Returning ESO player, DK questions.

meleecookieb14_ESO

So I have not played for a long time, and I am trying this out again since it is now b2p. When I was playing I know I switched to a fire mage build with a staff, light armor, and 1h+shield as secondary weapon.

Is this still a viable option for today's ESO? PvP and PvE? If not, what are some builds that are? I can craft any armor up to V4, and I am V2.

Or, what is a good build for what I have currently?

Thanks.

Jules

I won't speak on PVP cause I'm pretty useless there.

However in PVE, I regularly run trials and dungeons and find that 7/7 light and destro staff is still a viable build. It's not necessarily the optimal build but it's pretty damn close for DK's. What you will find however with the 7/7 light and staff is that you are incredibly, incredibly squishy in 1.6. It's a unique difficulty for the DK caster as we are optimal in melee range but the light armor makes our survivability pretty rough.

Our physical resistance is worlds lower than those in medium and heavy armor (in 7/7 light on my DK I'm at around 3700, in 7/7 medium on my NB I'm at 10k+). I would recommend if you are attempting to run trials or other PVE content you take advantage of the warrior champion tree and put points into light armor and spell resist. Also many DK's are using 5 light, 1 medium, 1 heavy to take advantage of the undaunted passives that encourage this. It's debatable, but measuring the passives from 7/7 light vs the undaunted passive , I think the 1 piece of each medium and heavy gives you more than just the undaunted passive but also increased survivability. It took some getting used to post 1.6. I was accustomed to being next to unkillable in trials as long as I had a decent healer. Now it's a lot more about getting up your spell/physical resistance and avoiding enemy AOE like its the plague.

I also tested out stam builds and it wasn't my play style but the ability for high dps is there for atleast 2h and DW. Hope some of this helps.

Some of the information I passed along here I received from @xMovingTarget so just wanted to give cred.

Dreddnawt

I run a dk caster using 5/1/1 and am still quite squishy. I rely on layered shields to offset my need for light armor.

The fire staff will always be a great option for dk given our fire synergies. But to be fair we are equally as dangerous with anything else. In the end it all boils down to 2 major factors: build performance and player ability.

Don't sweat the details here. Jump in game and see how it goes.

likewow777

My question would be, why are you thinking of having 1H+S on bar 2? Is it meant to be a backup tank, or something of that nature? With light armor's effectiveness reduced in 1.6, but since light armor still gives the best magicka sustain, a front line role with 1H+S isn't really doable. At the very least, you'd need to swap armor, before a fight, to 5/2 heavy/light (for the block cost reduction passive), then swap back after the fight, which kind of takes the fun out of the game, IMHO. In lower levels, you might be able to get by without swapping, but as you level up, you're gonna see your HP take hits it really shouldn't.

My best advice, if you want to be a caster, do that role. Keep a backup healing staff, maybe, or have another destro staff with different abilities on the bar (maybe a utility bar?). But basically, stay back, and launch fiery hell from afar.

Last thing, I have a stamina 2H DK DPS who is unbelievably fun to play. With the right gear and buffs, enemies die at rates you'll hardly believe. It's not the casting role, but if you ever want to experiment, stamina builds are amazing.

Panda244

Yes. Just use one of the morphs of Spiked Armor, and your squishy problem is solved.... It's like people forget that the DK has the ability to stack Major Resolve/Ward and Minor Resolve/Ward..............

jelliedsoup

Dk with sword and shield is prerty much a staple in pvp.

jbcrocks

You can go with 5 light, 1 heavy, 1 medium for the undaunted passives or 5 light, 2 heavy given that you'll use hardened armor. However, it you dont wanna skill that, use 5 heavy, 2 light or 5 heavy, 1 light, 1 medium.

for weapon, 1h and shield is a must and for the other bar would be destro.

Good luck!