Help me play like I want

vegeta0585b14_ESO · October 2015

One thing TESO preached about it playing how you want to play.

I can definitely grab the armor I want, the abilities I want, and the weapon I want, but I have trouble making it work.

I want to play the type of character I've always played in TESO. A dark magick using, plate wearing, 2h killer. Not doing superzomg burst your face off, but not dying in 2 hits, and having my undead pets follow me about.

Obviously, no undead pets (sadface), but so far I've managed to get a character I like the look and feel of very much. A nightblade in plate with a 2h and I havn't decided (help!) on a second weapon.

I love the feel and look of the class. The life siphon, lotus fan, my two little shadows that I can make fight for me, my problem is everyone is telling me "hey man, you cant use those skills and 2h skills. So because I am putting into magicka, because I mostly use the life siphons, pets, lotus fan, some of the other DoTs, etc, I cant put reverse slash or uppercut on my bar? I like the way they look

Can I do something differently to make it work?

vegeta0585b14_ESO · October 2015

And as I can't edit my own post....

I've been playing him as a 2h tank, taking some of the morphs like blurr for dodge, the plate active, and the taunt from undaunted.

Jitterbug · October 2015

You can put them on but they severely lose effectiveness when you don't spec and enchant for stamina.

You also severely lose effectiveness in any build but tanking by wearing heavy armor.

But I say, balls to that. If you like your build and style stick with it.

vegeta0585b14_ESO · October 2015

I really don't mind tanking, to be honest, as long as I can do it like I want. The moment they make me put on a shield I lose interest. I'm vain, I want to play and look like I want. I don't do shields. I tanked up to VR3 including all the dungeons with a 2h just fine, but that was a long time ago.

anitajoneb17_ESO · October 2015

I feel for you ;-)

ESO is my first MMO and before that I only ever played Skyrim. So I thought ESO was all about "creating the character you imagine"... I had no idea what they were talking about in the character creation screen when they asked for a "class". I wanted a sorceress in leather with a bow and plenty of spells

Then I did not like the feeling of the bow in ESO (was amazing in Skyrim but not in ESO) so I took a destro staff instead. When second bar became available I put on a resto staff, still all in leather (medium armor looks so great in ESO).
Went fine until more or less level VR1. Then I had to resign myself to switching to light armor and follow cookie cutter builds, otherwise I'd have handicapped my guildies in 4-man instances and trials.

TheNephilimCrow · October 2015

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

One thing TESO preached about it playing how you want to play.

I can definitely grab the armor I want, the abilities I want, and the weapon I want, but I have trouble making it work.

I want to play the type of character I've always played in TESO. A dark magick using, plate wearing, 2h killer. Not doing superzomg burst your face off, but not dying in 2 hits, and having my undead pets follow me about.

Obviously, no undead pets (sadface), but so far I've managed to get a character I like the look and feel of very much. A nightblade in plate with a 2h and I havn't decided (help!) on a second weapon.

I love the feel and look of the class. The life siphon, lotus fan, my two little shadows that I can make fight for me, my problem is everyone is telling me "hey man, you cant use those skills and 2h skills. So because I am putting into magicka, because I mostly use the life siphons, pets, lotus fan, some of the other DoTs, etc, I cant put reverse slash or uppercut on my bar? I like the way they look

Can I do something differently to make it work?

Honestly, you would have been better off as a Sorcerer, because they have Daedric Summoning which is summoning combat pets like the "undead" ones you were looking for.

As far as it goes, you could do a split between Stam and Magick attribute points, but one way or another some skills will be lacking then others.

vegeta0585b14_ESO · October 2015

TheNephilimCrow wrote: »

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

One thing TESO preached about it playing how you want to play.

I can definitely grab the armor I want, the abilities I want, and the weapon I want, but I have trouble making it work.

I want to play the type of character I've always played in TESO. A dark magick using, plate wearing, 2h killer. Not doing superzomg burst your face off, but not dying in 2 hits, and having my undead pets follow me about.

Obviously, no undead pets (sadface), but so far I've managed to get a character I like the look and feel of very much. A nightblade in plate with a 2h and I havn't decided (help!) on a second weapon.

I love the feel and look of the class. The life siphon, lotus fan, my two little shadows that I can make fight for me, my problem is everyone is telling me "hey man, you cant use those skills and 2h skills. So because I am putting into magicka, because I mostly use the life siphons, pets, lotus fan, some of the other DoTs, etc, I cant put reverse slash or uppercut on my bar? I like the way they look

Can I do something differently to make it work?

Honestly, you would have been better off as a Sorcerer, because they have Daedric Summoning which is summoning combat pets like the "undead" ones you were looking for.

As far as it goes, you could do a split between Stam and Magick attribute points, but one way or another some skills will be lacking then others.

I dont like the sorc pets, or the way they work. I like the shades better.

TheNephilimCrow · October 2015

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

TheNephilimCrow wrote: »

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

One thing TESO preached about it playing how you want to play.

I can definitely grab the armor I want, the abilities I want, and the weapon I want, but I have trouble making it work.

I want to play the type of character I've always played in TESO. A dark magick using, plate wearing, 2h killer. Not doing superzomg burst your face off, but not dying in 2 hits, and having my undead pets follow me about.

Obviously, no undead pets (sadface), but so far I've managed to get a character I like the look and feel of very much. A nightblade in plate with a 2h and I havn't decided (help!) on a second weapon.

I love the feel and look of the class. The life siphon, lotus fan, my two little shadows that I can make fight for me, my problem is everyone is telling me "hey man, you cant use those skills and 2h skills. So because I am putting into magicka, because I mostly use the life siphons, pets, lotus fan, some of the other DoTs, etc, I cant put reverse slash or uppercut on my bar? I like the way they look

Can I do something differently to make it work?

Honestly, you would have been better off as a Sorcerer, because they have Daedric Summoning which is summoning combat pets like the "undead" ones you were looking for.

As far as it goes, you could do a split between Stam and Magick attribute points, but one way or another some skills will be lacking then others.

I dont like the sorc pets, or the way they work. I like the shades better.

Oh, I definitely agree with you. Shades are awesome. I use them sometimes as well.

shugg · October 2015

You need to use both bars - main bar go for all your instant damage stuff and use the second bar for shades blur lotus and any thing else. But points in health and stam. The readon for this is the abilities your picking arnt that high on damage its the secondary abilty u will like e.g shades are great as they reduce targets damage by 15% and lotus fan slows mobs. This is all from experiabce as i tank vet dungeons on my nb

contact.opiumb16_ESO · October 2015

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

One thing TESO preached about it playing how you want to play.

I can definitely grab the armor I want, the abilities I want, and the weapon I want, but I have trouble making it work.

I want to play the type of character I've always played in TESO. A dark magick using, plate wearing, 2h killer. Not doing superzomg burst your face off, but not dying in 2 hits, and having my undead pets follow me about.

Obviously, no undead pets (sadface), but so far I've managed to get a character I like the look and feel of very much. A nightblade in plate with a 2h and I havn't decided (help!) on a second weapon.

I love the feel and look of the class. The life siphon, lotus fan, my two little shadows that I can make fight for me, my problem is everyone is telling me "hey man, you cant use those skills and 2h skills. So because I am putting into magicka, because I mostly use the life siphons, pets, lotus fan, some of the other DoTs, etc, I cant put reverse slash or uppercut on my bar? I like the way they look

Can I do something differently to make it work?

Play Archeage

Cody · October 2015

as a NB, your choices are:

become a mindless uppercut spammer
Become a mindless strife spammer

that's it:( bow is only good for ganking and stands no chance against a destro stave in a straight up fight, DW just sucks unless its someone like me you are fighting whom is just terrible. I suppose you can make resto staves work as well if done right. So no, your build will not work. Not unless you spec heavily into magicka. a 2nd weapon should be a ranged weapon of some sort.

a.skelton92 · October 2015

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

One thing TESO preached about it playing how you want to play.

I can definitely grab the armor I want, the abilities I want, and the weapon I want, but I have trouble making it work.

I want to play the type of character I've always played in TESO. A dark magick using, plate wearing, 2h killer. Not doing superzomg burst your face off, but not dying in 2 hits, and having my undead pets follow me about.

Obviously, no undead pets (sadface), but so far I've managed to get a character I like the look and feel of very much. A nightblade in plate with a 2h and I havn't decided (help!) on a second weapon.

I love the feel and look of the class. The life siphon, lotus fan, my two little shadows that I can make fight for me, my problem is everyone is telling me "hey man, you cant use those skills and 2h skills. So because I am putting into magicka, because I mostly use the life siphons, pets, lotus fan, some of the other DoTs, etc, I cant put reverse slash or uppercut on my bar? I like the way they look

Can I do something differently to make it work?

The next time someone messages you thinking they are the keeper of knowledge, tell the *** to f**k off. A lot of these "gamers" seem to have a complete inability to mind their own business and stop trying to "tutor" people. Play what you want to play.. Seriously, life is too bloody short to listen to "Ricky" from Liverpool telling what you can and can't do on a game..

vegeta0585b14_ESO · October 2015

a.skelton92 wrote: »

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

One thing TESO preached about it playing how you want to play.

I can definitely grab the armor I want, the abilities I want, and the weapon I want, but I have trouble making it work.

I want to play the type of character I've always played in TESO. A dark magick using, plate wearing, 2h killer. Not doing superzomg burst your face off, but not dying in 2 hits, and having my undead pets follow me about.

Obviously, no undead pets (sadface), but so far I've managed to get a character I like the look and feel of very much. A nightblade in plate with a 2h and I havn't decided (help!) on a second weapon.

I love the feel and look of the class. The life siphon, lotus fan, my two little shadows that I can make fight for me, my problem is everyone is telling me "hey man, you cant use those skills and 2h skills. So because I am putting into magicka, because I mostly use the life siphons, pets, lotus fan, some of the other DoTs, etc, I cant put reverse slash or uppercut on my bar? I like the way they look

Can I do something differently to make it work?

The next time someone messages you thinking they are the keeper of knowledge, tell the *** to f**k off. A lot of these "gamers" seem to have a complete inability to mind their own business and stop trying to "tutor" people. Play what you want to play.. Seriously, life is too bloody short to listen to "Ricky" from Liverpool telling what you can and can't do on a game..

Yea, I've decided to just build like I want to play, maybe xenimax will add something in the future to support hybrid play and it'll be great, until then It can be mediocre and I'll still have fun

GuyNamedSean · October 2015

I'm running a Nightblade tank pretty similar to your setup and I bloody love it. More power to ya.

mr_wazzabi · October 2015

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

a.skelton92 wrote: »

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

One thing TESO preached about it playing how you want to play.

I can definitely grab the armor I want, the abilities I want, and the weapon I want, but I have trouble making it work.

I want to play the type of character I've always played in TESO. A dark magick using, plate wearing, 2h killer. Not doing superzomg burst your face off, but not dying in 2 hits, and having my undead pets follow me about.

Obviously, no undead pets (sadface), but so far I've managed to get a character I like the look and feel of very much. A nightblade in plate with a 2h and I havn't decided (help!) on a second weapon.

I love the feel and look of the class. The life siphon, lotus fan, my two little shadows that I can make fight for me, my problem is everyone is telling me "hey man, you cant use those skills and 2h skills. So because I am putting into magicka, because I mostly use the life siphons, pets, lotus fan, some of the other DoTs, etc, I cant put reverse slash or uppercut on my bar? I like the way they look

Can I do something differently to make it work?

The next time someone messages you thinking they are the keeper of knowledge, tell the *** to f**k off. A lot of these "gamers" seem to have a complete inability to mind their own business and stop trying to "tutor" people. Play what you want to play.. Seriously, life is too bloody short to listen to "Ricky" from Liverpool telling what you can and can't do on a game..

Yea, I've decided to just build like I want to play, maybe xenimax will add something in the future to support hybrid play and it'll be great, until then It can be mediocre and I'll still have fun

As a magicka nb, you can still use 2h for light and heavy attacks. For melee burst, concealed weapon is the best magicka spell. You can light attack then cast concealed weapon to cancel the annimation but still register damage.

For ranged as a magicka nb, it actually doesn't matter what weapon you use as strife is the best ranged magicka ability and you'll be spamming that. You can use bow, destro and even resto staff for light attacks, then use strife to cancel animation and put out damage.

For the undead pets you wanted, you have summon shade. There's a morph that will give you 2 shades. They do decent damage and can sometimes tank adds for you.

The shadow passive shadow barrier gives you armour every time you cast a shadow ability. The more heavy armour you wear, the longer the barrier lasts.

I recommend putting zero points into stamina and more into magicka, with a few in health.

Hope this helps!

vegeta0585b14_ESO · October 2015

mr_wazzabi wrote: »

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

a.skelton92 wrote: »

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

One thing TESO preached about it playing how you want to play.

I can definitely grab the armor I want, the abilities I want, and the weapon I want, but I have trouble making it work.

I want to play the type of character I've always played in TESO. A dark magick using, plate wearing, 2h killer. Not doing superzomg burst your face off, but not dying in 2 hits, and having my undead pets follow me about.

Obviously, no undead pets (sadface), but so far I've managed to get a character I like the look and feel of very much. A nightblade in plate with a 2h and I havn't decided (help!) on a second weapon.

I love the feel and look of the class. The life siphon, lotus fan, my two little shadows that I can make fight for me, my problem is everyone is telling me "hey man, you cant use those skills and 2h skills. So because I am putting into magicka, because I mostly use the life siphons, pets, lotus fan, some of the other DoTs, etc, I cant put reverse slash or uppercut on my bar? I like the way they look

Can I do something differently to make it work?

The next time someone messages you thinking they are the keeper of knowledge, tell the *** to f**k off. A lot of these "gamers" seem to have a complete inability to mind their own business and stop trying to "tutor" people. Play what you want to play.. Seriously, life is too bloody short to listen to "Ricky" from Liverpool telling what you can and can't do on a game..

Yea, I've decided to just build like I want to play, maybe xenimax will add something in the future to support hybrid play and it'll be great, until then It can be mediocre and I'll still have fun

As a magicka nb, you can still use 2h for light and heavy attacks. For melee burst, concealed weapon is the best magicka spell. You can light attack then cast concealed weapon to cancel the annimation but still register damage.

For ranged as a magicka nb, it actually doesn't matter what weapon you use as strife is the best ranged magicka ability and you'll be spamming that. You can use bow, destro and even resto staff for light attacks, then use strife to cancel animation and put out damage.

For the undead pets you wanted, you have summon shade. There's a morph that will give you 2 shades. They do decent damage and can sometimes tank adds for you.

The shadow passive shadow barrier gives you armour every time you cast a shadow ability. The more heavy armour you wear, the longer the barrier lasts.

I recommend putting zero points into stamina and more into magicka, with a few in health.

Hope this helps!

I really don't want to play my NB like a roguey shadowy type, I did put a little into stamina....This is what I was running before I quit playing, I use the two undaunted things because I do not play solo, my GF plays with me and we get use from the synergies and they're fun

http://www.esohead.com/calculator/skills#1.mcoXxxM0Vparmir8wAlB8IPSd8GFla8GFlO8Irxv8Ir3D8wABe8y1ar8IPbk8IPQe8y1bq8LxRn8L7XdkLu8T7XmRMA6crqLw6MrqAi6MrqAZ6MrqAI6MrqAD8y7C68x7CLsfd6Lsfw6Lsff8C7Xrzqu6rzqq6rzqb6MGFWc6MGFWi6MGFWA6MGFWn8D7XLzdR6Lzdm6rbMz6rzdc6MIrEf6MIsaM6MIrv36MIrEh8F7XLzrO6LzrJ6Lbuy6Lbux6MIPNU6MIPAT6MIPAv6MIPAh8O7mrdeB8P7ardYw837krw336rw4z6My41N6My4Wg8zo7zzvbho8zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7zzKpUN8zL7zzK4EX

Again, attack animation canceling (which I believe should never exist) to maximize my damage and such is a little beyond what I am looking to do.

I do appreciate all the help and stuff from everyone but it seems to boil down to "you cant play like you want," but I'm gonna do it anyway xD

I am curious however, I read they removed softcaps, which must be why everyone is pumping into one stat. Does that stay the same for armor enchants and stuff? Am I just gonna want to load up my armor with magicka?

Jumper45 · October 2015

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

One thing TESO preached about it playing how you want to play.

I can definitely grab the armor I want, the abilities I want, and the weapon I want, but I have trouble making it work.

I want to play the type of character I've always played in TESO. A dark magick using, plate wearing, 2h killer. Not doing superzomg burst your face off, but not dying in 2 hits, and having my undead pets follow me about.

Obviously, no undead pets (sadface), but so far I've managed to get a character I like the look and feel of very much. A nightblade in plate with a 2h and I havn't decided (help!) on a second weapon.

I love the feel and look of the class. The life siphon, lotus fan, my two little shadows that I can make fight for me, my problem is everyone is telling me "hey man, you cant use those skills and 2h skills. So because I am putting into magicka, because I mostly use the life siphons, pets, lotus fan, some of the other DoTs, etc, I cant put reverse slash or uppercut on my bar? I like the way they look

Can I do something differently to make it work?

As for heavy armor since you cant get around your vanity. Maybe you can use the plate costumes? That way you can have alot of stamina regen via medium armor ( if you dont wanna tank) and still keep the plate and 2hander look (Personally ive been a huge fan of the Cleric look from back when i was a kid and always have. So its always been Divine based healer with plate and flail/mace/hammer/shield combo hence why i use the costume to keep the plate look while in full cloth). Nothing wrong with that. Shade morph for teleport can still be a viable use as DPS for teleport escape or the other morph for tanking so shades can still stay.
The teleport shade does not need to be effective damage since its your gtfo defense skill. But yes mixxing 2h skills and the magicka siphons etc will lower your overall effectiveness Untill those abilities get a stamina/magicka morph. Honestly im my opinion if they wanted the game to be played the way you wanted to they would have added an extra morph to all abilities that was either magicka or stamina based so people had the choice to use w/e abilities with w/e armor set they wanted. sadly THAT was not discussed I suppose.

Daveheart · October 2015

Sure, play however you want. That being said, you can make intelligent decisions with your build to satisfy your need while not gimping your ability to hold your weight in group play (not saying you have to do this all the time, but a little compromise when grouped would help.

2H is fine for magicka damage (2H sword is best for this).
Wear 5-2 Armor (5 light, 2 heavy). This will provide more sustain and damage from you (I'd suggest Cuirass and Helm or Greaves as they provide most of the actual heavy armor look in this game).
Try something more like this for a skill loadout. I left a 2-handed skill on each bar and tried to select skills based upon your criteria. Brawler at least provides a helpful shield in AOE situations, and crit charge can be a gap closer. Would I actually recommend this? No, not normally, but I'm trying to stay closer to your parameters.
Alternatively, you can stick with 5 heavy and 2 light; however, keeping Siphoning Attacks up will be a must for your sustain.
I still strongly recommend removing the 2H skills from your bar.

You could also drop the magicka focus and trust in 2H skills to do your damage with attributes into Stamina. The other more of sap essence (power extraction) works for an AOE bar along with the DoT and shield from Brawler. This would also allow you to hunt down the Dreugh King Slayer and/or Ravager sets (heavy armor + weapon damage bonuses). Here's a potential stamina loadout that may fit your needs.

Regardless of what you want to do, absolutely do not run inner rage/fire/beast on any bar in a group setting unless you're actually the tank. Also, don't advertise yourself as a tank without mentioning your unconventional build. It's survivable against many things, but if you can't hold aggro on all of the mobs in an encounter, you're likely to get your group killed and angry.

Reznique · October 2015

You surely can play however you want...

Just forget about trials

and new IC dungeons.

vegeta0585b14_ESO · October 2015

Jumper45 wrote: »

vegeta0585b14_ESO wrote: »

One thing TESO preached about it playing how you want to play.

I can definitely grab the armor I want, the abilities I want, and the weapon I want, but I have trouble making it work.

I want to play the type of character I've always played in TESO. A dark magick using, plate wearing, 2h killer. Not doing superzomg burst your face off, but not dying in 2 hits, and having my undead pets follow me about.

Obviously, no undead pets (sadface), but so far I've managed to get a character I like the look and feel of very much. A nightblade in plate with a 2h and I havn't decided (help!) on a second weapon.

I love the feel and look of the class. The life siphon, lotus fan, my two little shadows that I can make fight for me, my problem is everyone is telling me "hey man, you cant use those skills and 2h skills. So because I am putting into magicka, because I mostly use the life siphons, pets, lotus fan, some of the other DoTs, etc, I cant put reverse slash or uppercut on my bar? I like the way they look

Can I do something differently to make it work?

As for heavy armor since you cant get around your vanity. Maybe you can use the plate costumes? That way you can have alot of stamina regen via medium armor ( if you dont wanna tank) and still keep the plate and 2hander look (Personally ive been a huge fan of the Cleric look from back when i was a kid and always have. So its always been Divine based healer with plate and flail/mace/hammer/shield combo hence why i use the costume to keep the plate look while in full cloth). Nothing wrong with that. Shade morph for teleport can still be a viable use as DPS for teleport escape or the other morph for tanking so shades can still stay.
The teleport shade does not need to be effective damage since its your gtfo defense skill. But yes mixxing 2h skills and the magicka siphons etc will lower your overall effectiveness Untill those abilities get a stamina/magicka morph. Honestly im my opinion if they wanted the game to be played the way you wanted to they would have added an extra morph to all abilities that was either magicka or stamina based so people had the choice to use w/e abilities with w/e armor set they wanted. sadly THAT was not discussed I suppose.

I agree! they should add one morp

Daveheart wrote: »

Sure, play however you want. That being said, you can make intelligent decisions with your build to satisfy your need while not gimping your ability to hold your weight in group play (not saying you have to do this all the time, but a little compromise when grouped would help.
2H is fine for magicka damage (2H sword is best for this).

Wear 5-2 Armor (5 light, 2 heavy). This will provide more sustain and damage from you (I'd suggest Cuirass and Helm or Greaves as they provide most of the actual heavy armor look in this game).

Try something more like this for a skill loadout. I left a 2-handed skill on each bar and tried to select skills based upon your criteria. Brawler at least provides a helpful shield in AOE situations, and crit charge can be a gap closer. Would I actually recommend this? No, not normally, but I'm trying to stay closer to your parameters.

Alternatively, you can stick with 5 heavy and 2 light; however, keeping Siphoning Attacks up will be a must for your sustain.

I still strongly recommend removing the 2H skills from your bar.

You could also drop the magicka focus and trust in 2H skills to do your damage with attributes into Stamina. The other more of sap essence (power extraction) works for an AOE bar along with the DoT and shield from Brawler. This would also allow you to hunt down the Dreugh King Slayer and/or Ravager sets (heavy armor + weapon damage bonuses). Here's a potential stamina loadout that may fit your needs.

Regardless of what you want to do, absolutely do not run inner rage/fire/beast on any bar in a group setting unless you're actually the tank. Also, don't advertise yourself as a tank without mentioning your unconventional build. It's survivable against many things, but if you can't hold aggro on all of the mobs in an encounter, you're likely to get your group killed and angry.

That's almost exactly what I have, only I have lotus fan for my gap closer which uses magicka. Reverse slash for the execute, and I had brawler on there for the shield. I had 5 heavy, 2 light. Only instead of siphoning attacks I had a taunt.