This is probably not the kind of response you are looking for but having been both magicka and stamina on my DK, this is my take on it.

I started out as magicka and enjoyed it but wanted to see how the other half lived so I spent a ton of gold to respec to stamina. I felt more powerful using stamina and did more damage (Steel Tornado and Wrecking Blow) but I wasn't using very many DK skills at all because most are magicka based. This last weekend I spent another ton of gold to go back to magicka so I could actually use DK skills. I like magicka better but I feel weaker and don't have a dependable gap close like stamina has. Maybe it's just a L2P issue on my part but I feel DK native abilities have been nerfed into the ground.

My 2 cents.

Edited for proper sentence structure.

drzycki_ESO wrote: »

This is probably not the kind of response you are looking for but having been both magicka and stamina on my DK and this is my take on it.

I started out as magicka and enjoyed it but wanted to see how the other half lived so I spent a ton of gold to respec to stamina. I felt more powerful using stamina and did more damage (Steel Tornado and Wrecking Blow) but I wasn't using very many DK skills at all because most are magicka based. This last weekend I spent another ton of gold to go back to magicka so I could actually use DK skills. I like magicka better but I feel weaker and don't have a dependable gap close like stamina has. Maybe it's just a L2P issue on my part but I feel DK native abilities have been nerfed into the ground.

My 2 cents.

I would like to hear posts like this as well. Once the thread reaches a certain point I will detail my own thoughts in the reserved section and you will find them very familiar.

Bashev wrote: »

I used to play before IC as a stamina DK with magicka regen because I play as a PvP group tank. My role is to CC, debuff and charge in first to take the damage. It was nice because the skills that I used: choking talons (damage debuff), GDB, Reflective scale, Purge, Petrify: they do not scale with max magicka and spell damage to be efficient. I just needed cheap skills and magicka regen to spam my CC. I needed a lot of stamina for block and caltrops.
Now in 1.7 I cannot block anymore a lot because of the stamina regen nerf. Choking talons are blockable, GDB is a joke. When snares are fixed I can add Cinder storm to the useless skills for me.
P.S I remember the times when I really wondered which skill to use. All of them were so useful. Now i play with 2 DK skills on my bar.

What are the two dk skills left on you bar? I'm guessing fossilize is one, is the other RS?

My main is a Khajiit DK. Since launch, I have struggled to have him Stam and have gone the way of the demanded fire mage a few times. Since the last patch, I have committed to Stam with no looking back (rolled a dark elf dk to cover any potential fire dk demands).
1. Khajiit. It is an obvious Stam race.
2. Burning Embers. Armor debuffs make a greater difference these days. For me, having the debuff up makes around a 2k dps difference.
3. Earthen Heart Passive that gets me Stam back. I like that spamming a magic shield gets me stam.
4. PvP purposes: chains, dragon leap, and 2h charge......gap closer galore!

I am pulling 15-20k single target in pve. So very acceptable in high end groups. PvP is a blast. Ferious leap is my favorite ability in game. A leap, a burning embers, and some steel tornado can almost wipe an unexpecting group quickly.

My dark elf dk is also changed from magicka to stamina. Liked my magicka one much better but it was useless. I miss my dragon scales, green dragon blood and talons.

drzycki_ESO wrote: »

This is probably not the kind of response you are looking for but having been both magicka and stamina on my DK, this is my take on it.

I started out as magicka and enjoyed it but wanted to see how the other half lived so I spent a ton of gold to respec to stamina. I felt more powerful using stamina and did more damage (Steel Tornado and Wrecking Blow) but I wasn't using very many DK skills at all because most are magicka based. This last weekend I spent another ton of gold to go back to magicka so I could actually use DK skills. I like magicka better but I feel weaker and don't have a dependable gap close like stamina has. Maybe it's just a L2P issue on my part but I feel DK native abilities have been nerfed into the ground.

My 2 cents.

Edited for proper sentence structure.

Sooo much this! Its exactly how I feel with my DK. On the one side (magicka) you have great class abilities with crap dmg, frustratingly low self healing, reflect that feels so limited, no gap gloser, no execute, no range abilities.. And on the other side (stamina) you got cheesy abilities (wb spam..), more damage, decent self healing (only if you combine Rally+vigor+igneous shield), no reflect (except you go S&B) and you have gap closer and execute, but in the end you only have 2 class abilities on your bar..

Hell! Even freaking Werewolf feels more powerful than my DK! In ww you get 1) awesome gap closer, 2) self healing, 3) fear, 4) high dmg stun ability, 5) one of the few AoE debuff healing abilities in the game and 6) every single light / heavy attack actually does damage..

I tweaked a lot around stamina with the exception of bow and i still don't like what my DK has become. I don't know either if its a L2P thing or whatever but I really don't know what to do with my DK

I've always preferred physical damage with all of my characters. I saw the new Deadly Fortress Stamina DK build and had to make a DK.. I love it!