ESO Arcanist Leveling Build – Ultimate Beginner Guide

Thinking about playing an Arcanist in The Elder Scrolls Online? This ESO Arcanist Leveling Build – Ultimate Beginner Guide is designed to help you. This Arcanist Beginner Guide offers a direct approach to efficient Arcanist leveling and maximizing the class’s potential right from the start.

This guide explains the unique Crux system, helps you choose between a Magicka or Stamina Arcanist build, and let’s you know optimal skills and gear for leveling. Our guide provides a clear, step-by-step leveling path from Level 1 to 50, preparing you for ESO end-game content and adventures beyond Level 50 in Tamriel.

If you have questions not covered here, consult the general New Player Beginner Guide or join the Discord where you will find a helpful community!

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction to the ESO Arcanist Class
   • What is the Arcanist in ESO?
   • The Crux System Explained: Arcanist’s Unique Combo Mechanic
2. Getting Started with Your ESO Arcanist
   • Creating Your ESO Character: Race, Class, and Alliance Choices
3. ESO Basics for New Players
4. Magicka vs. Stamina Arcanist: Which to Choose for Beginners
   • Magicka Arcanist Builds Explained
   • Stamina Arcanist Builds Explained
5. Common ESO Arcanist Beginner Mistakes to Avoid
6. Optimal ESO Arcanist Leveling Builds (Skills & Gear)
   • Core Arcanist Leveling Skills: Your Must-Haves
   • Recommended Beginner Arcanist Gear Sets (Easy to Get!)
7. Your ESO Arcanist Leveling Journey: A Step-by-Step Guide
   • Phase 1: First Steps for New Arcanists (Levels 1-5)
   • Phase 2: Unlocking Core Arcanist Powers (Levels 6-10)
   • Phase 3: Mastering Arcanist Combat Mechanics (Levels 11-15)
   • Phase 4: Power Leveling Your Arcanist (Levels 16-30)
   • Phase 5: Reaching ESO Level 50 & Champion Points (Levels 31-50 & Champion Points)
8. Conclusion & Your Arcanist Journey Ahead
   • Unlocking More Power: Advanced Skill Lines & Companions
   • Joining the Community: Guilds & Resources for Your Arcanist
9. Outfit Style & Fashion Showcase
10. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Introduction to the ESO Arcanist Class

Choosing an Arcanist in ESO is an excellent choice! The Arcanist is Elder Scrolls Online’s newest class, introduced with the Necrom chapter. Drawing power from Apocrypha, Hermaeus Mora’s realm, Arcanists wield forbidden knowledge and chaotic energies to devastate foes and support allies. They excel as damage dealers (DPS), tanks and healers, offering a truly unique gameplay experience.

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What is the Arcanist in ESO?

The Arcanist is a versatile class that excels in both damage dealing (DPS) and healing roles. While it can tank, dedicated tanking typically isn’t its strong suit for beginners. Its abilities are visually stunning, featuring green and black magical effects, tentacles, and runic symbols. What truly defines the Arcanist is its innovative Crux system.

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The Crux System Explained: Arcanist’s Unique Combo Mechanic

The Crux system is the core of the Arcanist’s gameplay. When you use certain Arcanist abilities, you generate Crux. You’ll see these as glowing, green triangular runes appearing around your character. Once you’ve generated Crux, you can then spend them by activating other Arcanist abilities that consume Crux. Spending Crux enhances the effect of these abilities, making them more powerful, dealing more damage, or providing stronger healing. You can save up to a maximum of three Crux.

Think of it like a combo system: build up resources with one set of skills, then unleash devastating power with another. Mastering Crux generation and consumption is key to playing an Arcanist effectively, whether you’re focusing on an Arcanist DPS build or an Arcanist healer build. This will make more sense to you as you play your Arcanist character.

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Arcanist Crux generators and consumers listed

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Arcanist Skills that generate Crux:

• Herald of the Tome
  • Cephaliarch’s Flail (morph of Abyssal Impact): Does damage and generates Crux.
  • Runeblades: Does damage and generates Crux.
  • Tome-Bearer’s Inspiration: Generates Crux if you have none.
• Curative Runeforms
  • Runemend: Heals and generates Crux.
  • Chakram of Destiny (morph of Chakram Shields): Creates a shield and generates Crux.
  • Apocryphal Gate: generates Crux each time you teleport.
• Soldier of Apocrypha
  • Cruxweaver Armor (morph of Fatewoven Armor): While active, when you’re damaged, creates a Crux.
  • Runic Jolt: Taunts the enemy and generates Crux.

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Arcanist Skills that Consume Crux:

• Herald of the Tome
  • Tentacular Dread (morph of Abyssal Impact): Consumes Crux to increase the base damage and Abyssal Ink strength.
  • Exhausting Fatecarver (morph of Fatecarver): Consuming Crux also increases the duration and snare strength.
• Curative Runeforms
  • Tidal Chakram (morph of Chakram Shields): Consumes Crux to heal based on the shield’s strength every second it persists.
  • Remedy Cascade: Consume Crux to also restore 728 Magicka and Stamina per Crux spent to your allies over 4.5 seconds.
• Soldier of Apocrypha
  • Unbreakable Fate (morph of Fatewoven Armor): Gain bonus Block Mitigation and consume Crux to increase the bonus.
  • Runespite Ward: Consume Crux to heal yourself

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Skills that are affected by the crux mechanic but do not consume or generate it themselves:

• Herald of the Tome
  • Fated Fortune passive: When you generate or consume Crux, increases your Critical Damage and Critical Healing by 12% for 7 seconds.
• Curative Runeforms
  • Healing Tides: Increases your healing done by 4% for each active Crux.
  • Hideous Clarity: When you generate Crux, you restore 225 Magicka and Stamina
• Soldier of Apocrypha
  • Implacable Outcome: When you consume Crux, gain 4 Ultimate

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Getting Started with Your ESO Arcanist

This section covers the initial decisions you’ll make when creating your character and some essential ESO basics for new players.

Creating Your ESO Character: Race, Class, and Alliance Choices

When you create your character, you’ll pick a race, your class (Arcanist, of course!) and your alliance. While your alliance primarily impacts PvP, your race choice does have an impact on your Arcanist’s effectiveness, especially for optimized Arcanist builds. Don’t stress too much about your choices, though! You’re free to play as you wish, and you can even change your race and alliance later by buying tokens from the Crown Store.

For a Magicka Arcanist, top racial choices include:

• High Elf (Altmer): Boosts Magicka and Spell Damage, plus offers damage reduction while channeling (great for Fatecarver) and better sustain.
• Dark Elf (Dunmer): Excellent for hybrid builds with bonuses to both Magicka and Stamina, plus Spell Damage. Very versatile.
• Khajiit: Massive boost to Critical Damage and Healing, making your hits and heals much stronger, with good resource recovery.
• Breton: Provides strong Magicka cost reduction and Spell Resistance, making them very resilient.

For a Stamina Arcanist, consider:

• Dark Elf (Dunmer): Perfect for hybrid play with bonuses to both Stamina and Magicka, plus Weapon Damage. Adaptable if you change build focus.
• Orc: Increases Stamina and Weapon Damage, offers self-healing in combat, and makes you faster for questing.
• Redguard: Unmatched Stamina recovery, letting you sustain your abilities longer.
• Khajiit: Significantly boosts your Critical Damage, leading to higher overall output, and provides helpful Stamina recovery.

Alliance Choice for your arcanist

When creating your ESO character, one of your first decisions is choosing your alliance, which determines who you fight for in Cyrodiil and your initial PvE zones. If you have friends who play ESO, you should ask them what alliance they belong to and choose the same one for your character. This way, you won’t end up fighting against them in the Cyrodiil zone.

• Aldmeri Dominion: Playable races include High Elf, Wood Elf, and Khajiit, beginning their journey in Khenarthi’s Roost.
• Daggerfall Covenant: Comprises Breton, Redguard, and Orc characters, starting in Stros M’Kai.
• Ebonheart Pact: Consists of Nord, Dark Elf, and Argonian adventurers, with their story commencing in Bleakrock Isle.

With the “Any Race, Any Alliance” upgrade available in the Crown Store, you won’t be restricting your race options to their respective alliances. You can always change your characters alliance later with the “Alliance Change Token” bought from the Crown Store.

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ESO Basics for New Players

If you’re brand new to The Elder Scrolls Online, there are a few fundamental concepts you’ll want to grasp. Understanding these will make your Arcanist leveling journey much smoother.

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Arcanist Fundamentals: Build & Power

• Attributes: When you level up, you’ll earn attribute points to put into Health, Magicka, or Stamina. Primarily invest your points into the resource your chosen Arcanist build relies on (either Magicka or Stamina). Health usually isn’t necessary to put many points into directly, as you can often gain enough from gear enchantments, food buffs, and passive skills. You can always change your attributes on a Rededication Shrine.
• Gear Types: Different gear types provide unique advantages for your Arcanist build. Feel free to combine different armor types for specific passive buffs, but be mindful of the penalties on Light and Heavy Armor.
  • Light Armor enhances Penetration and Critical Rating
  • Medium Armor boosts Critical Damage and Weapon & Spell Damage
  • Heavy Armor offers Resistances and Health.
    
• Weapons: Your weapon defines your Arcanist’s playstyle. As a beginner, don’t worry about “min-maxing” just yet (like why magic users might wield daggers later on). Simply pick your preferred combat style: do you want to be ranged with Staves or Bows, or melee with Dual Wield or Two-Handed weapons? Each has unique skills and passives.
• Mundus Stones: These offer permanent buffs. For Arcanist leveling, consider more speed from The Steed (10% speed and health recovery) or more damage from The Lover (penetration) or The Thief (critical strike rating).
• Food & Potions: Use food for long-lasting max resource buffs and potions for instant resource recovery and temporary stat boosts. Food is cheap, highly effective, and you can easily craft them or buy from guild stores. Avoid basic “white” quality consumables; instead, use the better quality “level up” food provided by the game.
• Skill Point Sources: You earn skill points from leveling up, completing main story quests, zone quests, public dungeon group challenges, finding Skyshards (3 = 1 skill point), and ranking up in PvP.

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Navigating Tamriel: Tips & Tools

• Wayshrines: These fast travel points across Tamriel allow quick, free travel between discovered locations, or a small fee to travel from anywhere.
• Using Home Tours and Houses to travel: You can use the in-game Home Tours feature or your own owned ESO houses to quickly and freely travel to any zone across Tamriel. Just port into an owned home and exit through the front door.
• Gold & Inventory Management: Gold is ESO’s primary currency. Sell unneeded items to vendors or deconstruct gear for crafting XP to manage your limited inventory, which can also be upgraded.
• Crafting: While not essential for leveling, crafting can provide useful gear and consumables. It’s there if you want to explore it later.

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Magicka vs. Stamina Arcanist: Which to Choose for Beginners

One of the first big decisions for your Arcanist is whether to focus on Magicka or Stamina. The primary distinction between Magicka and Stamina Arcanist builds in The Elder Scrolls Online lies in their main resource allocation. All ESO abilities and effects dynamically scale with your highest resource (either Magicka or Stamina). This means that even a Stamina Arcanist can use abilities that deal Magic Damage.

For beginners, playing as a damage dealer (whether Magicka or Stamina) is the most straightforward and fastest way to level up solo. Both types of Arcanist are potent damage dealers and also shine in support roles due to the buffs and debuffs they can provide.

Tank and Healer Builds for Arcanists:

• Magicka Healer
• Health Tank
• Healer One Bar Arcanist Build
• Tank One Bar Arcanist Build

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Magicka Arcanist Builds Explained

 

For an optimal Magicka Arcanist build, you’ll typically allocate all 64 of your attribute points into Magicka. This directly boosts your spell & weapon damage, the strength of your damage shields, making your Arcanist spellcasting incredibly potent. Your character’s consumed food will also align with your Magicka focus, providing buffs to your maximum Magicka. All your gear enchantments will correspond to your primary resource, so you’ll use Magicka enchants.

Magicka Arcanist Builds:

• Magicka Arcanist DPS [Max Damage]
• Solo Magicka Arcanist Build
• Vampire Arcanist Build
• Magicka Grind Build
• One Bar Arcanist DPS Build
• Werewolf Build
• Subclassing Arcanist Build
• Magicka Arcanist Build PVP

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Stamina Arcanist Builds Explained

 

When building a Stamina Arcanist, your goal is to maximize physical prowess and weapon attacks. You’ll allocate all 64 of your attribute points into Stamina, which primarily boosts your weapon & spell damage and the effectiveness of your abilities, leading to efficient Arcanist leveling and combat. Your gear enchantments will always correspond to your primary resource, so expect to use Stamina enchants on your armor.

Stamina Arcanist Builds:

• Stamina Arcanist DPS DW/2H [Max Damage]
• Stamina Arcanist DPS 2H/DW
• Stamina Arcanist DPS Bow/Bow
• Solo Stamina Arcanist Build
• Stamina Grind Build
• Stamina Arcanist Build PVP

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Common ESO Arcanist Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

Even experienced players make mistakes, so don’t fret if you stumble! However, knowing some common pitfalls can help you avoid frustration and level your Arcanist more efficiently. Steering clear of these will set you up for a much smoother ESO beginner experience.

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Optimizing Your Arcanist’s Power

• Ignoring the Crux System: This is probably the biggest mistake for any Arcanist beginner. If you’re not actively generating and spending Crux, you’re missing out on a massive amount of your Arcanist’s power. Keep in mind how your skills interact.
• Spreading Attribute Points Too Thinly: A common pitfall for new players is to distribute attribute points across Health, Magicka, and Stamina. For your Arcanist leveling build, you should allocate all 64 attribute points into either Magicka or Stamina. This directly boosts your primary resource, increasing your damage, healing, or shield effectiveness, as many Arcanist abilities dynamically scale with your highest resource.
• Ignoring Passives & Skill Line Leveling: Don’t just focus on active abilities. Many of your Arcanist’s most powerful buffs come from passive skills within your class lines, weapon lines, armor lines, and crucial guild lines. Make sure to put at least one skill from each line you want to level onto your active bar to gain experience for that line, even if you don’t use the skill often. This is vital for unlocking your Arcanist’s full potential.
• Not Upgrading Your Gear: Don’t hold onto low-level gear for too long. As you level up, quest rewards and drops will quickly become outdated. Either get crafted gear, or equip better gear as you find it, even if it’s just green quality.
• Ignoring Food & Potions: Food buffs (Max Health/Magicka/Stamina) and potions (restoring resources or granting buffs like increased damage) make a huge difference, especially during challenging fights. They’re cheap to acquire or craft and are crucial for sustain and boosting your Arcanist’s performance.
• Neglecting Core Combat Mechanics: ESO’s combat is dynamic. Beginners often overlook the importance of Light Attack weaving (combining Light Attacks with abilities for maximum damage and resource regeneration). Fundamental survival skills like blocking, dodging, and interrupting enemy telegraphs are also crucial, especially in harder content. For Arcanists, understanding how to quickly cancel channeled abilities like Fatecarver (by tapping block, dodging, or bar swapping) is vital for adapting to unexpected mechanics or emergencies.

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Smart Progression & World Engagement

• Not Doing Daily Dungeons: Once available, this offer huge experience bonuses for your first completion of the day. They are an excellent source for fast Arcanist leveling and are often overlooked by new players.
• Skipping Mount Training and Trait Research: Daily mount training is a long-term investment that significantly improves your mount’s speed, stamina, and carry capacity, making ESO exploration much faster. Similarly, trait research for crafting should be started as early as possible because it is time-gated and essential for creating powerful gear later on. These often-neglected activities provide massive long-term benefits.
• Skipping Key Guilds: ESO offers powerful skill lines from joining in-game guilds like the Mages Guild, Fighters Guild, and Undaunted. Arcanist beginners neglecting these means missing out on potent abilities, passives and valuable skill points.

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Optimal ESO Arcanist Leveling Builds (Skills & Gear)

For Arcanist leveling, there’s no need to stress about finding “perfect” gear; you’ll outgrow it quickly. Your main goal is to find sets that offer solid bonuses and are easy to acquire. Crafted sets with the Training trait are your best friend here, as you can ask a friend or guildmate to make them for you, or find them very cheaply at guild traders. Overland sets are also great as they drop in specific zones, making them predictable to farm.

Don’t worry about perfecting your gear until you reach Champion Points (CP 160). For now, focus on having gear with the Training trait which boosts your experience gain from kills.

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Core Arcanist Leveling Skills: Your Must-Haves

Regardless of whether you choose Magicka or Stamina, certain Arcanist skills are universally strong for leveling and great to have in case you ever want to switch roles.

Core skills from the Herald of the Tome skill line (DPS/Offensive)

TheHerald of the Tome skill-line for the Arcanist class is mostly focused on damage-dealing skills. With it, you manipulate arcane energies to bombard your foes with blasts, beams and more.

Herald of the Tome Skills

• The Unblinking Eye is your Arcanists damage ultimate. Morphing it into The Languid Eye increases the damage even more.
• Fatecarver is your Arcanist’s signature powerful channeled damage ability. It deals immense damage over time, and consumes all your Crux to become even stronger. Pragmatic Fatecarver morph adds a damage shield while you’re channeling, boosting your survivability, which is invaluable for solo Arcanist leveling.
• Runeblades is your primary Crux generator at lower levels and used as your main spammable skill until you unlock Cephaliarch’s Flail. Escalating Runeblades morph makes the final hit of the ability deal more damage.
• Abyssal Impact will be your main spammable when you unlock and morph it to  Cephaliarch’s Flail. Cephaliarch’s Flail morph acts as another Crux generator and heals you.
• Tome-Bearer’s Inspiration This skill gives you Major Brutality and Major Sorcery, when it is slotted on either bar (without even activating it). It also generates a Crux if you currently have none. Inspired Scholarship  morph increases the damage.
• The Imperfect Ring creates a powerful Damage-over-Time (DoT) on enemies and gives your allies a synergy they can activate for extra damage.  Fulminating Rune deals more damage.

Herald of the Tome Passives

• Fated Fortune Increases your Physical and Spell Penetration by 991 per Herald of the Tome ability slotted.
• Harnessed Quintessence passive. When you are restored Magicka or Stamina, increase your Weapon and Spell Damage by 284 for 10 seconds.
• Psychic Lesion passive increases damage dealt by Status Effects by 15% and Status Effect Chance by 55%.
• Splintered Secrets passive increases your Physical and Spell Penetration by 1240 per Herald of the Tome ability slotted.

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Core skills from the Soldier of Apocrypha skill line (Defense/Utility)

TheApocryphal Soldier skill-line for the Arcanist class is focused on a defensive playstyle. The Apocryphal Soldier skills are focused to protect the player and their allies with runes of magic. With skills like the Runeguard of Still Waters you can buff yourself and your party’s defensive capabilities.

Soldier of Apocrypha skills for tanking.

• Runic Jolt is a taunt that we do not use while leveling, but you should morph it to Runic Sunder in case you want to tank.
• Runic Defense when morphed into Runeguard of Still Waters provides Minor Resolve for the whole group in addition to giving you Minor Protection.
• Rune of the Colorless Pool applies Minor Vulnerability and Minor Brittle for 20 seconds increasing your groups damage

Soldier of Apocrypha Passives

• Circumvented Fate provides the Minor Evasion buff that reduces damage taken from AOE by 10%.
• Aegis of the Unseen grants 3271 armor while you have a Soldier of Apocrypha ability active.
• Wellspring of the Abyss helps with sustain by boosting Health, Magicka, and Stamina Recovery by 81 for each Soldier of Apocrypha ability slotted.

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Core skills from the Curative Runeforms skill line (Healing/Support)

TheCurative Runeforms skill-line for the Arcanist class is focused on restorative playstyle. The Curative Runeforms makes use of healing runes to heal yourself or your allies. You can also shield your allies from damage.

Curative Runeforms Skills

• Runemend is your primary self heal which also generates Crux. Morphing to Evolving Runemend increases the healing
• Apocryphal Gate can be used to move through terrain slightly faster.

Curative Runeforms Passives

• Intricate Runeforms passive reduces the cost and increases the strength of your damage shields by 10%.
• Healing Tides passive increases Healing Done per Crux by 2/4%
• Erudition passive increases Magicka and Stamina Recovery by 18%

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Recommended Beginner Arcanist Gear Sets (Easy to Get!)

For effective Arcanist leveling, don’t stress about finding “perfect” gear; you’ll quickly outgrow it. Your main goal is to find sets that offer solid bonuses and are easy to acquire. Crafted sets are your best friend here, as you can ask a friend or guildmate to make them for you, or find them very cheaply at guild traders.

For now, focus on these key principles:

• Prioritize the Training Trait: Always aim for the “Training” trait on your gear pieces while leveling. This trait significantly boosts your experience gains from kills, helping you level your Arcanist faster.
• Mix Armor Weights: To level all your armor skill lines (Light, Medium, Heavy) simultaneously and gain access to their useful passives later, try to wear at least one piece of each armor weight.
• Enchantments Matter: Remember to use enchantments that match your primary resource: Magicka enchantments for Magicka builds and Stamina enchantments for Stamina builds. You can acquire white Glyphs from Enchanters, craft them yourself, or purchase them from Guild Traders.

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Gear set for Magicka & Stamina Arcanist leveling

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Other gear sets to consider for Arcanist leveling

Ask a friendly guildmate for the crafted gear or simply search guild traders for these effective options:

Crafted gear

• Heartland Conqueror: This unique set greatly boosts the effectiveness of your weapon traits. If your weapon has the Training trait, this set makes you gain even more experience from kills, perfect for fast Arcanist leveling.
• Adept Rider: A great crafted set for leveling characters. Its 5-piece bonus grants you constant Major Expedition and Gallop, making you move faster both on foot and mounted. This extra speed is invaluable for quicker questing and travel, especially before your mount’s speed stats are fully trained.
• Order’s Wrath: This is a top-tier damage set for any Arcanist leveling build, whether you’re focusing on Magicka or Stamina. It provides excellent bonuses to Weapon and Spell Critical and Critical Damage.
• Willow’s Path: If you find yourself constantly running out of resources while leveling, this set is a great choice for increased sustain.
• Druid’s Braid: Can be used as one or two pieces to fill in empty slots, providing bonus Max Health and Max Magicka.

Overland gear (farm from zones or buy from guild traders)

• Briarheart (Stamina Arcanist): A fantastic Stamina damage set that also provides strong self-healing when you crit, making it incredibly effective for solo Arcanist leveling. It drops in Wrothgar.
• Mother’s Sorrow (Magicka Arcanist): A Magicka damage set providing a huge boost to Spell Critical, making your spells hit harder and more often. It drops in Deshaan.

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Your ESO Arcanist Leveling Journey: A Step-by-Step Guide

Welcome to Tamriel, new Arcanist! Embarking on your ESO Arcanist leveling journey can be an incredibly rewarding experience. This step-by-step guide is designed to help you efficiently power through levels, understand your Arcanist’s unique mechanics, and set you up for success. We’ll cover key milestones, essential tips, and common pitfalls to avoid, ensuring your Arcanist beginner experience is smooth and enjoyable.

We’ll guide you on leveling as a Damage Dealer (DD), but feel free to modify this approach as you prefer. The choices remain the same for both Stamina and Magicka Arcanists, as you’ll be utilizing the same skills and passives – simply focusing your main resource on either Stamina or Magicka.

Table of Contents for the Step-by-Step Guide

• Phase 1: First Steps for New Arcanists (Levels 1-5)
  • Arcanist Creation
  • Familiarize yourself with the in-game menus (User Interface/UI)
  • Attribute Allocation
  • How to Level Skills and Skill Lines
  • Skill Point Allocation for levels 1-5
  • Example Skill bar for levels 1-5
  • Gear & Armor Skill Lines
  • Mundus Stones
• Phase 2: Unlocking Core Arcanist Powers (Levels 6-10)
  • Understanding Crux
  • Skill Point Allocation for levels 6-10
  • Example Skill bar for levels 6-10
  • Crafting Foundation: Trait Research
  • Early Gear Sets
  • Consumables
• Phase 3: Mastering Arcanist Combat Mechanics (Levels 11-15)
  • Unlock Guild and Alliance Skill Lines
  • Unlock the Back Bar (level 15)
  • Skill Point Allocation for levels 11-15
  • Example Skill Bars for levels 11-15
  • Daily Dungeons & Battlegrounds
• Phase 4: Power Leveling Your Arcanist (Levels 16-30)
  • Gear
  • Skill Point Allocation for Levels 16-30
  • Example Skill Bars for Arcanist level 16-30
  • Experience Boosts
  • Grinding Spots
• Phase 5: Reaching ESO Level 50 & Champion Points (Levels 31-50 & Champion Points)
  • Skill Point Allocation for Levels 31-50
  • Example Skill Bars for Arcanist level 31-50
  • Champion Points (CP)
  • Gear Transition
  • Veteran Dungeons

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Phase 1: First Steps for New Arcanists (Levels 1-5)

In this introductory phase, we’ll guide you through the very basics of your journey. We’ll start with Arcanist Creation and help you familiarize yourself with the in-game menus. You’ll learn about decisions like Attribute Allocation, how to Level Skills and Skill Lines, and optimal Skill Point Allocation for levels 1-5. We’ll also provide an Example Skill bar for levels 1-5 and introduce you to the importance of Gear & Armor Skill Lines and the boons of Mundus Stones.

Notable 1-5 Level Up Rewards

• Level 3: Crown Fortifying Meal
• Level 5: Racial Skill Line Unlocks and you get the item set: Broken Soul (contains: Left Ring of the Broken Soul & Right Ring of the Broken Soul)

1. Phase 1: First Steps for New Arcanists (Levels 1-5)
   1. Arcanist Creation
   2. Familiarize yourself with the in-game menus (User Interface/UI)
   3. Attribute Allocation
   4. How to Level Skills and Skill Lines
   5. Skill Point Allocation for levels 1-5
   6. Example Skill bar for levels 1-5
   7. Gear & Armor Skill Lines
   8. Mundus Stones
2. Phase 2: Unlocking Core Arcanist Powers (Levels 6-10)
3. Phase 3: Mastering Arcanist Combat Mechanics (Levels 11-15)
4. Phase 4: Power Leveling Your Arcanist (Levels 16-30)
5. Phase 5: Reaching ESO Level 50 & Champion Points (Levels 31-50 & Champion Points)

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Creating your Arcanist

 

Your choices here will shape your initial journey through Tamriel, so let’s make them count!

• Class: Arcanist
• Race: Dark Elf racial passives offer bonuses to both Magicka and Stamina, making it incredibly easy to switch between a magicka-based or stamina-based Arcanist build down the line. This flexibility is perfect for exploring different playstyles as you learn the game.
• Alliance: With the “Any Race, Any Alliance” upgrade available in the Crown Store, your Alliance choice for your Arcanist is purely for roleplaying or to align with friends, as it only ever truly matters in the Cyrodiil PvP zone. Alliance can also be changed later with the Alliance Change token. Each alliance has their own starter zone:
  • Aldmeri Dominion: Starts in Khenarthi’s Roost.
  • Daggerfall Covenant: Starts in Stros M’Kai.
  • Ebonheart Pact: Starts in Bleakrock Isle.

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Attribute Allocation

Upon gaining levels, always stack all your attribute points into a single primary resource – either Magicka or Stamina. This is crucial as many of your Arcanist abilities scale with your highest resource. You can always change your attributes on a Rededication Shrine.

In this guide our Arcanist will be focusing on Stamina, so if you’re following along, put all your attribute points into Stamina.

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How to Level Skills and Skill Lines

It’s important to know that in ESO, skills level up simply by being slotted on your active skill bar. As long as an ability from a particular skill line is on your front or back bar, that entire skill line will gain experience when you earn XP. This means you can wield a Destruction Staff, but still level your Dual Wield skill line by having a Dual Wield ability slotted.

While most skill lines progress by simply slotting an ability and gaining experience, there are some exceptions:

• Fighters Guild: Levels up by killing Undead & Daedra enemies.
• Mages Guild: Levels up by gathering Lorebooks found throughout Tamriel.
• Undaunted: Level up by getting Dungeon Achievements, Dungeon & Trial Quests and doing Daily Pledges
• Werewolf: Levels up based on the number of monsters killed while in Werewolf form.
• Vampire: Levels up automatically with experience gained.

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Skill Point Allocation for levels 1-5

In these initial levels, focus on slotting at least one ability from each core Arcanist class skill lines to begin leveling them, alongside unlocking your chosen weapon skill line.

• Class Skill Lines: Put one skill point in one ability from each of the three Arcanist class skill lines onto your active skill bar.
  • Herald of the Tome
    • Runeblades – use this skill as your main spammable. Spamming means you just use the skill whenever you’re not using other skills.
  • Soldier of Apocrypha
    • Runic Jolt This is only for leveling, do not use it as it taunts the enemy to you
  • Curative Runeforms
    • Runemend This is your main heal
• World Skill Line
  • Soul Magic
    • Soul Trap is a nice early level damage skill that does not actually require a skill point.
• Weapon Skill Line: In this guide we are going to first use Dual Wield and then Destruction staff. Equip any one-handed weapon and get a kill with it to unlock its skill line.
  • Dual Wield
    • Flurry this is on the bar to level up dual wield faster.

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Example Skill bar for levels 1-5

1. Runeblades (Herald of the Tome)
2. Runic Jolt (Soldier of Apocrypha)
3. Runemend (Curative Runeforms)
4. Soul Trap (World – Soul Magic) Does not require a skill point
5. Flurry (Dual Wield)

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Gear & Armor Skill Lines

Equipping at least three pieces of armor of the same weight unlocks its corresponding skill line. Even if the skill line isn’t unlocked, wearing at least one piece of that armor type will still grant background experience to its skill line when you gain EXP.

Don’t worry about gear for the first few levels. Just equip anything new you find from quests or drops that has better stats.

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Mundus Stones

Mundus Stones in ESO (Elder Scrolls Online) give the player a permanent buff. The buff is visible on the characters stat sheet under “Active Buffs”. You can change your Mundus Stone whenever you want, all you have to do is find the correct Mundus Stone and activate it.

We recommend you pick up the The Lover mundus immediately as it is in your Alliances first “big” zone: Auridon, Stonefalls, Glenumbra and increases your damage by giving penetration. You can also port to another players guild house through the “Zone Guide” System and get The Steed (10% speed and health recovery) or any other mundus.

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Phase 2: Unlocking Core Arcanist Powers (Levels 6-10)

Phase 2 explains the cornerstone of your power: The Crux System.. In this part you will find Skill Point Allocation for levels 6-10 and an Example Skill bar you can use. This phase also introduces you to Trait Research, a time gated activity you should start early. We’ll also give an example Early Gear Set and discuss the role of Consumables for your adventures.

Notable 6-10 Level Up Rewards

• Level 6: 3 Soul Gems and a Crown Experience Scroll
• Level 10: Sorrel Horse (basic horse mount)

1. Phase 1: First Steps for New Arcanists (Levels 1-5) 
2. Phase 2: Unlocking Core Arcanist Powers (Levels 6-10)
   1. Skill Point Allocation for levels 6-10
   2. Example Skill bar for levels 6-10
   3. Crafting Foundation: Trait Research
   4. Early Gear Sets
   5. Consumables
3. Phase 3: Mastering Arcanist Combat Mechanics (Levels 11-15)
4. Phase 4: Power Leveling Your Arcanist (Levels 16-30)
5. Phase 5: Reaching ESO Level 50 & Champion Points (Levels 31-50 & Champion Points)

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Understanding Crux

 

This is where the Arcanist’s unique Crux system comes into play. You’ll see these as glowing, green triangular runes appearing around your character. Generate three Crux by casting Runeblades three times, then cast the  Fatecarver ability to consume them for increased damage. You can save up to a maximum of three Crux at a time.

You can refer to the Crux Generator and Consumer list earlier in this guide to see all skills that interact with Crux.

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Skill Point Allocation for levels 6-10

As your Arcanist progresses through these early levels we start to morph the skills we are using. We also remove the Soul Trap skill from the bar to make room for the Fatecarver skill.

• Class Skill Lines:
  • Herald of the Tome
    • Morph Runeblades to Escalating Runeblades to gain some Area-of-Effect (AOE) Damage.
    •  Fatecarver Unlock as soon as possible and use it to consume crux generated by your Runeblades skill.
  • Soldier of Apocrypha
    • Change Runic Jolt for Runespite Ward. This is only on the bar for leveling
  • Curative Runeforms
• Weapon Skill Line:
  • Dual Wield
    • Change Flurry to: Twin Slashes.

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Example Skill bar for levels 6-10

Once you unlock Fatecarver, you should start practicing the Arcanist rotation to get used to generating and consuming crux. Below is a simple example of how to cast these skills while leveling:

1. Cast Escalating Runeblades three times to create 3 crux, then consume the crux by casting  Fatecarver.

1. Escalating Runeblades (Herald of the Tome)
2. Runespite Ward (Soldier of Apocrypha)
3. Runemend (Curative Runeforms)
4. Fatecarver (Herald of the Tome)
5. Twin Slashes (Dual Wield)

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Crafting Foundation: Trait Research

Start trait research at crafting stations; it’s a time-gated process vital for future gear customization and crafting. Always deconstruct unwanted gear for crafting XP and materials. Each trait takes longer to research, so prioritize learning the following key traits for your Arcanist builds and ESO endgame gear.

Prioritize these traits while researching:

• All Armor: Divines, Training
• Weapons: Nirnhoned, Charged, Sharpened, Infused, Training
• Jewelry:Bloodthirsty

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Early Gear Sets

You can also choose to wear gear that drops from quests and enemies, just remember to prioritize the Training trait. Although we recommend you looking for crafted gear sets with the Training trait as these are your best friends for fast Arcanist XP. Ask a friendly guildmate or buy these sets from Guild Traders found in major cities. These sets usually come without enchants, but you can buy enchants from Enchanters near Mages Guilds, craft them yourself, or purchase them from other players.

Buy the following gear at level 10. On PC you can use ESO-Hub Trading page to find the gear, just be sure to filter by level!

Most importantly, ensure you have all different armor weights equipped: 3 Light, 3 Medium, and 1 Heavy.

• Chest: Order’s Wrath Light, Training, Stamina Enchant
• Belt: Order’s Wrath Light, Training, Stamina Enchant
• Shoes: Order’s Wrath Medium, Training, Stamina Enchant
• Pants: Order’s Wrath Heavy, Training, Stamina Enchant
• Hands: Order’s Wrath Light,  Training, Stamina Enchant
• Head: Druid’s Braid Medium, Training, Stamina Enchant
• Shoulder: Druid’s Braid Medium, Training, Stamina Enchant
• Necklace: Heartland Conqueror Robust, Reduce Feat Cost
• Ring: Heartland Conqueror Robust, Reduce Feat Cost
• Ring: Heartland Conqueror Robust, Reduce Feat Cost
• Weapons:
  • Two Lvl 10 Daggers: Heartland Conqueror Training, Glyph of Flame &  Glyph of Poison
  • Lvl 15 Fire Staff: Heartland Conqueror Training, Weapon Damage (this is ready to be equipped when you reach level 15)

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Consumables

Your best bet in the beginning is to check Guild Traders or ask other players for these foods. This is because foods found in the environment are not good, and you might not have all the materials to craft, even if you manage to find the recipes. Luckily, ESO has scaling foods you can use all the way from Level 1 up to Champion Point 160 (the gear cap).

Good foods to consider while leveling include:

• Witchmother’s Party Punch: No max stats but gives Health, Stamina and Magicka recovery, the cheap budget option for Arcanist Leveling.
• Jewels of Misrule: Max Health and both Stamina & Magicka Recoveries. Very nice, but expensive.
• Dubious Camoran Throne: Max Health, max Stamina and Stamina Recovery. Best for leveling a Stamina Arcanist, but quite pricey
• Witchmother’s Potent Brew: Max Health, max Magicka and Magicka Recovery. Great for leveling a Magicka Arcanist, mediocre price

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Phase 3: Mastering Arcanist Combat Mechanics (Levels 11-15)

Now that your Arcanist has a few abilities under its belt, it’s time to refine your combat prowess. This phase emphasizes mastering fundamental ESO combat mechanics that will significantly improve your effectiveness and survivability.

In Phase 3 you’ll learn how to Unlock Guild and Alliance Skill Lines and a new combat mechanic: the Back Bar and weapon swapping. As with other phases, you can check out our Skill Point Allocation for levels 11-15 and an example Skill Bar setup for levels 11-15. We will also introduce you to the Daily Dungeons & Battlegrounds.

Notable 11-15 Level Up Rewards

• Level 12: Crown Refreshing Drink and a Bag Space Upgrade
• Level 15: Weapon Swap and Choice of Weapons: Prophet’s Inferno Staff, Greatsword, Shield, Bow, Restoration Staff or Prophet’s Dagger

1. Phase 1: First Steps for New Arcanists (Levels 1-5) 
2. Phase 2: Unlocking Core Arcanist Powers (Levels 6-10)
3. Phase 3: Mastering Arcanist Combat Mechanics (Levels 11-15)
   1. Unlock Guild and Alliance Skill Lines
   2. Unlock the Back Bar (level 15)
   3. Skill Point Allocation for levels 11-15
   4. Example Skill Bars for levels 11-15
   5. Daily Dungeons & Battlegrounds
4. Phase 4: Power Leveling Your Arcanist (Levels 16-30)
5. Phase 5: Reaching ESO Level 50 & Champion Points (Levels 31-50 & Champion Points)

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Unlock Guild and Alliance Skill Lines

Guild Skill Lines should be unlocked even though we do not use them much while leveling. This way they ready to use if you choose so. All guild skill lines will gain levels retroactively if you pick them up later except you will miss the Fighters guild XP you would’ve gotten from killing undead & Daedra.

• Mages Guild: To level up Undaunted you need to complete dungeons and do Daily Pledges.
• Fighter’s Guild: To level up the Fighters Guild you need to kill Undead, Daedra, or destroy Dolmens.
• Undaunted Guild: To level up Undaunted you need to complete dungeons and do Daily Pledges.

1. Port to the campaign through the Alliance War Campaign UI (default bind is L on PC).
2. Finish your alliances introduction quest that will not take you to any activate PvP areas.

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Unlock the Back Bar (level 15)

At level 15, your Arcanist gains an important combat mechanic: weapon swapping, often called unlocking your “back bar”. This allows you to equip a second weapon and a completely separate set of five skills and an ultimate ability. With a quick press of your designated weapon swap key (which is usually the middle mouse button by default), you can instantly switch between your two loaded weapon sets and skill bars.

Equip a Fire type Destruction Staff as your back bar weapon. There are three different kind of destruction staves to choose from: Inferno Staff for single-target damage, Lightning Staff for Area-of-Effect (AoE) damage, or Ice Staff for defensive utility.

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Skill Point Allocation for levels 11-15

Effectively allocating your skill points is crucial for powering up your Arcanist as you level. While you’ll gain many skill points through questing, Skyshard hunting, and public dungeons, prioritizing these abilities and passives early on will boost your effectiveness.

• Class Skill Lines:
  • Herald of the Tome
    • The Unblinking Eye is your best damage ultimate to use.
    • Fated Fortune increases your critical damage/healing when you generate or consume crux.
  • Soldier of Apocrypha
    • nothing for now
  • Curative Runeforms
    • Morph Runemend into Evolving Runemend
• Weapon Skill Line:
  • Dual Wield
    • Morph your Twin Slashes to Rending Slashes. You can also morph to Blood Craze if you feel like you need more healing.
  • Destruction Staff:
    • Force Shock is only on the bar for leveling Destruction Staff.
    • Wall of Elements Damage skill that stays on the ground for 10 seconds.
• Racial Skill Line:
  • • Invest a skill point to the Dynamic passive at level 5. This increases your max Magicka and Stamina.
• Alliance War Skill Line
  • Assault
    • Vigor is an extremely good self-heal
    • Continuous Attack passive increases your mounts speed by 15% at all times.

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Example Skill Bars for levels 11-15

At levels 11-15, as you start to fill out your skill bars, you’ll notice our key leveling strategy: slotting skills you won’t even be able to use. This is an efficient way to level up specific abilities or entire skill lines faster. Simply having these skills on your active bar grants them experience when you earn XP. At level 11, we will also quickly visit Cyrodiil to gain some really skill points without PvP and unlock the Alliance War Skill Lines.

Start practicing weapon swapping by casting a couple of skills from your back bar, then generate Crux, and finally consume it with an empowered ability. Below is a simple rotation to introduce you to how a two-bar rotation on Arcanist will work.

1. Start with your back bar: Cast Wall of Elements, then Soul Trap.
2. Next Swap to your front bar: Cast Escalating Runeblades three times to create 3 crux, then consume the crux by casting Fatecarver.

1. Escalating Runeblades (Herald of the Tome)
2. Runespite Ward (Soldier of Apocrypha)
3. Vigor (Assault)
4. Fatecarver (Herald of the Tome)
5. Force Shock (Destruction Staff)
6. Ultimate: The Unblinking Eye (Herald of the Tome)

1. Soul Trap (World > Soul Magic)
2. Rending Slashes (Dual Wield)
3. Evolving Runemend (Curative Runeforms)
4. Wall of Elements (Destruction Staff)
5. Runic Jolt (Soldier of Apocrypha)
6. Ultimate: The Unblinking Eye (Herald of the Tome)

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Daily Dungeons & Battlegrounds

At level 10, the Dungeon Finder and Battleground Finder unlock. Completing a random dungeon or battleground once per day provides a massive XP boost for your character.

• Daily Random Normal Dungeon. Do this once a day as the first time you do it per day per character gives you bonus EXP. Each dungeon will also have a quest and completing the quest will give you EXP and a skill point. If you have joined the Undaunted Guild, the quest gives you also Undaunted points.
  1. Open Group (P)
  2. Set your role – tank, healer or damage dealer
  3. Open Dungeon Finder from the menu on the left
  4. Make sure Random Normal Dungeon is selected from the top right hand corner.
  5. Click Join Queue
• Daily ESO Battlegrounds. Do this once a day or until you are at least in the second place as that gives you the daily bonus EXP. This also increases your Alliance War rank. If you plan to play a support role, increasing rank to 6 is useful, as it opens many skills useful in support roles. At rank 4 you open Purge and War Horn skills. At rank 6 you open Barrier. Also, Caltrops open at rank 6. Advisable even if you don’t plan on doing any PVP.

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Phase 4: Power Leveling Your Arcanist (Levels 16-30)

Phase 4 showcases faster ways to level up your Arcanist. While we encourage you to enjoy Tamriel at your own pace, this section has information for those who want to level up a bit faster. As usual, we have a guide for Skill Point Allocation for Levels 16-30 and example skill bars.

Notable 16-30 Level Up Rewards

• Level 16: Bank Space Upgrade and a Choice of Tier 2 Crafting Materials
• Level 18: “Room To Spare” Housing Brochure and Storage Coffer, Fortified
• Level 20: A Crown Crate and a choice of costumes: Lion Guard Knight, Covenant Scout or Mages Guild Formal Robes
• Level 24: A choice of pets: Abecean Ratter Cat or Alik’r Dune-Hound
• Level 29: A Choice of Riding Lesson: Capacity, Speed or Stamina

1. Phase 1: First Steps for New Arcanists (Levels 1-5) 
2. Phase 2: Unlocking Core Arcanist Powers (Levels 6-10)
3. Phase 3: Mastering Arcanist Combat Mechanics (Levels 11-15)
4. Phase 4: Power Leveling Your Arcanist (Levels 16-30)
   1. Gear
   2. Skill Point Allocation for Levels 16-30
   3. Example Skill Bars for Arcanist level 16-30
   4. Experience Boosts
   5. Grinding Spots
5. Phase 5: Reaching ESO Level 50 & Champion Points (Levels 31-50 & Champion Points)

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Gear for levels 16-30

Buy the same Order’s Wrath, Druid’s Braid and Heartland Conqueror sets at level 20 & 40 that we mentioned in the Early Gear Sets section. You can also buy higher level gear whenever you feel like you are not doing enough damage, or just want an upgrade. Weapons have the biggest effect on your damage, so you can upgrade them more often.

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Skill Point Allocation for Levels 16-30

By now you should will have plenty of skill points to start putting into more passives as well. If you feel like you’re missing Skill Points, you should focus on getting more Skyshards or go to a rededication shrine to remove points from skills we do not use anymore like Runic Jolt.

• Class Skill Lines:
  • Herald of the Tome
    • Morph The Unblinking Eye to The Languid Eye for more damage.
    • Unlock Abyssal Impact when it becomes available and replace Escalating Runeblades on the front bar. Morph into Cephaliarch’s Flail at the first possibility as the base morph does not generate crux.
    • Morph Fatecarver into Pragmatic Fatecarver. This gives us a damage absorb shield while channeling.
    • Add another point to the Fated Fortune passive.
  • Soldier of Apocrypha
    • Unlock Fatewoven Armor and replace Runespite Ward on the front bar. We are moving Runespite Ward to the back bar.
    • Add points to the Wellspring of the Abyss when it is at rank 14. This gives your character more recovery since we have Runespite Ward slotted on our front bar.
  • Curative Runeforms
    • Unlock Vitalizing Glyphic and add it to your front bar.
    • Invest points into the Hideous Clarity passive. This means whenever you generate Crux, you restore Magicka and Stamina.
• Weapon Skill Line:
  • Dual Wield
    • Unlock Blade Cloak and put on your front bar, replacing Vigor.
  • Destruction Staff:
    • Morph Wall of Elements to Elemental Blockade. This increases the size and duration of the wall.
• Armor Skill Lines:
  • Medium Armor
    • Keep investing skill points to the Dexterity passive.
    • Skip theImproved Sneak Passive completely unless you’re planning on making a stealthy character.
  • Light Armor
    • Add points to Evocation for reduced magicka cost on skills
• Racial Skill Line:
  • Spend skill points on the Dynamic passive at levels 15 and 30.
  • Spend 1 skill point in Ruination at level 25. This increases your Weapon and Spell Damage.
• Alliance War Skill Line
  • Assault
    • We are now dropping Vigor, but you can keep it in your backbar if you feel like you need it. If you plan to use Vigor, use the Resolving Vigor morph.

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Example Skill Bars for Arcanist level 16-30

Our goal is to level up as many skill lines as possible while still having good damage and excellent survivability. You can feel free to change the order of skills to fit your fingers, or change the skills altogether if you prefer something else.

With this setup, once you unlock Abyssal Impact you will use Escalating Runeblades from the back bar until Abyssal Impact can be morphed. This is because Abyssal Impact does not generate crux. You can also just ignore the crux mechanic and use the second rotation from the start if you feel that’s easier.

1. Rotation before Abyssal Impact is morphed for maximum crux generation:

1. Start with your back bar: Cast Elemental Blockade, then Escalating Runeblades three times.
2. Swap to your front bar: Cast  Pragmatic Fatecarver then  Blade Cloak
3. Repeat the rotation, and use The Languid Eye ultimate whenever it is ready!

2. Rotation with Cephaliarch’s Flail:

1. Start with your back bar: Cast Elemental Blockade
2. Swap to your front bar: Cast Blade Cloak then Cephaliarch’s Flail three times (for 3 crux) and then finish with the   Pragmatic Fatecarver
3. Repeat the rotation, and use The Languid Eye ultimate whenever it is ready!

1. Cephaliarch’s Flail (Herald of the Tome)
2. Fatewoven Armor (Soldier of Apocrypha)
3. Blade Cloak (Dual Wield)
4. Pragmatic Fatecarver (Herald of the Tome)
5. Force Shock (Destruction Staff) Feel free to replace this with skills that you want to level up.
6. Ultimate: Vitalizing Glyphic (Curative Runeforms)

1. Escalating Runeblades (Herald of the Tome)
2. Rending Slashes (Dual Wield)
3. Evolving Runemend (Curative Runeforms)
4. Elemental Blockade (Destruction Staff)
5. Runespite Ward (Soldier of Apocrypha)
6. Ultimate: The Languid Eye (Herald of the Tome)

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Experience Boosts

To maximize your fast XP gains, you can use Experience Scrolls or Ambrosia Drinks while adventuring.  The training trait we’ve chosen already helps a ton, but you can also craft or buy these  consumables. If you decide to use Ambrosias, note that their length can be boosted with the Connoisseur Provisioning Passive.

• Crown Experience Scrolls 50%, 100%, 150%.
• Psijic Ambrosia 50%.
• Aetherial Ambrosia 100%.
• Mythic Aetherial Ambrosia 150%.

You can check a list of all Experience Boost on our Maximising XP Gains part of the Subclass Guide

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Grinding Spots

While power leveling is efficient, don’t forget to enjoy the rich story and exploration ESO offers. You can consider visiting Dolmens (incursions) for easy group grinding and experience. Public Dungeons are also great, as defeating their group event bosses grants skill points.

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Phase 5: Reaching ESO Level 50 & Champion Points (Levels 31-50 & Champion Points)

Congratulations, Arcanist, you’re on the home stretch to max level! This phase of your journey, covering levels 31-50 and the introduction to Champion Points, is where your character truly begins to shine. We’ll showcase Skill Point Allocation for Levels 31-50, and provide Example Skill Bars for Arcanist levels 31-50. You’ll find a short break down of the the Champion Points (CP) system that unlocks after level 50. We’ll also cover what gear you should be looking into and how to prepare for Veteran Dungeons, your first taste of Elder Scrolls Online’s harder content.

Notable 16-30 Level Up Rewards

• Level 40: Outfit Change Token and Ragged Style Box which includes the Prisoner Style
• Level 43: Attribute Respecification Scroll and Skill Respecification Scroll
• Level 45: An Undaunted Enclave Invitation and 1 Undaunted Key
• Level 47: 50 Transmute Crystals
• Level 49: Crown Experience Scroll
• Level 50: 10,000 Gold and a Crown Crate

1. Phase 1: First Steps for New Arcanists (Levels 1-5) 
2. Phase 2: Unlocking Core Arcanist Powers (Levels 6-10)
3. Phase 3: Mastering Arcanist Combat Mechanics (Levels 11-15)
4. Phase 4: Power Leveling Your Arcanist (Levels 16-30)
5. Phase 5: Reaching ESO Level 50 & Champion Points (Levels 31-50 & Champion Points)
   1. Skill Point Allocation for Levels 31-50
   2. Example Skill Bars for Arcanist level 31-50
   3. Champion Points (CP)
   4. Gear Transition
   5. Veteran Dungeons

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Skill Point Allocation for levels 31-50 and beyond!

In this section we will list all the useful skills and passives your Arcanist will benefit from and you can work towards all the way from level 31 to CP levels! We also have a scribing skill called Banner Bearer on our list and our skill bar, but you can use the two slots it takes for leveling skills until you get Banner Bearer. Scribing can be claimed from the Crown Store for free once you have reached level 30.

• Class Skill Lines:
  • Herald of the Tome
    • The Languid Eye (morph of The Unblinking Eye) Increasing AOE Damage and a snare
    • Pragmatic Fatecarver (morph of Fatecarver) You main damage skill that also has a damage shield.
    • Cephaliarch’s Flail (morph of Abyssal Impact) Damage and crux generation
    • Inspired Scholarship (morph of Tome-Bearer’s Inspiration) Gives you Major Brutality and Major Sorcery, generates crux if you have none and does damage.
    • Fulminating Rune (morph of The Imperfect Ring) Deals damage over time and gives your allies a synergy that does damage.
    • Fated Fortune Increases your Critical Damage and Critical Healing when you generate or consume Crux.
    • Harnessed Quintessence When you are restored Magicka or Stamina, increase your Weapon and Spell Damage for 10 seconds.
    • Psychic Lesion With a Herald of the Tome Ability Slotted increases damage dealt by Status Effects by 15% and Status Effect Chance by 55%.
    • Splintered Secrets Increases your Physical and Spell Penetration by 1240 per Herald of the Tome ability slotted.
  • Soldier of Apocrypha
    • Circumvented Fate Casting an Arcanist ability grants you and your group members Minor Evasion for 20 seconds reducing damage from area attacks by 10%.
    • Implacable Outcome When you consume Crux, gain 4 Ultimate.
  • Curative Runeforms
    • Hideous Clarity When you generate Crux, you restore Magicka and Stamina.
    • Erudition Increases your Magicka and Stamina Recovery.
• Weapon Skill Line:
  • Dual Wield
    • Quick Cloak (morph of Blade Cloak) Does Damage, applies Major Evasion reducing damage from area attacks by 20% and a short Major Expedition speed buff.
    • Slaughter Increases damage with Dual Wield abilities by 20% against enemies with under 25% Health.
    • Dual Wield Expert Increases Weapon and Spell Damage by 6% of off-hand weapon’s damage.
    • Controlled Fury Reduces the Stamina cost of Dual Wield abilities by 15%.
    • Ruffian Gives you a 15% damage bonus when attacking stunned, immobilized, or silenced enemies.
    • Twin Blade and Blunt Grants a bonus based on the type of weapon equipped: Each axe increases your Critical Damage done by 6%. Each mace increases your Offensive Penetration by 1487. Each sword increases your Weapon and Spell Damage by 129. Each dagger increases your Critical Chance rating by 657.
  • Destruction Staff:
    • Elemental Blockade (morph of Wall of Elements) Damage skill that stays on the ground for 18 seconds.
    • Elemental Rage (morph of Elemental Storm) Damage over time ultimate on a large area. Fiery Rage increases the damage by 15%. Icy Rage immobilizes enemies hit for 3 seconds. Thunderous Rage increases the duration by 2 seconds.
    • Penetrating Magic With Destruction Staff Equipped Your Destruction Staff abilities ignore 2974 of the enemy’s Spell Resistance.
    • Elemental Force With Destruction Staff Equipped Increases your chance to apply status effects by 100%.
    • Ancient Knowledge With Destruction Staff Equipped Inferno Staves increases your damage done with damage over time and Status Effects by 12%. Lightning Staves increases your damage done with direct damage and channeled effects by 12%. Equipping an Ice Staff reduces the cost of blocking by 36% and increases the amount of damage you block by 20%.
    • Destruction Expert With Destruction Staff Equipped When you kill an enemy with a Destruction Staff ability, you restore 3600 Magicka. When you absorb damage using a Destruction Staff Damage Shield, you restore 1800 Magicka. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds.
• Guild Skill Lines
  • Fighter’s Guild
    • Camouflaged Hunter (morph of Expert Hunter) While slotted you gain Major Savagery and Prophecy, increasing your Weapon and Spell Critical rating While slotted. You also gain Minor Berserk for 5 seconds after dealing Critical Damage from an enemy’s flank.
    • Barbed Trap (morph of Trap Beast) Does damage and grants you Minor Force, increasing your Critical Damage by 10% and always applies the Hemorrhaging status effect.
    • Flawless Dawnbreaker (morph of Dawnbreaker) Used on the front bar for the Fighter’s Guild Passives.
    • Slayer Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage by 3% for each Fighters Guild ability slotted.
    • Banish the Wicked With a Fighter’s Guild Ability slotted: You generate 3 Ultimate whenever you kill an enemy.
    • Skilled Tracker Your Fighters Guild abilities deal an additional 10% damage. This bonus doubles against player Vampires and Werewolves.
  • Undaunted Guild
    • Undaunted Command Activating a synergy restores 4% of your Max Health, Stamina, and Magicka. Health 480 Stamina, and 480 Magicka.
    • Undaunted Mettle Increases your Max Health, Stamina, and Magicka by 2% per type of Armor (Heavy, Medium, Light) that you have equipped
• Armor Skill Lines:
  • Medium Armor
    • Dexterity Increases your Critical Damage and Healing done rating by 2% for every piece of Medium Armor equipped.
    • Wind Walker Increases your Stamina Recovery by 4% per piece of Medium Armor equipped. Reduces the Stamina cost of your abilities by 2% per piece of Medium Armor equipped.
    •  Agility Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage by 2% for each piece of Medium Armor worn.
    • Athletics Increases the Movement Speed bonus of Sprint by 3% for each piece of Medium Armor equipped. Reduces the cost of Roll Dodge by 4% for each piece of Medium Armor equipped.
  • Light Armor
    • Evocation Increases your Magicka Recovery by 4% for each piece of Light Armor equipped. Reduces the Magicka cost of your abilities by 2% for each piece of Light Armor equipped.
    • Spell Warding Increases your Spell Resistance by 726 for each piece of Light Armor equipped.
    • Prodigy Increases your Weapon and Spell Critical rating by 219 for each piece of Light Armor equipped.
    • Concentration Increases your Physical and Spell Penetration by 939 for each piece of Light Armor worn.
  • Heavy Armor
    • Resolve Increases your Physical and Spell Resistance by 343 for each piece of Heavy Armor equipped.
    • Constitution Increases your Health Recovery by 4% for each piece of Heavy Armor equipped. You restore 108 Magicka and Stamina when you take damage for each piece of Heavy Armor equipped.
    • Juggernaut Increases your Max Health by 2% for each piece of Heavy Armor equipped.
    • Rapid Mending Increases your healing received by 1% for each piece of Heavy Armor worn.
• Racial Skill Line:
  • • Dynamic Increases your Max Magicka and Max Stamina by 1910.
    • Resist Flame Increases your Flame Resistance by 4620.
    • Ruination Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage by 258.
• Alliance War Skill Line
  • Assault
    • Resolving Vigor (morph of Vigor) Heals you for 5388 Health over 5 seconds. After casting you gain Minor Resolve, increasing your Physical and Spell Resistance by 2974, for 20 seconds.
    • Anti-Cavalry Caltrops (morph of Caltrops) deals 281 Physical Damage every 1 second to enemies inside, and reducing their Movement Speed by 50%.
    • Continuous Attack
• Scribing
  •  Shocking Banner (scripts used:  Shock Damage,  Arcanist Class Mastery,  Savagery and Prophecy)

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Example Skill Bars for levels 31-50 and beyond

This will show an example skill bar for level 50 that you can use to solo and do group content with! We recommend you level up all skills to their morphing phase and all arcanist skill lines to rank 50, so they’re ready to use if you ever need them. Use the two slots that the Banner Bearer Scribing skill takes to level up skills until you have gotten Banner Bearer.

The first example Beginner Arcanist rotation rotation will stay the same while you level up skills, generating crux with Cephaliarch’s Flail and consuming it with Pragmatic Fatecarver. The final Arcanist skill setup uses more Pragmatic Fatecarver and less Cephaliarch’s Flail due to gaining crux from Inspired Scholarship and Banner Bearer. It is basically the same, you just get extra free Crux on top.

When you are comfortable with a rotation (either one below or your own), start adding light attacks between skills, this ensures you gain ultimate and increases your damage. You can read more about Weaving in our Weaving Beginner Guide.

1. Leveling Setup: Example Rotation without Banner:
   1. Before Combat: Cast Quick Cloak and  Inspired Scholarship
   2. Start on your back bar: Cast Elemental Blockade, then cast Fulminating Rune.
   3. Swap to your front bar: Cast Cephaliarch’s Flail three times, cast Pragmatic Fatecarver then Cephaliarch’s Flail two-three times, then Pragmatic Fatecarver again.
   4. Swap to your back bar: Cast Elemental Blockade, then cast Fulminating Rune then Inspired Scholarship
   5. Swap to your front bar: cast Cephaliarch’s Flail three times, then Quick Cloak then Pragmatic Fatecarver
   6. Use your Languid Eye ultimate whenever you are on the back bar and it is ready. Repeat this rotation until your enemies are dead!
2. Final Setup: Example rotation with Banner:
   1. Before Combat: Activate  Shocking Banner by pressing it once, cast Quick Cloak and  Inspired Scholarship
   2. Start on your back bar: Cast Elemental Blockade, then cast Fulminating Rune.
   3. Swap to your front bar: Cast Cephaliarch’s Flail twice, cast Pragmatic Fatecarver then Cephaliarch’s Flail once, then Pragmatic Fatecarver again.
   4. Swap to your back bar: Cast Elemental Blockade, then cast Fulminating Rune then Inspired Scholarship
   5. Swap to your front bar: cast Cephaliarch’s Flail once, then Quick Cloak then Pragmatic Fatecarver
   6. Use your Languid Eye ultimate whenever you are on the back bar and it is ready. Repeat this rotation until your enemies are dead!

1. Banner Bearer (Scribing) <- You can slot a skill from the skill allocation list until you have access to this
2. Cephaliarch’s Flail (Herald of the Tome)
3. Quick Cloak (Dual Wield)
4. Pragmatic Fatecarver (Herald of the Tome)
5. Camoflaged Hunter (Fighter’s Guild)
6. Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker (Fighter’s Guild)

1. Banner Bearer (Scribing) <- You can slot a skill from the skill allocation list until you have access to this
2. Inspired Scholarship (Herald of the Tome)
3. Fulminating Rune (Herald of the Tome)
4. Elemental Blockade (Destruction Staff)
5. Resolving Vigor (Assault) <- This is a “flex” skill, meaning you can slot anything you need in it.
6. Ultimate: The Languid Eye (Herald of the Tome)

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Champion Points (CP)

Once you hit Level 50, you’ll start earning Champion Points. These are account-wide progression points that unlock powerful passive bonuses. Don’t worry too much about optimizing them during leveling; just put them into the nodes you like.

We recommend you put at least some points into the green Steed’s Blessing cp to gain movement speed and Discipline Artisan Champion Point Passive to gain extra xp to currently active skills and their skill lines.

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Veteran Dungeons

We feel it’s important to mention that Veteran Dungeons unlock at CP Level 10, but we highly recommend waiting until you are at least CP 160 (the gear cap) before entering. This ensures that any gear that drops, will be useful to you.

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Conclusion & Your Arcanist Journey Ahead

Congratulations on reaching the end of this Arcanist beginner guide! You’ve learned the essential steps to level your Arcanist efficiently, understand its unique Crux system, choose your primary resource, and equip yourself for success. Remember, reaching Level 50 and CP 160 is just the beginning of your adventure in Tamriel.

The Elder Scrolls Online offers a vast world to explore, challenging content to conquer, and endless ways to customize your character. Keep experimenting with your Arcanist’s skills, delve into different content, and don’t be afraid to try new builds. Your Arcanist journey is uniquely yours, so have fun exploring every facet of this powerful class!

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Unlocking More Power: Advanced Skill Lines & Companions

As your Arcanist grows in power, new ways of customization and strength open up beyond your class and weapon skills. This section will guide you through acquiring potent advanced skill lines and introducing you to the Companions.

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Alchemy Profession

One of the best reasons to level your Alchemy skill line, even if you don’t plan to craft regularly, is the Medicinal Use passive. This passive increases the duration of all potions you consume, not just those you craft. At max rank (3/3), Medicinal Use extends potion duration by 30%.

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Scribing System

The Scribing system in ESO is a base game feature and closely tied to the Mages Guild. It enables players to collect, build, and customize unique skills—called Scribed Skills—to diversify combat and support roles. For Arcanists, it has the  Banner Bearer Grimoire which, when used with The  Arcanist Class Mastery script, generates crux every 5 seconds.

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Psijic Order Skill Line

The Psijic Order skill line offers some useful abilities, but it’s truly worth unlocking just for the ability to see Psijic Portals in every zone. These portals contain motifs, set pieces, and other valuable goodies specific to the zone you discover them in.

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Antiquities: Mythics

The Antiquities system, introduced with the Greymoor chapter, allows you to scry for and excavate powerful ancient artifacts across Tamriel. While this system involves a bit of a mini-game, it’s the primary way to acquire Mythic items. Good mythics for your arcanist include the Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet, Mora’s Whispers, Ring of the Pale Order and Ring of the Wild Hunt.

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Companions

If you own the Blackwood, High Isle, Necrom, or Gold Road chapters, you can unlock Companions. These AI allies fight alongside you, providing extra damage, healing, or tanking. Leveling them and their gear can boost your solo (role)play. Find out more in our “ESO Companions Guide.”

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Joining the Community: Guilds & Resources for Your Arcanist

ESO has a fantastic community. Getting involved can greatly enhance your experience.

• Guilds: Join a social guild, a trading guild, or a PvE/PvP guild through the in-game Guild Finder. They offer support, advice, access to crafters, and a great way to find groups for dungeons and trials.
• Online Resources: Websites like ESO-Hub, and AlcastHQ offer a wealth of information on builds, mechanics, and game updates.
• Discord: Various communities in Discords (like our own Community Discord!) are excellent places to ask questions, find groups, and stay updated on the game.

We hope this ESO Arcanist Beginner Guide has set you on the path to becoming a formidable force in Tamriel. Enjoy your adventures with your Arcanist!

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Outfit Style & Fashion Showcase

If you would like to replicate the Outfit I use for my Arcanist Damage Dealer in ESO, here is all the info you will need!

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Is the Arcanist good for beginners?

A: Yes, absolutely! The Arcanist is very beginner-friendly. Its Crux system is easy to learn, and both Magicka and Stamina Arcanist builds offer strong damage and good survivability for solo play and group content.

Q: What is the best race for an Arcanist?

A: For a Magicka Arcanist, High Elf or Breton are top choices. For a Stamina Arcanist, Redguard or Orc excel. Dark Elf is a versatile choice if you’re unsure which path you’ll take.

Q: Should I go Magicka or Stamina for my Arcanist?

A: For general leveling and new players, Magicka Arcanists are often slightly easier due to their ranged playstyle and strong AoE. However, Stamina Arcanists are equally powerful and rewarding if you prefer melee or bow combat. Choose the playstyle that appeals most to you!

Q: How do I get more skill points for my Arcanist?

A: You earn skill points from leveling up, completing main story quests, completing zone quests, doing public dungeon group events, finding Skyshards(3 Skyshards = 1 skill point), and ranking up in PvP.

Q: What gear should I use while leveling my Arcanist?

A: Prioritize gear with the “Training” trait to maximize XP gain. For set bonuses, focus on easy-to-get crafted sets like Orders Wrath, Hunding’s Rage, or Julian’s Favor, or accessible overland sets like Law of Kynareth or Mother’s Sorrow. Don’t worry about perfect gear until you reach Champion Point 160.

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We hope this ESO Arcanist Beginner Guide was helpful for your Arcanist leveling and mastering the Crux system! If you have any further questions about your ESO Arcanist or want to connect with our community, join our Community Partner Discord. Your adventure awaits!

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Related Guides:

 

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