Welcome to my MagDK PvP Build for the Markarth patch.
This build takes advantage of the major buff changes of this patch to try and find the ideal sustain MagDK usually lacks for both the Magicka and Stamina pools, and allow for a powerful burst and sturdy enough setup to be able to endure the aggressive proc-sets meta and counter it.
If you’re looking to keep mobile and have great sustain despite Dragonknights’ usual lacks, while keeping your burst potential very high and surviving a fight against multiple enemies at once, this is the build for you.
There are a few things to keep in mind when viewing and playing this build:
The optimal race for this build is Breton. This race helps you sustain magicka skills better than any, and increases your spell resistance and your magicka pool as well.
Other good alternatives for races would be Dark Elf, Nord, Argonian and High Elf.
The mundus stone we are using on this build is The Lady, since our build mainly utilizes light armor, and gaining the extra Physical & Spell Resistance is very valuable.
Note: For the full explanation on why we use all these skills and how to utilize them effectively, make sure to check out the video linked above.
Unlock all the passives that don’t require 5 pieces. The third passive Improved Sneak is also optional.
Unlock all the passives that don’t require 5 pieces
Unlock only Banish The Wicked
Unlock only Combat Medic
Unlock only Medicinal Use
Bloodspawn – This monster helm is the ideal one for Dragonknights. It gives stam sustain as well as resistances, which are both amazing, but its most important function is giving ultimate generation to its user. MagDKs benefit a ton from their ultimates thanks to the Battleroar passive (after which this build is named) as it allows you to use your Leaps both to deal damage, gain a damage shield, heal, and get resources back. Bloodspawn + MagDK is a match made in heaven.
Burning Spellweave – This damage set is the ideal one for MagDKs as it has a high uptime, gives an extremely high amount of spell damage, and most importantly, is super reliable. It procs off-of cooldown as soon as you deal flame damage, and thanks to the Dragonknights DoTs & active flame abilities all dealing flame damage, you can utilize BSW on just one bar and not decrease its uptime whatsoever. All you have to do to benefit from this set is to play normally, and your damage abilities will ensure it goes off when you need it.
Note: Sets like Sun, Succession and Spinners are all great damage sets as well, HOWEVER they only increase your flame damage or penetration, which is great offensively but doesn’t power-up your healing abilities. That is the main reason BSW is superior to them all.
Desert Rose – Dragonknights sustain kit is notorious for being one of the worst ones of all classes- between lacking an active sustain ability, having less reliable sustain passives than most classes, and having some of the most expansive skills in the game- Dragonknights, magicka ones especially, typically lack sustain when spec’ing to high damage builds. This is where Desert Rose comes in. This set is by far the most effective Magicka sustain set this patch. It’s value surpasses Lich, Warlock and Bloodthorn by far, and unlike Amberplasm and Eternal Vigor, it can be equipped only on one bar, allowing it to be used very effectively without sacrificing other sets pieces of the build.
Malacath – Since our critical strikes chance is fairly low in this build after the nerfs this patch brought to the crit based CP passive, we are using Malacath to ensure our pressure with the build is powerful without relying on the occasional critical strike on an important burst skill. Malacath is NOT a must have on this build and can be replaced with any mythic of your choice. For alternatives on what to replace it with if you don’t have access to mythic items, check the attached build video.
Light Armor – We are using heavy armor on this build since it gives us increases sustain which we desperately need on MagDKs, as well as a lot of penetration. This penetration is going to be extremely relevant when fighting vs. strong or tanky players, which is why despite using Malacath which is commonly enabling Heavy Armor, we are using Light on this build.
Sturdy – Most of our traits in this build are Sturdy, since our Sword&Board on our back bar allow us to block very efficiently, and sadly after the nerfs the impen trait is not worth as much to use.
We use Bewitched Sugar Skulls since this one food gives us all: Max Health, Max Magicka, Max Stamina and Health Recovery.
We use tri-stat potions (made with Bugloss, Columbine and Mountain Flower) to help us heal and sustain both our Magicka pool and our Stamina pool.
We use Double-DoT poisons on the back bar, over our Drain Stamina enchantment. This poison helps us deal a bit more damage to enemies, but more importantly, it helps us sustain our Stamina pool by dealing Poison damage to enemies, which activates our Dragonknight Ardent Flame passive, Combustion.
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Content copyrighted Nirnstorm & Friends 2025
Built by Ghostbane
Impen 
Tri-Stat 
