As a Stam DK main who plays solo (for the most part) let me tell you that this class is all kinds of what you are looking for. Since it looks like you are going to get everything on your wishlist lets go down the list and I can describe my setup.

1. I usually go with 5 medium 2 heavy although I have been testing 5 medium 2 light for those magic passives in the light armor tree. I usually am using heavy on chest and helmet cause I hate almost all medium helmets. This way you get the look of a heavy armor character but the utility and DPS of the medium armor.
2. While I usually am using 2h and Bow, 2h and 1h and shield works just as well. You hit the nail on the head with the defensive bar for igneous shield, reflective scale, and GDB. I usually throw burning breathe on there as well as that is more of a debuff skill rather than a DPS skill. Since you will probably not be attacking from this bar I throw cinderstorm on here as well. If you use bow, I use magnum shot to create space instead of GDB. GDB is good but it cost a ton of magic and with no cost reduction for it, I find that igneous + forward momentum works well.
3. Mundus stone is usually weapon damage for DPS, though if you are not playing a stam race you may want to go with regen.
4. My race is Bosmer, (21% regen for the win) but redguard is really good as well. Dunmer isn't bad you get 9% max magic and 6% max stamina from racial bonus but since you are not as reliant on fire damage as a magic DK or the ardent flame skill line you may want to focus on stamina based races for higher max stamina.
5. Gear should definitely be hunding's +ashen for leveling.
6. CP for me are for balancing my class where gear and race leaves me weak. I put some points into boosting my max damage output but don't go crazy, at least not early on. I mainly focus on mighty and piercing for damage, cost reduction/regen depending on whether you intend to use food or drink, and then quick recovery for added healing when I pop ingenious shield
7. Don't buy into the whole DK and 2 stam skill nonsense. Stam players use magic and DK has some really great magic based class skills to buff you which is perfect because this means you are not burning precious DPS resource on buffs. Except forward momentum but that is a lower cost than rally and has better utility in my opinion. I usually use my magic skills on the defensive bar as I will switch to pop a skill then switch back to my two hand. On my DPS bar I run crit rush, unstable flame, wrecking blow, executioner, and forward momentum.

Once you get more CP you will want to throw some magic cost reduction in there so you can keep up igneous shield. It generates ultimate, gives minor brutality, and a bit of stamina back with each cast on top of the added 30% healing buff. I usually will pop reflective scale on mages and archers in the distance so I can focus on melee fighters, then I crit rush them once its over, then crit rush back to the melee guys making sure to put reflective back up. I use ciderstorm for CC, and it usually keeps the melee guys from interfering when I need to wreck a mage. Since most of the DK defensive skills last a while you will not need to spam these magic skills but you will be switching between bars often as different skills are needed. This setup works for PVP and PVE, Dragonstar and all dungeons. Don't fall in love with Wrecking blow, I find that while it is amazing in PVE, it is subpar in PVP against players who know what they are doing. I find that I only use it against bosses anyway and often once maybe twice per fight. unstable flame is amazing and burning breathe is great for utility but stay away from the kindling skill, it doesn't effect stam users and is a waste of skill points. Same for world on fire, unless you use standard, but I find corrosive armor is better because it adds survivability plus it ignores all armor resistance. On my defensive bar I have dragon leap but standard can go here as well. I am finding myself going away from leap except for PvP because you get better returns out of using a higher cost ultimate.

In summation this class is great solo especially if you put a bit of points into health to make the damage shield of igneous a deterrent. It meets every one of your wish list and then some.

Jitterbug wrote: »

So nice to see guys still having their own ideas, and not only that but guys helping them realize them.
Great answer by hardore_gmr, I have nothing to add, other than if what OP really wants is to run heavy armor I'd go for it 7/7 - you'll have little to no problems leveling naked so why not go full on RP?

This question was so well thought out and he obviously put some work in beforehand I felt I definitely needed to help. You can always get help from others when you make a well thought out post. props to the OP for thinking before he posted.

@hardcore_gmr

Thanks. I really like your suggestions for the defensive bar. Cinderstorm for the snare then a burning breath for the dot and debuff is genius. Also, what are your thoughts on shield charge for a gap closer and heroic slash as ultimate generation? What are your thoughts on igneous weapons. I was thinking of putting it on my sword&board bar for more damage on my heavy attacks while i regen some stamina. Basically, I'd like my defense bar to look something like this:

1h&shield
Igneous shield
Cinderstorm
Burning breath
Heroic slash
Shield charge/igneous weapons

hardcore_gmr wrote: »

As a Stam DK main who plays solo (for the most part) let me tell you that this class is all kinds of what you are looking for.
My race is Bosmer, (21% regen for the win) but redguard is really good as well. Dunmer isn't bad you get 9% max magic and 6% max stamina from racial bonus but since you are not as reliant on fire damage as a magic DK or the ardent flame skill line you may want to focus on stamina based races for higher max stamina.

And as my little Imp stamblade has run out of his solo Pve new material (he's not a group or Pvp kind of guy), this sounds like the character I THOUGHT he would grow up to be.
I also wear medium purely for DPS but dislike the look of it...started off as a heavy s&b and still much prefer that look...just couldn't kill anything.
Seems this will be my second character....complete with modelling instructions, many, many thanks guys.

My only question: "Bosmer 21% regen for the win"?
I'm very ignorant over the Bosmer concept.

hardcore_gmr wrote: »

I like heroic slash as a means to generate more ultimate, but shield charge seems redundant considering you'll likely have crit rush on your DPS bar; and igneous weapons is a bit underwhelming considering that it has such a short duration and how long it takes to get out a fully charged heavy attack. I like defensive posture better if you feel reflective scale is used too much, but I go with reflective for the all purpose negate to range attacks rather than defensive posture's limitation to only magic. I do like the absorb magic morph of defensive posture now after the buff though so I feel confident that you will get better mileage out of that than shield charge or igneous weapons.

Don't get me wrong I like shield charge if you choose invasion because that longer knock down is good for single target stun. I only like Igneous weapon on the destruction staff because the charge time can be reduced, on any other weapon you get at best 2 heavy attacks before you need to buff again. Both are good skills but I find when playing solo it is better to have a little something for as many situation as possible rather than filling in good skill that I will rarely ever use. but your own play will determine what you feel is best.

Thanks for the input. Of course I'd drop crit rush on my 2h bar if I decided to use shield charge and it's morphs. I think I'll go with defensive stance or absorb magic just because it's cheaper and will last for 20 secs or until used. Unless I'm pvping and can see a sorc or nb spamming projectile spells, then I'll go with reflective scales. I was thinking of including flames of oblivion, but I don't want to worry about losing 2 slots since it's a toggle. Wish there were more offensive skills in the 1h&shield tree as I'd like to make it my main dd bar, but sadly I think I'd just end up spamming heroic slash and unstable flame.

Ugh...I feel like half the DK skills should have stam morphs. Lava whip and stone fist...maybe talons, but it's mainly used for cc so it's fine based on magicka. Why did ZoS create a system like this? Why couldn't they have just scaled damage based on total attributes so the only thing limiting players are their resource pools. We could have hybrid builds...

Instead, I'm stuck trying to figure out my DK 1h&shield build. I want that bar to be my main damage bar because it would fit my esthetic vision, but I can only use unstable flame, ransack and heroic slash...unless that would work.

Someone give me advice. Can I build a 1h&shield main bar dk?

Erock25 wrote: »

Bloodgharm wrote: »

Ugh...I feel like half the DK skills should have stam morphs. Lava whip and stone fist...maybe talons, but it's mainly used for cc so it's fine based on magicka. Why did ZoS create a system like this? Why couldn't they have just scaled damage based on total attributes so the only thing limiting players are their resource pools. We could have hybrid builds...

Instead, I'm stuck trying to figure out my DK 1h&shield build. I want that bar to be my main damage bar because it would fit my esthetic vision, but I can only use unstable flame, ransack and heroic slash...unless that would work.

Someone give me advice. Can I build a 1h&shield main bar dk?

If you stack enough stam regeneration that you can sustain light attack -> ransack -> bash you can do some serious damage with 1h & shield .... especially as a dk who can also apply dots.

What would you think of this skill setup for my offensive 1h&shield bar?

Unstable flame
Heroic slash
Ransack
Defensive stance
Invasion

The off bar could be something like this:

Burning breath
Igneous shield
GDB
Cinderstorm
Hardened armor