Are DOTTZ Gaming PvP Builds Decent?

PrimusTiberius · January 2022

After a couple years of not playing in PvP, going to get my DK dusted off and give it a go. I have no idea what to do with the CP system for PvP or what sets are viable. Been looking at DOTTZ's builds for ideas or should I just thumb through the Youtube videos?

Gizit · January 2022

Dottz does a great job explaining his build and thought process for playstyle with his builds.
This should help you align the way you play with those types of builds and offer up your own touches to complete them. So I would say so, ESO has some excellent content creators I am sure you will find something solid to have fun and reach some levels of success!

PrimusTiberius · January 2022

Gizit wrote: »

Dottz does a great job explaining his build and thought process for playstyle with his builds.
This should help you align the way you play with those types of builds and offer up your own touches to complete them. So I would say so, ESO has some excellent content creators I am sure you will find something solid to have fun and reach some levels of success!

Thank you

WildRaptorX · January 2022

Absolutely! Tired one of his builds yesterday and I’ve fallen back in love with my main and PvP!

My play style is a sneaky archer - but I play a warden. I couldn’t find a build that wasn’t bow/bow or all about heavy armour, shield and shalks.

He has a bow/2h build, which even uses the bear!

Very grateful for this build!

malistorr · January 2022

The more time you spend researching and learning the better whether via YouTube or somewhere else. My suggestion is to go to Cyrodiil and just try playing for a few hours and figure out what kind of play style you enjoy the most. Don't worry if you die a lot. Don't worry about farming the best gear yet and don't spend too much gold. Once you know how you want to play you can then go pick the best sets possible to maximize your build.

For example maybe you decide you want to be a brawler and use 2-handed skills so you choose Sword-Singer to buff that damage. But if you also want to use a bow then that set would be mostly a waste when using bow. So then you'd choose another offensive set that would boost both bow and 2H skills like Spriggans or Draugr-Hulk.

If you're overwhelmed by the set choices in CP Cyrodiil you can always play no CP/no Proc to simplify things. You only get about 20% of all gear sets as possible options so it may make choosing a bit easier. And you don't have to worry about learning the new CP tree as well or about not being CP level 2,000 to keep up with the elites.

No CP is a good place to start and once you're doing well there maybe graduate up to CP if you feel like it and want to consider other gear options.

PrimusTiberius · January 2022

malistorr wrote: »

My suggestion is to go to Cyrodiil and just try playing for a few hours and figure out what kind of play style you enjoy the most. Don't worry if you die a lot.

I agree with this 100%. I play end game PvE and know where to put my CP points but I'm clueless when it comes to PvP, its a completely different ball game now, then it was several years ago. I was looking at his site today before posting, at least knowing he has decent builds, gives me a starting point for sets and CP allocations, currently at 1585 +/-

Back in the day, I had some epic battles defending or taking Keeps, hoping to get some of that back. As far as dying, I never get upset over that. One, I'm an average PvP player, so dying is a regular thing, second, everyone dies (mostly, them darn rabbits...haha)

Thanks for the input!

Kwoung · February 2022

PrimusTiberius wrote: »

malistorr wrote: »

My suggestion is to go to Cyrodiil and just try playing for a few hours and figure out what kind of play style you enjoy the most. Don't worry if you die a lot.

I agree with this 100%. I play end game PvE and know where to put my CP points but I'm clueless when it comes to PvP, its a completely different ball game now, then it was several years ago. I was looking at his site today before posting, at least knowing he has decent builds, gives me a starting point for sets and CP allocations, currently at 1585 +/-

Back in the day, I had some epic battles defending or taking Keeps, hoping to get some of that back. As far as dying, I never get upset over that. One, I'm an average PvP player, so dying is a regular thing, second, everyone dies (mostly, them darn rabbits...haha)

Thanks for the input!

Yeah, it really depends on your personal playstyle as to how you end up, so figuring out how you enjoy playing in PVP is pretty key. Depending on having friends to run with and coordinating sets/buffs, soloing, zerg surfing, burst damage, tankiness or whatever all makes a huge difference in how you should build. As for CP's, defense, damage mitigation, crit resist, movement speed helps a lot depending on what you are doing, fall damage mitigation as you will fall or jump down a lot... etc. Or maybe you just want to get to the fight fast and get ticks, so a ton of mount speed may be part of your thing.

I also tend to tell new folks to drop glyphs of potion boost on infused jewelry to help out, having long term immovable pots running or see invis pots can be extremely helpful with keeping yourself alive. You can always swap them out for damage glyphs if you find you don't need them.

Larcomar · February 2022

I find dottz much better than the other obvious sites for pvp builds but, like other's have said, they're just a starting point. PVP builds are very personal - what works for him may not be what works for you. They're also very situation specific. There's a huge difference between Bgs, IC and cyro, No cp and cp cyro etc. And, frankly, between, say soling, casual skirmishing and knocking over forts. It really depends on you and what you want to do.

Personally, I'd slap on something basic like pariah + whatever damage set works for your class + some cp like ironclad, duellists rebuff, pains refuge and jump in. Much better to start tanky and then pair it down, than start squishy and have to tank up. You'll get there either way but it's a lot easier to figure out what works for you and what doesn't when you die slowly than when you get instadeleted

Master_Kas · February 2022

Used a couple builds of his and they are indeed decent. Just make sure to tweak stuff to your preference.

Vevvev · February 2022

His builds are pretty good and if you watch his PvP guides and stuff you'll find out he builds out the build's defensive strategy first and then it's offensive strategy second. If you play them right you'll find yourself very hard to kill.

soniku4ikblis · February 2022

They're ok. They are a good stepping stone to figuring out your own build.

Personally, the best build you can create is one where your fast, you can line of sight, and you can recover health quickly, all while having a huge burst cannon rotation. Medium armor is the way of the force.

McTaterskins · February 2022

Dottz is good people. He explains his builds and thought process behind them. Has good commentary on the gameplay of them etc.

But, just because it works for him, does not mean it will work for you. So don't get too down about it if one of them doesn't work out that great. Take from the aspects you like about it and build from there.

malistorr · February 2022

Yep customize the build to how you want to play. Then it will be practice for months (at the least) to get good. I find that 90% of PVP success is just muscle memory and learning what to do and not do. I'm on a new class (to me for PVP) and tinkering with changing skills and gear sets all the time so I know I won't be that great for at least a few months. I need to settle on a build and practice for a while before I'll be more than an average PVPer. The best 1v1 players I find in no CP all have CP level 1,500+ or even 2k+ and I can tell they've been playing PVP for years.

MEBengalsFan2001 · February 2022

Here is the thing with ESO PVP. We have lots of gear, none class skills and various play styles (melee, range, magika, and staimina).

I like that there is no real best way to build a character. I've seen players ruin others in some really weird setup and some players running around in what they call BiS and get messed up regularly. I believe you need to find what works for you and run with it. Tweak it as needed.

I'm on my fifth set now on my templar and I'm going to be changing one set out soon once I get everything I need.

aurelius_fx · February 2022

played a bg with him once and we lost, so probably no

Brrrofski · February 2022

I just took a quick look at some of them on his website.

They all seem a bit squishy to me personally. Maybe it depends on server, but if you ran those setups on my server, you'd get melted.

Especially of you're new to pvp (which by asking if his builds are decent, I assume you are), you'll get ripped to shreds.

Like his mag sorc builds is the old school stack max mag and use shields. Personally, I think there's a better way to play mag sorc now. I run one shield and only 32k max mag and it's the best mag sord build I've played (for how I play).

But pvp is very much learning how YOU play. It'll affect your build massively.

I don't tend to watch a lot of pvp builds as I like putting my own builds together, and rarely put something bad together.

But isthereno1else seems to have good builds.

And I'm not hating on dottz's builds - they clearly work for him, which is what pvp is all about. Finding what works for you, based on the meta on your sever (yes, they have different metas), who you play with, your class, your experience and your skill level.

Vevvev · February 2022

aurelius_fx wrote: »

played a bg with him once and we lost, so probably no

Was he dying a lot or did the enemy teams just crush y'all? I've seen good PvPers lose BG matches all the time.

PrimusTiberius · February 2022

aurelius_fx wrote: »

played a bg with him once and we lost, so probably no

your comment sparked another question, would you use the same PvP build for both Cyrodiil and BG or would they be different builds?

McTaterskins · February 2022

PrimusTiberius wrote: »

your comment sparked another question, would you use the same PvP build for both Cyrodiil and BG or would they be different builds?

I'm guessing it's probably the "wrong" way to go about it, but when I do a build, I test it via:

BG's - Minimum of 5 matches. Prefer 10.
CP IC - 3x 1hr visits during prime/semi-prime time.
CP Cyro - 3x 1hr+ visits during high traffic/high pop times. This validates the build/your gameplay can handle playing in bad performance areas.

and...

Solo'ing DLC world bosses/VMA - Might sound funny, but do up a build in pvp setup with pvp traits. If you can do VMA or a couple different decent DLC world bosses with it. Then, let me know how you do in PvP with it. You'd be quite surprised. It's a very solid stress test for damage, sustain, self healing, and survivability.

Also, as others have likely mentioned: Practice.

You are going to get your face punched in over and over and over until you get a handle on your playstyle and modifying your class, race, build, etc. around it.

I also suggest playing each class every so often if you have them. You get a better feel for what your enemies are doing or are capable of.

aurelius_fx · February 2022

PrimusTiberius wrote: »

your comment sparked another question, would you use the same PvP build for both Cyrodiil and BG or would they be different builds?

depends on the class as sustain in battlegrounds can be slightly more tricky due to no CP and constant pressure, expect less breaks to breathe and less buff/debuff support in BGs as enemy teams can constantly sandwich you from all kinds of enclosed flanks.

it's also harder to pick your fights as sometimes you're simply stuck with 2-1 useless people in your team while the enemy has a healer and someone executing everyone off flawlessly - you're gonna have to deal with situations like these and recognize when it is your fault or not and when you did your best possible

Vevvev wrote: »

Was he dying a lot or did the enemy teams just crush y'all? I've seen good PvPers lose BG matches all the time.

to be quite honest i don't remember, that was *mostly* a joke reply, but even then he wasn't at the top of our teams scoreboard, he was playing some nightblade build

i didn't flame him or anything, perhaps he was simply testing something new, but i just told myself at that instant i'd never spend gold on farming a build from that guy lol.

Vevvev · February 2022

aurelius_fx wrote: »

Vevvev wrote: »

Was he dying a lot or did the enemy teams just crush y'all? I've seen good PvPers lose BG matches all the time.

to be quite honest i don't remember, that was *mostly* a joke reply, but even then he wasn't at the top of our teams scoreboard, he was playing some nightblade build

i didn't flame him or anything, perhaps he was simply testing something new, but i just told myself at that instant i'd never spend gold on farming a build from that guy lol.

No worries, I was just generally curious lol. I know he isn't a fan of Nightblade and don't see him playing the class all that often. See him more on his Dragonknight, and after fighting his DK the other day I had to make some adjustments to my build. He hit like a truck lol.

soniku4ikblis · February 2022

Molag Kena. Don't search for builds anymore. Pariah, vampire 3, shield to block, and Molag Kena. 3x infused dmg enchants. Stay at 2k recovery. Find 1 set for dps and a Markyn Majesty ring.

gariondavey · February 2022

soniku4ikblis wrote: »

Molag Kena. Don't search for builds anymore. Pariah, vampire 3, shield to block, and Molag Kena. 3x infused dmg enchants. Stay at 2k recovery. Find 1 set for dps and a Markyn Majesty ring.

Molag kena and pariah take up 7 slots. Add in markyn and that only leaves 2 slots + weapon. You can't have another 5 set for offense unless your pariah is only back bar.

MEBengalsFan2001 · February 2022

aurelius_fx wrote: »

PrimusTiberius wrote: »

your comment sparked another question, would you use the same PvP build for both Cyrodiil and BG or would they be different builds?

depends on the class as sustain in battlegrounds can be slightly more tricky due to no CP and constant pressure, expect less breaks to breathe and less buff/debuff support in BGs as enemy teams can constantly sandwich you from all kinds of enclosed flanks.

it's also harder to pick your fights as sometimes you're simply stuck with 2-1 useless people in your team while the enemy has a healer and someone executing everyone off flawlessly - you're gonna have to deal with situations like these and recognize when it is your fault or not and when you did your best possible

Vevvev wrote: »

Was he dying a lot or did the enemy teams just crush y'all? I've seen good PvPers lose BG matches all the time.

to be quite honest i don't remember, that was *mostly* a joke reply, but even then he wasn't at the top of our teams scoreboard, he was playing some nightblade build

i didn't flame him or anything, perhaps he was simply testing something new, but i just told myself at that instant i'd never spend gold on farming a build from that guy lol.

I thought DOTTZ main was a Templar. If he was getting wrecked on his Templar yeah his build will need to be revised some. I personally don't like his builds, they seem more offensive with little to no defensive. I like looking at a variety of builds Dottz, Delita, etc... I than try out each gear set at epic level and figure out which ones I like or not. Than I try various combination of sets and eventually I come down to 3-5 different gear sets I rotate between based on the PVP content.

HiImRex · February 2022

Dottz is a very good player, but there’s a couple things to keep in mind:

(1) he doesn’t spend the same amount of time on theorycrafting every class per patch, so he will usually have a couple very well tested builds per patch. For this patch, mag dk is definitely the class he has theorycrafted the most.

(2) Dottz puts out very detailed build guides on YouTube including every trait on every piece, and details exactly how and why he builds the way he does. It’s a cut above most popular build videos that usually show you the bare minimum and claim “run whatever trait/weight/race you want tee hee”. Which is absolutely not how you build at the top level.

(3) dottz is not a bg player. I play alot of both OW and BGs, and usually top the scoreboard in BGs even when my team loses. So I can tell you that OW and BGs have separate metas in terms of positioning and decision making. Dottz is a top tier OW pvper, but he’s pretty inexperienced in BGs since he doesn’t enjoy them very much and rarely plays them.

If you’re looking for builds for classes Dottz play alot of and you want to use it for OW, I think Dottz is one of the best in terms of getting a pre made build for pvp.

For his alt builds and especially if you want to use them for BGs, there’s probably better resources out there.

Finally, Dottz plays PC NA. Every server has its own meta. Build is always relative to what other players are using so keep that in mind. Great builds spike in power when they are first perfected, then almost immediately start to lose power as it forces other players on your servers to change their builds in response.

soniku4ikblis · February 2022

gariondavey wrote: »

soniku4ikblis wrote: »

Molag Kena. Don't search for builds anymore. Pariah, vampire 3, shield to block, and Molag Kena. 3x infused dmg enchants. Stay at 2k recovery. Find 1 set for dps and a Markyn Majesty ring.

Molag kena and pariah take up 7 slots. Add in markyn and that only leaves 2 slots + weapon. You can't have another 5 set for offense unless your pariah is only back bar.

Answered your own rebuttal.

gariondavey · February 2022

soniku4ikblis wrote: »

gariondavey wrote: »

soniku4ikblis wrote: »

Molag Kena. Don't search for builds anymore. Pariah, vampire 3, shield to block, and Molag Kena. 3x infused dmg enchants. Stay at 2k recovery. Find 1 set for dps and a Markyn Majesty ring.

Molag kena and pariah take up 7 slots. Add in markyn and that only leaves 2 slots + weapon. You can't have another 5 set for offense unless your pariah is only back bar.

Answered your own rebuttal.

@soniku4ikblis I've just never heard of people only back barring pariah. So it seemed like I was missing something.

bachpain · March 2022

Most PVP builds backbar a defensive set and frontbar an offensive set. That way you can have your cake (Monster set)and eat it too (mythic) so to speak. There are exceptions to this like when needing an ability altering weapon. If that is the case you have to sacrifice something to make the build work.

PrimusTiberius · March 2022

bachpain wrote: »

Most PVP builds backbar a defensive set and frontbar an offensive set. That way you can have your cake (Monster set)and eat it too (mythic) so to speak. There are exceptions to this like when needing an ability altering weapon. If that is the case you have to sacrifice something to make the build work.

never knew or considered that, I'm gonna have to try that out, Thank you!

MEBengalsFan2001 · March 2022

PrimusTiberius wrote: »

bachpain wrote: »

Most PVP builds backbar a defensive set and frontbar an offensive set. That way you can have your cake (Monster set)and eat it too (mythic) so to speak. There are exceptions to this like when needing an ability altering weapon. If that is the case you have to sacrifice something to make the build work.

never knew or considered that, I'm gonna have to try that out, Thank you!

Instead of pariah you could use Ancient Dragonguard which is both offensive and defensive. This would than free up the other spots for trainee gear and a 3 piece armor set.

Tommy_The_Gun · March 2022

I prefer to theory craft my own builds. Doing so kinda made me better at the game. Sure, I often look up what others are using, but pretty much I always say something like: Interesting build, but not for me. I prefer to have X over Y etc. Build is imho something that is highly player - dependant. It is pretty much impossible to copy-paste a build and expect to have great results all of the sudden. The whole "trick" is to figure out what playstyle you like and then reinforce it with a build.

Also... judging by the name... I guess that content creator must incorporate a lot of "Damge Over Timez" in his builds...