Angus wrote: »

NO WRECKING BLOW!

Here's a rough template. There's a lot of room to customize this to your playstyle or to the situation.

All feedback welcome. I'm no expert on stam builds, but have been messing around with this one for a few weeks after finally accepting my magicka DK isn't coming back.

It's fun solo, small-scale, 1v2s etc. I'm sure plenty of others have already figured this out but here it is:

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Advantages:

• NO WRECKING BLOW so you don't look like a loser after you win,
• good balance of sustain, tanky, and DPS,
• fun ranged evasion/regen/healing mixed with in-your-face interrupting DPS,
• decent ranged option (biggest advantage over 2H),
• excellent melee damage,
• can win against wide variety of builds, has big bag of tricks,
• non-negligible (1.5k-2k per tick in my crap gear) vigor heals for party.
• cheap ults, and fast ult generation, for taking advantage of battle roar

Weaknesses:

• other than leap and s&b weaving, lacks spammable burst damage (compared to wrecking blow),
• no burst heal, manage your health with big vigor ticks.

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Race: I'm dark elf (was magicka DK before), any stamina race should do fine. Magicka is your utility/defenseive pool in this build, so other magicka and/or health focused races can profit too.

CPs: mighty, stam cost reduction.

Food: magicka + stamina recovery.

Weapons: dual wield, sword and shield

Sets: 7 medium

• Hundings Rage x5,
• Morkuldin x4
• Agility x3 w/physical damage enchants.

Could swap two medium for

• two heavy for more migation/blocking
• two light if you're enjoying the DK class skills
• one heavy and one light for the undaunted passiv

I vastly prefer 7 medium for regen, cost reduction, crit, and dodging.

I only have access to crafted gear (hate PvE), so there's better set options out there. Whatever you choose, focus weapon damage/stamina for DPS and self-heals. Stamina recovery is also useful.

There's plenty of magicka w/regen food for 100% Reflective Scale uptime, and Igneous Shield when needed. Might struggle with this more if you're not a Dunmer.

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Careful if you move these skills around between bars, they are placed specifically for the passives.

Bar 1: dual wield swords w/ disease or fire enchants

1) Vigor +range to flying blade via assault passives, big ticks w/dual wield weapon damage boost,
2) Whirling Blades AOE/execute/+20% stam regen/stealth-detection. If GDB gets fixed, that could fill this slot too. Swap for Steel Tornado if with group or don't need stamina regen.,
3) Reflective Scale trump all ranged opponents, harass enemy DKs with this + flying blade.,
4) Flying Blade +20% weapon damage, good snare, long range. Spam whenever opponent is too far away to melee. Snare/kill with this when they flee.,
5) Shuffle dodge 20% incoming damage, remove snares,
Ult: Flawless Dawnbreaker don't activate this - leave for passive wpn dmg.


Bar 2: sword and shield w/ disease & stamina enchants

1) Igneous Shield +30% healing on your vigor, eat damage when necessary,
2) Heroic Slash or Ransack Heroic = more leaps, or Ransack = armor pen & better stamina management. Weave Light Attack + Heroic Slash + Bash for wrecking-blow-level dmg output plus interrupt,
3) Invasion gap closer/hard CC,
4) Unstable flame. Keep this up 100% of the time. Less useful on enemies w/dmg shields or nightblades. Still good for when they're worn out and/or stunned. Rending Slashes could be just as good or better here with the current meta of resistances.
5) Reverbating bash stun & healing debuff,
Ult: Take Flight execute, restore resources, do sleazy things with enemy keeps, get out of jail free card.

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Most fights look something like this, depending on terrain and opponent:

1) Flying blade(s) for Major Brutality. Shut down ranged opponents with your wings.
2) Invasion to gap close. Anyone intelligent will probably block its CC. So, you nail them with a Reverbating Bash when they drop their guard.
3) Try to get Unstable Flame landed while they are stunned. Keep it up 100% of the time. Some opponents will make this more trouble than its worth due to shields and cloak. If so, CC them with Reverbating Bash then land it. If they're just too good at countering it, go to #4.
4) Weave: light attack -> reverbating bash -> light attack -> heroic slash -> bash, repeat until they're dead or until you have to stop and heal. Weave Unstable Flame in here as needed.
5) Leap for the kill, or to refill your resources and try again.

* They lost stun immunity? Reverbating bash them again. Pressure is key.
* Health getting low? Igneous shield -> vigor -> leap (if necessary).
* They out of melee range? Flying blade every second to keep up pressure. Gap close when you can.
* Low resources? Whirling blade and igneous shield for stam regen. Leap for all resources. Tripots recommended as well.
* Did they stun you? Get up, Igneous Shield -> Vigor -> anim cancelled with dodge (if needed) into Invasion or Reverbating Bash to get the upper hand back.

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Play around with these, situationally:

- Dark Talons control the battlespace, hold opponents in place for your group's bomb if you're not solo, debuff multiple enemies' damage, adds damage to DW skills.
- Hardened/Volatile Armor adds armor & healing received, good for zergy situations,
- Quick Cloak mobility and dmg reduction in zergy situations,
- Steel Tornado if you don't need regen from whirling blades,
- Fossilize or stonefist ranged interrupt especially if melee is impractical (you're on a keep wall) or you focus the machete-hurling aspect of this build, increases dual wield damage,
- Blood craze more HoTs, if needed,
- Could be interesting to spec into ult generation / ult cost reduction armor sets with heroic slash and vamp drain for more leaps.
- Burning Breath + Heroic Slash swap nicely with Unstable Flame + Ransack, more leaps & burst/all-stat sustain vs. more steady upfront damage and stamina sustain.