How to counter imperial city gankers?

ZOS_Hadeostry

Greetings,

After further review we have decided to move this thread to a category we think is more appropriate for this topic, as it's about Imperial City.

Thank you for your understanding

Norith_Gilheart_Flail

They can't gank, if you don't play in that stupid zone.

Deny them ever having the chance.

Vulkunne

CreamedPieYum wrote: »

PC NA daggerfall covenant

It seems no matter what I do, no matter what sets I have, how much health and armor I have or the damage I do, nothing is good enough. I always get destroyed out of the blue by a ganker who I have no way of seeing until they are right on me. I could kill 10 players no problem, a few thousand tel var, then all of a sudden I get hit with a poison that drains all my mag/stam and I'm completely helpless. I try to recoup quickly by killing a boss. Guess what? After I kill said boss, some idiot stuns me, and kills me with 3 hits in rapid succession all while using stat drain poisons and I cannot do anything.

There's no way to prevent it apart from casting magelight every time you pick a fight with an NPC enemy, which is not realistic. Do you just have to suck it up and hope you get a good farming period without getting picked on? I want to know the secrets of how people make 80k tel var an hour because despite trying my best I still get knocked down every time

Also, it doesn't help that I am working 5x as hard as everyone else and getting almost no profit. I am in DC, and every time I log on, its either all AD, all EP, or half and half. Why are they ganking me when they can earn 10k in 10 minutes by killing enemies or bosses?

First of all, in your opening sentence you are right but you may not recognize the reason why. No matter how many players you kill, no matter what gear you run, no matter the dmg, no matter the health, no matter the mitigation, no matter the time of day or night ... no one is infallible. There is always a bigger fish, or a fisherman with a bigger net. Therefore, no matter what success you achieve in IC, someone is eventually going to take you down. Its going to happen and we're deceiving ourselves if we think otherwise because its only a matter of time.

So what to do about it? Think of IC gameplay as kind of like a dance. We dance, we shuffle, we boogie-woogie but then we sit down. And have a couple drinks and head out for the night... and um... well you get the idea. At some point, the dance is over and you need to stop dancing. Learn when to sit down. Using detection to try and force the issue doesn't fix the problem. And the problem is once your position is given away you are vulnerable. This requires more of a hunter/soldier mindset to understand. And I know full well from fighting DC in the past... once you knock over one or two people more will come. And it sounds like you're not factoring things of this nature into your strategy.

To that extent without this turning into something really preachy, might I suggest some literature for you to consider? Sun Tzu Art of War is always a good choice. There are short stories and audio books/videos about ninjas and the use of certain tactics that I think might be helpful for you as well. This is not me telling anyone off, however I know, now more than ever before that you cannot operate in IC without a plan and without a solid method and a strong understanding of what people are capable of. If I am always prepared to fight an enemy (who may or may not actually be there) then I will never be caught off guard.

You know, some people laugh at this stuff but with everything that goes on in IC, (and I've seen it all) people running in groups, running strong solo builds, macro junkies, straight up cheaters, all kinds of crap goes on in there. And numbers are important but street smarts is perhaps a little more important. IC is not the place to leave your fate in someone else's hands and if you don't have a plan and strong method then someone else will.

LittlePinkDot

Vulkunne wrote: »

CreamedPieYum wrote: »

PC NA daggerfall covenant

It seems no matter what I do, no matter what sets I have, how much health and armor I have or the damage I do, nothing is good enough. I always get destroyed out of the blue by a ganker who I have no way of seeing until they are right on me. I could kill 10 players no problem, a few thousand tel var, then all of a sudden I get hit with a poison that drains all my mag/stam and I'm completely helpless. I try to recoup quickly by killing a boss. Guess what? After I kill said boss, some idiot stuns me, and kills me with 3 hits in rapid succession all while using stat drain poisons and I cannot do anything.

There's no way to prevent it apart from casting magelight every time you pick a fight with an NPC enemy, which is not realistic. Do you just have to suck it up and hope you get a good farming period without getting picked on? I want to know the secrets of how people make 80k tel var an hour because despite trying my best I still get knocked down every time

Also, it doesn't help that I am working 5x as hard as everyone else and getting almost no profit. I am in DC, and every time I log on, its either all AD, all EP, or half and half. Why are they ganking me when they can earn 10k in 10 minutes by killing enemies or bosses?

First of all, in your opening sentence you are right but you may not recognize the reason why. No matter how many players you kill, no matter what gear you run, no matter the dmg, no matter the health, no matter the mitigation, no matter the time of day or night ... no one is infallible. There is always a bigger fish, or a fisherman with a bigger net. Therefore, no matter what success you achieve in IC, someone is eventually going to take you down. Its going to happen and we're deceiving ourselves if we think otherwise because its only a matter of time.

So what to do about it? Think of IC gameplay as kind of like a dance. We dance, we shuffle, we boogie-woogie but then we sit down. And have a couple drinks and head out for the night... and um... well you get the idea. At some point, the dance is over and you need to stop dancing. Learn when to sit down. Using detection to try and force the issue doesn't fix the problem. And the problem is once your position is given away you are vulnerable. This requires more of a hunter/soldier mindset to understand. And I know full well from fighting DC in the past... once you knock over one or two people more will come. And it sounds like you're not factoring things of this nature into your strategy.

To that extent without this turning into something really preachy, might I suggest some literature for you to consider? Sun Tzu Art of War is always a good choice. There are short stories and audio books/videos about ninjas and the use of certain tactics that I think might be helpful for you as well. This is not me telling anyone off, however I know, now more than ever before that you cannot operate in IC without a plan and without a solid method and a strong understanding of what people are capable of. If I am always prepared to fight an enemy (who may or may not actually be there) then I will never be caught off guard.

You know, some people laugh at this stuff but with everything that goes on in IC, (and I've seen it all) people running in groups, running strong solo builds, macro junkies, straight up cheaters, all kinds of crap goes on in there. And numbers are important but street smarts is perhaps a little more important. IC is not the place to leave your fate in someone else's hands and if you don't have a plan and strong method then someone else will.

Sounds like you're talking about a ghetto or projects 🤣

Tommy_The_Gun

In IC, you can only be:
A: A ball group.
B: A ganker(s) in group.

So pick your poison. IC is just badly designed cramped PvP area and tbh nothing else (aside from 2 things I mentioned) works. Solo play is not an option really. If you want to PvE in IC, then the only way is to find a group and be tanky. Gankers are less likely to attack if there is more players that may actually fight back. But even then you can still be ganked by 3x players at the same time, so you get one-shoted. I don't know if this is PvP that players want because it is more like a Pv... Yeah, there is no other Player. They can not respond cuz they died.

PieMaster1

Vulkunne wrote: »

CreamedPieYum wrote: »

PC NA daggerfall covenant

It seems no matter what I do, no matter what sets I have, how much health and armor I have or the damage I do, nothing is good enough. I always get destroyed out of the blue by a ganker who I have no way of seeing until they are right on me. I could kill 10 players no problem, a few thousand tel var, then all of a sudden I get hit with a poison that drains all my mag/stam and I'm completely helpless. I try to recoup quickly by killing a boss. Guess what? After I kill said boss, some idiot stuns me, and kills me with 3 hits in rapid succession all while using stat drain poisons and I cannot do anything.

There's no way to prevent it apart from casting magelight every time you pick a fight with an NPC enemy, which is not realistic. Do you just have to suck it up and hope you get a good farming period without getting picked on? I want to know the secrets of how people make 80k tel var an hour because despite trying my best I still get knocked down every time

Also, it doesn't help that I am working 5x as hard as everyone else and getting almost no profit. I am in DC, and every time I log on, its either all AD, all EP, or half and half. Why are they ganking me when they can earn 10k in 10 minutes by killing enemies or bosses?

First of all, in your opening sentence you are right but you may not recognize the reason why. No matter how many players you kill, no matter what gear you run, no matter the dmg, no matter the health, no matter the mitigation, no matter the time of day or night ... no one is infallible. There is always a bigger fish, or a fisherman with a bigger net. Therefore, no matter what success you achieve in IC, someone is eventually going to take you down. Its going to happen and we're deceiving ourselves if we think otherwise because its only a matter of time.

So what to do about it? Think of IC gameplay as kind of like a dance. We dance, we shuffle, we boogie-woogie but then we sit down. And have a couple drinks and head out for the night... and um... well you get the idea. At some point, the dance is over and you need to stop dancing. Learn when to sit down. Using detection to try and force the issue doesn't fix the problem. And the problem is once your position is given away you are vulnerable. This requires more of a hunter/soldier mindset to understand. And I know full well from fighting DC in the past... once you knock over one or two people more will come. And it sounds like you're not factoring things of this nature into your strategy.

To that extent without this turning into something really preachy, might I suggest some literature for you to consider? Sun Tzu Art of War is always a good choice. There are short stories and audio books/videos about ninjas and the use of certain tactics that I think might be helpful for you as well. This is not me telling anyone off, however I know, now more than ever before that you cannot operate in IC without a plan and without a solid method and a strong understanding of what people are capable of. If I am always prepared to fight an enemy (who may or may not actually be there) then I will never be caught off guard.

You know, some people laugh at this stuff but with everything that goes on in IC, (and I've seen it all) people running in groups, running strong solo builds, macro junkies, straight up cheaters, all kinds of crap goes on in there. And numbers are important but street smarts is perhaps a little more important. IC is not the place to leave your fate in someone else's hands and if you don't have a plan and strong method then someone else will.

I understand what you're saying, but I don't think the Art of War really applies to ESO pvp. Maybe to a game like Tarkov or Rainbow 6 Siege.

I definitely try to utilize those tactics as well as use detection when fighting bosses or guarding flags, but when you're just trying to solo fight trash mobs for quick tel var gain, there's nothing you can really do to prevent people from staying invisible until they are in position to gank. Unless you just want to weave in a detection every 10 seconds which would be incredibly annoying

I took the advice of the people here and bumped my health up to 32k as well as wearing robes of the hist so I can actually survive a gank&run

MajorDavood

Vulkunne wrote: »

...

To that extent without this turning into something really preachy, might I suggest some literature for you to consider? Sun Tzu Art of War is always a good choice. There are short stories and audio books/videos about ninjas and the use of certain tactics that I think might be helpful for you as well. This is not me telling anyone off, however I know, now more than ever before that you cannot operate in IC without a plan and without a solid method and a strong understanding of what people are capable of. If I am always prepared to fight an enemy (who may or may not actually be there) then I will never be caught off guard.
...

Thumbs up for the Sun Tzu reference!

blktauna

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

In IC, you can only be:
A: A ball group.
B: A ganker(s) in group.

So pick your poison. IC is just badly designed cramped PvP area and tbh nothing else (aside from 2 things I mentioned) works. Solo play is not an option really. If you want to PvE in IC, then the only way is to find a group and be tanky. Gankers are less likely to attack if there is more players that may actually fight back. But even then you can still be ganked by 3x players at the same time, so you get one-shoted. I don't know if this is PvP that players want because it is more like a Pv... Yeah, there is no other Player. They can not respond cuz they died.

Patently false. I'm in there solo all the time. I get in, get out then hop back in. I rarely get ganked.

PieMaster1

blktauna wrote: »

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

In IC, you can only be:
A: A ball group.
B: A ganker(s) in group.

So pick your poison. IC is just badly designed cramped PvP area and tbh nothing else (aside from 2 things I mentioned) works. Solo play is not an option really. If you want to PvE in IC, then the only way is to find a group and be tanky. Gankers are less likely to attack if there is more players that may actually fight back. But even then you can still be ganked by 3x players at the same time, so you get one-shoted. I don't know if this is PvP that players want because it is more like a Pv... Yeah, there is no other Player. They can not respond cuz they died.

Patently false. I'm in there solo all the time. I get in, get out then hop back in. I rarely get ganked.

You are lucky. Last few times I went in IC, must have encountered like 15 gankers each time and that's not exaggerating. And it's not like I'm a clutz who just meanders around IC with a sign above my head. I do sneak a lot and scout stuff but eventually you gotta reveal yourself when fighting a boss/trash mobs. You can't really help if someone flanks you during those times because, well..they are invisible. And most times, you are preoccupied with fighting a creature when they make their move

Oblivion_Protocol

Hi, perennial IC ganker here. Let me give you some insight as to my thought process so you can understand how I pick my targets. It won’t be the same for every ganker, but it might give you a starting point.

First off, getting your HP to 31k was a good start. However, it won’t deter 95% of gankers. As a general rule, I try to avoid ganking anyone with 35k+ HP unless they’re low from fighting someone else. The higher your HP, the less likely some Nightblade will target you. Seriously, ask one of these 45k HP Warden players how often they get targeted for ganking. And most of us run addons like Squishy Finder, so we know exactly how much HP you have.

Another factor is your use of defensive abilities. Put simply, you have to get into the habit of keeping your defenses up at ALL times. Keep your resistances at or above 31k at ALL times. Cast your armor buff + Resolving Vigor like every fifteen seconds. Yes, even when you’re dead certain that you’re alone and not being attacked. If I see a DK or anyone else constantly refreshing their defensive, I’m less likely to go in swinging blindly.

If you absolutely positively have to open a menu, go somewhere out of the way and go into stealth or try to hide before you do. Most people don’t realize it, but your character has a noticeable animation when you open your map or inventory. If I see that, I’m stabbing and stabbing hard because I know it’ll take you an extra five seconds of panicking to get into the fight, by which time you’ll be dead.

Speaking of, try to avoid going into the sewers from the city. Queue for Cyrodiil or use a Sigil of Imperial Retreat item if you need to leave. If I see someone go into the sewer, I will follow them down there and kill them while they’re running. Though the sections of the sewers are separated by faction, there’s no barriers or anything. I can go (and have gone) down into the sewers on my EP Nightblade and gank DC players right outside their front door.

Finally, as someone mentioned before, running with a group makes you less likely to be targeted. You don’t even have to be in an actual group with other players. Just follow someone else around. But just don’t make the mistake of thinking there’s ironclad safety in numbers. I’ve totally killed squishy targets in the middle of a zerg and gotten away clean because everyone was sitting on their hands.

So, to recap, get your HP up, keep your defensives up always, don’t get caught off guard, be smart about your exit strategy, and stay close to others.

Also, this is more of a general IC tip than something to help you avoid gankers specifically, but pay close attention to the map. If five out of the six districts have flipped yellow, it might be time to head out. Try to hit the bank every 2,000 tel var or so at the minimum. Yes, it’s a lot of going back and forth, but you’ll lose less tel var that way.

Necrotech_Master

if im farming tel var i try to stick to the sewers, i can usually make ~10-15k on a solo run to the middle and back (killing all the banner bosses and the molag bal event)

the sewers are usually a lot quieter

the surface is where the majority of the pvp happens

IC is one of my favorite zones, pretty much always has been lol, i even level new toons there lol (though generally i stick to the sewers still)

i only have AD toons, so could only help if you had an AD toon lol

ZOS_Volpe

Greetings,

After removing some unnecessary back and forth from this thread, we would like everyone to keep posts on the subject at hand, civil, and constructive. If there may be any questions in regards to the rules, please feel free to review them here.

Thank you for your understanding.

Norith_Gilheart_Flail

Civil and constructive about an adversarial, combative and disruptive game mode.

Right.

PieMaster1

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

if im farming tel var i try to stick to the sewers, i can usually make ~10-15k on a solo run to the middle and back (killing all the banner bosses and the molag bal event)

the sewers are usually a lot quieter

the surface is where the majority of the pvp happens

IC is one of my favorite zones, pretty much always has been lol, i even level new toons there lol (though generally i stick to the sewers still)

i only have AD toons, so could only help if you had an AD toon lol

why go to the sewers? You get such a small amount of tel var and no bonuses from what I can tell. I'd rather just take my chances up top lol

Vulkunne

So in response to my earlier posts, I think I'll just leave this here to help provide a little background as far as what I think about this topic today. Have got to be moving on to other things soon, but lemme just fill in some things real quick which hopefully can help somewhat tie together my earlier comments regarding a sort of poetic approach vs being overly concerned about specific numbers and sets, things of that nature.

About maybe 2 years ago I was in Imperial City one night. This was in the Arboretum and I was just messing around, milling about. So I noticed these two DC WWs (Pack Leaders) were farming players and PvE alike, they seemed to be enjoying themselves and were rolling thru other players, killing many. Both were DC elites (I knew at least one of them in fact) and judging by the blue effects both were wearing Imperial Physique. Alright so I circled back later on, like I wanna say 30 minutes to an hour and these guys was still there. I kid you not they were still there, doing the same thing. Ok so about that time, a couple other players (similar in measure to my build and skill level for that time... which wasn't very good) showed up and started also milling about the Arboretum.

It goes without saying eventually a fight broke out between us and if I recall correctly, one of the WWs attacked us, but that may not be entirely correct. Anyways, so we had a hard time of it but we killed him. Alright. The other one shows up from somewhere?, and during the fight this guy then tries to run away to the exit door but the door won't open to him. So we killed him too. Both WWs are now down, during the fight no one came to help them from their faction.

Now I don't have to tell you guys reading this, that the 4 (or 5) of us hit a big score. It was a considerable payout in Tel Vars, even split between several players. Let that sink in. No sooner did we realize this and begin to rejoice a little in zone chat, DC players of all shapes and sizes began pouring into the zone from *every* and I do mean almost *every* direction. It was a massive blue wave coming at us, encircling the approximate area where the WWs were last farming at. The Nostromo alarm goes off and with vibes that felt like they came straight out of Aliens, all of us, not in a group, not friends, in cool unspoken fashion we all very calmly stealth walked back to the only 'safe' corner of the zone that was left to us. The DC continued to move in almost as if someone was organizing a counter response, although I cannot personally verify that but it felt that way. A few others from our faction showed up after the fact and they stood against this blue wave while we escaped. There was no chance to save them and save us, fighting was not an option and so a silent majority was reached without saying a word.

The escape was not easy but we all knew what to do, everyone went into stealth, everyone had improved their stealth speed already and this group of stealthy Khajit, Bosmer, an Argonian and I wanna say an Orc or two all carefully made our way to the only corner in the back of the zone where no DC were coming from in a cool, calm, and uniform fashion. The DC were using things like mage light and we must have been *just* out of range. Those guys were trying so hard to find us, they really wanted to kill us. As soon as the heat was off we left together and I don't recall seeing any of them come back that night, however I logged about a half hour later.

As for the moral of this story, let's start with those DC. They had everything going for them, spent a considerable amount of time inflicting losses on other players when in the end they died the same as everyone they killed. In place of a strategy they had their success which that didn't last forever now did it? And so some legs got broken, some credits went missing and I highly doubt those DC ever learned from their mistakes but it doesn't matter because we knew what to do and that's all we needed to know.

MajorDavood

Vulkunne wrote: »

So in response to my earlier posts, I think I'll just leave this here to help provide a little background as far as what I think about this topic today. Have got to be moving on to other things soon, but lemme just fill in some things real quick which hopefully can help somewhat tie together my earlier comments regarding a sort of poetic approach vs being overly concerned about specific numbers and sets, things of that nature.

About maybe 2 years ago I was in Imperial City one night. This was in the Arboretum and I was just messing around, milling about. So I noticed these two DC WWs (Pack Leaders) were farming players and PvE alike, they seemed to be enjoying themselves and was on a roll killing other players. Both were DC elites (I knew at least one of them in fact) and judging by the blue effects both were wearing Imperial Physique.

(snip)

I love reading this kinds of stories about IC. Thank you for sharing. Makes me wanna dive into IC and poke around!

Necrotech_Master

CreamedPieYum wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

if im farming tel var i try to stick to the sewers, i can usually make ~10-15k on a solo run to the middle and back (killing all the banner bosses and the molag bal event)

the sewers are usually a lot quieter

the surface is where the majority of the pvp happens

IC is one of my favorite zones, pretty much always has been lol, i even level new toons there lol (though generally i stick to the sewers still)

i only have AD toons, so could only help if you had an AD toon lol

why go to the sewers? You get such a small amount of tel var and no bonuses from what I can tell. I'd rather just take my chances up top lol

less pvp, less risk, and killing banner bosses solo at x3 multiplier is still 1200 tel var per kill, its not a negligible amount

a solo run to the middle for me is a little under an hour and i can make about 15k (+/- a bit) of tel var sometimes without even seeing another player

not the mention the oodles of key frags i then usually sell for 600g each lol

Sidewaves89

mocap wrote: »

Miat's addon.

Player counter doesn't work properly since U37

Sidewaves89

CreamedPieYum wrote: »

I don't play on CP and I'm only 250 so there's no way I can compete with the 1000+ CPs on pvp

I'm a damage dealer mainly. 22k health, MagDK, I run new moon acolyte and just got robes of the hist a few min ago. Oakensoul ring

Robes of the hist doesn't work in no proc no cp. Here is a list of what is working there https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/580810/no-proc-no-cp-set-list/p1

Twohothardware wrote: »

Burning spellweave is a good damage set for MagDK that can work. PvP players will be running a lot of cheese builds on DK though like Masters dual wield weapons with a set like Dragon’s Appetite which is craftable.

He play in no proc no cp campaign

BetweenMidgets

Sidewaves89 wrote: »

mocap wrote: »

Miat's addon.

Player counter doesn't work properly since U37

I was under the impression that the incoming unseen attacks indicator still would sound. I know I've lined up some heavy attacks at folks just to have them start dodgerolling when there are no other players around.

Udrath

Really depends on the ganker, but most of the time i just roll dodge and dawnbreaker them, or stun them fast as I can. The vampire gank build doesn’t even open with a stun sometimes and are 50% hp of 20k after the first attack lol

My advice is to make a ganker. You’ll see first hand how players counter them. I learned it doesn’t matter your build so much, just how fast you react. The first thing you should always do in pvp is attack back asap

PieMaster1

For the last 2 weeks or so i've been doing much better. I pumped up my health to 30k and wear robes of hist, I get stunned all the time but they can't whittle down my health fast enough between the high amount and immense heals from robes

geonsocal

adaptation...it's what got us here...

fred4

Gee where to start. Perhaps by saying I bought the game in the summer before IC was released and have spent 50% of my ESO time there. IC is completely viable to farm solo. In fact that's probably best for Tel Var gain , but I main a magicka nightblade. My advice is:

• Play that class, if you can, to bring your Tel Var home. Invest in speed and perma-cloak sustain. Second place goes to sorcerer and Streak. Third place perhaps goes to DK, that being a strong class right now, but a class or build without escape tools always leaves you open to being overwhelmed.
• Farming bosses when your alliance owns some or all districts is the optimal way, even when your own zerg is doing it and you are running along with them. However you are competing for Tel Var. The absolute quickest way to make Tel Var is to opportunistically solo bosses. I do it with between 1K and 10K Tel Var on me, provided most districts are my colour. This nets you about 10K per boss. Obviously this is very situational. It basically requires you to like IC and spend a lot of time there or to sus out what time of day or night your alliance typically owns IC, but without having such a grip on it that the bosses are overfarmed.
• In the absence of being a nightblade you may choose to get an addon that queues you out to Cyro and stall up to that point. On a DK you might stall with very high ulti gen / Corrosive builds, perma-blocking builds or, perhaps, Mist Form.
• I don't particularly recommend no CP, because the bosses hit that much harder and your set choices are limited. The afore-mentioned Esoteric Greaves provide the single most effective gank protection, superseding any and all previous set choices. The only question is whether they can be made to work on DK. I use them on my magblade to compensate for an otherwise squishy build. Works against some boss attacks too. On a DK you shouldn't really need that and, also, they work on NB because you can usually cloak / shade away before your stamina is cut in half. They may not work nearly as well on DK. Older options include Sea Serpent, Zoal + Slippery CP, and Radiant Magelight (for the passive ranged stun protection). However these are not nearly as effective as the Greaves on a build where the Greaves work. Zoal + Slippery CP, for example, gives you just enough time - 1 second basically - to recover from a gank / stun as an experienced player, but no more.
• Your build was probably wrong for PvP as others have pointed out. You generally need more sustain than in PvE, especially stamina / dodge rolling sustain. While poisons exist I don't think they are killing your sustain, because I never experience that except in some very old patches. Resource poisons have long been nerfed. It's probably a combination of not having enough regen, a too high block or dodge roll cost, and inexperience. You need at least 30K health on any brawler class, such as DK. You need Well Fitted, Impenetrable or Sturdy gear. You need ulti-gen on DK, with Bloodspawn being the #1 option, but this again only works in CP.
• I think it's very important to distinguish between defending against ganks versus actively going after and killing nightblades. This may seem the same to the experienced player, but for the former, detection methods, potions / Flare / Magelight / Camou Hunter / Sentry are IMO useless. Those are tools to go after nightblades. They are useless for gank prevention, except if you are in a group. If you're in a group and someone is spamming Flare or Magelight, I'll think twice before attacking. If you are solo, I will absolutely do it, especially with your original 22K health.
• One of your most important tools on PC remains Miat's PvP Alerts addon, because it makes that "ding" sound when a new player attacks you. I have a habit of dodge rolling when I hear that, although blocking is possibly the better choice, especially on DK. Dodge rolling (once) can backfire if the attacking nightblade uses certain combos, such as Ambush and Rush of Agony into an ult or spec bow.
• If you don't see the nightblade, don't waste your resources, especially not on expensive detection skills. Buff up. Move around. Once you are at or near full stamina, stand and block. Wait for the nightblade to come back. While some are nasty and persistent, most nightblades are scavengers. They run into a DK they can't make a dent in, they move on, at least for a while. By all means blow some Noxious or Flame Breath to chase them off. A few will die if you just spam that on them, for others it may act as a deterrent. They're annoying. You can be annoying too.
• You're a DK. An ice staff or 1H+S on one of your bars is mandatory. DKs have a blocking passive. That's your defense. Get your block cost down. Wear a mixture of heavy and medium armor, maybe with 1 light. All or mostly medium is a possibility. Maybe use some Sturdy traits. Get your block cost down to 1K or below. Block cost and dodge rolling are your stamina killers. Get that under control. I would not like to wear New Moon and, although it's hard to argue with Mist Form and vamp's Undeath passive, the increased costs as a vamp are things you need to factor in. On the magicka front, burst heals (Coag) are emergency heals only. They are your unsustainable magicka killers. As a PvP DK you want your healing to ooze out from everywhere. From Shattering Rocks. From Resolving Vigor. From Rally (as stam DK). From Burning Embers (as mag DK). From Inhale (as mag DK). Boosted, possibly, with Obsidian Shield. From Cauterize in the past, although most current DKs seem to prefer the offensive potential of Flames Of Oblivion. You are in a PvP zone. Run a PvP build. Killing mobs efficiently is only your second priority.
• There is a crazy off meta build you might try. I'm not saying it's the be all / end all, but try combining Sea Serpent with Sithis' Touch. Again something that will only work in CP, but with an added source of Major Expedition (Race Against Time) it will give you permanent +200% movement speed despite Sea Serpent, as long as you kill a mob every 30s. I've tried this on my NB and found it stressful tbh, but it does make you so annoyingly fast, nightblades (or anyone) will find it hard to connect their single-target attacks. You need to stay constantly on the move.
• Finally I can always recommend duelling. Even if you don't use Camou Hunter / Magelight, you don't wear Sentry, you don't even slot detection potions, a DK who can duel, who uses Breath, possibly Talons, Inhale, Shattering Rocks, who has decent health, who possibly runs the meta, e.g. Rending Slashes / Master dual-wield, Marselok, Vateshran ice staff, will soon convince NBs to back off. You may not be built to hunt cloaking nightblades, but you may be too dangerous or appear too dangerous to attack again.

fred4

CreamedPieYum wrote: »

then all of a sudden I get hit with a poison that drains all my mag/stam and I'm completely helpless.

Actually to address this specifically, there is / was a bug where your health bar gets desynced. If it looks like your health is still there, but your mag and stam are completely gone and you can't do anything, that may mean you are already dead on the server, but it's taking the client a few seconds to catch up.

fred4

CreamedPieYum wrote: »

For the last 2 weeks or so i've been doing much better. I pumped up my health to 30k and wear robes of hist, I get stunned all the time but they can't whittle down my health fast enough between the high amount and immense heals from robes

Actually congrats. Should have read that first. Hope my first, long, post is still informative.

CameraBeardThePirate

BetweenMidgets wrote: »

Sidewaves89 wrote: »

mocap wrote: »

Miat's addon.

Player counter doesn't work properly since U37

I was under the impression that the incoming unseen attacks indicator still would sound. I know I've lined up some heavy attacks at folks just to have them start dodgerolling when there are no other players around.

It does not. That was one of the very first things to go.

Veinblood1965

As a NB ganker in IC from time to time if someone is under 25k health that person is my target even when they are grouped. Easy pickens. I target that person then run till I'm invisible and wait until they are preoccupied with something and down they go. As others have said get your health up and gankers will leave you alone.

Vulkunne

You should def have a certain amount of health for any PvP zone... I thought that was something everyone kind of knew, as many who PvP have almost like 'industry standards' that most of us adhere to. The thing is, I just cannot understand this argument regarding having x amount of health means that: a) you are relatively safe and b) you won't get attacked.

Its just not right. I'm sorry but I've been thru alot with IC over time, kind of taking a break now, but I've seen so many guys in there running macros, exploits and straight up cheating to the point where it doesn't really matter how much health you have. You're not safe. And if you try and test that you're gonna drop lol. Just like those DC in my story... they thought the same things as others on here and regardless someone took them down. For example, (even when having over 30k health) several times I've been one shot in Cyrodiil and IC by Heavy Attack builds, many more times I've been killed in 2 or 3 shots... at full health... with a Force Pulse attack. I even had several instances where I was one shot using a Forse Pulse that had several light attacks and class single target attacks... that all came over in one attack. I'm not kidding or making that up... I sat here and watched it happen. And that character had 35k health.

And so for me, especially what people have put me through on there, you can have whatever setup, however much health as u can have, but if you don't understand the situation and as I have said, also have a plan for how to deal with things you'll get out-played by someone smarter. Not necessarily stronger but smarter. All kinds of things go on in IC. Yes there are steps you can take to prepare but for many, many players out there running exploits and 'metas' it just doesn't matter. Your approach no matter how well intended is often confounded (many times by ZOS releasing bad sets and not really thinking things thru) and people who only care about winning, going in there not to fight or play the game as much as to win without putting forth any real thought or effort and besides that, you also have the inverse where they log out of the server as soon as they get attacked. Like right away as if they have a shortcut setup. Not even gonna try just leave. Its crazy and one reason I'm kind of feeling like I'm done with PvP... least for awhile.

Tread lightly in IC.

Theignson

I don't like IC. But still, when I go there, I am almost always on my NB. Here is a build that is very good for surviving in IC as a NB:

Sentry, Darloc Brae, Ring of wild hunt. Use a couple swift jewelry and celerity

You can cloak almost indefinitely and are very hard to catch, plus you can find other NB.

Because NB is so strong, even in that build you can still kill mobs and other players.

Also, as someone else mentioned, bank your telvar frequently. This saves much regret.

My final tip: when you bank Telvar, leave one telvar on your character. This is your present for the ganking NB who is working so hard.