advice for my mana DK

Cody · October 2015

I have been playing a mana DK in the little spare time I have nowadays, and tested him in blackwater blade tonight. I did pretty well, only a few players proved insurmountable(in particular this other DK that never ran out of resources, she was impressive) However, there is still room for improvement, and I think its best to get some people who actually know how to play this class to give me some advice. Here is my current build:

All light armor, a mix between Magnus's gift and seducer(5 peace bonus from magnus as of now; thinking about changing it)
skills:
Bar 1. weakness to elements, coagulating blood, crushing shock, radiant magelight, reflective scale, ferocious leap
Bar 2: entropy, hardened armor(i think that's what its called? Its the first draconic power skill) destructive(fire) reach, radiant magelight, burning embers(whatever the magicka morph is; I forget what its called), ferocious leap. I do well in ranged combat thanks to reflective scale; but close combat is when I have more trouble, what do you guys think I should do? Please do not talk crap to me, its been awhile since I have played the class:)

Johngo0036 · October 2015

Hi,

Running out of resources is always an issue,

DK's have ways of working through this,

I don't see igneous shield anywhere,
this is key to survival and should be used just before you need to heal yourself as this will increase the heal by 30%,

Bar one is a destro staff, this is great....

Sword and board on bar2?
If so you need to get defensive posture on as it reduces cost of blocking,

I hate radiant mage lite and use sea of flames on the DK skill line as i think it offers me more...you may not have that unlocked yet.

Also i love choking tallons as if add a posibility for the enemy to miss which reduces the loss of resources..

My bars look as follows,
Bar1(Destro staff)
Crushing shock,
Inhale
Structured entropy
Igneous shield
Sea of flames
U - Take flight

Bar2(sword and board)
flame lash
Dragon scale
Defensive posture
Choking tallons
Green Dragon blood
U - Shifting Standard

Magicka DK's are not the powerhouse they used to be in earlier releases of the game so playing them is very challenging at the moment....

1v1 is still ok but the 1vX is a hell of a lot more of a strain,
Goodluck with your build and people may disagree with what i have posted here but i found this works for me..

newtinmpls · October 2015

Sea of Flames? I do like the basic version of inferno, but the odds of that little fireball being the "death blow" seems too slim to waste a skill point on it.

And it doesn't show stealthed opponents, so when adventuring alone, I put both on my bars.

MrDerrikk · October 2015

I've found that Sea of Flames almost always gives me the magicka, even when I'm spamming as fast as I can and weaving in light/heavies. My experience with it makes me think that the tooltip is incorrect, and it gives you the magicka if the enemy is killed while under the effect of the DOT.
But then again I may be thinking I see it tick in FTC and/or mistaking the effect for something else.

I like having S&B on my second bar just to give me a bit more protection when applying my DOT's in PvE, and to use Invasion as a consistent gap-closer to get in range to do so.

newtinmpls · October 2015

Thanks for the info, maybe I'll try that morph.

I play my dunmer DK as a flame mage, so I am not interested in getting too close at first, I'm a bit squishy.

Johngo0036 · October 2015

Yes it does not show stealthed opponents,

Agreed,

As a DK i honestly dont worry too much about stealthed opponents unless there are a lot of them in which case magelite aint gonna help you much.....

Sorry i use flames of oblivion which increases spell and weapon crit.... however i have logged a bug as the weapon crit doesnt seem to work....

The magicka return on the other morph is really pathetic as you mentioned the amount of kills you will get is very low.....

MrDerrikk · October 2015

newtinmpls wrote: »

Thanks for the info, maybe I'll try that morph.

I play my dunmer DK as a flame mage, so I am not interested in getting too close at first, I'm a bit squishy.

I play as a fire mage DPS too with a fire destro on my main bar, but with most of the DK DOT's being melee or close range you really need a gap closer to apply them. In pure PvP it wouldn't matter as much as most people have a way of purging your DOT's anyway, but Invasion + talons is good for those that take too long to CC-break.

newtinmpls · October 2015

Invasion? Not familiar with that skill.

Depending on how you play, the different morphs of talons will be more or less effective. I have one DK who always plays with a particular group - choking talons offers a good synergy.

I usually start with crushing shock/heavy attacks from a distance; if I really need a gap closer (because often I'll get rushed as the NPCs generally don't like being interuppted) I can use chains. That's also really fun for annoying NBs. Between chains & choking talons, I can usually get them to hold still so a companion can DPS them.

puffy99 · October 2015

I am V16 Magicka Fire,

Talons, Molt Whip/Flame Lash <prob better for pvp, B Embers and yes I too have been also running with SofF, (ardent flame bonus I believe) then Inner Light for Max Magicka, Dragons Leap. Not a bad setup. Youtube it for the latest 1.7 build options for MovingTarget I believe. RML might be better for PVP but only if your run solo all the time.

Resto, combat prayer, Ign Sh, etc... Soul Ass/Immovable or Corr Armor Ult 2nd bar.

I just went to 5 Elf Bane Heavy/Magicka Enchants, 3 Willpower> Magicka/sp Damage, and 3 Piece Magnus, Fire Staff/Light
Armor. Thief Mundus.

Anyway, Magicka sustain seems to be OK, much better survivability. downing v15 spell power pots in some situations but all in all I like it. A very good PVE build and all around build and in PVP you are going to last quite a bit longer against those pesky NB or Stamina DK's. It is nice to have some options rather than 5 light only.

Cody · October 2015

I never considered using a shield since i was in all Light armor; and most of the earthern heart abilities did not seem that great to me; but then again My experience with the DK is limited.

I will give these ideas a go. right now my biggest issue is dealing with people in close combat; the shield would fix that. I suppose I could grind to obsidian shield as well.

heystreethawk · October 2015

The other reason you'll want an easy-to-use earthen heart ability on hand: they restore stam and a little ult, once you unlock that passive. Igneous Shield makes the most sense in BWB (that health pool!) and maybe solo play in general, but when I'm doing group play on my V16 DK I find Cinder Storm (Eruption morph) a little more useful.

Cody · October 2015

so I have managed to get my hands on a shield at last. Now I am grinding to flame whip. I might even try for obsidian shield(though tbh I am currently undecided on it, as the LA shield provides more protection, BUT only works against magic) I am also going to stick standard on one of my bars(probably my melee one)