Looking for Some General Guidance

DEATHBR1NGER_37

Hi! For a little bit of background, I've been playing ESO sporadically since launch. I've always found Cyrodiil and PvP in general to be the most compelling gameplay that this game has to offer, however I seem to have hit a wall with regard to improvement. I find myself saying "I don't understand how..." instead of "My execution of (X) was really poor." when I die, particularly in Battlegrounds. I currently play on an Xbox Series X.

I'm not saying that I'm perfectly executing combos or perfectly maintaining my buffs/resources at all times. What I'm saying is that I don't believe it can account for the disparity in survivability/damage output/etc... that I'm encountering fairly regularly with other players. Since returning, I've built a Bow Nightblade and Magicka Necromancer according to Alcast PvP builds that I intended to use as starting points. Right now I'm playing a 2H Stamina DK with sword & board backbar that's an amalgamation of a couple of builds I've seen online. It uses 5 piece Pariah, 5 piece Clever Alchemist, Velidreth shoulders, and Malacath's Band of Brutality. Armor spread is 5M, 1H, 1L. Traits are a mix of Impenetrable and Reinforced, while enchantments are Max Stamina and Tri-Stat. Specific issues/questions are below.

In Battlegrounds in particular (so controlled for CP disparity) I find that I run into people who seem to have the best of all worlds. What I mean by this is that they have damage mitigation such that I can't scratch their health, damage/penetration that allows them to punch straight through 30k+ resistance (I've tried with much higher as well, with little apparent effect), and a seemingly endless pool of resources. How is this achieved? Are there very specific builds that allow for this? Are there some obscure mechanics/playstyles that allow for this to be feigned on some level?

Dodging feels really inconsistent/broken, but always in favor of my opponents which leads me to believe I'm not understanding something fundamental about it. I know this game used to have passive evasion, but it seems to have done away with that. I semi-regularly get hit while I'm mid-dodge animation, but it seems like my opponents are able to passively dodge my attacks (well outside of dodge animations). How exactly does dodging work in this game?

I don't mind having to work on self-improvement to excel in PvP, but in order to improve I need to understand what's going on. Any constructive feedback is appreciated!

milllaurie

Okay, first, it is not the mitigation that makes hp bar stick to the top. It is the proactive use of healing-over-time abilities (HoTs). If you have vigor on your back bar, after buffing up, pop vigor and only then move to front bar for damage. Try to keep vigor up all the time.
Use rally or cauterize if you have taken a big hit and need to heal back up. Do not forget that vigor.
Also, weave in heavies. If you are moving around (and you should be moving a lot) try to start channeling a heavy attack when running away from an opponent and turn around at the last moment to make the heavy land on him. Continue with your regular combo then.
Heavy attacks are the key to sustain and HoTs are the key to make your hp bar not move.
After you get this everything else will just be experience gained on top

divnyi

Here is what I wrote one day.

milllaurie

divnyi wrote: »

Here is what I wrote one day.

Amazing guide! Everything super on point! My compliments for writing this.

moo_2021

Do you have combat metrics installed? Better to check your hits and damage from there. Go through all the opponents after battle and see if your damages are really lower than most enemies'.
Just realized you can't have addon on xbox...

In BG I use shield over burst healing since pariah and vampire stage 3 are stronger at low health. Also if you make kills at very low health you get extra achievements

Rakdos

divnyi wrote: »

Here is what I wrote one day.

Excellent works!

Should pin this to the top