ESO Best Tank Class and Tier List (2021)

The Elder Scrolls Online is a multiplayer online role-playing game created by Bethesda Softworks. The first step into the world of Tamriel was on July 26th, 2014 with Xbox One releases starting September 4th, 2015. I am here to provide you an ESO tank class and tier list for 2021.

The “eso best tank class 2021” is a list of the best tanks in Elder Scrolls Online. The list includes a brief description and a link to the guide where you can find more information about each tank.

The name of the game in Elder Scrolls Online is skill and strategy. If you know what you’re doing, you can make a solid build out of almost any class and race combination. However, certain combinations are more suited to their professions than others. Some classes, for example, will simply make tanking simpler, even improving your group’s total damage by providing necessary buffs. We look at the finest tank classes in ESO and rank them appropriately.

The meta has been thrown off with the addition of the Flames of Ambition DLC and Update 32. Now is an excellent moment to start a new character or revive an existing one that matches the present situation. We’ll go through the best tanks for PVE in ESO in this post. We’ll start with a tier list of the finest classes (and races) for tanking in ESO, then go through their current patch rankings.

Let’s get started!

Tier List for ESO Tanks

Survivability and buffs are the two most important factors to consider when creating a tanking tier list. Our picks were graded based on how simple it is for them to remain alive and handle advertisements while still taunting priority targets, as well as how effectively they boost their groups and enhance overall damage output. With these characteristics in mind, here is our tier ranking for the greatest tanking classes in ESO:

Tier Class
S Tier Dragonknight
A Tier Necromancer
B Tier Warden
C Tier Templar
D Tier Sorcerer Nightblade
F Tier  

Tier List for the ESO Tank Race

Race is also a factor to consider, since each race has its own set of benefits that may make or break your entire build. The greatest races for tanking in ESO are listed below in tier order:

Tier Race
S Tier Imperial
A Tier Nord
B Tier Dark Elf, Orc, and Khajiit
C Tier Argonian, Redguard, and Wood Elf are three types of Argonian.
D Tier High Elf
F Tier Breton

Best Tanking Classes in ESO, from Worst to Best

Let’s get into our examination of ESO’s greatest tanking classes now that we’ve established our tier lists. We’ll start with our lower-tier options and work our way up to the #1 best tanking class in ESO, detailing what makes each one great (or terrible) at their respective roles.

6/6

D Tier Sorcerer

2-Sorc-Tank-1024x766 2-Sorc-Tank-1024x766 Image credit: HGG / Angus Green / Zenimax Online Studios

Sorcerers are capable tanks who are skilled at managing their health and shielding themselves. The problem with Sorcerer tanks is that they aren’t very useful in groups. You can undoubtedly play a Sorcerer tank and achieve good results, but you won’t be able to provide your party with as many and varied buffs as other tanking classes. 

Update 32

When it comes to class-specific modifications, Sorcerers didn’t get much love in the most recent patch, which was mostly focused on correcting a problem with Lightning Splash.

Skills

Unstable Clannfear is one of the major abilities that a Sorcerer tank may utilize. This daedric companion has a lot to offer, including the ability to gather aggro and withstand some attacks, as well as an activated heal that restores health to both you and the clannfear.

The major crowd control ability used by Sorcerer tanks is Restraining Prison, which immobilizes a vast area in front of you (radius 18 meters) and grants you Major Vitality, which increases healing received by 16 percent. After hitting an opponent for the first time, the Major Vitality duration may be raised by 1 second up to 6 times for each subsequent enemy struck. Finally, Hardened Ward grants you and your pets a powerful shield that caps at 60% of your maximum health, which for a Sorcerer tank might be approximately 30,000. 

5/6

D Tier Nightblade

2-NB-Tank-1024x733 2-NB-Tank-1024x733 Image credit: HGG / Angus Green / Zenimax Online Studios

Update 32

Nightblades have reaped various advantages from patch 32, the most notable of which being that Dark Cloak’s healing has been raised by 61 percent every tick, and Minor Protection has been extended to 10 seconds from the previous 6 seconds. Unfortunately for Nightblade tanks, the normal wonderful combination of being a vampire has lost part of its luster. Because of the modifications to Mistform in patch 32, it now only acts to deter hostile player assaults. Because it is now so powerful as a fix-all technique, it has little impact on lowering PVE assaults, making the vampire tank route less feasible.

Skills

Nightblade tanks benefit from siphoning talents since they trigger certain highly important passives for Nightblade tanks. When you perform a Siphoning skill, the Transfer passive gives you 2 ultimate, and Magicka Flood boosts your max magicka by 8% just by having one slotted. Sap Essence is a powerful talent from this tree that delivers AOE damage, heals you and your allies, and grants you Major Brutality and Sorcery on top of everything else.

A Nightblade tank’s Major Resolve is derived from the Shadow Barrier passive, which requires you to merely trigger one of your shadow skills. Because the duration grows with each piece of heavy armor you wear, you’ll be able to sustain 100 percent uptime with it thanks to the Shadow skills you’ll utilize on a daily basis. Dark Cloak is an excellent talent to utilize to trigger this passive since it provides a tremendous heal over time based on maximum health and also provides Minor Protection for 10 seconds, lowering damage received by 5%. 

4/6

C Tier Templar

2-Templar-Tank-1024x754 2-Templar-Tank-1024x754 Image credit: HGG / Angus Green / Zenimax Online Studios

Update 32

Templars have gotten some love in recent patches, and as a result, their tank viability has increased. Tanking hasn’t changed much in Patch 32, with the emphasis being on greater healing and damage improvements. Templar tanking has become significantly more feasible because to changes to Living Dark and Restoring Focus. 

Skills

Living Dark makes Templar tanks far more tanky by healing either on spell damage or maximum health, depending on which heals faster. This talent slows an adversary by 60% for 3 seconds and heals you whenever you take damage from a direct damage strike. This ability, which occurs every half second, may provide significant healing, making it much more difficult to take down a Templar tank.

For Templars, Restoring Focus is a Major Resolve skill that provides excellent stamina and healing when within the rune, which lasts for 20 seconds. Every second you stand in the rune, you acquire 242 stamina. To put this into context, general recovery numbers only apply every 2 seconds, thus this will seem like an extra 484 standard stamina recovery. It now grants health depending on maximum health, making it considerably simpler to maintain a tank’s health while you can stand in the rune. 

3/6

B Tier Warden

2-Warden-Tank-1024x756 2-Warden-Tank-1024x756 Image credit: HGG / Angus Green / Zenimax Online Studios

Warden tanks may be classified as either a B or an A tier tank depending on the composition of the squad. Warden Tanks give provide class restricted benefits that would propel them to A tier if they had another Warden on the squad. Their class-exclusive passives are redundant with a probable Warden healer or even DPS, relegating them to B tier.

Update 32

Wardens didn’t get anything in Patch 32 save a patch for their Emerald Moss passive, which wasn’t functioning with all of the Green Balance talents. Tanks are somewhat unaffected by this since Green Balance is more focused on healing, but Budding Seeds is obviously more effective now. 

Skills

Minor Toughness is a very powerful benefit to have in your party, and the Maturation passive is the major reason why Warden tanking is so beneficial. You get Minor Toughness for 20 seconds whenever you heal yourself or an ally, raising their maximum health by 10%. This works as a more efficient Ebon Armory boost, providing your friends roughly 2000 additional health on average and you 3500-5000 extra health depending on your health pool. This will need you to actively heal yourself and others, but any heal, such as Echoing Vigor or other Green Balance heals, as well as armor enhancements like Battalion Defender, would suffice. If no other warden tanks are on the squad, Ice Fortress is the other reason that would push Warden tanks into the A tier, since it grants your whole team Major Resolve. 

The Bull Netch is a fantastic talent that helps Wardens keep their stamina up. Over the course of 25 seconds, it recovers 4416 stamina and grants Major Brutality and Sorcery, boosting weapon and spell damage by 20%. Because of the way blocking works in ESO, this skill is quite valuable. When stamina recovery does not restore stamina while blocking, you will still receive stamina since this is a distinct benefit from your normal stamina regeneration. Shimmering Shield is another useful talent for Warden tanks, making them a good choice for confrontations involving a lot of high-damage missiles. The shield can absorb up to 30000 damage from three projectiles and has the added benefit of providing magicka and Major Heroism for 6 seconds after being damaged. 

Wardens that are masters of nature excel in frost magic, which is aided by the fact that ice staves are a must-have for all tanks. The Chilled status effect, which applies Minor Maim and decreases opponent damage done by 5%, is the major reason why Tanks utilize ice staves. The passive Glacial Presence enhances the likelihood of applying Chilled to foes with Winter’s Embrace Abilities by 200 percent, and Wardens deal 10 percent greater critical damage and heal to enemies or allies who have just been chilled.

As a result, their crowd control skills Gripping Shards and ultimate Permafrost are very efficient at putting Minor Maim on foes with a high uptime. Gripping Shards immobilizes opponents within 6 meters for 3 seconds and slows them down by 30% for the same amount of time. Permafrost is a good ultimate, but it’s not as good as it was before the change to Major Protection. Permafrost will generate a 10 meter storm around you, which will apply the chilled status effect, slow opponents by 70%, and provide Major Protection to you and your party. Although Major Protection only reduces damage by 10% (it used to be 30%), it is still incredibly useful in reducing the damage of enemy strikes when you and your group are under heavy fire. 

2/6

Tier 1 Necromancer

2-Necro-Tank-1024x775 2-Necro-Tank-1024x775 Image credit: HGG / Angus Green / Zenimax Online Studios

Necromancer tanks have mastered death and are seldom defeated in battle, making them one of the greatest tank possibilities outside of the standard DK choice. They are in the A to A+ group, having a combination of abilities that keep them and their squad alive. They are a wonderful match for every content since they have a wide range of talents that can be swapped in and out based on the scenario and group they are in.

Update 32

In patch 32, there are just minor changes for Necromancers, therefore they keep their current status. Boneyard now delivers more damage, which is good but not necessary for the tank since Necro tanks are more concerned with their group’s health and buffs. 

Skills

Necromancers have a number of unique class skills that distinguish them from other tanking classes. Spirit Guardian is a fantastic ability with a unique perk that transfers 10% of the damage taken by a necromancer to their wraith-like companion. Its healing is also useful since it will target you or the ally with the lowest health, allowing you to keep your group operating.

Agony Totem is a strong crowd control talent that applies dread for 4 seconds while also providing Minor Protection to you and your allies, lowering damage received by 5%. The talent may be used in conjunction with Minor Vulnerability to impart Minor Vulnerability to adjacent foes, increasing their damage suffered by 5%.

Beckoning Armor is another amazing Necromancer-only class that makes controlling advertisements a lot simpler than it is for other classes. Aside from the critical Major Resolve, it pulls in ranged foes assaulting you, making it simpler for your DPS to position targets for your DPS to blast down. 

Depending on the group’s demands, any Necromancer ultimate may be utilized on the tank. Glacial Colossus will impose Major Vulnerability to all opponents inside its AOE for 12 seconds, causing them to absorb 10% more damage. Ravenous Goliath is an excellent selfish ultimate that heals you and increases your health by 30,000 for 20 seconds, making tanking much easier. It’s also a wonderful touch that the destructive AOE heals for all the damage it does. This ultimate makes Necromancers the greatest choice if you want to construct a tank with a lot of health. Finally, Reanimate is an excellent ultimate for that delightful uno-reverse moment in scenarios when group member death is probable. This talent, which instantly resurrects three companions, is a wonderful way to compel your pug and trial groups through challenging material. 

1/6

S Tier Dragonknight

2-DK-Tank-1024x735 2-DK-Tank-1024x735 Image credit: HGG / Angus Green / Zenimax Online Studios

Dragonknights are the archetypal tank, and they are a cut above the rest when it comes to tanking.

Update 32

They’ve also benefited greatly from Update 32, which has increased their present viability even further. Their Combustion passive now restores 1000 magicka and stamina from flame and poison damage, rather from the previous 500. Instead of the previous 46, the Battle Roar passive now returns 50 health, magicka, and stamina each ultimate consumed. The improvements to these passives will make it much simpler for a DK to sustain, as well as giving them a leg up on tanking. 

Skills

The combination of skills that make Dragonknights exceptionally tanky in battle while also enhancing their group’s damage by enormous margins is the fundamental reason why they have been the top in all things tanking for so long. One of the talents that makes StamDKs so desirable in every dungeon or trial party is Stone Giant. You may fling up to three pieces of rubble after using the talent, which do damage but also impart Stagger to the opponent struck. This raises their damage received by 65 points every stack, up to a maximum of 195 points. During the 5 seconds that the stagger is in effect, that opponent takes more damage from all sources, which increases the damage done in content with 4 players by a substantial amount, and in trials with 12 people by a large amount.

DKs have various talents that make them walls on the battlefield in terms of pure tankiness. Green Dragon Blood is a self-heal that prevents DKs from falling in fight. Igneous Shield and Hardened Armor are powerful shields, while Green Dragon Blood is a self-heal that keeps DKs from dropping in battle. Magma Shell is the ultimate that really establishes DKs as the toughest of tanks, reducing incoming damage to just 3% of your full health. When things go wrong in a difficult encounter, this ultimate ensures that the tank can at least maintain their ground and retain aggro while the rest of the team works on reviving teammates and regaining position.

Be a part of the High Ground

In ESO, every class may be a fantastic tank, but some have more to offer and are simpler to master. We hope you can utilize the information in this tier list to build a tank that will be a breeze to tank with for you and your friends. Follow us on social media and sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on Elder Scrolls Online and other ways to improve your gaming experience.

Have fun gaming!

The “eso best tank class 2021 reddit” is a list of the best tank classes and tiers. It is updated every day, so it’s always up to date.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best class for tanking eso?

A: The best tank class in ESO is probably the Templar. They have a large health pool, can heal themselves and allies, and are able to provide crowd control through their abilities.

What class makes a good tank?

A: There are not any classes that make a good tank. Tanks should be played so they can take more damage than the other players on your team, which comes with its own dangers.

Are tanks good in eso?

A: Tanks and other forms of heavy armor are generally not recommended for PvP. However, if you dont mind the time it takes to use that gear then they can be a viable option in PvE content like dungeons or raids.

Related Tags

  • eso best tank class and race 2021
  • eso best class 2021
  • eso tank tier list 2021
  • eso best solo class 2021
  • eso best healer class 2021