The key to good Sword and Board DPS. Believe in the bash.

MindOfTheSwarm

After a lot of hours putting builds together I have come up with a Sword and Board DPS that does good damage and has competitive parses good enough for vet trials including dlc ones. Hard to believe? Let me talk you through it.

First up is class choice, the best by far is Nightblade this is due to the fact they have passives and skills that boost their crit chance and damage. Other classes can also do well but NB is the best of the bunch in my tests.

Race: Best race by far is Wood Elf. This may at first seem counterproductive but it is essential and will become clearer as this build is explained.

Sets:
1. Armor of the Veiled Heritance.
This is not optional it is very important you pick this set. Furthermore you will need to get the jewellery pieces and the sword and shield. This set needs to be front barred.
2. Leviathan: Stam version of Mother’s Sorrow. A great set. Alternatively Strength of the Automaton is also good for less crit chance but higher base Weapon Damage.
3. Maelstrom Bow: Best option here. Boosts DPS a lot. Back Bar.
4. Monster Set: Optional but I went for two separate pieces that boosted my Weapon Crit.

Traits and Enchants: Armor is all Divines and Stam. Sword is Precise with Weapon Damage Glyph. Bow is Precise or Infused (personal preference) with Absorb Stamina Glyph (again very important). Jewellery is all Infused with Bashing Damage Glyphs.

Front Bar Skill set up: Killer’s Blade, Surprise Attack, Ambush, Consuming Soul Trap, Camo Hunter, Incap Strike.

Back Bar Skill set up: Arrow Barrage, Poison Injection, Barbed Trap, Dark Shade, Relentless Focus, Dawnbreaker of Smiting.

Mundus: Thief or Shadow

CP: You should be looking at all of the Crit boosting stars and also go for Direct Damage stars. Thaumaturge is also good for your DoTs. Also grab the bash cost reduction node (not optional) and the bash damage star. It’s only a little but it adds up. Also take the slottable that boosts your recovery rates.

The rotation here should be self evident, however there is a big difference. You MUST bash weave on your front bar AND bash on your back bar when you notice an opportunity to interrupt a target. One thing to note here is that any interrupt will proc the condition for Veiled Heritance so if you are having trouble meeting the conditions by bashing then you can switch Poison Injection for Venom Arrow but bear in mind this will cut into your DPS. Eventually as you get good you won’t have issues bashing enemies. Just let your team know that you need to interrupt enemies for your buff, JUST DON’T MESS UP. Failing to bash a priority target will annoy your teammates. Hence why this build carries a certain level of responsibility on your part. The upside is that you are actively helping your tank out a bit by taking a bit of pressure off them. Don’t forget to flank!

The reason why Wood Elf is critical here is that bash weaving is costly on resources and Wood Elf has the best passive in terms of stamina sustain. Redguard ain’t bad either but Bosmer pulls ahead.

Why it works:
Simple. With the above set up your base bash damage is a little over 5k on your front bar. And about 3.5 on your back bar. This is nothing to snuff at and really boosts your DPS. To put this in perspective, your Surprise Attack should be around 9k with your light doing 4k. With an extra 5k bash damage that is 18k in a single burst and you can get about 2 bursts in 1 second if you’re fluid with your weaving. Take into account Empower and your critical damage which should be around 90%+ depending on Mundus choice and these numbers really add up.

Final note: You could in theory drop the bow for Dual Wield and run Stinging Slashes and Consuming Trap as an alternative. This would make you full melee and make timely bashes easier but you would lose some execute value.

The emphasis on bashing is non optional. The difference is around 4k DPS. That’s the difference those glyphs make and are essential to running Sword and Board DPS.
I encourage you to try this out. It’s not meta, but you might be surprised at how much damage this can put out.

MindOfTheSwarm

P.S: One more thing, you can if you want run Power Slam instead of Surprise Attack. You will be missing out on the Sundered bonus however, but Power Slam bash weaves are so satisfying haha .

Darkstorne

Build instructions translated to gif format, for a visual aid:

zvavi

I mean, a dps build around interrupting, very interesting, but what do you do when the opponent doesn't channel anything? Also a cmx of a trial dummy would be nice.

Darkstorne

zvavi wrote: »

I mean, a dps build around interrupting, very interesting, but what do you do when the opponent doesn't channel anything?

It's quite simple:

Is the opponent channelling a spell/ability?
Yes - Bash him in the face
No - Bash him in the face

If he's channelling, great! You get a damage boost. If he's not, he gets a shield to the face anyway.

MindOfTheSwarm

zvavi wrote: »

I mean, a dps build around interrupting, very interesting, but what do you do when the opponent doesn't channel anything? Also a cmx of a trial dummy would be nice.

That’s the tricky part. If enemies aren’t channeling you miss out on the buff. That being said the extra 516 bash damage is permanent so it’s still pretty good. I would prefer if they just had the set give a flat value permanently based on your current Bash damage value. Something like this:
Increases your weapon damage equal to 15% of your bash damage total. This would incentivise more bash damage glyphs without having to interrupt.

MindOfTheSwarm

This would be suggested change for the set:
From this:

(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage
(3 items) Adds 1487 Armor
(4 items) Adds 657 Weapon Critical
(5 items) When you interrupt an enemy, you gain 516 Weapon Damage for 15 seconds. Your Bash attacks permanently deal 516 more damage.

To this:

(2 items) Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
(3 items) Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
(4 items) Adds 657 Weapon Critical
(5 items) Your Bash attacks permanently deal 516 more damage. You also gain Weapon Damage equal to 15% of your total Bash Damage.

The Stamina Recovery is better as bash builds are aggressive and need sustain. The change to the 5 piece removes the requisite of an interrupt encouraging aggression, which also explains the armor bonus removal. 15% of 4k (which is roughly the total you can get without buffs) translates to 600 Weapon Damage. This is a ton but the price is you MUST run Bash Damage glyphs and be running Infused which means no general Weapon Damage glyph, Stamina Recovery Glyphs and no Bloodthirsty or Robust traits. So there is a heavy price for larger returns on the condition.
This would be my ideal version of the set and really make bash builds better and more appealing.

Suna_Ye_Sunnabe

Very creative build, I commend you!

Jim_Pipp

I dearly want to believe that this build could be viable, but it's a bit too weird to pass the "common sense test"... Please tell me more.

I'm very skeptical about sustain. I assume interrupts don't pause stamina regen like blocking, but how high does stam regen need to be to support bash weaving stamina abilities?

What is the numerical value of your infused bash damage jewelery... I remember when those glyphs were added it was felt the numbers were too similar to standard weapon dmg enchants, but maybe they got buffed.

What were some of the other builds/gear/skills you experimented with and what were the strengths/weaknesses? Does bash damage scale off of your highest resource, did you consider a magicka build, perhaps using "Hex Siphon".

I read this thread yesterday, and went to bed thinking about this build... I'm definitely inspired by it.

Bashev

Darkstorne wrote: »

Build instructions translated to gif format, for a visual aid:

This reminds me so much to 1.1 and the bash meta.

MindOfTheSwarm

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

I dearly want to believe that this build could be viable, but it's a bit too weird to pass the "common sense test"... Please tell me more.

I'm very skeptical about sustain. I assume interrupts don't pause stamina regen like blocking, but how high does stam regen need to be to support bash weaving stamina abilities?

What is the numerical value of your infused bash damage jewelery... I remember when those glyphs were added it was felt the numbers were too similar to standard weapon dmg enchants, but maybe they got buffed.

What were some of the other builds/gear/skills you experimented with and what were the strengths/weaknesses? Does bash damage scale off of your highest resource, did you consider a magicka build, perhaps using "Hex Siphon".

I read this thread yesterday, and went to bed thinking about this build... I'm definitely inspired by it.

Each bash Glyph infused gives 800 extra flat Bash Damage. This amounts to 2400 + 516 from Veiled Heritance + 1500 from Deadly Bash + Bashing Brutality CP.

I have tested other sets and to be honest they do give you more consistent results. If your happy losing 516 Bash Damage. The main point is that if you want to maximise DPS on Sword and Board then you must run bash glyphs. If you ran normal weapon damage glyphs on your jewellery you would end up doing less damage bash weaving. They are strong because they add flat damage.

MindOfTheSwarm

Note. Don’t bash weave on back bar. Only on front bar. Bash on back if an interrupt is available.

MindOfTheSwarm

Bashev wrote: »

Darkstorne wrote: »

Build instructions translated to gif format, for a visual aid:

This reminds me so much to 1.1 and the bash meta.

It’s nowhere near as toxic. Good damage but not broken.

Bashev

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

Bashev wrote: »

Darkstorne wrote: »

Build instructions translated to gif format, for a visual aid:

This reminds me so much to 1.1 and the bash meta.

It’s nowhere near as toxic. Good damage but not broken.

The image, not the build. The build is not even close to the bash meta

Brrrofski

Shame bash weaving doesn't work on console.

We have to hold block and press another button to bash. So it slightly cuts off regen.

zvavi

:still waiting for a cmx:

MindOfTheSwarm

Brrrofski wrote: »

Shame bash weaving doesn't work on console.

We have to hold block and press another button to bash. So it slightly cuts off regen.

Not so. You can easily do it on console. The trick is to input the action immediately. Practice on a dummy and you’ll get the hang of it..

MindOfTheSwarm

zvavi wrote: »

:still waiting for a cmx:

Currently on vacation.

MindOfTheSwarm

I play on console too so not sure how to do that.

Brrrofski

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

Brrrofski wrote: »

Shame bash weaving doesn't work on console.

We have to hold block and press another button to bash. So it slightly cuts off regen.

Not so. You can easily do it on console. The trick is to input the action immediately. Practice on a dummy and you’ll get the hang of it..

It still delays your regen by a split second.

I've tried it before and it's a noticable difference in sustain.

Although to be fair, that was when it was blocking and not bracing, before that change came in. So maybe it isn't as bad anymore.

Haven't tried it since.

Jim_Pipp

Brrrofski wrote: »

Shame bash weaving doesn't work on console.

We have to hold block and press another button to bash. So it slightly cuts off regen.

I'm on pc but playing with gamepad and console UI, and today I'm testing some stuff inspired by this build, so this might work for console folk too, but maybe not.

I am able to remap my controller keys, so instead of interrupting by holding block and attack, I swapped block with interrupt (actually swapped LT to light attack and RT to interrupt, LT+RT to block; it makes it much more fluid to light attack/ability/bash weave).

zvavi

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

I play on console too so not sure how to do that.

Ok, no cmx then, then another question, what is your damage on trial dummy compared to your damage with a more meta set and without bash weave?

MindOfTheSwarm

zvavi wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

I play on console too so not sure how to do that.

Ok, no cmx then, then another question, what is your damage on trial dummy compared to your damage with a more meta set and without bash weave?

To be honest Relequen will always out parse anything. It’s that powerful and honestly broken even after the nerf. You could run both but then you would have to drop a weapon set as both require front bar. So there are better sets for more damage but I feel like Relequen is a cheese set. And that’s not the point with this build. This is something a bit different and more accessible.

Zama666

What about Knight-Errant's Mail on this build?

(2 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage
(5 items) Adds 450 Weapon Damage to your One Hand and Shield abilities. When you use a One Hand and Shield ability, you heal for 1537 Health.

That bash would still hurt! and a little sustain!

MindOfTheSwarm

Zama666 wrote: »

What about Knight-Errant's Mail on this build?

(2 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage
(5 items) Adds 450 Weapon Damage to your One Hand and Shield abilities. When you use a One Hand and Shield ability, you heal for 1537 Health.

That bash would still hurt! and a little sustain!

I played with this set. It’s good for PvP and pairs very well with Automaton if you want to focus One Hand and Shield. The issue with bash weaving is stam recovery.

MirandaSharp

I believe in my dual wielding daggers back bar.....

MindOfTheSwarm

MirandaSharp wrote: »

I believe in my dual wielding daggers back bar.....

It’s a good combo

MindOfTheSwarm

Although Nightblade gives the best numbers. Templar is the most fun. You can run Battlefield Acrobat and an Imperial to make the most of cost reduction. One of my earliest attempts were in fact Knight Errant set and Automaton but I switch Automaton for Acrobat. Great for questing and sustain is a non-issue. You defo look like a Spartan too with the right costumes.

MindOfTheSwarm

Zama666 wrote: »

What about Knight-Errant's Mail on this build?

(2 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage
(5 items) Adds 450 Weapon Damage to your One Hand and Shield abilities. When you use a One Hand and Shield ability, you heal for 1537 Health.

That bash would still hurt! and a little sustain!

I’m going to do some more testing with this set. I’ll see what I can come up with.

Skelfish

Been a few days since the last reply to this thread, but for the record Kortekk from the ESOU discord server posted this parse (no info page) on a sword and shield necro. He didn't mention gear sets, but did confirm that he used the red CP points to increase bash damage and reduce bash cost.

MindOfTheSwarm

Those 7k bashes can get up to 15k if specked right.