Help Deciding Stamblade Race (Both PvE and PvP)

flyingturtles92 · July 2018

Hello! I'm trying to build myself a stamblade, a character that I plan to do all my crafting, PvP, and PvE on (I'm a completionist that loves to suck every last bit of content out of my games) but what has ALWAYS made me quit the game and come back a month later after getting a char to lvl 10 is race. I am a HUGE stickler for cosmetics and making characters look good, but I'm also a huge min/maxer, and when races have passives that can really affect your build... we don't work well together :P. Anyways, I've narrowed my race choice to the big three: Bosmer, Redguard, and Khajiit. Now, there's sticklers to ALL of these races that is making this decision so damn difficult for me.

BOSMER: I LOVE the passives. If I could just switch these passives onto any race, I would take these. They have great out-of-combat regen, the "Stealthy" passive, a bonus to max stamina, and disease/poison resist to top it off (although I don't really care about the poison and disease resist). However, what's stopping me from playing Bosmer is I just hate how the males look. They're way too short for my taste, it's hard to feel intimidating as one. I can tolerate the faces I guess, but it's the height that's really killing it for me. If the passives were on any other race, I would play that race.

KHAJIIT: Decent passives for stamblades. Their crit is supposedly not as good in PvP as it is in PvE, and their sustain is no where near redguard or wood elf, but they do have the "Stealthy" passive. I actually made a pretty decent looking khajiit stamblade that I've been playin for about 2 days, but what's making me question my choice is two things:
A) Khajiit look ♥♥♥♥ in helmets. Absolute ♥♥♥. The little ear nub things in hoods look ridiculous, and any closed helm is stretched or squashed out of proportion. While I guess I could have "Hide your Helm" enabled all the time, a lot of fun for me is collecting armor and making my character look good. The rest of the body of khajiits look really good, but the helms put me off.

The passives aren't too desirable. While the Stealthy passive is something I want, the other 2 non-fluff passives aren't the greatest for PvP. Crit gets blocked by impen, and lower recov than other races.

REDGUARD: I made a pretty good looking redguard this morning before I had to redownload the game, and it seems redguards don't look as stupid in headgear as the khajiits do. What's putting me off from Redguard, however, is their passives AGAIN. You see, the other two of the big three stamblade races have the "Stealthy" passive, which supposedly makes PvP ganking a lot easier. I might want to gank on my stamblade, and it does't seem like redguards are built for ganking. Redguard's recovery only really kicks in when in long combat, and while PvE has long combat, PvP should have quick short bursts for stamblades (and I want short, bursty combat for PvP). Redguard's max stam boost does give some extra base weapon dmg, but I don't know if it makes up for the larger stealth detection radius and the lost recovery when not in long combat.

So, those are just a complete newb's thoughts as he tries to dive into the game. I honestly have NO IDEA what kind of build I want, cuz I haven't gotten a chance to try one out in PvP or PvE, although I think I want high burst damage in PvP. Now, several questions I have for you expert stamblades out there are:

1) Which race do you recommend for any stamblade of any build?
2) How important is race choice for stamblades?
3) Does Redguard's adrenaline rush passive help stamblades in PvP? Meaning, DO REDGUARDS MAKE GOOD GANKBLADES?
3b) When does Adrenaline rush activate? Meaning if I come out of stealth and hit someone, does adrenaline rush recover stamina just from the very first hit, or does it not activate because my stamina was full?
3c) How good is Adrenaline rush, really? When converting 792 stam per 5 sec to stam per 2 sec (meaning stam recovery), it only really equals 316.8 stam recovery. Is that a lot?
4) How good is the "Stealthy" racial passive? Though the weapon dmg bonus out of stealth might not be the best, how important is the stealth detection radius bonus? Is it that noticeable on a redguard?

Bonus: Are there any damn helms that look good on khajiit?

Sorry if this was way too long or if I got any information wrong, I'm a new player and I just really want to make sure that my first character is one I'm happy with. Thanks in advance.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · July 2018

1. Redguard is better in PVE, Bosmer is better in PVP. Unfortunately, it's hard to make a compelling argument for kahjiit these days.
2. Depends on whom you ask. If you call yourself a min.maxer, pretty darn important.
3. It helps with sustain and you get more stam, so you will hit harder when not considering stealth. Bosmer will make a better gankblade.
3b. Well you cant recover stam when full. Unsure if that triggers the cooldown or not, but your stam will almost never be full. Likely, you are moving in stealth which costs stam.
3C. Your math is I believe correct. In PVE, it's enough that people consider it best in slot. In my experience, a redguard can get away with fewer heavy attacks, and they have the highest base damage (tied with Imperial) to begin with. It's typically better Regen than bosmer in a PVE environmment, where you stam recovery is likely around 1k, and it will essentially proc on cooldown. In PVP where you stack regen, and dont always have it up on cooldown, bosmer has better sustain.
4. They are definitely noticable, but not gamechanging. It allows you to get closer and hit harder. It really only matters for the first part of your gank. Unless things have changed, stealh does not equal cloak.

Bonus: why would you want to hide the face of a khajiit? haha

For what it's worth, I finally got around to changing my stamblade to Redguard. I think racial passives matter a bit more in PVE than PVP espeically if you are considering pushing trial score. In PVE, you typically go as glassy as possible at the extreme end of things. In PVP, there are more ways to build and therefore makeup for what you are missing. If I was making a stamblade exclusively for PVP, it would definitely be bosmer.

Last thing to note, if you are even remotely considering a bow/bow build, then I would actually go Imperial for PVE and Bosmer for PVP.

Narvuntien · July 2018

Redgaurds are the best for PVE
Now in PvP that passive is still really useful when you are brawling you get just that little bit more sustain. PVP particularly battlegrounds is way too fast paced for you to be staying stealthed for a long period of time you are still invisible up until ambush range no problem without the stealthy passive. Plus things like dect pots and many other anti stealth abilities are finding you anyway.

Khajitis are a interesting their crit passive isn't as useful as it seems since its very easy to get crit with daggers khajitis use one dagger one axe over the usual double dagger. The big issue for khajits is the lack of the max stam passive that weakens their PVE performance. High crit chance doesn't really matter if you are a Gankblade because you will always crit with your cloak.

Bosmer probably the best for PVP (for gankblade), Max stam, stealthy and the poison and diesese resistance is actually relevant as well. But they are lacking in PVE their passives don't contribute to damage or sustain (compared to the other two) so kind of meh in PVE.

Overall I don't think the passives make a huge difference, you have to factor them into your build a little but its mostly skill to be honest.

I run a bosmer gankblade for PVP and my PVE dps is terrible... (although I blame my 300 ping for making light weaving so hard)

The_Lex · July 2018

I rolled a Bosmer stamblade to try my hand as a PvP gankblade and some limited PvE. He does really well in both, although I don't use him much anymore.

By the way, you're not supposed to be intimidating . . . you're supposed to kill, silently and unseen.

Sky_WK · July 2018

Bosmer.

JobooAGS · July 2018

Pve redguard. Pvp, for gankblade I would say bosmer, but you cant go wrong with redguard

Krayl · July 2018

Redguard is best all around. From what you've had to say they will fit your needs as far as cosmetics, and be top-notch in pve, still great in pvp.

The stealth bonuses really do you 0 good in PVE because you can equip Night Mother's Embrace and Night terror and be about as stealthy. The damage bonus in pve is negligible because it's easy anyways. You'll be giving up a little 'gank' for being more effective in long fights. the 'gank' aspect can be fun but it's a very small part of your pvp experience unless you make it your goal to wander around looking for opportunities.

flyingturtles92 · July 2018

Alright, I'll probably just go redguard because I can't stand how short the Bosmer are, and Khajiit don't seem to be all that great of a PvP race. Also, if I find my detection radius is too large, I can just use that teleporting strike in the NB tree anyways. Thanks everyone.

Toc de Malsvi · July 2018

Bosmer.

Sparr0w · July 2018

1) Redguard, bosmer or dunmer
2) Depends what you're going to run. As long as you pick something with stamina passives you will be fine.
3) Yes and no, for ganking bosmer would be better as regen is 100% of the time, where rush is only during combat.
3b) Good question
3c) Depends what sets you run and your playstyle. You'd need 1700/1800 regen basic to get the same return from a bosmer.
4) On a nb the stealth detection wont really matter as you have cloak, however extra damage from stealth is good to have if you're ganking.