Torn between Magicka Sorc, Warden, Templar (newer player)

AdventureGirl

Hello all,

First time on the forums.

I'm trying to figure out what the right fit is for me in this game and was hoping to get some advice from you all.

This is my first major MMO I've been wanting to try; in single-player games I tend to go for a battlemage or spellsword type character. I love magic and its effects but dislike always having to be ranged. From what I could gather battlemage/spellsword don't quite exist since hybrid doesn't seem to fare well?

I will say I like the idea of having a pet/companion to help take away aggro as I am having trouble in dungeons/tombs you're supposed to be able to solo and such. I have a Templar and Sorc both around level 15 at the moment but I'm having trouble deciding. I'm curious about mag warden but wasn't sure how it does now.

I mainly aim to do PVE content (I have a lot to explore plus expansions/DLC) and will dabble in some PVP but I'm not worried about leaderboards.

Of the three, what do you think I would enjoy most in lieu of a battlemage/spellsword? Also considered Nightblade since I enjoy stealth but saw that they're hard to rotate/play?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

El_Borracho

Petsorc and stamplars are two of the easier builds to play in PVE. Petsorc is primarily ranged with stamplar being mostly a close-combat fighter with ranged bow abilities. They have great DPS, strong heals, and purge/shield abilities. Nightblades are more difficult to play. They are still near the top of the DPS charts, despite taking a hit with Dragonhold. I'd wait to roll one of those if you haven't played this game before.

There is no downside to picking character, running with it for a while, then switching over to the other one. The way leveling works in this game is that once you hit Level 50, you graduate to CP levels with the highest relevant level being CP 810. Once you hit Level 50 on any character that character automatically vaults to the CP level of your highest character. So if you got your petsorc to a CP 510, once you hit Level 50 on your stamsorc, it becomes a CP 510. You also get all of the CP points the other character has, even if your alternate is not at Level 50.

The reason you are having difficulty with the public dungeons and delves is because your are only a Level 15. Its normal. Your gear is probably mismatched trash, you have 3-5 abilities, and maybe 1-3 are morphed. I'm guessing fighting overland mobs is annoyingly long, too. Oh, and gold is hard to come by right now, too.

You will be fine once you get to around Level 35, 50 and to CP100 depending on your build. You might have seen other "Level 15" players in those dungeons or delves laying waste to everything. They are not a true Level 15, but most likely a new alternate character that has a full compliment of CP points by virtue of a maxed-out main character on their account.

Other related, unsolicited advice: use your gold to buy cheap apartments around Tamriel. Great way to unlock non-contiguous regions like Auridon. I don't know where you started, but find a way to get to a place like Eastmarch, Deshaan, Auridon, or Alik'r. Those regions are much easier on the whole than starting in a place like Elsweyr.

AdventureGirl

El_Borracho wrote: »

Petsorc and stamplars are two of the easier builds to play in PVE. Petsorc is primarily ranged with stamplar being mostly a close-combat fighter with ranged bow abilities. They have great DPS, strong heals, and purge/shield abilities. Nightblades are more difficult to play. They are still near the top of the DPS charts, despite taking a hit with Dragonhold. I'd wait to roll one of those if you haven't played this game before.

There is no downside to picking character, running with it for a while, then switching over to the other one. The way leveling works in this game is that once you hit Level 50, you graduate to CP levels with the highest relevant level being CP 810. Once you hit Level 50 on any character that character automatically vaults to the CP level of your highest character. So if you got your petsorc to a CP 510, once you hit Level 50 on your stamsorc, it becomes a CP 510. You also get all of the CP points the other character has, even if your alternate is not at Level 50.

The reason you are having difficulty with the public dungeons and delves is because your are only a Level 15. Its normal. Your gear is probably mismatched trash, you have 3-5 abilities, and maybe 1-3 are morphed. I'm guessing fighting overland mobs is annoyingly long, too. Oh, and gold is hard to come by right now, too.

You will be fine once you get to around Level 35, 50 and to CP100 depending on your build. You might have seen other "Level 15" players in those dungeons or delves laying waste to everything. They are not a true Level 15, but most likely a new alternate character that has a full compliment of CP points by virtue of a maxed-out main character on their account.

Other related, unsolicited advice: use your gold to buy cheap apartments around Tamriel. Great way to unlock non-contiguous regions like Auridon. I don't know where you started, but find a way to get to a place like Eastmarch, Deshaan, Auridon, or Alik'r. Those regions are much easier on the whole than starting in a place like Elsweyr.

Thank you so much for this information!

I'm a Breton for all so I'm in Glenumbra area. Thank your for explaining about CP, that makes a lot of sense. So Wardens (magicka) aren't a good option or just harder to play? I'm intrigued by the bear and nature/ice spells.

My Templar is magicka and I do pretty well but I do feel like I spam the spear a lot.

AcadianPaladin

I run mag variants of templar, sorc and warden. They are all good and all fun but I find they 'feel' different.

My magplar is indeed comfortable ranged or close. You mentioned wanting to use magic but get in close and this is a good choice for that.

My magsorc is very good at doing lots of area damage and quite survivable. She puts AOE damage on the ground, then dances around to keep her foes in the 'killing zone' while using lots of lightning heavy attacks.

My magwarden is very flexible as far as doing damage, healing and providing some buffs to others. If you direct your bear to engage, then stay out of the fight until all foes are focused on the bear, that helps you remain at range. I do find the magwarden, to optimize her safety and damage runs nearly a whole back bar of buffs so that is a bit more to manage.

El_Borracho

@AdventureGirl I've never played with a warden. I know they are popular as healers in PVE, but since I'm not familiar with them I didn't want to give any bad advice.

Don't worry about rotations or spamming skills right now. You'll spend most of your time doing that later if/when you're running group content like vet trials and dungeons. Just have fun exploring, trying out skills, and playing the game. There really is no right or wrong to overland content. Try DW versus 2H. Level up destro staves and healing staves at the same time. Try out different sets. Some are great, some are laughably bad, some are situational, and some are strictly PVE or PVP. The only thing you are truly locked into in this game is your class, and somewhat your race if you don't want to buy crowns for a race change. Everything else can be fixed if you mess up.

By the time you get to Level 50, the level rewards will have given you skill and attribute respec scrolls so you can rework your character if you want to make a min/max endgame build. And after you use those, the cost to respec is minimal. When you get to that point and you need a starting point on how to build a certain character a site like Alcast is a great resource. I'd advise trying the meta at some point, then building your own off of it. Don't feel like you have to run the meta or risk scorn. The meta is meant to be a starting point and then you retool it to fit your play style. The only real "do not do this" is build a hybrid magic/stamina character. That will not work in this game. But that's really the only hard rule.

Also, don't worry about getting locked into one character, or class, or play style, etc. I've run stam DK, stamblade, magblade, magsorc/petsorc/heavy attack magsorc, and stam necro. Working on a stamplar right now. Kind of want to build a warden, too. With the way this game ebbs and flows, something I used to play a lot with (magblade) is almost useless now. They also knocked my favorite, the stamblade, down a few pegs so I use him less than I use the stam necro in difficult vet trials now. But one day, they'll come back. So if you get bored with one character, or the devs decide to nuke your main, you can always create another and catch them up to your main's level in a few days/weeks depending on how often you play. Currently, my sometimes-pet, sometimes-non pet sorc is my go-to just because I'm having fun with it. Next week it might be something else.

Just have fun. Don't get caught up in the elitist "I need X set or my character is worthless" mindset. Sets can help a character but they are not going to make it all-powerful or give it the ability to melt everything. That comes from playing the game and understanding how combat works. While a stam DK is overall a lower DPS class, in the right player's hands it can be a beast. Just as a big DPS class like necro can be trash with a player who does not know what they are doing.

WrathOfInnos

Templar sounds like it would suit you best. They’ve got some powerful spells, but do best up close with Puncturing Sweep. They also have a great mix of offensive and defensive passives, and several good damage and healing skills.

Pets aren’t as good as they used to be. You should try a few pet classes to see if you like it, but both Sorcerer and Warden pets do lower damage than they used to. They also don’t take enemy aggro in group content anymore (which is actually nice in some situations, but they won’t tank for you if you’re trying to solo a dungeon). In content where they are targetable by enemies, they tend to die pretty easily, and resummoning is a slow and annoying cast. That being said, Sorc and Warden are both still very fun classes, and both do still use a pet for their most effective builds, I just wouldn’t credit the pet as one of the things that makes them fun or powerful.

akdave0

High elf templar!
Dark Elf MagSorc!

If youre on Xbone NA msg me and I will help as much as I can.

AdventureGirl

akdave0 wrote: »

High elf templar!
Dark Elf MagSorc!

If youre on Xbone NA msg me and I will help as much as I can.

I'm on PC sorry. I'm currently playing a Breton Templar and starting to get the hang of it. I love the storm spells sorcerer has but dislike not being closer combat haha.

akdave0

AdventureGirl wrote: »

akdave0 wrote: »

High elf templar!
Dark Elf MagSorc!

If youre on Xbone NA msg me and I will help as much as I can.

I'm on PC sorry. I'm currently playing a Breton Templar and starting to get the hang of it. I love the storm spells sorcerer has but dislike not being closer combat haha.

Maybe so, but the mechanic and skills are pretty much the same. You can get up close or ranged if you like. That is what is awesome about those aforementioned.

validifyedneb18_ESO

Magsorc tends to become a zoosorc, and I hate Ai summons. The other two are solid picks though, I main a Frost warden that can more or less solo any content under the sun, and I have always wanted a propper magplar but have yet to set one up fully.

UppGRAYxDD

Go Warden... unless you enjoy finding lore books for major sorcery.

SidraWillowsky

As someone mentioned above, it's only easy to solo delves and public dungeons on a low level character if you have CP. I'm CP 810 and can only do stuff with my lowbs because they have 810 CP available to them as soon as I create them. Out of curiosity, I made a character on the EU server and started from scratch, and even at CP 10 or whatever she's at now, she can't solo some stuff. It's normal on a new account!

I main a Magden but have quite a bit of experience with Magplar and Magblade. Obviously I'm biased, but I love the Magden so, so much. If you want serious survivability, Magden is, IMO, the best choice. Almost every single skill in the Warden toolkit is useful, and it allows you to effortlessly move between hard-hitting DD, a more tankier build, one that involves more heals, and anything in between. The rotation is pretty dynamic, but it's easy to learn and pretty forgiving if you make mistakes. Once again, I'm CP 810 so this is a ways down the line for you, but I can solo group dungeons and have done all quests in Craglorn alone. I feel damn near invincible with a few of my setups and while the DPS is a bit lower when I go for more survivability, I can still absolutely melt Craglorn mobs. And it's a blast to play The one downside for me is that it's one of the few classes with absolutely no access to an execute whatsoever (Bear ulti is technically an execute, but it doesn't seem to work). Outside of class executes, all stam classes have access to one via Poison Injection, Whirling Blades, and Executioner under the bow, dual wield, and two hand skill lines, respectively. There's no execute under the destro staff skill tree, so mag players with no class execute are SOL.

Magplar... It has an absolutely insane execute that has my DPS at over 150k on a trial dummy that's below 25% health (Radiant Oppression aka Jesus Beam) which feels like God mode, BUT a lot of the skills are melee range and have cast/channel times, so if things go south and you can't stay still long enough to complete your casts of Jesus Beam, your DPS will tank. I have horrendous sustain issues on mine even with a Breton wearing perfected False Gods Devotion, so that gets frustrating. Sustain is bad on all mag setups right now, but Magplar is the worst of them. It's still fun, but harder to be both tanky and hard-hitting as a DPS. More sacrifice to survivability is involved if you want to maximize your DPS, and more sacrifice to DPS is involved if you want to be tanky, for example. Still a blast to play though.

Magblade... I mained a stamblade for almost a year and got the hang of that, but Magblade has never quite clicked. It's a more complicated and unforgiving rotation than Magden, but if you main it, you'll be fine. I've never used mine as a main, so I've never dedicated myself to perfecting the play style. My issue with magblades -and the NB toolkit in general- is that it doesn't have an "oh crap" instant burst heal. All of the skills that heal are healing-over-time abilities or involve having to deal damage to activate the heal. Stamblade can use vigor, but if you want a heal like that on a magblade, you'll need to run a resto staff on your back bar, which I've never actually done. NBs have a fantastic execute that makes them hit like trucks in execute phase, so the feeling of raw power there is intoxicating. And my magblade can go into perma-invisible mode, which makes thieving easy as pie. Ultimately, though, I found the healing issues too difficult for my playstyle (situational awareness lacking...) for me personally.

AdventureGirl

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

This is valuable information, thank you! I started a Magden to see what it was like. Right now I feel a bit squishy but I'm only level 6. I do like the aesthetic of the spells. Dive is cool though it seems it takes a second to hit, the scorch is a bit tricky for me. I'm trying to find the right place to stand so that they hit directly and not miss a bit.

I will continue until I get the bear and see how all of that feels.

Magsorc I love the lightning spells but the pets seem to be an annoyance at times.

Magplar has been a powerhouse--the only times I've struggled is like you said when things go south and I can't stand still long enough.

Magblade sounds interesting in theory though I'm not sure how great I'd be at it with the rotation. I played GW2 a good while ago and Elementalist for example was a pain to try and rotate in comparison.

thadjarvis

Main Magden: it checks the pet box for sure; also good for a new player with varied interested bc it's not bad at anything really and has the most buffs built into the class.

Though to get the spellsword/battlemage feel I'd consider Stamplar. Yes, is stamina based, but only one skill casted every 14 seconds feels like stamina. The rest are animated as magic skills. Easiest class to learn, most flexibility in terms of slotting RP skills, and tankiest DPS class that can solo face tank pretty much anything overland (once you level up).

Solaire

Templar takes the cake by a large margin,
it's an extremely good class both Stam and Mag,
and a pretty fun one too.

Ashryn

I have a stamden and a magplar, both are CP 810. I love playing on my Warden bosmer the most, but to be truthful, she has a hard time soloing any dungeons or world bosses. In fact she is the most squishy of the 6 characters I have.

My High Elf Magplar survives better then any, can solo plenty and is enjoyable to play. I haven't had a problem with sustaining magicka, though I do ingest a health buff food regularly since all points are in magicka, and I have armor that is geared to increasing or sustaining magicka.

UppGRAYxDD

UppGRAYxDD wrote: »

Go Warden... unless you enjoy finding lore books for major sorcery.

If for PvP, go Templar cuz your gonna need a CC now...