One Bar Tank Build - Group or Solo Play (Text Or Video Guide)

rhythmsuji · June 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3kMxXhbj8A
Here is the most recent build I have made in ESO, it is an Oakensoul one bar variant and has some major tank ability. You can use it solo, but it also preforms very well in group play and can tank a ton of the games content despite being a non shield using build and being only 1 bar. I have used it to tank all of the Night Market and some veteran dungeon content grouped and solo since making it.
It has fantastic resource sustain, decent damage and a boat load of HP. It is also very easy to acquire, with simple farming of the sewers dungeon and having the Twice-born star set crafted. The monster set helmet is fairly easy to get from the Imperial City as well. But you can use alternatives based on what you have or find easiest to get. Essentially, a very beginner friendly build to get going and a great option for those who absolutely hate having a second bar. As said in the video though, in zero ways am I claiming this to be "The BEST tank or solo build". There is no click bait here as always, it is purely what it is and is up to each player to decide to enjoy or ignore. Hope it benefits some players or someone finds it fun.

Here is a link to the text Guide in case that is easier for some viewers:
https://eso-hub.com/en/builds/eso-feanor/019e80c0-0156-7337-b873-2e4a8124fef7/eso-feanors-tank-of-elements

One-Bar Oakensoul Tank Build, designed for high survivability, resource sustain, and accessibility without the need for a second bar, all while not using a shield.

Build Overview
Role: One-Bar Tank / Solo capable
Primary Goal: High HP, strong damage mitigation, and self-healing.
Performance: Approximately 42k–48k DPS on a trial dummy.

Skill Points Required: 110

Class & Skills
This build utilizes a Sorcerer, but requires skills from multiple trees.
Sorcerer (Daedric Summoning): Bound Aegis (for block mitigation).
Templar (Aedric Spear): Toppling Charge (mobility, interrupts, and taunt, off-balance).
Dragonknight (Earthen Heart):
Corrosive Armor or Magma Shell (Ultimate).
Volcanic Ward (Shield/Healing).
Igneous Weapons (Heavy attack damage/group utility).
Passively also causes heavy attacks to set enemies off balance.
Scribing: Healing Burst (Soul Burst/Healing/Sage's Remedy/Expedition).
Passives: Take all passives for Sorc, Templar all passives (except Spear Wall), DK all passives, Destruction Staff no skills and only these 3 passives Tri Focus Elemental Focus & Ancient Knowledge, Light all passives/Medium all passives except improved sneak/Heavy Armor all passives, Fighter’s Guild (Banish the Wicked), Undaunted (Command/Mettle), and Alliance War (Continuous Attack).

Gear Setup
Head: Any Heavy Monster Set (Infused trait, Max Health enchant). I used Glorgoloch The Destroyer's Visage
Chest/Legs/Shoulders: Sergeant’s Mail (Divines, Magicka/Health enchants).
Light Gloves/Light Sash/Medium Boots/Jewelry: Twice-Born Star (Divines, Health/Magicka/Stamina Recovery enchants).
Weapon: Lightning Staff of the Sergeant (Decisive trait, Absorb Magicka enchant).
Mythic: Oakensoul Ring (Healthy trait, Tri-stat Recovery enchant).

Mundus & Consumables
Mundus Stones: The Lord (Health) and The Lady (Resistance cap), 2 enabled by Twice-Born Star.
Food: Corrupting Bloody Mara (Health/Magicka/Health Recovery).
Potions: Tri-Stat potions or Essence of Health (Butterfly Wing/Powdered Mother of Pearl/Luminous Russula).

Champion Points
Blue (Warfare): Exploiter, Weapons Expert, Deadly Aim, Master-at-Arms.
Red (Fitness): Ward Master, Bracing Anchor, Rejuvenation, Boundless Vitality. (Do not use Fortified, as you hit defense caps via gear).
Green (Craft): Steed's Blessing, Gifted Rider.

Usage Tips
Tanking: Use Bound Aegis and Volcanic Ward actively to manage incoming damage with timed blocks, your healing burst heals yourself and allies fairly well and provides you with a HoT to keep that health ticking up during the fight. Keep your Igneous Weapon buff up for extra damage and to buff your group mates, your Toppling charge ability is your taunt but it also knocks enemies down and interrupts spells and can help get you around an area quickly due to being a targeted mobility spell.

Flexibility: You can swap passives or specific gear pieces for more damage or tankiness, but balance accordingly.

Let me know if this was interesting or helpful to you, I would be interested to know if anyone took any inspiration from this or ended up using it with success as well.

GL HF!
-ESO Feanor

Necrotech_Master · June 1

i like using a one bar tank build for infinite archive, though im spec a little more on the tanky side than as a dps lol

using oakensoul + leeching plate + serpents disdain (extra long status effects for focused efforts in infinite archive)

if i was doing non-IA one bar tanky setup, i would probably do something similar to what your doing, but probably use a different set than twice born star (though i would keep the lady mundus stone) (could lean more survivability, or more dmg depending on what you wanted to do with it)

if you were actually tanking, heavy attack spec is not the best because of the need to block a lot in harder content, but it would be an easy to use build for most overland or normal dungeon content for sure

rhythmsuji · June 1

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

i like using a one bar tank build for infinite archive, though im spec a little more on the tanky side than as a dps lol

using oakensoul + leeching plate + serpents disdain (extra long status effects for focused efforts in infinite archive)

if i was doing non-IA one bar tanky setup, i would probably do something similar to what your doing, but probably use a different set than twice born star (though i would keep the lady mundus stone) (could lean more survivability, or more dmg depending on what you wanted to do with it)

if you were actually tanking, heavy attack spec is not the best because of the need to block a lot in harder content, but it would be an easy to use build for most overland or normal dungeon content for sure

Hard agree for sure, yeah this definitely is not the move for like Vet Hardmode trials or anything haha.

But more so rather like you said, I was doing Night Market and was curious about making my other HA build into a very off meta tank. And then after doing so, I had a good 1-2 dozen people ask me to share it.

I just find something so interesting about making things do what they aren't meant to. Even if there was an easier or more efficient way to get there ya know?

Necrotech_Master · June 1

rhythmsuji wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

i like using a one bar tank build for infinite archive, though im spec a little more on the tanky side than as a dps lol

using oakensoul + leeching plate + serpents disdain (extra long status effects for focused efforts in infinite archive)

if i was doing non-IA one bar tanky setup, i would probably do something similar to what your doing, but probably use a different set than twice born star (though i would keep the lady mundus stone) (could lean more survivability, or more dmg depending on what you wanted to do with it)

if you were actually tanking, heavy attack spec is not the best because of the need to block a lot in harder content, but it would be an easy to use build for most overland or normal dungeon content for sure

Hard agree for sure, yeah this definitely is not the move for like Vet Hardmode trials or anything haha.

But more so rather like you said, I was doing Night Market and was curious about making my other HA build into a very off meta tank. And then after doing so, I had a good 1-2 dozen people ask me to share it.

I just find something so interesting about making things do what they aren't meant to. Even if there was an easier or more efficient way to get there ya know?

of course, absolutely

in fact probably 8/10 of my builds are fairly nonstandard way off meta creations of my own design lol

Taarente · June 4

That’s quite an interesting build. For night market I had 3 characters, a dps a tank and a healer all take part. For me the most important thing was to start from being able to survive the constant pressure and stay functional and then turn the fight in my favour. I found a one bar ha battle mage sorcerer a vampire tank and a super healthy cyrodiil healing tank worked very well for my needs. Thank you for sharing your build.

frogthroat · June 4

I would make some changes to this. Didn't watch the video, but I checked the written guide.

Oakensoul
If Oakensoul is a must, the Soul Burst having minor courage is redundant. Wasted script. Oakensoul already gives that buff. Swap that to something else, like interrupt or breach.

Rakkhat
Why not use something like Rakkhat and 1.5 bar? You don't have to swap bars all the time. With Rakkhat instead of Oakensoul, I would change Igneous Weapons to Molten Armaments (Empower + shorter cooldown for the damage) and add Savagery & Prophecy to Soul Burst. For Major Resolve, move Molten Armaments to back bar so you can slot Shatterspike Mantle. You only need to swap bars every 30 seconds.

Add Rakkhat (medium), change feet from medium to heavy, and add a Sergeant ring. You would lose a few minor buffs, but gain more damage with Rakkhat.

Also, health recovery is not that reliable so I would swap food to either bistat (Mistral Banana-Bunny Hash), or bistat+mag recovery (Witchmother's Potent Brew). Probably bistat.