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Small Scale PVP Thread (1on1) (2on2) (3on3)


Theoryexpert

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I enjoy all different kinds of pvp, but prefer small scale pvp due to its focus on individual skill, game knowledge, game balance, and the adrenaline rush it can give. Large scale pvp is less about the individual and more about group coordination, which many people enjoy because it is more relaxing and less stressful. Game balance issues also becoming glaringly obvious in small scale pvp.Unfortunately there does not seem to be arenas or any type of organized PVP combat in this game. This means that a good portion of small scale combat is going to be uneven teams: 1on2, 3on6, etc... Regardless, I will do my best to seek out fair fights, probably the best way to do it will be to just roam around the outskirts of larger battles.This thread is about small scale pvp discussions. Feel free to contribute and share ideas, builds, and more!Anyone that has PVP'd for a fair amount of time knows that burst is king in PVP. The reason for this is twofold: In a one on one the person doing more damage first is controlling the momentum of the fight. This makes frontloading damage the ideal way to fight for a DPS class in small scale encounters. Throwing a healer into the mix slightly changes things. Now instead of just frontloading damage, you have to land a burst spike when the healer is distracted or incapacitated in order to get a kill. Slow steady continuous damage is much easier to heal through, and gives players much more time to react than a burst spike.I think that frontloading all of your magicka abilities at the start of an encounter and pacing your stamina (you need to save your stamina for reactionary defenses like CC break and rolls) will prove to be the ideal strategy in small scale pvp and perhaps even larger scale pvp.

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Burst and CC is King! :)

An other thing that is King in OW PvP is movement/movementspeed. Rapid manuvers or higher stamina reg/pool for sprinting

 

Another thing I encountered in many games is the uncoordination of opponents, when they start to panic This often happens when u fight lesser experienced groups and its one of the main reason, why u can win highly overwhelming scenarios. 2v5+
Things that lead to panic:

  • [*]Thier healer dies -> No more heal -> Panic [*]The dmg output is very High -> Panic [*]Some ppl of the enemy group die fast -> Panic [*]Almost everything that makes them scream and cry on thier voice tool (Crying for heal/help several times, Blameing s/o while the fight is still on)

To some extend the same happens on our teamspeak, but very rarely.

 

 

And in some games bombing was a possible way if the enemy# is high enough. But in this case, it is alaso a burst of some sort.

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I am not sure that cc will be king in this game the way it was for example in DAoC. Its way too easy to break cc by using stamina, and of course its easy for aoe abilities (of which there are a lot in this game) to break mez by accident. This in turn means that I don't think you will see characters primarily dependent on cc simply because they will be so vulnerable when that cc is broken, which it often will be, and then the enemy has some temporary cc immunity. Instead I think the short term stuns and such will be used a lot, because many classes have those, and it wont be a big deal if the enemy uses their stamina to break it because it wasn't the main emphasis of your character.

 

I agree about burst damage being so important in pvp. But given the quickly-depleting pools of magicka and stamina in this game, it might be possible for a defensive character to last through that burst and then kill the enemy when they have run though their stamina/magicka. In well organized groups that isn't as important, but in less organized groups and in big battles, I think people who can manage their pools will be much more effective than that player who thinks they have an awesome rotation of skills that will quickly kill an enemy, but instead just uses up their pools quickly and then the hunter becomes the hunted...

 

No question though, the group that can kill the enemy healer(s) will usually win. That is why I think the ideal build for a PvE healer will be a lot different than the idea build for a PvP healer: You cant heal when you're dead...

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So the two classes I'm interested in most right now, simply due to personal taste, is Dragon Knight and Nightblade. I also enjoy small scale pvp, from 1on1 to 3on3, and made the best builds I could for those two classes in that type of scenario. Here is the showdown of how I'm guessing a fight between the two would go.

 

ESO 1on1 Fighting Championship

 

Dragon Knight 

vs

Nightblade

 

Dragon Knight Build:

30 Magicka

20 Health

0 Stamina

Heavy Armor

Altmer

 

Destruction Staff

 

Weakness to Elements

Fiery Grip

Destructive Touch

Searing Strike

Ash Cloud

Highborn

 

2 Hand Sword

 

Entropy

Critical Charge

Lava Whip 

Searing Strike

Dragons Blood

Magma Armor

 

Nightblade Build:

30 Magicka

20 Stamina 

0 Health

Medium Armor

Redguard

 

Dual Wield

 

Cripple

Teleport Strike

Veiled Strike

Flurry

Shadow Cloak

Death Strike

 

Bow

 

Cripple

Strife

Haste

Siphoning Strikes

Shadow Cloak

Consuming Darkness

 

 

The two square off on the open battlefield. The dragon knight knows he can not out stealth the nightblade, so he stands tall, weapon in hand and prepared for battle. The elusive nightblade makes his move and opens with a Veiled Strike and follows up with a cripple. The Dragon Knight immediately breaks free of the stun and lands a destructive touch to the face of the nightblade followed by weakness to elements.

 

The nightblade immediately reacts and breaks the knockback, and shadow cloaks again to regain intiative. The dragon knight knows the invisbility won't last long and casts Ash Cloud. The nightblade is snared 70% and can not move very far, so he immediately reopens with another veiled strike and then a flurry. The dragon knight, having broken free of the first veiled strike, is still immune to CC. He immediately interrupts the flurry and casts searing strike. 

 

The nightblade realizes he is in a bad spot and immediately shadow cloaks for a 3rd time, removing the searing strike DOT but still trapped in the ash cloud. He opens with veiled strike for a third time re-stunning the dragon knight and launches a flurry. The dragon knight, having used no stamina thus far, breaks the CC a second time and interrupts the flurry. The dragon knight then recasts searing strike and recasts ash cloud.

 

The nightblade has done significantly more damage than the dragon knight at this point, but the dragon knight holds his ground and now has a resource advantage, the nightblade is dangerously low on magicka from all of his restealths. The dragon knight now pulls out his 2 handed weapon and prepares to battle the nightblade head on. The nightblade needs to regain magicka/stamina and get the heck out of this ash cloud, so he attemps to dodge roll out. The dragon knight uses critical charge and stops the nightblade dead in his tracks then uses lava whip to knock the nightblade off balance.

 

The dragon knight lands a massive heavy attack to the unbalanced nightblade, and the fight is now even, both clinging to less than 50% of their life. The nightblade knows he is in trouble and pulls out his bow to play a game of attrition and kiting. The Nightblade slowly but surely begins recovering his stamina and magicka but his health is still dwindleing while the dragon knight stays steady from dragons blood, entropy, and the searing strike morph heal. The dragon knight is now in control of the fight.

 

The nightblade now realizes he cannot win this fight. He casts consuming shadow, and waits. He waits until he has recovered enough magicka, then finally shadow cloaks and sprints away, but will be back to fight another day when the dragon knight is not so well prepared...

 

Winner: You decide. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

It has become very clear to me that optimal pvp roles in this game are very clearly defined for each of the classes. Although these roles are not strict, they are optimal. There is plenty of room to create unique builds, but I do believe the best roles for each class in pvp have been discovered:

 

Assault Classes:

Sorcerror: Raw Damage, AOE Damage, Mobility and Zone Negation

Nightblade: Single Target Damage and Control, Massive Healing Debuff, Main Assist for Group

 

Support Classes:

Dragon Knight: Group Buffs, Zone Control, PVP Tank, 

Templar: Healing, Zone Control, PVP Tank

 

Overall every role is equally valuable. The nightblade is an interesting case because it is clearly the most valuable class to have in small scale pvp (1on1 to 4on4) due to its single target damage, lockdown, and absolutely massive -75% healing debuff. Once you get to 4on4, the class roles are equalized, and once you go beyond that the nightblade starts becoming slightly less useful, especially in zerg warfare. The Dragon Knight is somewhat the opposite, being less useful in small scale PVP where being pulled out of position by a fiery grip won't mean certain death, the group buffs effect less people, and the dragon knight can be ignored if he uses magma armor. However the dragon knight becomes the strongest class of all in zerg pvp due to the ability to control a zone with ash cloud and pull enemies into a horrible position with fiery grip which in zerg combat will spell nearly certain death, and also go nearly invulnerable with magma armor to prevent their own death and tank. The templar and sorcerror class roles seem to stay steady at all sizes of pvp combat.

 

Small Scale PVP Group Class Importance

1. Nightblade

2. Sorcerror/Templar

4. Dragon Knight

 

Large Scale PVP Group Class Importance

1. Dragon Knight (Front Line)

2. Sorcerror/Templar (Behind Dragon Knights)

4. Nightblade (Flanks)

 

In large scale pvp I see the following strategy being ideal: Everyone should be on voice chat, tanks in front line (mostly dragon knights), mid line is hard hitting ranged (mostly sorcerrors), in the rear is healers (mostly templars), and on the flanks are the stealthers (mostly nightblades). The dragon knights fiery grip enemies into the front line, and all the ranged focus fire them for instant kills. The front line does not charge the enemy front line, but rather grips them into zones of control set up by the dragon knights and templars (ash cloud, rune focus). The ranged also fires AOE attacks at the enemy front line to soften them, but most kills come from fiery grip into control zones and focus fire. The nightblades on the flanks pick off people with coordinated stealth attacks. This type of coordinated group could easily defeat an uncoordinated army twice its size.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I built my entire build with smallscale PvP in mind.  In no way do I want to get caught up in the chaos of a full-scale battle unless I am picking off oponents one-by-one from the outskirts.  I like the idea of having an improved stealth technique and surprising enemies with the opening move.  The developers themselves mentioned that battles could be won using guerrilla warfare.  I want to be able to hit-and-run, sneak into bases, and dismantle their defenses from within.

 

This is my Nightblade build that I am considering:  http://eldersouls.com/topic/4656-the-nightblade-thread/?p=32725

 

Let me know what you think! 

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