Magicka Necromancer DPS Build
Magicka Necromancer DPS builds have been one of the favourites in The Elder Scrolls Online since their release. They are capable of providing amazing sustained damage while also adding in some valuable debuffs to boot, and can synergize really well with some great gear sets to help boost group damage output massively. Magicka Necromancer DPS characters on your team is always a great first step to success in ESO!
Gear Sets
Draugrkin's Grip: Magicka Necromancers perform particularly well with this set since they typically run very DoT heavy setups. You can get this from Unhallowed Grave.
Perfected Arms of Relequen: We all know and love this set as one of the top DPS sets in the game. You can get this from Cloudrest, but if you aren't up for trials just yet, then consider Aegis Caller, which also comes from Unhallowed Grave like Draugrkin.
Zaan's: Working nicely with Draugrkin's Grip as well as Necromancer passives, Zaan's performs very well on this build. You can get this from Scalecaller Peak, but if fighting in medium range is too risky for you, try Kjalnar's Nightmare instead, which can be found in Unhallowed Grave.
Maelstrom Staff: You can get this amazing weapon from Maelstrom Arena. While the perfected version is best, it is perfectly fine to get the non-perfected version from normal mode until vet is within your grasp.
Skills
Ricochet Skull: This is your primary spammable, and is absolutely essential for providing enough corpses for this build to empower its other skills.
Sacrificial Bones: An interesting skill that boosts the potency of class skills and damage over time skills by a hefty margin, and also provides a corpse for you to use.
Inner Light: We have this slotted on both bars to provide Major Prophecy without having to rely on potions.
Detonating Siphon: This skill requires corpses to use, which is why we need Ricochet Skull. It deals tremendous damage in an area and explodes when the effect ends.
Barbed Trap: This is your source of Minor Force, and should be kept up at all times.
Dawnbreaker of Smiting: We don't use this ability directly, and instead rely on Ice Comet. This is just here to passively boost our damage through Fighter's Guild passives.
Unstable Wall of Elements: A great source of damage when combined with both the Maelstrom Staff and Draugrkin's Grip.
Avid Boneyard: For parsing, use this morph. In proper content with a group, use the other morph. This morph allows you to use your own synergy, but the other provides Major Breach in an area, and your ally can activate the synergy instead.
Inner Light: We have this slotted on both bars to provide Major Prophecy without having to rely on potions.
Degeneration: This is your source of Major Sorcery, meaning you can use more interesting and useful potions instead.
Skeletal Archer: Deals increasing damage over its duration, so be sure not to refresh it too early or you will miss out on boosted damage ticks.
Ice Comet: If your group doesn't have enough access to Major Vulnerability, use Glacial Colossus instead. If your group doesn't need Glacial Colossus but you have a Dragonknight providing the Engulfing Flames buff, use Shooting Star instead.
Champion Points
Fighting Finesse: A welcome addition to your critical damage output that will help you get up to the 125% crit damage cap. If you are exceeding this cap in your group, choose a different perk like Wrathful Strikes.
Thaumaturge: Damage in The Elder Scrolls Online is measured in how much damage you do per second over the duration of a fight, and stacking damage over time effects is the way to increase this. Thaumaturge will boost that damage type.
Master at Arms: An essential boost to one of the primary damage types that all DPS use - direct damage. This is important on almost any DPS build in ESO.
Biting Aura: An important addition to this build that will boost the power of your area abilities substantially, which is where this class really shines.
Boundless Vitality: Every bit of health makes a difference, especially in some of the tougher content that The Elder Scrolls Online has to offer. This will help you bump yours up a little more, increasing your survivability.
Siphoning Spells: A potent addition that shines best when facing multiple enemies or boss fights with adds. Each time you kill an enemy, gain Magicka - perfect!
Rejuvenation: Recoveries are important for every role. For healers, it is essential for keeping your group alive, for tanks, it is the source of most of your buffs and debuffs, for DPS, you can't deal damage with no fuel, and in PvP, no resources means death.
Celerity: Extra movement speed is an amazing boost in all content. In PvE, it helps massively with avoiding nasty mechanics, and in PvP, it allows you to run circles around your opponents.
Mundus Stone
The go-to Mundus Stone for any DPS is the Thief. It is very rare that you will reach the optimal critical chance numbers without the Thief unless you are specifically building for it, which isn't ideal. a
Food Buff
The Ghastly Eye Bowls food buff is typically the best option for any PvE Magicka character. It offers the best combination of Max Magicka and Magicka Recovery. If you are in content that requires higher health, you can use the Withmother's Potent Brew or Clockwork Citrus Filet if you prefer.
Race
The best race to use for this build is a High Elf (Altmer). However, Dark Elves (Dunmer) have an almost negligible difference in DPS. If you struggle to reach the crit damage cap of 125%, then a Khajiit is your best option instead.
Potion
Spell power potions are required on this build to give you access to Major Sorcery, which is an important buff for reaching those top-tier DPS numbers. If you have a Dragonknight using Igneous Weapons or Molten Armaments in your group, you can run Heroism potions instead.
Mortality
Running a Vampire in PvE content will make you a liability to your tank and healer, forcing them to work much harder to keep you alive through much of the game's fiery damage in PvE content. A werewolf also offers no benefit. Therefore, it is recommended that you stick with being a Mortal.
Notes
Magicka Necromancer DPS builds run a highly damage over time heavy rotation. While it is important to use Ricochet Skull as much as you can when all of your other damage over time abilities are in effect, your primary goal is to keep those damage over time effects active as much as possible.
It is also worth mentioning that, in group content, you should be using Glacial Colossus. If you have other Necromancers in your group, or if your tank is wearing Turning Tide, it is useful to coordinate with them to get as much uptime on Major Vulnerability as possible, rather than wasting the debuff by using them at the same time.