TL;DR
- Arcanist excels as both damage dealer and tank with proper stat allocation
- Prioritize health pool (29K+) while maintaining magicka for sustain
- Khajiit race provides optimal balance of damage and survivability
- Strategic attribute distribution enhances both offense and defense
- Proper consumable selection dramatically improves PvP performance
The Arcanist class represents one of the most versatile damage-dealing options in ESO PvP, yet many players overlook its exceptional tanking potential. When properly configured with strategic skill selections and gear optimization, this class transforms into a formidable frontline combatant capable of absorbing immense punishment while maintaining consistent pressure. In this comprehensive guide, veteran player Soulgrot reveals how to construct a remarkably durable Arcanist specifically tailored for player versus player engagements throughout Tamriel.
Maximum Magicka: 24258 – This carefully calibrated pool ensures you can maintain crucial defensive abilities like Impervious Runeward while still deploying offensive pressure through skills such as Fatecarver. Maintaining this balance prevents resource starvation during extended engagements.
Maximum Health: 29864 – Achieving this substantial health threshold represents the cornerstone of tankiness, allowing you to survive burst damage combinations that would eliminate less durable builds.
Maximum Stamina: 17525 – While not the primary resource, this stamina reserve enables essential break-free maneuvers, roll dodges, and gap-closing abilities critical for PvP positioning.
Magicka Recovery: 2094 – This exceptional recovery rate ensures you can consistently recast vital defensive shields and healing abilities without experiencing prolonged periods of vulnerability.
Stamina Recovery: 1714 – Adequate stamina regeneration permits frequent defensive maneuvers while maintaining offensive pressure through weapon skill usage.
Spell Critical: 17.4% – While not maximized for pure damage, this critical strike chance provides meaningful pressure while allowing stat allocation toward survivability.
Spell Penetration: 3768 – This penetration value effectively counters medium armor setups while still allowing sufficient stat allocation to defensive attributes.
Weapon Critical: 17.4% – Maintaining parity between spell and weapon critical ensures consistent damage output regardless of which resource pool you’re primarily using during any given engagement.
Physical Penetration: 3768 – Mirroring spell penetration, this value pressures physically resistant targets while complementing your hybrid damage profile.
Spell Resistance: 13708 – Combined with major and minor resolve buffs, this resistance dramatically reduces incoming magical damage from enemy mages and magical abilities.
Critical Resistance: 1701 – This specialized stat significantly reduces damage from critical strikes, providing crucial protection against burst-oriented builds common in PvP.
Physical Resistance: 13708 – Paired with spell resistance, this creates balanced defenses against all damage types encountered in Cyrodiil and Imperial City.
Attributes: 54 points into Magicka and 10 points into Health – This distribution prioritizes your primary resource pool while ensuring sufficient health to survive initial burst engagements. The minimal stamina investment is compensated through gear and champion point allocations.
Race: Khajiit (best), Breton (for more sustain), or High Elf – Khajiit provides the ideal balance with bonus critical damage, health recovery, and stamina, while Breton offers superior magicka sustain for ability-spam playstyles, and High Elf delivers pure magical power.
Mundus: The Shadow – Selected to amplify critical strike damage, complementing the Khajiit racial passive for devastating pressure when opportunities arise.
Vampire Stage: 3 – This stage provides crucial damage reduction and the invaluable Mist Form ability for disengaging unfavorable fights or repositioning during group combat.
Food: Orzorga’s Smoked Bear Haunch (best) or Jewels of Misrule (cheaper) – The premium food provides maximum health and stamina recovery, while the budget alternative offers health, magicka, and stamina with slightly reduced recovery values.
Potion: Essence of Spell Critical – These potions deliver crucial spell critical, spell power, and magicka recovery buffs exactly when needed during combat cycles.
Successful execution of this build requires understanding several advanced combat principles. First, maintain defensive runes consistently while using Fatecarver during safe windows – never commit to lengthy channeling when vulnerable to interrupts or focus fire. Second, manage your Crux generation efficiently; avoid wasting stacks and time your empowered abilities for maximum impact during enemy cooldown periods.
Common mistakes include overcommitting to offensive plays when your defensive buffs have expired, poor resource management leading to inability to break free or shield, and positioning that isolates you from ally support. Advanced players should master animation canceling with Blockade and strategically use Purge to counter debilitating conditions.
Positioning represents perhaps the most critical element – maintain proximity to objectives and allies while using terrain to limit enemy engagement angles. For those seeking to master the Arcanist’s full potential, our Class Guide provides deeper insights into skill rotations and situational adaptations.
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Action Checklist
- Distribute attributes: 54 Magicka, 10 Health following the optimized ratio for balanced performance
- Select Khajiit race for optimal critical damage and survivability balance
- Acquire and consume Orzorga’s Smoked Bear Haunch for maximum stats
- Configure The Shadow Mundus stone and advance to Vampire Stage 3
- Practice defensive ability rotation: Impervious Runeward → Healing Rune → Blockade
No reproduction without permission:OnLineGames Guides » ESO Arcanist PvP Build for Necrom Update Master the ultimate Tanky Arcanist PvP build with optimized stats, gear choices, and survival strategies
