davey1107 wrote: »

Welcome to pvp! I'll start with some general tips then get to some gear suggestions.

General tips

- Blessing of War: you can get a 1 hour buff that offers +20% AP by killing any named delve boss. Take advantage of this, it really adds up. (Plus will give you sky shards) Just be aware that Cyrodiil delves have 2-5 bosses each, set to only spawn one at a time. Look up a map and be prepared to hunt or wait around a bit to get your kill.

- as a PVP starter, try grouping up. Ditch a group if it stinks, but when you get into good groups you'll find people who will share a lot of great insight into pvp, and the game in general. You'll learn a lot, and they'll help watch your back. And if you're willing to group, don't be afraid to come into a CP campaign if Kyle is slow. On your own you'll be fodder, ha, but you can earn a lot more AP in a group in a busy campaign than in a dead one. Usually Kyle stays busy, though.

- whether you group or not, when yo first start try doing some support roles before charging into 1vx combat. Or charge in, lol. But what I mean is that as you learn the pvp game, there's a lot you can do while you learn how to handle the intense duels, ganks and zergs that it involves. Go to keeps your team has under heavy assault and assist with lookout, heals, or siege. Go into a big defense and help from up on a wall.

- don't neglect Legerdemain. Why? You can spend up to four points tomreduce sneak cost by 40%. This can be essential in pvp. Do a daily grind of stealing a pile then fencing it. In 10-20 sessions you can level Legerdemain to 16'tomgetmthenfill benefits.


Gear/build

Pvp sometimes requires a different approach than pve, in regard to gear you wear or abilities you slot. Read some build guides from expert players like Alcast. These can help get you started and make you think of combos or abilities you hadn't considered before. I'm not an expert pvp-er with my Warden, but I do have a stam build with a couple dozen hours experience in pvp (then a zillion on my stamblade, ha).

You have a couple of pvp approaches with a stam Warden. They can actually be great bow builds, partially because they can get the two most powerful buffs (major brutality and savagery) from class skills that are helpful in other regards. You can also be a pretty powerful melee build using dual wield. As a vet you'd likely use different gear for these two strategies, but as a low level player we can target sets that work for either.

Armor weight

Weight is a choice between power or resistance. You want to use a 5/2 combo in one direction or the other becausemofmthe passives. To me, Wardens are pretty tanky and have great heals, so you might start with a 5 medium build. If you survive great, maybe move to 7 mediums. If you're too squishy, go 5 heavy. There'll be some trial and error, and I've never played no CP Warden so I'm not sure where you'll end up.

And just remember....down the road the character may shift. Once you get to vet and start earning Champion Points (I assume this is a first toon), they will help overcome weaknesses and your characters balance will shift.

Armor traits

Again we have choices here. Conventional wisdom is that divines is the best for power. However, in pvp other players can crit HARD against you. Without CPs, your only way to counter this is by using impen armor. It really helps. My stamblade is toast in divines, but in five impen I feel resilient enough to get out of a tough situation.

If you feel squishy, before messing with armor weight try messing with traits. Look at your kill reports. Are people hitting you for 8k+ per attack? If so, impen will be more helpful than heavy armor. To give you an idea, in CP pvp as a bow ganker when I hit an impen defended enemy my buffed snipe will hit for ~7k. If they aren't in impen, I hit them for ~15k. Getting caught unaware with a 15k snipe is the start of a very bad day, lol.

Armor quality

Higher quality armor helps, for sure. Blue mats are pretty common and cheap, so I think blue armor is definitely a good investment. I don't usually use purple for a non-vet toon, but if you have gold and want to spend $30k permset to upgrade, go for it. Gold would be a waste, honestly. But don't stress about not having gold, or even purple. At low levels the difference isn't that much.

Sets

You said you can wear two craft sets. But to be as powerful as possible you probably want one craft set and one drop...because you can't make jewelry. With one craft and one drop you can gear up in a 5/5/2 or 5/5/1 config. I'll discuss sets with either a craft/craft or craft/drop approach and just point out some good choices.

There'll be some challenges because you're low level, so you will need to trade out sets more often and it's hard to buy non-vet gear. We assume you'll have to earn it, and that you don't want to spend fifty hours earning a level 20 set you'll wear for two weeks.

Crafted sets that work

"Testing the waters" - Night Silence: when I first started pvp, it was helpful to have double sneak speed. Not necessary, but helpful. This isn't a bad training wheel set if you want to spend more time sneaking at first.

Hunding Rage: probably the best stam craft set. It's all about power. It's actually one you can use all throughnyour leveling, then even as a vet player. It is still my base setmon all stam toons.

Clever alchemist: this provides mega power, but you have to chug potions. Still, people love this for it's burst damage potential.

Twice Born star: this works for stam as much as it works for magic. Having two Mundas is way powerful. The drawback is that any time you take it off you lose the second Mundas then have to go get it again.

Morkuldin: not a conventional set, but non-vet pvp should be kinda fun, and I find the silly sword funny in pvp. Bow attack from a wall then watch them go crazy evading the sword, ha.

Night mothers: the debuff offered by the 5th trait isn't horribly helpful in solo, but in group fighting this set is beneficial.

Drop sets that work

I was going to list a bunch, but here's the deal...what you really want is any stamina set you can pick up quickly, and change out every couple of levels. You don't want to grind group dungeons for that. Check out the following list, and pick any stam set that drops in a standard overland zone (i.e., auridon or eastmarch). What you then do is dolmen grind for an hour or so to get jewelry at your level. Then kill delve bosses and grab two more pieces and you're good to go. Then go do it again in 5 player levels.

Spriggans is probably best, but any is fine honestly...shadow of the red mountain, senches bite, shadow walker.

Hopefully these tips help. If you have questions, respond using @davey1107 in the post and I'll see it flagged to answer anything.

Have fun in pvp!