites that I’ve found to do especially high damage, but experiment with other sets and find what works best for you!
Starting Gear
Try this setup until you reach CP 160 (the gear cap). These sets are all craftable! Ask for help in guild chat or Discord if you’d like someone to make them for you. The Training traits will get you a bunch of extra XP
If you have some extra skill points available to invest in the Light Armor skill line, swapping the head and/or shoulder piece to light armor will usually yield a little bit more damage
This setup uses Shattered Fate for a huge penetration buff to tear through enemies’ resistances, and Adept Rider for extra movement speed, perfect for new characters that tend to struggle to move quickly around the world. Night Mother’s Gaze is just filler for our last two pieces, providing a little extra crit chance
Gear Slot | Type | Set | Trait | Enchant |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() ![]() | Medium | Night Mother’s Gaze | Training ![]() | Max Stamina ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Medium | Adept Rider | Training ![]() | Max Stamina ![]() |
![]() | Shattered Fate | Robust ![]() | Stamina Recovery ![]() | |
![]() ![]() | Shattered Fate | Robust ![]() | Weapon Damage ![]() | |
![]() | Dagger | Shattered Fate | Training ![]() | Poison ![]() |
![]() | Dagger | Shattered Fate | Training ![]() | Flame ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() | 2H Sword or Bow or Inferno Staff | Shattered Fate | Training ![]() | Weapon Damage ![]() |
Alternatives
You can substitute Adept Rider with:
- Order’s Wrath for extra damage
- Heartland Conqueror for a small amount of extra kill XP
- Ashen Grip to BREATHE FIRE like a proper Dragonknight
Intermediate Gear
Once you hit CP 160, swap off your training gear and set up for pure damage! This gear will serve you well through the vast majority of content throughout the game
If you have some extra skill points available to invest in the Light Armor skill line, swapping the head and/or shoulder piece to light armor will usually yield a little bit more damage
This setup uses Shattered Fate for a huge penetration buff to tear through enemies’ resistances, and Order’s Wrath for big bonuses to our critical hits. Night Mother’s Gaze is just filler for our last two pieces, providing a little extra crit chance
Gear Slot | Type | Set | Trait | Enchant |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() ![]() | Medium | Night Mother’s Gaze | Divines ![]() | Max Stamina ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Medium | Order’s Wrath | Divines ![]() | Max Stamina ![]() |
![]() | Shattered Fate | Robust ![]() | Stamina Recovery ![]() | |
![]() ![]() | Shattered Fate | Robust ![]() | Weapon Damage ![]() | |
![]() | Dagger | Shattered Fate | Charged ![]() | Poison ![]() |
![]() | Dagger | Shattered Fate | Charged ![]() | Flame ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() | 2H Sword or Bow or Inferno Staff | Shattered Fate | Infused ![]() | Weapon Damage ![]() |
Alternatives
I recommend the above gear for the simplicity in acquiring it, but here are some additional options
- Briarheart: Provides some extra healing along with extra damage
- Burning Spellweave: A fire-themed set roughly on par with Order’s Wrath
- Leviathan: Provides a big stat boost, somewhat similarly to Order’s Wrath
If you’re ready for vet dungeons, consider swapping out your Night Mother pieces for a monster set. These basegame monster sets are some of the easiest ones to get but are still quite powerful
Advanced Gear
Consider this setup once you have some trials and veteran dungeons under your belt. This setup uses very optimized sets and traits but will require significant trial and dungeon farming
The gear listed in the Intermediate Gear section is entirely adequate for most content in ESO. The gear listed below will often provide noticeably more damage, but crafted gear will be plenty for anything short of seriously dedicated veteran content. If you’re not interested in vet content and you’re not interested in farming, you can skip this section!
- This setup uses Ansuul’s Torment, which provides a flat 7% bonus to our damage. You can get a huge additional 7% bonus by interrupting enemies, but this is not a priority; we’re wearing this set mostly for the always-on bonus
- We also have Pillar of Nirn, which will proc extra DoT damage to run almost constantly as long as we’re dealing damage
- Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet is an excellent mythic that gives a flat 15% damage bonus as well as the Minor Force buff for extra critical damage and a big penetration bonus to tear through enemy resistances; however it has the drawback of mostly negating the damage of our light attacks
- Despite the damage negation, make sure to use light attacks anyway, because light attacks proc our weapon enchants and also cause us to generate ultimate
- The Merciless Charge arena weapon will give us some extra damage by buffing our direct damage (i.e. instantaneous non-DoT damage)
- Finally, we’ll top off our build with one piece of Slimecraw monster set, just providing a crit chance bonus
Gear Slot | Type | Set | Trait | Enchant |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Light | Slimecraw | Divines ![]() | Max Stamina ![]() |
![]() | Medium | Pillar of Nirn | Divines ![]() | Max Stamina ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Medium | Ansuul’s Torment | Divines ![]() | Max Stamina ![]() |
![]() | Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet | Bloodthirsty ![]() | Weapon Damage ![]() | |
![]() ![]() | Pillar of Nirn | Bloodthirsty ![]() | Weapon Damage ![]() | |
![]() | Dagger | Pillar of Nirn | Charged ![]() | Poison ![]() |
![]() | Dagger | Pillar of Nirn | Charged ![]() | Flame ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() | 2H Sword or Bow or Inferno Staff | Merciless Charge (or Thunderous Volley) (or Crushing Wall) | Infused ![]() | Weapon Damage ![]() |
Alternatives
A wide variety of additional options listed here
- Five-Piece Sets
- Whorl of the Depths: Excellent alternative to Ansuul, providing a proc to do large amounts of extra damage. However, Depths is a light armor set. To maintain your medium armor setup, you’ll need to use Depths on your jewelry and weapons, and swap Pillar to your body pieces
- Arms of Relequen: High single-target damage, but low AoE and requires very good light attack weaving to use well. For most purposes, another set will be better
- Runecarver’s Blaze: Causes our DoTs to do extra damage. As dragonknights we use lots of DoTs, so this set will proc often. This is a solid alternative to Pillar
- Azureblight Reaper: One of the #1 best sets for fighting lots of enemies together. Does lots of extra AoE damage. Also a great alternative to Pillar
- Coral Riptide: Provides a huge stat bonus as long as you can keep your stamina meter low. This set provides some of the very strongest damage, but only if you can keep your stamina constantly low without running out; most people will do better with a set that doesn’t have such a challenging gimmick
- Kinras’s Wrath: Gives us Major Berserk, a big boost to our damage. Reasonable alternative to Pillar but requires very good light attack weaving to keep up the buff; for most purposes, another set will yield more consistent results
- Monster Sets (requires rearranging your gear setup, e.g. swapping out the Velothi mythic)
- Maw of the Infernal: Great mix of single target and AoE damage
- Stormfist: Great AoE damage
- Selene: Great single target damage
- Zaan: One of the highest damage monster sets, with good AoE damage, but stops working if you get too far away from the enemy. Also requires fairly good light attack weaving to work well
- Kjalnar’s Nightmare: One of the highest single target damage of all monster sets. Requires very good light attack weaving to work well
- Arena Weapons
- Thunderous Volley (Bow): Enhances the Volley bow skill with a ramping damage increase
- Crushing Wall (Inferno Staff): Enhances the Wall of Elements skill with a simple damage boost
- Mythics
- Harpooner’s Wading Kilt: Gives us a huge stacking damage boost. This mythic can yield higher damage than Velothi, but only if we can keep up the buff stacks by not taking direct damage. Anytime we take direct damage will drop a large portion of the buff, so use this set with caution
- Interesting Group Support Sets (for fairly advanced groups, generally)
- Z’en’s Redress: Applies a debuff to the enemy to take up to 5% extra damage from the whole group based on how many sticky DoT skills we have applied to the enemy. (Ground DoTs don’t count; only DoTs that apply directly onto the enemy.) Dragonknights excel at using this set since they have several strong sticky DoTs available. Often used in advanced groups along with Alkosh to highly enhance the group’s damage, at the expense of your getting to use a set to boost your own damage
- Roar of Alkosh: Applies a huge resistance debuff to nearby enemies to increase your whole group’s damage against them. Often used in advanced groups along with Z’en’s to highly enhance the group’s damage, at the expense of your getting to use a set to boost your own damage
Skills and Passives
Skills
I’m listing way more skills than will actually fit on your bars, just to emphasize how many good options there are. See Example Bar Setups below for specific examples of effective bar setups
Choose a spammable
This is the skill you’ll be casting most often, while your DoTs are still running
Molten Whip: A powerful spammable. We can get a nice stat boost (and a buff to our next Whip cast) by slotting and casting other Ardent Flame abilities. This skill uniquely costs a combination of both stamina and magicka
- We can also slot this skill passively for the stat buff, even if we’re using a different spammable
Rapid Strikes: Another strong spammable option, with a short channeling time
Stone Giant: Slightly less damage, but applies the Stagger debuff to increase the entire group’s damage against the enemy
- Somewhat clunky to use. For a smoother, easier to use spammable, try one of the above options
Whirling Blades: AoE spammable. Does extra execute damage, hitting enemies harder when they’re already at low health percentages. Use this when fighting large packs of enemies. Less damage per target than the above options, but more damage overall when you hit multiple enemies with it
Choose some DoTs
Fill up the rest of your skill slots with DoTs, and optionally utility skills (see below)
Burning Talons: Excellent AoE damage. Costs a lot of magicka, so can be tough on our sustain since we have a small magicka pool. Also immobilizes enemies
- Talons is very strong but has a short timer. You’ll want to cast it consistently every 5th cast for best results
Flames of Oblivion: A good AoE DoT. Also provides Major Savagery/Prophecy to boost your crit chance
Venomous Claw: Nice single-target DoT. Does extra damage the longer it ticks
Stampede: Great AoE DoT. Also a gap closer to bring you into melee range
Barbed Trap: Provides a big boost to your damage in the form of the Minor Force crit damage buff, as well as applying a DoT
Eruption: Another very good AoE DoT. Costs lots of magicka
Noxious Breath: Decent AoE DoT. Provides a huge Major Breach debuff to lower enemies’ resistances so you can hit them a lot harder
- You can also use
Engulfing Flames. No Breach but provides a debuff to increase your whole group’s flame-based damage against enemies
- You can also use
Carve: Another AoE DoT. Gets an extra-long timer if you re-cast it before it finishes. Also provides a damage shield
Deadly Cloak: Good AoE DoT that also protects you with Major Evasion
Anti-Cavalry Caltrops: Decent AoE DoT
Choose some utility skills (optional)
Miscellaneous skills you can use for buffs, recovery, and extra damage
Resolving Vigor: Powerful heal skill. Also protects us with Minor Resolve
Camouflaged Hunter: We can slot this passively for the Minor Berserk and Major Savagery/Prophecy crit buffs, as well as for a stat bonus from the Slayer passive. (No need to cast this skill, we just have it for the passive buffs)
Shrouded Daggers: Mostly useful as a ranged interrupt. Also cleaves to multiple enemies and provides Major Brutality/Sorcery for a stat buff
Choose ultimates
Very high damage skills you can cast when your Ultimate meter is full. Normally you’ll want Standard on your backbar, and either Dawnbreaker or Standard again on your front
Standard of Might: One of the best ultimates in the game! Damages enemies, boosts all of your other damage, reduces incoming damage, and provides a damage synergy for your allies
Flawless Dawnbreaker: You can optionally slot this passively on your frontbar for the Slayer passive in Fighters Guild, with Standard on your backbar. (You won’t normally actually cast Dawnbreaker; it’s just there for the passive stat boost)
Example Bar Setups
Consider these setups as templates for your own setup; there’s not necessarily a need to follow them exactly. Skills marked “Flex” in particular are good candidates to be replaced with other skills that you prefer, or ones of the opposite stat cost if you’re having sustain trouble
Single-Target Fight
Fighting a boss? This setup will do nicely
![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() |
Molten Whip | Deadly Cloak | Barbed Trap | Flames of Oblivion | Resolving Vigor | Flawless Dawnbreaker |
![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() |
Venomous Claw | Stampede | Carve | Noxious Breath | Camouflaged Hunter | Standard of Might |
A bow backbar can substitute in Endless Hail and
Poison Injection for the 2H skills
A staff backbar can substitute in Unstable Wall of Elements and
Anti-Cavalry Caltrops
How To
Molten Whip: A powerful spammable. We can get a nice stat boost (and a buff to our next Whip cast) by slotting and casting other Ardent Flame abilities. This skill uniquely costs a combination of both stamina and magicka Molten Whip is our spammable. You’ll be casting this skill much more than all other skills
- We have a variety of DoT skills (
) that will put out lots of extra damage throughout a fight
Noxious Breath is particularly potent because it applies the huge Major Breach armor debuff on the enemy. Make extra sure to keep this skill running
Resolving Vigor is our heal; use it for emergencies when your health is running low
- Don’t cast
Camouflaged Hunter; it’s just giving us a little extra damage on our backbar passively from the Slayer passive
- Always use
Standard of Might for your ultimate;
Flawless Dawnbreaker is also just slotted passively for Slayer
Alternative Setup
I recommend the above setup for most people, but you can also use the following if you prefer a different spammable
![Rapid Strikes](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/rapid-strikes.png)
![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/empty-low.png)
![Burning Talons](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/burning-talons.png)
![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/empty-low.png)
![Barbed Trap](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/barbed-trap.png)
![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/empty-low.png)
![Flames of Oblivion](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/flames-of-oblivion.png)
![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/empty-low.png)
![Resolving Vigor](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/resolving-vigor.png)
![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/empty-low.png)
![Flawless Dawnbreaker](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/flawless-dawnbreaker.png)
![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/flex-low.png)
![Venomous Claw](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/venomous-claw.png)
![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/empty-low.png)
![Stampede](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/stampede.png)
![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/empty-low.png)
![Carve](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/carve.png)
![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/flex-low.png)
![Noxious Breath](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/noxious-breath.png)
![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/flex-low.png)
![Molten Whip](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/molten-whip.png)
![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/empty-low.png)
![Standard of Might](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/standard-of-might.png)
![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/empty-low.png)
- Front Bar: Rapid Strikes, Burning Talons, Barbed Trap, Flames of Oblivion, Resolving Vigor || Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker (flex)
- Back Bar: Venomous Claw, Stampede, Carve (flex), Noxious Breath (flex), Molten Whip || Ultimate: Standard of Might
A bow backbar can substitute in Endless Hail and
Poison Injection for the 2H skills
A staff backbar can substitute in Unstable Wall of Elements and
Anti-Cavalry Caltrops
How To
Rapid Strikes is our spammable. You’ll be casting this skill much more than all other skills
Burning Talons is a very strong DoT but has a rather short timer. Do your best to cast this skill consistently every 5 casts since it has a 5 second cooldown. In other words, cast a repeating pattern of Talons – skill – skill – skill – skill – Talons – skill – skill – skill – skill
- We have a variety of other DoT skills (
) that will put out lots of extra damage throughout a fight
Noxious Breath is particularly potent because it applies the huge Major Breach armor debuff on the enemy. Make extra sure to keep this skill running
Resolving Vigor is our heal; use it for emergencies when your health is running low
- Don’t cast
Molten Whip; it’s just giving us a little extra damage passively whenever we cast our other Ardent Flame abilities (
)
- Always use
Standard of Might for your ultimate;
Flawless Dawnbreaker is also just slotted passively, giving us some extra damage from the Slayer passive
AoE Fight
Try this setup if you’re fighting a large pack of enemies. You’ll get less damage on each individual enemy, but much more damage overall as you hit more enemies at once. We’ll dispense with most single-target abilities here
![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() |
Whirling Blades | Burning Talons | Deadly Cloak | Flames of Oblivion | Resolving Vigor | Flawless Dawnbreaker |
![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() |
Anti-Cavalry Caltrops | Stampede | Carve | Noxious Breath | Molten Whip | Standard of Might |
A bow backbar can substitute in Arrow Barrage and
Camouflaged Hunter for the 2H skills
A staff backbar can substitute in Unstable Wall of Elements and
Camouflaged Hunter
How To
Whirling Blades is our spammable. You’ll be casting this skill much more than all other skills
Burning Talons is a very strong DoT but has a rather short timer. Do your best to cast this skill consistently every 5 casts since it has a 5 second cooldown. In other words, cast a repeating pattern of Talons – skill – skill – skill – skill – Talons – skill – skill – skill – skill
- We have a variety of other DoT skills (
) that will put out lots of extra damage throughout a fight
Noxious Breath is particularly potent because it applies the huge Major Breach armor debuff on the enemy. Make extra sure to keep this skill running
Resolving Vigor is our heal; use it for emergencies when your health is running low
- Don’t cast
Molten Whip; it’s just giving us a little extra damage passively whenever we cast our other Ardent Flame abilities (
)
- Always use
Standard of Might for your ultimate;
Flawless Dawnbreaker is just slotted passively, giving us some extra damage from the Slayer passive
Quick Guide to Skill Casting
Remember, there is a one second global cooldown (GCD) for casting skills. After you cast a skill, you are unable to cast another skill for one second. Therefore it is ideal to cast skills on a consistent rhythm of one skill per second, the maximum speed allowed by the GCD. Consider using a metronome addon to get accustomed to this rhythm
- Naturally, casting this frequently will burn through a lot of resources, but any second where you’re not casting a skill is a second wasted where you could have been doing more damage! But see Sustain Tips below if you’re running out of resources
- Also remember to weave a light attack between each skill. Along with dealing extra damage, this will cause you to generate ult and also assist in applying your weapon enchantments, which are activated by light attacks and weapon skills. A successful weaver will cast one skill and one light attack in each one-second interval
Rotation
Watch your skill timers! Your main goal in your rotation is to keep your DoT timers all running as much of the time as possible. When you see a timer run out, cast that skill again
Your goals in your rotation are:
- Keep your DoT and buff timers running at all times
- Cast a useful skill on every one-second GCD
Your priorities in casting your skills are:
- Whenever one of your DoT timers has run out or is about to, cast that skill again to keep it running!
- Whenever your cooldowns are all still running, hit your spammable skill (
) for extra damage
- Try to avoid recasting DoTs long before their timers expire, unless the enemy has moved out of the skill’s area. This will usually not provide much or any additional damage
You should spend most of your time on your frontbar. Just go to your backbar briefly to refresh skill timers
Casting skills infrequently is one of the biggest things that holds back most DPS from doing lots of damage. Dealing with mechanics and staying out of enemy attacks can take some time to get used to, but once you’re familiar with the fight, pushing your damage skills as close to that one-cast-per-second rhythm as possible will let you put out huge amounts of damage. Don’t spam your skills as fast as possible, since only one skill per second will cast, but don’t cast too slowly either
Priority Passives
All passives are useful for something, but these are the passives that will be most relevant to combat
Ardent Flame: Combustion, Searing Heat, World in Ruin
Draconic Power: Iron Skin, Scaled Armor
- Use all four passives if you’re using any skills from this line, like Burning Talons
Earthen Heart: Battle Roar, Mountain’s Blessing
- Use Eternal Mountain as well if you’re using any magicka skills from this line, like Eruption
Dual Wield: Everything: Slaughter, Dual Wield Expert, Controlled Fury, Ruffian, Twin Blade and Blunt
Two Handed: Forceful, Heavy Weapons, Balanced Blade
Light Armor (only if wearing some light pieces): Evocation, Spell Warding, Prodigy, Concentration
Medium Armor: Dexterity, Wind Walker, Agility, Athletics
Fighters Guild: Slayer, Banish the Wicked, Skilled Tracker
Undaunted: Everything: Undaunted Command, Undaunted Mettle
Assault: Continuous Attack
Racial: Everything
Alchemy (if using potions): Medicinal Use
Character
Race
Racial differences are relatively minimal, so I advise simply picking a race you like. But if you’re wanting to optimize, the best options are:
Attributes
All 64 points belong in Stamina. Your skills do more healing based on your Max Stamina value (or Magicka, whichever is higher), so it is ideal to build one value as high as possible
![Attributes](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/attributes-stamina.png)
Mundus Stone
The Lover
- Gives you extra penetration to shred through enemies’ defenses. This is a great option for (1) when you’re leveling, or (2) when you’re not with a particularly organized group. When in doubt, Lover is likely the way to go
The Thief
- Increases your critical chance, which is another excellent stat for maximizing damage. This is the best option when you have skill points, Champion Points, and group support invested into maxing out your penetration already
Consumables
Foods/Drinks
Dubious Camoran Throne: Max Heath/Stamina, Stamina Recovery
- Good for general use, with a good mix of stats and sustain
Braised Rabbit with Spring Vegetables /
Garlic Cod with Potato Crust /
Sticky Pork and Radish Noodles (all equivalent): Max Health/Stamina (CP 150+)
- Use this if you don’t need extra sustain; higher stats but no sustain buff
Lava Foot Soup-and-Saltrice: Max Stamina, Stamina Recovery
- Use this for low-pressure situations where you don’t need extra survivability; higher stamina and recovery but no health buff
Potions
Crown Tri-Restoration Potion: Max Health/Magicka/Stamina, Health/Magicka/Stamina Recovery
- Easy free option if accumulated from daily rewards
Stamina Potion: Max Stamina, Stamina Recovery
- Also a probably-free option that is easily looted from the wild; also craftable
Weapon Power Potion: Max Stamina, Stamina Recovery, Major Brutality/Savagery
- This will give powerful damage buffs but is a more expensive option to craft
Champion Points (level 50+)
A rough progression of what CP nodes to start with once you hit level 50. You’ll be able to use more and more of these nodes as you gain experience and accumulate more Champion Points. Fill each node completely before moving on to the next one
Warfare ![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/cp-mage.png)
- Start with Precision and (in the Extended Might sub-tree) Piercing
- Then add these four slottables: Deadly Aim, Wrathful Strikes, Thaumaturge, Master-at-Arms. (Make sure you add them to your Champion Bar or they’ll have no effect!)
- Next grab Tireless Discipline, and also the non-slottable CP from the Extended Might sub-tree (i.e. skip any CP with the “Add to Champion Bar to activate” note)
- Finally add the rest of the non-slottable CP throughout the Warfare tree
Fitness ![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/cp-warrior.png)
- Take these three slottables: Rejuvenation, Boundless Vitality, Fortified. (Make sure you add them to your Champion Bar or they’ll have no effect!)
- Grab Sprinter, Hasty (in the Wind Chaser sub-tree), and Hero’s Vigor
- Take the rest of the non-slottable CP throughout the Fitness tree, including those in the three subtrees
- At some point during the above step, take one more slottable CP of your choice (Celerity (in the Wind Chaser sub-tree), Bloody Renewal, Spirit Mastery are some of the most useful ones)
Craft ![](https://wtu.fyi/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/cp-thief.png)
- Use whatever you’d like here; these points mostly don’t affect your combat skill. There are lots of options for crafting, stealth, movement speed, and more in this tree
- Some early nodes I find good for very general usage include Steed’s Blessing, Breakfall, and Wanderer
Sustain Tips
Try to avoid heavy attacking for extra stamina when possible. A heavy or two once in a while is okay, but doing many heavy attacks takes lots of time away that you could be using to cast skills and do more damage. It’s much better to improve your sustain in other ways whenever possible
Need some more stamina sustain? Dragonknights have some unique sustain mechanics we can take advantage of. Check these tips, in roughly this priority order:
- Have you bought all your passives? Your Medium Armor and class skill lines in particular have several passives that will give you extra stamina
- Are you using mostly medium armor? If not, consider doing so to get lots of extra stamina from the Wind Walker passive
- Do you have CP points in the Rejuvenation passive (red tree)?
- Are you using the Charged trait on one or both of your frontbar weapons? This will make your Poison enchantment proc more often, so that your Combustion passive gives you back more stamina
- Are you casting your ultimate frequently? This will proc your Battle Roar passive, which will give you a ton of resources back
- Are you using Molten Whip as your spammable? It splits its resource cost between stamina and magicka and so uses relatively little stamina
- If you aren’t, are you using several magicka-costing skills like
Burning Talons,
Flames of Oblivion, and
Eruption? The more you use magicka skills, the less you’ll be using up your stamina
- If you aren’t, are you using several magicka-costing skills like
- Are you using food with a stamina recovery buff, like
Dubious Camoran Throne?
- Are you using a potion with a stamina recovery buff? If so, do you have the Medicinal Use passive unlocked from the Alchemy crafting skill line? Without this passive, your potions will run out a while before you’re able to drink another one, but it does unfortunately require leveling Alchemy
- Are you using stamina recovery glyphs on some or all of your jewelry? (This is only recommended if needed, since weapon damage glyphs will provide more damage)