Magicka Warden DPS Build
Magicka Warden DPS builds are surprisingly potent if they are built correctly. With easy access to potent damage modifiers, powerful buffs and debuffs and both sustained and burst damage on top of some great backup survivability options, Magicka Wardens tick all the boxes of a great DPS class, but are a little tricky to master.
Gear Sets
Draugrkin's Grip: This is quickly becoming one of my favourite sets. Despite being unconventional, on this build it is perfect, and will easily carry you to my personal record of 116K DPS!
Perfected Arms of Relequen: You can get this one from Cloudrest, and it offers a really massive boost to DPS. If you can't do trials yet, then Aegis Caller from Unhallowed Grave is a great option.
Master's Staff: Part of this unique build's approach, you can get this from Dragonstar Arena. This weapon is absolutely essential to this build's performance, and will allow you to deal tremendous DPS.
Maelstrom Staff: Every Magicka DPS benefits greatly from this weapon, and Wardens are no exception. You can get this from Maelstrom Arena, and while the perfected version is best, the normal one will do fine until you can upgrade it.
Skills
Cutting Dive: Primarily used for its bleed damage over time effect. While Cutting Dive is usually used as a spammable, on this build your spammable will be Frost Reach.
Subterranean Assault: Your main source of burst damage. Try to keep this active at all times, but be careful not to recast it too early, or you will miss out on the burst of damage.
Fetcher Infection: A great source of damage over time that also provides the valuable Minor Vulnerability debuff.
Frost Reach: This is the central part of this build. It applies Chilled to the enemy along with a DoT and up-front damage, while also activating the Master's staff, boosting spell damage by a massive amount for a short duration. Use this as your spammable, and as often as possible.
Barbed Trap: Your source of Minor Force; try to keep this up at all times to ensure that nice boost to your DPS stays active.
Eternal Guardian: One of the strongest ultimates in the game on account of its passive extra damage between ultimate activations. You need this on both bars to keep the bear active.
Unstable Wall of Fire: This deals huge damage with the Maelstrom Staff. You can switch to an ice staff if you prefer, but you may have trouble sustaining your Magicka as this skill is more expensive on a frost staff.
Winter's Revenge: A great source of damage over time in a decent area with a high chance of applying the Chilled status effect.
Arctic Blast: Another great source of area damage based at your location. Try to keep this up as much as possible.
Degeneration: This is your source of Major Sorcery, and it is important that you keep this up at all times.
Elemental Susceptibility: Combined with Draugrkin's Grip and the Warden's extra damage from the Chilled status effect, this is an excellent skill for damage.
Eternal Guardian: One of the strongest ultimates in the game on account of its passive extra damage between ultimate activations. You need this on both bars to keep the bear active.+
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 Warden DPS builds are a ton of fun to play, and this one in particular is incredibly powerful, pulling some of the highest DPS currently obtainable. However, our approach to this one is challenging, and will redesign how you look at standard rotations.
While the build doesn't run a set static rotation, you do have a routine. The first thing to remember is that Subterranean Assault is one of your main sources of damage, and you should focus on reapplying this every time its second burst pops, and not a moment sooner or you will miss out on that burst of damage.
The next thing to remember is that your spammable is going to be Destructive Reach. This is an unconventional one, since it doesn't typically deal that much damage, but on a Warden using an ice staff, it will deal insane damage every time, and will activate the Master's staff as well. For that reason, you should try to use this once every four seconds where possible, and spam it when all your other damage over time effects are active.
This is a high-pressure, high-performance DPS build that will not only deal tremendous DPS, but also provide consistent uptime on some of the best debuffs you can get.