Welcome heroes of Tamriel! I’m Kalamon and like many of you, when I was first starting out in ESO I looked up build guides for my character. But like most guides, they often included items that aren’t so easily acquired for a new or novice player. I’m literally no stranger here, having just recently shared my Grave Lord Warden build that included all of the above (now updated with Novice and Advanced setups).

If you’d prefer to watch rather than read, the YouTube video embedded below covers the same topics – albeit without the handy links.

So what exactly are you supposed to do before you can get your hands on arena weapons, Mythics or trial gear as a fresh level 50? The good news is that you don’t need a perfect endgame build to contribute to group content and there are a number of strong sets that you can collect on your own to get started. In this guide I’ll share my 8 favorite starter DPS sets, what makes them solid choices, and how to add them to your collection. Then I’ll share how you can take your starter build to the next level.

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8 Great Starter DPS Sets You Can Farm (or craft) Solo in ESO

Let’s start with these solo-farmable sets that work great early on and occasionally make appearances in endgame builds as well. You can collect these early then swap them out for more powerful sets later on. I’ll be focusing on overworld sets and craftable sets as you can farm them or craft them yourself, buy them from other players via guild traders, or trade with friends. While some of these sets are sourced from DLC zones, you are not required to own that DLC to equip them.

Overland sets like many mentioned below are collected from bosses in the zone they are found in. Delve bosses drop the waist and feet, world bosses drop head, chest, legs and weapons, public dungeon bosses drop shoulders, hands and weapons, and then jewelry comes from either world events, trials, quests or treasure chests. Every zone has 3 overland sets which share a loot table, but the drops are curated, so if you bind them along the way, you won’t get a duplicate until you’ve completed the entire collection for the zone.

Briarheart (Medium)

A personal favorite of mine that is a solid early game choice for pure DPS builds that also gets reused in many solo builds for the passive healing. Briarheart is an overland set from Wrothgar and is usually my top pick for beginner Stamina DPS builds because of the combo of bonus damage and passive healing from the 5pc bonus.

Swamp Raider (Medium)

This stamina-centric set is a great option for builds that deal primarily poison and disease damage. Even though this one comes from the base game zone of Shadowfen, it has made its way into many of my warden builds over the years because so many Warden skills deal poison or disease damage. Now that I’m subclassing Grave Lord, even MORE of my kit would benefit from the 5pc bonus of Swamp Raider. I’ve recently reincorporated this one into my endgame build. And if you’re using mostly poison and disease skills, this may be a forever set for you.

Back-Alley Gourmand (Light)

A light armor set that provides universally useful set bonuses including a 13% bonus to crit damage and healing with the 5pc bonus. Sourced from Galen, Back-Alley Gourmand is a strong contender, so long as you are using a food buff and not a drink buff which is a very easy requirement to meet.

War Maiden (Light)

The magicka equivalent of Swamp Raider, this Vvardenfell set is great for builds that deal primarily magic damage as the 5pc bonus provides a significant buff. Magic damage is not the same as Flame, Frost or Lightning though, you’ll need to be using skills that specifically deal ‘magic’ damage. Templar, Nightblade, and Arcanist all have a large number of ‘magic damage’ skill morphs, making this a decent pick for early game. Magic Damage Skills

Macabre Vintage (Medium)

This newer set from the West Weald is an incredibly fun set that is decent for bleed builds, so long as you’re killing enemies on the regular. This can be excellent when you’re farming solo, or in lower tier group content where things are dying pretty fast, but it is situational, and you might not be able to trigger the 5pc explosion consistently in group content.

Deadly Strike (Medium)

Arguably one of the most ‘meta’ sets around right now. Deadly Strike is an excellent choice for any ‘beam’ build out there as it increases the damage your DOTs and channeled abilities do by 15%. This one comes from Cyrodiil, and random pieces can be purchased from the Bruma merchant. OR you can just buy what you need off guild traders if you’re allergic to PvP. Despite being sourced from a PvP zone, Deadly Strike has been a top tier set for years now and may be a forever set for Arcanists and Templars.

Order’s Wrath (Crafted – 3 Traits)

introduced in High Isle, Order’s Wrath was the go-to crafted set for DPS until very recently. It’s still the best crafted set for DPS in many cases offering a flat 8% bonus to Crit Damage and Healing with its 5 piece bonus. Crafted sets require you to have researched a certain number of traits in order to craft each piece of it. Order’s Wrath requires 3 traits, which makes it fairly accessible to new players. If you don’t have access to High Isle, you can still craft this set at an attuned crafting station – typically available in player guild halls. If you haven’t done the research to craft it yourself, or you just don’t enjoy crafting, you should also be able to find what you need on guild traders.

Tide-Born Wildstalker (Crafted – 5 Traits)

A brand-new set introduced with Western Solstice, Tide-Born Wildstalker is another very solid crafted set that is great in any build that deals heavy direct damage. So, if your build is DOT heavy, this one isn’t for you. Keep in mind that channeled abilities are considered direct damage, not damage over time, so this one does buff skills like Fatecarver. As with any crafted set, both Order’s Wrath and Tide-Born Wildstalker can be crafted at any armor weight. Which makes them good options if you need specific pieces in specific weights.

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Creating a Novice DPS Build Using These Easy-to-farm Sets

If you are working on a new Stamina DPS character, I’d consider pairing Briarheart, Swamp Raider or Macabre Vintage with crafted Order’s Wrath or Tide-Born Wildstalker. For Magicka DPS I’d grab Back-Alley Gourmand, War Maiden or Deadly Strike paired with one of the crafted sets. You can also mix and match the overland sets if that’s your preference. I regularly pair Briarheart with Swamp Raider on new stamina characters. I’ve put together a little table with recommended pairings in my Best Sets for New ESO Players sheet, but here’s a snapshot preview.

Some things to keep in mind for DPS in ESO in 2025. Most sets do come in a predefined weight, light, medium or heavy. Historically, medium armor bonuses were more ideal for stamina damage dealers but currently, medium sets are often preferred by all DPS because the passive bonuses they convey are easier to build around at endgame. Notably, light armor provides a passive bonus to offensive penetration per piece worn while medium provides a more useful bonus to crit damage. Since it’s easier to hit the penetration cap – that light armor bonus might go to waste. Of course, if you are not playing in an optimized group, or your particular build will benefit more from the other light armor passives, this is less relevant. And at the end of the day, a minor redundancy like a bit of over-penetration is not a big deal. But this is why you’ll see many builds either avoid light armor sets altogether or use weapons and jewelry from the light armor set to save their armor slots for medium armor and the passive bonuses medium provides.

One other important note, in ESO the waist piece contributes the least to armor rating, so if you do need to slot 1 piece of light armor, that’s the place to do it. For solo builds If I need to slot a heavy armor piece, I will try to put it in the chest slot, since that contributes the most to armor rating.

Finally, it’s worth noting that Divines is typically the recommended armor traits for DPS. However, Infused can be just as good on Chest, Legs & Head armor since the larger enchantment boost will benefit more from infused while Divines grants the same bonus on all pieces. If you are looking to buy some of these sets from other players, you will pay a premium for Divines – but keep in mind you can always transmute or reconstruct them later with the correct trait, so don’t worry too much about getting all divines on these starter sets right away.

When I was starting out, I often went for Infused on the Chest, Legs & Head, Divines on the others when I could get it, or Invigorating/Well-fitted when I needed to save some coin. No one expects you to have perfectly traited gear the day you hit CP 160.

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Upgrading Your ESO Build with Monster Sets & Arena Weapons

Once you’re comfortable and ready to take your build to the next level, it’s time to consider adding a monster set and maybe an arena weapon. Monster sets should slot nicely into your starter build alongside the two 5-piece sets since you have 12 item slots to work with, so a 5-5-2 build can be accommodated. But, if you’re using a two-bar build, you can also slot an arena weapon on the backbar to benefit from its set bonuses before switching back to the frontbar.

Monster Sets

There are dozens of monster sets in the game today and they all offer a 1pc bonus and a 2pc bonus. This makes them the perfect complement to two 5pc sets. You will need to venture into veteran dungeons to collect monster sets, but you are guaranteed a monster headpiece drop from the final boss of a veteran dungeon. Shoulders are purchased with undaunted keys at the undaunted camps. The base game veteran dungeons are all relatively easy and if you’ve already put together a decent build with 2 of the starter sets, we covered earlier, you should be well equipped for the challenge at CP 160.

Personally, I’m a big fan of Selene’s monster set because it’s perfectly on-theme for my warden, even though the range is a little short. You will also see a ton of builds recommending Slimecraw which is primarily because the 1pc bonus of Slimecraw used to be more powerful than all the other monster sets, but this is still a decent option if you don’t have another source of Minor Berserk. Maw of the Infernal is great for Daedric Summoning builds and I’ve always been partial to Sellistrix for stamina builds if you need a bit more range than Selene’s offers. But there are too many options to cover here, and your choice may be more dependent on your build. A word of warning though, there is a significant jump in difficulty from veteran base game dungeons to veteran DLC dungeons. If you’re new and inexperienced, I do not recommend queuing for veteran DLC dungeons or even using the random Vet queue if you’re ESO+. But base game vets like Fungal Grotto or Selene’s Web are much more accessible for newly minted cp 160 characters.

Arena Weapons

Thunderous Volley, Merciless Charge, & Crushing Wall – You’ve almost certainly seen these in builds, possibly just referred to as the Maelstrom Bow, 2-hand, or Destro Staff. Sourced from the Maelstrom Arena in Wrothgar, they also come in a perfected version that offers an extra line of stats, but the normal versions are perfectly fine to start with. Since these weapons are bound on pickup, you will need to farm them yourself, which means you will need to have access to Orsinium and Wrothgar and be able to clear the arena. You can farm them during an ESO+ trial though if you don’t want to pay for ESO+ or buy Orsinium. The reason these weapons are coveted is because they buff specific weapon skills that can keep ticking and reapplying the weapon’s enchantment. You’ll want to get your hands on an infused version of your preferred Maelstrom two-handed weapon, enchant it with the Weapon or Spell damage enchant, and then slot the appropriate weapon skill, Volley, Critical Charge, or Wall of Elements on your backbar. Now, when you cast that skill, it will be empowered by the Arena Weapon, and as long as the ground effect is hitting an enemy, it will refresh the Weapon or Spell damage enchant every 5 seconds.

Now, you don’t need a Maelstrom weapon to pull this off, but the Maelstrom weapons typically provide a boost to the overall DPS from these skills that most two-bar builds rely on.

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Reaching Your Endgame Build Goals in ESO with Mythics & Trial Sets

Now for the final pieces of the puzzle. If you’ve reached this point, you should have a specific build in mind that you are working towards. Most endgame builds incorporate a mythic item and trial set, but not all. It is entirely possible in ESO to output high quality DPS without incorporating endgame gear, but most builds you find online will be using them.

Mythics

Mythic items offer a powerful 1pc bonus and are sourced exclusively through the antiquity system. Mythics are also bound on pickup, so they cannot be purchased or traded. In order to get a Mythic item, you will need to level up the Scrying and Excavation skill lines to the appropriate level, farm the 5 leads associated with the Mythic and then dig up the pieces. Depending on the Mythic, and your RNG luck, this can be a relatively quick endeavor, or excruciatingly painful. I personally use the Velothi-Ur Amulet in many of my builds because it minimizes the penalty for imperfect light-attack weaving. The Oakensoul Ring is another popular mythic because it can simplify your rotation by limiting you to a single skill bar while granting you a bevy of buffs. But there are many other great mythic items too! If you want to incorporate one into your build, you will typically give up the 2pc bonus from your monster set. Leaving you with 2 5pc bonuses, a 1 pc bonus from the remaining monster piece, and the new 1pc bonus from the mythic item (5-5-1-1).

Trial Sets

And finally, we come to Trial sets – the final potential upgrade to your gear in ESO. All trial sets offer a unique 3pc bonus that is a 5% boost to damage in dungeons, arenas, and trials. In addition, trial sets’ 5-piece bonuses often offer more raw power than non-trial sets, AND most trial sets have a perfected version that has an extra line of stats on them. For these reasons, most endgame builds will include 1 trial set in addition to 1 mythic, 1 Maelstrom Arena weapon on the backbar and 1 non-trial set.

Trial sets are typically tradeable to groupmates for a couple of hours after they drop. So, if you want to collect Slivers of the Null Arca, Whorl of the Depths, or Arms of Relequen, you’ll need to complete the associated trial and then either loot the pieces yourself, or trade for them with your group. With the escalation in raw power we’ve seen in ESO over the past few years, normal difficulty trials are more accessible than ever, and many guilds have removed any and all requirements to tag along for a guild trial run. Veteran trials still present a meaningful challenge for many groups though, so collecting the perfected versions will likely represent a final tier of gear for your build. But if you are using a build that calls for trial gear, find yourself a decent guild and sign up for their next trial night.

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The bottom line? You don’t need a perfect build to get into group content. Many of the starter sets this guide covers can be used to dish out some serious damage with the right skills. A Deadly Strike / Tide-Born Wildstalker beam build in the right hands could certainly outperform my Grave Lord Warden build. So, if you’re building towards an endgame build, you can use these sets to help you get there.

I do hope this guide has been helpful to you! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to hop over to my Discord and ask the community. Also be sure to check out my YouTube channel for more ESO guides and tutorials!