Summary
Choosing your first class in The Elder Scrolls Online can be difficult. With seven classes available, each offering different skill lines, aesthetics, and combat styles, there is no single choice that works for everyone.
The good news is that ESO allows considerable freedom. Every class can use any weapon, and you can build characters for melee, ranged, DPS, healing, or tanking. Your class mainly determines the unique abilities and identity you bring to that build. To experiment with different roles without the long grind, buy The Elder Scrolls Online Items and acquire the gear you need.
Here is what you should know about all seven ESO classes before creating your first character.
Dragonknight
The Dragonknight is built around dragons, fire, and raw physical power. It is a natural choice if you want a traditional warrior who charges into battle and overwhelms enemies with flame-based abilities.
Dragonknight Skill Lines
The class has three skill lines:
Draconic Power focuses on dragon-themed abilities, defense, and powerful attacks.
Earthen Heart provides utility, weapon enhancement, and defensive options.
Ardent Flame focuses heavily on fire damage.
Notable abilities include Lava Whip, Dragon Leap, Engulfing Dragonfire, Blood of the Elder Dragon, and Magma Armor.
The Dragonknight is primarily associated with melee DPS, but ESO's flexibility means you can adapt it to other roles. If you want a powerful, straightforward fantasy centered around dragons and fire, this class is an excellent starting point.
Sorcerer
Sorcerer is one of the easiest classes for new players to understand. It combines lightning, dark magic, and Daedric summons while generally working particularly well as a ranged character.
Sorcerer Skill Lines
Its three skill lines are Daedric Summoning, Dark Magic, and Storm Calling.
Daedric Summoning is especially distinctive because Sorcerers can maintain permanent combat pets. Volatile Familiar provides area damage, while Twilight Matriarch offers powerful healing. Regenerative Ward provides a strong defensive shield.
Dark Magic includes Crystal Fragments, while Storm Calling delivers the class's signature lightning abilities.
If you enjoy traditional fantasy spellcasters, want permanent combat pets, or simply want an approachable class, Sorcerer is a strong fit.
Nightblade
Nightblade is ESO's assassin-style class, emphasizing stealth, mobility, single-target damage, and attacking from the shadows.
Nightblade Skill Lines
The three skill lines are Assassination, Shadow, and Siphoning.
Assassination provides abilities such as Soul Harvest and Lotus Fan, while Shadow focuses on stealth, mobility, and support abilities. Siphoning allows you to use enemies' life force for damage and sustain.
Nightblade can be especially appealing for players who enjoy stealth-oriented characters and single-target combat. However, its mechanics can take more time to learn than some of the simpler classes, particularly for a first character.
Templar
Templar is ESO's classic warrior-of-light class. Its abilities revolve around sunlight, holy power, healing, and radiant attacks.
Templar Skill Lines
The class uses Aedric Spear, Dawn's Wrath, and Restoring Light.
Aedric Spear contains abilities such as Puncturing Sweep and Everlasting Sweep. Dawn's Wrath includes Radiant Glory, a powerful execute for weakened enemies. Restoring Light is dedicated to healing, with abilities such as Hasty Prayer and Cleansing Ritual.
Templar works particularly well for players who want straightforward melee DPS or healing. It can also function as a tank, although its design is more naturally suited to DPS and healing.
If the idea of a paladin-like warrior using holy light appeals to you, Templar is an obvious choice.
Warden
Warden combines nature magic, animal companions, and frost abilities. It is the closest ESO gets to a traditional druid-inspired fantasy, although its design extends well beyond that concept.
Warden Skill Lines
Its three skill lines are Animal Companions, Green Balance, and the frost-focused Winter's Embrace.
Animal Companions gives the Warden access to its iconic bear companion. Green Balance focuses on healing through abilities such as Enchanted Growth and Leeching Vines. Winter's Embrace provides defensive and offensive frost abilities.
Warden can be an effective healer and offers plenty of unique mechanics, but its broader design can take some time to understand. Choose it if nature magic, animals, and frost are the themes that attract you most.
Necromancer
ESO's Necromancer is different from the traditional undead-minion fantasy found in many other games. Its summons are temporary rather than permanent, while corpses are used as part of several abilities.
Necromancer Skill Lines
The three skill lines are Grave Lord, Bone Tyrant, and Living Death.
Grave Lord provides temporary undead summons and abilities such as Glacial Colossus, Blighted Blastbones, and Skeletal Arcanist. Bone Tyrant includes Hungry Scythe, while Living Death provides healing and support abilities.
Necromancer can be particularly useful as a tank or healer, but its mechanics have a relatively steep learning curve. If you specifically want a traditional army of permanent undead followers, this class may not match your expectations.
Arcanist
Arcanist channels eldritch powers connected to Apocrypha and Hermaeus Mora. It combines a distinctive visual style with a relatively straightforward combat system.
Arcanist Skill Lines
Its three skill lines are Herald of the Tome, Curative Runeforms, and Soldier of Apocrypha.
Herald of the Tome provides DPS abilities, including Cephaliarch's Flail and Pragmatic Fate Carver. The latter is an especially notable beam ability.
The class's defining mechanic is Crux. You generate Crux during combat and use it to empower certain abilities, giving the class a clear resource-management element.
Curative Runeforms handles healing, while Soldier of Apocrypha provides tanking tools.
For players who want an easy-to-understand class with distinctive mechanics and strong offensive potential, Arcanist is worth considering.
How to Choose Your First ESO Class
Your first character does not have to be a permanent commitment. ESO gives you room to experiment, and subclassing provides even more flexibility later.
At level 50, subclassing allows you to use up to two skill lines from other classes, with only one skill line taken from any individual class. Those skill lines must first be leveled to 50 on their original class.
Ultimately, choose based on the gameplay fantasy that appeals to you. Pick Dragonknight for dragons and fire, Sorcerer for lightning and permanent pets, Nightblade for stealth, Templar for holy light, Warden for nature and animals, Necromancer for death magic, or Arcanist for eldritch powers and Crux. To bring that fantasy to life quickly, The Elder Scrolls Online Items can help you acquire the gear and sets that match your chosen class.
Trying different classes is part of the fun of ESO, so do not be afraid to experiment before deciding which character you want to make your main.
