Thanks. I'll try putting the same gear on my stamplar to see if he goes to 4500.

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

Do not shoot for minimum damage thresholds when creating builds for pvp. Ever.

Shoot for the minimum amount of magicka and stamina sustain at which you can comfortably fight indefinitely, then acquire the minimum amount of max health where you are comfortably outside of one shot range for your play style and skill level. Then if you’re a magicka build, shoot for the minimum amount of max stamina where you can block, break free, and roll dodge comfortably.

Only then do you dump the rest of your stats into damage.

If you build damage first and end up lacking any of the other stats, you’ll find yourself dying from one shots or running out of resources helplessly.

Builds are not nearly as important in PvP as improving at mechanics though. You need to practice and improve your reflexes and instincts as a player more than your build and rotations in order to feel progress in PvP. If you’re feeling stuck or plateaued in PvP performance, be careful not to fall into the trap of seeking build changes to get unstuck.

Hands down, best advice I've seen on here. I can attest to the referenced "build trap", and have seen far too many fall into it (and often remain there indefinitely).

@Voltranox

Elaborating a bit further, you'll find that each of the primary defense mechanics (wards, dodge, block) are extremely effective when used correctly. Each of these mechanics can serve as your entire source of defense, but you'll need to find the level of sustain that works in any combat scenario that you may encounter. Keep in mind that no resources = no offense/defense (which is what @NightbladeMechanics was saying).

When you think you've found the level of sustain that you need, then explore how you can be more efficient. You should be at the point where you don't run out of resources, but you may have excess that can be converted back to into damage. The best way to assess this is to conscientiously pay more attention to your resource levels during fights, then do the same thing while watching playback of fights (highly recommend recording clips at least for your own benefit).

Also, be wary about relying on active abilities (dark deal/exchange, siphoning, etc) as your primary source for sustain. As you move up the skill ladder, you'll notice that fights become (much) faster paced; thus, requiring a higher sustain to keep up. Eventually you'll reach a point where you are missing windows of opportunity (i.e. the chance to take out an enemy) while you're focusing on maintaining your sustain. Building with recovery as your primary sustain let's you use these supplemental skills proactively while your primary source of sustain is handled by the game (unless you're a block build).

One final piece of advice: while getting comfortable with pvp mechanics, I'd highly suggest opting for passive benefits over active. The sustain mechanics I noted in the paragraph above is an example of this. Another example is proc-based damage sets (alchemist) vs constant damage sets (hundings). Reducing the level of attention that must be spent on build mechanics (during combat) let's you focus more on general pvp mechanics.

kylewwefan wrote: »

Yes. It is different on Stamplar than nightblade though.

I just tried the exact same stuff on my Orc stamina Templar ("Dreugh King Slayer/ Hundings/ Mighty Chudan, Dubious Camoran Throne").

But on the character screen, his weapon damage is only 2564. Such a huge difference to your 4500 weapon damage (1936 less).
Any ideas on what I'm missing?

Yeah all those. Except for the off-hand berserker.
I have no ideas either. Maybe my account has been nerfed! Certainly feels that way.

kylewwefan wrote: »

Yes. Your account must be nerfed. JK. Not even being funny. Did you put the armor in the character inventory and forget to equip it?

Not sure if you answered already, but is that 4500 buffed or unbuffed?

kylewwefan wrote: »

WTH? I’ve no idea man. I was on that toon last night and weapon damage went even a little higher every now and then I think from a DK buff maybe.

Do you have all the medium armor passives, DW passives, balanced warrior from Templar skill lines, legendary Nirnhoned mainhand Infused off hand with berserker?

The weapon damage is gonna take a big hit on the bow bar as well.

Bow DMG is lower. Made no sense to me since heavy attacks are generally easier to avoid in range weapons and thus lock your sustain out using heavy attack (needs some changing).