Dragonknight DPS Stamina build help!

YoungChaplin

Hey guys I am a level 20 dragonknight dark elf and I use a two handed weapon and for my swap I use a bow. I want some help on my build to make it better and what skills to use and everything so any help is appreciated!

YoungChaplin

Also I am on NA on xbox one

Brrrofski

I used to be a stag dk but switched to magica...

I didn't play enough with it to advise... Other than to switch to magic mostly and keep a bit in stamina for your sword and bow.

Are you intending to go dps or tank?

YoungChaplin

So you recommend to switch to magic? What would your build be for that then? Would I switch to a staff then?
And my intention is to go for more dps

Hastings88

Id run all 2h abilitys except cleve on main bar and run unstable flame aswell with take flight. 5 pieces of hundlings rage. The rest is really up to you off bar with some heals depending on your magika. Usually uppercut with execution there trying to run away its alot of damage try using uppercut from a height as they take fall damage also

Sandshark95

Generally, you'll want to choose between either Stamina or Magicka as your focus. Both stamina DKs and magicka DKs can be great DPSs. It depends on your play style; do you want to use primarily weapon abilities or mostly class abilities? As a Dark Elf, you gain bonuses to fire damage, so going magicka and capitalizing on this is something to consider.

Here's a few builds you can check out:

For magicka DK DPS,

http://deltiasgaming.com/2014/11/30/shooting-star-eso-dragonknight-dps-build/

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/153484/dk-firespitter-update-6-magicka-dps-for-trials-dungeons/p1

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/171347/the-undying-inferno-dk-firemage-build

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/dkop-15-5k-sustained-dps-fire-mage-build-trial-vdsa/

For a stamina DK DPS,

http://deltiasgaming.com/2015/03/08/the-bloody-butcher-dragonknight-dps-build-for-update-six/

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/158797/aetcharians-guide-to-the-dragon-knight-stamina-build-1-6-stamina-dk-build-outdated-in-1-7/p1

http://www.sypherpk.com/magicka-nb-2/


Keep in mind that these builds are geared towards endgame content, so ignore everything that doesn't apply to you (Champion Points, Armor Sets, etc.) and skip to the skills/attributes/abilities/armor type sections.

Hope that helps

Brrrofski

If you're a dark elf, go full Magor, ardent flame. Dark elves have a passive to increase fire damage right?

Light armor. Play around with switching two out to heavy armor for some solidity.

Sword and board on one bar with defensive abilities from draconic power and earthen heart. Get all passives.

Dual wield on next bar with ardent flame abilities. Enchant both with increased weapon and spell crits. Be carefully not to morph anything so it uses stamina as some morphs do.

Vampire might be an option too as you have fire resist.

Just play around. If tou're not sure, pay the hold and respec. Trial and error.

Champagne points... Reduce spell cost, increase spell damage, increase healing initiated by you

This is if you want to go dps

YoungChaplin

Sandshark, I am thinking about switching to a magicka dps build now so I was wondering if you could help me out in which one would be the best and how to make the build and get all of the armor.
As of now I am level 30 still running two hand and bow, but would I still be able to switch it back now?

Sandshark95

@YoungChaplin Magicka DKs are fun to play; I would know, as I happen to have a Dark Elf DK Fire Mage myself.

If you're going for a magicka build, I'd highly recommend dropping the Bow and picking up a Destruction Staff (a Fire Staff, specifically) in its place. A Bow just doesn't synergize well with anything other than a stamina build; it's not too late to switch it out. If you're not interested in being a pure caster and having a Restoration Staff as your back-up (which is totally fine and by no means required; it's up to you whether or not you want to play a secondary healing role), you can actually keep the 2Hander if you'd like, or you could replace it with DW. Because of the way the game is designed, melee weapons (2Hand and DW) are perfectly viable for magicka builds. In fact, your spell damage will be higher with a 2Hander or DW equipped than it would be with a staff. Now, if you use 2H or DW with a magicka spec, you wouldn't be slotting any weapon abilities, as those only scale with stamina. You'd simply and solely be using your DK/Guild abilities.

Armor-wise, until you reach Veteran ranks, you're probably just going to be using the best gear you can find or craft. A lot of the armor sets you might see mentioned in builds aren't readily accessible to you right now. That said, if you haven't already, really start working on researching all of the armor and weapon traits you can find, prioritizing the armor and weapon types you'll be using. Once you research enough traits per item, you'll be able to craft special sets of gear with special bonuses at unique crafting stations. Here's a link describing all of the craftable sets, their set bonuses, the locations at which you can craft them, and the number of traits per item that you need to have researched in order to do so:

http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Set+Bonus+Crafting+Locations

Really any set that provides bonuses to your magicka, spell damage, or spell critical is good. The Seducer set, Magnus' Gift, Torug's Pact, and Twilight's Embrace all have nice bonuses. Provided you have enough traits researched per item you want to craft, you can actually craft set gear right now; there's no level restriction, just a trait number requirement. However, I wouldn't waste too many crafting resources on making the absolute best gear possible for your character at present, as you will simply level out of it too quickly for it to be of much use.

Wear at least 5 pieces of light armor and buy all the light armor passives. The other 2 armor pieces are up to you; a lot of people seem to like wearing 1 heavy and 1 medium for the bonus from an Undaunted passive. You should also spend most, if not all, of your attribute points in Magicka. Don't spend any in Stamina. You can spend a few in Health (10-15 points is a good medium) for survivability.

Now for the build itself. All of the links I provided above are good, but I'm personally leaning towards the Firespitter and last magicka one:

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/153484/dk-firespitter-update-6-magicka-dps-for-trials-dungeons/p1

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/dkop-15-5k-sustained-dps-fire-mage-build-trial-vdsa/

In general, some skills you'll want to try out/use: Inner Light (morph of Magelight, Mages Guild tree) OR Sea of Flames (morph of Inferno, Ardent Flame tree), Structured Entropy (morph of Entropy, Mages Guild tree), Engulfing Flames (morph of Fiery Breath, Ardent Flame tree), Molten Whip (morph of Lava Whip, Ardent Flame tree), Eruption (morph of Ash Cloud, Earthen Heart tree), Force Pulse (morph of Force Shock, Destro Staff tree), Elemental Ring (morph of Impulse, Destro Staff tree).

And that's all I can think of at the moment. Don't worry too much about sticking to a solid build right now; it's good to remain flexible while leveling and to try out new abilities. Keep in mind that you can always respec at any time.

Hope that helps

belly2504

Play how you like to play would be my recommendation you can always change later in the game if you find its not working for you.

The beauty about this game is you can play it however you want,

I personally play a dragon knight with full heavy armour set with set bonus for health I split my skill points to a split between health and stamina about 70/30 into stamina

I have maxed out all the skills in heavy armour and most in 2 handed I use no ardent fire abilities and have earthen heart abilities to boost my defence and surviability.

I have not died once using this build and am level 46 at the moment and can solo most world bosses my self. I know I don't have amazing DPS but I can hold my own.

My suggestion would be do what makes you happy find a guild that supports you and how you want to play there are plenty of haters out there but that's there problem.

If like others have stated above you decide you want to play a specific role later on then respec and find some builds online there are heaps of great resources online.

Cheers. Belly8304

YoungChaplin

Thanks for all of the help guys!
@Sandshark95, so I should switch my bow to a destruction staff, preferably fire, and I have been using heavy armor so I should switch to light armor? I like the idea of a magicka build with a destruction staff and also using a 2 handed weapon, I just need to figure out all the skills to use and what order to use them and everything like that.
Also what alliance are you and do you play on xbox one?

YoungChaplin

@Sandshark95 Hey I have a question sort of a favor to ask I am still getting used to remembering all the stuff and figuring out how to make the build, so do you think you could kind of help me make like a template of what skills and stuff to use and to put points in on a character builder website like the skill calculator on esohead? If you can't, its all good I assume you are busy, but if you could help with that and make the build on it then send it to me or a picture would be awesome But its alright if you can't you have already helped me a huge amount, thank you!

Sandshark95

@YoungChaplin Yep, switch out the bow for a Destro Staff (Fire, preferably), and you can still keep the 2Hander as your backup. You should be wearing at least 5 pieces of light armor so that you can benefit from the magicka passives. The other 2 pieces are up to you.

I wouldn't mind trying to use the skills calculator to make you a rough template; I'll get back to you on that when I've worked something out.

I have characters in all alliances, but unfortunately I play on PS4.

Glad I could help though! I'll let you know when I've made or found a specific template you could use to build off of.

Sandshark95

@YoungChaplin Here's a quick skill calculator build I threw together on my phone that's fairly similar to another build I'll provide a link to below:

http://esocalc.com/#1-8a511490000f:117:18:13:14:1150:15:212:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:35:21:21:21:21:221:21:21:21:21:137:116:14:14:12:13:11:11:21:21:170:31:31:32:186:265:21:21:13:12:12:13:212:116-548:32:544:28:25:307:548:297:579:546:474:551

Here's a slightly modified version:

http://esocalc.com/#1-8a511490000f:117:18:13:14:1150:15:212:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:35:21:21:21:21:221:21:21:21:21:137:116:14:14:12:13:11:11:21:21:170:31:31:32:186:265:21:21:13:12:12:13:212:116-305:32:544:28:25:307:305:297:17:546:474:551

Here's a link to a good DK Fire Mage build that I provided before, plus the link to the skill calculator he used for his build:

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/dkop-15-5k-sustained-dps-fire-mage-build-trial-vdsa/

http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#1.mzazee9k8A4fM8A4hI8uzeN8umHU8uzvO8umHI8A4r28A4hI8Gsbt8hMZD8uzgC8A4uT8e7CraqS8E7xLzmW6rzmY6Lzm16LzVS6LzVW8l7mrzkA8B7JLzsb8O7aLkP6LdeB6rdeF8zM7zzgcoS8zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7zzKpUN8zL7zzK4EX


In essence, just buy all of the magicka and fire damage passives you can. Definitely use Inner Light (morph of Magelight, Mages Guild tree) on both of your bars, or Sea of Flames (morph of Inferno, Ardent Flame tree). Both Inner Light and Sea of Flames have the same effect, so choose one because they won't stack. Inner Light is easiest to unlock and is slightly more popular because of the extra magicka. Consider going Vampire, if that's something you'd like to do. Not a requirement, though.

As I've said before, don't commit too much to a specific build. Stay flexible. The examples provided above are merely rough outlines containing suggestions on what to shoot for. Play around with different skills and rotations to decide what you like best.

Hope that helps; feel free to ask anything else

YoungChaplin

@Sandshark95 , I wish you were on xbox but thank you for all of your help, I think I am going to level up a bit more and level destruction staff and light armor skill level as I level up and then when I am a higher level I will respec all of my skill points and attributes and make it then.
But thank you so much for the help! I will definitely use the templates and try to make a good build!
Thank you so much!!

Sandshark95

@YoungChaplin No problem! Glad I could help. Have fun with your DK!

YoungChaplin

@Sandshark95 Hey! So I've been working on my build modifying it as I go, and I am vet 1 now. So I was wondering what should I invest my champion points in, and what would I have to change to make my build able to compete in pvp?
I am liking my build so far though

hardcore_gmr

I have both magicka DK and Stam DK and can say that while my magicka DK is easier to play (I am a dark elf as well) I like my stam DK better. Stam DK has very high burst Damage and makes great use of utility skills to be tanky, while my magic DK is better in a long fight simply. Since it seems you have already switched over to magicka I recommend doing with as much fire damage as possible, and that means Elemental expert in The ATRONACH tree (blue). depending on your skills and setup you should pick CP that compliment the skills you have. Its tough to give good advice on CP as every player is different when it comes to build.

As far as PvP here is where you'll miss the great burst damage of a stam DK. DK's don't have a true gap closer (a skill to get you close to another player) so we have to use a weapon skill. many DK's like myself use shield charge/invasion (1h+ shield skill) but on my Stam DK I use Critical rush. For Magicka DK, once you have closed the gap, talons for CC, then flame lash (morph of lava whip; ardent flame skill). You want Reflective scales (specifically the Dragon fire Scale morph) to defend against projectiles. With a high enough amount of magicka and spell damage from, gear most players your level will be (dead or) in serious trouble and trying to heal, you can finish them off with a few more lashes or hit them with an ulti to regen your resources and get ready for the next fight. I recommend sword and board for PVP because you will almost never get to fight anyone 1v1 unless you have agreed to that before hand. in regular play expect what ever player you engage to have back up, lots of it. Being able to block and escape is crucial to your survival. Without knowing exactly what you are running pvp is a feeling out process. play for about an hour or two, maybe watch a build video, and you'll have a pretty good idea of what else you need.

YoungChaplin

Can anyone help me turn my build into more of an AoE skill build sort of thing? Like what armor and skills to use? I want to try to farm mobs to net a lot of exp?