DK firemage level 30 build questions.

puffy99 · July 2015

Hello All-

Some questions:

I am trying to not be super squishy so I am trying to be a " in the face" as well as range battle mage type, mainly lava whip, sliver bolts <love it for knockdown, standard of might ULT, burning embers etc, Dragon blood.

I just picked up level 30 ashen grip 4 piece Med to roll with 2 piece heavy, noticed they are a bit more stamina/weapon oriented, vs magika of course. So I pop a 1300K or whatever magika 1 hr potion prior to battle and that seems to help. Inferno staff.

Rings are magika boosting rings or phys defense resist.

So for you firemage DK types is this a legit way to go or am I always going to be chasing magika regen as a level? I am a high elf.

thanks!

Cuyler · July 2015

Go with a mix of either Magnus', Twilight's or Seducer while your leveling as a magicka build.

5 light/1 heavy/1 med. All exploration traits on body and precise on staffs. Enchant with a max magicka. Use mage mundus. Move your attribute pts into HP and GDB/spiked armor should be enough to heal and survive.

delphwind_ESO · July 2015

I just leveled up a DK Fire Mage as a Dunmer.

My primary focus was getting a new set of crafted gear every 10 levels. (16, 26, 36, 46)

I used 7 piece light.

Weapon 1 (Single Target):
1. Flame Lash - The heal on attack if unbalanced is quite nice
2. Obsidian Shard - The knock down and decent damage worked very well, mainly on my bar to level Earthen Heart
3. Igneous Weapons - 40% bonus to heavy attack damage is crazy good, and if you time it right you can have this buff for 16-20 seconds.
4. Sea of Flames or Inner Light - Your call, both are good but you want one or the other on BOTH bars.
5. Volatile Armor - Nice defensive boost and AoE DoT - Mainly on my bar to level Draconic Power.
U. Standard of Might - Because its amazing.

Weapon 2 (AoE):
1. Eruption - This is why you level Earthen Heart by slotting Obsidian Shard. Great targeted AoE DD and DoT to open combat against a group with. (As this is a higher level skill you may want to put Force Pulse here, as it will hit up to three target for decent damage as long as they are burning, which they always will be if you open with Engulfing Flames).
2. Pulsar - Spammy, spam, spam, spam. You will be casting this a lot in rapid succession when fighting groups.
3. Engulfing Flames - Try and pop this at the beginning of combat, or at least before you spam Pulsar, the increased damage from all flame attacks adds up QUICK! Also the AoE range is far larger than the graphic shows so experiment around with it to maximize effect.
4. Sea of Flames or Inner Light - you want this on both bars because if you don't every time you swap weapons the buff will fade and you will need to recast.
5. Volatile Armor - again, a good defensive buff with a AoE DoT (nothing to write home about). For leveling Draconic Power. (You want level 50 Draconic Power for rank 2 Scaled Armor passive)

There are of course many different builds, and by no means am I saying mine is the best .. it was just what I used very recently to level up and it worked very well. The best advice I can give you was at the very beginning of this post ... UPGRADE YOUR GEAR! Don't worry about getting any set pieces, just get a regular crafted set every 10 levels as stated above (16, 26, 36, etc.).

jackiemanuel · July 2015

I'm a DK fire mage and couldn't imagine not wearing light armor. I couldn't pass up the passives. I'm far from knowledgeable about this game but am a level 31 dunmer dk fire mage. I wear 7 light armor with all the passives that are unlocked at level 30. I use two destruction staves. My attributes are 22 magicka, 8 health, 0 stamina. A few levels back i was concerned about squishiness to the extent i was using a resto staff but at this point it's not a problem. I have plenty of magicka and can pop coagulating blood as needed plus the heals from burning embers and entropy. I also put igneous shield on my main bar as needed but i don't need it much. I've done very little PvP but questing, random mobs, delves, and dungeons i don't feel too squishy. In most situations i kill it with fire before taking enough damage to even pop coagulating blood.

delphwind_ESO · July 2015

Oh yeah Rings and Amulet ... Just make sure they have Reduced Magicka cost on them and keep them upgrades as best you can. Don't worry to much if they lag behind in level. I think one of my rings was still level 20 when I hit 50.

jackiemanuel · July 2015

delphwind, what are eruption and pulsar morphs of?

Cuyler · July 2015

jackiemanuel wrote: »

delphwind, what are eruption and pulsar morphs of?

Ash cloud and impulse

Cuyler · July 2015

You want to level medium and heavy at the same time as light armor. You accomplish this with 5 light/1medium/1heavy. Why?

The small increase to light armor passives from 2 pcs is not as good as having the passives from medium and heavy combined. In addition when you finally do make it to endgame and begin leveling undaunted skill line for the "undaunted mettle" passive you begin to take advantage of those passives because you've already leveled them.

jackiemanuel · July 2015

Ahh, gotcha. My destruction staff is level 37 so impulse is next. When i respec'd my character i didn't even take stonefist the second time around. I guess i'm missing out on obsidian shard. Though i am using igneous shield a fair amount which would still level earthen heart. Are you mainly using obsidian shard to get to ash cloud or is it really that good?

Cuyler · July 2015

jackiemanuel wrote: »

Ahh, gotcha. My destruction staff is level 37 so impulse is next. When i respec'd my character i didn't even take stonefist the second time around. I guess i'm missing out on obsidian shard. Though i am using igneous shield a fair amount which would still level earthen heart. Are you mainly using obsidian shard to get to ash cloud or is it really that good?

I use obsidian shield mostly while leveling and yes eruption is a big DoT for us DKs. We use the shield in 12 man raids as well because it helps up to 6 allies.

jackiemanuel · July 2015

So i should go 5/1/1 on armor? What med/heavy passives would benefit my play style? Thanks.

delphwind_ESO · July 2015

Armor Passives:

Medium:
Wind Walker: Stamina Recovery
Athletics: Increased sprinting speed AND reduced stamina cost of dodge rolling

Heavy:
Resolve: Increase your armor and spell resist
Constitution: Increase health recovery, also gives you magicka and stamina back when you are hit (once per 8 seconds)
Juggernaut: Increase max health
Rapid Mending: Increase healing received.

These benefits are going to be minor as you will only have 1 piece of that armor type on, but they will still add up. The primary benefit of wearing 1 pieces Heavy and 1 piece medium is (as was said previously) the Undaunted passive Undaunted Mettle, which increases your primary stats (health, magicka, and stamina) by 2% per piece of different armor you are wearing, which means if you have all 3 types or armor on (light, medium, and heavy) you get a +6% increase to all stats.

delphwind_ESO · July 2015

jackiemanuel wrote: »

Ahh, gotcha. My destruction staff is level 37 so impulse is next. When i respec'd my character i didn't even take stonefist the second time around. I guess i'm missing out on obsidian shard. Though i am using igneous shield a fair amount which would still level earthen heart. Are you mainly using obsidian shard to get to ash cloud or is it really that good?

Obsidian Shard is nice, but not necessary. I use it mostly to proc the heal from Flame Lash, and as a quick knockdown if a mob gets the jump on me. Still, it is nice to have on your bar to level up Earthen Heart so you can get Ash Cloud sooner (which is amazing).

puffy99 · July 2015

so silver bolts/shards from the fighters guild is not worth keeping as a knockdown tool since we only have so many slots?

Cuyler · July 2015

jackiemanuel wrote: »

So i should go 5/1/1 on armor? What med/heavy passives would benefit my play style? Thanks.

delphwind_ESO wrote: »

The primary benefit of wearing 1 pieces Heavy and 1 piece medium is (as was said previously) the Undaunted passive Undaunted Mettle, which increases your primary stats (health, magicka, and stamina) by 2% per piece of different armor you are wearing, which means if you have all 3 types or armor on (light, medium, and heavy) you get a +6% increase to all stats.

This^ is the real benefit for any playstyle....the passives from HA and MA are just the icing on the cake casue you'll be wearing 5/1/1 usually anyways come v14 (or v16 shortly).

The point is to leveling MA and HA now before it becomes much harder in end game.

Cuyler · July 2015

puffy99 wrote: »

so silver bolts/shards from the fighters guild is not worth keeping as a knockdown tool since we only have so many slots?

Talons is what I use for CC when leveling. It affects more enemies and adds another DoT when morphed.

jackiemanuel · July 2015

Cuyler wrote: »

jackiemanuel wrote: »

So i should go 5/1/1 on armor? What med/heavy passives would benefit my play style? Thanks.

delphwind_ESO wrote: »

The primary benefit of wearing 1 pieces Heavy and 1 piece medium is (as was said previously) the Undaunted passive Undaunted Mettle, which increases your primary stats (health, magicka, and stamina) by 2% per piece of different armor you are wearing, which means if you have all 3 types or armor on (light, medium, and heavy) you get a +6% increase to all stats.

This^ is the real benefit for any playstyle....the passives from HA and MA are just the icing on the cake casue you'll be wearing 5/1/1 usually anyways come v14 (or v16 shortly).

The point is to leveling MA and HA now before it becomes much harder in end game.

Great info guys. Thanks a lot. I started out wearing 5-1-1 but then switched around level 20. So my med/heavy isn't terribly low leveled as it is. I'm gonna make the switch this evening.

GNRNCSBLSS · July 2015

jackiemanuel wrote: »

I'm a DK fire mage and couldn't imagine not wearing light armor. I couldn't pass up the passives. I'm far from knowledgeable about this game but am a level 31 dunmer dk fire mage. I wear 7 light armor with all the passives that are unlocked at level 30. I use two destruction staves. My attributes are 22 magicka, 8 health, 0 stamina. A few levels back i was concerned about squishiness to the extent i was using a resto staff but at this point it's not a problem. I have plenty of magicka and can pop coagulating blood as needed plus the heals from burning embers and entropy. I also put igneous shield on my main bar as needed but i don't need it much. I've done very little PvP but questing, random mobs, delves, and dungeons i don't feel too squishy. In most situations i kill it with fire before taking enough damage to even pop coagulating blood.

Not worth having more than 5 pieces of light armor though, like many things in this game, the returns are eventually diminishing, after 5 pieces you get no more bonuses, other than slight reduce in magicka cost.

Instead, and especially for dk fire mages who have to get up close as they are essentially melee casters, pop on two pieces of heavy armor, doing so increases your survivability by a f*ckton.

However... if, and only if you have some excellent healers when you're in a group, and i mean really really good healers, then, and only then should it be alright to have 7 pieces of light armor.

Additionally, you can also just make some set pieces or reduced cost glyphs and add them to all your stuff.

delphwind_ESO · July 2015

Lots of great advice in this thread.

Here's a quick summary:

1. Armor: 5 Light, 1 Medium, 1 Heavy - This is for the added passives you can eventually take (only once you have extra skill points) and the Undaunted Mettle passive for late game.
2. Make sure you have at least one skill on your bar from each of your three class trees. Try and learn to weave them into your normal combat rotation to level them up so you can reap the benefits of the high level passives at or even before level 50.
3. Take some form of CC that is not in the Fighters Guild tree - You can eventually use skills from the fighters and mages guild trees, but you want your class skills on your bar if you can help it to level them up as you level.
4. Get Ash Cloud as soon as possible. I would go so far as to alter your play style to use more skills from Earthen Heart to level it up faster. Once you get to rank 42 take Ash Cloud and remove the other skills from your bar if you want (thought Molten Weapons is still a great single target ability).
5. Learn your rotation, example: Opening with Engulfing Flames before you drop Ash Cloud and spam Pulsar adds a LOT of damage over time from the 7% increased fire damage taken. Also if using Flame Lash along with either Obsidian Shards, or Burning Talons make sure you cast Flame Lash twice in a row, the second cast is free, adds a stun and a self heal along with additional damage.
6. HAVE FUN!!

delphwind_ESO · July 2015

Grrr can't edit my post for some reason ...

7. Upgrade your gear every gear tier (16, 26, 36, 46, VR1, VR2, etc.) - This is one of the most important aspects of leveling, even more so than a good build. Make sure your gear is up to date with the content you are on.

puffy99 · July 2015

Good stuff here...

jackiemanuel · July 2015

I'm sold on only wearing 5 light armor. It makes perfect sense. I switched last night. Regarding undaunted, i have yet to encounter that at level 33. My buddy is level 24 and has done the quests or whatever and has the undaunted skill line to level. I have no such thing. Have i missed the boat on that?

Also, this is a great thread guys. I've learned a lot and already incorporated it into my game to my benefit. Thanks!

delphwind_ESO · July 2015

The primary reason to level with 5/1/1 armor types is that it is easier to level your armor up while you level, rather than playing catch up at the end game.

The Undaunted skill line unlocks as you complete dungeons, it is separate from your own level. Do not worry too much about this as you level. You will be going through plenty of group dungeons in the later game that will boost your Undaunted level. You need Undaunted rank 9 to max out the Undaunted Mettle passive.

Cuyler · July 2015

jackiemanuel wrote: »

Regarding undaunted, i have yet to encounter that at level 33. My buddy is level 24 and has done the quests or whatever and has the undaunted skill line to level. I have no such thing. Have i missed the boat on that?

It's possible you simply over looked it in your starter city. Go back to the tavern in your starter city and there should be an npc that begins the undaunted questline. He/she will request you to go to "the banished cells" or another low level dungeon in which upon completion initiates you as one of the undaunted.

In addition, you can ignore this questline all together and as soon as you hit lvl 45 you will automatically get an invite to the undaunted enclave in your alliances capital in your inbox. You can pick it up from there if you like.

drakeos99 · July 2015

For AOE i use Enduring Flame (Fiery Breath Morph > Burning Talon > Elemental Ring (Impulse) then heals is GDB and Inner light till Inferno unlocks

for single target is Burning Ember, Fiery Whip, Ignues Weapon, GDB and ofc same again

jackiemanuel · July 2015

Cuyler wrote: »

jackiemanuel wrote: »

Regarding undaunted, i have yet to encounter that at level 33. My buddy is level 24 and has done the quests or whatever and has the undaunted skill line to level. I have no such thing. Have i missed the boat on that?

It's possible you simply over looked it in your starter city. Go back to the tavern in your starter city and there should be an npc that begins the undaunted questline. He/she will request you to go to "the banished cells" or another low level dungeon in which upon completion initiates you as one of the undaunted.

In addition, you can ignore this questline all together and as soon as you hit lvl 45 you will automatically get an invite to the undaunted enclave in your alliances capital in your inbox. You can pick it up from there if you like.

Aha. This is what I was looking for and figured had happened. Thanks.

Talongar · July 2015

Ok I see alot for the DK battle mage... what of the Sorc battle mage (: Im still testing things out..

Cuyler · July 2015

Talongar wrote: »

Ok I see alot for the DK battle mage... what of the Sorc battle mage (: Im still testing things out..

I'm not sure what you mean. Try making a new thread and request help for your build there if you haven't found the answer after a thorough search of the existing threads.

This thread is about DKs, I'd prefer not to derail it out of courtesy for the OP.

GNRNCSBLSS · July 2015

As a dk firemage I had the same exact problem early on.

Your armor setup should definitely be 5 light, and 2 heavy, - for solo purposes. This will increase survivability but a f*ckton, but still allow you to keep the 5 light armor set bonuses found in your light armor skill tree.

And for now, for leveling purposes, your attribute points should be about 1 third into health, and 2 thirds into magicka, you can change that into pure magicka once you're in end game stuff.

And switch out the spiked armor for obsidian shield, as that provides an actual damage shield rather than just increased armor.

Additionally, your attack combos should look something like:
molten armaments/igneous weapon -> heavy fire staff attack -> flame breath -> searing strike -> lava whip

If you do that any mob, literally any, bosses or not, will fall is seconds.

jackiemanuel · July 2015

I'm not sure i understand flame lash. I use it but am not sure i'm getting the heal. Sometimes my character will do a spinning animation which i guess gives the heal? So i typically do obsidian shard> flame lash> flame lash which i think the second flame lash should give the heal but i'm not sure. Would it be better in conjunction with burning talons? Though i have flame lash on my single target bar and talons on my AOE. Anyway, any guidance is appreciated.

babygirl7883 · July 2015

Don't forget about the skills under destruction staff! Some really good aoe's and dot's there. I stack aoe's and dot's- works great!