my tank build sucks! need help fixing my tank build

user0666

WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY CHARACTER:
-Be able to PVP as well as PVE
-Increase my survivability as much as possible
-deal as much damage as possible

I played ESO for a month when it was first released years ago just to see what it was like but went back to Skyrim until January this year. I've always been a PC based elder scrolls player but since ESO is a MMO then i can't do any mods so I tried the xbox one version to see what it was like and didn't like it and been playing ESO on PC off and on ever sense. I still consider myself a noob because I don't play MMO's that much and the only reason i'm playing this MMO is because it's elder scrolls. I just love the lore!

Anyway, I have one character, and it's a level 45 dragonknight and have done 99 percent PVE and the build I have works fine for PVE...as least it used to work fine but ever since my level has hit the 40's the things I did that worked don't work anymore.

Not sure what exact info about my character I should put here so I'll just guess. If you need more info feel free to ask. My plan is to respec this character when I hit level 50.

Race: Argonian(i will not change this no matter the consequences. I've been an argonian since elder scrolls III and ain't changing. I'm a lizard man lol)
Class: Dragonknight
Current Level: 45

Attributes:
Magicka: 4
Health: 24
Stamina: 29


Weapons:
weapon set#1: I dual wield weapons. mostly axes or swords or an axe/sword combo. For me, they're the most fun
weapon set#2: Bow and arrow
hidden blade: I just recently noticed I have have a hidden blade but I have no idea how that mechanic works in this game so I haven't explored it yet. Would love any info ya'all can give on this topic.

Skill bar#1: This skill bar is dedicated to my dual wielding weapons.
skill#1: Molten Whip IV
skill#2: volitale armor IV
skill#3: bloodthirst IV
skill#4: bloodcraze IV
skill#5: fiery grip IV
ultimate: dragon leap IV

Skill bar#2: This skill bar is dedicated to my bow/arrow
skill#1: draining shot III
skill#2: volatile armor IV
skill#3: endless hail IV
skill#4: coagulating blood IV
skill#5: arrow spray IV
ultimate: standard of might II

Enchanting:

Armor:
I use nothing but heavy armor. When I get heavy armor, I upgrade using honing stones and other stuff to make it as strong as possible, adding what attributes that I can, and then I enchant all my pieces of heavy armor with stamina boosting enchantments.

Jewelry: I usually have health regen or health boost enchantments on them

Weapons: I enchant my dual swords or axes with health drain as well as my bow. The idea is that the more damage i deal out using my weapons, the more health I drain from the enemy and add onto myself. This has been VERY helpful in my survivability, but noticed this doesn't help anymore because I can't seem to get my dual axes or dual swords to drain more than 400 health each and can't seem to get my bow to drain more than 800 health anymore.

When it comes to my enchanting skills, I'm level 23.

aspect improvement: 3/4
potency improvement: 5/10
keen eye rune stones: 3/3
Hireling: 2/3
Runestone Extraction: 2/3

Blacksmithing: I'm at level 30
metalworking 7/10
Keen eye ore: 3/3
Miner hireling 2/3
metal extraction 2/3
metallurgy 2/4
temper expertise 2/3


Woodworking: I'm at level 31
woodworking 7/10
keen eye wood 1/3
lumberjack hireling 2/3
carpentry 1/4
resin expertise 1/3

as for my other skills, never really developed them much

WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY CHARACTER:
-I want to PVE mostly, but want to be able to be an asset and not a liability whenever doing PVE/PVP multiplayer so I don't get kicked from team on a regular basis. That happens to me a lot either because they're arseholes or my build just SUCKS THAT BAD...i'm leaning toward the ladder haha
-I want to be able to craft, improve, and enchant my own weapons/gear
-I want to be able to be a good thief. stealing things and selling them via black market is my primary way of making money because my regular applications for joining trading guilds keeps getting rejected for some reason.

since I've hit level 40:
-My drain health enchantments don't seem to help me survive anymore
-I'm no longer an asset during dungeon matches and my surviveability sucks so bad i get kicked regularly
-my stamina/health is so bad that I usually can't do any serious quest or multiplayer without eating a crown meal to boost my health/stamina bars.
this is what makes me think my build sucks.

Skills I don't really use much at all:
-molten whip: I only use that skill now when my stamina bar is low
-blood craze: it doesn't seem to have any affect anymore
-arrow spray: it doesn't seem to do anything anymore

also a big issue for me: i never head the term "tank build" until i started playing ESO because I don't do MMOs until now. What exactly is a tank what does it do? If i'm going to be a tank, I want to be a good one, not the sorry excuse of a tank that my build is now haha.

so what can I do to make this tank build better? In my defense, I spent most the time while using this character just exploring how this game works and figuring out what play style I like the most, when seems to be dual wielding swords/axes and using bow.

thanks in advance any advice ya'all can offer.

user0666

forgot to mention: I've been playing this game solo the whole time.

VaranisArano

For a PVE tank, I'd make a couple suggestions.

1. You need a taunt in order to hold aggro. The easiest ones for your DK are: One hand and shield has Puncture, Undaunted has Inner Fire. Puncture is my preferred option because Pierce Armor has a fantastic debuff and 1H&S will help you stay alive. If you arent holding boss aggro, that's one reason you are getting kicked from groups. You can't be a tank if you don't hold boss aggro.

You can have a DW or Bow on your back bar. I've done both, and with your build I'd probably do Bow + Noxious Breath + Venomous Claw. But DO use a taunt.

3. While you level, make sure your gear/weapons are close to your level. It makes a big difference with battleleveling and helps you be less squishy. DO use a food or drink buff! Its pretty much necessary for group content.

3. Double check your resistances. Resistance cap out at 33k-ish and you shouldnt need that much, but it's worth seeing if you are really low. You can use a Mundus stone if you think your resistances are too low.


For PVE questing: for questing, its actually better to not go the tanky route because its a lot easier to just kill things quicker. I'd recommend stacking most of your attributes in Stamina, wearing medium armor, and using your DW and Bow bars. Those are decently set up for questing. You'll do more damage with DW and bows the more stamina you have, so its worth using a food buff to boost your health and otherwise stacking stamina.

For PVP: I don't play a StamDK in PVP at all, so the best general advice I can give to a beginner is to perservere and wear impenetrable trait armor. Impen gear protects you from critical hits from other players. Its useless in PVE, but great in PVP.

Hope that helps!

Nolic1

Ok so I this and thought maybe I could offer some help one are you looking to play end game like trials and such if so then meta is the way to go for that and you will most likely get board of that buy my understanding of what you wrote. So the other options is a roleplay type build that works in all content and if thats the case give me a day and I will make a video with a build fitting your needs.

Also I got a general idea of what you want and how you play and i get your a noob to mmos its ok we all were at one time or another. Please understand this game is elder scrolls with and mmo skin on it and plays very similar to a normal eso game but has that mmos element and do not be afraid of playing all content the meta guys can be pushy for meta but us roleplayers/casuals tend to be more open to ideas others have for there characters I can even show how to play a tank with out sword ans shield and have a pretty good idea for something you might like if you let me make it.

So let me know if thats something you would like if so I got something right up your ally to play that is alot of fun and super easy for someone like you to get together and make.

VaranisArano

Nolic1 wrote: »

Ok so I this and thought maybe I could offer some help one are you looking to play end game like trials and such if so then meta is the way to go for that and you will most likely get board of that buy my understanding of what you wrote. So the other options is a roleplay type build that works in all content and if thats the case give me a day and I will make a video with a build fitting your needs.

Also I got a general idea of what you want and how you play and i get your a noob to mmos its ok we all were at one time or another. Please understand this game is elder scrolls with and mmo skin on it and plays very similar to a normal eso game but has that mmos element and do not be afraid of playing all content the meta guys can be pushy for meta but us roleplayers/casuals tend to be more open to ideas others have for there characters I can even show how to play a tank with out sword ans shield and have a pretty good idea for something you might like if you let me make it.

So let me know if thats something you would like if so I got something right up your ally to play that is alot of fun and super easy for someone like you to get together and make.

That's pretty easy.

You need a taunt to be a tank.

So the available taunts are:
Puncture from One Hand & Shield
Inner Fire from Undaunted
Ice Staff Heavy Attack with the Trifocus passive
Tormentor Set 5 piece + Charge abilities

So if you eliminate One Hand and Shield, grab one or more of the other taunts and you should be good to go. I've done a MagSorc tank who just used Inner Fire and a MagBlade tank who used Inner Fire + Ice Staff.

DarcyMardin

OP, you asked what exactly a tank does. Here’s why you need a taunt: a taunt is a skill that draws the mob’s attention to you rather than to other members of your group. As a tank, you want to taunt and gather the enemies, especially the ones who do the most damage, like the various dungeon bosses, so they are attacking you rather than attacking the healer or the damage dealers. If possible, you also want to buff the group in various ways to improve their damage and survivability.

Your preference for Argonians, dragon knight, heavy armor, and enough health to stay alive during fights (you also need food and potions...Argonians benefit by using potions regularly) are all fine choices for a tank. But you need a taunt to draw the attention of the enemies in group dungeons, so one of your weapon bars should be one-handed and shield. That’s one of the few weapon lines in the game that includes a taunt in its skills. If you’re being kicked from dungeons groups as a tank, it’s probably because you’re using a two-handed and a bow—neither of those weapon lines includes a taunt skill. (You can also get a ranged taunt from the Undaunted skill line, at rank 3 or you can use a heavy attack from an ice staff to taunt, but the most basic and effective taunt in the game comes from the sword and board line).

What you can’t expect to do as a tank is maximum damage, at least not in PvE. In groups, damage is not your job. Absorbing the enemies’ damage so they focus on you rather than on some other member of the team is your job. And for that, you need to taunt, turn the baddies away from the rest of the group so their AOE doesn’t hurt your teammates, and *stay alive.*

It’s a lot more complicated than that of course, but that’s essentially what a tank does. For solo play and for thieving, you would probably want to use a different build.

delta_mystic

here are some very popular sites and videos for building tanks or anything:

Woeler Tanking ESO Beginners Guide

New To Tanking In ESO Everything Explained Aggro Taunts Soft Taunts Overtaunting

Dottz Gaming

Alcast HQ
(this site is currently undergoing maintenance but will be back soon)

user0666

Ok, that helps a lot!!! thanks!

I just respec'ed my character with first skill bar using shield and one handed sword and taunts. and my second weapon group is bow and arrow. Also have the green dragon blood and hardened armor.



What should I be enchanting my two rings and necklace with?

Also, since I have a character that I want to both PVE tank and PVP tank, I was thinking of crafting two sets of armor:

For PVP: Craft them all with impenitrable trait(should I enchant this set with all health buffs or stamina buffs?)

For PVE: what's the best trait for PVE and questing?(should I enchant this set with all health buffs or stamina buffs?)

Also, when it comes to my character sheet, the attributes of magicka, health, and stamina, i have not changed. but when i do later on today when i have time, what numbers should i rearrange them to?


If you need more info on my newly re-skilled character, feel free to ask.

VaranisArano

user0666 wrote: »

Ok, that helps a lot!!! thanks!

I just respec'ed my character with first skill bar using shield and one handed sword and taunts. and my second weapon group is bow and arrow. Also have the green dragon blood and hardened armor.



What should I be enchanting my two rings and necklace with?

Also, since I have a character that I want to both PVE tank and PVP tank, I was thinking of crafting two sets of armor:

For PVP: Craft them all with impenitrable trait(should I enchant this set with all health buffs or stamina buffs?)

For PVE: what's the best trait for PVE and questing?(should I enchant this set with all health buffs or stamina buffs?)

Also, when it comes to my character sheet, the attributes of magicka, health, and stamina, i have not changed. but when i do later on today when i have time, what numbers should i rearrange them to?


If you need more info on my newly re-skilled character, feel free to ask.

So, some of this advice changes depending on your experience.

For PVP, you are going to have to try it out and see. If you are dying because the enemy just straight up kills you, more health is probably the way to go. If you are dying because you run out of Stam and can't run, break free, heal, or attack, go with more stamina.

For PVE tank: the more experienced you are, the more you can do with less health. I'd say around 25k health is pretty comfortable for a tank on Normal dungeons, though with experience you can do it with less, and it doesnt hurt to do more. For Vets, the last time it came up on the forums, most of us ran around 35k health and high resistances, but again, there's nothing wrong with going higher.

For PVE questing: again, I'd recommend putting as much in stamina as you can. Most stamina damage dealers have 30k+ stamina, and around 18k health (with some group buffs). So I'd aim for however much heath you need to feel comfortable -18k or a little more is fine if you have okay resistances - and then as much stamina as you can. Remember that your weapons and stamina morphs will hit harder the more stamina you have.

user0666

where to i look for to see what my resistances are? is it possible to respec those?

*edit* nevermind, it's on my character sheet. here is a screenshot after respec'ing my skills and attributes and shows my resistances. but take note, all my resistances are at zero when all my armor/weapons are unequipped. my resistances went from all zero to where they're at not only after I put my armor on. I noticed that I have ZERO critical resistances. I honestly don't understand that the term "critical" means. However when I read the discription it sounds like something I've seen when I watched my uncle play dungeons and dragons when I was a kid. Sometimes, when he had a good roll of a dye, it would cause him to have his character deal more damage. if this is the same thing, then ESO and other mmo/rpgs are just a digital version of that board game i watched people play when i was a kid?

question: how do i give my character critical resistance? apparantly i have NONE lol

Nolic1

user0666 wrote: »

where to i look for to see what my resistances are? is it possible to respec those?

Yes you can see them in your equipment screen or your character screen one is the "I" key the other the "C" key on the key board. You can adjust them using champion points once you hit level 50 and start earning them. The other thing you can do is get whats called a 5/1/1 set up and make sure your chest is a heavy piece that is reinforced to get more resistances out of it. But I got a build coming out for you and will post it here that will explain alot of the questions you will have.

Also if you want to tank do you want to change from dual wield to sword and shield?

Here is an example of what a build is below.

https://youtu.be/MTXKbA5A4JA

VaranisArano

Critical hits are a percantage of attacks that do increased damage. On your character sheet, you'll see Weapon Critical for your weapons and stam morphs and Spell Critical for stave and mag morphs. Thats the chance you have to get critical hits.

PVE enemies cannot get critical attacks, so you never have to worry about that in PVE.

In PVP, players can get critical hits, so you need Impenetrable trait armor to give you Critical resistances. CP and Impregnable armor also give some crit resistances, but impen armor should be just fine while you are leveling and working towards CP.


As for regular Physical and Spell resistances, those largely come from your gear, your armor passives, and certain skills, and eventually CP. For example, Spiked Armor is a DK skill that gives you both types of resistances. These two resistances cap out at 33k ish, which is 50% damage reduction. These are important for both PVE and PVP as it can help blunt incoming damage. There is a mundus stone that grants additional resistance.

user0666

Nolic1 wrote: »

user0666 wrote: »

where to i look for to see what my resistances are? is it possible to respec those?

Yes you can see them in your equipment screen or your character screen one is the "I" key the other the "C" key on the key board. You can adjust them using champion points once you hit level 50 and start earning them. The other thing you can do is get whats called a 5/1/1 set up and make sure your chest is a heavy piece that is reinforced to get more resistances out of it. But I got a build coming out for you and will post it here that will explain alot of the questions you will have.

Also if you want to tank do you want to change from dual wield to sword and shield?

Here is an example of what a build is below.

https://youtu.be/MTXKbA5A4JA

awesome, thanks!

as far as "wanting" to switch to sword and shield, I'm not sure yet but I am starting to really lean towards that possibility. I just respec'ed my skills to sword and shield to try it out since it's giving me more taunts. I may or may not go back to dual wield. I'm still learning to rebuild this character more effectively so that's still up in the air. I have to admit that dual wield is starting to get a little boring though, lol.

user0666

just some info on where my character is at now:










Now i know that I'm going to have to respec my skills again so I can get a skill put on my action bar from earthen heart so i can eventually get that magma ability so i can ultimately get magma shield, but this is where I'm at right now.

Marginis

Hi there, longtime ESO vet here. Let's see if I can help.

user0666 wrote: »

WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY CHARACTER:
-Be able to PVP as well as PVE
-Increase my survivability as much as possible
-deal as much damage as possible

Right away I'm going to tell you you're asking for a bit much all in a single build. It's possible, but you're going to be subpar at everything if you try to do everything. Even within PVE it's recommended to specialize more to Trials, dungeons, or overworld, in order to get the most out of your build as possible. Most people run different sets so they can switch out armor and abilities on the fly for different situations, instead of trying to use one build for multiple situations. Just be aware of this, whatever route you decide to go.

I played ESO for a month when it was first released years ago just to see what it was like but went back to Skyrim until January this year. I've always been a PC based elder scrolls player but since ESO is a MMO then i can't do any mods so I tried the xbox one version to see what it was like and didn't like it and been playing ESO on PC off and on ever sense. I still consider myself a noob because I don't play MMO's that much and the only reason i'm playing this MMO is because it's elder scrolls. I just love the lore!

Anyway, I have one character, and it's a level 45 dragonknight and have done 99 percent PVE and the build I have works fine for PVE...as least it used to work fine but ever since my level has hit the 40's the things I did that worked don't work anymore.

When you're under 50 you get boosts to your stats, which phase out as you get to a level where you have more skills and tools at your disposal to make you powerful instead. This is exactly why you might be experiencing more trouble now than before. You also might be going up against higher level stuff, in which case - good on you for venturing into harder content.

Not sure what exact info about my character I should put here so I'll just guess. If you need more info feel free to ask. My plan is to respec this character when I hit level 50.

Race: Argonian(i will not change this no matter the consequences. I've been an argonian since elder scrolls III and ain't changing. I'm a lizard man lol)
Class: Dragonknight
Current Level: 45

Dragonknight can't be changed, but it's a solid choice. Argonians are known as excellent tanks and healers more than anything else, but I wouldn't worry too much about that. Race makes such a minor impact on build viability at this point in the meta I wouldn't lend any credibility to anyone telling you to change.

Attributes:
Magicka: 4
Health: 24
Stamina: 29

Typically with tanks I put all my points into health. With stamina DPSes I throw everything into stamina. Magicka DPSes and healers, Magicka. It's not the only way to go, but generally all your points should be going into one stat. The rest of your stats should be getting their increases from armor, and if you decide to swap armor for different situations, you would then be able to more easily control your attributes without having to run to a shrine to respec.

It's also worth noting that putting points into stamina increase your weapon damage. Same thing with putting points into magicka, except with spell damage and healing spell power. Because of this, it's best not to throw any points into the attribute your build doesn't use at all. It looks like you're running a stamina build, so just take all your points out of magicka. If you need to, put some points into magicka recovery, but you shouldn't really be using magicka at all in a stamina build.

Weapons:
weapon set#1: I dual wield weapons. mostly axes or swords or an axe/sword combo. For me, they're the most fun
weapon set#2: Bow and arrow

Dual Wield (generally daggers) and bow are generally agreed to be the best for PVE stamina DPSes, so you're definitely solid on that. For PVP I'd recommend maybe moving one bar to two-handed weapons for versatility, and using swords or axes over daggers. Bleed builds can be quite fun if you like axes, too, of note.

hidden blade: I just recently noticed I have have a hidden blade but I have no idea how that mechanic works in this game so I haven't explored it yet. Would love any info ya'all can give on this topic.

The blade of woe, if that's what you're referring to, is simply a mechanic that allows you to instantly kill most humanoid NPCs when undetected. It does not affect combat or what you can use in your build.

Skill bar#1: This skill bar is dedicated to my dual wielding weapons.
skill#1: Molten Whip IV
skill#2: volitale armor IV
skill#3: bloodthirst IV
skill#4: bloodcraze IV
skill#5: fiery grip IV
ultimate: dragon leap IV

Skill bar#2: This skill bar is dedicated to my bow/arrow
skill#1: draining shot III
skill#2: volatile armor IV
skill#3: endless hail IV
skill#4: coagulating blood IV
skill#5: arrow spray IV
ultimate: standard of might II

I don't have much to comment on as far as Dragonknights go, as they aren't really my speciality, but I heavily recommend looking up builds or checking out ones people post here (Alcast is a favorite source of mine) and seeing how they build their characters. I can also say, generally speaking, as a stamina DPS you should look for one self heal (vigor is what most stamina classes default to), a bunch of buffing abilities, probably some powerful damage over time abilities, and a spammable or two that you can weave light attacks between until you need to refresh your buffs and DOTs. That is generally what you're looking for for PVE, anyway. For PVP you want things that focus more on bursting opponents down quickly, moving around the battlefield efficiently, and generally being able to deal with different situations that don't come up in PVE. As for a build that plays to the best of both worlds... try to err on the side of PVP versatility. Versatility does fine in PVE, especially when just running around in overworld with no real challenges; it's only dungeons and trials where you'll really be missing that extra damage.

Also if you're running a stamina build, don't use magicka abilities, and if you're running a magicka build, don't run stamina abilities. They will be far less powerful than they would be on their corresponding build.

Enchanting:

Armor:
I use nothing but heavy armor. When I get heavy armor, I upgrade using honing stones and other stuff to make it as strong as possible, adding what attributes that I can, and then I enchant all my pieces of heavy armor with stamina boosting enchantments.

Run medium armor. It'll boost your damage and stamina, and you can rely on healing abilities to keep you alive. Heavy armor is doing you a disservice damage-wise. If you're really feeling the hurt from the change, maybe put some reinforced traits on your medium armor, or take the Lady mundus stone, but unless you want to tank, I'd leave the heavy armor.

Jewelry: I usually have health regen or health boost enchantments on them

Health recovery is generally considered a wasted stat. Unless you plan on making a health regen tank where you put all your stats into health recovery, I wouldn't waste any part of my build on health recovery. Use your abilities to recover health, and if you want recovery, put it into stamina so you can use vigor to heal more often.

Weapons: I enchant my dual swords or axes with health drain as well as my bow. The idea is that the more damage i deal out using my weapons, the more health I drain from the enemy and add onto myself. This has been VERY helpful in my survivability, but noticed this doesn't help anymore because I can't seem to get my dual axes or dual swords to drain more than 400 health each and can't seem to get my bow to drain more than 800 health anymore.

The drain health enchantment is based off magic power, so as a stamina build, with all your points into stamina and weapon damage, your magic power is... bad. Try using an enchantment that deals poison or disease (physical damage like weapons) damage, or use poisons instead of enchantments. If you're looking for something else, I'd also recommend looking at the buffing and debuffing enchantments, like the ever popular crushing enchantment.

When it comes to my enchanting skills, I'm level 23.

aspect improvement: 3/4
potency improvement: 5/10
keen eye rune stones: 3/3
Hireling: 2/3
Runestone Extraction: 2/3

Blacksmithing: I'm at level 30
metalworking 7/10
Keen eye ore: 3/3
Miner hireling 2/3
metal extraction 2/3
metallurgy 2/4
temper expertise 2/3


Woodworking: I'm at level 31
woodworking 7/10
keen eye wood 1/3
lumberjack hireling 2/3
carpentry 1/4
resin expertise 1/3

Crafting takes a lot of time and skillpoints. If you're going to invest in it, reserve some time for skyshard hunting, find a master crafter to make you equipment to research, and start collecting motifs. If it's not your main thing, don't put too much focus on it, just level it up as you play and find someone else to craft you armor as you need. There are plenty of great guilds out there for just this kind of thing. There's a lot more to crafting than that, of course, but suffice to say hanging out with a master crafter will tell you more than I can fit in a single forum post.

as for my other skills, never really developed them much

WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY CHARACTER:
-I want to PVE mostly, but want to be able to be an asset and not a liability whenever doing PVE/PVP multiplayer so I don't get kicked from team on a regular basis. That happens to me a lot either because they're arseholes or my build just SUCKS THAT BAD...i'm leaning toward the ladder haha

What most people are looking for is someone to play a role - tank, healer, or DPS. If you don't fit one perfectly, you're relegated to being what they might consider a subpar DPS. This doesn't mean you're bad, it just means you're not what most people are looking for. If you try and specialize more to doing as much damage as possible, or taking all the damage without dying, or switching to a magicka build and keeping your teammates alive, you'll have better luck with randoms. If you decide not to, find out what you do well that a specialized build cannot, and show that off. Hybrids typically have terrible DPS for example, but they do have access to twice the abilities that normal DPSes have. My main, for example, sucks at DPS, can only do basic healing, and is a difficult tank to play, but in trials, he's the best objective runner you've ever seen. Certain things are better than other things, but don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't play.

-I want to be able to craft, improve, and enchant my own weapons/gear
-I want to be able to be a good thief. stealing things and selling them via black market is my primary way of making money because my regular applications for joining trading guilds keeps getting rejected for some reason.

Some guilds are jerks. Don't mind them, there are plenty of guilds out there. For what it's worth, I spent a good majority of my 5+ years playing ESO not in a trading guild. Money and the trading system is largely an optional and unnecessary part of the game beyond your mount and some extra inventory space. Right now I would more recommend finding a helpful social or dungeon running guild.

since I've hit level 40:
-My drain health enchantments don't seem to help me survive anymore
-I'm no longer an asset during dungeon matches and my surviveability sucks so bad i get kicked regularly

Dungeons are built for one tank, one healer, and two DPSes. If your healer sucks or tank decides they want to DPS instead of taunt, it's not your fault. Just keep that in mind. Outside of that if you are in a damage dealing role, just make sure you get to about 20k health and don't stand in red spots. Put on a good healing ability and be ready to spam that when you're in danger of going down.

-my stamina/health is so bad that I usually can't do any serious quest or multiplayer without eating a crown meal to boost my health/stamina bars.
this is what makes me think my build sucks.

Food is recommended for dungeons, so don't feel bad on that account, but part of that is also on you putting attribute points all over the place and on running heavy armor for a non-tanking role.

Skills I don't really use much at all:
-molten whip: I only use that skill now when my stamina bar is low
-blood craze: it doesn't seem to have any affect anymore
-arrow spray: it doesn't seem to do anything anymore

Most of this will be fixed with proper armor, enchantments, and attribute distribution.

also a big issue for me: i never head the term "tank build" until i started playing ESO because I don't do MMOs until now. What exactly is a tank what does it do? If i'm going to be a tank, I want to be a good one, not the sorry excuse of a tank that my build is now haha.

Tanks are hulking big bois that never die and use a taunt (an ability that makes enemies specifically target the tank and only the tank) on bosses and as many other things as they can. They don't worry about dealing damage, they might buff their teammates but don't worry about healing anyone besides themselves, and they exist purely so that enemies waste their attacks on the tanks instead of other party members.

so what can I do to make this tank build better? In my defense, I spent most the time while using this character just exploring how this game works and figuring out what play style I like the most, when seems to be dual wielding swords/axes and using bow.

Your build isn't a tank build. It is made for DPS. Tank builds are defined by their ability to taunt (so you need either a frost staff, puncture (a one hand and shield ability), or inner fire (an undaunted ability), if you want to tank. Next thing is to get your health to 30k or higher and physical and spell resistance to around 30k as well. Most tanks use heavy armor, a one handed weapon with a shield and/or frost staff, and abilities that give them the major ward and major resolve buffs, to achieve that level of survivability. Those are the bare basics of tanking. After that, you might want to get some stun slow or root abilities, maybe some teammate buffing abilities... and definitely a good heal or two.

thanks in advance any advice ya'all can offer.

Hope I helped!

user0666

thanks yall! all this info is really helpful

user0666

ok, I respec'ed my character to be a tank that did taunting and although it took a lot longer to kill me, it was really boring lol.
I did the one handed weapon and shield so I can have puncture as a taunt, but since my ability to dish out damage was lowered it took forever to kill things and nearly rendered simple PVE questing unplayable for me because of how it took forever to kills things lol. so as an experiment I respeced again to this current build. It's a lot more fun than my original build for pve questing, and i'm not as squishy and a bit more useful in pve dungeons with one exception: i still need a taunt!

From what I understand, if i go this route I'm going to need a skill called "inner fire". Is that an active skill or a passive skill? I know it has something to do with undaunted, so I'm in the middle of my first undaunted quest. Will that skill line open up after i finished the first quest?

Below is a picture of my new build. The first pic shows my attributes, and the second and third picture is meant to show you what I put on my two skill bars. This is the only real complaint I have about the game, that you only have 10 slots for active skills and only two slots for ultimates. Other than that I really love this MMO version of elder scrolls.

So how do I go about getting inner fire anyway?

I basically shuffled all my attribute points to stamina, built all my armor and weapons with the infused trait(to enhance my enchantments). Enchanted all my armor with max heath and enchanted one sword with a fire damage enchantment, the other sword with a frost damage enchantment and my bow with a shock damage enchantment.

Is this even classified as a tank anymore? If not, what is this character classified as? If I were to find a way to get inner fire, would it be a tank again?

Nolic1

Hey there the video of the build stuff I have coming it will be out latter today and its over an hour long but I explain alot so I hope it helps. As for your above comment its more of a damage dealer then a tank also yes the undaunted skill line will unlock after your intro quest to the undaunted but to unlock the skill line you have to play dungeons and do the stories or do the daily's at the undaunted camps after you reach level 45.

Also you can add me as a friend by putting in @NolicB in the friends request in the game and here is my discord if you need more help. https://discord.gg/nSkTymF

VaranisArano

To get Inner Fire, you'll need to complete the quest to join the Undaunted "One of the Undaunted" and raise the skill line to Level 3; https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:One_of_the_Undaunted

A damage dealing build will be much better for overland questing than a tank.

Nolic1

Here you go mate sorry it took so long but hope you like the video and content in it.

https://youtu.be/JZArsr0UrmI

ArielSira

My main is a Stam DK tank but for Overland I swap gear and skills to a dd build. Doing Overland as a tank takes too long because you hit like a wet noodle (no fun). So it is quite easy to do both roles but not at the same time.

2 things while looking at your stats: eat food for a buff (max health + max stam blue food) and train your horse skills daily!

Standard

Tanks CAN be boring if you're trying to solo something... But you're a tank, not a DPS.
If you want to DPS with survivability, you'll probably want to move to a destrostaff magsorc...
You have access to one of the strongest burst heals in the game that deals damage too.
You throw some AoEs down, shield up, block or light/heavy attack and you're good to go. The only thing that will take you out are one shot mechanics.

Destro front bar with AoEs, twilight, and shield.
Destro back bar with high damage single target abilities, twilight, and whatever else you want.
All Stats into magika
Gear is monster set: I use Zaan, but it's a tough set to get off your group doesn't know ALL the mechanics. But with magsorc, you just use what you feel like. Skoria, Ilambris, infernal guardian, or Maw of Infernal.
5x necropotence (since twilight has a 100%uptime, that's max magika)
5x elegance, mother's sorrow, law of julianos, or any set that boosts the stats you're lacking.

I end up around 21k health, 42k magika, and I think around 18-20k stamina. Resistance is almost 20k. If the tank goes down, I can step in until he's revived just by shield spamming and blocking.

Marginis

user0666 wrote: »

ok, I respec'ed my character to be a tank that did taunting and although it took a lot longer to kill me, it was really boring lol.
I did the one handed weapon and shield so I can have puncture as a taunt, but since my ability to dish out damage was lowered it took forever to kill things and nearly rendered simple PVE questing unplayable for me because of how it took forever to kills things lol. so as an experiment I respeced again to this current build. It's a lot more fun than my original build for pve questing, and i'm not as squishy and a bit more useful in pve dungeons with one exception: i still need a taunt!

Tanking is a support class. This usually means that yes, it can be a bit boring when you don't have anyone to support. This is why many tanks switch their build to a more damage dealing one when not doing group content. It is possible to make a tank that does higher damage, but those builds are typically more difficult to make, and harder to play with when tanking, as points you put into defensive stats take away from the points you have available for offensive stats and vice versa.

My recommendation is to get a few extra skillpoints via skyshards so you can unlock enough abilities for a DPS build and a tank build without having to visit a respec wayshrine every time you want to switch builds, and then just get one tanking armor set (heavy armor, sword and shield) and one DPS armor set (medium armor, dual daggers). Something as simple as that should solve your problem, as just putting on gear that gives you higher offensive stats is usually plenty change for overworld.

Just make sure you have a primary build that's fully fleshed out for dungeons or higher level content. It looks like you enjoy the tank's survivability, so you could make a full tank build for dungeons, while just swapping out a couple of abilities and armor for overworld.

From what I understand, if i go this route I'm going to need a skill called "inner fire". Is that an active skill or a passive skill? I know it has something to do with undaunted, so I'm in the middle of my first undaunted quest. Will that skill line open up after i finished the first quest?

Inner Fire is from the undaunted skill line, and is an active ability. Once activated, you immediately taunt an enemy from range. The ability will open up as you level up your undaunted skill line. The thing of note here is that while a useful ability, inner fire is not usually considered a good primary taunt for stamina tanks. It costs a lot and doesn't have much other benefit aside from an immediate taunt at range.

While you could absolutely run it, I'd recommend trying to work with Puncture from the 1H+Shield skill line first, and swap that off your bar for overworld if need be. It has an excellent debuff for enemies in addition to being a low cost taunt, so you can help out your team a lot more with that usually. Many tanks do run multiple taunts though, so you may consider that option as well.

Below is a picture of my new build. The first pic shows my attributes,

For stamina builds, that works perfectly. I'd probably put all the points in health, myself, and enchant my DPS armor with stamina enchantments and tank armor with health or tri-stat enchantments, but there's no need to care too much about something like that if this works for you.

and the second and third picture is meant to show you what I put on my two skill bars. This is the only real complaint I have about the game, that you only have 10 slots for active skills and only two slots for ultimates. Other than that I really love this MMO version of elder scrolls.

The reduced number of slots for abilities was an intentional choice by the devs to make your ability selection matter. It also helped with developing the game for console, but I think both versions of the game benefit from a smaller ability bar. I usually get past it by thinking of the front bar as my main ability selection, and my backbar as all my support abilities. So on the backbar I can keep stuff like team buffs, heals, and mobility options, and I just keep all my defensive buffs and my taunt on my front bar. However you divide it up, that usually helps me at least.

So how do I go about getting inner fire anyway?

Level up undaunted. Do the daily dungeon quests every day or so, it shouldn't take you too long.

I basically shuffled all my attribute points to stamina, built all my armor and weapons with the infused trait(to enhance my enchantments). Enchanted all my armor with max heath and enchanted one sword with a fire damage enchantment, the other sword with a frost damage enchantment and my bow with a shock damage enchantment.

Fire, frost, and shock, are all magic damage, and so won't scale up with your weapon damage. The elements can apply status effects, but won't be quite as powerful as a physical damage enchantment. Just keep that in mind if your goal is to do damage.

Is this even classified as a tank anymore? If not, what is this character classified as? If I were to find a way to get inner fire, would it be a tank again?

As long as you have a taunt and can survive all the enemies coming after just you, you're a tank. It's up to you to say if you can do that, and if so, how good you are at doing so. That is all tanking is, after all.