Best defensive class for PvP?

Bashev

Everybody who PvP regularly knows that in some situation he can be a main target for 3 or more people. Which class has the best defensive abilities in PvP?

Dragonknight
As a DK I can use reflective scales which reflects 4 projectiles in 4 seconds and obsidian shield which scales of health. Another defensive skill that I can use is magma armor. One morph of standard for damage mitigation.

Sorcerer
As a Sorc I can spam my hardened ward. Ball of lightning - absorbs magic projectiles.

Nightblade
As a NB I can use cloak to remove DoTs and cancel single target attacks and blur for 20% dodge chance. Consuming darkness - ultimate for damage mitigation

Templar
As a Templar I can use purifying ritual to cleanse, breath of life to heal myself and sun shield which scales of health. Radial sweep - ultimate for damage mitigation.

If I missed any class defensive skill please write it down and I will add it to the description. I didnt add the armor and spell resistance buffs as every class has them.

Soulac

NB Sap Tank.
Except tanking and healing group members not really useful tho.

DKs can equally tank and can hit harder. AoE Roots and standard a pretty nice as well.

Both useful, but I'd rather fight the Nb than a DK.

Bashev

Sorcerer

According to me from all defensive skills the strongest ones are the shields because they can protect you from all crits and they absorb all the damage + they can protect you from some of the CC effects and bleedig DoT.

That is why I voted for a Sorc.

Curragraigue

Sorc also has surge for crit heals, mines and bolt escape all for defence

Bashev

Sorcerer

Curragraigue wrote: »

Sorc also has surge for crit heals, mines and bolt escape all for defence

Crit heals in pvp is not so strong. I can add it partially. Mines do not mitigate damage directly. But you are right for Ball of Lighting because it can absorb magic projectiles.

Curragraigue

Bashev wrote: »

Curragraigue wrote: »

Sorc also has surge for crit heals, mines and bolt escape all for defence

Crit heals in pvp is not so strong. I can add it partially. Mines do not mitigate damage directly. But you are right for Ball of Lighting because it can absorb magic projectiles.

You lay mines to slow your enemy down and to force them to cross over them to attack you. In essence they operate like a shield or defensive position. I personally wouldn't include a heal as a defence but you had a heal in for Temps so included it for Sorc.

The other one I was referring to was bolt escape not lightening form. Again bolt can be used as an escape hence it is a defensive skill in my book. Your right though lightening form provides armour so based on your Temp skill reference it is defensive as well.

Lexxypwns

Sorc also has defensive rune, which is great against gankers, and good for 1vX since you can simply focus a different target from the one in your rune and force them to break it. Sorc also has mines, the best non-ulti area denial in the game

Hexys

Sorcerer

You mentioned Ball of lightning, but streak is better in almost all situations. A sorc doesn't have to port 5 times to get away, turn around streak the enemies behind you, loose line of sight and you're gone.

Lucky28

Nightblade

Recently started playing a magicka NB. Went to Azura's star when i hit Lv. 25 and have been PvPing with him for the past 4 days.... it is stupidly easy to stay alive easier than when on my V16 sorc. so i voted nightblade.

AverageJo3Gam3r

Dragonknight

DK. Only class with defensive passives. Sorc shields are great for tanking until someone shows up with shield breaker.

AverageJo3Gam3r

Dragonknight

.

Olen_Mikko

Templar

They all have their pros and cons.

I'd say NBs are the weakest defence class, since they lack a good self heal and cloak is ridiculously easy to counter.

Maybe templars are the best defensive class, since they have powerful heals and damage shield

eliisra

Sorcerer

Bashev wrote: »

Everybody who PvP regularly knows that in some situation he can be a main target for 3 or more people. Which class has the best defensive abilities in PvP?

Only class that has a chance in that scenario is sorcerer. Rest will die from triple focus, before able to break cc.

Hardened Ward is the a strongest defensive ability in the game. It makes you immune to crits. It prevents you from getting busted down to 0 health when cc'ed. It absorbs both physical and spell dmg. Unlike other shields it comes with 33% self bonus and scales of magicka, in comparison to health scaling shields, it's huge.

But sorcerers also has mobility or the ability to kite multiple players with Boundless Storm and Bolt Escape. DK's and templars cant kite at all, why they die way faster, even with strong heals or tank passives.

Springt-Über-Zwerge

Sorcerer

Olen_Mikko wrote: »

They all have their pros and cons.

I'd say NBs are the weakest defence class, since they lack a good self heal and cloak is ridiculously easy to counter.

Maybe templars are the best defensive class, since they have powerful heals and damage shield

please dont call blazing shield a damageschield its non existant atm

SemiD4rkness

Dragonknight

Springt-Über-Zwerge wrote: »

Olen_Mikko wrote: »

They all have their pros and cons.

I'd say NBs are the weakest defence class, since they lack a good self heal and cloak is ridiculously easy to counter.

Maybe templars are the best defensive class, since they have powerful heals and damage shield

please dont call blazing shield a damageschield its non existant atm

It's a shield that can completely deny the damage out of ONE light attack, if it isn't crit. Now that's what I call a good all around defensive ability.

DannyLV702

Sorcerer

It's really sad that us sorcerers have better survival than a DK lol. I really feel like harness and hardened ward should NOT stack with each other. Sorcerer is the only class I play so I'm not just some hater lol

Ezareth

Bashev wrote: »

Everybody who PvP regularly knows that in some situation he can be a main target for 3 or more people. Which class has the best defensive abilities in PvP?

Dragonknight
As a DK I can use reflective scales which reflects 4 projectiles in 4 seconds and obsidian shield which scales of health. Another defensive skill that I can use is magma armor. One morph of standard for damage mitigation.

Sorcerer
As a Sorc I can spam my hardened ward. Ball of lightning - absorbs magic projectiles.

Nightblade
As a NB I can use cloak to remove DoTs and cancel single target attacks and blur for 20% dodge chance. Consuming darkness - ultimate for damage mitigation

Templar
As a Templar I can use purifying ritual to cleanse, breath of life to heal myself and sun shield which scales of health. Radial sweep - ultimate for damage mitigation.

If I missed any class defensive skill please write it down and I will add it to the description. I didnt add the armor and spell resistance buffs as every class has them.

I think this needs to be broken down further.

Best Magicka defense, hands down a Sorc with Ball of Lightning and harness magicka/hardened ward.

Best Physical defense would be either a Nightblade dodger or DK blocker.

Forestd16b14_ESO

Nightblade

OK how is any voting for DK. Yes DKs are meant to be tanks but since the META choose NB NBs are the class for pvp and now PvE tanks.

NBs period they're "the class" to be and ZOS needs to start balancing the classes already.

Francescolg

Sorcerer

I pick sorc because:
- strongest and spammable absorb shield -by a large margin-
- nice skills with considerable (build-in) CC
- Daedric Mines (so strong, if you know how to use them)
- self heal mechanic
- Resto-staff skills (healing ward, HoT, etc etc) can PROC crushing shock.. ! (THIS IS SO STRONG, again: only if you know how to play it)
- consecutive blink/teleport (however YOU call it ZENIMAX.. don't reinvent the wheel...^^), the nurf did not really make it impossible to teleport 3-4 times in a row

/edit sorcerer's defense is SO strong that I, as a templar/healer, seldomly have to heal them in dungeons, if and only if (!) they know how to play their sorc. A group with 2-3 good sorcerer-players makes my healer jobless

zornyan

Francescolg wrote: »

Sorc or NB have the strongest defense, aswell as the strongest attack abilities. This has been the state of the game for over 6 months now and nobody cares, so no need to discuss it. I pick sorc because:

- Strongest and spammable absorb shield -by a large margin-
- Daedric Mines
- Self heal mechanic
- Combination of restoration staff skills (healing ward, HoT, etc etc) AND crushing shock.. ! (THIS IS SO STRONG, people are just lucky that many sorcs don't really know how to play with resto staff^^)
- consecutive blink/teleport (however YOU call it ZENIMAX.. don't reinvent the wheel...^^), the nurf did not really make it impossible to teleport 3-4 times in a row

This, thank god zos said a class rebalance is incoming, I can't wait to see the QQ of all the people that rerolled sorcs recently just to be OP, same as DK a while back.

Me? I'm still loving my templars, and still praying that this class rebalance finally pushes us up a notch

Strider_Roshin

Sorcerer

zornyan wrote: »

Francescolg wrote: »

Sorc or NB have the strongest defense, aswell as the strongest attack abilities. This has been the state of the game for over 6 months now and nobody cares, so no need to discuss it. I pick sorc because:

- Strongest and spammable absorb shield -by a large margin-
- Daedric Mines
- Self heal mechanic
- Combination of restoration staff skills (healing ward, HoT, etc etc) AND crushing shock.. ! (THIS IS SO STRONG, people are just lucky that many sorcs don't really know how to play with resto staff^^)
- consecutive blink/teleport (however YOU call it ZENIMAX.. don't reinvent the wheel...^^), the nurf did not really make it impossible to teleport 3-4 times in a row

This, thank god zos said a class rebalance is incoming, I can't wait to see the QQ of all the people that rerolled sorcs recently just to be OP, same as DK a while back.

Me? I'm still loving my templars, and still praying that this class rebalance finally pushes us up a notch

May I ask when and where they said this? I agree btw. Sorcs have the best damage, the best mobility and the best survivability. There needs to be a trade-off somewhere.

zornyan

Strider_Roshin wrote: »

zornyan wrote: »

Francescolg wrote: »

Sorc or NB have the strongest defense, aswell as the strongest attack abilities. This has been the state of the game for over 6 months now and nobody cares, so no need to discuss it. I pick sorc because:

- Strongest and spammable absorb shield -by a large margin-
- Daedric Mines
- Self heal mechanic
- Combination of restoration staff skills (healing ward, HoT, etc etc) AND crushing shock.. ! (THIS IS SO STRONG, people are just lucky that many sorcs don't really know how to play with resto staff^^)
- consecutive blink/teleport (however YOU call it ZENIMAX.. don't reinvent the wheel...^^), the nurf did not really make it impossible to teleport 3-4 times in a row

This, thank god zos said a class rebalance is incoming, I can't wait to see the QQ of all the people that rerolled sorcs recently just to be OP, same as DK a while back.

Me? I'm still loving my templars, and still praying that this class rebalance finally pushes us up a notch

May I ask when and where they said this? I agree btw. Sorcs have the best damage, the best mobility and the best survivability. There needs to be a trade-off somewhere.

Early next year, I *think* they are aiming to do it before the next dlc, but WORST case March when the next dlc drops, although they've already said major updates will be coming before then anyway.

I would say end of Jan beginning of feb.

Personally people say buff other classes, yeah great, but if they buff everyone to be as powerful as sorc end game content will already become a joke, hence why sorcs find malestrom easy and other classes find it hard, it should be in between for both, so some classes need tweets to be more powerful, but only a smidge, whilst others need a small nerf, so that content doesn't become too easy.

Ezareth

Strider_Roshin wrote: »

zornyan wrote: »

Francescolg wrote: »

Sorc or NB have the strongest defense, aswell as the strongest attack abilities. This has been the state of the game for over 6 months now and nobody cares, so no need to discuss it. I pick sorc because:

- Strongest and spammable absorb shield -by a large margin-
- Daedric Mines
- Self heal mechanic
- Combination of restoration staff skills (healing ward, HoT, etc etc) AND crushing shock.. ! (THIS IS SO STRONG, people are just lucky that many sorcs don't really know how to play with resto staff^^)
- consecutive blink/teleport (however YOU call it ZENIMAX.. don't reinvent the wheel...^^), the nurf did not really make it impossible to teleport 3-4 times in a row

This, thank god zos said a class rebalance is incoming, I can't wait to see the QQ of all the people that rerolled sorcs recently just to be OP, same as DK a while back.

Me? I'm still loving my templars, and still praying that this class rebalance finally pushes us up a notch

May I ask when and where they said this? I agree btw. Sorcs have the best damage, the best mobility and the best survivability. There needs to be a trade-off somewhere.

Except they dont have anywhere close to the best mobility and they can't have the best damage and the best survivability both.

zornyan wrote: »

Strider_Roshin wrote: »

zornyan wrote: »

Francescolg wrote: »

Sorc or NB have the strongest defense, aswell as the strongest attack abilities. This has been the state of the game for over 6 months now and nobody cares, so no need to discuss it. I pick sorc because:

- Strongest and spammable absorb shield -by a large margin-
- Daedric Mines
- Self heal mechanic
- Combination of restoration staff skills (healing ward, HoT, etc etc) AND crushing shock.. ! (THIS IS SO STRONG, people are just lucky that many sorcs don't really know how to play with resto staff^^)
- consecutive blink/teleport (however YOU call it ZENIMAX.. don't reinvent the wheel...^^), the nurf did not really make it impossible to teleport 3-4 times in a row

This, thank god zos said a class rebalance is incoming, I can't wait to see the QQ of all the people that rerolled sorcs recently just to be OP, same as DK a while back.

Me? I'm still loving my templars, and still praying that this class rebalance finally pushes us up a notch

May I ask when and where they said this? I agree btw. Sorcs have the best damage, the best mobility and the best survivability. There needs to be a trade-off somewhere.

Early next year, I *think* they are aiming to do it before the next dlc, but WORST case March when the next dlc drops, although they've already said major updates will be coming before then anyway.

I would say end of Jan beginning of feb.

Personally people say buff other classes, yeah great, but if they buff everyone to be as powerful as sorc end game content will already become a joke, hence why sorcs find malestrom easy and other classes find it hard, it should be in between for both, so some classes need tweets to be more powerful, but only a smidge, whilst others need a small nerf, so that content doesn't become too easy.

I know players from all classes who think Maelstrom is easy. I also know sorcs who find maelstrom hard. Maelstrom shouldn't be the measure stick for which class balance is achieved.

Strider_Roshin

Sorcerer

Ezareth wrote: »

Strider_Roshin wrote: »

zornyan wrote: »

Francescolg wrote: »

Sorc or NB have the strongest defense, aswell as the strongest attack abilities. This has been the state of the game for over 6 months now and nobody cares, so no need to discuss it. I pick sorc because:

- Strongest and spammable absorb shield -by a large margin-
- Daedric Mines
- Self heal mechanic
- Combination of restoration staff skills (healing ward, HoT, etc etc) AND crushing shock.. ! (THIS IS SO STRONG, people are just lucky that many sorcs don't really know how to play with resto staff^^)
- consecutive blink/teleport (however YOU call it ZENIMAX.. don't reinvent the wheel...^^), the nurf did not really make it impossible to teleport 3-4 times in a row

This, thank god zos said a class rebalance is incoming, I can't wait to see the QQ of all the people that rerolled sorcs recently just to be OP, same as DK a while back.

Me? I'm still loving my templars, and still praying that this class rebalance finally pushes us up a notch

May I ask when and where they said this? I agree btw. Sorcs have the best damage, the best mobility and the best survivability. There needs to be a trade-off somewhere.

Except they dont have anywhere close to the best mobility and they can't have the best damage and the best survivability both.

zornyan wrote: »

Strider_Roshin wrote: »

zornyan wrote: »

Francescolg wrote: »

Sorc or NB have the strongest defense, aswell as the strongest attack abilities. This has been the state of the game for over 6 months now and nobody cares, so no need to discuss it. I pick sorc because:

- Strongest and spammable absorb shield -by a large margin-
- Daedric Mines
- Self heal mechanic
- Combination of restoration staff skills (healing ward, HoT, etc etc) AND crushing shock.. ! (THIS IS SO STRONG, people are just lucky that many sorcs don't really know how to play with resto staff^^)
- consecutive blink/teleport (however YOU call it ZENIMAX.. don't reinvent the wheel...^^), the nurf did not really make it impossible to teleport 3-4 times in a row

This, thank god zos said a class rebalance is incoming, I can't wait to see the QQ of all the people that rerolled sorcs recently just to be OP, same as DK a while back.

Me? I'm still loving my templars, and still praying that this class rebalance finally pushes us up a notch

May I ask when and where they said this? I agree btw. Sorcs have the best damage, the best mobility and the best survivability. There needs to be a trade-off somewhere.

Early next year, I *think* they are aiming to do it before the next dlc, but WORST case March when the next dlc drops, although they've already said major updates will be coming before then anyway.

I would say end of Jan beginning of feb.

Personally people say buff other classes, yeah great, but if they buff everyone to be as powerful as sorc end game content will already become a joke, hence why sorcs find malestrom easy and other classes find it hard, it should be in between for both, so some classes need tweets to be more powerful, but only a smidge, whilst others need a small nerf, so that content doesn't become too easy.

I know players from all classes who think Maelstrom is easy. I also know sorcs who find maelstrom hard. Maelstrom shouldn't be the measure stick for which class balance is achieved.

They can bolt all over the map and they gain major expedition from boundless storm. You don't get better mobility than that, and Deltia's sorc was doing 25k per light attack from overload in maelstrom, and his sorc set up isn't even the best out there. So yes: best mobility, best survivability, and best damage output.

zornyan

Ezareth wrote: »

Strider_Roshin wrote: »

zornyan wrote: »

Francescolg wrote: »

Sorc or NB have the strongest defense, aswell as the strongest attack abilities. This has been the state of the game for over 6 months now and nobody cares, so no need to discuss it. I pick sorc because:

- Strongest and spammable absorb shield -by a large margin-
- Daedric Mines
- Self heal mechanic
- Combination of restoration staff skills (healing ward, HoT, etc etc) AND crushing shock.. ! (THIS IS SO STRONG, people are just lucky that many sorcs don't really know how to play with resto staff^^)
- consecutive blink/teleport (however YOU call it ZENIMAX.. don't reinvent the wheel...^^), the nurf did not really make it impossible to teleport 3-4 times in a row

This, thank god zos said a class rebalance is incoming, I can't wait to see the QQ of all the people that rerolled sorcs recently just to be OP, same as DK a while back.

Me? I'm still loving my templars, and still praying that this class rebalance finally pushes us up a notch

May I ask when and where they said this? I agree btw. Sorcs have the best damage, the best mobility and the best survivability. There needs to be a trade-off somewhere.

Except they dont have anywhere close to the best mobility and they can't have the best damage and the best survivability both.

zornyan wrote: »

Strider_Roshin wrote: »

zornyan wrote: »

Francescolg wrote: »

Sorc or NB have the strongest defense, aswell as the strongest attack abilities. This has been the state of the game for over 6 months now and nobody cares, so no need to discuss it. I pick sorc because:

- Strongest and spammable absorb shield -by a large margin-
- Daedric Mines
- Self heal mechanic
- Combination of restoration staff skills (healing ward, HoT, etc etc) AND crushing shock.. ! (THIS IS SO STRONG, people are just lucky that many sorcs don't really know how to play with resto staff^^)
- consecutive blink/teleport (however YOU call it ZENIMAX.. don't reinvent the wheel...^^), the nurf did not really make it impossible to teleport 3-4 times in a row

This, thank god zos said a class rebalance is incoming, I can't wait to see the QQ of all the people that rerolled sorcs recently just to be OP, same as DK a while back.

Me? I'm still loving my templars, and still praying that this class rebalance finally pushes us up a notch

May I ask when and where they said this? I agree btw. Sorcs have the best damage, the best mobility and the best survivability. There needs to be a trade-off somewhere.

Early next year, I *think* they are aiming to do it before the next dlc, but WORST case March when the next dlc drops, although they've already said major updates will be coming before then anyway.

I would say end of Jan beginning of feb.

Personally people say buff other classes, yeah great, but if they buff everyone to be as powerful as sorc end game content will already become a joke, hence why sorcs find malestrom easy and other classes find it hard, it should be in between for both, so some classes need tweets to be more powerful, but only a smidge, whilst others need a small nerf, so that content doesn't become too easy.

I know players from all classes who think Maelstrom is easy. I also know sorcs who find maelstrom hard. Maelstrom shouldn't be the measure stick for which class balance is achieved.

Well you kinda can.

If you take all 4 class magicka builds, put them all in a solo enviroment, even give them all the exact same gear, and one class massively massively outshines another then that proves something is wrong.

For instance I went in on my stam dk (for jokes yo) and it was painstakingly hard, self healing was much harder, sustain was harder, when getting battered from all corners by various mobs that you have to attack in melee range it's just horrific.

Then in comparison I go on my templar and find it far far easier.

Then I go in on my sorc and it's just half the difficulty, keep tapping that shield, throw the odd skill down, annihilate trash with frags or aoes. Then go into overlolmyghozdps mode and burn down the bosses at a ridiculous rate.

That reeks of unbalance, leaderboards speak for themsleves, the fact that no one single dk has finished vetmsa on console is a huge issue, compared to a large sorc amount, and few others.

anyway it's not worth arguing about, zos have said they realised it's unbalanced, and they've mentioned a few times about sorcs. So they're getting nerfed regardless.

a1i3nz

Nightblade

I'd say the best defense is a good offense, except in ESOs case. PVP is a laughable zerg fest. Just go nightblade so you can cloak up and remove dots.

MisterBigglesworth

Sorcerer

After reading your descriptions for each class I don't think "Defense" is quite the right word here. Really what you're talking about is overall Survivability.

I vote Sorc due to all the tools they can have on their bars all at the same time in order to counter almost any situation. Mines to counter melee. Ball to counter ranged. Lightning form to counter stealth melee. Having a ranged stun without it being a gap closer (which puts you in harm's way) and also without having to give up the extra spell power duel weild gives you in favor of destro staff's ranged CC.

There's just a lot of little things that all add up to a big advantage.

Imdrefan

Templar

AverageJo3Gam3r wrote: »

DK. Only class with defensive passives. Sorc shields are great for tanking until someone shows up with shield breaker.

Untrue, templar Spear wall passive reduces melee damage by 15% while blocking, Dk iron skin reduces damage by 10% while blocking.

Also Templars have their balanced warrior passive increasing spell resist by
2000

DK's have scaled armor passive increasing spell resist by 2500

OGLezard

get vigor and everything is aok. Mix that with stamblade and gg.

CatchMeTrolling

Dragonknight

Dks have the best stand your ground defense

Bashev

Sorcerer

CatchMeTrolling wrote: »

Dks had the best stand your ground defense

I corrected this for you. Now can you tell us why do you think that DKs has the best stand your ground defense?