Which class does more DPS in general in Melee?

Mricci1988 · December 2014

Just so I can understand this better...which class does better over all in Melee?

I prefer having a DW / Destro class to be honest...but DW / Bow works for me as well happily.

I am doing DK but its crazy hard to level unless I do skill / light attack weaving....my DPS suffers a lot from it otherwise

DK - how are they as a DW melee?
NB - How are they as a DW melee?

DeLindsay · December 2014

If we're talking about once you are out of Stealth and for Stamina based Melee builds I don't think Class actually matters much. There's a few nice passives that help like Stamina regen, Crit ceiling (NB), stronger pots (NB) and some really good Ultimates of certain Classes but overall There's pretty little difference between them. Even Racial passives seem more geared towards Magicka builds and Tanking. I've seen very good Sorcs with 2H/DW and some of them use Streak to get out of trouble when Melee gets sticky. I even had a 2H/DW VR10 Templar doing 1.2K ST in one of my Vet Pledge runs the other day.

One problem I see is that while leveling (at lower levels) having only DW/Destro or DW/Bow leaves you lacking in the self healing department. So you kind of either have to nuke them before they do much damage or have an exit strategy. OFC, some of the Class abilities/Ultimates help greatly with that. Both DK and NB are strong at solo'ing content if built for sustain. I can say the same of Templar, at least at higher levels when they gain access to Sun Shield. Sorcs are the same also once they gain access to Surge > Crit Surge, and 1.6 won't change that for Stamina builds. Once NB's gain access to Drain Power > Sap Essence and have Consuming Darkness > Veil of Blades there's little they can't solo. Also, DK's Ultimate Magma Armor is insane for survival.

Lynx7386 · December 2014

Taking class active abilities aside, nightblades do get more bonuses through passives that will help with stamina damage output. From the assassination tree you get 3% extra weapon crit for each assassination ability you have slotted, and as long as you have at least one assassination ability slotted you'll get 10% extra critical hit damage. In the shadow tree, you get 30% extra stamina regeneration, and through the siphoning tree a 30% boost to potions.

Dragonknights dont have nearly as many passives that boost weapon skills, but their active class skills are a bit stronger in most situations. Having abilities like talons and spell reflect will give you more control over combat, and obsidian shield / dragon blood both offer you much greater survivability than a nightblade has access to.

Kupoking · January 2015

I would say NB would do more damage in a melee setup.

Of course sorc has crit surge but hes got no ways to regen stamina.
Of course DK has flames of oblivion and igneous weapon but you must slot GDB for stam regen.
Of course Templar got 4% more weapon damage passive and huge stam regen but has no other real ways to boost damage.
NB gots great crit passives, stam regen passives and abilities that supports stam damage.

Although, I'd say right now any class can dps well in stamina mode. I just think NB is more competitive in terms of raw DPS compared to magika builds. Here i'm spacifically talking about raw DPS (PvE mostly) and not taking survivability into account

PBpsy · January 2015

NB with DW by far.One of the top dps setups in the game.

Cody · January 2015

NBs can sustain themselves for a very long time with siphoning strikes(whichever morph one prefers to use) that, combined with NB passives, makes the NB, in my opinion, the best melee class in the game; heck my DW build can take on just about any melee player, no matter the class, that I encounter.