Spending Attribute Points For Your Custom Class [Guide]

Shineko

Whenever you level up you will always be met with a decision, what do I spend my Attribute points on? For some, this is quite obvious. A pure mage may only want to spend a lot of time buffing their mana pool with some to their HP, but if you choose a more hybrid route, choosing the wrong points for too long can lead to some problems all across the board.

Quick notes about HP, Stamina and MP

Health: Upgrading this increases your survivability all classes should ideally have some points in this but how many depends largely on your playstyle.

Stamina: Improves the amount of time(s) you have to run, roll/dodge, and use non-staff weapon abilities.

Magic: Essentially every 'Class' ability will in some manner use Mana. At least most of the time. This increases your mana pool allowing you to spam non weapon abilities.

NOTE: Your armor choice should also reflect the intentions of your character but is not absolutely necessary. Light Armor has passive buffs for Mana, Medium for Stamina, and Heavy for HP.

The Golden Rule
If your focus is on Class Abilities you need Mana. If your focus is on non-staff weapons, you need Stamina. If you need more survivability to deal enough damage to kill things of your level, you need Health or better Armor or both.

If you find yourself running out of Mana and not Stamina but you use both. You probably need more Mana and vice-versa.


When it comes to actually allocating your points, I like to think of them in ratios.
MP : HP : STA

A pure hybrid class would simply allocate 1:1:1 or 1:2:1. For every 1 or 2 Points of HP, you put 1 in STA and 1 in MP.

You have 5 Abilities on your cast bar at max and should do some planning and thinking ahead before selecting them. Keep late game in mind as well.

Salvaging a Mistake!
Perhaps you put the wrong point in. Perhaps you decide to switch play styles. Mistakes can be costly or they can be nothing at all.

If you switch from a class that uses pure mana to one that uses nothing but stamina, it's going to hurt. A lot. You will likely need to do an attribute reset, the sooner the better.

However, if you are switching from something of a 1:3:0 ratio to something more along the lines of 1:2:1 and you aren't an incredibly high level, you can even out the score by spending points on stamina and mana and nothing else. You always get all 3 attributes when you level you just have the choice of making one even better with an attribute point.

Class Examples
Pure Tank
Become nigh unstoppable.
Recommended Attribute Ratio [MP:HP:STA]: 2:5:1, 1:5:1, or 1:5:2

• Select a class that has healing or allows healing from damage dealt.
• Select abilities that largely provide crowd control and sustain at the cost of lower damage output.
• Prioritize on health but do not let it be the end all. You need mana/stamina for abilities that refund you HP.
• Heavy armor adds more survivability and is augmented by heavy armor passives. Medium armor is viable but less so and Light Armor will get you killed a lot.

Pure Mage
Rend your foes with magics.
Recommended Attribute Ratio [MP:HP:STA]: 3:5:0, 4:5:0, or 1:1:0

• Select a class that prioritizes on spell casting.
• Use any Staff of your choice.
• Prioritize on a mix between Heatlh and Mana. Only get as much mana as you need. HP becomes more important against strong enemies, esp if you opt for light armor..
• Light armor augments your mana and mana regen so that you can stay casting in combat longer.
• Alternatively, Heavy Armor will add health sustain at the cost of mana regen. If you opt for this, expect to spend more attributes on Mana. Medium armor is almost worthless to a stamina-free mage.

Pure Weapons Master
Be unparalleled in physical weapon combat.
Recommended Attribute Ratio [MP:HP:STA]: 0:2:1, 0:4:3, 0:5:4, or 0:1:1

• The class you choose is largely unimportant as all classes can use all weapons.
• However, you might opt for an ability or two from your class inside your weapon swap rotation so don't completely ignore it.
• Prioritize on a mix between Heatlh and Stamina. Only get as much stamina as you need. HP becomes more important against strong enemies.
• Medium armor is incredibly useful due to the Stamina perks as well as offering moderate protection.
• Alternatively, Heavy Armor will add health sustain at the cost of stamina regen. If you opt for this, expect to spend more attributes on Stamina. Light armor is almost worthless to a mana-free / low mana user.

Battle Mage / Spell Sword / Hybrid
With spell and sword, foes will be torn apart.
Recommended Attribute Ratio [MP:HP:STA]: 1:4:1, 1:3:1, 1:2:1, or 1:1:1

• Pick the class you prefer the most. Spell sword is incredibly diverse and most people, inadvertently, are this.
• Prioritize on a mix between Health, Stamina and Mana. Only get as much stamina and mana as you need. HP becomes more important against strong enemies.
• Whichever Armor suits your play style. Light = squishy mana, Medium = stamina, Heavy = resilient health

Pure Healer (for off Healer see Spell Sword or Mage)
Everyone shut up, I'm trying to heal.
Recommended Attribute Ratio [MP:HP:STA]: 4:3:0, 4:2:0 (blaze it), 4:1:0, 1:0:0

• Pick a class that has a healing specialization [such as Templar]
• Your absolute main priority is going to be Mana. Unlike other classes who rely on killing things, yours is keeping things alive at all times.
• This is most viable for group PvE and PvP but is terrible at Solo PvE.
• Light Armor will be very beneficial for the Mana Regen. Heavy armor is a waste of HP Regen. Just augment it with HP Attribute Points.
• This is one of the only classes that can get away with more Mana than HP. Always have enough HP to survive a burst attack, other than that. You need mana. 4:2:0 works best. 4:1:0 is riskier. 4:3:0 is safer but might result in sub-optimal burst healing.

Shineko

What's this? Page 4 and no comments?
Consider this thread bumped.

Cagro

I am only level 6 on my two characters but plan on using all my points for magicka. At least in low levels I do not see the need for health because it is better to kill monsters fast and I am always out of magicka. What I am worry about is the soft cap issue I have heard about. I am wondering how much magicka will be enough for my Breton/Templar and Breton/Sorcerer since eventually I am getting a 10% racial magicka increase and plan on using all light armor. I do not want to go over the soft cap.

Shineko

You will need HP for later levels where end of quest 'bosses' can kill you much faster than you can kill them. If you are playing pure mage with no intention of stamina you should consider at worst a 1:1 ratio of MP to HP. Mana Quantity is less important than mana regeneration and as you progress you'll have plenty of it.

kelly.medleyb14_ESO

I am playing a mix of class an weapon dmg abilities and put everything in mana/stam, I get one shot by bosses, I am to high a level to add a lot of points in health. Will armor enchants be enough to get me up to survivable level?

temjiu

Cagro wrote: »

I am only level 6 on my two characters but plan on using all my points for magicka. At least in low levels I do not see the need for health because it is better to kill monsters fast and I am always out of magicka. What I am worry about is the soft cap issue I have heard about. I am wondering how much magicka will be enough for my Breton/Templar and Breton/Sorcerer since eventually I am getting a 10% racial magicka increase and plan on using all light armor. I do not want to go over the soft cap.

That feeling of invincibility will last till about 8 or 10, when you start to get into tough solo bosses, and you will end up frustrated. best to balance stats out if you solo allot.

Great guide OP! all of the cookie cutter guides can help out if your looking for a specific and intense build type, but most players are tinkering at these stages. great info on how to build in general, which is what this game needs, far more the the cookie cutters

Something that could be added in the future: perhaps add in some descriptions of how the attributes work. as an example, a point in stamina not only allows you to last longer sprinting and using melee skills, but it increases the damage/potency of any skills using stamina.

great guide though! hope it grows! and i wish they had stickies in these forums...man their forum design really needs some love.

Taleof2Cities

upvote +1 ... I salute you, sir!

kasain

I found 1h 2M 2S for my Sor. Even for many of solo or fighting this combo suits me well. I usually nuke a monster first, then use a great hammer, to stampede in and uppercut to deliver death blow or knockback for 4.5 secs.

This also works well even on storyline. As an example the boss who summoned 4 x 4 skeletons then himself. Nuke one, stampede kill second, stampede third, nuke forth.

Or when three mobs together Nuke, kill one. stampede in for second knock back, thunderstorm, dead. then uppercut a few tomes on third.

Did some cave with red, blue, green lights. In this cave there was a super hard rock monster. here I combined uppercut with our sorc spell for 16 seconds confuse, nuke, repeat cycle.

O am squishy, but I use heavy armor with unlocked regen on skill tree of 16%. but then add regen MP for enhancement, so it works out well. And back up hand is a restore staff.

FrauPerchta

My newest character is an Orc 2H (no staffs or pet) Sorcerer who wears 5 Heavy and 2 Light. I've been distributing my Attribute points 1:2:1 and love it.

rotiferuk

How does this approach of splitting attributes compare with putting everything into health and using enchants, passives, related armour, related race for magicka / stamina?

For example, I have a magicka based, level 17, robe wearing, Breton Templar who uses a staff. My own feeling is I should be giving him lots of health so he can survive long enough to use his magicka.

TomSamuel

I see people with all magicka or all stamina ...

TomSamuel

I been doing a DPS Templar with the ratio 1:0:1

TomSamuel

Hes really deadly in heavy armour(health) and a Breton(magicka passives

EramTheLiar

Hm. I've been playing a sorcerer with a ratio of 2:1:0 (magica/health/stamina) but I've been wishing I had more health lately... time to visit the shrine I think.

TomSamuel

maybe if your wearing light armour , but for me health points would be a waste . Heavy armour compensates completely and looks stylish

crislevin

My mage has most in magicka, 3 to 1 I believe.

The top priority obviously is not get caught close, top that end, bolt escape is your friends.

Alternatives also exist, if yout rather sick a bit longer before running away, bound armors gives you more armor that heavy armor can ever supply. Conjured wards add 700 hp for 20 seconds.

rotiferuk

This from another forum explains why it is better to place all your attributes into health.

http://exalted-gaming.com/index.php/forum/class-discussion/25-stats-overcharging-in-eso

nardinardi85b16_ESO

Hello guys!
i'm sorry to bother you, but i have some questions.
i've found out on this link
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Health_(Online)
that on points 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, attributes grant a bonus passive ability.
Now the questions are: are these passives true? Are there passives also for magicka and stamina? (not explained on the wikia) Is it possible to have a link where can i read more about these passives please?
Thank you anticipately for your time.
Bartolomeo Nardi (@gatsublack85 EU server)

Shayu

temjiu wrote: »

Cagro wrote: »

I am only level 6 on my two characters but plan on using all my points for magicka. At least in low levels I do not see the need for health because it is better to kill monsters fast and I am always out of magicka. What I am worry about is the soft cap issue I have heard about. I am wondering how much magicka will be enough for my Breton/Templar and Breton/Sorcerer since eventually I am getting a 10% racial magicka increase and plan on using all light armor. I do not want to go over the soft cap.

That feeling of invincibility will last till about 8 or 10, when you start to get into tough solo bosses, and you will end up frustrated. best to balance stats out if you solo allot.

Lol, I beg to differ dude : p
I'm a level 35 nightblade with all 34 points in stamina and im soloing bosses that are 10 levels above me. Some of them do give me trouble ill admit, but that's usually because either a. their immune to my CC, or b. because they spam me with minions.

In the end I'm probably going to ram my stamina into the soft cap, and then push it a little more, and then dump the rest into HP, but for now 0 HP points and 0 HP enchantments is going well : p.

Shayu

rotiferuk wrote: »

This from another forum explains why it is better to place all your attributes into health.

http://exalted-gaming.com/index.php/forum/class-discussion/25-stats-overcharging-in-eso

Yeah he's got it right, im probably going to ride all the way to 49 stamina and then enchant an armor set with stamina glyphs at 50. Then ill reset my attributes, push my stamina into the soft cap just a bit and then put the rest in health.

rotiferuk

Shayu wrote: »

rotiferuk wrote: »

This from another forum explains why it is better to place all your attributes into health.

http://exalted-gaming.com/index.php/forum/class-discussion/25-stats-overcharging-in-eso

Yeah he's got it right, im probably going to ride all the way to 49 stamina and then enchant an armor set with stamina glyphs at 50. Then ill reset my attributes, push my stamina into the soft cap just a bit and then put the rest in health.

There is an add-on called Softcapinfo. It changes the Character Information screen to show how close attributes are to overcharge. I find it useful when deciding which armour / rings / necklaces to make use of.

soalrism

see no sense in this guide, sorry.
at the end it looks so: bring as much stats as you can to the softcap! (at least your main stat + health) ... and stat points are only one of 4 possibilities... so only make a guide involving statpoints is like to train someone how to drive and only tell him how the the gas pedal is working...
make this guide complete and we can talk again! add mundusstones, enchants and provisioning! add the other stats and explain how they work, and then we can name this maybe a guide, at the moment, it's only bull****

and "49 in health" is nonsense too! you can do the math by yourself to see why, but short form: it's absolutely irrelevant from WHERE you take the stats to fill the soft cap, it's all the same in the end.. it WAS the right answer long time ago in beta as glyphs were always giving the same amount of stats, but that changed long ago

Shayu

soalrism wrote: »

and "49 in health" is nonsense too! you can do the math by yourself to see why, but short form: it's absolutely irrelevant from WHERE you take the stats to fill the soft cap, it's all the same in the end.. it WAS the right answer long time ago in beta as glyphs were always giving the same amount of stats, but that changed long ago

Thanks for letting me know this! I was conflicted about whether or not to switch to 49 health, because the strength of enchantments on your armor weaken as the armor becomes damaged, and I'm not sure i wanted to deal with my DPS dropping that sharply with my armor condition.

Talmet

rotiferuk wrote: »

This from another forum explains why it is better to place all your attributes into health.

http://exalted-gaming.com/index.php/forum/class-discussion/25-stats-overcharging-in-eso

Umm....that post is 3 months old and is outdated....As this guy said:

soalrism wrote: »

and "49 in health" is nonsense too! you can do the math by yourself to see why, but short form: it's absolutely irrelevant from WHERE you take the stats to fill the soft cap, it's all the same in the end.. it WAS the right answer long time ago in beta as glyphs were always giving the same amount of stats, but that changed long ago

Yeah, you should have some +health somewhere, but it doesn't matter if you add health with stat points or with enchants, you can get to the same place either way now.

ArRashid

Comparing the strength of Enchants to Attributes, above lvl 30 it doesn't matter anymore.. Since enchants scale with level while you still get just mere 10(/15) points for an attribute point, it's not really that big of a deal.

My guildie respecced as soon as he got to the shrine, and then forgot to put any attribute points at all - he realized that about 2 weeks later since he didn't even notice he's missing some stats.

Since they don't scale, they are 8x less effective on lvl 50 than they are at lvl 1... although the way this game is getting "fixed" (so far by absurd nerfing rather than actual fixes, see DK - talons are still broken, but every pyromancer's spell was nerfed to the ground, same with Vampire the patch before), I really doubt enchants will stay as strong as they are.. hell, they even nerfed how the armor LOOKS. What a "useful" change!

Jayster

I have done just fine up to lvl 40 and I have not placed a single point in anything.... So in other words I disagree that u need to place points in HP for the later lvl bosses. with potions and food you can get a big bump in any stat u want to survive bosses.

ZoM_Head

Jayster wrote: »

I have done just fine up to lvl 40 and I have not placed a single point in anything.... So in other words I disagree that u need to place points in HP for the later lvl bosses. with potions and food you can get a big bump in any stat u want to survive bosses.

you will be one hit killed in veteran 1 zones.

CodexMMO

This is a great guide

ThaLastProdigy

thanks for this, I know have Idea of my points spread.

Marukeru

This got necro'd so hard, but I feel it was a worthwhile adventure!

For my Orc Dragonknight Tank build, I am running a 0:3:2 allowing me to block, bash and dodge often enough to stay alive, while keeping my health just high enough to take the hits I can't block or dodge in time.
Sometimes MP can be an issue for me, but atm I am not using enchants on my gear (which at this point would likely be Magicka enchants).

I hope this guide helps newer players find a comfortable groove for their attribute layouts.

lacis2xeb17_ESO

As a Tank, with these kind of ratios, I lack some Stamina for longer fights. Maybe more stamina points?