Building Your Character - Elitist Builds

[Musclemagic]

For those of you who are clueless about builds, here's my view on ESO builds in one simple go-go-dancing post:

 

*Updated 12-16-'13*

 

Viable roles for each class for group combat--

1st role:

DK: Draconic Power- Tank (Reduce both physical and magical damage, root groups and self-heal from groups.)

NB: Assassination- Physical (Melee or Bow) DPS

Sorc: Storm Calling- Ranged Magical DPS

Temp: Restoring Light- Heals

 

2nd role:

DK: Earthen Heart- Support (Control enemies and Buff party)

NB: Shadow- Self-Survival

Sorc: Dark Magic- Healer+Control

Temp: Dawn's Wrath- Support (Increase party's DPS and make the melee enemies miss a lot or the casters unable to cast.)

 

3rd role:

DK: Ardent Flame- Close-range magic DPS

NB: Siphoning- Caster DPS

Sorc: Summoning- Pets help spread incoming dmg, you keep yourself and your pets alive while also doing a bit of DPS.

Temp: Aedric Spear- Ranged and close quarters DPS hybrid.

 

DK should be in heavy armor for Draconic Power- with 1H&Shield. Light Armor for Earthen Heart- with a Restoration staff for more control and support and light armor for Ardent Flame- with a Destruction staff for more DPS.

 

NB should be in medium armor for Assassination-  with a melee weapon and Shadow- with a bow. NB should be in light armor with either destro or resto staff depending on if you want more survival or more damage.

 

Sorc should be in light armor for all builds, using either a destro or resto staff. An exception to this would be a sneaky-healer build with medium armor and resto staff who uses Dark Exchange a lot.

 

Templar has the most diverse options. To heal they should use Resto staff & Light armor, to tank they should use Heavy armor & 1H/Shield, to DPS they should either use medium with 2H, DW, or Bow bars (2 out of these, 1 for each bar) for physical damage, and then use light armor and a destruction staff for magical damage.

 

If all of this is correct, which I think it is, then I would say that the best choice of armor (and therefore the best choice of weapons) is easy for each class.

 

Logically, it's as follows:

<strike>DK: Light armor, Destro-Ardent Flame + Resto-Earthen Heart.</strike>

 

NB: Medium Armor, DW-Assassination + Bow-Assassination.

 

Sorc: Light Armor, Destro-Storm Calling + Resto-Dark Magic.

 

Templar: Light Armor, Resto-Restoring Light + Destro-Dawn's Wrath.

 

The only problem with this, is that there aren't any tanks. DK make the best tanks, as they have a whole bar dedicated to it. So, instead of them playing as a close-range magic DPS or a support/healer class, I strongly would encourage all DK to be tanks. Looking at the numbers, they don't make that great of DPS or strictly support/healers anyway..either due to the need to be in melee range with light armor, or due to the lack of resources compared to other classes for casting MP based spells. Not only this, but there are already 2 classes who's best options are using Destro/Resto staves in light armor, so the gear will be much more expensive than Heavy--which will be the least desired gear.

 

Thusly, this is more logical for several reasons:

DK: Heavy armor, 1H&Shield-Draconic Power + 2H-Earthen Heart.

 

Of course this all changes when we're talking about soloing.

 

While soloing, the build choices are easier IMO:

Half DPS, and half control if medium or heavy armor -or- half heals if light armor.

Meaning the only good options are really:

 

DK: Heavy Armor + 2H with Earthen Heart and 2H abilities (Not ardent flame instead of 2H for DPS because they are spell power abilities rather than weapon power, also the MP ratio would be way off if bar#1 was still S&S.) (Since it's heavy armor--since you'll hopefully want to tank as a DK, resto-staff isn't as viable..so control+dps > heals+dps because of armor synergy.)

 

NB: Medium Armor + Bow with Shadow and Bow abilities. (Not Siphoning instead of Shadow, because they are spell power not weapon power and would do such low damage that it's not worth it.) (Because it's medium armor, resto staff isn't a good choice--you want that melee weapon for synergies--and this means that heals+dps isn't an option.)

 

Sorc: Light Armor + Resto staff with Summoner and Resto abilities. (Dark Magic with a Destro staff would be a good alternative to Summoning+Resto staff, if you prefer damage + control more than damage + healing.)

 

Temp: Light Armor + Destro staff with both Aedric Spear and Restoring light abilities. (Because templars have class-heals, you can just use that bar instead of a resto staff to fulfill the healing part of the DPS+Healing combo. Another option would be to use Aedric Spear + Dawn's Wrath, still with a destro staff, to control+dps instead of heal+dps.)

 

....

 

As far as Ultimates go, here's a really over-simplified breakdown of the ultimates:

 

As far as Ults go, like irons said it really depends on situations. I won't go into too much detail but this is basically the breakdown that I see:

 

Nova, DK Standard, Storm Atronarch, and Soul Shred are probably the best for most AOE situations.

 

Magma Armor, Negate Magic, Nova or Rite of Passage for defense.

 

Dragon Leap, Death Stroke, Overload, and Consuming Darkness are all good for specific things, Dragon Leap is one of my favorites for breaching keeps and knocking people off keep walls.

 

I also really like Highborn and Hitskin because they're extremely simple.

Summon Bear/Ancestral Guardian are amazing for PVE. Battlecry/Berserker Rage/Powercharge are really good.

 

Eye of Fear and Dragonskin I'm undecided on, they will either be really good... or not ever worth taking IMO.

 

Meteor and Soul Strike seem good for Spell Power builds that want a Dragon Leap that they don't need to be in the frey with, or a nice single-target damage/snare.

 

I LOVE Barrier as a healer/support character (the passive you get from it is nice as well.) and War Horn is also a top-notch group support ability. I think in any well-functioning group for PVP there should be at least 1 person with War Horn and 1 person with Barrier.

 

Dawnbreaker's probably only good for Daedra PVE.

....

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers.

[Earl Grey]

I've been putting off making an actual build since there are so many combinations from the info available.  Here is what I came up with for a sorc with a ton of defensive abilities that will have enough mana cost reduction/regeneration to spam mages fury and lightning splash.  I put some thoughts at the end as well

 

Breton Sorc w/ 7 light armor pieces

HP:20 points

ST:0

MP:30 points

 

Ultimate:

Meteor - unlocks rank 8

instant - 28m range - 150 ultimate - no cooldown

deals 14 fire damage

deals 50% to enemies within 5m

knocks enemies back 800cm

 

Bar 1

Destro Staff

Actives:

 

Mages Fury – unlocks rank 1

instant – 28m range – 36 magicka – no cooldown

deals 6 shock damage

enemies below 20% health take 18 shock damage

 

Lightning Splash – unlocks rank 24

instant – 28m range / 4m radius – 52 magicka

leaves a pool of lightning for 5s that deals 5 shock damage every 1s

an ally in the area may activate conduit, instantly shocking enemies for 15 shock damage

 

Repulse – unlocks rank 4

instant – 5m radius – 52 magicka – no cooldown

nearby enemies are knocked back 6m and snared 45% for 4s

 

Lightning Form – unlocks rank 50

instant – self – 56 magicka – no cooldown

For 6s

take 40% less damage

deal 2 shock damage to nearby enemies every 1s

 

Encase – unlocks rank 1

instant – 15m radius – 80 magicka – no cooldown

immobilize enemies in front of you for 4.5 seconds

 

Bar 2

Resto Staff

Actives:

 

Regeneration – unlocks rank 1

instance – 15m radius – 40 magicka – no cooldown

- heal nearby ally for 5

- heal for an additional 20 over 20s

 

Surge – unlocks rank 34

instant – self – 80 magicka – no cooldown

For 17s

increase power by 3

 

Steadfast Ward - unlocks rank 10

instant - self - 80 magicka - no cooldown

absorbs up to 120 damage from the next incoming attack

last 30s

 

Conjured Ward – unlocks rank 50

instant – 20m radius – 60 magicka – no cooldown

create a 24 point damage shield on self and summoned creatures for 20 seconds

absorbs 75% of damage taken

 

Bolt Escape – unlocks rank 4

instant – self – 64 magicka – no cooldown

stuns nearby enemies for 1.5s

teleport forward 15m

 

Passive synergies:

 

Prodigy(Light Armor) + Exploitation(Daedric Summonning) = +25% crit chance on enemies affected by daedric magic(encase and repulse)

Magicka Master(breton) + Evocation(LA) + Unholy knowledge(Daedric Summoning) = 29% Spell 

cost reduction and 39% spell cost reduction on lightning spells with expert mage on storm calling tree!

Spell Resistance(breton) + Spell Warding(LA) = +120 Spell Resistance

Daedric Protection = +20% health regen while using resto bar on defence

Capacitor(storm calling) + Recovery (LA) = +38% mana regen

Concentraion(LA) + Cycle of Life(Resto) + Potency(Mages Guild) = +13%-22% extra spell damage

Restoration Master (resto) + Potency (mages Guild) = +10% extra heal

 

The philosophy behind this build would be to maximize the amount of DPS i'm able to do by

minimizing the amount of kiting i have to do.  I use my large mana pool to stick buffs and 

HOTs on myself (bar 2 resto staff) at the beginning of combat and then switch to bar 1 (destro staff)

to unload cheap offensive spells on them and by then my ultimate will hopefully be high when my mana

is low so I can finish them off with a few meteors.  Switch back to bar 2 if i need to heal and 

protect myself.  I have a lot of mana sinks here but with the huge spell cost reduction huge mana regen i can hopefully keep my mana high enough to have spells like lightning form up all the time for

damage mitigation.  If i am having extra mana in combat I would maybe include bound armor in bar 1 or

the breton ulti(dragon skin) which is like a mana shield i think, instead of meteor.

 

This build might be weak to CC but maybe spell resistance counters some of that effect? 

 

I put destruction staff for bar 1 since it seems like a natural fit and the status effects of the heavy attacks mightcome in handy but honestly none of the skills seemed better that the Sorceror skills and the passives dont synergize at all so i don't even know if i would put any points in it... At that point just using a shield might be better since it would 1: Add to the potency of my existing light armor passives as another LA piece and 2: Increase my armor and addextra enchantment bonuses

[irons]

"Elitist Builds" really???

 

-------------------------------

This build might be weak to CC but maybe spell resistance counters some of that effect?

No spell resistance won't help you against CC but you can use your stamina to break stuns

-------------------------------

 

I'm not to sure about the stats.

My main focus is to have enough resources so I don't ran out of stamina/magicka in the middle of fights.

 

Class: Dragonknight

Race: Redguard

Armor: Heavy

Weapons:

Main: 2Handed Sword

Off: Sword & Shield

Stats:

HP: 20

ST: 20

MA: 9

Entchaments:

Armor:

  Power on pieces were possible (currently known 2)

  HP reg on the rest (8)

Weapons:

  2Handed: Lifesteel or Power

  Sword: Lifesteal or Power

  Shield: Shield (dmg Shield)

 

 

HotBar 1: (2Handed)

 

Reverse Slash

Critical Charge

Inferno

Momentum

Immvoveable

 

Ultimate: Magma Armor

 

 

HotBar 2: (Sword/Shield)

 

Low Slash

Shield Charge

Ash Cloud

Defensive Posture

Obsidian Shield

 

Ultimate: Battler Standard

 

 

The idea of this build is that with the high HP reg plus the dmg reduction through heavy armor, Obsidian Shield and immoveable that you will be tanky as hell while hitting really hard. Both Hotbars have there gab closer and their stamina based spam dps skill. Inferno on Hotbar1 is used to snare people and take good use of your magicka.

[Earl Grey]

"Elitist Builds" really???

 

Agree the title is a bit elitist

 

@irons I might add dragon blood on your second bar as a self heal and major added HP rejen.  Also acts as a mana sink when ash cloud isn't relevant.  Dark talons might also be really good for your first bar and might be better than inferno which adds damage but isn't really synergistic with anything.

 

I like immovable a lot I think with that and crit charge it would be hard to stop you from coming at them.

 

You may want to add spell resist to armor in addition to hp regen especially for your second bar

[irons]

Agree the title is a bit elitist

 

@irons I might add dragon blood on your second bar as a self heal and major added HP rejen.  Also acts as a mana sink when ash cloud isn't relevant.  Dark talons might also be really good for your first bar and might be better than inferno which adds damage but isn't really synergistic with anything.

 

I like immovable a lot I think with that and crit charge it would be hard to stop you from coming at them.

 

You may want to add spell resist to armor in addition to hp regen especially for your second bar

I used to have Dragon Blood in my builds but I allways over read that it only heals for 25% of your missing health, that's why i kicked it out.

Dark Talon is nice but with Inferno I can use my magicka better and it also is my slow on that hotbar through the passive warmth.

Plus with that build I want either to kill my opponent or make him to run away.

 

I don't think that spell restistance is needed, as a DK I allready have more spell resist than others plus from what we know armor also helps agianst magic dmg. Plus the dmg reduction works also against magic dmg. So I really think that I will be fine without adding spell resist.

[Earl Grey]

Do you happen to know if there is a minimum number of heavy armor pieces you have to be wearing to use immovable? It seems like such a strong ability that having my sorc wear a piece or two of heavy armor just to use that might be worth it.  It would be my only stamina ability so i might be able to keep it up most of the time

[Earl Grey]

Oh yes I didn't see that inferno works with the warmth passive so well.  That seems really strong

[irons]

Do you happen to know if there is a minimum number of heavy armor pieces you have to be wearing to use immovable? It seems like such a strong ability that having my sorc wear a piece or two of heavy armor just to use that might be worth it.  It would be my only stamina ability so i might be able to keep it up most of the time

That's something many are wondering.

My personal guess would be 5+ pieces, but who knows.

[Musclemagic]

That's something many are wondering.

My personal guess would be 5+ pieces, but who knows.

 

My guess would be 5+ as well.

 

Do you happen to know if there is a minimum number of heavy armor pieces you have to be wearing to use immovable? It seems like such a strong ability that having my sorc wear a piece or two of heavy armor just to use that might be worth it.  It would be my only stamina ability so i might be able to keep it up most of the time

 

I was thinking if I was playing a sorce I'd still use 5 Heavy and just 2 Light.

 

 

"Elitist Builds" really???

 

-------------------------------

This build might be weak to CC but maybe spell resistance counters some of that effect?

No spell resistance won't help you against CC but you can use your stamina to break stuns

-------------------------------

 

I'm not to sure about the stats.

My main focus is to have enough resources so I don't ran out of stamina/magicka in the middle of fights.

 

Class: Dragonknight

Race: Redguard

Armor: Heavy

Weapons:

Main: 2Handed Sword

Off: Sword & Shield

Stats:

HP: 20

ST: 20

MA: 9

Entchaments:

Armor:

  Power on pieces were possible (currently known 2)

  HP reg on the rest (8)

Weapons:

  2Handed: Lifesteel or Power

  Sword: Lifesteal or Power

  Shield: Shield (dmg Shield)

 

 

HotBar 1: (2Handed)

 

Reverse Slash

Critical Charge

Inferno

Momentum

Immvoveable

 

Ultimate: Magma Armor

 

 

HotBar 2: (Sword/Shield)

 

Low Slash

Shield Charge

Ash Cloud

Defensive Posture

Obsidian Shield

 

Ultimate: Battler Standard

 

 

The idea of this build is that with the high HP reg plus the dmg reduction through heavy armor, Obsidian Shield and immoveable that you will be tanky as hell while hitting really hard. Both Hotbars have there gab closer and their stamina based spam dps skill. Inferno on Hotbar1 is used to snare people and take good use of your magicka.

 

Why are you going with 2H instead of DW for your damage? DW seems a lot better for quick kills, stronger in both single-target and the AOE is spammable. I would go DW for killing easy things, but also for Hidden Blade to start kiting a single mob. I'm sure there'll be some fights where you need to kite the target as a group while killing it, so you'll want at least one ranged slow that you can spam-the interrupt's nice too.

 

On your S&S bar-- definitely use something from Draconic Power. Burning Heart (+12% healing received) is way too good to pass up. I'd suggest swapping Obsidian Shield for Spiked Armor, I don't think Obsidian Shield will stay on long enough to be that great except for the group-support, but if you're a good tank then you shouldn't need to support the group that much anyway--leave that to the healers.

For PVE are you going to swap Low Slash with Puncture for the Taunt, and just keep Ash Field up for the dodge? I think you'll still be alright even if you don't have quite as much mitigation -- It'll allow the healer to focus more on you anyway, so it'll make dungeons go way smoother even if you are taking a tad more damage.

 

 

Agree the title is a bit elitist

 

@irons I might add dragon blood on your second bar as a self heal and major added HP rejen.  Also acts as a mana sink when ash cloud isn't relevant.  Dark talons might also be really good for your first bar and might be better than inferno which adds damage but isn't really synergistic with anything.

 

I like immovable a lot I think with that and crit charge it would be hard to stop you from coming at them.

 

You may want to add spell resist to armor in addition to hp regen especially for your second bar

 

Elitists FTW!

 

 

 

I've been putting off making an actual build since there are so many combinations from the info available.  Here is what I came up with for a sorc with a ton of defensive abilities that will have enough mana cost reduction/regeneration to spam mages fury and lightning splash.  I put some thoughts at the end as well

 

Breton Sorc w/ 7 light armor pieces

HP:20 points

ST:0

MP:30 points

 

Ultimate:

Meteor - unlocks rank 8

instant - 28m range - 150 ultimate - no cooldown

deals 14 fire damage

deals 50% to enemies within 5m

knocks enemies back 800cm

 

Bar 1

Destro Staff

Actives:

 

Mages Fury – unlocks rank 1

instant – 28m range – 36 magicka – no cooldown

deals 6 shock damage

enemies below 20% health take 18 shock damage

 

Lightning Splash – unlocks rank 24

instant – 28m range / 4m radius – 52 magicka

leaves a pool of lightning for 5s that deals 5 shock damage every 1s

an ally in the area may activate conduit, instantly shocking enemies for 15 shock damage

 

Repulse – unlocks rank 4

instant – 5m radius – 52 magicka – no cooldown

nearby enemies are knocked back 6m and snared 45% for 4s

 

Lightning Form – unlocks rank 50

instant – self – 56 magicka – no cooldown

For 6s

take 40% less damage

deal 2 shock damage to nearby enemies every 1s

 

Encase – unlocks rank 1

instant – 15m radius – 80 magicka – no cooldown

immobilize enemies in front of you for 4.5 seconds

 

Bar 2

Resto Staff

Actives:

 

Regeneration – unlocks rank 1

instance – 15m radius – 40 magicka – no cooldown

- heal nearby ally for 5

- heal for an additional 20 over 20s

 

Surge – unlocks rank 34

instant – self – 80 magicka – no cooldown

For 17s

increase power by 3

 

Steadfast Ward - unlocks rank 10

instant - self - 80 magicka - no cooldown

absorbs up to 120 damage from the next incoming attack

last 30s

 

Conjured Ward – unlocks rank 50

instant – 20m radius – 60 magicka – no cooldown

create a 24 point damage shield on self and summoned creatures for 20 seconds

absorbs 75% of damage taken

 

Bolt Escape – unlocks rank 4

instant – self – 64 magicka – no cooldown

stuns nearby enemies for 1.5s

teleport forward 15m

 

Passive synergies:

 

Prodigy(Light Armor) + Exploitation(Daedric Summonning) = +25% crit chance on enemies affected by daedric magic(encase and repulse)

Magicka Master(breton) + Evocation(LA) + Unholy knowledge(Daedric Summoning) = 29% Spell 

cost reduction and 39% spell cost reduction on lightning spells with expert mage on storm calling tree!

Spell Resistance(breton) + Spell Warding(LA) = +120 Spell Resistance

Daedric Protection = +20% health regen while using resto bar on defence

Capacitor(storm calling) + Recovery (LA) = +38% mana regen

Concentraion(LA) + Cycle of Life(Resto) + Potency(Mages Guild) = +13%-22% extra spell damage

Restoration Master (resto) + Potency (mages Guild) = +10% extra heal

 

The philosophy behind this build would be to maximize the amount of DPS i'm able to do by

minimizing the amount of kiting i have to do.  I use my large mana pool to stick buffs and 

HOTs on myself (bar 2 resto staff) at the beginning of combat and then switch to bar 1 (destro staff)

to unload cheap offensive spells on them and by then my ultimate will hopefully be high when my mana

is low so I can finish them off with a few meteors.  Switch back to bar 2 if i need to heal and 

protect myself.  I have a lot of mana sinks here but with the huge spell cost reduction huge mana regen i can hopefully keep my mana high enough to have spells like lightning form up all the time for

damage mitigation.  If i am having extra mana in combat I would maybe include bound armor in bar 1 or

the breton ulti(dragon skin) which is like a mana shield i think, instead of meteor.

 

This build might be weak to CC but maybe spell resistance counters some of that effect? 

 

I put destruction staff for bar 1 since it seems like a natural fit and the status effects of the heavy attacks mightcome in handy but honestly none of the skills seemed better that the Sorceror skills and the passives dont synergize at all so i don't even know if i would put any points in it... At that point just using a shield might be better since it would 1: Add to the potency of my existing light armor passives as another LA piece and 2: Increase my armor and addextra enchantment bonuses

 

 

First thing I noticed is that you don't have Dark Exchange. In a build that is highly MP based and also doesn't use any ST on actives, I'd take Dark Exchange for sure. Even if you cast it for one second to get 23% MP/HP and then you move/cast something else (canceling the cast) it could save your ass in so many ways it's amazing.

 

Mage's Fury isn't what you think it is anymore, it doesn't work like a ranged Assassin's Blade anymore--

Instant28m range36 Magicka(lvl 50 - 252 magicka)

– deals 6(123) shock dmg- explode for 18(310) shock dmg if the target falls below 20% health within 4sec- explosion deal 40% of its initial damage to enemies within 4m of the target

 

It's still good, but you can't spam it on single-targets anymore. It's actually better now, but it's harder to use--and actually pretty similar to Daedric Curse except you can spam this (since you can only have 1 curse up at a time). So, this probably upsets your whole build..but remember that you'll do a good amount of damage with light/heavy attacks with your destro staff--so I wouldn't worry about a direct damage active ability so much.

 

I actually really like your build, I can see it being really functional in a lot of situations, you're just going to have a lot of trouble on things that can disable you (so taking immovable would be an epic fix).

 

PS- What's your 2nd Ult. going to be?

[irons]

Why are you going with 2H instead of DW for your damage? DW seems a lot better for quick kills, stronger in both single-target and the AOE is spammable. I would go DW for killing easy things, but also for Hidden Blade to start kiting a single mob. I'm sure there'll be some fights where you need to kite the target as a group while killing it, so you'll want at least one ranged slow that you can spam-the interrupt's nice too.

 

On your S&S bar-- definitely use something from Draconic Power. Burning Heart (+12% healing received) is way too good to pass up. I'd suggest swapping Obsidian Shield for Spiked Armor, I don't think Obsidian Shield will stay on long enough to be that great except for the group-support, but if you're a good tank then you shouldn't need to support the group that much anyway--leave that to the healers.

For PVE are you going to swap Low Slash with Puncture for the Taunt, and just keep Ash Field up for the dodge? I think you'll still be alright even if you don't have quite as much mitigation -- It'll allow the healer to focus more on you anyway, so it'll make dungeons go way smoother even if you are taking a tad more damage.

I think that while DW will deal more dmg overtime that 2H is just more bursty. Than I get AoE on a passive with it and the most important point it has a gab closer + I love Momentum.

 

Yeah I'm also not to sure about obsidian shield the 5% stamina is nice plus I get more ultimate points but I guess that's something I will have to test when the game launches.

 

 

For PvE I either swap Shield Charge or Low Slash for Puncture and Reverse Slash for Cleave

[Musclemagic]

Is this is the accurate tooltip? Defensive Posture: Activated: Reflects the next spell projectile back to the attacker. While slotted, increases the effectiveness of block, and reduces the Stamina cost of blocking.

 

TF sucks, but I just thought I'd ask since this was released more recently than the tooltips on here (and it doesn't make sense to me to have a slotted ability with no active).

 

 http://tamrielfoundry.com/2013/09/pax-skill-overview/

 

 

ps- I am working on getting my build put up on the first post... I'll let you know when I do, I'm fixing up 6 different builds that I think all have amazing potential. So far I'm happy with all the numbers and such for enchants/everything on only 2 of them. XD

[Earl Grey]

First thing I noticed is that you don't have Dark Exchange. In a build that is highly MP based and also doesn't use any ST on actives, I'd take Dark Exchange for sure. Even if you cast it for one second to get 23% MP/HP and then you move/cast something else (canceling the cast) it could save your ass in so many ways it's amazing. Mage's Fury isn't what you think it is anymore, it doesn't work like a ranged Assassin's Blade anymore--Instant28m range36 Magicka(lvl 50 - 252 magicka)– deals 6(123) shock dmg- explode for 18(310) shock dmg if the target falls below 20% health within 4sec- explosion deal 40% of its initial damage to enemies within 4m of the target It's still good, but you can't spam it on single-targets anymore. It's actually better now, but it's harder to use--and actually pretty similar to Daedric Curse except you can spam this (since you can only have 1 curse up at a time). So, this probably upsets your whole build..but remember that you'll do a good amount of damage with light/heavy attacks with your destro staff--so I wouldn't worry about a direct damage active ability so much. I actually really like your build, I can see it being really functional in a lot of situations, you're just going to have a lot of trouble on things that can disable you (so taking immovable would be an epic fix). PS- What's your 2nd Ult. going to be?

 Thinking about the cc weakness and some of the other things you pointed out  (thanks for the mages fury update btw) i threw together this revised version.  Without all the light armor my castiing costs will be higher and my mana regen will be lower so I'll have to rely on high max mana and dark exchange to replenish.  If i can keep up lightning form and immovable much of the time while dealing damage that would be awesome for survivability as well as having extra armor from wearing heavy pieces.  I'd want to focus most/all of my armor enchantments towards damage since my goal is still dps and i don't want to turn into just a bad tank.  Second ult i decided on storm atronach because when i've got my second bar up i'll probably be running around headless chicken  style buffing and healing so it'd be good to have something  i can drop and forget about or run around for protection.  Negate obv looks awesome but it seems like it might be too expensive and situational to live up to that Breton Sorc w/ 2 light armor pieces 5 heavy armor piecesHP:20 pointsST:0MP:30 points Bar 1Destro StaffActives:Force ShockMages Fury (updated version)Encase Lightning Form ImmovableUlt: Meteor Bar 2Resto StaffActives:Regeneration Surge Conjured Ward Dark ExchangeBolt Escape Ult: Storm Atronach

[irons]

Is this is the accurate tooltip? Defensive Posture: Activated: Reflects the next spell projectile back to the attacker. While slotted, increases the effectiveness of block, and reduces the Stamina cost of blocking.

 

TF sucks, but I just thought I'd ask since this was released more recently than the tooltips on here (and it doesn't make sense to me to have a slotted ability with no active).

 

 http://tamrielfoundry.com/2013/09/pax-skill-overview/

 

 

ps- I am working on getting my build put up on the first post... I'll let you know when I do, I'm fixing up 6 different builds that I think all have amazing potential. So far I'm happy with all the numbers and such for enchants/everything on only 2 of them. XD

I also think that's what that skill currently does. I had in mind that it would reflect the next attack but I think that skill might change again until launch.

The thing is the blocking cost is allready reduced by 46% too passives while blocking is improved by 10% and for projectiles and for range attacks it's improved by another 15%.

So i might just switch it for Dark Talon (more CC) or for Inferno (more Dmg).

[Guest Oberon]

 

Mage's Fury isn't what you think it is anymore, it doesn't work like a ranged Assassin's Blade anymore--

Instant28m range36 Magicka(lvl 50 - 252 magicka)

– deals 6(123) shock dmg- explode for 18(310) shock dmg if the target falls below 20% health within 4sec- explosion deal 40% of its initial damage to enemies within 4m of the target

 

It's still good, but you can't spam it on single-targets anymore. It's actually better now, but it's harder to use--and actually pretty similar to Daedric Curse except you can spam this (since you can only have 1 curse up at a time). So, this probably upsets your whole build..but remember that you'll do a good amount of damage with light/heavy attacks with your destro staff--so I wouldn't worry about a direct damage active ability so much

 

You mentioned that "you'll do a good amount of damage with light/heavy attacks with your destro staff..." -- are we in possession of the exact damage numbers for those attacks, so that we can compare them to the 123 single target damage for Mage's Fury (this ignores the other effect of Mage's Fury, giving us a guaranteed 123 single target damage amount per cast as a minimum).

 

I'm not clear how we can assume that a direct damage active ability such as Mage's Fury is inferior to light/heavy attacks for dps calculations until we know what the exact light/heavy damage numbers are.

[irons]

You mentioned that "you'll do a good amount of damage with light/heavy attacks with your destro staff..." -- are we in possession of the exact damage numbers for those attacks, so that we can compare them to the 123 single target damage for Mage's Fury (this ignores the other effect of Mage's Fury, giving us a guaranteed 123 single target damage amount per cast as a minimum). I'm not clear how we can assume that a direct damage active ability such as Mage's Fury is inferior to light/heavy attacks for dps calculations until we know what the exact light/heavy damage numbers are.

If we take a look at the quakecon video, it's fair to say that basic attacks deal way less dmg than abilities.

[Oberon]

If we take a look at the quakecon video, it's fair to say that basic attacks deal way less dmg than abilities.

 

That was my guess as well, implying that spamming Mage's Fury would be far superior to light/heavy attacks--at a cost of burning a lot of Magicka, of course.  Naturally, we still need the hard numbers on those attacks, but time should fill in these details (wtb open beta sooner rather than later

[Earl Grey]

That was my guess as well, implying that spamming Mage's Fury would be far superior to light/heavy attacks--at a cost of burning a lot of Magicka, of course.  Naturally, we still need the hard numbers on those attacks, but time should fill in these details (wtb open beta sooner rather than later

 

Ya if light/heavy attack pack that much of a punch i'd think tanky/utility ranged destro/resto/bow builds  with low mp would be op.  The quakecon vid made it look like ranged attack just tickled enemies.  

 

@muclemagic I know this is a little off topic from your OP but can you give anymore details/opinions on the strength of basic attacks vs active abilities and what builds you would see using basic attacks more often then not? is there any build you can think of that uses no basic attacks and is that good?

[irons]

Ya if light/heavy attack pack that much of a punch i'd think tanky/utility ranged destro/resto/bow builds  with low mp would be op.  The quakecon vid made it look like ranged attack just tickled enemies. @muclemagic I know this is a little off topic from your OP but can you give anymore details/opinions on the strength of basic attacks vs active abilities and what builds you would see using basic attacks more often then not? is there any build you can think of that uses no basic attacks and is that good?

Even low cost skills will cost more magicka/stamina than you can reg, but with the right build you can use a fairly high number of actives before you ran out of magicka/stamina. Normal attacks will allways deal significant less dmg than abilities because even if they have relative low costs normal attacks cost way less.

[ghost5689]

cant wait to see your builds muscle magic

[Musclemagic]

Most of you already know what each ability does, so I don't need to put it in parenthesis, but I want you to really think about the implications of each ability synergizing with the rest of the builds abilities. These are all builds that I think will be close to the best (with minor tweaking) for what they're designed to do.

 

My favorite (the best, in my opinion) build is the one in the original post of this thread-- I'll continue to edit that 1^st post as I change it around.

 

I hope these builds spark some interesting ideas for you guys:

 

Khajiit – NB – DW+S&S – Heavy - PVP

DW-  Strategy = Stealth up to target and keep incapacitated as much as possible for the extra damage. Goal = Single target quick kills, will kill targets in light armor extremely fast.

• [*]

Shadow Cloak – M (Allows you to get to target for veiled strike)

[*]

Veiled Strike – M (4s disable = extra dmg on 3 flurries in a row)

• [*]

Flurry – S (spammed single-target dmg)

[*]

Teleport Strike – M (gap-close + 2s disable for extra dmg on 1 flurry)

[*]

Assassin's Blade – M (Finisher, when they're low)

[*]

Eye of Fear – U (Ranged Fear[They cower on the spot] and 5% incrs damage taken from ALL sources! Amazing for killing single-targets.)

S&S- Strategy = Keep Blur/Immovable up for mitigation, keep Strife up for heals, Summon Shade up for mitigation and heals, and Defensive Posture for reflecting spells and blocking better. Goal = When things get hairy, switch to this bar and survive a really long time.

• [*]

Blur – M (Incrs dodge chance)

[*]

Immovable – S (dmg mitigation + unable to be incapacitated)

[*]

Defensive Posture – S (active-reflects 1 spell, passive-incrs's block effectiveness and reduces cost)

[*]

Strife – M (Direct dmg + HOT, damage is spammable while HOT won't stack)

[*]

Summon Shade – M (Weakens target by 15% while under attack, helps tank in PVE, does some damage)

[*]

Soul Strike – U (Hard-hitting DOT and powerful snare[80%])

(---------------------------------------)

Breton – DK – DW+S&S – Heavy - PVE

DW- Strategy = Only used for DPS when it's called for, pre-buff with Molten Weapons, and pull the first kill-target of a mob with Fiery-Reach. Goal = capable of doing decent single-target damage, giving some group support, and able to pull a mob when necessary.

• [*]

Molten Weapons – M (buff, affects whole friendly party)

[*]

Fiery Reach – M (pull enemy towards you[and towards whole group]

[*]

Searing Strike – M (Keep the DOT up)

[*]

Twin Slashes – S (Keep the DOT up)

[*]

Flurry – S (Spammable)

[*]

Dragon Leap – U (Huge direct nuke, also it's fucking awesome..lol)

S&S- Strategy = Taunts targets to keep them on you, slows them a lot to keep them from running, while having the best possible mitigation on top of good synergy with passives. Goal = TANK!

• [*]

Ash Field – M (Yeah..you guys know all these, so kind of pointless to write out.)

[*]

Immovable – S

[*]

Puncture – S (Reduces target's armor, works well in conjunction with DW 2^nd bar.)

[*]

Spiked Armor – M

[*]

Obsidian Shield – M

[*]

Magma Armor – U

(---------------------------------------)

Argonian – Nightblade – Bow and Resto – Heavy - PVE and PVP!

Bow- Strategy = Apply DOTs and HOT, keep Shade summoned, use Scatter Shot when a single target is too close to you. Use Volley in AOE situations where you're not under pressure. Goal = Nice DPS with ranged while on a NB.

• [*]

Cripple – M (Slow + DOT)

[*]

Strife – M (Dmg + HOT)

[*]

Summon Shade – M (DOT + Tank in PVE + Weaken)

[*]

Scatter Shot – S (KB + Disorient)

[*]

Volley – S (AOE Dmg-Spam)

[*]

Soul Strike – U (Single target big damage over 3s with an 80% slow. Does more against Chilled target, so put ice enchant on the bow.)

Resto- Strategy = Swap to this bar to buff your group, or when you yourself are in a crappy situation and need to try to get out through tanking. Goal = Group support and self-survival.

• [*]

Blessing of Protection – M (Heal + Armor & Resistance Buff)

[*]

Blur – M (Dodge buff)

[*]

Immovable – S (Flat reduction buff + Anti-disabling)

[*]

Purge – M (Remove 2 negative effects)

[*]

Grand Healing – M (Quick Heal)

[*]

Warhorn – U (+25% max MP&ST for 30s)

(----------------------------------------)

*UPDATED 10-26-'13* Dunmer – DK – Heavy – DW + Resto - PVP + PVE

 

DW- Strategy = Attack order: Fiery Reach > Entropy > Searing Strike > Twin Strikes > Flurry Spam until dead. Goal = Single Target Killin!! 

• [*]

Fiery Reach – M (Bring them in)

[*]

Entropy - N/A (DOT + Magicka + 15% next magic dmg ability)

[*]

Searing Strike – M (single-target DOT)

[*]

Twin Strikes - S (single-target Dmg + DOT)

[*]

Flurry – S (single-target spam)

[*]

Soul Strike - U (Single-target heavy DOT)

Resto- Strategy = Keep the group buffed  Goal = Group battle support!

• [*]

Obsidian Shield - M (Absorbs %dmg taken by all friendlies in area)

[*]

Molten Weapons - M  (Buffs friendlies in the area's Power)

[*]

Blessing of Protection - M  (+Armor and +Resistances for friendly's in area)

[*]

Regeneration - M (Small heal + HOT) I wish I could take Dragon Blood or Spiked Armor here to increase self-healing received by 12%(huge) but it doesn't fit.. Maybe take Spiked Shield instead of Molten Weapons and move Molten Weapons up to bar 1 instead of Flurry.

[*]

Grand Healing - M (Hopefully, between the buffs and spiked armor, this is the only heal that your party will need.)

[*]

Magma Armor – U (Perfect for group battles! *Oh Sh!t button+Big damage*)

(---------------------------------------)

Argonian – Temp – Destro+Resto – 5 Light & 2 Heavy for the +10% crit chance on spells. - Group PVP

Destro- Strategy = Between Sun Fire and Piercing Javelin, you are a single-target kiting god. Solar Flare is an amazing AOE DMG spell. Since everything you do is from a distance, Siege Shield helps you (and your party) take a lot less potential damage from siege-weapons as well as from all ranged attacks. Eclipse is to counter single-target casters if you get in a caster-battle. Goal = AOE damage and single-target utility, with some group-support as well.

• [*]

Solar Flare – M

[*]

Sun Fire – M

[*]

Piercing Javelin – M

[*]

Siege Shield – M

[*]

Eclipse – M

[*]

Warhorn – U

Resto- Strategy = When you get surrounded and can't keep them all at bay, swap to this bar and spam Sun-Shield until out of danger. If your group members are dying on the front lines then this bar's also meant for being able to heal your entire party pretty well, and also dispel. Goal = More survival and group heals. This is actually this build's main bar, the first bar is mostly utility. This is the typical "healer" character.

• [*]

Sun Shield – M

[*]

Cleansing Ritual – M

[*]

Rune Focus – M

[*]

Healing Ritual – M

[*]

Regeneration – M

[*]

Nova – U

 

It's hard for me to see this last build working with the MP and such, but I know there's a lot of potential for greatness hidden in it with minor tweaking.

[Musclemagic]

@David - Sorry for the DP.

 

Ya if light/heavy attack pack that much of a punch i'd think tanky/utility ranged destro/resto/bow builds  with low mp would be op.  The quakecon vid made it look like ranged attack just tickled enemies.  

 

@muclemagic I know this is a little off topic from your OP but can you give anymore details/opinions on the strength of basic attacks vs active abilities and what builds you would see using basic attacks more often then not? is there any build you can think of that uses no basic attacks and is that good?

 

I agree with irons, your assessment's correct--it's just going to tickle them. Although, they were in a dungeon where the monsters had a lot higher health than normal. I'd say (based on what I've seen *cough*) that light+heavy attacks are a bit more powerful than you realize, but don't come close to active abilities. I just meant that there are better options for damage-spammers since Mage's Fury can only do the bigger hit once per fight unless the targets are healing up above 20% and getting knocked back down very often.

 

Definitely a few builds could be 100% light/heavy attacks with utility spells only in the bar! I actually believe that this is what ZOS's going for, where all the actives are mostly for utility rather than the damage itself on the abilities. And, I don't just mean healers/supports/tanks doing this. If you look at almost every ability it's not just damage except for a select few. The thing is that a lot of the utility spells (ones that aren't about the damage) also do have damage on them so finding the balance between awesome utility and awesome damage is key.

 

One example would be a Khajiit NB with a 2H, or maybe even better an Altmer Sorce with a Destro Staff. Weakness to Elements, Mark Target, Haste, Surge, Momentum, + the racial extra damage, and a few other spells that come in to directly support your melee damage. A resto staff build could do it really well on a nightblade with Haste and such to get your power attacks to heal you and throw a Lifesteal enchant on that staff..kaboom! It really depends on playstyle, you can either use the MP/ST to cast a direct damage spell or you can use it to buff your weapon attacks/debuff the enemy. The rest of your abilities will be like normal, mitigation and either separation or closure depending on need and etc..

 

Gosh, this game's such a masterpiece already...so many options.

 

cant wait to see your builds muscle magic

 

Thanks mate!! I hope you're not disappointed, I know it's hard to view another person's build and see exactly where they're coming from right away, but maybe one of them will stick out to someone!

[irons]

(---------------------------------------)

Breton – DK – DW+S&S – Heavy

DW-

[*]

Molten Weapons – M (buff, affects whole friendly party)

[*]

Fiery Reach – M (pull enemy towards you[and towards whole group]

[*]

Searing Strike – M (Keep the DOT up)

[*]

Twin Slashes – S (Keep the DOT up)

[*]

Flurry – S (Spammable)

[*]

Dragon Leap – U (Huge direct nuke, also it's fucking awesome..lol)

S&S-

[*]

Ash Field – M (Yeah..you guys know all these, so kind of pointless to write out.)

[*]

Immovable – S

[*]

Puncture – S (Reduces target's armor, works well in conjunction with DW 2^nd bar.)

[*]

Spiked Armor – M

[*]

Obsidian Shield – M

[*]

Magma Armor – U

I won't talk about the other builds because I'm kind of focused on the DK.

 

 

But your DK build is one of the worst I have seen so far.

 

For example you put spiked armor, obsidian shield and immoveable on one bar. Having 3 of those skills is a complete waste something you said yourself. Flurry is a bad skill for a Tank because it's a channel which means that you can't react while using it.

You use your second hotbar only for your buffs which also means that you have to switch often between the 2 which is a dmg loss and you also loose out ont the sword/shield passives .

Next thing you have no AoE.

Than why did you go with Breton instead of Orc or Redguard, which both are better tank races in that 1 alliance.

 

 

It might sound harsh but many on here see your builds and think "yeah he makes great builds I wanna use that build" which is fine but not when you come up with a build like this.

[Rally]

It would help if u wrote ur thoughts about ur builds down.

f.E. same build irons was talking abt: Ash field is almost useless if u dont have any gapcloser to get into enemys or save ur healer from those 2 melees poundering on him. I also would take an Ardent Flame skill into the 2nd skillbar for the Magma Armor movementslow.

[irons]

It would help if u wrote ur thoughts about ur builds down.f.E. same build irons was talking abt: Ash field is almost useless if u dont have any gapcloser to get into enemys or save ur healer from those 2 melees poundering on him. I also would take an Ardent Flame skill into the 2nd skillbar for the Magma Armor movementslow.

Ash field works in a PvE scenario where you stand in front of a boss and keep him at you with puncture.I don't agree with you on the point that ash filed is kind of useless without a gap closer but I agree with that Ash field is best used in combination with other abilities.For example when your healer has 2 mobs on him he could run to you and you could use Dark Talon followed up with ash field to save him.My PvE Boss DK build will look something like this:2h:CleaveCritical ChargeInfernoMomentumImmoveableMagma ArmorS&S:PunctureLow slashash fielddark talonspiked armormagma armorThe 2h is your AoE set up with cleave and inferno (which deals dmg, inflicts burning (200%) and slows)S&S: you have low slash which reduces the damage of the boss which means everyone takes less dmg and slows, ash field which again saves the group from a lot of dmg and can even save them for 4s of all dmg if someone uses the synergy effect. Dark Talon is a AoE dmg + AoE immobilize and puncture makes sure that the boss hits you.

[Rally]

I was talling about PvP.That's something that should also be in the builddescription.A pure healerbuild might work in Raids, but not in small scale PvP, where u get instant focused. Etc.

 

To make sure that u can save ur healer with Ash Field and/or Dark Talons means he has to stand close to u. Not always a given in certain boss encounters. The healer might want to be his max 12m away from u to evade some AoE around the boss. And Immobilise will probably not work on bosses.