I don't know how to PvP. Please help?!

Amadis001

When I was a lvl 10, I randomly and with no preparation went into PvP for the first time, got obliterated a dozen times by invisible attackers, and left unhappy.

Yesterday, four months later at CP360, I decided to try again. Now I know what I'm doing. I crafted myself what I hoped was a decent starter PvP set: 5 Night's Silence, 5 Hist Bark, (all heavy), full impen. I'm using DW / 1H & shield. All my passives are maxed out: weapons, armor, and class. So I went into PvP for the second time (I joined a relatively unpopulated 7-day CP campaign) , got obliterated a dozen times by invisible attackers, and left unhappy. Before I gave up, I managed to explore a little: did a daily scouting quest and one random PvE quest I found along the way. Aside from that, I accomplished nothing, and am even more frustrate than before.

I obviously don't know what I'm doing or how to get started. I doubt I'll ever love PvP the way I love the rest of ESO. I'm totally into daily dungeon quests, trials with my guild, questing in general, and crafting. But I feel like I'm missing out on a big part of the game (and on 50 skill points, if nothing else), if I don't at least try to figure out how to PvP. I'm OK to be bad at it. I just want to be able to _understand_ it and participate in it without being a total failure.

What should I do?

Edit: I'm on XBOX1 NA. If anyone wants to recommend a noob-friendly PvP guild and give me a contact to ask for an invite, that would be great!

Takes-No-Prisoner

Join a PvP guild and ask questions.

Can't necessarily tell you how to gear or prepare for PvP. A lot of that journey is through getting beaten, and learning to take the beatings, fighting back then winning.

Tholian1

Go to a full campaign,or at least one that is full with your faction, and follow a group around. That's what I did. And while I did die a few times, I was never ganked.

geonsocal

@Amadis001 ...great advice from the folks above...

try to stick with it...definitely some frustrating moments ahead - but, if you've gamed a bunch in the past - nothing compares to the chaos and spontainaity of fighting other players...

Egonieser

Simple answer - you will get beaten and obliterated many times before you get better. Same as any PvP game you start where there are people there before you and have experience.

Noone just enters Cyrodiil and wins, those who do took time to learn and be good at it - and at the begining got beaten and battered just like you.
People become pros, they aren't born as such, they all faced the same hardships. And if you aren't prepared to take a beating, you will never learn.

Step one is to adjust your mindset for what I just said, and only then think about builds and skills.

FlyLionel

No cp campaign until you hit high cp's friend, unless you like disadvantages. Get to a good amount of health and get your sustain to a place where you feel very comfortable with.

BomblePants

Dude, you will die so much so fast for a while..... the first time I managed to survive more than 10 seconds against another player felt like an achievement at first!

Keep at it.... it's just a bit of a steep learning curve to begin with

WhiteMage

I'd recommend starting out in a no CP campaign. Let's see... as for general purpose advice, I'd say you want:

1 damage set and 1 regen set
At least 5 impen
1 attack bar with sharpened weapons, made for killing
1 defense bar with defending trait weapons, made for staying alive
You want at least 1 defensive skill on both bars
Whenever you are not trying to kill something, always be on your defending backbar. Don't get caught with your pants down by a ganker.
Learn to survive an initial attack (often, immediately break free then dodgeroll). You will fail until you succeed lol
Figure out how to regain your composure with defense without depleting all of your resourses
Once you are back on equal footing, fight back. Learn to 1v1, you can practice with duels.
After you have a basic handle on your build, find the biggest thing wrong with it, for you. Fix that. Repeat.

Do all this and I daresay you will be able to 1vX. The thing about 1vXing is no one else's build will fit you as perfectly as it fits them. They fine-tuned it for themselves. You can learn from their insights, but unless you play the exact same way as them naturally, your results won't be the same. Oh, an another thing is know your opponents. If you don't know what they can do, they will catch you off guard and kill ya.

Also, idk how much vMA is training for PvP, but I have yet to see a flawless conqueror who couldn't handle themselves in PvP. You'll need the same attention to detail and control, though you will use it in different ways.

EDIT: Forgot to include this one, keep your weapons drawn. That way you will be able to block instantly if need be (rather than have the slight delay to unsheath them). Iirc (but maybe not) I think this gets rid of a delay in breakfree, too. Your character will try to sheath them after every battle, after dismounting, and after using doors. Don't let them.

GwJSVDShark

Hang out with a group, and PvP with them taking a castle or mill of the like.

Once you have done this a lot you can then realign your build if needed, or at least have enough experience to survive on your own

Amadis001

This is sort of at the crux of my problem. If I'm just walking back from the re-spawn point toward the action and out of nowhere an invisible player inst-kills me and then vanishes again, what did I learn? Until I figure out how to avoid getting ganked so that I can get to a contested location and participate in a real fight, I can't really learn.

When I duel in Mournhold near the Undaunted enclave, I win a third of the time. And I've PvP'ed lots in other games (e.g., Destiny) and held my own, meaning that I enjoyed spending time doing it even if I wasn't a top player. But I haven't figured out how to even get started here. I don't mind always losing. But I'd like figure out how to get into engagements where I can take a swing at someone before I'm dead.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

WhiteMage wrote: »

I'd recommend starting out in a no CP campaign. Let's see... as for general purpose advice, I'd say you want:

1 damage set and 1 regen set
At least 5 impen
1 attack bar with sharpened weapons, made for killing
1 defense bar with defending trait weapons, made for staying alive
You want at least 1 defensive skill on both bars
Whenever you are not trying to kill something, always be on your defending backbar. Don't get caught with your pants down by a ganker.
Learn to survive an initial attack (often, immediately break free then dodgeroll). You will fail until you succeed lol
Figure out how to regain your composure with defense without depleting all of your resourses
Once you are back on equal footing, fight back. Learn to 1v1, you can practice with duels.
After you have a basic handle on your build, find the biggest thing wrong with it, for you. Fix that. Repeat.

Do all this and I daresay you will be able to 1vX. The thing about 1vXing is no one else's build will fit you as perfectly as it fits them. They fine-tuned it for themselves. You can learn from their insights, but unless you play the exact same way as them naturally, your results won't be the same. Oh, an another thing is know your opponents. If you don't know what they can do, they will catch you off guard and kill ya.

Also, idk how much vMA is training for PvP, but I have yet to see a flawless conqueror who couldn't handle themselves in PvP. You'll need the same attention to detail and control, though you will use it in different ways.

There is something to that for sure. VMA has its issues, but working through that place teaches you a lot about your class and being self sufficient. You basically half to play DPS, Healer and Tank all at once.

Most people that break into pvp for the first time simply try to throw everything they have at the first guy they see. They then wonder why his health bar didnt move and they die 3 seconds later with no resources. Haha.

Also, practice some basic dueling. Few fights in Cyro are a strict 1v1, but there is a lot of overlap in the skill sets that are needed.

Amadis001

WhiteMage wrote: »

I'd recommend starting out in a no CP campaign. Let's see... as for general purpose advice, I'd say you want:


Whenever you are not trying to kill something, always be on your defending backbar. Don't get caught with your pants down by a ganker.

Aha. Well that was certainly my first mistake. I was walking around like I do in PvE with my daggers at the ready. This is really good, basic, advice. Thanks!

WhiteMage wrote: »

Learn to survive an initial attack (often, immediately break free then dodgeroll). You will fail until you succeed lol
Figure out how to regain your composure with defense without depleting all of your resourses

And that was my _second_ problem. People seem to be good at an initial CC / DoT combo that killed me, or nearly so, before I even knew what was happening. I need to develop a hair-trigger CC-break/dodge-roll response.

Takes-No-Prisoner

So you're having trouble with stealthed players?

The answer is spacial awareness.

Look at the map and think.

If Reds took Alessia, and Yellow are holding Fareygl, and it's been over 3 hours with constant fighting, there is a 1-3 chance you will get ganked.

Avoid heavy traffic areas to reduce this chance. To understand this lets go back to the map again;



See those white/blue/yellow/red lines? Those lines are the fastest travel method possible from point A to point B. If there is a conflict between point A and point B, you need to use an alternate route. To do this follow one simple rule.

Stay out of sight.

Head out into the deep forests and grassy low land areas, places wondering gankers won't look to find you. And why would they? They have better chances of ganking in heavily contested areas.

When you feel there is a threat near by, look for some form of cover and devise a plan of action. Most gankers work alone, some work in groups. If you get ganked by 2+ players, it's probably game over. If it's 1 guy, steel yourself for the fight and try to make good decisions. This includes learning how to CC break in less then a second. Once you learn this, and have a excellent grasp of your rotation, they will go down since they're built to not take a lot of damage.

worsttankever

Amadis001 wrote: »

This is sort of at the crux of my problem. If I'm just walking back from the re-spawn point toward the action and out of nowhere an invisible player inst-kills me and then vanishes again, what did I learn?

• Travel with at least 1 other - cover his back and hope he covers yours
• Avoid roads when traveling. Also avoid "expected" shortcuts.
• Travel in stealth (Nights Silence is one of the easiest sets to craft, and has a sick 5 piece bonus for PVP) and on your shield bar (or with Radiant Magelight)
• Don't run yourself out of resources while traveling (e.g. your stamina, or horse's stamina)
• Have a potion with health and/or immovability or invisibility queued when traveling
• Build more tanky. Either always refresh your shield, or have minimum 20k health. Or, be a slippery nightblade and able to roll dodge, cloak, and get away.
• Have enough resources to roll dodge and break free (food might help) at the start of a fight.
• Travel slower and pay more attention. You can usually see enemies off in the distance , or dead corpses, or other signs there was a fight.
• Have at least one ability to uncloak Nightblades (like AOE). Or - detect potions on the ready.

In the end if you run/gallop between point A (castle you spawn at) and point B (castle under attack) with your stamina gone from spamming Rapid Manuever... expected to get stunned on your horse, fall down, and starting behind in a 1vX.

On the reverse: if you're traveling at a good pace while sneak (e.g. Nights silence with Rapid Manuever), expect many other opportunities to take advantage of the unwary. Like a sorcerer on a their horsey

IcyDeadPeople

Amadis001 wrote: »

When I was a lvl 10, I randomly and with no preparation went into PvP for the first time, got obliterated a dozen times by invisible attackers, and left unhappy.

this sounds exactly like my first time in Cyrodiil! Didn't even realize everyone could crouch to stealth, and I kept getting killed over and over by what I thought must be a pack of invisible NPC vampires in Bruma

Just keep in mind all the players that you see out there killing a lot of enemies, even the famous Twitch streamers etc, everyone was a complete beginner at one time. If you want to become better at 1v1 or pvp in small groups etc, anyone can do it, just takes a lot of time practicing.

Try to find at least one person with some experience in PVP who can help you to duel over and over a few times to get the hang of it.

Figuring out your gear and build is an entirely separate matter, but at least you need some kind of stun or knockback, and some way to burst an enemy down with some combo, spammable dps ability etc. Also you need to practice how to break free from stuns, block, dodge roll, how to manage your resources, which is quite different in PVP compared to PVE.

And here is the best way to avoid getting ganked - sacrifice one ability slot on your bar for radiant magelight. It cuts the damage from sneak attacks in half and removes the stun.

Goshua

follow. be proactive, people will be lfg in zone. have siege, discord and teamspeak.

Rappakon

1. Spam shields
2. Destro ulti
3. ???
4. Profit

geonsocal

great thread ...you're gonna have a blast @Amadis001 ...

it stinks to "waste" a skill slot, but, rapid maneuvers can really pay off at times...you don't always want to be the last rider in a procession between keeps or going through a milegate...

wow, prisoner...is that screenshot recent - where did all the yellow go???

Shadeaux

If you are solo and not a nightblade, one way to avoid ganking as much as possible is to crouch and stay hidden and slowly follow or "surf" another ally(s) who is running around visible. He will usually be the one that gets hit out of stealth :-) Use this to your advantage, then jump in and help him. It's often the most patient that avoids all the ambushes.

Of course you will then run into gank groups of stealthers who kill you anyway :-)

Or join a group and run with backup.

Don't go from Keep A to Keep B in a straight line (that's where the gankers sit and wait). If you are visible, take a curved route.

Also, roll a nightblade and play them to see their limits. This advice works for any class.

You will still die, a lot. But you will score some kills as well ;-P

joshjda

Simple really slot a move that knocks people down slot another to close the gap slot a high damage move a heal and whatever you want on move 5 it's simple it's boring everyone does it and 75% of your kills will be cheap hollow victories from knocking someone down then kicking the crap out of them before they get up. Use spriggins night mothers gaze druegh limbs blah blah blah increase pen in cp reduce their armor to nothing make sure you are using inpen enchantments reduce critical damage blah blah blah as i said boring.

geonsocal

joshjda wrote: »

Simple really slot a move that knocks people down slot another to close the gap slot a high damage move a heal and whatever you want on move 5 it's simple it's boring everyone does it and 75% of your kills will be cheap hollow victories from knocking someone down then kicking the crap out of them before they get up. Use spriggins night mothers gaze druegh limbs blah blah blah increase pen in cp reduce their armor to nothing make sure you are using inpen enchantments reduce critical damage blah blah blah as i said boring.

pvp made easy...there it is

Kay1

Egonieser wrote: »

Simple answer - you will get beaten and obliterated many times before you get better. Same as any PvP game you start where there are people there before you and have experience.

Noone just enters Cyrodiil and wins, those who do took time to learn and be good at it - and at the begining got beaten and battered just like you.
People become pros, they aren't born as such, they all faced the same hardships. And if you aren't prepared to take a beating, you will never learn.

Step one is to adjust your mindset for what I just said, and only then think about builds and skills.