I absolutely cannot decide which class to play. Fun, engaging builds?

ColinMacLaren · May 2016

I have 7 characers at lower levels and already deleted serveral more. PVE is a priority.

I simply cannot decide which class to play.

Things I like:
– Soloing difficult or group content
– Tanking
– Healing
– having to actively time blocks and dodges
– engaging and demanding playstyle with many active skills
– when in doubt I prefer sustain over burst

Weapons I like:
– Sword and Board
– Bow

Things I don’t like:
– simple, one-dimensional playstyles which consist of dull rotations or spamming the same ability over and over
– playing as a DPS in group Settings, I very much prefer tanking, healing or CC.

Wepaons I don’t like.
– Staves
– Two-Handers

I am not totally against staves, but I’d prefer either two meele bars or a meele + ranged one.

Sword and Board + Resto is fine, as ist DW and Bow ect, maybe even Destro + Restro.

I’d prefer a race/lass combo that offers a lot of flexibility to switch roles on the fly.

Things I considered:

1. Breton or Altmer Magicka Nightblade
+ can be a decent DPS, good tank and medicore healer
+ good mobility and utility
– don’t really like the stealthy skills, overall playstyle just did not “klick”

2. Altmer Magicka Sorcerer
+ can only be DPS (after DB update)
+ was most fun on lower levels despite staves

– seems to get a huge nerf with Dark Brotherhood
– most commenters (Deltias and the like) consider their playstyle “boring”

3. Altmer Magicka DK
+ can be decent DPS and healer
+ engaging playstyle with managing lots of DoTs
– is considered subpar tank compared to the stamina Version?
– mobility?

4. Imperial Stamina DK
+ can be very good DPS and tank
+ cool weapon selection with bow and dual-wield
+ engaging playstyle with having to manage lots of DoTs
– no mobility
? Is this good for solo? Doesn’t it get boring? And how do you heal yourself as a stamina class?

5. Imperial Stamina Sorcerer
+ looks like a lot of fun in Deltias new video after Dark brotherhood
+ cool weapon selection with bow and dual-wield
? mobility, self heal?

6. Magicka Templar
+ can be very good healer, tank and decent DPS
+ very good solo class with lots of self healing ability
– lack of mobility
– doesn’t look really engaging in most videos, just healing yourself and spamming jabs?

Please help me out of my dilemma

Thanks,

Colin

Waffennacht · May 2016

Honestly, most "Top" builds will have a strict rotation for dps etc... that I would assume would make them all "boring" eventually or to some.

For example: My build runs: Lightning Flood, Proxy det, streak, familiar, and heavy attacks (and boss fights Overload LA), that's really not that many moves so it may be,found "boring" but I find it extremely fun and fast paced trying to keep 2 4 sec timers, 1 6 sec timer and 1 8 sec timer up all the time.

I solo difficult content and group content with my magicka sorc pet sorc.

Though! It looks like stam builds have a lot to do, but IMO have a Harder time soloing group content.
Magicka has a lot of kiting abilities that make,bosses easier etc...

I wanna, at somepoint, make a stam pet build using a, bow for a main weapon.

Dracan_Fontom · May 2016

Things I considered:

1. Breton or Altmer Magicka Nightblade
+ can be a decent DPS, good tank and medicore healer
+ good mobility and utility
– don’t really like the stealthy skills, overall playstyle just did not “klick”

2. Altmer Magicka Sorcerer
+ can only be DPS (after DB update)
+ was most fun on lower levels despite staves
– seems to get a huge nerf with Dark Brotherhood
– most commenters (Deltias and the like) consider their playstyle “boring”

3. Altmer Magicka DK
+ can be decent DPS and healer
+ engaging playstyle with managing lots of DoTs
– is considered subpar tank compared to the stamina Version?
– mobility?

First, medicare my backside. Nightblade are like the second best healers in the game, for normal dungeons. And magic dk tanks are pretty good in my opinion and are slightly more fun than their stam versions. From what I seen you may want to play a Sword and Board w/ Bow stam dk.

Nirnrotten · May 2016

Yep! Nightblade is a decent healer. Honestly unless you roll a Templar, healing using solely the resto staff abilities can be very challenging. Especially if you are planning to pug. Many players will run outside the range of your heals and you kind of end up chasing them or trying to aim your healing springs as far as it can go. Templar class heals are superior because you don't even really need to see where your group mates are. 9/10 times they are within range of your heals.

Any class can tank but Stam DK is probably your best bet. Very engaging and it's a tried and true formula. Other classes require a bit more creativity. Very few can match what the DK can do while tanking. It seems like you've done your homework tho so just stick to one and see where it takes you.

Mike_IG · May 2016

For PVE Mag DK tank FTW.

So much more fun to play than the Stam DK tank IMO as you get to use more of the DK's abilities and as you have nowhere near as much Stam you have to be more clever with your blocks as well.

Talons for the CC.
Burning embers for the single target heal/emergency heal.
Just run in middle of enemys and talon and deep breath them all to get insane heals and pretty decent DPS, while you have them in talons you can apply your AOE's as well.
Loads of DOT's to constantly apply.
Mobility is the only real issue but with the vamp upgrade in DB it's not really an issue as much now, TBH mobility in a dungeon is not an issue at all.
Instead of blocking most enemys and especially bosses standard attacks you can just attack with embers and take the damage and get the heal from embers to get your health back.

Can quite simply change to DPS as well moving a few things about.

For me it's my fav class/build by a long way.

Mush55 · June 2016

Nb = sap tank or healer or dps.

Or a dk

ColinMacLaren · June 2016

I now have all slots with characters ~level 10 and I am still completely undecided

I will be playing solo 95% of the time. I don't really like PickUp Groups and a regular guild group just won't fit my shedule since I am usually playing 15-19:00 CET and quitting at prime time to spend the evening my girlfriend and friends.

I no longer really care about the weapon types. I want something fun, fast paced and engaging that is strong in both Solo PVE and PVP. If I am able to switch to either a healer or tank role without respecing this is a plus, but not a requirement. I am also not against rolling an alt later on.

I really hate that you basically have to waste two slot on Inner Light on nearly all Magic builds in a game that already has only 10+12 active skill. I am used to having well over 30 in Everquest II and thus a a lot more complex rotations. The animation canceling mechanics are cool though, lets melee engagements kinda feel like Street Fighter

.

So far I don't really like the Stamina Templar.

Stamina DK may be top DPS and tank but lacks the mobility of a Sorc or NB. I just cannot find any really fun skills in their class which I am looking forward to. So they are also out.

Stamina Sorc has some really cool abilities with Hurricane, Critical Surge and the like, but I am not sure wether they are competitive with Stam NG and DK. Also not too common, which is plus but all the stamina builds are kinda similar anyways.

Stamina Nightblade is fun and engaging, strong in Solo PVP, has a lot of utility and mobility. However, everyone and their mother plays this and it really only fits the DPS slot. Can they also speced to a tank and how is solo end game survivability?

Magic Nightblade is the Jack-of-all-Trades and able to fill the DPS, Tank and Healer slot just fine. However, I don't know how they fare in solo PVP.

The same applies to Magic DK, but the Nightblade skills look more fun overall.

Magic Templar is looking like a solo PVE survivabilty power house. Still, Magic NB feels more fun and I also don't know how they fare in (solo) PVP.

Rohamad_Ali · June 2016

Do you have a AD Orc Magica Sorc ? You'll be pretty engaged trying to explain that one to the RP , PvP and PvE communities

RebornV3x · June 2016

Don't go Sorcerer you'll have a bad time. I recommend Templar good variety of class skills, great heals, can be tanky and good sustained DPS

Brrrofski · June 2016

I just made my stam Nb into a magica sap tank and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Only done about 10 runs of ICP and city of Ash on it, and I do fine. It's a lot different to how I tanked before on a Stam dk, it's very active, you pull really good dps for a tank and even heal the group a bit. Even got the speed run of prisoners other day, which is probably due to the extra damage my tank does than our usual one.

ColinMacLaren · June 2016

RebornV3x wrote: »

Don't go Sorcerer you'll have a bad time. I recommend Templar good variety of class skills, great heals, can be tanky and good sustained DPS

Is Stamsorc really that bad? Alcast Dot-Doc looks really cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhNtQx2dIdU

Septimus_Magna · June 2016

Soloing group content will be tougher on a stamina builds because you get more healing with magicka builds. Its mostly a sustain battle in which you repeat the same dmg rotation over and over. If you dont follow the rotation (by spamming AOE for example) you risk running out of resources which will result in your death.

Its also important to remember that a tank is a support role, this will make it harder to solo content on a tank because you dont deal much dmg. For solo content I found it easier to modify a dps build to become more tanky.

My pick for solo content would be a magicka Templar with DW/resto (S&B/resto might also work).
The Cryodiils Light set has been updated to CP160 and gives 25% dmg reduction while casting spells.
Puncturing Sweep is a channeled attack which deals dmg and heals you for a percentage of the dmg done.
This means you get good mitigation in 5LA/1MA/1HA while dealing decent dmg and healing yourself.

If you dont want to repeat the same rotation constantly I would suggest trying pvp, thats usually more dynamic because you have to counter different classes.

Volkodav · June 2016

I like the Stamina Nightblade for PvE. Apparently it doesnt do that good in PvP though,..from what I have read here by a few people.

Brrrofski · June 2016

Volkodav wrote: »

I like the Stamina Nightblade for PvE. Apparently it doesnt do that good in PvP though,..from what I have read here by a few people.

It's the complete opposite...

Volkodav · June 2016

I like the Stamina Nightblade for PvE. Apparently it doesnt do that good in PvP though,..from what I have read here by a few people.

Brrrofski wrote: »

Volkodav wrote: »

I like the Stamina Nightblade for PvE. Apparently it doesnt do that good in PvP though,..from what I have read here by a few people.

It's the complete opposite...

Someone just told me in another thread that it was the exact opposite of what you just said.Lol!!
I find for PvE Stamblades are the best.I have no personal reference to give on PvP other than what I read here in the forums.Its been a bash on Stamblades forever.One way or the other.

Brrrofski · June 2016

In pvp, they are top two.

In dungeons and trials, they are bottom two.

Generic questing and levelling is irrelevant.

Elsterchen · June 2016

Hmmm, if you like S&B you might consider a redguard, too.

Else, for stam based playstyles NB (bow primary) ... but with the changes also a templar (jabs, javelline... more supportive PvP and rather tank/dps then healer playstyle) might interest you.

ColinMacLaren · June 2016

I have narrowed it down to either a stam Bosmer NB or stam Imperial Sorc.

Sorc looks like better survivability and group PVP with crit Surge + tons of dots + Aoes and is less common.
NB is probably better for solo PVP later and I can switch to Magicka based build if I wish, although it won't be very effective with a Stam race.

ColinMacLaren · June 2016

Sorcerer is also out. I definitely will be a Nightblade.

Only questions left are whether I want to go for Stamina or Magicka and which race to choose.

Stamina is better for leveling since I can sprint longer and is better for solo PVP. Magicka is more versatile endgame. Both are fun since both utilize a combination of melee and ranged attacks with either DW/Bow or DW/2H/Resto.

I would either choose Imperial or Breton. Since Breton offers no benefits for a stam build, I am leaning towards Imperial. Is an Imperial Magicka build viable endgame? Does the added health allow me to invest more in Magicka and reach comparable (within 5%) performance in PVP, soloing, sustaining, healing and tanking?

Thanks to everyone who participated in this thread.