ESO Maelstrom Arena Guide – Getting Started and Each Stage

The ESO Maelstrom Arena is a solo arena in Elder Scrolls Online that’s made up of nine different stages. This guide will be walking you through each stage, and what you need to do to get there.

How to Get Started in ESO Maelstrom Arena

You can find the entrance to the area in Wrothgar to the north-east. If you wish to compete in the arena then  you will need to be able to access the Orsinium DLC. By doing so, you will take a portal to a preperation area. Find the NPC Fa-Nuit-Hen and accept his offer for the ESO Maelstrom Arena quest to progress. You need to accept the quest so that you can get the reward and have a save point ability throughout.

Vale of the Surreal

In the first stage of the Maelstrom Arena in ESO, you will be followed by a cloud that can not only make you susceptible to enemy attacks, but it can also slow down your movement too. All you really have to do here is navigate around them.

From an enemy point of view, there isn’t really much danger here. Take out the ranged enemies first as its good practice for techniques you will need to adapt later on in the arena. Overall, this is your training for the rest of the stages. It will give you an idea of what to expect in stages, though naturally the attacks and such from enemies will become much harder to deal with as you progress through.

You will also come across Sigils in the arena, which work as buffs for your character. The range from healing, to defence, haste and power. So this is a good chance to practice using the Sigils to get to grips with how they work.

In this stage, the final boss is Maxus the Many. This shouldn’t be too difficult for you to deal with, as long as you’re aware of the range attacks and AOE damage he is capable. You will need to deal with the spawns that Maxus introduces as well, but again this shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Take them out as soon as possible so they don’t have the opportunity to heal the boss.

Seht’s Balcony

The next stage has three blades that spin and move around the area. These can cause a bleed effect if they hit you, which can hinder you whilst trying to deal with enemies at the same time. There are a couple of blade switches that we need to find on two walls in the arena. When they glow green, it is then your time to turn the blades off, giving you a window to then deal with enemies nearby.

Again, you aren’t really having to deal with much in terms of enemies. Although, you should focus on the dwarven spheres first to not get struck by their shock damage capabilities. There are mini-bosses to fight as well, but their attacks are a front swipe and a frontal cone that you can easily get out of the way of. In the three rounds, you will face a dwarven centurion at the end.

As for the last boss of this stage, you will be facing the Centurion Champion. Expect the spinning blades to make this fight more annoying than it normally would be without them. Anyway, there are three of these champions that we need to fight that appear one at a time. As you attack one, they will then become invulnerable, as another comes for you to deal damage. Use this time to do heavy attacks to get some resources back.

Avoiding their attacks isn’t difficult either. That being said, you don’t want to be hit by the swipe that they dish out. The steam attack can be deadly too. Keep moving and block when necessary, whilst avoiding the blades as much as possible.

Drome of Toxic Shock

In this arena, you will notice that there is three islands that have electrified water around them sporadically. Stranglers will also slow you down and will need to be despatched as soon as you possibly can.

You will notice the Lamia Queen ordering lightning down on you, and you need to watch out for a poison AOE in the area. Enemies also have a healing AOE to heal themselves with too. Get rid of the stranglers and you will be steaming ahead to the last boss. Be careful of the mini-bosses though. The queen’s champion in particular can be dangerous with the two-handed weapon attack that’s capable of stunning your character.

The final boss of the third stage is the aforementioned Lamia Queen. She shouldn’t cause too many issues, but beware of her melee attacks. An aggressive approach is key here, and of course dodging her melee attacks where necessary. Keep your shield up to block her light attacks, whilst avoiding the scream attack that can stun you. If and when stranglers appear be sure to deal with them as soon as you can.

Seht’s Flywheel

Your goal here is to prevent the cloackwork sentries from getting into the centre of the arena where they can become invulnerable and use shock AOE spells. Make sure you get rid of any dwarven spheres as well, and the scavenger healers can also cause issues by helping your enemies. The mini-bosses are pretty straightforward too, though the last mini-boss does have a powerful two-handed attack that summons a fire ring around them.

The Control Guardian is the last boss here, which is a large, mechanical spider for you to deal with. Killing the boss isn’t hard, but the method to do so is awkward. The best method is to get underneath it and move as it does. This is the best way to also keep out of the way of the damage over time attack that it can cause.

When the boss stops, you need to get away from it as it starts dispensing fire all around. Get as far away as you can then start damaging it. Repeat then method once it starts moving again and you will soon take down the Control Guardian.

Rink of Frozen Blood

As the name suggests, we are going to see some ice here. Specifically, three frozen islands that have water around them that causes damage. Spending too much time here will see you dying. Troll breakers are the enemies that you need to get rid of here. They start spawning and try to break the islands, which will give you less room. Any ranged enemies should be your priority as well.

This is the point of the arena where we start to notice a difficulty spike. You have four rounds of mini-bosses to contend with. The first isn’t too hard to deal with, but the Ogre Elder can be tricky when summoning ice pillars. Following this is the Frost Atronach which has strong attacks to contend with, so avoid them where possible. AOE attacks are particularly effective in this situation. As the boss of the fourth round, you’ll face off with three giants that use a ground attack to launch stones in your direction. Exercise caution and use ranged attacks just to be safe.

When it comes to the final boss, Matriarch Runa, slow and steady is the strategy. Attack her slowly as killing her quick will cause issues from the adds that spawn in. Keep attacking her up to the point where the adds show up. Kill them as well as the troll breakers that appear. Wait until the last island is destroyed and keep on with AOE attacks. Make sure to keep using your sigils too.

Spiral Shadows

The arena for the sixth stage has five obelisks in it. These can stun the enemies when they are cleared of webs, though only one obelisk will be on the stage that isn’t covered by these webs. Clearing these will stun all the enemies. You will have to deal with webspnners that appear over the cleared obelisks to web them up once again. Spiderlings meanwhile will also appear to try and kill you, so stay near the obelisk that’s glowing to avoid this.

The first two round’s boss is the flesh atronach, which is simple enough to deal with. Avoid the spiderlings and his stun attack and you’ll be onto round three in no time. Here the boss will be the spiderkith captain, that has a dangerous heavy attack. Towards the end of the round the flesh atronach will appear with a spiderkith Enervator mage that has a powerful AOE shock attack. The fourth round meanwhile is the void lurchers that have the familiar formula of a stunning ground AOE attack, as well as easy to avoid light attacks.

The last boss is the Champion of Atrocity, but don’t be too intimidated by the name. She is rather easy to beat if you follow the correct technique. This method involves clearing all the obelisks except for one, and kill any webspinner that tries to cover the others. Focus on avoiding her AOE attacks that can kill you pretty quick then get her down to half health. Around this time, you can clear the final obelisk to stun her. From here, you should be able to go in and kill her easily.

Vault of Umbrage

You will need to avoid the poison flowers that inhabit this area. There’s rejuvenation pools at either end of the arena, which you will need to enter if you do not want to perish from poison. You will see venomcallers spreading clouds of poison too, so kill them fast. Archers need to be gotten rid of quick to not take damage from their powerful AOE attacks.

The first, second and fourth phase of this section sees you battle the rather simple swamp troll. It will grow larger when its low is depleted, whilst growing in strength. The fourth round sees an additional troll appearing as well. In the third round, you will encounter wamasu. This is a tough fight due to the shock ranged attack as well as methods of slowing you down. Avoid attacks at all costs, especially the first attack he does.

Argonian Behemoth is the final boss for this stage, and isn’t as scary as he looks. His attacks mainly affect those who get too close to him, so adopt a ranged method here. When you get to the point where the argonian minders spawn, kill only one of them. This will prompt the boss to scream, giving you a window to attack him. At the end of the roughly 10 second scream, kill the other minder then go back to attacking the boss.

Igneous Cistern

You will notice three warding stones in the arena for the eighth stage. When each round ends, you will need to destroy one of these stones. Destroying all three will be priority for the final boss too. You need to keep moving to avoid the lava being shot in your direction too.

Your main focus is to deal with the dremora kyngald. These are fire mages that can channel attacks that can kill you, so it’s a kill or be killed issue that you’ve got here. The dremora gandrakyn meanwhile can heal both bosses and enemies.

In the first three rounds, the infernal destroyer is the boss. Attack the warding stones so you can attack the boss. Be careful of lava shockwave coming from the ground. Kill all fire mages that appear in this area as well. As for the fourth round, you will need to take on a flame knight that has hefty damage from its melee attacks. The boss also has the capability to pull your towards her and attack with AOE flames. Keep away and dodge attacks that try and pull you closer to her.

Which brings us to the final boss of the stage, Valkyn Tephra. Though the boss is easy, you will still need to destroy the warding stones. This can be tricky if your DPS is low since it means you will have to rinse and repeat the same process. You don’t want to take too long either as it means a fire mage will appear.

A good method is to destroy two stones, then wait until the mage appears. Kill the mage then destroy the other stone so you can start attack the boss after. The boss itself is rather slow, and doesn’t do much damage ranged-wise. Stick to ranged just in case and you’ll be fine.

Theater of Despair

Ghosts inhabit this final arena. The white ghosts can slow you down and damage you, whilst the golden ghosts give you the chance to stun the surrounding enemies. Ultimately your goal is going to be to reach them first. Be aware of the archers and concentrate your attention on them as they can kill you in one hit. Deal with the crematorial guards and ogrims quick too as they are tough.

There is also a mini boss that can chain pull you in. The xivilai ravager has an AOE that can see you dead fasts. As usual, keeping your distance is going to be key. The fourth round will see you trying to stop dremora narkynaz from summoning the bone colossus. If they are successful, then you’re in for a fight. Both his fire and melee attacks can kill you quickly. Try and stay away as much as you can then go in for the attack. The fifth round boss is the Ash Titan, which again you should stick to ranged attacks. Dodge the flame attack that comes at you when his health is getting low, and deal with the enemies that spawn late on.

You’ve finally made it to the final boss of the ESO Maelstrom Arena. Here we will be doing battle with Voriak Solkyn. In the first phase, go and take the sigil of healing when the boss spawns in. Start attacking and try and get his health down as quick as possible before the crematorial guard appears. There will also be a clanfear appearing and a plate starts glowing. Get the clanfear over to the glowing plate and kill it to activate the portal here. You can now follow the boss to the next part.

In the second phase, keep going towards the crystal and attack it with everything you have. As the boss charges its AOE, you will see a moving wall. Use it to protect yourself from attack then move along it whilst hitting the crystals. Get your ultimate attack at the ready for the next and final phase. Firstly you need to destroy the three crystals to proceed.

The boss will follow you, so stop his channeling attack then get hold of the haste sigil. Block the attacks and dish out damage. Keep watching for golden ghosts, which you can use to combine with spectral explosion to stun the boss and kill him.

Once he’s dead, you will have completed the ESO Maelstrom Arena. This is considered to be one of the hardest PvE activities in the entire game, so well done for achieving this goal!