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.

  • 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)


Magicka


No setup is perfect everywhere. Check your tooltips regularly and tweak your setups depending on the group and the content.


Single Target

Relequen + Whorl + Zaan + Master’s Ice Staff

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.


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 - - -

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.


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.


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