Help me find a DPS class

RAYVORN

So been playing a few days and learned a bit. I don't like healing in ESO, not my style. I think I will like tanking but right now I dont know the game/mobs and feel like I need to learn their abilities before I could become a good tank. So that leaves me with DPS. My wife is playing a magika ranged Sorc so I am leaning toward melee. I would like a melee class that has good self healing and great DPS. My end goal is to be able to play trials. But I know my play-style and I am not a fan of having to micro manage a TON of buffs. Now a few of-course I know I am going to have to do but I rather not have to maintain 5+ to be optimal. If its a mix of debuffs that get applied when I attack that's fine or if there is a decent marco that combines a couple or something then that's good also but if I have to every 5 seconds reapply a buff I will lose interest fast. I prefer to enjoy the view of the battle and be engaged in the game not focusing on buff timers on my addons if that makes sense.

I am open to every class but I would put Sorc last because my wife is one. I am open to any race also (would prefer whats considered best).

Looking forward to your suggestions. Thank you

davey1107

Hmm...let me think about that.

So my first comment is that the way ESO runs currently, you need a lot of champion points to run trials. But champion points are account-wide, and any you earn are used universally by all characters. The point is that if you work up a toon and don't like it, in 5-10 hours of grinding you can add another vet to your account and be good to go with a new class. And having multiple characters can help rack up champion points...regardless, don't be too concerned about choosing "wrong."

That said, there are a couple of options that would pair well with your wife's magsorc. Let's look at her choice first:


Mag Sorc, race: Altmer, dark elf, Breton

Powerful dps, range, creates "hell on earth." Good resource sustain, great wards, so-so healing potential. No real support abilities. The sorcs primary weakness is that their attacks can be a little slower to ramp up, so if mobs get through they can get into trouble. If you're wanting to dps also, then ideally your setup deals damage in a manner that keeps people off her and lets her destroy away. For you, speed and mobility will be nice so that you can identify a threat, isolate it, and kill it.

Pros: fun, massive dps, can heal and shield self. Cons: can use help managing mobs. Their finisher sucks.


In no particular order, what other classes will be like to play, especially playing a lot w a mag Sorc:


Magic Templar (dps setup), race: dark elf, Altmer, Breton

This class would offer the most flexibility...you have a ton of skills to choose from, including a lot of support and heals if you need it...but don't think I'm recommending a healer build. You'd have a dual or sword and board attack bar, with puncturing sweeps as your primary attack ("jabby jabby"). Reflective light, a fireball range attack supplements. And radiant oppression..."Jesus beam"...a mega-finisher. A destruction staff makes the ideal back bar...the ultimate is...ka-pow. If you need a burst heal, you have one. If your wife hits a point where she struggles with magic management (it'll happen off and on through the progression) you have shards, which give her back magic.

Pros: amazing self sustain. Flexible. Brings in powerful finisher to supplement sorc lack of one. Cons: lower dps, which is less a concern because you're teaming with a dps powerhouse. They don't need a lot of buffs, but their buffs tend to be the short term ones you dislike. (I.e., harness magicka, a 6 second shield...blah.)


Stam sorc, race: khajiit, redguard

This would play NOTHING like your wife's magsorc, don't worry. Stam sorcs only get 3-4 abilities from their class lines, and rely mostly on weapon skills. Play style here is as a melee psychopath with an amazing aoe and great sustain. There are two primary buffs, but you can eliminate one if you use shrouded daggers for major brutality, and the ward is a toggle...turn it on, forget about it. As a stam sorc you'd enter battle by turning on your armor, proccing your aoe, hurricane, then slashing away with dual wield abilities...your pick they're all good. Bow is often the back bar, but I like 2h too.

Pros: fun. Very good dps. Great self sustain. Cons: because so many Sorc skills are magic-only, options can feel limited at times. A stam sorc doesn't have a finisher unless they use the 2h ability execute.


stamblade, race: khajiit, wood elf, redguard

The assassins of ESO. This is a hard class to master, and can be a little squishy. But I'm speaking as someone with a stamblade main...I love them. I find them to be the most flexible class in terms of different ability bars. My main has five setups that I can switch around, each playing pretty different from one another. A stamblade pairs really well with a mag Sorc. You have an amazing gap closer that puts you anywhere on the battlefield when you need to be there. Then their single target dps is off the charts. And they have a spammable finisher that supplements the lack of one with a sorc. Nightblades are melee fighters for sure, and they have many skills that offer debuffs to enemies that will help the sorc hit harder.

As said, they are squishy as heck. But this could be mitigated with some heals and wards from the sorc. (Also, when people stop playing them like magplars and like nightblades they become way more resilient).

Pros: great dps. Fast, sneaky, mobile. Lots of play style options. Solid finisher. Cons: squishy. You really need to play some pvp early on to get their only good heal, vigor.


stamplar, race: redguard, khajiit, Orc, imperial

Dragonknights bore the heck out of me. I personally prefer stamina Templars as a blend of dps and tankiness. However, right now the best players are suggesting that stamplars are currently subpar for trials and end game pve. Alcast doesn't even maintain a current stamplar pve build. But who knows what might change in the future. For now, I like my stamplar in general.

A stamplar would use mostly weapon skills...probably dual wield for attack...with stamina jabs brought in from their class skills. The Templar execute is magic only, so that kinda stinks and puts them in the same boat as stam sorc - executioner from 2h is the best option. Pairing with a sorc, a stamplar can tank up for difficult big boss fights, then dps up for normal play.

Pros: good sustain. Good slate of support skills. The tankiest on this list. Cons: dps is a little low and requires some management w gear and buffs. There could be a few more stamina skills in the Templar class lines, imo.


Those are some notes. Because you know you want to work toward trials, I'd refer you to alcasthq.com. He's one of the best players in ESO and maintains a current list of BIS builds. In most cases, any trial build you create will look something like his builds since he isolates core skills. If his bars look doable in terms of buffs/play style/etc, that might help you decide.

EldritchPenguin

If you want a melee class that has great self healing and doesn't take too much buff management, I'd go with Magicka Templar. I know, I know, "Magicka" implies "ranged wizard", but they actually fight predominantly in melee range.

You pretty much run Blockade of Fire, Blazing Spear, Reflective Light, Ritual of Retribution/Purifying Light, and then you just smack everything with Puncturing Sweeps. You have 4 DoTs and a powerful melee attack that keeps you at high health. Not to mention that Ritual of Retribution and Purifying Light both heal you and your teammates. Oh, and then you have the almighty Radiant Destruction, which will disintegrate anything below 30% health, and even has a morph that heals you for a percentage of the damage done.

It's an extremely solid choice for a DPS role, and pretty much exactly matches the description of what you're asking for.

darkllord

I find my magDK to easily outperform other mag melee builds DPS wise, even in average gear. Only my armor slots are BiS, besides that I´m using random inferno staff and willpower jewellery. I did not take him into the trials so far, but in vet dungeons I can easily pull 35k dps while maintaining correct rotation. Above that I find magDK to be most entertaing claas to play out of all melee magicka toons i currently have.

OrphanHelgen

Mag DK is melee dps self heal

emilyhyoyeon

EldritchPenguin wrote: »

If you want a melee class that has great self healing and doesn't take too much buff management, I'd go with Magicka Templar. I know, I know, "Magicka" implies "ranged wizard", but they actually fight predominantly in melee range.

You pretty much run Blockade of Fire, Blazing Spear, Reflective Light, Ritual of Retribution/Purifying Light, and then you just smack everything with Puncturing Sweeps. You have 4 DoTs and a powerful melee attack that keeps you at high health. Not to mention that Ritual of Retribution and Purifying Light both heal you and your teammates. Oh, and then you have the almighty Radiant Destruction, which will disintegrate anything below 30% health, and even has a morph that heals you for a percentage of the damage done.

It's an extremely solid choice for a DPS role, and pretty much exactly matches the description of what you're asking for.

I second the magicka templar dps. I play a magicka templar healer (as my main) and I LOVE it. I generally like the design of the templar class's abilities (the light/bright attacks, spear theme in the Aedric Spear skill line) so it's appealing in that regard. it also has a (magicka version) lifesteal ability called Puncturing Sweep. The Dawn's Wrath skill category is also good for the magicka dps, but I don't use that one. Templars can also be good stamina DPS if i recall correctly. A lot of the classes can function as DPS well. I like templar because I like the aesthetic of templar skills, so if aesthetic/style means anything to you, you can use that as a consideration.

My husband plays a bow-only stamina nightblade DPS, and we really synergize well when I play my templar - as a healer in PVP, but when my husband and I play alone I can also function well enough as a healer mixed with tank, mainly by having my taunt/heavy armor/damage reducing ults. I also much prefer to play support chars than DPS ones

I want to mention that my first char with my husband (who was playing the same char: nightblade dps) was a magicka sorcerer DPS. playing together was always really annoying because two DPS didn't work- for us at least. one of us would have to tank some bosses - which was me - but holding aggro was frustrating and we didn't synergize well. If your wife is a DPS, then I'd recommend playing some type of support character (tank since you don't like healer), or at least be able to function as a tank with her. In your case, focus on self-healing from DPS and maybe keep a taunt in your build.


a lot of others have mentioned Dragonknights too. I only recommend templar over DK if you care about and like the templar skill aesthetics more like me lol

WarpigFunk

OP. You want a stamsorc.

Theres basically 2-3 buffs to keep up. You heal yourself on crit damage, so the more damage the more self healing. And DPS is highest melee AOE DPS and 2nd or 3rd highest single target melee DPS.

The class is all about moving fast, hitting hard and always doing damage, and it's totally self sustaining. Running with your wife who plays a magsorc, the two of you will be clearing massive heaps of enemies in seconds.

And by the time you get around to building a tank you'll be familiar with a stam playstyle.

Alternate would be stam DK - which you can play as pure DPS, but later down the road respec him into a tank, and not have to level up another build. Stam DK is similar to stamsorc but just not as much self healing.

grannas211

join the Mag Sorc master class

Imvoracious

darkllord wrote: »

I find my magDK to easily outperform other mag melee builds DPS wise, even in average gear. Only my armor slots are BiS, besides that I´m using random inferno staff and willpower jewellery. I did not take him into the trials so far, but in vet dungeons I can easily pull 35k dps while maintaining correct rotation. Above that I find magDK to be most entertaing claas to play out of all melee magicka toons i currently have.

Can you post your build? Looking to try a dps magdk

Betsararie

grannas211 wrote: »

join the Mag Sorc master class

Yep. As a stamblade who recently started a Mag Sorc, Mag Sorc deals insane amounts of damage.

I usually like playing the rogue style character in MMOs, but Mag Sorc does insane damage and it's ranged, at that.

EldritchPenguin

Imvoracious wrote: »

darkllord wrote: »

I find my magDK to easily outperform other mag melee builds DPS wise, even in average gear. Only my armor slots are BiS, besides that I´m using random inferno staff and willpower jewellery. I did not take him into the trials so far, but in vet dungeons I can easily pull 35k dps while maintaining correct rotation. Above that I find magDK to be most entertaing claas to play out of all melee magicka toons i currently have.

Can you post your build? Looking to try a dps magdk

Here's what most mDKs use:

Front bar (Inferno): Moten Whip, Blockade of Fire, Burning Embers, Engulfing Flames, Inner Light. U: Shooting Star.

Back bar (Inferno): Elemental Ring/Pulsar, Flames of Oblivion, Eruption, Rearming Trap/Molten Armaments, Harness Magicka/Dampen Magic. U: Standard of Might.

There's a little bit of variation between players here, but not much. The majority of DPS mDKs will look a lot like this.

The rotation is pretty easy if you start with the DoTs with the highest duration and work your way down to the ones with the lowest duration. So from longest to shortest, I cast Eruption, FoO, Engulfing Flames, Burning Embers, and finally Blockade. That makes the last three expire at about the same time, and it's really easy to refresh all of them together when they're on the same bar.