The Elder Scrolls Online

New player dps questions

Update 46 is now available for testing on the PTS! You can read the latest patch notes here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/676794
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jonmorales612
jonmorales612
Soul Shriven
Long time MMO player, new to ESO. I'm having a lot of fun with my night blade ATM in the solo game ,but now that I'm starting to do group content i have a few questions.

I recently watched a stamblade guide video which was really more off putting than anything, i thought i kind of had the basics of dps in this game figured out and this video made me realize i have no idea what im doing lol. more than anything i'm confused about animation cancelling and light attack weaving and how exactly i should go about learning and practicing that. Im also pretty confused with when i should be using heavy attacks and if that's a part of the animation cancelling thing .

These also seem like more advanced concepts so are there any other things i should be more focused on as a new player? i'm in no rush to master the game im really taking my time and enjoying leveling but i also don't want to be a detriment to other players or have to be carried through dungeon content.
  • AverageJo3Gam3r
    AverageJo3Gam3r
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    Animation cancelling just means you press the light attack button in the middle of a skill animation. If you time it right, the light that attack animation will clip the skill animation and you'll get the "free" damage of the light attack in addition to the skill. Each skill has a slightly different point that you have to LA to animation cancel properly, and that can change by patch sometimes. It's a practice thing.

    Heavy attacks restore resources. Do heavies when you're low on stamina. Light attack weaving will lead to higher overall dps compared to heavy weaving (heavies are slower).
  • theamazingx
    theamazingx
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    AverageJo3Gam3r wrote: »
    Animation cancelling just means you press the light attack button in the middle of a skill animation. If you time it right, the light that attack animation will clip the skill animation and you'll get the "free" damage of the light attack in addition to the skill. Each skill has a slightly different point that you have to LA to animation cancel properly, and that can change by patch sometimes. It's a practice thing.

    Heavy attacks restore resources. Do heavies when you're low on stamina. Light attack weaving will lead to higher overall dps compared to heavy weaving (heavies are slower).

    I don't know where you got your understanding of light weaving from.

    You hit your skill during the light attack animation, not the other way around. And the timing is the same every time.
  • BNOC
    BNOC
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    theamazingx wrote: »
    show previous quotes

    I don't know where you got your understanding of light weaving from.

    You hit your skill during the light attack animation, not the other way around. And the timing is the same every time.

    I weave attacks into skill animations, not the other way around but it doesn't matter which way, it's the same thing.

    Also, the timings aren't the same every time, this is inaccurate and @AverageJo3Gam3r is right, certain skills have different timings. :D

    OP: Find someone who has a dummy in their house and go practice it, it's really quite easy.
    vMSA - Magplar - Xbox EU - 15/11/16
    578,000 - 36 Minutes 58 Seconds (Top 2 World?)

    vMSA - Magplar - Xbox NA
    569,000 - 40 minutes (350CP, Non optimised runs)
  • theamazingx
    theamazingx
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    BNOC wrote: »
    show previous quotes

    I weave attacks into skill animations, not the other way around but it doesn't matter which way, it's the same thing.

    Also, the timings aren't the same every time, this is inaccurate and @AverageJo3Gam3r is right, certain skills have different timings. :D

    OP: Find someone who has a dummy in their house and go practice it, it's really quite easy.

    Light weaving only works because skills can interrupt a light/heavy attack animation. You can't interrupt a skill animation with a light attack. As soon as you start the skill, you start the global cooldown, during which you can't do any kind of attack except bash.
  • Bladerunner1
    Bladerunner1
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    A big component for new players to consider in raising DPS is the amount of time it takes to use skills coupled with how many damage over time skills are used, since they deal the most combined damage. The total damage you can achieve from a DOT skill can be like 50,000 damage. Use as many DOT skills as possible and try to apply them as quickly as possible after they end. The skill that does the most damage, endless hail, also happens to have the longest animation. If you can cast other skills like endless hail every second and reapply them exactly when they end, you'd get 50,000 dps, this is just as an example. But if each of those skills takes 2 seconds to cast you'll only get 25,000 dps. The simplest way to cut the long animation for endless hail short is to swap over to the other weapon bar right after your character aims up in the air. Otherwise blocking immediately after casting a skill can also work the same way, but getting good at it requires a lot of time and effort.

    Light attack weaving becomes an extra free layer of DPS since it technically doesn't slow down a rotation of skills, it all really depends on the speed of your mouse clicking. For me it's a quick tap just before hitting the skill button. If you just spam light attacks on something, you can see the rhythm of the weapon you use. You can get in one light attack + one skill in each pulse of that rythme, and often times that requires animation cancelling.

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