Noob getting close to 160 CP. Lots of questions.

Travial

So I've been playing for 2 and a half weeks and am getting close to 160CP and I'm still quite ignorant on a lot of things. I'm looking for answers to some questions I still have.

1: I'm mainly a PvPer and want to build and focus on that, but I am also interested in end game PvE. I'm a Stam DK right now with a PvP build, but I'd like to tank at the highest level as well. Can I realistically do both? I can obviously get different gear sets, but is spending gold to change my champion points and possibly even attribute points a viable way to do this? Can I realistically PvP, tank in end game trials/pledges, and have an optimal vMA setup? I don't mean be average at all or any of the above things, I mean optimal setups.

2: How many crafting skills can I master without gimping my character? Can I get most of them without sacrificing any skill points needed for PvP/End Game PvE?

3: I see a lot of PvE Tank builds out there, but is there something that is meta right now? I don't want any different or weird builds, I just want the absolute optimal setup and I'm having a hard time telling what that is. I realize there will be different opinions on this and will depend on the content being done, but there is usually common aspects in tank builds that are "standard".

4: Do I have any hope of being a top PvPer in standard Cyrodiil without having 561 CP?

Thanks for the help.

Danksta

1. You can do it all on one character, but it can get a bit spendy with all the respeccs if you're going to be switching between PvP and PvE on a daily or even somewhat regular basis. If you mainly PvP your sources of income are pretty much limited to farming IC for tel var stones and selling wanted sets that you buy with the tel var stones.

2. I have my one master crafter that does all crafts. I have most skyshards, but am missing quite a few skill points. With that being said, he has 2 weapon skill lines, all class skill lines and alliance skill lines maxed. If I had the skill points from all public and group dungeons I could do another weapon skill line.

3. I don't tank but the meta for tanks basically comes down to ult regen. So you've got Tava's Blessing (crafted), Bloodspawn (monster set) that you'll want to mix with another 5 piece dropped set like Ebon. Sorry names of other sets are eluding me at the moment.

4. You'll want to be at least close with those aspirations. Skill can make up for a lot, but when going against similarly skilled players that have hundreds of more CPs than you they're generally going to turn you into virtual fertilizer. It's not to say that you can't have fun and even beat on CP-capped players, but simply put you won't be one of the best. From where you are now to CP cap is a difference of I'd say (just guessing here, no math) about 15% damage, damage mitigation, and resource regen.

So I'm going to assume as competitive as you seem to be that you're doing some animation canceling. If you think it's something you could improve on or want to learn more about search YouTube for Alcast, he has a couple of videos on animation canceling that are very informative. I know you didn't ask anything about it, but it's a pretty big part of being competitive in PvP and end game PvE.

davey1107

I concur w Danksta's post. Some addl thoughts:

A. You can spec attribute points one time and be done. Honestly, they can all go into magic or stamina for any character. Ten attribute points in health is worth 1150 max health. This is close to one health enchant on a piece of armor. So I find that it's way easier to balance max stam/health by changing out armor enchants if need be, although as a DK you're going to invest in mostly stamina in both attribute and enchants.

Champion points are a different matter. There are certainly specs that work great for both so you never have to change. You'd be a "B+" pvper/pve-er. But to be the "best," they likely do need a little tweaking between pvp and pve. But you really don't need to tweak until you get higher in CPs.

For now, I advise spending in a few very strong CP items. In green, invest most in stam recover and stam cost reduce (warlord). You're working toward 120 in lover, w like a 85/25/10 spread in resource recovery, then all other greens in warlord. In blue you're all about the ritual, with most in mighty for now (increasing power of EVERY stam attack). My end game is 90 mighty, 50 precise strike, some piercing and thaumaturge w a few in blessed. In red you should race to 120 in the lady w an even spread in hardy and element defend. These reduce incoming magic and stamina attacks...they are the best buffs in red. Of course, for pvp you might want resistant - only human players crit. But focusing on the others first is probably wise, they give you good all around resistance.

B. As Danksta says, there are enough skill points in the game to open most of the skills. My main has all of the craft skills and passive, almost every ability he would want, four weapon lines, two armor, and tons of auxiliary stuff. However, I've played him for two years, and a lot of skill points are a pain in the arse to get. To get his points, my main got every sky shard and played every skill point quest...ugh.

I highly advise creating two addl crafting toons - one for smith, cloth and wood, then a second for alchemy, enchant, provision. Have your main adventure and pick up stuff...he'll get high level items. You can push items to your bank to deconstruct, and they can hold/manage all the junk. If you're going to craft armor sets, get your guy researching asap. It takes about a year to get all nine traits on every armor piece. (ESO workbench is a great iOS/android app to assist).

And hey, maybe you'll want to play a Templar/sorc/nightblade/magic dk some day - having secondary craft characters starts the leveling on these so if you ever want to try one, you don't have to start from scratch. Whether you use your main or secondary toons, you need about 66 skill points to be a trade crafter and 50 for the consumables (skipping junk passives).

C. I don't know the current stam tank meta. Deltias gaming is a good resource...he explains a lot in his videos, which might help you learn what certain Passives/skills/etc do.

D. If you mean top pvp-er as in "on the leaderboards," sure. You can earn enough AP to get up there. If you mean top as in "I win 95% of the fights I get into," then probably not. Being down 400 champion points is significant.

I agree with the approx 15% handicap estimate. But don't worry, you'll grind them up. Use your daily enlightenment (it saves up for 12 days worth, btw). And make sure to level lots of skills when enlightened. You have another 100 CPs that accumulate fast, then 250-350 is a little slow, then beyond that you're looking at weeks of playing, not hours, lol.

You can't do anything fast about the CP handicap, but there are other handicaps you can work on. Are you using the best sets for your build? Once you have two 5-piece sets, should you go get a monster helm set? (any that cause damage appropriate to your play style are very helpful for a DK) Are you using purple armor instead of gold? That's a 20%ish handicap. Is the armor enchanted appropriately? You probably want mostly stamina enchants, maybe a few health, and almost definitely weapon damage on the jewelry. Are you using rally/forward momentum every 30 seconds? You need the major brutality 20% damage buff. Do you know your other skills backward and forward so you can equip the right tools for the job, and are those skills leveled?

While you're working toward all of that (behold the ESO grind, lol), you're not going to be an unusable character...it just means playing the content a little different. In pvp, you're not going to be able to 1vX much since you won't deal a lot of damage. But you'll still be tanky as heck. Run in a small group w other classes that can dps. Turn on your combat text and start learning how to deal more/better damage. Learn what's hitting you hard and how to mitigate it. In PVE, start running maelstrom. If you can't do vet yet, do the regular, you'll earn a lot of xp and learn a lot. Start running vet undaunted dailies in a group, and when able start running regular undaunted dailies alone. (You can't complete all of them...some bosses have snares that prevent solo completion, but many are doable, and you will become a far better player running these).

Hope that helps. If you have any other questions, feel free to message me any time. I have a "leveling guild" where we try to assist new players with some of the complicated play and leveling mechanics...always happy to answer questions.

drakhan2002_ESO

CP160 is pretty low. Focus on getting to 300+ CP. The game will open up in several ways. You will feel pretty powerful in PvE. I don't PvP as it is not this game primary focus and I do not do much of it.

Nyx2

davey1107 wrote: »

I highly advise creating two addl crafting toons - one for smith, cloth and wood, then a second for alchemy, enchant, provision.

There is no real need for a crafting character with alchemy or even provision. You need to max out alchemy to get more out of various potion effects. It's similar with provision but not nearly as important as alchemy.