PS4 - NA - DragonKnight 2H + Dual Wield Stamin build help

Pyro117

I have a few characters right now (Templar, Sorcerer, and NightBlade). Each one I have build somewhat classically and none are veteran. My highest level character is 44.

I have ranged characters and close + range characters but I do not have a true get in there and wreck shop character. I don't really want any range to speak of just pure brawler (which is why I am looking at 2H + DW).

Now, the goal is to have Dual Wield be the AoE/mob killer and the 2H will be the boss killer because of Executioner (that I keep hearing about). I am however very unfamiliar with both Dual Wield and 2H skills. I have a level 10 character doing Dual Wield (DW) with bow backup. I have never tried a 2H build.

Also, it seems the DragonKnight provides few stamina abilities. Now, I have the explorer's pack so I can pick any race. Here is what I was thinking about doing:

PvE or PvP: PvE, I generally stay away from PvP (plus I could respec for PvP later if I really wanted to)

Race: Redguard for Stamina regen

Armor: Heavy or Medium - can't decide. I was thinking Heavy to be able to take the punishment, but medium provides good protection and I was thinking maybe a DK ability will help keep me alive (thereby giving me more stamina Regen).

Werewolf: for the stamina regen only aspect. This will be especially required if I go with heavy armor

Attribute Points: 3 in stamina for every one in health

2 handed skill bar:
Critical Rush
Wrecking Blow
Executioner
Green Dragon Blood
Rally
Ultimate - Corrosive Armor


Dual Wield Skill bar:
Rapid Strikes
Steel Tornado
Burning Breath
Unstable flame
Igneous Weapons
Ultimate - Ferocious Leap


BTW - My other 3 characters are all crafting toons as well, so I already have a blacksmith, clothier, enchanter. I will need to create an alchemist (probably this character)

Questions that I have:
1. Race? Is Redguard really the best one - I do not have Imperial
2. Heavy or Medium armor
3. What abilities am I over looking in the DK build (all I have been able to do is read online descriptions of what they do)
4. Is this even viable in late game (VR stuff)
5. Any other advice?

Igglez

My thoughts - If you're focusing on stam I wouldnt bother with both 2H and DW, it limits your range completely. go with one and a bow. My snipe does 6k damage with 60% of crit, meaning most hits are 9k.

1. Redguard or Khajiit. I'm Khajiit for my DK stam build, the higher weapon crit is very nice.

Personally, id go with 2H over DW. Although DW has AOE, the damage output is really low compared to 2H, and 2H can knock enemies down.

2. Medium increases your damage, Crits and stam regen a small amount, but there is no max stam passive. You need to play smart and have a good healer in dungeons. Its the harder option, but IMO more fun to play with. For team play, id go with heavy since you can tank, where as being medium close and personal, you can turn into a liability, especially if you arent going with any ranged weps.

3. Shifting standard is a very good ultimate. It's expensive but with the DK passive to restore hp/magic/stam on using an ultimate, its rewarding, as well as generally being a great AOE.

4. Never run a trial so unsure.

5. In PVP you will get slaughtered if you soley rely on close combat skills, unless you're only ever hiding and ganking/looking for low player fights. You absolutely need range, in PVE and PVP, IMO.

Pyro117

Igglez,

I thank you for your advice. I really don't want range on this character. I already have 2 of those types of characters (Sword/shield/bow, Dual wield/bow). I also have a pure range character (sorcerer). I really wanted to try out a character that is pure close range combat with max damage output (i.e. 2 hander and Dual Wield).

I will probably level up both medium and heavy armors while I am playing the character and switching between them with different armor set bonuses to see what works best. Werewolf is most likely going to be used to get the 15% stamina regen passive no matter what (can't hurt to have a nice quick regenerating pool of stamina).

I will have to research the shifting standard ultimate. I was thinking the leaping ultimate might be better for mobs, but then again - maybe not.

I have no plans on using this character as is in PvP. I generally don't play PvP anyway (just a PvE player).

GaldorP

It's a nice build for soloing. My VR 5 DK uses a very similar build for questing and grinding

Some minor things you could change for group PvE dungeons:

• A gap closer is important for melee builds in PvP and Critical Rush is nice to have for soloing, but it's not really needed for group PvE dungeons, in my opinion. Maybe replace it with something like Extended Chains for group PvE. With chains you can pull in monsters so your group can kill groups of regular monsters faster with AoE Or use Brawler to grant you some extra damage shield against groups of regular monsters
• Rapid Strikes is probably not needed if you have Wrecking Blow for single-target damage already. You could maybe replace it with something like Evil Hunter or Flames of Oblivion which grants you more Weapon Crit while you have it slotted.
• Executioner is nice for bosses and for the passive I'd keep that
• Igneous Weapons is only a good option for a bow in my opinion (bow medium attacks will deal more damage and you can almost one-shot normal monsters from stealth with a fully charged heavy attack).
• For the ultimates, I personally really like to have Flawless Dawnbreaker on one of the skill bars (the one I use more often for damage) for the 8% more damage with weapon attacks and Standard of Might on the other. I'd only use Corrosive Armor if you have trouble surviving without it or for tanking. But even then, Standard of Might will also reduce all damage you take by 20% while you stand in its effect and you'll do a lot more damage (and the Standard also has a longer duration than Corrosive Armor).
• You might consider replacing Green Dragon Blood with Igneous Shield in groups, especially if you get the Stamina Recovery bonus from potions already (if you regularly use potions that give you Stamina).
• If you like to have a Magicka-based AoE attack somewhere in your build as well, you might add Burning Talons. It can be quite effective if your group members use the synergy
• I'd recommend using at least 5 pieces of Medium Armor for a Stamina dps build.
• Reduce Stamina Cost glyphs on jewelry are very effective if you run out of Stamina too fast in combat.

In late game, in general, Magicka dps DKs seem to be doing a bit better than Stamina DKs (though Stamina can be really strong as well according to some players). Magicka has it a bit easier because 100% of the damage they do is fire damage (so the Champion Passive Elemental Expert and the Dunmer racial passive increase all your damage where as most Stamina builds do about 60% physical damage and only about 40% fire damage + a tiny amount of magic damage). There are also more Magicka-based class skill dots: Ash Cloud has no Stamina morph, Volatile Armor scales with Magicka, Elemental Ring is another Magicka-based dot. Destruction Staff Medium attacks also charge 10% faster than those of other weapons, they also have 10% Spell Penetration built-in and a very good chance to cause the "Burning" status effect which deals 66% more damage for DKs if I'm not mistaken. So it's easier to get high dps values on a Magicka build I think. But still, Stamina DKs can be very good damage dealers in group content as well if played well

Pyro117

Thanks for the information. Basically the build is doable and will probably require some adjustments. That is what I wanted to hear.