I created this build with some experimenting in beta and then recreated
the same character, with some tweaks, during early access. I leveled to 30
by release day.
1. Alternate your attribute points in Health and Stamina each level.
2. Decide on your Dragonknight abilities, I initially chose Fiery Grip and
Spiked Armor, but later switched to Searing Strike and Dragon Blood.
Those are under Ardent Flame and Draconic Power, respectively.
3. Choose One Hand and Shield under Weapon.
(1 key) Puncture for damage and taunt
(2 key) Your choice, I picked low slash, but later Searing Strike
...
(5 key) Shield Charge when it becomes available.
Passives:
Fortress 2/2
Sword and Board 2/2
Deadly Bash 2/2
Deflect Bolts 1/2
4. Choose Heavy Armor under Armor.
Passives:
Resolve 3/3
Constitution 2/2
Juggernaut 2/2
Bracing 1/2
5. I played a Nord and took Robust 2/3 and Resist Frost 2/3.
6. I also leveled provisioning to help with health/stamina boosts.
The provisions you make are better than what you can pick up in loot
or purchase from vendors.
At level 30:
============
Magicka 0 Health 14 Stamina 15
Max Magicka 729 Magicka Recovery 34
Max Health 1117 Health Recovery 26
Max Stamina 1089* Stamina Recovery 34
Spell Resistance 847 Armor 995
I also used or made rings that helped with reducing stamina costs and
reducing the cost of bash and blocking. At level 30, I had a turquoise
ring of shielding that reduced cost of bash by 13 and reduced cost of
blocking by 13. And I had a turquoise ring of reduce feat cost that
reduced stamina cost of abilities by 10. There are necklaces and rings
that you get in loot that can be used with glyphs that you find or purchase.
34 Ardent Flame
33 Draconia Power
39 One Hand and Shield
39 Heavy Armor
30 Nord Skills
50 Provisioning
(1 key) Puncture morphed to Ransack III (your bread-and-butter as a tank)
(2 key) Searing Strike morphed to Unstable Flame III (your choice here)
(3 key) Dragon Blood morphed to Green Dragon Blood II (health/stamina regen)
(4 key) Dark Talons morphed to Burning Talons III (root your opponents)
(5 key) Shield Charge morphed to Invasion III (the freight train
)
Ultimate (your choice)
-=Standard of Might III=-
I tried Dragon Leap in beta, but the early bugs turned me away from it and I
went to Dragonknight Standard in beta. So in Early Access I went straight
for Dragonknight Standard. Standard of Might III gives damage buffs to party
members near the standard, and damage debuffs to opponents. Other players can shackle enemies to the standard.
So YMMV (your mileage may vary), but I found this build to be intuitive, easy, and fun to play, solo, and in small groups. It has good DPS with Puncture and Searing Strike. Heavily armored with shield, I can **stand still** and take a lot of punishment and give it back with quick strikes from Puncture and Searing Strike which alternate well with their respective cool downs.
A fun melee pattern:
Shield Charge for knockdown (the freight train)
Dark Talons for rooting opponent
Puncture / Searing Strike (alternate based on cooldowns)
Bash, bash, you're dead.
The morphs I took gave me boosts to that pattern; i.e., more damage and longer damage-over-time. And the shield charge morph gave me a bonus for long distance charges.
Footnotes:
* I had a stamina provision on at the time of the screen print, so it was probably 135 to max stamina for 35 minutes.
** Note-to-self: Stop standing still and learn to dodge