Best AoE and Direct Damage Sills for a maxed Stam DK?

Rainwhisper

I am exclusively a PvE player, and I play primarily for questing, achievements, and exploration. Since I'm getting a ton of quest XP, I decided to not let it go to waste and have been levelling up other weapon skills and the class skills I didn't use on my way to 50. The loadout below is for questing, exploring, and general survival in Tamriel.

As it stands right now, I've levelled up all the weapons skills except Restoration to 50. Restoration is coming along nicely. I've also levelled all of my class skills and ultimates, all of the weapons skills (except the final Restoration one), and each of the armor skills to the point where they can be morphed. I've also morphed the mage's guild ultimate, and I've leveled three of my five werewolf skills (as well as the transformation) to the point where it can be morphed. Fighter's Guild is at 9.5 or so.

Generally I play as a Stam DK, alternating between Dual-Wield and Bow. I usually keep a single-target attack, a DOT, either a heal (Green Dragon Blood) or a CC (Shattering Rocks), an "opener" attack (e.g. Snipe or Flying Blade), and an AoE on my bar, in that order. I usually have Pack Leader and Shooting Stars as my Ult's.

For fun sometimes I'll switch to light armor and play at being a mage, but generally the above is my load out.

For the AoE I've been alternating between Eruption and Steel Tornado. I like that Eruption gives me a use for my magicka beyond self heals or crowd control. Considering the options open to me, is there a better AoE that I should try? I don't even have any points in Volley or its morph at the moment because I found it underwhelming.

Also, is there a good DoT or direct-damage attack from my class skills that I might be overlooking because I've been using my weapons skills so much?

AfkNinja

Volley is an amazing skill. It's a fire and forget AOE that will raise your overall dps quite a bit, you should use it if you are going /bow. Dot's should be on your bow bar, poison injection and Volley as they will passively add to your DPS while you use your spam-able on your main bar (DW). Most people use bow as a buff bar or for escaping because of the passive. You can use it as a ranged dmg bar though, it's up to you. Stamknight has really great dots though so honestly you should be stacking all the dots you can in PVE. AOE dots for groups and single target dots for bosses etc. I also slot Dawnbreaker and rearming trap for the passive weapon dmg bonus and bind/dot but that's just personal preference. Dawnbreaker by itself though should raise your weapon dmg by 8%~ if you chose the morph that adds 5% weapon dmg and you have all the fighter's guild passives.

Class skills that are great dots:

Poison breath for aoe major fracture and Venom claws are both the bee's knee's. Your class passives will raise the dmg of your poison dot's quite a bit so use them. DK can have the best DPS in the game in PVE due to the insane number of DOT's you have access to.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

As a Stam DK, you should be using stamina skills for AOE. Eruption is great on a magic DK, but it stinks on stam. Your Stam DK AoE skills are as follows (some are not class skills):

Steel Tornado (DW) - Main spam when everything else is ticking.

Deadly Cloak (DW) - I only run this in really heavy trash, but it hits hard and gives good protection.

Endless Hail (Bow) - Morph of Volley. This skill is ridiculous AOE, you are missing out.

Rearming Trap (Fighters Guild) - This is a must have for any Stamina user, single target or AOE. It gives you minor force, and is a really good AoE DoT. This skill is so good that most magic users run it just for the minor force.

Noxious Breath (Class Skill) - This doesnt make the cut on a single target rotation, but on AoE that is nicely stacked, its worth the cast. Good damage and debuff.

Flames of Oblivion (Class Skill) - This costs magic, but scales off of your max resource so it works on stamina builds. Problem with this skill is that it is bugged. It gives you a crit bonus on whatever bar you have active. If you use pots that give the crit bonus, this will override the bonus when you weapon swap and you will lose the bonus on the off bar. In other words, if you want to run it you need to put it on both bars or put another skill (evil hunter) that gives the same bonus on the off bar. In single target fights, I run evil hunter on the front bar and FOO on the back bar to solve the problem. Its pretty annoying as it would be a good skill in trash.

Standard of Might (Class Ultimate) - This is arguably the best ultimate in the game. It is a 20% damage buff and insane AoE. It also fills up your resources when you cast it. This is always on my back bar unless I am in VMA, in which case, I prefer Corrosive Armor.

Flawless Dawnbreaker - (Fighters Guild) - You will want to finish off your fighters guild skill line so you get this skill. We slot it on the main bar for the passive damage buff, but it is also a low cost ultimate that can be empowerd by VMA weapons. It is a cone attack with a nice DoT. It is not better than standard, but it often is useful at the end of the fight when you know you won't get enough ultimate back for a standard before things die.

If you want to maximize your AoE damage, you want to put down as many skills as you can, and spam tornado while they are ticking. When they run out, reapply them, but not before. Hail, Trap, and Tornado should be more AoE than you know what to do with while soloing. Deadly cloak and Noxious Breath are just gravy.

Pro tip, if you are looking for something to do with your magic, Igneous shield is the answer. It is a shield, gives major mending (nice to cast right before vigor), and your passives make it the perfect magic dump. Each cast will restore stamina. DK tanks can actually block cast this skill and restore stamina while blocking.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

For what its worth, these are bullet proof bars for everything from soling world bosses, to normal dungeons to veteran Mawl of Lorkaj. I do switch around stuff, but these will ALWAYS work everywhere in PVE except VMA. They do require weapon pots. If you dont want to run pots, Molten Armaments can be put on your back to give you the weapon damage buff (replace either Igneous or Breath).

DW: Rapid Strikes, Venemous Claw, Rearming Trap, Steel Tornado, Rending Slashes, Flawless Dawnbreaker
Bow: Poison Injection, Endless Hail, Noxious Breath, Vigor, Igneous Shield, Standard of Might.

In pure single target, I drop Tornado for Evil Hunter, and Noxious Breath for Flames of oblivion. I also use the Igneous Shield spot a s a flex spot for Chains or Lethal Arrow if I need some CC or Range.

Rainwhisper

This is enormously helpful. Thank you SO much for going into clear detail. I've noticed a significant increase in my damage.

Much appreciated!

Gargath

I recommend Shrouded Daggers, a marvelous morph from Hidden Blade (DW) as opening skill in dual wield.
With Hunding's Rage and Viper's Sting full sets a few of my hits from this skill and entire 3 mobs squad lies dead (Steel Tornado to execute those who don't want to die quickly . It's like a small but powerful aoe for most frequently spotted tripple mobs. For me Shrouded Daggers is a best Direct Damage skill for DK.

My stamina DK uses also:
- Bloodthirst from Flurry (from DW) for spammed self healing and damage against pve bosses.
- Steel Tornado (from DW)
- Fiery Breath morph Noxious Breath (from DK Ardent Flame)