Need a push in the right direction.. Currently lvl 47 DK

Ragnaarok · February 2016

Hey guys, before anything I expect to be heavily criticized and whatnot for my character, but just to clarify this is my first (and currently only) character so it's all over the shop a bit right now, and Iv'e probably ruined it already in regards to turning it into something good but anyway, I just want some advice on where to go from some experienced players and what I can replace to give my character a sense of direction. Don't get me wrong I'm really enjoying playing the game as is but I feel (and know) down the track it's not going to be a very useful/strong character lol.

SO, as you all know, I'm a level 46 DK Breton. My main hand is duel wield and I'm really enjoying using that, so would like to keep using duel wield as my main hand.
Now this is where it's going to get ugly and cringeworthy to good players lol.
My attributes goes as follows:
Magika - 11
Health - 15
Stamina 19

Main hand, right now I'm literally just using one handed swords/maces/axes with best damage/enchantments and swapping as I acquire stronger weapons.
All my armor is heavy armor, like above, equipping stronger heavy armor as I acquire it, so currently no armor sets or anything. All enchantments add max health except one, adds max stamina.
Necklace and both rings are all increase max stamina and decrease cost of stamina abilities

My ability bar goes as follows:
Burning Talons IV
Blade Cloak IV
Rapid Strikes IV
Lava Whip IV
Hardening Armor IV
Ultimate: Just recently switched to werewolf transformation

As for my secondary abilities/weapon, Iv'e just been using a destruction staff up until now pretty much because I didn't know what else to use LOL
Elemental Drain III
Frost Clench III
Degeneration III
Force Pulse II
Soul Trap IV

So now you all know how cringe Iv'e made my character, I would really love a push in the right direction, and a moreorless a decent effective build rather than a total *** haha.
I'd love to stay using duel wield as my main hand, So i'm going to guess I want a DK stamina DPS build, though I've probably ruined it with 11/11/19 attributes, I'd still like to go with it.
My secondary is pretty much open to ideas right now, It has no direction at all right now so anything is helpful.
I know my abilities aren't the best either so if I knew what could be replaced with what that'd be great.
And same for armor, Iv'e read around that having a full set of heavy armor is great but I really don't know what to replace it with haha.
Thanks in advance for anyone that takes the time to help me out.

Btw I'm on Xbox one NA server.

CJohnson81 · February 2016

Good questions. Starring the thread since I could use some similar advice.

Johngo0036 · February 2016

hey,

Nothing you cannot fix,

The big thing is being a breton kinda pushes towards magicka build,

As a DK you have a lot of good skills that you are not using,

Here is my Magicka DK's skill bars,
Sword and shield
Flame lash,
engulfing flames/Burning Embers,
Extended Chains,
Choking Talons,
U - Shifting Standard

Destro staff
Crushing Shock,
Pulsar/Stone Giant,
Igneous Shields
Hardened Armour,
Coagulating blood,
U - Take Flight

I wear 5 pce seducer,
3/4 pce Magnus,
Currently wear any jewelry that adds to magicka stats,

Remember with a magicka build, them more magicka you have the harder you hit,

My attributes are assigned as follows(5 Magicka, 1 Stamina)

I use food, Max Health and Magicka Regen,

ListerJMC · February 2016

Attributes, skill points and morphs can all be altered at rededication shrines so you can't really permanently mess up your character. More information on that is here: en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Shrines

As @Johngo0036 said, Breton is better suited to magicka-based builds. For a magicka DPS some sorcerers use duel wield on their back bar for more spell power with a staff on the front bar - not sure if dragonknights are the same deal, but a quick Google showed some magicka dragonknight DPS builds using a duel wield bar. Looking up builds might be a good place to give you a starting point on making your character more effective, but make sure it's current.

For a stamina DPS you're going to want to convert to medium armor, and for a magicka DPS you're going to want light armor. If you're passionate about keeping duel wield to use the weapon skills and not as a buff, medium armor would be the way to go. This'll help you a lot with sustain and give you some much better DPS passives than heavy. Many people equip 5 pieces of one armor type with 1 piece of the other two (5/1/1), as you'll unlock a passive later in the 'Undaunted' skill line which will give you bonus stats for mixing armor types.

For attributes most people stack everything into one attribute, with the exception of perhaps tanks. What you're doing actually reminds me of this tank build "The Bastion" (forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/215209/build-update-2-1-the-bastion-endgame-dk-pve-balanced-tank), which uses skills from both stamina and magicka and puts points in all three attributes - but since this is a tank build you'll need some different skills on your bars for sure, starting with some taunts. The heavy armor can stay, but the duel wield will need to be replaced by sword and shield.

For a duel wield DPS, all attributes should probably be in stamina. And you'll need some armor sets for sure to get the most out of your character, many people use sets such as "Night Mother's Gaze" (elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Night+Mother%27s+Gaze+Set) and "Hunding's Rage" (elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Hunding%27s+Rage+Set) for stamina DPS. There are dropped sets and other crafted sets which could be good too but the two I mentioned might be good to start with.

Someone who actually plays a stamina Dragonknight DPS would probably be more help than me as this is all pretty generalised information, but the main message I guess I have is you haven't messed up your character

. Hopefully at least some of that helps and I hope you get some more replies!

Acsvf · February 2016

Breton isn't that good of a choice for DKs in general, as you lose around 8 or so % of damage as a magicka and for stamina there's no real benefit. You're level 47 though, so rerolling isn't exactly attractive. I suggest you go for a full magicka build, slottiing whip, searing strike, and the fire breath thing.

Holy-Dope · February 2016

1st thing 1st- are you planning to play Stamina DK or Magica DK.
2nd is your main focus later going to be PVP or PVE.

Once you have answer to the above question, check bellow-

Magica DK- 1. Dunmer 2. Breton/ high elf 3. Anything else
Stamina DK- 1. Red gaurd/ imperial 2. Anything else

And after this we can get to what armour/ skills you need to level and what will be your play style...there are a lot of builds out there but at the end you are the one sitting behind keyboard and you have to make best use of them.

ArchMikem · February 2016

I was going to say you were wasting your attributes on your magicka pool since it seemed like you were mainly a Stamina build, but then again I know nothing of the in-depth aspects of which race does what better like many others in the forums do, though I do remember that Bretons were very powerful race with Magicka abilities along with the High Elves. So basically you did exactly what I did, just reverse. I made a Khajiit Sorcerer and you made a Breton Dragonknight, while in reality we should have done the opposite.

I can't tell you what abilities and such to use cause I have no clue, but from my limited knowledge switching to a Magicka heavy playstyle would probably be a good thing for you. Change out your heavy armors for light except for maybe one or two pieces so you get added Magicka bonuses and respec ALL of your attributes into Magicka, or maybe half and half with stamina too if you use sword and shield as a Battle Mage.

mb10 · February 2016

First of all there is nothing you cant fix in ESO.

You can reset all your skill points and the points you put into magicka, stamina and health after you level up too so nothing is done in that sense.
You can even get different gear and go from a magicka to a stamina based build or vice versa.

I really believe it depends on your style of play. You must look at your fighting and analyse whether or not you're doing enough damage and if youre surviving enough.
If either of them isnt where you want it to be thats where the skills you use start to come in. For example if you're not survivng enough I'd recommened igneous shield and green dragon blood both on the same bar because after using the shield your healing is better so you gain more back from the green dragon blood. Just one small example of using combinations of skills.

Also, its best if you focus on either a magicka or stamina build from now so your gear can be suited to it and so can your morphs. Seeing as most DK skills can be morphed into stamina based skills.

Its easy for us to sit here and type what to do but you said it correctly. A push in the right direction is the best thing because finding your own identity is what makes eso great for me. Not looking at other peoople's builds and copying it exactly.

starlizard70ub17_ESO · February 2016

I play Khajiits for all my charactors, NB, Sorc, Templer and DK, so you can make any race work in any role. While Bretons do get a boost in magic, how you spend your CP points will be more importaint in the end.

At Vet16 my stats look something like this:
Magic user - 44 magic, 17 health, 5 stam
Stamia user - 5 magic, 19 health, 42 stam
By no means am I a max/min player but I found this works for me in all PvE play, and I can survive PvP long enough for it to be fun.

As many suggested, you could make a really powerful Magic using DK as a Breton. The DK abilities work great with a fire desto staff, and you can use dual weld (for extra magic power) or 2Handed (for extra healing/stam regen) on your 2nd bar.

Cuyler · February 2016

Johngo0036 wrote: »

hey,

Nothing you cannot fix,

The big thing is being a breton kinda pushes towards magicka build,

^This. There's only one thing that you're stuck with at the moment. And that's Breton race which is not doing as much for your DK as say Dunmer for magic or Khajiit for Stamina. If you eventually want to min/max you'll want these races, but race change is coming soon so you're no stuck with that either really! Don't worry!

That being said, if you like DW you should race change to a more stam based race when you can, khajiit, redguard or imperial.

Millerman34n · February 2016

ALWAYS PUT YOUR ATIBUTES INTO ONE STAT IN YOUR CASE MAJICA .... Also always use a tryst at food buff!

Ragnaarok · February 2016

Thanks for all the responses guys, it's helped me heaps. Seems my best option is move towards a magika build, I guess I've got a good start with that as my destruction staff skill line is at level 42 or something along the lines. So when replacing my gear, it seems I should have 5/1/1 or 5/2, would that be 5 pieces of armor increasing max magika ? And if so, what 5 pieces are they, and what do I do with the other two pieces ? And also with jewellery should I have rings/necklace that increase max magika and reduce the cost of casting magika spells ?
I haven't really played around with skills having destro staff as my main hand, so what skill lines would I be looking at using ? And as for my secondary, should I be looking at keeping my duel wield ? Or even a healing staff to heal myself or maybe use a 2h weapon? Sorry for all the questions but thanks heaps for the responses, you guys have helped heaps already.

ListerJMC · February 2016

Ragnaarok wrote: »

Thanks for all the responses guys, it's helped me heaps. Seems my best option is move towards a magika build, I guess I've got a good start with that as my destruction staff skill line is at level 42 or something along the lines. So when replacing my gear, it seems I should have 5/1/1 or 5/2, would that be 5 pieces of armor increasing max magika ? And if so, what 5 pieces are they, and what do I do with the other two pieces ? And also with jewellery should I have rings/necklace that increase max magika and reduce the cost of casting magika spells ?
I haven't really played around with skills having destro staff as my main hand, so what skill lines would I be looking at using ? And as for my secondary, should I be looking at keeping my duel wield ? Or even a healing staff to heal myself or maybe use a 2h weapon? Sorry for all the questions but thanks heaps for the responses, you guys have helped heaps already.

5 light / 1 medium / 1 heavy to get the most benefit out of the Undaunted passive ("Undaunted Mettle"), though I know a couple of people who prefer 5 light / 2 heavy because it makes them a bit less squishy.

What many people do is use a heavy chest if they can for maximum protection (because I like my mage to wear a robe, I use heavy legs) and medium on something else, haven't really seen any particular standard piece for medium but I guess the legs would be good if you use a heavy chest again for more protection. I use a helmet because I can hide it

. Later if you start using monster sets, the pieces you get as drops may dictate which pieces you have as medium and heavy.

A good set of jewelry is the "Willpower" set found in Imperial City, but they can be purchased from guild stores (be warned, they can be pricey) and given as a reward in dungeons/Undaunted chests. They give maximum magicka and spell damage when you wear 3 pieces. You can also get staves in "Willpower" if you have another jewelry piece you want to wear. What some people I know did was use cheap placeholder Willpower jewellery with the useless trait "Robust" for a while because it was the cheapest at a low level, then get "Healthy" at VR16 until they could get "Arcane" (which is the one you really want). Currently I'm using 1x Arcane 2x Healthy because Arcane is just so expensive and I've never had a drop for it. I've enchanted all three with spell damage glyphs but I know some people who use regeneration glyphs, and these may be better for you as you don't have the sorcerer ultimate "Overload" to help with sustain.

As for weapon skills, I don't know how much this differs between a sorcerer and a dragonknight for DPS but this is what I do. "Force Shock" morphed to "Force Pulse" is a good spammable damage ability while he waits for Crystal Fragments to become instant-cast (but you don't have crystal fragments so I'm not sure what your replacement would be). "Impulse", which I've seen people say is good with either morph but personally I use "Elemental Ring", is a good AOE for multiple targets. Occasionally on single target bosses I run the "Weakness to Elements" morph "Elemental Drain" to restore magicka to myself when damaging an enemy with "Force Pulse".

For his back bar, I swap between a restoration staff and duel wield depending on the situation. For some bosses, such as the final boss in Blackheart Haven, having someone with off-heals can be really helpful. However, for most situations the damage bonus from duel wield is better. Note that you don't actually use any duel wield skills, you just hold the weapons for the boost it gives you to spell power. You will have to unlock the final passive for duel wield to get the most out of this method, "Twin Blade and Blunt", and both your weapons must be swords. 2h can work as well for this apparently, but you'll be missing out on a set bonus and I see this far less often. Some people also stick with destro/destro to weave attacks on both bars.

Edit: I forgot to say - you'll want all attributes in magicka, all armor enchants as increase max magicka, for the staff it might be best to use fire because of the Dragonknight damage bonus, and for food most DPS I know just use VR15 blue two stat food for max health and magicka or max health and magicka regen. At VR16 at least 18k health seems to be the standard.

Hopefully some of that helps

.

Ragnaarok · February 2016

ListerJMC wrote: »

Ragnaarok wrote: »

Thanks for all the responses guys, it's helped me heaps. Seems my best option is move towards a magika build, I guess I've got a good start with that as my destruction staff skill line is at level 42 or something along the lines. So when replacing my gear, it seems I should have 5/1/1 or 5/2, would that be 5 pieces of armor increasing max magika ? And if so, what 5 pieces are they, and what do I do with the other two pieces ? And also with jewellery should I have rings/necklace that increase max magika and reduce the cost of casting magika spells ?
I haven't really played around with skills having destro staff as my main hand, so what skill lines would I be looking at using ? And as for my secondary, should I be looking at keeping my duel wield ? Or even a healing staff to heal myself or maybe use a 2h weapon? Sorry for all the questions but thanks heaps for the responses, you guys have helped heaps already.

5 light / 1 medium / 1 heavy to get the most benefit out of the Undaunted passive ("Undaunted Mettle"), though I know a couple of people who prefer 5 light / 2 heavy because it makes them a bit less squishy.

What many people do is use a heavy chest if they can for maximum protection (because I like my mage to wear a robe, I use heavy legs) and medium on something else, haven't really seen any particular standard piece for medium but I guess the legs would be good if you use a heavy chest again for more protection. I use a helmet because I can hide it . Later if you start using monster sets, the pieces you get as drops may dictate which pieces you have as medium and heavy.

A good set of jewelry is the "Willpower" set found in Imperial City, but they can be purchased from guild stores (be warned, they can be pricey) and given as a reward in dungeons/Undaunted chests. They give maximum magicka and spell damage when you wear 3 pieces. You can also get staves in "Willpower" if you have another jewelry piece you want to wear. What some people I know did was use cheap placeholder Willpower jewellery with the useless trait "Robust" for a while because it was the cheapest at a low level, then get "Healthy" at VR16 until they could get "Arcane" (which is the one you really want). Currently I'm using 1x Arcane 2x Healthy because Arcane is just so expensive and I've never had a drop for it. I've enchanted all three with spell damage glyphs but I know some people who use regeneration glyphs, and these may be better for you as you don't have the sorcerer ultimate "Overload" to help with sustain.

As for weapon skills, I don't know how much this differs between a sorcerer and a dragonknight for DPS but this is what I do. "Force Shock" morphed to "Force Pulse" is a good spammable damage ability while he waits for Crystal Fragments to become instant-cast (but you don't have crystal fragments so I'm not sure what your replacement would be). "Impulse", which I've seen people say is good with either morph but personally I use "Elemental Ring", is a good AOE for multiple targets. Occasionally on single target bosses I run the "Weakness to Elements" morph "Elemental Drain" to restore magicka to myself when damaging an enemy with "Force Pulse".

For his back bar, I swap between a restoration staff and duel wield depending on the situation. For some bosses, such as the final boss in Blackheart Haven, having someone with off-heals can be really helpful. However, for most situations the damage bonus from duel wield is better. Note that you don't actually use any duel wield skills, you just hold the weapons for the boost it gives you to spell power. You will have to unlock the final passive for duel wield to get the most out of this method, "Twin Blade and Blunt", and both your weapons must be swords. 2h can work as well for this apparently, but you'll be missing out on a set bonus and I see this far less often. Some people also stick with destro/destro to weave attacks on both bars.

Edit: I forgot to say - you'll want all attributes in magicka, all armor enchants as increase max magicka, for the staff it might be best to use fire because of the Dragonknight damage bonus, and for food most DPS I know just use VR15 blue two stat food for max health and magicka or max health and magicka regen. At VR16 at least 18k health seems to be the standard.

Hopefully some of that helps .

You seriously helped me so much man, thank you!
I'm currently in the process of turning my character into a Magicka DPS. Just recently turned all my attributes into Magicka.
My only issue really right now is my armor, as my light armour is sort of all over the shop right now till I look or have someone make me something better haha.
Currently using an inferno staff w/ flame enchantment
backup duel wield swords
light head piece - increase max magicka
light chest piece - increase max magicka
medium shoulders - increase max health
light waist - increase max health (nothing to replace with atm)
medium gloves - increase max magicka (also nothing to replace with atm, to light gloves that is)
light legs - increase max magicka
heavy feet - increase max health

Skill line:
Burning embers
empowering chains
dragon blood
force pulse
elemental drain

Ultimate - standard of might (no points atm to buy new ultimates).

ListerJMC · February 2016

@Ragnaarok no worries, still hoping a magicka DK DPS will step in here and give you specifics on bar skills! My magicka DK is a tank so her rotation will not work for you. Sadly I'm on PC NA, or I'd help you make some sets. Some good ones to consider for magicka DPS which are craftable might be:

"Seducer" (uesp.net/wiki/Online:Seducer) - I know some people who prefer this set over damage-based sets for the bonus sustain.

"Torug's Pact" (uesp.net/wiki/Online:Torug%27s_Pact) - this is only good for the 2-3 piece set bonuses. I currently have the three piece but I will replace one when RNG loves me enough to drop me a Kena helm!

"Magnus' Gift" (uesp.net/wiki/Online:Magnus%27_Gift) - again, a bit more sustain-oriented

"Twice-Born Star" (uesp.net/wiki/Online:Twice-Born_Star) - might look like an odd choice for a magicka DPS, but with the right CPs and the right mundus stones (usually thief and shadow) you can pull great numbers with this set.

"Law of Julianos" (uesp.net/wiki/Online:Law_of_Julianos) - I run five pieces of this on my magicka sorcerer for bonus spell damage, spell crit and max magicka. The only catch is you have to own the "Orsinium" DLC, or find someone who owns that DLC to craft it for you.

At a guess I'd say 5 piece Julianos and 3 piece Seducer or Magnus might be a good start, for damage and a bit of sustain.

DracoBeowulf · February 2016

What platform and server are you on? I would be happy to help you out in game

Ragnaarok · February 2016

ListerJMC wrote: »

@Ragnaarok no worries, still hoping a magicka DK DPS will step in here and give you specifics on bar skills! My magicka DK is a tank so her rotation will not work for you. Sadly I'm on PC NA, or I'd help you make some sets. Some good ones to consider for magicka DPS which are craftable might be:

"Seducer" (uesp.net/wiki/Online:Seducer) - I know some people who prefer this set over damage-based sets for the bonus sustain.

"Torug's Pact" (uesp.net/wiki/Online:Torug%27s_Pact) - this is only good for the 2-3 piece set bonuses. I currently have the three piece but I will replace one when RNG loves me enough to drop me a Kena helm!

"Magnus' Gift" (uesp.net/wiki/Online:Magnus%27_Gift) - again, a bit more sustain-oriented

"Twice-Born Star" (uesp.net/wiki/Online:Twice-Born_Star) - might look like an odd choice for a magicka DPS, but with the right CPs and the right mundus stones (usually thief and shadow) you can pull great numbers with this set.

"Law of Julianos" (uesp.net/wiki/Online:Law_of_Julianos) - I run five pieces of this on my magicka sorcerer for bonus spell damage, spell crit and max magicka. The only catch is you have to own the "Orsinium" DLC, or find someone who owns that DLC to craft it for you.

At a guess I'd say 5 piece Julianos and 3 piece Seducer or Magnus might be a good start, for damage and a bit of sustain.

Gonna have to look into these sets! Thanks heaps mate.

I've currently pretty much completely made my move to magicka DPS, though don't have any armor sets at the moment so this'll help heaps.

I've found myself dying quicker than I'd like still, particularly against multiple enemies, and also found myself not using my off-hand at all, so once I get myself a good healing staff, hopefully a guild member can make me one as I have low woodworking, I'm going to pay to revamp all my skills and remove them from duel wield/heavy armor and put them into destro staff, healing staff, light armor and whatever else I need.

Ragnaarok · February 2016

DracoBeowulf wrote: »

What platform and server are you on? I would be happy to help you out in game

I'm on Xbox one NA server mate!