Help with stamDK please

SinisterG · March 2018

i started a DK a year or two ago, got him up to ~lvl40 and then quit the game for over a year. i've recently got back into ESO with a mag sorc and i do like it, but i've been wanting to give my DK another go. The issue i had originally was that i was not aware of how abilities scaled off of certain stats so my build is all over the place and became more ineffectual the further i got. Having said that, i now understand the scaling mechanics and would like to re-build my DK. I want to go stamina as i already have a staff user and frankly am a little bored with it. I would like to use some combination of DW, bow and maybe a little sword and shield. I want to focus on DPS as i solo most things and killing mobs as a tank or healer is so tedious to me.

I am not that interested in BIS equipment at this point. i think i will go with mostly medium armor for stamina regen but i won't focus on exact gear until i hit later CP levels. I AM interested in the skills and rotation DPS stamDKs use however, and any insight would be greatly appreciated.

VaranisArano · March 2018

Okay, StamDKs can be awesome.

There will be a lot of builds you can look at, but for a quick, generic DPS Stam DK, I'd put all your attributes into stamina (unless you feel more comfortable with a few in health as you level) so you have the resources to use your skills.

I'd use medium armor for the benefits to stamina builds. Hunding's Rage is a good crafted set that plenty of players can craft for you. DPS will use Dual Wield and Bow, primarily. Two-Handed is better in PVP, and One-handed and Shield is really only used by tanks in PVE.

Big skills you'll want: Endless Hail (Bow), Poison Injection (Bow), Rending Slashes (dual wield), Shrouded Daggers (dual wield), Noxious Breath (DK stam morph), Venomous Claw (DK Stam morph)

I don't have a good rotation for Stam DK, check other builds for that. When I was leveling my Stam DK, I'd start the fight with Endless Hail and Noxious Breath, then hit every enemy with Venomous Claw and Rending Slashes, then heavy attacking until I needed to recast Endless Hail, and that worked out fine for overland content. StamDK is all about the Damage Over Time abilities.

Duragon_Darko · March 2018

Activate Flames of Oblivion (DK)
Activate Deadly Cloak (dual wield)
Hit boss with Noxious Breath (DK)
Weapon Swap
Rearing Trap (fighters guild)
Light attack
Polson Injection (bow)
Light attack
Caltrops (assault)
Light attach
Endless hail (bow)
Light attack
Molten Armaments (DK)
Weapon swap
Rending Slashes (dual wield)
Heavy attack
Venomous Claw (DK)
Heavy attack
Deadly Cloak (DK)
Heavy attack
Flames of Oblivion (DK)
Light attack
Noxious Breath (DK)
Weapon swap
Repeat from above. Skip the Rearming trap and Molten Armaments every other cycle/rotation. Patience, and heavy attacks a must.

Have fun.

SinisterG · March 2018

thank you for that. a few questions about the skills you mentioned

- rending slash - is the initial damage buff significant enough to pass on the heal from the other morph
- shrouded dagger - i noticed it gives major brutality for 20% weapon damage. igneous weapons give the same buff but do they stack? if i activated both, would i be doing 40% weapon damge?
- what is your opinion on flurry and blade cloak ? If i remember right flurry was my main source of DPS the first time around and it seemed pretty efficient. is it it's single target nature that makes it less attractive/useful?

Feric51 · March 2018

SinisterG wrote: »

thank you for that. a few questions about the skills you mentioned

- rending slash - is the initial damage buff significant enough to pass on the heal from the other morph
- shrouded dagger - i noticed it gives major brutality for 20% weapon damage. igneous weapons give the same buff but do they stack? if i activated both, would i be doing 40% weapon damge?
- what is your opinion on flurry and blade cloak ? If i remember right flurry was my main source of DPS the first time around and it seemed pretty efficient. is it it's single target nature that makes it less attractive/useful?

I'll answer this question because it's the only one I'm confident in. NO they do not stack. Since they are the same effect (Major Brutality), it can only be applied once at any given time. Now, if you had something applying minor brutality (10%), these effects would stack to give you 30% total increased weapon damage.

Feric51 · March 2018

SinisterG wrote: »

thank you for that. a few questions about the skills you mentioned

- rending slash - is the initial damage buff significant enough to pass on the heal from the other morph
- shrouded dagger - i noticed it gives major brutality for 20% weapon damage. igneous weapons give the same buff but do they stack? if i activated both, would i be doing 40% weapon damge?
- what is your opinion on flurry and blade cloak ? If i remember right flurry was my main source of DPS the first time around and it seemed pretty efficient. is it it's single target nature that makes it less attractive/useful?

I'll also offer my two cents here. After the Morrowind changes that greatly impacted sustain, most spammable abilities (flurry/force pulse) have been replaced by DoT/AoE + heavy attack builds to maintain resources. I still use flurry on my stam sorc for short, single target overland fights, but on drawn out boss fights or add-clearing, something like shrouded dagger that impacts multiple targets coupled with the light/heavy weaving to keep your stamina pool up.

VaranisArano · March 2018

Rending Slashes is preferred because of the greater damage if you want the higher DPS. However, if you are leveling and think the heal is going to make your life easier, use the healing morph.

Blade Cloak is great because it is an AOE. As for Flurry, its good while leveling. Most end game rotations wont include it. I got better results using Shrouded Daggers as my spammable.

SinisterG · March 2018

Thanks guys. this is a great start and i have a much better idea of the direction i need to go. one thing i am confused about is the lack of green dragons blood. it seems like the stamina regen is pretty significant. i will probably use it while leveling for the heal (when running solo). but do the higher lvl DKs not have much use for it?

Duragon_Darko · March 2018

Not only is Deadly Cloak a decent DoT, the 25% damage reduction from enemy AoE helps the healers and yourself out alot.

If you need survivability, replace Noxious Breath with Vigor and just use it in the rotation.

Duragon_Darko · March 2018

Sorry, didn't see the post above.

Igneous Weapons does give you the Major Brutality, but we go with the Molten Armaments because of the 40% extra damage to heavy attacks (the entire dual wield bar is weaved with heavy), AND you can get Major Brutality from Weapon Power potions. If you go with Igneous, you can only get the Major Brutality, but not the 40% extra damage on heavy attacks.

SinisterG · March 2018

Duragon_Darko wrote: »

Sorry, didn't see the post above.

Igneous Weapons does give you the Major Brutality, but we go with the Molten Armaments because of the 40% extra damage to heavy attacks (the entire dual wield bar is weaved with heavy), AND you can get Major Brutality from Weapon Power potions. If you go with Igneous, you can only get the Major Brutality, but not the 40% extra damage on heavy attacks.

Gotcha. thanks again man i really appreciate it. if i can pick your brain one more time though. can you explain the difference between heavy attacks a fully charged heavy attacks (if there even is one). i keep reading those two terms. i know when you hold down the weapon attack button long enough it performs a fully charged heavy attack. but is there something in between spamming the attack button and holding it down until it does the fully charged attack?

VaranisArano · March 2018

If you release the heavy attack before it reaches completion, you'll do a partial heavy attack and still gain some resources. The reason to do this is that you can weave heavy attacks with certain skills so that the animations overlap for higher DPS and sustain. I find it easiest to do with Flurry in dual wield.

This video shows it with Wrecking Blow and Steel Tornado:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdueOBvC83Y

Duragon_Darko · March 2018

I never do partial heavy attacks. I literally hold the attack button, and half way through it, you can click the ability you need while still holding the attack button. As soon as the heavy attack is over, the ability you wanted will hit, and, while still holding the attack button, it will automatically go into the next heavy attack. Halfwsy through that heavy attack, click the next ability you want and again, after the attack is over, the ability will automatically hit, and you will go into the next heavy attack. I literally don't let off the attack button during my dual wield bar, lol.

Hope that helps.

Vanya · March 2018

I m currently level 23 Nord. Magicka/Stamina Dragonknight. I m still in the learning and experiment process of my class and finding out the most effective skill rotation ,but I am a fast learner and Combo of Stamina/Magicka attacks with a Dual Wield Specialization is a pure wonder and joy!

If you wish to track down my Complete progression and search for "The Elder Scrolls Online Tamriel Unlimited" Walkthrough videos. Nord.Female. Dragonknight. Dual-wield.

Twin-Slashes/Whirlwind/Searing Strike for Aoe/DoT
Draconic power focused to increase survival

Skills such are: Dragon Leap , Ultimate ability the shield which gives 100% absorb is incredible indeed.
Dragon blood
Elder Dragon
Spiked Armour

Focused on my Racial passives/Heavy armour.

In my personal opinion it is a great versatile build to take down almost anything. It has superb defence, offence and ability to dispatch multiple foes with potency of healing Dragon blood {Build 2} Quickly switch up.

It suits my play-style perfectly.

Kraynic · March 2018

One piece of advice I would give is this. Don't pay too much attention to end game builds as you level. I may get shot down, but I think there are some reasons to use different skills/morphs than some of the guides say as you level. Some of the advice that has been given is modeled after what is expected at end game. After you are leveled up, you can switch over as your gear stabilizes and you can properly use the meta abilities.

Igneous weapons vs molten armaments: I would recommend Igneous weapons while leveling. The reason for that being that your weapon may not always be your level. The farther your weapon level falls behind your character level, the worse the weapon damage becomes due to battle scaling. The only thing molten armaments does for a stamina build is increase your heavy attack damage. Igneous weapons will buff the damage of every stamina based ability you have.

When you level flurry, use the bloodthirst morph instead of rapid strikes. Yes, rapid strikes does more damage (not a huge amount, but definitely more), but you heal yourself as you are hitting things. You most likely won't feel the need for green dragon blood or vigor if you are careful how you pull things. Resetting morphs is fairly cheap, so it is quite easy to change the morph later.

Same thing with twin slashes. While leveling, take the blood craze morph. Hit things and get healed. If you don't need the healing from blood craze, use venomous claw instead since it hits harder up front and has a harder hitting DoT. Or use both if you have bar space. DoTs are good.

I guess all I am trying to say is that leveling is a little different game than end game group content. Figure out what works the best for you and go wreck things. This goes not only for abilities, but for gear sets as well. Since I have been playing long enough to have maxed out crafters, I level stamina characters in 5 piece vampire's kiss (heals you when you kill something) with the rest of the slots I can craft filled in with Morkuldin (finally have a reason for that 9 trait research!) which has a nice set of stamina buffs for the 2,3, and 4 piece bonuses. All armor is enchanted for stamina, giving a nice resource pool. This makes soloing group dungeons pretty easy as soon as you get a second weapon bar at level 15.

Whatever you do to level up, good luck and have fun.

SinisterG · March 2018

Kraynic wrote: »

One piece of advice I would give is this. Don't pay too much attention to end game builds as you level. I may get shot down, but I think there are some reasons to use different skills/morphs than some of the guides say as you level. Some of the advice that has been given is modeled after what is expected at end game. After you are leveled up, you can switch over as your gear stabilizes and you can properly use the meta abilities.

Igneous weapons vs molten armaments: I would recommend Igneous weapons while leveling. The reason for that being that your weapon may not always be your level. The farther your weapon level falls behind your character level, the worse the weapon damage becomes due to battle scaling. The only thing molten armaments does for a stamina build is increase your heavy attack damage. Igneous weapons will buff the damage of every stamina based ability you have.

When you level flurry, use the bloodthirst morph instead of rapid strikes. Yes, rapid strikes does more damage (not a huge amount, but definitely more), but you heal yourself as you are hitting things. You most likely won't feel the need for green dragon blood or vigor if you are careful how you pull things. Resetting morphs is fairly cheap, so it is quite easy to change the morph later.

Same thing with twin slashes. While leveling, take the blood craze morph. Hit things and get healed. If you don't need the healing from blood craze, use venomous claw instead since it hits harder up front and has a harder hitting DoT. Or use both if you have bar space. DoTs are good.

I guess all I am trying to say is that leveling is a little different game than end game group content. Figure out what works the best for you and go wreck things. This goes not only for abilities, but for gear sets as well. Since I have been playing long enough to have maxed out crafters, I level stamina characters in 5 piece vampire's kiss (heals you when you kill something) with the rest of the slots I can craft filled in with Morkuldin (finally have a reason for that 9 trait research!) which has a nice set of stamina buffs for the 2,3, and 4 piece bonuses. All armor is enchanted for stamina, giving a nice resource pool. This makes soloing group dungeons pretty easy as soon as you get a second weapon bar at level 15.

Whatever you do to level up, good luck and have fun.

Thank you for that. I was struggling a bit when i first respeced. i couldnt find a good balance between attack and defense. I knew from solo lvling my sorc that i would need to substitute some recommended dmg skills for defensive ones, but what i did not take into account was how little actual "playing" i did as a sorc. I was never near the action and had access to very effective damage shields and burst heals, so blocking and dodging were not things i did very often. Now that i have got the hang of that stuff again i'm feeling much more comfortable. I 'm currently running with this skill setup - DW - flames of oblivion, noxious breath, blood craze, venomous claw and green dragons blood - BOW - igneous weapons, choking talons, noxious breath, poison injection, endless hale and green dragons blood. for ultimates i use volatile armor and standard of might.

With that setup i'm rarely low on health and die lot less than i was, while still killing things pretty quickly. I'm almost up to 50 now so i'm exited about finally getting some CP levels. I may need to start thinking about gear now though and my crafting is probably not where it should be although i do try and lvl those crafting skills when i can.

If anyone on PS4 NA wants to help me out with some training gear to ease my CP grind it would be most appreciated

ValkynSketha · March 2018

Stamdk is one of my fav along with stamden, i recently went back to play stamdk, for skills i use the usual thingy stamdd use:

DW(nirn main with poison enchant, infused off with berserker enchant): rending slashes - noxious breath - venemous claw - rearming trap - deadly cloak - dawnbreaker

Bow(nirnhoned with drain health poison): poison injection - caltrops - endless hail - vigor/flames of oblivion - molten armament - standard of might/ bow ulti

40k+ with lover/ 39k+ with warrior on 6m dummy rotation:

Buff before combat: cloak+molten+weapon power potion

Endless hail - la - caltrops - la - poison injection - standard of might with swap cancel - ha - rending slashes - la - breath - la/ha - claw - ha - trap - ha - cloak with swap cancel.

Swap cancel poison injection when no ulti.
If you are with good heals swap vigor with flames of oblivion and cast after caltrops each rotation.

Recast molten armament each 3-4 rotation.

Gear used: nmg + vicious ophidian.
Cp: 31 master at arms, 66 thaumaturge, 56 precise strike, 38 piercing, 49 mighty.