ESO PvP is one of the best parts of the game that has attracted many players who enjoy player killing. From Duels, where you battle another player, to the large-scale Alliance Wars, having a decent PvP build is one of the keys to success. If you want to make your PvP build as strong as possible, CapnCrunch's tips can be helpful.
Race
Race is important for a PvP build. There are certain races that are stronger than others, depending on what your class is. Class also matters significantly on which type of race you choose, depending on the passives that the class has.
If you're playing a crit-based class like a Nightblade, you will want to choose a race that is crit-based, such as a Khajiit.
Imperial is also a great choice for any PvP class: They get the extra health and the cost reduction of skills, negating the costs you're using from Vampire stage 3 (You should be running Vampire stage 3 on all PvP builds, except on a Nightblade Ganker). With the extra health you receive from the race, you can save your Attribute points and put them into Stamina or Magicka.
Wood Elf gives an extra 5% movement speed while not sprinting, which makes the race helpful for PvP content where you don't want to sprint and spend Stamina a lot while cutting enemies.
Set Types
Try to always run your light set on the jewelry and weapon slots so that you can get your Tankier sets on the body. That allows you to get a lot more benefit out of running sets on both bars. Doing this also gives you an extra slot for the Mythic, and you can still run a Monster set and a one-piece Trainee.
It is also highly recommended to put your light piece on your belt slot because it has the lowest armor value and will be the least detrimental to your armor. If you're always running with one heavy piece, run it on the head or the chest, as these slots get the most armor value.
Armor Traits
Make sure your heavy armor always has the Reinforced trait. Impenetrable is not recommended anymore as it only gives 3% crit damage mitigation now. Instead, you can use something like Rallying Cry on the back bar, which gives you a ton of crit resistance.
On medium armor pieces, it's recommended to add the Well-Fitted trait if you like to roll-dodge and sprint a lot. Divines is also a good choice for medium armor.
Armor Enchantment
If you need tri-stat resources, it will be best to always run Multi-Effect enchantment on all of your pieces. If you can't afford it, you should use Multi-Effect enchantment on your large pieces at least.
Important Stats
Make sure your Stamina Recovery is always at a minimum of 1,800 and your Maximum Health is no lower than 30,000.
When fully buffed, your Resistance should be at least 23K. But the closer you can get to the soft cap of 32K, the better. Don't run anything under 23K unless you play a class like Sorcerer, who has Shields. Note that for classes who use Shields, the resistances also apply to the Shield resistances, so the more resistances you have, the better your Shields will be.
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Useful Buffs
Major Resolve is essential for every PvP build. You will get Major Resolve from your class and armor passives. You can get Minor Resolve from Resolving Vigor as well. If you don't have Resolving Vigor on your build, then you can use Magma Incarnate, which gives you Minor Resolve.
Another thing you will want to have on your build is Major Breach. If you play a Warden, you will have the Deep Fissure that grants Major and Minor Breach; if you play a Nightblade, you will want to run Night Mother's Gaze to get Major Breach.
Speed
In PvP, the easiest way to survive is to be faster than everybody else. Speed equals damage reduction. The more speed you can pack into a build, the more damage reduction you will have.
To be faster, you will want to grab the Celerity CP star from the Fitness tree. Using jewelry with the Swift trait is another way to increase speed.
If you have a class that provides Major or Minor Expedition, make sure you also get that: Wardens can get Major Expedition from the Falcon's Swiftness. Sorcerers get Minor Expedition from Hurricane and Major Expedition from Accelerate (Psijic Order skill-line).
Weapon Traits
Weapons with the Sharpened trait always deal the highest damage. If you don't have any heal abilities on the front bar, you'll want to run Sharpened; If you've got heal abilities on the front bar or a heal-over-time that scales off of weapon damage, you can use Nirnhoned trait weapons.
For your back-bar weapon traits, you can run Powered or Defending. This is helpful for all builds except for PvE content, where you want to run Infused on the back bar.
Mythic
Which Mythic to use depends on the class you're playing:
• If you're running a class that has an extremely low crit chance, you can benefit from items like Malacath's Band of Brutality.
• If you're running a class that the heals scale with health, then items like Death Dealer's Fete can be helpful.
• If you're running proc sets, you will want to use Markyn Ring of Majesty because proc sets scale with your Weapon and Spell Damage.
• For classes that use multiple resources or can convert resources from one to the other, Torc of Tonal Constancy can be a good option.
Monster Sets
Make sure you have a set that can complement your build as well. Bloodspawn's Visage gives some survivability and Ultimate generation.
Balorgh is also a go-to option for a lot of builds. But it is not recommended for some Warden builds where the Ultimate comes last. The reason is that if your Warden uses the burst combo of Deep Fissure and Dizzying Swing and the Ultimate comes last, you don't get the Balorgh buff until your burst combo is finished.
Set Options
Set options are very class-dependent. For example, if you're playing a Stamina Sorcerer, who can get heals from crit surge, then you want to use sets that will buff your crit. If you're playing a Warden whose heals scale off of Max Health, that will allow you to use one of your sets towards Penetration. If you're playing a DragonKnight and using Corrosive Armor, you don't want to use a set that gives you Penetration because you're going to get 100,000 Penetration from your class.
Food
Recovery Food, such as Orzorga's Smoked Bear Haunch and Jewels of Misrule, are always recommended for every PvP build. But if you're running a class that needs Stamina Recovery, you will be better off with Dubious Camoran Throne, which gives you Stamina Recovery, Max Stamina, and Max Health.
Potions
There are a lot of potion choices for PvP. Essence of Immovability is always a great option for people who don't need tri-stat resources. If you are running a Magicka class and need Magicka and Health, then this potion will be helpful.
For classes that need all three kinds of resources, then Essence of Health (aka. Tri-Pot) is helpful because it restores Health, Magicka, and Stamina.
Champion Points
The CP star that will always be helpful is the Ironclad as the 6% damage reduction from direct damage is huge.
A big part of killing somebody in PvP is bursting down the opponents, and most burst combos have a stun in them. The Relentlessness star from the Fitness tree gives you Major Protection when you are stunned, making it a good choice for your PvP build.
Those are tips for making your build as strong as possible for PvP content in ESO. If you find this guide helpful, please be sure to subscribe to CapnCrunch's channel and join his discord.
