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Is it possible to have a viable character that utilises no class skills/passives?

Madrax573
Madrax573
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There are a lot of discussions around the various classes and 'built/play your own way' etc

So I was wondering if it was possible to build a viable character just using non-class skills/passives?
If so what would that look like...
I'm a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up!
  • GrumpyDuckling
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    Viable for much of overland content, sure, but getting into dungeons/trials you're just hurting your group. In PVP and Veteran Maelstrom Arena you're making the game much more difficult, but you could still see some successes.

    It wouldn't look pretty and choosing a class would be pointless, so it would come down to which weapon skill line and which world skill lines you would want to pursue.
  • kylewwefan
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    I think you could go with no class skills fairly easily. But you probably still want some passives.

    Even without the passives, would probably be completely viable. We’re very close to this now. Psijic skills, Mages guild, Fighters guild, Assault; can easily replace class skills.

    Mostly you need a couple dots and a spammable.
  • RaptorRodeoGod
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    I mean, just take a Stam Sorc build, and find something to replace Hurricane and Bound Armaments with. Probs something like Deadly Cloak in place of Hurricane, and maybe Evil Hunter in place of Bound Armaments
    Add a Scribing skill that works like Arcanist beam.
    ---
    Veteran players have been alienated and disengaged from Overland since One Tamriel, due to the lack of difficulty, and pushed into dungeons and trials; the minority of content in the Elder Scrolls Online. We can't take the repetition anymore, fix Overland engagement for Vet players. I don't even care if it's not combat related anymore, just make Overland engaging again.
    ---
    Overland difficulty scaling is desperately needed. 10 years. 6 paid expansions. 25 DLCs. 41 game changing updates including One Tamriel, an overhaul of the game including a permanent CP160 gear cap and ridiculous power creep thereafter. I'm sick and tired of hearing about Cadwell Silver & Gold as a "you think you do but you don't" - tier deflection to any criticism regarding the lack of overland difficulty in the game. I'm bored of dungeons, I'm bored of trials; make a personal difficulty slider for overland. Make a self debuff mythic. Literally anything at this point.
  • Royalthought
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    werewolf
  • SodanTok
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    ^ Werewolf (unless you consider werewolf as some subclass) is obv choice.

    Other than that, any class will work. As mentioned, Stamsorcs are nearly doing that already. The DPS will go away rapidly tho, but well if you can do 50k dps on normal build the DPS you will drop without class skills/passives will still be enough for any content :D

    Hail, caltrops, trap, poison injection, rending slashes, weapon spammable. Done.
    Edited by SodanTok on April 30, 2019 12:19PM
  • juhislihis19
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    stamDK is one.

    Rending Slashes bleed > Venomous Claw
    Dawnbreaker > Leap
    Reve Bash > Petrify
    Rally/FM > Igneous Weapons
    Spiked Armor > Immovable, but you could choose the latter as well (you're losing out on 12% healing received tho)
    Heroic Slash or any spam skill really > (pre-PTS) Noxious Breath
  • VaranisArano
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    Viable for what, exactly?

    For normal dungeons:

    Healers would be pretty easy, just resto staff, destro staff, and some of the Undaunted skills like necrotic orbs for resource return. You'd have to be on top of your HOTs since you don't have much in the way of burst heals.

    Tanks, similarly, can run one hand and shield. I'd use Silver Leash for your pull. An Ice Staff back bar would be pretty useful for an AOE CC or Time Stop. The biggest issue might be self heals and group buffs- I'd probably look at Blood Altar. I'd miss the class skills that give resistances, so I'd compensate with gear if need be.

    DDs are the really interesting one, of course and assuming non-werewolf, and for that I'd want to test it out. My Stam sorc would adapt the easiest, since its mostly trading hurricane for blade cloak, and using Vigor proactively instead of crit surge (I'd probably go back to wearing Briarheart for the extra healing if I needed to). Other than that, I think I'd end up with a generic "Mage" build for my magicka builds. Ultimate would be vamp, werewolf, dawnbreaker, or meteor or weapon ultimates. It would be losing some of the class specific buffs.

    I suspect they'd be "viable" as in "technically able to complete content in the hands of an experienced player." I would not say they are very "practical" for most players.
    Edited by VaranisArano on April 30, 2019 1:24PM
  • Lightspeedflashb14_ESO
    Lightspeedflashb14_ESO
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    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/5056134


    Stam is easy

    Front bar two hander,

    Camo hunter, rally, reverse slice, brawler, wrecking blow, ulti flawless dawnbreaker

    Front bar dual wield,

    Camo hunter, shrouded daggers, steel tornado, blood craze, bloodthirst, ulti is flawless dawnbreaker or rend

    Back bar bow,

    Trap, caltrops, vigor, endless hail, poison injection, ulti ballista.



    Mag is harder and will do less dps.

    Front bar fire staff

    Inner light, degeneration (entropy), elemental ring, clench, force pulse, ulti meteor

    Back bar lighting or fire

    Inner light, eledrain(maybe consuming trap), harness magic, scalding rune, wall of elements, ulti elemental rage.


    Both those builds will get you survivability and at least 20k dps.


  • RaptorRodeoGod
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    Stam DPS I suspect could benefit from the vMA dual weild decently compared to not having it; it might make Rend worth slotting over Flawless Dawnbreaker. Pair Relequin and Leviathan with it maybe?
    Add a Scribing skill that works like Arcanist beam.
    ---
    Veteran players have been alienated and disengaged from Overland since One Tamriel, due to the lack of difficulty, and pushed into dungeons and trials; the minority of content in the Elder Scrolls Online. We can't take the repetition anymore, fix Overland engagement for Vet players. I don't even care if it's not combat related anymore, just make Overland engaging again.
    ---
    Overland difficulty scaling is desperately needed. 10 years. 6 paid expansions. 25 DLCs. 41 game changing updates including One Tamriel, an overhaul of the game including a permanent CP160 gear cap and ridiculous power creep thereafter. I'm sick and tired of hearing about Cadwell Silver & Gold as a "you think you do but you don't" - tier deflection to any criticism regarding the lack of overland difficulty in the game. I'm bored of dungeons, I'm bored of trials; make a personal difficulty slider for overland. Make a self debuff mythic. Literally anything at this point.
  • Grandma
    Grandma
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    stamsorc!
    GH / 3/04/2021 / Elemental Catalyst Necromancer
  • Madrax573
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    Thanks for the input.

    I'm keen to give it a shot just got to decide do I do it on a current leveled char or start a new one - I guess it depend on if I want to find out if it's just viable or if it can be a 'playstyle' from the start....
    I'm a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up!
  • Cortimi
    Cortimi
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    Yes, it's called a StamDK post Elswyr. Passives are pretty much a joke, there is no class spammable, and every single thing you "would" do with a class skill can be done the same or better with an alternative skill line.

    Burst ulti? Dawnbreaker, getting buffed
    Defense ulti? Barrier, or SnB ulti
    Weapon spammable? Weapon skills are only choice
    Dots? Cleave is better than Claws, Poison Injection
    Shield? Bone Wall
    Heal? Vigor and Rally

    So there you go.
    Xbox NA: Soviet Messiah
    EP: Cortimi - Imperial StamDK
    EP: Melga - Orc StamDen (Dah Bear)
    EP: Narileya - Nord StamPlar (Mad cuz Bad)
    EP: Corvaera - Bosmer Orc StamSorc (RIP)

    PS4 NA (Retired at CP835): Soviet-Messiah:
    EP: Cortimi - Imperial StamDK
    DC: Melga gra-Antilae - StamDen
    AD: Corvaera - Bosmer StamSorc
    Urvoth wrote: »
    CP is a crutch for people who can’t sustain and want to be "tanky" so they aren’t immediately punished for making mistakes.
  • paulychan
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  • Xvorg
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    Madrax573 wrote: »
    There are a lot of discussions around the various classes and 'built/play your own way' etc

    So I was wondering if it was possible to build a viable character just using non-class skills/passives?
    If so what would that look like...

    Skills, yes... passives... not very much.

    You can try a magicka build that relies on destro staff and psijic/mages guild skills, but you will need some class passives, though there are some you could just ignore.
    Edited by Xvorg on May 1, 2019 4:01AM
    Sarcasm is something too serious to be taken lightly

    I was born with the wrong sign
    In the wrong house
    With the wrong ascendancy
    I took the wrong road
    That led to the wrong tendencies
    I was in the wrong place at the wrong time
    For the wrong reason and the wrong rhyme
    On the wrong day of the wrong week
    Used the wrong method with the wrong technique
  • Morgul667
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    Play stamsorc and youre almost there
  • Xvorg
    Xvorg
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    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/5056134


    Stam is easy

    Front bar two hander,

    Camo hunter, rally, reverse slice, brawler, wrecking blow, ulti flawless dawnbreaker

    Front bar dual wield,

    Camo hunter, shrouded daggers, steel tornado, blood craze, bloodthirst, ulti is flawless dawnbreaker or rend

    Back bar bow,

    Trap, caltrops, vigor, endless hail, poison injection, ulti ballista.



    Mag is harder and will do less dps.

    Front bar fire staff

    Inner light, degeneration (entropy), elemental ring, clench, force pulse, ulti meteor

    Back bar lighting or fire

    Inner light, eledrain(maybe consuming trap), harness magic, scalding rune, wall of elements, ulti elemental rage.


    Both those builds will get you survivability and at least 20k dps.


    Psijic skills are pretty good for that, in fact Degeneration + crushing weapons on a LA build could work nicely (pelinals + elegance + Bow + everything towards spell dmg so major sorc buffs your weapon dmg). The rest of the skills could be a stun (draining shot) a DoT (injection) and RAT/Channeled or Meditate.

    On a NB, using mark and leeching strikes is even better.

    Maybe I'll try something like that next patch since there's no much to do against ubernecro
    Sarcasm is something too serious to be taken lightly

    I was born with the wrong sign
    In the wrong house
    With the wrong ascendancy
    I took the wrong road
    That led to the wrong tendencies
    I was in the wrong place at the wrong time
    For the wrong reason and the wrong rhyme
    On the wrong day of the wrong week
    Used the wrong method with the wrong technique
  • Lightspeedflashb14_ESO
    Lightspeedflashb14_ESO
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    Xvorg wrote: »
    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/5056134


    Stam is easy

    Front bar two hander,

    Camo hunter, rally, reverse slice, brawler, wrecking blow, ulti flawless dawnbreaker

    Front bar dual wield,

    Camo hunter, shrouded daggers, steel tornado, blood craze, bloodthirst, ulti is flawless dawnbreaker or rend

    Back bar bow,

    Trap, caltrops, vigor, endless hail, poison injection, ulti ballista.



    Mag is harder and will do less dps.

    Front bar fire staff

    Inner light, degeneration (entropy), elemental ring, clench, force pulse, ulti meteor

    Back bar lighting or fire

    Inner light, eledrain(maybe consuming trap), harness magic, scalding rune, wall of elements, ulti elemental rage.


    Both those builds will get you survivability and at least 20k dps.


    Psijic skills are pretty good for that, in fact Degeneration + crushing weapons on a LA build could work nicely (pelinals + elegance + Bow + everything towards spell dmg so major sorc buffs your weapon dmg). The rest of the skills could be a stun (draining shot) a DoT (injection) and RAT/Channeled or Meditate.

    On a NB, using mark and leeching strikes is even better.

    Maybe I'll try something like that next patch since there's no much to do against ubernecro

    what are you talking about? when i wrote that post up, there was no psijic skills but even so, the bars i have there are enough for what i said, to be able to survive and do at least 20k dps, prolly more. you dont need a stun in pve as a dps.
  • RavenSworn
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    You got my juices going op, I was thinking of something like that while back.

    Werewolves are the most obvious choice and going Stam is the best course of action given how many weapons there are.

    With no class passives though, race might mean more than usual. You can always choose any Stam race such as orc, kitty, redguard or bosmer but imo, kitty might be the way to go.

    You literally have almost all the buffs from weapon and guild skill lines, with the exception of berserk I believe.

    Gonna go and have a try at this in the pts. Might come up with something weird but hey, viable means being able to do content, but this is definitely not optimal.
    Ingame: RavenSworn, Pc / NA.


    Of Wolf and Raven
    Solo / Casual guild for beginners and new players wanting to join the game. Pst me for invite!
  • Lightspeedflashb14_ESO
    Lightspeedflashb14_ESO
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    RavenSworn wrote: »
    You got my juices going op, I was thinking of something like that while back.

    Werewolves are the most obvious choice and going Stam is the best course of action given how many weapons there are.

    With no class passives though, race might mean more than usual. You can always choose any Stam race such as orc, kitty, redguard or bosmer but imo, kitty might be the way to go.

    You literally have almost all the buffs from weapon and guild skill lines, with the exception of berserk I believe.

    Gonna go and have a try at this in the pts. Might come up with something weird but hey, viable means being able to do content, but this is definitely not optimal.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4E9NYVwibg

  • Madrax573
    Madrax573
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    I started an Imperial NB (NB simply as I don't have NB character so if I decide to not to continue it then I do)


    Currently lvl 18 and TBH I haven't noticed any difference in the leveling process..

    The only class thing I did was get shadow up to lvl 12 for the ultimate. Once I have a skill/guild line up enough for an ult then it will be removed and the skill points spent elsewhere. And getting WW is the logical choice for that.
    Edited by Madrax573 on May 1, 2019 9:58AM
    I'm a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up!
  • RavenSworn
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    RavenSworn wrote: »
    You got my juices going op, I was thinking of something like that while back.

    Werewolves are the most obvious choice and going Stam is the best course of action given how many weapons there are.

    With no class passives though, race might mean more than usual. You can always choose any Stam race such as orc, kitty, redguard or bosmer but imo, kitty might be the way to go.

    You literally have almost all the buffs from weapon and guild skill lines, with the exception of berserk I believe.

    Gonna go and have a try at this in the pts. Might come up with something weird but hey, viable means being able to do content, but this is definitely not optimal.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4E9NYVwibg

    Nice nice!

    I was playing around in the pts and I have to say, race plays a huge part, esp if you decide not to take class passives. Redguard is the best currently, with its fantastic sustain racial. Argonian with pits are great but honestly not that much in terms of overall dps.

    I have a feeling though, if you do decide to take up 'some' of the class passives, esp the ones that are generic, you might have a better time honing out and make it even better. Imagine taking a DK with their ult resource gain or the sorc reduced ult cost, some of the passives really will boost your dps without you touching any of the active abilities.

    I had 20k dps on a tooth row Briarheart selenes combo, go figure. I'm not much of a rotation kind of guy so it was all over the place but its still not too bad imo. With better rotation and gear you can go do base vet dungeons even.

    I switch around using two Mace's and two swords coupled with a bow(naturally) and I find that the swords with sharpened seems to be better.

    Hope this helps, I might even do this when the necro comes up lol. Should be fun.
    Ingame: RavenSworn, Pc / NA.


    Of Wolf and Raven
    Solo / Casual guild for beginners and new players wanting to join the game. Pst me for invite!
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