Best PVE Solo Class Tier list

Paragonx78

I saw a few of these online and LuckyGhost just posted one after doing quite a bit of research and trials. I was curious if you guys agree with his conclusions and if not then why? Any thoughts?

A- Tier List
Stamina DK
MagWarden

A Tier List
MagTemplar
MagDK

A+ Tier List
StamSorc
StamNecro

S Tier List
Stam Nightblade
Stam Templar
Stam Warden

S+ Tier List
Mag Nightblade
Mag Sorc

S++ Tier
Mag Necro

For anyone interested his video review is here ESO - Picking the Best Solo Class in 2021


Would love to hear your thoughts?

RunForTheHills

I started playing ESO in July and the first character I built was a MagSorc. Despite reviews saying it is the easiest class for beginners, I never liked playing it. It was probably my low skill level when I started, but it always felt too squishy. I built a MagPlar next and I love playing him. With the MagPlar and a Ring of the Pale Order, I can solo many/most World Bosses and enjoy the play style. I rebuilt the MagSorc with Alcast's one bar build and works as advertised, but I still don't like playing it.

jaws343

I personally find Magsorc the easiest for solo work.

Shields for mitigation, crit surge for passive healing, no need to sacrifice on damage for survival in solo situation. And lately, adding Pale Order on top of that, soloing most things is fairly easy.

Paragonx78

RunForTheHills wrote: »

I started playing ESO in July and the first character I built was a MagSorc. Despite reviews saying it is the easiest class for beginners, I never liked playing it. It was probably my low skill level when I started, but it always felt too squishy. I built a MagPlar next and I love playing him. With the MagPlar and a Ring of the Pale Order, I can solo many/most World Bosses and enjoy the play style. I rebuilt the MagSorc with Alcast's one bar build and works as advertised, but I still don't like playing it.

I'm very new too and just messing around with different classes to see which I prefer. I kinda felt same about Mag Sorc. I rather enjoy stamina builds, but they are allot very similar using allot of the 2h or dual wield tree's so they dont' always feel unique, its almost like the class just adds some flavor/utility to the weapon skills maybe.

katorga

Really any class plus Ring of Pale Order.

But, I put my Sorc ahead of my Necro for simple quality of life....I feel like I'm constantly juggling pets, degeneration, and armor buff on my necro. Both are equally capable. Sorc is two buffs, both over 23 seconds.

To be honest, I find any ranged class easier for Maelstrom/Vateshran.

Runefang

All classes are good solo, with BiS gear I doubt you'll notice much difference unless you're soloing DLC vet dungeons.

Thraben

MagSorc must be first place, StamSorc (Werewolf) second, both of course in the pet variants.

This is neither new nor even game- specific, though. Pet classes with healing skills tend to dominate difficult content in role-playing games and mmorpgs in particular in situations when a group is "required", and they are playing without one.

Back in the days when Eso was slightly harder people were creating PetSorc toons just to be able to complete the Maelstrom Arena, which they couldn't on their true classes.

zvavi

Thraben wrote: »

Back in the days when Eso was slightly harder people were creating PetSorc toons just to be able to complete the Maelstrom Arena, which they couldn't on their true classes.

You mean during the times you could pop 20k shields on sorcs? These times are over long ago.

For the conclusion, all classes can do well in solo pretty easily. Especially with the new pale order.

FrancisCrawford

Where one ranks pet builds has a lot to do with the fight. Pets these days commonly occupy one attacker (but not the boss). Whether that's a lot of incoming damage reduction or a little or none at all depends on the enemy team.

Larcomar

katorga wrote: »

Really any class plus Ring of Pale Order.

Pretty much this.

I've always found the key to a good solo class is strong self healing whilst still being able to put out damage and, in particular passive self healing in case you get stunned / knocked down. Pale order completely changes that equation.

If you don't have it, I'd say hands down magsorc. The key issue there is crit surge and that fact that, once you've got an AOE on the ground, you got entirely passive healing. You don't need to do anything. While my magnb does really well, if he gets knocked down / stunned and isn't weaving swallow soul he's vulnerable. Likewise, if my temp isn't jabbing away, she suddenly looks rather squishy.

With pale order though, it feels like a totally different game. My magdk for instance, who used to feel a bit weak when it came to soloing is suddenly a god. i can sety him up, go make a cup of coffee and he's still trucking. Why? Stick on elfbane, and his dots last forever. I think eruption lasts for what, 24 seconds and the ulti standard nearly 30? That keeps the healing rolling in whilst putting out an awful lot of damage.

Thraben

zvavi wrote: »

Thraben wrote: »

Back in the days when Eso was slightly harder people were creating PetSorc toons just to be able to complete the Maelstrom Arena, which they couldn't on their true classes.

You mean during the times you could pop 20k shields on sorcs? These times are over long ago.

For the conclusion, all classes can do well in solo pretty easily. Especially with the new pale order.

It's not about shields (and yes, 20k+ shields are still no problem to reach), the mechanic is that pet classes have a meat shield. That's why both Sorc variants rank higher than Wardens (whose bear sucks meatshield- wise) and Necro (whose summons can't take any aggro).

As a bonus, Surge + Ring of the Pale Order is better than Ring of the Pale Order alone - but this is not even required to solo raid content or vet dlc group content (in the absence of mechanics that are designed to prevent this, like DPS checks, or the need to split up a group to access areas)

An additional bonus is streak - which allows you to avoid incoming melee damage.


When we speak of not-really challenging content, I would say MagPlar is the easiest - but this is not the point of this question, or is it?

SgtNuttzmeg

This is a meaningless list. You can clear any solo content if you have enough DPS and slot pale order. Sure classes with more survivability are easier to learn on but mobs can't hurt you if they are dead. Also it takes very little to kill most solo content mobs.

jaws343

SgtNuttzmeg wrote: »

This is a meaningless list. You can clear any solo content if you have enough DPS and slot pale order. Sure classes with more survivability are easier to learn on but mobs can't hurt you if they are dead. Also it takes very little to kill most solo content mobs.

There is a difference between solo content and soloing content. Mostly, when people are talking about Soloing content they are talking about solo content as well as group content. Running Maelstrom is solo content, soloing vet dungeons is soloing content.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

I think RotP really threw a wrench in this analysis, as now almost every spec is viable to solo most things.

For me, the best solo class just for farming stuff in normal dungeons or for grinding XP has always been magic nightblade. This is because you really just dont need to change all that much from a standard trial build to put out high damage and high self heals (and really good sustain). For grinding, soul harvest gives you the ability to basically stack destro ultimates on top of eachother which makes places like skyreach a breeze to solo or carry people.

For soloing content truly designed for 4 people, vet dungeons and that sort of thing, I think historically mag sorc has been the best. Every time I have seen a solo video that legitimately impressed me, it was almost always a mag sorc with pets.

If comparing the two, especially in places like the arena, I generally say mag sorc is easier, NB is faster. But that has of course changed depending on the meta over the years.

Haquor

I think we can all disregard overland stuff. Except maybe dlc world bosses. You look at a group of mobs or delve bosses and they drop quicker than a soccer player who brushed up against an opponents shirt.

I guess I like playing in HM cause i clear all solo content mostly on my magdk and mageden.

I would agree that magesorc and magecro are the two easiest.

Before pale order I would have put mageden much higher based off vMA experience. I found stamsorc and mageden the easiest in there before pale order but that could have been due to my familiarity with them.

Like others said... with pale order the game has changed.

zvavi

Thraben wrote: »

It's not about shields (and yes, 20k+ shields are still no problem to reach)

You will need 33k hp+ and even more magicka for those 20k shields... Talk about making a useless build.

Magblade is much easier than sorc imo though. And I hate with passion when the pets are being attacked instead of me. They should fix that. nothing is as annoying as resummoning your pet.

Dracane

I like that Magsorc can have high armor without losing damage. You can use bound armor for minor resolve and also gain magicka. Boundless storm is an armor buff, but also an aoe dot and thus no big damage loss.

Though survival is not everything. Other classes can clear content a lot faster than Magsorc, hence I would not rate them nearly as high. Magblade does it all better in my opinion by combining more damage with similar survivability and I guess the leaderboards mostly agree with that.

Vateshran leaderboards give a good idea I would say. Where there is more required than just 1 shotting stuff as it spawns.

zvavi

Dracane wrote: »

I like that Magsorc can have high armor without losing damage. You can use bound armor for minor resolve and also gain magicka. Boundless storm is an armor buff, but also an aoe dot and thus no big damage loss.

Though survival is not everything. Other classes can clear content a lot faster than Magsorc, hence I would not rate them nearly as high. Magblade does it all better in my opinion by combining more damage with similar survivability and I guess the leaderboards mostly agree with that.

Vateshran leaderboards give a good idea I would say. Where there is more required than just 1 shotting stuff as it spawns.

magblade is so strong in vateshran because of the insane frontbar ult regen...the ammount of destro ults u can drop to nuke nuke nuke is just higher.

Dracane

zvavi wrote: »

Dracane wrote: »

I like that Magsorc can have high armor without losing damage. You can use bound armor for minor resolve and also gain magicka. Boundless storm is an armor buff, but also an aoe dot and thus no big damage loss.

Though survival is not everything. Other classes can clear content a lot faster than Magsorc, hence I would not rate them nearly as high. Magblade does it all better in my opinion by combining more damage with similar survivability and I guess the leaderboards mostly agree with that.

Vateshran leaderboards give a good idea I would say. Where there is more required than just 1 shotting stuff as it spawns.

magblade is so strong in vateshran because of the insane frontbar ult regen...the ammount of destro ults u can drop to nuke nuke nuke is just higher.

That is the main reason, yes. Just goes to show that the survivability Sorc has thanks to surge, is not everything. Other classes have their own stuff that makes them more efficient in the end.

Zodiarkslayer

Mythics have made Monster sets not obsolete, but obsolescent. It is not just RotpO.

And yes, magblade is super strong. But Magsorc still has a greater range of what it can clear. The versatility is just bigger.

Especially in fights where you spend a lot of time stunlocked or have to do mechanics to not be obliterated, Magsorc shines, albeit with lower damage.

Scardan

I disagree with mag nightblade being worser then magcro as solo build.

thadjarvis

The most difficult solo content at the moment is the final boss in Vate. Any class with PO works well. The best option is to target the boss and cleave the adds. Additionally you execute the boss 4 times.

Agree that Magblade (fast ranged exec and healing) and Magcro (high AOE and passive execute) are really strong for it as well as other solo content. Hard disagree on Magsorc as it is the most annoying to play in Vate because the pets die especially as you never shield/heal them when wearing PO.

Agree that magden isn't the best relatively in Vate (sustain, pet, and no execute), but it's hard to put them dead last for solo in general as they are the absolute number 1 in Maelstrom due to Gate and somewhat their shield.

jaws343

thadjarvis wrote: »

The most difficult solo content at the moment is the final boss in Vate. Any class with PO works well. The best option is to target the boss and cleave the adds. Additionally you execute the boss 4 times.

Agree that Magblade (fast ranged exec and healing) and Magcro (high AOE and passive execute) are really strong for it as well as other solo content. Hard disagree on Magsorc as it is the most annoying to play in Vate because the pets die especially as you never shield/heal them when wearing PO.

Agree that magden isn't the best relatively in Vate (sustain, pet, and no execute), but it's hard to put them dead last for solo in general as they are the absolute number 1 in Maelstrom due to Gate and somewhat their shield.

I will say, when I speak to Magsorc being decent solo, I don't run pets. So no worries on micromanaging them and it provides 4 skill slots for defense and more offensive aoe/dot skills, on top of Pale Order and Crit Surge.

katorga

jaws343 wrote: »

thadjarvis wrote: »

The most difficult solo content at the moment is the final boss in Vate. Any class with PO works well. The best option is to target the boss and cleave the adds. Additionally you execute the boss 4 times.

Agree that Magblade (fast ranged exec and healing) and Magcro (high AOE and passive execute) are really strong for it as well as other solo content. Hard disagree on Magsorc as it is the most annoying to play in Vate because the pets die especially as you never shield/heal them when wearing PO.

Agree that magden isn't the best relatively in Vate (sustain, pet, and no execute), but it's hard to put them dead last for solo in general as they are the absolute number 1 in Maelstrom due to Gate and somewhat their shield.

I will say, when I speak to Magsorc being decent solo, I don't run pets. So no worries on micromanaging them and it provides 4 skill slots for defense and more offensive aoe/dot skills, on top of Pale Order and Crit Surge.

I wish the pets were un-targetable like necro pets, and the matriarch was not nearly as visually intrusive as it is. It always pulls agro and gets killed. At most I slot one pet for the passives.

My main reason I like my sorc over my necro: less buff management. Two 20+ second buffs get me speed, major sorcery, huge passive healing, armor and a dot to proc surge. I always seem to be recasting pets, armor buff, degen. I think necro is way better, but I prefer playing sorc.

I would order them magblade, magcro, sorc. Soloing dungeons, I really like magDK, but ranged is a huge advantage in solo arenas.

ealdwin

The difficulty in that final Vateshran boss is in being able to manage the mechanics while burning the boss and dealing with the mess of AoEs that the adds bring. It’s not unmanageable, but does require consistent AoE damage and significant healing (hence why PO makes it easier as it translates damage into healing).

katorga wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

thadjarvis wrote: »

The most difficult solo content at the moment is the final boss in Vate. Any class with PO works well. The best option is to target the boss and cleave the adds. Additionally you execute the boss 4 times.

Agree that Magblade (fast ranged exec and healing) and Magcro (high AOE and passive execute) are really strong for it as well as other solo content. Hard disagree on Magsorc as it is the most annoying to play in Vate because the pets die especially as you never shield/heal them when wearing PO.

Agree that magden isn't the best relatively in Vate (sustain, pet, and no execute), but it's hard to put them dead last for solo in general as they are the absolute number 1 in Maelstrom due to Gate and somewhat their shield.

I will say, when I speak to Magsorc being decent solo, I don't run pets. So no worries on micromanaging them and it provides 4 skill slots for defense and more offensive aoe/dot skills, on top of Pale Order and Crit Surge.

My main reason I like my sorc over my necro: less buff management.

I like my magplar for similar reasons. A good deal of the buff management on Templar is either through secondary effects of skills or through passives that activate on skill casts. It's one of the benefits of the older classes. I get to spend a bit more time on maintaining damage AoEs and DoTs than refreshing self buffs.