Cor Leonis - DK Build & Videos - Hybrid PvP Tank & DPS

aco5712

Opinion:

With patch 2.1, came many changes. Builds had to be changed and playstyles had to be changed. I felt like anything i tried with DK, my NB could do that and more. So i thought about what makes the DK different to the NB and it was pretty obvious. Being tanky.

DKs are far better tanks than NBs. I know sap tank is viable but without a zerg around you, you lose resource management, heals and CC. DK doesn’t have this issue. I felt so much tankier on my DK compared to my NB or Templar, like a massive difference.

And thus my DK hybrid build was born.

Idea:
A quote i actually read on these forums inspired my playstyle.
“A shield is something you hold, not hide behind” - Anon.



Gear:

I thought the quote was a very good way to look at tanking in this new meta of nerfed blocking. And then, as you may have guessed already, my eyes turned to the Reactive set (it also looks hella awesome so bonus!).

Head - Reactive - Infused
Shoulders - Reactive - Reinforced
Chest - Reactive - Infused
Gloves - Night’s Silence - Impenetrable
Belt - Night’s Silence - Impenetrable
Legs - Reactive - Infused
Sabatons - Reactive - Reinforced

All pieces of armour have health enchants.

Sword - Endurance - Sharpened/Defending
Shield - Agility - Reinforced (prefer Infused here though) - Stamina
Dagger - Agility - Sharpened
Dagger - Agility - Sharpened

Necklace - Agility - Healthy - Weapon Damage
Ring - Endurance - Robust - Weapon Damage
Ring - Endurance - Robust - Weapon Damage

You can run a 2 piece undaunted set instead of the nights silence but you lose armour/spell res and the reactive set looks amazing so i dont bother to min/max in this situation.

I would recommend Malubeth for the undaunted pieces and if i had the helm i would definetly give this a try. It seems very powerful and would put Dragon's Blood back to mega heal

Stats:

Sword and Board Tanking Bar

Placeholder for DW
Dual Wield DPS Bar

Consumable: Blue VR15 drink
Mundus: Warrior

Note: All unbuffed stats in the above pictures

Skills:

Bar 1
1. Elusive Mist
2. Invasion
3. Coagulating Dragon Blood
4. Igneous Shield
5. Resolving Vigor
U. Corrosive Armour

Bar 2 is flexible in position 2
1. Choking Talons
2. Hidden Blade/Caltrops/Retreating Maneuvers/Dragon Fire Scale
3. Hardened Armour
4. Steel Tornado
5. Quick Cloak
U. Flawless Dawnbreaker

Corrosive armour is one of the best ultimates in this game. It can be used defensively and offensively and this is why i am able to put flawless dawnbreaker on my DW bar to pump the damage i can output even higher.

Champion Points:

Updated with 324 CP
Green:
46 - Warlord - 10% cost reduction for stamina abilities
48 - Mooncalf - 15% stamina recovery
14 - Arcanist - 6.3% magicka recovery - Put points in here until you get 48

Red:
48 - Elemental Defender - 15% elemental damage reduction
48 - Hardy - 15% magic, poison, disease damage reduction
12 - Quick Recovery - 4.5% healing received

Blue:
48 - Blessed - 15% increase effectiveness of healing you do
60 - Mighty - 17.5% increased physical damage - go until you get the 75 CP passive

Goal for the build:
Every build has a goal that it tries to achieve. I have seen many players try to be the pvp tank, especially last patch. They might of been able to survive against players for a long time, and yes that is one aspect of tanking, but they didnt go beyond that. They stood their with their shield up, and let the players run past them as they went after the squishies behind them.

PvP tanking is just like PvE tanking but alot harder. The goal you want to achieve as a tank is to relieve the aggro your group is taking, control the enemy, debuff the enemy and buff your group.

Whenever the fight becomes a dps race or way too hectic to do anything, your DW bar becomes a very powerful AoE dps bar so that you can help your group.

My Tips:

Dont block - The only time you should block is if you are on 25% or less health and dont have magicka to cast Dragon Blood

Dont roll out of roots - Roots are probably your best friend in this game if you use this build. Dont roll out of them unless it is very necessary (ie. Your group is leaving/moving, you need to reposition, you are taking too much damage and need a quick breather).

Dont break short CC - I am still learning this one. You need to have a very good understanding of every skill in this game and what they do and how they look and their stun duration. CCs such as crystal frag, blazing spear, meteor etc. have very short CC durations (<2 secs) and should not be broken out of. Because of Reactive you will not die to these stuns unless you have 20+ on you.

Long CCs such as wrecking blow, volanic rune, invasion, fear etc. (2.5> secs) should be broken out of after 1-2 seconds~. I found that being CCed with these is great if you dont go the full duration of the stun. Usually these stuns are too long to be able to vigor through. It does sound stupid to break the CC after your half way through but remember that you mitigate 35% damage during them so its beneficial.

Dont spam talons - Your not a magicka build, so dont act like it. Use talons once and move on.

Dont spam caltrops - Its expensive and silly to spam it

Be aware of your environment and enemy positions. If you see another enemy group in the distance and your group is still fighting this group, move and intercept. Give your group time to finish, recompose, reset and back you up.

Videos:
I want to make a series of videos and upload them here and state what my goal in each fight was and you can watch and look at how i achieved each of my goals.

This is the first video. The last 2 days i have been trying different skills and weapons and testing my build to the fullest by playing without a healer for the most part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDnQyA-O3g0

This is the next video. I have now swapped the 2h for DW. I feel like i can help alot more in the group while still maintaining close to the same tankiness. I prefer this setup alot more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkPE62El93k

Some clips from Azura

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1CZZeVwzMk

These next 4 clips arent really tanking but they show that this build works as a off dps still

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91cyrHgUcjc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8spP7K8e8k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_WR3Kf17AY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_ylGZStEVs

Final Remarks:
Alot of people dont think pvp tanking is possible in this patch. Alot of people dont think pvp tanks are worth a group slot. I dont enjoy spamming the same aoe button over and over again. It doesnt interest me and doesnt make me feel like im doing much skill wise and i seriously think this is why players who dont play in anything but large groups, suck when solo or in small groups.

Tanking gets me thinking, its a dynamic rotation of skills and i need to be very alert and aware of my surrounds and goals because without these i am just a meat shield and meat shields dont help the group.

That being said, i have hybridized this build to contain a strong aoe presence because in some situations you need to spam that aoe in order to help your group.

Feedback is welcome but i would like no flaming and i dont want people saying that pvp tanks are useless and i am wasting group slots or anything of that nature. I like to tank and provide support.

Thank you for reading!

Bashev

Nice build. But you definitely need a group if you want to get some AP. If you are without a group and do the same thing solo and if your alliance kill them and you got all the focus of the enemy on you, you want receive a lot of AP.

aco5712

Bashev wrote: »

Nice build. But you definitely need a group if you want to get some AP. If you are without a group and do the same thing solo and if your alliance kill them and you got all the focus of the enemy on you, you want receive a lot of AP.

yeh i know this is only a group build. AP isnt worth much these days so it doesnt matter to me, i just wanna have fun at this point

twistedmonk

just one suggestion - not everybody recognizes all the skill icons, maybe just spell them out.

otherwise good post!

pjwb16_ESO

PvP Tanks are quite useless tho

Personofsecrets

Why wouldn't PVP tanks be wanted @ZOS_RichLambert ?

I thought that I could be just as effective in PVE and PVP @ZOS_BrianWheeler .

Really, what gives? Isn't there a serious issue with the tank role if it get's discussed in this way? Is that issue really something that your stamina regeneration nerf helped or did you exasperate the problem?

aco5712

twistedmonk wrote: »

just one suggestion - not everybody recognizes all the skill icons, maybe just spell them out.

otherwise good post!

Updated. Thank you.

pjwb16_ESO wrote: »

PvP Tanks are quite useless tho

.....

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Why wouldn't PVP tanks be wanted @ZOS_RichLambert ?

I thought that I could be just as effective in PVE and PVP @ZOS_BrianWheeler .

Really, what gives? Isn't there a serious issue with the tank role if it get's discussed in this way? Is that issue really something that your stamina regeneration nerf helped or did you exasperate the problem?

the problem lies with how groups work and how aoe caps work. Tanks cant lock down entire raids without doing what im trying to do and be in the middle of it all first so i gain aggro and then try to work on parts of the group. The way groups run, your healers heal enough that it turns your dps into mini tanks. Always has been and i seriously dont see that changing.

pjwb16_ESO

aco5712 wrote: »

pjwb16_ESO wrote: »

PvP Tanks are quite useless tho

.....

nothin against you, i liked the game way more when my dk and nb sap tank were useful aswell

Tomato

All I see is a punching bag. You can get your weapon damage to 3k and keep all the same other stats.

aco5712

pjwb16_ESO wrote: »

aco5712 wrote: »

pjwb16_ESO wrote: »

PvP Tanks are quite useless tho

.....

nothin against you, i liked the game way more when my dk and nb sap tank were useful aswell

didnt we all

Swiift wrote: »

All I see is a punching bag. You can get your weapon damage to 3k and keep all the same other stats.

if they are punching me and not my group then im happy to be the bag

Tomato

I suppose it's just thinking about things in the old ways and not outside the box for 1.7 which is required.

aco5712

Swiift wrote: »

I suppose it's just thinking about things in the old ways and not outside the box for 1.7 which is required.

i ran a successful stam DK build that could handle 1v3s pretty well at the start of this patch but spamming WB didnt really appeal to me all too much

Tomato

I use 2H for crit charge / execution and DW for hidden blade / steel torndao. WB is boring and slow against good players.

Bashev

Swiift wrote: »

I use 2H for crit charge / execution and DW for hidden blade / steel torndao. WB is boring and slow against good players.

And how do you DPS the good players?

Tomato

Depends on the situation.

Crit charge + fossilize or talons + steel tornado for aoe / uncloak or hidden blade(reduce movement speed by 60%) + bats or leap + heavy attack or light attacks + execute. Rinse and repeat in a different order depending on class or if it's a group.

Tomato

It's also depends if you are in the sewers or the districts or cyro

aco5712

Swiift wrote: »

I use 2H for crit charge / execution and DW for hidden blade / steel torndao. WB is boring and slow against good players.

looking into replacing my 2h with DW and seeing how my surviability fairs (Y). 2h is quite single target. Thanks for the feedback

Personofsecrets

aco5712 wrote: »

twistedmonk wrote: »

just one suggestion - not everybody recognizes all the skill icons, maybe just spell them out.

otherwise good post!

Updated. Thank you.

pjwb16_ESO wrote: »

PvP Tanks are quite useless tho

.....

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Why wouldn't PVP tanks be wanted @ZOS_RichLambert ?

I thought that I could be just as effective in PVE and PVP @ZOS_BrianWheeler .

Really, what gives? Isn't there a serious issue with the tank role if it get's discussed in this way? Is that issue really something that your stamina regeneration nerf helped or did you exasperate the problem?

the problem lies with how groups work and how aoe caps work. Tanks cant lock down entire raids without doing what im trying to do and be in the middle of it all first so i gain aggro and then try to work on parts of the group. The way groups run, your healers heal enough that it turns your dps into mini tanks. Always has been and i seriously dont see that changing.

I just want to post one more time and thank you for the discussion @aco5712 . I sometimes feel that almost nobody in the game is excited to try new things with the tank role, but your post made me feel a little bit better about the state of things.

booksmcread

Nice stuff! I've been thinking about trying to put something like this together for my DK, but more magicka-oriented (since my DK is a Breton).

aco5712

Personofsecrets wrote: »

aco5712 wrote: »

twistedmonk wrote: »

just one suggestion - not everybody recognizes all the skill icons, maybe just spell them out.

otherwise good post!

Updated. Thank you.

pjwb16_ESO wrote: »

PvP Tanks are quite useless tho

.....

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Why wouldn't PVP tanks be wanted @ZOS_RichLambert ?

I thought that I could be just as effective in PVE and PVP @ZOS_BrianWheeler .

Really, what gives? Isn't there a serious issue with the tank role if it get's discussed in this way? Is that issue really something that your stamina regeneration nerf helped or did you exasperate the problem?

the problem lies with how groups work and how aoe caps work. Tanks cant lock down entire raids without doing what im trying to do and be in the middle of it all first so i gain aggro and then try to work on parts of the group. The way groups run, your healers heal enough that it turns your dps into mini tanks. Always has been and i seriously dont see that changing.

I just want to post one more time and thank you for the discussion @aco5712 . I sometimes feel that almost nobody in the game is excited to try new things with the tank role, but your post made me feel a little bit better about the state of things.

@Personofsecrets im glad everyone ends up playing a cookie cutter build so i tried to be different...

booksmcread wrote: »

Nice stuff! I've been thinking about trying to put something like this together for my DK, but more magicka-oriented (since my DK is a Breton).

@booksmcread the only real problem is that dragons blood doesnt heal enough hence why i went stam and used vigor. However, i was looking into a magicka tank before i made this build and tbh you could swap out the stam skills for magicka ones. Caltrops -> cinder storm. add in fozzile for something. maybe equip chains aswell. Magicka has alot more options for CC and control

aco5712

Updated: 2h is now DW. Feel alot better about this change. Came about because of @Swiift . Thank you

New video of small group vs zerg is up, check original post

aco5712

Updated: Another video

revcasy

This is awesome.

I know everybody gripes about zergs, but I've always felt ESO has never developed really coordinated large-group play for some reason.

For an example of what I am talking about, join a hardcore RvR guild in GW2. The level of organization and larger scale tactics there is something I have truly missed in Cyrodiil, and that level of group play is just as skillful as solo PvP. I don't know why it never developed here in this game, but it never has.

I guess part of it could be differences in game mechanics.

In any case, I wish more people would think this way about large group PvP and/or zerg busting. Maybe builds like this one are a path toward a type of play that I, for one, love.

Poxheart

Unless there's been substantial change in GW2, the "tactics" for group play between the two games are essentially the same. Stack on the blue dorito/crown, buff up, and then spam AoE abilities until one side is wiped.

revcasy

Poxheart wrote: »

Unless there's been substantial change in GW2, the "tactics" for group play between the two games are essentially the same. Stack on the blue dorito/crown, buff up, and then spam AoE abilities until one side is wiped.

Respectfully, it sounds like you never ran with a good commander.

Anyway, I should have known better than to make any kind of assertion about anything at all on the internets. Stupid mistake. Sorry.

Poxheart

aco5712 wrote: »

Updated: Another video

Good stuff man.

aco5712

revcasy wrote: »

This is awesome.

I know everybody gripes about zergs, but I've always felt ESO has never developed really coordinated large-group play for some reason.

For an example of what I am talking about, join a hardcore RvR guild in GW2. The level of organization and larger scale tactics there is something I have truly missed in Cyrodiil, and that level of group play is just as skillful as solo PvP. I don't know why it never developed here in this game, but it never has.

I guess part of it could be differences in game mechanics.

In any case, I wish more people would think this way about large group PvP and/or zerg busting. Maybe builds like this one are a path toward a type of play that I, for one, love.

This comes down to one reason. Good players are hard to find in this game. If you can find a raid of 24 and they are all top notch players then gg. But most of the times its just a very large group of pugs that dont know their light click from their right and hence why large groups dont work. Also, all the good guilds have left the game and hence you dont see many good player large groups.

Poxheart

revcasy wrote: »

Poxheart wrote: »

Unless there's been substantial change in GW2, the "tactics" for group play between the two games are essentially the same. Stack on the blue dorito/crown, buff up, and then spam AoE abilities until one side is wiped.

Respectfully, it sounds like you never ran with a good commander.

If you feel the situation is otherwise, I'd be interested in seeing some video proof that the large group tactics in GW2 are different.

revcasy wrote: »

Anyway, I should have known better than to make any kind of assertion about anything at all on the internets. Stupid mistake. Sorry.

My, you're a touchy one.

revcasy

Poxheart wrote: »

My, you're a touchy one.

Eh, nothing personal. It frustrates me sometimes that no remark will ever go unchallenged online. Sometimes a person just wants to make an observation from personal experience. It isn't that important, and to be honest I am just too lazy to scour the internet for evidence. *shrug*

I know that I, even though I was a pug for the most part, followed some amazing commanders with equally amazing guilds. It was fun.

Believe me or don't, your prerogative. =P

revcasy

Nostalgia made me change my mind.

It is difficult to find videos with the audio from TS, so even some great, well organized battles look like a mess when you can't hear the commander.

So, I did find one that kind of represents what I am talking about. Notice the use of concepts like back line, front line, delayed pushes, ranged pressure, and organized maneuvers. I have personally never encountered that in ESO. In fact, it is rare that you can even get people to push as a group.

Anyway, here you go. https://youtu.be/appMc8Tfc0Y

SneaK

Really cool videos. I'm leveling a magicka DK with this sort of style in mind. I'm not a high enough level with him yet to have had a chance to try out all the abilities, but nonetheless, good stuff.