ESO DPS Guide: How to Increase Your Damage in The Elder Scrolls Online

In The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO), your ability to deal damage is one of the most important aspects of gameplay. Whether you focus on PvE or PvP, DPS (damage per second) determines how efficiently you defeat enemies, contribute to your group, and perform in high-pressure combat situations. In group content such as dungeons, trials, arenas, and even large-scale PvP battles, high DPS not only helps clear enemies faster but also reduces incoming damage by shortening the length of encounters.

However, increasing your DPS in ESO is not as simple as equipping a strong weapon or picking a specific skill. Every piece of your build matters, including class selection, race choice, gear optimization, rotation mastery, champion points, buffs, debuffs,ESO Gold and resource management. This guide breaks down the most important factors that influence your damage output and offers practical tips to help you increase DPS and stand out as a strong damage dealer.

Choose the Right Class for Your Playstyle

While every class in ESO is capable of dealing high damage, some are easier to optimize than others. Classes like the Nightblade, Sorcerer, and Arcanist are known for strong burst and sustained damage, while the Templar, Necromancer, and Warden bring a mix of offense and utility.

The best class for DPS ultimately depends on your preferred playstyle. Nightblades excel at single-target damage with strong execute abilities. Sorcerers offer high sustained damage and reliable lightning-based AoE. Dragonknights perform well in melee combat with strong DoTs and burst windows. Arcanists benefit from powerful beam abilities and consistent resource sustain.

When choosing a class, focus on one that feels comfortable. Comfort leads to better execution, and better execution leads to higher DPS.

Understand the Impact of Race on DPS

Race plays a significant role in your overall DPS because racial passives provide bonuses to weapon or spell damage, maximum resources, and resource recovery. High-performing DPS races include Dark Elf, High Elf, Khajiit, and Orc.

Dark Elves offer strong hybrid stat bonuses that benefit both magicka and stamina damage dealers. High Elves gain increased elemental damage and sustain, making them ideal for magicka builds. Khajiits have critical damage bonuses that shine in optimized trial groups. Orcs benefit stamina builds with increased weapon damage and movement speed, which also helps in PvP.

While races do matter, they do not determine everything. Switching to a high-DPS race can give a noticeable bump, but mastering rotation and gear usually creates a far greater improvement.

Gear Optimization Matters More Than Almost Anything Else

Gear is one of the biggest contributors to your DPS. Running outdated sets or mixing non-synergistic gear pieces can dramatically lower your performance. To improve DPS, focus on the following:

Use two five-piece sets plus a monster set.

This ensures that you maximize bonuses and synergies.

Choose sets that match your class strengths.

Examples include Pillar of Nirn, Whorl of the Depths, Deadly Strike, Pillar of Nirn, Ansuul's Torment, and Relequen for stamina builds or Bahsei's Mania and Siroria for magicka builds.

Upgrade your gear quality.

Purple gear is fine for normal content, but gold gear provides a noticeable DPS boost, especially on weapons.

Use the correct traits.

For example, Infused on the front bar weapon and Nirnhoned on the back bar helps maximize damage. For armor, use Divines with the Lover or Thief mundus for most builds.

Slot the correct enchantments.

Weapon damage glyphs, flame/shock damage glyphs, and resource enchantments all influence your damage output.

Keep a balanced mix of medium or light armor depending on your build type.

Medium armor boosts stamina DPS, while light armor increases magicka penetration and sustain.

Using your Elder Scrolls Online Gold wisely to acquire or upgrade gear is a smart investment for long-term DPS improvement.

Mastering Your Rotation Is Essential

Even with the best gear, your DPS will suffer without a proper rotation. Rotations in ESO involve maintaining DoTs, casting spammable abilities, weaving light attacks, and using ultimates strategically.

A strong rotation requires:

Maintaining DoTs

Damage-over-time skills make up a large portion of DPS and must be reapplied consistently before they expire.

Light attack weaving

Light attacking between every skill cast increases DPS dramatically. This technique may take time to master, but it is one of the most impactful ways to improve performance.

Managing buff windows

Keeping major and minor buffs up at all times is crucial. Using skills such as Barbed Trap, Flames of Oblivion, or class-specific buffs ensures maximum uptime.

Using ultimates efficiently

Some ultimates should be used as often as possible, while others are best saved for burn phases or boss mechanics.

Practice your rotation on a training dummy to track improvements. Rotations should feel smooth and predictable, with minimal downtime between abilities.

Champion Points: A Hidden Source of Massive Power

The Champion Point (CP) system offers powerful passives that directly increase damage. Focus on the Warfare tree first, slotting stars such as Deadly Aim, Biting Aura, Thaumaturge, and Master-at-Arms. These boost direct damage, AoE damage, and DoT effectiveness.

Next, allocate CP into stamina or magicka sustain passives to keep your rotation steady in long fights. Well-balanced CP distribution improves DPS consistency in both solo and group content.

Buffs, Debuffs, and Synergies

Penetration is one of the most important stats in the game. Group composition affects your DPS potential significantly. Tanks and supporters apply major and minor debuffs such as Major Breach or Minor Cowardice to reduce enemy resistances, allowing DPS players to hit harder.

Using synergies like Shards, Orbs, and Alkosh also boosts overall group damage.

When optimizing DPS, understand that your personal performance increases as your group becomes more coordinated.

Sustain and Resource Management

DPS drops instantly when you run out of resources. Sustain management includes using the right food, potions, gear bonuses, and passives. Mixing cost-reductions, recovery stats, and sustain abilities ensures you can keep your rotation flowing without pauses.

In long fights, weaving heavy attacks during downtime can restore stamina or magicka without significantly lowering DPS.

Final Thoughts
Improving your DPS in ESO requires combining the right class, race, gear, rotation, champion points, and sustain methods. With practice and smart use of your Elder Scrolls Online Gold and resources, you can steadily increase your damage output across all types of content. Whether you're tackling veteran trials, clearing dungeons, or competing in high-level PvP, these strategies will help you push your performance to the next level.

Fine-tune your build, practice your rotation, and embrace the challenge of becoming one of the top DPS players in The Elder Scrolls Online.