L2P or something more? The plea of a stamina tank

Vangy

Greetings fellow adventurers,

I have ran into some trouble over the course of my adventures and am keen on getting some help. Recently I have noticed that my shield has grown heavier and heavier to hold. I used to be able to take trash packs of 5 or more enemies with ease while keeping a constant lookout on my surroundings and ensuring that the vile creatures of tamriel were perma-cc'ed with my impressive talons of doom. ( + eruption) My squishy friends would shoot lightning bolts of destruction and rain arrows from the sky and I, the tank, would stand my ground and ensure that I held the line. Nothing and no one would get by me. For that is a tank's role I assume.

Lately I have noticed the mere act of holding my shield up drains me of all my strength. God forbid should I need to shake off some CC or evade (dodge roll) a particularly nasty attack coming my way, I end up being so winded it feels like someone kicked me in the nuts whilst naked. Do note, I do not tank naked. I wear 5H/1L/1M. Moreover, I spend more time worrying about being able to hold my shield up and I have less and less time to turn and look around at my surroundings to keep my squishy friends safe. Also I now only choose to block if its absolutely necessary and have started tapping into my magical capabilities such as obsidian shield and GDB to make up for the lack of strength in my shield arm.

I used to think my role as a tank was somewhat like a leader. Controlling the nasty creatures of tamriel and making sure that my squishies could safely perform the insta pew pew WB spam etc. Now my role has somewhat been degraded into an obsidian shield/eruption spammer + templar shard eater + desperately trying to charge up one of my ultimate moves for my shield arm to regain some strength while also rotating from blocking to mist form. Also spending my magicka on non-essential moves such as my burning talons is unacceptable as this would use up my valuable magicka. Essentially I have gone from battle field manipulator/controller to a milk sucking infant getting spanked by bullies while desperately trying to stay alive.

I have been told the wonders of heavy attacks would solve some of my issues but this I find is not a wise move. I find that I am able to swing only when it does not really matter such as when there are fewer then 2 enemies or just one big bad boss hitting me as i can tank them forever. (As a DK my passive stamina regeneration is very impressive with the reduced cost of my vampire bat swarm pew pew ultimate.)

So dear friends, this is the desperate plea of a has-been tank who now needs some help so that his love for tanking can be regained. Most of my friends who were very experienced in the line have now hung their shields up and have started to wear pretty dresses. ( I find this mildly amusing). Also please do not I am not god like with 3600 CP. Being fairly new to the trade I have only amassed a pathetic 64 CP. Any and all advice would be vastly appreciated. Maybe it is time I hung my shield up for a nice big greatsword. I have been told WB spam is very enjoyable.

Looking forward to any advice,
A very old and tired DK tank

Bfish22090

Use the engine guardian set, put all your points into stamina and leverage battle roar passive with cheap ultinates like ferocious leap

Caroloces

Essentially I have gone from battle field manipulator/controller to a milk sucking infant getting spanked by bullies while desperately trying to stay alive.

LOL!

Yeah, I respecced my attributes to lean heavily on stamina, though I did leave a percentage in health. Proper allocation in CPs I think will help also. Careful consideration of your abilities and passives, looking to find every ounce of stam regen (Is it true that ultimate generation builds stam?).
For those of us who aspire to tank it's L2P all over again, but that's not necessarily a bad thing because it lends itself to greater knowledge and versatility in the long term.

MaxwellC

Nah what you truly want to do if you're going tank is to put all your mage CPs into blessed so you can get better benefits out of dragon's blood or any other self heals. You should also spend all points in the thief and put them into magician/warlord for lower cost of magicka/stamina.

I'm a DPS/Tank so I wear all 7 heavy using weapon/crit damage gear e.g. hunding's rage, I have my CP in Mighty, piercing , warlord,magician, (forgot the one that increases heavy armor and increases resistance in elemental,DoT, and magical attacks).
I use 2H sword + 1Hsword/shield and I'm a full on stamina DK. I wreck a lot of players thanks to my rotations but taking on more then 3 at once (at v14) is pretty tough. I've taken 6 players where 2 were v11 and the rest v1-8 before & that was slightly do-able thanks to potions.

Vangy

Caroloces wrote: »

Essentially I have gone from battle field manipulator/controller to a milk sucking infant getting spanked by bullies while desperately trying to stay alive.

LOL!

Yeah, I respecced my attributes to lean heavily on stamina, though I did leave a percentage in health. Proper allocation in CPs I think will help also. Careful consideration of your abilities and passives, looking to find every ounce of stam regen (Is it true that ultimate generation builds stam?).
For those of us who aspire to tank it's L2P all over again, but that's not necessarily a bad thing because it lends itself to greater knowledge and versatility in the long term.

Yes fellow adventurer. It is true for DK's that casting your ultimate will regenerate not just your stamina but health and magicka as well. I believe it is a passive in the earthen heart tree.

jkemmery

Maybe try Heroic Slash to build ultimate, then Corrosive Armor as much as possible.

Vangy

MaxwellCrystal wrote: »

Nah what you truly want to do if you're going tank is to put all your mage CPs into blessed so you can get better benefits out of dragon's blood or any other self heals. You should also spend all points in the thief and put them into magician/warlord for lower cost of magicka/stamina.

I'm a DPS/Tank so I wear all 7 heavy using weapon/crit damage gear e.g. hunding's rage, I have my CP in Mighty, piercing , warlord,magician, (forgot the one that increases heavy armor and increases resistance in elemental,DoT, and magical attacks).
I use 2H sword + 1Hsword/shield and I'm a full on stamina DK. I wreck a lot of players thanks to my rotations but taking on more then 3 at once (at v14) is pretty tough. I've taken 6 players where 2 were v11 and the rest v1-8 before & that was slightly do-able thanks to potions.

Dear fellow tank, in PVP contrary to our lord and only true god's (zenimax) belief, it is indeed possible to perma block and cast even after the nerf to stam regen. The gospel has stated that perma block is not one of the ten commandments and as such will not be tolerated. After said changes one cannot tank 20 players but it is more than possible to tank around 5-10 depending on how good they are. In PVP i can still perma block and pwn poor sorcs who now cant even run away from me because of the lords wrath against their only escape skill MUHAHAHAA. Now i just spam shield assault until the poor sorc runs out of stamina to break free (they have a weak shield arm too it seems) and pwn then with my trusty 2H which i keep well hidden until it is time to WB spam them to oblivion. I believe our lord does not know about the perma cc that is possible with WB spam which is most likely not working as our lord and saviour intended. (there is a small delay in CC immunity to kick in when the person stands up after getting hit by WB which allows us WB spammers to spam the to molag bal's world and back to tamriel without them being able to do anything about it).

My issue is with PVE and my CP is negligible such that i can only acquire reduced block cost and some meager stamina/maigcka regen. Only have 62 at the moment.

JonzzLonewolf

Nightblade tank best tank.

Vangy

Also our lords chosen NBs dont even bother trying to hit me after their initial sneak surprise pew pew fails to kill me. They cloak and skulk away back into the shadows.

Vangy

jkemmery wrote: »

Maybe try Heroic Slash to build ultimate, then Corrosive Armor as much as possible.

Kind sir,

I have tried this but i have found that using heroic slash too often works against me as I find it costs much too much stamina. Eventually using this makes me run out of stamina but grants me ultimate so that i may cast my ultimate which is just a never ending cycle of stamina simulator

paulsimonps

I play a DK Tank just like you and this here is my advice to you, up your max stamina as much as you can while getting as much magicka regen as you can. Using the templars shards, using earthen heart abilites and using synergies in general all give you Stamina that scales of YOUR Max Stamina. So the higher it is the more you get back. My stamina is at the moment around 20k while my HP is at 35K, I want to make it 25K Stam 30K HP, So as it is now Using a shard gives me 5k stamina, using an earthen heart ability gives me 1k and using a synergy gives me 800 stamina. This and heavy attacks that give me rougly 1.2k is what keeps me up. Do note that synergies have a cooldown of around 20sec. I have also noticed that on most Vet dungeons and All normal dungeons with the exception of the new ones you almost never have to block bosses, their heavy attacks and their special abilities? yes. their normal attacks? no. One more thing if you run with a templar healer, make sure they use repentance during group trash encounters, it will keep you up as well. Oh and if you are wondering I use 5 hist bark and 2 engine guardian in a 5h/1m/1l gives more max attributes and the hist bark is wonders for saving stamina, and if you proc engine then if you get HP start heavy attacking, if you get magicka spam igneous shields and if you get stamina then well you get stamina.

Wing

yeah its sad, one of the reasons I liked ESO was you didn't have to stare at your resource bars and could focus more on the actual combat and gameplay. . .and now here i am staring at my resource bars unable to focus more on the actual combat and gameplay . . .

Vangy

paulsimonps wrote: »

I play a DK Tank just like you and this here is my advice to you, up your max stamina as much as you can while getting as much magicka regen as you can. Using the templars shards, using earthen heart abilites and using synergies in general all give you Stamina that scales of YOUR Max Stamina. So the higher it is the more you get back. My stamina is at the moment around 20k while my HP is at 35K, I want to make it 25K Stam 30K HP, So as it is now Using a shard gives me 5k stamina, using an earthen heart ability gives me 1k and using a synergy gives me 800 stamina. This and heavy attacks that give me rougly 1.2k is what keeps me up. Do note that synergies have a cooldown of around 20sec. I have also noticed that on most Vet dungeons and All normal dungeons with the exception of the new ones you almost never have to block, their heavy attacks and their special abilities? yes. their normal attacks? no. One more thing if you run with a templar healer, make sure they use repentance during group trash encounters, it will keep you up as well. Oh and if you are wondering I use 5 hist bark and 2 engine guardian in a 5h/1m/1l gives more max attributes and the hist bark is wonders for saving stamina, and if you proc engine then if you get HP start heavy attacking, if you get magicka spam igneous shields and if you get stamina then well you get stamina.

Fellow tank,

I am currently using hist bark 5 pc + seducers 3pc + footman accessories + helm. I currently have unbuffed 25k hp and 21k stamina. I find I am lacking in terms of health so how are you able to get yourself to 35k hp and 20k stamina? I am inclined to think it is due to the gear quality disparity between us. What you have described above is exactly what i am doing now so it seems until i get better gear and achieve better raw stats tanking would feel like getting slapped in the nuts constantly while someone is pinching ur nose.

AhPook_Is_Here

Vangy wrote: »

Greetings fellow adventurers,

I have ran into some trouble over the course of my adventures and am keen on getting some help. Recently I have noticed that my shield has grown heavier and heavier to hold. I used to be able to take trash packs of 5 or more enemies with ease while keeping a constant lookout on my surroundings and ensuring that the vile creatures of tamriel were perma-cc'ed with my impressive talons of doom. ( + eruption) My squishy friends would shoot lightning bolts of destruction and rain arrows from the sky and I, the tank, would stand my ground and ensure that I held the line. Nothing and no one would get by me. For that is a tank's role I assume.

Lately I have noticed the mere act of holding my shield up drains me of all my strength. God forbid should I need to shake off some CC or evade (dodge roll) a particularly nasty attack coming my way, I end up being so winded it feels like someone kicked me in the nuts whilst naked. Do note, I do not tank naked. I wear 5H/1L/1M. Moreover, I spend more time worrying about being able to hold my shield up and I have less and less time to turn and look around at my surroundings to keep my squishy friends safe. Also I now only choose to block if its absolutely necessary and have started tapping into my magical capabilities such as obsidian shield and GDB to make up for the lack of strength in my shield arm.

I used to think my role as a tank was somewhat like a leader. Controlling the nasty creatures of tamriel and making sure that my squishies could safely perform the insta pew pew WB spam etc. Now my role has somewhat been degraded into an obsidian shield/eruption spammer + templar shard eater + desperately trying to charge up one of my ultimate moves for my shield arm to regain some strength while also rotating from blocking to mist form. Also spending my magicka on non-essential moves such as my burning talons is unacceptable as this would use up my valuable magicka. Essentially I have gone from battle field manipulator/controller to a milk sucking infant getting spanked by bullies while desperately trying to stay alive.

I have been told the wonders of heavy attacks would solve some of my issues but this I find is not a wise move. I find that I am able to swing only when it does not really matter such as when there are fewer then 2 enemies or just one big bad boss hitting me as i can tank them forever. (As a DK my passive stamina regeneration is very impressive with the reduced cost of my vampire bat swarm pew pew ultimate.)

So dear friends, this is the desperate plea of a has-been tank who now needs some help so that his love for tanking can be regained. Most of my friends who were very experienced in the line have now hung their shields up and have started to wear pretty dresses. ( I find this mildly amusing). Also please do not I am not god like with 3600 CP. Being fairly new to the trade I have only amassed a pathetic 64 CP. Any and all advice would be vastly appreciated. Maybe it is time I hung my shield up for a nice big greatsword. I have been told WB spam is very enjoyable.

Looking forward to any advice,
A very old and tired DK tank

Don't taunt trash packs, just taunt the boss or the hardest hitting of the trash pack. You can talons or trops or bombard the pack to CC them but leave their agro to the winds, it's not your problem, DPS can deal.

willymchilybily

Dont use bat swarm for tanking im told it is semi bugged, the regen you get from it is far less than another ultimate of the same cost. it pretty much is nerfing your battle roar's effectiveness when you use it. If you can hold out long enough one of the magma armor morphs is brilliant, or any other ultimate

I preferred magma shell morph in case DPS is melee , when magama is up just hold heavy attack down it should last 9 seconds at rank 4 so that is easily 3 or more heavy attacks whilst only taking 3% of your max health as damage per any attack.

add to that as you mentioned its an earthen heart ability so you get 5% of your stamina returned to you with helping hands passive, and on top its a high cost 200 ult. So with battle roar it returns a lot more resources on use. You will get so much stamina back. The issue is lasting long enough to use it.

im sure others have more useful advice they can give too. Dont know if this is any use to you. to See what your block cost is and what it could be? http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-GB/discussion/168741/the-accurate-block-cost-formula

Vangy

willymchilybily wrote: »

Dont use bat swarm for tanking its semi bugged, the regen you get from it is far less than another ultimate of the same cost. it pretty much is nerfing your battle roar when you use it. If you can hold out long enough one of the magma armor morphs is brilliant.

I preferred shell morph in case DPS is melee and needs some shield but i only tanked pre-veteran ranks and tis still 1.6 on console. so maybe better in 1.7 particularly with shield damage over spill bug you may want to try corrosive. magama is up just hold heavy attack down it should last 9 seconds at rank 4 so that is easily 3 or more heavy attacks whilst only taking 3% of your max health as damage per any attack.

add to that as you mentioned its earthen heart ability so you get 5% of your stamina returned to you with helping hands passive, and on top its a high cost 200 ult. So with battle roar it returns a lot more resources on use. you will get so much stamina back. The issue is lasting long enough to use it.

as @jkemmery said heroric slash can help a bit. i find heroric slash seems to work better than it advertises (i dont know if tool tip values predate 1.6 but im sure it give a bit more than 4 ultimate over 9 seconds)

im sure others have more useful advice they can give too. Dont know if this is any use to you. to See what your block cost is and what it could be? http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-GB/discussion/168741/the-accurate-block-cost-formula

This seems to be splendid advice. I shall look into this matter. Thank you kindly.

paulsimonps

Vangy wrote: »

paulsimonps wrote: »

I play a DK Tank just like you and this here is my advice to you, up your max stamina as much as you can while getting as much magicka regen as you can. Using the templars shards, using earthen heart abilites and using synergies in general all give you Stamina that scales of YOUR Max Stamina. So the higher it is the more you get back. My stamina is at the moment around 20k while my HP is at 35K, I want to make it 25K Stam 30K HP, So as it is now Using a shard gives me 5k stamina, using an earthen heart ability gives me 1k and using a synergy gives me 800 stamina. This and heavy attacks that give me rougly 1.2k is what keeps me up. Do note that synergies have a cooldown of around 20sec. I have also noticed that on most Vet dungeons and All normal dungeons with the exception of the new ones you almost never have to block, their heavy attacks and their special abilities? yes. their normal attacks? no. One more thing if you run with a templar healer, make sure they use repentance during group trash encounters, it will keep you up as well. Oh and if you are wondering I use 5 hist bark and 2 engine guardian in a 5h/1m/1l gives more max attributes and the hist bark is wonders for saving stamina, and if you proc engine then if you get HP start heavy attacking, if you get magicka spam igneous shields and if you get stamina then well you get stamina.

Fellow tank,

I am currently using hist bark 5 pc + seducers 3pc + footman accessories + helm. I currently have unbuffed 25k hp and 21k stamina. I find I am lacking in terms of health so how are you able to get yourself to 35k hp and 20k stamina? I am inclined to think it is due to the gear quality disparity between us. What you have described above is exactly what i am doing now so it seems until i get better gear and achieve better raw stats tanking would feel like getting slapped in the nuts constantly while someone is pinching ur nose.

I am a DK Dunmer, I have all my attributes into HP and I Wear only Legendary gear and Legendary enchantments, all my gear pieces are divine or infused with the exception of one item here and there. I also use the new Blue Stamina HP food that gives about 500more in each then the previous ones we had in 1.6 I have for weapons the new endurance axe and shield on both my bars and I use the Unassailable as my jewelry but plan on getting 3 agility. 1 of my hist bark is v16, 1 of my engine pieces is v16 and one is v12. The endurance is v16 and the unassailable is v10/v12. My big pieces, aka chest legs helmet and shield are all enchanted with stamina and the small pieces have HP. The jewelry is all Healthy and my weapons are enchanted with magicka dmg that returns stamina. 2 jewelry enchants are for block cost and 1 is for stamina cost. and I have only about 265 CP

paulsimonps

AhPook_Is_Here wrote: »

Vangy wrote: »

Greetings fellow adventurers,

I have ran into some trouble over the course of my adventures and am keen on getting some help. Recently I have noticed that my shield has grown heavier and heavier to hold. I used to be able to take trash packs of 5 or more enemies with ease while keeping a constant lookout on my surroundings and ensuring that the vile creatures of tamriel were perma-cc'ed with my impressive talons of doom. ( + eruption) My squishy friends would shoot lightning bolts of destruction and rain arrows from the sky and I, the tank, would stand my ground and ensure that I held the line. Nothing and no one would get by me. For that is a tank's role I assume.

Lately I have noticed the mere act of holding my shield up drains me of all my strength. God forbid should I need to shake off some CC or evade (dodge roll) a particularly nasty attack coming my way, I end up being so winded it feels like someone kicked me in the nuts whilst naked. Do note, I do not tank naked. I wear 5H/1L/1M. Moreover, I spend more time worrying about being able to hold my shield up and I have less and less time to turn and look around at my surroundings to keep my squishy friends safe. Also I now only choose to block if its absolutely necessary and have started tapping into my magical capabilities such as obsidian shield and GDB to make up for the lack of strength in my shield arm.

I used to think my role as a tank was somewhat like a leader. Controlling the nasty creatures of tamriel and making sure that my squishies could safely perform the insta pew pew WB spam etc. Now my role has somewhat been degraded into an obsidian shield/eruption spammer + templar shard eater + desperately trying to charge up one of my ultimate moves for my shield arm to regain some strength while also rotating from blocking to mist form. Also spending my magicka on non-essential moves such as my burning talons is unacceptable as this would use up my valuable magicka. Essentially I have gone from battle field manipulator/controller to a milk sucking infant getting spanked by bullies while desperately trying to stay alive.

I have been told the wonders of heavy attacks would solve some of my issues but this I find is not a wise move. I find that I am able to swing only when it does not really matter such as when there are fewer then 2 enemies or just one big bad boss hitting me as i can tank them forever. (As a DK my passive stamina regeneration is very impressive with the reduced cost of my vampire bat swarm pew pew ultimate.)

So dear friends, this is the desperate plea of a has-been tank who now needs some help so that his love for tanking can be regained. Most of my friends who were very experienced in the line have now hung their shields up and have started to wear pretty dresses. ( I find this mildly amusing). Also please do not I am not god like with 3600 CP. Being fairly new to the trade I have only amassed a pathetic 64 CP. Any and all advice would be vastly appreciated. Maybe it is time I hung my shield up for a nice big greatsword. I have been told WB spam is very enjoyable.

Looking forward to any advice,
A very old and tired DK tank

Don't taunt trash packs, just taunt the boss or the hardest hitting of the trash pack. You can talons or trops or bombard the pack to CC them but leave their agro to the winds, it's not your problem, DPS can deal.

I Taunt EVERYTHING and I still have no problem with stamina. I Use Choking talons and pierce armor and that's about it, you Heavy attack and you CC. pick up a shard or two, use a synergy and no problem.

failkiwib16_ESO

d..ddid I read a tank mentioning using batswarm ..ttank must be .... O.o

Hope499

Agreed OP.

-Run out of stam, so the option to break ANY CC is out of the question. Roll Dodge or breaking any CC will mean no stam for ANY blocking....

-Use heavy attack? hahaha, must be non vet tanks saying that....when you have 6 guys and a boss on your ass, that 2 second heavy attack will mean death...even if you dont die, it only refills enough to block for another 2 seconds

-ALL magicka is used for Shields/healing, noting for any actual attacking.

-No Stamina to ever use any stam skills, again, all needed for blocking.

-Sets for tanks dont do ***...12% block mitigation? Useless. 20% dodge chance? hardly works. 15% improved regen rate? Well its useless since stam does not regen for a tank pretty much.

Pretty much, tanks now do this:

Vangy

failkiwib16_ESO wrote: »

d..ddid I read a tank mentioning using batswarm ..ttank must be .... O.o

indeed but fair enough i was not clear. Bat swarm with devouring swarm morph is what i use to boost dps in pvp. Dragon leap with the shield morph is what i use for pve. Or is batswarm not a good choice even in pvp? I try to use batswarm followed by multiple gap closers like shield assualt for more damage =( or is that a bad way to do things?

paulsimonps

Vangy wrote: »

failkiwib16_ESO wrote: »

d..ddid I read a tank mentioning using batswarm ..ttank must be .... O.o

indeed but fair enough i was not clear. Bat swarm with devouring swarm morph is what i use to boost dps in pvp. Dragon leap with the shield morph is what i use for pve. Or is batswarm not a good choice even in pvp? I try to use batswarm followed by multiple gap closers like shield assualt for more damage =( or is that a bad way to do things?

Aggressive Warhorn for Extra Resources and Dmg for the DPS's or Magma armor for the protection when I need it is what I use for Ulties. Dragonleap is useless in PvE, the dmg shield is not necessary, if you want protection even standard of might is better. Also remember that using a high cost ulti gives you more resources back when you use it. When I use Warhorn I get 50% of all my resources back, which means I get around 10k stamina back when i use it. That with the 10% extra attributes and the dmg the DPS can inflict with it makes Aggressive warhorn one of the best ultimates for tanks. Its the reason why the top scores in Hel ra for example before the reset was done using no Novas but instead a rotation of constant warhorns.

Vangy

Yes that makes sense I shall try this war horn u speak of.
Ty kind sir.

Brrrofski

I'm looking forward to the challenge. I'm on xbox. Vet 14 and have no issues blocking.

Currently speed 2:1:1 in health, magic and stamina.

Probably going to have to top my stamina up a bit, swap my staff for a Greatsword and swap CP from magic reduction/regen to stamina.

But, I'm welcoming the challenge

Waffennacht

I am a sorc tank and in preparation for the changes coming to the battlefield I've been working out.

Push ups etc getting a bit beefier in order to hold that shield up, of course this has cut into my studies of the arcane. At the cost of my magicka I've increased my stamina.

My adventures in solo dungeons has become increasingly difficult, so im thinking strength in my shield and sword training will indeed improve my survival.

Now I wonder if this training will hinder my ability to fend off other such adventurers from opposing factions? I would be greatly dismayed if my loss of arcane knowledge for muscle mass hampered my abilities to slay enemy players.

Any advice would be greeted with much joy

failkiwib16_ESO

Vangy wrote: »

indeed but fair enough i was not clear. Bat swarm with devouring swarm morph is what i use to boost dps in pvp. Dragon leap with the shield morph is what i use for pve. Or is batswarm not a good choice even in pvp? I try to use batswarm followed by multiple gap closers like shield assualt for more damage =( or is that a bad way to do things?

I mainly do pve, I'm mainly a healer ....I got a vodka bottle for whenever I do dungeons with vampire tanks, so don't worry, I am fully prepared for you

RizaHawkeye

Thanks for posting this thread, @Vangy. I completely understand your experience.

I feel as if DKs got nerfed a little to much in the last patch (and I've vocalized this on the general forum). I had a stamina DK tank, level 20, and I just deleted her and started over.

My objective was to build a sword & shield, Imperial, DK with the capability of tanking and running solo. Towards that end, I would need to (1) deflect/absorb a lot of damage, (2) taunt enemies to me, while (3) still hitting with enough DPS to manage boss fights solo (delves, etc.)

Levels 1-15 went okay. Post level 15 I'm now struggling a bit (currently level 20). Stamina does appear to be the issue. One way around this is weapon swap. Sword and shield on both bars, and I have stamina bar and magicka bar. When my stamina gets low, I swap to the other bar, which has the DK magicka attack (burning embers (for heals), stone giant, etc.)

If I know I'm going to be in a big fight, I run the magicka bar and try to save stamina for dodging and blocking. I also use Tamriel Foundry's Tactical Combat to follow my combat results.

How well does it work? Not well. Some of my problems include:

1. Boss fights destroy me (especially with the increased difficulty). They simply outlast me. Most of my damage, even at level 20, is still coming in the 400-600 range, max, and my enemies are dealing out bursts of 1200 to 1800. I can't compete with numbers like that. I can run my heals, including pots, but eventually the Boss outlasts me. With my stamina gone, I'm just standing there like a gasping fish, waiting to die.

2. Which leads to: I cannot find an effective DPS for a Dragonknight. When I ask in my guilds, the answer is almost always the same: DK sorcerer or reroll as a nightblade. I know this is reactionary thinking. But my primary attacks are still Ransack and burning embers.

3. If I don't have DPS, what do I bring to the party? I have the ability to deflect absorb a lot of damage, but that kind of fades when you're fighting multiple enemies. Sure, I can Dark Talon them, and that gets me potion time, but unless I can get either an effective CC (which is another thing I can't seem to manage) and/or my DPS up to at least 900 or 1000, then this build is simply going to be ineffective.

Honestly, I wouldn't want to run with me in a group. Like the OP, I welcome any help/suggestions.

Vangy

Dear fellow tank,

After some extensive discussion with some pro tanks in eso,
I have come to the conclusion that it's a gear issue. No engin guardian set/legendary enchants
= your tank is gimped with the current nerfs. The best tanks are still almost always perma
Blocking from what I hear. They just use their Passives or some other form of stamina regen.
For us dks it comes in the form of our earthen heart tree. So it's baiscally block block block
-> stamina low->ultimate + spam some eruption/obsidian shiled-> repeat. With war horn as well
It is doable. But sadly I find this extremely boring. Nowhere near fun or interactive. I have now
Sadly laid down my shield for a nice shiny big greatsword and am able to solo most content
in craglorn. Also i feel a lot more useful in pvp. WB spam when used correctly is impressive
combined with critical charge.

I feel your pain friend.

Vangy

Sorry for the weird paragraphing, I'm on a phone at the moment.