Skyrim exists as a testament to how much dedication gamers and developers alike can put into a game when they're truly passionate about it.With most gamers still adventuring through the Nord's homeland some eight years after its release, it's hard to question the quality and engrossing charm of Bethesda's massive fantasy RPG (minus a few bugs and horses being able to traverse at 90 degree. Here are the best Skyrim builds for your character based on combat potential. Skyrim builds: Battlemage Battlemages are some of the most intriguing characters in Skyrim.
Here’s the brutal truth about finding or creating a high-performing Templar character build:
There are WAY too many ESO players posting suboptimal builds on forums that they haven’t extensively tested and optimized.
Only my shield is sturdy, and I have 30 some-odd points into shadow ward. Tanks don't need to perma-block, they only need to block the big hits. Everything else they can mitigate and out-heal. Only a few dungeons, especially the new DLC ones, are best served by a 'meta' tank. Elder Scrolls Online: 10 Best Nightblade Builds, Ranked (For 2020) Playing a Nightblade in Elder Scrolls Online can be really fun, but these builds certainly make it a smoother process. New to Skyrim, and I wanted to make a good physical tank (person that can take lots of damage). 1) What race to pick- Orc, Redguard or Breton 2) What skills to choose- I'm thinking one handed, block, heavy armor, archery, enchanting and smithing That's all.
They think their build is good just because they picked some good stats and items that they hear are good.
If only it were that easy…
If you’re serious about maximizing your characters full potential, you will need to spend hours testing and tweaking your build until you prefect it.
Well today I’m going to give you a few short cuts that will allow you to greatly improve the effectiveness of your build by showing you the important things we have learned by doing hundreds of hours of testing for our ESO character builds guide. (More info & link at the end of this post)
I. Best Race Choices for a Templar
Race Choices For Stamina Builds:
- Stamina DPS: The best choice at the moment is Redguard for PvE DPS. Since the Khajiit critical passive was fixed they have become a top contender for maximum Stam DPS.
- Tank: Nord is the best race for tanking because of their reduction to incoming damage and increase to stamina and health.
- Balanced: If you want a more well-rounded race so you can switch between multiple roles, you can pick Imperial.
Race Choices For Magicka Builds:
- Magicka DPS & PvP: We recommend picking a Dark Elf (7% Fire Damage, 9% Max Magicka, 6% Stamina & Fire Resistance), as it gives bonus Fire Damage for your fire DoTs and some protection to help you survive if you choose to go as a vampire, However the differences between Dark and High Elf is really minimal, if you want a bit more sustain or also PvP on the side High Elf might be a better choice for you
- Healer: Breton, the reduced spell cost and high magicka pool is essential for efficient healing. Second best choice will be High Elf.
II. Prioritize The Right Stats/Attribute Points
Stats For Stamina Builds: To do end game content you will want around 18k HP (for non-tanks) so you don’t get one shot. After you make sure you have 18k HP you should dump all your extra stats from attribute points and enchants into stamina. If you are still leveling up just make sure you keep putting some points into health, if you start getting one or two shot that means you are putting to many points into stamina.
You should prioritize your stats in this order for optimal Stamina DPS Builds:
- Armor Penetration
- Weapon Damage
- Weapon Critical
- Max Stamina
- Reduced Stamina Cost
- Stamina Recovery
You should prioritize your stats in this order for optimal Stamina Tanking Builds:
- 28k to 30k Health (Fully Buffed)
- Dodge Chance
- Reduced Cost of Blocking
- Reduced Stamina Cost
- Stamina Recovery
- Physical/Spell Resistance
- Maximum Stamina
Stats For Magicka Builds: You will also want about 18k HP for magicka builds if you are planning to do end game content and if you are still leveling just make sure you are putting enough points into health so you don’t get one or two shot by packs of mobs.
You should prioritize your stats in this order for optimal Magicka DPS Builds:
- Spell Damage
- Spell Critical
- Spell Penetration
- Max Magicka
- Reduced Magicka Cost
- Magicka Recovery
You should prioritize your stats in this order for optimal Healing Builds:
- Max Magicka
- Reduced Magicka Cost
- Magicka Recovery
- Spell Damage
- Spell Critical
Find out how to get the perfect stats for your Templar builds in our —-> ESO Mastery Builds Guide
III. Pick The Right Mundus Stone
Stamina Based Mundus Stones:
- Maximum DPS: Most characters should run the Thief mundus stone for maximum DPS but Khajiit Templars with a high critical strike chance should run Shadow.
- Optimal Tanking: The Lord is the best stone for tanking unless you have almost 30k HP fully buffed without it, then you should switch to the Tower for the extra stamina.
Magicka Based Mundus Stones:
- Maximum DPS: The Thief is defiantly the way to go for magicka DPS builds, the Thief increases your critical chance which boosts your damage more than any other stone and allows you to use your ultimate more often.
- Optimal Healing: For healing builds you should swap mundus stones to the Atronach, the ability to consistently heal is way more important than your damage output.
If you want to know where to find each Mundus Stone is checkout our: Mundus Stones Location Guide
IV. Optimal Champion Points For Your Character Build
Your Champion points are going to vary based on your exact build, game content you are doing, whether you are going for single target or AoE damage, and group setup. Below we have put together some basic templates for you to start with and modify based on your needs.
Stamina Based DPS Templates:
The Ritual (Blue)
- Mighty: 100 points
- Precise Strikes: 40 points
- Piercing: 27 points
The Tower (Green)
- Warlord: 100 points
The Lover (Green)
- Mooncalf: 53 points
The Shadow (Green)
- Tumbling: 13 points
- Shadow Ward: 1 points
The Lady (Red)
- Hardy: 78 points
- Elemental Defender: 78 points
- Thick Skinned: 11 points
Magicka Based DPS Templates:
The Apprentice (Blue)
![Ezcam](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5baca639930039905b055953/5bace05e5765a3253c7c90e1_cyc_app.png)
- Elemental Expert : 96 points
- Elfborn : 71 points
The Tower (Green)
- Magician : 100 points
The Lover (Green)
- Arcanist : 67 points
The Steed (Red)
- Spell Shield : 27 points
The Lady (Red)
- Hardy : 60 points
- Elemental Defender : 80 points
For Tanking & Healing champion point templates download our Templar Builds mini guide by clicking the link below, we didn’t include them in this post because it would be too long but we did add them to the guide you can get below.
Find out how to modify the above templates to fit your goals and playstyle in our —-> ESO Mastery Builds Guide
V. Use The Best Combo of Gear Traits, Enchantments, & Item Sets
Your gear traits and enchants are going to change slightly based on what game content you want to do, who’s in your group, and various other factors. If you Get Our ESO Mastery Builds Guide we will show you what you need to change based on your situation. It covers group content, raids, and solo gameplay.
**Note** We didn’t include item builds for tanking and healing in this post because it would be way too long, however we did include them in the downloadable Templar guide you can get by clicking the link above.
Basic Stamina Based DPS Template:
Item Slot | Set Bonus | Item Type | Trait | Enchant |
Helm | Spawn of Mephala | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Shoulders | Spawn of Mephala | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Chest | Night Mother’s Gaze | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Waist | Night Mother’s Gaze | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Feet | Night Mother’s Gaze | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Hands | Night Mother’s Gaze | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Legs | Night Mother’s Gaze | Medium | Divines | Stamina |
Neck | Agility | Jewelry | Robust | Weapon Damage |
Ring One | Agility | Jewelry | Robust | Weapon Damage |
Ring Two | Agility | Jewelry | Robust | Weapon Damage |
Mainhand | Maelstorm | Dagger/Axe | Sharpened | Cruel Flurry |
Offhand | Maelstorm | Dagger | Sharpened | Cruel Flurry |
2nd Weapon | Maelstorm | Bow | Sharpened | Thunderous Volley |
Basic Magicka Based DPS Template:
Item Slot | Set Bonus | Item Type | Trait | Enchant |
Helm | Molag Kena | Heavy | Divines | Magicka |
Shoulders | Molag Kena | Medium | Divines | Magicka |
Chest | Twice Born Star | Light | Divines | Magicka |
Waist | Twice Born Star | Light | Divines | Magicka |
Feet | Twice Born Star | Light | Divines | Magicka |
Hands | Twice Born Star | Light | Divines | Magicka |
Legs | Twice Born Star | Light | Divines | Magicka |
Neck | Willpower | Jewelry | Arcane | Spell Damage |
Ring One | Willpower | Jewelry | Arcane | Spell Damage |
Ring Two | Willpower | Jewelry | Arcane | Spell Damage |
Mainhand | Torug’s Pact | Inferno Staff | Sharpened | Increase Spell Damage |
Offhand | Torug’s Pact/Maelstorm | Inferno Staff | Sharpened | Fire/Daedric/Maelstorm |
Copy Our Top Performing Templar Builds
If you would rather skip all the work and just get a huge list of perfect build templates for all roles and playstyles, you should get our Character Builds Guidewhere we walk you through step-by-step how to copy the best builds within minutes and you can become one of the top Templars in The Elder Scrolls Online.
The builds we offer in our guides are constantly updated and proven to maximize your characters performance in any role or playstyle. We have builds for PvE, PvP, Tanking, Healing, DPS, and builds for characters still leveling up.
>> Check Out Our Character Builds Guide <<
Many Skyrim players get bored of their characters after 20 or 30 levels. Here are some character builds that stay fresh for a long play-through.
![Skyrim best tank build guide Skyrim best tank build guide](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/u18hVQHedhE/maxresdefault.jpg)
Over-powered and “grindy” characters quickly become boring. If you plan to use crafting (enchanting, smithing, and alchemy), try to use higher difficulties and try not to use all three. It gets old having to run from station to station, making money with alchemy and then leveling your crafting and enchanting accordingly. It’s boring to constantly make runs to grab alchemy ingredients too. It’s just lame.
Then, when you have super high crafting stats, now what? You are now overpowered and have no more grinding to do. You have 10,000 healing potions.
Yay.
Is that fun or challenging?
Another character build mistake is to enchant your way down to zero cost magic or insane damage per second (with increased one-hand or two-hand on several items). OK, so you can spam spells and melee damage. How is this fun?
Instead, consider switching to master difficulty if you plan to craft and to not include alchemy. Limit your enchanting to two spell cost reductions per school.
A play-through with zero crafting is also quite rewarding. It makes perks much more (relatively) powerful and necessary. It also makes finding loot actually mean something. If you favor and tend to enjoy a certain build, try it all the way though without crafting at all.
I’m not saying “do not play an archer” or “do not play a stealth build”, what I’m saying is that the following gets old:
- Sneak up on opponent
- Hit them with an arrow
- Back up a bit and wait to be totally hidden again
- Repeat until the enemy is dead
- Repeat until you can one-shot everyone
This might be an unpopular statement, but “how is this fun”? This is just like work to me. It’s super repetitive and there is no ENGAGEMENT.
To not get bored, instead, pick sneak and archer builds that have some sort of engagement element to them.
I know this is an unpopular opinion because so many players love stealth archers. Feel free to flame me in the comments if you disagree.
Does this sound familiar…
- Cast and alteration spell and let your magica build back up – but don’t wait too long because your alteration spell will expire
- Switch to Conjuration
- Summon something and let your magica build back up again
- Switch to destruction and engage the enemy
- Leave enough magica to summon a weapon or switch to a physical weapon
- Switch to a healing spell, and then back to alteration to do it again.
That’s such a grind, and it doesn’t even include illusion. Even with hot keys you have to sit and wait before every battle. Without hot keys you are constantly pausing to select spells. That is just boring and not fun.
Instead, limit your magic to a couple of schools. Pick a combat flow that is more immersive.
Race: Altimer
Difficulty: Adept
Stone: The Lord (anything except Atronoch – it’s overpowered)
Level health and magic: 1/1/0
Primary Skills:
Destruction
Restoration
Heavy Armor
Secondary Skills:
None! Do not enchant or use smithing!
Play style:
The tank mage LIKES to get hit. It only makes her stronger. Heavy armor goes up and restoration becomes more powerful. Wearing robes is more powerful in the beginning, but the tank mage must develop her skills over time, grasshopper.
Go into battle by engaging your enemies toe to toe. You only have to dodge blows from the occasional over-powered boss and perhaps wolves/skeevers (to avoid disease).
Other than that, you WANT to get hit and for your health bar to go down. Use destruction in the right and healing in the left. Blast your enemy with the appropriate forms of destruction magic and blast yourself with healing spells.
You can also use two-handed destruction and impact against big bosses, when needed.
You can try ward spells when fighting mages, but I prefer just to keep healing myself.
The engaging nature of this build and the slow but steady strengthening is what keeps it from getting boring. There is hardly any hot-key or immersion breaking menu-pauses to select different spells while in battle.
Its’s also super fun to specialize in only these three skills.
You will become a master of destruction, restoration, and heavy armor.
Race: Altimer
Difficulty: Master
Stone: Lord (anything except Atronoch)
Level health and magic: 1/2/0
Primary Skills:
Restoration
1 Handed
Light Armor
Smithing
Enchanting
Play style:
The Validator bashes opponents with a mace, and relies on healing magic instead of a shield. This “validates” restoration as a perfectly viable school of magic, as around level ten or so, you will see how your opponents will have a VERY hard time killing you when you can keep healing yourself.
Play with a mace in the right hand and a spell in the other. Keep a healing spell of some sort in the left hand and power bash the crap out of your opponents with your mace.
It’s super satisfying to stand there awaiting their approach with your trusty (enchanted) mace, and a very strong arm to swing it, all while not worried about getting hit. You will quickly level your light armor AND your restoration this way. The Validator wears light armor but she is good with it (though perks and crafting) and can take a reasonable amount of shots.
If you face a boss that can kill you with a few hit then use your lightly-armored swiftness to avoid his/her blows, as needed. Step around the corner or back a few years just for a split second and heal yourself, then get right back into the melee action.
This play style should not get boring as it is extremely engaging, and your attacks will feel very powerful. Your health bar will go down when you get hit at the master difficulty but your powerful healing skills will quickly bring it right back. Plus you will be able to get right in there and power attack with your mace again because your healing spells will also regenerate stamina.
Avoid enchanting more than 2 restoration reducing improvements. Zero-cost anything breaks the game. Same goes for 1 handed enchantments – no more than two. Instead, the Validator concentrates on magica regeneration higher magica, and health. Of course this is not “optimal”, but it works great with the character type.
Plan your build with the Skyrim Build Calculator.
The brick character pretty much just stands there and wails on her opponents utilizing extremely damaging techniques.
Race: Orc
Difficulty: Master
Stone: Lord (anything except Atronoch)
Level health and magic: 1/1/0
Primary Skills:
Destruction
Skyrim Best Tank Build
2 Handed
Heavy Armor
Smithing
Enchanting
Play Style:
The Brick character blasts two-handed destruction spells at their foes without worrying about running out of magic or kiting backwards to avoid getting squished.
The Brick is not scared of anything, actually.
Once the high-powered two-handed magic depletes the magica bar, she switches to a two-handed axe, with which she is insanely powerful.
With crafted heavy armor and already weakened enemies charging into giant axe power attacks, the Brick isn’t worried about defense either.
Many players think that the fireball spell is not available in the beginning and mid-levels. For the Brick, this is no problem. Remember how in Bauder’s Gate II the “Skulltrap” spell was better than the fireball spell (did I just date myself)? Well, since the Brick does not need magica in her bar, the “Rune” spell can be used generously and with no “waiting” after it is cast.
Picture her standing there, with a powerful rune between her and the enemy. On top of that, she just blasted a two handed fireball at the group and now she stand confident and ready with her crafted 2-handed axe and her heavy armor.
Skyrim Best Tank Build
Good luck to them.
Keep your 2-handed and destruction enchantments to a maximum of 2 each. The Brick spends the rest of her enchanting efforts on health and resistance.
Skyrim Best Tank Build Guide
More non-boring Skyrim builds to come soon.