Winter's Dawn - 57k@3M, OneBar, Solo, Ultimate spam W13T2: WoE(Solo2: fewer enemies) - Hüter Baue PvE - ESO

• Build Concept
• Core Mechanic
• Situations
• CP(Slottable)
• Skill Swap
• Gear Set & Alternatives
• Training Dummy
• Tips / Addon Advice

Build Concept

This build operates in two main ways:
A. Standard Frost Oaken Build
B. Ultimate AoE Chill Build
Players can freely adjust the build's focus between A and B.
This guide will primarily focus on the AoE Chill Build (Point B).

For example, this build has recently been used to nearly solo Ghishzor(Event Version) without relying on stacking outside the walls (and also all Solstice WBs and Apocrypha WBs, Walks-like-thunder, Talon&Fang … ).
In these particular battle, Permafrost's uptime was near 90% at its peak". (Permafrost means Sleet Storm's morph.)

※ (In-game tooltip) Permafrost: dealing 650 Frost Damage every 1 second for 13 seconds to enemies around you and reducing their Movement Speed by 70% and applying the Chilled status effect.

Previous Build with a similar concept: 
Ice Dancer
https://eso-hub.com/en/builds/shinntarou4649/9d28b7fa-b7b2-4305-a595-3c243853d1b1/ice-dancerone-bar-solo-cheap-gear-can-vet-arenasbefore-subclass-no-more-updated
※ I'll change the build's access from public to 'only accessible to people who know the link.' It's outdated. 

Core Mechanic

The Chill status effect is the most critical component of this build's performance.
Chill triggers Baron Zaudrus, which is essential for cycling your Ultimate ability. 

Permafrost, Arctic Blast, and Elemental Susceptibility apply Chill.
Shimmering Shield, Prism, Restoring Spirit, and Savage Beast provide a direct boost to Ultimate.
All three relevant class skill lines—Animal Companions, Winter's Embrace, and Dawn's Wrath—are tightly interwoven and mutually dependent.

Simply put, this build can only truly spam its Ultimate skill when using Permafrost. 
I think the build is fun to play. 
Warden is fun.

Situations

• Melee range:
  Set your skills, focus on the main enemy, and guard.
  Frost staff LA weaving can be extremely solid(LClick → Push skill button(LA animation cancellation) → RClick guard (Skill animation cancellation)). Even though you are attacking, you can guard most attacks until your magicka runs out.
  If Magicka is low, perform HA weaving (LHold → HA start → HA launch & LRelease & Push skill button → RClick guard). You gain a shield and magicka.
  Frost build is advantageous during a resource-draining battle. This is why Frost build is strong against WB.
  ※ For this specific aspect, HA Sorc is better than this Frost build. Sergeant's Mail's HA damage and class skill combo can yield more DPS and a greater shield.
• Out of Melee Range / Running in Melee range:
  In glorious battle, sometimes you must run around the battlefield to handle mechanics, to avoid deadly attacks, and so on. Warden's skills perform well in the situation. 
  Cast Subterranean Assault and run; after 3 seconds, turn back to face the enemies. Spamming Blue Betty removes your negative effects and heals you via Bond with Nature. Crystallized Shield is the best shield for dealing with ranged attacks.
  Warden's skills can continue dealing damage to enemies and easily counter escape prevention mechanics (such as [Tanking aim], snare effects) if you are running around.
  In my opinion, some commonly used high-DPS solo builds(Sergeant's Mail HA, Ring of the Pale Order Beam) slightly lack these properties.

CP(Slottable)

• [Deadly Aim] & [Master-at-Arms]: Basic options. Chill is a type of “Direct damage” and “Single target” effect. If you really need another star for any reason, [Deadly Aim](Single Target) should be rejected first due to other main damage sources(Subterranean Assault).
• [Reaving Blows]: This star is effective in this build because the majority of your damage comes from Direct Damage sources. In most cases, the heal value nearly equals that of Living Dark.
  2025/11/9 Confirmed Chill NEVER triggers Reaving Blows.
• [Occult Overload]: This is a good potential source of damage for only one slot. It also applies other status effects.
• [Siphoning Spells] & [Shield Master]: As enemies become stronger, your Magicka depletes faster due to the need for longer periods of guarding and more frequent casting of Shimmering Shield. [Rejuvenation] can't solve the problem.
• [Bracing Anchor]: For Veteran Bosses and IA (Infinite Archive), defensive stars like [Bracing Anchor] are recommended to avoid instant death. You should keep your Warfare stars offensive where possible, making Fitness stars the priority for defense.

Skill Swap

The Weapon skill and Subterranean Assault are considered fixed. I recommend keeping the 3rd to 5th skill slots easily swappable.

3rd Skill

To gain [Dawn's Wrath]'s passive, you need at least one of the following skills.

• Living Dark: A defensive option.
• Power of the Light: An offensive option.

4th skill

You are not limited to choosing just one skill below. However, I usually only pick one in most cases. If you use Blue Betty, the build adopts an aggressive playstyle. If you use Shimmering Shield, the build favors a more passive approach.

• Blue Betty: Aggressive, melee. It allows for longer guarding and skill spamming.
• Shimmering Shield: Passive, ranged. An important skill for Ultimate generation. This skill can perform well in 1-versus-many situations.

5th skill

• Arctic Blast: Default choice. Balanced.
  It provides AoE Direct Damage and Self-Healing. To maximize Baron Zaudrus's performance, you should maintain the uptime of at least one Chill-applying skill at all times.
• Torchbearer([Healing Torch]): Area Burst Heal. Signature: Crusader (removes negative effects).
  For a dragon solo or a small group.
  If you achieve enough kills, Banish the Wicked earns Ultimate nearly equal to Arctic Blast.
• Ulfsild's Contingency([Chilling Contingency]): Offensive. Signature: Class mastery Affix: Vulnerability
  The skill cannot be used for negative effect removal, so I recommend offensive settings.
• Soul Burst([Chilling Burst]): for IA. Signature: Class mastery Affix: Interrupt 
• Winter's Revenge: Ranged Chillable, proccing every 1 second (compared to Arctic Blast's 2 seconds). 
  Due to Baron Zaudrus's 1-second cooldown, using both Arctic Blast and Winter's Revenge simultaneously is not efficient for this build.
• Radiant Oppression: Offensive, for PT.
  If you are in party. You can deal the highest Maximum damage, but the average DPS doesn't change much.

Ultimate

• Permafrost: Default for 1-versus-many.
• Wild Guardian: Default for DD.
• Eternal Guardian: 
  Because the build rarely have skills that heal your ally, an auto-respawn bear is a good choice.
  Additionally, the execution damage bonus is higher than that of Wild Guardian. If you are aiming for the highest dummy score, the bear is probably optimal.

Weapon Skill / Skill's Tweak / Etc

• Elemental Susceptibility: Major Breach, Status effects*3 per 7.5sec.
  As you know, recasting the skill on the same enemy reapplies 3 status effects. Therefore, the skill is a little bit of a DPS skill for solo.
• Destructive Reach: Status effect*1, grants 600 weapon/magic damage(via Perfected Destructive Impact)
• Crushing Shock: Status effect*3 per 2casts (by Concentrated Force)
• Subterranean Assault or Deep Fissure:
  CONCLUSION: The choice is yours.
  In my opinion, considering conditions such as PvE performance, DPS, Magicka consumption, Penetration, and the 9-second Ultimate cycle, Subterranean Assault is slightly better than Deep Fissure. 
  Which morph you select affects many skills. For instance, if you use Deep Fissure, Torchbearer's Affix must be changed from Minor Breach to Minor Resolve. The importance of Elemental Susceptibility decreases due to Major Breach. I think the morph selection is a foundational decision for a solo Warden build. It's a matter of the content you run rather than the skill's raw capability.

Penetration
Overland .. 9100, Dragons … 13650, Instanced … 18200, IA … 9100 or 18200(Arc Final Boss)
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Infinite_Archive
https://hyperioxes.com/eso/tools/penetration-calculator

• Default(7 light Tide-Born Wildstalker + Major Breach): 8761 + 5948 = 14709 (17683 with Minor Breach)
• WoE(Perfected Wrath of Elements + Major Breach): 9951 + 5948 = 15899 (18873 with Minor Breach)
• Non-Light main(1 light + Major Breach + Minor Breach): 1639 + 5948 + 2974 = 10561

Gear Set & Alternatives

5Set

• Tide-Born Wildstalker: for Solo, DD in PT. Offensive. Trait: Divines Enchant: Magicka
  This is the best damage set for this build because the majority of your damage comes from Direct Damage sources.
• Heartland Conqueror: for IA, Defensive. Trait: Sturdy Enchant: TriStat
  I recommend creating the non-light pieces of this set. The set can play multiple roles via your weapon trait. 
  If the Charged trait is used, the effect increases from 235% to 470%. If the Decisive trait is used, it accelerates your Ultimate cycle. In this build, alternative sets are required to boost Chill or boost Ultimate. If you keep this gear as a spare set, you don't need to bring any other sets in addition (Akaviri Dragonguard, Glacial Guardian, Symmetry of the Weald).
  In IA, Bonuses related to status effects (e.g., the Vision [Focused Efforts], which increases status effect chance by 12% and status effect damage by 500%) can greatly boost the build's DPS. If you get these effects, the set is better than Tide-Born. It's important to note that [Focused Efforts] isn't a Verse. The effect lasts for the entire run.
  https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Focused_Efforts
• Frostbite: Outdated. 
  If you convert to the set from Tide-Born Wildstalker, your 3Mdummy score will drop by about 2k.

Light Armor vs. Medium Armor

Light … Offensive. High DPS, Snare immunity.
Recommended for PT, Easier enemies, IA prior to Arc 3.
Caution: You are weak against martial attacks including many HA from bosses due to Light Armor Penalties. I confirmed that Marauder in Arc 4 of IA can one-shot even when guarding. (I survived Marauder's Heavy Attack in Arc 3 with 7 pieces of Light Armor)

Medium … Defensive. Low block cost, High running speed.
Recommended for Strong WBs, and IA Arc 4. (If you want to reach Arc 5 later, this build probably can't help you.)
Caution: Icy Aura was reworked. The passive skill no longer has snare immunity. Therefore, when you are hit by snare attacks, your movement speed can be drastically reduced.

Weapon Set

• Blessing of the Potentates: Enchant: Absorb Magicka Trait: Decisive
  Against many enemies. 
• Vengeance Leech: Enchant: Frost Trait: Decisive
  Sometimes, you don't need to actively generate ultimate(e.g. in case IA's Verse generates ultimate enough).
• Perfected Wrath of Elements: Enchant: Frost Trait: Decisive or Charged
  For fewer enemies (or Single Target). Of course, the overall DPS without Ultimate is better than that of Potentates.
• Perfected Destructive Impact: Enchant: Frost Trait: Precise
  For pure DPS. 
• Concentrated Force: Enchant: Frost Trait: Decisive
  Low DPS and high cost. However, if you need both DPS and interrupt, it is probably better than other weapons with Crushing Shock or Soul Burst.

Monster Set

• Iceheart: for PT, Non-Ult, Offensive. Enchant: Magicka
  Considering Glacial Presence, it is the best choice for this build's damage profile.
• Baron Zaudrus: for Ult. Enchant: TriStat
  I feel that if Permafrost's uptime is about 70% over, Baron's DPS is better than Iceheart's.

Jewelry

• Armor of the Trainee: Trait: Infused Enchant: Weapon damage
  Use one or two pieces. You can gain the set bonus from only a single Trainee piece. Additionally, the value of the set bonus itself is higher than that of other sets.
• Eagle Eye: Trait: Bloodthirsty Enchant: Weapon damage
  Use two pieces. Any 2-piece set providing Critical Chance is acceptable.

Required Gear: 15 items, 11 equipped slots and 4 inventory items
Oaken 1, Tideborn 5, Trainee 2, Baron Zaudrus(Light) 2, Iceheart 2, Potentates 2, Destructive Impact 1.
Optional Inventory Gear: 13 inventory slots
MidArms(Heartland) 5, Vengeance Leech 2,  Wrath of Elements 1, Concentrated Force 1, Eagle Eye 2, Baron Zaudrus(Mid) 2.

Training Dummy

57k on a 3M dummy (Destructive touch). See Screenshot (SS).

For beginners, I must stress that the dummy score is strictly for reference purposes. These dummy scores were recorded in ideal training dummy conditions.

※ [Backstabber] only works better than [Fighting Finesse] when the tank perfectly taunts the boss and the DD remains behind the boss at all times. Deep Fissure & Fetcher Infection are redundant in PT because common tanks apply Major Breach, Minor Breach, and Minor Vulnerability. If these abilities were excluded, the dummy score would drop to 50k; however, your DPS in real PT probably won't drop. (if you use these skills, your DPS in PT won't rise significantly.) 
The difference in DPS reflects the cost of being able to adapt to different situations and ensure safety in real boss battles.

※ In my experience, using a lightning staff tends to boost the DPS by about 2k-3k.

Tips / Addon Advice

Skill Swapping
This build is designed for the player to adjust the Weapon, the 3rd to 5th skills, and the Ultimate based on the content. 
To facilitate swapping, I created multiple Dressing Room presets, each containing only one specific skill.
See the image for an example. (Potentates Page, Tips: How to swap skills quickly (Dressing Room))

Dressing Room 2018
https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1911-DressingRoom2018.html