This Arcanist tank build that I'm calling Rune Knight.
If you're interested in tanking at all in Elder Scrolls Online, I highly recommend The Arc in this class, that's because overall it's got strong defenses great self-healing plus some group utility, that really makes it work well as a tank.
Introduction
It's also probably one of the easiest and most natural tank setups I've played in ESO, while also being extremely fun to play with a lot of Versatility. So in terms of item sets there's obviously many options in ESO for tanks, this will be a basic setup but feel free to adjust this based on your group's needs.
Powerful Assault Set For This Build
First up I recommend using Powerful Assault set, this comes from Imperial City, you can purchase it with Tel Var Stones, or you can also use ESO Gold buy it from Guild Traders. This is always a solid option as you can back bar this set using something like a Frost Staff plus three pieces of jewelry for example, and the set is going to apply a unique damage buff to your group, anytime you use an active assault skill something like Vigor and Caltrops, both of which we use on this build.
Armor Set Recommended
For a armor set, I would recommend another great option called Turning Tide set. This will give your Arcanist tank easy access to a very powerful debuff called Major Vulnerability. One of the best group debuffs in the game and this is something that typically is just sourced from Necromancers, so it's going to be a nice addition to your Arc in this tank build.
Monster Set Recommended
Finally for the monster set, you can run something like Tremorscale here. That's going to give your group even more penetration, especially if you have Stamina damage dealers in the group, this is another nice debuff set.
Now eventually if you'd like to upgrade this build since we are going to back bar Powerful Assault set, you could upgrade your front bar sword and shield to something like an Arena Weapon, offers a lot of utility for tanks but the build is also completely fine without it.
Skills For The Build
Jumping into skills for the front bar I recommend Heroic Slash, Silver Leash, Impervious Runeward, Runic Sunder, Rune of the Colorless Pool and Gibbering Shelter as the ultimate.
On the back for Destruction Staff we're using Elemental Blockade, Razor Caltrops, Runeguard of Still Waters, Echoing Vigor and Cruxweaver Armor with Aggressive Horn as the alt.
All these skills are great but Colorless Pool is such an amazing skill that I do want to mention it. Specifically this gives you on-demand access to both Minor Vulnerability and Minor Brittle, which are amazing Buffs to have access to as a tank, plus this skill can also stun non-elite enemies too, so that's very good as well.
Food And Mundus Stone
For food, we're using be with Sugar Skulls, Propulsions, Tri Stat Potions are usually best. For Mundus Stone, the Atronach Mundus is going to be recommended here for the extra Magicka recovery.
Also Read: Elder Scrolls Online: The Best Arcanist Build You Need To Try In Necrom - One Bar Stamina Build
Why Playing Arcanist Is One Of My Favorite Ways To Tank?
Now playing an Arcanist lately has been one of my favorite ways to tank in ESO, not only because the class is fun like I mentioned, but because the additional interactions that you have with Crux, makes things a lot more interesting in my opinion.
For one thing there's an interaction with Runic Sunder, Taunt ability which we mentioned earlier we're going to have that on the front bar, great skill too by the way it's a fully ranged taunt. So if you really we want to save on bar space you can run Runic Sunder instead of having both the sword and shield taunt plus a range taunt from Frost death for example.
But when you have three Crux active you actually get bonus damage reduction, from slotting this Runic Sunder skill, which is going to be a great passive bonus you can get on the front bar. You can even get an extra heal from casting Impervious Runeward, based on how many Crux you have active at the time.
Outro
So tanking as an Arcanist actually feels a lot more strategic versus a solo or a DPS build, which for a more experienced player or maybe someone looking for a more in-depth combat style, this might be exactly what you want.
