Whats the best melee dps class for solo pve

iggysword

I am new to the game and was looking for a purely melee dps class to play. I found one website that said a magicka nightblade was a good choice. Another guide for a magicka nightblade suggested to equip a staff. Isn't a staff ranged? Sorry I'm really new and a bit confused as to character selection. Can I play strictly melee? What is a good class? I will be playing mostly solo until I can learn the game. From what I've read about the game it sounds interesting I just wanted the start out right.
Thanks for any advice.

El_Borracho

Magblades can be ranged or melee, depending on if you are playing with staves or daggers. Most of their skills are ranged. For instance, I use Swallow Soul as my spammable and its definitely ranged. I think the confusion lies in the Impale execute and Incap ultimate. While the descriptions sounds like you have to be in melee range to use them, you do not have to be up against the boss to use either.

For solo melee play, I'd say go with the stamplar if you want heals and nonstop sustain, or stam necro if you want top damage. However, I think magblades beat out both

EDIT: Just read again and saw you are brand new to the game. Stamplar is by far the easiest class to play in the game. Besides, you can always build another character with a different class later.

fiender66

No problem to start wrong, iggy. Every error is easy to correct.
The advise by El_Borracho is sound and sensible. I'd add that if you want to start the easy way, the mag templar (breton or dunmer) is a good choice.
You can activate from start 3 useful skills (the first ones in each class line) that will follow you maybe till the top. Besides, puncture has a lot of healing, and makes things way more easy.
True, stam templar maybe has more damage, but this is irrelevant at the beginning.
I'd stay away from blades, not cuz they are any bad, on the contrary, but give satisfaction only when one has some more knowledge.

Have fun

El_Borracho

iggysword wrote: »

I took El_Borracho advice with the Stampar. Although only at level 7 enjoying the game but, only working on dual wield. Is that a mistake? Will I need other weapon types at higher levels?

Dual wield is preferable in PVE and 2H is preferred in PVP. Though with a stamplar you can run 2H in PVE fairly effectively as the only difference between the two is 1 or 2 skills max. Your primary attack is Jabs. One big upside with 2H in PVE is you can get a much better execute skill with Reverse Slice versus Whirling Blades for DW. You will also need a bow on your back bar.

Universal stamplar skills for DW and 2H are Endless Hail (Bow), Ritual of Retribution, Repentance (or Shards), Restoring Focus and Vigor on your back bar, Power of the Light, Jabs, and Camo Hunter on your front bar. That leaves 2 skill spots open for something like Barbed Trap (Fighter's Guild) and DW or 2H skills you want to employ. Your ultimates are Dawnbreaker and Sweep.

Stick with DW for now as your damage won't matter until you get to around CP 150ish. Once you get to Level 15, get a Bow and focus on leveling up Bow and DW to 50. Down the line think about respeccing to 2H, level that to 50 and see what you like better. They are very, very similar so one is not "Wrong."

fiender66

iggysword wrote: »

I took El_Borracho advice with the Stampar. Although only at level 7 enjoying the game but, only working on dual wield. Is that a mistake? Will I need other weapon types at higher levels?

Not necessarily. I currently have a bosmer stamplar (not a meta build for sure, lol) that is lvl 50 with the 980 CP of the account and uses only DW (with jabs, not weap skills).
She is definitely fun and good at farming. Can do well in group in no vet dungeons.
OFC soloing hard WB and dragons is not what she's meant for, but for farming and exploring (and fast running normal dungeons) is really good. And fun to play, I say again.

Fikkan

iggysword wrote: »

I took El_Borracho advice with the Stampar. Although only at level 7 enjoying the game but, only working on dual wield. Is that a mistake? Will I need other weapon types at higher levels?

My noobish level advice is to swap out the weapons from time to time, especially if you max the xp level on a weapon type for your current level.

Work up the other'ns so that if you decide to change weapons, it's not such a pita to skill them up when you decide you need them.

Same with armor. I'm a medium armor kinda guy but while leveling my char I kept one piece of light and one heavy just to level those up in case I came up wanting to switch for whatever reason later and wouldn't have to start at zero on them.

fred4

iggysword wrote: »

I took El_Borracho advice with the Stampar.

Ouch. How is that going? I've been playing the game for 6 years and stamplar has never really grown on me. I would not have suggested it as a good beginner class for one very simple reason: Stamplar requires you to heal explicitly by casting skills, such as Vigor (easy enough to get these days), Rally (unlocks rather late) or Repentance (only when there are dead bodies around). Contrast this with magplar. Magplar is the true easy mode melee solo class, because Sweeps heals you while doing damage and it's the first skill you unlock. This is incidentally the same reason why someone may have recommended magblade, another class that heals from doing damage (with Swallow Soul and Sap Essence) and that has an early unlock of a damage + healing skill in Swallow Soul.

Although only at level 7 enjoying the game but, only working on dual wield. Is that a mistake? Will I need other weapon types at higher levels?

You will / should. At level 15 you get to wield two weapon types and will have two skill bars to swap between. It's very hard to get away from 2H as a stamina solo player, due to Rally being one of the very best damage buff, sustain and healing skills. Since you want to play melee, I'd recommend that skill line as your second one. Dual wield is OK. It has has some good healing while doing damage skills, Bloodthirst and Blood Craze, albeit on a stamplar you will want to use Jabs as your spammable and main attack, not Bloodthirst. Hence why I think magplar is better.

At the end of the day it all depends on the content you are running. You want to quest? There is very little challenge to that. Your character will not really be tested. You want to do public dungeons? It's not much harder. Delves? Still not very hard. World bosses? OK, now we're talking. They vary in difficulty and most are not hard for endgame players to solo, but your build will be tested once you solo some of these. You won't truly run into a wall on any class at endgame, especially if you have farmed a mythic item called the Ring of the Pale Order, but in the early game the magic variant of templar will be easier as you climb the difficulty ladder. At endgame you have the two veteran arenas to look forward to and you may also set yourself tasks, such as soloing some of the 4-player veteran dungeons. At that stage you will have a lot of options on any class. There is a lot of flexibility in ESO's build-crafting system and no class will really leave you stranded.

fred4

iggysword wrote: »

fred4 thanks for you input. My stamplar just reached level 16. Haven't had any problems but, I guess you're talking about further down the road. I originally asked for melee because I started playing with a controller and was having a hard time targeting with the crosshairs. I have switched to keyboard and mouse which has made a big difference for me. So although I like melee at times my favorite in mmo's is ranged. Magblade (Khajiit) is what I'm thinking of rolling next. Keeping the Stamplar for crafting being he has all certifications done. Any further advice would be appreciated. Thanks

If your stamplar works for the content you're currently doing, there is obviously no need to retire it other than your preference for ranged combat. You could play a bow stamplar or a ranged Force Shock (destro staff) magplar, to be honest, although Jabs is such a good and iconic skill that's rarely done. It is viable, though ... at least I know some people play ranged magplar in PvP. You could temporarily respec your stamplar to mag, by the way. Good way to (a) heal from Puncturing Sweeps and (b) level all your class skills in case you want them later.

I generally find it easier to play classes that heal from doing damage. Once it comes to the truly hard solo endgame content (vMaelstrom Arena, vVateshran Arena) it helps to progress the fight and not get backed into a corner, just healing. The latter leads you to run out of resources and die. The same problem can happen in PvP although, due to Battle Spirit, magplar is most prone to have that problem in PvP.

Once you have fully levelled to endgame (CP1700 is where I am) and you have access to most or all sets and skill lines, then problems go away again in PvE, mostly due to the Pale Order Ring, which lets you play any class as a "heal by doing damage" class. It's in the middle game, once you progress to, say, soloing world bosses (or wanting to) and you are not fully levelled that you may run into problems and magplar will better carry you. Right now you are under the influence of battle levelling, which carries below level 50 characters. The stretch from having reached level 50 to CP160 (the gear cap) is where you will probably be at your weakest. Battle levelling will have worn off and you will most likely be in crap gear, because it's only worth investing into good gear from CP160 onwards.

Magblade is a mixed ranged and melee class. Your primary spammable will be Swallow Soul, which heals you over 10 seconds. You have an AOE spammable in Sap Essence, which has a single instant heal attached to it. If you find content difficult, a single Swallow Soul followed by multiple Sap Essences will yield two sources of ongoing healing, due to the Swallow Soul heal being a HOT (heal over time) that goes on for 10 seconds. So that's my tip, in case you start to struggle with harder content. Even if you are just killing mobs, throw in a single-target Swallow Soul every 10 seconds for the additional healing.

Jaimeh

I'd go with stamplar too: easy rotation, good healing and sustain. Perfect for solo'ing. Stamsorc would be my second choice: again good survivability and sustain via dark deal.

Fikkan

I'm also new and have been playing a stam warden and having a blast.

On this char I've also mastered all the crafts and sunk points into all the craft passives and such and am still strong enough in melee on this char to take out the 1 and 2 red level mobs out in the wild, in delvs and dungeons and such.

And I don't put points into combat/survival skills until I start having issues getting to where I need to get the crafting materials I want.

Not following a template or class design. just sinking points into what sounds like it'll help at that moment or sounds fun, or sounds like something I'd like to try out on the character.

Just goofin off, having fun, slaying the crap out of baddies and getting aaallll the craft materials!

El_Borracho

@Fikkan sounds like you're playing the game the right way. None of the meta stuff or specific builds matter until (or if) you get into endgame group content like veteran dungeons and trials. Enjoy!

iggysword

I took El_Borracho advice with the Stampar. Although only at level 7 enjoying the game but, only working on dual wield. Is that a mistake? Will I need other weapon types at higher levels?

iggysword

fred4 wrote: »

iggysword wrote: »

I took El_Borracho advice with the Stampar.

Ouch. How is that going? I've been playing the game for 6 years and stamplar has never really grown on me. I would not have suggested it as a good beginner class for one very simple reason: Stamplar requires you to heal explicitly by casting skills, such as Vigor (easy enough to get these days), Rally (unlocks rather late) or Repentance (only when there are dead bodies around). Contrast this with magplar. Magplar is the true easy mode melee solo class, because Sweeps heals you while doing damage and it's the first skill you unlock. This is incidentally the same reason why someone may have recommended magblade, another class that heals from doing damage (with Swallow Soul and Sap Essence) and that has an early unlock of a damage + healing skill in Swallow Soul.

Although only at level 7 enjoying the game but, only working on dual wield. Is that a mistake? Will I need other weapon types at higher levels?

You will / should. At level 15 you get to wield two weapon types and will have two skill bars to swap between. It's very hard to get away from 2H as a stamina solo player, due to Rally being one of the very best damage buff, sustain and healing skills. Since you want to play melee, I'd recommend that skill line as your second one. Dual wield is OK. It has has some good healing while doing damage skills, Bloodthirst and Blood Craze, albeit on a stamplar you will want to use Jabs as your spammable and main attack, not Bloodthirst. Hence why I think magplar is better.

At the end of the day it all depends on the content you are running. You want to quest? There is very little challenge to that. Your character will not really be tested. You want to do public dungeons? It's not much harder. Delves? Still not very hard. World bosses? OK, now we're talking. They vary in difficulty and most are not hard for endgame players to solo, but your build will be tested once you solo some of these. You won't truly run into a wall on any class at endgame, especially if you have farmed a mythic item called the Ring of the Pale Order, but in the early game the magic variant of templar will be easier as you climb the difficulty ladder. At endgame you have the two veteran arenas to look forward to and you may also set yourself tasks, such as soloing some of the 4-player veteran dungeons. At that stage you will have a lot of options on any class. There is a lot of flexibility in ESO's build-crafting system and no class will really leave you stranded.

fred4 wrote: »

iggysword wrote: »

I took El_Borracho advice with the Stampar.

Ouch. How is that going? I've been playing the game for 6 years and stamplar has never really grown on me. I would not have suggested it as a good beginner class for one very simple reason: Stamplar requires you to heal explicitly by casting skills, such as Vigor (easy enough to get these days), Rally (unlocks rather late) or Repentance (only when there are dead bodies around). Contrast this with magplar. Magplar is the true easy mode melee solo class, because Sweeps heals you while doing damage and it's the first skill you unlock. This is incidentally the same reason why someone may have recommended magblade, another class that heals from doing damage (with Swallow Soul and Sap Essence) and that has an early unlock of a damage + healing skill in Swallow Soul.

Although only at level 7 enjoying the game but, only working on dual wield. Is that a mistake? Will I need other weapon types at higher levels?

You will / should. At level 15 you get to wield two weapon types and will have two skill bars to swap between. It's very hard to get away from 2H as a stamina solo player, due to Rally being one of the very best damage buff, sustain and healing skills. Since you want to play melee, I'd recommend that skill line as your second one. Dual wield is OK. It has has some good healing while doing damage skills, Bloodthirst and Blood Craze, albeit on a stamplar you will want to use Jabs as your spammable and main attack, not Bloodthirst. Hence why I think magplar is better.

At the end of the day it all depends on the content you are running. You want to quest? There is very little challenge to that. Your character will not really be tested. You want to do public dungeons? It's not much harder. Delves? Still not very hard. World bosses? OK, now we're talking. They vary in difficulty and most are not hard for endgame players to solo, but your build will be tested once you solo some of these. You won't truly run into a wall on any class at endgame, especially if you have farmed a mythic item called the Ring of the Pale Order, but in the early game the magic variant of templar will be easier as you climb the difficulty ladder. At endgame you have the two veteran arenas to look forward to and you may also set yourself tasks, such as soloing some of the 4-player veteran dungeons. At that stage you will have a lot of options on any class. There is a lot of flexibility in ESO's build-crafting system and no class will really leave you stranded.

iggysword

fred4 thanks for you input. My stamplar just reached level 16. Haven't had any problems but, I guess you're talking about further down the road. I originally asked for melee because I started playing with a controller and was having a hard time targeting with the crosshairs. I have switched to keyboard and mouse which has made a big difference for me. So although I like melee at times my favorite in mmo's is ranged. Magblade (Khajiit) is what I'm thinking of rolling next. Keeping the Stamplar for crafting being he has all certifications done. Any further advice would be appreciated. Thanks

iggysword

Jaimeh wrote: »

I'd go with stamplar too: easy rotation, good healing and sustain. Perfect for solo'ing. Stamsorc would be my second choice: again good survivability and sustain via dark deal.

Update rereading the good advice I received from all the replies here. I will stay with a stamplar using dw and bow. For melee and ranged. Most likely a magblade would not fit my playstyle right now. I appreciate the help. Great game. Thanks

fred4

nvm

iggysword

Ok no problem. I'm probably driving everyone crazy. I wound up respecing to a magplar.

El_Borracho

iggysword wrote: »

Ok no problem. I'm probably driving everyone crazy. I wound up respecing to a magplar.

Hahaha. No biggie. This as an example of why these boards exist. I think they are great and are here to give out ideas on what others can try. Some might think stamplars are not easy, weak, etc. I think its easy mode. My favorite DD for all-around group content is a magblade. I think its an absolute beast. Others think its squishy.

Again, there is no wrong to this game. Play the style that works for you. Have fun with it.

iggysword

El_Borracho wrote: »

iggysword wrote: »

Ok no problem. I'm probably driving everyone crazy. I wound up respecing to a magplar.

Hahaha. No biggie. This as an example of why these boards exist. I think they are great and are here to give out ideas on what others can try. Some might think stamplars are not easy, weak, etc. I think its easy mode. My favorite DD for all-around group content is a magblade. I think its an absolute beast. Others think its squishy.

Again, there is no wrong to this game. Play the style that works for you. Have fun with it.

Thanks for all your good advice. I am really enjoying this game. Players like you make it even more fun.
I originally asked about a melee build because, I started off with a old Xbox controller and was having a hard time targeting enemies when using a bow. Was definitely not fun. After writing the OP I switched to keyboard and mouse. It's a big difference for me not only able to target better but, searching all the crates, barrels, bookcases etc is easier.
I believe I can still use the skills you gave me for a stamplar or at least as a guide. Thanks