Turning my Dark Elf Dragonknight from rubbish to great

kenjiblaster25 · July 2016

I think my Dark Elf Dragonknight build is pretty rubbish. I'll post all my stats when I can get online.

I'm setup with heavy armour & health based, with a 2 handed attack. I can list everything later.

I'm happy to redo all my skill points, based on good advice. Anyone willing or able to chat me through this please?

Flak · July 2016

A few things that we need to know:
What do you want to play with it? PvE/PvP
What role do you want to play? DD/Tank/Healer
Stamina or Magicka?
And if you want to chat with somebody in-game, which server and system do you play on?

kenjiblaster25 · July 2016

Thanks Flak,

More PvE, but PVP campaigns are fun and I'd like to not die so quickly.

I currently listed as a Tank
Xbox1/EU

Weapons wise I use any two handed and a lightning staff, beginning to think I need to learn the bow.

I'm happy to redo my CP - and to list how I've used it all so far, same with my skill points.

kenjiblaster25 · July 2016

Health: 37
Stamina: 25
Magicka: 3

Max M 10712
Max H 35860
Max S 14006

M Recov 514
H Recov 445
S Recov 514

Spell damage 1132, Crit 10%,
Weapon damage 1132 Crit 20%

SpellResist 21237
PhyResist 19698
CritResist 238

Boon: Lord
Major Savagery
Battle Spirit

Armour setup
Head Bogdan Visage 2692 (Purple) add 882H, reinforced 15%
Chest Bestial Rampart 2977 (Blue), add 839H, reinforced 14%
Shoulders 2229 (blue)
Waist Guardians Girdle 1052 (green), add 285S, reinforced 13%
Hands Nightmother 1306 (blue), add 339, well fitted 3%
Legs Curion Last stand 2604 (blue), add 839H, reinforced 14%
Feet 2541 (blue), reinforced 13%

Neck: willpower (purple), reduce stamina cost 191, robust 840S
Ring1: reduced feat 179 (blue), 902H
Ring2: reduced fear 168 (purple), 640M

Weapon 1 bound two handed axe 1304 damage, 2426 flame damage, physical & spell penetration 4860
Ultimate Standard of might 4
Actives burning embers 4, critical rush 4, wrecking blow 4, evil hunter4 4, volatile armour 4

Weapon 2 lightning staff 1132, 2377 shock damage, 200% chance to apply status effects
Ultimate Take Flight 4
Actives Inner beast 4, Force pulse 4, shock clench 4, evil hunter 4, molten armaments 4

Champion Points
Red Warrior
steed - resistant 6
Lady - Hardy 1, elemental defender 2
Lord - expert defender 35, heavy armour focus 30, quick recovery 1

Green Thief
Tower - warlord 47
Lover - tenacity 7, healthy 21
Shadow - none

Blue Mage
Apprentice - elemental expert 2
Atronach - staff expert 36, melee expert 31
Ritual - mighty 3, precise strokes 3

Passives
Ardent flame - Combustion, warmth, searing heat & world in ruin - all Max
Dragonic power - iron skin, burning heart, elder dragon, scaled armour - all Max
Earthen heart - eternal mountain, battle roar, mountain blessing - Max; helping hands 1
Two handed - forceful, heavy weapons, balance blade, follow up, battle rush - all Max
Destruction staff - tri focus, penetrating, element force, ancient knowledge, destruction expert - all Max
Heavy armour - resolve, constitution, juggernaut, wrath, rapid mending - all Max
Fighters guild - banish the wicked 1
Dark elf - dynamic, resist flame, flame talent - all Max

K4RMA · July 2016

Reading this triggered me.

Caza99 · July 2016

K4RMA wrote: »

Reading this triggered me.

^ exactly this

pod88kk · July 2016

Hi kenji, I see you recently joined the Never Behind guild. We've quite a few dragonknights in our guild that would be more than happy to help you out with your build plus make the gear for you. Pop into guild chat 1 and just ask for some help, we're more than willing to lend a hand.

kenjiblaster25 · July 2016

Thanks Pod - hopefully I'm enabled to voice chat. If anyone has any advice on this thread I'd appreciate it too, don't want to clog up a channel - I've got lots to learn

Jennifur_Vultee · July 2016

Wow. That's quite a setup you have going there...unfortunately not in a good way. You're a stamina build so if you want ranged attacks I'd use a bow. Your gear appears to be just whatever you can find so you will be weaker against those using set gear. I'd drop the three points in magic and put them in health or stamina, many people put all points in stamina then use armor sets/food buffs that will give them health, other split the points between health and stamina. For stamina DPS the more stamina you have the harder your stamina abilities will hit.

Here you'll find all the sets currently available in game both dropped and crafted http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Sets . I'd be looking for medium armor sets that will boost your stamina/stamina regen/weapon damage/health depending on how you distribute your attributes.

I'm running what I consider a budget stamina mage build 2 handed/bow with Bar 1 being my main damage bar and bar 2 being mostly buffs.

For a 2H DK I'd suggest on a 2H/bow build something like this...
Bar 1:
Critical Rush
Dizzying Swing or Wrecking blow
Reverse Slice or Execute
Rally
Searing Strike morphed to Venomous Claws for PVP I'd probably swap this with Reflective Scales
Ultimate - Dragon Leap or Dawnbreaker

Bar 2:
Poison Arrow morphed to Poison injection
Obsidian Shield morphed to Igneous Shield because Igneous Shield gives you major mending, activate then THEN your heals.
Dragon Blood morphed to Coagulated Blood
Vigor (Alliance War heal), if you can't take Vigor maybe use Spiked Armor, Inhale or Immovable until you can
Evasion morphed to Shuffle
Ultimate - Magma Armor or Dawnbreaker

My stamina mage unbuffed...
Stamina%20Mage%20Build%20Unbuffed_zpsz7mqb2pj.jpg

Buffed...

Gear...5 pieces Darkstride, 3 Ashen Grip, Agility health jewelry...
Stamina%20Mage%20Build%20Budget%20Gear_zps8lvn6xs2.jpg

kenjiblaster25 · July 2016

Wow, very helpful. I didn't realise I could shift my points out of magicka.

I have only got gear I've earned in questing. So I need to rethink that.

I guess I wrongly thought I needed heavy armour, but can certainly look at medium armour - obviously I'd need to build it up - not sure what the active and passive are on it, will look tonight.

Getting used to a bow would be good and I can learn it I'm sure.

I'm going to work through this post and process this, thank you!!!

Jennifur_Vultee · July 2016

Medium armor has passives that will give you weapon critical, stamina recovery, reduced sneaking cost, weapon damage and reduced cost for sprinting and dodging. Based on what you've described you seem to be going more stamina DPS than tank, if you want to tank I'd recommend using sword and shield with heavy armor rather than a 2 handed with medium armor. I was basing my reply off what you seem to be aiming for and right now stamina DPS DK is in a pretty good place.

To reset your skill and attribute points visit any of the capital cities...Elden Root, Wayrest or Mournhold, there you'll find shrines you can pay gold to reset your attributes and skill points.

Elephant42 · July 2016

All the respondents so far seem to have missed a key point here. It appears that you want to specialise as a tank but you currently have no taunt, which is pretty much de rigueur for a tank.

The only two taunt skills in the game are Puncture and its morphs from the 1H&S line and Inner Fire from the Undaunted line. If you truly want to tank you will need to unlock and level one or preferrably both of these skills.

kenjiblaster25 · July 2016

Hi Elephant - I wouldn't say I want to, that's what people have told me to. I think a DPS setup would work for the style of play I like.

I guess if I go with DPS I reset my attribute points and go Stamina heavy.

I can reset my attributes and I'll have to build up med armour & bow as they are both mostly untapped apart from boosts from book reading.

Not sure about my CP, but I guess I need to try and focus on medium armour - any ideas what's essential here?

I can stick with two handed right?

Jennifur_Vultee · July 2016

Two handed is a good choice for stamina DPS.

For my CP in green I put 63 in Warlord, 57 in Mooncalf, 20 in Healthy and 27 in Tumbling. I may try using the 20 from Healthy someplace else, I haven't decided yet.

In Blue I put 30 into Blessed for increased healing, 32 in Precise Strikes, 27 in Piercing and 78 in Mighty to increase my physical damage.

In Red I put 27 in Spell Shield, 27 in Resistant, 27 in Thick Skin, 29 in Hardy, 30 in Elemental Defender and 27 in Quick Recovery. I feel like my red CP are spread too thin and I'll probably consolidate them some.

kenjiblaster25 · July 2016

So far I have reset my attributes and gone all out stamina.

I've reset my CP towards what you've suggest Jennifur

I shopped around for 5 Medium armour items from the Viper set, after Looking at various sets.

I will either do a 3 set ring necklace combo or try a 5 set combo of rings, necklace & 2 remaining armour items.

I'm going to reset my skill points and rebuild to a
MEdium armour/stamina base tonight.

Elephant42 · July 2016

kenjiblaster25 wrote: »

Hi Elephant - I wouldn't say I want to, that's what people have told me to. I think a DPS setup would work for the style of play I like.

I guess if I go with DPS I reset my attribute points and go Stamina heavy.

I can reset my attributes and I'll have to build up med armour & bow as they are both mostly untapped apart from boosts from book reading.

Not sure about my CP, but I guess I need to try and focus on medium armour - any ideas what's essential here?

I can stick with two handed right?

You won't go wrong sticking with 2H as a stamina DPS.

My stamina DK loves "wrecking" stuff

kenjiblaster25 · July 2016

I'll stick 2H.

I didn't get around to resetting all my skills, will do that tonight.

I did a vet dungeon & found the build working better, even before finishing resetting it.

I've chosen the Marksman set to use as my second set of gear. I need to learn the bow anyway, so it gives good bonuses. The rings and necklace are expensive but I hope worth it.

Will post how it looks when I've done all the skill work.

Then it's a case of building up my medium armour, clothing & my weapon bars. Delving and some PVP will do that.

SolarCat02 · July 2016

kenjiblaster25 wrote: »

Then it's a case of building up my medium armour, clothing & my weapon bars. Delving and some PVP will do that.

Don't overlook the help you can get from the Training trait on armor or weapons, too!

Amdar_Godkiller · July 2016

I'd suggest a different CP setup:

Red CP should be mostly in Hardy and Elemental Defender, unless you PVP a lot; in which
case you'll want about 25% of your red in Hardy, Elemental Defender, and Resistant.

Regardless, you'll want your first 120 CP in the Lady constellation for the CC-break passive.

The other 25% should mostly be in Quick healing and thick-skinned.

Your green CP should mostly be in Mooncalf (50%) and, IMO, lowering the cost of magic (15%)
and dodge-rolling (20%) because Stam DKscan use Earthen Heart spells to convert magic into
stamina, and because dodge-rolling is more expensive thanjust about any stam ability
besides Caltrops. Some points in warlord (7%) and magicka regen (7%) will also help, and I usually put
a point or two in most of the other ones as well.

Blue CP should be 60% Mighty, then split most of the rest (10% each) between precise strikes, piercing, and thaumaturge. Put the remaining 10% in melee expert, bow expert, and blessed.

kenjiblaster25 · July 2016

Hi SolarCat, thank you, can you explain a little more what you mean please?

Thanks Amdar. I will look through what you've said and may make amendments.

I just really appreciate helpful experience-change like this takes awhile to get used to.

I'd like to keep the destruction staff experience and want to see if I can run a staff as a third weapon, as and when I need it. I guess it's hard because my magicka is low and I won't be able to do much about that.

Amdar_Godkiller · July 2016

kenjiblaster25 wrote: »

Hi SolarCat, thank you, can you explain a little more what you mean please?

Thanks Amdar. I will look through what you've said and may make amendments.

I just really appreciate helpful experience-change like this takes awhile to get used to.

I'd like to keep the destruction staff experience and want to see if I can run a staff as a third weapon, as and when I need it. I guess it's hard because my magicka is low and I won't be able to do much about that.

Yeah, Destruction Staff just isn't very effective as a Stamina build.

I am working on some hybrid gear for my Dunmer Stam DK, but it's been an expensive endeavor.

I use Infused Armor with Prismatic enchants

5 pieces of Pelinals Aptitude (Heavy Chest, Light Sash, Medium Bracers, Guards, and Boots)
1 nerieneith Medium arm cops
1 Molag Kena Medium Helmet

1 piece of agility Jewelry with weapon damage enchants
2 pieces of willpower jewelry with the same damage enchants

Agility Weapons x4

My Stam Armor though is

4 Clever Alchemist
2 Leki's Focus
1 Molag Kena

3 piece Agility Jewelry

Clever Alchemist Bow Precise

Leki's Focus Greatsword Sharpened

It gives me around 3300 Weapon damage unbuffed, with 36.6K Stamina, 10.5K Magic, and 19.1K Health

nordsavage · July 2016

This is not other Elder Scrolls where you can run a build like that. With how ESO is you need to lean very hard to either magic or stamina. Hybrid builds do not function anymore with max stam/magicka determining your overall damage. If you want to be a damage dealer you need to lose the heavy armor. If you want to be stamina based use x7 medium armor and NO staffs. If you want to magicka based use x5 light, x1 medium, x1 heavy with level 9 undaunted passives with staffs or dual swords. If you want to be a tank forget doing damage and run x6 heavy, x1 medium or x5 heavy, x1 medium x1, and light with only swords and shields. Before you even consider looking at builds you need to pick a focus for your character or you will not be successful in this game because your current build state is only for, very poorly, chugging through quests and not for running dungeons and trials with others.

Below is my magicka DK build that is easy to run if you want to roll a caster. You can get CP advice after you get your playstyle in order.

Use combinations of Julianos, Infallible Aether, Willpower, 2 and 3 piece spell power items (Torugs, Worm), Moondancer and Kena, Skoria, or Neiren'eth and Maelstrom staffs if you have them.

5/1/1 all divines with Thief mundus, all magicka enchants, spell power/crushing enchants on weapons, jam magicka attribute and use max Health/Magicka food.

Skill set:
Burning Breath, Elemental Blockade, Molten Whip, Burning Embers, Inner light and Shooting Star.
Molten Armaments, Eruption, Elemental Ring, Spell Symmetry/Balance/Unrelenting Grip, Inner Light and Standard of Might.

Rotation:
Molten Armaments> Inner Light (Empower)> Shooting Star> Full Heavy Weave/Burning Breath> Weave/Burning Embers> Weave/Elemental Blockade> Bar swap/Eruption> Swap back> Weave/Molten Whip until DOTs expire> repeat from Burning Breath but weaved with light/medium attack unless using Infallible Aether then reapply debuff with full heavy attack. Also only reapply Eruption every other cycle as it has a 20 second timer.

You should not have to reapply Molten Armaments on most fights as they will be over but do so if the situation calls for it or carry spell power pots.

Variation: For longer fights or such as vet Trials open with Standard of Might.

Magicka Dps DK's are about steady "Bulk" and Multiple target damage.

kenjiblaster25 · July 2016

Thanks @nordsavage - I think I found that repeating a dungeon near Abah's Landing. Previously I don't struggled to beat the two bosses who sit near each other. Last night I killed the first one with an ultimate/2H attack. Then the second died just with 2H. I doubt that would have happened before. As my medium armour strengthens and I unlock more passives, this new build will work very well. Plus I'm going to try a vamp bite too, to see if that works well in combination.