The Elder Scrolls Online » Discussions


ESO: Three-Year Anniversary Event!

Tags: #ESO 
  • Member
    April 10, 2017

    Phil said:

    Ok, so this Jubilee Cake has gotten me to a level now where I feel I can join you with actual skills to offer. I have focussed my level 14 Dragonknight on stamina and sword and board, so can tank and self heal by choosing the healing morphs whenever possible. He can deal damage and take the aggro -  I think - so it shouldn't be too much of a burden. Not sure what secondary weapon I should take at 15 yet. I don't really want to go staves, would archery work? I have never rolled an archer before. 

    I can't really make him into a CB, but may make a hybrid RP profile on the cat as he has actually devoloped a personality. He is inquisitive and looks in all the things, has been known to be light fingered if he spots a recipe. He likes cooking, see. That sweet tooth of his may yet be his downfall. 

    My GT is Rusted Cage so add me anytime if you feel like it. If you see me online I will likely accept an invite to join you :)

    Excellent news. Although we will have to work around the time zone difference (and RL work schedules), I am confident we can meet up on weekends at the very least. Color me excited!

    As for your DK, I'd love to help you but I need some more info first. You mentioned that he/she is a hybrid. What does that mean for you? As you probably already figured out in your ESO experience, the main attribute for your character will determine your character's ultimate focus. Are you planning on your DK being more stamina or magicka focused?

    Also, ESO is a game of give-and-take when it comes to character building. For example, the tankier you become, the less damage you will be able to produce. The converse is true. In 4-person group dungeons (I acknowledge that this may not be the content you would like to experience - it's just an example), damage dealers rely on tanks to take the aggro and healers to...well, heal. Because of this, they can focus on building their characters to deal as much damage as possible. Building a viable hybrid is daunting and difficult, but not impossible. The key is finding the comfortable middle ground between dishing out a lot of damage and taking a lot damage. The good news is that a dragonknight is the perfect class to create a hybrid. If you tell me which attribute will be your main focus, I can steer you toward some build option that might meet your goals.

  • Member
    April 11, 2017

    Patriarch said:

    Phil said:

    Ok, so this Jubilee Cake has gotten me to a level now where I feel I can join you with actual skills to offer. I have focussed my level 14 Dragonknight on stamina and sword and board, so can tank and self heal by choosing the healing morphs whenever possible. He can deal damage and take the aggro -  I think - so it shouldn't be too much of a burden. Not sure what secondary weapon I should take at 15 yet. I don't really want to go staves, would archery work? I have never rolled an archer before. 

    I can't really make him into a CB, but may make a hybrid RP profile on the cat as he has actually devoloped a personality. He is inquisitive and looks in all the things, has been known to be light fingered if he spots a recipe. He likes cooking, see. That sweet tooth of his may yet be his downfall. 

    My GT is Rusted Cage so add me anytime if you feel like it. If you see me online I will likely accept an invite to join you :)

    Excellent news. Although we will have to work around the time zone difference (and RL work schedules), I am confident we can meet up on weekends at the very least. Color me excited!

    As for your DK, I'd love to help you but I need some more info first. You mentioned that he/she is a hybrid. What does that mean for you? As you probably already figured out in your ESO experience, the main attribute for your character will determine your character's ultimate focus. Are you planning on your DK being more stamina or magicka focused?

    Also, ESO is a game of give-and-take when it comes to character building. For example, the tankier you become, the less damage you will be able to produce. The converse is true. In 4-person group dungeons (I acknowledge that this may not be the content you would like to experience - it's just an example), damage dealers rely on tanks to take the aggro and healers to...well, heal. Because of this, they can focus on building their characters to deal as much damage as possible. Building a viable hybrid is daunting and difficult, but not impossible. The key is finding the comfortable middle ground between dishing out a lot of damage and taking a lot damage. The good news is that a dragonknight is the perfect class to create a hybrid. If you tell me which attribute will be your main focus, I can steer you toward some build option that might meet your goals.

    Thanks Patriarch! :) I think I could have phrased what I said a lot better, even I am scratchin' my head :D When I mentioned "hybrid" I was actually talking about making a RP Profile/Build sort of thing, just for fun, and it really has no bearing here so please disregard my ramblings. 

    I would appreciate help, though, when you get time, as I really don't know what backup weapon to focus on. I kinda want to go with a bow.

    Here's my character in brief:

    Level 17 Dragonknight

    Stats: Magicka: 0 Health: 0 Stamina 20

    Active Abilities: Ardent Flame

    Flame Lash II (Targetting off-balance enemies for 3444 damage and healing 6201 over 2 seconds)

    Burning Embers I (Heals 69% of total damage inflicted when duration ends)

    Standard of Might I Ultimate (Standing in AOE increases damage done and reduces damage taken by 12%)

    Passive Abilities: Adent Flame:

    Combustion 2/2 ( Increases damage of burning and poiosned status by 66%)

    Active Abilities: Draconic Power: 

    Volatile Armor II (DoT for nearby enemies)

    Passive Abilities: Draconic Power

    Burning Heart 1/2 (Increases healing with a DP ability active by 6%)

    Active Abilities: Earthen Heart:

    Obsidian Shard I (Stuns for 3 seconds and heals for 3160 - used in combo with flame lash for healing)

    Passive Abilities: Earthen Heart

    Battle Roar 1/2 (When casting an Ultimate, heals 12 health, 12 magicka and 14 stamina for each point of the Ultimate's cost)

    Active Abilities: One Handed and Shield:

    Pierce Armour II (taunting and dealing 2780 dmg, inflicts Major Fracture and Major Breach, reducing PR and SR by 5280 for 12 secs)

    Passive Abilities: One Handed and Shield:

    Fortress 1/2 (Reduces stamina cost of sword and board powers by 5% and reduces blocking cost by 18%)

    Sword and Board 1/2 (increase dmg by 3% and damage blocked by 10%)

    Deadly Bash 1/2 (50% extra dmg costing 20% less stamina)

    Passive Abilities:Heavy Armour:

    Resolve 2/3 (Increase PR and SR by 241 for each piece of HA equipped, current 1449)

    Constitution 2/2 (Increases health recovery by 4& for each piece of HA, current 24%, restores magicka nd stamina 186 each time taking damage, current 1116 every 4 secs)

    Khajiit Skills:

    Nimble 2/3 (Increases health recovery by 13% and stamina recovery by 6%)

    Blacksmithing and Provisioning also lightly invested in. 

     

    So I have speccd him for tanking and self-sufficiency, I hope. He holds his own, but yeah there are faster damage dealers :D Give him an hour and he'll tank his way to victory. So, what should I take as secondary skills/weapon? :)

  • Member
    April 11, 2017

    Thanks for posting this up, Patriarch! The Ache for Cake was a quick little quest, and I already had everything on hand. Totally worth it. The boxes for the daily quests area also a nice perk. :)

  • Member
    April 11, 2017

    @Phil

    If you want to run with a bow then go for it. Based on your set-up, my recommendation would be to go with 2H. It's not necessarily an issue at lower levels, but as you progress, you'll find that your current main damage ability, Pierce Armor, will begin to underperform against higher leveled enemies (it's mainly a taunt). Low slash, morphed to Heroic Slash, will help somewhat (and it will generate ultimate). Flame Lash has a cool animation but it's power scales with your overall magicka stats. Since you are focused in stamina, you wil see the "power" of Flame Lash begin to drop off after a while. A magicka-based DK will use Flame Lash as a very powerful spammable ability. As I said, it's perfectly fine in the lower levels. In fact, it probably overperforms in the lower levels.

    What does all this mean for you? It means that solo fights will ultimately become excruiatingly slow. In essence, the fight will become a war of attrition in which you will likely win - because you wore the enemy down over time, rather than because of the power of your character. You'll absorb a ton of damage, but not dish out much. 

    2H (or dual wield for that matter) scales with your main attribute, stamina, which means that your weapon damage will increase as your overall stamina pool increases. I have a hybrid stamina DK in which I have 2H as my damage bar and S&B as my "buff" bar. Before the fight starts, I'll switch to S&B, pop Igneous Shield, Spiked Armor (a few other skills you haven't unlocked yet), then hit the enemy with Pierce Armor for the debuff. Then I'll switch to 2H and hit 'em with Upper Cut or Cleave and then Reverse Slice to execute. If the enemy is hitting particularly hard, I'll stay on the S&B bar for a while, using Pierce Armor and Herioc Slash (which generates ultimate so you can use Standard of Might, Corrosive Armor, or Dragon Leap more often. Plus, the passive "Battle Roar" will enable you to restore resources when you use an ultimate). 

    That's not to say that Bow can't work. You can use it, for sure. Before the fight starts, you can buff up, hit the enemy with Poison Injection (later in the tree), and then pop Arrow Barrage for the DOT. Then you can switch to your S&B bar. It's not as efficient for being hybrid tank/damage dealer, but it can work.

    Or, you could try leveling up mutiple weapon skills and try what works best for you. There's plenty of skyshards for whatever skill you need. My Orc stamina sorcerer has all the weapon skills unlocked for different situations. 

    It's completely up to you. 

  • Member
    April 11, 2017

    Edana said:

    Thanks for posting this up, Patriarch! The Ache for Cake was a quick little quest, and I already had everything on hand. Totally worth it. The boxes for the daily quests area also a nice perk. :)

    This has to be the best event ever. I can't tell you how many crafting motifs and master wrtis I've received - even on my characters who don't have a high level of crafting skills. 

    Through selling the rewards, I made about $150k last week alone! 

  • Member
    April 11, 2017

    Patriarch said:

    @Phil

    If you want to run with a bow then go for it. Based on your set-up, my recommendation would be to go with 2H. It's not necessarily an issue at lower levels, but as you progress, you'll find that your current main damage ability, Pierce Armor, will begin to underperform against higher leveled enemies (it's mainly a taunt). Low slash, morphed to Heroic Slash, will help somewhat (and it will generate ultimate). Flame Lash has a cool animation but it's power scales with your overall magicka stats. Since you are focused in stamina, you wil see the "power" of Flame Lash begin to drop off after a while. A magicka-based DK will use Flame Lash as a very powerful spammable ability. As I said, it's perfectly fine in the lower levels. In fact, it probably overperforms in the lower levels.

    What does all this mean for you? It means that solo fights will ultimately become excruiatingly slow. In essence, the fight will become a war of attrition in which you will likely win - because you wore the enemy down over time, rather than because of the power of your character. You'll absorb a ton of damage, but not dish out much. 

    2H (or dual wield for that matter) scales with your main attribute, stamina, which means that your weapon damage will increase as your overall stamina pool increases. I have a hybrid stamina DK in which I have 2H as my damage bar and S&B as my "buff" bar. Before the fight starts, I'll switch to S&B, pop Igneous Shield, Spiked Armor (a few other skills you haven't unlocked yet), then hit the enemy with Pierce Armor for the debuff. Then I'll switch to 2H and hit 'em with Upper Cut or Cleave and then Reverse Slice to execute. If the enemy is hitting particularly hard, I'll stay on the S&B bar for a while, using Pierce Armor and Herioc Slash (which generates ultimate so you can use Standard of Might, Corrosive Armor, or Dragon Leap more often. Plus, the passive "Battle Roar" will enable you to restore resources when you use an ultimate). 

    That's not to say that Bow can't work. You can use it, for sure. Before the fight starts, you can buff up, hit the enemy with Poison Injection (later in the tree), and then pop Arrow Barrage for the DOT. Then you can switch to your S&B bar. It's not as efficient for being hybrid tank/damage dealer, but it can work.

    Or, you could try leveling up mutiple weapon skills and try what works best for you. There's plenty of skyshards for whatever skill you need. My Orc stamina sorcerer has all the weapon skills unlocked for different situations. 

    It's completely up to you. 

    On further thought, you could make S&B your main damage bar with 2H as a buff bar (2H has a strong burst heal - Momentum morphed to Rally). BUT, you would have to build it with the right gear set to pull it off. It would require buying gear at the traders and/or running group dungeons for dropped gear. Your bars would probably look something like this:

    Sword and Shield – Main damage ability bar.

    1. Stun Ability – Unrelenting Grip (morph of Fiery Grip) for groups; or Invasion (morph of Shield Charge - a gap closer stun) – for solo
    2. Ransack (increases your physical resistance) or Pierced Armor (bebuffs the enemies' armor) - both are morphs of Puncture 
    3. Venomous Claw (morph of Searing Strike)
    4. Dragon Fire Scales (morph of Reflective Scale) –
    5. Heroic Slash (morph of Low Slash) –
    6. [Ultimate] Shield Discipline (morph of Shield Wall); or Dawnbreaker of Smiting (morph of Dawnbreaker); or Take Flight

    Two-Hand – Buffs only.

    1. Volatile Armor (morph of Spiked Armor) 
    2. Rally (morph of Momentum)
    3. Shuffle (morph of Evasion) – Provides a dodge chance
    4. Igneous Shield (morph of Obsidian Shield)
    5. Resolving Vigor (morph of Vigor - PvP Assualt line healing skill) or FLEX if you don't want to grind for this
    6. [Ultimate] Aggressive Warhorn (morph of Warhorn - PvP Assault skill line) - for groups; or Standard of Might (morph of Dragonknight Standard); or Corrosive Armor (morph of Magma Armor)

    I can help with any weapon combo you choose.

  • Member
    April 11, 2017

    Patriarch said:

    Patriarch said:

    @Phil

    If you want to run with a bow then go for it. Based on your set-up, my recommendation would be to go with 2H. It's not necessarily an issue at lower levels, but as you progress, you'll find that your current main damage ability, Pierce Armor, will begin to underperform against higher leveled enemies (it's mainly a taunt). Low slash, morphed to Heroic Slash, will help somewhat (and it will generate ultimate). Flame Lash has a cool animation but it's power scales with your overall magicka stats. Since you are focused in stamina, you wil see the "power" of Flame Lash begin to drop off after a while. A magicka-based DK will use Flame Lash as a very powerful spammable ability. As I said, it's perfectly fine in the lower levels. In fact, it probably overperforms in the lower levels.

    What does all this mean for you? It means that solo fights will ultimately become excruiatingly slow. In essence, the fight will become a war of attrition in which you will likely win - because you wore the enemy down over time, rather than because of the power of your character. You'll absorb a ton of damage, but not dish out much. 

    2H (or dual wield for that matter) scales with your main attribute, stamina, which means that your weapon damage will increase as your overall stamina pool increases. I have a hybrid stamina DK in which I have 2H as my damage bar and S&B as my "buff" bar. Before the fight starts, I'll switch to S&B, pop Igneous Shield, Spiked Armor (a few other skills you haven't unlocked yet), then hit the enemy with Pierce Armor for the debuff. Then I'll switch to 2H and hit 'em with Upper Cut or Cleave and then Reverse Slice to execute. If the enemy is hitting particularly hard, I'll stay on the S&B bar for a while, using Pierce Armor and Herioc Slash (which generates ultimate so you can use Standard of Might, Corrosive Armor, or Dragon Leap more often. Plus, the passive "Battle Roar" will enable you to restore resources when you use an ultimate). 

    That's not to say that Bow can't work. You can use it, for sure. Before the fight starts, you can buff up, hit the enemy with Poison Injection (later in the tree), and then pop Arrow Barrage for the DOT. Then you can switch to your S&B bar. It's not as efficient for being hybrid tank/damage dealer, but it can work.

    Or, you could try leveling up mutiple weapon skills and try what works best for you. There's plenty of skyshards for whatever skill you need. My Orc stamina sorcerer has all the weapon skills unlocked for different situations. 

    It's completely up to you. 

    On further thought, you could make S&B your main damage bar with 2H as a buff bar (2H has a strong burst heal - Momentum morphed to Rally). BUT, you would have to build it with the right gear set to pull it off. It would require buying gear at the traders and/or running group dungeons for dropped gear. Your bars would probably look something like this:

    Sword and Shield – Main damage ability bar.

    1. Stun Ability – Unrelenting Grip (morph of Fiery Grip) for groups; or Invasion (morph of Shield Charge - a gap closer stun) – for solo
    2. Ransack (increases your physical resistance) or Pierced Armor (bebuffs the enemies' armor) - both are morphs of Puncture 
    3. Venomous Claw (morph of Searing Strike)
    4. Dragon Fire Scales (morph of Reflective Scale) –
    5. Heroic Slash (morph of Low Slash) –
    6. [Ultimate] Shield Discipline (morph of Shield Wall); or Dawnbreaker of Smiting (morph of Dawnbreaker); or Take Flight

    Two-Hand – Buffs only.

    1. Volatile Armor (morph of Spiked Armor) 
    2. Rally (morph of Momentum) - this provides a strong HOT with a small burst heal at the end of the HOT cycle
    3. Shuffle (morph of Evasion) – Provides a dodge chance
    4. Igneous Shield (morph of Obsidian Shield)
    5. Resolving Vigor (morph of Vigor - PvP Assualt line healing skill) or FLEX if you don't want to grind for this
    6. [Ultimate] Aggressive Warhorn (morph of Warhorn - PvP Assault skill line) - for groups; or Standard of Might (morph of Dragonknight Standard); or Corrosive Armor (morph of Magma Armor)

    I can help with any weapon combo you choose.

  • Member
    April 12, 2017

    Patriarch said:

    Patriarch said:

    @Phil

    If you want to run with a bow then go for it. Based on your set-up, my recommendation would be to go with 2H. It's not necessarily an issue at lower levels, but as you progress, you'll find that your current main damage ability, Pierce Armor, will begin to underperform against higher leveled enemies (it's mainly a taunt). Low slash, morphed to Heroic Slash, will help somewhat (and it will generate ultimate). Flame Lash has a cool animation but it's power scales with your overall magicka stats. Since you are focused in stamina, you wil see the "power" of Flame Lash begin to drop off after a while. A magicka-based DK will use Flame Lash as a very powerful spammable ability. As I said, it's perfectly fine in the lower levels. In fact, it probably overperforms in the lower levels.

    What does all this mean for you? It means that solo fights will ultimately become excruiatingly slow. In essence, the fight will become a war of attrition in which you will likely win - because you wore the enemy down over time, rather than because of the power of your character. You'll absorb a ton of damage, but not dish out much. 

    2H (or dual wield for that matter) scales with your main attribute, stamina, which means that your weapon damage will increase as your overall stamina pool increases. I have a hybrid stamina DK in which I have 2H as my damage bar and S&B as my "buff" bar. Before the fight starts, I'll switch to S&B, pop Igneous Shield, Spiked Armor (a few other skills you haven't unlocked yet), then hit the enemy with Pierce Armor for the debuff. Then I'll switch to 2H and hit 'em with Upper Cut or Cleave and then Reverse Slice to execute. If the enemy is hitting particularly hard, I'll stay on the S&B bar for a while, using Pierce Armor and Herioc Slash (which generates ultimate so you can use Standard of Might, Corrosive Armor, or Dragon Leap more often. Plus, the passive "Battle Roar" will enable you to restore resources when you use an ultimate). 

    That's not to say that Bow can't work. You can use it, for sure. Before the fight starts, you can buff up, hit the enemy with Poison Injection (later in the tree), and then pop Arrow Barrage for the DOT. Then you can switch to your S&B bar. It's not as efficient for being hybrid tank/damage dealer, but it can work.

    Or, you could try leveling up mutiple weapon skills and try what works best for you. There's plenty of skyshards for whatever skill you need. My Orc stamina sorcerer has all the weapon skills unlocked for different situations. 

    It's completely up to you. 

    On further thought, you could make S&B your main damage bar with 2H as a buff bar (2H has a strong burst heal - Momentum morphed to Rally). BUT, you would have to build it with the right gear set to pull it off. It would require buying gear at the traders and/or running group dungeons for dropped gear. Your bars would probably look something like this:

    Sword and Shield – Main damage ability bar.

    1. Stun Ability – Unrelenting Grip (morph of Fiery Grip) for groups; or Invasion (morph of Shield Charge - a gap closer stun) – for solo
    2. Ransack (increases your physical resistance) or Pierced Armor (bebuffs the enemies' armor) - both are morphs of Puncture 
    3. Venomous Claw (morph of Searing Strike)
    4. Dragon Fire Scales (morph of Reflective Scale) –
    5. Heroic Slash (morph of Low Slash) –
    6. [Ultimate] Shield Discipline (morph of Shield Wall); or Dawnbreaker of Smiting (morph of Dawnbreaker); or Take Flight

    Two-Hand – Buffs only.

    1. Volatile Armor (morph of Spiked Armor) 
    2. Rally (morph of Momentum)
    3. Shuffle (morph of Evasion) – Provides a dodge chance
    4. Igneous Shield (morph of Obsidian Shield)
    5. Resolving Vigor (morph of Vigor - PvP Assualt line healing skill) or FLEX if you don't want to grind for this
    6. [Ultimate] Aggressive Warhorn (morph of Warhorn - PvP Assault skill line) - for groups; or Standard of Might (morph of Dragonknight Standard); or Corrosive Armor (morph of Magma Armor)

    I can help with any weapon combo you choose.

    Fantastic reply, thank you Patriarch! :) You were spot on, war of attrition it was. Make a coffee, roll something to smoke, settle in for a long siege :D So, I played around with both bow and two handed, ran a couple of delves and a public dungeon. I really like the damage a bow can do, that AOE Volley dishes out some serious wounds, and I think the Toxic Barrage and Lethal Arrow morphs of Rapid Fire and Snipe could work nicely with the Combustion 2/2 Passive of Ardent Flame, that 66% to poison statuses should apply, right? However, I think exploring bow will wait for a later date, I think I'd enjoy it more with medium armour and something more focussed, you know? 

    Two Handed, though, yeah that wins out. In fact, I rarely switch back to sword and board. There were a couple of instances when I did, a dolmen and against Estre in the Deadlands, but mostly two handed has taken over as my main because Critical Charge and Uppercut are just too fun not to use :D I think I need to get a few more tanking abilities in, sort of use the class skills to buff up and use the big smacky as the main damage dealer, switching to one handed and shield if/when when I need to turtle up. 

    So thanks man, he has become a bit of a brute when using a big assed weapon! Will try and emulate this:

    2H (or dual wield for that matter) scales with your main attribute, stamina, which means that your weapon damage will increase as your overall stamina pool increases. I have a hybrid stamina DK in which I have 2H as my damage bar and S&B as my "buff" bar. Before the fight starts, I'll switch to S&B, pop Igneous Shield, Spiked Armor (a few other skills you haven't unlocked yet), then hit the enemy with Pierce Armor for the debuff. Then I'll switch to 2H and hit 'em with Upper Cut or Cleave and then Reverse Slice to execute. If the enemy is hitting particularly hard, I'll stay on the S&B bar for a while, using Pierce Armor and Herioc Slash (which generates ultimate so you can use Standard of Might, Corrosive Armor, or Dragon Leap more often. Plus, the passive "Battle Roar" will enable you to restore resources when you use an ultimate). 

  • Member
    April 12, 2017

    @Phil

    Excellent. I'm glad you're settling in to a playstyle. We can theorycraft many types of builds and set-ups, but the most successful build is the one that you, as the individual player, feels is most comfortable and effective. 

  • Member
    April 12, 2017

    The reality is that every weapon brings unique strengths and weaknesses:

    Dual Wield: Amazing damage over time, with built-in AOE (Blade Cloak) and healing (through morphs). Lacks the single-target burst as some weapon abilities.

    2H: Powerful, single target burst damage. HOT and shielding abilities. No AOE whatsoever. Somewhat draining in resources and is a little slow.

    S&B: Super tanky. Taunting abilities. Interrupts (shield bashes) and stuns. Weaker in overall damage.

    Bow: DOT abilities for AOE (Hail/Barrage) and single-target (Poison Injection/Venom Arrow). Ranged DPS. No real burst damage outside of ultimates.

    Destruction staff: Ranged magicka damage. Depending on what type, produces extra damage, DOT and snares, or concussion AOE. No burst damage.

    Resto staff: Supportive. Restorative. Minor magicka damage and drain.