What class works best for 2h/heavy armor?

Megamatch · August 2014

Hey Guys,

I wanna make a Nord using 2h weapons and heavy armor. Basicly cause it looks awesome and need some variation to my other characters.

But what class is best for 2h/heavy armor? Weapon swap doesnt really matter was thinking maybe shield or bow. What skills would you recommend?
I was going to powergrind it to vr1, then gear it into purple items and just do Cyro.

I know it is subpar to the rest of the game, I have my other characters to wear skirts and little poking sticks.

Makkir · August 2014

Cops in Detroit MI

Khivas_Carrick · August 2014

Makkir wrote: »

Cops in Detroit MI

I almost died just then lmao

Khivas_Carrick · August 2014

Also double post, sorry, but I'd recommend a Dragon Knight or a Nightblade. Ironically I wear mostly light armor with one medium and one heavy, but my weapon is a 2H and I rock out as a Support DPS. I actually quit the game for a few months when I noticed just how bad the Templar was when mixed with the horrible content that was Veteran Ranks, but I came back a few days ago, and either they buffed Templar's, nerfed VR mobs, or both, because now I'm just steamrolling things left and right. Feels nice lol

Galrukh · August 2014

My DK wears 5/7 heavy armor and often uses a 2hander and yes it is subpar but sometimes it works almost close to something that could be somewhat compared to effectively.

Stx · August 2014

Nightblade's work okay in Heavy armor with a 2 hander if you gear yourself for straight weapon/spell power and forego crit chance all together. I would also recommend having siphoning strikes unlocked so you can sustain your resources.

Since most players stack impenetrable very high in pvp, a juggernaut type build with heavy armor and lots of weapon damage + armor penetration could be viable. Heavy armor isn't really as bad as most people make it out to be, in pvp anyway... You can get pretty close to armor/spell resist softcap, you have a much cheaper break free cost, 20% reduced cost on blocking(which is great), you get healed for a bit more....

Light armor is of course still the best for every part of the game, but Im just saying Heavy armor can work for certain builds.

I made a Nightblade PvP build on paper using Heavy armor that was capped on health, armor, spell resist, weapon damage, spell damage, and also had 1800 magicka and 1800 stamina. I used a two hander and on swap was a bow for ranged damage and some health regen abilities. 50% armor penetration just from weapon trait and veiled strike... Some day Ill try the build out... dont want to spend the gold on all the gear atm.

Mumyo · August 2014

I made a 7/7 heavy armor 2hander build on my templar going almost full stamina with 2.2k stam.
If u know how to play it out u are very very effective in pvp... i went almost full impenetrable and most stuff hits me for not more then 300. I on the other hand allways crit with my critical rush and hit very hard with wrecking blow(animation skipping) and the executioner. Mostly i hit for around 1k each when i have a good timing. It's not really made for duels due to theslow wrecking blow but u hit like a truck on an enemy not expecting u to do so... i also killed very very skilled and known players with that build... mostly by surprise.

Head.hunter · August 2014

Depends if you're going for dps or tank for weapon swap. Bow for range dps, 1h/shield for tank. Generally Nords are best for that weapon/armor build but orcs have some solid passives as well.

Nihili · August 2014

I'd grap a Temp for the two hand, but hey I don't know why I would do that

Galrukh · August 2014

If you are actually interested in trying this I would choose at least critical rush and either wrecking blow or executioner as the other stamina skill, then you probably want a magicka attack skill (since stamina burns so incredibly fast compared to magicka) such as flame lash or unstable flame for a DK (cant really speak for the other classes yet) and then a utility skill or 2. You could maybe add a third stamina attack to your key setup but I find it limits me too much and stamina burns too fast to really spam the attacks anyways (at least vs people that block a lot).

Cody · August 2014

I tried it with a sorcerer. did pretty well in the non-vet campaign, and PvE is a breeze so far for me. im also a nord. weird set-up I know, but thought id give it a shot.

AtriasNaradan · August 2014

Though i didn't use it much right now on my main DK, but i would say DK is good using 2H as well. In PvE context, try Sea of Flame + 2H. While the Sea of Flames deal AoE damages around your character, it also gives benefit of a decent mana restore whenever mobs that's inside the skill area of effect died from any cause...and seeing how 2H weapon deal burst splash damages, that combination is good for dealing with mobs.

guybrushtb16_ESO · August 2014

AtriasNaradan wrote: »

Though i didn't use it much right now on my main DK, but i would say DK is good using 2H as well. In PvE context, try Sea of Flame + 2H. While the Sea of Flames deal AoE damages around your character, it also gives benefit of a decent mana restore whenever mobs that's inside the skill area of effect died from any cause...and seeing how 2H weapon deal burst splash damages, that combination is good for dealing with mobs.

Actually, Sea of Flames stops your magicka regen on top of it's stated costs, making it one of the worst AOE skills in the game.

dylanjaygrobbelaarb16_ESO · August 2014

guybrushtb16_ESO wrote: »

AtriasNaradan wrote: »

Though i didn't use it much right now on my main DK, but i would say DK is good using 2H as well. In PvE context, try Sea of Flame + 2H. While the Sea of Flames deal AoE damages around your character, it also gives benefit of a decent mana restore whenever mobs that's inside the skill area of effect died from any cause...and seeing how 2H weapon deal burst splash damages, that combination is good for dealing with mobs.

Actually, Sea of Flames stops your magicka regen on top of it's stated costs, making it one of the worst AOE skills in the game.

but you regain magica from enemies who are doted dying.

zgrssd · August 2014

Currently the main area of the Heavy Armor is solo PvE survivability. And on PvE group tanks it is kinda a must have (until you reach the caps already; then passives are not that important anymore). Here the extra armor and health regen (soloplay only) can shine. Medium or light armor out-DPS the enemy. Heavy out-survives the enemy.
Many say in PvP armor penetration is too widespread and damage to bursty to make heavy of much use (neither armor nor passives are of much use).

It can be the better choice while leveling a DPS build then all light/medium armor, simply because it is a lot less fragile. Consider going 2 heavy + 5 primary armor.
While it can boost Weapon Power a bit (Immoveable Morph + Passive), this is not a match for all the bonuses light or medium give to a mana/stam build.

I prefer not to see it on a DPS in groups, unless he is a Tank with off-DPS or we are that good as a PuG.
Tank&heal relies on the DPS ability to kill of foes fast and heavy is not ideal for that.

Choosing the best class:
2 handed has a knockdown, aoe, rush (with guaranteed crit), execute and castable damage boost.
Heavy armor + 2H favors blocking over dodge rolling.

A nightblade could use it qutie a bit: It has no rush or good aoe's on the Class Skills. It is also the only class without any passive defense boots/active armor buffs so it could benefit from the armor a lot more then others.
But you can make it work with any class. Consider combining it with Resto staff, as currently healing staff skills still work on Weapon Damage (so "+ weapon damage" would affect both weapons).
I have to test how well those ideas work in practice, however.

AtriasNaradan · August 2014

guybrushtb16_ESO wrote: »

AtriasNaradan wrote: »

Though i didn't use it much right now on my main DK, but i would say DK is good using 2H as well. In PvE context, try Sea of Flame + 2H. While the Sea of Flames deal AoE damages around your character, it also gives benefit of a decent mana restore whenever mobs that's inside the skill area of effect died from any cause...and seeing how 2H weapon deal burst splash damages, that combination is good for dealing with mobs.

Actually, Sea of Flames stops your magicka regen on top of it's stated costs, making it one of the worst AOE skills in the game.

I gain 180 magicka everytime enemies inside Sea of Flame dies. I can literally just use shield, charge into mobs of 10, block, cast Sea of Flames, and cast Standard of Might...and by the end of fight, my ultimate usually recharged to 25% - 75% and my magicka always above 90%. That's with all my stat goes to health and stamina.

You don't really need magicka regen at all to be a badass with Sea of Flame + 2H/S&B. The only difference between using 2H and S&B is that you can fight more mobs using S&B, but you can fight stronger boss using 2H.

Khivas_Carrick · August 2014

NookyZooky wrote: »

I tried it with a sorcerer. did pretty well in the non-vet campaign, and PvE is a breeze so far for me. im also a nord. weird set-up I know, but thought id give it a shot.

Actually, that makes a lot of sense to me from a lore point, and is something I'd see happening quite easily.

Also for the guys arguing Sea Of Flames, some skills work for some people's playstyles, others do not. Sea Of Flames, and just about any skill or weapon or class in this game can be great or *** depending on what you want it to do, so take that to heart OP, and simply run with what you feel is best for you.

Also I think I've said this before but I'm a Templar running 5 pieces of light with 1 medium and 1 heavy, using spells for my main run of the place, but I use a 2H with Critical Rush and Executioner and Flawless Dawnbreaker. It seems to be working wonders since I'm fighting legions of undead and I actually put my 2H to use quite often.

Stannum · August 2014

Sorc is good with 2H.
1. Sorc has good passives to save magika/stamina & magika\stamina control abilities.
2. Liquid lightning + Carve + overload (you make great AoE damage with LL+Carve while charging ultimate, then toggle to overload doing great damage and recharging magika, then repeat cycle).

Megamatch · August 2014

Hey guys,

Thank you all for the great feedback. To be honest I've been so indecisive which to run with that I made one of each Nightblade, templar and dragonknight. Also tried the sorc but the skills didnt seem to fit that well into how I wanted to play, a 2h heavy armor "vikingish" nord.

I am actually drifting towards nightblade the most. It feels like templar and dragonknight synergize better with 2h. However I'm enjoying the playstyle of nightblade more. Kind of strange and hard to give a reason why.

I'm concerned though that the nightblade doesnt offer enough of survivability comparing to templars heals/dragon knights dragon blood. As stated in my first post the playstyle will be mostly running Cyro with sologanking, smallscale fights and zerg. Probably using variations of builds for all this.

Also I've come to the conclusion that I am going to build it heavy into stamina, I'm sure magica is better but this will be my "fun" character. It will offer the most contrast to my other light armor, magica builds.

Been reading all the great suggestions and I think I will get all three classes up to about 30ish before making my final verdict. Worst case scenario I still need a enchanter char on my account

Teloran · August 2014

Sorcerers actually have very good melee builds but unfortunately they do better with medium then with heavy armour.

Critical Surge gives a huge amount of weapon damage and heals you every time you crit. The math for the healing turns out such that you get your crit chance (which can go up to 70% with the right gear) as a percentage of your dps as healing. While this healing isn't bursty, it will likely outheal any other class while not interrupting your DPS. This makes the crit chance from medium armour somewhat more useful in terms of survivability then heavy. Also, this doesn't work in PvP since people use crit resist gear.

The other sorcerer skills that are great for melee are their armour spells, lightning form and bound armour (which makes your armour look like heavy btw) but these won't benefit you much since you'll be very close to the armour softcap already with heavy.