Dragonknight Stamina TANK build

A complete, datamined-and-cited tank build for Dragonknight. Every gear and skill choice links to the exact game data; the role-level choices follow our published theorycraft rules.

Meta #2 · #2 TANK across 19 sampled endgame encounters Tier 3 — meta-validated data retrieved 2026-06-11 · datamined via UESP

Gear · 5pc A + 5pc B + (1 mythic + 1 monster piece) OR (2pc monster set)

Slot	Set	Trait	Enchant
Front bar weapon	Turning Tide	Infused	Weapon Damage / elemental glyph
Back bar weapon	Maelstrom/arena weapon that amplifies a slotted DoT	Infused	Weapon Damage glyph (boosts back-bar DoTs)
Head	Archdruid Devyric	Sturdy/Reinforced/Infused	Max Health
Shoulder	Turning Tide	Sturdy/Reinforced/Infused	Max Health
Chest	Umbral Edge	Heavy	Max Health
Hands	Umbral Edge	Sturdy/Reinforced/Infused	Max Health
Waist	Umbral Edge	Sturdy/Reinforced/Infused	Max Health
Legs	Umbral Edge	Heavy	Max Health
Feet	Umbral Edge	Sturdy/Reinforced/Infused	Max Health
Necklace	The Saint and the Seducer	Robust/Triune	Recovery/Reduce block cost (Idenko)/Bracing
Ring 1	Turning Tide	Robust/Triune	Recovery/Reduce block cost (Idenko)/Bracing
Ring 2	Turning Tide	Robust/Triune	Recovery/Reduce block cost (Idenko)/Bracing

Skills

Front bar (damage / spammable)

Pierce Armor — 1350 Stamina · buff · direct · taunt
Fire Keeper — 0 Magicka · buff · dot · heal
Cauterize — 4050 Magicka · buff · dot · heal
Molten Whip — 1148 Magicka,1148 Stamina · direct
Chains of Devastation — 3780 Magicka · buff · direct

Ultimate:

Shifting Standard — 200 Ultimate · buff · dot · heal

Back bar (DoTs / buffs / setup)

Blood of the Elder Dragon — 4320 Magicka · buff · heal
Disintegrating Dragonfire — 2984 Stamina · buff · dot
Heart of Flame — 3510 Magicka · dot · heal
Searing Claw — 2295 Stamina · dot
Burning Talons — 3510 Magicka · dot

Ultimate:

Ferocious Leap — 125 Ultimate · direct · heal

Buffs & debuffs this build provides

Auto-detected from the chosen sets & morphs (the coverage model). Each links to every source in the game.

Major Berserk Major Breach Major Courage Major Defile Major Evasion Major Force Major Fortitude Major Prophecy Major Resolve Major Vulnerability Minor Breach Minor Brittle Minor Courage Minor Cowardice Minor Fortitude Minor Heroism Minor Maim Minor Vulnerability

Setup

Race

Nord/Imperial/Argonian

Mundus

Lord/Atronach/Lady

Food

Bewitched Sugar Skulls

Potion

tri-stat / Heroism (ult gen)

Attributes

Magicka 20, Health 20, Stamina 24

Vampire

Stage 3 optional (Undeath ~30% dmg reduction at low HP)

Champion Points CP cited from datamined cp2 tree

Four slottable stars per tree (the build's priority). Each links to its datamined star page with the exact per-stage value; ✓ confirms it's slottable in the current CP tree.

Warfare

Ironclad ✓ slottable
Duelist's Rebuff ✓ slottable
Enduring Resolve ✓ slottable
Unassailable ✓ slottable

Fitness

Boundless Vitality ✓ slottable
Fortified ✓ slottable
Bracing Anchor ✓ slottable
Ward Master ✓ slottable

Craft

Steed's Blessing ✓ slottable
Gifted Rider ✓ slottable
War Mount ✓ slottable
Master Gatherer ✓ slottable

The numbers to hit (build toward, never past)

Penetration → 18,200 — 4-man dungeon & 12-man trial boss armor. Build TOWARD minus group-supplied Major Breach/Crusher. Past it is wasted. Overland = 9100.
Crit chance — 21,912 rating = 100%.
Crit damage — caps at 125% (base 50%). This drives the Thief↔Shadow mundus choice: Thief when crit% < 53.53 × crit-damage(decimal), else Shadow.