Don't Waste Money on ESO Mastery Guide

FixedBlade123 · September 2017

A few months ago I decided to buy the ESO Mastery Guide for about $35.00. I had searched in the forum, Youtube, and other sites for information on a good DPS build for me DK but I was getting LOTS of mixed messages and nobody seemed to help me with a good build that could be used in regular PVE, Cyrodiil, and group dungeons. So I bought the guide. Well ... there went a tank of gas and a waste of an hour-and-a-half of hard-earned wages. Although I had all the Guide's information and advice I just made the switch a couple of days ago.

I'm a Nord DK but hated tanking so I decided to try my hand at DPS. I did a lot of tweaking and got my Nord to the point that he could do some fair DPS but I had great health longevity. The red bar hardly moved in battle (most of the time). However, when I took the advice of the Guide I switched all of my armor from heavy to medium (Hunding's Rage & Ashen Grip). I also bumped up my stamina and critical hit abilities and Mundus stone (Warrior). The result? I have great DPS abilities but a Nix Hound can look cross-eyed at me and I die on the spot.

What good is having lots of DPS if you're lying on the ground with a big, white Plus Sign attached to your forehead? The "Masters" who put this guide together are "Masters" at taking your money and giving you nothing truly useful in return. Save your bucks.

Now I get to figure out what the hell to do. I'm afraid of dark anchors and dungeons are out of the question. I guess I can go back to my old build (which is unsatisfactory) or I can just spend the rest of my ESO life provisioning.

Signed: Frustrated!!!

Betheny · September 2017

If you're wanting to play solo you can amp your dps but you also need to add in a few defense skills, and remember to move on cue.

FixedBlade123 · September 2017

I might add that I'm considering starting all over from scratch. My current Nord DK is Vet 643 but I may have to scrap him and start over as a Khajit or something else.

Betheny · September 2017

Your race doesn't make all that much difference - if you're expecting things to totally turn around just by switching race without figuring out where you're really going wrong, it won't happen.

FixedBlade123 · September 2017

Betheny wrote: »

If you're wanting to play solo you can amp your dps but you also need to add in a few defense skills, and remember to move on cue.

My old build had some good shields and defense skills. I could hang out in "the red" for a time without any adverse affect. The new build can't handle "the red" at all.

Betheny · September 2017

FixedBlade123 wrote: »

Betheny wrote: »

If you're wanting to play solo you can amp your dps but you also need to add in a few defense skills, and remember to move on cue.

My old build had some good shields and defense skills. I could hang out in "the red" for a time without any adverse affect. The new build can't handle "the red" at all.

You really don't want to be "hanging in the red" at all...sounds like you developed a few bad habits from your time playing a damage soak build.

bebynnag · September 2017

FixedBlade123 wrote: »

A few months ago I decided to buy the ESO Mastery Guide for about $35.00. I had searched in the forum, Youtube, and other sites for information on a good DPS build for me DK but I was getting LOTS of mixed messages and nobody seemed to help me with a good build that could be used in regular PVE, Cyrodiil, and group dungeons. So I bought the guide. Well ... there went a tank of gas and a waste of an hour-and-a-half of hard-earned wages. Although I had all the Guide's information and advice I just made the switch a couple of days ago.

I'm a Nord DK but hated tanking so I decided to try my hand at DPS. I did a lot of tweaking and got my Nord to the point that he could do some fair DPS but I had great health longevity. The red bar hardly moved in battle (most of the time). However, when I took the advice of the Guide I switched all of my armor from heavy to medium (Hunding's Rage & Ashen Grip). I also bumped up my stamina and critical hit abilities and Mundus stone (Warrior). The result? I have great DPS abilities but a Nix Hound can look cross-eyed at me and I die on the spot.

What good is having lots of DPS if you're lying on the ground with a big, white Plus Sign attached to your forehead? The "Masters" who put this guide together are "Masters" at taking your money and giving you nothing truly useful in return. Save your bucks.

Now I get to figure out what the hell to do. I'm afraid of dark anchors and dungeons are out of the question. I guess I can go back to my old build (which is unsatisfactory) or I can just spend the rest of my ESO life provisioning.

Signed: Frustrated!!!

i agre that the guide wa probably a waste of money because zos have changed how every weapon trait works just a few weeks ago so any information in the guide is likey out of date

the reason you may of got mixed messages about a 1 build for all situations is because people tend to specialise either pvp or pve, and then depending on what you are trying to achieve they specialise further

and as nord DK many end game min/maxers will insist you are only good for tanking, but in truth you can DD

as @Betheny said you need skills to increase your survivability,
vigour is a good skill from assault skill line (pvp)

but if you tell us what weapons you use, what level you are, what level you skill lines are we can advise you of some skills to use to increase survivability

Kaliki · September 2017

I don't see why you would die just because you're not wearing heavy armor.
Most DDs out there wear 5+ light or medium armor and do fine in all content with around 18k health and one or two defensive/healing abilities.

Soloing dolmens is not hard at all, you shouldnt have to be afraid of that. If it is hard for you, then it is likely you are still doing something wrong, like using the wrong abilities, take damage from avoidable sources etc.

Edit:
Why would you start from scratch?
A different race is not going to make a decisive difference.
You could always just buy a race change token for your existing char.
But as I said above, your race is not the real issue here.

FixedBlade123 · September 2017

Betheny wrote: »

FixedBlade123 wrote: »

Betheny wrote: »

If you're wanting to play solo you can amp your dps but you also need to add in a few defense skills, and remember to move on cue.

My old build had some good shields and defense skills. I could hang out in "the red" for a time without any adverse affect. The new build can't handle "the red" at all.

You really don't want to be "hanging in the red" at all...sounds like you developed a few bad habits from your time playing a damage soak build.

True. My time as a tank had some benefits. I could handle lots of punishment while using my sword and board. That's about the only thing I liked about tanking. When I switched to a more DPS-like build I could still take the red zone but didn't just hang out in it. I could run in, make some good hits, and run out.

bebynnag · September 2017

what platform/server do you play on, i think you could benefit from a mentor

FixedBlade123 · September 2017

Betheny wrote: »

Your race doesn't make all that much difference - if you're expecting things to totally turn around just by switching race without figuring out where you're really going wrong, it won't happen.

Actually, some races have built in attributes that other races don't. Nords have a little more health and health recovery than most of the other races. Khajiits have 15% more health recovery and 15% more critical damage. It seems to me that they would make a good healthy DPS from scratch.

https://elderscrollsonline.info/races

FixedBlade123 · September 2017

puffytheslayer wrote: »

what platform/server do you play on, i think you could benefit from a mentor

XB1

Betheny · September 2017

FixedBlade123 wrote: »

Betheny wrote: »

Your race doesn't make all that much difference - if you're expecting things to totally turn around just by switching race without figuring out where you're really going wrong, it won't happen.

Actually, some races have built in attributes that other races don't. Nords have a little more health and health recovery than most of the other races. Khajiits have 15% more health recovery and 15% more critical damage. It seems to me that they would make a good healthy DPS from scratch.

https://elderscrollsonline.info/races

What I'm saying is changing your race won't turn your whole dying to regular PVE thing around.

Having the perfect race for a build is a min-maxer thing - for regular play it doesn't make much difference, because regular play isn't hard.

bebynnag · September 2017

FixedBlade123 wrote: »

puffytheslayer wrote: »

what platform/server do you play on, i think you could benefit from a mentor

XB1

i have characters on both servers, message me i will help you out, i explain better in chat than as messages

GT same as forum name puffytheslayer

FixedBlade123 · September 2017

Kaliki wrote: »

I don't see why you would die just because you're not wearing heavy armor.
Most DDs out there wear 5+ light or medium armor and do fine in all content with around 18k health and one or two defensive/healing abilities.

Soloing dolmens is not hard at all, you shouldnt have to be afraid of that. If it is hard for you, then it is likely you are still doing something wrong, like using the wrong abilities, take damage from avoidable sources etc.

Edit:
Why would you start from scratch?
A different race is not going to make a decisive difference.
You could always just buy a race change token for your existing char.
But as I said above, your race is not the real issue here.

With my old build, I soloed dolmens all the time. I can't solo with my new build. Not even close. I'm V643 and switch between staff and Sword/Board. I prefer Sword/Board due to using it for so long. Bash damage is great and using my shield had very good knock back ability when an enemy is about to heavy attack. My staff is an inferno staff with a frost glyph. All of my medium armor is legendary grade with stamina glyphs (except for one piece that has a health glyph).

SammyFable · September 2017

FixedBlade123 wrote: »

Betheny wrote: »

Your race doesn't make all that much difference - if you're expecting things to totally turn around just by switching race without figuring out where you're really going wrong, it won't happen.

Actually, some races have built in attributes that other races don't. Nords have a little more health and health recovery than most of the other races. Khajiits have 15% more health recovery and 15% more critical damage. It seems to me that they would make a good healthy DPS from scratch.

https://elderscrollsonline.info/races

Your information on races is outdated. Khajiit gets a 8% increase in crit chance, which made it the most useful stam DPS race before morrwind launched. It's still on top as long as you can sustain it, otherwise redguard will be better.

I would never bother with a paid guide since there are so many free builds/guides readily avaiable. For PvE (focus on vet trials, but can be used in all pve content) check out alcast's website or tamrielfoundry. For PvP check out sypher (not sure if he still plays), hexys, blobs. But don't just copy builds, especially if they aren't meant for your playstyle. It would be best to tweak them to your needs. For example if you need more survivability consider slotting a shield/vigor. This way you can prevent damage or have a decent self heal. Depending on your weapons you can either use the 2h skill brawler which will give you a damage shield with increasing strength the more targets you hit or use the dual wield skill deadly cloak for 25% less damage taken.

bebynnag · September 2017

FixedBlade123 wrote: »

Kaliki wrote: »

I don't see why you would die just because you're not wearing heavy armor.
Most DDs out there wear 5+ light or medium armor and do fine in all content with around 18k health and one or two defensive/healing abilities.

Soloing dolmens is not hard at all, you shouldnt have to be afraid of that. If it is hard for you, then it is likely you are still doing something wrong, like using the wrong abilities, take damage from avoidable sources etc.

Edit:
Why would you start from scratch?
A different race is not going to make a decisive difference.
You could always just buy a race change token for your existing char.
But as I said above, your race is not the real issue here.

With my old build, I soloed dolmens all the time. I can't solo with my new build. Not even close. I'm V643 and switch between staff and Sword/Board. I prefer Sword/Board due to using it for so long. Bash damage is great and using my shield had very good knock back ability when an enemy is about to heavy attack. My staff is an inferno staff with a frost glyph. All of my medium armor is legendary grade with stamina glyphs (except for one piece that has a health glyph).

staff skills skale off magic and spell damge and you are wearing medium armour & stamina glyphs which increases weapon damage

if you want to play a hybrid i can help you with that, we will need to change all your armour

if you have invested to much money/time into your current gear i can help you change to a stam DD but we will need to change the staff to a diffrent weapon

or i could help you make a magic DD build you may be able to keep your current weapons but would definatley need to change armour

you dont need to change race for any of these since what we are working on at the moment is overland content

the decision is yours

as i said message me on xbox and we can meet in game and get you started

BuddyAces · September 2017

Seriously, who buys guides, other than folks who will buy anything eso related??? This is the internet. There is a plethora of updated content at your disposal for free.

FixedBlade123 · September 2017

puffytheslayer wrote: »

FixedBlade123 wrote: »

Kaliki wrote: »

I don't see why you would die just because you're not wearing heavy armor.
Most DDs out there wear 5+ light or medium armor and do fine in all content with around 18k health and one or two defensive/healing abilities.

Soloing dolmens is not hard at all, you shouldnt have to be afraid of that. If it is hard for you, then it is likely you are still doing something wrong, like using the wrong abilities, take damage from avoidable sources etc.

Edit:
Why would you start from scratch?
A different race is not going to make a decisive difference.
You could always just buy a race change token for your existing char.
But as I said above, your race is not the real issue here.

With my old build, I soloed dolmens all the time. I can't solo with my new build. Not even close. I'm V643 and switch between staff and Sword/Board. I prefer Sword/Board due to using it for so long. Bash damage is great and using my shield had very good knock back ability when an enemy is about to heavy attack. My staff is an inferno staff with a frost glyph. All of my medium armor is legendary grade with stamina glyphs (except for one piece that has a health glyph).

staff skills skale off magic and spell damge and you are wearing medium armour & stamina glyphs which increases weapon damage

if you want to play a hybrid i can help you with that, we will need to change all your armour

if you have invested to much money/time into your current gear i can help you change to a stam DD but we will need to change the staff to a diffrent weapon

or i could help you make a magic DD build you may be able to keep your current weapons but would definatley need to change armour

you dont need to change race for any of these since what we are working on at the moment is overland content

the decision is yours

as i said message me on xbox and we can meet in game and get you started

I have a little over 2 million so the cost of re-building isn't an issue. (I had over 3 million until I started working on the housing achievements). I'll sign on to Xbox in a few moments and get in touch. Thanks for your willingness to help out.

bebynnag · September 2017

FixedBlade123 wrote: »

puffytheslayer wrote: »

FixedBlade123 wrote: »

Kaliki wrote: »

I don't see why you would die just because you're not wearing heavy armor.
Most DDs out there wear 5+ light or medium armor and do fine in all content with around 18k health and one or two defensive/healing abilities.

Soloing dolmens is not hard at all, you shouldnt have to be afraid of that. If it is hard for you, then it is likely you are still doing something wrong, like using the wrong abilities, take damage from avoidable sources etc.

Edit:
Why would you start from scratch?
A different race is not going to make a decisive difference.
You could always just buy a race change token for your existing char.
But as I said above, your race is not the real issue here.

With my old build, I soloed dolmens all the time. I can't solo with my new build. Not even close. I'm V643 and switch between staff and Sword/Board. I prefer Sword/Board due to using it for so long. Bash damage is great and using my shield had very good knock back ability when an enemy is about to heavy attack. My staff is an inferno staff with a frost glyph. All of my medium armor is legendary grade with stamina glyphs (except for one piece that has a health glyph).

staff skills skale off magic and spell damge and you are wearing medium armour & stamina glyphs which increases weapon damage

if you want to play a hybrid i can help you with that, we will need to change all your armour

if you have invested to much money/time into your current gear i can help you change to a stam DD but we will need to change the staff to a diffrent weapon

or i could help you make a magic DD build you may be able to keep your current weapons but would definatley need to change armour

you dont need to change race for any of these since what we are working on at the moment is overland content

the decision is yours

as i said message me on xbox and we can meet in game and get you started

I have a little over 2 million so the cost of re-building isn't an issue. (I had over 3 million until I started working on the housing achievements). I'll sign on to Xbox in a few moments and get in touch. Thanks for your willingness to help out.

im just cooking some food irl - so no rush

danno8 · September 2017

BuddyAces wrote: »

Seriously, who buys guides, other than folks who will buy anything eso related??? This is the internet. There is a plethora of updated content at your disposal for free.

$35 for a guide really confused me too, especially since posts and sites like this are everywhere.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/345793/horns-of-the-reach-builds-for-all-classes-guides-alcasthq-com

The_Protagonist · September 2017

FixedBlade123 wrote: »

A few months ago I decided to buy the ESO Mastery Guide for about $35.00. I had searched in the forum, Youtube, and other sites for information on a good DPS build for me DK but I was getting LOTS of mixed messages and nobody seemed to help me with a good build that could be used in regular PVE, Cyrodiil, and group dungeons. So I bought the guide. Well ... there went a tank of gas and a waste of an hour-and-a-half of hard-earned wages. Although I had all the Guide's information and advice I just made the switch a couple of days ago.

I'm a Nord DK but hated tanking so I decided to try my hand at DPS. I did a lot of tweaking and got my Nord to the point that he could do some fair DPS but I had great health longevity. The red bar hardly moved in battle (most of the time). However, when I took the advice of the Guide I switched all of my armor from heavy to medium (Hunding's Rage & Ashen Grip). I also bumped up my stamina and critical hit abilities and Mundus stone (Warrior). The result? I have great DPS abilities but a Nix Hound can look cross-eyed at me and I die on the spot.

What good is having lots of DPS if you're lying on the ground with a big, white Plus Sign attached to your forehead? The "Masters" who put this guide together are "Masters" at taking your money and giving you nothing truly useful in return. Save your bucks.

Now I get to figure out what the hell to do. I'm afraid of dark anchors and dungeons are out of the question. I guess I can go back to my old build (which is unsatisfactory) or I can just spend the rest of my ESO life provisioning.

Signed: Frustrated!!!

Whenever something looks too good, it's always a scam. Sorry for your loss.

You should always check the community out first, Gilliam the Rogue, previously Deltia and Jeckll from Tamriel Foundry and many others have shared so much insight and their time for this game that there is truly no requirement for any other guide than the awesome community we have.

i just realized two out of the three chaps I mentioned above main a Nightblade like me, but head over to Tamriel Foundry here and check the builds and theory crafting out.

If you are the patient type then you can also go over to reddit and check the various discussions that go there.

Further more, this forum also has great insight so feel free to explore what the community here has already offered.

angelncelestine · September 2017

If I were you I would check out the free websites that people mentioned above. They will be more updated. Also I would suggest joining a guild. There are some really good ones out there with people that are more then happy to offer you helpful advice.

MakoFore · September 2017

building purely for damage is a risky endeavour. learning to heal and stay buffed is half the game.
having said that - when i first started dps- i copied all those 64 stam, 7 armour parts medium , all stam enchant builds. those will get u killed. those are end game builds and should come with a warning- like giving a 15 year old kid a corvette. since then i learned up- how to build for hearlth , survivability and stam, balancing regen and damage, etc. what you need is someone to show u - thats what i had a good guild who showed me and taught me up from barely knowing my way around to learning each class , etc.

Nestor · September 2017

The Forums are your ESO Mastery Guide.*

*OK, OK, you will get many different opinions and views, but that is good really. Take them all, figure out what works for you, and try it.

KingYogi415 · September 2017

There is no such thing as a "Tanky dps"

If you want to play dps you have to memorize mechanics as well as your rotations....

Shoddy dps will ruin any vet group.

bebynnag · September 2017

guys its cool, im gonna get fixedblade sorted with a build that will compliment their playstyle that allows them to stay alive and deal enough damage to run all overland content, delves, public dungeons and yes even get them doing their normal pledges

bebynnag · September 2017

and we will get them a 2nd set of gear so they can enjoy pvp (dont worry i will get them into a guild)

angelncelestine · September 2017

puffytheslayer wrote: »

guys its cool, im gonna get fixedblade sorted with a build that will compliment their playstyle that allows them to stay alive and deal enough damage to run all overland content, delves, public dungeons and yes even get them doing their normal pledges

That's awesome!! :-)

WhoSlappedThePie · September 2017

You got duped buying the book plain and simple. Don't write a post telling others to not buy it because I've read a lot, watched a lot, played a lot and I've never heard of a book. That's like buying a book "How to make a million dollars with successful businesses" and complaining when you can't do what they claimed in the book.

It's just a book. It doesn't mean it's going to work.

You can get your info by meeting decent players in the game, creating forum posts, testing stuff out yourself to see what is good for you and watching videos.

idk · September 2017

No offense but there are plenty of players who offer advice for free.

With that, most builds are PvP or raid centric and for solo one can do with only a few of the skills used in raids.

Anyhow, for raid builds I suggest http://tamrielfoundry.com/forums/ and scroll down to the class of interest. You might even find builds for solo and regardless, they are free. Ok, they cost some time to look at.