Sorcs use shields to protect their health pool so when you hit them its only damaging their shields and not their health. So it makes sense you didnt see his health drop.

As for the lethal arrow, a lot of people run an add on that tells them when an attack is headed their direction so they dodge roll before it hits them. That is being removed next patch. Lethal arrow also does make a good bit of noise so it is easy for players to dodge if they hear it.

There are plenty of skilled players.

If he was a sorcerer, he was probably making use of damage shields. Sorcs have access to Conjured Ward through class skills, Annulment if wearing 5 pieces of light armor, and possibly Healing Ward if using a resto staff. There are a few sets that give temporary damage shields, but those are the likely sources.

Shields can't be crit, and damage first applies to the shield, only harming the health bar if the shield is broken. However, you can use two damage shields from different sources. So if a sorc uses both Conjured Ward and Annulment, the damage shields stack until they wear off or are broken. Your sorc had good sustain to keep both of them up as well as he did, but its also a common sorc tactic. You'll see sorcs shield stack again.

Counters: Shieldbreaker set (only if you specifically want to build to deal with shield-stackers), lots of incoming damage, magicka-draining potions, pressure them so they run low on magicka to keep up the shields. I'm sure other people can think of other coutners that work for them.

Roll Dodging from a Lethal Arrow. As others have said, Lethal Arrow does have a distinct audio cue. Depending on range and the player's level of alertness, its not out of the realm of possibility that the player was legitimately alert and roll dodged out of the way with no addons. However, if you are on PC, Miat's PVP Alerts is an addon that tells players when they are being targeted with something like Lethal Arrow. The addon will no longer have that functionality with the Dragonbone patch. There's no way to tell if that player has the add-on or not.

Counters: there really isn't a counter for a failed gank except to fight or run. If you choose to run, you'll want to use line of sight and other stealth options available to your class/build. If you want to fight, focus on combos that do a lot of burst damage and keep up the pressure on your opponents, but use line of sight to avoid their incoming damage where you can. Its very much a "Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee" playstyle.


General hints for PVP if you want them:
I like Joy_Division's Guide as a good overview of Cyrodiil PVP: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/360956/joy-s-advice-for-midyear-mayhem-event/p1
If you haven't already, wearing impenetrable trait gear may not keep you alive much longer, but at least you won't get crit as much.

When I was learning to PVP, I was much more effective in a group of players. I couldn't do much on my own, but with a group I actually got to participate in PVP and I survived long enough to learn what skills were effective in certain situations.

Snipe / lethal arrow is loud.

You said the damage numbers were inside parenthesis. That means you hit a dmg shield.

krachall wrote: »

Thogard wrote: »

You said the damage numbers were inside parenthesis. That means you hit a dmg shield.

Thanks! What's it mean when there's a * after the number? I saw something like 786* a few times.

That's block

krachall wrote: »

I'm very new to PVP and freely admit that I'm terrible. I do a lot of observing of PVP from stealth as I'm learning and I know that my lifespan once I come out of stealth is about 30 seconds. So I spend more time observing than fighting.

I haven't been doing this long but last night I saw a player who blew my mind. This guy was amazing. Maybe it's common but I've never seen someone this good.

I came across the guy in a 2v1 fight. Two of my fellow EP guys were battling this one AD guy on an open field near Sej. I didn't engage but watched. He was a staff wielder and, I'm pretty sure, a sorc. The fight wasn't fast and they three players went at it for quite some time. But here's what amazed me. Throughout the fight, I never once saw the AD guy's health drop below 98% or so. NOT ONCE. I don't know what kind of mad jedi skills this guy has but is it common to be outnumbered and take virtually zero damage during an extended fight? It didn't look like he was wearing heavy armor and he certainly wasn't carrying a shield but he never took damage.

He easily killed the two EP guys fighting him.

Here's where it got even more impressive. Knowing I had no chance but wanting to see what would happen, I attacked from maximum Lethal Arrow range from behind him. Right before my first shot landed, he roll-dodged out of the way. I can't imagine the reflexes this guy has as I was behind him and can only guess that he saw the arrow coming in from the top of his screen and was able to avoid it.

During the "fight" I landed one hit for 700hp or so (it actually read (710) or something like that) and didn't register even a tick of damage on his health bar. He turned and killed me in one shot...not unexpected as I have no impen armor and low hp.

I know people focus on builds and gear but this guy seems to have SKILLS that exceed anything a good build and top gear could deliver. Please tell me this isn't common!

Google Autoclicker + ESO. Unfortunately you can still download your skill from the net.