Pure Archer (solo) - Looking for advice on classes

Dank_Rafft

Hey,

I'm new to ESO and since I love playing bow users in nearly every RPG I want to do the same in this game. But I have a hard time deciding which class would fit my preferences.

- I play PvE and a little bit of PvP but I don't care about PvP efficiency
- most of the time I play solo and explore the world
- I don't like completely stealthy characters
- I like to have a pet
- if I don't have a pet I want to be steadier (like a boss: getting surrounded by enemies, "stand your ground" and keep shooting) or have backup melee weapons to finish enemies off
- I'm not a fan of activating 100 skills resp. buffs before I can start fighting and doing this over and over again for every enemy

So, is there a class which would fit my style? Which one would make the most sense? And why?

Kartalin

First off if you choose your race as bosmer (wood elf), you get a passive that increases your progress with the bow skill line. With the changes to bosmer passives in the 1.6 update forthcoming, it's worth a look.

Beyond that any class can use any weapon. Nightblades are typically thought of as the stealth class but the reality is any class can use stealth if they want. Nightblades have abilities that seem more in sync with stealth play, but you don't have to play that way if you don't want.

Sorcerors have pets that they can summon and have fight for them in battle - they're the only class that can do that. Otherwise there are plenty of cosmetic pets that can follow you around but not actually do anything.

If you like fighting in close combat and being steadier, then sword and shield is the typical choice for a lot of players, but there are other options as well. Most classes (not nightblades) have a class based shield ability to help protect them. There's also armor based abilities that help protect you, and the Healing Ward ability in the Restoration staff skill line is an all around great spell for protection & healing. Dragonknights are up close fighting class for most.

It's difficult to be great at everything. Bow is good for ranged DPS and you can switch to sword and shield when enemies get up close for survivability. But look around at different builds here and at places like Tamriel Foundry. Maybe you can find one that does what you want.

Dank_Rafft

Thanks for your reply, milthalas. I did some research and I like Sorcerer (because pet) and Dragon Knight (because tougher) the best. What are other differences between them in terms of bow gameplay?

bsmorrowb14_ESO

Based on your description, I'm going to suggest a Bow Sorc to you. Summoning line grants access to pets which are getting buffed and have nice usability. They perform their role well. Sorcs have great mobility moving around the battlefield and in an out of harms way. DKs though, it'd say probably have superior tools for staying alive. 1v1, they are near impossible to beat range vs range. They can reflect basically all your projectiles back at you. They are considered by many, the current fotm OP class.

Dank_Rafft

bsmorrowb14_ESO wrote: »

Based on your description, I'm going to suggest a Bow Sorc to you. Summoning line grants access to pets which are getting buffed and have nice usability. They perform their role well. Sorcs have great mobility moving around the battlefield and in an out of harms way.

Thank you for your recommendation. Do they get buffed in an upcoming patch?

bsmorrowb14_ESO wrote: »

DKs though, it'd say probably have superior tools for staying alive. 1v1, they are near impossible to beat range vs range. They can reflect basically all your projectiles back at you. They are considered by many, the current fotm OP class.

This is from a PvP perspective, right? Or are they considered OP in PvE, too?

Kartalin

DKs can do pretty much anything well, pve or pvp. Their class skills aren't really good at range but the bow would compensate for that.

Depending on who you talk to and what kind of build they're using, everyone is getting buffed or nerfed in the next patch, so I wouldn't let that affect your decision too much. But sorcs appear to be getting a decent buff from the patch in some good ways, and the pet build in particular which would appeal to you.

Surfinginhawaii

I was using Reaper's Mark and Focus Aim on my Nightblade and it was pretty killer.

Dank_Rafft

Thank you very much. I'll try the Sorcerer.

Nacario

I would recommend templar as the class synergizes better with stam than a sorc. It can also be more tankier as u want, having blazing shield.

Flaminir

The only thing I will add (As a sorc) is that we have no synergy with bows now at all... no passives that will help.

SO my suggestion is to just think which part of what you have said is the most important to you... if the pet is most important then go Sorc... but keep in mind to make the pet effective you are going to have to go magicka & that will make your bow damage very weak.

If the bow part is important then go nightblade... they have far better synergy with bows.

Keep in mind that whichever you go for will mean the other is weaker... bows are stamina based, pets are magicka.... Hybrid builds are VERY VERY weak in 1.6

Dank_Rafft

I played the Sorcerer for about two hours and I have to say I hate the pet. The controls are awful, the AI is stupid and they're moving very slow. Definitely not my cup of tea. And since you mentioned Sorcerers have nearly no synergy with archers I'll move on.

Three classes left and some more specific questions.

1. How would you describe the main differences between them from a perspective of an archer?
2. Is a Nightblade which doesn't utilize (unless I absolutely have to) stealth less effective than Dragon Knight/Templar?
3. Which is the best class if I want to play as a brute force melee (dual-wield or two-handed) char from time to time if I become bored of my archer?

Flaminir

Relating to archers... Nightblades get passives that increase your stamina regen as well as your weapon crit... both very good for archers. Also both very good for other stamina based weapons such as dual wield & two hander.

Dank_Rafft

Thanks for your response, davewildebeast.
I created a Khajiit Nightblade and found that I don't enjoy the sneeky/stealthy gameplay. I'd rather rush into battle even if I use a bow and be able to take some hits.
Now I'm looking for a class which can fight aggressively (face-to-face, non-sneeky/stealthy) and make the most of bow, dual-wield and two-handed equally good, so I'll be able to start the fight with a bow and switch to melee once enemies approach.

ryanmjmcevoy_ESO

Dank_Rafft wrote: »

Thanks for your response, davewildebeast.
I created a Khajiit Nightblade and found that I don't enjoy the sneeky/stealthy gameplay. I'd rather rush into battle even if I use a bow and be able to take some hits.
Now I'm looking for a class which can fight aggressively (face-to-face, non-sneeky/stealthy) and make the most of bow, dual-wield and two-handed equally good, so I'll be able to start the fight with a bow and switch to melee once enemies approach.

MY DK used to run DW and Bow and it was great (probably gonna put him back to this setup with 1.6)

The draconic power line will keep you going with skills like Green Dragon Blood (health + stamina recovery) and reflective scales to be unhittable when at range. There are other damage shields too like obsidian shield that can buff you, too.

Idk if its bugged, but Molten Weapons on 1.6 is only supposed to buff Heavy Attack dmg, yet it is still buffin weapon damage as a whole. If that's intended, you've got a nice weapon damage buff from the earthen heart line.

In addition, every time you activate an earthen heart skill (obsidian shield, ash cloud, molten weapons), you restore a bit of stamina.

Battle roar makes it so every ultimate activate restores all your resource pools.

For DW you'll get a 15% damage bonus if you use talons on a group, because DW does more damage against immobilized enemies. Steel tornado + talons is fantastic. Throw in standard for even better damage too.

DK is extremely survivable and works well with stamina builds, despite Magika being so popular.

In PVP I used to pop immovable, corrosive armor ultimate, reflective scales + having tri-pots and GDB and would use Bombard (arrow spray moprh which is a ranged root) and pepper enemy groups with arrows. It was a lot of fun, I highly recommend stam DK with Bow/DW if that's your playstyle.

cyclonus11

I play a pure archer, and at VR4 I don't have any issues doing solo content (except for that Omen of Blood - she was a [redacted]).

I play a Nightblade Argonian and use heavy armor exclusively.

Cuyler

Dank_Rafft wrote: »

Thanks for your response, davewildebeast.
I created a Khajiit Nightblade and found that I don't enjoy the sneeky/stealthy gameplay. I'd rather rush into battle even if I use a bow and be able to take some hits.
Now I'm looking for a class which can fight aggressively (face-to-face, non-sneeky/stealthy) and make the most of bow, dual-wield and two-handed equally good, so I'll be able to start the fight with a bow and switch to melee once enemies approach.

You are describing either a dragonknight or a Templar in general although all the classes can fill a kind of tanky role if worked right with damage shields. You said you don't like to buff before every fight so damage shields would seem to be a nuisance for your playstyle. I recommend a DK or TP.

Bow, DW, 2H skills almost all scale off of stamina so you'll want to have a race that works well to increase that or stam regen. The other hand you could go with straight damage racial bonuses or health. Also medium armor.

Some racial options are:
Imperial
Bosmer
Khajiit
Redguard
Orc
Dunmer

What your describing though is a hybrid build and not a "pure archer" build as your OP suggests you were looking for. A "pure archer" would be a bosmer/khajiit/dunmer nightblade wearing medium armor.

RainfeatherUK

Bowplar. Find the alternatives a bit lackluster really.

Azzuria

I know you said the sneaky thing isn't for you but let me chime in.

My Archer is a Bosmer Nightblade, with dual-wield off-hand. She's deep into the Siphon tree and wicked tough. With knock-backs, roots, poisons and leech heals, very little gets near me and even all but the toughest world bosses fall before me.

Personally, I love the sneaky stuff. My first and favorite toon in Skyrim is, you guess it, a Bosmer Archer. Every game, if there's a archer type class, I'm all over it.

Can't speak to Sorc or DK but don't discount NB so quickly.

mavrwb17_ESO

milthalas wrote: »

First off if you choose your race as bosmer (wood elf), you get a passive that increases your progress with the bow skill line. With the changes to bosmer passives in the 1.6 update forthcoming, it's worth a look.

What changes would those be? I couldn't find anything about bosmer racials on the 1.6 patch notes.

Stannum

Stamina sorc is your choise bosmer or khajit, may be WW.
Khajit will be great for crit build.
You will have best weapon dmg buff - critical surge (and self heal)
Good CC - encase morphs (and crit buff via dark magic passive)
Good armor buffs - bound armor morphs or thundering presence morphs
Good mobility - bolt escape morphs or boundless storm
Pets - clanfear for tanking or restoring twilight for healing.