New to MMO's,Need Help! Mag & StamDK Build

TamrielsFinest

Hello all! I am completely new to both ESO and MMO's in general. I decided to make
a tank as I heard wait time for dungeons is less for tanks and healers. I would like to
be able to do all dungeons and someday even maybe trials. I found a build that uses both
Stamina and Magika, but I am not sure if it is actually viable. I would like to be very
tanky but still do some decent damage if that is possible. Let me share with you my
proposed build and see if you think it is workable. One of my main concerns is
sustainability. Also I am concerned that if I put points into both magika and stamina
that maybe I will be hurting myself. I would greatly appreciate any feedback you could
give! If you would like to recommend a build please understand that I need a detailed
build as I am so new to MMO's.

My proposed build:

Bar 1: One Hand and Shield
Pierce Armor: Morphed from Puncture (One Hand and Shield) taunt
Heroic Slash: Morphed from Low Slash (One Hand and Shield)
Absorb Magic: Morphed from Defensive Posture (One Hand and Shield)
Green Dragon Blood: Morphed from Dragon Blood (Dragonknight > Draconic Power)
Unrelenting Grip: Morphed from Fiery Grip (Dragonknight > Ardent Flame)

Ultimate:Standard of Might: Morphed from Dragonknight Standard (Dragon Knight > Ardent Flame)

Bar 2: Sword and Shield
Hardened Armor: Morphed from Spiked Armor (Dragonknight > Draconic Power)
Inner Rage: Morphed from Inner Fire (Undaunted) - long range taunt
Choking Talons: Morphed from Dark Talons (Dragonknight > Draconic Power)
Igneous Shield: Morphed from Obsidian Shield (Dragonknight > Earthen Heart)

Ultimate:Magma Shell: Morphed from Magma Armor (Dragonknight > Earthen Heart)

Mundus Stone:Atronach

I was thinking of using armor that boosted health.

If I need to go all Stamina or all Magika to be viable please let me know. Thank you for
reading this post!

VaranisArano

That looks like a solid line-up of Dragonknight Tank skills. Most of those skills are going to use magicka, except for your One Hand And Shield skills. So I'd suggest that you lean more into magicka, with enough stam for you to block, interrupt, taunt with pierce armor, and hit Heroic Slash as much as you want.

From what I see of your build, it looks like your offense is run off of stamina (1H&S) and your defense and crowd control is run off of magicka (DK skills). This can work pretty well, though certain skills like chains and Inner Fire will eat through your magicka with repeated castings.

I main a MagDK tank with no points into stamina and I nearly always have enough stamina in order to block, taunt, etc. Something you could do if you find yourself struggling is to get gear with the sturdy trait to reduce block cost, which will let you conserve stamina for your skills.

There's one skill I don't see that I'd suggest adding to give you a little DPS. That's Searing Strike (DK - Ardent Flame) with both a magicka and stamina morph. If you lean more into magicka, Burning Embers is the magicka morph of Searing Strike and it gives you a DOT and a self-heal. This is my main spammable and its a great way to do damage to the boss while healing myself. I actually don't use Dragon Blood at all because Burning Embers keeps me healed. If you lean into stamina, I'd pick up Venomous Claw, the stamina morph, for a potent damage over time skill that you can hit once every 8 or so seconds so it shouldn't drain your stamina too much.

Honestly, tanks can make for viable hybrids because we don't actually have to worry about our DPS. So my suggestion would be to try it out and see if you like how it plays or if you find yourself struggling to balance the resource drain on both attributes. If you do struggle with your stamina pool, see if adding sturdy traits or block cost reduction enchantments helps reduce the drain on your stamina. If you struggle with your magicka pool, try to be very thoughtful with how you use your crowd control skills, using the terrain and choke points to your advantage and only chaining or range taunting the really important adds.

Finally, if you want general advice on being a good tank, here's a thread with a bunch of tanks (including me) talking about the basics of tanking and how to do a good job in group dungeons. https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/377221/tanking-university