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Our latest featured ESOTU player build is the Infernal Dragon. This Dragonknight build mixes hard-hitting front-line area-of-effect damage, fiery damage-over-time abilities, and powerful supportive shields to keep you—and your allies—in the battle longer.
Welcome back to the Battlemaster's Corner, where we feature character builds devised by you, the ESOTU community! In this article, you'll meet the Infernal Dragon. Between its high multi-target damage output, raw survivability, and group support, this Dragonknight build is a blazing force to be reckoned with. The secret is a strategic balance of Destruction and Restoration Staff abilities coupled with Dragonknight class abilities. If you're looking for a versatile new build to try out on your Dragonknight, try out the Infernal Dragon!
We always enjoy receiving your character builds and seeing all the creative ways you combine abilities. If you have a character build you'd like to see in a future Battlemaster's Corner, please it to us at community@elderscrollsonline.com. Don't forget to include a handful of nice screenshots of your character for us to choose from!
The Infernal Dragon
Storm the planes as dragonfire incarnate!
Scorched earth and hot ash mark the passage of my Imperial Dragonknight, who focuses her incredible talents to rain blazing infernos on everything in her path. Relentless as a force of nature, she feeds on the vital life forces of her foes while inundating them with waves of searing heat. In the midst of her fiery carnage, she also enhances herself and allies with mystical protections to ensure complete domination.
Infernal Dragons utilize the innate toughness and fire enhancing abilities of the Dragonknight to become a fearsome area damage dealer. Yet she has much more to offer than just deadly force—the Infernal Dragon can also use her draconic power to encase allies in multiple layers of protective shells. By melding Support and DPS roles, this blazing siren quickly becomes the bane—and boon—of any battlefield.
OFFENSIVE BAR: DESTRUCTION SKILLS
Inferno Staff – Hardening Enchant/Precise Trait – The Magicka absorb and extra flame damage from the Hardening/Precise combo synergize well for obvious reasons. I also chose the Hardening enchantment to compliment my many-layered shields from the support bar. (†)
Dragon Blood (Green Dragon Blood) – This skill is survival on tap. Every Dragonknight should have this apex self-heal slotted as #1. Being a high-aggro caster who fights at melee range, I need a fast and powerful pop-heal to get through some of the really tough battles.
Fiery Breath (Engulfing Flames) – Exhale a bout of fiery death like a true dragon! Aside from just looking awesome, the real benefit of Engulfing Flames is its high powered damage-over-time that causes victims to take extra damage from fire while active. This does well to ramp up the damage of all my other attacks.
Inhale (Draw Essence) – Siphon Health from up to three enemies followed by wide area damage with Magicka return. This skill really does wonders for sustaining valuable resources. Deep Breath is also a good morph, but I didn't find the stun hitting often enough, and Draw Essence synergizes better with my other Magicka- and Health-leech abilities.
Ash Cloud (Eruption) – I went with Eruption here after comparing it to Blockade. Eruption, in contrast, has five times the duration and damage per cast and is three times cheaper. Its damage-over-time is sure to get plenty of attention—plus being targetable really helps.
Impulse (Fire Ring) – This ability is pure incineration. I went with Elemental Ring (Fire Ring with an Inferno Staff) because you can count on the damage-over-time to deal its damage versus bosses and players where Pulsar is not as reliable. Substitute in the new Flames of Oblivion (Inferno morph) to conserve Magicka and for the Spell and Weapon Crit buffs, though it comes at the cost of burst damage potential.
Ultimate – Dragonknight Standard (Standard of Might) – This is easily the best Dragonknight ability in the game. It provides you with wide area damage, enemy healing is halved, you deal more damage and take less damage, and it comes with a potent synergy. This is pure gold right here.
An Infernal Dragon must be able to protect herself or she will die quickly among pools of dissipating flame. High area damage centered on the caster means you have to withstand a lot of attention. There's no easy cherry picking from the sidelines here—this Dragonknight stays up-close and personal all the time. The key to survival is to always stay mobile while using wards and shields to outlast one's foes. The support bar is how she becomes the hardened core of this raging fire storm.
SUPPORT BAR: PROTECTION SKILLS
Restoration Staff – Absorb Magicka Enchant/Infused Trait – The Absorb Magicka enchantment boosts the already impressive Magicka drain of the Restoration Staff's heavy attacks to charge up mana quicker.
Steadfast Ward (Healing Ward) – This little bubble of life can go a long way to ensuring your victory. Cast it multiple times to chain quick heals on your target in emergencies. By combining this with other shields, I've been able to keep groupmates alive through intense fights we otherwise couldn't survive. (†)
Obsidian Shield (Fragmented Shield) – This is a fantastic group-buff damage shield with great duration. I went with the Fragmented morph because I'm a killer, not a healer. This helps to increase group survival and provides a bit more pain to anyone dumb enough to get near me. (†)
Bone Shield (Spiked Bone Shield) – This massive ward absorbs damage up to 30% of my max Health and has a synergy that grants double the effect for allies. That balances very well with Obsidian Shield, which also doubles the effect on me. Best part is Bone Shield now uses Stamina, of which I have plenty to spare. (†)
Annulment (Harness Magic) – This is a good duration self-buff to protect against spell damage abilities, which include many class skills. The morph translates incoming damage into Magicka to help offset the high cost. (†)
Blessing of Protection (Combat Prayer) – This is new to my lineup as of the 1.6 update. Combat Prayer has a decent area-effect buff that increases Armor, Resist, and all damage dealt by you and allies. Swap this out for Unstoppable (Immovable morph) while solo or in PvP for larger defense bonuses and crowd-control immunity.
Ultimate – Magma Armor (Magma Shell) – This Ultimate is incredible. It makes me all but invincible and provides a high-powered damage-over-time to nearby enemies. Plus the Magma Shell synergy basically doubles your allies' Health with an amazing 100% damage shield. (†)
The Infernal Dragon is a beast in every situation, melting the faces off anything in range is never difficult. The drawback is a lack of single-target burst damage, though Stonefist and Embers are options if needed. Magicka usage can be an issue, so keeping plenty of potions on hand is vital. Let your damage-over-time abilities do their work—steady tempo and careful casting are key to maintaining resources throughout extended battles. Also, enemies who die in your Flames grant extra Health and Magicka. Get excited about adds!
ARMOR, GLYPHS, ATTRIBUTES, & MORE
We can all decide for ourselves what we prefer and can obtain. The Valkyn Skoria and Burning Spellweaver sets would be epic, but I don't have those yet. I use 5 Light / 2 Heavy, mostly Magicka, combining Warlock and Vampire's Kiss. Seducer, Whitestrakes, and even Hist Bark work as well. My primary traits are Infused, Impenetrable, and Divines but are subject to change as I hash out the 1.6 bonuses.
For Attributes, I put 25 points into Health then went full Magicka with the rest. This provides enough Health to shrug off moderate hits, but also leaves me plenty of Magicka boosted by gear, passives, and food. I use the Atronach Mundus Stone, Mage also works depending on your needs.
Passives are all applicable for class, weapons, armor, world, guilds, and racial. I don't ever use melee attacks, so the Imperial's Red Diamond is not needed. The critical passive is Destruction Expert from the Destruction Staff line. This grants a good amount of Magicka every time an enemy dies from a weapon attack or ability. I have not gone vampire due to personal preference, though it would do well with this build. The more obvious racial choices are High Elf, Dark Elf, and Breton.
(†) Note six stackable damage shields, not counting Unstoppable.
