Ready to lead the charge as a tank in The Elder Scrolls Online?
This guide ranks the top tanking classes from best to worst, exploring their unique traits, best skills, and passives for tanking. The ranking considers difficulty, survivability, resource sustain, and group utility, for endgame dungeons and trials!
How To Play A Tank In ESO
Tanks in ESO play a crucial role in group play, taunting and pulling enemies to them while absorbing damage. While beginners should prioritize survival for themselves and their team, more advanced groups will lean more into a class’s innate ability to survive and prioritize sets and skills that boost group damage for faster clears.
While some classes will perform better than others in the context of optimized or score-pushing runs, remember that all classes can tank all dungeons and all trials at high levels. The only difference is that it might require more player skill or make runs longer because of the absence of certain group damage buffs, for example.
However, don’t let this guide dissuade you from choosing your preferred class. Especially as a new player, you can’t go wrong! In addition to this, in ESO, gear selection and theory-crafting often play a more pivotal role than class or race selection. Plus, certain classes come on top for certain encounters or certain strategies, so don’t forget to optimize with your group in mind.
Prepare to withstand the toughest fights with the best tanking class in ESO!
Check The Best Tank Builds for ESO
ESO Best Tank Class Explained
The best Tank classes in ESO are:
- Dragonknight
- Necromancer
- Arcanist
- Warden
- Sorcerer
- Nightblade
- Templar
1. Dragonknight
It’s no secret that the Dragonknight is the best Tank class for all ESO content. Its ease of use makes it an excellent choice for beginners, while its exceptional survivability makes it the top pick for tanking most encounters, as main tank or off tank. In fact, it’s often the only class that can effectively withstand some of the hardest mechanics at endgame in ESO. This is why you’ll almost always have a Dragonknight Tank in top-scoring runs.
Unlike other classes, the Dragonknight remains an excellent choice even when multiple Dragonknights are already in the group since the class brings so much to the mix, showcasing its versatility and strength. Often, the Dragonknight is self-sufficient enough not to require a healer to survive, thanks to its remarkable sustain and very complete Tanking toolkit. This also means that it doesn’t necessarily need to build for survival but for group support instead.
The Dragonknight brings valuable group utility with buffs like Minor Brutality, Major Brutality and Sorcery from Igneous Weapons, and especially if you can maintain Stagger and Engulfing Flames for some very unique debuffs.
Dragonknight Tanks also have access to strong shields. The Magma Shell ultimate essentially enables God-mode for you and the group. When coupled with a specific build, the Dragonknight becomes the sole class capable of being completely unkillable in the Infinite Archive by maintaining 100% uptime on Magma Shell. Additionally, Igneous Shield provides another strong shielding option for you and the group, and provides Major Mending, greatly boosting your healing.
The Dragonknight also benefits from access to Unrelenting Grip, enabling them to pull enemies using Magicka, as well as the best burst heal in the game, Coagulating Blood, to recover from the hardest hitting mechanics from the click of a button.
The Dragonknight’s passives are great for tanking too. This includes Scaled Armor to increase physical and spell resistance, which makes reaching the 33k resistance cap even easier, Iron Skin for enhanced blocking capabilities in challenging encounters, and the Burning Heart and Elder Dragon passives to boost healing received and health recovery, improving survivability once again.
Finally, you have to admit an unkillable dragon Tank is simply badass!
2. Necromancer
The Necromancer is an exceptional tanking class, vital for challenging encounters, an excellent off-tank. It boasts unparalleled survivability in DOT-heavy scenarios such as Bahsei Hardmode in Veteran Rockgrove or Taleria Hardmode in Veteran Dreadsail Reef. This is due to its 15% DOT mitigation from Disdain Harm and the 10% damage mitigation from Spirit Guardian. While Necromancers can survive without a Healer, like Dragonknights, they can’t help the group survive.
Tanking on Necromancer can be difficult for beginners, but the payoff is huge. Firstly, Stamina recovery can be challenging, preventing players from never dropping block, which you can do on Dragonknights. Mortal Coil mitigates this with some resource sustain and a heal-over-time (HOT).
Secondly, Necromancers need to manage summoned corpses to enhance their skills, utilizing abilities like Beckoning Armor, Blighted Blastbones, and Spirit Guardian. While Blighted Blastbones is the best skill for generating bodies quickly and has built in cost reduction, it can feel clunky to use and demanding to cast every 3s for certain players.
Necromancer’s Necrotic Potency gives them exceptional ultimate generation by consuming corpses, enabling frequent casting of Glacial Colossus for high Major Vulnerability uptimes. While the buff is now accessible through certain sets, Necromancers make it easier to keep up and therefore provide a massive damage boost for the entire group. As a result, there’s always a place for a Necromancer Tank in any group composition.
The class also has access to Renewing Animation, a unique skill that lets them resurrect up to 3 group members. This ability can be crucial in dungeons, during critical moments when you’re the last one standing.
3. Arcanist
The Arcanist emerges as the latest class and one of the top Tanks in ESO, boasting a comprehensive toolkit and unique Crux system gameplay that empowers skills. While slightly more complex than the Dragonknight, it shines in survivability through powerful shields like Runeguard of Freedom and Impervious Ward.
However, the class’s self-healing is limited and requires you to anticipate mechanics and know encounters in order to shield effectively. The class may struggle in scenarios with Oblivion damage due to health-scaling shields —as the damage scales with max health and ignores shields. Regardless, Arcanists are frequently found in top-scoring groups and shine in dungeons and encounters like Bahsei Hardmode in Veteran Rockgrove.
The class stands out with unique abilities like Runic Sunder, the only class-based taunt skill currently in ESO, that also applies Minor Maim and steals armor, enhancing survivability and helping damage dealers reach the penetration cap. Additionally, Rune of the Colorless Pool provides long-lasting Minor Brittle and Minor Vulnerability. Both skills enable diverse weapon combinations beyond traditional setups.
The class has powerful support ultimates like Gibbering Shield and Glyphic of the Tides; along with key passives such as Aegis of the Unseen for reaching the resistance cap without being a Nord or slotting the Bulwark CP, and Circumvented Fate for granting Minor Evasion to the group. Additionally, Arcanists can bolster the team with Minor Courage and sustain buffs using Zenas’ Empowering Disc. Arcanists even have a unique Armor Buff, which applies Major Resolve and Minor Breach at the same time!
However, considering the class’s proficiency as a healer and damage dealer, groups might prefer another tanking class for optimization.
4. Warden
The Warden Tank is a great choice, especially when there are no other Wardens in the group, due to the sheer amount of vital buffs it has access to. It excels in various content, especially running as main tanks in 4-man instances with 3 damage dealers, as it can fulfill all support roles effectively.
It’s the best class for keeping the rest of the group alive: Polar Wind is a powerful burst heal and HOT, while Budding Seeds, Enchanted Growth and Expansive Frost Cloak, provide crucial buffs and healing to the whole group. The Maturation passive grants Minor Toughness, boosting health by 10% with every heal.
The Warden Tank is also very beginner-friendly due to its straightforward gameplay and high health, which makes it very forgiving in most encounters.
While slightly less sturdy compared to the previous classes, Warden remains very tanky. It benefits from access to Minor Evasion, helping in AOE scenarios, and Shimmering Shield generates a lot of ultimate and simplifies encounters with lots of projectiles, such as in Veteran Sunspire Hardmode, which can be easily range-tanked on Warden.
Warden Tanks also have access to a Magicka pull skill in their toolkit. And due to the significant ice damage built in the class, Wardens can tank with a double ice staff build, melee or ranged, and have 100% Minor Brittle uptimes, significantly boosting damage.
However, it’s common to have a Warden Healer, as they are considered the best in that role, which diminishes Warden Tank utility.
5. Sorcerer
While Sorcerer is not commonly associated with tanking, it can excel in specific optimized group setups, such as using Ball of Lightning for speed in particular fights. Although it has niche uses, it may not be as straightforward or comfortable to survive on compared to other tanking classes.
Sorcerer excels against direct damage but struggles with DOT damage due to its lack of reliable healing, making it less effective in newer DLC encounters. However, it offers increased block mitigation through Bound Aegis and buffs group damage with Crystal Weapon’s added penetration, allowing damage dealers to swap a piece of light armor to medium.
Playing Sorcerer Tank is manageable for most players but may not be ideal for beginners due to mechanics like dropping block for Stamina sustain with Dark Deal. Bar space is also a concern due to the double-bar requirements of Summon Unstable Clannfear; and the fact the pet can be killed can make it difficult for the Tank to recover. Finally, some players simply dislike using pets. However, Update 41 strengthened other viable alternatives for survival, like Hardened Ward and Vibrant Shroud.
Another downside of Sorcerer Tanks is that they don’t enhance the group’s survivability and buffs like Minor Prophecy and Major Berserk are often redundant in groups due to the presence of Sorcerer DPS who already cover these.
6. Nightblade
The Nightblade Tank is not necessarily a bad choice, but compared to other options, it lacks survivability and is harder to play, making it less favorable in tanking roles.
Until recently, the class relied heavily on light attack weaving, which made it less beginner-friendly and required dropping block. However, Update 41 simplified this with the change to Leeching Strikes and Siphoning Attacks, providing easier resource sustain skills that replenish resources for any damage dealt and allow Nightblades to trade health for resources, akin to Sorcerer’s Dark Exchange.
Nightblades shine in AOE fights due to Mirage granting free roll dodges and Major Evasion, enhancing survivability. The class kit also offers strong debuffs such as AOE Major and Minor Cowardice, especially vital for going far in the Infinite Archive.
The Nightblade class also excels in Ultimate regeneration, with multiple means to get ultimate flowing quickly such as using potions or any Siphoning ability.
However, the class struggles to survive, which is why there are very few clears of the newer Hardmode trials on Nightblade Tanks. Additionally, Dark Cloak can be impractical in mobile encounters such as Taleria in Dreadsail Reef since it forces you to remain stationary to receive the full healing. The lack of a health-scaling burst heal hampers the ability to out-heal damage and recover in tough fights, forcing Nightblades to anticipate damage and rely heavily on a group setup including knowledgable healers.
Ultimately, in optimized groups, having a Nightblade Tank isn’t usually beneficial due to Nightblade Healers being strong and covering every buffs. Survivability is crucial for tanks, and Nightblades struggle in this area, making them less favored.
7. Templar
Lastly, while Templars can be highly survivable in PVP and solo PVE due to their high spell damage and stacking heals-over-time (HOTs), they lack essential tanking tools for surviving the hardest encounters in the game, such as a reliable health-scaling burst heal and crowd control options. Instead, Templar Tanks rely on Radiant Ward for shielding, Honor the Dead and ground-based HOTs like Restoring Focus and Extended Ritual. Unfortunately, it is often impractical to remain stationary in a lot of endgame content.
In addition to that, a Templar Tanks don’t significantly contribute to the group since Templars are always present as damage dealers or healers. While you provide essential synergies like Purify and Holy Shards, these should ideally be covered by your teammates as they’re vital for the Tank’s sustain through Undaunted Command.
You can still find a group if you know mechanics and your class well, but you’ll definitely have a harder time finding optimized groups in order to run Hardmode trials as a Templar tank, unfortunately.
The Final Word
Keep in mind that all classes can Tank most content in The Elder Scrolls Online including four man dungeons and even Trials on normal difficulty. It’s not until you encounter the toughest fights in the game such as Veteran Hard Mode Trials that your class truly begins to make a difference.
Before you get there, make sure to focus on the basics! Crowd control enemies and use your Taunt skill effectively. And make sure to buff your allies with skills like War Horn for the access to powerful buffs like Major Force. Remember that your focus on a tank is not to do damage but rather to stay alive, keep your group alive, and help them to do more damage.
