Summary
The Elder Scrolls Online Week 3 PTS patch brings another round of combat and gameplay adjustments, with several classes receiving meaningful buffs and nerfs. The biggest changes affect Dragonknight, Necromancer, Templar, and Warden, while new solo dungeon features give players more ways to experience group content alone.
This guide breaks down the most important changes and explains what they mean for PvE, PvP, and class builds. To adapt quickly, buy The Elder Scrolls Online Items and get the gear you need without the grind.
Solo Dungeons Arrive on the PTS
March of Sacrifices and Moon Hunter Keep are now available as solo experiences on the PTS. Players can experience their stories at their own pace, either alone or with an NPC companion.
Choose Your Difficulty
Solo dungeons now feature optional Misfortunes that increase both difficulty and rewards:
0 Misfortunes: Similar to normal overland difficulty.
1 Misfortune: Comparable to a normal solo arena.
2 Misfortunes: Comparable to a veteran solo arena.
3 Misfortunes: More difficult than existing solo-focused content.
This system gives experienced players a way to push themselves without requiring a traditional dungeon group.
Earn New Undaunted Rewards
Players can earn Undaunted Crests from these solo dungeons and spend them at Undaunted vendors outside Wayrest, Mournhold, and Elden Root. New monster sets and style pages are also being added, giving players additional reasons to complete the content.
Dragonknight Changes
Dragonknight receives several adjustments, but the class's PvE damage remains a major point of discussion.
Corrosive Flame and Flame Lash
Corrosive Flame now restores 12% of missing resources, down from 15%. This is a sustain nerf, although the ability remains a strong resource-management tool.
Hurt the Flame also receives a 20% reduction to its healing.
The larger change affects Molten Whip. Its Seething Fury bonus damage is now reduced by half in PvP. Instead of reaching double damage at maximum stacks, the bonus effectively reaches 1.5 times damage.
Power Lash also receives an 18% damage reduction, and unlike the Molten Whip adjustment, this change affects PvE as well.
Landslide Gets Better Stack Management
Landslide now stacks up to 12 times instead of 10 and generates a stack every four seconds instead of five.
More importantly, its stacks now last six seconds and decay by one when you fail to generate a new stack. This is a major quality-of-life improvement because stacks are much easier to maintain between encounters.
The maximum stack increase provides additional damage, but the longer duration is arguably the most valuable part of the change.
Necromancer Changes
Necromancer receives several useful adjustments, particularly to Bone Goliath and Frozen Colossus.
Bone Goliath
Bone Goliath can no longer perform multiple bashes inside the same global cooldown. Players who were successfully double-bash weaving will therefore lose some damage.
However, the remaining bash receives a 73% damage increase. For players who could not previously double-bash weave, this can represent a substantial improvement.
A practical rotation to test is:
Light Attack → Skill → Bash → Light Attack → Skill → Bash
Players who can consistently perform this sequence should see significantly stronger Bone Goliath damage.
Frozen Colossus
Frozen Colossus now costs 150 Ultimate instead of 175, while its damage increases by 12.5%.
Pestilent Colossus also receives stronger hits, with its first, second, and third attacks gaining 12.5%, 18%, and 23% more damage, respectively.
These buffs are temporary and are expected to be revisited in Update 52, when the developers plan to separate PvE and PvP balance more aggressively.
Nothing Wasted
The Nothing Wasted passive now loses two stacks at a time instead of three, while the stack duration is reduced from 15 to 12 seconds. Overall, this slightly improves the time available to maintain the passive.
Templar Receives Major Buffs
Templar is one of the biggest winners of Week 3.
Balanced Warrior
Balanced Warrior now grants armor based on the number of Templar skills slotted. Instead of receiving a flat armor bonus, players gain additional armor for each Templar ability on their bar.
The passive also provides Weapon and Spell Damage based on total armor and the number of Templar skills equipped.
For most damage builds, this is not enough to justify sacrificing offensive stats purely to stack armor. However, players who already use defensive armor can gain additional damage without changing their build.
Judgment's Brand
Judgment's Brand increases from 1,400 to 1,600.
Because this passive adds damage to Templar skills before percentage modifiers are applied, the increase should be noticeable across sustained damage rotations.
Combined with Balanced Warrior, Templars gain both offensive and defensive improvements, making this one of the strongest class packages in the Week 3 patch.
Warden Changes
Warden receives smaller adjustments.
Fetcher's Infection now provides 75% bonus damage on its second cast, up from 60%.
Arctic Blast also receives a 20% increase to its damage-over-time component per tick. However, because much of Arctic Blast's effectiveness comes from its Chilled-related damage, this change may not significantly alter Warden builds.
Guild, Werewolf, and Item Set Updates
Ice Comet receives a 21% increase to its damage-over-time component per tick, making it more attractive for single-target situations.
Werewolf's Bloody Nash has also been fixed so it properly benefits from Blood Hunger's damage bonus.
Aetherial Lancer
Aetherial Lancer becomes more predictable. Its area now appears 3.5 meters in front of the player, with a four-meter size.
This makes it much easier to remain inside the effect, particularly for Templars who stay stationary during their rotations.
Djerkin's Grip
Djerkin's Grip receives an especially interesting PvE adjustment. Its two-to-four-piece bonuses now provide Weapon and Spell Damage instead of Max Magicka and Magicka Recovery.
This makes the set considerably more appealing for builds that apply frequent damage ticks. Wardens and other sustained-damage builds could potentially make strong use of it.
Its PvP healing reduction is also reduced while Battle Spirit is active.
Which Classes Benefit Most?
The biggest overall winner of this PTS update is Templar. The combination of stronger Balanced Warrior scaling and the Judgment's Brand increase should produce a noticeable improvement in PvE damage while also providing additional survivability.
Necromancer is another winner, particularly for players who can master the new Bone Goliath bash rhythm.
Dragonknight is more complicated. Its PvP burst clearly needed attention, but some of the PvE damage reductions—especially the Power Lash nerf—could leave Dragonknight damage dealers feeling weaker. The improved Landslide stacking is helpful, but probably not enough to completely offset those losses.
Warden receives useful but relatively minor improvements.
Overall, Week 3 is shaping up to be a significant balance pass rather than a complete meta reset. Templars and certain Necromancer builds have the clearest upside, while Dragonknight players will want to test the changes carefully before committing to their next PvE setup. To facilitate that testing, acquiring the right The Elder Scrolls Online Items can help you quickly evaluate new build options without unnecessary delays.
