ESO Update 46 Bomber PvP Build

With Update 46 now live in The Elder Scrolls Online, players are exploring new gameplay dynamics, especially in PvP. While subclassing refines existing roles rather than overhauls them, it offers exciting ways to enhance performance and playstyle. This guide presents a potent and enjoyable Subclass Bomber build, designed to dominate the PvP battlegrounds.

Major Changes in Update 46

A notable adjustment in Update 46 directly impacts bomber playstyles: the inability to stealth while using the Banner Bearer ultimate. This means any form of stealth, including abilities like Cloak, stealth potions, or even simple crouching, becomes unavailable if Banner Bearer is active. Consequently, bomber builds that heavily relied on stealth while deploying this ultimate are now less effective. However, this change is not entirely negative, as it frees up valuable skill bar slots, allowing players to incorporate other impactful abilities into their setups, leading to more diverse and adaptable build options.

Optimal Skill Line Choices

For subclassing, selecting the right combination of skill lines is crucial for maximizing your bomber’s potential. The most effective pairing for this build is typically Nightblade and Necromancer. The Nightblade’s Assassination Skill Line is a must-have, providing some of the game’s best damage-boosting passives. Its updated Master Assassin passive now significantly increases critical chance, which is essential for burst damage. Complementing this is the Necromancer’s Grave Lord Skill Line. This tree offers one of the strongest ultimates for area-of-effect bombing, along with passives that further boost critical chance and provide valuable penetration, creating a synergistic effect with the Nightblade skills. The third chosen skill line largely depends on your preferred playstyle. For an optimized build focused on survivability and mobility, the Shadow skill line is invaluable for its Cloak ability and associated passives that provide recovery, maximum health, and damage mitigation. While opting for Assassination, Grave Lord, and Shadow means foregoing the Siphoning skill line—and thus Soul Tether, despite its recent buffs like the Catalyst passive increasing ultimate gain—the crucial utility and protection offered by Cloak make it a superior choice for staying alive in intense PvP encounters.

Gear Setup

Choosing the correct gear sets is foundational for any successful bomber build, as they dictate your primary method of crowd control and burst damage. We’ll compare two popular options:

Rush of Agony

• Shorter cooldown, allowing for more frequent pulls.
• No visible telegraph, making it harder for enemies to react.
• Does not require you to be in combat to activate.
• Does not apply crowd control immunity to affected targets.
• Has a pull cap, limiting the number of enemies it can affect simultaneously.

Dark Convergence

• Longer cooldown, requiring more strategic timing.
• Features an obvious visual telegraph, alerting enemies.
• Requires you to be in combat to activate its pull effect.
• Applies crowd control immunity to targets, preventing immediate follow-up CC.
• Has no pull cap, allowing for massive pulls of numerous enemies.

While Rush of Agony is often favored for its subtlety and frequent pulls, its pull cap can hinder large-scale bombing. For this specific build, Dark Convergence is preferred due to its ability to pull an unlimited number of targets, leading to devastatingly large bombs. To trigger Dark Convergence, a simple light attack before engaging your target group is sufficient to enter combat, allowing for massive area-of-effect damage.

Skill Setup for Dark Convergence

This skill setup focuses on maximizing burst damage and mobility, leveraging Dark Convergence for its wide-area pulls.

Front Bar Skills

• Healing Burst: Provides essential self-healing for survivability.
• Forward Momentum: Grants Major Expedition for speed and removes snares/roots.
• Camo Hunter: Boosts critical chance when slotted and offers a potent passive.
• Brawler: A powerful area-of-effect (AoE) damage ability that provides a damage shield.
• Relentless Focus: Generates spectral bows, which, upon reaching 10 stacks, can be fired for immense damage. This version, rather than Merciless Focus, prioritizes damage output.
• Soul Harvest (Ultimate): Slotted passively for ultimate generation, not typically activated.

Back Bar Skills

• Concealed Weapon: Increases movement speed and provides passive defenses when active. Consider swapping for Fiery Contingency for increased damage when safe inside a keep.
• Unnerving Boneyard: A versatile Necromancer skill that provides Major Breach to enemies and can act as a “soft pull” to trigger Dark Convergence without using an ultimate. Alternatively, consider Mystic Siphon for a passive 3% damage increase and corpse-based pulls.
• Proxy Det: A delayed area-of-effect explosion, crucial for synchronized burst damage.
• Shadowy Disguise: Grants guaranteed critical hits from stealth and provides essential escape utility.
• Race Against Time: Offers Major Expedition and removes snares/roots, similar to Forward Momentum but on the back bar.
• Pestilent Colossus (Ultimate): Your primary ultimate for initiating massive pulls and applying intense DoT damage. For those who can bar swap rapidly, pairing Unnerving Boneyard with Colossus before switching to the front bar for cleave offers maximum damage. If swift bar swapping is challenging, Glacial Colossus provides a stun, granting more time to execute your cleave.

Skill Setup for Dark Convergence

This alternative skill setup for Dark Convergence focuses on a slightly different utility and ultimate placement, potentially aligning with elements seen in Rush of Agony builds due to Lotus Fan’s inclusion.

Front Bar

• Healing Burst: Reliable self-healing for sustained engagements.
• Forward Momentum: Essential for mobility and breaking crowd control.
• Camo Hunter: Boosts critical chance and provides a passive damage bonus.
• Brawler: Your main AoE damage skill, also providing a valuable damage shield.
• Relentless Focus: Accumulate stacks to unleash high-impact single-target damage with spectral bows.
• Pestilent Colossus (Ultimate): Placed on the front bar for direct access to initiate your bombing run with a powerful pull and damage over time.

Back Bar

• Concealed Weapon: Offers enhanced movement speed and defensive capabilities, crucial for navigating PvP environments. When safely within a keep, this can be swapped for Fiery Contingency to boost your damage output.
• Lotus Fan: A Nightblade skill that can be used to proc Rush of Agony if that set is chosen, offering a different form of engagement initiation. Its inclusion here implies a readiness for diverse pull mechanics, even if Dark Convergence is the primary set.
• Proxy Det: Your delayed burst damage ability, crucial for setting up your main bomb.
• Shadowy Disguise: Provides crucial escape potential and ensures your next attack is a critical strike.
• Race Against Time: Grants Major Expedition and snare/root removal for optimal positioning.
• Soul Harvest (Ultimate): Slotted on the back bar, primarily for its passive ultimate generation benefit.

Rotation

Executing your bomb effectively requires precise timing and a fluid rotation. Here’s a general sequence:

1. Begin by crouching into stealth to prepare, then cast Healing Burst for initial buffs.
2. Activate Forward Momentum, then quickly swap to your back bar.
3. Apply your Race Against Time buff. Simultaneously, trigger Proxy Det and consume your Alliance Spell Draught potion.
4. Observe Proxy Det’s timer. When it reaches approximately two seconds, perform a light attack to enter combat.
5. Immediately drop your Unnerving Boneyard, followed by your Pestilent Colossus ultimate.
6. Swiftly swap back to your front bar and continuously spam your cleave abilities, like Brawler.
7. Always conclude your cleaving by executing a dodge roll, then attempt to re-cloak with Shadowy Disguise to escape and reset.

For a variant utilizing Colossus and Contingency:

1. Buff up with your initial abilities, then swap bars.
2. Re-apply any necessary buffs, then cast Proxy Det first.
3. Activate your Fiery Contingency, followed immediately by a stealth potion. Ensure Contingency is the very last skill you activate before the attack.
4. Perform a light attack, drop your Pestilent Colossus, then swap bars and spam your cleave.

Champion Points

Optimizing your Champion Points (CP) is essential for enhancing both your damage output and survivability in PvP.

Warfare

These CP stars are focused on maximizing your offensive capabilities and burst damage:

• Fighting Finesse (Slotted): Increases your critical damage and healing.
• Master-at-Arms (Slotted): Boosts direct damage dealt.
• Biting Aura (Slotted): Increases your Area of Effect (AoE) damage, crucial for bomber builds.
• Backstabber (Slotted): Enhances critical damage when attacking from behind.

Fitness

These CP stars are dedicated to improving your resilience, mobility, and resource management:

• Celerity (Slotted): Increases your movement speed, vital for positioning and escaping.
• Bastion (Slotted): Boosts the effectiveness of your damage shields, like the one from Brawler.
• Boundless Vitality (Slotted): Increases your maximum health, improving overall survivability.
• Thrill of the Hunt (Slotted): Grants Major Expedition after defeating an enemy, aiding in quick resets and escapes.

Basic Build Information

Here’s a quick overview of the fundamental choices for this Subclass Bomber build:

• Race: Khajiit (for increased critical damage and healing, and resource recovery).
• Attributes: 64 points into Magicka (to maximize spell damage and resource pool).
• Vampire or Werewolf: Stage 3 Vampire (for stealth bonuses, damage reduction, and resource sustain at a cost).
• Mundus Stone: The Shadow (to further increase critical damage).
• Food: Bewitched Sugar Skull (provides significant boosts to all three maximum resources and Magicka/Stamina recovery).
• Potion: Alliance Spell Draught (for burst resource recovery and spell power).

Stat Sheet

These statistics are typically observed when the character is fully buffed, emerging from stealth, with passive abilities active, and full Grim Focus stacks:

• Maximum Magicka: 32229
• Maximum Health: 22979
• Maximum Stamina: 18392
• Magicka Recovery: 1336
• Health Recovery: 284
• Stamina Recovery: 1200
• Spell Damage: 7038
• Spell Critical: 45%
• Spell Penetration: 25270
• Weapon Damage: 7038
• Weapon Critical: 51%
• Physical Penetration: 25270
• Spell Resistance: 18407
• Critical Resistance: 1320
• Physical Resistance: 14051

When compared to pre-subclassing builds, this updated version may show a slight decrease in Maximum Magicka, but compensates with noticeably higher damage, critical hit chance, and penetration values across the board, making it highly effective.

Final Thoughts

The Subclass Bomber build, optimized for Update 46, offers a thrilling and formidable way to engage in ESO’s PvP. While the alteration to Banner Bearer means a shift away from stealth-reliant ultimate deployments, it concurrently creates new avenues for inventive and powerful build configurations. By skillfully combining the high-damage passives from Nightblade’s Assassination line with the potent area-of-effect abilities and ultimate of the Necromancer’s Grave Lord tree, and anchoring it with the unparalleled pull potential of the Dark Convergence gear set, you equip yourself with everything needed to dominate your opponents. Whether your strategy involves covertly approaching foes or unleashing devastating AoE bombs on large groups, this build delivers exceptional damage output and impressive versatility. So, prepare your gear, master your rotation, and get ready to leave a significant impact on the battlefields of Tamriel!