Introverts Unite!...Far away from each other...

CherryCake

Before someone tells me to get off from ESO, after all it is an online game, I just want to say that I enjoy playing with other people, a lot, I love to run up to those in need in a battle and just throw my healing powers on them, (and then disappear so that they wont make conversation .)... anyway, I wanted to see how other solo players, are doing in the game all on their own!

My character:

• High Elf
  • Uses light armor
  • For the moment, barely level 36
• Templar
  • One weapon slot with a destruction staff and skills from Dawn's Wrath
  • The other weapon slot with a restoration staff and skills from Restoring Light
  • As for which spells I use, it simply depends, if I unlock a new one, I test it out, or sometimes combine them with skill lines from the restorative and destruction staffs, it depends.
  • I do have a lot of passives, that increase my magicka, and allow me to revive for free once every two hours, an hour etc.
  • (I never used aedric spear)
  
  With this, my character, can make it on its own at most times (since she is still at a low level) , but with the help of a lot of restorative spells, and sometimes potions. I did die a few times but almost never in a boss battle on my own, because I use the restoration staff, that boosts up my health, heals me a lot of times and all of this happens...sloooowly, since the restoration staff doesnt do that much damage.
  I am not a good gamer, but I do have a LOT of fun playing like this.
  
  So what about you?
  Do you play solo?
  How did you build your character and how hard was it for you to play solo?
  
  Note: All of this does not apply to PVP and group dungeons. In Campaigns, I die, immediately... (except if my group is there, YOU GO BROS...silently)... And although I do have a LOT of fun in group dungeons, I am always very insecure if I am good enough or if someone dies I feel like I failed them as a healer, not a good feeling.
  

MrDerrikk

All of the above is pretty much me. (I totally understand the PvP qualms)

I'm a DPS kinda guy though, so I focus on getting rid of everything really fast. Having a lot of fun with my DK ATM as he seems to solo even more than my shield-stacking Sorc, but I'm depending too much on my healing abilities against even low level mobs I reckon.

I could never be a healer or a tank as it's a lot more hassle keeping people alive. As a DPS focused of survivability, I can just run around nuking everything in group play and revive if I can (haven't tried with my DK, but I tended to be killed instantly with my Sorc if I stopped moving).

Edit: I have some slight anxiety issues, so that even the slightest things can make me panicky; hence PvP is pretty much impossible...

Lithium Flower

I wouldn't call myself exclusively a solo player but I've gone through a lot of content on my own. All the original story zones several times to level up my 6 v16s plus lots of grinding mobs with AoE, public dungeons and delves, dolmen, etc. I play templar as a main but have two DKs, two sorcs and a night blade as well. There's a few observations I have about leveling up and playing end game I'd like to share.

Attributes: level 1 to v15, I throw all my points into Magicka. I think the content is easy enough to manage with low HP and magicka is important for being effective with class skills, healing and efficiently killing stuff. Learning to avoid damage, stay shielded and blocking heavy hits are essential skills to master quickly and a low HP pool will benefit new player as well by keeping them on their toes.

I would start off by focusing in magicka even if playing a stamina oriented class or race during early levels. Focusing on stamina means your class skills, healing and shielding ability is compromised, it is also harder to sustain without the kind of support stamina oriented end game characters receive from group mates and healers.

At v16, I respec all my attributes and skill points for my final build. At this stage you can use attributes to hit targets for HP, magicka and stamina however you like.

Skill Points: Level 1 to v15

As a general rule while my character is still leveling up, I invest in no passives and hold on to as many skill points as possible to open up various abilities and skill lines to experiment with and level up to the point where it unlocks the morphs.

Some passives are really useful early on as well and I make a point to acquire these as soon as possible as an exception to the above general rule. These include:

Racial Passives, Light Armour Passives - Evocation and Recovery, Medium Armour Passives - Agility, Restoration Staff Passives - Life Cycle, Destruction Staff Passives - Penetrating Magic, Destruction Expert

I then allocate skill points on the basis of the following priority:

Class Skills - When I start outside the Cold Harbour tutorial, I invest my 3 points in the first class skill of each class line. I place all three on my bar.

Staff: My next points go into 1 destruction class skill and 1 restoration class skill.

Ultimate: The 6th point into an ultimate.

Alliance War: Once you hit level 10, head to Cyrodiil and do the Welcome to Cyrodiil quests for two extra skill points and alliance war ranks which will unlock Rapid Manoeuvre under Assault line which is a really useful skill for running around. Siege shield under Support is less useful but Purge is a useful skill as well.

Guild Skill/World Skills: Soul trap morphs quite quickly into Consuming Trap which is great for sustain. It's a Soul Magic skill in the World Skills line. Vampirism can be pretty useful once you're comfortable doing the quest which has a minimum level of 38.

Fighter's Guild skills are low priority except for the ultimate. Mages Guild skills are all nice. Underdaunted Skills are low priority except Inner Fire for tanks and Orbs for healers.

Once my bar is filled, I level up the skills and buy the first racial passive that increases my magicka resource pool or the first light armour passive I can access. If I'm leveling a stamina race, I can ignore the Stamina boost for a skill instead.

I don't morph skills as soon as they become unlocked unless the morph will greatly aid my survivability such as healing ward morph of steadfast ward or puncturing sweep morph of puncturing jabs (Templar Aedric Spear line)

My aim and plan is slot out skills and replace with others from same line as soon as they become morph ready. A skill line will level as long as an ability from that line is slotted on your bar when you gain xp unless some other mechanic is specified in the tool tip.

This 'trick' allows me to level up skills and abilities without ever using them if I don't want to. I can pick up a 2H sword or a bow until I unlock the first skill, then switch back to my staff and keep the unlocked skill slotted. It won't be usable but it will gain ranks passively and also level up the associated skill line. In this way, I can level up every single weapon and guild, world skill line and abilities by the time I'm max rank. My character is completely versatile at that point and I can switch builds in 10 minutes with a gear change instead of needing to grind to level up new abilities.

Armour and Weapons
I like 5 pieces of Light with a Heavy chest and medium guards. Training trait on one piece each, rest divines or infused. The heavy enchanted with HP and the medium with stamina. Magicka on everything else. If you can craft yourself or obtain from others Willow's Path and Seducer 5 piece are great for sustain. Then 3 piece Magnus or Torugs Pact. If you have low CP then Warlock 5 piece (3 jewelry + 2 Light armour) paired with Willow's or Seducer is a great set all the way until v1. Warlock drops level 15 to 23, v1 and v12.

A mix of green and blue pieces is good enough in my opinion.

Food:
Green health food until level 10, Blue Magicka and Health food until lvl 20 and epic triple effect food thereafter are a great addition.

Dropped magicka and health potions are good enough.

Skills:

I usually have one single target, one AoE, a heal/ward, a sustain and a flexible slot where I throw on a skill I want to level on my bar with an AoE or mitigation ultimate.

failkiwib16_ESO

templar healer v16
When I solo I do whatever I want. Sometimes i use a bow, while wearing light armor. Other times i wear random looted gear, and go slaughter some zombies just for the sake of it. It really depends on my mood, and yeah i sometimes to go sewers naked and fight mobs to see how many I can kill, before I die.

---

Fighters guild skills are not that important for a healer, but I recomend you to get the passives. The ultimate gain is so neat xD

Alucardo

This topic really hit me in the feels when I read the subject. I've been a hardcore introvert for as long as I can remember, not that I could help it.. I just hated being around people, and preferred solitude to an awkward conversation about the weather.

So, how do I solo? Hum. Generally most of my soloing is done on magicka builds, primarily Sorc. It's a pretty standard setup.
Currently he's level 32 on BwB.

- 7 light, all divines (Law of Julianos 5pc, Torug's Pact 2pc)
- Destro (Just made another torug's)
- Resto (Any old thing I could find. Only use this for self buffs)

Since changing to Julianos and Torug's from Seducer and Magnus, I had to switch to drink instead of food to get my regen back up to a maintainable number, but the spell damage is worth it. Most of my fights are pretty short, so a super high mag regen isn't really required. In any case, I always have a stash of spell damage/mag pots at the ready.

Rotation is pretty standard; Healing Ward, Annulment for buffs. Kick off entropy, throw a curse, weave light attacks and crushing shock until frags procs. I'll usually wait for curse to explode before throwing the frag. Sometimes the opponent will see your hands light up and get ready to dodge straight away, so it can be good to wait a bit and catch them off guard.
When their health gets low, I'll cast wrath, then burst them down with curse/frag/crushing shock until it procs the explosion and their face melts.

I check the map often to see where AD and EP might be heading, and situate myself on the road to their path and jump on a few trailing behind the pack.
Sometimes when it's quiet I'll just throw a few rocks at a random keep/outpost wall to get some attention. This only works with AD for some reason.. they seem to always be afking inside until they hear a rock hit the wall and come flying outside. I guess EP are busy actually playing the game.

MrDerrikk

Alucardo wrote: »

Sometimes when it's quiet I'll just throw a few rocks at a random keep/outpost wall to get some attention. This only works with AD for some reason.. they seem to always be afking inside until they hear a rock hit the wall and come flying outside. I guess EP are busy actually playing the game.

You can throw rocks?!

Alucardo

MrDerrikk wrote: »

You can throw rocks?!

Yeah man, big ones. With the help of siege engines.

JD2013

*clicks topic*

*runs away*

MrDerrikk

Alucardo wrote: »

MrDerrikk wrote: »

You can throw rocks?!

Yeah man, big ones. With the help of siege engines.

Oh, just those. I thought you meant little ones and I was thinking Far Cry 4 :P

Alucardo

MrDerrikk wrote: »

Oh, just those. I thought you meant little ones and I was thinking Far Cry 4 :P

Haha nah. I doubt they'd hear pebbles hitting the solid walls from inside.

MrDerrikk

Alucardo wrote: »

MrDerrikk wrote: »

Oh, just those. I thought you meant little ones and I was thinking Far Cry 4 :P

Haha nah. I doubt they'd hear pebbles hitting the solid walls from inside.

Hence some of my confusion :P

CherryCake

Thank you all for sharing!

Alucardo

SerenaAnastasia wrote: »

Thank you all for sharing!

It was our awkward pleasure

Daraugh

I'm the same way, I enjoy healing but I get panicky healing in PvE groups, in every game. I really enjoy healing in BwB. Head out to wherever the action is, maybe join a random group where I don't have to talk but just do what the leader says and relax. It's really nice to find a halfway point, finally getting to play an aspect of the game that is interactive without having to chat!

Now I just need to choose between my baby Breton Templar and Sorc

Sadetius

I have a breton Sorc vet 2 (DC )

Currently I am playing solo since my friends currently do not have the time to play. I do occasionally group with people for a world boss sometimes. I engage in really small conversations mostly just thanking people if they show up at a world boss small stuff like that.

I am a semi roleplayer in the sense that I try to do things that would fit the character.

As for my build
My current build

- because of roleplaying reasons I did not want to use dark or deadric magic (even though I know they are really good skill lines)
- I use two destruction staves, 1 lightning, 1 frost.
- stat points for vet 2 : 34 magicka 16 health. so almost a 2:1 ratio
- My build is still a work in progresss. I want to get meteor (ice comet morph) from the mage guild skill line. And I am thinking of replacing wall of elements (elemental blockade morpth). I might switch it for a defensive skill. I am also considering switching ball of lightning morph. And lastly I am contenplating to switch my annulemnt morph. The magicka return from harness magicka seems minimal but I might be wrong.

for the time being I getting trough the content. I do die some times but most of the times that is due to my own fault. I derp out use the wrong skill or mess up my skill rotation stuff like that. I have decent CC (esp against melee opponents) I think I have no clue if my dps is any good but I think it is not great.

uptill now I have only done spindleclutch, So I have no idea how my build performs in other dungeons I will see once I reach vet16 or whatever rank it will be once vet is removed. Hopefully my build will perfom adequate enough, that would be satisfying enough for me. My friends and I do want to start a guild eventually. It would propably be called House of Hermits (HoH). Guild would be pretty casual no obligations or stuff like that, only one rule help fellow hermits if they are in need of help. Since my friends And I are pretty independent players and have pretty laid back playstyle even though we do enjoy challenging content in games.

Bhakura

Im very successful soloing and like hell im gonna tell you all how!

adriant1978

SerenaAnastasia wrote: »

Before someone tells me to get off from ESO, after all it is an online game, I just want to say that I enjoy playing with other people, a lot, I love to run up to those in need in a battle and just throw my healing powers on them, (and then disappear so that they wont make conversation .)... anyway, I wanted to see how other solo players, are doing in the game all on their own!

Good to see a few more non-social people playing this game. I would suggest forming an Introverts Guild, but that's not something we do.

Ghanima_Atreides

Another introvert here. Some of the most awkward moments in the game are when people randomly try to group with me (without as much as a "Hi" or saying why; I mean, what's the protocol in such cases?!) or sending similar friend requests...but even so, I've had plenty of fun adventuring with my boyfriend since Early Access. Good to know we're not the only ones who prefer keeping to ourselves.

Huggalump

SerenaAnastasia wrote: »

Before someone tells me to get off from ESO, after all it is an online game, I just want to say that I enjoy playing with other people, a lot, I love to run up to those in need in a battle and just throw my healing powers on them, (and then disappear so that they wont make conversation .)... anyway, I wanted to see how other solo players, are doing in the game all on their own!

My character:

• High Elf
  • Uses light armor
  • For the moment, barely level 36
• Templar
  • One weapon slot with a destruction staff and skills from Dawn's Wrath
  • The other weapon slot with a restoration staff and skills from Restoring Light
  • As for which spells I use, it simply depends, if I unlock a new one, I test it out, or sometimes combine them with skill lines from the restorative and destruction staffs, it depends.
  • I do have a lot of passives, that increase my magicka, and allow me to revive for free once every two hours, an hour etc.
  • (I never used aedric spear)
  
  With this, my character, can make it on its own at most times (since she is still at a low level) , but with the help of a lot of restorative spells, and sometimes potions. I did die a few times but almost never in a boss battle on my own, because I use the restoration staff, that boosts up my health, heals me a lot of times and all of this happens...sloooowly, since the restoration staff doesnt do that much damage.
  I am not a good gamer, but I do have a LOT of fun playing like this.
  
  So what about you?
  Do you play solo?
  How did you build your character and how hard was it for you to play solo?
  
  Note: All of this does not apply to PVP and group dungeons. In Campaigns, I die, immediately... (except if my group is there, YOU GO BROS...silently)... And although I do have a LOT of fun in group dungeons, I am always very insecure if I am good enough or if someone dies I feel like I failed them as a healer, not a good feeling.
  

There's hope man, so keep at it

I'm v16 and basically play the whole game solo. I leveled solo, now I farm IC solo, and going through orsinium solo. I'm in 5 guilds so I can do pve and group pvp whenever the fancy strikes me.... but it doesn't strike often. I go into cyrodiil solo and usually run around wherever i like, hoping in and out of groups for whatever holds my interest.

You can defintely keep you playstyle at max level

CherryCake

adriant1978 wrote: »

I would suggest forming an Introverts Guild, but that's not something we do.

Yes, not really something we would do unless we would need help in a group dungeon, but after that we immediately pretend to log out of the game xD... I actually did that once, it was just me and another guy in a group dungeon, and he put his microphone in (ps4) telling me that we need to get more people, and me out of anxiety I told him "my internet is really bad, you go get more people I will be back as soon as my internet is better!" I logged out and went away from the playstation just so that I wont have to talk ... yes I do feel like a horrible human being xD.

Ghanima_Atreides wrote: »

Another introvert here. Some of the most awkward moments in the game are when people randomly try to group with me (without as much as a "Hi" or saying why; I mean, what's the protocol in such cases?!) or sending similar friend requests...but even so, I've had plenty of fun adventuring with my boyfriend since Early Access. Good to know we're not the only ones who prefer keeping to ourselves.

Oh yes, especially when people group up AND you start to hear them talking!
I would love to play with my husband, he is a dragonknight and me as a healer, I think it would work really well, but unfortunately we bough the game on the console and...well we only have one console xD.

Bhakura wrote: »

Im very successful soloing and like hell im gonna tell you all how!

Come on, share with us, we are all in this together, yet separately xD.

Bhakura

Nu uh

adriant1978

SerenaAnastasia wrote: »

I actually did that once, it was just me and another guy in a group dungeon, and he put his microphone in (ps4) telling me that we need to get more people, and me out of anxiety I told him "my internet is really bad, you go get more people I will be back as soon as my internet is better!" I logged out and went away from the playstation just so that I wont have to talk ... yes I do feel like a horrible human being xD.

I have actually written a private add-on (PC) which auto-rejects group requests from anyone not in my friends list. So you're not the only horrible human being.

CherryCake

adriant1978 wrote: »

SerenaAnastasia wrote: »

I have actually written a private add-on (PC) which auto-rejects group requests from anyone not in my friends list. So you're not the only horrible human being.

YAY xD!!!

MrDerrikk

I reckon it'd be better to do a dungeon run with all introverts, as you'd know what not to say/do. Whilst I'm trying to become an "outgoing" person (I work in a school so it's needed; already getting black looks for not being social enough), I'd much, much prefer to just do happy, helpful dungeon runs of near silence from all parties :P

Bhakura

MrDerrikk wrote: »

I reckon it'd be better to do a dungeon run with all introverts, as you'd know what not to say/do. Whilst I'm trying to become an "outgoing" person (I work in a school so it's needed; already getting black looks for not being social enough), I'd much, much prefer to just do happy, helpful dungeon runs of near silence from all parties :P

hardly anyone says anything running a dungeon ... unless its to *** on someone ...

MrDerrikk

Bhakura wrote: »

MrDerrikk wrote: »

I reckon it'd be better to do a dungeon run with all introverts, as you'd know what not to say/do. Whilst I'm trying to become an "outgoing" person (I work in a school so it's needed; already getting black looks for not being social enough), I'd much, much prefer to just do happy, helpful dungeon runs of near silence from all parties :P

hardly anyone says anything running a dungeon ... unless its to *** on someone ...

As I haven't come across enough people willing to carry a newbie to group play like me, I haven't done almost all dungeons even. When I do get a group people tend to do the latter, and keep talking and talking about what I should and shouldn't do...it'd be much easier if I was given a clear sentence of what to do :P

TheShadowScout

SerenaAnastasia wrote: »

So what about you?
Do you play solo?
How did you build your character and how hard was it for you to play solo?

As a bit of a sociophobe, I am a habitual solo player.

I refuse random group or friend requests on principle, and may wordlessly run after some group in Cyrodil to just pitch in for my PvPing, or join in for some world boss fighting, then slink off right after.

I tend to skip a lot of the grouptastic content, and either do it when overleveled, or just leave it for the day when I do get some people I actually would enjoy grouping with.

PUGs? Nah... too stressful to group with strangers. Who needs those undaunted dungeons anyways? Maybe someday I'll do 'em...

I once had a friend I grouped with and did stuff, but she left the game. Haven't found anyone yet who I was comfortable with... I suppose it would be a matter of compartible roleplaying... and since I am too shy in game to actually start something without an explicit invotation or three...

Anyways...

My main characters:

Leskandera, the dunmer bounty huntress. Clad in madium armor, and armed with twin daggers and a bow, this veteran of the akaviri wars turned rouge relies more on stealth and her weapon skills then magic, though has a few tricks she picked up during the course of her adventuring, and often uses them to help her get in a better strike from the shadows, or cloak herself in invisibility to escape a sticky situation.

Kelasendar the dunmer goth librarian. He would much rather sit in a librtary reading books and composing (bad) poetry then be out adventuring, but they always sent him to find the overdue books and get them from some dungeon or somewhere equally dreary... good thing he also knows a little bit about sorcery and can blast all the nasties with ice, lightning or dark magics before they get too close, since his dark colored robes wouldn't be all that much protection.

Both are at V16, and I tend to max every skill I can, so I can tailor their abilities to the job at hand... often switch around a bit to try new combinations, see what works, and what doesn't... Kelas I play as pure caster type sorceror, no pets for him, while Leska is a stamina nightblade with a bit of magica to fuel her support skills (cloak, mostly) and I go with sneaky stealthy dagger-in-the-back play for her, with bow as backup, PvP or fights where a nightblade just can't tough it out at close range.

And I have to say, the nightblade was the hardest to play. And not just because she was the first, though that certainly added to it... but I have crafting/gathering/testbed alts for every class, and I noticed, All the others had less trouble then my poor nightblade. No matter if it was my altmer priestess of mara, my stalward argonian dragonknight, my part-time furry bosmer huntress, my lifestealing breton vampiress or even my axehappy nord thunder priest... Even or especially before they added champion points! (though with those, things got easier for my nightblade as well)
My orc templar especially can solo dolmens, world bosses (pre-wrothgar) and public dungeons at level, something both my main nightblade or sorceror have failed at so far... (and if they ever add character renames to the crown store, which I expect, I will change her name to something more orsimer-ish, and add her to my "main" characters, as in "roleplay enabled" since she is really starting to grow on me...)

BlackguardBob

I play VR16 Sorc (pet mage) as my main but I have 7 other low level chars. I always play solo, no chat, no guild, no PvP. I don't gank & spank nor do I get ganked and spanked and that is the way I like it.

In Auridon (where I originate) there is a Former Emperor (that's his title) who stands near to a dolmen and casts buffs on players involved in that dolmen. He never interferes (kills) but mentors everybody. I don't know if he is tutoring somebody but that is the kind of thing I like to see. He's like a conductor with an orchestra. He keeps everybody in tune lol. Nice one.

That is the kind of player I'd like to be. Bloody good but doesn't feel the need to prove it but remains anonymously helpful.

CherryCake

MrDerrikk wrote: »

I reckon it'd be better to do a dungeon run with all introverts, as you'd know what not to say/do. Whilst I'm trying to become an "outgoing" person (I work in a school so it's needed; already getting black looks for not being social enough), I'd much, much prefer to just do happy, helpful dungeon runs of near silence from all parties :P

I can relate to you, I used to work in sales and being shy was not an option, my problem is really stupid, because I am a weird kind of extroverted introvert, once I get to know you I wont stop talking and I always loved to bring people together (and then I run)... its hard isnt it? xD

Bhakura wrote: »

Nu uh

PLEASE TELL US!!!!!!!!

Stranglehands

my very solo-ish sorcerer ("ice witch") is as follows

Race: Breton (not for any minmaxy reason, I just wanted a Breton)
Birthsign: Apprentice - I tried shadow for a while to see if the extra critical damage made a meaningful improvement to survivability with surge but it didn't really
Points: about 16 in health, the rest in magicka. I might be slightly short of health though.
Champ points: put stuff into elemental damage, critical damage, reduce dodge and break free cost, light armour, spell resist etc.

Gear: I am only using crafted because I've yet to get into collecting dropped gear. Willpower jewellery would feature here if I had it
5x kagrenac's hope light armor, all purple, divines, and with a purple max magicka enchantment
2x magnus's gift armour, purple, divines, max magicka
Magnus's gift ice staff and restoration staff, both purple. The ice staff has frost damage enchantment and precise trait, and the restoration staff is precise as well with an absorb magicka enchantment.
Purple jewellery with 2x spell damage boosts and 1x spell cost reduction, and arcane trait

This results in lots of max magicka, about 1900 spell damage unbuffed, and 43%ish spell crit unbuffed, at VR14

Bars:
Ice staff:
Frost reach: all-purpose spammy damage, freezes mobs and does DoT. I like this better than crushing shock but i swap it for that when mageslaying
Endless fury: essential sustaining execute. Kill stuff with it and you get a big wodge of magicka back
Hardened ward: big instacast shield for tanking hits. Not quite so big in pvp but better now than it was before orsinium came out
Crystal fragzz: when your hands go purple launch it at the nearest sucker
Inner light: boost spell crit + magicka. You want spell crit for surge. Also you get that glowy eyes thing
Ultimate: energy overload: burst damage when they least expect it, and plus you get to replenish your magicka whilst wailing on them with the vicious light attack you get. Also: you get a special extra bar on which I've made the following changes:
Slot 1 replaced with harness magicka, which you can sneakily cast by toggling the ultimate on without having to use up ultimate
Slot 3 replaced with streak, for getting out of dodge
Resto staff:
Something (usually either boundless storm or lightning flood): Lightning flood is good in pvp for flushing out nightblades
Power surge: jack up your spell damage a lot and get heals for crits. The more pain you deal out the more heals you get
Healing ward: I found that this is the most all round reliable self heal. It's almost an insta heal but you can't spam it because you have to wait for the shield to run out or get destroyed
Quick siphon: I think it's worth losing out on the magicka from siphon spirit to be able to quickly cast this on whoever looks toughest mid-fight
Inner light: so you can keep it up all the time
Ultimate: ice comet for pvp, Storm atronach (can't make up my mind which morph is best) for PVE

The main thing is to keep conjured ward and surge up so you get steady healing and protection from damage while fighting. You can go into overload mode if you're short of magicka or want to burst damage something. Your method of healing of you get damaged is to hit healing ward and surge and suck health out of stuff. Your resto staff heavy attack sucks health and magicka at a respectable rate (best time to use it is when there's a lull in a boss's attacks) and your ice staff gives you a bit of a shield. Weaving ice staff light attacks helps freeze things as well

Caveat: I have not yet done vet maelstrom arena so there might well be major flaws