Summary
The release of Update 51 has fundamentally shaken up The Elder Scrolls Online's class meta in ways few players anticipated. Classes previously written off as "dead" have found new life in S-tier positions, while longtime meta staples have taken unexpected dives in certain roles. As you adapt, you may need to buy ESO Items to quickly gear new characters or experiment with suddenly viable builds. This guide breaks down the current class rankings across all three primary roles—healer, tank, and DPS—with an additional analysis for solo content. Whether you're pushing trifectas, score-pushing, or just trying to clear veteran content, understanding where each class excels is crucial for optimizing your group composition.
Part 1: The Healer Tier List
Before diving into rankings, it's important to understand the criteria: this list is not based on raw healing output. Every class can generate sufficient HPS for any content in the game. Instead, these rankings reflect utility, buffs, debuffs, and overall group value.
S-Tier Healers
Arcanist – The undisputed king of healing in Update 51. The Arcanist brings incredible burst healing for cage mechanics through Curative Surge, strong debuff skills like Rune of the Colorless Pool, and exceptional passive healing through spammable Shock Rune. Its ultimate generation is outstanding via Erudite's Rigor class mastery. Most importantly, Inscribed Ward grants Major Force to allies for 10 seconds whenever you heal or overheal for 100k total health—incredibly easy to do with 11 other players to heal. This makes maintaining one of the most important buffs in the game much easier than historically for trifecta groups, eliminating the need for force sets and allowing supports to run additional buff sets for massive group DPS gains.
Templar – This one snuck up on everyone. Through Bastion of Light class mastery, the Templar generates approximately 580 ultimate per minute with a typical raid comp, pushing to 800 in fights like Sunspire. That's one barrier every roughly 19 seconds—the best defensive utility any class can provide. The Templar can also solo-maintain Slayer sets (only needing 10 ultimate/second) while providing Purify synergy and sustain utility through Luminous Shards.
A-Tier Healer
Warden – A longstanding meta healer that's only grown stronger. It's the only group source of Major Resolve (the most important defensive buff) and provides Minor Toughness (10% health increase). Thunderous Maul has become the only reliable source of Major Brittle, while Bountiful Harvest grants Major Heroism. However, these buffs are maintained more reliably on the Warden tank, keeping the healer in A-tier.
B-Tier Healer
Nightblade – Possibly the strongest raw HPS healer, providing Major and Minor Cowardice and excellent ultimate generation via Transfer and Catalyst. The problem is all its utility is defensive-oriented, with limited offensive value.
C-Tier Healers
Crow (Necromancer) – Strong raw HPS but minimal unique utility. Boneyard and Colossus are already provided by Crow DDs.
Sorcerer – Strong burst healing for cage mechanics, but Major Berserk is better sourced from DKs, and Calculated Defense can be provided by Sorc tanks or DDs.
Dragonknight – Great utility (Major Berserk, Standard of Might) but DK tanks or DDs provide this value more effectively.
Part 2: The Tank Tier List
Like healers, tank rankings prioritize group utility over raw survivability—every class can survive any boss fight on its own.
S-Tier Tanks
Sorcerer – One of the beefiest classes with incredible sustain. Provides Calculated Defense, Streak for pre-pulling ads, and deals more DPS while "cucked" as a tank than any other spec. The go-to for most content, especially when you need reliable survivability with hybrid damage.
Warden – Provides Major Resolve, Minor Toughness, Major Brittle (via Tundra's Maw—easier to maintain on tank than DD), and Major Heroism. Offers gate utility for score-pushing—placing gates at spawn locations dramatically improves trial times.
A-Tier Tanks
Dragonknight – The DK's highest-value role. Lead from the Front grants Major Berserk on ultimate drop, Standard provides weapon/spell damage buffs, and Stagger adds group DPS. Requires precise positioning and extra actions, keeping it from S-tier.
Nightblade – The only reliable source of Cutthroat's Focus (5% damage bonus). Maintains Major/Minor Cowardice effectively. Most difficult tank to play, limiting its ranking.
B-Tier Tanks
Arcanist – Extremely survivable but limited utility (only Rune of the Colorless Pool and Minor Resolve). Major Force is difficult to maintain on the tank.
Crow – Excellent utility (Major Breach, Minor Vuln, Major Cowardice, Colossus) and DOT resistance. But Crow DDs provide these benefits more optimally.
C-Tier Tank
Templar – Weakest survivability of any tank. Same utility as healer but less optimized. Shards value wasted on the tank role.
Part 3: The DPS Tier List
S-Tier DPS
Nightblade – Uncontested meta. Swallow Soul now grants 10% damage done buff. Unmatched single-target damage, bursty, insane execute phase, and strong AoE with Soul Cleaver and Power Extraction.
A-Tier DPS
Crow (Necromancer) – Best AoE class. Preferable in trials like Dread Sail Reef or Rockgrove. Double bash weave nerf dropped single target from ~210k to ~195k, but still excellent.
Templar – Massive buffs to Balanced Warrior (weapon/spell damage based on armor with no cap) and Aetherial Lance set. Viable meta parse DD.
B-Tier DPS
Arcanist – Extra pen and crit damage makes comping easier. Magmatic Faith Carver provides both damage and defense. Lower damage than S-tier but sufficient for all content and excellent for trifectas.
Sorcerer – ~210k single-target potential with Power Overload. Necessary for Calculated Defense. Incredible sustain enables MK Sorcs. In fights where Power Overload works (e.g., vAS), damage jumps to S-tier.
C-Tier DPS
Dragonknight – Lowest parsing class. Only saved by having the best Zen uptimes due to natural DOTs. Many groups now play Zen on werewolf instead.
Warden – ~190k damage—10-20k lower than top options. Much more valuable as support. Passive nerfs and changes to Shattered Path Signet have reduced viability.
Part 4: Solo Content Rankings
This final tier list considers both damage output and survivability for content like Vateshran Hollows, Maelstrom Arena, Infinite Archive, and solo dungeons.
S-Tier Solo
Arcanist – Passive pen/crit damage, Pragmatic Fate Carver with massive shield, and Language (bursty ultimate) make it the complete package for survivability and damage.
Warden – Northern Storm spam is used for high-level Infinite Archive pushes. Solid damage with strong survivability.
Dragonknight – Opposite of glass cannon. Mid damage but unbeatable survivability with infinite sustain and Magma Shell. Capable of soloing trifectas.
A-Tier Solo
Nightblade – Highest burst damage with Incap, Relentless Focus, and crit passives. Lack of mitigation holds it back from S-tier.
B-Tier Solo
Templar – Bursty with good self-healing but not best in either category.
Crow – Excellent AoE but struggles with survivability in newer content; many damage sources don't work with Pale Order.
C-Tier Solo
Sorcerer – Good single-target burst but weak AoE and lacks crit damage.
Part 5: Building Your Optimal Composition
The best support composition depends on your group's strengths. Here are two sample comps:
The "Standard" Sweaty Comp
Tanks: Nightblade + Warden
Healers: Arcanist + Templar
The "Strong Player" Comp
If your strongest players are supports, shift responsibilities:
Tanks: Sorcerer + DK (DK handles buffs)
Healers: Warden + Arcanist (Templar may be dropped)
Key Principle: Mix and match any S through B-tier supports as long as all buffs are covered. Understanding what each class brings allows maximum flexibility.
Part 6: What About Sets?
Update 51 has dramatically changed the set meta across all roles. Many former staples have been dethroned, while new sets have emerged as best-in-slot.
Stay tuned for comprehensive set guides covering:
Best support sets for tanks and healers
Best damage sets for DPS
Solo content set recommendations
Final Thoughts
Update 51 has created one of the most diverse and interesting metas in ESO's history. While the Nightblade dominates pure DPS and the Arcanist shines across multiple roles, nearly every class has found a viable niche. To take full advantage of these new opportunities, having the right gear is essential—whether you're farming dungeons or looking for ESO Items for sale from trusted sources. For a reliable and convenient experience, we recommend MMOEXP, a great place to stock up on the gear you need to hit the ground running in this new meta.
Key Takeaways:
Raw healing and tank survivability are baseline—utility determines rankings
Strongest players can enable non-optimal comps by taking on more responsibilities
Solo content favors survivability over pure damage
No class is truly dead—even C-tier specs have specific use cases
Subscribe for upcoming set guides to complete your Update 51 optimization journey.
