Remember to treat this as a base to work from…
Always adjust as needed for your specific situation!

Video Guide Available on YouTube

 

Click Here for the Combat Metrics Reports from testing these setups

the build basics

 

top races

 

  • Wood Elf, Imperial and Redguard are all very good too

  • Really any race is fine unless you are trying to min/max every last %

 

mundus stone

  • The Thief is generally the strongest for PvE

 

food/drinks

  • Single-Stat “Stamina-only” is the strongest for DPS if you don’t need the health or sustain

  • I’d usually recommend Bi-Stat (Health+Stamina) over that in that situation as you only lose 1k resource but gain 5400 health

  • Health + Stamina + Stam Recovery options are okay compromises if you need well rounded stats

  • Lava Foot Soup-and-Saltrice is great damage and sustain if you don’t mind missing the health

  • Candied Jester’s Coins is great if you need help with your off-resource and don’t mind missing health

  • Tri-stat or Max Mag + Max Stam can work too if you need a larger magicka pool

 

potions

  • The Essence of Weapon Power potions are highly recommended if you aren’t getting your Brutality/Savagery buffs from skills and you need the Stamina return

  • Make sure to run Weapon Damage Glyphs on your jewelry with these regardless of whether you stack Stamina or Magicka

  • If you already have your Major Crit Chance Buffs and Major Weapon/Spell Damage Buffs you can run Tri-pots or Heroism Pots to help with sustaining both your Magicka and Stamina

  • Heroism ingredients are a bit expensive but can be nice to squeeze out more Ultimates

 

champion points

POSSIBLE ADJUSTMENTS

  • Force of Nature 1st priority if more Penetration is needed

  • Backstabber/Fighting Finesse if you need more Crit Damage

  • Exploiter > Master-at-Arms here if you do have Off-Balance going

  • Biting Aura > Deadly Aim for AoE Heavy Encounters

  • Some setups will have Master-at-Arms > Thaumaturge

Need help with the Penetration and Crit Damage caps? Check out these charts

For short burst encounters, the Exploiter node moves up into the Backstabber/Fighting Finesse range, as long as Off-Balance is coordinated and present
If Off-Balance is NOT present, choose from the best of the other remaining 4 to the left of it

 
 
 

For other great sets check out:

 
 

Click here for the essential passives to take

 
 
 
 

From here you just reapply DoTs as they expire and cast your Ultimate whenever it is ready and DoTs don’t need reapplication

 
 
 

Alternate Option for a more Generic Stam Warden Setup

Thanks for stopping by

Thanks to UESP.net as well for the great tools for some of the screenshots