Because I am retired and can play anytime I want..........I leveled a Dark Elf and an Imperial DK. The Imperial DK is a little better in a DK stamina build (not a lot)......And the dark elf a little better in a DK magicka build (not a lot). Both are dps, two hander and DW now.

I have also leveled a Nord DK........not as good and don't play him much (I think I will make a tank out of him?).......although I don't care much for tanking........I will have a tank back up.

Sandshark95 wrote: »

Any race can excel at any class. Dark elves benefit from increased fire damage passives, which is actually perfect for a DK DPS considering most DK abilities are fire based.

Get the passives in the Ardent Flame Skill Tree that increase fire damage (Kindling + World of Flame). Molten Whip (morph of Lava Whip) also increases your fire damage while slotted. Engulfing Flames (morph of Fiery Breath) debuffs enemies, weakening them to fire.

In the Draconic Power Skill Tree, Burning Talons (Morph of Dark Talons) adds fire damage over time and is a CC. Dragon Leap is a good ultimate option.

As for Earthen Heart skills, Ash Cloud is an AoE and could be useful.

There are many other skills worth trying out, just named a few.

The rest depends on your weapon choice (destro staff, dual wield, 2h, etc.) and whether or not you're more focused in stamina (which will increase weapon damage) or magicka (which will affect spells and most of your DK skills).

I myself have a DK Tank, so I can't really speak to specifics on maximizing your DPS output. If you're worried about your race aligning with your class, spec into magicka and take advantage of the fire damage. You really can't go wrong whatever way you decide to play. Maybe even go for becoming a vampire, since Dark Elves also have increased resistance to fire which would help mitigate the vampire fire weakness.

Don't give up on your Dunmer DK; it's very viable and far from useless.

Thank you for your reply,

I am currently using dual wield + bow, do you think the bow is a good choice or should I switch to a two hander? I also focussed on stamina build, but I think I am gonna switch to a magicka build now, or is it to late for this to do now? Do you have any advice on how I should spend the character skill points, I currently have 8 magicka / 9 health / 14 stamina.

Speaking about skills, I think I also made a mistake by only focussing on one of the 3 types, meaning I only focussed on ardent flame because I thought this was the DPS skill tree and that I could only use one of the 3, resulting that I now have 40 Ardent Flame / 26 draconic power / 20 Earthen Heart

How do I become a vampire and what are the advantages of being one?

@Verheulskie93 It's not too late to switch to magicka; you can respec all your skills + attributes at a Shrine to Stendarr/Akatosh, provided you have some gold. Here's a link to all of the shrine locations (you mentioned Ebonheart Pact so that one will apply to you):

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/74523/how-to-reset-skills-attributes

Ardent Flame is probably the best skill tree for DPS, so no mistake there, but you may want a few skills in the other trees. If you buy a skill/passives in the other trees (doesn't matter which) and put said skill on your bar, you'll level up those trees faster when you earn xp.

Dual Wield + Bow is heavy on the stamina, so as a Dark Elf DK you're not really taking advantage of your magicka skills/passives if you keep that combo. If you want to do heavy damage, then yes 2h to replace DW is probably your best bet. It shouldn't take too long to level 2h up if you spend a few skills points in that tree and find/create a 2h weapon with the Training trait ("increased experience by % for this skill line"). For your secondary, I'd look into switching to a destro staff over the bow. The staff will give you range plus bonus damage from your passives in magicka (and fire, if you have a fire staff). The bow tree doesn't really have any skills that fit well with a magicka build, and only one skill that you could morph to fire damage. Again, find/create a staff with the Training trait and you'll level up faster. I wouldn't focus too much on the staff first though (unless you want it to be your primary); focus on the 2h, a lot of people claim it's the best DPS weapon out there right now, and it works well with the close range nature of DK skills.

Respec your attributes (Shrine to Akatosh) and go for mostly magicka. You may want a few points in health for survivability. If you want a self heal, you could get Rally (Momentum morph, 2h skill line) or Dragon Blood (probably Green Dragon Blood morph for stamina regeneration, Draconic Power Skill line). A few points in stamina is okay so you can use some weapon skills, but you'll want mostly magicka for DK skills.

As for armor, light will give you the best magicka bonus. You don't have to wear all light though (and I wouldn't recommend that you do anyway); mix it with maybe 2 pieces of either heavy (for health, if you're having trouble staying alive) or medium (for stamina, if you find yourself wanting a little more for those weapon skills and heavy attacks). Enchant your armor with bonuses to magicka and then anything else you feel you need more of (health, stamina). Definitely want some fire resistance if you want to go with vampire, though as a Dunmer you already have a bit.

Going vampire will benefit your magicka. It's not a must, just up to you. You can always cure yourself if you find you don't like it. Never became one personally, but here are a few guides:

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/87558/vampire-walkthrough-by-lex-talionis

http://elderscrollsonline.info/guides/vampire

http://teso.mmorpg-life.com/become-vampire-eso/

Hope that helps