Noob Warden question

Roberthen

Hello

I am pretty casual player so It might be stupid question. Experienced warden is welcome.

I am lvling stam warden, currently lvl 22, double bow. Mine stamina is only used on bow skills, aoes etc. mine class skills are all magicka morps, because they sounded more interesting when I chose them. Champion points are focused on weapon dps and stamina recovery.

On this lvl I have nice mix of abilities, almost not running out of resources when combining magicka and stamina skills in fights, doing rougly the same amount of dps whether it is rain of arrows or ice spikes from ground (sorry for not naming the skills, they look like described). Snipe and bow heavy as hard hitters, cliff racer as spammable etc. things die quick in world, and in dungeons.

But, on higher lvls is this usuable? Or should I focus completely on one type of resorce to not loose dps? Will my magicka dps skills start to hit less and less, while stamina will get higher? Or can I keep it like this, magicka/stamina hybrid basically? If not, what seems to be more effective on higher lvls?

Thanks for answers.

Valykc

You can play as you want, but once you get into veteran content, specifically trials, being a hybrid is usually a dps loss. However, some people can make hybrids work and there are some sets that could help such as Shacklebreaker, Pelinals, Twice-born Star, New Moon Acolyte, and some others.

Traditionally, a large majority of dps roles are focused on one resource or the other. Tanks can make decent hybrid roles but that is mostly for skills and group support. I’d say it’s up to you but if you really want to be a dps then I would choose one or the other. In fact, your damage increases when you focus on one stat pool rather than two.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

CassandraGemini

Roberthen wrote: »

But, on higher lvls is this usuable? Or should I focus completely on one type of resorce to not loose dps? Will my magicka dps skills start to hit less and less, while stamina will get higher? Or can I keep it like this, magicka/stamina hybrid basically? If not, what seems to be more effective on higher lvls?

It really depends on what you want to do with that character. If you plan on doing mainly questing/overland or solo-play in general, or even normal dungeons, you can pretty much just stick to what is most fun for you. In harder/veteran group content I would definitely not recommend a hybrid, though, unless you really know what you're doing. Most players probably can't make a hybrid work, and you definitely lose dps as opposed to just focusing on one resource pool, since your dps increases together with your stamina pool for stamina abilities or magicka pool for magicka based abilities. You can see that immediately, if you use a skill and look at the damage it does, and then use the same skill again after eating buff food. The damage output will be visibly higher.

So, yes, you'll be more competitive, if you put all of your points into one resource. I can't speak for anyone else, of course, but I've been maining a stamina warden for a while now, and I'm having a blast with her. There's also a certain advantage to the fact that the self-buffs (like Green Lotus and Ice Fortress) stay magicka skills, even when they're morphed, because they don't use up your main resource pool, and when the time comes to reapply them, magicka has refilled. That helps a good bit with resource management.

So, TL;DR: If you want to be competitive and do harder content, you'd be better off, using just one resource pool. If you're more interested in solo-play, just do whatever you have the most fun with

Iskiab

It’ll be a lot harder at higher levels without a doubt.

There are sets that help though, both pelinals, new moon acolyte and shacklebreaker come to mind.

The difficulty you’ll come up against are:
CPs make specializing in either mag or stam more optimal
Your stats are buffed at low levels so you have a lot higher stat and mag pool
Sustain is split between two stats so it’ll take a lot of tinkering to find the sweet spot

Roberthen

Tried the food buff, it really is big difference

Now staying stamina for the sake of Bow (which hits really hard) seems like stupid idea, when all my class abilities are magicka versions.

Have few more lvls until 50/CP so will make few experiments with it, but probably go for magicka, still have 3 race changes available. Now I am stamina Orc

MerguezMan

Hi,

As a Warden, you don't have a real incent to go hybrid... Most of your skills have a stamina morph, and the utility magicka skills have a suitable cost (so you shouldn't need mag sustain from a set or enchants).

If you do enjoy the bow-bow gameplay, you should probably push it full stamina for better benefit.
You can respec all skills at shrines in capitals/major cities (ex: Vivec temple, north-west of waypoint) for a bit of gold.

For comparison, you can also try magicka build, but being in light armor means you can't block and roll dodge at will, which changes a bit your gameplay.

If your character is PVE only, you might also enjoy being a werewolf (rather stamina) or a vampire (rather magicka), which helps on sustain.