Stamina Necromancer PvE Build for ESO — 205K+ DPS Guide

Elder Scrolls Online Stamina Necromancer - Blastbones, Corpseburster, Siphon, Venom Skull, Skeletal Archer

205K+ Stamina Necromancer 12 Man PvE Build Guide

By Eigh1 PuppiesLast updated: Update 50 — September 19, 2026

UP TO DATE FOR: UPDATE 50✓ Trial-tested (vet HM)✓ 205K+ parse verified✓ U50

Introduction

The Stamina Necromancer has emerged as one of the strongest all around DPS builds in ESO Update 51. It combines exceptional single-target damage with arguably the best AoE damage profile of any class, making it an incredibly strong option for both boss fights and add-heavy encounters.

At the center of the build is Corpseburster Historically, building and consuming corpses on the Cro has been most important for passive damage, while our primary DPS output relied heavily on our abilities. With Corpseburster , the playstyle now centers around maintaining our important DoTs while building and consuming as many corpses as possible for maximum DPS.

Abilities like Blighted Blastbones constantly generate corpses, while Detonating Siphon consumes them to repeatedly trigger enormous Corpseburster explosions. This creates a fast paced rotation centered around corpse management: casting Blighted Blastbones every three seconds, using our corpse spenders as often as possible, and maintaining our important DoTs as a priority.

Table of contents

01 · Core Concepts
02 · Skill Setup
03 · Gear for Bosses
04 · Gear for Trash
05 · Passives
06 · Build Basics
07 · Champion Point
08 · Class Mechancis
09 · Rotation
10 · Parses and In Game Content
11 · FAQ

Core rotation concepts

CorpseSKILL

Corpses

The Necromancer’s damage output is entirely dependent on how effectively you utilize the corpse mechanic. Our abilities, passives, and even our gear sets rely on generating and consuming corpses to maximize DPS.

Skill setup

Standard Bar Setup for Single Target Boss Encounters

FRONT BAR · Daggers

Avid BoneyardNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of BoneyardSKILLTarget: GroundRange: 28mRadius: 6mDuration: 10 secondsCost: 2970 StaminaSkill descriptionDesecrate the ground at the target location, dealing 3190 Frost Damage over 10 seconds to enemies inside and applying Minor Vulnerability, increasing their damage taken by 5%. Consumes a corpse on cast to deal 30% more damage. You or an ally in the area can activate the Grave Robber synergy, dealing 2249 Frost Damage to enemies and healing for the damage done.

Venom SkullNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Flame SkullSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 28 metersCost: 2295 StaminaSkill descriptionLob an explosive skull at an enemy, dealing 2159 Poison Damage. Every third cast of this ability deals 50% increased damage and creates a corpse near the enemy, up to once every 3 seconds. While slotted, casting any Necromancer ability while you are in combat will count towards the third cast.

Blighted BlastbonesNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of BlastbonesSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 28mRadius: 6mDuration: 8 secondsCost: 1836 StaminaSkill descriptionSummon a decaying skeleton from the ground after 2.5 seconds. The skeleton runs after the target and explodes when it gets close to them, dealing 3600 Disease Damage to all enemies nearby and applying the Diseased status effect and Major Defile to them for 4 seconds, reducing their healing received and damage shield strength by 12%. Creates a corpse on death.

Detonating SiphonNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Shocking SiphonSKILLTarget: CorpseRange: 28mRadius: 5mDuration: 20 secondsSkill descriptionViolently drain the last spark of life from a corpse, dealing 6168 Disease Damage over 20 seconds to all enemies around the corpse and between you and the corpse. You also gain Major Savagery and Prophecy for 20 seconds, increasing your Weapon and Spell Critical rating by 2629. When the siphon ends the corpse explodes, dealing an additional 1799 Disease Damage to all enemies nearby. While slotted, your damage done is increased by 3%.

Sundering BannerScribing · Banner Bearer · Shock Damage / Class Mastery / Intellect and EnduranceSCRIBEDRadius: 8mScribed descriptionBring out a banner to inspire yourself and nearby group members.Scripts · Banner BearerFocus: Shock DamageIncreases damage done with direct damage by 6%.Signature: Class MasteryOnce every 3 seconds, increase your Health, Magicka, and Stamina by 2% for 10 seconds for each corpse within 12 meters, up to 10 times. While in combat, if no corpses are nearby, create a corpse.Affix: Intellect and EnduranceGrants Minor Intellect and Minor Endurance, increasing Magicka and Stamina Recovery by 15%.

Flawless DawnbreakerGuild · Fighters Guild · Morph of Dawnbreaker - UltimateSKILLTarget: ConeRadius: 10mDuration: 6 secondsCost: 125 UltimateSkill descriptionArm yourself with Meridia's sacred sword and dispense her retribution, dealing 2904 Physical Damage to enemies in front of you and an additional 3483 Physical Damage over 6 seconds. After activating, your Weapon and Spell Damage is increased by 300 for 20 seconds.

ULT

BACK BAR · Bow

Barbed TrapGuild · Fighters Guild · Morph of Trap BeastSKILLTarget: AreaRadius: 2.5mDuration: 20 secondsCost: 3240 StaminaSkill descriptionSet a sharpened blade trap at your location, which takes 1.5 seconds to arm and lasts for 20 seconds. When triggered, the trap deals 1439 Bleed Damage, an additional 3590 Bleed Damage over 20 seconds, and grants you Minor Force, increasing your Critical Damage by 10% for the duration. Enemies hit by the initial hit are afflicted with the Hemorrhaging status effect. Enemies who activate the trap are immobilized for 2 seconds.

StampedeWeapon · Two Handed · Morph of Critical ChargeSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 22m: 5m

Avid Boneyard

Venom Skull

SKILL INFORMATION

Avid Boneyard

Avid Boneyard is one of the most valuable group-oriented abilities in the Necro toolkit. It deals around 7.3K AoE DPS, adds another 2–3K through the Grave Robber synergy, and applies Minor Vulnerability. This is an especially valuable debuff because AoE sources of it are pretty limited. Boneyard can also consume a corpse for 30% increased damage, which procs Corpseburster and adds some complexity to the rotation. In raid, however, you should run the other morph, Unnerving Boneyard, which trades your personal Grave Robber synergy for AoE Major Breach one of the game’s most important penetration debuffs. An ally can still activate Grave Robber, making this an overall group DPS increase while a personal DPS loss, especially on the dummy.

Venom Skull

While Detonating Siphon is our primary spammable, we use Venom Skull as a filler whenever we don’t have a corpse available. If you’re maintaining a rotation properly, Venom Skull will usually be empowered. While the tooltip says every third cast deals 50% increased damage and creates a corpse, this is slightly misleading: after casting two Grave Lord abilities, Venom Skull will light up, indicating that your next cast is empowered. While we might think of Venom Skull primarily as a filler ability, its empowered version is active so often that it’s better viewed as a tool for generating corpses. If we run out of corpses and can’t cast Detonating Siphon, Venom Skull will almost always generate a new one, allowing us to immediately follow it with Detonating Siphon and keep our corpse consumption flowing.

As a note, Ghostly Embrace can be a stronger alternative against bosses with massive hitboxes, such as Taleria in Dreadsail Reef for example. It creates three AoEs shot out in a line, the first of which applies Chilled, the second applying damage over time effect, and the third creating a corpse if each respective AOE hits the target. If you can consistently get all three rings to hit your target, Ghostly Embrace outperforms Venom Skull.

Blighted Blast Bones

Blighted Blastbones is our strongest ability and the single largest source of damage on our CMX, dealing up to 127K damage per hit. Once cast, the skeleton lunges at the target 2.5 seconds later, allowing us to recast Blastbones every 3 seconds. This defines the structure of our rotation: Blastbones → Skill → Skill → Blastbones → Skill → Skill, and so on. Most importantly, every Blighted Blastbones leaves behind a corpse, making it our primary source of corpses throughout a fight and an essential part of consistently proccing Corpseburster.

Detonating Siphon

Detonating Siphon consumes a corpse to create a tether between you and that corpse, along with a small AoE beneath it. Enemies touching either take damage, but most importantly, when Detonating Siphon ends, the corpse explodes for up to 60K damage. Recasting Detonating Siphon counts as the ability ending, allowing us to use it as a spammable and trigger that explosion much more frequently. Every activation also consumes a corpse, proccing Corpseburster for another 95K damage. Combined, that’s roughly a 150K AoE explosion every time we activate Siphon.

Detonating Siphon is also completely free to cast, only draining a small amount of Stamina over time for its 20-second AoE component. On top of all that, it provides Major Savagery for our Critical Chance and increases our damage done by 3% while slotted. Detonating Siphon is one of the most important abilities in the entire Necro toolkit.

Banner Bearer

xSundering Banner (Necromancer). We take the Physical Damage Focus, Class Flourish Signature, and Intellect and Endurance affix scripts. The Class Flourish here is insane. Every three seconds, our Health, Magicka, and Stamina are increased by 2% for 10 seconds per corpse within 12 meters, stacking up to 10 times. The extra Health is great for survivability, but gaining up to 20% more Stamina from a single ability is a massive DPS increase. Even better, if no corpses are nearby, we create one instead, further fueling our Corpseburster and Detonating Siphon spam.

With xSundering Banner (Necromancer) being meta on the Necro, it will likely fall to the Necros to provide its essential group buffs. For our Focus Script, the two most common options are Physical, which increases Martial Damage by 6% and works particularly well with groups mixing meta Necros and Nightblades, or Shock, which increases Direct Damage by 6% and is better for classes like Templars, Sorcerers, DKs, or Arcanists. For the Necro itself and for parsing, Physical is the stronger option. For our Affix Script, the Minor Recovery scripts are extremely helpful while parsing, while in content we’ll generally run Courage in optimized groups or Heroism in less optimized groups.

Flawless Dawnbreaker

We mainly run Flawless Dawnbreaker this ability for the fighter’s guild passive Slayer, which increases Weapon and spell damage by 3% per Fighter’s Guild ability slotted. We will rarely cast this ult, but if you get to the end of a fight and know that you won’t get your more expensive primary ult back, you can use Flawless Dawnbreaker for a bit of a damage boost in the execute phase of a fight.

Barbed Trap

Barbed Trap is basically a swiss army knife of utility. Beyond being a strong source of DPS through both its upfront hit and Damage Over Time component, Barbed Trap also gives us access to Hemorrhaging, arguably the strongest status effect in the game and one of the few reliable ways to consistently proc it. On top of its already strong damage contribution, Barbed Trap also serves as a source of Minor Force, which is an essential Critical Damage buff.

Stampede

Stampede is a respectable DOT on its own, but its real value comes from proccing our Maelstrom Greatsword buff. When we cast Stampede with the vMA Greatsword equipped, we gain a 12% increase to all Direct Damage sources, which make up the vast majority of the Cro’s toolkit. Stampede grants this buff for 18 seconds, even though the ability itself only lasts 15, so while we generally want to reapply it as close to expiration as possible, this is one of the easier DOTs to delay briefly if needed, though this should be pretty rarely utilized on the Cro.

Carve

Carve is a skill in this setup whose role is almost entirely tied to its value as a Damage Over Time effect. We like Carve because of its extremely long duration. Its actual DPS output is fairly comparable to something like Scalding Rune, but because Carve lasts significantly longer, we spend fewer casts maintaining it over the course of a fight. That matters a lot, because every cast we save on a DOT is another cast we can instead use on our spammables and Corpseburster. So even if another DOT may appear equal or even slightly stronger on paper, Carve often results in more net damage overall simply because of the extra spammables we end up getting.

Skeletal Archer

Skeletal Archer is a strong single-target DoT and borderline necessary in solo situations because it provides Major Brutality, our Major Weapon buff. Unless we source these through potions or a Scribed skill, we need to provide them ourselves. On the dummy and in raids, these buffs should come from the DK’s Igneous Weapons, but pay attention: if Igneous Weapons isn’t in group, you NEED this skill. Otherwise, this becomes our primary flex slot for a heal or shield when we need extra survivability.

Outside of the buff, the Skeletal Archer main purpose is simply strong single-target damage. However, it can be unreliable in multi-target fights because it may attack the wrong enemy. If your little guy can get confused, use Skeletal Arcanist instead. It’s slightly weaker in single target, but deals AoE damage around its primary target, making it much more reliable in those situations.

Banner Bearer

xSundering Banner (Necromancer) we have slotted on the backbar because we have to double bar the ability to keep it active. If we only run it on one bar, then bar swap, we’d have to recast the ability to activate it again.

Shooting Star

Shooting Star is our ultimate of choice for this build, providing strong, consistent damage while being incredibly simple to use. On cast, it deals a massive initial hit, then leaves behind a relatively small but incredibly strong AOE that deals damage over time, totaling around 12–14K DPS. It also restores Ultimate for each target hit, making it especially valuable in multi-target fights. The more enemies we hit, the more Ultimate we generate, allowing us to cast Shooting Star more frequently and get even more damage out of the ability. For both parsing and content, it’s a powerful, reliable ultimate that fits naturally into the Necro’s rotation.

Boss setups

Recommended gear setups for each boss type in the game. Skill setup will mostly stay the same, any changes are notated below. Trash Setups discussed in detail in the next section. Disclaimer: A general recommendation will never be the "most optimal" setup. Tweak for real encounters as it relates to differing strategies and raid comps.

Best Build for the Parse Dummy

SLOT	SET	WEIGHT	TRAIT	ENCHANT
Main Hand	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	Dagger	NirnhonedNirnhonedTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Physical and Spell Resistance by 220. Increases Physical and Spell Resistance by 229. Increases Physical and Spell Resistance by 238. Increases Physical and Spell Resistance by 244. Increases Physical and Spell Resistance by 253.	FlameGlyph of FlameEnchantment · WeaponENCHANTEnchant descriptionDeals 112-2045 Flame Damage.
Off Hand	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	Dagger	ChargedChargedTrait · WeaponTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases chance to apply status effects by 97.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 102.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 107.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 112.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 117.5%.	Glyph of PoisonGlyph of PoisonEnchantment · WeaponENCHANT
Backup	Merciless Charge(Perfected) Merciless ChargeArena Weapon · (Veteran) Maelstrom ArenaSet bonus(2 items) Adds 1190 Offensive Penetration, Activating Critical Charge stirs up a barbarous lust for battle within you for 18 seconds, increasing your damage done with direct damage attacks by 2%, up to a maximum of 12%. This effect scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.	Greatsword	InfusedInfusedTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncrease armor enchantment effect by 9%. Increase armor enchantment effect by 13%. Increase armor enchantment effect by 17%. Increase armor enchantment effect by 21%. Increase armor enchantment effect by 25%.	Glyph of Weapon DamageGlyph of Weapon DamageEnchantment · WeaponENCHANTEnchant description
Head	Huntsman's WarmaskHuntsman's WarmaskMythic · Scrying LeadsSet bonus(1 item) Dealing damage with a Bash or fully-charged Heavy Attack places the Mark of Hircine on your target for 1 minute.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of Max Stamina
Shoulders	SlimecrawSlimecrawMonster Set · Wayrest Sewers I (vet)Set bonus(1 item) Adds 657 Critical Chance(2 items) Gain Minor Berserk at all times, increasing your damage done by 5%.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of Max Stamina
Chest	Slivers of Null Arca(Perfected) Slivers of Null ArcaTrial · Lucent CitadelSet bonus(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Dealing Critical Damage gives you a stack of Sliver for 10 seconds, up to once every 0.5 seconds. Upon gaining your third stack, they merge into a crystal that launches at the last enemy you damaged, dealing Physical Damage.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of Max Stamina
Hands	Slivers of Null Arca(Perfected) Slivers of Null ArcaTrial · Lucent CitadelSet bonus(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Dealing Critical Damage gives you a stack of Sliver for 10 seconds, up to once every 0.5 seconds. Upon gaining your third stack, they merge into a crystal that launches at the last enemy you damaged, dealing Physical Damage.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of Max Stamina
Waist	Slivers of Null Arca(Perfected) Slivers of Null ArcaTrial · Lucent CitadelSet bonus(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Dealing Critical Damage gives you a stack of Sliver for 10 seconds, up to once every 0.5 seconds. Upon gaining your third stack, they merge into a crystal that launches at the last enemy you damaged, dealing Physical Damage.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of Max Stamina
Legs	Slivers of Null Arca(Perfected) Slivers of Null ArcaTrial · Lucent CitadelSet bonus(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Dealing Critical Damage gives you a stack of Sliver for 10 seconds, up to once every 0.5 seconds. Upon gaining your third stack, they merge into a crystal that launches at the last enemy you damaged, dealing Physical Damage.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of Max Stamina
Feet	Slivers of Null Arca(Perfected) Slivers of Null ArcaTrial · Lucent CitadelSet bonus(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Dealing Critical Damage gives you a stack of Sliver for 10 seconds, up to once every 0.5 seconds. Upon gaining your third stack, they merge into a crystal that launches at the last enemy you damaged, dealing Physical Damage.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of Max Stamina
Necklace	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	—	BloodthirstyBloodthirstyTrait · JewelryTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 210. Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 245. Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 280. Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 315. Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 350.
Ring 1	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	—	BloodthirstyBloodthirstyTrait · JewelryTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 210. Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 245. Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 280. Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 315. Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 350.
Ring 2	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	—	BloodthirstyBloodthirstyTrait · JewelryTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 210. Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 245. Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 280. Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 315. Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 350.

GEAR INFORMATION

Corpseburster

Corpseburster is an absolute non negotiable for the Stam Cro. Consuming a corpse causes it to explode, dealing a massive tick of damage worth up to 95K, dealing its damage in a small 5 meter AOE radius. Any target hit is also applied with the diseased status effect, dealing additional damage over time, and they’re hit with Minor Breach. This makes Corpseburster a solid source of one of the most important pen debuffs in the game. A MASSIVELY important note, Corpseburster damage is increased by 10% for each Gravelord ability slotted, and this component massively influences your bar setup.

(Perfected) Slivers of Null Arca

Update 50 introduced an enormous increase in Weapon and Spell Damage through Class Masteries. Whenever our offensive stats become this inflated, proc sets gain tremendous value because their damage scales directly with those massive stat pools, often outperforming sets that simply provide more raw stats.

(Perfected) Slivers of Null Arca is currently the strongest proc set in the game, and it also has one of the easiest proc conditions. Simply deal Critical Damage three times, and the set fires accompanied by an extremely short cooldown. Thanks to its incredible scaling and near-constant activation, we can expect Null Arca to contribute roughly 14,000 DPS on its own.

The Hunstmans Warmask

Huntsman's Warmask set provides a massive 15% damage done increase for 60 seconds whenever we bash a target. This comes at the cost of a 50% reduction in damage to any enemy that is unmarked. In situations where we are focusing one primary target, and where we don't have many important targets to cleave down, this component is irrelevant. Because of this, while Huntsman's Warmask is the strongest option for Single Target, we might want to use another option in fights that require alot of AOE damage.

(Perfected) Merciless Charge

(Perfected) Merciless Charge is the strongest monster set for boss damage in the game. It boosts our direct damage by 12%, and Direct Damage is the most common damage type in this build.

Slimecraw

When running a Mythic and Arena Weapon, we will have room for a 1 piece monster bonus. Crit Chance is the strongest one piece stat that we can obtain for gear, so we will want to run any moster set who's one piece is a line of Crit Chance. My preference is Slimecraw, just because it tends to be the most common shoulder people have due to it's historical relevance.

Best build for your average Single Target Oriented Boss fights

SLOT	SET	WEIGHT	TRAIT	ENCHANT
Main Hand	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	Dagger	ChargedChargedTrait · Weapon

Best build for AOE oriented boss fights (Bahsei/Reefguardian for ExampleP

SLOT	SET	WEIGHT	TRAIT	ENCHANT
Main Hand	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	Dagger	NirnhonedNirnhonedTrait · Armor

Azure Setup for fights with 3 or more high health targets that Azure can consistently proc off of. REMINDER only ONE player should run this set at time.

SLOT	SET	WEIGHT	TRAIT	ENCHANT
Main Hand	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	Dagger	Nirnhoned

Acuity is rarely worthwhile for the Cro in Boss Fights. The Mini Bosses in Osseian Cage though would be an example fight type that this Acuity setup would be worthwhile in.

SLOT	SET	WEIGHT	TRAIT	ENCHANT
Main Hand	Mechanical AcuityMechanical AcuityCraftable · CraftableSet bonus(2 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(5 items) When you deal non Critical Damage, you gain a stack of Mechanical Acuity for 4 seconds, granting you 20% Critical Strike chance per stack, up to once every 1 second and stacking up to 5 times. Upon reaching max stacks or after the effect ends, this effect cannot occur again for 25 seconds.	Sword

Best Setup if you can't do 12 Man Raids

SLOT	SET	WEIGHT	TRAIT	ENCHANT
Main Hand	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	Dagger	NirnhonedNirnhonedTrait · Armor

The most easily obtainable high DPS setup

SLOT	SET	WEIGHT	TRAIT	ENCHANT
Main Hand	Order's WrathOrder's WrathCraftable · High IsleSet bonus(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Adds 943 Critical Chance, Increases your Critical Damage and Critical Healing by 8%.	Dagger	NirnhonedNirnhonedTrait · ArmorTRAIT

Best generic Bow/Bow setup for 12 man pve

SLOT	SET	WEIGHT	TRAIT	ENCHANT
Front Bar	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	Bow	ChargedChargedTrait · Weapon

Trash Setups

Sul-Xan is our most important trash buff. When we don't have it active, we run this build.

SLOT	SET	WEIGHT	TRAIT	ENCHANT
Main Hand	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	Dagger	ChargedChargedTrait · WeaponTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases chance to apply status effects by 97.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 102.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 107.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 112.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 117.5%.	FlameGlyph of FlameEnchantment · WeaponENCHANTEnchant descriptionDeals 112-2045 Flame Damage.
Off Hand	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	Dagger	ChargedChargedTrait · WeaponTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases chance to apply status effects by 97.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 102.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 107.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 112.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 117.5%.	Glyph of PoisonGlyph of PoisonEnchantment · WeaponENCHANT
Backup	Crushing Wall(Perfected) Crushing WallArena Weapon · (Veteran) Maelstrom ArenaSet bonus(2 items) Adds 1190 Offensive Penetration, Increases the damage Wall of Elements deals by 1250.	Inferno Staff	InfusedInfusedTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncrease armor enchantment effect by 9%. Increase armor enchantment effect by 13%. Increase armor enchantment effect by 17%. Increase armor enchantment effect by 21%. Increase armor enchantment effect by 25%.	Glyph of Weapon DamageGlyph of Weapon DamageEnchantment · WeaponENCHANTEnchant descriptionIncrease your Weapon Damage and Spell Damage by 25-288 for 5 seconds.
Head	SlimecrawSlimecrawMonster Set · Wayrest Sewers I (vet)Set bonus(1 item) Adds 657 Critical Chance(2 items) Gain Minor Berserk at all times, increasing your damage done by 5%.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of StaminaGlyph of StaminaEnchantment · ArmorENCHANTEnchant descriptionAdds up to 70-668 Maximum Stamina.
Shoulders	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of StaminaGlyph of StaminaEnchantment · ArmorENCHANT
Chest	Sul-Xan's Torment(Perfected) Sul-Xan's TormentTrial · RockgroveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance, When an enemy you recently damaged dies, they leave behind a vengeful soul for 6 seconds. You can only create one vengeful soul at a time. Touching the soul increases your Critical Chance by 2160 and your Critical Damage by 12% for 30 seconds.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of Stamina
Hands	Sul-Xan's Torment(Perfected) Sul-Xan's TormentTrial · RockgroveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance, When an enemy you recently damaged dies, they leave behind a vengeful soul for 6 seconds. You can only create one vengeful soul at a time. Touching the soul increases your Critical Chance by 2160 and your Critical Damage by 12% for 30 seconds.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of Stamina
Waist	Sul-Xan's Torment(Perfected) Sul-Xan's TormentTrial · RockgroveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance, When an enemy you recently damaged dies, they leave behind a vengeful soul for 6 seconds. You can only create one vengeful soul at a time. Touching the soul increases your Critical Chance by 2160 and your Critical Damage by 12% for 30 seconds.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of Stamina
Legs	Sul-Xan's Torment(Perfected) Sul-Xan's TormentTrial · RockgroveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance, When an enemy you recently damaged dies, they leave behind a vengeful soul for 6 seconds. You can only create one vengeful soul at a time. Touching the soul increases your Critical Chance by 2160 and your Critical Damage by 12% for 30 seconds.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of Stamina
Feet	Sul-Xan's Torment(Perfected) Sul-Xan's TormentTrial · RockgroveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance, When an enemy you recently damaged dies, they leave behind a vengeful soul for 6 seconds. You can only create one vengeful soul at a time. Touching the soul increases your Critical Chance by 2160 and your Critical Damage by 12% for 30 seconds.	Medium	DivinesDivinesTrait · ArmorTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases Mundus Stone effects by 5.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 6.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 7.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 8.1%. Increases Mundus Stone effects by 9.1%.	Glyph of Stamina
Necklace	Velothi Ur-Mage's AmuletVelothi Ur-Mage's AmuletMythic · Scrying LeadsSet bonus(1 item) Adds 1650 Offensive Penetration, Increase your damage done to monsters by 15%, gain Minor Force at all times, increasing your Critical Damage done by 10%, and reduce your Light and Heavy Attack damage by 99%.		Weapon Damage	Glyph of Weapon DamageGlyph of Weapon DamageEnchantment · WeaponENCHANTEnchant descriptionIncrease your Weapon Damage and Spell Damage by 25-288 for 5 seconds.
Ring 1	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,		Weapon Damage	Glyph of Weapon DamageGlyph of Weapon DamageEnchantment · WeaponENCHANTEnchant descriptionIncrease your Weapon Damage and Spell Damage by 25-288 for 5 seconds.
Ring 2	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,		Weapon Damage	Glyph of Weapon DamageGlyph of Weapon DamageEnchantment · WeaponENCHANTEnchant descriptionIncrease your Weapon Damage and Spell Damage by 25-288 for 5 seconds.

GEAR INFO

Corpseburster

Sul-Xan

The Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet

Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet is the strongest Mythic in the game for AOE damage. It adds Offensive Penetration, which is particularly valuable in AOE situations because we can’t rely on common single-target debuffs like Crusher to reach the penetration cap. It also gives us Minor Force at all times, though that’s a little less relevant if you have a werewolf in group.

Most importantly, Velothi increases our damage done to monsters by 15% at all times at the cost of reducing our Light and Heavy Attack damage by 99%. In AOE situations, Light Attacks are far less valuable because they can only hit one target at a time, while that 15% bonus increases all of our damage against every target in the pull. So the tradeoff is extremely minimal.

(Perfected) Crushing Wall

The VMA Inferno Staff is the strongest arena weapon in the game for AOE damage. It increases the damage dealt by Wall of Elements, which is already one of the strongest AOE abilities in the game, by so much that the weapon becomes an absolute must-have in essentially any AOE encounter that you’ll come across.

Slimecraw

Whenever we have our Sul-Xan Buff active, we can run a parse set until we need to reapply it again.

SLOT	SET	WEIGHT	TRAIT	ENCHANT
Front Bar (Main Hand)	CorpsebursterCorpsebursterClass Set · Infinite ArchiveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode,	Dagger	ChargedCharged

Whenever we have an ult ready, we generally want to use it with Mechanical Acuity in Trash

SLOT	SET	WEIGHT	TRAIT	ENCHANT
Front Bar (Main Hand)	Mechanical AcuityMechanical AcuityCraftable · CraftableSet bonus(2 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(5 items) When you deal non Critical Damage, you gain a stack of Mechanical Acuity for 4 seconds, granting you 20% Critical Strike chance per stack, up to once every 1 second and stacking up to 5 times. Upon reaching max stacks or after the effect ends, this effect cannot occur again for 25 seconds.	Dagger	Charged

Proper Arkasis stacks in optimized raid groups helps players get their ults for trash right after bosses and/or get the ults back for bosses after trash

SLOT	SET	WEIGHT	TRAIT	ENCHANT
Front Bar (Main Hand)	Arkasis	Dagger	ChargedChargedTrait · WeaponTRAITTrait descriptionIncreases chance to apply status effects by 97.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 102.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 107.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 112.5%. Increases chance to apply status effects by 117.5%.	FlameGlyph of FlameEnchantment · WeaponENCHANT

Passives

Class — Grave Lord

Death KnellNecromancer · Grave LordPASSIVEPassive descriptionWITH A GRAVE LORD ABILITY SLOTTED Increases your Critical Strike Chance against enemies under 33% Health by 20%Death KnellDeath KnellNecromancer · Grave LordPASSIVEPassive descriptionWITH A GRAVE LORD ABILITY SLOTTED Increases your Critical Strike Chance against enemies under 33% Health by 20%–High PriorityThis passive dramatically increases our damage done in execute. It gives the Cro and execute without having an actual execute ability.
DismemberNecromancer · Grave LordPASSIVEPassive descriptionWhile a Grave Lord ability is active, your Spell and Physical Penetration are increased by 3271.DismemberDismemberNecromancer · Grave LordPASSIVEPassive descriptionWhile a Grave Lord ability is active, your Spell and Physical Penetration are increased by 3271.–High PriorityEssential passive that essentially guarantees the Cro hits Pen cap in a standard raid comp
Rapid RotNecromancer · Grave LordPASSIVEPassive descriptionIncreases your damage done with damage over time effects by 10%.Rapid RotRapid RotNecromancer · Grave LordPASSIVEPassive descriptionIncreases your damage done with damage over time effects by 10%.–High PriorityMost strong skills in the game are even stronger on the Cro because of this passive
Reusable PartsNecromancer · Grave LordPASSIVEPassive descriptionWhen your Sacrificial Bones, Skeletal Mage, or Spirit Mender dies, the cost of your next Sacrificial Bones, Skeletal Mage, or Spirit Mender is reduced by 66%.Reusable PartsReusable PartsNecromancer · Grave LordPASSIVEPassive descriptionWhen your Sacrificial Bones, Skeletal Mage, or Spirit Mender dies, the cost of your next Sacrificial Bones, Skeletal Mage, or Spirit Mender is reduced by 66%.–Medium PriorityHelpful sustain passive

Basic Build Information

CLASS MASTERIES

Nothing WastedNothing WastedNecromancer · Class MasteryPASSIVEPassive descriptionAs an abattoir of death, no remnants of life are wasted. Upgrades rank 2 of Corpse Consumption to also grant a stack of Nothing Wasted for 15 seconds, which increases your Max Health by 2% and Weapon and Spell Damage by 2% per stack, up to 10 times. Stacks decay three at a time instead of all at once.BESTThis passive requires us to constantly create corpses to maximize its value.
Cycle UnendingCycle UnendingNecromancer · Class MasteryPASSIVEPassive descriptionThe cycle of life and death continues: you will live, others will die. Upgrades rank 2 of Reusable Parts to grant Cycle Unending for 25 seconds, increasing the potency of your damage done by 1% for every 1% Health you have more than your target. The damage bonus caps at 25%, or 10% against players.BESTA major component in creating strong execute phases for the Cro.

RACE

Dark ElfDark ElfRACERace descriptionThe racial skills of the Dark Elves reflect their intellect and agility, giving them bonuses in dual wielding, flame and lava resistance, weapon and spell damage, and base magicka and stamina. These bonuses allow them to adapt to anythingRacial passivesDynamicIncreases your experience gain with the Dual Wield skill line by 15%. Reduces your damage taken from environmental lava by 50%.AshlanderIncreases your Max Magicka and Max Stamina by 1910.RuinationIncreases your Flame Resistance by 4620.Resist FlameIncreases your Weapon and Spell Damage by 258.BEST

MUNDUS

The ThiefThe ThiefMUNDUSMundus descriptionIncreases the Critical Strike rating by 1333 With 7 Divines armor pieces Increases the Critical Strike rating by 2167BESTStrongest Mundus 99% of the time.
The ShadowThe ShadowMUNDUSMundus descriptionIncreases Critical Damage and Healing by 11% With 7 Divines armor pieces Increases Critical Damage and Healing by 17%Good Mundus for solo content, or some 4 man content where we can use the Armorer to swap between Mundus Stones.
The Lover

ATTRIBUTES

64 points into StaminaBESTMax Resources count as a Damage Modifier. This means that your abilities increase in damage value the higher your largest resource pool is, similarly to how your skills increase in damage the higher your Weapon Damage is. Therefore, the largest DPS increase comes from stacking all of our points into one resource.

FOOD

Braised Rabbit with Spring VegetablesBraised Rabbit with Spring VegetablesBlue BistatFOODFood descriptionIncrease Max Health by 5395 and Max Stamina by 4936 for 1 hour.BESTRecommended Food for Content. Not the highest DPS but it's very close AND gives a ton of health. (Any CP 150 Blue Max Stam/Max Health food works).
Hearty Garlic Corn ChowderHearty Garlic Corn ChowderGreen Max ResourceFOODFood descriptionIncrease Max Stamina by 6048 for 35 minutes.Strongest option for raw DPS. (Any CP 150 Green Max Stam Food works).

POTIONS

Essence of HeroismEssence of HeroismDragon Rheum - Dragon's Blood - ColumbinePOTIONPotion descriptionGrants you Minor Heroism, restoring 1 Ultimate every 1.5 seconds for 47.6 seconds. Restore 7582 Magicka Immediately. Grants you Major Intellect which increases your Magicka Recovery by 30% for 47.6 seconds. Restore 7582 Stamina immediately. Grants Major Endurance which increases your Stamina Recovery by 30% for 47.6 seconds. (45s cooldown)BESTMost optimal potion. They are incredibly expensive though, so unless you're pushing extremely difficult content, you can opt for Heroism on your Banner DDs and run the next best options.
Essence of HealthEssence of HealthPOTIONPotion descriptionRestore

Champion points

SLOTTABLES

Deadly AimWarfare · Slottable - 25 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionIncreases your damage done with single target attacks by 3% per stage (6% max).

Master-at-ArmsWarfare · Slottable - 25 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionIncreases your damage done with direct damage attacks by 3% per stage (6% max).

Wrathful StrikesWarfare · Slottable - 10 points per stage - 5 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionGrants 41 Weapon and Spell Damage to your damaging abilities per stage (205 max).

ExploiterWarfare · Extended Might · Slottable - 10 points per stage - 5 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionIncreases your damage done against Off Balance enemies by 2% per stage (10% max).

ALT SLOTTABLES

Fighting FinesseWarfare · Slottable - 25 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionIncreases your Critical Damage and Critical Healing done by 4% per stage (8% max).

BackstabberWarfare · Slottable - 10 points per stage - 5 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionIncreases your Critical Damage done by 2% per stage against enemies you are flanking (10% max).

PASSIVES

PrecisionPrecisionWarfare · Passive - 10 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionGrants 160 Critical Chance per stage (320 max).–High PriorityDirect DPS increase
Tireless DisciplineTireless DisciplineWarfare · Passive - 10 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionGrants 260 Max Stamina per stage (520 max)–High PriorityDirect DPS increase
Battle Mastery

Class mechanics

Corpse System

The Cro's Damage centers around the Corpse System. Consuming corpses activates sources of damage like Corpseburster, Detonating Siphon, and Boneyard. Building and consuming corpses directly increases our DPS through the Corpse Consumption and Nothing Wasted passives, and our sustain through the Death Gleaning, Reusable Parts, and Undead Confederate passives.

Corpse Consumers

Our skills that consume corpses on this build are Detonating Siphon and Avid Boneyard . We can cast Avid Boneyard without consuming a corpse but we lose out on quite a bit of DPS when we do that, so we should always cast it when a corpse is available.

Corpse Builders

Our abilities that create corpses in this setup are Blighted Blastbones , Venom Skull or Ghostly Embrace , Sundering Banner , and Skeletal Archer .

Corpseburster

Our damage is largely determined by how many times we can proc Corpseburster. This set ticks each time you consume a Corpse, and deals up to 106K per tick, resulting in nearly 27K DPS over the course of a fight. It's the second strongest source of DPS on our CMX.

Blastbones

Blighted Blastbones is our both our single strongest source of DPS, and our primary Corpse builder. To maximize damage on the Cro, we must build as many corpses as possible to consume as many corpses as possible. This makes Blighted Blastbones our TOP priority: cast it 1 in 3 skills no matter what.

Recognizing an Available Corpse

Tracking corpses on the Cro can be tricky. The most reliable way to do so it to watch Detonating Siphon. If it’s lit up, there’s a corpse available. Note, this can get a little buggy sometimes. If you cast siphon and nothing happens, don’t sit there with your dick in your hand trying to cast siphon again, hit a skull instead and then crash out on Zos code. This is the way of the Cro.

Boneyard

Because Avid Boneyard gets a 30% damage increase, we want to cast it when we KNOW we have a corpse, which is always right after a fresh Blastbones recast. So boneyard will always get cast in that first slot, no matter what.

Nothing Wasted Stacks

Nothing Wasted increases max health and weapon damage 2%, stacking up to 10 times. We build one stack whenever we build a Corpse but lose 2 stacks if we don't consume a Corpse within 12 seconds. Maximizing damage on the Cro requires you to find creative ways to generate and consume corpses when there's nothing to hit, and even while out of combat. This yoln flight phase is a good demonstration of the concept.

Other Important Damage Passives

Corpse Consumption - 10 Ult when you consume a Corpse (16 second cooldown)
Cycle Unending - Up to 25% damage done dependent on target's missing health
Death Knell - Increases Crit Chance by 33% against targets below 25% health
Dismember - 3271 extra Pen with a Gravelord ability active
Rapid Rot - Increases DOT damage by 10%

Other Important Sustain Passives

Death Gleaning - Gives 666 Max and Stam when an enemy within 28 meters of you dies
Reusable Parts - Decreases the cost of your next Blighted Blastbones or Skeletal Archer when a previous one dies
Undead Confederate - Increases your Health, Mag, and Stam recovery by 155 while Blighted Blastbones or Skeletal Archer is active.

Rotation

Priority list, not a strict sequence — always weave a light attack before every skill cast.

1CarveCarveWeapon · Two Handed · Morph of CleaveSKILLTarget: ConeRadius: 6mCost: 3510 StaminaSkill descriptionFocus your strength into a mighty swing, dealing 1742 Bleed Damage to enemies in front of you, and causing them to bleed for an additional 2871 Bleed Damage over 12 seconds. Hitting a target that is already affected from this ability extends the duration by 10 seconds, up to a maximum of 32. You also gain a damage shield that absorbs 1742 damage for 6 seconds.The skills value tanks if you let 3 stacks fall off
2Blighted BlastbonesBlighted BlastbonesNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of BlastbonesSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 28mRadius: 6mDuration: 8 secondsCost: 1836 StaminaSkill descriptionSummon a decaying skeleton from the ground after 2.5 seconds. The skeleton runs after the target and explodes when it gets close to them, dealing 3600 Disease Damage to all enemies nearby and applying the Diseased status effect and Major Defile to them for 4 seconds, reducing their healing received and damage shield strength by 12%. Creates a corpse on death.Our most important ability. Recast 1 in every 3 skills, with the only exception being if you're about to lose carve. A well planned rotation should never leave you in that situation though.
3Detonating SiphonDetonating SiphonNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Shocking SiphonSKILLTarget: CorpseRange: 28mRadius: 5mDuration: 20 secondsSkill descriptionViolently drain the last spark of life from a corpse, dealing 6168 Disease Damage over 20 seconds to all enemies around the corpse and between you and the corpse. You also gain Major Savagery and Prophecy for 20 seconds, increasing your Weapon and Spell Critical rating by 2629. When the siphon ends the corpse explodes, dealing an additional 1799 Disease Damage to all enemies nearby. While slotted, your damage done is increased by 3%.The DOT Portion to maintain Major Savagery and the 3% Damage Increase
4Shooting StarShooting StarGuild · Mages Guild · Morph of Meteor - UltimateSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 28mRadius: 5mCost: 185 UltimateSkill descriptionCall a comet down from the constellations to blast an enemy, dealing 4067 Flame Damage to all enemies in the area, knocking them down, and stunning them for 2 seconds. After impact, enemies in the target area take 1161 Flame Damage every 1 second for 11 seconds. You generate 10 Ultimate for each enemy hit by the initial blast, up to 6 times.Casting on cooldown ensures the ult lines up with Off Balance
5Barbed TrapBarbed TrapGuild · Fighters Guild · Morph of Trap BeastSKILLTarget: AreaRadius: 2.5mDuration: 20 secondsCost: 3240 StaminaSkill descriptionSet a sharpened blade trap at your location, which takes 1.5 seconds to arm and lasts for 20 seconds. When triggered, the trap deals 1439 Bleed Damage, an additional 3590 Bleed Damage over 20 seconds, and grants you Minor Force, increasing your Critical Damage by 10% for the duration. Enemies hit by the initial hit are afflicted with the Hemorrhaging status effect. Enemies who activate the trap are immobilized for 2 seconds.Strong DOT that is important for Minor Force and Hemorrhaging
6StampedeStampedeWeapon · Two Handed · Morph of Critical ChargeSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 22mRadius: 5mDuration: 15 secondsCost: 4590 StaminaSkill descriptionLaunch across the earth and smash an enemy, dealing 1394 Physical Damage to them and all nearby enemies. This attack is always a Critical Strike. After reaching your target, you sunder the ground beneath you, dealing 319 Physical Damage to all enemies in the area every 1 second for 15 seconds.Strong DOT that is most important for porccing the vMA Greatsword. This buff lasts 18 seconds, while the ability lasts 15 seconds, so it isn't essential to reapply stampede immediately on expiration. It only becomes a top priority if we are about to lose our vMA Greatsword buff.
7Avid BoneyardAvid BoneyardNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of BoneyardSKILLTarget: GroundRange: 28mRadius: 6mDuration: 10 secondsCost: 2970 StaminaSkill descriptionDesecrate the ground at the target location, dealing 3190 Frost Damage over 10 seconds to enemies inside and applying Minor Vulnerability, increasing their damage taken by 5%. Consumes a corpse on cast to deal 30% more damage. You or an ally in the area can activate the Grave Robber synergy, dealing 2249 Frost Damage to enemies and healing for the damage done.Our strongest DOT that has no buff utility while PARSING. In content, this ability becomes priority above Shooting Star.
8Skeletal ArcherSkeletal ArcherNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Skeletal MageSKILLTarget: SelfDuration: 20 secondsCost: 2525 StaminaSkill descriptionUnearth a skeletal archer from the dirt to fight by your side for 20 seconds, while granting you Major Brutality and Sorcery, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 20%. The archer attacks the closest enemy every 2 seconds, dealing 464 Physical Damage. Each time the archer deals damage, it deals 15% more damage than the previous attack. Creates a corpse on death if you are in combat.Our least important DOT. We receive its buffs passively.
9Detonating SiphonDetonating SiphonNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Shocking SiphonSKILLTarget: CorpseRange: 28mRadius: 5mDuration: 20 secondsSkill descriptionViolently drain the last spark of life from a corpse, dealing 6168 Disease Damage over 20 seconds to all enemies around the corpse and between you and the corpse. You also gain Major Savagery and Prophecy for 20 seconds, increasing your Weapon and Spell Critical rating by 2629. When the siphon ends the corpse explodes, dealing an additional 1799 Disease Damage to all enemies nearby. While slotted, your damage done is increased by 3%.Our primary spammable whenever we have a corpse available.
10Venom SkullVenom SkullNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Flame SkullSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 28 metersCost: 2295 StaminaSkill descriptionLob an explosive skull at an enemy, dealing 2159 Poison Damage. Every third cast of this ability deals 50% increased damage and creates a corpse near the enemy, up to once every 3 seconds. While slotted, casting any Necromancer ability while you are in combat will count towards the third cast.Our spammable when we have no corpse available.

Parses and In Game Content

181K Static Rotation by Eigh1 Puppies (No Goliath)

Before starting this parse, I used a second dummy positioned far enough away from the parse dummy that I could consume corpses with Detonating Siphon, run over, break the tether, and drop combat with the dummy I was using to build Nothing Wasted stacks. Once I had ten stacks of Nothing Wasted and the Critical Chance buffs from Detonating Siphon active, I ran up to the parse dummy and started the prebuff and opener. The opener isn’t particularly optimal. We would get a little more damage by using Siphon during Off Balance, but to establish the timers for this static rotation, we cast Boneyard and Carve early to get those timers rolling. Overall, the weaving was relatively clean and the crits were pretty good. That said, with the Shooting Star setup and a purely static rotation, I don’t see this getting much higher than 183–185k. I didn’t crit farm this for incredibly long to chase those crazy numbers, but 185k is certainly possible.

Some key notes here that you want to pay attention to: around 68%, you’ll notice that I’m holding my Ultimate at almost 200. I’m holding it for Off Balance. The icon that looks like a mask is the Huntsman’s Warmask timer, which has about 15 seconds remaining at this point, and the box directly above it tracks the Off Balance cooldown. I’m waiting for that box to reach zero before casting Shooting Star so that it lands with Off Balance. I get it off a little late here. In a more optimal world, especially with a dynamic rotation, you would cast it when the timer is somewhere between zero and one second so that Shooting Star lands during the first second of Off Balance.

Around 50% is the second bash that I use to refresh Huntsman’s Warmask. This is really easy to forget, so try not to forget it. The second Shooting Star comes back around 29%, again right with Off Balance and cast at roughly the same timing. If I had gotten the first Shooting Star off a little earlier, this one would have landed perfectly at the beginning of Off Balance as well, which is another reason I think this parse can realistically reach 185k.

At the very end of the fight, we’re trying to get a little bit of a cheesy burst with the available corpses. Around 5%, we cast Blastbones and Venom Skull knowing that Blastbones should land at around 2%, at which point we’ll have two corpses available. Theoretically, once the dummy reaches 2% or lower, we should be able to cast one more Blastbones, hit Detonating Siphon three times in a row, and burst the end of the fight. In this parse, though, I cast that final Blastbones between 1% and 2%, and it feels unworthwhile. I would say don’t cast Blastbones below 3%.

The only other factor to consider is the Carve reapplications. The first two casts of Carve are written into the prebuff and opener. Our third Carve at 30 seconds comes right at the end of the first full series of rotations, where we can cast it in place of a spammable. Remember, that spammable slot is used for Detonating Siphon if you have a corpse, Venom Skull if you don’t, Shooting Star whenever it’s available, and then Carve becomes an absolute priority if its stacks are about to expire. That first Carve refresh happens at about 70%, and we’re able to fit it naturally into the spammable slot. The next happens around 47%, and the final one occurs around 15%; both of those also fit into a regular spammable slot pretty consistently.

FAQ

Is the Stamina Necromancer Still Good After the Double Bash Nerf?

Yes. The Bone Goliath's "Single Bash" got buffed, and even though it won't be as strong as the double bash version, it's still good enough to be the best ult in Single Target for the Cro. The Cro should still do over 200K DPS this patch and is a meta contender. Though maybe not as strong as the Blade's Single Target, it's AOE is the strongest in the game right now, which makes the class a must have as a damage dealer in optimized raid comps.

Why is my Damage Lower Even though I Copied the Build Exactly?

Unfortunately, the reality is that you're doing something wrong, likely in the way of rotation and/or weaving. ESO is not a game where you can put the same things on and expect good results. You have to practice a lot and perform really solid rotations at a solid speed to mimic the damage potential the guide discusses. If you have any questions or need help, don't hesitate to reach out on discord, or even book a coaching session on metafy!

Where is the Healing in This Build?

That comes from the healers. In an optimized group, you shouldn't EVER have to run a heal or a shield. If you're more interested in solo content/builds, check out the solo guides I have for this class!

Why are Stamina and Magicka Necromancers the Same Build?

Years ago, ESO created a system that they refer to as hybridization. Stats that were differentiated as Weapon and Spell Damage or Weapon and Spell Crit became tied together, and no longer scaled based on Max Stam or Mag respectively. The only difference now, is that you run the resource you need the most of in content. And sustain these days and on this class is so good, you can simply run the meta skill setup and sustain with all points into mag or stam just as easily. Mag or Stam builds for the sake of optimization is dead concept.

Should I Reapply my DOTs right BEFORE they Expire or let them run ALL THE WAY OUT?

In a perfect world, you let your DOT cook to exactly 0 seconds, and reapply it the moment the skill hits 0. This is the goal, but obviously impossible to do perfectly 100% of the time: whether it be because of weaving or because of timer overlap. When you have multiple abilities expiring at the same time, it's okay to begin reapplication up to 1 second early, and follow the given priority order to maximize DPS in these situations.

Can I use a Different Weapon than What's Reccomended?

You can do whatever you want. The reality is that this guide is meant to give you what's "most optimal." However, most weapon choices are a marginal amount of DPS off of one another. In fact, any 1 change you decide to make to the build, outside of maybe changing Corpseburster, is unlikely to have a significant impact on its performance. Just keep in mind, a 1% DPS loss in 10 different ways, whether it be related to build or rotation, is a 10% DPS loss. Small things add up!

How Important is Corpseburster?

It's essential. The Cro does not work at all without this set. Get it as soon as possible.

1	Barbed TrapBarbed TrapGuild · Fighters Guild · Morph of Trap BeastSKILLTarget: AreaRadius: 2.5mDuration: 20 secondsCost: 3240 StaminaSkill descriptionSet a sharpened blade trap at your location, which takes 1.5 seconds to arm and lasts for 20 seconds. When triggered, the trap deals 1439 Bleed Damage, an additional 3590 Bleed Damage over 20 seconds, and grants you Minor Force, increasing your Critical Damage by 10% for the duration. Enemies hit by the initial hit are afflicted with the Hemorrhaging status effect. Enemies who activate the trap are immobilized for 2 seconds.Strong DOT. Potential Flex Slot
2	StampedeStampedeWeapon · Two Handed · Morph of Critical ChargeSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 22mRadius: 5mDuration: 15 secondsCost: 4590 StaminaSkill descriptionLaunch across the earth and smash an enemy, dealing 1394 Physical Damage to them and all nearby enemies. This attack is always a Critical Strike. After reaching your target, you sunder the ground beneath you, dealing 319 Physical Damage to all enemies in the area every 1 second for 15 seconds.Procs our Direct Damage bonus from the vMA Greatsword
3	CarveCarveWeapon · Two Handed · Morph of CleaveSKILLTarget: ConeRadius: 6mCost: 3510 StaminaSkill descriptionFocus your strength into a mighty swing, dealing 1742 Bleed Damage to enemies in front of you, and causing them to bleed for an additional 2871 Bleed Damage over 12 seconds. Hitting a target that is already affected from this ability extends the duration by 10 seconds, up to a maximum of 32. You also gain a damage shield that absorbs 1742 damage for 6 seconds.Decent DOT. Primary Flex Slot
4	Skeletal ArcherSkeletal ArcherNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Skeletal MageSKILLTarget: SelfDuration: 20 secondsCost: 2525 StaminaSkill descriptionUnearth a skeletal archer from the dirt to fight by your side for 20 seconds, while granting you Major Brutality and Sorcery, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 20%. The archer attacks the closest enemy every 2 seconds, dealing 464 Physical Damage. Each time the archer deals damage, it deals 15% more damage than the previous attack. Creates a corpse on death if you are in combat.Gives Major Brutality + Strong DOT. Potential Flex Slot if buff is provided elsewhere
5	Sundering BannerSundering BannerScribing · Banner Bearer · Shock Damage / Class Mastery / Intellect and EnduranceSCRIBEDRadius: 8mScribed descriptionBring out a banner to inspire yourself and nearby group members.Scripts · Banner BearerFocus: Shock DamageIncreases damage done with direct damage by 6%.Signature: Class MasteryOnce every 3 seconds, increase your Health, Magicka, and Stamina by 2% for 10 seconds for each corpse within 12 meters, up to 10 times. While in combat, if no corpses are nearby, create a corpse.Affix: Intellect and EnduranceGrants Minor Intellect and Minor Endurance, increasing Magicka and Stamina Recovery by 15%.Will turn off on bar swap if not double barred.
ULT	Shooting StarShooting StarGuild · Mages Guild · Morph of Meteor - UltimateSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 28mRadius: 5mCost: 185 UltimateSkill descriptionCall a comet down from the constellations to blast an enemy, dealing 4067 Flame Damage to all enemies in the area, knocking them down, and stunning them for 2 seconds. After impact, enemies in the target area take 1161 Flame Damage every 1 second for 11 seconds. You generate 10 Ultimate for each enemy hit by the initial blast, up to 6 times.Primary Ult.

ALTERNATE & SITUATIONAL SKILLS

CLASS SKILLS

Glacial ColossusGlacial ColossusNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Frozen Colossus - UltimateSKILLTarget: GroundRange: 28mRadius: 8mDuration: 3 secondsCost: 175 UltimateSkill descriptionUnleash a frostbitten Flesh Colossus to pulverize enemies in the area. The Colossus smashes the ground three times over 3 seconds, dealing 3098 Frost Damage with each smash. The final smash stuns all enemies hit for 4 seconds. Dealing damage applies Major Vulnerability to any enemy hit for 17 seconds, increasing their damage taken by 10%.replacesShooting StarOur group source of Major Vulnerability. Glacial Colossus deals less damage than Pestilent Colossus, but provides longer Major Vulnerability uptime. If your group can maintain 100% uptime with Pestilent, that morph is the better option. Otherwise, use Glacial to ensure more maximum uptime..
Pestilent ColossusPestilent ColossusNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Frozen Colossus - UltimateSKILLTarget: GroundRange: 28mRadius: 8mDuration: 3 secondsCost: 175 UltimateSkill descriptionUnleash a pestilent Flesh Colossus to pulverize enemies in the area. The Colossus smashes the ground three times over 3 seconds, dealing 3200 3360, and 3528 Disease Damage with the first, second, and third smash. Dealing damage applies the Diseased status effect and Major Vulnerability to any enemy hit for 12 seconds, increasing their damage taken by 10%.replacesShooting StarOur strongest Colossus morph for personal damage. Pestilent Colossus deals more damage than Glacial Colossus, but provides shorter Major Vulnerability uptime. If your group can maintain 100% Major Vulnerability with Pestilent, this morph is the better option. Otherwise, use Glacial for more maximum uptime..
Unnerving BoneyardUnnerving BoneyardNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of BoneyardSKILLTarget: GroundRange: 28mRadius: 6mDuration: 10 secondsCost: 2970 MagickaSkill descriptionDesecrate the ground at the target location, dealing 3190 Frost Damage over 10 seconds to enemies inside and applying Major Breach and Minor Vulnerability, reducing Physical and Spell Resistance by 5948 and increasing damage taken by 5% for 4.1 seconds each tick. Consumes a corpse on cast to deal 30% more damage. An ally in the area can activate the Grave Robber synergy, dealing 2249 Frost Damage to nearby enemies and healing for the damage done.replacesAvid BoneyardIn most content, you'll want to run Unnerving Boneyard for Major Breach. Avid is better for dummy parsing.
Skeletal ArcanistSkeletal ArcanistNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Skeletal MageSKILLTarget: AreaRadius: 5mDuration: 20 secondsCost: 2970 MagickaSkill descriptionUnearth a skeletal mage from the dirt to fight by your side for 20 seconds, while granting you Major Brutality and Sorcery, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 20%. The mage attacks the closest enemy every 2 seconds, dealing 478 Shock Damage to them and all other enemies nearby. Creates a corpse on death if you are in combat.replacesSkeletal ArcherUse this morph for fights with multiple targets, since Archer can only target one enemy. The individual damage of Archer is stronger per tick, but Arcanist is the better choice when you can't reliably ensure Archer is hitting your intended target.
Ghostly EmbraceGhostly EmbraceNecromancer · Bone Tyrant · Morph of Grave GraspSKILLTarget: AreaRadius: 18mCost: 3780 MagickaSkill descriptionSummon three patches of skeletal claws from the ground in front of you, each dealing 899 Frost Damage. The first area applies the Chilled status effect, the second area deals an additional 1636 Frost Damage over 5 seconds, and the final area creates a corpse if at least one enemy was hit.replacesVenom SkullBetter than Venom Skull against bosses with hitboxes large enough to be hit by all three rings. The first applies Chilled, the second deals a strong DoT, and most importantly, the third creates a corpse. We use Ghostly Embrace similarly to Skull: as a spammable whenever we don’t have a corpse available for Siphon.
Necrotic PotencyNecrotic PotencyNecromancer · Bone Tyrant · Morph of Bitter HarvestSKILLTarget: AreaRange: 12mSkill descriptionSap the lingering life from fresh corpses, granting you 6 Ultimate and healing 682 Health every 1 second for 2 seconds per corpse consumed. This ability scales off your Max Health. While slotted, your damage taken is reduced by 3%.replacesCarve or TrapConsumes nearby corpses to generate 6 Ultimate per corpse consumed, making it extremely valuable in boss fights with lots of adds and downtime. Navi Hard Mode is a prime example: you can drop an ultimate on the boss, another during the add phase, then consume the remaining corpses with Potency to build another ultimate before the dragon lands.

WEAPON SKILLS

Endless HailEndless HailWeapon · Bow · Morph of VolleySKILLTarget: GroundRange: 28mRadius: 5mDuration: 15 secondsCost: 2700 StaminaSkill descriptionLaunch a multitude of arrows into the sky to rain down, dealing 343 Physical Damage to enemies in the target area every 1 second for 13 seconds, after a 2 second delay.replacesStampedeIf you want to run a Bow on the backbar, use this over Stampede.
Poison InjectionPoison InjectionWeapon · Bow · Morph of Poison ArrowSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 28mDuration: 20 seconds

WORLD

Simmering FrenzySimmering FrenzyWorld · Vampirism · Morph of Blood FrenzySKILLTarget: SelfSkill descriptionAllow your monstrous appetites to take hold, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 80 every 2 seconds, up to 5 times. While toggled on, the Health cost of this ability increases by 360 per stack and you cannot be healed by anyone but yourself, your pets, or your Companions.replacesCarve or TrapKnown as “toggling,” Simmering Frenzy provides a massive amount of Weapon Damage at the cost of draining your Health and preventing you from being healed. It can provide a small DPS gain in extremely optimized scenarios, but on the Necro, the difference between toggling and not toggling is fairly minimal.
Exhilerating DrainExhilerating DrainWorld · Vampirism · Morph of Vampiric DrainSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 22m

GUILD

Scalding RuneScalding RuneGuild · Mages Guild · Morph of Fire RuneSKILLTarget: GroundRange: 28nRadius: 3mDuration: 20 secondsCost: 3240 MagickaSkill descriptionInscribe a rune of cosmic fire on the earth, which takes 2 seconds to arm and lasts for 20 seconds. When triggered, the rune blasts all enemies in the target area for 2323 Flame Damage and an additional 2867 Flame Damage over 22 seconds.replacesCarve or TrapGenerically your next best world DOT for Single Target in shorter fights where carve isn't as valuable. This is probably the weakest flex option we have, but it is a go to for fights that we can predot with short burst phases. The Dragons in Sunspire are another great example. Extremely optimized groups can push the Dragons in 20-30 second phases, so being able to cast this ability before the dragon lands AND to have it last for the entire phase, gets us good damage, and more spammable usage.
Mystic Orb

ALLIANCE WAR

Anti-Cavalry CaltropsAnti-Cavalry CaltropsAlliance War · Assault · Morph of CaltropsSKILLTarget: GroundRange: 28mRadius: 8mDuration: 15 secondsCost: 2295 StaminaSkill descriptionHurl a ball of caltrops that scatter over the target area, dealing 281 Physical Damage every 1 second to enemies inside, and reducing their Movement Speed by 50%. The caltrops also drain the Mount Stamina of any enemy in the area.replacesCarve or TrapThis skill is valuable in any boss fight with multiple targets or frequent adds, but it also excels in short single target burst phases. In fights lasting 15 seconds or less, you can get the full damage value of this ability. By comparison, a 20 second DoT like Scalding Rune would only deal around 75% of its total damage before the fight ends, preventing it from getting its full value. This makes shorter DoTs like Caltrops especially valuable when maximizing damage in a limited burst window.

BACK BAR · Bow

Necrotic PotencyNecromancer · Bone Tyrant · Morph of Bitter HarvestSKILLTarget: AreaRange: 12mSkill descriptionSap the lingering life from fresh corpses, granting you 6 Ultimate and healing 682 Health every 1 second for 2 seconds per corpse consumed. This ability scales off your Max Health. While slotted, your damage taken is reduced by 3%.

Elemental BlockadeWeapon · Destruction Staff · Morph of Wall of ElementsSKILLTarget: AreaRadius: 18mDuration: 15 secondsCost: 2970 MagickaSkill descriptionSlam your staff down to create an elemental barrier in front of you, dealing 281 Magic Damage to enemies in the target area every 1 second. Blockade of Fire deals additional damage to Burning enemies. Blockade of Frost costs more, but snares and reduces armor against Chilled enemies and grants damage shields. Blockade of Storms sets Concussed enemies Off Balance.

Proximity DetonationAlliance War · Assault · Morph of DetonationSKILLTarget: AreaRadius: 8mDuration: 8 secondsCost: 3510 MagickaSkill descriptionActivate a magical bomb on yourself that explodes after 8 seconds, dealing 449 Magic Damage to all enemies in the area. Each enemy within the bomb's radius increases the damage by 100%, including the original target.

Pestilent ColossusNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Frozen Colossus - UltimateSKILLTarget: GroundRange: 28mRadius: 8mDuration: 3 secondsCost: 175 UltimateSkill descriptionUnleash a pestilent Flesh Colossus to pulverize enemies in the area. The Colossus smashes the ground three times over 3 seconds, dealing 3200 3360, and 3528 Disease Damage with the first, second, and third smash. Dealing damage applies the Diseased status effect and Major Vulnerability to any enemy hit for 12 seconds, increasing their damage taken by 10%.

ULT

1	Unnerving BoneyardUnnerving BoneyardNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of BoneyardSKILLTarget: GroundRange: 28mRadius: 6mDuration: 10 secondsCost: 2970 MagickaSkill descriptionDesecrate the ground at the target location, dealing 3190 Frost Damage over 10 seconds to enemies inside and applying Major Breach and Minor Vulnerability, reducing Physical and Spell Resistance by 5948 and increasing damage taken by 5% for 4.1 seconds each tick. Consumes a corpse on cast to deal 30% more damage. An ally in the area can activate the Grave Robber synergy, dealing 2249 Frost Damage to nearby enemies and healing for the damage done.AOE Major Breach and Minor Vuln. One of few AOEs worth casting in Trash
2	Quick CloakQuick CloakWeapon · Dual Wield · Morph of Blade CloakSKILLTarget: AreaCost: 3780 StaminaSkill descriptionEnvelop yourself in a protective cloak of razors, gaining Major Evasion for 30 seconds, reducing damage from area attacks by 20%. Every 2 seconds the shrapnel will pulse, dealing 422 Physical Damage to all enemies within 5 meters. You also gain Major Expedition for 4 seconds, increasing your Movement Speed by 30%.New effectIncreases duration and grants Major Expedition for a short duration after casting.Strong/Long DOT that can be Prebuffed out of combat.
3	Whirling BladesWhirling BladesWeapon · Dual WieldSKILLTarget: AreaRadius: 6mCost: 3510 StaminaSkill descriptionLaunch yourself into a lethal spin, dealing 1799 Physical Damage to nearby enemies. Deals up to 100% more damage to enemies with less than 50% Health.New effectIncreases the bonus damage against low health targets.Reliable AOE Spammable when no corpses are available.
4	Detonating SiphonDetonating SiphonNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Shocking SiphonSKILLTarget: CorpseRange: 28mRadius: 5mDuration: 20 secondsSkill descriptionViolently drain the last spark of life from a corpse, dealing 6168 Disease Damage over 20 seconds to all enemies around the corpse and between you and the corpse. You also gain Major Savagery and Prophecy for 20 seconds, increasing your Weapon and Spell Critical rating by 2629. When the siphon ends the corpse explodes, dealing an additional 1799 Disease Damage to all enemies nearby. While slotted, your damage done is increased by 3%.Our primary spammable for good stacks when corpses are available.
5	Sundering BannerSundering BannerScribing · Banner Bearer · Shock Damage / Class Mastery / Intellect and EnduranceSCRIBEDRadius: 8mScribed descriptionBring out a banner to inspire yourself and nearby group members.Scripts · Banner BearerFocus: Shock DamageIncreases damage done with direct damage by 6%.Signature: Class MasteryOnce every 3 seconds, increase your Health, Magicka, and Stamina by 2% for 10 seconds for each corpse within 12 meters, up to 10 times. While in combat, if no corpses are nearby, create a corpse.Affix: Intellect and EnduranceGrants Minor Intellect and Minor Endurance, increasing Magicka and Stamina Recovery by 15%.Flexible buffs that can be changed depending on group needs
ULT	Flawless DawnbreakerFlawless DawnbreakerGuild · Fighters Guild · Morph of Dawnbreaker - UltimateSKILLTarget: ConeRadius: 10mDuration: 6 secondsCost: 125 UltimateSkill descriptionArm yourself with Meridia's sacred sword and dispense her retribution, dealing 2904 Physical Damage to enemies in front of you and an additional 3483 Physical Damage over 6 seconds. After activating, your Weapon and Spell Damage is increased by 300 for 20 seconds.Slotted for "Slayer" passive in Fighter's Guild Tree. Optionally, Colossus can be a better buff skill in trash.

1	Necrotic PotencyNecrotic PotencyNecromancer · Bone Tyrant · Morph of Bitter HarvestSKILLTarget: AreaRange: 12mSkill descriptionSap the lingering life from fresh corpses, granting you 6 Ultimate and healing 682 Health every 1 second for 2 seconds per corpse consumed. This ability scales off your Max Health. While slotted, your damage taken is reduced by 3%.Must have ult gen utility.
2	Elemental BlockadeElemental BlockadeWeapon · Destruction Staff · Morph of Wall of ElementsSKILLTarget: AreaRadius: 18mDuration: 15 secondsCost: 2970 Magicka

SKILL INFORMATION

General Rule for Trash Damage

The goal in trash is AoE burst. Elite mobs in the most recent raids can have up to 5 million HP, which means that with eight damage dealers, each DD only needs to contribute roughly 625K total damage to kill that target. This is a slight oversimplification, buff DDs will contribute less while parse DDs contribute more, but the principle remains the same. Ideally, we want that 625K damage to come from abilities that hit every elite mob at once, rather than killing each target individually.

When executed properly, most trash pulls should last less than 10 seconds, which makes many traditional DoTs far less valuable. Because of this, we want to prioritize AoE abilities that can be cast out of combat and between trash pulls, allowing us to enter each pack with our abilities already rolling. Once the pull starts, we can cast one or two additional abilities before focusing solely using our AoE spammable to quickly burst down the entire pack.

Unnerving Boneyard

Unnerving Boneyard is one of the most valuable AoEs in the entire game. Its short 10 second duration means we get its full damage value much faster than an equally powerful DoT lasting 20 seconds. In a 10 second trash pull, we’d only get half the value of a comparable 20 second DoT, while Unnerving Boneyard will deal its full damage in that shorter window. Even more importantly, Unnerving Boneyard applies Major Breach and Minor Vulnerability in an AoE, significantly increasing the entire group’s damage against every target in the pack.

Quick Cloak

Quick Cloak is one of the stronger DoTs in the game. While it isn’t quite valuable enough for single-target fights for the Cro, it becomes a no-brainer in trash because we can prebuff it between pulls, allowing its damage to start immediately without wasting a GCD once combat begins. It also provides Major Expedition, which is useful if a support isn’t running Rapids for whatever reason.

Whirling Blades

Whirling Blades is one of the strongest AoE spammables in the game. While it doesn’t outperform Detonating Siphon + Corpseburster, we rarely have corpses available at the start of a trash pull, making Whirling Blades an important secondary option. Its larger radius also makes it especially useful while enemies are still being stacked. Once our other abilities are rolling, we can spam Whirling Blades until the pack is tight enough for Detonating Siphon + Corpseburster to reliably hit everything.

Detonating Siphon

Detonating Siphon consumes a corpse to create a tether between you and that corpse, along with a small AoE beneath it. Enemies touching the tether or the AOE take damage, but most importantly, when Detonating Siphon ends, the corpse explodes for up to 60K damage. Recasting Detonating Siphon counts as the ability ending, allowing us to use it as a spammable and trigger that explosion much more frequently. Every activation also consumes a corpse, proccing Corpseburster for another 95K damage. Combined, that’s roughly a 150K AoE explosion every time we activate Siphon.

Banner Bearer

Flawless Dawnbreaker

Necrotic Potency

Necrotic Potency is an absolute non negotiable in trash. It consumes all nearby corpses, restoring 6 Ultimate for each one, allowing the Necromancer to cast nearly twice as many Ultimates throughout a series of trash pulls compared to other classes. Whether we’re using that Ultimate to maintain Major Vulnerability on every pack or simply deal more damage, Necrotic Potency is a must have.

Elemental Blockade

Elemental Blockade is one of the strongest AOE abilities in the game, and one of the few abilities that is strong enough to be worth a GCD in short trash encounters. When paired with the vMA Inferno, Elemental Blockade will often be one of our top sources of damage on its own, not even including the damage it does through the Burning Status Effect as well as the damage increase that we receive by using it to activate our back bar weapon damage enchant.

Blighted Blastbones

While arguably our most important ability in boss fights, Blighted Blastbones is a bit trickier in trash. It still deals a ton of damage, but takes 2.5 seconds to land, making repeated casts less valuable in extremely fast pulls. Often, its primary value is as a prebuff, giving us an early corpse to fuel Corpseburster before enemies start dying. In longer pulls, you may fit another cast or two, but the rule is simple: only cast Blighted Blastbones when you can guarantee it will land.

Proximity Detonation

Proximity Detonation is a slightly tricky ability. After an 8-second delay, it explodes around you, with its damage increasing by 100% for each target hit. This makes it another valuable ability to prebuff between pulls, ideally timing the explosion for the start of combat. The key is giving yourself enough time to position in the center of the pack so the explosion hits as many enemies as possible, including low health adds for maximum scaling. When timed and positioned correctly, Proximity Detonation deals a TON of damage.

Banner Bearer

Pestilent Colossus

Many people view Pestilent Colossus as an ultimate that’s only valuable for Major Vulnerability, but especially with the buffs coming in Update 51, it’s also an incredibly strong burst ultimate. Unlike an ability like Elemental Rage, which takes 9 seconds to deal its full damage, Pestilent Colossus delivers its entire damage value in just 3 seconds. While its total damage done is slightly lower than something like Elemental Rage, that much shorter window makes it more optimal for fast trash pulls.

On top of its burst damage, Pestilent Colossus applies Major Vulnerability, one of the strongest debuffs for increasing group DPS. In an optimized group, Necromancers should coordinate a Colossus rotation with the goal of having one available for every trash pack.

ALTERNATE & SITUATIONAL SKILLS

CLASS SKILLS

Ruinous ScytheRuinous ScytheNecromancer · Bone Tyrant · Morph of Death ScytheSKILLTarget: ConeRadius: 7mCost: 2754 StaminaSkill descriptionSlice into your enemy's life force, dealing 1799 Bleed Damage, applying the Hemorrhaging status effect, and setting them Off Balance for 7 seconds. You heal for 2400 Health for the first enemy hit, and an additional 800 for each additional enemy, up to five times. The healing of this ability scales off your Max Health.replacesWhirling BladesThis is a relatively weak AoE spammable, but it instantly applies Off Balance to everything within its conal radius. This makes it a more reliable source of AoE Off Balance in trash than alternatives like Traveling Knife.

1	Unnerving BoneyardUnnerving BoneyardNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of BoneyardSKILLTarget: GroundRange: 28mRadius: 6mDuration: 10 secondsCost: 2970 MagickaSkill descriptionDesecrate the ground at the target location, dealing 3190 Frost Damage over 10 seconds to enemies inside and applying Major Breach and Minor Vulnerability, reducing Physical and Spell Resistance by 5948 and increasing damage taken by 5% for 4.1 seconds each tick. Consumes a corpse on cast to deal 30% more damage. An ally in the area can activate the Grave Robber synergy, dealing 2249 Frost Damage to nearby enemies and healing for the damage done.
2	Venom SkullVenom SkullNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Flame SkullSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 28 metersCost: 2295 StaminaSkill descriptionLob an explosive skull at an enemy, dealing 2159 Poison Damage. Every third cast of this ability deals 50% increased damage and creates a corpse near the enemy, up to once every 3 seconds. While slotted, casting any Necromancer ability while you are in combat will count towards the third cast.Filler ability when no DOT needs reapplied + no corpses
3	Blighted BlastbonesBlighted BlastbonesNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of BlastbonesSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 28mRadius: 6mDuration: 8 secondsCost: 1836 StaminaSkill descriptionSummon a decaying skeleton from the ground after 2.5 seconds. The skeleton runs after the target and explodes when it gets close to them, dealing 3600 Disease Damage to all enemies nearby and applying the Diseased status effect and Major Defile to them for 4 seconds, reducing their healing received and damage shield strength by 12%. Creates a corpse on death.Rotation defining ability. Cast 1 in every 3 skills no matter what
4	Detonating SiphonDetonating SiphonNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Shocking SiphonSKILLTarget: CorpseRange: 28mRadius: 5mDuration: 20 secondsSkill descriptionViolently drain the last spark of life from a corpse, dealing 6168 Disease Damage over 20 seconds to all enemies around the corpse and between you and the corpse. You also gain Major Savagery and Prophecy for 20 seconds, increasing your Weapon and Spell Critical rating by 2629. When the siphon ends the corpse explodes, dealing an additional 1799 Disease Damage to all enemies nearby. While slotted, your damage done is increased by 3%.Primary Spammable. Can only be used when a corpse is available
5	Sundering BannerSundering BannerScribing · Banner Bearer · Shock Damage / Class Mastery / Intellect and EnduranceSCRIBEDRadius: 8mScribed descriptionBring out a banner to inspire yourself and nearby group members.Scripts · Banner BearerFocus: Shock DamageIncreases damage done with direct damage by 6%.Signature: Class MasteryOnce every 3 seconds, increase your Health, Magicka, and Stamina by 2% for 10 seconds for each corpse within 12 meters, up to 10 times. While in combat, if no corpses are nearby, create a corpse.Affix: Intellect and EnduranceGrants Minor Intellect and Minor Endurance, increasing Magicka and Stamina Recovery by 15%.Flexible buffs that can be changed depending on group needs
ULT	Flawless DawnbreakerFlawless DawnbreakerGuild · Fighters Guild · Morph of Dawnbreaker - UltimateSKILLTarget: ConeRadius: 10mDuration: 6 secondsCost: 125 UltimateSkill descriptionArm yourself with Meridia's sacred sword and dispense her retribution, dealing 2904 Physical Damage to enemies in front of you and an additional 3483 Physical Damage over 6 seconds. After activating, your Weapon and Spell Damage is increased by 300 for 20 seconds.Slotted for "Slayer" passive in Fighter's Guild Tree.

1	Flex slotTrap is Flex Slot 2
2	StampedeStampedeWeapon · Two Handed · Morph of Critical ChargeSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 22mRadius: 5mDuration: 15 secondsCost: 4590 StaminaSkill descriptionLaunch across the earth and smash an enemy, dealing 1394 Physical Damage to them and all nearby enemies. This attack is always a Critical Strike. After reaching your target, you sunder the ground beneath you, dealing 319 Physical Damage to all enemies in the area every 1 second for 15 seconds.Self-heal replaces Poison Injection — cast at <60% HP
3	Flex slotCarve is Flex Slot 1
4

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR FLEX SLOT

Flex Slot One: Carve

Carve is our primary flex slot simply because it’s one of our weakest abilities. While its DPS isn’t far behind Barbed Trap or Skeletal Archer, it provides no additional buff utility and requires a relatively long fight for the DoT to reach its full value. If you need to slot a heal, shield, or other utility skill, Carve should generally be the first ability you replace.

Flex Slot Two: Barbed Trap

Barbed Trap only becomes a flex slot if you have a Werewolf in group. Trap provides Minor Force, an essential buff for reaching the 125% Critical Damage cap. However, the Werewolf’s Feeding Frenzy synergy can provide Minor Force with relatively reliable uptime. In this scenario, Trap’s only remaining value is its damage, which is stronger than Carve, but not by a significant amount. This makes Trap our second-best option to replace.

Flex Slot Three: Skeletal Archer

Skeletal Archer is one of our most valuable abilities. It deals strong single-target damage while also providing Major Brutality our essential Weapon Damage buff. However, its damage is only valuable if the Skeletal Archer reliably attacks our primary target, which is something we can’t directly control. Additionally, if a DK in group is providing Major Brutality through Igneous Weapons, that portion of the skill becomes redundant.

Because of this, Skeletal Archer becomes our primary flex slot in single-target fights with smaller, irrelevant adds that it can get distracted by, provided Major Brutality is already being supplied by the group.

OPTIONS FOR MORE SURVIVABILITY

CLASS SKILLS

Animate BlastbonesAnimate BlastbonesNecromancer · Living Death · Morph of Reanimate - UltimateSKILLTarget: GroundRange: 28mRadius: 12mCost: 320 UltimateSkill descriptionBring your allies back from the brink of death, resurrecting up to 3 allies at the target location. You consume up to 3 other corpses in the area and summon a Blighted Blastbones for each corpse consumed.replacesFlawless Dawnbreaker or Shooting StarThe infamous Necro Res. This is an incredibly expensive Ultimate, but one of the most useful recovery tools in the game, allowing you to instantly resurrect up to three allies at once. It’s especially valuable in pugs, where a single cast can quickly recover a fight that would otherwise result in a wipe.

ALTERNATE SETS

REPLACES NULL-ARCA (IN ORDER OF HIGHEST DPS))

Arms of Relequen(Perfected) Arms of RelequenTrial · CloudrestSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration(5 items) Your Light and Heavy attacks apply a stack of harmful winds to your target for 5 seconds, reduced to 1 second against players. Harmful winds deal 52 Physical Damage per stack every 1 second. This effect can stack once every 0.5 seconds, up to 10 times, and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.Run on Body
(Perfected) Mora Scribe's ThesisRun on Body
Ansuul's Torment(Perfected) Ansuul's TormentTrial · Sanity's EdgeSet bonus(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration(5 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance, Increases your damage done against monsters by 7%. When you interrupt an enemy, you increase your damage done against monsters by an additional 14% for 30 seconds.Run on Body
Advancing YokedaAdvancing YokedaTrial · Hel-Ra CitadelSet bonus(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(3 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Adds 986 Critical Chance, When you deal Martial melee damage, your Critical Chance is increased by 298 for 5 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. This effect can occur once every half second.Run on Weapons/Jewelry, move Corpseburster to Body
Whorl of Depths(Perfected) Whorl of DepthsTrial · Dreadsail ReefSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(5 items) When you deal damage with a Light Attack, you apply Whorl of the Depths to the target, dealing 1016 Frost Damage over 8 seconds. When this effect ends, a 5 meter whirlpool is created under the target for 6 seconds and deals 764 Frost Damage every 1 second. This effect can occur once every 18 seconds and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.Run on Weapons/Jewelry, move Corpseburster to Body
Mantle of Siroria(Perfected) Mantle of SiroriaTrial · CloudrestSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(5 items) Adds 200 Weapon and Spell Damage, Dealing damage with a Light or Heavy Attack creates a ring of fire beneath you for 8 seconds. This effect can occur once every 8 seconds. Every second spent standing in the ring increases your Weapon and Spell Damage by 44 for 5 seconds, stacking up to 10 times.Run on Weapons/Jewelry, move Corpseburster to Body
Aegis CallerAegis CallerDungeon · Unhallowed GraveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(5 items) When you deal critical damage with a Martial melee attack, summon a Lesser Aegis for 11 seconds. After 2.5 seconds, the Lesser Aegis spins its blades, dealing 479 Bleed Damage every 1 second. This effect can occur once every 12 seconds and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.Run on Body
Tide-Born WildstalkerTide-Born WildstalkerCraftableSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(4 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration(5 items) Increase your direct damage done to monsters by 15%.Run on Body
Highland SentinelHighland SentinelCraftableSet bonus(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(3 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Adds 986 Critical Chance, While in combat, each second you stand still grants you a stack of Sentinel's Eye, increasing your Critical Chance by 443 per stack, stacking up to 3 times. Each second you move, one stack is removed. Using charge and teleport abilities does not remove stacks, and exiting combat will remove all stacks of Sentinel's Eye.Run on Body
Order's WrathOrder's WrathCraftable · High IsleSet bonus(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Adds 943 Critical Chance, Increases your Critical Damage and Critical Healing by 8%.Run on Body

REPLACES CORPSEBURSTER (IN ORDER OF HIGHEST DPS))

Advancing YokedaAdvancing YokedaTrial · Hel-Ra CitadelSet bonus(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(3 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(5 items) Adds 986 Critical Chance, When you deal Martial melee damage, your Critical Chance is increased by 298 for 5 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. This effect can occur once every half second.Run on Weapons/Jewelry
Aegis CallerAegis CallerDungeon · Unhallowed GraveSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage

CHOOSING AN ALTERNATE SET

How to Choose an Alternate Set

All of the alternate set options that we’ve given here are very strong, but it can be difficult to know exactly which sets to pair together, and more specifically, which set should go on the body and which set should go on your weapons and jewelry when replacing one of our main options. There are a few rules that we need to follow.

Minor Slayer

The first and most important rule is to make sure that we always have a Trial set equipped. The third stat line on every DPS-oriented Trial set in the game gives Minor Slayer, a buff that increases our damage done to all PvE enemies by 5%. This is the strongest third-piece stat line in the game. If we analyze only the value of a set’s five-piece bonus, compare something like Null Arca to Aegis Caller. The damage from the actual five-piece procs aren't too far off from one another, but the key factor that makes Null Arca so much stronger on a one-to-one basis is that Minor Slayer bonus on the third line.

Medium Armor

Our next consideration is that, regardless of which sets we pair together, we need to run a Medium Armor set on the body. We could take a set like Whorl of the Depths, for example, which is very strong, but if we run it on the body, it’s going to be a significant DPS loss compared to even most dungeon sets, regardless of that third-piece stat line. The primary reason for this is that, in the Update 51 meta, we run Medium Armor primarily for Critical Damage and Light Armor primarily for Penetration. There are tons of sources of Penetration in the game, and it’s a lot easier to reach the pen cap than it is to reach the Critical Damage cap. So most of the time, we’ll need to run Medium Armor on the body to make sure that we’re at the Critical Damage cap in 12-man encounters.

Sets that give Stats

Once we have a Trial set equipped and a Medium Armor set on the body, our next priority is to put whichever set's fifth piece with a stat bonus on the body so that the bonus remains active on both bars. A set like Ansuul’s Torment gives us a 7% damage increase, for example, but that bonus is worth much less if the set is only active on the front bar. Compare that to a set like Aegis Caller, where we simply have to Light Attack to proc it, and the proc lasts for 10 seconds, regardless of what bar we're on.

Proc Sets

Finally, if all of those conditions are met and we’re choosing between two proc sets that could both be run on the front bar, we should put the set that’s more difficult to maintain or has the shorter cooldown on the body. Null Arca is a good example of this. When we’re running two proc sets, we’ll put Null Arca on the body because it can proc once every three seconds, and having to move back to our front bar once every three seconds to min-max that uptime can get a little tricky.

Alternate Set info

Perfected Arms of Relequen

The first alternate set option is Perfected Arms of Relequen. This set comes from Cloudrest, and every time you Light Attack, you apply a stack of Harmful Winds⁠ to the target. This stacks up to 10 times and deals an insane amount of damage. Historically, Relequen was meta for single target for a very long time, but it received a nerf a few patches ago that gave Null Arca a slight edge. A lot of people have forgotten about this set since then, but it’s still extremely strong and is only worth a little bit less DPS than the current meta single-target setup. Relequen can be run on the body as a Medium Armor set, or it can be run on the weapons and jewelry. If you’re using Relequen to replace Null Arca, you should run it on the body. If you’re using it to replace Corpseburster, you should run it on the weapons and jewelry. Just remember that if you run Relequen on the weapons, you have to swap back to your front bar and Light Attack once every four seconds. Otherwise, all of your Harmful Winds stacks will drop.

Perfected Mora Scribe's Thesis

Mora Scribe’s Thesis⁠ is a Medium Armor set from the Lucent Citadel Trial. This set increases your Critical Chance for every Major buff active on you and your Critical Damage for every Minor buff active on you. In a 12-man raid scenario, Mora’s is very competitive with Null Arca, although it’s slightly worse for the Necromancer. This set is particularly strong on classes that get random extra sources of Major and Minor buffs that we don’t specifically try to prioritize in a raid comp. The Sorc is a good example because Hurricane gives it Major Expedition, which becomes another buff contributing to Mora’s. Mora’s is also pretty strong in unoptimized groups, especially groups that might be lacking Critical Damage. So in newer groups or pug scenarios, you might even want to prioritize it over Null Arca. Mora’s should always be run on the body. If you’re using it to replace Null Arca, run Mora’s on the body. If you’re using it to replace Corpseburster, still run Mora’s on the body and pair it with a set that you can reliably run on the weapons and jewelry.

Aegis Caller

Aegis Caller⁠ is a Medium Armor set from the dungeon Unhallowed Grave. It’s one of the strongest proc sets in the game, and it deals its damage in an AOE radius, making it valuable for AOE encounters as well. Its raw damage is a little bit lower than Null Arca’s, but still comparable. However, because Aegis Caller is a dungeon set, it doesn’t include Minor Slayer, which is why a Trial set like Null Arca is more valuable on a one-to-one basis. We can run Aegis Caller on the body because it’s a Medium Armor set, but more optimally, we’ll usually run it on the weapons and jewelry. This set procs whenever we deal critical damage with a martial melee attack, which means that it will proc from our front-bar light attacks. The proc lasts for 11 seconds with a 12-second cooldown⁠, so we can get effectively near-100% uptimes. Because we can proc the set by simply light attacking, it’s extremely easy to run on the front bar. If you’re replacing Null Arca with Aegis Caller and pairing it with Corpseburster, I would run Aegis Caller on the body. If you’re pairing Aegis Caller with Null Arca, I would run Aegis Caller on the weapons and jewelry instead.

(Perfected) Whorl of Depths

Perfected Whorl of the Depths⁠ is a Light Armor set from the trial Dreadsail Reef. Whenever you deal damage with a Light Attack, you apply a DOT to the target that deals Frost Damage over eight seconds. When that effect ends, a five-meter whirlpool is created underneath the target for six seconds, dealing a ton of AOE damage. Because of that AOE damage, Whorl is a great option for both single-target and AOE encounters. The entire effect can occur once every 18 seconds, leaving a pretty short window of downtime between procs. As a Light Armor set, you only ever want to run Whorl on the weapons and jewelry. If you’re using it to replace Null Arca, move Corpseburster to the body. If you’re using it to replace Corpseburster, keep Null Arca on the body and run Whorl on the weapons and jewelry.

Advancing Yokeda

Advancing Yokeda is a Heavy Armor set from the trial Hel Ra Citadel, and it gives us a ton of one of the most important stats in the game: Critical Chance. With five pieces active, AY gives us 986 Critical Chance at base⁠. Whenever you deal Martial melee damage, your Critical Chance increases by another 298 for five seconds, stacking up to five times. To keep those stacks from dropping, make sure that you Light Attack on your front bar at least once every five seconds. Because it’s a Heavy Armor set, we only ever run AY on the weapons and jewelry. If you’re using it to replace Null Arca, move Corpseburster to the body. If you’re using it to replace Corpseburster, AY fills those weapons and jewelry slots while Null Arca stays on the body. Advancing is historically considered an exclusively single-target set, but if you can maintain all five stacks in an AOE situation, that Critical Chance will also increase the Cro’s already remarkable AOE damage. So while it’s primarily considered a single-target option, AY can work very well for AOE on the Cro too.

(Perfected) Ansuul's Torment

Perfected Ansuul’s Torment⁠ is a Medium Armor set from the trial Sanity’s Edge. At base, it increases your damage done to monsters by 7%. Whenever you interrupt a target, that bonus increases to 21% for 30 seconds. Because that proc condition is rarely something that we’re going to satisfy ourselves in an organized raid, we primarily consider Ansuul for its reliable 7% damage-done increase. That baseline is still very strong and makes Ansuul one of the best options for overall raw AOE damage on the Cro, increasing the damage of the class’s already remarkable AOE toolkit. Ansuul should be run exclusively on the body.

(Perfected) Mantle of Siroria

Perfected Mantle of Siroria⁠ is a Light Armor set from the trial Cloudrest, and this is another classic. With five pieces active, Siroria gives us 200 Weapon and Spell Damage passively. Whenever you deal damage with a Light or Heavy Attack, you create a ring of fire beneath you for eight seconds. Standing in that ring increases your Weapon and Spell Damage by another 44 for five seconds, stacking up to ten times. That gives us 440 Weapon and Spell Damage at max stacks, or 640 total when we include the passive portion of the five-piece bonus. Because this is a stat increase that buffs our entire toolkit, Siroria is very strong for both single-target and AOE damage. This set can be a little tricky to maintain. You need to recreate the ring as often as possible and make sure that you stand inside it at least once every five seconds to refresh your stacks. Because Siroria is a Light Armor set, we only want to run it on the weapons and jewelry, regardless of whether we’re replacing Null Arca or Corpseburster. We can get away with front-barring a set that increases our overall damage because a Light Attack recreates the ring, making the proc relatively easy to control.

Tideborn Wind-Stalker

Tide-Born Wildstalker⁠ is a craftable set found at the Tide-Born Foundry in Solstice. It increases your direct damage done to monsters by 15%⁠, which is a huge buff and makes Tide-Born one of the strongest craftable sets in the entire game. If you don’t have any of the previously mentioned options, you can run Tide-Born with very similar success to our meta options. Tide-Born should always be run on the body, regardless of whether you’re using it to replace Null Arca or Corpseburster.

Highland Sentinel

Highland Sentinel⁠ is the next-strongest craftable set, and its crafting station can be found in West Weald. This set gives us a ton of Critical Chance, which is one of the most valuable stats in the game, but its proc condition is very odd. With five pieces active, the set gives us 986 Critical Chance passively. Then, every second that you stand still in combat gives you a stack of Sentinel’s Eye, adding another 443 Critical Chance per stack, up to three stacks. Every second that you move removes one stack. This condition can be very tricky to maintain, especially for newer players, so I don’t necessarily recommend Highland Sentinel as a go-to replacement. But if you’re okay trying to min-max with the tools that you have, you can pair Tide-Born with Highland Sentinel and have very good success. Generally, I would use Tide-Born first. If you choose to use Highland Sentinel, though, it should always be run on the body, regardless of whether you’re using it to replace Null Arca or Corpseburster.

Order's Wrath

A slightly weaker but much easier option to maintain is Order’s Wrath⁠. Order’s Wrath gives us a little bit less Critical Chance than Highland Sentinel, but it also gives us Critical Damage, making the set very strong and versatile for newer players, unoptimized groups, or even solo and four-man situations. This set can be crafted at Steadfast Hammer and Saw in the High Isle and Amenos region. Order’s Wrath should always be run on the body, regardless of whether you’re using it to replace Null Arca or Corpseburster.

GEAR INFO

Corpseburster

(Perfected) Slivers of Null Arca

The Hunstmans Warmask

(Perfected) Merciless Charge

(Perfected) Merciless Charge is the strongest monster set for boss damage in the game. It boosts our direct damage by 12%, and Direct Damage is the most common damage type in this build.

Slimecraw

ALTERNATE SETS

REPLACES NULL-ARCA (IN ORDER OF HIGHEST DPS))

Arms of Relequen(Perfected) Arms of RelequenTrial · CloudrestSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration(5 items) Your Light and Heavy attacks apply a stack of harmful winds to your target for 5 seconds, reduced to 1 second against players. Harmful winds deal 52 Physical Damage per stack every 1 second. This effect can stack once every 0.5 seconds, up to 10 times, and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.Run on Body
(Perfected) Mora Scribe's ThesisRun on Body

CHOOSING AN ALTERNATE SET

How to Choose an Alternate Set

Minor Slayer

Medium Armor

Sets that give Stats

Proc Sets

Alternate Set info

Perfected Arms of Relequen

Perfected Mora Scribe's Thesis

Aegis Caller

(Perfected) Whorl of Depths

Advancing Yokeda

(Perfected) Ansuul's Torment

(Perfected) Mantle of Siroria

Tideborn Wind-Stalker

Highland Sentinel

Order's Wrath

GEAR INFO

Corpseburster

(Perfected) Ansuul's Torment

Perfected Ansuul’s Torment is a Medium Armor set from the trial Sanity’s Edge that adds a ton of Critical Chance through its two-piece bonus and the additional Perfected five-piece stat line, while also increasing our damage done to monsters by 7%. Whenever we happen to interrupt an enemy, the set gives us an additional 14% damage done to monsters for 30 seconds.

This is a particularly strong set for AOE damage because it increases the damage of our already naturally strong AOE toolkit: skills like Detonating Siphon, Corpseburster, Blastbones, and Boneyard. As opposed to running a proc set, we gain more value by simply increasing the damage of all of these already incredibly strong sources. Ansuul should always be run on the body.

The Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet

(Perfected) Crushing Wall

Slimecraw

ALTERNATE SETS

REPLACES ANSUUL (IN ORDER OF HIGHEST DPS))

Whorl of Depths(Perfected) Whorl of DepthsTrial · Dreadsail ReefSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(5 items) When you deal damage with a Light Attack, you apply Whorl of the Depths to the target, dealing 1016 Frost Damage over 8 seconds. When this effect ends, a 5 meter whirlpool is created under the target for 6 seconds and deals 764 Frost Damage every 1 second. This effect can occur once every 18 seconds and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.Run on Weapons/Jewelry, move Corpseburster to body

ALTERNATE SET CHOICES

How to Choose an Alternate Set

Minor Slayer

Medium Armor

Sets that give Stats

Proc Sets

Alternate Set info

Perfected Mora Scribe's Thesis

Mora Scribe’s Thesis⁠ is a Medium Armor set from the Lucent Citadel Trial. This set increases your Critical Chance for every Major buff active on you and your Critical Damage for every Minor buff active on you. In a 12-man raid scenario, Mora’s is very competitive with Perfected Ansuul's Torment, although it’s slightly worse for the Necromancer. This set is particularly strong on classes that get random extra sources of Major and Minor buffs that we don’t specifically try to prioritize in a raid comp. The Sorc is a good example because Hurricane gives it Major Expedition, which becomes another buff contributing to Mora’s. Mora’s is also pretty strong in unoptimized groups, especially groups that might be lacking Critical Damage. So in newer groups or pug scenarios, you might even want to prioritize it over Ansuul.

Aegis Caller

Aegis Caller⁠ is a Medium Armor set from the dungeon Unhallowed Grave. It’s one of the strongest proc sets in the game, and it deals its damage in an AOE radius, making it valuable for AOE encounters as well as single target. However, because Aegis Caller is a dungeon set, it doesn’t include Minor Slayer, which is why a Trial set like Ansuul is more valuable on a one-to-one basis. We can run Aegis Caller on the body because it’s a Medium Armor set, but more optimally, we’ll usually run it on the weapons and jewelry. This set procs whenever we deal critical damage with a martial melee attack, which means that it will proc from our front-bar light attacks. The proc lasts for 11 seconds with a 12-second cooldown⁠, so we can get effectively near-100% uptimes. Because we can proc the set by simply light attacking, it’s extremely easy to run on the front bar.

(Perfected) Whorl of Depths

Perfected Whorl of the Depths⁠ is a Light Armor set from the trial Dreadsail Reef. Whenever you deal damage with a Light Attack, you apply a DOT to the target that deals Frost Damage over eight seconds. When that effect ends, a five-meter whirlpool is created underneath the target for six seconds, dealing a ton of AOE damage. Because of that AOE damage, Whorl is a great option for both single-target and AOE encounters. The entire effect can occur once every 18 seconds, leaving a pretty short window of downtime between procs. As a Light Armor set, you only ever want to run Whorl on the weapons and jewelry. If you’re using it to replace Ansuul, move Corpseburster to the body. If you’re using it to replace Corpseburster, keep Ansuul on the body and run Whorl on the weapons and jewelry.

Advancing Yokeda

Advancing Yokeda is a Heavy Armor set from the trial Hel Ra Citadel, and it gives us a ton of one of the most important stats in the game: Critical Chance. With five pieces active, AY gives us 986 Critical Chance at base⁠. Whenever you deal Martial melee damage, your Critical Chance increases by another 298 for five seconds, stacking up to five times. To keep those stacks from dropping, make sure that you Light Attack on your front bar at least once every five seconds. Because it’s a Heavy Armor set, we only ever run AY on the weapons and jewelry. Advancing is historically considered an exclusively single-target set, but if you can maintain all five stacks in an AOE situation, that Critical Chance will also increase the Cro’s already remarkable AOE damage substantially. So while it’s primarily considered a single-target option, AY can work very well for AOE on the Cro too.

(Perfected) Mantle of Siroria

Perfected Mantle of Siroria⁠ is a Light Armor set from the trial Cloudrest, and this is another classic. With five pieces active, Siroria gives us 200 Weapon and Spell Damage passively. Whenever you deal damage with a Light or Heavy Attack, you create a ring of fire beneath you for eight seconds. Standing in that ring increases your Weapon and Spell Damage by another 44 for five seconds, stacking up to ten times. That gives us 440 Weapon and Spell Damage at max stacks, or 640 total when we include the passive portion of the five-piece bonus. Because this is a stat increase that buffs our entire toolkit, Siroria is very strong for both single-target and AOE damage. This set can be a little tricky to maintain. You need to recreate the ring as often as possible and make sure that you stand inside it at least once every five seconds to refresh your stacks. Because Siroria is a Light Armor set, we only want to run it on the weapons and jewelry, regardless of whether we’re replacing Ansuul or Corpseburster. We can get away with front-barring a set that increases our overall damage because a Light Attack recreates the ring, making the proc relatively easy to control.

Tideborn Wind-Stalker

Highland Sentinel

Highland Sentinel⁠ is the next-strongest craftable set, it can be found in West Weald. This set gives us a ton of Critical Chance, which is one of the most valuable stats in the game, but its proc condition is very odd. With five pieces active, the set gives us 986 Critical Chance passively. Then, every second that you stand still in combat gives you a stack of Sentinel’s Eye, adding another 443 Critical Chance per stack, up to three stacks. Every second that you move removes one stack. This condition can be very tricky to maintain, especially for newer players, so I don’t necessarily recommend Highland Sentinel as a go-to replacement. But if you’re okay trying to min-max with the tools that you have, it ends up being very strong. If you choose to use Highland Sentinel, it should always be run on the body, regardless of whether you’re using it to replace Ansuul or Corpseburster.

Order's Wrath

A slightly weaker but much easier option to maintain is Order’s Wrath⁠. Order’s Wrath gives us a little bit less Critical Chance than Highland Sentinel, but it also gives us Critical Damage, making the set very strong and versatile for newer players, unoptimized groups, or even solo and four-man situations. This set can be crafted in the High Isle and Amenos region. Order’s Wrath should always be run on the body, regardless of whether you’re using it to replace Ansuul or Corpseburster.

SUGGESTED ABILITIES WITH THIS GEAR SETUP

The full skill setup is discussed in the Skill Setup section — what changes with this gear is covered below.

FRONT BAR · Two Handed

WHAT CHANGES WITH THIS SETUP

Elemental Blockade

Elemental Blockade is straight-up one of the strongest AOE abilities in the entire game. It only lasts 15 seconds and ticks once every second, making it relatively bursty. Blockade of Fire specifically deals additional damage to Burning enemies, and Burning is a status effect that we proc extremely often. Combined with the VMA Inferno Staff, Elemental Blockade becomes one of our top sources of damage in almost any AOE situation.

Skeletal Arcanist

In AOE situations, it’s going to be more worthwhile to run Skeletal Arcanist over Skeletal Archer. It continues to grant Major Brutality, our Major Weapon and Spell Damage buff. Though it deals a little less damage per tick than Skeletal Archer, it deals that damage in an AOE radius, and once an ability is hitting multiple targets, it will always deal more total damage than an ability that can only hit one.

GEAR INFO

Corpseburster

Azureblight Reaper

When it comes to AOE damage, no set in the game comes close to Azureblight Reaper. Whenever you deal damage with a damage-over-time ability, you apply a stack of Blight Seed to the target for five seconds. At 20 stacks, Blight Seed explodes, dealing Disease Damage to the target and nearby enemies, and that damage increases by 150% for every additional monster hit, up to 600%.

Historically, Azureblight was so strong that it was worth stacking and running on as many players as possible in a variety of situations. These days, because its explosion can only occur once every second, the set is really only good on classes running a lot of damage-over-time effects in fights with three, four, or more enemies. When those conditions are met, though, having one player run Azureblight is an absolute must. Its damage value is unlike anything else you’ll see in this game.

The Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet

(Perfected) Crushing Wall

Slimecraw

SUGGESTED ABILITIES WITH THIS GEAR SETUP

The full skill setup is discussed in the Skill Setup section — what changes with this gear is covered below.

FRONT BAR · Dual Wield

WHAT CHANGES WITH THIS SETUP

Mystic Orb

In regular AOE boss situations, Mystic Orb can be used as a flex skill. When running Azureblight, however, it becomes a must-have. Mystic Orb is a decent damage-over-time effect, but its primary value in an Azureblight setup isn’t necessarily its raw damage. It lasts ten seconds and ticks once every second, so it builds additional Azure stacks extremely consistently. A couple of other skills may be just as strong or even stronger on a skill-to-skill basis, but because Mystic Orb will proc Azureblight more often, it becomes the preferable option.

Elemental Blockade

Skeletal Arcanist

GEAR INFO

Corpseburster

Mechanical Acuity

In burst fights, Mechanical Acuity is the absolute strongest set that you can run. Whenever you deal non-critical damage, you gain a stack of Mechanical Acuity for four seconds, granting 20% Critical Strike Chance per stack. You can gain one stack per second, up to five stacks, and each new stack refreshes the four-second duration. Once you reach five stacks, or if the effect expires before you do, Mechanical Acuity cannot activate again for 25 seconds.

Because each new stack refreshes the duration, we use Sundering Burst to guarantee non-critical damage even after our Critical Chance climbs above 100%. Theoretically, this allows us to remain inside Mechanical Acuity for quite some time. In practice, the first few stacks usually apply very quickly, while the fourth and fifth take much longer, resulting in roughly eight to ten seconds of uptime on average. For the Necromancer, in fights that last around 12 to 15 seconds or less, reaching 100% Critical Chance throughout that burst window makes Mechanical Acuity the absolute strongest option that we can run.

The Hunstmans Warmask

(Perfected) Merciless Charge

(Perfected) Merciless Charge is the strongest monster set for boss damage in the game. It boosts our direct damage by 12%, and Direct Damage is the most common damage type in this build.

Slimecraw

SUGGESTED ABILITIES WITH THIS GEAR SETUP

The full skill setup is discussed in the Skill Setup section — what changes with this gear is covered below.

FRONT BAR · Two Handed

WHAT CHANGES WITH THIS SETUP

Sundering Burst

Sundering Burst is relatively weak on its own. We primarily run it to get the maximum possible uptime out of Mechanical Acuity. To create it, spec Soul Burst with the Physical Damage Focus Script, the Anchorite’s Cruelty Signature Script, and an Affix Script of your choice. Anchorite’s Cruelty is the important part. It consumes a Soul Gem to deal 2.8% of the enemy’s Max Health as Oblivion Damage every two seconds for ten seconds.

That damage is relatively weak, but Oblivion Damage cannot critically strike. This guarantees a non-critical hit on every tick, even after we’re well above 100% Critical Chance, allowing us to continue building Mechanical Acuity stacks and refreshing their duration for as long as possible. That extension is the real reason that we run Sundering Burst, and it lets us get significantly more damage out of Mechanical Acuity.

GEAR INFO

Corpseburster

Tide-Born Windtalkser

Tide-Born Wildstalker⁠ is a craftable set found at the Tide-Born Foundry in Solstice. It increases your direct damage done to monsters by 15%⁠, which is a huge buff and makes Tide-Born one of the strongest craftable sets in the entire game. If you don’t have any of the previously mentioned options in this guide, you can run Tide-Born with very similar success to our meta options. Tide-Born should always be run on the body.

The Hunstmans Warmask

(Perfected) Merciless Charge

(Perfected) Merciless Charge is the strongest monster set for boss damage in the game. It boosts our direct damage by 12%, and Direct Damage is the most common damage type in this build.

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GEAR INFO

Tideborn Wind-Stalker

Order's Wrath

For a fully crafted setup, I recommend pairing Order’s Wrath with Tide-Born. There are technically stronger crafted alternatives, including Highland Sentinel, which you may have already seen elsewhere in this guide. Order’s Wrath is much easier to maintain, though, while still being very strong and providing Critical Damage. That Critical Damage is especially valuable for newer players who might find themselves in less optimized groups, pugs, or encounters.

Order’s Wrath can be crafted in High Isle and Amenos. Normally, we would run it on the body, but Tide-Born is the stronger of the two sets, so we’re forced to run Order’s Wrath on the weapons and jewelry instead.

The Hunstmans Warmask

(Perfected) Merciless Charge

(Perfected) Merciless Charge is the strongest monster set for boss damage in the game. It boosts our direct damage by 12%, and Direct Damage is the most common damage type in this build.

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GEAR INFO

Corpseburster

(Perfected) Slivers of Null Arca

The Hunstmans Warmask

(Perfected) Caustic Arrow

Perfected Caustic Arrow comes from Dragonstar Arena, and it’s the strongest arena weapon that we can use for single-target damage in a Bow-Bow setup. The perfected version adds Weapon and Spell Damage at base, then increases our Weapon and Spell Damage by another 330 against targets affected by Poison Arrow. Alternatively, in AOE situations, we can consider running the VMA Bow, which increases the damage of Endless Hail in the same way that the VMA Inferno Staff increases the damage of Wall of Elements.

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ALTERNATE SETS

REPLACES NULL-ARCA (IN ORDER OF HIGHEST DPS))

Arms of Relequen(Perfected) Arms of RelequenTrial · CloudrestSet bonus(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.(4 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration(5 items) Your Light and Heavy attacks apply a stack of harmful winds to your target for 5 seconds, reduced to 1 second against players. Harmful winds deal 52 Physical Damage per stack every 1 second. This effect can stack once every 0.5 seconds, up to 10 times, and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.Run on Body
(Perfected) Mora Scribe's ThesisRun on Body

ALTERNATE SET CHOICES

How to Choose an Alternate Set

Minor Slayer

Medium Armor

Sets that give Stats

Proc Sets

Alternate Set info

Perfected Arms of Relequen

Perfected Mora Scribe's Thesis

Aegis Caller

(Perfected) Whorl of Depths

Advancing Yokeda

(Perfected) Ansuul's Torment

(Perfected) Mantle of Siroria

Tideborn Wind-Stalker

Highland Sentinel

Order's Wrath

SUGGESTED ABILITIES WITH THIS GEAR SETUP

The full skill setup is discussed in the Skill Setup section — what changes with this gear is covered below.

FRONT BAR · Two Handed

WHAT CHANGES WITH THIS SETUP

Endless Hail

When running a bow, we have to replace Stampede and Carve from our traditional setups with two different abilities. We still want a weapon ability that can reliably proc our back-bar weapon enchant, and the primary option that we’ll use is Endless Hail. Endless Hail is simply a strong AOE that we gain access to when running a bow, while also serving as the skill that keeps our back-bar weapon enchant proccing after we return to our front bar.

Poison Injection

Poison Injection is only worth running when we’re using the Master’s Bow, Perfected Caustic Arrow, because we need Poison Injection to proc the weapon’s effect. On its own, Poison Injection is a relatively weak DOT, so if we aren’t running that arena weapon, we can replace it with a flex skill of our choice.

GEAR INFO

Corpseburster

(Perfected) Ansuul's Torment

The Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet

(Perfected) Crushing Wall

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GEAR INFO

Sul Xan

Mechanical Acuity

The Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet

(Perfected) Crushing Wall

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ALTERNATE SETS

ALTERNATE SET CHOICES

Corpseburster

PASSIVES

Bashing BrutalityBashing BrutalityFitness · Passive - 10 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionIncreases your Bash damage by 60 per stage (120 max).–High PriorityThis is actually a direct DPS increase for the the Cro when running Goliath
TumblingTumblingFitness · Passive - 15 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionReduces the cost of Roll Dodge by 120 Stamina per stage (240 max).–High PriorityRoll dodge is the single greatest evasion mechanic in the game. Reducing its cost is incredibly helpful
Hero's VigorHero's VigorFitness · Passive - 10 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionGrants 280 Max Health per stage (560 max).–High PriorityFree extra health is always great
FortificationFortificationFitness · Passive - 15 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionIncreases the amount of damage you can block by 2% per stage (4% max).–High PriorityBlocking is one of the most important defensive mechanics in the game. Increasing the amount of damage you can block is very important
Savage DefenseSavage DefenseFitness · Passive - 15 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionReduces the cost of bash by 45 Stamina per stage (90 max).–High PriorityThis is actually very helpful for sustain on the Cro when running Goliath
Tireless GuardianTireless GuardianFitness · Passive - 10 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionReduces the cost of Block by 20 Stamina per stage (40 max).–High PriorityBlocking is one of the most important defensive mechanics in the game. Reducing its cost is very helpful
HastyHastyFitness · Wind Chaser · Passive - 8 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionIncreases your movement speed when Sprinting by 2% per stage (4% max).–High PriorityBeing fast is very helpful in getting out of mechanics
DefianceDefianceFitness · Passive - 10 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionReduces the cost of Break Free by 110 Stamina per stage (220 max).–Medium PriorityBreak free isn't that important outside of a few niche fights. In those specific fights, this node is great
SprinterSprinterFitness · Passive - 10 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionReduces the cost of Sprint by 20 Stamina per stage (40 max).–Medium PrioritySprinting isn't particularly important in actual fights. It's very important in scorepushing when you're trying to get through a raid as quickly as possible though
Tempered SoulTempered SoulFitness · Passive - 25 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionReturn to life after resurrection with 5% more resources per stage (10% max).–Medium PriorityIt's better than getting up with no resources but you'll still likely want to throw a heavy attack or two even with this passive
Mystic TenacityMystic TenacityFitness · Survivor's Spite · Passive - 10 points per stage - 5 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionReduces the duration of Elemental Status Effects applied to you by 5% per stage (25% max).–Medium PriorityThis node is good in very niche situations
Nimble ProtectorNimble ProtectorFitness · Walking Fortress · Passive - 3 points per stage - 2 stagesCHAMPION POINTChampion Point descriptionIncreases your Movement Speed while Bracing by 3% per stage (6% max).–Medium PriorityThe movement speed bonus sounds good, but isn't very noticeable while blocking.

OPENING

StampedeWeapon · Two Handed · Morph of Critical ChargeSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 22mRadius: 5mDuration: 15 secondsCost: 4590 StaminaSkill descriptionLaunch across the earth and smash an enemy, dealing 1394 Physical Damage to them and all nearby enemies. This attack is always a Critical Strike. After reaching your target, you sunder the ground beneath you, dealing 319 Physical Damage to all enemies in the area every 1 second for 15 seconds.

CarveWeapon · Two Handed · Morph of CleaveSKILLTarget: ConeRadius: 6mCost: 3510 StaminaSkill descriptionFocus your strength into a mighty swing, dealing 1742 Bleed Damage to enemies in front of you, and causing them to bleed for an additional 2871 Bleed Damage over 12 seconds. Hitting a target that is already affected from this ability extends the duration by 10 seconds, up to a maximum of 32. You also gain a damage shield that absorbs 1742 damage for 6 seconds.

DYNAMIC ROTATION NOTES

Prepull

There are some extra things we can do to increases our DPS before a pull both on the dummy and in content. A clever example you might see on the dummy is casting an "arming" ability like Scalding Rune in the prebuff before swapping into the actual parse dummy setup. It's counterproductive to consider these things "cheesy" and far more helpful to your progression to allow your mind to creatively find ways to prebuff like this, because in content, we can do so much more. For example, you should always try to get your Sul Xan buff from a prior trash pack before entering a boss fight, you can swap into Ansuul while moving from trash pack to boss and pop an immovable pot with Ansuul slotted to get its buff, and THEN you can even do a FULL PREBUFF on some bosses that might have spawn time, where you might cast Scalding Rune, Barbed Trap, Anti-Cavalry Caltrops, Mystic Orb, Endless Hail, and Elemental Blockade all cast for the boss to spawn into before swapping to your primary setup. Learning how to do these things instead of writing them off as "cheese" is a step in progression more players should take.

Prebuff

The goal here is simple: cast as many abilities out of combat as possible, leading with our ultimate last. This allows Shooting Star to tick right when the fight begins so that the intial impact benefits from off balance, as opposed to starting the fight by striking your target with Shooting Star before off balance is active.

Opener

There are two goals with the opener. A) we want to get the rest of our abilities active but B) we want to capitalize on our burst phase at the beginning of the fight. Because we're running Exploiter, casting our strongest abilities during our off balance window becomes a priority. At the beginning of the fight, we get an off balance proc immediately. If we execute the prebuff correctly, we only need to apply Boneyard, Stampede, and Carve. Boneyard procs Corpseburster so its worth casting, Stampede procs our direct damage bonus from (Perfected) Merciless Charge, but Carve is simply a regular ol DOT. Instead of of applying it, we capitalize on some extra burst during our first Off Balance window by casting spammables while Off Balance is active, and then consuming the rest of our creates corpses before finsihing the opener with our last DOT Carve.

PREBUFF

Start Far

Skeletal ArcherNecromancer · Grave Lord · Morph of Skeletal MageSKILLTarget: SelfDuration: 20 secondsCost: 2525 StaminaSkill descriptionUnearth a skeletal archer from the dirt to fight by your side for 20 seconds, while granting you Major Brutality and Sorcery, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 20%. The archer attacks the closest enemy every 2 seconds, dealing 464 Physical Damage. Each time the archer deals damage, it deals 15% more damage than the previous attack. Creates a corpse on death if you are in combat.

Shooting StarGuild · Mages Guild · Morph of Meteor - UltimateSKILLTarget: EnemyRange: 28mRadius: 5mCost: 185 UltimateSkill descriptionCall a comet down from the constellations to blast an enemy, dealing 4067 Flame Damage to all enemies in the area, knocking them down, and stunning them for 2 seconds. After impact, enemies in the target area take 1161 Flame Damage every 1 second for 11 seconds. You generate 10 Ultimate for each enemy hit by the initial blast, up to 6 times.Bash + LA

OPENING

ROTATION

Spam priorityCast whichever is highest on the list1

Carve — When it's about to fall off2