THE ICEBERG (warden ice build)
“the wall at which evil freezes in terror and sinks.”
the frost staff is FUN!
this build can get you through any dungeon, any difficulty and get you through normal mode trials.
this is a unique and very specific build. it works very well and is so much fun to play!
i have detailed guids for the iceberg to be a tank (this is the main featured role), and to a lesser extent, a mini guide to make it a healer and as a DPS.
this build follows my rule about building characters:
“be as anti-meta as possible and still be just as viable.”
mission accomplished 
this tanking setup is not a “tradtional” one, but it is very strong. it provides unmatched mob crowd control, lots of buffs and support for the group and lots of debuffs on enemies.
my belief is anything you can do as a tank to help kill enemies quicker provides just as much “group support” as using other gear sets such as alkosh/torugs/ebon, because the enemies die quicker which means they dont live as long to be a problem. this tank style works great since the main duty of the role is not compromised.
pinky swear!
character specifics:
we are using a warden for this build. no other class makes this build possible.
i chose argonian for more health and magicka and for the potion passive.
these other race choices will be fine:
nord- more health and damage reduction will help since this is a tank build
high elf- more magicka and magicka recovery, as well as more frost damage
breton- more spell resistance and magicka ability cost reduction
dark elf- more fire resistance from being a vampire (you dont really need it though)
i went vampire and it is very worthwhile.
i never bother to feed and stay stage 4 and had no issues with fire damage. the perks severely outweigh the penalties of being a vampire in this build.
character sheet:
-all 64 attribute points into magicka
(argonians get a racial health bonus so this is the way to go, but adjust for your race)
this is not a high health build tank. the health is considered “low” for a tank but dont worry about that. the high resistances, damage shields, heavy armor usage, and mitigation from skills do offset the “low” health pool.
our stamina is very low but we only use it to roll dodge and to sprint when we need to so it is not an issue.
-the lady mundus stone
(the extra resistance is great for being a tank)
-max health + max magicka food buff
(i use salmon solitude millet soup)
-spellpower potion
this gives us Spell-crit, Spell Damage, Magicka Recovery
(make it with Cornflower, Lady’s Smock, and Water Hyacinth)
my own personal character sheet (ICEBERG tank role):
i am using the gear listed below with purple quality items and enchantments. if you gold out everything, obviously your stats will be a lot higher.
the only active buff is from the food:
magicka- 29.8k, 885 recovery
health- 30.3k, 229 recovery
stamina 9.9k, 647 recovery
spell dmg-1478
spell crit 29.3
spell and physical resistances are the exact same- 25.7k
the spell dmg and spell crit is low, but is buffed a lot with skills.
remember, this is a tank and not specced for damage.
this tank build does do moderate damage but we are focusing on tank, support, and crowd control capabilities.
also keep in mind we going for a full ICE theme with the build.
there are other gear options later in the guide that give different results.
oh... and i hope you enjoy the dungeon direfrost keep...
the gear:
5 ice furnace (heavy armor set from direfrost keep):
chest- infused, health enchant
legs- infused, health enchant
gloves- sturdy, health enchant
waist- sturdy, health enchant
boots- sturdy, health enchant
this is widely considered to be one of the worst gear sets in all of ESO if not THE worst, which was my motivation to build around this set. trust me, it plays into the build extremely well!!!
the 5th piece bonus applies when dealing direct frost damage and gives us a 50% chance to deal FLAME damage to all enemies within 8 meters of the original target and has just a 1 second cooldown!
this WILL proc many many times over the course of a battle. it isnt a ton of damage not gonna lie, but it isnt something to totally dismiss because all the times it procs during a battle add up quick for more overall group damage which helps the group clear the content faster.
2 iceheart (monster set from direfrost keep):
helmet- medium armor, infused, health enchant
shoulders- heavy armor, sturdy, health enchant
(my personal preference is to use heavy shoulders for the extra health bonus and armor, but using light will grant full undaunted passive bonuses, so either option is fine really)
this monster set is required for this build!!!
when we deal critical damage from any source we get a 20% chance for a FREE damage shield for 6 seconds and it does a FROST damage AOE. this effect can proc every 6 seconds. the damage shield will pass 10K when following this build setup.
***PRE SUMMERSET UPDATE***
3 willpower jewelry:
max health trait (it is very important all 3 of the jewelry slots has the healthy trait!!!)
enchantments- 1 flame resistance, 1 magicka recovery, 1 spell damage
(swap the flame resistance for another spell damage enchant if you are not a vampire, or if you are a vampire and feel very brave.)
***WHEN SUMMERSET UPDATE RELEASES***
3 ysgramor’s birthright jewelry:
max health trait (it is very important all 3 of the jewelry slots has the healthy trait!!!)
enchantments- 1 flame resistance, 1 magicka recovery, 1 spell damage
(swap the flame resistance for another spell damage enchant if you are not a vampire, or if you are a vampire and feel very brave.)
you will need 150 transmute crystals to re-trait the jewelry into healthy.
make sure to always use ysgramor’s birthright ice staff for each bar (i will explain why this is super important later in the guide).
i swap to whichever trait i need at the moment to adjust for what i am doing:
defending (for a bit more survivability as a tank. it also helps out if you go vampire)
precise (better chance to proc iceheart)
charged (best option for crowd control and to inflict status on enemies)
the most important part on weapons is:
FROST DAMAGE ENCHANT ON ALL WEAPONS!
the reason is because when the enchant procs, it gives an extra chance to proc iceheart and ice furnace when you do light and heavy attacks! you get one proc chance one from the frost staff light/heavy attack itself, the other from when the enchant procs.
you really want those effects to happen as much as possible so it is vital there is a frost enchant on all weapons.
passive skills:
racial (all)
animal companions (all)
green balance (all)
winter’s embrace (all)
destro staff (all)
heavy armor (all)
light armor (recovery, evocation, and spell warding)
medium armor (dexterity, wind walker, and athletics)
vampire (supernatural recovery, undeath, and natural resistance)
undaunted (all)
fighters guild (banish the wicked)
provisioning (gourmand and connoisseur)
alchemy (medicinal use)
slotted skills and why they earned a spot:
front bar- ice staff
-inner rage
(this is a flex spot because ice staff heavy attacks are a FREE ranged taunt but it is slow to use. i slot this to make sure the boss doesnt get away if i dont have time to do a heavy attack at that moment so i dont lose aggro. another option here is to use either morph of crytallized shield, and of those morphs i prefer crystallized slab.)
-elemental drain
(it is a FREE cast, puts major breach on the target, and gives FREE magicka steal for the whole group while anyone attacks the target. the group will appreciate it!)
-lotus blossom
(while active it gives FREE heals to you with light and heavy attacks along with 10% spell crit chance for all magicka attacks and abilities, which helps proc iceheart for that FREE damage shield.)
-arctic blast
(a small burst heal but it does a decent heal over time, AND does DOT frost damage which can proc iceheart and ice furnace for a little bit of FREE extra damage and that damage shield)
-leeching vines
(this one is a no brainer for just about any warden build. FREE heals to you or another player when getting attacked)
-northern storm
(WHAT? NO WAR HORN??? yep. war horn is nice, but this skill is exponentially better for what we are built to do. this skill is also the reason why we dont need inner light slotted, as this skill grants 8% magicka when slotted. when the skill is used it also stacks nicely with another skill on our back bar which is pretty good...)
back bar- ice staff
-blockade of frost
(the bread and butter of destro staff attacks. great DOT and crowd control. keep this up at all times.)
-gripping shards
(this is the better morph of impaling shards, especially as a tank. the damage is based on your max health. the attack also is applied where you stand instead of being a targeted skill, and since we are a tank and in the frontlines, we can hit most of them at once with this. it is a great DOT. the winter’s embrace class tree gives us a passive that grants an extra 200% chance to immobilize enemies with winter’s embrace abilities. this skill when used with bloackade of frost gives insane crowd control because the enemies are on lockdown! mobs just cant move, and get burned down quickly by the DPS players in your group and the skills both can proc iceheart and ice furnace for more FREE extra damage and that damage shield!)
-force pulse
(when blockade and gripping shards are up, and any enemies that are chilled and/or immobilized, this attack does bonus damage and chains that damage to other enemies. it also can proc iceheart and ice furnace for more FREE damage and that damage shield!)
-blue betty
(again, a must have for any warden build. slotting it gives a 12% magicka recovery bonus for the bar it is slotted to. it is a FREE cast and it feeds you magicka over time for great sustain plus gives 20% bonus spell damage.)
-ice fortress
(this thing is just too good! 5280 boost to both resistances, AND 8% damage reduction. this is such a great skill and it more than compensates those low health numbers! this is the one i mentioned earlier that stacks with northern storm for crazy defense! allies close to you also get the 5280 resistance buff for amazing group support!)
-northern storm
(WHAT??? STILL NO WAR HORN??? yep. sounds crazy doesnt it? we are slotting this bad boy twice because the 8% magicka bonus is just too good to not have it on both bars.)
for those that dont want to go frost staff on both bars guess what.....
you can use sword and shield on this build as well!!!
this allows 2 sources for blocking to help resource management.
make sure you get all the passives from the 1 hand and shield skill line and give the weapon a frost damage enchant and the shield a max stamina enchant.
if you do go with a sword and shield, use it only on the front bar and then swap out the following destro staff skills for these sword and shield skills:
front bar: sword and shield
-inner rage swapped for PIERCE ARMOR
(you still have an ice staff on back bar for your ranged taunt. this skill hits the target with major fracture AND major breach and also taunts.)
-elemental drain swapped for ABSORB MAGICKA
(having it slotted gives a bonus to block cost reduction and gives a bonus to how much damage is mitigated from blocking. since we have a small stamina pool, this is a very nice ability to slot to conserve stamina.)
back bar: ice staff
-force pulse is now a FLEX SPOT (elemental drain is preferred here)
(using sword and shield on front bar does make this a flex spot on back bar, but remember on the back bar we are still using a destro staff so not changing out this skill is absolutely fine. you can slot a utility skill like frozen device to pull enemies to you, or go for an extra healing skill such as the warden abilities healing seed or fungal growth. i personally put elemental drain here to maintain the group utility buff.)
make sure to use ysgramor’s birthright sword and shield. this is vital to the build!!!
weapon-
defending (for a bit more survivability as a tank, also great for vampires)
precise (to help proc ice heart)
AGAIN MAKE SURE IT HAS A FROST DAMAGE ENCHANT!!!
shield-
sturdy, stamina enchant
(since we have such a small stamina pool, sturdy will help mange the resource. you can use reinforced or nirnhoned on the shield for more resistances, but i think sturdy is better. also the bit of extra stamina we get from the enchant will let us block more attacks or do an extra dodge roll if we need to.)
weapons explanation:
ok so why do i use ysgramor weapons?
because when the summerset isles DLC is released, staff and 2H weapons will count as TWO SLOTS towards gear set bonuses.
in this build, once the DLC releases we will drop the 3 willpower jewelry for 3 ysgramor jewelry (using the same enchants as we did for willpower, BUT we will have to either transmute the ysgramor jewelry into healthy because our health pool would drop way too much OR adjust some attribute points into health to make up the difference.)
also when the DLC releases, whether we go sword and shield front bar and frost staff back bar, OR go frost staff on both bars we will have the full gear set bonuses always active on this build:
2 ice heart (head, shoulders)
5 ice furnace (chest, legs, waist, gloves, feet)
5 ysgramor’s bithright (weapons, jewelry)
ysgramor boosts ALL frost damge by a huge amount and that synergizes so well on this build!!!
EVERY ATTACK SKILL WE USE DOES FROST DAMAGE so using ysgramor will make this build so much stronger than it is pre-summerset!!!
other gear options:
another option is to use the set WINTERBORN (drops in the maelstrom arena) instead of ysgramor.
it would provide even more crowd control for the build.
both winterborn and ysgramor sets are light armor which is why we use jewelry and weapons from those sets so we still can run 5 heavy armor for tanking.
a substitute for ice furnace is LAW OF JULIANOS (crafted set in the orsinium DLC) or INNATE AXIOM (crafted set in the clockwork city DLC).
make all of the pieces heavy and give them a health enchantment.
both sets will give a boost to damage but what fun is that? we are making a full ICE theme character :P
if you want higher performance use either of these over ice furnace.
DPS role:
IF YOU PLAY THE BUILD IN THIS ROLE DO NOT PURCHASE THE TRI-FOCUS PASSIVE ON THE DESTRUCTION STAFF SKILL LINE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you will not be using a fire or shock staff on this build so you will not be missing out on any bonuses from not getting tri-focus.
the actual DPS from this build will be lower than a lot of other dps builds, but utilizes crowd control while doing damage but it still functions the same way as it does when it is used as a tank. 100% uptime on all crowd control effects and a respectable damage output make it more of a “support dps build.”
i tried it myself and it did pretty well and was a lot of fun!!! taking this into trials might not be a great idea, but for dungeons it is fine.
the gear: (matters not how the ysgramor and winterborn is allocated as long as you have 5 of each and still use the monster set, just use the listed traits and enchantments on the items)
2 ice heart (head, shoulders- 1 medium, 1 heavy. max magicka enchants, all divine traits)
5 winterborn
5 ysgramor’s bithright
chest, legs, waist, gloves, feet- max magicka enchants, all divine traits
jewelty- all max magicka, and all spell damage enchants
weapons- ice staff both bars, precise, frost damage enchants
food- withmother’s potent brew
potion- spellpower potion
this gives us Spell-crit, Spell Damage, Magicka Recovery
(make it with Cornflower, Lady’s Smock, and Water Hyacinth)
mundus- the apprentice for more damage
skills: all passives listed as above in the tank role, except max out the passives from the light armor skill line since we are wearing 5 light from using winterborn/ysgramor.
front bar- ice staff
crystallized slab
elemental drain
lotus blossom
arctic blast
leeching vines
ice comet (destro ultimate morph)
back bar- ice staff
elemental blockade
gripping shards
force pulse
blue betty
ice fortress
northern storm
healer role:
IF YOU PLAY THE BUILD IN THIS ROLE DO NOT PURCHASE THE TRI-FOCUS PASSIVE ON THE DESTRUCTION STAFF SKILL LINE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you will not be using a fire or shock staff on this build so you will not be missing out on any bonuses from not getting tri-focus.
there are so many healer gear sets, but i went with:
2 chokethorn (heavy helmet, divine, max health. light shoulders, divine, max magicka)
5 healers habit
5 spell power cure (preferred) OR 5 combat physician
doesnt matter what gear set goes into which slot just have 5 of each and dont give up the monster set.
resto staff- powered, frost damage
ice staff- defending, frost damage
chest, divine, max magicka
gloves, divine, max magicka
waist, divine, max magicka
legs, divine, max magicka
feet, divine, max magicka
necklace, max magicka, magicka recovery OR flame resistance if you are too squishy)
ring, max magicka, spell damage
ring, max magicka, spell damage
food- withmother’s potent brew
potion- spellpower potion
this gives us Spell-crit, Spell Damage, Magicka Recovery
(make it with Cornflower, Lady’s Smock, and Water Hyacinth)
mundus- the apprentice for more damage
we are staying with the ice theme from using the ice staff and all of our attacks and damaging skills do frost damage
skills:
all passives just as above in the tank role, except max out the passives from the light armor skill line since we are wearing 5 light from using healer’s habit/spell power cure.
front bar: resto staff
healing springs
enchanted growth
mutagen
combat prayer
ward ally
aggressive warhorn
back bar: ice staff
elemental blockade
energy orb
elemental drain
blue betty
ice fortress
enchanted forest
champion points (based on CP750):
in addition to all of our passive abilities from our race, vampire, skill lines, slotted skills, and gear we will gain these bonuses as well.
note that some ability and skill stacking values are additive, some are multiplicative. regardless of how the stacking is calculated on each stat, it all makes the character stronger!
i did not change my CP even when changing roles.
this allocation is based on the tank role, but worked just fine as DPS and healer.
The Ritual
23 Thaumaturge (10% dmg increase on our many DOTs, stacks with elemental expert)
The Atronarch
35 Staff Expert (20% more dmg to staff light and heavy attacks, stacks with master at arms and elemental expert)
37 Master-at-Arms (15% bonus to direct dmg attacks, stacks with elemental expert and staff expert)
The Apprentice
75 Blessed (14% bonus to healing done)
23 Elfborn (10% bonus to crit values from magicka attacks and heals)
14 Spell Erosion (1374 spell penetration, makes every magicka ability hit harder)
43 Elemental Expert (10% bonus to all elemental dmg, stacks with staff expert and either master at arms and thaumaturge depending on the attack type)
The Shadow
56 Shadow Ward (20% cheaper to block- using an ice staff helps us keep magicka available for our skills, and if we block with sword and shield it helps us manage our small stamina pool)
37 Tumbling (15% cheaper to dodge roll, great for our small stamina pool)
The Lover
43 Arcanist (10% more magicka recovery)
75 Tenacity (14% more resource return from heavy attacks)
The Tower
23 Warlord (10% cheaper to break free, great for our small stamina pool)
16 Bashing Focus (10% cheaper to bash, great for our small stamina pool)
The Lord
17 Heavy Armor Focus (1642 more physical resistance since we are wearing 5 heavy armor)
56 Bastion (20% bonus to dmg shield strength. the iceheart dmg shield exceeds 10K because of this!)
The Lady
43 Hardy (10% physical dmg reduction, stacks with either ironclad OR thick skinned, based on dmg type received)
43 Elemental Defender (10% magic and element dmg reduction, great for vampires! stacks with ironclad OR thick skinned based on dmg type received)
37 Thick Skinned (15% DOT dmg reduction. stacks with hardy OR elemental defender based on dmg type received)
The Steed
37 Ironclad (15% direct dmg reduction. stacks with either hardy OR elemental defender based on dmg type received)
17 Spell Shield (1642 more spell resistance, great for vampires since fire dmg is calculated as spell dmg)
with all of this in place it really is just basic tanking knowledge and user ability of knowing how to do the role:
THE TANK IS THE LEADER!
crowd control the mobs.
keep the boss taunted.
have your buffs up as much as possible.
heavy attack to help manage your resources.
support the group with some heals and buffs.
do damage when you can but dont lose boss aggro.
control the battlefield.
manage the group.
lead the group to victory!
most importantly: HAVE FUN!!!
