Two Dunmer Character Questions

Black12Jack44

Quick questions about playing with a Dunmer. First, one of the racial passives for Dunmer is added fire damage, but does "fire damage" refer to fire damage directly from skill abilities (e.g., lava whip and searing strike DK abilities), from weapons (e.g., weapons and staves that use fire damage), or both?

Second, I have played a DK Stamina Dual Wield/Bow Dunmer character for a while now, into champion point level 315 or so. I have already received a lot of helpful advice from the forum and have improved this character considerably, to the point where I can solo some dungeons (e.g., fungal grotto, arx corinium). I am not using optimal gear by any means (e.g., working to finish collecting viper set and have the plague doctor set, but most of these are blue/purple level) and play almost exclusively solo, so this character is without some of the skill lines and abilities accessible to people who have played in Cyrodiil/do a lot of group play. There still are some bosses/dungeons I cannot complete solo, however, so I am wondering if I just need to accept that there is some content that is going to be very difficult to solo or if I can improve this character enough to be able to complete this content? I might need need to accept here that I need to do a little PVP'ing or guilding if I want to make this character significantly better at this point.

Now that I have learned more about DKs and Dunmer for this game (just FYI, I loved Morrowind and also played Oblivion and Skyrim, but am new to MMOs with this game), it seems like a Redguard or Khajiit would have been optimal for a DK stamina build and that DK magicka would be better for a Dunmer. So, I've thought about "switching" this current character over to magicka-based, but at that point, perhaps it's easier to just start a new character, although I do have all crafting abilities maxed for this current character, which I obviously would not with a new one. I don' want to pay the 3000 crowns to switch a character race too, just as a heads up.

Just FYI, I bolded my actual questions because brevity in writing is not a strength of mine. Thank you for any insights!

Nestor

1. Fire is Fire is Fire.

2. The difference between soloing a boss, assuming Delve Bosses here, is your rotation, not your champ points or gear. Now, 4 Person Dungeon Bosses, that is different and you will not be soloing them for a while now (get to the cap, and have a decent, not BiS but decent, gear set and a good rotation. Anyway, your rotation has more to do with your success than any other factor in the game.

VaranisArano

Vigor is really helpful if your class lacks solid stam heals (aka, anything other than stam sorc and stam warden).

Caltrops is also amazing if you want to solo content, like having a second endless hail.

In other words, yeah, doing a little PVP will probably benefit your character.

Asardes

Some dungeons cannot be soloed normally due to mechanics that tie down a player at some point. Those kind of mechanics are found in part 2 and DLC dungeons, but part 1 are quite easy to solo.

The Dark Elf passive Destructive Ancestry increases not only damage from own abilities, but also enchants and even sets that do elemental damage. It works similarly with Elemental Expert CP. Stamina based abilities do physical or poison damage (stamina morphs DK class skills) so they will receive no buff from that passive. If you want to stay Stamina, there's no problem with it. Your DPS will be slightly lower than other races, but unless you are engaged in end game trials for score, no one will notice.

However Stamina DK is more difficult to play solo than magicka, since you don't have access to shields, and you have to go in PvP for a reliable heal. Also next patch Magicka gets buffed in a number of ways:
- they are adding a magicka ability that grants Minor Force in the Psijic skill line
- 2 handed weapons in general and staves in particular will count as 2 pieces, so you could run 2 x 5 piece sets and a 2 piece monster set on both bars
- most likely stamina is getting a nerf in end game since a few popular support sets will be lobotomized into mundane debuffs

So I would go magicka.

Black12Jack44

Thank you everyone for the helpful tips and comments. As far as skill rotations, this is what I have been running with when facing big groups of enemies and tougher bosses (although this is off the top of my head so I might have some names off):

Recurring combination of Bar 2: Endless hail for DoT > set Rearming Traps to increase DoT and weapon critical, then from Bar 1: Obsidian Shield > Green Dragon Blood > Spiked Bone Shield > Deadly Cloak (the combo of these 4 from Bar 2 seems to keep up health/defense) > I also will swap between other different dual wield skills on Bar 1 for extra damage as needed depending on the situation (e.g., Blood Thirst, Blood Craze).

I also have Expert Hunter on Bar 1 for an increase in weapon critical, and Standard of Might is my go-to Ultimate across bars.

I am certainly open to suggestions for improving this. Like I was saying, some bosses and large groups still can be difficult for me. For example, I struggle with the big stupid crab in Fungal Grotto I (whatever its name) is because I either cannot kill the small minion crabs fast enough/cannot survive long enough to finish the fight.

Black12Jack44

One other one I forgot from Bar 2 that I mix in is Choking Talons, which I find to be helpful in combo with Endless Hail

Waffennacht

Practically all non-dlc veteran dungeons can be soloed.

Your spec will Not look like a Trial or Group dps build.

If you wish to solo veteran content, (most dlc content has 2 character mechanics etc) you need big Shields if Magicka or lots of HoTs for stamina.

Pet Sorc builds actually can solo content and still have the same specs (just FYI)

Oh and CP, once you gain more CP doing solo will be easier.

I am running a fun Dunmer Stamsorc Pet build for solo (just finished Blessed Crucible vet solo)

It's:

Maw x2 (daedroth ftw lol)
x5 bahahahahahahahaha's Curse (x3 jewelry, 2 Stam 1 health) x1 weapon x1 body (4 backbar)
x5 Mork (sword ftw)

Medium armor, divines, warrior Mundus

DW: rending, Prey, vigor, caltrops, bound armaments, Atro
Bow: Hail, Hurricane, Surge, Bound, Injection, Dawnbreaker

I pull around 25k on a dummy solo (I'm not the best rotarionist lol) - it's specced for solo play (bahaha's helps a lot)

You got this

beetleklee

Dunmer do make the best MagDKs as they can fully take advantage of the fire damage passive. StamDK is mostly poison and physical damage.
You can make it work though, Dunmer are ok as stam characters. Not the best (Redguard and Khajiit would be better), but they do have a 6% stam passive, wouldn't be as bad as running, say, a High Elf StamDK.
I'm working on a StamNB Dunmer for funsies, based on my Morrowind character. And hey if I can pull high DPS with it I'll take it to vet trials, but for now it's more for RP purposes.

Asardes

You have 2 possibilities for your damage setup, regardless of sets used. If you don't have any fancy dropped sets, crafted will do just fine. 5 Hunding's Rage (ex. feet, hands, waist, legs, chest) 4/3 Night Mother's Gaze (ex. Daggers of 2H sword, bow, head and shoulder) and 3 Robust Agility jewels are a pretty cheap effective combo for starters since all is crafted or bought of guild traders; Agility is ~2K gold per piece at most. Just make sure to use at least 5 medium armor pieces for the damage passives. You can either use all 7 medium, 5 medium 2 heavy or 1 light 5 medium 1 heavy. I usually make heavy chest, light waist and the rest medium to maximize resistances. Also when you level Undaunted skill the Mettle passive will give you more magicka, stamina & health if you mix armor types. Armor traits should be all divines, put stamina enchants on it, also main hand weapon should be nirnhoned with poison enchant off hand either precise or infused with berserker enchant; bow trait is less important: infused, nirnhoned and precise are about the same, so I recommend infused with berserker if not using poisons there. Use either Warrior or Lover mundus.

Most of your current skill setup and combos are ineffective. If you want to do good DPS you need to spec more into damage, keep your buffs up and use an effective heal. For stamina that basically means Vigor or bust. Stamina is really unplayable in harder content without that skill. Another essential skill is Razor Caltrops. Both are gained through PvP, in the Assault skill line.

One uses 2W, and it's the most popular, though it needs crafted potions to work:
2W bar: Noxious Breath | Venomous Claw | Rending Slashes | Deadly Cloak | Rearming Trap || Flawless Dawnbreaker
Bow bar: Razor Caltrops | Poison Injection | Endless Hail | Resolving Vigor* | Molten Armaments || Corrosive Armor*
*in a group where you get healed and someone tanks use Flames of Oblivion and Standard of Might respectively

Rotation:
drink Essence of Weapon Power, cast Molten Armaments, swap to front bar
HA->Noxious Breath->HA->Venomous Claw->HA->Rending Slashes->HA->Deadly Cloak->LA->Rearming Trap->Bar Swap->Endless Hail->LA->Poison Inlection->LA->Endless Hail->Bar Swap, repeat, cast Molten Armaments every 2nd rotation and drink potion as soon as it's off cooldown. Note that you need alchemy leveled and 3/3 in Medicinal Use passive to have 100% up time on potion.

Another uses 2H, has lower damage output, but doesn't need potions and has a lot of in built survival tools:
2H bar: Reverse Slice | Venomous Claw | Brawler | Flames of Oblivion | Rally || Flawless Dawnbreaker
2W bar: Noxious Breath | Poison Injection | Endless Hail | Resolving Vigor** | Molten Armaments || Corrosive Armor
**if you heal enough from Rally you can drop Vigor and run Rearming Trap there and alter the below rotation accordingly

Rotation:
buff with Rally and Molten Armaments
LA->Endless Hail->LA->Poison Inlection->LA->Noxious Breath->bar swap->HA-Venomous Claw->HA->Brawler->HA->Flames of Oblivion, repeat, recast Rally and Molten Armaments every 2nd rotation.

HA=heavy attack, basically hold the attack button until it releases, hit the skill button mid way through the animation, so both hit at the same time.

LA = Light Attack, pinch the attack button just as the animation of the previous skill ends, a good clue is to watch your character's elbow, when it goes back, hit the attack button.


I haven't played Magicka Dragonknight so the information I will provide is less detailed:

I would use 5 Julianos 3 Torug's Pact 3 Arcane Willpower, with dual inferno staves for starters. All divines, at least 5 light, heavy chest, medium legs if possible, maximum magicka enchants, both staves infused, back bar berserker enchant, front bar lightning damage (for off-balance).

Skill setup:
Front bar: Engulfing Flames | Burning Embers | Flame Lash | Harness Magicka | Inner Light || Elemental Rage
Back bar: Elemental Blockade | Clench*** | Eruption | Flames of Oblivion | Molten Armaments || Standard of Might
***when running solo slot Elemental Drain there

Rotation:
buff with Molten Armaments (and put Elemental Drain on target if needed):
LA->Flames of Oblivion->LA->Eruption->LA->Clench->LA->Engulfing Flames->LA->Burning Embers->LA->Flame Lash(x3)->HA->Bar swap, repeat, Molten Armaments every 3rd rotation (and Elemental Drain every 2nd if slotted)

Black12Jack44

Thanks everyone so much for the detailed and helpful comments! Really helps to see it laid out to guide me when making improvements for this character and for future ones. One thing that several people referenced that seems like would be very helpful is to do some PVP'ing to access to several different skill lines and armor sets.

Also, while I am working towards crafting and finding better armor sets, what do people think as far as using the Dreugh King Slayer armor set versus the Plague Doctor? I would be be pairing this would the Viper's Sting Set (5 armor pieces) and this heavy set on top of this medium set thus would be 2 armor pieces plus 2 rings and an amulet to allow me to utilize two full sets. My health already is pretty high/high enough (around 33-35k or so after a consumable), so I'm thinking Dreugh King.

Asardes

Plague Doctor is a tank set, and not a very good one. It doesn't help your DPS at all, on the contrary, by wearing heavy armor you are missing out on a lot of sustain, critical and 12% weapon damage. At first glance wearing heavy will seem to make you better at surviving but that's not the case. In fact you will simply be overwhelmed by enemies because you can't kill them fast enough. Dreugh King Slayer may seem attractive, because it gives you Major Brutality at all times, but in practice is not so good, because it's heavy. You can wear 3 jewels and 2 body pieces, and the rest medium, but it's rather hard to match with anything else. IMO you are better off simply going 2H with Rally for brutality and heals, and using 5+ medium armor pieces and robust jewelry. Viper is not a bad set, however the damage output is not that high. It's better of PvP, but in PvE it will work just fine until you find something better. One advantage it has is named dropped weapons (dagger & 2H sword) you can easily farm and use. http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Viper's+Sting+Set

Black12Jack44

Cool; that's really helpful information! My plan was to go with 3 jewels and 2 body pieces for the Dreugh King set so that I could wear 5 pieces of medium, but I agree that it's tough to find that exact combination. I also am wasting a lot of time trying to do this, which isn't that fun haha.

That's a really good point about latching onto heavy armor/sets with health for the wrong reasons too, and I think it's tempting as a new player but not the right path to follow. It seems good at first, but like you said, potentially really limits the damage I can do. Thanks again!

Alamakot

Black12Jack44 wrote: »

I don' want to pay the 3000 crowns to switch a character race too, just as a heads up.

what for? it's much cheaper just to respec attribute points (some ingame gold), equip magicka stuff and start to level new skillines (desro/resto staves).
If you want Redguard dk, simply create new char and invest some hours to level it (you may have 8 alts for free)

Black12Jack44

I think that definitely is an option too. I might spend a bit more time with this character just for crafting purposes, but like you said, it may be worth starting up a new character too and I have been itching to do that as well anyway (I have plenty of slots open). This was a good learning character if nothing else, and I appreciate everyone's advice and feedback!

Asardes

I do recommend doing separate characters for stamina and magicka of the same class. Leveling is quite fast during double XP events. For example I use normal Maelstrom arena for leveling and it's 4-5 levels, and up to 8 at low levels per 40 minutes run with that bonus. If you have a Dark Elf convert this to Magicka, then level one froma stamina race (Redguard, Orc, Imperial etc.) and make that stamina instead.

Black12Jack44

Asardes wrote: »

I do recommend doing separate characters for stamina and magicka of the same class. Leveling is quite fast during double XP events. For example I use normal Maelstrom arena for leveling and it's 4-5 levels, and up to 8 at low levels per 40 minutes run with that bonus. If you have a Dark Elf convert this to Magicka, then level one froma stamina race (Redguard, Orc, Imperial etc.) and make that stamina instead.

Thanks, and I think this is what I am going to do. I was going to model my Dark Elf after this alcast's build here: https://alcasthq.com/eso-magicka-dragonknight-build-pve/

Any thoughts on this or adjustments you'd make to that? What are thoughts on the burning spellweave set in this case?

Black12Jack44

I have put a few hours into playing with this revamped build following the alcast fire mage build. Definitely packs a lot more punch than my previous character, but with the skill rotation recommended, I am running into some issues with keeping up health and surviving against mobs of enemies. Would it be worth adding a heal into the rotation? I realize this might get better too once I fully max relevant skills (e.g., destruction staff, light armor).

Black12Jack44

And just FYI I am using burning embers as recommended, but it heals pretty slowly in some cases. I should reiterate here that I almost play exclusively solo, and the issue I'm running into is that in larger groups I am dying so quickly that I can hardly get through my rotation. Again, may just take some getting used to the rotation and improving different skills to really see the benefits of this build.

A big positive of switching to a magicka-based dunmer build is that I can kill stuff way, way quicker. The challenges I'm finding are that you can make one or two mistakes and wind up dead and that it's tough to stay alive against big enemy groups. I will say it's kind of surprising that magicka builds are recommended as "easy" (even in the game for morph suggestions), because it seems like this build takes more practice and attention when fighting enemies than a stamina/health tank where you can kind of just live and heal yourself forever. Perhaps this is different with other types of magicka builds though (e.g., a sorcerer with pets to take hits that has much more survivability).

Asardes

If you are using some of Alcast's guides but playing mostly solo, I would recommend scrolling down the page where it says "Maelstrom Arena" because those kind of builds are meant for solo play. The default build is for group play, and it's understandable why you find it hard to sustain. BSW is a good set, but I assumed you will find it hard to farm it for starters since it takes multiple runs to get the appropriate pieces. Also you may find it hard to combo it with anything else dropped, since I don't know if you have a monster set. That's why I was recommending some crafted gear for starters, until you manage to get those. BSW is easy to farm since you can solo City of Ash 1, but Moondancer/Infallible Mage (not much difference between damage output of those) are found in 12 man trials, and Zaan drops from a very hard veteran dungeon. If you want to go for an easy to get monster set, I would recommend Grothdarr (Vaults of Madness) or Ilambris (Crypt of Hearts 1) - shoulders drop in Glirion's chest, but you'll have to team up and do pledges if you want those. As I said, heads drop only in veteran mode dungeons.

Black12Jack44

Awesome; thanks again! You've been super helpful. I have done a fair amount of searching for different character types and for a lot of what I have found even for PvE builds, the focus still seems to be on PvE when playing with groups. So, that's helpful to know for the alcast builds, and I have tried to be more careful in my searching as of late to make sure that what I find takes into consideration being able to survive when going it solo.

Asardes

The game is understandably build around group play, since it's a MMO. That's why the limitations of solo become obvious very soon. So I recommend trying to get into groups, but don't get your hopes up. Most of them will be bad, you won't be much better, but the essence is not to rage, and learn even from failure. Most veteran dungeons are easy enough not to need a specialized tank, and you can simply run your DK build with some tanking skills, 1H+S on front bar/destro back bar, and a mix of damage sets. Tanks are more sought after in such groups. If you go 5 heavy, as suitable for a tank, you can run 5 Armor of the Seducer (crafted, 3 traits), and mix that with BSW and one of those monster sets. It makes for a very hardy build, not top DPS, but suitable for that mixed role.

So what I'm suggesting is to go Seducer 1H Weapon, Shield, Lightning back bar, heavy chest, legs and feet, BSW Jewels, waist and hands, and 2 Grothdarr heavy. You can go infused with health glyphs on the big pieces (shield, chest, legs, head) to have enough health, then sturdy on the small ones (feet, hands, waist, shoulders) with magicka enchants, then mix and match the enchants on the jewelry until you reach about 1.5K recovery - totally doable with Atronach mundus. Then you can chain and talon mobs, burn them with Eruption and Engulfing flames, and snare them to death with Burnining Embers while keeping aggro on the big ones. Actually that mixed tank/DD setup works quite well in random groups since their DPS is very bad in most cases.

Black12Jack44

Thanks again for everything! I've made some of these changes suggested in your last reply, am planning to do more, and it's been so fun far. More attack power than the previous stamina setup I was playing and still pretty good survivability.

I got into this game because of my interest in the Elder Scrolls series and am gradually coming to accept that a little more group play would be a good thing. Just taking me awhile to let go of my rigidity and old ways