How to start running group dungeons as a DD Stamblade?

Dracindo

I currently have a lv50 CP 150 Stamblade that requires better sets than what you can find in the Overworld, and I don't have the money (and don't want to spend time searching guild stores) to buy some of the most powerful sets. But I with the sets I can farm and craft, I won't be a viable DD for the group dungeons that offer me the sets I'm aiming for.

So, when starting group dungeons as a Stamblade DD, I'd like to know:

1. Which sets are easy to craft / obtain and are a good starting point for running easier dungeons?
2. Which group dungeons are relatively easy and offer set pieces that would greatly help in some of the more difficult dungeons? Or with which dugeons should I start?
3. What are recommended skills? Which skills should I swap for what?*
4. Regarding the dungeons I should farm first, how much DPS is expected of me?
5. Any other advice?

*This is what I'm currently running. What should I swap for what? (Dual wield / Bow):

drakhan2002_ESO

Hunding's Rage is an easy set to craft and acquire. Get it with Divines trait. If you're on PC NA, there are multitudes of crafters who can make a CP150 set for you.

Dracindo

drakhan2002_ESO wrote: »

Hunding's Rage is an easy set to craft and acquire. Get it with Divines trait. If you're on PC NA, there are multitudes of crafters who can make a CP150 set for you.

Got that one. Good to know I didn't screw that up

For everyone else recommending crafted sets:
For the gear I still need to craft, I only have 5 traits researched. Feel free to recommend something that needs 6 or more traits, but I don't want to wait another month starting this.

Skullstachio

Do you use heavy or medium armour?

If Heavy: Plenty of Physical & Spell resistance which increase chances of survivability at the cost of not having as much Critical chance as medium armour but you have more health depending on the passive s you invest in, Wrath passive increases your weapon/spell damage by 10 for 5 seconds each time you get hit, stacking up to 20 times, The dreugh king slayer armour is a good heavy armour set that increases your weapon damage & Grants Major Brutality at all times, increasing your weapon damage by 20% as well as granting you Major Expedition for 20 seconds every time you kill an enemy, combines well with hundings rage for Top of the line Weapon damage, Dreugh king slayer can be found in fungal grotto I & II.

Medium armour gives you a lot of critical chance, combines well with the Thief Mundus stone & pieces with the divines trait, reduces stamina cost of abilities, Plenty of sets to mix with medium armour, such as Vipers sting which deals intense poison damage sometimes when dealing damage.

Danksta

Skills you're missing from your bow bar are Poison Arrow (morph to Poison Injection) and Trap Beast (morph to Rearming Trap) from the Fighter's guild skill line. I would swap them out for Shadowy Disguise and the skill on the far right (MIrage?). It also looks like you have the unmorphed version of Assassin's Blade, if you haven't already, morph it to Killer's Blade.

Ultimates I'd use are Dawnbreaker of Smiting (Fighter's Guild, morphed from Dawnbreaker) and Shooting Star (Mage's Guild, morphed from Meteor). Veil of Blades (Shadow skill line, morphed from Consuming Darkness) could be a good option to give you (and your group) a little tankiness you're missing out on being low CP. Rend (Dual Wield skill line, morphed from Lascerate) does very good damage plus has a very good heal.

I'd get to CP160 before doing any serious gearing up. It shouldn't take long and then you will be at the gear cap. As said above Hunding's Rage is a good set, so is Night Mother's Gaze and both are craftable at 6 traits. You can pick up a 3-piece jewelry set, either Agility or Endurance would be good for you. I think Endurance is nice for the health bonus for low CP players, I usually aim for 17k health for PvE. You could also get 1 healthy and 2 robust agility pieces. Both of these sets are pretty cheap since they've been around forever.

If you haven't done any dungeons at all I'd start with normal dungeons. Most dungeons have versions 1 and 2, with the versions 1 usually being the easier one. Once you feel comfortable doing normal go do some vet ones, once again starting with version 1 dungeons. There will be a rather large difficulty spike from normal dungeons to their veteran counterparts, but don't let it discourage you. Once you feel comfortable doing normal dungeons there's not much left to learn from them. Also the DLC dungeons are considered the hardest.

As far as farming dungeons for gear, there's not really anything that would be an upgrade for a stamblade in dungeons. I don't really use my stamblade any more but if I were to I'd use 5 Vicious Ophidian (drops in Craglorn trials, after you get more experience running group content you may want to farm it) and 5 Night Mother's Gaze or Hunding's Rage (Twice-Fanged Snake would be best but I don't have it, it drops from the trial Sanctum Ophidia in Craglorn) with Velidreth (drops in veteran Cradle of Shadows, DLC dungeon) or Kra'ghs (drops in veteran Fungal Grotto 1 and is a very easy dungeon). Divines trait on armor and sharpened on weapons is ideal.

Thief mundus stone if you can manage resources, otherwise serpent is the way to go.

For skills- http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Skills
For armor sets- http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Sets

Edit: You might want to swap out a skill on your DW bar for flying dagger for major brutality (20% more weapon damage) buff, probably either Deadly Cloak or Vigor. You could use potions, but I don't use crafted potions in dungeons.

Asardes

Heavy armor is totally out of the question for PvE DD. You will lose a lot of critical chance, as well as the 12% weapon damage from slotting 5 or more pieces of medium and in addition the stamina cost reduction and recovery that come from wearing medium armor. Which means you will need to stack a lot of recovery from other sources, namely swap Thief for Serpent mundus, use recovery or cost reduction glyphs over weapon damage ones and do a lot more heavy attacks to recover resources, only gimping your DPS further. You should wear at least 5 medium armor pieces to get all the passives, both for sustain and damage. With the recent elimination of CP cost reduction and the nerfing of CP recovery make that requirement even more stringent. Use divines trait on all your armor pieces and sharpened for weapons.

Two good starter sets for any stamina class are Hunding's Rage and Night Mother's Gaze, both require 6 traits so someone else must craft them for you. You can run them in 5+4/3 setup, for example 5 Night Mother's Gaze (feet, legs, chest, waist, hands) and 4/3 Hunding's Rage (head, shoulders, 2x1H weapons/bow) or the other way around. Wear agility jewelry, preferably robust trait. If you have problems with low health < 16K you can start out with 1-2 healthy as they are cheaper to buy and swap to robust once you gain more CP that will boost your stat.

Once you gain more experience you can start farming all 3 normal trials from Craglorn for Vicious Serpent set http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Vicious+Serpent+Set and Sanctum Ophidia for Twice-Fanged Serpent set http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Twice-Fanged+Serpent+Set and various dungeons and undaunted chests for monster heads. Krag'h (veteran Fungal Grotto 1) and Velidreth (veteran Cradle of Shadows) are probably the best ones for stamina characters. Stormfist (veteran Tempest Island) and Selene (veteran Selene's Web) are also good, but mostly for PvP. http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Monster+Helm+Sets Once you feel comfortable with veteran dungeons and normal trials you can start farming vMA for 1H weapons and bow.

Now for the skill setup:

Front bar:
Incapacitating Strike is not that useful in PvE since there are few monsters which self heal or are healed by someone else. It's cheap and it increases damage on target for a short time, but it's not very good. I would recommend either picking the other morph that grants ultimate for kills, but not actually use it, but use a more damaging ultimate from the back bar once the pool is filled, or slotting Flawless Dawnbreaker from Fighters Guild for the passive increase in weapon damage on front bar and also not use that or slot and use Rend ultimate from 2W skill line. Also you can sacrifice one of your skill slots and put Camouflaged Hunter for the major savagery buff and additional weapon damage increase from skill line passives. If you are only using dropped stamina potions you can't gain that bonus otherwise. It's recommended not to waste more expensive potions while you are still learning since they are pretty expensive. There's no reason to slot vigor on your front bar since it's a HoT skill and you can't spam it. For group content you can actually drop it altogether and simply get along with the heals from Leeching Strikes if you are weaving a lot of light and heavy attacks - you should do it for the damage, sustain and ultimate gain anyway. You can replace it with rearming/lightweight trap which gives minor force, and also adds a bit more weapon damage if you want to slot something useful there. Surprise Attack (spammable), Killer's Blade (execute) and Steel Tornado (AoE) are good.

Back Bar:
Soul Tether is not optimal for group content since it's the healer's job to heal and it doesn't do much damage since it's magical and not boosted by CPs. A better ultimate is Turret from Bow line that can put some nice burst damage on a single target while you are using other skills from your front bar. Invisibility is also useless in PvE, since you will only get a bonus for your first hit on enemies that may have between several hundred thousand and 5M+ health. You can slot poison injection for a nice DoT and execute skill. It's basically required for good DpS. Also razor caltrops is a good skill, and so is Endless Hail. You can test various 2/3 combos for those skills and see which one does more damage in trash vs. boss fights. Leeching strikes is not as good as it used to be but be sure to change the morph to get the one that sustains stamina. Now it has become more of a poor man's Critical Surge (sorcerer skills) than a sustain requirement. Unless you are running with a DK that can give you major brutality from Molten Armaments or use crafted potions you need to self buff with your class skill - Power Extraction - so that should also be on your back bar as a fight opener. Mirrage is not required for group content but can get you a bit of mitigation trough the minor evasion bonus you can either use that or Deadly Cloak from front bar but not both for mitigation. If you are spamming Surprise Attack you should have significant Major Ward/Resolve buff time from class passive so you should have plenty of resistance already. Relentless Focus is another skill you should drop, since the bonus it grants should be the healer's job, which can provide it to the whole group trough Combat Prayer.

Danksta

Asardes wrote: »

Heavy armor is totally out of the question for PvE DD. You will lose a lot of critical chance, as well as the 12% weapon damage from slotting 5 or more pieces of medium and in addition the stamina cost reduction and recovery that come from wearing medium armor. Which means you will need to stack a lot of recovery from other sources, namely swap Thief for Serpent mundus, use recovery or cost reduction glyphs over weapon damage ones and do a lot more heavy attacks to recover resources, only gimping your DPS further. You should wear at least 5 medium armor pieces to get all the passives, both for sustain and damage. With the recent elimination of CP cost reduction and the nerfing of CP recovery make that requirement even more stringent. Use divines trait on all your armor pieces and sharpened for weapons.

Two good starter sets for any stamina class are Hunding's Rage and Night Mother's Gaze, both require 6 traits so someone else must craft them for you. You can run them in 5+4/3 setup, for example 5 Night Mother's Gaze (feet, legs, chest, waist, hands) and 4/3 Hunding's Rage (head, shoulders, 2x1H weapons/bow) or the other way around. Wear agility jewelry, preferably robust trait. If you have problems with low health < 16K you can start out with 1-2 healthy as they are cheaper to buy and swap to robust once you gain more CP that will boost your stat.

Once you gain more experience you can start farming all 3 normal trials from Craglorn for Vicious Serpent set http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Vicious+Serpent+Set and Sanctum Ophidia for Twice-Fanged Serpent set http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Twice-Fanged+Serpent+Set and various dungeons and undaunted chests for monster heads. Krag'h (veteran Fungal Grotto 1) and Velidreth (veteran Cradle of Shadows) are probably the best ones for stamina characters. Stormfist (veteran Tempest Island) and Selene (veteran Selene's Web) are also good, but mostly for PvP. http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Monster+Helm+Sets Once you feel comfortable with veteran dungeons and normal trials you can start farming vMA for 1H weapons and bow.

^^Agreed, 5 medium at least. You will have major issues sustaining resources otherwise. The way you get resources back in heavy is by getting attacked but if you have a decent tank you shouldn't be getting attacked much, especially in boss fights which will be the only thing that'll make you have to be cognizant of your resources.

Dracindo

Thanks for the tips, guys. Later today, I will check out the recommended skills and ultimates and see how they all work together.

Skullstachio

If you ever start a warden character, keep your eyes out for an experimental warden build post coming to the forums soon for Xbox One players, you might learn a few tricks to being a good warden.

Dracindo

Alpha-Lupi wrote: »

If you ever start a warden character, keep your eyes out for an experimental warden build post coming to the forums soon for Xbox One players, you might learn a few tricks to being a good warden.

I will start a warden character the moment I can get permanent access to it for €20,00 or less.
At that point I'll see what I'm going to run my warden with.
I also have no idea if there's a difference between the platforms, but if there is; I'm PC. Can't match the master race.

davey1107

Others said this, but let me call it out: rend, the dw ultimate. In group dungeons this is extremely helpful,for a melee stamblade. The heal is massive, which can be imperative in boss fights.

I think that shrouded daggers is underrated. I get way more dps than I do with whirling blades, and it gives major brutality.

When I started, I ran hundings / briarhearts for a while. It's not optimal, but the sustain from briar can be helpful. And while dw/bow is great, feel free to dw/2h at first. You might need rally while you get used to this content.

Normal undaunted dungeons played solo are a great way to test and perfect your stamblade. It's a bit crazy, but when you can take them yourself you're starting to get ready for vet group content.

ShedsHisTail

Dracindo wrote: »

I currently have a lv50 CP 150 Stamblade that requires better sets than what you can find in the Overworld, and I don't have the money (and don't want to spend time searching guild stores) to buy some of the most powerful sets. But I with the sets I can farm and craft, I won't be a viable DD for the group dungeons that offer me the sets I'm aiming for.

So, when starting group dungeons as a Stamblade DD, I'd like to know:

1. Which sets are easy to craft / obtain and are a good starting point for running easier dungeons?
2. Which group dungeons are relatively easy and offer set pieces that would greatly help in some of the more difficult dungeons? Or with which dugeons should I start?
3. What are recommended skills? Which skills should I swap for what?*
4. Regarding the dungeons I should farm first, how much DPS is expected of me?
5. Any other advice?

*This is what I'm currently running. What should I swap for what? (Dual wield / Bow):

Honestly, if I were you I'd hold off and just finish grinding out that last ten CP (to 160) before even worrying about gearing, otherwise you'll just be replacing everything again in a week.

Warraxx

reroll magsorc

Dracindo

Warraxx wrote: »

reroll magsorc

Been there, done that, boring gameplay, press X to kill boss. I thought we're playing ESO here, not Hello Kitty Adventure Island where you can't possibly fail.

Dracindo

Allright, so I swapped some skills to those recommended and I tried it out. It all seems to work well, but currently, I have another problem:

Survivability.

Now, the issues after a few test runs are obvious:

• I didn't have a food buff that increases my health (and stamina)
• I'm still wearing some armor pieces that are not at CP160 yet.

Thanks to Leeching Strikes and weaving, I have good stamina sustain and I can manage to keep my health up. As long as a tank can keep taunting a boss, I'll be fine.

So the questions here are:
What's the absolute minimum I should have for Max health (food buff included)? I've heard 18K is the target.

kijima

17-18K is fine.

Bin cloak and add shuffle.