Dragon Knight - Returning Player

kathandira

Hello All!

I was hoping someone could provide me on some guidance on playing a DPS Dragon Knight. I had played on Xbox One a few years back, and was Vet 212. I did play a DK, and I remember it being pretty strong. But since it has been so long, I don't recall the best way to build a DPS DK.

My lvl 35 Nord DK is using the following skills.

Dizzying Swing
Reverse Slice
Igneous Weapons
Noxious Breath
Venomous Claw
Standard of Might

This was great for a little while, but as I am leveling, i'm finding it is a bit less effective. I know this is partially due to my gear not keeping up with my level at all times. But I was hoping someone could either provide me some guidance, or point me to a resource where I can do some research.

One other question. I have been focusing on using Medium Armor as there are more melee DPS sets available. Is this the wrong thing to do? Should I still be using Heavy Armor?

I appreciate any feedback anyone can provide as I want to make the most out of character, and contribute in Dungeons the best I can.

Thank you in advance!

jkolb2030

If you are going to be focusing on PvE DPS you definitely want to run medium armor.

DW/Bow is relatively the highest DPS set up, but you can definitely run 2H and have no issues with any content.

Your skills look about right, you could even run brawler/cleave for some extra AoE damage on mobs.


As far as sets go, you will likely want to use Hundings Rage for sure until you get leveled all the way.

John_Falstaff

First and foremost, just keep in mind that you're at the point where you don't have to think about optimizing and just trying things and playing the way it feels most fun. In the content you do around those times, you can perform very well without pressing yourself into constraints of meta.

That aside, and assuming you want to be stamina... Medium armor is good, it's the go-to type for stamina DPS, so you don't need to change that. (Later, at some point in time, you may optimize by wearing one piece of heavy and maybe one light to make most use of Undaunted passives, but right now, again, it's too early to even bother.

The most common weapon setup for most damage is dual wield on front bar, bow on the back. Stamina DK is all about DoTs. Claw, Slashes, Noxious Breath and/or Caltrops (some are allergic to PvP, but it only takes a weekend in Cyrodiil to get), Rearming Trap are all your friends; Endless Hail is probably biggest source of damage even without the iconic bow. Don't squeeze yourself for some hard-to-farm rare sets; crafted Hunding's Rage works admirably even in endgame, and it pairs nicely with Spriggan's Thorns you can pick up while roaming around Bangkorai, smacking around world bosses, dolmens and opening chests.

Rotation is important. Try it simple: light attack, skill, light attack, skill - keep dots up, reapply then they run out. Weaving those is a big damage boost (in a period of one second, you can fit in one light attack and one skill: tapping light attack and then the skill allows the skill to piggyback on LA without taking longer than needed).

John_Falstaff

I forgot to mention Poison Injection among DoTs, it's a very strong one for bow bar. You can stick to Lover mundus and keep it at that until some later point you start running trials and face the risk of overpenetrating (really, again too early to bother). Also, gear and damage is good, but mechanics is more important, you'll contribute more to your groups by knowing it than by squeezing that extra percent of stats. ^^

kathandira

Thank you all for the advice! I really appreciate the feedback!

kathandira

jkolb2030 wrote: »

If you are going to be focusing on PvE DPS you definitely want to run medium armor.

DW/Bow is relatively the highest DPS set up, but you can definitely run 2H and have no issues with any content.

Your skills look about right, you could even run brawler/cleave for some extra AoE damage on mobs.


As far as sets go, you will likely want to use Hundings Rage for sure until you get leveled all the way.

Could you explain why using a Bow is a good backup weapon? I've never used a Bow in ESO before, so i'm not familiar with the skill line, and what it would offer a melee focused character.

Thanks in advance!

Dimski

The bow is for AoE and for ranged attacks. Also get a dot going through poison injection. Most of your encounters begin at range. Start with a rain and let them come to you instead of rushing toward them.

kathandira

edmt0001_ESO wrote: »

The bow is for AoE and for ranged attacks. Also get a dot going through poison injection. Most of your encounters begin at range. Start with a rain and let them come to you instead of rushing toward them.

Thank you again!

I'm going to start working on that tonight.

I appreciate the help

jkolb2030

kathandira wrote: »

jkolb2030 wrote: »

If you are going to be focusing on PvE DPS you definitely want to run medium armor.

DW/Bow is relatively the highest DPS set up, but you can definitely run 2H and have no issues with any content.

Your skills look about right, you could even run brawler/cleave for some extra AoE damage on mobs.


As far as sets go, you will likely want to use Hundings Rage for sure until you get leveled all the way.

Could you explain why using a Bow is a good backup weapon? I've never used a Bow in ESO before, so i'm not familiar with the skill line, and what it would offer a melee focused character.

Thanks in advance!

Yes, the bow offers one of the best stamina based AoE DoTs in the game in Endless Hail.. This skill is further buffed by the bow that drops from the Veteran Maelstrom Arena, that buffs each additional tick of Endless Hails damage by x .

So this skill will be the majority of your DPS in any fight..

The Bow also offers a strong execute / DoT in the skill Poison Injection. Poison injection does initial dmg, and a poison DoT that is increased by your Mighty CP star - and the skill also does bonus damage if the enemy is in execute range (<25% HP). This is a huge help for DKs since they really do not have any other form of execute (aside from Executioner/Reverse slice in 2h line).

So really, the Bow offers you a great DoT to initiate all of your fights with (Endless Hail) and also gives you a great single target DoT/Execute (Poison Injection) that you can put on an enemy while you are hammering away at them with your 2h on your front bar.

Hope this helped!

kathandira

jkolb2030 wrote: »

kathandira wrote: »

jkolb2030 wrote: »

If you are going to be focusing on PvE DPS you definitely want to run medium armor.

DW/Bow is relatively the highest DPS set up, but you can definitely run 2H and have no issues with any content.

Your skills look about right, you could even run brawler/cleave for some extra AoE damage on mobs.


As far as sets go, you will likely want to use Hundings Rage for sure until you get leveled all the way.

Could you explain why using a Bow is a good backup weapon? I've never used a Bow in ESO before, so i'm not familiar with the skill line, and what it would offer a melee focused character.

Thanks in advance!

Yes, the bow offers one of the best stamina based AoE DoTs in the game in Endless Hail.. This skill is further buffed by the bow that drops from the Veteran Maelstrom Arena, that buffs each additional tick of Endless Hails damage by x .

So this skill will be the majority of your DPS in any fight..

The Bow also offers a strong execute / DoT in the skill Poison Injection. Poison injection does initial dmg, and a poison DoT that is increased by your Mighty CP star - and the skill also does bonus damage if the enemy is in execute range (<25% HP). This is a huge help for DKs since they really do not have any other form of execute (aside from Executioner/Reverse slice in 2h line).

So really, the Bow offers you a great DoT to initiate all of your fights with (Endless Hail) and also gives you a great single target DoT/Execute (Poison Injection) that you can put on an enemy while you are hammering away at them with your 2h on your front bar.

Hope this helped!

That helped a lot! Thank you so much!

Sounds like the poison injection works like the Sorc spell that explodes once the enemy is under 25% health. I think that, paired with reverse slice would be a great execute phase combo.

I'm quite excited to try this out tonight (once I get the Bow leveled up a bit).

Thank you again!