Official Discussion Thread for "Battlemaster’s Corner – The Dragonknight Healer"

ZOS_JessicaFolsom

This is the official discussion thread for the blog post "Battlemaster’s Corner – The Dragonknight Healer." We hope you enjoy the article. If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Battlemaster's Corner, please send us your build and a few screenshots to community@elderscrollsonline.com.

sajackson

That looks suspiciously like a DK with a light armour\resto staff build, but I could be mistaken.

kirnmalidus

Should we interpret this as an official endorsement of light armor/staff builds as the primary choice for all classes?

Silvershroud

kirnmalidus wrote: »

Should we interpret this as an official endorsement of light armor/staff builds as the primary choice for all classes?

Uhh, the previous one was a Dual-wielding Medium armored character, and the one before that was a heavy armored tank. So what makes THIS featured build more "official" than the others?

sajackson

I think it was just tongue-in-cheek.

You're right they aren't specifically favouring one build over another, but it is quite funny to see that build crop up on the main website at a time when the light armour/staff builds are attracting such controversy.

ServerusEcru

Love the builds, I use the similar skills with my tank; Inhale and Dragonblood are invaluable, and lava whip is great for soloing mortals when in a one on one combat situation. Thus, I think, some advise here, when soloing bosses, (Since this is your weakness) I would replace lava whip with an earthen knock down or pacify to handle boss minions and work the boss for lesser aggro. If they are daedra which is common in the end game content, I would replace lava whip with silver leash or something that can devastate Daedra and demoralize the Undead badly. Overall these builds are excellent!

Pmarsico9

I mean no offense to the posting player, but the fact of the matter is that this could be looked at as a major troll job by the developers......

theHollow

Cool build, thank you for submitting it. The break down was easy to understand for a quick read, and the short bits on play style are helpful.

SilentFox22

Is that black panther...a pet, sitting next to her in the pic?

muraaziub17_ESO1

And thats my problem with this game anymore. Pigeonholed into staff/light armor on every class is BS. Take away the magicka regen on resto and that would solve alot of the problems.

snagallnub18_ESO

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

This is the official discussion thread for the blog post "Battlemaster’s Corner – The Dragonknight Healer." We hope you enjoy the article. If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Battlemaster's Corner, please send us your build and a few screenshots to community@elderscrollsonline.com.

lmoa .... you wont see a viable templar build.... j/s... they choose to showcase the TANKING class as a healing build that is on par or better than the HEALING class (templar)...... FACEPALM..... plz fix the templar class before all you see is 500 DKs and ZERO other classes running around with destro/healing staff....

williamburr2001b14_ESO

Pmarsico9 wrote: »

I mean no offense to the posting player, but the fact of the matter is that this could be looked at as a major troll job by the developers......

It's hard to see it as anything but! It's light armor, resto staff, and wears magicka furnace armor. This is very close to THE broken gear/broken build/broken class combination that got to posting videos of soloing craglorn content within a couple days after that content was released. To include it as a "Hey, check out this neat spec!" article available right off the launcher shows...

...I'm not even sure. It's either an adorable level of naivety, or an incredibly aggravating level of obtuseness toward the sensitivity of your player-base. It's like they're either feeding off the wry chuckles of DKs and Sorcs, or the frustrated screams of NBs and Templars.

Custos91

muraaziub17_ESO1 wrote: »

And thats my problem with this game anymore. Pigeonholed into staff/light armor on every class is BS. Take away the magicka regen on resto and that would solve alot of the problems.

Would make templar healer completely useless, thanks, I would like to play the last valuable specc that we templars have left, you are ok with that?

Xanadution

This build would definitely be a fun build at low levels for playing an uncommon build type. However, this is unfortunately another build that is only viable in lower levels. (especially for groups)

The solo part of the build would be fine up to low level vet areas. That part of the build would start to fall apart later on 3 npc + mobs unless the person playing this could somehow release their ultimate almost every encounter.(decent burst dps but unsustainable) By going with how much ultimate could be generated with max lvl skills and that build it would be every 3rd fight. It is doable but again I see a future of heavy potion and soul gem use.(This is not counting the solo boss weakness already mentioned)

For the group build it is definitely a survivor as a healer. The time in which it would start to show its faults would be around lvl 40ish. It is a high magicka build with minimal regen capabilities. When you are a healer you have to have sustainability and/or great healing potential at each casting. Basically it has no staying power as compared to a comparable sorc/Templar healer build.(healer running out of gas early) Group dungeons, of any kind, increase in difficulty at a higher exponential value than zone play. As such, a group will notice a greater increase of difficulty in completion of those dungeons as compared to using the two classes listed above.(with this build)

This is again a nice uncommon build for low levels. One thing you must consider when working away from the strengths of your class, to try something different, is to make sure that you have a way to modify your build as aspects of it become unsustainable. There are definitely many builds out there that are hybrids of the main tank/weapon based dps/fire mage builds that do not take away from the class strengths. When you are on your own you can always do what you wish to enjoy the game as you like. In these instances where builds are presented to the masses, I believe that only entire game (skills allowing) viable builds should be presented or at least have a qualification on how long it is viable with undo stress on yourself and especially others. The resto Templar build so far has been the only end game viable one listed since these have started...as seen on the game launcher.

This build was looked at using max passives for skills used, level 4 active skills, supporting full light armor and light armor/heavy armor mix. I even went so far as to put a full set of v1 warlock jewelry in just to see if that burst of magicka could make the difference.

ville.korpieb17_ESO

It's really exciting that they would feature my build. Thanks for all your comments, especially Xanadution for your lengthy post. I mistakenly wrote that I'm ESO adept, which I don't consider myself. I meant TES adept. I play single player, period. I decided to give this game a shot because it's The Elder Scrolls.

It's a bit discouraging to hear that this built is not viable for endgame and could, in fact, become not viable at any level from now on, even though it hardly came as a surprise. The spectrum of viable builds is bound to become more narrow as you advance further to the post main story content. It would have been pretty amazing if a newbie-build with practically no minmaxing had somehow by accident turned out to be viable for endgame.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how far I'm able to go with her.

Kililin

You probably can go until VR12.
It will be very difficult in 50++ content, and not my idea of fun.
But it is doable.

I really have a problem with this collumn, it features builds that look like a good idea and act as if their play as you want mantra is true.
While effectively nobody in high VR's thinks its true, you either are stubborn and play your build regardless of the flaws or do one of the very few real good builds.

ZOS trying to nerf the few good builds does more harm than good to the not cookie cutter builds, because they often die due to collateral damage of the nerfs.

kirnmalidus

Silvershroud wrote: »

kirnmalidus wrote: »

Should we interpret this as an official endorsement of light armor/staff builds as the primary choice for all classes?

Uhh, the previous one was a Dual-wielding Medium armored character, and the one before that was a heavy armored tank. So what makes THIS featured build more "official" than the others?

As others have pointed out for me, I was mostly joking. I just think it's hilarious that with all the magicka/stamina light armor/staff build controversy on the forums they go ahead and post this on the main website.

demonlkojipub19_ESO

They'll nerf this build soon, for [insert excuse here].

Wait, no they wont, because its light armor/staff. And they already nerfed most of the class skills shes using

Khivas_Carrick

demonlkojipub19_ESO wrote: »

They'll nerf this build soon, for [insert excuse here].

Wait, no they wont, because its light armor/staff. And they already nerfed most of the class skills shes using

Too true, far too true.

Khivas_Carrick

ville.korpieb17_ESO wrote: »

It's really exciting that they would feature my build. Thanks for all your comments, especially Xanadution for your lengthy post. I mistakenly wrote that I'm ESO adept, which I don't consider myself. I meant TES adept. I play single player, period. I decided to give this game a shot because it's The Elder Scrolls.

It's a bit discouraging to hear that this built is not viable for endgame and could, in fact, become not viable at any level from now on, even though it hardly came as a surprise. The spectrum of viable builds is bound to become more narrow as you advance further to the post main story content. It would have been pretty amazing if a newbie-build with practically no minmaxing had somehow by accident turned out to be viable for endgame.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how far I'm able to go with her.

Don't be afraid to play this spec, eventually everything will be balanced out and viable, so the mantra "Play As You Want" will one day be true. Sadly at the moment that is very far from the truth, and soloing anything outside of being a Dragonknight or Sorcerer just isn't fun and/or possible in most cases, and truth be told there is indeed a massive amount of controversy over Light Armor and Staff weapons at the moment, so that didn't help people's reactions much either.

Though, I must admit that I wonder just what in the hell ZoS was thinking posting this knowing full well that NOBODY is happy with the Class, Weapon, and Armor Balance in this game, not even the ones who are clearly overpowered.

Ragnar_Lodbrok

Anyone notice all these builds are light armor and staff?

Mysticman

Light armor and staff the favor of the month for whiners . No one forced you to make the chooses that YOU made, instead of whining about the chooses that other people made how about accepting the responsibly for your chooses and then do something about them. Whining may temporally make you feel good but it won't make your build any better.

muraaziub17_ESO1

Custos91 wrote: »

muraaziub17_ESO1 wrote: »

And thats my problem with this game anymore. Pigeonholed into staff/light armor on every class is BS. Take away the magicka regen on resto and that would solve alot of the problems.

Would make templar healer completely useless, thanks, I would like to play the last valuable specc that we templars have left, you are ok with that?

Kinda short sighted don't ya think? The fact that most everyone rolls around with a resto staff in a dps spec is a huge problem. The build posted has resto in both slots ffs. Is there any feasible reason to have anything else in your weapon slots beside maybe destro staff?

Give templar and dk some better form of magicka regen to match the other classes on that front if needed. My main is a templar btw. The lack of forsight by the devs giving 1 weapon so much utility is boggling. You honestly can't see an issue with resto being too good compared to other weapons? Wow.

EdonilTebaun

@ville.korpieb17_ESO;975674

I actually have a question concerning your build as it stands. For your soloing set, you're still using Burning Talons (Dark Talons morph). After the reductions to the Dark Talons line, are you able to successfully sustain your magicka pool?

I've found that the magicka cost is out of balance with the tooltip, as a level 34 the tooltip states that the cost is 287 Magicka against my pool of 889 Magicka. My findings thus far are that the ability is costing substantially more than listed (along the lines of 2/3 of my Magicka pool). Obviously by simple math, I should be left with 602 Magicka after casting, yet I seem to be left with a little more than 300.

I'm wondering if you've found/had the same experience?

And please, before anyone complains about overpowered DK's. I am primarily a tank/melee build and have only been using the Dark Talons line to lock down enemies upon engagement.

williamburr2001b14_ESO

Mysticman wrote: »

Light armor and staff the favor of the month for whiners . No one forced you to make the chooses that YOU made, instead of whining about the chooses that other people made how about accepting the responsibly for your chooses and then do something about them. Whining may temporally make you feel good but it won't make your build any better.

Light Armor and Staff broken. Everybody knows this except you. Maybe they're not so much whining as hoping the game mechanics get balanced and suggesting way to go about it, and you're the one with the problem.

Heraclea

williamburr2001b14_ESO wrote: »

Light Armor and Staff broken. Everybody knows this except you.

No. Light armor and Staff are the only things that currently work right now. They are playable throughout the game, while other weapons and armor sets eventually become unplayable.

kdgeek

I think the build is very creative and seems like it'd be fun and different. I'll definitely try it out on my low-level Dragonknight. Thank you @ville.korpieb17_ESO!

@Xanadution brings up some very good points, and they made me start thinking.

It's true that it'd be nice to see builds that are viable during all parts of the game. A "one size fits all" solution can be convenient and cost efficient. However, TESO is an MMORPG. That type of game carries certain expectations with it, including the ability to choose what class you want to play; because choosing a class limits you to the skills provided for that class exclusively, though, this standard feature seems counter-intuitive to the "Play Die as you want" mantra.

ZOS addressed this by providing skills not only for specific classes, but also for races, weapons, guilds, etc. It's possible to create a character whose build completely ignores the class skills. You don't have to use any of the class skills at all. What would you call a character who doesn't use the class skills? Classless?

More to the point, people generally wouldn't try that sort of a build because it wouldn't be viable in end-game content. That makes me wonder: with all the time ZOS invested in lore and storylines, is this journey really all about the destination? I think the answer changes from person to person. For those who enjoy end-game content, it will be. Some enjoy smelling the roses along the way. It's a matter of preference, so neither is wrong technically.

ZOS is a business, though, and so they're likely to focus on the areas most of the player base is at and where their interests lie. The question is: which player base is ZOS targeting with these builds? The ones that are already paying money to play the game or potential customers? Are they showing us different ways we can modify our characters? I doubt it. Since we play the game, we have plenty of opportunity to talk to other players and get ideas for trying new builds. I believe Battlemaster's Corner is one way to attract new players who haven't purchased the game yet. Its side benefit is that it gives us as players a chance to show off our creativity.

chrisw_63_ESO

Yes, yes.. light armor/resto staff.. I've heard it over and over. First, they ARE making changes. As they have stated, slowly, to be sure not to tip the balance the other way. Second, make a different build and be proud you can make it work!! What are games like this for if not for the Challenge???

snowsong

Enjoyed the pictures and well organized article on your Dragon Knight. Great job at explaining your current build as a Dragon-Knight Healer!

Custos91

muraaziub17_ESO1 wrote: »

Custos91 wrote: »

muraaziub17_ESO1 wrote: »

And thats my problem with this game anymore. Pigeonholed into staff/light armor on every class is BS. Take away the magicka regen on resto and that would solve alot of the problems.

Would make templar healer completely useless, thanks, I would like to play the last valuable specc that we templars have left, you are ok with that?

Kinda short sighted don't ya think? The fact that most everyone rolls around with a resto staff in a dps spec is a huge problem. The build posted has resto in both slots ffs. Is there any feasible reason to have anything else in your weapon slots beside maybe destro staff?

Give templar and dk some better form of magicka regen to match the other classes on that front if needed. My main is a templar btw. The lack of forsight by the devs giving 1 weapon so much utility is boggling. You honestly can't see an issue with resto being too good compared to other weapons? Wow.

No, because I only play healers and I don't care abpout the dps players who use resto staff.
I play resto NB, resto DK, resto Sorc and resto templar, I can't see your problem, because I guess I am a part of the problem, I am one of the reasons
why resto should not be nerfed, I would end up with a couple of characters that would be completely useless, and why? Because I want to play a healer...
I won't care if they redo cycle of life passive, let it only work if you have at least 1 resto staff abbility slotted, let the magicka regg be based on helpfull abbilitys slotted....
In my opinion DPS players are abusing this mechanic, I wonder how that would have ended in a mmo with lootmaster, healer without weapons or DPS without magicka? and so with other builds?

Btw, DK has some great magicka regg, just use inner light, heal everything, all these small heal crits give you ultimate, use your magma shell for the synergy that it provides, battle roar will give you magicka back.

ville.korpieb17_ESO

>Is that black panther...a pet, sitting next to her in the pic?

The pic is from Sleepy Senche's Lookout where I craft the Song of Lamae sets. There are a few non-aggressive big cats there.

>I believe that only entire game (skills allowing) viable builds should be presented or at least have a qualification on how long it is viable with undo stress on yourself and especially others.

Perhaps. It depends what exactly is the purpose of Battlemaster's Corner. Also, I wonder if there is consensus about which builds are endgame-viable.

>I even went so far as to put a full set of v1 warlock jewelry in just to see if that burst of magicka could make the difference.

I tried the set of warlock jewelry. Thanks for the tip. However I feel that magicka furnace set bonus is better for my style solo PvE and it leaves one accessory for boosting 400 armor. Warlock jewelry might still be better for group dungeons.

>...is this journey really all about the destination? I think the answer changes from person to person.
I think this is a really really good point.

After getting much positive feedback, I decided to start being bolder and not play as safe as earlier and turns out that she is much stronger than I thought. To my surprise, I was able to solo public dungeon at v3 zone (not bosses though). Draw Essence feels overpowered,


I've spent today leveling up destruction staff and an assortment of class skills. Since I've been wielding resto staff for solo set even though I don't use any of its skills, I'm now exploring if I could improve the build with destro staff skills. The problem with this will be skill points. I'm constantly short of skill points because of all the crafting.