[ARCHIVED] Which CP are the Best and Why in ESO Guide

This guide is archived, as it is now out of date.

This guide for the Elder Scrolls Online covers how to place CP, which champion points are best and why they are so good. Do keep in mind that CP setups are extremely personal (I can’t stress this enough), and what two different people like can vary greatly from each other. This video (and written guide) just covers my personal opinion on some of the different points and in what situations they are worth it!  If you haven’t already, I recommend checking out the CP Basics and CP Jump Points guides first before reading/watching this guide.

Blue CP

• The Apprentice
  • Notable stars to unlock:
    • Spell Precision (Rank 30): Increases your Spell Critical by 12%.
    • Foresight (Rank 75): When you drink a potion, the cost of your next Magicka ability used within 7 seconds is reduced by 80%.
    • Arcane Well (Rank 120): When you kill an enemy, you have a 20% chance to restore 795 magicka to up to 3 friendly targets within 2.5 meters of the enemy.
  • Elemental Expert: Increases your Flame, Frost, Shock, and Magic Damage done by X%.
    • This star is staple for a Magicka DPS and can be utilized by healers as well to a lesser extent. I wouldn’t recommend going overly high in this star, as the max value is 15% so its scaling isn’t the best, but I personally would put at least 43-49 points in it at a minimum (for a magicka DPS).
  • Elfborn: Increases the damage and healing of your Critical Strikes with Magicka abilities by X%.
    • Another great star for magicka DPS and healers, but tanks will also see amazing use out of this star as well assuming their heals scale with magicka.  Me personally, I always put a minimum of 23 points into Elfborn, but I put even more as my critical chance goes up. Generally if my crit is 25%-32%, I will put in between 23-37 points, and as crit chance goes into the 40’s and above, I will put about 56 points in. Tanks and healers who utilize magicka based heals will put even more points into this as this is one of their main CP stars.
  • Spell Erosion: Increases your Spell Penetration by X.
    • Staple for Magicka DPS and I have seen some healing builds utilize it, the amount you place into here depends on the type of content you’re doing and the rest of your build (such as if you are getting Major Breach).  If you’re a heavy armor magicka unit in PvP, you’ll want to put a lot into this to make sure you have good penetration. If you’re a light armored character, you won’t need as much since you get penetration from your passives (even less if you have major breach).  For me, I put 30-50 points here depending on my build.
  • Blessed: Increases your healing done by X%.
    • Amazing star for tanks and healers, this makes your self heals and group heals heal for more – this will be one of your main CP star investments.  This star can also be utilized by Magicka and Stamina DPS in a PvP environment if they have points to spare. I generally don’t recommend investing too heavily in here since the star scales poorly (15% star), but if you can sacrifice some damage for healing it could be worth it. From a DPS perspective in PvP, I wouldn’t go higher than 27 points into here personally.
• The Atronach
  • Notable stars to unlock:
    • Butcher (Rank 75): Increases your damage done with Light and Heavy Attacks by 5% to enemies below 25% health.
    • Tactician (Rank 120): When you use Roll Dodge to dodge an attack, you set the enemy Off Balance.
  • Physical Weapons Expert: Increases your damage done with Light and Heavy Attacks for Two Handed, One Hand and Shield, Dual Wield, and Bow weapons by X%
    • One of the main CP stars used by a tank and an okay star for stamina damage dealers (will become more relevant come Summerset). As a tank, you will invest pretty heavily into here.  For a stamina DPS, I would maybe toss a couple points in here as a vehicle to reach Tactician for PvP but otherwise there are better options.
  • Shattering Blows: Increases your damage done to enemies with a damage shield by X%.
    • This is a PvP only star really, and in my opinion is only worth investing in on a stamina DPS. The reasoning is that getting Tactician is very beneficial since it combo’s very well with Exploiter from the Ritual tree.  Shattering Blows acts as a really good secondary investment behind Master-At-Arms to help you reach the 120 points needed.  For magicka damage dealers, there are better options in my opinion for damage.
  • Master-At-Arms: Increases your damage done with direct damage attacks by X%.
    • One of my favorite CP stars in the game for DPS, this star is great for both stamina and magicka DPS players, and tanks can find some benefit from this star as well.  So much damage in this game counts as direct damage, investing in this will give a lot of return on investment, especially since it’s a 25% star.  When deciding on how much to put in here vs Thaumaturge (increase to DoT damage), look at your skill bar to help you decide. If a lot of your skills deal damage instantly and not over a duration, investing in Master-At-Arms will be beneficial. If more of your skills deal damage over time, putting less points into here and more into Thaumaturge will help. You can safely go as high as 72 points into this star though since the scaling is so great.
  • Staff Expert: Increases your damage done with Light and Heavy Attacks for Destruction and Restoration Staves by X%.
    • Not really that great of a CP star at the moment, you can invest a few points in here if you have extra but don’t go crazy.  This star will become more relevant with the light attack changes from Summerset.
• The Ritual
  • Notable stars to unlock:
    • Perfect Strike (Rank 30): Increases your Weapon Critical by 12%.
    • Exploiter (Rank 75): Increases your damage done against Off Balance enemies by 10%.
    • Last Stand (Rank 120): When you fall below 20% Health you gain Major Heroism, granting 3 Ultimate every 1.5 seconds for 8 seconds. This effect can occur once every 20 seconds.
  • Thaumaturge: Increases your damage done with damage over time effects by X%.
    • A great star for increasing damage with DoT’s, both physical and magical.  If a lot of your skills deal their damage over time, you can afford to put a lot of points into here. If you only have a couple (like in PvP), I’d personally focus more on Master-At-Arms and Elemental Expert.  For PvE, this star is great since as a damage dealer you want plenty of DoTs in your skill loadout. The amount desired in here really varies from person to person, so I leave it up to each individual to decide what’s best for them.
  • Precise Strikes: Increases the damage and healing of your Critical Strikes with Stamina abilities by X%.
    • The stamina version of Elfborn, this star is awesome for stamina DPS and tanks who’s heals scale primarily with stamina.  As a stam DPS, you’re going to want to invest pretty heavily into this since it’s a really big damage increase.  Most stam DPS will put a minimum of 37 into this, but more commonly you’ll see 56+ points into this star.
  • Piercing: Increases your Physical Penetration by X.
    • The stamina version of spell erosion, the amount of points placed into here is going to depend on gear and abilities.  As a stamina damage dealer, since you don’t get penetration from medium armor passives, you need it from gear, Major Fracture, and CP. Place points in here based on how much penetration you’re getting from your gear and if you are getting Major Fracture from any sources.
  • Mighty: Increases your Physical, Poison, and Disease Damage done by X%.
    • The stamina version of Elemental Expert, this star is staple for a stamina DPS. I wouldn’t recommend going overly high in this star, as the max value is 15% so its scaling isn’t the best, but I personally would put at least 37-43 points in it at a minimum (for a stamina DPS).

Red CP

• The Steed
  • Notable stars to unlock:
    • Resilient (Rank 75): When you take Critical Damage, you heal for X health.
  • Medium Armor Focus: Increases your Physical Resistance by X while wearing 5+ pieces of Medium Armor.
    • Personally not the biggest fan of this star, I feel like you get superior damage mitigation from percent sources such as Ironclad, Thick Skinned and Hardy.  You can place some points into here though if you have extra points and you’ve reached diminishing returns on Ironclad, Hardy and Thick Skinned and want some extra physical defense, or if you’re not overly satisfied with your physical resistance. Remember though that 660 resistance = 1% mitigation.
  • Ironclad: Reduces your damage taken against direct damage attacks by X%.
    • Amazing defensive CP star.  So much damage in this game counts as direct damage, investing in this will give a lot of return on investment, especially since it’s a 25% star.  Everyone – DPS, healers and tanks – will see benefit from putting points into here. On all of my builds, I put no less than 56 points, but that’s just me.
  • Spell Shield: Increases your Spell Resistance by X.
    • Not a bad investment unlike the armor focuses for PvE.  A huge portion of the damage you face in a trial is magic based in nature, so buffing your spell resistance in addition to getting percent mitigation from other sources is a good way to help make you tankier.
  • Resistant: Increases your Critical Resistance by X.
    • Useless in PvE, but very useful in PvP. Critical resistance is an extremely important stat for PvP to make sure you’re not instantly decimated by crits.  When I personally PvP, I like to have between 2000 and 3000 critical resistance between gear bonuses, traits and CP.  So my recommendation is put as many points in here as you like for PvP as long as you’re within the 2k-3k range.
• The Lady
  • Notable stars to unlock:
    • Spell Absorption (Rank 10): When you take Flame, Frost, Shock, Magic, or Oblivion Damage equal to 30% of your max health, you restore 3465 magicka. This effect can occur every 10 seconds.
    • Bulwark (Rank 30): While you have a Shield or Frost Staff equipped, your Spell and Physical Resistance is increased by 1500.
    • Critical Leech (Rank 75): When you deal direct Critical Damage, you heal for X health. This effect can occur every 5 seconds.
  • Light Armor Focus: Increases your Physical Resistance by X while wearing 5+ pieces of Light Armor.
    • Personally not the biggest fan of this star, I feel like you get superior damage mitigation from percent sources such as Ironclad, Thick Skinned and Hardy.  You can place some points into here though if you have extra points and you’ve reached diminishing returns on Ironclad, Hardy and Thick Skinned and want some extra physical defense, or if you’re not overly satisfied with your physical resistance. Remember though that 660 resistance = 1% mitigation.
  • Thick Skinned: Reduces your damage taken from damage over time effects by X%.
    • Great star for reducing damage taking from both magical and physical DoTs in both PvP and PvE.  The amount of points in here varies from person to person, but I recommend investing a good bit in here since it is a 25% star and scales well.  My builds usually have 40+ points into here.
  • Hardy: Reduces your damage taken from Physical, Poison, and Disease Damage by X%.
    • Great for reducing damage taken from physical based sources, but does not scale the best being only a 15% star.  Personally, I place between 32-43 points in here on my builds.  I think any less and your missing out on benefit from these stars, and any more and you start to face too many diminishing returns.
  • Elemental Defender: Reduces your damage taken from Flame, Frost, Shock, and Magic Damage by X%.
    • Great for reducing damage taken from magic based sources, but does not scale the best being only a 15% star.  Personally, I place between 32-43 points in here on my builds.  I think any less and your missing out on benefit from these stars, and any more and you start to face too many diminishing returns.
• The Lord
  • Notable stars to unlock:
    • Field Physician (Rank 10): While you are resurrecting another player, your damage taken is reduced by 15%.
  • Heavy Armor Focus: Increases your Physical Resistance by X while wearing 5+ pieces of Heavy Armor.
    • Personally not the biggest fan of this star, I feel like you get superior damage mitigation from percent sources such as Ironclad, Thick Skinned and Hardy, especially since you have plenty of resistance from being in heavy armor.  You can place some points into here though if you have extra points and you’ve reached diminishing returns on Ironclad, Hardy and Thick Skinned and want some extra physical defense, or if you’re not overly satisfied with your physical resistance. Remember though that 660 resistance = 1% mitigation.
  • Bastion: Increases the effectiveness of your damage shields by X%.
    • If you use shields in your build, this is a must-have star since it gives a massive increase to your shield size.  The more shields you have in your build or the more you rely on them, the more points I would place here.
  • Expert Defender: Reduces your damage taken from Light and Heavy Attacks by X%.
    • Not the most useful star currently, but will see much more relevance come Summerset with the buffs to light attacks.
  • Quick Recovery: Increases your healing received by X%.
    • This star is similar to Blessed, but only effects incoming healing. This star doesn’t scale that well either being only a 15% star.  The only time I recommend putting points into here is if you feel you have extra points leftover and can increase your healing received without losing too much resistance or percent mitigation.  This is also a good star to help you get Field Physician if you don’t have shields.

Green CP

• The Tower
  • Bashing Focus: Reduces the cost of Bash by X%.
    • A good star for sword and board users who find themselves bashing a lot.  Other CP stars in my opinion give greater benefit, but this is a decent CP dump if you find yourself bash-weaving a lot or have some extra CP leftover.
  • Sprinter: Reduces the cost of Sprint by X%.
    • Scales very well and doesn’t require a lot of points to see a lot of benefit.  If you sprint a good amount, this is definitely worth the investment.
  • Siphoner: When you deal damage with a Light or Heavy Attack, you decrease the enemy’s Health, Magicka, and Stamina resource restore and Recovery by X% for 3 seconds.
    • A PvP only CP, this star is strong and hurts your enemies resource sustain a good bit.  I personally don’t invest points in here because I like to focus on my own resources and stats, but if you have extra points left over and don’t need the extra sustain, feel free to put points here and tilt your enemies into oblivion.
  • Warlord: Reduces the cost of Break Free by X%.
    • Everyone can see benefit out of this; everyone uses “break free” and can benefit from it costing less.  I personally put no less than 40 points in here, but more often than not I put at least 56.
• The Lover
  • Mooncalf: Increases your Stamina Recovery by X%.
    • A great star if you need to increase your stamina recovery.  When determining how many points to put here, I base it off of my unbuffed recovery.  If I have a good bit of recovery, putting points here will give a greater benefit since you’re increasing a larger number by a percentage.  If you have less recovery at a base level, increasing a small number by a high percentage won’t yield as much extra recovery.  You can put between 43-75 points here based on what you feel your build requires and what your recovery sources are.
  • Arcanist: Increases your Magicka Recovery by X%.
    • A great star if you need to increase your magicka recovery.  When determining how many points to put here, I base it off of my unbuffed recovery.  If I have a good bit of recovery, putting points here will give a greater benefit since you’re increasing a larger number by a percentage.  If you have less recovery at a base level, increasing a small number by a high percentage won’t yield as much extra recovery.  You can put between 43-75 points here based on what you feel your build requires and what your recovery sources are.
  • Healthy: Increases your Health Recovery by X%.
    • I don’t personally ever invest points here.  The only way I could see this star being worth it is if you use Health Recovery as your main defensive mechanic, otherwise it’s not worth it.
  • Tenacity: Increases the Magicka and Stamina your fully-charged Heavy Attacks restore by X%.
    • Great star for those who heavy attack a lot.  If you weave a lot of heavy attacks into your rotation or find yourself using heavies for resource sustain a good bit, this is definitely worth the investment.
• The Shadow
  • Befoul: Increases the effectiveness of your healing reduction abilities by X%.
    • A stupidly strong star if you have a source of defile/healing reduction in your build.  This star goes all the way up to 55%, so if you have a source of defile in your build, I would find a way to put points into this.  Stacking into this will just made the healing reduction on enemies, especially in PvP, even stronger.
  • Shade: Reduces the cost of Sneak by X%.
    • I don’t think this star is that great unless you play a pure gank build or are RPing. I don’t recommend investing points here.
  • Shadow Ward: Reduces the cost of Block by X%.
    • A staple star for anyone who holds a shield.  As a tank or a DPS utilizing block as a key source of mitigation in PvP, you are going to want to invest as many points as you can into this star.  If you aren’t a tank or use a sword and shield, this can still be worth investing some points in to reduce your block cost for those key situations you need to block in.
  • Tumbling: Reduces the cost of Roll Dodge by X%.
    • The more I use this CP star the more I like it.  Investing heavily into this for PvP as a build that doesn’t block a lot is a good way to make sure you always have stamina to avoid skills you don’t want to hit by.  Even as a build that blocks a lot, investing points here is a good idea to get out of situations where block just may not cut it.