For PVP:

I have been a magicka DK main for years, mostly PVP, and one of my favorite things about this class is the amount of variety that comes with it. Rarely are mDKs built the same way, the amount of combinations in skills, armor sets, and your weapon slots can all vary from build to build.

Do i run a staff, or double sword n' board? Do i do a back bar restoration staff? what about duel wield? all kinds of viable builds can be implemented for a magicka DK. The amount of skill combinations I've done over the years are crazy. In my opinion, mDK is more fun because of this, in a PVP aspect. Not to sure for PVE.

For stamina DK, in PVP, it seems like a struggling class unless you run a bleed build. not to say it can't succeed, there are lots of talented stamina DKs out there, it's just much harder to pull off then magicka DK i think. SDK also seems much more generic in my opinion. SDK builds seem to always rely on weapon skills. There are fewer options set/skill wise when compared to magicka right now as well, but that will definitely change this coming summer set patch.

"Which one would has more sustain, more self heals?"

In my opinion, sustain can be worked with on either class, and either class can sustain just as well. Magicka DK definitely has more self healing. The following list is all magicka based skills that are specific to dragon knights and that heal them.

-Flame Lash
-Burning Embers
-Cauterize
-Coagulating blood (superior to green dragon blood unless you are a tank based build)
-inhale, both morphs
-obsidian shard

-Soon to be for magicka, shattering rocks and cinder storm morphs will also heal

Both MagDK will be better, by quite a bit. PvE gave some massive DK oriented meta buffs recently, with a little bit of nerve, PvP give little MagDK buffs recently, but StamDK was nerfed heavily.

That is just how the wheel fell as of now. StamDK was better (pre morrow BIS for both, this and last patch top for DPS, this patch tied) for quite a while before that.

Tanking is a hybrid role with high health and a slightly higher stam than mag, but focuses on mag recovery. Any race so it doesn't matter.

From the looks of it. You'll want MDK. For PvP passive healing they have is top 3, sustain will be decent.

For tanking there is no such thing as mag or Stam DK, you will be a hybrid. That said you will want around 19k Stam and less Magicka but much more Magicka recovery. If you want to dps magDK next patch is insane, but has low survivability. StamDK is fun and easy to use for dps. PvP I can t tell you anything because I don't touch PvP.

ak_pvp wrote: »

Tanking is a hybrid role with high health and a slightly higher stam than mag, but focuses on mag recovery. Any race so it doesn't matter.

Hmm.

Wouldn't the worst race choices perhaps be ones with a pure damage-increase passive, such as Altmer or Dunmer, because that would be of little value in the tanking role?

Word to the wise, though:

If you're planning on running an mDK- you need to prepare for the current meta of defiles and bleeds. You may want to run shields or adjust your build that you can *hopefully* heal through stamina characters who run bleed builds.

Sabbathius wrote: »

To piggyback on this, would Argonian be the best race choice for someone unsure whether they end up going magicka or stamina, PvE or PvP, tank or some other role? Or would Dunmer still be preferred?

I did this with my warden and switch freely between both magika and stamina dps and even tank/healer. will lose a bit of dps, but at least I won't have any passive that is wasted

make a dunmer/argonian magDK, it will be capable for everything you want. And these races have bonuses that are good for both mag and stam, so you can try the other one if you're bored of one.

You can just change your gear to turn into a tank,dps, or a PvP beast. (magDK might not be a real beast, but they are strong atm, and they do look like a beast while fighting. MagDk has tons of abilities to choose from, to the point you can make a build entirely from class abilities. It has all the flavor you could ask for. MagDks have everything, but an execute.)

stamDK is forced to use weapon skill/guild abilities, kind of similar to stamSorc, but Dk also lacks the beneficial passives stamsorc has, and instead has passives that are good for blocking and healing yourself, and comes with two poison dots that are mediocre at best. So if you want to be a tank in PvP, stamDk is ideal.. For literally any other job its a bad choice.

StamDK has been awesome for a while, but MagDK is going to be getting a big damage boost starting with the Summerset patch, in about a month and a half. I'd go with MagDK. Starting with Summerset, you'll be able to put a full monster set on magicka characters (in addition to two 5-piece sets), which will amount to a lot more damage.