Anyone run a StamWarden with Bow, and the Bear?

Sixsixsix161

I wanted to try something different, so I started a bow character a few weeks ago (a wood elf for the bow racial), but for me, that's a very hard character to play (and level) because I'm not the greatest player, medical issue, almost no reaction time, etc. My major problem is taking on a group of multiple enemies, and/or fighting in a small area. If I have room to run around and kite, I'm usually ok, but each fight is a major effort for me.

So when I read a thread where someone made a StamWard and had the bear tank, I jumped at the chance to do that because it was perfect for me.

I made a wood elf StamWard. So far, so good. Got to level 20 last night, when I realized something. What do you do with the two Ultimates?

By putting the bear in Ultimate, you run into a problem with the largest weapon damage a bow can have, the bow Ultimate. I can't remember exactly, but I think it's very high damage.

I use a bow as primary weapon, and have a resto staff with healing (from the staff) on the second bar.

On my first bar I have 3 bow abilities, the freeze spell that puts you in ice (defensive spell from the Warden), and in number 5 I have that flying thing (lol can't remember name) that dives on the enemies, and then the bear in the ultimate.

If I have to give up the bear to put the bow Ultimate in that slot, I might as well give up that character and play the MagWard with the bear tanking.

I was thinking of putting the bow Ult on the second bar, but when you switch bars you lose the bear, unless you put the bear in both Ultimate slots, but then you can't use the bow Ultimate.

Anyone solve this issue?

Keep_Door

No

Sixsixsix161

Guess I deserved that, lol.

Anyone that runs that setup who can pass on what they're doing?

Euant

The bear ultimate, unfortunately, has a big lack of utility right now that I and many would like fixed.

That said, there isn't much to be done with your current wants from the class. You will have to make the choice of having the bear at all times and no bow ultimate or re-casting the bear after using the bow ult.

I will say that you could just forego the bow ultimate. If you're leveling using regular monsters/quests then you're mostly facing packs which means a strong single target ult with a high ultimate cost isn't really necessary. Using the bear ult while he's up does a bash which still does reasonable damage. If using more AoE abilities (like arrow spray and hail of arrows) isn't possible then you may be better off just double-barring the bear and using his/her bash for the single target damage you want.

Masel

Ballista is an awesome single target ultimate... I prefer that with flawless dawnbreaker on front bar for bow/bow builds.

But as has been pointed out before, there is no real solution for your dilemma... We'll just have to wait until next weeks pts patch notes to see which changes are planned for wardens, if they have anything planned. Their lack of a regular execute is one reason for their subpar dps.

I have found that stamina nightblades still synergise best with bow/bow builds. Problem that they also have that the redguard passive only procs on close range skills. And this one makes a great difference as far as sustain is concerned. It doesn't proc off cliffracer, subterranean assault, lightweight trap, ballista etc.

Ghettokid

I run in my neighbours garden with cow and beer.

Sixsixsix161

@Euant
@Masel92

You're right. Guess I'll stay with the bear, I need a minion to tank at my level more than the damage.

Then, when I'm facing a situation that requires more damage I'll switch the ultimate.

Thanks very much for your thoughts.

6

SodanTok

Where did you get ballista is more damage?

At least during PTS I did some my own parses and with bear I always had better results than with dawnbreaker/ballista.

Even if ballista would indeed be better, it would be by very little. So no reason for this dilemma

Gan Xing

If you can, look into the Hunt Leader set: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Hunt+Leader+Set

run that with Shacklebreaker

This is more for when you get to max level.

Aside from that, I would suggest you double up on that bear ulti, it's incredibly useful for taking aggro away from you.

On your front bar (bow) I would have

wings, aoe bow ability, crystal slab morph, poison injection, cliff racer

on your back bar (resto staff) I would have

netch, healing ward, beetles, (open ability), tarzan heal

Anti_Virus

Ghettokid wrote: »

I run in my neighbours garden with cow and beer.

Damn Orcs.

KingYogi415

Just make sure to keep volley up 100% of the game. You will do fine

Masel

Ballista gives you burst. If you're in vMA, Ballista is better as it gives you burst that is very useful. If you're in trials, the bear is fairly annoying and doesn't nearly do the damage it does in a dummy scenario.

So if you only fight a dummy, yes then the bear is better, but when it comes to real trial circumstances, nope.

Rohamad_Ali

That Bear is for RP and Duels only . It's strength shines most in RP .

SodanTok

Masel92 wrote: »

Ballista gives you burst. If you're in vMA, Ballista is better as it gives you burst that is very useful. If you're in trials, the bear is fairly annoying and doesn't nearly do the damage it does in a dummy scenario.

So if you only fight a dummy, yes then the bear is better, but when it comes to real trial circumstances, nope.

Which is true, but wrong point of view at the situation. For one, he is level 20 so no trials for him. For second, you named just 1% of the endgame players experience (0.1% if we are speaking about bow wardens). In that 99% the bear is same or better. I am speaking obviously about group dungeons.
Of course some (rare) fights are too mobile for bear and some have too many mobs (well, bow warden cant really answer this situation)

Sixsixsix161

Thanks all.

So far, everything is fine. I'm running with the bear and some bow abilities in slot 1-4, and the cliff racer/diving in slot 5.

My other ranged characters, magsorc/magward/magtemp, all use lightining staff as primary weapon. So, I'm carrying one of those (no abilities taken yet) in case I need something better than the bow.

That way, I can switch to that weapon and the bear. If things get really hard, I'll switch to the other bar where I'll probably keep the bow Ult together with either a rest staff or the lightning staff. The amount of damage the bow Ult does is not something I can give up when solo-ing the higher level bosses.

Thanks again for your inputs.

6

The one thing I really hate about all these changes that came with Morrowind is that you can pull the tanking pet of the enemy. Don't see why that was necessary.