Dragonknight Healer PvE Build ESO – Heal it with Fire

Build Written By: DoctorSarge – PS4 NA

Role: Healer

Patch: Scions of Ithelia

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Setup
   1. Gear
   2. Attributes
   3. Skills
   4. Vampire vs. Werewolf vs. Mortal
   5. Champion Points
   6. Other Important Info (Food, Mundus, Race, Potions, Passives)
3. Tips & Misc
4. Contact Info
5. Update Log

Introduction

Welcome to the Dragonknight Healer build, Heal it With Fire, for ESO! DK healers aren’t a meta choice right now, but they can still perform very well in all content. They have a unique feel through their class skills that other classes just can’t replicate. Through healing people by shooting fireballs at them, by throwing rocks at enemies and giving allies a huge burst heal, a long source of Major Mending that also shields my allies, and being able to provide a big debuff for my group by breathing fire on my enemies, DK is probably my favorite off-meta healer.  

Setup

Gear

Gear Notes/Explanations

NOTE: If you’re looking for a beginner gear setup, check out Dottz’s best beginner gear sets for end-game guide.

• Symphony of Blades
  • Good for group sustain. Only one person needs to run it per group, so make sure to coordinate with co-healers!
• Spell Power Cure – Source of Major Courage, a huge buff every group needs. Overall a better choice than Olorime in almost all situations. Just throw it on and heal.
• Martial Knowledge
  • A big debuff that’s relatively easy to keep up. Takes some getting used to and you may need to play around with your build in more stamina intensive situations, but it’s still usable everywhere. Learn to roll dodge/bash weave some to help keep your stam low so you can proc it on cooldown easily.
• Z’ens Redress
  • Another huge debuff that’ll take some learning to use but is still usable everywhere. You need at least 5 total DoTs to keep it maxed. The two glyphs listed leave status effect DoTs so that’s two. That means you need at least 3 more DoTs from your skills, although you’d optimally have 4 since both status effect DoTs won’t be up all the time. Also easily back barred since you only need one light attack on a target every 20 seconds. You could also front bar it and then use a Maelstrom staff on your back bar as well for more DPS if your group already has at least 1 Master Resto or doesn’t need it.
• Grand Rejuvenation (Master Restoration Staff)
  • With so many sets you can back bar as a healer, you can pretty much always be running a special set. This one in particular is amazing for group sustain. You can refresh Illustrious early for more procs and can even refresh it while the proc is still running to refresh it and can two ticks in one second. An awesome default if you don’t need anything else specific for special mechanics.

Alternative Gear

• Bogdan
  • Biggest raw healing you can get from a monster set. Not needed in most circumstances but is easy to get and really good for the situations it is good in.
• Earthgore
  • Huge burst heal held back by the long cooldown and the fact that it is only single target, although it does recalculate who to target every tick it heals. Still not bad to have
• Troll King
  • Great for certain mechanics where you need to heal someone from under 50% to full quickly, like cage healing in vSS or healing through Baneful Mark in vCR
• Sentinel of Rkugamz
  • A mix of healing and sustain, it’s great on the healer not wearing Symphony in trials if they aren’t also wearing a mythic.
• Worm Cult
  • Good consistent sustain set for magicka heavy groups.
• Jorvuld’s Guidance
  • Only really paired with RO. Can make keeping some buffs up a little easier, but the main one would be extending the Major Force from Warhorn.
• Stone-Talker
  • With the nerf to Hollowfang, this set is now the best sustain set option for your group if you need it.
• Mender’s Ward (Blackrose Prison Restoration Staff)
  • Great if you need burst healing on specific targets, like cage healing in vSS or learning to heal through Baneful Mark in vCR. Not used in a general sense but very good in the specific situations you would use it in. Make sure to get at least the non-perfected staff, especially since the only difference between that and perfected is a line of magicka recovery.
• Roaring Opportunist
  • An option if your group isn’t running Major Slayer sets on the DPS. As long as you are building correctly anyways, you shouldn’t need anything extra to max this value out. Just make sure you are stacking max mag and spell damage. Also make sure to ALWAYS pair this with Jorvuld’s Guidance. Optimally, you’ll be getting 16-17s as your value.
• Force Overflow (Vateshran Hollow’s Restoration Staff)
  • A nice option for group sustain if you can hit people with the tether.
• Encratis’s Behemoth
  • Great set for magicka groups and easy to proc. Just throw on a flame skill or inferno staff.
• Ozezan the Inferno
  • Can be good in damage intensive fights, not necessary otherwise
• Pillager’s Profit
  • Very common set to use in trials. Great general support set.
• Saxhleel
  • More commonly a tank set, but can still be used just as effectively on a healer if needed.
• Master Architect
  • Good if your group is in a fight where RO/JO isn’t feasible or in dungeons.
• Spaulder of Ruin
  • Very common in trials on the healer that isn’t running symphony. Just make sure to watch your resources since your recovery will tank; you might even want to amp it up some if you’re using it. Also make sure to keep it procced, especially after you die.
• Pearls of Ehlnofey
  • A great ulti-generating mythic. Not a bad option for trials, but really shines in dungeons. A setup with Pearls, SPC, Symphony, and Master Architect is actually my preference for dungeons. 

Note on Gear Weight & Traits

7 light has become the best general setup. You get more sustain this way, so it’s my personal recommendation. 5-1-1, 6-1, or even 5-2 (medium) is still just fine though, so feel free to use those setups as well. Infused on at least one big piece, especially with prismatic glyphs, has also been something common in the past, but I don’t feel prismatics are as necessary anymore with the increase to base stats and infused on big pieces themselves lost value with that change as well. It’s still fine to use them though, so again, it’s up to you.

Attributes

All points into Magicka.

Skills

General Setup

Main Bar – Restoration Staff:

• Illustrious Healing
  • Amazing AoE HoT. Also procs our Master Resto staff. Can be refreshed early for more procs of the Master Resto effect.
• Combat Prayer
  • Great burst heal + Minor Resistance buffs + Minor Berserk. One of our most important skills, especially since both healers need to be running it due to it having a 6 person cap.
• Obsidian Shard
  • Big burst heal with a big range. Great skill overall.
• Fragmented Shield
  • The shield you give is small but 5 seconds of Major Mending is huge. Really helps in high damage situations
• Radiating Regeneration
  • A strong HoT that affects 3 people each cast. Strong in dungeons but may require a few casts in trials to hit everyone.
• Reviving Barrier
  • Mainly for the passive magicka regen, but it is also a really good survivability ultimate if your group absolutely needs it.

Back Bar – Destruction Staff:

• Elemental Blockade
  • One of our most important skills as it does a lot of damage and keeps up our enchant.
• Engulfing Flames
  • Really important to keep up for magicka heavy groups. Takes around ~3k spell damage and ~31k magicka to fully max out the debuff, which we can reach pretty easily. Not needed if there is a magDK present though.
• Cauterize
  • Great passive heal that also really cheap. Also has a really big radius so your job is a little bit easier.
• Cinder Storm
  • Really expensive but a big heal if your group is stacked up. Also good for good Olo placements
• Energy Orb
  • One of our most important skills that every healer needs. A really big heal that ticks frequently and gives out the Combustion synergy, one of the most important synergies for a group due to the sustain it provides
• Aggressive Warhorn
  • The ultimate you should almost always be using. Big group DPS increase.

Z’en’s & Martial Knowledge Setup

Main Bar – Restoration Staff:

• Illustrious Healing
  • See above
• Combat Prayer
  • See above
• Cauterize
  • See above
• Energy Orb
  • See above
• Fragmented Shield
  • See above
• Reviving Barrier
  • See above

Back Bar – Destruction Staff:

• Elemental Blockade
  • See above
• Barbed Trap
  • DoT to help keep our Z’en proc maxed that also gives you Minor Force, so your DPS will be boosted. Also uses stamina so MK is a bit easier to control.
• Burning Embers
  • DoT to help keep our Z’en proc maxed that also does good damage and heals you when it ends/is refreshed.
• Degeneration
  • DoT to help keep our Z’en proc maxed that also does good damage.
• Engulfing Flames
  • Helps keeps our Z’en proc maxed as well as the benefits mentioned above
• Aggressive Warhorn
  • See above

Alternate Skills

• Crushing Shock
  • Flex skill just in case you need it for interrupting targets at range
• Elemental Drain
  • At least one healer/tank should be running this if there are magicka DPS present
• Destructive Reach
  • Counts as a Z’en DoT and is ranged.
• Light’s Champion
  • A nice mix of defense and offense, although I prefer using other ults such as Barrier due to my groups really needing the defense if I’m not using Warhorn.
• Deep Breath
  • AoE interrupt if you’re in range. Useful if you have several things that need to be interrupted in melee range.
• Igneous Weapons
  • Good for 4-man runs so your DPS don’t have to run expensive potions for Major Sorcery/Brutality, although it’s generally better to do so if you’re doing more serious content like vBRP or dungeon challenger achievements.
•  Healing Ward
  • Mandatory to use for the BRP resto staff and is a pretty good skill for healing low health allies.
• Harness Magicka/Dampen Magic
  • You generally don’t need shields for yourself but it’s good to have one just in case. Morph is mainly preference.
• Scalding Rune
  • Counts as a Z’en DoT and is ranged.
• Race Against Time/Channeled Acceleration
  • Good if you need a movement altering skill. Morph is preference, basically whether you like short bursts instantly given to you vs having to channel a skill for a couple seconds for a longer effect.
• Overflowing Altar
  • Overall great skill. Gives a passive heal for your allies and a synergy for low health allies. Required in some fights like vCR to help heal through Baneful Mark quickly.
• Inner Rage
  • Not going to be generally used, but useful to have for specific fight strategies.
• Bone Surge
  • Gives a powerful synergy to allies and costs stam, so it could be good to use with MK.
• Efficient Purge
  • Essential skill in lots of fights. Make sure to get it and max it out ASAP as it is costly.
• Mystic Guard
  • Used in some fights, like on the MT in vSS HM, so good to have.
• Force Siphon
  • Required to use the Force Overflow set. Morph is up to you and your group.

Vampire vs. Werewolf vs. Mortal

I no longer recommend vampire for this build.

Champion Points

The list below showcases the order in which champion points should be acquired, the number of points you need to place into that perk and whether or not it needs to be slotted in the CP bar. The Warfare CP perks increase your damage and mitigation and are the most important, the Fitness tree has some miscellaneous sustain and defensive perks and the Craft tree has crafting and non-combat bonuses. The Craft CP points are entirely customizable to however you want, or you can follow the list below.

CHAMPION POINT SETUP
WARFARE (BLUE)

• Eldritch Insight (10)
• Blessed (10)
• Precision (10)
• Soothing Tide (10) (Slotted)
• Swift Renewal (10) (Slotted)
• Fighting Finesse (10) (Slotted)
• Enlivening Overflow (50) (Slotted) *
• Alternate 10 between Soothing Tide, Swift Renewal, and Fighting Finesse until all are maxed at 50 points each.
• Precision (10)
• Blessed (10)
• Eldritch Insight (10)
• Quick Recovery (10)
• Preparation (20)
• Hardy (10)
• Elemental Aegis (10)
• Hardy (10)
• Elemental Aegis (10)
• Piercing (10)
• Flawless Ritual (40)
• War Mage (30)
• Battle Mastery (40)
• Quick Recovery (20)
• Deadly Aim (50) (Flex Slot for Z’en setup)
• Thaumaturge (50) (Flex Slot for Z’en setup)
• Wrathful Strikes (50) (Flex Slot for Z’en setup)
• Preference past this point

NOTE: Z’en Flex Slots are listed at the end but you may want to respec into them if you want to optimize for that if you don’t have enough CP to get everything

* Only one healer can use this (Enlivening Overflow) in a group. If the other healer has it, then swap this out. From The Brink, Hope Infusion, and Focused Mending are good options if you don’t need something specific.

FITNESS (RED)

• Rejuvenation (50) (Slotted)
• Boundless Vitality (50) (Slotted)
• Fortified (50) (Slotted)
• Sprinter (10)
• Hasty (8)
• Hero’s Vigor (10)
• Strategic Reserve (50) (Slotted)
• Tumbling (30)
• Defiance (20)
• Tireless Guardian (10)
• Fortification (30)
• Tireless Guardian (10)
• Hero’s Vigor (10)
• Hasty (8)
• Sprinter (10)
• Expert Evasion (50) (Flex Slot)
• Preference past this point

CRAFT (GREEN)

• Gilded Fingers (10)
• Fortune’s Favor (10)
• Wanderer (15)
• Steadfast Enchantment (50)
• Rationer (30) (Slotted)
• Steed’s Blessing (50) (Slotted)
• Professional Upkeep (50) (Slotted)
• Liquid Efficiency (75) (Slotted)
• Breakfall (50)
• Soul Reservoir (33)
• Gilded Fingers (40)
• Fortune’s Favor (40)
• Wanderer (60)
• Preference past this point

Other Important Info

Buff Food

Optimally blue bi-stat food, such as Solitude Salmon-Millet Soup. If you need sustain, use Witchmother’s Potent Brew or Clockwork Citris Fillet. Tri-stat (Bewitched Sugar Skulls) is also really good if you’re using MK in a stamina intensive situation and need a higher base amount. Just make sure to have at least ~20-25k health before Minor Toughness and at least 30k magicka.

Mundus

Thief will generally be the #1 choice as it provides the best mixture of healing and DPS. Alternatives are the Apprentice/Mage if you want to help max out your RO uptime, The Ritual if you need a lot of healing, or the Atronach if you need the sustain.

Race

• High Elf is the best. You don’t have as much built in sustain as Breton, but you have higher built in spell damage and max magicka so your damage and raw healing will be higher. They also make stamina management easier.
• Dark Elf is next best. Slightly less magicka than High Elf, but basically the same damage output. They also have higher built in stamina, so your pool will be bigger. This generally isn’t as good for stam management as the High Elf passive that restores stamina, but is still useful and gives you more initial uses of roll dodging/blocking.
• Breton is great if you need the sustain. They’ve fallen a little behind in a lot of situations though with healers focusing more and more on DPS and higher stats and the addition of more sustain options.

Potions

Essence of Spell Power (Corn Flower + Lady’s Smock + Water Hyacinth) optimally. Trash magicka potions are also fine if you’re not in hard content/already have the Major Sorcery + Prophecy. Tri-stat potions are also an option, and can make stamina management easier when using MK.

Passives

Class (All), Restoration Staff (All), Destruction Staff (All except Tri-Focus using an ice staff), Light Armor (All), Fighters Guild (all), Mages Guild (All), Undaunted (All), Support (Magicka Aid), Racial (All), Alchemy (Medicinal Use)

Tips & Misc.

• There’s not really a rotation since we’re a healing build. Just make sure to keep your HoTs up along with your debuffs/buffs. Heavy attack when you need to.
• If you’re using the Master Resto, then make sure to refresh Illustrious early, and if you have time even refresh it within the buff duration. 
• If you’re using Z’en then make sure to keep your DoTs up. Depending on the specific DoTs you use, you could make a sort-of rotation out of it but it’s situational based on what exactly you’re running and they still have less precedence than keeping your group alive through healing intensive moments. When setting your bars up, go through your skills and slot your most essential skills first then your DoTs. The bar setup given is just a suggestion. It’s likely yours will be different based on your group and specific fight. 
• If you’re using MK, try to keep your stamina around 50% so it’s easy to proc it on cooldown. Bash weaving, roll dodging (even if you look funny seemingly randomly roll dodging xD), and using a skill that costs stamina can help with this.
• The specific setups here are just what I suggest. Feel free to customize things to what you need. If you need more sustain, run more recovery enchants or recovery food. If you need more health/stam, try running prismatic enchants. Just experiment and see what works for you and your groups.

Contact

If you have any questions about the build, join our discord server and ask @DoctorSarge about the build!

Update Log

2/25/2020 – Build created
6/1/2020 – vampire removed from build, new alternative set added
8/27/2020 – alternative gear updated, “fun dungeon setup” deleted
11/18/2020 – new alternative sets added, minor brittle discussion added
3/26/2021-  build updated for flames of ambition
6/14/2021 – CP, food and alt sets updated
9/14/2021 – small cleanups made to build write-up
11/9/2021 – no updates needed for deadlands
3/29/2022- changed description for Encratis
6/27/2022- gear changed
9/5/2022 – no changes for lost depths
11/13/2022- no changes
3/28/2023- no changes needed
7/5/2023 – updated alternative gear
8/31/2023- no updates for update 39
11/30/2023- no changes for update 40
3/28/2024 – cleaned up build text