I do not understand Stamina builds :)

mashugana

I understand how the magicka builds work for each class. The class lines have obvious synergies, the morphs have clear advantages based on playstyle, etc. I am less clear on the Stamina builds. How do they work?

It seems like a stamina build is more about the weapon than the class. Is that accurate? So a stamina player would be Dual Wield or Bow first and then cherry pick some morphs from the class. While the magicka player is a Templar first with some staff skills thrown in.

For example I love just the look and feel of a great big axe or a pair of daggers in ESO. If I want a character that uses those what should I do? Just pick any class and then focus on maxing the axe/dagger skills?

Thanks for any advice - I love how open this system is but it is daunting to the newbie

El_Borracho

As I am not well-versed in the mathematical or theory-crafting side of things, but love playing the stamina melee style, this is what I can impart to you. In its most basic form, Stamina builds get their damage from their resource pool. In other words, how much stamina they have. This is determined by skill points, gear, and foods. Coupled with this, passives, CP, and gear determine weapon damage and weapon crits.

In terms of weapons, some weapons inflict different damage than others. Daggers increase crit, Axes cause bleeds, Swords are higher direct damage, and Maces have higher penetration (probably the most useless 1H weapon). Its very rare to run 2H/DW builds in PVE in group content. Most run DW/Bow with some running 2H/Bow. This is because of rotation and resources and mixing in AoE, DOT, and direct damage attacks to inflict the most damage within your stamina pool.

Some classes are better for stamina. Nightblade, Warden, and DK are the primary three, but you can be a stamsorc or stamplar if you want. I have played a Stamblade and a StamDK, and their passives are great for sustaining stamina in trials, fights, etc. I have no experience with the other classes.

Similarly, some racial passives are better than others, but this gets into the min/max world. Unless you want to min/max, race doesn't matter.

All skill morphs should be stamina based, with some more effective than others, depending on the play style and/or content. Which skills you choose are based on what class you are and what type of weapons you are running.

Finally, yes, gear has A LOT to do with it. Some gear is just better. But, the most important aspect is rotation. Sustain is imperative. If you don't have a good rotation, sets like Relequen and AY are useless because you can't take advantage of their buffs and you will lose all your stamina before you get to their optimal stacking.

mashugana

Awesome! Thank you so much

El_Borracho

No problem. For more detailed reasons why that and not that, gear, rotations, etc. check out alcasthq.com. For more information on gear sets, check out eso-sets.com. For skills, eso-skillbook.com. Those are just some resources. There are plenty out there.

You don't have to follow alcast's "meta" builds, but he explains why to use some things and not others, where your CP goes, best gear, favored skills, and so on. It is a terrific resource for ideas and a base of what works and what does not. Its a steep learning curve, but once you get it, it makes a lot of sense.

ghastley

There are some Stamina morphs of class skills that start off as Magicka ones. Those tend to find their way into stam builds, too. That kind of offsets the existence of staves, which are weapons with magicka skills. One way or another, you'll have enough skills you can learn to fill both bars with all types. Just make sure you have a good mix of single- and multi-target offense, as well as instant versus damage over time, so you can adjust as needed.

Stx

Stamina builds do use less class abilities overall than magicka builds, but not a ton less. As a stamina templar I still use extended ritual, power of the light, biting jabs, binding javelin, and focus rune.

Magicka does have overall more morphs though. But stamina builds still use magicka morphs a lot, usually for utility or buffs.

NyassaV

Yikes... I can't write... You gotta try it. Use your knowledge of magicka and apply it to stam. Just remember you do more damage, your skills are cheaper, but you use stam for defense too.