Noob is so confused!

MaiqTheTruth · February 2019

Guys I need your help!

I'm a complete noob that is just a couple of hours in and already really confused. Sorry for the stupid question but could someone please help me with the following. I have done some research and think I've chosen the right character but don't really know why!

I simply want to play PvE, and have no interest in PvP at all. I don't want to team up with anyone, I just want to roam the environment complete the vanilla game and side quests. Having played other ES games I much prefer melee rather than magic. So with all that I have opted for a Stamplar, but here in lies the problem for me.

When I look at the Templar's skill lines (Aedric Spear, Dawn's Wrath & Restoring Light) practically everything requires magicka. As far as I can tell this is also the same for the other classes in as much that the most of their skill lines seem to rely much more on magicka than stamina too.

Therefore it seems there is a massive bias towards magicka in this game when developing your character. Thus will playing a Stamina based character be dull and lacking variety? I'm sure this can't be the case so what am I missing?

Any answers would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks guys

VaranisArano · February 2019

ESO was originally designed for all of us to play magicka characters. Its gradually developed along the magicka/stamina split that you see now. The newest class, Warden, is clearly designed with distinct magicka and stamina variants.

As you level up your class, you will find some more stamina morphs. Most stamina classes use these in addition to their weapon skills to fulfill their role.

For PVE, you'll want a bow for your back bar and then either Dual Wield or Two-Handed. The bow provides powerful damage over time skills like Endless Hail and Poison Injection. I find Dual Wield easier to use on a leveling character because I can choose between damaging and self-healing morphs.

Personally, I find that each stamina class has its own unique flavor even though they have less class skills to use. My Stam Sorcs chew through mobs with their Hurricane AOE. My Stam DK wears down her enemies with her poison DOTs. I haven't played a stamplar in years though, so I don't remember much of how it played.

Sirona_Starr · February 2019

MaiqTheTruth wrote: »

Guys I need your help!

I'm a complete noob that is just a couple of hours in and already really confused. Sorry for the stupid question but could someone please help me with the following. I have done some research and think I've chosen the right character but don't really know why!

I simply want to play PvE, and have no interest in PvP at all. I don't want to team up with anyone, I just want to roam the environment complete the vanilla game and side quests. Having played other ES games I much prefer melee rather than magic. So with all that I have opted for a Stamplar, but here in lies the problem for me.

When I look at the Templar's skill lines (Aedric Spear, Dawn's Wrath & Restoring Light) practically everything requires magicka. As far as I can tell this is also the same for the other classes in as much that the most of their skill lines seem to rely much more on magicka than stamina too.

Therefore it seems there is a massive bias towards magicka in this game when developing your character. Thus will playing a Stamina based character be dull and lacking variety? I'm sure this can't be the case so what am I missing?

Any answers would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks guys

Firstly, get out of Summerset, and get on the vanilla game, so you can make some sense of the Tamriel zones. You will have a benefactor to meet in your alliance's zone - if you are AD, it's in Vulkhel Guard, Auridon, DC - Daggerfall, Glenumbra, EP - Davon's Watch, Stonefalls. Start the main quest, and take it from there.

Some skills will morph/change to stamina when you level them - if you choose that option. Your weapon skills also determine magic or stamina. You want dual wield, bow for your weapons, most probably.

Nestor · February 2019

Most Class skills start out as magic. Later on as you level the skills, you can choose a stamina morph. Most weapon skills have a stamina choice from the outset.

I second the suggestion of getting out of Summerset for now and going to one of the original zones, as mentioned above. The Alliance you chose will determine which one so you can do the game main quest. Also, you can pick up the zone main quest in the starter city. Those kind of combine later on in the game, well, not really combine but are dependent on each other.

Krayl · February 2019

magicka is stuck using a staff, which is one skill line, so end up generally using more 'class' skills.

Stam usually use two different weapon lines (most commonly dual wield on front bar, bow on back but you have options especially as a solo player) so they will generally use more weapon skills, with some magicka skills from their class lines that serve as 'buffs', and some class skills have stamina morphs.

most any ability that does damage will scale based on your stamina or magicka - if a skill costs magicka, it will deal damage based on your magicka and spell power. If it costs stamina, the reverse is true, but also, again, as a solo player who just wants to have fun you're not necessarily limited to this especially for utility skills that don't directly heal or damage, because the utility part of them is applicable whatever your resource pools are.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildEditor

I love to use this builder to plan my characters - it's definitely wayyyyyyy too much info and overly complicated for a new player, but it's a good way to just plug in the basics and get a good look at the skill lines and see what your morph options will be.

It's overwhelming i'm sure, but if your intent is just to play alone I would say just take what looks fun. You can always respec skills and attributes, and eventually your cp later if you want to tweak your build. These boards and other sites are full of meta builds and what's best but it doesn't sound like you're interested in blazing thru content.

Noctus · February 2019

u have warriors guild, alliance war skilline alongside weapon skilllines and stamina morphs for the class skills. stamina has more variety with weapons. so they objectively have more skills to choose. while class skills can be morphed to stamina weapons cant be morphed to magicka.

it makes sense for stamina users to mostly use their weapon abilities.... they are no magicians ;D. there are websites where u can look up all the stamina morphs for classes

stamina (swordboard, twohander, bow, dualwield)
magicka (destruction staff, healing staff)

Castagere · February 2019

The unfortunate part is that only a couple of Templar skills morph to stamina. I have been preaching for a real stamina skill line. If you can morph some skills into stamina then just give us a real stamina skill line. It seems like anytime they come up with something new its magic based.

Tornaad · February 2019

MaiqTheTruth wrote: »

Guys I need your help!

I'm a complete noob that is just a couple of hours in and already really confused. Sorry for the stupid question but could someone please help me with the following. I have done some research and think I've chosen the right character but don't really know why!

I simply want to play PvE, and have no interest in PvP at all. I don't want to team up with anyone, I just want to roam the environment complete the vanilla game and side quests. Having played other ES games I much prefer melee rather than magic. So with all that I have opted for a Stamplar, but here in lies the problem for me.

When I look at the Templar's skill lines (Aedric Spear, Dawn's Wrath & Restoring Light) practically everything requires magicka. As far as I can tell this is also the same for the other classes in as much that the most of their skill lines seem to rely much more on magicka than stamina too.

Therefore it seems there is a massive bias towards magicka in this game when developing your character. Thus will playing a Stamina based character be dull and lacking variety? I'm sure this can't be the case so what am I missing?

Any answers would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks guys

Welcome to ESO @MaiqTheTruth
I too am a big single player fan. I specifically like playing with bow builds. Every character I have played between Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, have all either started out as bow builds or ended up there. With the Warden they provide a bow based skill suggestion I like.
I agree with you, the classes do feel very front loaded for Magic, however as I have gotten into the game I have found a wealth of stamina related abilities to go with my bow build characters.

If you don't know what kind of character you want to build, then just play around until you find it, if you do, and are just not sure how to build the kind you want, then simply ask here and someone will help you. The Players helping players section of the forums is meant specifically for that idea.
Welcome again to the game. I have enjoyed about 2 years of single player gaming on ESO. I hope you do too.

siddique · February 2019

Ah, the pleasures of virginity. Dive headfirst, experiment, let it overwhelm you and soon you will see how everything starts to make sense.

AlnilamE · February 2019

Welcome to ESO!

My stamplar is my youngest character, but I'm enjoying playing her a lot. Once your skills are leveled up a bit you will be given an option to morph that skill into two others. Stamplar has some very good stamina morphs for their class skills.

As Varanis suggested, some of your skills will be weapon based, some will come from guild skill lines (Undaunted or Fighter's Guild) for you to have a rounded up character. But all in all, I think Stamplar is in a good spot for solo PvE.

driosketch · February 2019

Spear line: First two skills strikes and javelin have stamina morphs. As does the the ultimate.

3rd skill in both Dawn's wrath and Restoring light have a stamina skill. You will, however, have to slot the first skills in each line for a bit to level it up and unlock those skills.

On the skills menu there is an advisor on the left side that will guide you to the stamina skills if you select stamina dps build Luminous Warrior.

Finally, even though you don't like pvp, think about it at least until you unlock vigor, which is a strong stamina heal. You can repair walls to unlock it, if that suits you. Repentance, morph of restoring aura, is your class's stamina build heal, but you need dead enemies to use it. Having vigor will make the game much easier.

Nestor · February 2019

I have a question, how did you get @MaiqTheTruth this late in the game?

Also, don't forget the F1 key, there are good help menus

Pyr0xyrecuprotite · February 2019

In case it wasn't clear in the other posts, just have fun levelling up; use any skills that you can, and from level 15 onwards, use your second weapon bar with more skills on that. Put skills that you need to level up on your bar whenever you turn in quests - there are addons that make this simpler.

Once you get to level 50, you don't get more skill points from levels, so will need to get skill points from all the other sources:
skyshards, dungeons (first time completion, doing quest), public dungeon (group challenge event gives a skill point), and main questline in each zone has some quests that give skill points. You will need a LOT of skill points to unlock all the weapon, armor, and your class skill line passives, skills, ultimates, and morphs.

Once you get at least 160 champion points, you can consider adjusting your attribute and skill point allocations to the type of character you want to play, and invest in good gear sets for that sort of gameplay. Below cp160, you are scaled up (and actually buffed a fair bit), especially in dungeons.

There are a lot of good stamina play options for each class, but most of them revolve around the weapon skill lines, with some class skill lines. In some cases you might also end up using a magicka-based skill or two.

D0PAMINE · February 2019

@MaiqTheTruth Stamplars can be difficult to play. They hit hard though. Vigor (you need to pvp a bit to unlock it) will be your top off heal, repentence will be your main heal to get back health and stamina, but it feeds off corpses.

MaiqTheTruth · February 2019

Thank you all so much for the helpful advice. I know what I was asking was all very basic so thanks for taking the time to reply.

I think the best advice here is just to go out have fun and experiment a bit. Got to say folks I really am loving it so far.

Thanks again, and no doubt I'll be back with some more questions.

gepe87 · February 2019

Do vanilla zones first. They are far better than most of DLC/Chapters.
Stamplar has change a bit, most of class stam skill are crutches to satisfy stam users, no real and deep purpose and lack of identity (stam sorc/stamdk). Keep with Stamplar and when you want to try other things start a stamden or a stamblade.

Monte_Cristo · February 2019

If you're using 2 handed weapons, try javelin followed by the 2h charge. I always find that combo fun. Knock em back and smack em again before they get up.

NoTimeToWait · February 2019

To be honest, options for stamina build characters in the endgame are quite limited. If you go to any site containing meta builds, you will find that there is basically no diversity in PVE stamina builds. Maybe, there is some lack in theorycrafting for stamina based chars, but somehow I doubt it.

myskyrim26 · February 2019

@MaiqTheTruth
Just as you, I came to ESO to play solo, do quests and exploration. And I love meele combat. But alas, I founded out that the most comfortable way to play is to be a magicka pet sorcerer. Yet he needs to be leveled to become really good. As for stamina, dragonknight with 2-handed sword and bow works well for me. Yet he is not so good for me as mag petsroc after lvl 50. An example: a public dungeon. It can be done solo with both petsorc and stamDK, yet it is harder and longer with DK. Another example: Fungal Grotto 1, a 4-player dungeon. I can solo it with a petsorc, and fail to with DK - despite he has all skills, even PVP ones, that are necessary to survive and do good damage.

JKorr · February 2019

Everyone will have their favorites. Really, unless you're chasing the leaderboards or doing pvp, you don't need the optimum squeeze out the last .00001% of damage build.

I have a couple of stamplars. A couple of stamblades. A couple of magic/pet sorcerers. And I have a blast playing my stamDKs, but with sword and shield, and for variety, dual wield on the other bar. And doing public dungeons with my dks doesn't really take that long, unless I have to wait for a boss respawn.

You might want to find a good guild that is friendly/helpful for new players. Not only resources for questions you might have, but crafters who can help with crafted sets of gear, food, alchemy, and glyphs to enchant gear.

Vaerth · February 2019

MaiqTheTruth wrote: »

Guys I need your help!

I'm a complete noob that is just a couple of hours in and already really confused. Sorry for the stupid question but could someone please help me with the following. I have done some research and think I've chosen the right character but don't really know why!

I simply want to play PvE, and have no interest in PvP at all. I don't want to team up with anyone, I just want to roam the environment complete the vanilla game and side quests. Having played other ES games I much prefer melee rather than magic. So with all that I have opted for a Stamplar, but here in lies the problem for me.

When I look at the Templar's skill lines (Aedric Spear, Dawn's Wrath & Restoring Light) practically everything requires magicka. As far as I can tell this is also the same for the other classes in as much that the most of their skill lines seem to rely much more on magicka than stamina too.

Therefore it seems there is a massive bias towards magicka in this game when developing your character. Thus will playing a Stamina based character be dull and lacking variety? I'm sure this can't be the case so what am I missing?

Any answers would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks guys

They did not make designing characters user friendly, if you do not follow the meta ZoS made you will no do well. To much time is spent in stats and crunching numbers, which is not what makes a good TES game. Hold in there though, the visual world in ESO is amazing. Combat is boring, yes, but exploring is worth it for me. Bar swapping is so lame, combat is slow, and stats / weapon skill lines are just foolishly done. So many better ways they could have done this, but they chose to be Magicka is staff only, all other weapons are Stamina. Horrible design, I know, but thats what we been stuck with for 5 years now.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · February 2019

I won’t say there is a magic bias because stamina is across the board arguably more powerful than magic in both PVE and PVP. What I will say is that stamina classes have less variation between them because they tend to rely more on weapon skills for damage, which are available to everyone. You typically use your class skills for more utility, which isn’t the worst thing because you need something to spend you magic on (cleansing ritual). Also, pay attention to the handful of class skills that do have stamina morphs (biting jabs, power of the light, repentance, restoring focus) as they will be very helpful.

I don’t think you picked a bad class for solo if looking to do the content you are describing, although I would probably give the edge to stam sorc for solo pve content. They do a little more AOE damage, have more passive heals, and are a bit more mobile, but stamplar is perfectly viable. They are better damage dealers in group content.

FrancisCrawford · February 2019

Stamina isn't much fun unless you do enough PvP to unlock the skills Vigor and Caltrops.

Exceptions:

Warden, the most recently designed class, has enough stamina-based healing to get by with, as well as a good stamina-based AoE damage skill that could make up for the lack of Caltrops.
Stamina nightblade make the best thieves (but only/especially if they're Khajit).

jainiadral · February 2019

I wish I had some insight for you above and beyond confusion being a natural state in this game. I'm still learning basics and I've been here almost a year

I haven't leveled any stam toons yet-- my eventual Orc who has only seen two levels of combat is a stamplar. Or will eventually be a stamplar. So I'm keeping an eye out here too. Thanks for raising the questions

And, welcome to the game!

Demra · February 2019

Templar is a good class for what you are going for. Maybe the best even.
As for skills check this site at the bottom for which skills have stamina morphs.

https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Templar

The way it works, once you level a skill to level 5 you can pick one of two morphs to level it further. You would have to slot those useless magicka skills at first to get there though. Good luck!

FrancisCrawford · February 2019

Demra wrote: »

Templar is a good class for what you are going for. Maybe the best even.
As for skills check this site at the bottom for which skills have stamina morphs.

https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Templar

The way it works, once you level a skill to level 5 you can pick one of two morphs to level it further. You would have to slot those useless magicka skills at first to get there though. Good luck!

More precisely, there isn't a Level 5 for skills. Instead, once you level an active skill through Level 4, you can morph it. And morphs can be leveled to 4 themselves.