I can suggest a pure Melee DPS/Tank build. This build is designed to solo public dungeons and be a very efficient tank for normal dungeons.

Class: Stamina Sorcerer
Race: Imperial (Though any race will be effective, I've done this on a Breton in a pinch as well)

DPS Bar: Dual Wield
Crit Surge, Flurry, Evil Hunter, Twin Slashes/Whirlwind/Blade Cloak, Hurricane, Ultimate: Dawnbreaker
(You could use Trap Beast if you have the sustain for adding that in the rotation.)

Tanking Bar: One Handed & Shield
Crit Surge, Vigor, Caltrops, Pierce Armor (Taunt), Hurricane, Ultimate: Negate (This stuns mobs and makes them super easy to kill)
(I double-bar Crit Surge and Hurricane for ease of use. Caltrops comes from PVP and is a DOT and a source of crowd control. Encase makes a good substitute for Caltrops until you get it. Vigor may or may not be necessary but its handy to have that on demand self heal or for running with 3 DPS. If you prefer Dark Deal, use that.)
(You could probably replace One Hand and Shield with Two-handed if you don't want to tank. Two-Handed will give you access to an execute, which this build lacks.)

Gear:
You can do almost anything with this build. If you want to go really tanky, grab tank gear like Ebon Armory. If you want to go more DPS, grab some standard DPS sets. However, I've built mine to do a ton of passive AOE damage.
Passive AoE Gear set-up: 5 Thunderbug (does shock damage when hit) + 5 Syvarra's Scales (Does poison damage when attacking) + 2 Stormfist (does shock damage on proc)
All of these do AoE damage without having to use skills, allowing me to focus on tanking, mechanics, or DPS. It is extremely effective with trash mobs and public dungeon mobs. With Thunderbug and Stormfist both doing shock damage, there are a lot of chances for the sorc Implosion to proc.

Using the AoE gear detailed above, the rotation is:
Crit Surge -> Hurricane -> throw Caltrops on the mob->Pierce Armor to taunt anything needing to be taunted-> Bar Swap
On Dual Wield -> Flurry or Whirlwind while weaving heavy attacks until you need to restart Hurricane/Caltrops/Pierce Armor
If leveling the stam sorc, Hurricane -> Pierce Armor -> Flurry is pretty effective.

Its a pretty simple rotation where I can focus on single target damage while my 3 gear sets and Hurricane throw AoE damage on everything around me.
Tanking: I've got about 25K health when tanking and have successfully tanked most normal group dungeons with this build. I was very pleased with its performance in normal White Gold Tower because the extra DPS really made the tanky mobs go quicker while still being able to complete mechanics. I do have to be careful, its not as sturdy as a pure tank. Respect the boss mechanics in harder normals. If you take this build into Vet Dungeons, I recommend using tankier gear than the AoE gear for normals. I could do easy Vets with this build, but I had to be extremely careful on final boss mechanics compared to my pure tank.
DPS: This build will not do as much DPS as a pure DPS, but it does more DPS than a pure tank. Now, players have different benchmarks for what is "good" DPS and much of that comes down to player skill with the rotation and animation canceling. So I'll compare my numbers to myself, understanding that you may have a different result, but the proportions should be similar. My Pure Tank does 4-6K single target DPS on most final bosses. My Pure DPS stam sorc does around 15-16k single target DPS on most final bosses. This build, the DPS/Tank Stam Sorc does around 8-9k single target DPS on final bosses. That's sufficient for nearly any normal dungeon boss and will let you add a lot of DPS to a slow group while still effectively tanking for a fast group.

Hope this helps! I've really enjoyed playing this build. Let me know if you have any questions!

VaranisArano wrote: »

I can suggest a pure Melee DPS/Tank build. This build is designed to solo public dungeons and be a very efficient tank for normal dungeons.

Class: Stamina Sorcerer
Race: Imperial (Though any race will be effective, I've done this on a Breton in a pinch as well)

DPS Bar: Dual Wield
Crit Surge, Flurry, Evil Hunter, Twin Slashes/Whirlwind/Blade Cloak, Hurricane, Ultimate: Dawnbreaker
(You could use Trap Beast if you have the sustain for adding that in the rotation.)

Tanking Bar: One Handed & Shield
Crit Surge, Vigor, Caltrops, Pierce Armor (Taunt), Hurricane, Ultimate: Negate (This stuns mobs and makes them super easy to kill)
(I double-bar Crit Surge and Hurricane for ease of use. Caltrops comes from PVP and is a DOT and a source of crowd control. Encase makes a good substitute for Caltrops until you get it. Vigor may or may not be necessary but its handy to have that on demand self heal or for running with 3 DPS. If you prefer Dark Deal, use that.)
(You could probably replace One Hand and Shield with Two-handed if you don't want to tank. Two-Handed will give you access to an execute, which this build lacks.)

Gear:
You can do almost anything with this build. If you want to go really tanky, grab tank gear like Ebon Armory. If you want to go more DPS, grab some standard DPS sets. However, I've built mine to do a ton of passive AOE damage.
Passive AoE Gear set-up: 5 Thunderbug (does shock damage when hit) + 5 Syvarra's Scales (Does poison damage when attacking) + 2 Stormfist (does shock damage on proc)
All of these do AoE damage without having to use skills, allowing me to focus on tanking, mechanics, or DPS. It is extremely effective with trash mobs and public dungeon mobs. With Thunderbug and Stormfist both doing shock damage, there are a lot of chances for the sorc Implosion to proc.

Using the AoE gear detailed above, the rotation is:
Crit Surge -> Hurricane -> throw Caltrops on the mob->Pierce Armor to taunt anything needing to be taunted-> Bar Swap
On Dual Wield -> Flurry or Whirlwind while weaving heavy attacks until you need to restart Hurricane/Caltrops/Pierce Armor
If leveling the stam sorc, Hurricane -> Pierce Armor -> Flurry is pretty effective.

Its a pretty simple rotation where I can focus on single target damage while my 3 gear sets and Hurricane throw AoE damage on everything around me.
Tanking: I've got about 25K health when tanking and have successfully tanked most normal group dungeons with this build. I was very pleased with its performance in normal White Gold Tower because the extra DPS really made the tanky mobs go quicker while still being able to complete mechanics. I do have to be careful, its not as sturdy as a pure tank. Respect the boss mechanics in harder normals. If you take this build into Vet Dungeons, I recommend using tankier gear than the AoE gear for normals. I could do easy Vets with this build, but I had to be extremely careful on final boss mechanics compared to my pure tank.
DPS: This build will not do as much DPS as a pure DPS, but it does more DPS than a pure tank. Now, players have different benchmarks for what is "good" DPS and much of that comes down to player skill with the rotation and animation canceling. So I'll compare my numbers to myself, understanding that you may have a different result, but the proportions should be similar. My Pure Tank does 4-6K single target DPS on most final bosses. My Pure DPS stam sorc does around 15-16k single target DPS on most final bosses. This build, the DPS/Tank Stam Sorc does around 8-9k single target DPS on final bosses. That's sufficient for nearly any normal dungeon boss and will let you add a lot of DPS to a slow group while still effectively tanking for a fast group.

Hope this helps! I've really enjoyed playing this build. Let me know if you have any questions!

There are very high chances that you'd do more DPS by slotting a Bow with Endless Hail and Injection instead of your DW bar ^^

As far as full melee builds go, they work in PvP, but they don't work in endgame PvE. depends on what you want to do

First of all, if you don't want to do veteran contend you can play whatever you wan't as everything is so easy it simply doesn't matter. However if you wan't to progress further in PvE a staminabuild without a bow will not work. This is mainly because a bow is by far the strongest backbar weapon and that is because it has two incredibly strong DOTs that get even stronger via your bow passives. If you have a MSA-bow, which is standard in endgame PvE, your Endless Hail will on it's own do more damage then any other attack. So a bow is used to DOT up the target and then switch to your DW/2H bar for higher stats and fight on that bar until you reapply your bow-DOTs. Other weapons don't work for that as they don't have those DOTs and a build without strong DOTs will not work as a spamable will never do more damage then a few DOTs stacked.

Damn...that was a lot of "DOTs"...

Another factor is that you can still keep a good amount of your DPS up when you have to leave the melee position.

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

My advice is to dust off that Redguard DK, which is probably the best class/race combo in the game to pull high melee damage.

Melee DPS do use bows on the back bar, but really you only slot if for 2/3 skills. Poison injection, Endless Hail, and perhaps the bow ultimate. On a DK, you will likely only use the first two. Both can be cast just fine with your nose on the boss.

If you refuse to run a bow, then you could back bar a DW/2H, but it really wont serve a purpose. You will spend more time on your front bar in the bosses face with your DW no matter whats on your back bar.

Also, the notion of being able to do no damage from range is a pretty poor decision in my mind. Many bosses have mechanics that force you out of melee for short periods. Good players use those times to reapply all of their back bar DOTs from their bow bars, so they dont lose out on damage.

If you want to play a melee magic build, you could roll a magic templar or magic DK. both keep you in close range, but they just cant compete with their stamina counterparts. You will also be using Destro staffs on both bars, which might break your melee immersion. Most end game trial groups have 4 range and 4 melee spots. You will struggle to get a melee spot on any magic build if the group is remotely good.

If you want to play a melee stamina build, you are gimping yourself very hard if you dont slot a bow on your back bar. I assure you that, you can still be very "in your face" with a bow on your back bar. On my stamina toons, its nose on the boss unless their is a big red circle under his feet. In which case, all "pure melee" dps are either dead DPS or no DPS (or both).

I appreciate you taking the time to reply, I haven't really experienced end-game yet. And only recently started running Dungeons. I'm still in the process of learning the mechanics of many aspects of the game.
I do want to be able to eventually run all the content the game has to offer, So I guess I will need to re-evaluate my disdain towards Bow/Ranged skills.
Honestly, I was quite surprised that I stuck with my MagSorc all the way to 50. But she just doesn't seem fill that niche of a Main Char for me.
I do like @VaranisArano's StamSorc suggestion, But also don't want to gimp myself later.
Having completed the Main Story, and Morrowind a few times now, I feel comfortable power leveling a new Toon here or there.
So I will take Your advice, And start Swapping a Bow in and out of rotation on one of my other 'Works in Progress" so I can maybe learn to like it, or at least be competent enough with it to benifit from it.
And also use @VaranisArano's build for when I'm just running around Solo, which I do a lot!

Thanks everyone for the much needed advice, builds, recommendations. This will definitely set me in the right direction!

VaranisArano wrote: »

You could easily add a bow to my stam sorc build.

If you want a tank, go One-hand & Shield/Bow. In place of the dual wield skills, you'll want Endless Hail and Poison Injection. Both can be done while you are right in the boss' face and will give you options when you have to tank the boss from range (Vila Theran can be hard to melee, for example).

It's not hard to melee Vila Theran. Living for long afterwards is a different matter.

VaranisArano wrote: »

I can suggest a pure Melee DPS/Tank build. This build is designed to solo public dungeons and be a very efficient tank for normal dungeons.

Class: Stamina Sorcerer
Race: Imperial (Though any race will be effective, I've done this on a Breton in a pinch as well)

DPS Bar: Dual Wield
Crit Surge, Flurry, Evil Hunter, Twin Slashes/Whirlwind/Blade Cloak, Hurricane, Ultimate: Dawnbreaker
(You could use Trap Beast if you have the sustain for adding that in the rotation.)

Tanking Bar: One Handed & Shield
Crit Surge, Vigor, Caltrops, Pierce Armor (Taunt), Hurricane, Ultimate: Negate (This stuns mobs and makes them super easy to kill)
(I double-bar Crit Surge and Hurricane for ease of use. Caltrops comes from PVP and is a DOT and a source of crowd control. Encase makes a good substitute for Caltrops until you get it. Vigor may or may not be necessary but its handy to have that on demand self heal or for running with 3 DPS. If you prefer Dark Deal, use that.)
(You could probably replace One Hand and Shield with Two-handed if you don't want to tank. Two-Handed will give you access to an execute, which this build lacks.)

Gear:
You can do almost anything with this build. If you want to go really tanky, grab tank gear like Ebon Armory. If you want to go more DPS, grab some standard DPS sets. However, I've built mine to do a ton of passive AOE damage.
Passive AoE Gear set-up: 5 Thunderbug (does shock damage when hit) + 5 Syvarra's Scales (Does poison damage when attacking) + 2 Stormfist (does shock damage on proc)
All of these do AoE damage without having to use skills, allowing me to focus on tanking, mechanics, or DPS. It is extremely effective with trash mobs and public dungeon mobs. With Thunderbug and Stormfist both doing shock damage, there are a lot of chances for the sorc Implosion to proc.

Using the AoE gear detailed above, the rotation is:
Crit Surge -> Hurricane -> throw Caltrops on the mob->Pierce Armor to taunt anything needing to be taunted-> Bar Swap
On Dual Wield -> Flurry or Whirlwind while weaving heavy attacks until you need to restart Hurricane/Caltrops/Pierce Armor
If leveling the stam sorc, Hurricane -> Pierce Armor -> Flurry is pretty effective.

Its a pretty simple rotation where I can focus on single target damage while my 3 gear sets and Hurricane throw AoE damage on everything around me.
Tanking: I've got about 25K health when tanking and have successfully tanked most normal group dungeons with this build. I was very pleased with its performance in normal White Gold Tower because the extra DPS really made the tanky mobs go quicker while still being able to complete mechanics. I do have to be careful, its not as sturdy as a pure tank. Respect the boss mechanics in harder normals. If you take this build into Vet Dungeons, I recommend using tankier gear than the AoE gear for normals. I could do easy Vets with this build, but I had to be extremely careful on final boss mechanics compared to my pure tank.
DPS: This build will not do as much DPS as a pure DPS, but it does more DPS than a pure tank. Now, players have different benchmarks for what is "good" DPS and much of that comes down to player skill with the rotation and animation canceling. So I'll compare my numbers to myself, understanding that you may have a different result, but the proportions should be similar. My Pure Tank does 4-6K single target DPS on most final bosses. My Pure DPS stam sorc does around 15-16k single target DPS on most final bosses. This build, the DPS/Tank Stam Sorc does around 8-9k single target DPS on final bosses. That's sufficient for nearly any normal dungeon boss and will let you add a lot of DPS to a slow group while still effectively tanking for a fast group.

Hope this helps! I've really enjoyed playing this build. Let me know if you have any questions!

I like your build so i will test it! But what about the Attributes points and CP later on? What should put the points on?

I just spotted this thread and it reminded me of how I always wanted to see what sort of DPS double dual wield would offer.
My dual wield bar always has Infused on the off-hand weapon and nirnhorned on the main hand weapon to push weapon damage pretty high. With double Dual wield the average weapon damage goes up and you get to slot 4 different enchantments that proc loads of damage and self-buffing.

It also gives the chance to slot sets that will carry over damage as you swap between bars, like 2 Night Mothers Gaze weapons on the back bar and something like 2 War Machine or Mechanical acuity on the front bar. This weapon set swapping feature lets you wear a Monster helmet and 3 x agility jewelry while also slotting 2 x five piece sets.

I'm missing 2 dots by dropping the bow, so I tested it on my stamina nightblade which already has a relatively high chunk of %direct damage with 40 CPs in master at arms.



It's not a bad parse for me personally, I usually get 35k dps with cheap green potions and the generic DW/Bow build. So maybe there's a 10% drop in DPS. The only ranged skills I slotted are Caltrops and flying blade. I threw stuff together that I had laying around and tried this only once, I'm sure it could be better.