Is Stam DK Difficult to Play?

Vapirko

Just curious, is stam DK one of the harder classes to play in pvp? I'm personally coming from Azuras so idk what it's like with ch pts, but I genuinely feel like they can be very tough to get both decent survivability as well as good burst damage to get around the heals of certain classes. They make great tanks, but if you want to solo with some good damage it's a lot of skills and bar swapping and the gods forbid if you should deal with any kind of lag.

Durham

Drop leap for Dawn Breaker ... keep in mind that the majority of PVP players are vamps... leap delves are higher but pvp players are more resistant to it... Actually the magicka DK has a better leap flame damage vs vamp +20% one with much easier access to empower +20%hits harder..
The main issue why people do not like the Stam DK sword/shield is like the above posters suggested it's good for duels but very slow game play in open field... with more &more abilities in the game going through block it's becoming slowly weaker over time.... Stam DK has only dots for its Stam class abilities...
To play a Stam build effectively you have manage your Stam it's harder then you think especially for a new player....

Jjitsuboy98

Dueling they are amazing. Open world they have little mobility with 1H and Shield so that's kinda frustrating a bit. However they can be pretty tough and tanky. Open world 2H and bow is probably better than 1H and shield because it gives you more mobility with bow passives. I just hate dizzying swing.

Vapirko

Jjitsuboy98 wrote: »

Dueling they are amazing. Open world they have little mobility with 1H and Shield so that's kinda frustrating a bit. However they can be pretty tough and tanky. Open world 2H and bow is probably better than 1H and shield because it gives you more mobility with bow passives. I just hate dizzying swing.

I've been thinking about trying bow is that better done with medium armor though? Dizzying swing works on a less talent players or someone who forgets to put up some shields or block. But it's virtually useless against more talented players and leaves you seriously open to retaliation. And lag can really slow it down.

Vapirko

Jjitsuboy98 wrote: »

Dueling they are amazing. Open world they have little mobility with 1H and Shield so that's kinda frustrating a bit. However they can be pretty tough and tanky. Open world 2H and bow is probably better than 1H and shield because it gives you more mobility with bow passives. I just hate dizzying swing.

I've been thinking about trying bow is that better done with medium armor though? Dizzying swing works on a less talent players or someone who forgets to put up some shields or block. But it's virtually useless against more talented players and leaves you seriously open to retaliation. And lag can really slow it down.

Jjitsuboy98

Vapirko wrote: »

Jjitsuboy98 wrote: »

Dueling they are amazing. Open world they have little mobility with 1H and Shield so that's kinda frustrating a bit. However they can be pretty tough and tanky. Open world 2H and bow is probably better than 1H and shield because it gives you more mobility with bow passives. I just hate dizzying swing.

I've been thinking about trying bow is that better done with medium armor though? Dizzying swing works on a less talent players or someone who forgets to put up some shields or block. But it's virtually useless against more talented players and leaves you seriously open to retaliation. And lag can really slow it down.

Heavy armor is better. And you really have no choice dizzying swing is gonna be part of your burst because you need rally for 2H. Apply some dots then dizzy swing to take flight executioner.

crusnik91

Vapirko wrote: »

Just curious, is stam DK one of the harder classes to play in pvp? I'm personally coming from Azuras so idk what it's like with ch pts, but I genuinely feel like they can be very tough to get both decent survivability as well as good burst damage to get around the heals of certain classes. They make great tanks, but if you want to solo with some good damage it's a lot of skills and bar swapping and the gods forbid if you should deal with any kind of lag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmqtxxmrnDs
Overall I would say StamDK is not hard to play but not easy to master. However, it really depends on what kind of environment you are in.
For example if u are playing SOLO, positioning is key if u are getting outnumbered because usually u don't have the mobility to outrun other even if u use a speed potion. Thus, playing with LOS and the terrain is key.
In a small scale group (2 to 6) StamDK is king because you can play as a frontliner or drop some mad leaps to supply extra burst with your teammate.
On the other hand, in a raid environment (7++) StamDK is not the best because in such a group AOE damage/snaring/negate are far more important and stam DK contribute less compare to other classes. Another reason is because mag classes are just more superior than stam classes in such a big group. The 2 sensible thing to do if u insist to play a stam dk in a raid is to either run high regen build and spam rapids/caltrops or just gear up with fasallas/duroks bane and debuff all your opponent while tanking.

No_True_Scotsman

Stam DK is a straight forward, tanky brawler. They are probably the easiest stam class to play. They have consistent stam sustain and major mending with Igneous Shield, a major armor/spell resist skill that grants 12% additional healing, and gain resources back on using any ult. They also have access to two great stamina DoT's, one of which is an AoE armor debuff. They supposedly lack burst potential, but not really because stamina skills and gearing already has high burst potential built in.

Really tanky, great sustain, AoE major fracture + DoT, and stamina burst. It makes for an easy to play, but powerful class.

Durham

I agree with the above posters however since the last patch they are not as strong. Dots are not as effective in PVP. Stam DK has good magicka abilities that compliment Stam. I enjoy my Stam DK still however I see less Stam DKS out there....

alext89

Vapirko wrote: »

Jjitsuboy98 wrote: »

Dueling they are amazing. Open world they have little mobility with 1H and Shield so that's kinda frustrating a bit. However they can be pretty tough and tanky. Open world 2H and bow is probably better than 1H and shield because it gives you more mobility with bow passives. I just hate dizzying swing.

I've been thinking about trying bow is that better done with medium armor though? Dizzying swing works on a less talent players or someone who forgets to put up some shields or block. But it's virtually useless against more talented players and leaves you seriously open to retaliation. And lag can really slow it down.

I disagree. Dizzy swing is very effective even vs talented players. But 2h play style is hard to Master. A player blocking Can pretty Much shot Down your potential burst. The trick is to do a lot of pressure whitout using dizzyswing, and Open op the defence of your enemy to land the killing combo. Spamming dizzy swing is easy, and easy to counter. u gotta do more than that.

Anti_Virus

Vapirko wrote: »

Just curious, is stam DK one of the harder classes to play in pvp? I'm personally coming from Azuras so idk what it's like with ch pts, but I genuinely feel like they can be very tough to get both decent survivability as well as good burst damage to get around the heals of certain classes. They make great tanks, but if you want to solo with some good damage it's a lot of skills and bar swapping and the gods forbid if you should deal with any kind of lag.

Its pretty rough with the lack of class skills and poor weapon options you are pretty much forced into playing with Proc sets .

Sarru

Harder than Stamsorc and much, much, muuuuch harder than StamNB, can't say about Stamplar don't have one yet.

DHale

Stam DK is very hard to play. Every skill on the bar will kill you, which one to use. Vexing!

Strider_Roshin

Not really, they're pretty easy and making mistakes is forgivable as one since they have excellent healing, and defense.

The only stam class that I would find easier is a stam sorc.

Kay1

Sarru wrote: »

Harder than Stamsorc and much, much, muuuuch harder than StamNB, can't say about Stamplar don't have one yet.

Not true at all, you're completely wrong.

Any 1vX knowledge will matters while playing DK, I mean if you're good at solo you will do it fine but there's stamina classes that are way harder to play per example stamina templars and stamina nightblade are classes that requires you to be very concentrate on what you do and if you make a mistake you're done while with a DK you can perfectly think what to do in the middle of an outnumbered situation, you don't have time to think on a stamina nightblade you just do it.

I do it better on my StamDk then on my StamNb or Stamplar just because with the nb you lack of resistance and sustain and on my stamplar I lack of sustain, DK have everything but burst, that's why combos and anim cancel skills are going to change if it's easy or hard to play with it.

Strider_Roshin

.

SlowMetabolism

Anti_Virus wrote: »

Its pretty rough with the lack of class skills and poor weapon options you are pretty much forced into playing with Proc sets .

I've seen you promoting the "need" for proc sets on a different post. Stam DK doesnt need proc sets, maybe you are trying to justify your use of cheese. Cant say I have never tried tremor but have never used it for more than 20 minutes before switching back to Bloodspawn. I have never ran 5 piece heavy and have never ran viper and do more than fine on a Stam DK solo. Spend more time learning and playing the class without cheese and you will do good.

Valencer

Easy to play, but also easy to not die to. Your typical 1h+s heavy armour stam DK just doesnt do much burst damage and is relatively easy to outheal...

Stam sorcs and stamblades are a way bigger threat.

Jjitsuboy98

When running blackrose viper and tremorscale I felt like Stam DK was the best in duels. All the tools were there I was tanky. I had burst. I had dots. I had a gap closer and execute plus a heal debuff. And i think what made it so much better than Sorc was the healing was so much better on my DK because of igneous. The sustain was much better too with battle roar and igneous. I know I had dark deal on sorc but occasionally you will get bashed and with the animation taking so long you lose pressure. Don't get me wrong Sorc is good too though just not as good as DK in duels.

When I took that build to open world the sustain wasn't there really. The lack of mobility was frustrating . Id rather do Stam Sorc for open world.

SneaK

crusnik91 wrote: »

On the other hand, in a raid environment (7++) StamDK is not the best because in such a group AOE damage/snaring/negate are far more important and stam DK contribute less compare to other classes. Another reason is because mag classes are just more superior than stam classes in such a big group. The 2 sensible thing to do if u insist to play a stam dk in a raid is to either run high regen build and spam rapids/caltrops or just gear up with fasallas/duroks bane and debuff all your opponent while tanking.

Good info ^^

Would just like to add, leap and steel tornado synergize well with bomb groups, if you don't want to go full tank spec.

Durham

Not

SlowMetabolism wrote: »

Anti_Virus wrote: »

Its pretty rough with the lack of class skills and poor weapon options you are pretty much forced into playing with Proc sets .

I've seen you promoting the "need" for proc sets on a different post. Stam DK doesnt need proc sets, maybe you are trying to justify your use of cheese. Cant say I have never tried tremor but have never used it for more than 20 minutes before switching back to Bloodspawn. I have never ran 5 piece heavy and have never ran viper and do more than fine on a Stam DK solo. Spend more time learning and playing the class without cheese and you will do good.

I'm tired of people calling proc damage sets cheese there is so much out there that different people consider cheese it's pathetic.... people could consider running a helmet set that procs 6k AF and 15 ult... cheese on a DK that has a 110 cost ultimate that delves for 20k .. Or a set that procs 630 weapon damage for 15 secs after drinking a potion that can give awsome benifits for 15 to 48 secs... a Stam proc set usually does damage to 1 target...
You want to see cheese... a good emp sorc with EOS .. yea give me a cheese out emp DK any day compared to the sorc

zuto40

stam dk is fantastic, through together a build dont even have all the passives for dk and havent played it in months but i was winning duels and doing fine in open world, on a scale of 1-10 stam dk is a -5 on the hard scale

Vapirko

Thanks all! I've played more, taken into account what some of you have said, messed around with my abilities and watched a bunch of pro DK players and it's getting better. It seems like you just have to accept that stam DK is a steady but powerful class, but strength comes from being able to persist and not necessarily quick kills. Bts has anyone tried molten armaments+rally? That combo hits for a crazy heavy attack but I don't not see it on many theory crafters builds. And it's easy to keep up because 40 seconds on molten.

Aztlan

I work in buffed heavy attacks all the time, and with points into tenacity, it really helps our sustain.

Anti_Virus

SlowMetabolism wrote: »

Anti_Virus wrote: »

Its pretty rough with the lack of class skills and poor weapon options you are pretty much forced into playing with Proc sets .

I've seen you promoting the "need" for proc sets on a different post. Stam DK doesnt need proc sets, maybe you are trying to justify your use of cheese. Cant say I have never tried tremor but have never used it for more than 20 minutes before switching back to Bloodspawn. I have never ran 5 piece heavy and have never ran viper and do more than fine on a Stam DK solo. Spend more time learning and playing the class without cheese and you will do good.

SlowMetabolism wrote: »

Anti_Virus wrote: »

Its pretty rough with the lack of class skills and poor weapon options you are pretty much forced into playing with Proc sets .

Nice try troll but I don't use proc sets and because of that I have no burst, I know you run Viper/Selene or some combo of the two. If you use SnB you will not burst anyone down, if you are a Dizzing swing spammer congrats you killed some potatoes that know how to dodge roll.

I also made a thread explaining how to buff dk to not need them.

SlowMetabolism

Anti_Virus wrote: »

SlowMetabolism wrote: »

Anti_Virus wrote: »

Its pretty rough with the lack of class skills and poor weapon options you are pretty much forced into playing with Proc sets .

I've seen you promoting the "need" for proc sets on a different post. Stam DK doesnt need proc sets, maybe you are trying to justify your use of cheese. Cant say I have never tried tremor but have never used it for more than 20 minutes before switching back to Bloodspawn. I have never ran 5 piece heavy and have never ran viper and do more than fine on a Stam DK solo. Spend more time learning and playing the class without cheese and you will do good.

SlowMetabolism wrote: »

Anti_Virus wrote: »

Its pretty rough with the lack of class skills and poor weapon options you are pretty much forced into playing with Proc sets .

Nice try troll but I don't use proc sets and because of that I have no burst, I know you run Viper/Selene or some combo of the two. If you use SnB you will not burst anyone down, if you are a Dizzing swing spammer congrats you killed some potatoes that know how to dodge roll.

I also made a thread explaining how to buff dk to not need them.

b8?

SlowMetabolism

Durham wrote: »

Not

SlowMetabolism wrote: »

Anti_Virus wrote: »

Its pretty rough with the lack of class skills and poor weapon options you are pretty much forced into playing with Proc sets .

I've seen you promoting the "need" for proc sets on a different post. Stam DK doesnt need proc sets, maybe you are trying to justify your use of cheese. Cant say I have never tried tremor but have never used it for more than 20 minutes before switching back to Bloodspawn. I have never ran 5 piece heavy and have never ran viper and do more than fine on a Stam DK solo. Spend more time learning and playing the class without cheese and you will do good.

I'm tired of people calling proc damage sets cheese there is so much out there that different people consider cheese it's pathetic.... people could consider running a helmet set that procs 6k AF and 15 ult... cheese on a DK that has a 110 cost ultimate that delves for 20k .. Or a set that procs 630 weapon damage for 15 secs after drinking a potion that can give awsome benifits for 15 to 48 secs... a Stam proc set usually does damage to 1 target...
You want to see cheese... a good emp sorc with EOS .. yea give me a cheese out emp DK any day compared to the sorc

You're right anything can be considered cheese, I could say gold weapons are cheese if I wanted to. I could say using jewelry is cheese. 1 person saying something is OP is different from the vast majority of the PvP community saying something is cheese. If you can back up proccing 20k+ damage in 1 light attack (post patch) I would love to hear your reasoning.

I understand the OP was asking for an opinion and Anti Virus gave his but the fact he has told people on multiple threads DK's "are forced" into using proc sets too do good is incorrect.