Help please: dunmer dragonknight

jackiemanuel · June 2015

Console player here(xbone). This is my first mmo though i’m not new to rpg’s or the elder scrolls. I’m loving the game so far. The dunmer are my favorite race so i decided to do dunmer DK.

Being new to mmo’s i find myself with paralysis from analysis when considering my character build. It feels overwhelming at times. Perhaps i’m overthinking it… So i’m hoping for a little shared experience and guidance. Here’s what i’ve done so far:

Level: 18

Attributes: 16 Magicka 2 Health 0 Stamina

Armor: 5 light 2 heavy with level 2 passives in light for evocation and recovery

Boon: Mage

I wanted to utilize the dunmer racial passives and my love of magic to do a fire mage type character. I used inferno staff from the beginning while alternating occasionally with the resto staff. At level 15 my main skills are fiery grip, burning embers, spiked armor, burning talons, dragon blood, stonefist, and molten weapons. Destructive touch and force shock on my destro staff and grand healing on restoration staff. Standard of might and dragon leap ultimates.

To this point combat was pretty straightforward. Pull with grip>burning embers>talons>heavy attack or destructive touch. Pretty much burned through every single enemy and talons and stonefist helps control groups. I had enough healing to get by when necessary. Again, this all made pretty good sense to me.

At levels 16-18 i’m finding it harder to maintain health and also finding the resto staff a little boring. So i’ve been entertaining the notion of going sword and shield on my back bar. I guess the gist of this long winded post(for those still reading) is sword and shield viable with my setup? I’m thinking of using it mainly defensively but i enjoy melee combat as well.

I suppose one could make anything viable, but being a noob i’m feeling confused. Continuing with destro/resto seems simpler but i’m enamored with sword and board at the moment. Should i start dumping points into stamina and health? Change armor? I don’t want to detract from my main idea of fire mage and am not sure if this combination i’m considering would be difficult to pull off.

Thanks for reading my novel. Any experience or suggestions would be appreciated.

Cuyler · June 2015

You seem on the right track. I might make some suggestions:

1. Put on one pc. of medium armor. At endgame you'll want to use the "undaunted mettle" passive of the undaunted guild skill tree. This means you'll be wearing 5L/1M/1H. In addition you'll level up the medium armor skill tree as well for two additional passives (some extra stamina and stealth).

2. You might be over analyzing you're squishiness to a point where you're now overdoing it. S&B is normally just for tanking and if you end up doing that great! but if your plan is to dps in endgame it's not going to help you. You may be better off moving your attributes into HP and focus more on using your class mitigation skills (i.e. GDB, Igneous shield). This is enough to keep you alive usually so you can focus on leveling your destro, class, fighters and mages skills.

3. Gather as many skyshards and lorebooks as you can. You'll really benefit from the additional passives you can unlock in armor and class skills from all the extra skills points you get. Lorebooks are the only way to finish the mages guild skill tree (lvl 10) and unlock meteor, which is a staple in dps builds. Try printing maps from the webs to get an idea of where to look.

4. If you really want to focus on magicka dps don't be afraid to go with 2 inferno destro staffs, that way no matter which bar is active your leveling your destro. In addition this allows you to put all the AoE on one bar and all the Single target skills on the other.

5. Make sure your "animation canceling" aka "weaving" not fully charged Heavy attacks (medium attacks) in between your spells (ie. medium attack>crushing shock>medium attack>crushing shock). It imporoves dps significantly and can speed up the combat. Oh and force pulse is the better morph over crushing shock you may think of repsecing your morphs although not a big deal if not.

Hope this helps and if you have other questions feel free to ask. Happy Hunting!

jackiemanuel · June 2015

Thanks for the input. Over analyzing is definitely an issue for me, especially considering my general lack of knowledge of this game.

Considering my initial goals and play style i definitely don't want to get into tanking with the S&B. I really was just looking for some variety and defense since i was taking much more damage at higher levels.

I feel like sticking with magicka dps is the way to go. I hadn't thought of using destro staff on both bars. Since i am now squishy but not committed to changing my build goals do you suggest a respec of attributes? Maybe equal magicka/health or 2/1?

I think it would be best for my build and sanity to just do a different character for melee combat.

Cuyler · June 2015

jackiemanuel wrote: »

Thanks for the input. Over analyzing is definitely an issue for me, especially considering my general lack of knowledge of this game.

Considering my initial goals and play style i definitely don't want to get into tanking with the S&B. I really was just looking for some variety and defense since i was taking much more damage at higher levels.

I feel like sticking with magicka dps is the way to go. I hadn't thought of using destro staff on both bars. Since i am now squishy but not committed to changing my build goals do you suggest a respec of attributes? Maybe equal magicka/health or 2/1?

I think it would be best for my build and sanity to just do a different character for melee combat.

This game is definitely easier on those who dedicate to a specific role. Hybrid builds sure are fun, but unfortunately much harder to sustain. Definitely go put ALL your attributes into HP for now. As you begin to level higher and round out your gear then begin putting them back into magicka. When solo leveling, surviving is you 1st priority. again focus on a skill rotation that includes the spiked armor, igneous shield and dragon blood. With those skills and more HP you should have no problems using a destro staff in mostly light armor.

jackiemanuel · June 2015

If i put all my points into health won't i be running out of magicka in combat? I guess i could enchant all my armor with magicka buffs. Or maybe the light armor and dunmer passives are enough at this point in the game and what i'm putting into magicka is overkill?

Cuyler · June 2015

jackiemanuel wrote: »

If i put all my points into health won't i be running out of magicka in combat? I guess i could enchant all my armor with magicka buffs. Or maybe the light armor and dunmer passives are enough at this point in the game and what i'm putting into magicka is overkill?

Either or really. Put all the attr into HP and enchant with magicka OR put attr in magicka and enchant with HP. The end effect will be the same.

If you enchant your jewelry with 3x cost reduction glyphs and weave attacks correctly, you should not run out of magicka.

jackiemanuel · June 2015

Makes sense. Thanks.