A question from a very new player

Bryan · April 2015

Is it possible to be a pve dps player with sword and shield?
Thanks for any replies.

Worstluck · April 2015

In dungeons and late game trials? No not really. Staves, two-handers, dual wield and bow provide much more dps with their passives. It is a perfectly valid way of leveling and questing though with the right combination of skills.

NewBlacksmurf · April 2015

Absolutely...also understand as you level up you'll be able to have two weapon options.

Id say start with what you want to do and experiment with what your curious about.

I began as sword n shield...then my 2nd weapon was a bow.
Later I adopted into bow/healing staff

In the later you end up paying to reset your skill points (because in this game you don't loose the skills you gain in armor n weapons/class) so you can easily re-arrange the skill points without starting over and mix n match is what makes this game different than most

Welcome and enjoy your adventures!

Bryan · April 2015

Thanks for the replies.
I've decided to start out with a two handed.
You actually need to do a little thinking here. Also really enjoying the way you can just wander around and pick up quests.

cyqa · April 2015

Welcome back to ESO, Bryan! I did sword and board for my 1-50 and now I am doing a 2-handed/bow templar. It's a lot of fun. I really like how I can respec my weapons but not lose my progress in weapon categories after I spec out of them. Changing around builds adds a whole different flavour to the game- it has the potential for enough versatility that your character feels fresh and exciting even though you're within the same class.

golfer.dub17_ESO · April 2015

I wish it was, but sadly not really.
One Hand and Shield is exclusively for tanking and debuffing.

Well, there's ONE exception, and that is if you are running a Magicka build.

You can use a specific 1hs skill to lower an enemy's spell resistance, then do all your damage with Magicka Class Skills. Likewise there's one or two other skills that can stun enemies, and some class skills do bonus damage to stunned enemies.

However, this also involves making the enemy aggressive towards you, and thus isn't viable for group dungeons where your tank is supposed to be the one getting all the enemy attention. Plus your tank has likely already debuffed the enemies himself, making this pointless.

It is viable for PvP and Solo PvE though.

NewBlacksmurf · April 2015

golfer.dub17_ESO wrote: »

I wish it was, but sadly not really.
One Hand and Shield is exclusively for tanking and debuffing.

Well, there's ONE exception, and that is if you are running a Magicka build.

You can use a specific 1hs skill to lower an enemy's spell resistance, then do all your damage with Magicka Class Skills. Likewise there's one or two other skills that can stun enemies, and some class skills do bonus damage to stunned enemies.

However, this also involves making the enemy aggressive towards you, and thus isn't viable for group dungeons where your tank is supposed to be the one getting all the enemy attention. Plus your tank has likely already debuffed the enemies himself, making this pointless.

It is viable for PvP and Solo PvE though.

I should've clarified kinda like you did. Yep u can use sword n board if your going with 4/5 class abilities or rather 8/10