Warden
PvE DPS GUIDE
Warden is a low-key powerhouse. Beneath its gentle, nature-loving demeanour lies a beast who skewers their enemies in ice and summons giant bears and bugs to pulverise them. Scorch hits like a truck, smashing everything in its path, while Feral Guardian outperforms most ultimates over long fights with constant damage and a built-in execute. Warden also has some of the coolest visual effects in the game, and clever interactions between class abilities which keep it interesting to play. Glacial Presence and Piercing Cold make it uniquely effective at Frost Damage and applying the Minor Brittle debuff, without making this the only way to play the class.
UPDATE 41 MINI GUIDES
KEY PASSIVES
12% is a hefty boost, and significantly reduces the DPS penalty from using Frost staves for Minor Brittle, to the point where they are often worth using for the damage alone.
This makes Minor Brittle much easier to maintain and turns our Chilled ticks into a regular and major source of damage, rewarding us for stacking Frost abilities even when Brittle is not needed.
Equivalent to other class ultigen passives, this provides an extra incentive to use Animal Companions abilities. Sadly, the cooldown does not line up with any of our abilities, but at least it is easy to trigger.
This helps us reach the 125% Critical Damage cap more easily than other classes without things like the Kilt or Backstabber. The option to raise or lower the bonus on demand can also be useful.
Recent Changes
-
Weapon passives changed to shrink the gap between different weapon types.
Long Shots renamed Vinedusk Training, changed to a universal damage bonus.
Bonuses from Twin Blade & Blunt and Heavy Weapons reduced slightly.
Ancient Knowledge changed to boost damage types based on type of staff equipped.
Tri Focus restricted to the final tick of fully charged Lightning Heavy Attacks, rather than any tick.
Merciless Charge changed to increase all direct damage for 18s after casting Critical Charge.
0.5s cooldown and 30% ramping damage per target added to Azureblight, base damage reduced.
Warchief, Battlereeve and General monster sets added to Cyrodiil.
Sourcing of Craglorn trial sets adjusted to fix curation.
Improved death notifications added to PvP areas.
Hundreds of bug fixes for quests, sets, items, companions etc.
-
Scorch fixed (apparently) to work against enemies with very large hitboxes (e.g. Taleria).
Arcanist class added.
Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet set added.
Default melee attack range increased from 5 to 7 meters.
Spectral Cloak changed to activate only when in combat.
Plaguebreak changed to apply only to enemy players.
Empower bonus reduced to 70% from 80%.
-
Cutting Dive DOT changed to apply on every cast, regardless of Off-Balance.
Shimmering Shield cost increased and shield reduced by 33%. Magicka gain replaced with Ultimate.
Resource gain removed from Crystallized Slab, damage reduced by 33%. Magicka restore changed to Ultimate.
Major Berserk added to Wrecking Blow.
Jewelry damage glyphs hybridised. Stamina/Magicka Recovery added.
Runecarver’s Blaze and Ozezan the Inferno sets added.
Light Attack scaling increased, but base damage capped at 3,850 for melee, 3,465 for ranged.
Taunt added to single target pull abilities and procs when target is not already taunted.
Taunt immunity changed to activate only after 5 taunts from 2 players.
Pearls of Ehlnofey ultimate gain reduced from 5 to 3. Resource threshold raised from 30% to 50%.
Elemental Susceptibility fixed so Major Breach no longer overrides the ability.
Harmony trait changed to restore resources rather than boost synergies.
-
Advanced Species changed again, from penetration to Critical Damage.
Glacial Presence changed to increase damage done by Chilled. Critical Damage/Healing bonus removed.
Piercing Cold changed to a 2% bonus to all damage done, increasing to 12% with a Frost Staff equipped.
Syrabane’s Ward and Back-Alley Gourmand sets added.
Target marker system added.
Elemental Drain duration increased from 23 to 60 seconds.
Elemental Susceptibility changed to apply Burning, Chilled and Concussed every 6s. Duration reduced to 30s.
Volley fixed to scale dynamically and not solely with Weapon Critical.
Healing from Vigor reduced by 10%.
Occult Overload damage reduced by 60%, now applies a random status effect.
Recent Changes
Update 39
Weapon passives changed to shrink the gap between different weapon types.
Long Shots renamed Vinedusk Training, changed to a universal damage bonus.
Bonuses from Twin Blade & Blunt and Heavy Weapons reduced slightly.
Ancient Knowledge changed to boost damage types based on type of staff equipped.
Tri Focus restricted to the final tick of fully charged Lightning Heavy Attacks, rather than any tick.
Merciless Charge changed to increase all direct damage for 18s after casting Critical Charge.
0.5s cooldown and 30% ramping damage per target added to Azureblight, base damage reduced.
Warchief, Battlereeve and General monster sets added to Cyrodiil.
Sourcing of Craglorn trial sets adjusted to fix curation.
Improved death notifications added to PvP areas.
Hundreds of bug fixes for quests, sets, items, companions etc.
Necrom (U38)
Scorch fixed (apparently) to work against enemies with very large hitboxes (e.g. Taleria).
Arcanist class added.
Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet set added.
Default melee attack range increased from 5 to 7 meters.
Spectral Cloak changed to activate only when in combat.
Plaguebreak changed to apply only to enemy players.
Empower bonus reduced to 70% from 80%.
Scribes of Fate (U37)
Cutting Dive DOT changed to apply on every cast, regardless of Off-Balance.
Shimmering Shield cost increased and shield reduced by 33%. Magicka gain replaced with Ultimate.
Resource gain removed from Crystallized Slab, damage reduced by 33%. Magicka restore changed to Ultimate.
Major Berserk added to Wrecking Blow.
Jewelry damage glyphs hybridised. Magicka/Stamina Recovery added.
Runecarver’s Blaze and Ozezan the Inferno sets added.
Light Attack scaling increased, but base damage capped at 3,850 for melee, 3,465 for ranged.
Taunt added to single target pull abilities and procs when target is not already taunted.
Taunt immunity changed to activate only after 5 taunts from 2 players.
Pearls of Ehlnofey ultimate gain reduced from 5 to 3. Resource threshold raised from 30% to 50%.
Elemental Susceptibility fixed so Major Breach no longer overrides the ability.
Harmony trait changed to restore resources rather than boost synergies.
Firesong (U36)
Advanced Species changed again, from penetration to Critical Damage.
Glacial Presence changed to increase damage done by Chilled. Critical Damage/Healing bonus removed.
Piercing Cold changed to a 2% bonus to all damage done, increasing to 12% with a Frost Staff equipped.
Syrabane’s Ward and Back-Alley Gourmand sets added.
Target marker system added.
Elemental Drain duration increased from 23 to 60 seconds.
Elemental Susceptibility changed to apply Burning, Chilled and Concussed every 6s. Duration reduced to 30s.
Volley fixed to scale dynamically and not solely with Weapon Critical.
Healing from Vigor reduced by 10%.
Occult Overload damage reduced by 60%, now applies a random status effect.
Magicka
No setup is perfect everywhere. Check your tooltips regularly and tweak your setups depending on the group and the content.
SLOT | ITEM | TRAIT | ENCHANTMENT |
---|---|---|---|
Head | Zaan's Guise | Divines | Magicka |
Shoulders | Zaan's Epaulets | Divines | Magicka |
Chest | Relequen's Jack | Divines | Magicka |
Hands | Relequen's Bracers | Divines | Magicka |
Waist | Relequen's Belt | Divines | Magicka |
Legs | Relequen's Guards | Divines | Magicka |
Feet | Relequen's Boots | Divines | Magicka |
Necklace | Amulet of the Depths | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Ring of the Depths | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Ring of the Depths | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Front Bar Main Hand | The Master's Ice Staff | Charged/Precise | Poison/Frost |
Front Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Back Bar Main Hand | Inferno/Ice Staff of the Depths | Infused | Weapon Damage |
Back Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.
2 x Light is recommended, but monster sets can be Medium or Light and you can move some Whorl pieces to the body if you need more penetration and/or Magicka sustain.
To add a Mythic such as Coil to this setup, swap 2 x Zaan for 1 x Slimecraw and use the remaining slot for one of your primary sets.
CHAMPION POINTS
Deadly Aim - Exploiter - Master-at-Arms - Wrathful Strikes
These are for when Off-Balance, Brittle, Catalyst, Alkosh/Crimson and all necessary buffs/debuffs are provided.
Outside of these conditions, use Backstabber and/or Fighting Finesse to reach the 125% Critical Damage cap, and Force of Nature to meet the 18,200 penetration cap (adjusting Medium-to-Light Armor ratio also helps). If Off-Balance is not being triggered on cooldown, drop Exploiter and slot Thaumaturge to boost your DOTs instead.
FOOD & POTIONS
Ghastly Eye Bowl
Increase Max Magicka by 4936 and Magicka Recovery by 493 for 2 hours.
"Eyeballs" and live worms in a chilled banana and fleshfly broth. Squirms inside all the way down!
Drink > Delicacies
Worms, Fleshfly Larva, Bananas, Rose
Essence of Spell Power
Grants Major Sorcery which increases your Spell Damage by 20% for 47.6 seconds.
Grants Major Prophecy which gives you 2629 Spell Critical Rating for 47.6 seconds.
Restore 7582 Magicka immediately.
Grants you Major Intellect which increases your Magicka Recovery by 30% for 47.6 seconds (45s cooldown).
Corn Flower
Lady's Smock
Namira's Rot / Water Hyacinth
+
These are recommended for practice and easy content. Other options include:
Max-level Fruit recipes for maximum Magicka
Crunchy Spider Skewer for Magicka + Stamina Recovery
Max-level Savoury recipes for Health + Magicka
Witchmother’s Potent Brew for Health + Magicka + Magicka Recovery
Clockwork Citrus Filet for Health + Health Recovery + Magicka + Magicka Recovery
Bewitched Sugar Skulls for Health + Magicka + Stamina
Essence of Weapon Power for Major Brutality + Savagery + Endurance
Tri Restoration Potion for Major Fortitude + Intellect + Endurance
Essence of Heroism for Major Intellect + Endurance and Minor Heroism
(very expensive and very rarely needed)
ABILITIES
Front Bar: Subterranean Assault, Barbed Trap, Frost Reach, Fetcher Infection, Inner Light, Wild Guardian
Back Bar: Blockade of Fire, Arctic Blast, Winter’s Revenge, Elemental Susceptibility, Cutting Dive/Blue Betty, Wild Guardian
ROTATION
122k DPS
Since Arcanists arrived with Rune of the Colorless Pool, Magicka Wardens are not necessarily expected to provide Minor Brittle in group content. But our class passives mean that it’s worth stacking Frost abilities anyway for the damage alone - we can easily get 11k DPS from Chilled, which is almost as much as Subterranean Assault! Also, using Reach with the Master’s Ice Staff makes sustain easier whilst still buffing our damage stats.
The 6s rhythm should make it easy to keep track of everything - just try to avoid more than 4s between Reach casts. You can keep things simple by recasting the 20s DOTs statically, or go dynamic if your weaving is fast enough. Revenge and Susceptibility must be recast on cooldown. Dive is actually a pretty strong DOT, but it’s also there to take pressure off our Magicka, so feel free to use it as a backup spammable if you’re running very low. You can also slot Betty Netch if you prefer.
A Frost back bar also works, but it makes sustain harder and deals slightly less damage. Also, this setup is already capable of near-perfect Brittle uptimes, so it should not be needed. Prebuff with Blast, Assault and Trap (skip Assault and Blast in the opening sequence).
If you find that you are over-sustaining, you could remorph Blockade to Unstable Wall and recast it statically every 9s, or on cooldown. DPS potential should be slightly higher. If sustain is poor, you can move some Whorl pieces to the body and put Dive/Netch to the front bar to compensate for the missing crit damage. Nothing changes in execute - just don’t recast your long DOTs (except Trap) once the target has fewer than 8s to go, and once you get to 4-5s drop everything and just spam Reach until the target is dead.
Trash
Sul-Xan + Spellweave + Thierric + Ur-Mage
SLOT | ITEM | TRAIT | ENCHANTMENT |
---|---|---|---|
Head | Prior Thierric's Mask | Divines | Magicka |
Shoulders | Prior Thierric's Epaulets | Divines | Magicka |
Chest | Jack of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Magicka |
Hands | Burning Spellweave Gloves | Divines | Magicka |
Waist | Burning Spellweave Sash | Divines | Magicka |
Legs | Burning Spellweave Breeches | Divines | Magicka |
Feet | Burning Spellweave Shoes | Divines | Magicka |
Necklace | Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Ring of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Ring of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Front Bar Main Hand | Ice Staff of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Precise | Flame |
Front Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Back Bar Main Hand | Burning Spellweave Inferno Staff | Infused | Weapon Damage |
Back Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.
3-5 x Light is recommended. You can equip more Medium/Light pieces depending on your sustain and Critical Damage.
For important nukes, swap Sul-Xan for Acuity, Spellweave for Elf-Bane and Prior Thierric for Balorgh.
Other useful monster sets include Grothdarr, Stormfist, Kra’gh and Skoria, depending on what you need.
CHAMPION POINTS
Biting Aura - Exploiter - Master-at-Arms - Wrathful Strikes
The best choices depend on your group and how long the fight lasts. Use Backstabber if you are below the crit cap (or Fighting Finesse if you cannot flank). Drop Exploiter if no one in your group is triggering Off-Balance consistently. And if trash pulls are lasting longer, DOTs will provide a higher proportion of your damage and Thaumaturge may be worth slotting.
ABILITIES
Front Bar: Subterranean Assault, Bird of Prey, Frost Pulsar, Camouflaged Hunter, Inner Light, Flawless Dawnbreaker
Back Bar: Blockade of Fire, Winter’s Revenge, Anti-Cavalry Caltrops, Proximity Detonation, Arctic Blast, Fiery Rage
Stamina
No setup is perfect everywhere. Check your tooltips regularly and tweak your setups depending on the group and the content.
Single Target
Relequen + Pillar of Nirn + Zaan + Maelstrom 2H
SLOT | ITEM | TRAIT | ENCHANTMENT |
---|---|---|---|
Head | Zaan’s Mask | Divines | Stamina |
Shoulders | Zaan's Epaulets | Divines | Stamina |
Chest | Relequen's Jack | Divines | Stamina |
Hands | Relequen's Bracers | Divines | Stamina |
Waist | Relequen's Belt | Divines | Stamina |
Legs | Relequen’s Guards | Divines | Stamina |
Feet | Relequen's Boots | Divines | Stamina |
Necklace | Pillar of Nirn Necklace | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Ring | Pillar of Nirn Ring | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Ring | Pillar of Nirn Ring | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Front Bar Main Hand | Pillar of Nirn Dagger | Nirnhoned | Flame |
Front Bar Off Hand | Pillar of Nirn Dagger | Charged | Poison |
Back Bar Main Hand | The Maelstrom’s Greatsword | Infused | Weapon Damage |
Back Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.
1 x Light is recommended, but monster sets can be Medium or Light depending on your sustain and penetration.
If you need range and/or to provide Minor Brittle, swap the Daggers for a Frost Staff and Rapid Strikes for Cutting Dive. This rotation already gets 95% Chilled uptime, and DPS with a Frost Staff is only 3-4% lower. Bows are practically identical to Daggers.
If Chilled uptimes are important, use a Frost Glyph on the front bar. DPS seems to be roughly the same as Flame/Poison.
You can swap Pillar of Nirn for Whorl of the Depths according to situation or preference.
To add a Mythic such as Coil to this setup, swap 2 x Zaan for 1 x Slimecraw and use the remaining slot for one of your primary sets.
CHAMPION POINTS
Deadly Aim - Exploiter - Master-at-Arms - Wrathful Strikes
These are for when Off-Balance, Brittle, Catalyst, Alkosh/Crimson and all necessary buffs/debuffs are provided.
Outside of these conditions, use Backstabber and/or Fighting Finesse to reach the 125% Critical Damage cap, and Force of Nature to meet the 18,200 penetration cap (adjusting Medium-to-Light Armor ratio also helps). If Off-Balance is not being triggered on cooldown, drop Exploiter and slot Thaumaturge to boost your DOTs instead.
FOOD & POTIONS
Lava Foot Soup-And-Saltrice
Increase Max Stamina by 4936 and Stamina Recovery by 493 for 2 hours.
A seasonal meal enjoyed during the New Life Festival. A good serving of this Dark Elf meal keeps the scrib on the surface of the broth.
Food > Delicacies
Saltrice, Flour, Potato, Scrib Jelly
Essence of Weapon Power
Grants Major Brutality which increases your Weapon Damage by 20% for 47.6 seconds.
Grants Major Savagery which gives you 2629 Weapon Critical Rating for 47.6 seconds.
Restore 7582 Stamina immediately.
Grants you Major Endurance which increases your Stamina Recovery by 30% for 47.6 seconds (45s cooldown).
Blessed Thistle
Dragonthorn
Water Hyacinth / Wormwood
+
These are recommended for practice and easy content. Other options include:
Max-level Vegetable recipes for maximum Stamina
Lava Foot Soup-and-Saltrice for Stamina + Stamina Recovery
Candied Jester’s Coins for Stamina + Magicka Recovery
Max-level Ragout recipes for Health + Stamina
Dubious Camoran Throne for Health + Stamina + Stamina Recovery
Artaeum Takeaway Broth for Health + Health Recovery + Stamina + Stamina Recovery
Bewitched Sugar Skulls for Health + Magicka + Stamina
Essence of Weapon Power for Major Brutality + Savagery + Endurance
Essence of Spell Power for Major Sorcery + Prophecy + Intellect
Tri Restoration Potion for Major Intellect + Endurance + Fortitude
Essence of Heroism for Major Intellect + Endurance and Minor Heroism
(very expensive and very rarely needed)
ABILITIES
Front Bar: Subterranean Assault, Barbed Trap, Rapid Strikes, Winter’s Revenge, Camouflaged Hunter, Wild Guardian
Back Bar: Stampede, Arctic Blast, Fetcher Infection, Camouflaged Hunter, Carve, Wild Guardian
ROTATION
127k DPS
Different weapon combinations produce very similar results on the Stamina Warden. If you prefer a Bow/Bow setup, use the Master’s Bow on the back bar and swap Stampede and Carve for Injection and Hail, with Lethal Arrow instead of Rapid Strikes. The rotation is practically unchanged and damage is only 2% behind with this sequence; perfect for mobility or short fights where Carve isn’t so useful. You can also get great results with a Greatsword back bar and Bow front bar, or even a Frost Staff for Minor Brittle.
Merciless Charge with Rapid Strikes is probably the simplest overall, combining high damage with an easy rotation. You can keep all four of the long DOTs static to make things easier, or pair up Trap and Infection and recast them on cooldown to optimise a bit more. Either way, Revenge and Carve must be dynamic, and expect to recast the latter early sometimes because Strikes interferes with bar swaps.
Prebuff with Blast, Assault and Trap. Skip Assault and Blast in the first sequence.
You can squeeze out more DPS by going completely dynamic, but the gains are small. The main thing is to recast Assault every 6s, keep your DOTs rolling and fire your ult as soon as its ready. Some limited downtime on Merciless Charge is inevitable since we’re squeezing 18 casts into an 18s window, but minimise it by keeping your weaving smooth and speedy. Nothing changes in execute until the last 5s - then spam Strikes until the target is dead. You can also replace Camouflaged Hunter with Executioner/Reverse Slice and use that as a spammable in the final moments of the fight.
Trash
Sul-Xan + Spellweave + Master’s 2H + Ur-Mage
SLOT | ITEM | TRAIT | ENCHANTMENT |
---|---|---|---|
Head | Slimecraw’s Guise | Divines | Stamina |
Shoulders | Burning Spellweave Epaulets | Divines | Stamina |
Chest | Jack of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Hands | Bracers of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Waist | Belt of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Legs | Guards of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Feet | Boots of of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Necklace | Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Ring | Burning Spellweave Ring | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Ring | Burning Spellweave Ring | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Front Bar Main Hand | The Master’s Greatsword | Nirnhoned | Flame |
Front Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Back Bar Main Hand | Burning Spellweave Inferno Staff | Infused | Weapon Damage |
Back Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.
1-2 x Light is recommended. You can equip more Medium/Light pieces depending on your sustain and Critical Damage.
You can swap Slimecraw for a Stormfist, Kra’gh or Skoria 1-piece, depending on what you need.
Hitting the penetration cap of 18,200 in trash pulls is important. Using a Sharpened Master’s Maul on the front bar, upgrading to the Perfected version and wearing more Light pieces are some of the things you can do to get there.
CHAMPION POINTS
Biting Aura - Exploiter - Master-at-Arms - Wrathful Strikes
The best choices depend on your group and how long the fight lasts. Use Backstabber if you are below the crit cap (or Fighting Finesse if you cannot flank). Drop Exploiter if no one in your group is triggering Off-Balance consistently. And if trash pulls are lasting longer, DOTs will provide a higher proportion of your damage and Thaumaturge may be worth slotting.
ABILITIES
Front Bar: Subterranean Assault, Reverse Slice, Carve, Stampede, Bird of Prey, Flawless Dawnbreaker
Back Bar: Unstable Wall of Fire, Winter’s Revenge, Anti-Cavalry Caltrops, Proximity Detonation, Arctic Blast, Fiery Rage