Discord Bot
ESO Server Status
AlcastHQ
First Descendant
English
Français
Русский
Español
IMPORTANT: First part of the Guide has the general rotation, after that I am kind of adding onto it as I go along, so the stuff at the bottom will usually be the most recently written. (I will turn it into a proper guide and less of a journal eventually though.)
The Gear traits are not set in stone and is basically what was already on every piece when I got them, but Divines is really good (some extra armor probably doesnt hurt either.)
Food/Drinks & Potions are a general good choice (Read: The best I had in stock at the moment), as in they work, but are not specialized specifically for the build.
I am a bit conflicted on how to present the Passive Skills and Champion Skills, but I have decided I will only include the ones that I feel are absolutely needed or give enough of a general benefit to mention, though in the case of Champion Skills, I will include most that I have invested in that has a benefit generally speaking (though obviously harvesting things faster is not going to make the build do more damage, you can for example switch out Plentiful Harvest and Master Gatherer and instead slot in Rationer and Liquid Efficiency for more combat-relevant bonuses, or put more points into Steadfast Enchantment instead of the Sneaking-related passives to name a couple).
As with the Crossbones build, you will want to first use Blighted Blastbones (since it takes 2 seconds to arm), the Razor Caltrops to Slow and Weaken the enemies, then use Detonation Siphon before starting the Rotation over (it might be more efficient sometimes to cast the new Blastbones before Detonation Siphon though), and if whatever enemy you are up against allows it, hack and slash with the daggers in the meantime, reapplying spells as needed.
Hungry Scythe is there so that your Magicka pool does not go to waste and apart from being a really good heal on demand (as well as HoT, not to forget to mention it is great for finishing off low tier mobs should the need arise), which is needed since this is basically a ranged build that still goes into melee for optimal damage, the Dual Wield setup is mostly used for the Passive skills, but might as well make use of them as the weapons they are.
Revealing Flare (and its morphs) is there just for the Slot Passive, which is one of the few buffs that the Oakensoul ring doesnt have, and is probably a good choice despite technically “wasting” a spot since again, this is basically a melee-enabled version of a ranged build. You could probably switch this out for some active skill that gives the same thing AND does something else as well, but ease-of-use is the keyword here, having it slotted gives you +10% Magicka Recovery from the Support line passives though, for whatever that is worth in a Stamina build, haha…
Dawnbreaker for the Ultimate to give a little bit extra umph because of the Fighters Guild passive that increases Weapon and Spell Damage by 3% for each slotted FG skill, you could probably put just about whatever here, maybe one of the Necromancer Ultimates for emergencies, but usually we are more interested in the extra 30 Health Recovery per 10 Ultimate gained from the Champion slotable “Strategic Reserve” found in the Fitness tree.
(The original Crossbones build used the Silver Bolts skill, hence the “Crossbow”-like name, but I always found that it drained my Stamina far too quickly, but that might have been due to unoptimized gear and the relevant skills not being leveled fully, I do not know, but what I do know is that the choice of skills in the original build was influenced by them giving Minor and Major buffs, most of which the Oakensoul grants by default. If you decide to switch out any skills, keep in mind what passive bonuses you may gain or lose by doing so, since many skill lines have passives that give extra bonuses either when a skill is slotted, or when a skill from a certain line is active.)
When it comes to Companions, any Support build helps in their own way, heal is nice if you are up against a boss that can dish out a lot of damage at once and obviously doesnt die in just one hit, while a Tank can help lessen the workload, but most of the time you wont need any extra DPS, at least not/especially not when grinding or spelunking the overworld in general (which is what this build was mostly made for, as regular enemies usually melt after one or two hits.)
As for weaknesses, well…obviously a ranged build that also has to / likes to go into melee you will at times have to be quick with that Hungry Scythe for the heal, also, the build is a bit dependant on Critting and does so consistently, but is likely far from min/Maxed in this regard, and this goes for the rest of the build as well as this build literally came into existance when I tried the Crossbones build, didnt like it (apart from how simple it was to use), and threw together whatever gear sets I had that seemed to fit the bill and ending up with something actually decent, but this is coming from someone who has spent about 90% of their ESO years basically playing a non-optimized Tank build even for Solo and Overworld content, so I wont try to claim that this is some top tier meta-defining build **insert buzzword Youtube video title here**, but I WILL claim it is easy to play, and that is personally a big priority for me, not only do I not enjoy multi-bar rotations with 4-5+ “X Over Time” skills that need to be constantly juggled, I also just cannot keep the needed focus to keep track of so many skills (I unironically blame ADHD).
It is VERY likely I forgot about something when writing this (and I will probably add or change some things as I get more experience with the build myself), but since it is basically a reimagining of the Crossbones build from HackTheMinotaur (which should be easy to find), some potential questions might find their answers in his build video.
Hopefully this is of help to someone, simplicity rather than pure efficiency is the key for this build after all (though it could probably be made much more efficient while kept simple too), and I would assume a build like this to be pretty niche. Also, this is the first build I have ever submitted anywhere.
EXTRA ABOUT SKILLS:
The alternative “Crossbones Style” is mostly if you want to also use Trap Beast as part of the rotation for Extra Damage, it might actually be better to just use Detonating Siphon instead as it also gives a Passive +3% Damage Done but it mostly depends on the playstyle and what type of skills you want to use.
Spirit Guardian can be used instead of Flare to not only gain the -10% Damage Taken, but also add a Heal, some minor Sustain from Class Passives and some pretty massive Healing Done boosts from Class Passives (at the cost of adding another Active Skill to the Rotation). A better idea might be to switch out Detonating Siphon / Lightweight Trap Beast for Mortal Coil to get some really hefty Heal over Time (or even Braided Tether to make it easier to heal a Companion Tank for example).
Mortal Coil can be used instead of Trap Beast / Detonating Siphon if a powerful Heal is needed.
Also, whether to use Razor Caltrops or Unnerving Boneyard might come down to whatever your other skills are, for example, if you are using Silver Shards, then using yet another Stamina ability in Razor Caltrops might leave you starved for resources and your Magicka pool unused, but if Hungry Scythe instead then maybe Razor Caltrops is better to balance the Resource Costs (and to leave the Magicka unused in case you need to quickly spam Scythe.)
If Healing is not needed you could even use both Detonating Siphon and Lightweight Trap Beast, but you will have your work cut out for you to effectively rotate them though >_<
After some testing I would say I greatly prefer Unnerving Boneyard to Razor Caltrops though, as it gives more bonuses and effects overall and the -50% Movement Speed that Razor Caltrops inflict do not feel like it makes enough of a difference most of the time. If I think I will need to spam Hungry Scythe a lot I might still use Razor Caltrops instead though, since that leaves all the Magicka for Hungry Scythe.
TL:DR ABOUT ROTATION:
Pestilence: Blighted Blastbones → Razor Caltrops → Detonating Siphon. [Repeat. Use Hungry Scythe if Heal/HoT is needed. Also HS to quickly kill a bunch of enemies with little HP left.]
Crossbones Style: Blighted Blastbones → [Optional: Lightweight Trap Beast] → Unnerving Boneyard → Silver Shards. [Repeat.]
Rotten Bones: Blighted Blastbones → Unnerving Boneyard → Silver Shards → Blighted Blastbones → Detonating Siphon → Silver Shards. [Then while DoT effects are still up, there are 3 alternatives: [Blighted Blastbones → Silver Shards x2] OR [Blighted Blastbones → Detonating Siphon → Silver Shards] OR [Blighted Blastbones → Heavy Attack → Silver Shards.] (The 2nd or 3rd option might be the best ones, as two Silver Shards might drain your Stamina too quickly, but also for damage output.)
Bone Marrow: Blighted Blastbones → Unnerving Boneyard → Silver Shards → Mortal Coil → Silver Shards. [Basically the same as for Rotten Bones].
Replace the first (or both) Silver Shards with Detonating Siphon/Mortal Coil and/or Unnerving Boneyard if refresh is needed. Also, if you are in Melee Range, it does not hurt to weave in some Light Attacks wherever possible (Usually the skills that do not need targeting), or do Light Attacks instead of skills when you need your Stamina to recharge but don't have time for a Heavy Attack.
