I haven't tested my build yet, as I'm still collecting the set pieces, so lots of this could change. I don't use trial gear or vMSA/vDSA weapons, so I am sure there are better choices with those sets in mind. I also don't like to spend money/mats using weapon power/crit pots for 4-man dungeons, but if you do, there are some easy substitutions to boost up DPS with this build, which I will point out.

With all that said, here is the build I am working torwards:

5pc Sheer Venom (2H front bar)
5pc Witchman (Back bar, for sustain)
2pc Monster (You choice, probably Velidreth)

This can be 2H and DW or 2H and Bow. I am actually leaning towards DW on the Back bar for the survivability deadly cloak adds, but it will likely result in a dead spot for set bonuses there (Maelstrom or, probably better, Master 1H could work to make that spot better).

Here's what I am thinking for my bars:

2H:
1) Rally (If weapon power pot: could possibly replace with Wrecking Blow, but not sure it's a DPS boost with the rotation yet. Otherwise, Flames of Oblivion is a good choice.)
2) Reverse Slice (spamable now with the lower cost and for execute situations)
3) Carve (for the heroism buff, helps sustain)
4) Rearming Trap
5) Evil Hunter (If Weapon crit pot: can replace with Caltrops, switch with Molten on back bar?)
Ult) Flawless Dawnbreaker

DW:
1) Rending Slashes
2) Deadly Cloak
3) Venomous Claw
4) Noxious Breath
5) Molten Armaments
Ult) Lascerate/Standard of Might

Bow bar would essentially be the same, just replace rending slashes and deadly cloak with poison injection and endless hail.

I'm still working in trying to get the rotation put together, so that may change some things. Might also scrap sheer venom for something more useful in AOE situations, but it does make reverse slice a more useful skill to have on your bar.

Again, this is just my starting point and I have no idea how it will work.

esterwind wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it.

It has some great stuff in it and might actually work.

However, I do want to point some things out.
1. The gear sets you mentioned work very well, but the 5 piece bonus from the Witchman set will not be available if i play with a bow on my back bar, which I will most likely do.
2. The skills on the bars are perfect for me since I don't do many trials and in 4 mans I don't want to spend gold on mats for potions and such.
3. I do not have any master weapons or vMA weapons, but I do have Velidreth.

I was thinking of using 2 x Velidreth, 1 heavy and 1 light for the undaunted passive to get some more stats there, mostly health since i am very squishy with no shields like sorcs have, and for starters 5 x Hunding's Rage body pieces and 3 x Agility jewelry.
This is however until i can get some better gear to replace it with, although that will take a while and I will actually do it only once I have all the pieces from the new sets to benefit fully from them.

As for the weapons, at the moment I will use whatever weapons I can get my hands on until I can find some sets in which I can contribute with the weapons. (Maybe even try getting 3 x Witchman jewelry pieces with a 2h Witchman Sword and a Witchman bow, to benefit from the 4th piece set effect).

Anyway, thank you very much for the information, really well received, I appreciate it.

Cheers

You can have Witchman on the back bar only (with your main ultimate): 1 armor piece, 3 jewelry, 1 bow

Sheer Venom on front bar only (for use with reverse slice): 1 2H Weapon, 4 armor pieces.

And 2 piece monster.

Basically, the only way to get a monster set in is to have 5pc bonuses that don't give a huge drop off when switching bars. This is why I went with Witchman. You don't need Witchman on both bars, just the bar with your main ultimate (Flawless Dawnbreaker is really just there for the +weapon damage passive). If you dual wield back bar, you can have both 5 piece bonuses up, which gives you more options for your other 5 pc set.

TheStealthDude wrote: »

Night Mother's Gaze would be a good front bar set, as well, if you wanted something else to pair with Witchman's. Easy to craft and might even get better DPS.

That's exactly my dilemma, because I am thinking that maybe Hunding's might perform better than Night Mother's Gaze now with the changes to the CP system with the more frontloaded points invested in the penetration.

I guess I will have to test them out to see which one performs better, but nevertheless, great advice in the comment above with the combinations of the sets, didn't think it that way.

Thank you very much, this has been really helpful!

I tried it last night for a bit running 2 x Velidreth, 5 x NMG and 5 x Witchman's exactly as per your advice. I only had time to run through some solo content to see how well it performs and pushed it as far as I could in that content and I must say, it's running quite good, quite some decent DPS and also high sustain in terms of stamina and healing, but most of all I am enjoying it A LOT!

I still have to try it and see how well it performs in 4 man Dungeons and even Trials if I have the chance and see how it performs there.

Anyway, all in all, I can honestly say this is a very promising start.

Thank you so much for the advice!

Bladerunner1 wrote: »

*edit* I just noticed the comment on NMG and Witchman, and glad it's working out. But maybe to answer the first question on 2-handed weapons this may help:

Ever since the change was made that allows light and heavy attacks to hit 4 mobs at the same time, the Ravager proc set works very well with 2-hand if you don't mind wearing 3 pieces of jewelry that buff health + 1 weapon + heavy chest plate. The 620 weapon damage buff activates within a couple seconds of engaging a large group of mobs and stays active through most of the fight. It also stays active for 10 seconds when you swap bars.

Selene's also procs very often for the same reason, though Veledrith would be better.

The downside is the sets are less active in one-on-one fights.

What you say here is very true and I agree it can actually return very good results, however, I am not looking just for AOE damage, I want to balance the AOE and Single Target DPS somewhat. And at the moment the gear that I have been using is doing a very good job.
As for the Ravager, I will give it a try to see how it's working once I get my hands on a full set, until then I will use what I have.

Anyway, thanks for the input, much appreciated!

TheStealthDude wrote: »

I decided to try out Hundings/Witchman/Selenes with a 2H/DW setup, and found that it's been really nice. Most the skills can proc Selene on the initial hit, including: light/heavy attacks, cleave, reverse slice, venomous claw, noxious breath, twin Slashes, and deadly cloak (surprising to me). I was playing with Flames of Oblivion, but don't believe it procs Selenes (not surprising) and I didn't really test out Rearming Trap yet.

I was very happy with Selenes for this setup (using DW) because I could proc it about every 6-7 seconds, making it a bit better for single target DPS than Velidreth. If I was using bow for back bar, I would stick with Velidreth.

I was also going to try Ravager, but I have some attribute points into health that I didn't want to change (I main a tank on this character) and thought it would just not be worthwhile because of that self-imposed restriction. I do think Ravager would be a good set for this type of setup, though.

My ultimate goal with this setup is to eventually work it out to be good enough for vet 4-man dungeons, which is why it's so DOT-heavy. I think it's going to get there, but if you are just using it for solo-PvE, you probably don't need so many DOTs and could probably slot wrecking blow for fun on the front bar.

On a side note, the heavy attack damage nerf really seems to have hurt 2H. I feel like my heavy attacks are doing 50% less damage than before the patch. Because of this, I am not sure if it makes sense to slot Molten Armaments anymore. Would definitely like to know what y'all think in that regard. Light attacks are wrecking things, though.

Regarding what you said here, I didn't test it out myself, and I think it could work very well with those particular items combinations. Will have to try it in order to give some feedback.
As for the purposes of this character of mine, mainly the same as the ones you mentioned. I also tank with it but i am very heavy on blocking, dodging, sustain and group utility (i run 2 x Malubeth for survival, 5 x Hist bark, 5 x Footman on my tank spec on this character), but I do not have any health issues whatsoever no matter what content has been thrown my way so far, and because of this I have all my attribute points invested in stamina.

Regarding the heavy attacks, they are indeed lower in terms of damage, however, given the fact that they return so much more resources now, using that Molten Armaments skill is a win win situation for me, at least for the time being until i get 5 pieces of VO. But until then, not only do I use heavy attacks for sustain and they do their job wonderfully, but I also can hit quite decently with them while I have Molten Armaments up.

As for the light attacks, yeah they kick ass. All in all, 2H stamina build for DK is doing much better now than it was before Morrowind.