How to get the Sul-Xan set in ESO
Sul-Xan’s Torment is a trial set designed for damage dealers who can keep contributing damage while enemies die around them. Its value is especially clear in encounters with frequent adds, where the set’s soul effect can provide a strong critical-focused boost and help a stamina or hybrid build maintain pressure.
The set comes from Rockgrove, the 12-player trial introduced with the Blackwood chapter. You can run it on normal or veteran difficulty, collect pieces for your sticker book, and later reconstruct the items you need at a transmute station. A complete farming plan is much faster than simply repeating random trial runs and hoping the right weapons appear.
For Australian players, the practical details matter. Trial groups may be busiest during evening hours in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, while players in Perth or Darwin can notice higher latency in mixed-region groups. Joining an Australian or New Zealand guild, checking the local trading scene, and planning around your connection can make the grind considerably smoother.
What Sul-Xan’s Torment does
Sul-Xan’s Torment is a medium armour set with offensive bonuses on its smaller set pieces. Its five-piece effect activates when an enemy you have recently damaged dies, leaving a soul that provides a substantial critical chance and critical damage benefit for a limited duration. The exact tooltip values and wording can change with ESO updates, so check the current in-game description after a major patch.
The effect is strongest when several targets are dying in quick succession. Rockgrove trash groups, dungeon pulls, and trial encounters with waves of lesser enemies allow the buff to remain active more reliably than a single-target fight with no additional targets. This makes the set a popular option for area damage, progression groups, and encounters where the boss is accompanied by regular adds.
It is less attractive when every fight is a long single-target burn and no expendable enemies are present. In those situations, a set with a permanent weapon damage bonus, penetration, or a boss-focused proc may provide more consistent results. The right choice depends on the fight, your group’s penetration, and whether your build can collect the souls without losing uptime.
Where the set drops
All Sul-Xan’s Torment pieces come from the Rockgrove trial in Blackwood. Normal Rockgrove is the most accessible route for a new player or a casual group, while veteran Rockgrove offers a tougher environment and access to perfected trial versions where applicable. The unperfected and perfected versions share the core five-piece effect, with perfected items adding an extra stat line.
Trial bosses and other reward sources distribute set items across armour, weapons and jewellery. Because the loot pool contains several Rockgrove sets, you should expect duplicate pieces and items for roles you do not play. Bind-on-pickup trial loot cannot simply be bought from a guild trader, so the main route is to earn it directly through the trial or receive tradable group loot where the game allows it.
Look for a Rockgrove run through the in-game group finder, zone chat, guild chat, or a community Discord. A guild with scheduled Australian events can be more dependable than waiting for a random listing, particularly outside the busiest North American and European time windows. Players in Melbourne or Sydney may find evening groups easily, while Perth players may have better results joining earlier or later sessions.
Planning your loot targets
Before entering Rockgrove, decide which role and weapon setup will use the set. A stamina Nightblade, for example, may want a body-heavy arrangement with dual wield or two-handed weapons, while a ranged damage dealer may prefer a different weapon combination. The Nightblade build guide can help you compare class-specific skill choices before spending valuable transmute materials.
The sticker book prevents duplicate drops from being completely wasted. Each time you bind a new Sul-Xan item to your account, that piece is added to your set collection. Once you have collected enough pieces, you can reconstruct a missing item at a transmute station by spending Transmute Crystals. Reconstruction is particularly useful for obtaining a precise trait or a weapon that refuses to drop.
| Target piece | Best source or approach | Useful planning note |
|---|---|---|
| Body armour | Trial encounters and reward chests | Collect several weights only if you expect to change builds |
| Weapons | Boss loot and trial reward sources | Weapon types are usually the slowest part of a focused farm |
| Jewellery | Boss loot and trial reward sources | Keep useful traits even before upgrading quality |
| Perfected pieces | Veteran Rockgrove sources | The extra line is valuable but not required for a functional build |
| Missing items | Sticker book reconstruction | Choose the trait and item quality after researching your setup |
A sensible approach is to bind every new piece, even if it has an inconvenient trait. Once the collection is complete, you can reconstruct the ideal version instead of continuing to chase the same drop. Researching traits before reconstruction also prevents an avoidable delay when you finally obtain the right item.
Farming Rockgrove efficiently
Start by learning the trial mechanics rather than treating the run as a simple gear dungeon. Rockgrove includes dangerous add groups, movement checks, healing pressure, and mechanics that can punish players who stand in the wrong location. A group that clears safely will usually produce more useful loot over an evening than a group that repeatedly wipes while chasing a faster time.
Normal difficulty is an appropriate starting point for learning the route and collecting the first pieces. Veteran difficulty becomes worthwhile when your group understands the mechanics and can maintain reliable damage. Do not switch to veteran solely for the perfected version if the higher difficulty causes frequent failures; a completed normal run still advances your collection and gives you more opportunities to learn.
Use the first clear to identify which bosses drop the categories you still need. Keep an eye on the weekly trial leaderboard and bonus reward system as well, since ESO often rotates trial-related incentives. Running Rockgrove during an active weekly reward period can make repeated clears more productive, although the exact reward rules can change between updates.
For Australian groups, voice communication and server timing deserve attention. A Sydney-based raid leader may schedule a run at 7:30 pm AEST, which can be inconvenient for players in Western Australia or New Zealand depending on daylight-saving changes. Agree on the time zone before signing up, and allow a few minutes for every player to load in and repair gear.
Building around the soul effect
Sul-Xan’s Torment performs best on a damage dealer who can tag several enemies and stay near the resulting souls. Area-of-effect skills, damage-over-time abilities, and execute abilities all help create the conditions for repeated activations. Classes such as Nightblade, Dragonknight, Sorcerer, Templar and Warden can use the set, but the best pairing depends on the encounter and the rest of the build.
Do not sacrifice basic combat requirements just to activate the set. Your character still needs enough penetration for the group’s target content, a suitable critical chance, reliable sustain, and the correct weapon damage profile. In organised trials, check whether your group already supplies major buffs and penetration through skills, debuffs and support sets before selecting a second damage set.
The set can occupy the body or weapon slots, depending on your build. Wearing it on body pieces gives stable access to the five-piece bonus while leaving weapon slots open for another set, but it may force you to use a specific armour weight arrangement. Using Sul-Xan weapons can make bar swapping or gear changes more flexible, though weapon drops are often the most frustrating part of the farm.
Keep a separate setup for encounters where enemies rarely die. A single-target trial boss, an arena with strict movement, or a PvP fight may not provide enough reliable activations to justify the set. Community build discussions and resources such as ESO community guides can offer useful comparisons, but test the final arrangement against your own combat logs and group composition.
A practical farming checklist
Use the following preparation list before your next Rockgrove run:
- Complete normal Rockgrove first if the mechanics are unfamiliar.
- Bind every new Sul-Xan piece to expand your sticker book.
- Decide whether your final setup needs body, weapon or jewellery pieces.
- Bring repaired gear, filled soul gems, food and an appropriate potion setup.
When reviewing your collection after each clear, prioritise the items that reduce the most future farming:
- Keep the correct weapon type, even with an imperfect trait.
- Save useful jewellery traits until you know your final build.
- Research missing traits before reconstructing an item.
- Use transmute crystals only after confirming the complete gear plan.
ESO’s account-wide sticker book makes persistence more valuable than luck. A duplicated helmet, unwanted trait or off-role item can still move your collection closer to a guaranteed reconstruction. Check your set collection from the Collections menu after the trial rather than relying on memory, since a piece must usually be bound before it is recorded.
Upgrading and using the finished set
Once you have the required pieces, decide whether the set belongs in your everyday build or only in a trial-specific loadout. Gold-quality weapons normally provide the greatest offensive return, while armour and jewellery upgrades can be prioritised according to your budget. For many players, a well-traited purple set is perfectly adequate while they continue improving the rest of the character.
Traits should match the role of the item. Damage dealers commonly look for offensive traits on weapons and damage-focused traits on jewellery, while body pieces may be selected to balance critical chance, weapon damage, penetration and sustain. Exact choices depend on your class, race, mundus stone, champion points and whether you play in a coordinated group.
If you buy related crafting materials or account services through an Australian storefront, check whether the displayed price includes GST. Digital purchases may also be subject to the platform’s refund and account policies, while Australian Consumer Law can apply to transactions supplied by Australian businesses. Keep receipts for significant purchases and use official support channels when an item or service does not arrive as described.
Finally, test Sul-Xan’s Torment in the content where you intend to use it. Watch whether souls appear in reachable positions, whether you can maintain the effect during movement, and whether the replacement set improves real combat results rather than only a training-dummy number. The practical goal is a traited, reconstructed or looted set that fits your rotation, group role and Rockgrove experience, not simply a completed collection entry.