Learning to solo - where to start? What to do? How to improve survival?

Bam_Bam

Lexxypwns wrote: »

One other thing. Accept failure before you start. If you're not camping resources, 90% of the time you'll have to disenagage a fight or die and you need to know going into solo play that it's going to happen.

You also need to realize that your opponents aren't the bad guys just for outnumbering you, when YOU make a choice to fight outnumbered then you don't get to criticize people for outnumbering you.

I feel like not accepting those two facts leads to a lot of salty scrub lords who turn really toxic before making proclamations of the game being dead and leaving.

Agreed. Absolutely agred actually. In fact, I think this could be applied to many players in Cyrodiil.

With regards to getting a mentor (which would be the absolute ideal scenario), I find the best players tend to be a bit self-absorbed. I don't mean that in a critical way. I just mean that their search for perfection and contstant testing of their own skills, appears to leave little time for taking on an apprentice.

Neoauspex

This is a good thread. Cheers to all the solo players out there. You'll tweak your CP and skill setup over time the more small-scale encounters you have. My tip for solo play: have plenty of siege for any situation. Sometimes the most effective thing you can do as a solo player is suicide, but flagging a spawn point or slowing down an enemy siege can swing the map. Offensive activities are better with 3-6, but you can make a keep hell to take with 9 oil pots and smart timing.

GrigorijMalahevich

Pro tips:
Kill stuff
Don't let your health reach 0
If you can't win duels, don't bother soloing anything/anywhere
If you are a real man, don't hide and face your enemies head on - it is probably a good idea to go for a sustain build and kill people with bursts

THEDKEXPERIENCE

Neoauspex wrote: »

This is a good thread. Cheers to all the solo players out there. You'll tweak your CP and skill setup over time the more small-scale encounters you have. My tip for solo play: have plenty of siege for any situation. Sometimes the most effective thing you can do as a solo player is suicide, but flagging a spawn point or slowing down an enemy siege can swing the map. Offensive activities are better with 3-6, but you can make a keep hell to take with 9 oil pots and smart timing.

Quoted for truth. As a standard I won't start a PVP session without 20 ballistas, 3 rams, 2 tents, and a few other random situational siege.

I cannot explain how many times I've ridden up to a keep and had upwards of a dozen people just standing there "pew-pewing" each other instead of trying to siege. If you see that I recommend dropping 3-5 ballistas. Within 1 minute others will follow suit and you'll have a dozen running.

Takes-No-Prisoner

Running up to a keep and sieging it solo is one good way to get the other alliances attention haha. I did that to help out the emp once, got 1v3'ed, then went back to sieging. It was pretty fun.

THEDKEXPERIENCE

Takes-No-Prisoner wrote: »

Running up to a keep and sieging it solo is one good way to get the other alliances attention haha. I did that to help out the emp once, got 1v3'ed, then went back to sieging. It was pretty fun.

Flagging keeps off the beaten path are a sure fire way to help your squad. I recommend doing it with 5 ballistas because that's one more than is really possible for a person to run. Gives the illusion of multiple attackers.

fred4

Many good points already ... I have read about half the first page. Sorry, if I'm repeating anything.

Of my 3 fully developed characters, magblade, magwarden, stam DK, I prefer the magblade for soloing. I mostly play in IC, on PC EU, in CP campaigns.

If you want easy successes, stay the far side of the flags and look for other solo players, not the groups / zergs who take the flags. Being a cloaked / invisible magblade transforms the game. You will stumble across players who don't want to be found, especially if you use detection potions when you notice someone going into stealth, you hear an NB cloaking, or your eye changes. Detection potions are also useful to avoid traps and stakeouts from opposing players.

Burst is important. I used to run Soul Assault, which is not particularly fast and leaves you open to counter-attack. Now I use a mixed melee / ranged build, with a Concealed Weapon / Soul Harvest opener. It's better. The longer a fight goes on, the more risk there is further opposition shows up and focuses you down.

LoS is terribly important. I am NOT good at this myself. To be honest, it bores me when it turns into a damage avoidance contest, but I have to acknowledge that good players manage 1vX through LoS. This is why Temple is a popular district, with all the open buildings. Stay within reach of doors and obstacles, constantly move in and out of buildings, and so on. As a magblade you also have Cloak and Shade to play with. Use the daedra / NPCs to make yourself difficult to target. You can also deliberately draw the IC bosses into fights. Drawing bosses favors tanky players, and having too much aggro from NPCs interferes with your ability to cloak, so it's not a good tactic for a nightblade, but it is an option.

When playing as a duo, or in a small group, Teamspeak helps a great deal. You become much more effective, if you coordinate your ultimates, be that offensive ones, or a resto ult rotation.

Like others, I find soloing difficult. It can be very satisfying to win duels, or to do well in the rare 1vX where you match the combined skill of a group, but that is rare (for me). As a cloaking magblade you have the luxury of surveying people's health, titles, and CP, before engaging. More importantly you'll see how quickly they deal with the daedra in IC. Do they have DPS? Are they a PvE or PvP build? Ground AOE and the fixed destro ult typically give them away as the former. Are they hard-casting frags (then they're inexperienced)? Are they farming or avoiding the IC bosses (if the latter, they may not be good players)? Do they always stick together (only good, if you intend to bomb), or do some of them run off (usually better). All of this lets you know whether you might risk engaging a duo or a trio.

You can always try ganking the last person to go through a door, in IC, but they'll want to be squishy. If the fight takes more than a few seconds, their group will notice their health bar dropping and return. Competent groups also tend to stay tight, making it difficult to isolate one of them.

Malic

Baranthus wrote: »

Are there any areas in Cyrodiil that you would recommend to beginner soloers? What sort of fights should you pick as a beginner soloer (disclaimer: "easy ones" is NOT a valid answer. lmao)

Many good responses so I am going to address this portion specifically, quest hubs and delves. You'll find other solo players or small groups around here. Sure a lot of them will be low level or under geared but thats not your problem its there's.

These are the fights you pick because you chances of getting zerged are lower, and youre never going to improve as a solo player unless you fight solo's in open field. Your rotation and timing is different against 2 or 3 or 24. Fight solo's preps you for the 2 and 3 fights.

Dont be ashamed of dying, dont be merciful if you find a lesser or a lower tier player. Its not personal against them its about your development within a desired play style.

Best of luck

Ragnaroek93

Just like others said, start doing duels, they help a lot to improve. One note that I want to add here is that you should duel with your open world build and not duel on duel only builds with no gapcloser etc (I assume that your goal is to improve on open world builds, if you want to compete in dueling tournaments you should definitely go for a dueling build, nothing wrong with that ). Might be frustrating but works really well to improve on your class, even if you lose.

Drummerx04

Joy_Division wrote: »

What I wish I knew three years ago:

• As a magicka build, you need excellent stamina management.
• PvE DPS rotation are a waste of resources. It's better to put moderate pressure with DoTs and a heavy attack and then CC + burst down opponents.
• I used to think DoTs sucked. They don't they are very useful. Well, ground AoE DoTs are still kind of terrible against solo opponents who can move.
• Always move.
• The initiative is very important; even if you are struggling and turtling up, do something to break your attacker's rhythm.
• Have an actual purpose to using your CCs. A lot of times players just throw javelins or hit me with flame reach. I just break it and now have 7 seconds of immunity. What do they do? Hit me with javelin again .
• I'd say a good 60% of all the skills and abilities in ESO are inefficient, niche, sub-optimal, or have too big of a drawback. These skills are fine to use while surrounded by friendly players, but will get you killed in competitive situations and attacked by enemy players.
• Intelligent use of the environment is a resource free method of relieving the pressure on you. Note: this makes mobility extremely important, make sure you have it.
• I really like having a cheap and an expensive ultimate. Sometimes you just don't need one in a long time so it's good to have a 200+ powerful one and sometimes you need something fast.
• Use a combat log. Honestly assess why you lost. "Cheat engine, "lag," "macros," "cheese skill," "op sorcs," etc., are all excuses players not interested in improving will rationalize to save their ego.
• Be nice and open minded. Ask your friends and the people you lose to for advice.
• Have multiple types of potions for various scenarios.
• Good resource management is more than just gear and recovery statistics. If your opponent pops a resto ultimate, don't cast expensive damage skills. Heavy attack a full health opponent before you are low on resources and have to heavy attack. Stuff like that,

This is a pretty good list for general advice, take most of it to heart.

I would actually start by dueling. If you've never really done solo play before (in cyro or something like vMA of all things), then being completely self reliant will be harder than you think. Your resources need to go to keeping yourself alive and killing your enemies. Dueling is a decent way to get a feel for how your build holds up against other players in an "even" fight.

While running solo in Cyrodiil, I would recommend playing the defensive first. When you see a friendly resource flipping on your home tri keeps, there is a decent chance that somewhere around 1-3 enemies will be the culprit, so go check it out before 20 allied players head over to it.

Learn to predict what your enemies are. Observe a small group from stealth before engaging. What alliance rank are they? How much health do they have? Are they most likely stamina or magicka? Any identifiable healers? Is this a group of 4 tanks? Just gather the kind of information that would be helpful to know before the battle.

Really really try to remember names on the enemy faction. How you approach a fight will differ based on whether that guy who always kills you inside of 10 seconds is in the group.

Restrain yourself. You will eventually get into a 1v1 against opponents of similar skill. That perfect 1v1 will be ruined by your allies jumping in and zerging down your opponent. When that happens, stop fighting them. Trust me, they will notice and respect that attitude. The next time you encounter that enemy nightblade, instead of trying to gank you from stealth while 15 people are chasing you around a rock, he will just watch and maybe wave to you once you die. It leads to a much healthier small scale community, and you will notice the difference.

Do not chase the tail of an organized large scale group unless you are prepared to die and not be salty about it.
Do not send rage tells to anyone who kills you.
Do not accuse people of zerging if there's only like 3 disorganized CP20 pugs that jump you.
Accept that there will be some people that you just can't kill.

Have a skill on your bar to deal with snares. You are about to discover exactly how many skills in this game apply a snare.

Good luck!

TheDoomsdayMonster

Lexxypwns wrote: »

The best bet is to look for a mentor on your server and work with them.

The key things you need as a solo player are.

Self reliance- you have to bring everything you need for any engagement all packed into your build. You'll need healing, mitigation, mobility, and burst damage.

Positioning - often times as a solo player being caught in a bad position means you will die. Always be aware of los and tactical positions such as chokes or cliffs.

Timing and target priorities- knowing when and who to burst to get timely kills is at the core of solo play, often times you're simply trying to stay alive while putting out a bit of damage until your burst window comes up then you get a quick kill and repeat.

Patience - you're gonna die a lot

Luck- in the current meta you're gonna need a lot of it to have large success as a solo player.

For a small group, imo, it's all about finding people you enjoy playing with and working together to find setups as a group that allow you to take on as large a variety of situations as possible. My personal playstyle is to always build a build that can handle its own survivability while bringing as many other benefits to the group as possible(trans, resto ultis, troll king, SPC, etc)

This covers all the bases...

Well said...

TheDoomsdayMonster

TarrNokk wrote: »

The best solo pvp you can get is imperial city including sewers. There are most of the time small groups of 2-5 and many solo players. If you are into small scale you will be rewarded with finest guerilla feeling.

You are on the money about Imperial City; that was my solo training ground for a long time...

Most of the time the fights are solo or small scale; its definitely the place to go if you don't want to be in a zerg or the victim of one...

Biro123

I don't really like IC .

I find it dominated by small groups of competent players, or NBs. This makes it very difficult to solo...
Escaping is difficult with all the mobs around - so unless you have cloak, I'd probably avoid it.
I also find the action much more sporadic, leading to me getting bored, so I fall back to farming mobs, which just makes me an easier target.

I have much more success in cyro. More easy-targets, more space to manoever, easier to keep at range and decide whether to just stay away or commit.

FloppyTouch

Most of the solo 1vX clips I see are very low cp character that have no clue how to fight so find those player and ur good to go lol

But I solo play all the time I don't get many fights in I die a lot and run back a lot it's part of solo play

I like to see what keep is under attack and then set up in the middle. I only go after the fights when it's 1-2 maybe three players. If it takes to long to kill them then it's over bc more will join.

A lot of people good players here have great advice so I won't repeat it.

TheDoomsdayMonster

Biro123 wrote: »

I don't really like IC .

I find it dominated by small groups of competent players, or NBs. This makes it very difficult to solo...
Escaping is difficult with all the mobs around - so unless you have cloak, I'd probably avoid it.
I also find the action much more sporadic, leading to me getting bored, so I fall back to farming mobs, which just makes me an easier target.

I have much more success in cyro. More easy-targets, more space to manoever, easier to keep at range and decide whether to just stay away or commit.

I run a Magicka Templar and I don't have cloak; cloak is not essential there...

I personally love it as it teaches you to be very alert and aware of your surroundings at all times...


The learning curve can be steep and it is a significantly more unforgiving environment than Cyrodiil; errors are usually punished swiftly...

But the fact that you actually lose something when you die (Tel Var) motivates you to learn from your mistakes very rapidly...


IMHO, if you want to get good at soloing, then IC is the place to do it...

It made me a good soloer at any rate...

Bam_Bam

the_broo11 wrote: »

@Lexxypwns covered the majority of it. Good stuff there, so I'd definitely take note @Baranthus.

If you're not running immovable pots, definitely switch to these. Make sure you have alchemy at 50 and points into the passive for increased effect duration (can't recall the name offhand).

I'd suggest running in 2-4 man groups before going solo. Preferably with one more players who are experienced in this environment. Pay attention to how they fight. If they're getting focused, CC the enemies and throw a heal at them. If they're focusing a target, join in and focus fire the same person. If they're pulling back from the crowd, you do the same.

The main reason I suggest small group before solo is so that you can learn your limits. This is a lot easier when you have teammates to cover you if you try to take on too much and get overwhelmed.

The secondary objective is to learn how to fight effectively with allies. There will be many situations where, amidst the chaos, you end up in a 2vX with another solo player. Succeeding in this environment can be one of the most satisfying feelings, and is a great way to earn respect amongst solo/small scalers.

FloppyTouch wrote: »

Most of the solo 1vX clips I see are very low cp character that have no clue how to fight so find those player and ur good to go lol

But I solo play all the time I don't get many fights in I die a lot and run back a lot it's part of solo play

I like to see what keep is under attack and then set up in the middle. I only go after the fights when it's 1-2 maybe three players. If it takes to long to kill them then it's over bc more will join.

A lot of people good players here have great advice so I won't repeat it.

Absolutely agree especially with the 1vX clips. My old PvP guild was (and still is) HYPER-efficient and organised - there is simply no way the any one player is going to 1vXX a seriously well-trained/geared/prepared PVP GUILD. Ihave a chuckle when I see the big streamers doing their thing against a cloud of scrubs. 1 person vs a serius PvP guild is gong to be bang in trouble.
I deally , I'd like to get myself to a level of skill where good players seek me out as I will do with them. And OK I won't lie - it would be fun to kill a massive group of no-marks

but I'm a long way from there yet . LOL

On a seperate note - really want to thank EVRYONE (regardless of alliance lol) who has contributed to this thread - so much fantastic information and knowledge being shared - I'm sure I'm not the only one who is truly appreciative of all those who have shared this superb knowledge.

Many many thanks all!

Lexxypwns

Baranthus wrote: »

the_broo11 wrote: »

@Lexxypwns covered the majority of it. Good stuff there, so I'd definitely take note @Baranthus.

If you're not running immovable pots, definitely switch to these. Make sure you have alchemy at 50 and points into the passive for increased effect duration (can't recall the name offhand).

I'd suggest running in 2-4 man groups before going solo. Preferably with one more players who are experienced in this environment. Pay attention to how they fight. If they're getting focused, CC the enemies and throw a heal at them. If they're focusing a target, join in and focus fire the same person. If they're pulling back from the crowd, you do the same.

The main reason I suggest small group before solo is so that you can learn your limits. This is a lot easier when you have teammates to cover you if you try to take on too much and get overwhelmed.

The secondary objective is to learn how to fight effectively with allies. There will be many situations where, amidst the chaos, you end up in a 2vX with another solo player. Succeeding in this environment can be one of the most satisfying feelings, and is a great way to earn respect amongst solo/small scalers.

FloppyTouch wrote: »

Most of the solo 1vX clips I see are very low cp character that have no clue how to fight so find those player and ur good to go lol

But I solo play all the time I don't get many fights in I die a lot and run back a lot it's part of solo play

I like to see what keep is under attack and then set up in the middle. I only go after the fights when it's 1-2 maybe three players. If it takes to long to kill them then it's over bc more will join.

A lot of people good players here have great advice so I won't repeat it.

Absolutely agree especially with the 1vX clips. My old PvP guild was (and still is) HYPER-efficient and organised - there is simply no way the any one player is going to 1vXX a seriously well-trained/geared/prepared PVP GUILD. Ihave a chuckle when I see the big streamers doing their thing against a cloud of scrubs. 1 person vs a serius PvP guild is gong to be bang in trouble.
I deally , I'd like to get myself to a level of skill where good players seek me out as I will do with them. And OK I won't lie - it would be fun to kill a massive group of no-marks

but I'm a long way from there yet . LOL

On a seperate note - really want to thank EVRYONE (regardless of alliance lol) who has contributed to this thread - so much fantastic information and knowledge being shared - I'm sure I'm not the only one who is truly appreciative of all those who have shared this superb knowledge.

Many many thanks all!

I just want to encourage you, it may seem like the good solo/small group players are self absorbed, but most of us have seen our friends slowly leave the game and would welcome new people to play with. It's just that often times if you reach out to people to offer advice they get salty or defensive. I'm quite certain that some of the small group players on your server would be glad to help you.

Once you get outside of a big guild ecosystem you realize our PVP community is small and less toxic than people portray. Try reaching out to some of the solo/small group players, particularly of your class, and explaining that you're tired of always running large groups and want to improve. Some may rebuff you, but I'm certain you'll find the help you need.

Also, I know your primary interest is cyrodiil, but I highly recommend BGs and duels for practice. You'll have a controlled environment on fights and get more practice against manageable numbers without the penalty of a long horse ride.

THEDKEXPERIENCE

"Really really try to remember names on the enemy faction. How you approach a fight will differ based on whether that guy who always kills you inside of 10 seconds"

100% truth.

Not sure if "naming and praising" is against the rules but I'm gonna do it.

If you play enough you'll find that each alliance has 20 or 30 players who are really awesome. Not all of them are "famous", and some of them don't even have very high ranks (probably due to play time constraints) but they may as well count for 10 kills when you get them.

One guy on XBox NA Vivek is LV Phresh. I've never met him. No idea if he's been a 20 time emperor or not. I have no idea if he's even a he. All I know is that when I see him, I better have my own house in order or it's curtains.

We both ran into each other twice last night. The first time was at the Sejanus Gate. He went completely ham on me, but since I've been murdered by him enough to expect it, I was able to turtle up and soul assault him to death. I tried saluting afterwards but he vanished.

The second time he was running inside a keep wall as a half dozen people tried to chase him like a Benny Hill skit. I fired off a few rounds in his direction but this time he was wise to my beam so I couldn't finish the job and eventually left my comrades to fight him. I'm assuming they lost.

Any way, I share this because some very good players have tells. There are a few guys who never play solo. If you see them alone, you already stepped into their trap. Other guys are super aggressive.

And then there is Hebrew Hammer who I am convinced is the single greatest stamina player of all time. So yeah, know your opponents.

fred4

Baranthus wrote: »

olsborg wrote: »

First step is to start with duels imo. Take it from there...

I don't think I'd do too well in duels. I dunno, maybe I would. But *** a NB I love to sneak and hunt. I like to "observe my prey" and I'm happy to do this for a long time too. Being in a duel just seems to me to be the fastest hard hitter wins. I've never tried one though and I turn them down so I honestly wouldn't know.

I learnt to PvP by duelling with my stam DK, and just want to echo the recommendation to do some of that. Duelling teaches you how the different classes fight. When the guy you've been ganking with your magblade turns out half-decent, fights quickly turn into duels. Cloak can still be useful, but the element of surprise is gone.

The main duelling spot on PC EU is at the Bergama wayshrine in the Alik'r Desert. That tends to be pretty brutal. Many experienced duellers, there, are testing their latest builds and probably run duelling-specific setups. You could go, but if you find you get beaten within 10 seconds, then I think it's better to duel friends who are at the same level as you. Duelling - or PvP in general - is about speed of decision making. Against a vastly better player you may never get your bearings to even experiment with what you're doing. I think it's more helpful to play against someone who thinks at the same pace as you do, and who weaves / animation cancels their skills at about as well as you.

In terms of build, I play a light armor cloaking / shielding build. There are two important magblade skills, Merciless Resolve and Shadow Image, which I have largely avoided, because they are so finicky. I am also not a vampire. In that context I have only been happy, since I switched to using 2 shields (Harness + Healing Ward) and the resto ult (Light's Champion). I also use Forward Momentum to counteract roots / snares, and Immovability + Detection potions. This gives me a decent chance to cloak away, even if I am being focused. I mention this in case you only have Healing Ward in your build. That may be enough for some fights, but IMO you need more defenses to survive tougher fights, and you'll have a better time for it. If you're adept at getting out of trouble with Shadow Image, I salute you, of course. Also, if you run a heavy armor build with Double Take / Mirage and layered healing, that's a different story again.

Joy_Division

I'll add one more piece of relevant advice.

Probably the biggest difference I noticed between experienced/veteran players and those who struggle is the the former are much more cognizant of the lethal danger they are in when their health dips below certain thresholds. Newer player default to offense, the better players I run into start playing defensively even when their health drops down to 70%.

70%! I don't know how it is in other MMOs and I know ESO wasn't like this at launch, but once your health dips below 70% you are in real danger of dying outright.

I play a "wrong" race templar, a class that does not have much on-demand burst, that invests quite a bit into defense/resource management and even I can land a lethal combo to opponents over half health. Once CC + ultimate hits while you have no defenses active under 70%, you can be a goner to players who know what they are doing. Damage oriented Sorcs, NBs, and stam builds are especially dangerous in this respect.

Shield, heal, dodge-roll, find LOS, block, CC opponent, etc., do something and do it now if an opponent puts you under 70%. Either get over that hump or put your opponent with less % health than you have (so they get defensive and stop attacking you) and do it fast.

If you under 50%, it doesn't even take an ultimate to kill you, a CC and an unimpeded opponent are more than enough.

Of course, this works both ways. People who "1vX" understand they can quickly take out opponents if they can save their ultimates and CCs should an occasion arise.

Minno

THEDKEXPERIENCE wrote: »

"Really really try to remember names on the enemy faction. How you approach a fight will differ based on whether that guy who always kills you inside of 10 seconds"

100% truth.

Not sure if "naming and praising" is against the rules but I'm gonna do it.

If you play enough you'll find that each alliance has 20 or 30 players who are really awesome. Not all of them are "famous", and some of them don't even have very high ranks (probably due to play time constraints) but they may as well count for 10 kills when you get them.

One guy on XBox NA Vivek is LV Phresh. I've never met him. No idea if he's been a 20 time emperor or not. I have no idea if he's even a he. All I know is that when I see him, I better have my own house in order or it's curtains.

We both ran into each other twice last night. The first time was at the Sejanus Gate. He went completely ham on me, but since I've been murdered by him enough to expect it, I was able to turtle up and soul assault him to death. I tried saluting afterwards but he vanished.

The second time he was running inside a keep wall as a half dozen people tried to chase him like a Benny Hill skit. I fired off a few rounds in his direction but this time he was wise to my beam so I couldn't finish the job and eventually left my comrades to fight him. I'm assuming they lost.

Any way, I share this because some very good players have tells. There are a few guys who never play solo. If you see them alone, you already stepped into their trap. Other guys are super aggressive.

And then there is Hebrew Hammer who I am convinced is the single greatest stamina player of all time. So yeah, know your opponents.

Probably the best name ever, at the very least lol

fred4

THEDKEXPERIENCE wrote: »

We both ran into each other twice last night. The first time was at the Sejanus Gate. He went completely ham on me, but since I've been murdered by him enough to expect it, I was able to turtle up and soul assault him to death. I tried saluting afterwards but he vanished.

As a squishy magblade, I found Soul Assault dangerous to use against super aggressive players. They counter-attack and I die before the SA is even finished, or I have to block cancel it - and, yes, I do put up a shield beforehand. Paradoxically the best strategy against some of them - stamblades and stamplars who put everything into attack - is to play defensively and just funnel them down. It's a complete turnaround to how you would normally play, since Funnel is relatively weak on it's own. Some of them literally have no defense, and they mask it by trying to overwhelm you before that becomes an issue.

fred4

Joy_Division wrote: »

Probably the biggest difference I noticed between experienced/veteran players and those who struggle is the the former are much more cognizant of the lethal danger they are in when their health dips below certain thresholds. Newer player default to offense, the better players I run into start playing defensively even when their health drops down to 70%.

That is very true. When I see a player who does not heal, aside from shield-stacking sorcs, I breathe a sigh of relief, because I know they will be gone shortly. There are exceptions. DKs are generally tanky enough to get away with it, and are probably just waiting for the right moment to heal, or kill you, with their ulti. In general, though, when I see players not watching their health bar, I know they're new to PvP. As a shielding magblade, I constantly keep an eye on it. The health bar tells me whether the shield is holding. If not, I immediately shield again. I think a lot of new players focus on the opponent's health and forget about their own.

70%! I don't know how it is in other MMOs and I know ESO wasn't like this at launch, but once your health dips below 70% you are in real danger of dying outright.

That figure is probably true for me, as a squishy 22K health (in Cyro) magblade. I am either shielded (Harness), and at full health, or I'll bring out Healing Ward, and if that doesn't work, the resto ult as well. This is particularly true when you're fighting sorcs, of both varieties, because of the Implosion passive (such a BS passive, IMO, but whatever). If you have Curse, Mage's Wrath or Backlash on you, you need to be extra careful. Always watch your stamina as well. If you can't break free, then a light-armor magblade is toast.

Lexxypwns

Minno wrote: »

THEDKEXPERIENCE wrote: »

"Really really try to remember names on the enemy faction. How you approach a fight will differ based on whether that guy who always kills you inside of 10 seconds"

100% truth.

Not sure if "naming and praising" is against the rules but I'm gonna do it.

If you play enough you'll find that each alliance has 20 or 30 players who are really awesome. Not all of them are "famous", and some of them don't even have very high ranks (probably due to play time constraints) but they may as well count for 10 kills when you get them.

One guy on XBox NA Vivek is LV Phresh. I've never met him. No idea if he's been a 20 time emperor or not. I have no idea if he's even a he. All I know is that when I see him, I better have my own house in order or it's curtains.

We both ran into each other twice last night. The first time was at the Sejanus Gate. He went completely ham on me, but since I've been murdered by him enough to expect it, I was able to turtle up and soul assault him to death. I tried saluting afterwards but he vanished.

The second time he was running inside a keep wall as a half dozen people tried to chase him like a Benny Hill skit. I fired off a few rounds in his direction but this time he was wise to my beam so I couldn't finish the job and eventually left my comrades to fight him. I'm assuming they lost.

Any way, I share this because some very good players have tells. There are a few guys who never play solo. If you see them alone, you already stepped into their trap. Other guys are super aggressive.

And then there is Hebrew Hammer who I am convinced is the single greatest stamina player of all time. So yeah, know your opponents.

Probably the best name ever, at the very least lol

he's better at mageblade than he is at any stam builds too. Absolute monster, one of the few people I'm hesitant to engage open world because I know that even 1 add on his side means certain defeat. @THEDKEXPERIENCE couldn't be more right in his advice, there's simply some players you don't engage solo because even if you think you can beat them you know that you're putting yourself in a very precarious situation, be it because of them typically running with a group or just because you know you can't kill them fast enough to prevent getting too many adds in the fight and dying. As you progress as a solo-small scale player and make a name for yourself you will gain recognition with a lot of these like minded players on other factions and they will start to avoid adding onto your fights or melting you with their 5 man while you're solo. That's one of the great things about this community, a lot of the small scale players know each other and while we will engage each other there is an unwritten rule about not jumping into fights where your fellow small scale or solo players are already at a big disadvantage. As you progress and get to know these players and they start to know you by reputation you'll start to see this happening.

Also @Baranthus Mageblade is arguably top 3 best dueling setups(the absolute best imo), I highly encourage you to try your hand out a dueling as it will be a much less painful experience than trying to solo in cyro and dying to the first player you come across, I use my open world setup for duels since I don't want to practice a build specifically catered to dueling then have to learn new buttons when I go to cyro. This sometimes results in fights that I absolutely can't win against a niche dueling setup and sure, you won't duel with the same elusive play style that you seem to be going for open world, but you will get lots of practice setting up your combos and surviving other people's. Also, @Joy_Division hit the nail on the head. In solo play, Its all about staying alive and in good positioning until you're ready to quickly burst someone and then reset your positioning.

THEDKEXPERIENCE

fred4 wrote: »

THEDKEXPERIENCE wrote: »

We both ran into each other twice last night. The first time was at the Sejanus Gate. He went completely ham on me, but since I've been murdered by him enough to expect it, I was able to turtle up and soul assault him to death. I tried saluting afterwards but he vanished.

As a squishy magblade, I found Soul Assault dangerous to use against super aggressive players. They counter-attack and I die before the SA is even finished, or I have to block cancel it - and, yes, I do put up a shield beforehand. Paradoxically the best strategy against some of them - stamblades and stamplars who put everything into attack - is to play defensively and just funnel them down. It's a complete turnaround to how you would normally play, since Funnel is relatively weak on it's own. Some of them literally have no defense, and they mask it by trying to overwhelm you before that becomes an issue.

Funny you said that. Usually when in a situation like this it's heal-shield-heal-shield etc for me. This was a one off case where I assumed he'd be expecting it so I turned it into an unexpected DPS race. Some times you have to zig when they zag. It only worked once though.

This is also why I am always saying how it's a waste to use your "skill" on any random opponent. If you can kill them with one button cheese then do it. Save your skill, or advanced counter tactics, for quality opponents.

thankyourat

The key to me to playing solo is just relax and keep your buffs up and then be aware when your opponents buffs have expired. Pay attention to a player who isn't healing himself or a player who is a tank. target the squishier players with the slower reaction times first. Your burst opportunities are few so make sure you take advantage of them. Avoid fighting directly between two keeps Your will get zerged down really fast. When you have a manageable fight take your opponents off to the side where other enemies can't see the animations of abilities being casted. This right here is Why I'm always able to have multiple 1vX's without dying. Players either come to me or i will not engage I a fight. Like someone said before no your opponents know who the big zergers are and avoid them. Also know the solo players most of the time two solo players won't engage each other out of common sense lol. Solo players are usually the best players in the game if you want to fight each other it's best to set up a duel and not do it open world

Waffennacht

The moment you're calm and can feel how fights are going is when you're golden.

You'll stop recasting unnecessarily
You'll be able to react to your opponent, either offensively or defensively
You'll CC break immediately, you'll know when NOT to CC break or dodge roll
You'll use block and reactively and/or partially rather than brain dead holding
You'll combo

You'll get a ton of hate mail, accusations and unfounded lies. You'll also make a lot of friends.