How do I use sword and board effectively in PvP? And other questions.

21jws10 · August 2015

This is my favourite weapon by far, but when I use it I seem to forget everything I know about combat, so I find myself resorting to two handing and doing boring generic stuff.. I don't know what abilities are useful, it feels to me that they all are.. the debuffs and all that.
I'm even unsure of what class to play, I love the idea of a big heavy tanky NB, but the toggle ability to regain resources seems a bit of a pain at times, reckon the update will make it easier or worse?
I play more slow, tactile combat to be honest, occasionally I'm in a duo, so I tend to get the attention, debuff the enemy etc. then we finish em off.
I like the sound of vampire too, but sounds a little risky, but with the fire damage buff coming that helps, making the undeath passive seem useful. (I would LOVE a "Vampire Knight" esque build) But I have no idea with stat allocations either.

McSwaggins · August 2015

In PTS atm there are quite a few good NB tanks but only because of a bug that's in it atm, but that should be fixed by the time it comes live. And you will need to have a vampire ability on your bar if you want the passives for the skill tree. I wouldn't run vampire with the next patch but that's just my opinion

21jws10 · August 2015

Is the fact its no longer a toggle good or bad?

21jws10 · August 2015

Anyway, back to the main thing here, how do I use S+B effectively in PvP, all the abilities seem so useful, I feel like I need em all, so I'm confused, does anyone have any recent videos showing someone using it with efficiency?

Corrupted_Soul · August 2015

Sorry, wrong link.

Auricle · August 2015

I believe I read in the updated patch notes that one of the morphs shall remain a toggle.

Honestly, I don't think anyone's going to have the exact answers for you. Best to look at what other people have put out there. Try Tamriel Foundry or Deltia's Gaming for some starting points. I believe Deltia's Umbra build might be something for you to check out. *shrug*

Ezareth · August 2015

21jws10 wrote: »

This is my favourite weapon by far, but when I use it I seem to forget everything I know about combat, so I find myself resorting to two handing and doing boring generic stuff.. I don't know what abilities are useful, it feels to me that they all are.. the debuffs and all that.
I'm even unsure of what class to play, I love the idea of a big heavy tanky NB, but the toggle ability to regain resources seems a bit of a pain at times, reckon the update will make it easier or worse?
I play more slow, tactile combat to be honest, occasionally I'm in a duo, so I tend to get the attention, debuff the enemy etc. then we finish em off.
I like the sound of vampire too, but sounds a little risky, but with the fire damage buff coming that helps, making the undeath passive seem useful. (I would LOVE a "Vampire Knight" esque build) But I have no idea with stat allocations either.

My live build and PTS build both run Sword and Board.

Absorb Magic with the extra stats, mitigation + set bonuses of a shield make it definitely worthy of consideration.

With a stamina build, Absorb Magic alone can keep you healed and if you animation cancel it most people wont even realize they're healing you.

I currently run Deep slash as my Primary damage ability and I animation cancel it with bash. This is a pretty powerful damage combo that will AoE Maim and Slow up to 3 players and with the right CPs will allow you to line up an ultimate with several damage modifiers tacked on.

While invasion is useful I think using only a single gap closer is worthwhile so I use my offbar Crit-charge (ambush will work as well) to gap close then switch to sword and board to deep slash/slow unless they're running in which case I'll wrecking blow/gap closer spam.

Scorpio_Alik'ri · August 2015

My main character is a Redguard dragonknight stamina dps/tank. As you know, the racial skills center around stamina regen and the shield affinity passive which automatically grants you a 15% bonus in the one handed + shield skill line. I usually wear heavy armor and combine the health generation passives of the skill and the stamina actives of 1H + shield. The actives don't do that much damage so I have a 2H on the other bar with one or two magic skills.