Pure Stamina/Weapon skills build. How feasible?

dmaker · April 2014

Personally, I never care to play characters that wield magic. A little hybrid here or there is ok such as EQ Ranger or something, but I just prefer to whip out my sword and getz to hacking! I started an imperial dual wielder DK and am focusing almost completely on stamina and weapon skills. I use the ardent flame chain pulling skill because I have magicka forced upon me, so I might as well use it for something.

So I wonder how feasible this kind of build will be. I am only at level 7 or so and I love it, but I worry that I'm investing time into what will be a gimp in a few levels. I just help but think that basically ignoring my three class trees is going to result in a sub-par character. But I don't want to mess with magic. Why do all class skills have to be magic based? Not a huge fan of that personally...

LilBudyWizerub17_ESO · April 2014

The biggest problem is it's a resource you're not using. When stamina runs out you can stand there looking stupid waiting for it to recover or switch to magic based skills until it does.

Shimond · April 2014

I dunno it sounds to me like the problem is really in your head. There isn't a whole lot of magic in some of the nightblade attacks that use magica (which are really just stabs). It's more a mechanical thing than a lore thing.

That said it isn't a huge deal anyway if it turns out to not be so great for you (I have no input there, sorry) since your skill selections aren't permanent with that respec shrine. Though you might want to keep a skill from each of your core trees on your bar for a bit to keep their skill levels up in case you end up wanting more from them later.

dmaker · April 2014

I guess I can always respec, that is true. I was hoping to just put points into stamina, and a few in health. I'm trying to build a dual wielding, medium armor wearing, high crit, melee type character. But with no magic. Not sure it's going to work out so great in the end though. But it's fun trying

Shimond · April 2014

I have heard stories of some pure stamina sneak attack monsters that make me think it's not terrible. But I have nothing more than that to offer :P

Phadin · April 2014

I think the biggest problem you will encounter is a lack of an Ultimate ability. The only skill lines I know of that are Stamina based and still have an Ultimate are the Fighter Guild and Werewolf skill lines. There are no Ultimates for weapon skills. I don't think the single-resource should be too much of an issue. Plenty of mages go single-resource on Magika, especially if they use staves. I suggest you focus on Medium armor (some stamina-based passives are in there) and decided if you wanna go werewolf or take the fighter guild Ultimate. Beyond that, you have your weapon skills and fighter guild skills for your active abilities.

The biggest advantage of avoiding magic is that you are less predictable. If I see someone with the dragonknight armor buff up or a mage familiar I have a good idea what their abilities will be like. A guy in armor with just a weapon would be a lot harder to predict. Especially since you can switch weapons and that would totally switch what skills you are using.

kitsinni · April 2014

I don't play 100% weapons but my NB is mostly Stamina weapon based. I do throw in a strife for some extra healing or a teleport strike for a gap closer. Ultimate is nice and Shadow Cloak can be handy at times. Most of my damage with DW and Bow come from my weapon skills though.

Teroh · April 2014

Just think of magickia as energy, willpower, consitution, whatever you wanna call it. All games have it in some shape just because they call it energy or runes doesnt make it not magic.

Now going heavy stamina build, wearing medium armor, and using class skills to compliment your weapon skills is fine and can be great.

SadisticSavior · April 2014

LilBudyWizerub17_ESO wrote: »

The biggest problem is it's a resource you're not using. When stamina runs out you can stand there looking stupid waiting for it to recover or switch to magic based skills until it does.

Could you get around this by using Stamina-specific gear? Seems it could be balanced by not needing to worry about Magika at all...and a lot of abilities in this game are magika dependent. So you would no longer have to split your points between them like most people do...you could specialize.

My one alt is a Melee only build. In previous MMOs I always played magic based characters, but in this game EVERYONE uses magic, so I wanted to be different. My Main is a sorcerer, but even he uses Heavy Armor. So I am playing him more like a hybrid.

I agree they should have given a Stamina-only option for classes in this game. Maybe they will add something later.

Kendaric · April 2014

My main (level 25 Nord DK (twohanded/bow) ) is a basically pure stamina user. The only class skill I'm using is stonefist as it looks more or less like tossing a rock at someone to knock him over with a blow to the head.
Fights can be tough and I did have severe troubles with several bosses in a few questlines, but it generally works out so far. I may have to skill dragonblood for the heal though, as the character lacks staying power in a prolonged fight. Some of these fights I could handle well enough by overleveling slightly.

Mishoniko · April 2014

If you are intent on eschewing one of your two output resources entirely then you will run into Overcharge quickly, which reduces further stat contributions by 60%. This will cap your output earlier than more balanced builds.

As you might guess, this is by design. ZOS did not want one-sided builds.