I started really getting into PvP - But I can't stop dying.

Kozato · June 2017

This last week I've been doing nothing but PVP (I prepared a lot beforehand). I'm making this thread so I can understand what's going on and improve from where I currently am. So here's my stats.
All points to stamina
7 medium armor
darkstride set - stamina bonuses
Fiord set - speed bonus
Nightblade
Dark elf
21k health (with food)
32k stamina (with food)
Rank 270 (in the non champ campaign)
I understand that I'm going to be poor when first joining cyrodill, but I feel like I'm dying too easily. When I encounter a player, i use all my moves (Such as surprise attack) and can barely dent their health. But within 2 seconds, all my stamina gets drained and I die. Can people ive me a helping hand? I need to improve further and want to lbe capable of fighting better because I'm terrible right now.

Publius_Scipio · June 2017

Your best bet is to search the Player Guides subforum here and search YouTube for build videos.

As far as your stamina getting drained in the blink of an eye. It's possible you had a poison applied on you. Those can be pretty rough.

Edit: Also NBs in general can be squishy in comparison to the other classes and self healing isn't the best. For medium armor it is wise to have a few pieces be impenetrable trait at a minimum, generally speaking.

You need to be mindful that NBs can't really brawl with the other classes. Unless you have an extremely optimized NB build. NBs have to attack in quick bursts and then pull back in most situations.

Enslaved · June 2017

Your build is very fast and very squishy at the same time. Seems like fun.
Dont worry about dying. You will improve by time, or quit.

What you need is to figure what you want from build. Survivability? Damage? Speed? Is it a ganker or support build? Scout maybe? After you figure what you want, then you start building upon that.

If you want more regeneration, one set excels atm. Its Bone pirate tatters. Found in Blackheart's Haven. Set to combine with if you go for damage is either spriggan/for more melee approach, or marksman - ranged solution. If you want to have a lot of resources, both stamina and magicka, go with shackle breaker. Set that is great for a rolldodging beast is either eternal hunt or senche. Marksman can be bought at vendors or it drops in reward crates in PvP. Shacklebreaker and eternal hunt can be crafter. Senche is found in Reaper's March.

Karmanorway · June 2017

Probably using Impregnable armor set lol

IcyDeadPeople · June 2017

I strongly suggest to find a friend who has some experience in PVP and have them help you practice a bit. The best way to improve some basic things like blocking, managing your resources, keeping the enemy CC'd and firing your burst combo etc, is by dueling someone good over and over.

Remember even the top PVP players you find in Cyrodiil killing tons of enemies were all beginners like you at one time. The difference is they have put in a lot of time practicing.

Also your armor sets are stacking running speed / reduced cost of sprint. You probably want to consider a rather different build for PVP if you want to do more damage whether your goal is ganking or sustained melee fights etc.

Iccotak · June 2017

PvP takes good skill and knowledge. You have to know what you are doing and be prepared.
Its about strategy and spending resources carefully.
What role are you filling?

Asardes · June 2017

Dark Elf is better suited for magicka. You will be stronger.

Joy_Division · June 2017

It just takes practice fighting intelligent and experienced players who behave very differently than AI mobs.

Most 5 piece armor sets that are not dedicated to damage or resource management are poor performers. The two you are using do neither so that's why it seems you are not hurt your opponents and are running out of resources.

vyndral13preub18_ESO · June 2017

While I am horrible at pvp here what I can say I have learned from other games. If you are new to the game, once you feel squared away with your character play some of the other classes or find players in the other classes to practice against. Once you can start figuring out what the other player is trying to do or will be doing next, you are well on your way.

Megabear · June 2017

As with all PvP, you will die horribly all the time in the beginning. Sort of like learning a new language. At first you don't understand jack. Then, one day you gain some sort of enlightenment, then everything starts to come together, then voila! You are competing competitively.

Gothren · June 2017

best way to get better in cyrodill is to keep on playing and watch other good players on youtube. test out new builds or just follow the meta with slight varations. don't forget that sometimes timing is everything when it comes to offense and defense. good luck.

MilwaukeeScott · June 2017

Practice, practice, then practice some more!

ArchMikem · June 2017

DPS Nightblades are good really only for one thing. Hitting hard, and hitting suddenly. If you see you're coming up on a hostile, you immediately go into sneak and buff. Waiting for a moment where your opponent isn't buffed or shielded, you Ambush > Incapacitating Strike > Surprise Attack > and Killer's Blade to finish. That's assuming those first two or three hits get the player down below 25% Health. Even if they're still at 26% or higher, Killer's Blade won't do diddly crap, and your gank will fail as they'll roll dodge away, buff, shield, then come wanting your blood.

geonsocal · June 2017

shields and heals...how are you shielding and how are you healing on each bar...

when I used to fight I would get all caught up in firing off every offense skill I had...

focus more on what your opponent(s) are doing...block, roll dodge and use your cc...

you should be running either shuffle or mirage...

be conscious of how many stamina and magicka abilities you have on each bar...

Strider_Roshin · June 2017

Before opening this thread I thought to myself. This person must be stamina lol

MakoFore · June 2017

best advice i can give with pvp is this:

keep your buffs up. running around just buffing and getting used to it is worth it. without ur buffs - your a piece of meat. having each of them up always- and getting good and disciplined at it- is the difference between good and bad players.

Avran_Sylt · June 2017

If you've not used the skill yet: Aspect of Terror is a fantastic skill. Also, even though you're stamina, don't shy away from using cloak, it's great at dodging crit rush and running tf away if you're getting screwed. (also if you use surprise attack while you're still in cloak you stun your opponent assuming they're not on the CC cooldown)

Kram8ion · June 2017

Your made of marshmallow so until your skill and confidence in your play style it's best to assist kills if your worried about dying and patience, practice and perseverance

Also don't think about dying too much everyone does (a lot) maybe judge your improvement by death/kills ratio it will improve with time

Zardayne · June 2017

Make sure you have impenetrable on your armor. That will help alot!

Experience also means a ton so don't give up..

Don't feel ashamed to slot radiant magelight..those rogues are nasty from stealth (oh you are one, sorry). Even though your an assassin I'm sure there's 6 other counter assassin's like sharks around you at all times so magelight could still help IMO.

Don't be like me for the longest time and refuse to run some heavy armor pieces because it doesn't fit how you envision your character. Armor up some and live! well a little longer anyway..

Lastly, remember once you get good and you feel like a bad A**, there's always a badder A** around the corner.

SugaComa · June 2017

I die loads ... Way I look at it is if you're having fun don't stress it

I read the damage report and I was in battle grounds dying to critical rush biting Java and crystal frags

I never saw a players close enough to me for the first two

But battlegrounds is worth playing to get a feel for it more than the big clusters in cyrodil

Though I last longer in cyrodil

Sneaky-Snurr · June 2017

OP, a speed build focusing on combat is mostly good when you're not sprinting. The current sets you utilise are very good and suitable for scroll running or evasive manoeuvres however.

I'm not saying your current sets won't work in combat because it can, but within very specific playstyle.
All I'm saying is there are better sets if you're looking to do serious damage like Twice-Fanged Serpent. Penetration is always a good thing to stack against most opponents.
Also, how much is your Weapon Damage? In general, you'll need to have over 6000 'power level' (divide your 'main' max resource pool by 10.5 and then adding it to your weapon/spell damage, whichever you utilise more) to do ample damage. 7000 is when you're ripping things through and higher numbers speak for itself.

I myself utilise hybrid characters so my power level is indeed a little lower than your usual stam/mag build but I shine through in terms of self-sustain as I draw from both resources and both do considerable amount of damage and healing.
My hybrid NB and Templar both have ~6,300 power level each and they fare well against most opponents and that is good enough for me (I'm not a minmaxer. :P).

CaptainBeerDude · June 2017

Dying all the time in PVP is my unique skill and I would ask that you stop trying to steal it.

Narvuntien · June 2017

Its not about not dying.. its about dying in the right place. I am an expert at dying in the right place.

CaptainBeerDude · June 2017

If riding back to where you died in Cyro levelled up your riding, all of my toons would have max stat horses.

Sausage · June 2017

Cyrodil isnt a place for special snowflakes, its zeeeeeerg!

hmsdragonfly · June 2017

Asardes wrote: »

Dark Elf is better suited for magicka. You will be stronger.

In my opinion, if OP rerolls to Bosmer or Redguard right now the result will still be the same. OP should focus on learning about the game and improving his build, his playstyle first, and OP can always reroll later when he is confident of his performance.

To OP, it took me 300 CPs to become slightly below average, learning this game takes a lot of time.

In my opinions, these are few steps you should take:
1) Practice light attack weave, some basic movements and combos. There are two kinds of damage you can deal: sustain damage and a deadly burst. For sustain damage, circle around your target (you control the fight, you circle around your opponent) and light attack (LA) + surprise attack, and LA + execute. Do not forget to use your CC, fear (Aspect of Terror) is extremely strong and can be used for a great deals of situations. Fear + Incap is a simple but strong combo. For a high burst combo, try something like Ambush + Incap + LA + Surprise Attack + LA + Execute. Or something more complicated like HA + Poison Injection + Cloak + Barswap + Ambush + Incap + LA + Execute. Something like that. Try to find some combos that work best for you and learn them.

2) Improve your build. What kind of playstyle that works best for you? Sustain damage with good survivability? A brawler with high burst? Sneaky ganker? Then, find a build that works with your playstyle. You can do some research, looking for guides on the internet (sypher, alcast, blobs eso, tamrielfoundry etc) for inspiration. Your build right now is not really good. You have no resources sustain and also not good damage.

3) Practice, practice, practice. The best way to practice is to go solo. Surf zerg might be fun for some people, but overall it won't help you improving much. This is where you have to make a decision yourself, surf zerg or nah. By time, you will learn about more advanced techniques, like how to keep your heal up (always vigor when you take damage, not just when you are super low HP), how to utilize LOS (line of sight), how to kite your opponents, how to manage your resources, how to counter each class/build, and when you are at the very top level, you will learn about how to counter each player (PvP community is small, when someone is good and stands out, everyone knows about it). But that's a story for another day.

Knootewoot · June 2017

I am glad someone "who dies a lot" (perfect Argonian name) does not give up on PvP. I really hope you will stick with it and got use of any tips. There are many builds and tips on youtube channels from players like @Alcast, @KenaPKK , @Blobsky and many more. Also look at the player profiles as they have websites dedicated to theroycrafted builds with rotations and tips.

Sadly I don't have any good tips as I am no pro myself. I could give these tips which make me a happy PvP'er:

- try out your own builds suited to your play-style. Playing your own build might make you happier then a copy+paste build.
- PvP is not only about killing people alone. Scout keeps, siege keeps, defend keeps, heal other people, rez people. If people only play to fight and not heal/siege/defend, you will never take the keep or be able to defend it. REPAIR REPAIR.
- Find a nice group. Contradiction to PvE, in PvP people mostly do not look at your level or CP or build. It's all about fun.
- Jojn a PvP guild. You will learn tips and trick from guildies and share builds.

Also, a golden oldy from @DeanTheCat : Surviving Cyrodill

leepalmer95 · June 2017

You build is kind of bad to be honest as well.

Your not damaging them because likely your stats are low and your not weaving properly.

Google animation cancelling eso, look at a few videos.

Stam nb is all about burst you usually heavy attack poison injection someone before going in with a ambush, light attack, fear, light, surprise attack, or ambush light incap, light surprise attack.

I'd use more proc sets as well, they are horrible but thats the meta and where all your dmg is.

Try run viper/selene. Get enough stam regen to be able to sustain and if you don't manage to burst someone go and cloak away and rebuff, don't brawl you won't win.

Make sure your weapons are gold, its a big increase in damage and put a oblivion damage enchant on. Upgrade your armor to purple only.

Also crit cloak is your main way to heal as a stam nb as while in it all your heals crit. You don't have the sheer healing buffs other classes do.

ofSunhold · June 2017

CaptainBeerDude wrote: »

If riding back to where you died in Cyro levelled up your riding, all of my toons would have max stat horses.

This should be a thing.

MLGProPlayer · June 2017

You need heavy armour in PvP if you aren't a ganker.

RobbieRocket · June 2017

One further thing which I don't think has been mentioned also plays a large role: Alliance Bonuses.

If you are in a campaign, take a look at the current bonuses, an Alliance can have every player hitting +14% harder which if you figure the swing could mean a 28% difference from when your Alliance is getting ruined and when you are ruining others.

This combined with the entire thread of asnwers above IS a factor. Being humbled as well as being overjoyed at breaking through with "the big boys" becomes a regular occurence.