Sandshark95 wrote: »

It depends; do you want to be a DPS or a Tank? If you want to Tank, 1h/Shield is perfect for survivability. It's what I use on my DK Tank. But if you're looking to be a damage dealer, then you absolutely want to ditch the Sword+Board and go for 2h, DW, or even Destro as your main.

It sounds like you want to do damage, so there are a few things you can do. Sword+Board will not get you anywhere in terms of DPS; yes, it will up your survivability, but there are other ways to do that without limiting yourself to this weapon. You can do one or a combination of the following:

1.) Get Dragons Blood and/or Obsidian Shield (both from DK skill trees). These will help keep you alive, and Green Dragons Blood (morph) is nice for stamina regeneration.

2.) Drop 1h/Shield and replace it with 2h. The last 2h skill, Momentum (morph into Rally), is a really good self damage buff that heals you.

3.) Go Destro, 2h, or DW as your primary and take Resto Staff as your secondary. Having the ability to switch to Resto Staff in combat will definitely up your survivability. You'd not only be able to heal yourself when you're playing solo, but if you join a group, you'll be able to support them by being a backup healer of sorts.

That said, Imperials do make good Tanks with their passives. If you want to be a Tank, keep the 1h/Shield and maybe pick Resto (if you want to be a secondary healing/support role) or Destro/2h/DW (if you want to have the ability to some damage when not tanking).

Hope that helps you figure out what you'd like to do

why 2h on a magicka dk?, the main dmg will come from a destruction staff (fire), the s+b is there so you have a bit of survivability, will you cast talons/whip etc... , 2h will just increase weapon dmg which is useless as spells scale of max magicka/spell dmg.

It depends on whether or not you want to go caster or melee, and if you want your primary role to be Tank or DPS.

If you primarily want to Tank and do a little DPS when soloing, keep 1h/Shield and pick up Destro as your secondary. Just keep in mind that being a caster as a DK is a bit different than your typical caster; as a DK caster, you'll likely find yourself casting in melee range, due to the fact that most DK skills are up-close-and-personal.

If you want to go pure DPS, the DK skills I mentioned (Dragon Blood and Obsidian Shield) should allow you to comfortably drop the Sword+Board and still be able to take some damage in a group setting (don't forget that there should be a Healer in the group to help keep you alive as well). Destro would be a good choice for your main as a DPS; 2h, DW, or Resto are all good secondaries for different reasons.

Keep in mind that "hybrid builds" are extremely difficult to maintain; you can't be both the world's best DPS and the greatest Tank alive all at once. Choose a role and focus on becoming the best you can be at that role, and then slowly build up your secondary role to compliment and support your primary role.

@leepalmer95 I recommended 2h mostly for the Rally (Momentum morph) self-heal/buff, because the OP was concerned with survivability, and I wanted to offer an alternative to 1h/Shield, because the OP was also concerned with doing damage. Actually, both 2h and DW do increase spell damage, more than staves; that is, spells will do more damage when cast with these weapons equipped as opposed to a staff. The weapons and weapon skills themselves will still do mediocre damage on a magicka build, as they scale with Stamina and do physical damage. The reason 2h and DW provide more spell power is because 2h and DW weapons have higher base damage than staves; both the Weapon Damage and Spell Damage stats are derived from said base damage, thus weapons with high base damage provide high Weapon Damage (naturally) AND high Spell Damage (oddly enough). So, in short, a melee magicka build is certainly viable. Staves, however, are preferred for their skill trees and versatility.