PVP Warden Meta?

OBJnoob · December 2023

Do you use swift predator? Either of the morphs? I never had trouble getting close to people on my warden. -shrug- But people are different I guess.

Back in the day lining up a stampede for the exact moment when your beetles would go off was definitely a strategy a lot of people used. Follow it with a Dawnbreaker into an execute and that was all she wrote. -sigh- People are so tanky these days though.

Either way, I'm glad you managed to fix some of your problems and get to where you feel comfortable. Your character sounds cool I respect people having their own style.

Janni · December 2023

moo_2021 wrote: »

Thanks, I made some changes and attempts with different weapons. It looks like the highest dps is still 2h, opening with scorch (changed to magic morph for debuff) and stampede which crits and can proc several sets.

The problem with other weapons is that I need to get close for scorch to work, and only 2h offers gap closer (when it works). Pen is almost zero with all med armor and 2h sword for damage and vigor boost. And I can't afford any other close range ability either, so it's charge, retreat and switch to range, charge again, ...

Resistance seems far less important with high hp, and polar wind + vigor can often keep me and my team alive. I have to get 3.5k stam recovery and 1.5k mag though (sometimes not enough mag)

So now it seems okay, and I just need to try some tank build with 45k hp and ice.. looks fun

I find crit rush to be really really clunky, especially when its on my backbar. I just run the wild hunt ring and bird of prey which gives me plenty of speed to zoom around. Also the popular setup right now is dualwield on the frontbar with a nirned sword and sharpened mace to minmax your damage and pen. I guess double axes is pretty nice too since wardens get a lot of crit damage as it is. With balorghs, dual wield with a sharpened mace, and deep fissure you should have no issue with penetration. But if you still need more for some reason I've been hearing that new shattered fate set is really good if you just run the five piece bonus.

The main attack I use is a heavy attack weaved into rending slashes since it's very fast and clean and has a lot of nice side effects. Between the heavy, the rending, the weapon enchants, and deep fissure going off you'll see a lot of numbers pop up over people's heads all at once and it feel good

OBJnoob · December 2023

Yeah the side effects of rending slashes and whatever weapon enchants you might have are pretty sweet.

I think 2h is a fine weapon though. It isn't NEEDED like it used to be, but it's still pretty good. My DK runs a 2H for Rally. It isn't really the heal I need it's moreso wanting a skill for major brutality that isn't otherwise useless.

Like I said I'm not sure crit rush is needed on most Wardens... But you could probably do some damage with wrecking blow.

I'm surprised I don't see more people using wrecking blow TBH.

Janni · December 2023

OBJnoob wrote: »

Yeah the side effects of rending slashes and whatever weapon enchants you might have are pretty sweet.

I think 2h is a fine weapon though. It isn't NEEDED like it used to be, but it's still pretty good. My DK runs a 2H for Rally. It isn't really the heal I need it's moreso wanting a skill for major brutality that isn't otherwise useless.

Like I said I'm not sure crit rush is needed on most Wardens... But you could probably do some damage with wrecking blow.

I'm surprised I don't see more people using wrecking blow TBH.

I sorta was too but I think with the lag coming and going as it does people have just gone back to what works. I played with it for a couple of weeks when they first changed it and it was very nice as a backbarred buff on my bomber-brawler but after the timer went down to 3 seconds from 6 that become way to hard to use in lag as a buff. It obviously was meant to be used as a way to buff itself and maybe one other attack right after it but like I said... lag... cast times? Is that a bad one?

Rhaegar75 · December 2023

are we really discussing a possible warden meta? 1M health + your choice of cheesy procs and then you can even hit the keyboard with a brick and you will do well in pvp anyway

SandandStars · December 2023

Warden certainly has tanky healing potential due to polar wind, but has no execute, or class spammable, Mr DK Main? 😁

Try using shalks against good players on its 9 second timer and see how it compares to spamming whips or concealed weapon.

Unless youre one of the Masters DW Clones, Warden is a fairly challenging class to get kills on.

Unlike a couple others…

moo_2021 · December 2023

SandandStars wrote: »

Warden certainly has tanky healing potential due to polar wind, but has no execute, or class spammable, Mr DK Main? 😁

Try using shalks against good players on its 9 second timer and see how it compares to spamming whips or concealed weapon.

Unless youre one of the Masters DW Clones, Warden is a fairly challenging class to get kills on.

Unlike a couple others…

I'm usually killed by dk, but does it offer all-round 1bar choice? With warden I have debuff, gap closer, spammable (the bird), and two DoT heals. It can't CC or execute but give me lots of assistance points, probably due to group bleeding. With coward's and v4 vampire I can also run away alive if not stuck in map.

SandandStars · December 2023

yep i agree wardens a pretty tanky class and can get you lots off assists, but if you know of a way to make birds work in pvp as an effective spammable, i would absolutely love to hear it.

OBJnoob · December 2023

I've never thought birds were all that bad TBH. I agree they're a little clunky but the odd delay actually can function as burst. You can hit beetles, hit bird, then Dawny someone and it all lands at basically the same time. And the extra 100-400 weapon damage isn't without use.

Nothing wrong with Force Pulse these days either-- force pulse with a charged (ice)staff is pretty good on a warden since you don't need Ele Sus but now you can hammer status effects anyway.

And I've had success with the vampire spammable too on a warden.

If I had a wishlist for Warden I'd ask for an execute before I asked for a spammable. I confess I don't know where it'd go though.

SandandStars · December 2023

^agree
imo, warden would definitely benefit more from a good class execute. Other spammable options are available.

Brakkish · December 2023

moo_2021 wrote: »

<snip>

So now it seems okay, and I just need to try some tank build with 45k hp and ice.. looks fun

It is.

EZ mode demonstrated in the vid.
I feel for those who spent more time in the respawn than on the field, even with the added heals - without it surely would have been brutal.

Also; if you're wanting to try tanking in PVP, may as well do some healing while you're at it right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zogOCLmr2hU

moo_2021 · January 19

How do some wardens fight 1 vs 4 for very long periods and health barely drops? The HP is only about 30k. Typical stamina 2H swing with arctic blast, offensive abilities are normal and seem to use clever alchemist for occasional boost. Resistance is high and HOT seems so well that the HP never drops more than 10%, even when stunned.

I didn't see bar swapping or attack by restoration staff, as is the case for good templars.

Tried the typical setup myself and while its attack combo is strong, there is no way I can survive 1 vs 2 or 3.

- Are they basically healing all the time and waiting for ultimate instead of doing attacks? I noticed while my damage is high overall I barely kill anyone.
- Why do they keep running around in circles?
- How do they manage resource? Definitely not like my 3k setup. By heavy armor taking attacks?
- For HoTs, I tried keeping vigor, leeching vines and lotus. Didn't help. And they require 2 bars meaning I can't get all buffs from oakensoul ring

SandandStars · January 21

One trick for warden heals is orders wrath. Get your crit chance + dmg/heals up a bit on a 45k health warden with Major Mending from Green Balance passives, and those polar wind spammers are cranking out more heals than anyone but NB can put a dent in.

I notice these ubertanky polar spammers tend to run 2h dizzy spam as well, as Warden’s offensive class skills are pretty weak.

moo_2021 · January 21

OBJnoob wrote: »

1) Try to block less. Blocking is important but it's all in how you do it. What you don't want to do is hold block for more than 2 seconds in a row. Stamina (and magic too for that matter,) recovery ticks every 2 seconds when in combat. Stamina recovery is disabled when you're blocking (with anything except an ice staff, because that blocks using magic instead so it disables magic recovery.) BUT. You can watch your stam recovery tick... Then press and hold block for exactly 1.5 seconds... And when you release block your stamina recovery will tick again.
2) You can do a similar thing with sprinting. Try not to sprint too much period though. It's a bad habit to get into.
3) Heavy attack more (with your stam weapons, obviously.) Heavy attacking generally feels slow and, well, annoying. But I have found it works better with Warden than most other things. If you press Deep Fissure (the mag morph! Use the mag morph!) And then wind up a heavy attack... Then hit your spammable at the same time as the heavy attack lands, your beetles hit at roughly the same time. It's decent burst damage and a decent excuse to heavy attack.

Also, with Warden, consider that you could use an Ice Staff back-bar instead of Sword and Shield. This would also help take pressure off your stamina.

going back to 2 bars. What healing over time should wardens keep?

I'm thinking:
- resolving vigor before contact (4s), front bar
- polar wind (10s), back bar
- leeching vines (10s), back bar
- bull netch (25s), back bar
- lotus blossom (60s), back bar

that leaves only one skill at back bar and have to slot ice fortress.

Brakkish · January 22

Best HOT is the one you don't have to manage or spend resources on.

Leverage sets like Crimson Twighlight, or Leeching Plate and have them do the work for you.

SandandStars · January 24

i think polar wind and leeching vines should cover your hots on warden.

lotus blossim is good for major proph/savagery, but the hot is really negligible.

xFocused · January 24

Has anyone found a build they truly like with a ice warden? I've been testing multiple sets like Hrothgar, Ice Furnace, Frostbite, Nunatak and Iceheart and they all work pretty decently but I'm still trying to find one that I can stick with

Pixiepumpkin · January 29

xFocused wrote: »

Has anyone found a build they truly like with a ice warden? I've been testing multiple sets like Hrothgar, Ice Furnace, Frostbite, Nunatak and Iceheart and they all work pretty decently but I'm still trying to find one that I can stick with

It does not exist.

Udrath · January 29

@xFocused

I’ve seen a crit damage build that was pretty good using orders wrath/hrothgar/nunatak, but that was a like a year ago.

SandandStars · February 1

xFocused wrote: »

Has anyone found a build they truly like with a ice warden? I've been testing multiple sets like Hrothgar, Ice Furnace, Frostbite, Nunatak and Iceheart and they all work pretty decently but I'm still trying to find one that I can stick with

PvP or PvE?

moo_2021 · February 1

Brakkish wrote: »

Best HOT is the one you don't have to manage or spend resources on.

Leverage sets like Crimson Twighlight, or Leeching Plate and have them do the work for you.

I use shielded assault from S&B as my HOT now. It does 1/3 to 1/2 of "healing" done while I attack and stun.

Brakkish · February 1

moo_2021 wrote: »

Brakkish wrote: »

Best HOT is the one you don't have to manage or spend resources on.

Leverage sets like Crimson Twighlight, or Leeching Plate and have them do the work for you.

I use shielded assault from S&B as my HOT now. It does 1/3 to 1/2 of "healing" done while I attack and stun.

I use SA on my NB, and don't receive any heal from it directly
Tootip for SA: https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/shielded-assault

Or do you mean, you're running an armor set that heals you for 1/2 the damage you do and SA is proccing it?

moo_2021 · February 3

Brakkish wrote: »

moo_2021 wrote: »

Brakkish wrote: »

Best HOT is the one you don't have to manage or spend resources on.

Leverage sets like Crimson Twighlight, or Leeching Plate and have them do the work for you.

I use shielded assault from S&B as my HOT now. It does 1/3 to 1/2 of "healing" done while I attack and stun.

I use SA on my NB, and don't receive any heal from it directly
Tootip for SA: https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/shielded-assault

Or do you mean, you're running an armor set that heals you for 1/2 the damage you do and SA is proccing it?

No real heals but it shows up as healing in parsing and the effect is as good as my real heal, meaning my survivabilty basically doubles by using it in rotation, without additional cost or GCD cooldown.