Thank you both for your insight!

I had a feeling that spreading my points thin wasn't a very good idea. I'll probably stick with a stamina build since that's what I've already invested the most points in, and I'm having fun carving things up with my sword :P

What's a good ratio to stick with in terms of attribute allocation? Even if I'm building stamina, I should probably occasionally throw a point or two into health so that I can afford to take some damage, right?

You can put points into health, but don't go for both magicka and stamina. Just for leveling, I personally would recommend putting all points into magicka or stamina depending on your respective build.

Also, forgot to say that race is important too. For example, nords get extra health as their racial passive, so nord DKs don't have to put as many points into health as say, a dark elf.

Torielle wrote: »

I'm playing a High Elf (I know, going against the grain), which I know makes Destruction Staff/Magicka a more viable build. If I decided to play that style, would my build essentially be the same, just replace Stamina with Magicka? At this point I'm already more points deep in Stam than Mag, so would switching be unwise? I'm still not sure how to refund attribute or skill points...

First, hurry up to Grahtwood, which is the second zone for the AD. There you have the shrines where you can respec (both, attributes AND skills, for a certain amount of gold). In the center of the zone is Elden Root, beatiful city where the shrines are available.

Second, stam is associated to 4 weapons: S/B, 2H, DW and Bow. It is highly recommended to use one of those skills if you go stam. Magicka is associated to the 4 staves: resto and the 3 destro (ice, flame, lightning). If you are an Altmer. you have a bonus on destro staff, but it doesn't mean you can't use any other weapon. Only the XP to get the line is better. Though, it is a solid choice to be altmer and use a destro staff.

Third, even copied build are not the same here. Your skill as player counts a lot.

Lots of good advice here already!

Since you are leveling make sure to wear at least one piece of each armor as that will level up all 3 as you quest and then when you are at endgame you won't have to worry about it. You will also want to do this with a skill of each of your 3 class skill lines.

Since you come from WOW I'll try to break it down for you that way. Essentially at cap you can decide if you want to be a tank, healer, or dps regardless of whichever class you picked.

Heavy armor is primarily used for tanks only just like plate mail was used by the tank classes. As a tank class you can decide to go magic or stamina based where a magic based relies a lot more on class skills and stamina based is more of a straight sword and shield type (think protection warrior for stamina and perhaps protection paladin as magic). I'll leave one of the many fine end game guides to hash out the finer points however.

Healers essentially wear light armor and go magic star based along with a restoration staff. Not a lot of wriggle room with this and you'll essentially play like a priest class.

Dps comes in 2 major styles like tanking: magic or stamina. Magic dps wear robes use a destro staff (or two swords at end game but while leveling use a staff) or restoration staff and blast mobs with their ranged damage, staff abilities, or class abilities. Think Mage, elemental shaman, etc. Stamina based dps wear medium armor and use a typical weapon such as dual wield, 2 hander, bow, etc. you will use mostly weapon skills with the occasional class skill that you "morphed" into a stamina based skill generally. Depending on your weapon you can play like a pet less hunter (unless you rolled a sorceror), a rogue, a fury warrior, arms warrior, etc based on which skills and weapon you pick.

People who refer to a 5/1/1 armor set up usually refer to a passive skill you can get from the undaunted line which boosts your stats by 2% for each "weight" of armor you wear and thus by wearing all of them like this you still have a majority of your main for the stat Passives and any 5 piece bonuses for that weight as well as an extra 6% of all your stats for having all 3 weight worn.

For race, at end game it DOES matter if you are a min/maxed and as an altmer you picked essentially the best magic based class, but just like in WoW you can still do whatever as anything (I'm an Orc sorceror tank for example).

Don't get too worked up min/maxing now as you can respec later in game and just enjoy the ride!

Any ther questions, feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to help or at least point ya in the right direction. I've played MANY MMOs so I can do my best to make things in this relatable to past experiences if it helps too haha!

Have fun!
E

Thanks for the helpful input, everyone

So, a few days later, I'm on the cusp of level 15 and decided to try using a Destruction Staff instead. It's been a lot of fun, and given the slew of benefits that being an Altmer brings, I'm inclined to switch to a Magicka build and ditch the Stamina line.

As I've noticed a decent amount of flexibility between the classes and armor types, I'm still wearing mostly heavy armor (5/1/1), but I'm wondering if I should be investing in passive damage mitigation skills, such as those found in the Draconic Power/Earthen Heart/Heavy Armor skill trees. Would that help for leveling? Or are those extra percentages only really useful if you're building a tank?

TL;DR — For leveling a Magicka DK w/ staff, should I go for heavy armor and damage mitigation skills or light armor with magicka enhancing skills?

AverageJo3Gam3r wrote: »

Heavy armor magDKs are common in PvP using sword and shield and resto staff. In PvE, most players go with destro staffs with light armor.

And yes, unlock all the passives. You'll have plenty of skill points as you complete faction/main quests and collect sky shards.

Cool—I was thinking about getting a one handed/shield combo to switch to during tougher group fights.

I'm just wondering how a hybrid build would work during leveling. If I strike a balance between armor/health enhancing skills and magicka enhancing skills, while wearing mostly heavy armor, would that work out to decent damage and survivability? Or should I focus all on magicka and wear mostly light armor?

Currently my version of survival is running around, staying one step ahead and throwing spells at the more difficult veteran mobs or groups of mobs.

Okay... so the consensus seems to be that if I'm going for a Magicka build and using a Destruction Staff, the best option for leveling is to wear mostly light armor (5 light, 1 medium 1 heavy), focus on magicka passives and invest most of my attribute points into that stat, and then maybe use a Resto staff as my weapon swap?

Torielle wrote: »

Okay... so the consensus seems to be that if I'm going for a Magicka build and using a Destruction Staff, the best option for leveling is to wear mostly light armor (5 light, 1 medium 1 heavy), focus on magicka passives and invest most of my attribute points into that stat, and then maybe use a Resto staff as my weapon swap?

First, feel free to take or leave my advice, but I've been around since beta and have 7 fully leveled toons and the 8th I've deleted and re-rolled as a 3rd DK.

While leveling, yes, definitely use 5 light, 1 heavy, and 1 medium with a preference for the training trait on the pieces of medium and heavy. The light armor will level quickly, but with the training trait, the medium and heavy will stay fairly close. Also, at end game, as a caster/light armor build, the only benefit a full 7 pieces of light will have is slightly more sustain, but it will not actually provide any higher damage. However, there's a passive in the Undaunted skill line that will give you 1/2% more of each resource for each type of armor you're wearing. So wearing 5/1/1 is what you'll likely want to be doing at end game anyway. Once you've earned more than enough skill points, you'll be able to spend points into some of the passives for medium and heavy armor to provide a small amount of additional benefits.

Yes, it's a good idea to unlock the passives, I would probably recommend against investing too many points early on in passives. You'll want to make sure you always have enough skill points to buy the skills you want to use and level. I also recommend leveling a skill to the point that you open up the morph option, but not taking the morph and starting to work on a new skill. There are a couple exceptions for that. For instance, taking the burning embers morph of searing strike is actually the first (non resto staff) heal available to a dragon knight; it's a good idea to take that morph. Waiting to take the morphs lets you eventually try out all of the skills and have all of them available to morph when you respec for end game builds.

Yes, use a destruction staff and restoration staff initially. I also recommend using the training trait while leveling. For a magicka based DK, I also recommend leveling the Dual Wield and 1 hand and shield skill lines; these both have their uses for PvP, and 1H/shield is the go to weapon for tanking. Leveling these leaves your options open. Another way to level these skill lines is to simply have a skill equipped from them while you're earning experience. My favorite method is to choose one weapon to focus (destro staff) and use the restoration staff as a quest turn-in bar. I'll have 1 heal equipped from the resto line, then a skill or ultimate from each of the class trees and a skill from another weapon tree or two I want to level. When you turn in a quest, swap to the resto staff before completing the quest. You'll earn experience toward any of the skills and skill trees for the abilities equipped on the bar as well as the weapon tree itself.

Also, I'd make sure to join the guilds (Fighter's, Mage's, and Undaunted) and complete at least the initial quests early on. The intimidate and persuade passives can unlock many neat short cuts in quests and open unique dialogue options.

Outside of all of that, try posting what server you're on, and I'm sure there will be people willing to help set you up with a crafted gear set and a helpful player guild or two.

Daveheart wrote: »

Also, if you find someone to craft you some gear for leveling, percentage based sets will last you for more levels than a set bonus that's based upon raw stat increases. For example, the Seducer sets provides a flat 8% reduction to skill costs that works the same whether it's at your level or 25 levels under wherever you currently sit. The Twice Born Star set also allows you to pick two Mundus stones, and they all either provide a flat bonus or scale with your level. The TBS set is a max crafting level set, but like I said in my previous set, someone will likely help you out. If you're PC-NA, I'll craft it for you.

I am PC-NA, my character's name in-game is Torielle Stormborn, or you can add my tag, @Dracien882

Ishammael wrote: »

Since this is your first character here are a few notes:

1. Use every skill available in your class lines in oder to both level them up and learn how they work. Pick whichever morph you like... it's easy to respect.
2. Wear at least one piece of light, med, and heavy armor until they have leveled up completely.
3. Your race significantly effects your top end power. High elf is easily the strongest magicka race.
4. Most skills (with just a few exceptions) scale in the following manner: (max-stat + 10.46*dmg)*coef. The max-stat term means either Stamina or magicka and dmg means either weapon or spell damage. Therefore in ESO it is always better to be either full Stamina build or full magicka build.
5. Deconstruct everything you find in order to level crafting. This can be done easily before v16. Start your crafting research asap and never let it sit idle. It will take a few months max your research.
6. Run dungeons and get dungeon achievement to begin working on undaunted skill line.
7. Go do Blackwater Blade PvP. It is really, really fun.

^This pretty much. And here's a little more from me;

8. Get a friend to craft you gear every 10 or so levels. This way, levelling wont feel like a grind cos you get new toys to play with which you can look forward to. Also you get a good feel of all the different sets like hundings, TBS, nightmothers etc etc.
Plus low level gear is cheap as long as you dont upgrade them past blue. Blue is so cheap you can do it every 10 levels no probs.

9. If you want to play stam, try to level up at least 2h/bow/Dual wield. I'd recommend levelling SNB too in case you ever want to PvP as a DK or tank, its faaar easier to level while questing lol.

10. Join a PvE guild. These people will help you out when it comes to crafting, general advice, maybe you need help with a particular world boss etc etc.

11. Have fun. Its cheap enough to respec/reallocate/re-craft gear until you end up with a full v16 gold set which will then become a long time investment.