I wrote the following to answer some questions about my build for a couple people who requested it. I may do a full video build guide in the future, but as I already had most down on paper I thought I would go ahead and post it here. As everyone seems to name their builds, I'll call this "The Black Bird" build by Elijah Crow. I'm hoping that some people may find pieces interesting or that my explanations might help some newer players devise their own builds.





I get asked about my build a lot and one of these days, I'm going to do a full build guide and video. First let me say that regardless of what I read on the forums, I prefer to test for myself and this equipment and skill build is designed around my personal play style and what I have personally seen to be effective.

The top picture is of my stats buffed and the bottom is un-buffed, with the exception of food which will give you a better guide of what to shoot for if you want to do something similar. Both images were taken outside of Cyrodiil and does not include any battle spirit buff. Might be some very slight anomalies as one image was taken before the most recent patches and one after, but my gear and build hasn't changed.

If I'm going to tell you how I got my stats to where they are, I also want to include WHY I chose to build this way.

I need to go briefly into my abilities so you understand what is supplying some of the buffs in the image. 95% of the time I run Duel Wield and Two Hand with my DW bar being my DPS bar and TH being my support bar.

I do both PvE and PvP and I don't like to run completely different sets of gear (or builds) for both (though I have in the past). Currently I don't change gear and I only swap out two skills when I enter Cyrodiil. I Swap Razor Caltrops for Mass Hysteria (for small battles) and Killers Blade for Cloak. I can change out my DW DPS bar for a Bow DPS bar for large battles and keep my distance and my support bar is mostly the same.

If you wish to focus on just PvE or just PvP, you could make improvements to the gear and build set up which would make it more effective for in that arena, but again I've been looking for a sweet spot where I can go anywhere and do most anything without having to make major skill or equipment changes.

Resource Pools - The gear I selected is designed to give me resource pools of a significant size without depending completely on the resource pools for my damage output (i.e. Stamina of just over 30K). I wanted Health of about 20K and Magicka pool that can support repeated Cloaking to disengage in PvP.

Stamina Regeneration - I can't stress this enough for both PvE and PvP. Everyone wants to hit hard but consistent DPS and the ability to survive long fights is more important than burst. The key is to be able to bring both to the table and burst when you choose without sacrificing regeneration

Damage Output - The way I do damage is based around a couple of philosophies.

1. There is a diminishing return on Critical Hits. Once you reach a certain level, more crit isn't going to net you increased damage as most of your hits are going to be crits. I want respectable crit chance without relying on it for performance particularly in those cases where you cannot crit in PvP.

2. Shields can't be crit in PvP.

3. Crit resistance can be stacked in PvP.

4. Armor penetration is the most important way to ensure high weapon damage actually hits your target. If you are fighting trash will little armor, and you negate all of it (trash or solo pve), you don't need to be concerned about maybe doing more damage with less penetration and more crit. You have more than enough stopping power to put everything around you down. If you are fighting bosses or heavily armored players, the same applies. You have more than enough stopping power to put them down where those focused on crit will struggle (unless running with an advanced group maintaining armor debuffs in situations like trials).

5. Weapon damage is the final piece as now you have the resource pools, the regeneration, strong crit, and you are negating most armor of anything you are fighting. You want a good solid amount of damage and the ability to burst when you need to up to even higher damage.

Armor - There are other ways and other mixes of gear where you can reach similar stats. I chose what I am using due to the reasons above. I prefer 5 medium and 2 heavy (over other options) due to the Nightblade Shadow Barrier passive and partial undaunted bonus'. Your chest piece should always be one of the two heavy armor pieces as it provides the most benefit of heavy armor, and the second should be either helm or legs (other big pieces).

5 Piece Hungings Rage - All armor slots except helm and shoulders. All CP 160 Legendary. Large pieces infused, small impenetrable. Enchants on small are Truly Superb Glyph of Stamina, Enchants on large (Chest and Pants) are Truly Superb Glyph of Prismatic Defense.

Molag Kena Shoulders and Helm - All CP 160 Legendary. Both infused though I would prefer impenetrable on shoulders. Enchants are currently Truly Superb Glyph of Stamina, but I may be changing the helmet (as it is a large piece) to Truly Superb Glyph of Prismatic Defense. I don't mind loosing the bit of stamina as I am not reliant on it for DPS and pool size is less important due to this and high regen.

Jewelry and Weapons - I use Jewelry and weapons from the Endurance and Agility Sets as the two piece set bonuses are still among the best in game and suit my needs well.

All jewelry Purple CP 160 and each is enchanted with Truly Superb Glyph of Increase Physical Harm (174 weapon damage each). All Jewelry is Robust. I use 2 Rings of Endurance for the 1540 additional health and one Necklace of Agility which synergizes with my weapons.

All Weapons are CP160 Legendary Sharpened Agility set weapons. For TH Maul of Agility Enchanted with Truly Superb Glyph of Foulness. Bow of Agility with Truly Superb Glyph of Foulness. Duel Wield Sharpened Maces of Agility main hand enchanted with Truly Superb Glyph of Weapon Damage, and off hand enchanted with Truly Superb Glyph of Foulness.

When I am on my Duel Wield bar, I get the full three set bonus for the Agility set providing 191 weapon damage. As the weapons can be upgraded to legendary and the jewelry cannot, I prefer the extra weapon damage for this set up vs three piece Agility jewelry. When I swap to my two hand bar I loose 191 weapon damage, but I don't dps on that bar. If I go TH and Bow, I also loose the 191 weapon damage, but all else remains the same.

Ability Bars - I prefer to use active buffs such as Rally and get crit from having Camouflage Hunter on the bar as opposed to potions for Major Brutality and Major Savagery. Not only do I use less consumables, I can still benefit from the heal and the Magicka regen from Tri-Pots (for cloaking) in PvP.

DW - Surprise Attack, Steel Tornado, Camouflage Hunter, Killers Blade, Ambush - Ult Flawless Dawnbreaker
TH - Razor Caltrops, Retreating Maneuver, Rally, Relentless Focus, Resolving Vigor - Ult Reviving Barrier

Throughout combat (and prior) I swap to TH and hit Rally and Relentless Focus, swap back to DW and fight, and switch to re-apply as needed.

Champion Points - For Champion Points, I'm going to include just my priorities as this is already getting very long and would be better presented in a video and build guide.

Blue: The Ritual - Everything in Mighty, then Precise Strikes for most with a little in Thaumaturge and piercing isn't as necessary as you already duel wielding sharpened maces.

Green: The Lover - Mooncalf and The Tower - Warlord

Orange: The Lady - 40% Hardy / 40% Elemental Defender / 20% Thick Skinned

Note on Vampire - I choose to be a vampire for the Dark Stalker Buff and the 10% Stamina Regen. When I'm doing content where fire damage is an issue and Dark Stalker is not needed I feed back to Stage 1. When I want to move fast in stealth in Cyrodiil, I go to stage 4. I understand the pro's and con's, but this is my personal choice.

Note on Woodelf - 21% Stamina Recovery, 6% Max Stamina, 10% increase damage in stealth (among other buffs)

Note on Consumables - I use Tri-Pots for potions (20% Health/Magicka/Stamina Recovery) and Orzorga's Tripe Trifle Pocket (5000 Health and 457 Stamina Recovery)

Buffs up in image above.

Tri-Pot - Major Fortitude, Major Intelect, Major Endurance, (20% Health/Magicka/Stamina Recovery)
Orzorga's Tipe Trifle Pocket (5000 Health and 457 Stamina Recovery)
Rally - Major Brutality (in addition to the heal over time)
Relentless Focus - Minor Berserk, Minor Endurance, 10% Stamina Recovery
Surprise Attack - Major Resolve, Major Ward (only self - does not include buffs applied to enemy)
Camouflage Hunter - Major Savagery (2191 crit just for being slotted)
Flawless Dawnbreaker - (Weapon Damage Increase 5% for being slotted)
Molag Kena Proc - Overkill (additional 516 weapon damage)
Warrior Mundus Stone (Weapon Damage)

The Kena Proc is for when I need to burst. It's there when I need it and I have the recovery to use it frequently when I need to.




I think that's pretty much it. Again, this is the build that suits me and my play style. Hope this helped you a bit.