In this guide, we'll provide you with the ultimate class guide for The Elder Scrolls Online Necron chapter in 2023. We'll cover everything you need to know about ESO's newest class, The Arcanist, as well as the important updates to the existing classes: Necromancer, Warden, Nightblade, Dragonknight, Templar, and Sorcerer. Whether you're a new player trying to choose the best class for you or a returning player looking to get back into the game, this guide is the perfect starting point. You can jump to a specific class using the anchor below. Let's dive right into it!

 

• Arcanist
• Necromancer
• Warden
• Nightblade
• Dragonknight
• Templar
• Sorcerer

 

↖ Arcanist

Let's start with the class that has everyone excited - Arcanist, ESO's seventh and newest class introduced in the Necron Chapter. After thoroughly testing this class for months, it offers a unique and refreshing gameplay experience compared to the other classes. The Arcanist revolves around the Daedric prince Hermaeus Mora, the Lord of Fate and Forbidden Knowledge. Its skills incorporate Mora's black books and otherworldly tentacles, creating a visually striking presence on the battlefield.

 

The Arcanist's main source of damage is the fateCarver, a unique AOE channelled beam attack that lasts around 5 seconds and requires precise aiming. However, there is more to it than meets the eye. You can also cast other skills to build up a combo point system called Crux. If you have three Crux stacked up, the damage of the fate Carver beam is doubled, and additional bonus effects are added. Timing is crucial with this class, as you need to ensure your buffs and debuffs have sufficient duration before casting fate Carver's channel. Failure to do so may leave you vulnerable.

 

For beginners or players looking for a simple rotation, The Arcanist is an excellent choice. Its powerful AOE skill combined with the straightforward gameplay mechanics make it accessible to new players. However, for experienced or endgame players seeking the most optimal group build, The Arcanist may not surpass what other classes offer. Nevertheless, the class provides a fresh experience with its new skills and mechanics, making it worth playing.

 

↖ Necromancer

Now let's talk about the Necromancer, ESO's masters of death, introduced in 2019. If you're intrigued by the dark arts, playing a necromancer can be both exciting and challenging. One notable challenge is that necromancy is frowned upon in most major cities. If a guard catches you raising a corpse, even for a moment, they will immediately attack you. So, be cautious about which spells you cast and where.

Necromancers have a wide range of abilities that allow them to fulfil any role, including DPS, tanking, and healing. Just like The Arcanist, the Necromancer has three unique skill lines dedicated to each of these roles. The Gravelord skill line focuses on DPS and involves summoning undead minions like skeletal mages and archers to deal damage. Exploding blast bone, a signature skill of the Gravelord skill line, delivers impressive burst damage in both PvE and PvP.

 

The Bone Tyrant skill line primarily focuses on damage absorption and tanking. It offers unique protective spells like beckoning armour, which reduces incoming damage and pulls enemies closer for better control. The Necrotic Potency skill allows you to leech life from nearby corpses, granting you a significant amount of ultimate in return.

 

The Living Death skill line highlights the Necromancer's healing capabilities. Skills like render flesh heal yourself and your allies at the expense of health regeneration. Restore tether turns any corpse on the ground into a heal-over-time effect for your entire group. Additionally, the powerful Spirit Guardian skill summons a ghostly ally to heal you over time and absorb a substantial portion of the damage you take.

 

Necromancers possess some of the strongest class ultimates, making them a formidable class for both solo and group play. Whether you want to summon a colossal Colossus for massive AOE damage and group debuffs, resurrect multiple players instantly, or transform into the mighty bone Goliath, the Necromancer class provides a diverse range of powerful options.

 

↖ Warden

Next is the Warden, the defender of nature. Wardens excel at summoning Animal Companions and casting Frost spells to debuff enemies or empower themselves and their group. With strong healing capabilities and burst potential, the Warden is an excellent choice for PvP enthusiasts or those interested in solo PvE. Similar to the Necromancer and Arcanist, the Warden features a class skill line for each of the traditional MMO play styles: DPS, tanking, and healing. This balance makes it a versatile class capable of filling any role in ESO.

The Animal Companion skill line allows Wardens to summon creatures like Cliff Racers, sharks, and fetcher flies to deal direct damage, timed burst damage, and damage over time. These summoned creatures also provide secondary debuffs, such as reducing enemy armour or increasing damage taken from your attacks. Winter's Embrace, the Warden's tank skill line, focuses on Frost's effects. With abilities like Ice Fortress for armour buff, Winter's Revenge for area damage over time and immobilization, and Arctic Blast for a stunning burst heal, the Warden proves to be a well-rounded tank.

 

The Green Balance skill line primarily focuses on healing, benefiting both the Warden and their group. Abilities like Green Lotus and Living Trellis are particularly useful, as they provide automatic healing whenever you deal or take damage. While the Warden's ultimate skills might lack raw power, they compensate with overall utility. For example, the Permafrost ultimate is incredibly useful in PvP, snaring enemies and providing a major protection buff for your group. The Bearpet ultimate is an awesome passive DPS skill that deals damage for free, with bonus execute damage upon casting. Finally, the Healing Thicket ultimately provides focused healing in critical moments.

 

All in all, the Warden is one of the most enjoyable and flexible classes in ESO. It comes highly recommended for both new and experienced players who wish to excel in any role or play style. If you're interested in crafting a nature-themed build that commands animals and plants, or even a classic ice mage build, the Warden is the ideal starting point.

 

↖ Nightblade

For Nightblade class is known for its stealthy Rogue or assassin-like characteristics. At launch, the Nightblade was one of the most popular classes in ESO, thanks to its thematic playstyle. Nightblades specialize in direct damage and possess escape tools like invisibility and teleportation, making them adept at tanking, healing, and surprising enemies in group situations. In solo gameplay, their ability to cloak and teleport allows them to excel in surviving encounters and ambushing enemies in PvP. Nightblades also utilize invisibility in PvE dungeons to bypass enemies or discover hidden locations and treasure chests.

The Nightblade class features one skill line per focused role: tanking, healing, and damage. However, there is some overlap in abilities, as the class skill lines prioritize theme over playstyle. For example, the Assassination skill line focuses on damaging your target and includes offensive teleportation with Ambush, allowing for excellent mobility, especially in PvP. Merciless Resolve lets you build up stacks for increased passive damage or unleash them all at once for a powerful burst attack and heal. The skill Impale deals bonus damage to enemies with low health.

 

The Shadow skill line offers various utility-focused abilities alongside damage and healing. Here, you'll find skills like Shadowy Disguise, which grants temporary invisibility, and Shadow Image, allowing you to teleport away from enemies. While the Nightblade class doesn't have an active armour skill, casting any Shadow ability provides an armour buff through a passive skill in the Shadow skill line.

 

The Siphoning skill line focuses on blood magic and healing abilities. Swallow Soul, a powerful skill, damages your enemy and heals you in return. It's particularly useful for all types of content, especially when playing solo. The skill line also includes abilities like Healthy Offering, a burst heal that cost some of your own health to cast.

 

Nightblades possess an interesting set of ultimate abilities in ESO, including one for direct damage, one for group defence, and one for group healing and crowd control. The most powerful and useful among these is likely Incapacitating Strike or Soul Harvest, both with excellent morph options. One of these abilities potentially stuns enemies and returns resources, while the other reduces enemy healing and restores ultimate. If you seek a class with high burst damage and the potential to surprise enemies or provide unique and engaging support to your group, the Nightblade is a must-try class.

 

↖ Dragonknight

Dragonknight class embodies the concept of an in-your-face melee brawler, with a focus on dragon-themed abilities. Whether you prefer using deadly poison or unleashing flame attacks, Dragonknight's combat style is both effective and enjoyable. The class's skill lines are spread across all three categories, with less emphasis on specific group roles and a greater emphasis on thematic abilities.

The Ardent Flame skill line allows you to harness the power of fire or poison, dealing damage, debuffing enemies, and even healing yourself or allies. Skills like Burning Embers offer powerful single-target damage over time while also providing self-healing. Noxious Breath, on the other hand, inflicts poison damage and debuffs enemies' armour, increasing the overall damage output for you and your group.

 

The Draconic Power skill line unlocks unique Dragon-themed abilities, such as Spiked Armor for increased defence, Burning Talons for immobilizing and debuffing enemies, and Dragon Fire Scales for damage absorption. The passives in this skill line enhance Dragonknight's tackiness, making it an excellent choice for pure tank builds.

 

Lastly, the Earthen Heart skill line offers a versatile combination of tanking, healing, and damage-dealing abilities. Skills like Stone Giant provide ranged damage options and debuff enemies, while Igneous Shield grants you and your group a powerful damage shield. Additionally, Petrify can stun and immobilize enemies simultaneously, making it a potent option in PvP.

 

Dragonknight ultimates are among the strongest. Standard of Might damages enemies in an area while boosting your own damage and reducing damage taken. Magma Shell is ideal for tanks, reducing damage received to a mere 3% per hit. And let's not forget Ferocious Leap, an impressive and deadly attack that lets you leap through the air and deliver a massive burst of area-of-effect damage while stunning enemies. The satisfaction of executing these ultimates is unparalleled. If you enjoy being in the thick of battle, punishing enemies with powerful damage-over-time effects and area attacks, or protecting your group as an unstoppable tank, the Dragonknight is the perfect class for you.

 

↖ Templar

Templars harness the power of the Sun on the battlefield, both for offence and defence. They excel at healing themselves and their allies, making them one of the strongest classes since its launch. In PvE groups, Templar healers are highly sought after for their burst healing capabilities and resource restoration. In PvP, Templars are formidable opponents, thanks to their strong defensive buffs, constant self-healing, and the ability to cleanse negative effects from themselves and their group.

The Templar's abilities are spread across all three skill lines, with one line specifically dedicated to healing and defence. In the Aedric Spear skill line, you'll find offensive abilities such as Puncturing Sweep, a channelled spear attack that deals multiple hits while healing you. Blazing Spear launches a Spear high into the air, raining down area-of-effect damage and restoring your team's resources through a group synergy.

 

The Dawn's Wrath skill line features Vampire's Bane, an enduring damage-over-time skill, and Living Dark, an exceptional passive healing skill that restores your health every time you take damage. Radiant Oppression, the class's execute skill, offers massive damage, making it ideal for both PvE and PvP encounters.

 

The Restoring Light skill line focuses on healing and offers arguably the best direct healing: Breath of Life. This ability provides instant and substantial burst healing for yourself or your group members. Templars also have access to numerous group heals and buffs, such as Extended Ritual and Restoring Focus, which enhance your group's strength when standing in their respective areas of effect.

 

Templars boast powerful ultimate skills as well. Crescent Sweep delivers a massive burst of upfront damage with your Spear, making it particularly effective in PvP. Remembrance channels a massive group healing while rendering you nearly invulnerable during its duration. Solar Prison debuffs enemies in an area while potentially providing your team with a gravity crush synergy, resulting in a significant damage spike in both PvP and PvE encounters.

 

Overall, Templars are an extremely potent class in ESO, known for their strong healing capabilities and defensive prowess. If you prefer playing a knight, paladin, cleric, or healer, the Templar class is perfect for you. Their consistent healing and robust defences also make them an excellent choice for beginners entering ESO for the first time.

 

↖ Sorcerer

Lastly, let's delve into the Sorcerer class. Sorcerers embody the classic caster archetype with an Elder Scrolls twist. They are connected to elemental damage, particularly lightning, but also have access to darker magic types, such as Daedric summoning. In ESO, Sorcerers offer stamina-based variants of their skills, allowing you to play as a tank or damage dealer wielding a sword and shield or a two-handed sword.

The Sorcerer's Dark Magic skill line provides significant damage potential and utility. Skills like Crystal Fragments offer powerful bursts of damage, while Crystal Weapon enhances your light and heavy attacks, providing bonus damage and reducing enemy armour. Dark Deal is a sustained skill that restores resources and grants minor berserk and minor force, making it one of the best buffs and sustained skills.

 

The Storm Calling skill line revolves around elemental magic, with skills like Mage's Wrath and Lightning Flood delivering serious lightning damage as an execute or area-of-effect damage over time, respectively. Boundless Storm turns you into lightning itself, granting bonus movement speed and armour. Additionally, Critical Surge provides passive healing whenever you deal critical damage to a target, making it one of the best self-healing skills in solo builds.

 

The Daedric Summoning skill line is the most impressive of all for Sorcerers. It allows you to summon Daedric objects and creatures to empower your gameplay. You can summon Daedric scamps, twilights, and clan fears to deal damage or heal yourself and your group. Additionally, Sorcerers can summon Daedric armour and weapons, including the unique Bound Armament skill for stamina Sorcerers, which summons four spectral daggers to burst down a target. Hardened Ward, one of the strongest damage shields, also belongs to this skill line, providing valuable protection for all types of Sorcerer builds.

 

Sorcerers possess impressive ultimate abilities. The Greater Storm Atronach from the Daedric Summoning skill line deals substantial damage while buffing your group's damage through a powerful synergy. Suppression Field is a strong option for PvP, capable of nullifying the opposing team's ultimate effects and magic abilities. Overload, although more niche, increases your damage done by light and heavy attacks, making it useful in specific situations, though not frequently used.

 

In summary, Sorcerers can excel in both solo and group-oriented classes, depending on your preferred playstyle. Their access to powerful damage skills and summoning abilities makes them particularly potent for beginners and solo players. Furthermore, their defensive capabilities and inherent speed make them formidable forces in PvP. If you desire a class that grows with your skill level and experience, the Sorcerer class is definitely worth exploring.

 

Conclusion:

The above concludes our breakdown of the seven classes in The Elder Scrolls Online, 2023, each explained in terms of their theme and abilities. The best class for you in ESO depends on your preferred role, playstyle, and the type of content you enjoy. Consider trying out different classes to see which one resonates with you the most.