ESO Best Subclasses Tier List

Welcome to our complete ESO best subclasses tier list, travelers of Tamriel. The new subclass system in Elder Scrolls Online brings a serious change to your builds. You can now combine class skill lines in exciting new ways. This opens up more options than ever for customizing your character’s strengths and playstyle.

From damage-dealing machines to unkillable tanks and top-tier healers, each role has clear standouts. Get ready to discover Elder Scrolls Online best subclasses for your role and the favorite type of content. This goes for DPS, Tanks, and Healers. We’ll also cover the top picks for playing solo specifically, so you can always rule in any fight all alone.

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Read our other ESO guides:

• Best Companions
• Best Addons
• Gold Farming Guide
• Class Tier List
• Leveling Guide
• Scribing System Guide

 

 

How Our Subclass Tier List Works

Our ESO subclass tier list ranks the strongest combinations in the game right now. We evaluate each subclass setup based on performance in PvE, group synergy, flexibility, and overall usefulness. Subclasses are ranked from S to D, with S being the most powerful and D being the least effective. Here’s what each tier means:

• S-Tier: Top of the meta. These subclasses dominate in most situations and excel everywhere.
• A-Tier: Very strong picks with great utility, damage, or survivability. Reliable and consistent.
• B-Tier: Solid choices with some potential but slightly weaker than top picks.
• C-Tier: Playable but situational. They can work well in the right setup or with effort.
• D-Tier: Not recommended. These subclasses offer little value or underperform compared to others.

We also consider how easy each subclass is to use, how well it fits in groups, and how much value it brings to solo content. Keep in mind that the meta can shift with updates. We’ll keep this Elder Scrolls Online subclass tier list 2025 refreshed regularly.

Best DPS Subclasses

Assassination, Herald of the Tome, Grave Lord are the best DPS subclasses in ESO so far. These subclasses are the go-to options if you're chasing top-tier damage. They're packed with powerful passives, strong synergy, and excellent skills that fit into nearly any build.

A-Tier lines are strong and reliable, with great uptime and synergy. B-Tier choices can work well, but they often need specific builds. Anything below B usually lacks consistency or suffers from outdated skills.

Here’s what our ESO subclass ranking for damage dealers looks like:

Each subclass here was tested in both group and solo content. Pick the ones that are high in the current meta list or the ones you simply like in terms of playstyle. Remember: the favorite subclass is the one you personally like.

S-Tier DPS Subclasses Explained

As you can see from the table above, there are only three subclasses we’ve put into the S-Tier. They are as follows:

1. Assassination
2. Herald of the Tome
3. Grave Lord

Now, let’s discover a bit more about each one. This will help you understand why they’re ranked so high in the current meta and why so many players choose them.

• Assassination

Assassination is a top ESO subclass in terms of DPS due to how much crit power it brings. Its passives give bonus crit chance when flanking and extra crit damage just for slotting abilities from the line. Hemorrhage even adds Minor Savagery for the whole group. Grim Focus is a go-to choice for bonus damage, either through passives or a hard-hitting projectile. Surprise Attack and Concealed Weapon are both strong spammables that can slot easily into many builds. From start to finish, this subclass always pulls solid numbers and works in any damage-focused loadout.

• Herald of the Tome

Herald of the Tome is all about pressure and consistency. The Unblinking Eye ultimate hits hard and costs less than most others, which means more casts during longer fights. Fatecarver is still one of the most reliable beam options, even with the target cap. Tentacular Dread adds a great damage-taken debuff, and Tomb Bearer helps with passive boosts and sustain. The passive bonuses support status effects, restore resources, and boost penetration. This subclass fits well into many types of builds and performs extremely well in both solo and group content.

• Grave Lord

Grave Lord delivers a strong performance across all types of content. Blastbones is a top-tier ability that’s easy to work into most rotations. Venom Skull grows stronger with more necro skills, and Colossus offers Major Vulnerability for massive team damage output. The passives make it even better, with bonuses to execute-phase crit chance, DoT damage, and penetration. This subclass is also easy to maintain, since just slotting abilities grants more power. Grave Lord is a staple for anyone looking for high impact with straightforward utility.

Best Tank Subclasses

Soldier of Apocrypha, Bone Tyrant, and Earthen Heart are ESO best Tank subclasses in the current meta. S-Tier tank lines give top-tier utility, sustain, and control. They’re the backbone of most reliable tank builds in both trials and dungeons. A-Tier subclasses offer great defensive tools and solid support, though they may lack flexibility. B-Tier options can still perform with the right setup, but don’t bring the same level of impact. C-Tier lines usually feel underwhelming or require too much effort for too little reward.

Here's what a complete subclass tier list for Tanks looks like:

We’ve tested each subclass in real content across different content types. This list helps pick the right tank tools that keep you alive and your group safe. BLOG20

S-Tier Tank Subclasses Explained

Only three subclasses deserve to be in the S-Tier when it comes to the best Tanks. They are the following ones:

1. Soldier of Apocrypha
2. Bone Tyrant
3. Earthen Heart

Similarly to the previous part of the guide about DPS picks, we’ll describe each one in detail, too.

• Soldier of Apocrypha

Soldier of Apocrypha is ESO best subclass in the Tank category for sure. It’s packed with everything you need to stay in control. Runic Jolt is a solid taunt with added buffs like armor and minor lifesteal. Runespite Ward gives a strong shield and buffs your crowd control resistance, which makes it easier to manage incoming pressure. The passives are just as good, giving extra block mitigation and reducing incoming crits. It fits into nearly every meta tank setup and helps with both personal defense and group support. Super strong, super reliable.

• Bone Tyrant

Bone Tyrant is all about staying alive longer than anyone else in the room. These characteristics make it ESO most OP subclass for outliving anything that happens on the battlefield. It’s great for stacking health, keeping enemies off your team, and healing through big hits. Ravenous Goliath is one of the tankiest ultimates out there, giving you a giant health pool, passive healing, and a damage aura. Beckoning Armor pulls in ranged enemies, keeping the fight in one place. Add in passives that restore health and increase healing taken, and this line becomes one of the best for raw survival. Perfect for heavy group pulls or damage-heavy fights.

• Earthen Heart

This is the classic tanking toolkit that never goes out of style. Igneous Shield offers solid protection and boosts group survivability. Petrify is great for locking down priority targets and keeping things under control. But the real magic is in the passives. One of them gives back resources every time you use an ultimate, which is huge for sustain. Another one gives more ultimate when using Earthen Heart abilities. That means more group buffs and more control. It’s flexible, dependable, and still a favorite for many endgame tanks.

 

Best Healer Subclasses

Green Balance and Curative Runeforms are undoubtedly ESO best Healer subclasses. They deliver powerful healing output, easy uptime, and strong group support. A-Tier lines are very solid and reliable but may lack some burst tools. B-Tier options can definitely work, but usually need specific gear or setups to shine. C-Tier lines tend to fall behind in both healing strength and group utility.

Here’s a complete table, covering Elder Scrolls Online Healer subclass tier list for you:

These subclass lines were tested in dungeons, trials, and solo support play. Healers looking for stronger tools or smoother rotations will find the best picks up top.

S-Tier Healer Subclasses Explained

We’ve only included two subclasses in the S-Tier group when it comes to Healers. They are as follows:

1. Green Balance
2. Curative Runeforms

Not sure whether they’re actually this good? Let’s describe both of them in detail to see what makes us think so.

• Green Balance

This one’s a total classic and still one of the most reliable healing lines out there. Many Reddit users also consider Green Balance to be the best subclass in ESO. It’s got everything a group healer needs. Healing Seed gives solid area heals, Bursting Vines pulls you right to allies who need help, and Enchanted Growth adds a chunky burst heal with Minor Intellect and Endurance on top. The passives here are awesome too. Maturation gives everyone Minor Toughness just for being healed, which means more max HP for the whole group. That’s a huge deal for keeping teams alive during big mechanics. With all that, it’s super beginner-friendly but also scales great in endgame content.

• Curative Runeforms

This is the new hotness for healers, and it fits the meta beautifully. Apocryphal Gate is great for repositioning or helping your group escape danger. Vitalizing Glyphic drops a healing totem that also boosts everyone's damage when healed. Evolving Runeform brings utility and reactive healing with just one skill slot. But what really makes this line shine are the passives. Splendid Feasts gives massive resource sustain for the group. Healer’s Blessing boosts healing output just for applying buffs. It’s smooth, supportive, and surprisingly powerful in harder fights. You’ll see this line a lot in veteran trial runs and sweaty dungeon clears.

Best Solo Subclasses

Solo builds need damage, healing, sustain, and a bit of defense. The best subclass lines bring all of that without overcomplicating things. Great solo lines give consistent uptime, carry their own buffs, and help you stay alive while clearing mobs or bosses. Here are the best solo subclasses in ESO so far:

1. Aedric Spear
2. Assassination
3. Herald of the Tome
4. Dawn's Wrath
5. Grave Lord

All of these lines were tested in overland, solo arenas, and public dungeons. These are the go-to picks for players who want fast clears, smooth sustain, and easy recovery. BLOG20

 

Aedric Spear

Aedric Spear is a go-to for solo builds that need both damage and sustain. It has everything: healing, shields, burst, and strong passives. One skill alone can carry a build, but the whole kit adds even more. Here are the abilities that make this subclass work for solo play specifically:

• Puncturing Sweeps: Hits multiple enemies and heals you with each strike
• Radiant Ward: A damage shield that scales with enemy count, great for staying alive
• Blazing Spear: Extra damage over time for fights that last longer
• Focused Charge: Gap closer that also gives Major Protection

These passives are also what make Aedric Spear a great pick for solo players:

• Spear Wall: Grants Minor Protection and Minor Berserk
• Burning Light: Triggers bonus magic damage automatically
• Balanced Warrior: +6% weapon and spell damage, plus bonus armor
• Piercing Spear: +10% critical damage when an Aedric Spear skill is slotted

This subclass is straightforward but powerful. It fits perfectly into solo builds that need to push through content without slowing down.

Assassination

Assassination is one of the hardest-hitting solo subclass picks in the game. It focuses on critical damage, fast executes, and top-tier passives that boost every part of your kit. It's built for taking enemies down fast and never letting up.

The skill options here cover all the key moments in a fight. You’ve got Impale and Killer’s Blade for deadly executes, Surprise Attack or Concealed Weapon for clean single-target pressure, and Soul Harvest for a powerful ultimate that even refunds ultimate on kills.

What really pushes this line into top-tier status are its passives. These provide some of the highest crit chance and crit damage bonuses available.

These Assassination passives are what make it great for solo players:

• Pressure Points: +2.5% crit chance per skill slotted
• Hemorrhage: +10% crit damage and Minor Savagery
• Executioner: Restores 1,000 Magicka and stamina per kill
• Master Assassin: More crit chance while flanking

Even if you just slot one Assassination skill, you’ll trigger all of these passives. That makes this line perfect for builds that want to keep damage high while keeping bar space flexible. It’s fast, efficient, and absolutely shreds solo content.

Herald of the Tome

Herald of the Tome is hands-down one of the strongest solo subclass options in ESO. This line is all about Krux generation, sustained damage, and staying alive while nuking enemies. It’s built for handling big packs and high-pressure fights with ease.

The standout skill here is Pragmatic Fatecarver, which deals massive AoE damage while giving you a strong damage shield. Since it’s now classified as direct damage, it can also trigger healing effects and champion point bonuses, making it even better for solo play.

There’s also Runic Flail, which roots enemies and heals you on hit. It’s perfect for crowd control and sustain. Plus, Recuperative Treatise helps restore resources and build Krux while passively boosting your damage output.

Some top Herald of the Tome skills to use include:

• Pragmatic Fatecarver: Huge AoE, shielding, and healing
• Runic Flail: Heals, roots, and builds Krux
• Languid Eye: High damage with a low cost

But the real secret to this line is in the passives. They scale incredibly well in solo content and synergize with almost any setup:

• Faded Fortune: +12% crit damage from building or spending Krux
• Splintered Secrets: Bonus penetration for each Herald skill slotted

Herald of the Tome is the total package for solo players. It brings top-tier burst, AoE control, sustain, and utility — all in one place.

Dawn’s Wrath

Dawn’s Wrath is a fantastic choice for solo builds, especially for players who like strong executes and extra utility. It shines in longer fights thanks to its healing, buffs, and high damage skills that scale well in solo play.

The main reason to take this line is Radiant Glory, a morph of Radiant Destruction. It works like an execute, doing more damage as enemies get weaker, and it heals you at the same time. That combo of burn and self-healing is huge for surviving tricky boss phases.

Other great options include Solar Barrage, which boosts your class's ability damage and gives you a long-lasting buff, and Vampire’s Bane, a solid damage-over-time skill that also gives you major prophecy and savagery for better crits. Even Purifying Light adds bonus healing when timed right.

This subclass’s key skills for solo play include:

• Radiant Glory: Strong execute with healing
• Solar Barrage: Boosts class damage and adds more AoE
• Vampire’s Bane: Brings DoT and boosts crit potential
• Purifying Light: Adds extra healing when timed well

Dawn’s Wrath passives also give you a lot of support:

• Illuminate: Gives Minor Sorcery, boosting spell damage
• Restoring Spirit: Reduces the cost of all abilities, including ultimates
• Prism: Provides extra ultimate generation for more uptime

All this makes Dawn’s Wrath a great balance of offense, buffs, and sustain. If your build needs a hard-hitting finisher and steady support skills, this line’s got you covered.

Grave Lord

We’ve got Grave Lord as a finisher of this list. Despite being the last subclass on the list, it’s super strong for playing solo in ESO, too. It’s a full package: great damage, strong debuffs, and powerful passives that make soloing smoother and faster. This skill line covers nearly everything you need, so you don’t have to rely heavily on other subclasses.

What really makes Grave Lord stand out is how many buffs and debuffs it brings. You’ve got:

• Skeletal Mage for Major Sorcery and Brutality
• Siphon for extra DoT damage and Major Prophecy
• Unnerving Boneyard for AoE Major Breach
• Glacial Colossus ultimate for AoE Major Vulnerability

This combo boosts your damage while making enemies take more punishment from your attacks. That’s huge when soloing tougher content.

You also get a bunch of hard-hitting damage options like Blighted Blastbones, which deals great AoE, and Siphon, which works as a DoT and helps trigger passive effects.

Let’s not forget the passives. Grave Lord’s passives are loaded with value:

• Death Knell gives you a 20% crit chance against low-health enemies
• Dismember gives high penetration for all damage
• Rapid Rot adds 10% to all your DoTs

Put together, this line brings serious damage, solid healing, and important debuffs all in one. It’s consistent, powerful, and easy to slot into any solo build. If you’re looking for one subclass that checks every box, Grave Lord is an easy pick.

What Influences ESO Subclass Meta

The subclass meta in ESO is shaped by a mix of key factors. Some are obvious, like raw damage, while others come from how skill lines work with popular builds. Subclass balance is still fresh, so the meta can shift quickly after patches. But right now, here’s what usually defines the top picks:

All of these elements come together to shape the current subclass meta. The strongest skill lines check off multiple boxes. But with how fast subclassing is evolving, keep an eye out.

Conclusion

This wraps up our ESO best subclasses tier list. Subclassing has completely changed how builds work in ESO, and it feels great. You can chase high parses, solo tough enemies, or support your group in style. Choosing the right subclass can really boost your power.

From strong damage picks to top tanks and support lines, there’s more variety than ever. The meta keeps evolving, so try out different combos. Use this tier list to guide you, but don’t be afraid to make it your own. That freedom to mix skills is what makes the new system so exciting to play.

F.A.Q.