Altmer vs. Dunmer for MDK

SoftcoverGore47

With the recent changes, is Dunmer still meta for a Mag DK?

Altmer : extra 10% to max magicka and 9% to mag recovery, 4% damage increase to Cold, Fire, or Shock effects.

Dunmer : extra 9% to max magicka (maxed passive), 6% to max stamina, increased flame resist by X, increased spell damage with fire effects by 7%.

What do they mean by "fire effects".
Also, is the Altmer's "damage increase to fire effects" the same as the Dunmer's "increased spell damage with fire effects" , (not the numbers, I'm just referring to the type of damage). Need to understand what those terms mean to make a meaningful comparison.

LeonAkando

Wait what.. the racial changes removed the percentage buffs.
You're listing the old racials.

Altmer = Max Magicka 2000 , Lower Resource Restore (Stam for MagDK) , Spell Damage 258
Dunmer = Max Magicka + Stamina 1250, Max Health 600 + Flame Resist 2310 Immune to Burning, Weapon and Spell Damage 258

When comparing them in a vacuum, Altmer does the most raw damage. But Dunmer is the more versatile, and gives better defensive properties.

Somewhere

LeonAkando wrote: »

Wait what.. the racial changes removed the percentage buffs.
You're listing the old racials.

Altmer = Max Magicka 2000 , Lower Resource Restore (Stam for MagDK) , Spell Damage 258
Dunmer = Max Magicka + Stamina 1250, Max Health 600 + Flame Resist 2310 Immune to Burning, Weapon and Spell Damage 258

When comparing them in a vacuum, Altmer does the most raw damage. But Dunmer is the more versatile, and gives better defensive properties.

That's still not quite right. The Dunmer resource bonus is actually 1875 now, not 1250. For both magicka and stamina.

Honestly, speaking to the OP here though: if you want the max damage (even if it's just a fractional amount) Altmer is better of the two. Both are useful in pvp, but I'd probably prefer Dunmer simply because of the fire resistance, but Altmer's stamina regeneration could come in handy.

That said, Breton is probably a better pick than both of them, since mDK isn't amazing in the sustain department, and Breton really makes sustaining on magicka specs easy.

MashmalloMan

LeonAkando wrote: »

Wait what.. the racial changes removed the percentage buffs.
You're listing the old racials.

Altmer = Max Magicka 2000 , Lower Resource Restore (Stam for MagDK) , Spell Damage 258
Dunmer = Max Magicka + Stamina 1250, Max Health 600 + Flame Resist 2310 Immune to Burning, Weapon and Spell Damage 258

When comparing them in a vacuum, Altmer does the most raw damage. But Dunmer is the more versatile, and gives better defensive properties.

Even the numbers you used are wrong today:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/460633/pc-mac-patch-notes-v4-3-5-wrathstone-update-21

Dark Elf

• Increases Experience gain in Dual Wield Skill Line by 15%, reduces damage taken from Lava by 50%
• Dynamic: Increases your Max Stamina and Magicka by 1875.
• Resist Flame: Increases your Flame Resistance by 2310. You are immune to the Burning status effect.
• Ruination: Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage by 258.

High Elf

• Increases Experience gain in Destruction Staff Skill Line by 15%, extra 1% Generic Experience gain
• Spell Recharge: Restore 645 Magicka or Stamina, based on whichever is lowest, after activating a Class Ability. This effect can occur once every 6 seconds. Reduces damage taken by 5% while you are using an ability with a cast or channel time.
• Syrabane’s Boon: Increases your Max Magicka by 2000.
• Elemental Talent: Increases your Spell Damage by 258.

Also, if your against vampire's self debuffs to fire dmg, it's a little easier to chew as a Dunmer with Burning status resist, 50% lava dmg resist and +2.3k fire dmg resist.

Maybe your option is High Elf non Vampire vs Dunmer Vampire. You lose only 125 max resource vs High Elf, but you gain 10% resource recovery.

Wing

the fact that a magicka based altmer will restore stamina with its passive is actually very good in pvp and often overlooked.

stamina is critical for mobility and survivability in pvp and often the bane of magicka is obviously its lack of stamina (though some light armor passives)
but having more ability to sprint, break free, roll dodge, block, etc. is very good.

also very good on sorc because of dark deal but that's another class.

still, high elf is the best offense magicka class (if only by a bit comparatively) and does get defensive utility from stam restore.

Krayl

I run a breton now using witchmothers/clockwork citrus. That makes sustain pretty easy without an absorb magicka enchant so you can put a spell power enchant on your back bar and have more spell power than either elf.

The diff between high and dark elf is a negligible 11-20 total spell power. Personally between the two i'd chose dark elf and at least get some fire damage resistance since you'll be a vampire, the extra stam is nice to have though the stam return for high elf is similar in effectiveness.

LordTareq

Dark Elf passives are much better than Altmer for melee magblades or other hybrids that use a melee weapon but magicka skills. Even for a pure magicka character it's super close.
The 1875 extra stamina outweighs the 125 less magicka for utility, and the Altmer lowest resource recovery honestly quite sucks. You need to attack for a whopping 18 seconds (but more likely 24 seconds) to gain the same benefit the 1875 stamina brings, you need to have actually used more than 645 stamina each time when it procs to gain the full benefit of it (and the first time it procs is nearly always wasted) and you need to use a class skill every 6 seconds for it to proc (which isn't difficult, but potentially a build limitation nonetheless)

LittlePinkDot

I think Breton is the best considering how expensive DK skills are.

Banana

Breton. You'll look better to

BxBourne

Depending on what you want to build your magdk there are a few good options now. I personally use a dark elf and with the changes I think it's even better, the spell damage and Max mag and stam stats are more important to me than the other Stats that other races have. The one thing I don't like about the racial changes is they don't have any real good uniqueness, you cam supplement whatever your race doesn't have in your build. That's why I say they should give each race a special useful uniqueness, flame resist on dark elf is minor.