Damn you, Bonesnap!

RizaHawkeye

There is a psychology to trying to solo Bonesnap that's not unlike playing any of the Dark Souls games.

Last night I started at 1:00 a.m. and tried until 3:00 a.m. The zone was empty except for me and a couple of others but I avoided them - my goal was to solo the public dungeon. I have soloed other public dungeons: Bad Man's Hallows, Crow's Wood, and Toothmaul Gully to name a few. I thought I could handle Bonesnap.

I was wrong.

Prior to entering Bonesnap, Crow's Wood was my favorite public dungeon, but last night I had to admit Bonesnap is epic. When I finally made it to the large open area the end, with the river and the waterfall, I had to pause and just look around. Really, whatever else I can say about ESO, this dungeon is beautifully awesome. In this particular, the design team at ESO did an amazing job.

But I couldn't solo it. I died. I died again. And I died again. But I kept at it, riding the Bonesnap paintrain until, at around 2:30 in the morning, I thought I saw the words "YOU DIED" in red letters floating above my body. I cursed. I yelled. Profanity echoed through my apartment. I think my neighbors, who consider me a bit crazy, may have heard me and confirmed their opinion.

When I finally collapsed in my bed, I still had not finished Bonesnap. I had exhausted my entire supply of soul gems. Some of my armor was down to like 20% protection (I'm level 23 and my armor is level 16). My stack of 24 health pots was down to 3. It was brutal.

It was also the most fun I've ever had in ESO.

So note to Zenimax: if you ever think of lowering the difficulty of this game again, just remember this:

The psychology is against you.

EDIT: By the way, has anyone actually soloed Bonesnap? Just curious ...

UrQuan

Hmm, I've soloed Bonesnap on all of my characters who have gone through Auridon. I didn't particularly find it to be any harder than the other public dungeons. Like the other public dungeons, though, it's a lot easier to do if you've got some decent AOE damage output and some self-heals.

Mind you, the first time I did Bonesnap, shortly after launch when I didn't yet understand the difference between a public dungeon and a delve... Oh man, it gave me fits back then.

I have to agree about the design of Bonesnap. That one grand chamber is pretty damn cool.

Epona222

I've not soloed Bonesnap, I find it difficult to find a quiet time to try to solo the public dungeons, there is usually at least 1 or 2 others in them - what level were you trying it at (normal, Cadwells Silver, Cadwells Gold? and your char level?) I'll give it a go.

I agree that some of the public and group dungeon settings are absolutely breathtakingly beautiful

RizaHawkeye

UrQuan wrote: »

Hmm, I've soloed Bonesnap on all of my characters who have gone through Auridon. I didn't particularly find it to be any harder than the other public dungeons. Like the other public dungeons, though, it's a lot easier to do if you've got some decent AOE damage output and some self-heals.

Mind you, the first time I did Bonesnap, shortly after launch when I didn't yet understand the difference between a public dungeon and a delve... Oh man, it gave me fits back then.

I have to agree about the design of Bonesnap. That one grand chamber is pretty damn cool.

Bonesnap isn't in Auridon, @UrQuan. It isn't even in the AD. Toothmaul Gully is in Auridon and, yes, I also soloed that ... although admittedly it was prior to the difficulty increase following the last major update. I wouldn't guarantee I could solo it now.

Bonesnap is the public dungeon in Stormhaven, the second zone of EP.

Epona222 wrote: »

I've not soloed Bonesnap, I find it difficult to find a quiet time to try to solo the public dungeons, there is usually at least 1 or 2 others in them - what level were you trying it at (normal, Cadwells Silver, Cadwells Gold? and your char level?) I'll give it a go.

I agree that some of the public and group dungeon settings are absolutely breathtakingly beautiful

I've only started playing a few months ago. This character is at level 23 and so the dungeon is normal. But yes, that's why I chose to do so in the middle of the night.

nimander99

Dead Souls games? Do you mean Dark Souls

RizaHawkeye

nimander99 wrote: »

Dead Souls games? Do you mean Dark Souls

Yes, Dark Souls. Thanks for catching that ...

EDIT: Although I will openly admit that, for me, Dead Souls would be the more appropriate title, based on how often I die in those games.

ScruffyWhiskers

nimander99 wrote: »

Dead Souls games? Do you mean Dark Souls

A game based on the Nikolai Gohgol book would be cool!

Had to add the h for some reason because it thinks that the author's last name is a naughty word wtf?

Waffennacht

Wait, what is out there that is difficult except soloing city of ash?

daemonios

I've soloed every public dungeon in the game, but I have around 380 CP. The hardest one for me, and also one of the coolest, is Village of the Lost in Coldharbour. It's not even the delve bosses that are hard, rather the bosses from the quest you pick up there where you have to close some rifts.

UrQuan

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Hmm, I've soloed Bonesnap on all of my characters who have gone through Auridon. I didn't particularly find it to be any harder than the other public dungeons. Like the other public dungeons, though, it's a lot easier to do if you've got some decent AOE damage output and some self-heals.

Mind you, the first time I did Bonesnap, shortly after launch when I didn't yet understand the difference between a public dungeon and a delve... Oh man, it gave me fits back then.

I have to agree about the design of Bonesnap. That one grand chamber is pretty damn cool.

Bonesnap isn't in Auridon, @UrQuan. It isn't even in the AD. Toothmaul Gully is in Auridon and, yes, I also soloed that ... although admittedly it was prior to the difficulty increase following the last major update. I wouldn't guarantee I could solo it now.

Bonesnap is the public dungeon in Stormhaven, the second zone of EP.

lol whoops, that's what happens when you're thinking about one thing while typing another... I actually meant Stormhaven, but I was pondering the Summerset Isles at the time (trying to think about whether there might be any justification for non-AD characters to adventure in them at some point), so I wrote Auridon...

I think you've just had a similar brain-fart, though, as Stormhaven is the second zone of DC, not EP

Also, I hadn't thought about the change in difficulty being a factor - I haven't done Bonesnap since the IC patch, and most of my characters who have gone through it would have gone through it over a year ago. I think I only have 1 character who has gone through it relatively recently, and that was an AD character going through Cadwell's Gold. That would have been immediately before the IC patch.

RizaHawkeye

ScruffyWhiskers wrote: »

nimander99 wrote: »

Dead Souls games? Do you mean Dark Souls

A game based on the Nikolai Gohgol book would be cool!

Had to add the h for some reason because it thinks that the author's last name is a naughty word wtf?

UrQuan wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Hmm, I've soloed Bonesnap on all of my characters who have gone through Auridon. I didn't particularly find it to be any harder than the other public dungeons. Like the other public dungeons, though, it's a lot easier to do if you've got some decent AOE damage output and some self-heals.

Mind you, the first time I did Bonesnap, shortly after launch when I didn't yet understand the difference between a public dungeon and a delve... Oh man, it gave me fits back then.

I have to agree about the design of Bonesnap. That one grand chamber is pretty damn cool.

Bonesnap isn't in Auridon, @UrQuan. It isn't even in the AD. Toothmaul Gully is in Auridon and, yes, I also soloed that ... although admittedly it was prior to the difficulty increase following the last major update. I wouldn't guarantee I could solo it now.

Bonesnap is the public dungeon in Stormhaven, the second zone of EP.

lol whoops, that's what happens when you're thinking about one thing while typing another... I actually meant Stormhaven, but I was pondering the Summerset Isles at the time (trying to think about whether there might be any justification for non-AD characters to adventure in them at some point), so I wrote Auridon...

I think you've just had a similar brain-fart, though, as Stormhaven is the second zone of DC, not EP

Also, I hadn't thought about the change in difficulty being a factor - I haven't done Bonesnap since the IC patch, and most of my characters who have gone through it would have gone through it over a year ago. I think I only have 1 character who has gone through it relatively recently, and that was an AD character going through Cadwell's Gold. That would have been immediately before the IC patch.

Agreed. That's what happens when I stay up until 3:00 a.m. screaming at my computer.

In saying that difficulty has increased, I'm not taking anything away from your achievement in soloing Bonesnap. People have told me Crow's Wood was hard but I ran through it with a level 14 Nightblade DW and never looked back. I even did the group boss solo. But for some reason Bonesnap is killing me.

Kudos to you.

RizaHawkeye

NM ... Double post.

Acrolas

Public dungeons don't offer much in return, so I usually just do one long achievement and shard run once I hit VR1 or 2, and then silver/gold around VR12 or 13. It's not like anyone gives a *** when I do them.

UrQuan

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

ScruffyWhiskers wrote: »

nimander99 wrote: »

Dead Souls games? Do you mean Dark Souls

A game based on the Nikolai Gohgol book would be cool!

Had to add the h for some reason because it thinks that the author's last name is a naughty word wtf?

UrQuan wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Hmm, I've soloed Bonesnap on all of my characters who have gone through Auridon. I didn't particularly find it to be any harder than the other public dungeons. Like the other public dungeons, though, it's a lot easier to do if you've got some decent AOE damage output and some self-heals.

Mind you, the first time I did Bonesnap, shortly after launch when I didn't yet understand the difference between a public dungeon and a delve... Oh man, it gave me fits back then.

I have to agree about the design of Bonesnap. That one grand chamber is pretty damn cool.

Bonesnap isn't in Auridon, @UrQuan. It isn't even in the AD. Toothmaul Gully is in Auridon and, yes, I also soloed that ... although admittedly it was prior to the difficulty increase following the last major update. I wouldn't guarantee I could solo it now.

Bonesnap is the public dungeon in Stormhaven, the second zone of EP.

lol whoops, that's what happens when you're thinking about one thing while typing another... I actually meant Stormhaven, but I was pondering the Summerset Isles at the time (trying to think about whether there might be any justification for non-AD characters to adventure in them at some point), so I wrote Auridon...

I think you've just had a similar brain-fart, though, as Stormhaven is the second zone of DC, not EP

Also, I hadn't thought about the change in difficulty being a factor - I haven't done Bonesnap since the IC patch, and most of my characters who have gone through it would have gone through it over a year ago. I think I only have 1 character who has gone through it relatively recently, and that was an AD character going through Cadwell's Gold. That would have been immediately before the IC patch.

Agreed. That's what happens when I stay up until 3:00 a.m. screaming at my computer.

In saying that difficulty has increased, I'm not taking anything away from your achievement in soloing Bonesnap. People have told me Crow's Wood was hard but I ran through it with a level 14 Nightblade DW and never looked back. I even did the group boss solo. But for some reason Bonesnap is killing me.

Oh I know, but there were difficulty changes to mobs with the IC patch, so it's totally a valid observation. I didn't actually notice most of those changes until they were pointed out to me, but they're there, and it's entirely possible that at-level I would have a harder time with it now than I did in the past. Well, except for my first time through it. I had real trouble back then. It was actually the first public dungeon I ever did shortly after PC launch, back when my DC main was still my only character, and I hadn't discovered the benefits of using food. It wasn't until much later (and my second character) that I even discovered Bad Man's Hollow, which should have been my first public dungeon...

Defilted

I have smashed every public dungeon in my way so far (Solo). I am disappointed in the public dungeons. They are too easy. I need some near impossible content. This would be fun.

I would just tweak your build to take on multiple opponents and you should be fine.

Sharee

The difficulty soloing greatly varies with the character/build you are playing. With a magicka NB i had no trouble with bonesnap ruins etc. - agony on one mob to take it out of the fight(if needed), then just spam swallow soul while standing in stacked illustrous healing circles(no sap essence mind you - this is level 16-ish).

An orc DK in heavy armor with high health regeneration, using a 2H weapon/brawler works just as well(can even solo instanced group dungeons).

Kuroinu

I wish Public Dungeons were scaled like how the Orsinium ones will be or battle-leveled I think is the right term they used, w/e tom-ay-toe/tom-ah-toe. I found them to be the most enjoyable solo experience too and I'd like to go back to revisit them at whatever level and still have a challenge.

danno8

I too have soloed every Public Dungeon on all my characters except DK (since he is only VR 7), including all the bosses and group challenges (which are easier than the single bosses imo). It was a bit tougher on some than others, and used to be harder without any CP's, but these days it is fairly easy.

RizaHawkeye

Okay, I get it. What I thought was hard, others find quite easy.

I guess I'll go learn to play ...

Sharee wrote: »

The difficulty soloing greatly varies with the character/build you are playing. With a magicka NB i had no trouble with bonesnap ruins etc. - agony on one mob to take it out of the fight(if needed), then just spam swallow soul while standing in stacked illustrous healing circles(no sap essence mind you - this is level 16-ish).

An orc DK in heavy armor with high health regeneration, using a 2H weapon/brawler works just as well(can even solo instanced group dungeons).

Thank you for this help. Unfortunately, my NB isn't a healer. She's more of a die-er right now.

And I didn't select Agony as a skill ...

But thanks anyway.

UrQuan

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Okay, I get it. What I thought was hard, others find quite easy.

I guess I'll go learn to play ...

Not necessarily about L2P so much as it could just be that your build isn't good at soloing large groups. Outside of public dungeons and group dungeons, you almost never end up fighting groups larger than about 4 mobs (and 2-3 is more common), so you could end up with a build that's great at going up against a couple of mobs at a time, or against bosses, but that just can't deal with larger groups. I have a nightblade in EP that was like that and simply couldn't handle public dungeons, even though I had no problem with them on any of my other characters. I switched around the weapon choices, and after a little trial and error got a build that could handle large groups of mobs.

Nestor

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

People have told me Crow's Wood was hard but I ran through it with a level 14 Nightblade DW and never looked back. I even did the group boss solo. But for some reason Bonesnap is killing me.

Crows Wood has L6 Mobs and Bosses in it, so an L14 should be able to Solo it. Bonesnap is L23 IIRC, so you are on or close to level on that one, which is why it's harder to do.

However Public Dungeons have gotten a bit harder, so they are not as easy to solo when on or close to level as they once were.

Xendyn

Riko_Futatabi wrote: »

I wish Public Dungeons were scaled like how the Orsinium ones will be or battle-leveled I think is the right term they used, w/e tom-ay-toe/tom-ah-toe. I found them to be the most enjoyable solo experience too and I'd like to go back to revisit them at whatever level and still have a challenge.

Psst Riko...over here...

forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/224217/veteran-public-dungeons

RizaHawkeye

UrQuan wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Okay, I get it. What I thought was hard, others find quite easy.

I guess I'll go learn to play ...

Not necessarily about L2P so much as it could just be that your build isn't good at soloing large groups. Outside of public dungeons and group dungeons, you almost never end up fighting groups larger than about 4 mobs (and 2-3 is more common), so you could end up with a build that's great at going up against a couple of mobs at a time, or against bosses, but that just can't deal with larger groups. I have a nightblade in EP that was like that and simply couldn't handle public dungeons, even though I had no problem with them on any of my other characters. I switched around the weapon choices, and after a little trial and error got a build that could handle large groups of mobs.

Okay, that's comforting to know.

Yeah, I think you nailed it. I would need an AoE (as you noted in an earlier post). But I'm using a DW/Bow NB. My AoEs (that are unlocked) are Steel Tornado and one of the ultimates. I didn't unlock any of the Bow AoEs or Agony. So I'm guessing this probably my biggest problem right now.

By the way, I've been leveling up the two weapons (bow and DW). Should I be leveling up other weapons as well? Leveling up more than 2 seems like a waste of skill points.

daemonios

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Okay, I get it. What I thought was hard, others find quite easy.

I guess I'll go learn to play ...

Not necessarily about L2P so much as it could just be that your build isn't good at soloing large groups. Outside of public dungeons and group dungeons, you almost never end up fighting groups larger than about 4 mobs (and 2-3 is more common), so you could end up with a build that's great at going up against a couple of mobs at a time, or against bosses, but that just can't deal with larger groups. I have a nightblade in EP that was like that and simply couldn't handle public dungeons, even though I had no problem with them on any of my other characters. I switched around the weapon choices, and after a little trial and error got a build that could handle large groups of mobs.

Okay, that's comforting to know.

Yeah, I think you nailed it. I would need an AoE (as you noted in an earlier post). But I'm using a DW/Bow NB. My AoEs (that are unlocked) are Steel Tornado and one of the ultimates. I didn't unlock any of the Bow AoEs or Agony. So I'm guessing this probably my biggest problem right now.

By the way, I've been leveling up the two weapons (bow and DW). Should I be leveling up other weapons as well? Leveling up more than 2 seems like a waste of skill points.

At lower levels and with no/few champion points you're going to have a tough time soloing public dungeons. You won't have all skills unlocked, and those you do will probably not be morphed/maxed. Your resources are going to be low, so managing them will be a problem. A couple of tips:

- Craft a couple of sets or ask a friend or guildie to craft them for you. Choose sets that go well with your primary damage resource (magicka or stamina) and/or provide some survivability. Make them green or blue if you can, though if you haven't been playing long it can be tricky to get all the mats or pay for them.
- Choose your skills and morphs wisely. You won't have many skill points, so every one of them counts. To solo those dungeons you could use attacks that also self heal, or use good crowd control to kill the enemies one by one, or just spam very strong AoE attacks and make sure the enemies die fast (or YOU will hehe).
- Pay attention to some enemy attacks. Charged attacks will have flashing lines on the enemy, and you can interrupt them to avoid their particularly high damage. Focus healers first - they heal themselves and others, drawing out the fight, and you'll have trouble sustaining your resources - and ranged enemies like archers or mages second, while kiting the melee enemies. Or use some kind of stun/silence on ranged enemies while you kill the melee. Use your dodge rolls, they can save you from certain high damage attacks like "throw dagger" even if you weren't able to interrupt the enemy. Block heavy attacks, especially from bosses, as some heavy attacks can one-shot you if you don't have enough armour or damage mitigation.
- Make or buy some food. I tend to favour blue foods to increase hp and my primary damage resource. People foods increase all resources, but by a smaller amount and they're more expensive.

FixedBlade123

I've beat a few and lost more (as a solo player). I've played some until my thumbs were about to break and my throat was scorched from yelling at the TV screen. Most of my weapons are fire oriented so some bosses die pretty quickly while other bosses are immune to fire-based weapons and magic. I am not a healer and I wouldn't make a good tank because I die pretty quickly no matter what I'm doing. I use distance magic and a staff and can do some good damage (again ... depending on the boss I'm fighting).

I've made it to Vet 11 (not far from 12) pretty much on my own. I've only "grouped" twice so far and have been a member of two guilds (which I quit because I never saw the benefit). I'm at a point now where I MUST start grouping if I have any hope of leveling any further. Craglorn is out of the question for a single player with my propensity towards early death and most of Cyrodil is the same. When I try to do individual quests in Cyrodil I'm always caught by enemy players who annihilate me. So ... I'm pretty much stuck doing Blacksmith and Woodworking writs or fighting bosses I've already beaten.

If anyone can use a Vet 11 non-tank, non-healer to group with ... look me up. I play Mountain time starting at around 5:00PM until bedtime and I play almost all day Saturday and Sunday. +

FixedBlade123

RizaHawkeye

daemonios wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Okay, I get it. What I thought was hard, others find quite easy.

I guess I'll go learn to play ...

Not necessarily about L2P so much as it could just be that your build isn't good at soloing large groups. Outside of public dungeons and group dungeons, you almost never end up fighting groups larger than about 4 mobs (and 2-3 is more common), so you could end up with a build that's great at going up against a couple of mobs at a time, or against bosses, but that just can't deal with larger groups. I have a nightblade in EP that was like that and simply couldn't handle public dungeons, even though I had no problem with them on any of my other characters. I switched around the weapon choices, and after a little trial and error got a build that could handle large groups of mobs.

Okay, that's comforting to know.

Yeah, I think you nailed it. I would need an AoE (as you noted in an earlier post). But I'm using a DW/Bow NB. My AoEs (that are unlocked) are Steel Tornado and one of the ultimates. I didn't unlock any of the Bow AoEs or Agony. So I'm guessing this probably my biggest problem right now.

By the way, I've been leveling up the two weapons (bow and DW). Should I be leveling up other weapons as well? Leveling up more than 2 seems like a waste of skill points.

At lower levels and with no/few champion points you're going to have a tough time soloing public dungeons. You won't have all skills unlocked, and those you do will probably not be morphed/maxed. Your resources are going to be low, so managing them will be a problem. A couple of tips:

- Craft a couple of sets or ask a friend or guildie to craft them for you. Choose sets that go well with your primary damage resource (magicka or stamina) and/or provide some survivability. Make them green or blue if you can, though if you haven't been playing long it can be tricky to get all the mats or pay for them.
- Choose your skills and morphs wisely. You won't have many skill points, so every one of them counts. To solo those dungeons you could use attacks that also self heal, or use good crowd control to kill the enemies one by one, or just spam very strong AoE attacks and make sure the enemies die fast (or YOU will hehe).
- Pay attention to some enemy attacks. Charged attacks will have flashing lines on the enemy, and you can interrupt them to avoid their particularly high damage. Focus healers first - they heal themselves and others, drawing out the fight, and you'll have trouble sustaining your resources - and ranged enemies like archers or mages second, while kiting the melee enemies. Or use some kind of stun/silence on ranged enemies while you kill the melee. Use your dodge rolls, they can save you from certain high damage attacks like "throw dagger" even if you weren't able to interrupt the enemy. Block heavy attacks, especially from bosses, as some heavy attacks can one-shot you if you don't have enough armour or damage mitigation.
- Make or buy some food. I tend to favour blue foods to increase hp and my primary damage resource. People foods increase all resources, but by a smaller amount and they're more expensive.

Thank you for this! That was very helpful.

Would it be worth it do a respec at level 23? I've invested a lot in crafting for this character - maybe a bit too much: I have three primary crafting skills (Blacksmithing, Woodworking, Clothier) with 5 -6 skill points each - so 15-18 skill points have been invested in crafting at level 23 and few, if any, have been invested in passives.

Thanks again!

UrQuan

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Okay, I get it. What I thought was hard, others find quite easy.

I guess I'll go learn to play ...

Not necessarily about L2P so much as it could just be that your build isn't good at soloing large groups. Outside of public dungeons and group dungeons, you almost never end up fighting groups larger than about 4 mobs (and 2-3 is more common), so you could end up with a build that's great at going up against a couple of mobs at a time, or against bosses, but that just can't deal with larger groups. I have a nightblade in EP that was like that and simply couldn't handle public dungeons, even though I had no problem with them on any of my other characters. I switched around the weapon choices, and after a little trial and error got a build that could handle large groups of mobs.

Okay, that's comforting to know.

Yeah, I think you nailed it. I would need an AoE (as you noted in an earlier post). But I'm using a DW/Bow NB. My AoEs (that are unlocked) are Steel Tornado and one of the ultimates. I didn't unlock any of the Bow AoEs or Agony. So I'm guessing this probably my biggest problem right now.

By the way, I've been leveling up the two weapons (bow and DW). Should I be leveling up other weapons as well? Leveling up more than 2 seems like a waste of skill points.

My NB that I was having trouble with public dungeons on was using bow/sword & shield. My theory was she'd use her bow to do damage at range, and then swap to sword & board as mobs closed for survivability. It didn't work. I then tried swapping out the sword & shield for a resto staff for better self-heals and survivability that way. It didn't work. I then decided to forget about survivability and focus on DPSing down all of the mobs, so I swapped out the resto staff for a two-hander. That's what finally worked for me.

In situations with large groups of mobs I rely mostly on Bombard (morph of Arrow Spray) and Brawler (morph of Cleave). I'm sure you'd be able to have similar success using Bombard (or Arrow Spray before you've unlocked it) and Steel Tornado, along with a few class skills.

Shunravi

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

daemonios wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Okay, I get it. What I thought was hard, others find quite easy.

I guess I'll go learn to play ...

Not necessarily about L2P so much as it could just be that your build isn't good at soloing large groups. Outside of public dungeons and group dungeons, you almost never end up fighting groups larger than about 4 mobs (and 2-3 is more common), so you could end up with a build that's great at going up against a couple of mobs at a time, or against bosses, but that just can't deal with larger groups. I have a nightblade in EP that was like that and simply couldn't handle public dungeons, even though I had no problem with them on any of my other characters. I switched around the weapon choices, and after a little trial and error got a build that could handle large groups of mobs.

Okay, that's comforting to know.

Yeah, I think you nailed it. I would need an AoE (as you noted in an earlier post). But I'm using a DW/Bow NB. My AoEs (that are unlocked) are Steel Tornado and one of the ultimates. I didn't unlock any of the Bow AoEs or Agony. So I'm guessing this probably my biggest problem right now.

By the way, I've been leveling up the two weapons (bow and DW). Should I be leveling up other weapons as well? Leveling up more than 2 seems like a waste of skill points.

At lower levels and with no/few champion points you're going to have a tough time soloing public dungeons. You won't have all skills unlocked, and those you do will probably not be morphed/maxed. Your resources are going to be low, so managing them will be a problem. A couple of tips:

- Craft a couple of sets or ask a friend or guildie to craft them for you. Choose sets that go well with your primary damage resource (magicka or stamina) and/or provide some survivability. Make them green or blue if you can, though if you haven't been playing long it can be tricky to get all the mats or pay for them.
- Choose your skills and morphs wisely. You won't have many skill points, so every one of them counts. To solo those dungeons you could use attacks that also self heal, or use good crowd control to kill the enemies one by one, or just spam very strong AoE attacks and make sure the enemies die fast (or YOU will hehe).
- Pay attention to some enemy attacks. Charged attacks will have flashing lines on the enemy, and you can interrupt them to avoid their particularly high damage. Focus healers first - they heal themselves and others, drawing out the fight, and you'll have trouble sustaining your resources - and ranged enemies like archers or mages second, while kiting the melee enemies. Or use some kind of stun/silence on ranged enemies while you kill the melee. Use your dodge rolls, they can save you from certain high damage attacks like "throw dagger" even if you weren't able to interrupt the enemy. Block heavy attacks, especially from bosses, as some heavy attacks can one-shot you if you don't have enough armour or damage mitigation.
- Make or buy some food. I tend to favour blue foods to increase hp and my primary damage resource. People foods increase all resources, but by a smaller amount and they're more expensive.

Thank you for this! That was very helpful.

Would it be worth it do a respec at level 23? I've invested a lot in crafting for this character - maybe a bit too much: I have three primary crafting skills (Blacksmithing, Woodworking, Clothier) with 5 -6 skill points each - so 15-18 skill points have been invested in crafting at level 23 and few, if any, have been invested in passives.

Thanks again!

I wouldn't recommend putting passives into crafting right away. Do research and stuff like that but keep your skill points for things that you need. You can get enough skill points to have nearly all the crafts and several attack lines at the same time later so no worries about that.

You migt wanna spend some time just learning what abilities do what when you're starting out and just figure out what you like

Egonieser

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

There is a psychology to trying to solo Bonesnap that's not unlike playing any of the Dark Souls games.

Last night I started at 1:00 a.m. and tried until 3:00 a.m. The zone was empty except for me and a couple of others but I avoided them - my goal was to solo the public dungeon. I have soloed other public dungeons: Bad Man's Hallows, Crow's Wood, and Toothmaul Gully to name a few. I thought I could handle Bonesnap.

I was wrong.

Prior to entering Bonesnap, Crow's Wood was my favorite public dungeon, but last night I had to admit Bonesnap is epic. When I finally made it to the large open area the end, with the river and the waterfall, I had to pause and just look around. Really, whatever else I can say about ESO, this dungeon is beautifully awesome. In this particular, the design team at ESO did an amazing job.

But I couldn't solo it. I died. I died again. And I died again. But I kept at it, riding the Bonesnap paintrain until, at around 2:30 in the morning, I thought I saw the words "YOU DIED" in red letters floating above my body. I cursed. I yelled. Profanity echoed through my apartment. I think my neighbors, who consider me a bit crazy, may have heard me and confirmed their opinion.

When I finally collapsed in my bed, I still had not finished Bonesnap. I had exhausted my entire supply of soul gems. Some of my armor was down to like 20% protection (I'm level 23 and my armor is level 16). My stack of 24 health pots was down to 3. It was brutal.

It was also the most fun I've ever had in ESO.

So note to Zenimax: if you ever think of lowering the difficulty of this game again, just remember this:

The psychology is against you.

EDIT: By the way, has anyone actually soloed Bonesnap? Just curious ...

Soloed every single public dungeon and a couple of pledges and most of Craglorn, nothing to it really if you know your class. They are a lot easier than dueling high ranking players in Cyrodiil. Learn to do that, then no PvE content will ever stand in your way except Veteran Gold pledges obviously, but silver is doable.

daemonios

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

daemonios wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Okay, I get it. What I thought was hard, others find quite easy.

I guess I'll go learn to play ...

Not necessarily about L2P so much as it could just be that your build isn't good at soloing large groups. Outside of public dungeons and group dungeons, you almost never end up fighting groups larger than about 4 mobs (and 2-3 is more common), so you could end up with a build that's great at going up against a couple of mobs at a time, or against bosses, but that just can't deal with larger groups. I have a nightblade in EP that was like that and simply couldn't handle public dungeons, even though I had no problem with them on any of my other characters. I switched around the weapon choices, and after a little trial and error got a build that could handle large groups of mobs.

Okay, that's comforting to know.

Yeah, I think you nailed it. I would need an AoE (as you noted in an earlier post). But I'm using a DW/Bow NB. My AoEs (that are unlocked) are Steel Tornado and one of the ultimates. I didn't unlock any of the Bow AoEs or Agony. So I'm guessing this probably my biggest problem right now.

By the way, I've been leveling up the two weapons (bow and DW). Should I be leveling up other weapons as well? Leveling up more than 2 seems like a waste of skill points.

At lower levels and with no/few champion points you're going to have a tough time soloing public dungeons. You won't have all skills unlocked, and those you do will probably not be morphed/maxed. Your resources are going to be low, so managing them will be a problem. A couple of tips:

- Craft a couple of sets or ask a friend or guildie to craft them for you. Choose sets that go well with your primary damage resource (magicka or stamina) and/or provide some survivability. Make them green or blue if you can, though if you haven't been playing long it can be tricky to get all the mats or pay for them.
- Choose your skills and morphs wisely. You won't have many skill points, so every one of them counts. To solo those dungeons you could use attacks that also self heal, or use good crowd control to kill the enemies one by one, or just spam very strong AoE attacks and make sure the enemies die fast (or YOU will hehe).
- Pay attention to some enemy attacks. Charged attacks will have flashing lines on the enemy, and you can interrupt them to avoid their particularly high damage. Focus healers first - they heal themselves and others, drawing out the fight, and you'll have trouble sustaining your resources - and ranged enemies like archers or mages second, while kiting the melee enemies. Or use some kind of stun/silence on ranged enemies while you kill the melee. Use your dodge rolls, they can save you from certain high damage attacks like "throw dagger" even if you weren't able to interrupt the enemy. Block heavy attacks, especially from bosses, as some heavy attacks can one-shot you if you don't have enough armour or damage mitigation.
- Make or buy some food. I tend to favour blue foods to increase hp and my primary damage resource. People foods increase all resources, but by a smaller amount and they're more expensive.

Thank you for this! That was very helpful.

Would it be worth it do a respec at level 23? I've invested a lot in crafting for this character - maybe a bit too much: I have three primary crafting skills (Blacksmithing, Woodworking, Clothier) with 5 -6 skill points each - so 15-18 skill points have been invested in crafting at level 23 and few, if any, have been invested in passives.

Thanks again!

As I said, skill points are scarce at lower levels. You'd probably be better off maxing your class/weapon skills and passives if you want to do challenging content. You can always create an alt for crafting - if you bank all your loot from the adventurer and deconstruct on your crafter, you'll level your crafting skills pretty quickly and get some crafting and improvement materials. In any case, try to do all the main quests, delves, public and group dungeons and skyshards in each zone before moving on, since these are the things that give you skill points.

As for respecs, the only down side is the cost. You need to respec all your skills or morphs in one go, and it gets expensive. You only get 10 skills and 2 ultimates anyway (fewer if you have the same skill on two bars) so try to choose those that fit your playstyle and the challenges you meet, and consider the morphs carefully. If you do have the money, then by all means experiment with different skills and morphs.

Bhakura

Solod all dungeons
Hardest was stamina NB, but that was pre vet points
easiest stamina sorc
now im on templar but prolly this will be easiest when i get there, has no trouble soloing group dungeons lol, but its up to 90 vet points, so it will only get easier and easier.

Bring back vet difficulty like it was at launch! Getting near one shotted by storm atronachs and such, now that was fun