2hander with heavy armor viable dps?

Conquers · July 2015

Hey guys so i have an orc dragonknight, and i am both a tank and a dps. i sword & board with bosses, and with trash i pull out my 2hander to aoe down the mobs. i like to dps with a two handed weapon and still wear heavy armor. is this viable at all or am i losing way too much damage on not using medium armor? i love the look of heavy armor so much more than medium, and obviously ill be a dps with more survivability.

PBpsy · July 2015

Viable for what?

Soloing most solo content+Public dungeons+World bosses+ Dolmens+a large part of craglorn.?
Yes

Doing decent in vet pledges?
Yes

being taken into a trial group?
Probably not

Pulling your weight in one?
Not really.

Fishing?
No it is noisy and will scare away the fish.

Conquers · July 2015

yeah i should probably be okay, in trials ill want to be a tank, i love to tank as well, so im guessing in every aspect outside trials this is okay?

PBpsy · July 2015

Conquers wrote: »

yeah i should probably be okay, in trials ill want to be a tank, i love to tank as well, so im guessing in every aspect outside trials this is okay?

Yes that and DSA. I have DPSed vet Dungeons with a full heavy build recently but on a NB.I do not see why it shouldn't work with some DK build. It is certainly slower, less effective and in many many way less fun than a 5 piece Medium or 5piece light magicka build. Heavy doesn't really offer much to a dps not even survivability.
If you really only want the looks you may consider looking into disguises or using 2 large armor pieces and the 5 small ones medium.

PS. I read again your OP and I see that you do not really want to be DPS. You want a tank that does some damage. For that yes the 2h works fine but you shouldn't really label yourself as dps.

Ffastyl · July 2015

If you use the Ravager set from the Elite Gear Vendor at the South High Rock Gate, it is possible to pull 9k DPS against Valkyn Skoria in Veteran City of Ash as a full Heavy DPS.

Finding ways to boost your weapon damage/critical/max stamina or magical equivalent is the key to becoming a Heavy Armor DPS.
The other armor types grant these stats passively, so you need to be creative and skillful to bridge the gap.

PBpsy wrote: »

Viable for what?

Soloing most solo content+Public dungeons+World bosses+ Dolmens+a large part of craglorn.?
Yes

Doing decent in vet pledges?
Yes

being taken into a trial group?
Probably not Yes

Pulling your weight in one?
Not really. Somewhat

Fishing?
No it is noisy and will scare away the fish.

Fixed it based on my experience.

Pulling my weight in trials is an iffy thing to gauge, being 1 of 10 DPSs on deck. But I felt I was pulling average DPS most of the time, hence "Somewhat." Not bad nor exceptional.

Dagoth_Rac · July 2015

If you just wanted to be a DPS in heavy armor, that is definitely possible, albeit not ideal. However, switching up between tanking and DPS throughout a dungeon? Meh. Stick to your role. If your group is not killing things, that is bad DPS players in your group, not because the tank is not helping out enough with DPS. Knowing which trash to taunt and which trash to ignore is an important part of tanking. Put your practice into that, not DPS. Probably the most popular endgame group content is Veteran Dragonstar Arena, and that is 90% about how to tank when there are 50 million things running around.

Now, if you sometimes want to be a DPS in your group and leave the tanking to someone else? I would say to go 5 medium and 2 heavy. The big deal is 12% weapon damage bonus from 5 medium. You also get 7.5% weapon critical from 5 medium, 15% stamina skill cost reduction, 20% increased stamina regen, and some other stuff that slips my mind. All things that come in really handy for a DPS. But if you wear the right 2 heavy pieces, you can get a "heavy" appearance. Try out different pieces and different racial styles. Heavy Cuirass and Helm will make you look like a knight even if the rest is medium. I actually have heavy Dunmer chest and shoulders (Dreugh King Slayer set that drops in Sanctum Ophidia) and a medium Daedric helmet (crafted Hunding's Rage). I think that looks really cool. I don't look like some sneaky rogue, if that is what you are worried about.