How do you play your Warden?

Davor · October 2018

I just don't get the class. It's a me problem. I am asking to see this class in a different light. I tried playing as one and I don't care for power gaming at all and only do PvE. Thing is, all I keep seeing is Mario everywhere with the mushrooms. This doesn't seem very Elder Scrollish if that makes any sense.

Was thinking of making a Dunmer Warden. Would this make sense? Thing is the mushrooms or flowers just takes it out for me. Please show me that this is lore friendly so I can accept it.

Also what are your builds. What are your power builds. What are your fun builds? Why do you love the Warden class? I keep reading why it's bad, and I don't care for that but just not finding the fun in the class. Want to find the fun so please help me understand.

Sylvermynx · October 2018

The warden is a "nature spirit" sort of class, so things like the healing line make sense. So does the bear and the other animal companion class spells. I wish the bear wasn't an ult, but that's just because I came from playing pet classes in WoW and RIFT where your pets were "part of the furniture" - they were always there without you having to use a specific spell/summon or ultimate. I don't know what you mean by "mario everywhere with the mushrooms".

I tend to play whatever race/class combo pops into my head rather than trying to min/max or flail about with "meta" stuff. I play what's fun for me. So I have a Redguard warden, an Altmer warden, and a Bosmer warden. Probably the Bosmer makes the most sense, but they're all fun. The Altmer is a magden, not sure how that's going to work after tomorrow. The other two are a tank (the Redguard, and ditto on how that may or may not work) and a stamden - which is problematic in another direction for me: stam builds are a real issue with 2000 ms lag.

Still, I have fun. We'll see how much fun I continue to have - since my sorcs are also nerfed to hellangone....

BigBragg · October 2018

Warden is easy, just chill.

shimm · October 2018

With the bear ultimate! Haha, just kidding!

Davor · October 2018

BigBragg wrote: »

Warden is easy, just chill.

Sorry I don't understand? I am not asking for easy or hard or what is powerful. Just trying to understand the class and have fun with him/her.

LeHarrt91 · October 2018

I love the warden due to its Nature type theme and also i can use all 3 elements as a magicka dps.
The mushrooms are really only used by healers or in PVP., as the warden draws upon nature to help its allies.

Unless you plan to use double Inferno and use a lot of fire skills i think High Elf would be better for dps. I like my Stamina Warden as a hunter type with a bow etc.

Unfortunately with 4 of the animal companion skills they based their effects on animals found in Morrowind as they released the warden with that Chapter. Ideally i would like them to be generic animals like, crow, wolf etc.

Davor · October 2018

Thank you. So what I wasn't seeing was it was a nature based. Oh my how did I miss this. I feel foolish now. Oh well, at least I know now.

Bosmer was mentioned twice now. Why does it make sense? I was thinking either Bosmer or Dunmer. Maybe I will do both. On PC and the other on Xbox. What would be the benefits of Bosmer? What would be the benefits of Dunmer? See I don't know how to min and max or power build so that doesn't matter. Just want to try something new but want to see why others say so.

What skills are the most fun to use? What weapons do you use and why?

Sylvermynx · October 2018

I don't know that specific races have "real benefits" - just to me the Bosmer "ethic" fits as a warden. Think (oh god I'm probably going to regret this) Legolas from LotR - wood-wise, archer, in tune with forests and nature (not so much in the movie.... but moreso in the books....)

As for weapons: my magden uses a staff; my stamden dual-wields whatever (swords, axes, daggers - whatever set pieces I run across); my tank uses sword or axe and shield.

seventaru · October 2018

I play mine as a tank in pve.

-Lots of self healing
-Back bar is all buffs with ice staff
-front bar is all CC and taunt with sword n board

Still like my dk tank better though

Davor · October 2018

Thanks everyone. I think I will go with Dunmer. Don't have a Dunmer character so time to do one again.

So if I am going to have a nature type character, how will I reason of me killing animals so it benefits me? I would think a nature character wouldn't kill animals and Bosmers pick plants. How can I rationalize it?

Sylvermynx · October 2018

Um. Well, in ESO, Bosmer kill animals to use hides and skins and bones - and they're cannibals (which I simply refuse to acknowledge - I roleplay around it with backstory). The devout Green Pact Bosmer don't use wood or plants, though they "convince" trees to make them homes (eg Snugpod). That's a bit extreme though - I just play mine as left on some other races' doorsteps and brought up "strangely" or whatever.

I play mine to tend toward Kyne-worship similar to the Khajiit, without the moon-sugar component. I roleplay the animal-killing as putting down those animals which are problems in the forests, or have attacked people.

In this game, all that is pretty loose for me, unlike in Skyrim.

ArchMikem · October 2018

Argonian Ice Mage dps.

Sylvermynx · October 2018

ArchMikem wrote: »

Argonian Ice Mage dps.

Isn't that rather an outlier?

SilverIce58 · October 2018

ArchMikem wrote: »

Argonian Ice Mage dps.

Honestly pretty much this. My Argonian uses ice magic and healing magic and befits one who worships the Hist and lives in a swamp...altho, he currently lives in a snowy area while he practices his frost magic for his journey to Murkmire.

max_only · October 2018

Davor wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I think I will go with Dunmer. Don't have a Dunmer character so time to do one again.

So if I am going to have a nature type character, how will I reason of me killing animals so it benefits me? I would think a nature character wouldn't kill animals and Bosmers pick plants. How can I rationalize it?

My Warden is a Bosmer because I love the Bosmer but Dunmer is also good because the animals are from Morrowind! The animal skill line has cliffracers, shalks (beetles), netches, and fetcher flies. These are all animals from Morrowind.

Dunmer has a buff to magika so I suggest using a staff and being a shepherd. Bears are not native to Morrowind but that’s okay, there are other ultimates in the game you can use until they release different animal skins. Destro staff ult is one I can recommend. Edit: the Destro Staff ultimate looks like a natural disaster/storm (ice and lightning at least) so it fits. Also, you might like Warhorn when you are in group (looks like what a shepherd might blow in to call the herd back home as well). If you go with those suggestions you might as well train up some healing for group content.

As far as mushrooms, not really as effective I find. You have other nature healing skills that don’t look as cartoony and other restoration staff healing skills that are more popular. The best healing skill for non Templars is actually Energy Orb which, color wise, matches the animal skill line of Wardens.

I play my Warden as a tank when I’m in group but when I’m alone I play him as a hunter. Bosmer have a buff to stamina so I send in the bear and then shoot arrows from afar. If the enemy gets close then I use knives to finish them off. I don’t use many other animal skills, just the Netch and the Falcon speed buff really. In the healing skill line I use the Vines or the Lotus flower. Mostly I use the Ice skill line when I’m in groups because it is a defensive skill line (Zos wants to keep it that way for whatever reason). If you aren’t a tank you might not find much use for it, and it doesn’t match with the rest of the theme.

Oh and the Bosmer thing with plants, being a warden is not contrary to the lore because you are calling upon the spirit of the forest, you aren’t chopping down vines and picking mushrooms. They are like “spiritual” vines, not physical ones.

AcadianPaladin · October 2018

I struggle with warden too. The bear is fine but the plants and other critters all look like neon signs I might see on the Las Vegas Strip (not the forest). And I really reject the idea of ice for this nature class as quite silly.

Would have much preferred the bear and other critters and plants that look like they belong in the forest, not a light show. Would have liked to see non-neon plants and vines that entangle or poison foes instead of ice.

As far as Bosmer go, all my characters (stam and mag both) are Bosmer (except my tank) because they are BiS for cute. Oh and they are hard to hit because they are small targets (kidding). Of course my bowbow stamsorc, stamblade and stamward all do fine as Bosmer. But my magplar, magsorc and magblade all do very well also. I pick race based on roleplay but don't regret it when it comes to performance either. My mag chars like being able to block/dodgeroll/interrupt better than most other mages.

ArchMikem · October 2018

Sylvermynx wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

Argonian Ice Mage dps.

Isn't that rather an outlier?

When the Warden was first announced, a lot of people were excited over the Winters Embrace tree. Many wanted to play as a Frost Caster, but then actually putting it into practice revealed your dps parses are gonna suffer using an Ice staff. But its not completely bad.

Wardens themselves are Nature Mages. Conjuring wildlife and the environment to attack and heal. MagWardens make good healers, StamWardens have insane burst damage. I just play a DD using nothing but frost damage cause i want to play the idea more so over the dps potential.

Tannus15 · October 2018

You need to focus your question a bit more honestly.

What content are you wanting to participate in? This is key because all answers stem from here.

I've been enjoying a stam warden, war-machine, relequen, selene build lately with the cheap bear ult for high major slayer up time. Obviously this is rubbish in PvP or overland since major slayer only buffs dungeon, arena and trial content. And just to mix it up it's a 2-hander build.

I have a frost warden for PvP using AoE ice abilities for area control, perma frost for pushing into groups and force pulse with proc sets for long range sniping. Heavy armour and heals instead of shields. No sustain, but decent burst and support.

I'm leveling another warden for tanking 4 person content. Again thinking war machine and the healing ult / 1h-shield ult for high major slayer up time for the group as well as minor toughness and major ward / resolve.

Michaelkeir · October 2018

I have 3 wardens.
1st. Argionian magic warden healer. Hist-Tree Shaman. Simple concept really. Specializes in healing and buffing.

2nd. Wood Elf stamina warden and werewolf. Hircine Ranger. Bow/Duel-wield. Plays like a classic ranger archetype with pets (bear) as his companion.

3rd. Breton Magic Damage Dealer warden. Wyress Shaman. Themed after the wyrd tree witches in the Breton started area.

Iselin · October 2018

What kind of Warden? Just saying "warden" does not mean anything.

There are magicka dps wardens and two variants of stamina DPS warden - the regular DW+bow one and the double bow stamden because they are pretty well the only class that does well with double bows. Then there is the tankden and healden. And that's just PvE.

If you're thinking of Dunner I assume you're thinking of magicka dps and yes, either them or the Altmer are the top two choices for that type of warden.

Magicka wardens excel at AOE damage and are sort of weak on single target due to lack of an execute. They are very good and fun in all PvE content up to and including vet dungeons. Trials not so much.

Sylvermynx · October 2018

ArchMikem wrote: »

Sylvermynx wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

Argonian Ice Mage dps.

Isn't that rather an outlier?

When the Warden was first announced, a lo5 of people were excited over the Winters Embrace tree. Many wanted to play as a Frost Caster, but then actually putting it into practice revealed your dps parses are gonna suffer using an Ice staff. But its not completely bad.

Wardens themselves are Nature Mages. Conjuring wildlife and the environment to attack and heal. MagWardens make good healers, StamWardens have insane burst damage. I just play a DD using nothing but frost damage cause i want to play the idea more so over the dps potential.

Thanks, that makes sense. I wish I had the real broadband to attempt the "outliers" - but I know only too well it's going to be "haha dead again".... I have always loved pure mages in other games. And I love TES unreservedly, even without the pure mages - I just key on the pet classes as I did in WoW and RIFT so that the pets can mitigate some of my ping.

max_only · October 2018

Lol, now that I typed that out I think I might make a Dunmer Warden too

freespirit · October 2018

Currently loving my Altmer Warden...……. not sure why Dunmer would be better tbh?

Edit:- should probably point out she's really only done PVP as yet

max_only · October 2018

freespirit wrote: »

Currently loving my Altmer Warden...……. not sure why Dunmer would be better tbh?

It’s only better “looks” wise. The skills are Morrowind themed like I said.

weedgenius · October 2018

As a healer. That's about it.

Sylvermynx · October 2018

Actually, I prefer the way my Dunmer girls look to my Altmer ones. And the Bosmer are just the best all around. Nords.... not so great. Bretons.... yeah, real cute. Redguards, hmmm - statuesque and handsome maybe. Khajiit.... well, cute in their own way.

TheValar85 · October 2018

I will be honest i dont play with warden wich is kinda makes me sad because i wanted to make a nice breton mag warden with ice build but what i heard how mag wardens are underperforming i had to decied to not create a character.

freespirit · October 2018

@TheValar85 I have a friend who made an Ice Build Warden...….

She thought it would be rubbish...…… it's actually turned out to be very good.

She runs trials with us as a healer...…… it actually works very well

TheValar85 · October 2018

freespirit wrote: »

@TheValar85 I have a friend who made an Ice Build Warden...….

She thought it would be rubbish...…… it's actually turned out to be very good.

She runs trials with us as a healer...…… it actually works very well

tahst cool for him but i dont want be a healer

i want to be a strong damage dealer warden.

LeHarrt91 · October 2018

TheValar85 wrote: »

freespirit wrote: »

@TheValar85 I have a friend who made an Ice Build Warden...….

She thought it would be rubbish...…… it's actually turned out to be very good.

She runs trials with us as a healer...…… it actually works very well

tahst cool for him but i dont want be a healer i want to be a strong damage dealer warden.

It can be done, I had a friend pull 36k with an ice build. its just you sacrifice a lot of damage to go full ice.

TheValar85 · October 2018

LeHarrt91 wrote: »

TheValar85 wrote: »

freespirit wrote: »

@TheValar85 I have a friend who made an Ice Build Warden...….

She thought it would be rubbish...…… it's actually turned out to be very good.

She runs trials with us as a healer...…… it actually works very well

tahst cool for him but i dont want be a healer i want to be a strong damage dealer warden.

It can be done, I had a friend pull 36k with an ice build. its just you sacrifice a lot of damage to go full ice.

36k is em good ish but i have no idea how to build up a strong warden DD like that even if it is not just clear ice build but i would like to know all of that what to wear what weapons and so on. i want to make a strong magwarden and enev a second build for it an icewarden too with that 36k dps.