I don't have stats per say but I run wrecking blow. It definitely does good damage especially with buffs to attack. But surprise attack is cheaper cost I believe, and it does good damage and quickly. But once you get some champion points into warlord you don't even notice the cost. For PvE I would say wrecking blow is more useful as it knocks them back and leaves them open and does massive damage on top of it. If you didn't have that because you used dual wield or say you were hidden or sneaking, then surprise attack obviously would work better. But for group dungeons and trials I can't see you sneaking for damage and the reduction it gives to enemy armor is null most of the time because if you have a good tank, he should already be doing that with low slash. Granted this is just my experience and opinion. Hope I could help.

maxlax28b14_ESO wrote: »

Surprise attack! For gods sake surprise attack is better. you will be able to run d/w for higher weapon power, the weave is harder, but the major fracture. it will pull you higher numbers

He's asking in regards to using two handed. If using dual wield then he has no choice but to use surprise attack because wrecking blow isn't an option for dual wield. But for two handed, wrecking blow is superior as rally already gives you weapon damage buff and heal, and the tank SHOULD be using heroic slash for major fracture. Now for solo content, surprise attack might be ok, but wrecking blow still benefits from the 2h weapon and ability passives.

Xvorg wrote: »

Diab3ticBatman wrote: »

maxlax28b14_ESO wrote: »

Surprise attack! For gods sake surprise attack is better. you will be able to run d/w for higher weapon power, the weave is harder, but the major fracture. it will pull you higher numbers

He's asking in regards to using two handed. If using dual wield then he has no choice but to use surprise attack because wrecking blow isn't an option for dual wield. But for two handed, wrecking blow is superior as rally already gives you weapon damage buff and heal, and the tank SHOULD be using heroic slash for major fracture. Now for solo content, surprise attack might be ok, but wrecking blow still benefits from the 2h weapon and ability passives.

SA is a spammable one, for one WB, you can hit 3 SA

And it triggers the shadow barrier (major ward and major resolve for at least 4 secs) passive.

By the way, WB does not triggers any passive on its own. You can have the same passives just by holding a 2H weapon since all the pasives refers to 2H weapon equiped. So he can go with rally and SA

Edit: Heroic slash increases Ultimate gained and provides no debuff, for debuff you should use or rasack or pierce armor (although NBs have a way better version in Mark target which works from range)

True. I meant Peirce armor, low slash lowers the attack of the target and why I use it, but its still something your tank should be doing automatically without the need for surprise attack. And the two hand passive gives reduced cost and a buff to 2h abilities I thought as well. Maybe I'm just talking out my behind and could be wrong(prolly am) lol but I do know that the two handed passives do not count for NB abilities. Surprise attack can be great dps but in regards to wrecking blow you can send them flying, and then ambush or crit rush for more damage and keep the attack on til they recover. But if worried about dps then it's best to go dual wield, but then you lack a self heal and swallow soul isn't good enough(at least in my experience) and Rally offers that in its place. Still with a decent healer dual wield is best for dps gain and surprise attack and whirlwind spam with the stamina return is the best dps you can probably get, but it makes you reliant on another group member while 2h you have more survivability on your own. So idk.

Xvorg wrote: »

Diab3ticBatman wrote: »

Xvorg wrote: »

Diab3ticBatman wrote: »

maxlax28b14_ESO wrote: »

Surprise attack! For gods sake surprise attack is better. you will be able to run d/w for higher weapon power, the weave is harder, but the major fracture. it will pull you higher numbers

He's asking in regards to using two handed. If using dual wield then he has no choice but to use surprise attack because wrecking blow isn't an option for dual wield. But for two handed, wrecking blow is superior as rally already gives you weapon damage buff and heal, and the tank SHOULD be using heroic slash for major fracture. Now for solo content, surprise attack might be ok, but wrecking blow still benefits from the 2h weapon and ability passives.

SA is a spammable one, for one WB, you can hit 3 SA

And it triggers the shadow barrier (major ward and major resolve for at least 4 secs) passive.

By the way, WB does not triggers any passive on its own. You can have the same passives just by holding a 2H weapon since all the pasives refers to 2H weapon equiped. So he can go with rally and SA

Edit: Heroic slash increases Ultimate gained and provides no debuff, for debuff you should use or rasack or pierce armor (although NBs have a way better version in Mark target which works from range)

True. I meant Peirce armor, low slash lowers the attack of the target and why I use it, but its still something your tank should be doing automatically without the need for surprise attack. And the two hand passive gives reduced cost and a buff to 2h abilities I thought as well. Maybe I'm just talking out my behind and could be wrong(prolly am) lol but I do know that the two handed passives do not count for NB abilities. Surprise attack can be great dps but in regards to wrecking blow you can send them flying, and then ambush or crit rush for more damage and keep the attack on til they recover. But if worried about dps then it's best to go dual wield, but then you lack a self heal and swallow soul isn't good enough(at least in my experience) and Rally offers that in its place. Still with a decent healer dual wield is best for dps gain and surprise attack and whirlwind spam with the stamina return is the best dps you can probably get, but it makes you reliant on another group member while 2h you have more survivability on your own. So idk.

SA gives a nice debuff and if attacking from stealth you can deliver a 4 secs stuns. If you are a vamp and use invis batman, your SAs are going to be deadly

Also, from stealth triggers a dmg bonus which overpasses base dmg of WB

But you are right, the CC from WB is stronger, although it is a skill with casting rate, while SA is instant IMHO they go toe to toe.

By the way, better that rally is vigor. That's the ultimate healing skill for stamina based builds.

The problem about WB is that is useful only if yoy are ganking or if you run with a large group. If you are solo, it's not effective. Any decent player in cyro is able to see your WB, block it and then counter attack. SA does not have that problem

True in pvp it's easy enough to see, tho when you are able to pull it off its so satisfying lol. However, while I do agree vigor is leaps and bounds better than rally, for the pve player it's one skill most never will attain because of the alliance level you need to be to get it. If I had enough time to play pvp I would definitely use it, but it's not an option at the moment and I use my tank character more often and he hasn't entered cyrodiil yet. I do agree that they go toe to toe. While surprise attack can be better, wrecking blow can be a god send in certain situations and what it all comes down to is personal preference and play style.

Surprise Attack buffs your Phyiscal and Spell resistance on use, while debuffing the target's phyiscal resistance. As well as increasing your max health for having it slotted. It's instant and thus allows for smoother attack weaving. Being a class skill it doesn't restrict you to 2H. An important fact with DW being better for DPS thanks to higher weapon damage, another set piece and dagger use passives which increase crit chance, and access to Steel Tornado. Surprise Attack Is a much better skill than Wrecking Blow.

in PvE use wrecking blow, unless your build is based on sustaining and outlasting your enemies. if that is the case, then use surprise attack

SA is better than wrecking blow if Unless your bad at animation cancelling

You can light attack, SA, light attack, suprise attack in the same time 4 one just 1 Wrecking blow

If were talking 4man dungeons thats 4 chances for your evil hunter to proc which is another 5-7k

Sa on my tooltip hits for 9k my wb hits for 14k so doing the math and not factoring LA or evil hunter proc's im doing 18k damage in the sametime it takes for ONE wrecking blow

Not to mention the 3percent health, the 5280 physical and spell resistance added(permanetly cause this can be spammed) the 5280 physical debuff and the stun from stealth

Swainyboy wrote: »

Looking for what is better for PVE in terms of damage and why. I have rolled with SA and WB and i cant seem to make my mind up. Currently i think WB does more damage but want the stats

Personally I'd go with Surprise Attack because it's more consistent when weaving and the debuff is really great. WB is good for burst damage but I really think SA has better synergy, not to mention some NPC's will be immune to knockback.