How to avoid dying in ESO

Firegael

I am seeing a lot of people complaining about veteran content difficulty levels. I am seeing these same people posting images of death recaps which show they are being hit by charged up skills or heavy attacks and then wondering why they are dying. This is a general guide for avoiding death in ESO.

General Mechanics

When an enemy starts sparkling red, they are charging up a skill which you can interrupt, which will set them off balance and disorient them, allowing you to follow up with a heavy attack for knockdown.

When an enemy starts sparkling yellow, they are charging up a heavy attack, which you must block or dodge roll unless you want to take heavy damage. If you block this hit, the enemy will be set off balance and disoriented, allowing you to follow up with a heavy attack for knockdown.

Throw Dagger like skills ( single target, charged )

Interrupt with:

Bash ( any weapon ) - Right click + Left click

Venom Arrow

Crushing Shock

Dodge with:

Dodge roll - Double tap W, A, S or D

If you cannot dodge or interrupt you can try something similar to below. I'll just list one class skill from all classes.

You can mitigate the damage of single target skills by using block, even at range, with any weapon. It is handy if you are out of resources to dodge or use a skill.

Dragonknight

Reflective Scale

Nightblade

Shadow Cloak

Sorcerer

Ball of Lightning

Templar ( Thanks to @nudel )

Piercing Javelin

Heat Wave like skills ( Skill-shots )

Interrupt is the same as above.

Dodge with:

Walking slightly to the side.

If you cannot move for some reason, you can try activating some kind of mitigation skill. I will list one from each class for your convenience.

Dragonknight

Obsidian Shield

Nightblade

As far as I know, there is no regular ability which will help to mitigate this. If anyone can correct me on this, that'd be good. In the mean time I suggest this.

Teleport Strike or Ambush

Sorcerer

Conjured Ward

Templar

Sun Shield

Heavy Attacks

Interrupt with:

You can interrupt heavy attacks with hard CC skills ( stun, fear, knockdown/knockback ). I will list one for each class for your convenience.

Note that the skills which are listed above will also mitigate damage (Nightblade skill will stun, avoiding damage).

Dragonknight

Stonefist

Nightblade

Aspect of Terror

Sorcerer

Crystal Shard

Templar

Puncturing Strikes

Aside from this, stay out of red aoe markers on the floor! ( those rain of arrow skills really hurt.

Please don't hesitate to call me out on any particular point. Hope this helps some of you.

leandro.800ub17_ESO

I never saw any color spark. Is this cuz low def visual effects?

Firegael

leandro.800ub17_ESO wrote: »

I never saw any color spark. Is this cuz low def visual effects?

I can confirm that the sparks still show up on lowest settings, though they are less visible.

Yankee

On my Sorc at range I have been able to mitigate most Thrown Dagger damage blocking with my staff. Not as good as bash but a lot better than taking the full hit.

Firegael

Yankee wrote: »

On my Sorc at range I have been able to mitigate most Thrown Dagger damage blocking with my staff. Not as good as bash but a lot better than taking the full hit.

Thanks Yankee, I will add that blocking mitigates single target skill damage to the post.

zhevon

Nice writeup.

One big problem is the dodge/roll (or even run) implementation many times I am out of the danger area when the spell fires and I still get splattered.

Firegael

zhevon wrote: »

Nice writeup.

One big problem is the dodge/roll (or even run) implementation many times I am out of the danger area when the spell fires and I still get splattered.

I know the frustration of this all too well. Playing from Australia, I get around 200 latency at the best of times. If I don't run out of the way of an AoE as soon as it comes up, I will be hit. If I don't react instantly it will pretty much always hit. For this reason, I prefer to always interrupt if I can manage it.

LariahHunding

I think that the stamina cost on dodging is too damn high for PvE. That would solve a lot of things.

On the other hand, if they ever fix the cast while blocking thing, then you understand what melee players go through.

When I take a swipe at one mob, then I'm nailed by another.

Firegael

gougefub17_ESO wrote: »

I think that the stamina cost on dodging is too damn high for PvE. That would solve a lot of things.

On the other hand, if they ever fix the cast while blocking thing, then you understand what melee players go through.

When I take a swipe at one mob, then I'm nailed by another.

I use dodge roll as a last resort. If I can't interrupt or block an ability in time then it's good for that situation. Otherwise I never use it outside of PvP.

zhevon

Firegael wrote: »

zhevon wrote: »

Nice writeup.

One big problem is the dodge/roll (or even run) implementation many times I am out of the danger area when the spell fires and I still get splattered.

I know the frustration of this all too well. Playing from Australia, I get around 200 latency at the best of times. If I don't run out of the way of an AoE as soon as it comes up, I will be hit. If I don't react instantly it will pretty much always hit. For this reason, I prefer to always interrupt if I can manage it.

Not even sure its lag due entirely to geography - I live in Maryland and weird stuff happens all the time whether its peak time or not. However, your location is probably not helping. It does cheese me when I waste stamina on dodge/roll and still get hit.

nudel

I could be wrong on this, but isn't Throw Dagger a feat (i.e. consumes stamina)? If so, Eclipse will not work on it since it only works on single target spells. I typically use Eclipse only on casters for that reason.

Any skill with a knockdown will also act as an interrupt provided you get it off before the projectile is in motion. For Templars, Piercing Javelin is great for this. Eclipse will work with the projectile already in flight. Knockdowns have to hit while the skill is still charging.

Firegael

nudel wrote: »

I could be wrong on this, but isn't Throw Dagger a feat (i.e. consumes stamina)? If so, Eclipse will not work on it since it only works on single target spells. I typically use Eclipse only on casters for that reason.

Any skill with a knockdown will also act as an interrupt provided you get it off before the projectile is in motion. For Templars, Piercing Javelin is great for this. Eclipse will work with the projectile already in flight. Knockdowns have to hit while the skill is still charging.

Just tested this and you are correct. In that case, Piercing Javelin does look like a good skill to use, since this is a single target ability.

Yankee

Firegael wrote: »

gougefub17_ESO wrote: »

I think that the stamina cost on dodging is too damn high for PvE. That would solve a lot of things.

On the other hand, if they ever fix the cast while blocking thing, then you understand what melee players go through.

When I take a swipe at one mob, then I'm nailed by another.

I use dodge roll as a last resort. If I can't interrupt or block an ability in time then it's good for that situation. Otherwise I never use it outside of PvP.

About the only time I use dodge in PVE is when being chased by a pissed off, not CC-able, boss type to avoid getting one shot. Otherwise I sprint or run to avoid red rings on the ground. And hope an insta-cast Crystal Fragments procs pretty darn soon.

ZoM_Head

Or just wait till they move the EU server in US to EU.

Once we have the EU server in the EU, then we can see about those bugs.

Tobiz

I would also suggest when fighting more then one enemy to Crowd control one mob and thus take away the damage it would do completely.

When fighting e.g. 3 mobs, use a sleep skill like Rune prison, petrify, agony. Sorry templars, couldnt find one for you.
Just be careful not to do damage or you break the sleep.
As the fight starts you focus damage on one mob, preferably the on that will go down fastest, cc another as above, the first should be nuked quite fast. Reapply cc as it ends, and focus on the next mob,rest a bit as you reapply the cc again if needed, and take out the last mob.

No sweat. Ok a little if you miss or cc the wrong one, adjust as necessary.

ZoM_Head

Tobiz wrote: »

I would also suggest when fighting more then one enemy to Crowd control one mob and thus take away the damage it would do completely.

When fighting e.g. 3 mobs, use a sleep skill like Rune prison, petrify, agony. Sorry templars, couldnt find one for you.
Just be careful not to do damage or you break the sleep.
As the fight starts you focus damage on one mob, preferably the on that will go down fastest, cc another as above, the first should be nuked quite fast. Reapply cc as it ends, and focus on the next mob,rest a bit as you reapply the cc again if needed, and take out the last mob.

No sweat. Ok a little if you miss or cc the wrong one, adjust as necessary.

There are 3 CC's in game, Dark Talons (dragon knight), Encase (sorcerer) and Volcanic Rune (morph fire rune from mages guild).

How are melee builds going to CC or even do AOE based on stamina? Good reliable AOE that is.

_subjectnamehere_

Firegael wrote: »

Aside from this, stay out of red aoe markers on the floor! ( those rain of arrow skills really hurt.

Please don't hesitate to call me out on any particular point. Hope this helps some of you.

I am sure most people already know this, but there are some boss mechanics that require you to stay inside the red circle. The first one that comes to mind is the Praxin Douare fight in Veteran Spindleclutch (final phase).

NOTE: this is rare, and the OP's suggestion to STAY OUT of the red circles is a very good one. Nice post, @Firegael‌ !