Vet 11 Dunmer Stam Dk in need of guidance

pod88kk · January 2016

Hi everyone,
I'm currently leveling up my first character which is a Dunmer Stam dk. I'm currently Vet 11 and plodding my way through that loveable rogue Cadwell's questline. I recently changed my character from bow/2h to dw/2h just to mix things up a bit.

Since changing to dw I've found that both bars are good but it's hard to decide which one is my main bar. I'm currently soloing pve with the occasional failed attempt at PvP(I die A LOT) which brings me to my next point, I really need some help deciding a strong pve build with a chance or surviving more than 1 minute in pvp

Currently my bars are as follows:
DW bar (daggers)
Blood craze
Green dragon blood
Rapid strikes
Deadly cloak
Igneous shield

Ult- Meteor(just started using it, it's fun)

2h bar: (greatsword)
Wrecking blow(sometimes swapped for brawler)
Rally
Executioner
Critical rush
Evil hunter

Ult: ferocious leap

I'm currently wearing 5 medium hundings rage & 4 nights silence(the extra one is on one of the daggers).All divine on gear with the serpent mundus and precise on sword and daggers I can only craft gear because I can't do the pledges(no friends :'( ) and I haven't given the arenas a try yet. I nearly have 8 traits in research so if there's a different craftable set I should use please do tell.
My stats are as follows
With big Stat food(health & stam)
Max mag: 9.7k
Max health: 19k
Max stam: 26k
With buffs:
Mag Regen: 544
Health Regen: 438
Stam regen: 1.2k

I don't understand champion points so any input regarding them would be greatly appreciated also.

So in summary I'm looking for an exciting soloing pve build that will also work for someone who likes to pop their head into PvP for a little while too (until it gets chopped off because they're bad).

Any input is greatly appreciated, except for people who say the game is broken and sh*t, take that negativity elsewhere.

Happy questing everyone

Artjuh90 · January 2016

dragon blood is useless in pvp at it's max it heals 16%. so i would put reflective scales in that place. furthermore i do love brawler in pve but has no real place in pvp. as you already do sometimes WB is beter. furthermore, i do LOVE corrosive armor in pvp. while you not see it often in pvp, max damage recieved capped at 3% is insane. rapid strikes takes to long to be effective, steel tornado does about same damage (a bit less against a single target) but is aoe. this might help out from start.
but i'm more a pve player then pvp though

Artjuh90 · January 2016

btw if you have difficulty hitting WB in PvP i might suggest re-morphing crit rush into stampede, the temperary slow helps hitting that WB

pod88kk · January 2016

Great that actually makes a lot more sense thanks

Dexter411 · January 2016

I also have Stam Dunmer DK

Glad someone is still playing them.
I can not really help with PvP but I know for sure that 2h is way better as main hand(Wrecking Blow, gaploser, Rally-selfheal).
It looks like "meta" of the game is main bar and buff bar but those are min/maxed builds.
It is really up to you if you want to use dualwield or twohander. DW gives you one more bonus set, nice dot(first ability in skill tree), movespeed and the best(right now) AoE steel tornado.
2H, rally selfheal+buff, gapcloser(which I stopped using in PvE) and executioner+ more stamina sustain via passive.
Use Flawless Dawnbreaker(ult from Fighters Guild) on your main bar(2h) and Standard of Might is still good ult(less damage you take, more damage you do).
I have access to potions(20% more weapon damage, 10%crit and stam reg) so my bar looks as follows:
2h bar: Burning Breath, Wrecking Blow, Executioner, Brawler, Vigor(before you get that you can use Rally for selfheal)
For Dualwield bar use some utility+ Steel Tornado: Choking Talons, Dragon Fire Scale, Green Dragon Blood, Igneous Shield
Pick what you want really. If you want to use Dualwield as main bar go ahead and use Rapid Strikes instead of Wrecking Blow(for PvE).
If You are only questing and You do not look for min/maxed build take that sword and shield.
I dont want to say too much about PvP but i have seen sword and shield builds, 2h builds. And if you take Bow as secondary weapon you get movespeed after roll and range which can be useful.

starkerealm · January 2016

Kill them with fire!

I don't really do DKs, but on the 2h bar, I'd think GDB would help you more than Rally. Though, I haven't crunched those numbers. If you're using it for the damage buff, I think there's a better DK option, but I don't remember what it is.

The thing about PvP is... in a lot of cases it's more about experience than build. I mean, if there's obvious flaws in your build, that will show. But the things that will get you killed tend to relate to idiosyncratic things about how combat in Cyrodiil actually works. Where you're standing, how you're responding to incoming enemies. Not, do you have the perfect list of abilities slotted. That matters, but just putting time in and learning PvP matters far more.

And, to an extent, PvP is like learning an entirely different (and much more difficult) game. So, yeah, even in large groups, expect to die while you're learning the ropes. It's something everyone's gone through.

pod88kk · January 2016

Yeah the movement speed from the bow is something I sorely miss. I've no problem with swapping weapons or trying different combinations, although changing it so much is depleting my already low bank account

tiamak · January 2016

I'd say that your gear looks ok for PvE. There, at least for normal questing, it's totally fine to have a bar for single target damage and one for aoe damage. Dual wield with the glorious steel tornado is, e.g., great aoe and combines very well with your claws from draconic power. 2H is better for single target and you might want to try out buffing your heavy attacks with molten armaments from earthen heart.

For PvP: If you die a lot, you need to work on survivability. You can do so by becomming a better player in PvP. I cannot give you any advice on this since I'm a crappy PvP player myself. The other two options are, first, to choose a more tanky armor (e.g. heavy instead of medium or a set with resistances, impenetrable is a very important trait for PvP) and/or, second, to make use of your defensive class skills, e.g. spiked armor, crowd control etc. Going for sword & board is also something you should consider.

Reefo · January 2016

Cant speak for PVP, but PVE stam dk solo is quite solid. For me personally i like to keep 1 bar multi target and 1 bar single target.

Bar 1(multi) - 2h
1- Burning Breath
2- Brawler
3- Reverse Slice
4- Igneous Weapons
5- Rally
U- Take Flight(needed for Draconic passives) or Shooting Star

Bar 2(single) - DW
1- Blood Craze
2- Unstable Flame
3- Rapid Strikes
4- Green Dragon Blood
5- Evil Hunter
U- Corrosive Armor

Hope it helps...
Goodluck

btw for solo SnB might be better instead of DW.

Artjuh90 · January 2016

btw flying dagger can also help ging mayor brutality

(from dual wield tree)

starkerealm · January 2016

Artjuh90 wrote: »

btw flying dagger can also help ging mayor brutality (from dual wield tree)

That one's always struck me as a weird place for a major brutality buff to hide.

Artjuh90 · January 2016

starkerealm wrote: »

Artjuh90 wrote: »

btw flying dagger can also help ging mayor brutality (from dual wield tree)

That one's always struck me as a weird place for a major brutality buff to hide.

well it's still there :P

mistermutiny89 · January 2016

I am with you on playing solo most of the way and struggling in pvp. I'm EXACTLY the same and I have 8 characters all levelled through questing.

The amazing thing about the fact you chose Dunmer is how amazingly versatile you can be.

If you are struggling in pvp perhaps it's because you are a melee character that... For pvp needs to be a magicka character and with a Dunmer and a dk you get to feel the power of a dk more from a magicka build because nearly every damn useful dk ability is magicka based.

HAVE A THINK about leveling up your destro staff and the beauty of a magicka dk is it is so so so damn easy to build! All you do is concentrate on fire damage for EVERYTHING. Before they nerfed the molten armaments people wouldn't even use a spammable dps skill, they'd just apply buff and hit with medium fire staff hits and crit for thousands.

Also that igneous shield on a pvp magicka build can be cast til the cows come home (30% healing buff) and your light attacks from the staff?? Amazing. The magicka dk does that much fire damage that things with high fire resist still fall on their face even solo.

Your new ability... Meteor, you get a 7% damage buff from being Dunmer, then the magicka based attack engulfing flames puts 10?% extra fire damage to target plus dot then there's a bonus from the dks tree that adds more damage to fire aoes, then go to your champion points and all your blue points go straight into elemental damage at 501 champ points you get 25% extra fire damage. That's the hardest hitting ultimate and set up I know of in the game.

With about 10k gold if you have a heap of skill points and 3k on the champ point redistribution it's much better than trying out a new character. Just go make a set of law of julianos and Magnus gear. Both bars fire destro and watch the world burn. It's main weakness is of course maneuverability but aparently rapid maneuver is getting a magicka option.

But as I said, maybe melee pvp is not your style. My main is a magicka nb and I hate the cloak, surprise attack meta, bores me to death and I still get smashed. Sustained dps with two staves and kiting works great, for me.

Just another idea. Good luck!!

pod88kk · January 2016

mistermutiny89 wrote: »

I am with you on playing solo most of the way and struggling in pvp. I'm EXACTLY the same and I have 8 characters all levelled through questing.

The amazing thing about the fact you chose Dunmer is how amazingly versatile you can be.

If you are struggling in pvp perhaps it's because you are a melee character that... For pvp needs to be a magicka character and with a Dunmer and a dk you get to feel the power of a dk more from a magicka build because nearly every damn useful dk ability is magicka based.

HAVE A THINK about leveling up your destro staff and the beauty of a magicka dk is it is so so so damn easy to build! All you do is concentrate on fire damage for EVERYTHING. Before they nerfed the molten armaments people wouldn't even use a spammable dps skill, they'd just apply buff and hit with medium fire staff hits and crit for thousands.

Also that igneous shield on a pvp magicka build can be cast til the cows come home (30% healing buff) and your light attacks from the staff?? Amazing. The magicka dk does that much fire damage that things with high fire resist still fall on their face even solo.

Your new ability... Meteor, you get a 7% damage buff from being Dunmer, then the magicka based attack engulfing flames puts 10?% extra fire damage to target plus dot then there's a bonus from the dks tree that adds more damage to fire aoes, then go to your champion points and all your blue points go straight into elemental damage at 501 champ points you get 25% extra fire damage. That's the hardest hitting ultimate and set up I know of in the game.

With about 10k gold if you have a heap of skill points and 3k on the champ point redistribution it's much better than trying out a new character. Just go make a set of law of julianos and Magnus gear. Both bars fire destro and watch the world burn. It's main weakness is of course maneuverability but aparently rapid maneuver is getting a magicka option.

But as I said, maybe melee pvp is not your style. My main is a magicka nb and I hate the cloak, surprise attack meta, bores me to death and I still get smashed. Sustained dps with two staves and kiting works great, for me.

Just another idea. Good luck!!

What bar set up would you recommend? Also I presume physical resistance is an issue?

MaxwellC · January 2016

My stam DK (Redguard) goes like this

Bar 1 2H Maul
Stampede
Molten armaments
Executioner
Wrecking Blow
Rally
Ult: Flawless Dawnbreaker

Bar 2 Bow
Caltrops
Dragonfire scales
Shuffle
Focus Aim
Vigor
Ult: Take Flight

Tankqull · January 2016

pod88kk wrote: »

mistermutiny89 wrote: »

I am with you on playing solo most of the way and struggling in pvp. I'm EXACTLY the same and I have 8 characters all levelled through questing.

The amazing thing about the fact you chose Dunmer is how amazingly versatile you can be.

If you are struggling in pvp perhaps it's because you are a melee character that... For pvp needs to be a magicka character and with a Dunmer and a dk you get to feel the power of a dk more from a magicka build because nearly every damn useful dk ability is magicka based.

HAVE A THINK about leveling up your destro staff and the beauty of a magicka dk is it is so so so damn easy to build! All you do is concentrate on fire damage for EVERYTHING. Before they nerfed the molten armaments people wouldn't even use a spammable dps skill, they'd just apply buff and hit with medium fire staff hits and crit for thousands.

Also that igneous shield on a pvp magicka build can be cast til the cows come home (30% healing buff) and your light attacks from the staff?? Amazing. The magicka dk does that much fire damage that things with high fire resist still fall on their face even solo.

Your new ability... Meteor, you get a 7% damage buff from being Dunmer, then the magicka based attack engulfing flames puts 10?% extra fire damage to target plus dot then there's a bonus from the dks tree that adds more damage to fire aoes, then go to your champion points and all your blue points go straight into elemental damage at 501 champ points you get 25% extra fire damage. That's the hardest hitting ultimate and set up I know of in the game.

With about 10k gold if you have a heap of skill points and 3k on the champ point redistribution it's much better than trying out a new character. Just go make a set of law of julianos and Magnus gear. Both bars fire destro and watch the world burn. It's main weakness is of course maneuverability but aparently rapid maneuver is getting a magicka option.

But as I said, maybe melee pvp is not your style. My main is a magicka nb and I hate the cloak, surprise attack meta, bores me to death and I still get smashed. Sustained dps with two staves and kiting works great, for me.

Just another idea. Good luck!!

What bar set up would you recommend? Also I presume physical resistance is an issue?

i would suggest to watch Yukes videos: A DKs Life 8 and 9
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/224915/a-dks-life-vol-8-stamina-dragonknight-pvp-video-solo-and-true-smallscale

as it covers your quests about bar optimisation, equipment choices etc.

mistermutiny89 · January 2016

pod88kk wrote: »

mistermutiny89 wrote: »

I am with you on playing solo most of the way and struggling in pvp. I'm EXACTLY the same and I have 8 characters all levelled through questing.

The amazing thing about the fact you chose Dunmer is how amazingly versatile you can be.

If you are struggling in pvp perhaps it's because you are a melee character that... For pvp needs to be a magicka character and with a Dunmer and a dk you get to feel the power of a dk more from a magicka build because nearly every damn useful dk ability is magicka based.

HAVE A THINK about leveling up your destro staff and the beauty of a magicka dk is it is so so so damn easy to build! All you do is concentrate on fire damage for EVERYTHING. Before they nerfed the molten armaments people wouldn't even use a spammable dps skill, they'd just apply buff and hit with medium fire staff hits and crit for thousands.

Also that igneous shield on a pvp magicka build can be cast til the cows come home (30% healing buff) and your light attacks from the staff?? Amazing. The magicka dk does that much fire damage that things with high fire resist still fall on their face even solo.

Your new ability... Meteor, you get a 7% damage buff from being Dunmer, then the magicka based attack engulfing flames puts 10?% extra fire damage to target plus dot then there's a bonus from the dks tree that adds more damage to fire aoes, then go to your champion points and all your blue points go straight into elemental damage at 501 champ points you get 25% extra fire damage. That's the hardest hitting ultimate and set up I know of in the game.

With about 10k gold if you have a heap of skill points and 3k on the champ point redistribution it's much better than trying out a new character. Just go make a set of law of julianos and Magnus gear. Both bars fire destro and watch the world burn. It's main weakness is of course maneuverability but aparently rapid maneuver is getting a magicka option.

But as I said, maybe melee pvp is not your style. My main is a magicka nb and I hate the cloak, surprise attack meta, bores me to death and I still get smashed. Sustained dps with two staves and kiting works great, for me.

Just another idea. Good luck!!

What bar set up would you recommend? Also I presume physical resistance is an issue?

Thanks to 2.1 and beyond physical resist will always be a minor problem with magicka builds but it just means you've got to spam a few defensive buffs and heals more often. The great thing is it's okay because the skill gap is wider, I've sat there with my sustained nb spamming healing ward and swallow soul as a Stam nb slashed and feared me for a good minute before I was just tired and let him have the win, I couldn't out dps him with my sustain nb like a fire Mage can.

For us solo players we need that window of survive and run over gank or be ganked.

I'm not theory crafter so when I give you these bars it's all up to you.

Bar one: Melee opponents: (any order)

Choking talons: this locks them in place for our bread and butter heal... And because we have low phys res we want to lower their attack by 15%, this is the only time we choose a magic damage morph over a fire one for the debuff

Hardened armour: we use this because of the phys and Magic resist and damage every time they melee us. Also for a short time after activation we get a damage shield to make us immune from Crits.

Flame lash: we use this as our heal gaining 8k health over 2 seconds on my vet 9 dk and as our main spam dps

Engulfing flames: this super cheap ability can pull nbs out of stealth and deals great dot whilst debuffing the opponent to take 10% more fire damage before dropping a meteor on them.

Choice!

Burning embers: cheap dot that heals at the end of dot but nbs will happily cloak it away.

OR:

Igneous shield: apply it during the fight and before heals for the healing buff. I use this on both bars because it casts so so quickly and because of earthen heart Passives (ultimate gain and 5% stamina regen) and of course crit protection.

OR:

Sea of flames: you'll need this on both bars, it gives you crit like magelight but also launches fireballs that give back magicka at the end of the fight.

OR:

More for PVE: Pulsar for aoe. It just shreds packs of mobs without thought when playing solo. I can't recommended a better mob farming character.

Ult: Magma shell: we use this over the alternative morph because we do no physical damage and you already know the rest.

Bar 2: Ranged

Crushing shock: this is our bread and butter dps spam. Plus if you see an opponent casting one of their crystal frags or a Mage daedra casting, this will interrupt them.

Coagulating blood: everyone will say green dragon but we want our healing stats to look like they do in PVE right? We're questers, this is how we do.... So we put on igneous then we cast blood and our next coagulating blood heals us almost how it does outside of pvp with a 38% healing buff.

Dragon fire scale: you're a dk, this is an amazing ability, you should be allowed to spam it as much as you'd like, with magicka and the atronach stone with divines you can, send people's meteors back where they belong, back onto them.

Fossilize: this is our encase mechanism and although stonefist sounds like the better option this ability's cast is instant and keeps them rooted and away from you for longer.

Igneous
Engulfing (if you get close enough)
Rapid maneuver magicka morph when it comes out if you want to kite better
Sea of flames

Ultimate: Shooting star: fire morph because of obvious reasons, it does more damage on this build without ice comet

This is just me theory crafting and the obvious really.
It's important to just test what works for you. Keep trying with melee if you'd like but personally melee requires much more mobility. In which a dk lacks, dk has many more defining qualities from its magicka tree too.

Having two basic fire staves is great as well. It's a really simplistic build that's also easy for us solo players to make. Just make sure you are doing medium attack weaves and holding down the light attack button for at least .7 seconds between casting for that extra damage. Your light and heavy attacks hit quite hard too, going back to higher level characters and seeing the staff damage difference is crazy!

From there just make sure keep your shields up because that's your main defense. Your coagulating blood is your oh shite button.

I hope this helps. As I said I'm quite terrible at pvp but perhaps my theory crafting in more skilled hands will provide a better outcome. And if you can, keep your stamina points in medium armour etc just incase you want to change back. You aren't vet 16 yet so the change won't be so painful. Other than that balancing max magicka and regen and spell damage is on you. But don't min max too much until you have reached the level cap.