Category: Best ESO Builds, Best Necromancer Builds, Tank Builds, One Bar Builds
This powerful One Bar Necromancer Tank build for The Elder Scrolls Online focuses on debuffing enemy armor while also improving your own group’s damage and survival with no back bar required!
What you will learn in this Tank build guide:
- The best item sets to use with the One Bar ESO Necromancer Tank Build, and why they are important.
- How the skills work, synergies with the gear, and your rotation for the one bar necromancer build.
- The best consumables, race, and mundus, and most importantly, why you should select them.
This guide has been updated for The Elder Scrolls Online Update 50.
Necromancer Overview
The Necromancer class is a powerful option in ESO that can tank, heal, or do damage effectively. Necros want to create corpses with skills then consume these corpses to provide powerful buffs, debuffs, and resource sustain. As a tank, the Necro excels because of its powerful buffs and debuffs like Major Vulnerability.
However, the Necromancer isn’t a base game class. It can be purchased via the Crown Store for 1500 crowns (roughly $15). Therefore, consider the purchase if you like the gameplay idea of corpses and consuming those.
One Bar Necromancer Tank Sets
Our main 5 piece set on this build is Crimson Oath’s Rive, a heavy armor set that provides a substantial armor reduction to surrounding enemies that is also easily procced with skills like Echoing Vigor.
The second set on this build, Powerful Assault is a simple option for buffing your group’s damage. This set can also be easily proced by Resolving Vigor and has the same timer as Crimson Oath’s Rive, keeping your buff management simple!
An amazing Monster Set for any one bar tank build in general is Swarm Mother which provides a very nice Max Magicka and Max Stamina bonus for simply running one piece. You can wear this piece in either light armor or medium armor.
Finally, as a One Bar Build, The Oakensoul Ring mythic provides many important Major and Minor buffs for our character, making them more effective with no bar swapping.
Crimson Oath’s Rive
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 1487 Armor
(3 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(4 items) Adds 1487 Armor
(5 items) Casting an ability, drinking a potion, or using a poison that applies a Major or Minor buff to yourself or an ally, sends out a wave of energy that reduces the Armor of nearby enemies within 12 meters by 3541 for 15 seconds. This effect can occur once every 12 seconds, and will only occur if an enemy is within range.
Powerful Assault
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(5 items) When you cast an Assault ability while in combat, you and up to 5 group members within 12 meters gain 307 Weapon and Spell Damage for 15 seconds.
Swarm Mother
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(1 item) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina, Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(2 items) When you Block an enemy that is between 8 and 22 meters from you, you spin strands of spider silk to pull the enemy to you and taunt them for 15 seconds if they are not already taunted. This effect can occur once every 1 second.
The Oakensoul Ring
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(1 item) While equipped, you are unable to swap between your Primary and Backup Weapon Sets and gain Minor Berserk, Minor Courage, Major Brutality, Major Sorcery, Major Prophecy, Major Savagery, Minor Force, Minor Protection, Major Resolve, Minor Fortitude, Minor Intellect, Minor Endurance, Minor Heroism, Minor Aegis, Minor Slayer and Empower.
Volcanic stone for Firesong. Gems for Eldertide. With Stonelore craftsmanship to bind them together. This ring is the Draoife Incarnate. The might of the druids, in the palm of your hand.
Oakensoul Ring Lead Locations
Getting the Oakensoul Ring in ESO is easier than you might think! Check out our full Oakensoul Ring Guide.
One Bar Necromancer Tank Alternative Sets
For alternative gear sets,, there are many beginner sets that can also work that are easier to obtain, including the Plague Doctor set for extra health or Ebon Armory for the group health bonus. If you would like to provide the Aggressive Horn ultimate for your group instead of the Colossus, then Turning Tide is a great gear option as well.
Plague Doctor
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(3 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(4 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(5 items) Adds 2804 Maximum Health
Ebon Armory
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(3 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(4 items) Adds 4% Healing Taken
(5 items) Increases your Maximum Health by 1000 for you and up to 11 other group members within 28 meters of you.
Turning Tide
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
(4 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(5 items) When you Block, you gain Flowing Water for 10 seconds, causing your next Bash attack to deal 3016 Magic Damage to up to 6 enemies in a 10 meter line, and apply Major Vulnerability for 10 seconds, increasing their damage taken by 10%. This effect can occur once every 15 seconds and scales off your Max Health.
One Bar Necromancer Tank Advanced Gear Setup
| Weapon/Armor | Set | Trait | Weight | Glyph |
| Main Hand | Powerful Assault One Hand And Shield | Decisive / Sturdy | NA | Absorb Stamina / Prismatic |
| Backup | None | NA | NA | NA |
| Head | Swarm Mother | Infused | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Shoulder | Crimson Oath’s Rive | Sturdy | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Chest | Crimson Oath’s Rive | Infused | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Waist | Powerful Assault | Sturdy | Medium | Prismatic |
| Gloves | Crimson Oath’s Rive | Sturdy | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Legs | Crimson Oath’s Rive | Infused | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Feet | Crimson Oath’s Rive | Sturdy | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Necklace | Powerful Assault | Infused | NA | Magic Recovery |
| Ring 1 | Powerful Assault | Infused | NA | Reduce Block Cost |
| Ring 2 | The Oakensoul Ring | Infused | NA | Prismatic Reduce Cost |
One Bar Necromancer Tank Beginner Gear Setup
| Weapon/Armor | Set | Trait | Weight | Glyph |
| Main Hand | Plague Doctor One Hand And Shield | Decisive / Sturdy | NA | Absorb Stamina / Prismatic |
| Backup | None | NA | NA | NA |
| Head | Swarm Mother | Sturdy | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Shoulder | Ebon Armory | Sturdy | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Chest | Ebon Armory | Sturdy | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Waist | Ebon Armory | Sturdy | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Gloves | Ebon Armory | Sturdy | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Legs | Ebon Armory | Sturdy | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Feet | Plague Doctor | Sturdy | Heavy | Prismatic |
| Necklace | Plague Doctor | Infused | NA | Magic Recovery |
| Ring 1 | Plague Doctor | Infused | NA | Reduce Block Cost |
| Ring 2 | The Oakensoul Ring | Infused | NA | Prismatic Reduce Cost |
One Bar Necromancer Tank Attributes
In ESO, having Max health is the most important for a tank. Therefore use all 64 attribute points into health. Anything in the range of 35,000 to 40,000 Health should be more than enough for most content. Depending on your Race passives you may need to put all Attribute points into Health to achieve this value. If you have extra Attribute Points to spare you may distribute them to Magicka and Stamina.
Health is important for tanks as it also provides increased healing for many skills including self-heals and increases damage shield strength.
Secondly, you will need stamina as the next highest resource. ESO uses a hybrid system where synergies will restore resources based on your HIGHEST stat. Therefore, you block with stamina, and you want to restore stamina when using synergies. Make sure it’s slightly higher than magicka, you can use one or more glyphs or redistribute attributes slightly depending on your race choice.
0 Magicka
64 Health
0 Stamina
One Bar Necromancer Tank Race
Nord reigns as the top Tank race in ESO, principally thanks to the Rugged passive, which facilitates reaching the 33,100 Resistance cap. The passive alone translates to 7% damage mitigation, crucial for challenging encounters. Additionally, Nord’s boast big Health and Stamina pools along with increased Ultimate-generation. Pick Nord if you care about performance and optimization.
Pick a race that compliments your build and your end goal with the character. If you intend to swap back and forth between healing, damage, and tanking then your racial selection could change.
Other race considerations for tanking:
- Imperial: best raw stats due to 2,000 max health and stamina plus reduces all your ability cost by 6%!
- Orc: adds max health, max stamina, and movement speed plus weapon and spell damage, good if you intend to PvP with character.
- Redguard: incredible stamina sustain but lacks max health.
- Dark Elf: Adds magicka and stamina, fire resist and weapon and spell damage, good if you like to DPS and tank with one character.
- Argonian: adds max health, stamia, magicka, healing done, and resources resourcse when you drink a potion, ideal if you want to tank or heal with one character.
For more details on all ESO Races and passive bonuses be sure to check out our Full ESO Race Guide.
One Bar Necromancer Tank Mundus Stones
The best Mundus Stone for a Tank is the Atronach due to the increase in magicka recovery. This might seem odd, but at a high level in tanking, you use Magicka for skills and Stamina for blocking. Therefore, if you run out, there goes your ability to cast skills, buff allies, and taunt. Below are some other helpful choices in Mundus Stone:
- The Lady: increases resistance, good if below 30,000 buffed with Major Resolve active.
- The Lord: increases max health, good depending on your race if you cannot reach 30,000 health.
One Bar Necromancer Tank Food and Drink Buff
The best food for a tank is Bewitched Sugar Skulls because it increases all three stat pools. Make sure your stamina is higher than Magicka so synergies restore stamina. An alternative to Bewitched Sugar Skulls is Longfin Pasty with Melon Sauce. This is purple quality, cheaper, same buff to three stat pools just cheaper overall.
Below are the ingredients for the Food choices:
- Bewitched Sugar Skulls: Scrib Jelly, Flour, Columbine, Bervez Juice, and Honey.
- Longfin Pasty with Melon Sauce: fish fruit, melon vegetable, greens, and Frost Mirriam.
Bewitched Sugar Skulls
Increase Max Health by 4620, Max Stamina and Magicka by 4250, and Health Recovery by 462 for 2 hours.
These effects are scaled based on your level.
One Bar Necromancer Tank Potions
The best potions are the “Tri-Potions” which restores health, magicka, and stamina. Moreover, this potion buffs your resource sustain to each stat pool helping your sustain. Make sure to unlock and max out the Alchemy skill Medicinal Use. This passive increases the duration of your potions effects. Essentially, the duration last 47.5 seconds with a cooldown of 45 seconds. Therefore, this passive becomes critical to obtain to keep higher uptime on buffs.
Alternatively, if you find your Armor is too low, something like Increased Armor Potions can be helpful, especially if you are running a less than optimal race.
Tri-Stat Potions
Basic Increase Armor Potions
Bugloss, Mountain Flower, Mudcrab Chitin
One Bar Necromancer Tank Skills
Main Weapon: ONE HAND AND SHIELD – Click on a Skill Name to learn more
- Unnerving Boneyard
- Hungry Scythe
- Resolving Vigor
- Pierce Armor or Inner Beast
- Silver Leash or Spirit Guardian
- ULT: Glacial Colossus or Aggressive Horn
One Bar Necromancer Tank Skill Explanation
Front Bar – One Hand And Shield or Destruction Staff including an ice staff or lightning staff
- Unnerving Boneyard: deals AOE damage and triggers two powerful debuffs on enemies – Major Breach and Minor Vulnerability, causing all enemies in the area to take significantly more damage.
- Hungry Scythe: acts a main spammable melee skill that does decent damage and great healing, plus adds an extra heal over time. Found in the Bone Tyrant skill line.
- Resolving Vigor: this assault skill is crucial in procing our main Tank sets – Powerful Assault and Crimson Oath’s Rive. Make sure to cast it every 15 seconds to maintain those effects.
- Pierce Armor: melee taunt that cost stamina and inflicts two armor debuffs minor and major breach.
- Inner Beast: Stamina ranged taunt that will also apply Minor Vulnerability and Minor Maim.
- Silver Leash: this is an on-demand pull skill that allows you to bring in enemies closer to your group. Located in the Fighters guild skill line.
- Spirit Guardian: flex spot for damage reduction tool that provides constant healing and creates corpses. Found in the Living Death skill line.
- ULT: Glacial Colossus: massive AOE frost damage that also debuffs enemies hit with Major Vulnerability increasing overall damage to that target. Located in the Grave Lord skill line.
- ULT: Aggressive Horn: use this Ultimate to increase group stats and Critical Damage.
One Bar Necromancer Tank Rotation
Buffs: Maintain Spirit Guardian for the heal and damage reduction. Cast Echoing Vigor on cooldown to buff your group with the Powerful Assault set.
Debuffs: Once combat starts, pull in any long range enemies with Silver Leash, then cast Echoing Vigor to proc the Crimson Oath Rive’s set. Follow this up with Unnerving Boneyard for even more debuffs in the area. Taunt bosses or elite monsters directly with Pierce Armor.
Use Glacial Colossus to trigger Major Vulnerability on bosses or large packs of enemies.
Notes: you may use Heavy attacks between blocking boss hits if you need extra stamina sustain.
One Bar Necromancer Tank Scribing Skills
Scribing skills can be a powerful addition to this build! Consider using the following options:
One Bar Necromancer Tank Passives
Class Passives
- Reusable Parts
- Death Knell
- Dismember
- Rapid Rot
- Death Gleaning
- Disdain Harm
- Health Avarice
- Last Gasp
- Curative Curse
- Near-Death Experience
- Corpse Consumption
- Undead Confederate
Weapon Passives
Armor Passives
Guild Passives
Racial
Other
ESO Necromancer Tank Class Mastery
Players that reach level 50 in ESO while also fully reaching Rank 50 for their class skill lines and not subclassing can use 2 Class Mastery passives to improve their build. For the Necromancer Tank build I recommend Pound of Flesh for a 10% chance to restore Health and Stamina, increasing off your Max Health, along with Veil’s Forfeit which extends the duration of Major Vulnerability you apply by 50%.
Pound of Flesh
Knock upon death’s door and demand your due.
Effect
When you take damage you have a 10% chance to heal 2624 Health and restore 5% of your missing Stamina, up to once per second. This chance increases by 1% for every missing Health percent you have and the healing is based off your Max Health.
Veil’s Forfeit
Call souls back from an early grave. Only you may grant them release.
Effect
While you are in combat, directly healing a target below 66% Health relinquishes them from death’s clutches and allows you to use a corpse consuming ability against them within 10 seconds, up to once every second.
Extends the duration of Major Vulnerability you apply by 50%.
Champion Points
Below you will find the recommended Active and Passive Champion Point Stars for this build, broken down into 300, 600, 900, and 1200 CP ranges.
For more information on Champion Points click on a Star name below or browse our detailed Champion Points Guides.
Constellation Descriptions:
Craft TREE
The Green Craft Constellation is focused on crafting and utility-centered upgrades.
Warfare TREE
The Blue Warfare Constellation focuses primarily on increasing player damage, healing and defenses
Fitness TREE
The Red Fitness Constellation is focused on character survival and sustain.
– 300 Champion Points –
GREEN
BLUE
RED
– 600 Champion Points –
GREEN
- 50 Steed’s Blessing (Slot)
- 50 Gilded Fingers
- 10 Fortune’s Favor
- 10 Wanderer
- 50 Steadfast Enchantment
- 30 Rationer
BLUE
- 20 Tireless Discipline
- 20 Quick Recovery
- 20 Preparation
- 20 Hardy
- 20 Elemental Aegis
- 50 Duelist’s Rebuff (Slot)
- 50 Unassailable (Slot)
RED
- 50 Boundless Vitality (Slot)
- 20 Tireless Guardian
- 30 Fortification
- 16 Hasty
- 20 Sprinter
- 20 Hero’s Vigor
- 50 Fortified (Slot)
– 900 Champion Points –
GREEN
- 50 Steed’s Blessing (Slot)
- 50 Gilded Fingers
- 10 Fortune’s Favor
- 10 Wanderer
- 50 Steadfast Enchantment
- 30 Rationer
- 50 Treasure Hunter
- 30 Master Gatherer (Slot)
- 20 Gifted Rider (Slot)
BLUE
- 20 Tireless Discipline
- 20 Quick Recovery
- 20 Preparation
- 20 Hardy
- 20 Elemental Aegis
- 50 Duelist’s Rebuff (Slot)
- 50 Unassailable (Slot)
- 50 Enduring Resolve (Slot)
- 50 Bulwark (Slot)
RED
- 50 Boundless Vitality (Slot)
- 20 Tireless Guardian
- 30 Fortification
- 16 Hasty
- 20 Sprinter
- 20 Hero’s Vigor
- 50 Fortified (Slot)
- 30 Tumbling
- 20 Defiance
- 50 Juggernaut (Slot)
– 1200 Champion Points –
GREEN
- 50 Steed’s Blessing (Slot)
- 50 Gilded Fingers
- 10 Fortune’s Favor
- 10 Wanderer
- 50 Steadfast Enchantment
- 30 Rationer
- 50 Treasure Hunter
- 30 Master Gatherer (Slot)
- 50 Gifted Rider (Slot)
- 75 War Mount (Slot)
BLUE
- 20 Tireless Discipline
- 20 Quick Recovery
- 20 Preparation
- 20 Hardy
- 20 Elemental Aegis
- 50 Duelist’s Rebuff (Slot)
- 50 Unassailable (Slot)
- 50 Enduring Resolve (Slot)
- 50 Bulwark (Slot)
- 20 Eldritch Insight
- 20 Blessed
- 20 Flawless Ritual
- 20 Battle Mastery
- 20 Precision
RED
- 50 Boundless Vitality (Slot)
- 20 Tireless Guardian
- 30 Fortification
- 16 Hasty
- 20 Sprinter
- 20 Hero’s Vigor
- 50 Fortified (Slot)
- 30 Tumbling
- 20 Defiance
- 50 Juggernaut (Slot)
- 6 Nimble Protector
- 50 Bracing Anchor (Slot)
Update Log
- June 9, 2026 – created Class Mastery passives section
- May 6, 2026 – Updated Green Champion Points
How To Create Powerful ESO Builds
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More Necromancer Builds For ESO
Want more Necromancer Builds? Check out our dedicated Necromancer Builds overview page for even more great options! You can also check out similar One Bar Tank Builds below:
