Dragonknight Build - Magebane

Alucardo

Hey guys,

This is my first build, but I've been using it for a long time now and with great success, so figured it was time to share. DK is by far my favourite class, and even in dark times they still fare very well. Since damage reduction nerfs, I've found this build to come out even stronger seems it relies on damage over time and applying pressure to your target, rather than straight up DPS.

Magebane
Why the name? A lot of the heals in this build come from magicka projectiles. So if I'm in a 1vX, I will save those throwing spells at me last and focus on warriors. Wrecking blow spam does no one any good, so take care of them first. In the end, this build generally has my magicka opponents running around in pure defensive mode until I cut them down.
Magebane is not a tank, and it is not a DPS machine by any means. It's somewhere in the middle, though if anything you're closer to a tank. It's also highly sustainable, has good damage over time, keeps you alive with the use of shields, resistances and magicka absorption, and a lot of fun to play.

BOON
Currently I'm using The Serpent for increased stamina regeneration. I tried The Warrior, but because we're looking to outlive our opponent through sustain and damage over time, the extra damage won't help you as much as keeping your resources up will.

GEAR
Weight
I use Medium armour for the passives it brings to the table, mainly Stamina regeneration and weapon damage. Two ideal stats for stamina builds. Maybe one day if they make heavy armour more useful I will try it out, but for now medium is working well.

Sets
I play in Blackwater Blade, so nothing matters except the % on my gear. For that reason I'd go with Willow's Path for 15% in combat regeneration on all attributes. I went with Divines on all pieces to enhance the stamina regen we're getting from the Serpent.

Weapons
This build requires sword and board on both bars.

SKILLS

Bar 1 - Main offence

1. Shield Assault - Gap closer, stun and gives you a little shield on impact. I love this ability. I use this a lot against wrecking blow spammers: Roll dodge away, shield assault in. Run through a cycle, then rinse a repeat. Getting shields, even small ones, from as many abilities as possible will help in the long run.
2. Unstable Flame - Scales off Weapon damage and stamina. Applies a decent DoT to your target and deals a bit of fire damage. You want to keep this on them at all times.
3. Ransack - Does a decent amount of physical damage, gives your opponent major fracture reducing their physical resistance AND gives you minor resolve increasing your physical resistance. Really nice ability. Once again, anything that gives you a little more protection from abilities you cast often is going to help, which is the only reason I didn't go with Pierce Armour.
4. Flame Lash - Deals a bit of damage, but if your target is off-balance and you use this, it turns into power lash (that animation where you spin around) which deals extra damage and heals you.
5. Burning Talons - Works as an AOE root and this morph applies a DoT as well, which is what we want in this build.

Ult: Take Flight - Cheap costing, decent enough damage, long range, great for sending enemies flying off towers. Because it doesn't cost too much, it means we can get resources back from Battle Roar more often. Of course it means you won't get as much back as a 250 ultimate, but we don't generate it as fast as some other classes, so 110 is a good price.

Bar 2 - Defence

1. Hardened Armour - Returns physical damage to melee attackers, and for a few seconds after activation, it absorbs up to 10% of your max health in damage.
2. Absorb Magic - Scales is bugged and costs a lot of magicka for something that only lasts 4 seconds. Still a good spell, but Absorb Magic is where a lot of my heals are coming from. Instead of sending the projectile back, it absorbs it and heals you instead. You want to keep this up as often as possible. I also like it because it's an extremely cheap costing stamina ability.
3. Burning Breath - Scales off weapon damage and stamina. It's an AOE attack, applies a DoT and reduces your enemies physical resistance. You want to apply this and Unstable flame as much as possible. Keep the burns going!
4. Vigor - Must have heal for all stamina builds, especially DKs. RIP GDB.
5. Igneous Shield - Applies a damage shield for you an surrounding allies. The shield is increased 100% for yourself. It also boosts the effects of your healing abilities.

Ult: Take Flight - once again. But you're welcome to slot anything else here if you want.

How do I kill things?
The main idea is to keep DoTs going the entire time, or nothing is going to go down. This build has low DPS - I can't stress that enough. But with your sustain, DoTs, debuffs, armour and healing, you will be an unwelcome surprise to people fighting you.
Remember to use your ultimate as soon as it has regenerated if you're running low, but don't waste it at the start of a fight with full resources.
I generally apply my DoTs: Unstable flame, Burning Breath. Weave in light attacks, ransack, shield bash. Once you're stamina is starting to go down you want to use a bit of magicka to give the stam a break and a chance to regen, so Talons, flame lash a couple of times to proc power lash, apply DoTs. Basically, keep as much pressure on your opponent as possible. You won't need to back off if you're managing your resources correctly.
I'm an Imperial, so weaving those light attacks and shield bashes are important. Gives me a chance to proc Red Diamond to receive health, and also to proc Invigorating bash from the Steed Champion Points. This also returns health.

I think that's about it to this build. Hope you enjoy, and most of all, have fun and light 'em up my fellow DKs.
If I've forgotten anything, please let me know

AudioVortex

Seems like a good solid sustain build, I'm interested in trying out your absorb magic idea rather than reflect!

The only bit I will question is your mundus trait on every piece. I don't claim to know everything but I thought there was some sort of diminishing returns on the % effect and so it wasn't viable to have these on every piece? How has it works out for you?

What makes you choose Serpent over the Tower (Max stam)?

Finally what are you putting your character points into. At a guess for the sustain, slightly more balanced between all three due to your magic abilities, rather than all out 50+ stam.

Alucardo

AudioVortex wrote: »

Seems like a good solid sustain build, I'm interested in trying out your absorb magic idea rather than reflect!

Oh yes it's definitely worth a try, especially if you're a stam user. I like to try and get heals from any place I can, and this just seemed like an ideal solution. It really has saved my butt a few times!

AudioVortex wrote: »

The only bit I will question is your mundus trait on every piece. I don't claim to know everything but I thought there was some sort of diminishing returns on the % effect and so it wasn't viable to have these on every piece? How has it works out for you?

To be honest, I haven't tested this in depth and I really need to. Hopefully I'll get to look into it today and I'll update the post with my findings.

AudioVortex wrote: »

What makes you choose Serpent over the Tower (Max stam)?

I already have a lot of stamina (Imperial racials, attribute points, tri stat food, gear), but I had low regen. I like to use mundus stones to fix my weaknesses, and in this case, it was stamina regeneration. This, with divines trait gear and willow's set, you'll have a high stamina pool and decent stamina regeneration. Because your DPS isn't as high as it could be, sustain is the ultimate goal here. Max stamina will only get you so far.

AudioVortex wrote: »

Finally what are you putting your character points into. At a guess for the sustain, slightly more balanced between all three due to your magic abilities, rather than all out 50+ stam.

Good point. I should have mentioned this sorry. As I'm an Imperial, I've thrown everything into Stamina. My base health is around 35k in Cyrodiil, so I thought putting any points into Health would be overkill. Because I'm casting shields and regaining health just by using a lot of my abilities, health isn't of much issue.. unless I'm greatly outnumbered.
This is probably why I'd recommend Imperial for this build, the max health bonus just means you can stack more points into stamina. It will work with any race, but it just means you'll need to allocate your points a little differently to ensure you have at least 20k health or so.

Hope this helps!