Absolutely No Idea Where To Allocate My Champion Points

Vanchatron

I just reinstalled ESO after a year break and am currently trying to figure out where to allocate all my Champion Points to. I'm a Stamina based DPS who uses Dual Wield & a Bow and wears Medium armour.

Is there a theorycrafting kind of site or addon which can help me to allocate my points optimally? I came across an addon called 'Constellations' which is meant to tell you where to allocate your points, although it seemed bugged and I couldn't understand how to use it properly.

I'd appreciate some help with this, as I'm really stuck right now.

Thank you.

xXSilverDragonXx

What class are you? Are you PVE or PVP? Alcast is great with builds and he always has the champion points listed as well. They really help you get started on the right foot.

https://alcasthq.com/

Use the dragon bones update versions for current builds. He gives a very details list of sets for when you hit cp160 that are optimal for you as well as the ideal skills and rotations. You don't have to follow it if you like to go your own path, but at least it helps put you on a path that tends to work well for many.

Have fun!

davey1107

I agree with starting with Alcast. He’s detailed and knows his stuff. I’ll add a few notes as general guidance that might be helpful in understanding why he allocates like he does and how you might deviate from his based on your play style.

General CP rules in the current system

- CPs are MASSIVELY front loaded, meaning the first point spent is monumentally more valuable than the 100th in any given passive. For example, green...the lover...mooncalf (stam recovery). You can spend up to 100 points to get 15% stam recovery. HOWEVER, 75 points gets you 14%, so those last 25 points require a ton of CPs to get a small benefit.

Therefore, you’ll see most current builds spending 50-75 points in more of the passives, rather than spending 75-100 in fewer. And the first 300ish CPs you spend will give you 85% of the total power you’re going to get from the trees. If you don’t have max CPs you aren’t as handicapped as you were last year.

- There isn’t great balance to the different passives, and they tend to fall into one of two categories...awesome, or sucktastic. When alcast uses or doesn’t use a passive, that’s a big clue.

- where you might want to deviate is if warranted by your specific play style or the content you play. When alcast crafts a pve toon, it’s for trials and vet content. If you aren’t playing vet trials, you might ease off some that he tends to invest in heavily (dodge roll cost) and put a few more into areas you think would be useful.

- don’t stress. Allocation is important, but it’s not like two CPs are going to make or break you. If in doubt, copy Alcast or other expert builds, and by the time you ever need to change away from their recommendations you’ll be an expert enough player to know why you need to deviate and what you’ll gain from doing so.


Priority CPs (stam character) and why

(What if I’m a magic toon? Everything below applies almost exactly the same, just with different passives. There’s a magic equivalent to most any stam passive).

Blues

Mighty - increases any physical damage dps, it’s your core passive

Precise - increases crit strike damage. Lean a little more here for a crit toon like a nightblade, a little less for a dk or Templar.

Piercing - penetration helps you push through armor. So it’s a secondary passive because it isn’t used in every proc. If you’re hitting a shield, for example. Or casting a heal.

Thaumaturge - lean more for DOT intense builds, like sorc or Templar. Lean less for nightblade.

Master at Arms - one of the most confusing. Increases direct damage...what’s that? Basically any damage that isn’t an AOE or DOT, so this is pretty darn useful. It’s almost as important as mighty. And remember, some abilities include multiple types of damage. On your bow, snipe and poison inject both have an initial smack followed by DOTs. The initial hit is direct damage. This applies to most dual skills too, and many class skills.


Greens

Mooncalf (stam recovery) is your go-to. You want 75 here.

Tenacity restores more resources for a heavy attack...pretty important in the current game.

Beyond that, you have flexibility in greens. Alcast goes heavy into things needed in trials - reduce cost of break free, reduce dodge roll, reduce block cost. Spend based on your need. I don’t play trials with all my toons, so I ease off some of those and spend in health and magic restore. Especially on my stamblades...I need more magic restore for them.


Reds

These are a good example of what I was talking about earlier...red has a few great passives and a lot of garbage. So they’re about spreading points out relatively evenly between the good ones.

Elemental defend / hardy. These do the same thing, one mitigating incoming magic damage and the other mitigating physical. When they’re both up by 50-60 points each, your tankiness shoots through the roof.

Ironclad - the opposite of master at arms. It mitigates incoming direct damage. This is most of what hits you, so this is almost as vital as the previous two.

Thick skinned - mitigates DOTs. Important, but not a priority.

Spell shield - a low priority passive, but ok. Alcast throws a few in because at max CPs it’s a choice between a pretty tiny benefit in the others above, or getting a decent return by putting the first few into spell shield. I deviate from him by putting a few into medium armor focus too. It’s the same as spell shield, but for physical resistance. On my max cp toons, it’s a question of either like ten CPs for 1400 physical resistance, or reduce damage by an additional 0.2%...so I toss a few here.

newtinmpls

Wow, thanks @davey1107 that actually made sense to me ... and I've struggled with every incarnation of CPs.

Violynne

davey1107 wrote: »

- CPs are MASSIVELY front loaded, meaning the first point spent is monumentally more valuable than the 100th in any given passive. For example, green...the lover...mooncalf (stam recovery). You can spend up to 100 points to get 15% stam recovery. HOWEVER, 75 points gets you 14%, so those last 25 points require a ton of CPs to get a small benefit.

Completely forgot all about this, but now it makes sense. I was wondering why it was costing me so much.

Time for a respec. I'd rather use those points across multiple options than dumped into a single. 1% difference isn't a loss, but those extra points sure are.

Vanchatron

Thank you very much. Let's say I wanted to just put stuff into what I personally felt was right for my character and didn't want to follow any specific guide, would I be really bottlenecked (I think that's the right word, haha) when it comes to PvE, Trials etc?

Violynne

Vanchatron wrote: »

Thank you very much. Let's say I wanted to just put stuff into what I personally felt was right for my character and didn't want to follow any specific guide, would I be really bottlenecked (I think that's the right word, haha) when it comes to PvE, Trials etc?

No. Skill is what will make a difference here. Knowing your rotation is critical. A loss is usually determined by throwing the wrong skill at the wrong time, leaving a gaping hole the opponent takes advantage of.

Anotherone773

If you dont want to clone someone elses build or like to "fine tune" those you find for your own taste you can use the UESP build editor here

I found it to be quite useful as i dont clone other people's build.

Wolfenbelle

Vanchatron wrote: »

I'm a Stamina based DPS who uses Dual Wield & a Bow and wears Medium armour.

OP, I have played a stamina Templar DPS for 4 years. I don't min/max, but manage to do fine in all the content I enjoy. One place to start to understand the CP system is these videos by Sherman's Gaming. He has done the math and taught the community about what he calls "jump" points. Basically that means the percentages round down, so really only the whole numbers count. A number of, say, 5.35% is really the same as 5.75%. Only when it "jumps" to 6% do you get a benefit.

ESO Guide Cp Allocation and where to begin with CP per build type
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqJtKLGfLak

ESO Guide to Champion Points
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE4d6Wsm2So&t=97s

Exactly how you spend your points depends on your playstyle, gear and character to some extent, and if you play more PvE or PvP. I play about 90% PvE, DW on my front bar and do something different than most on my back bar. I use a lightening staff for sustain and the ultimate. I have caltrops on that bar too, plus my Templar healing skills. Even though I'm stamina DPS, I still want some boost to magicka and I get it through CP. Here's how I have my CP points for now -- because diminishing returns is so severe, I prefer to spread out my points rather than put them all into just a few stars:

19 Blessed
19 Elemental Expert
10 Spell Erosion
26 Physical Weapon Expert
37 Master-at-Arms
16 Staff Expert
28 Mighty
11 Piercing
11 Precise Strikes
56 Thaumaturge
23 Ironclad
29 Medium Armor Focus
19 Spell Shield
43 Elemental Defender
43 Hardy
23 Thick Skinned
11 Bastion
43 Quick Recovery
19 Siphoner
11 Warlord
23 Arcanist
43 Healthy
75 Mooncalf
43 Tenacity
11 Shadow Ward
8 Shade

I hope this helps at least give you a starting point.

Sparr0w

There's like 3/4 priority in each section (green/red/blue) which you'll want a lot into, until you start getting low returns. These will vary depending on build.

The rest can either be put into the same as above for 1/2% extra, or can be spread around to cover other areas of the game.

You'll also want to look into the passives you get from having X points in a certain tree, e.g. 12% extra crit!