How to Have Fun and Make Friends during the Undaunted Celebration!

The Undaunted Event has been cancelled.
Keep an eye on the Update thread here for ZOS' future plans: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/501838/update-on-undaunted-event#latest

For Event Rewards and the like, check out the following sources:
Official Announcement: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/57253
Official Discussion Thread: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/501670/official-discussion-thread-for-earn-new-rewards-glory-during-the-undaunted-celebration/p1
Other Info:

ZOS_SarahHecker wrote: »

You don't need to use the activity finder. The Event Tickets and rewards are tied to the final boss of a dungeon, so you can use the LFG, walk up to a dungeon, port to your friends, etc. all that matters is that you kill that final boss.

Both Normal and Veteran will count.
Event Tickets: you can acquire up 3 Event Tickets per day per account from the first time you slay the final boss of any dungeon. Make sure you have 9 or less tickets before you get in the dungeon!

This guide is geared towards players looking at this event going “I have to run a group dungeon? How do I group dungeon?” or players looking for ways to chill out and remember it’s just a game.

To New Players and Players New to Group Finder:
We’re not all jerks, I promise! Find a role that you like to do, ask if you need help, and try to have fun.

To Experienced Players who can run dungeons in our sleep and probably solo half of them:
Don’t be a jerk. That’s pretty simple, right? Just don’t be a jerk.

Ways to Run Group Dungeons:

1. Solo - With decent DPS and good self-healing, you can solo most normal dungeons. If you've never tried soloing a dungeon before, start easy with Fungal Grotto 1 and move on to harder ones from there.
2. Groupfinder - Groupfinder will ask you to pick one role: Tank, Healer, or Damage Dealer. Your group will have 1 Tank, 1 Healer, and 2 Damage Dealers. Groupfinder can also be used to replace a group member who has left or been kicked from group. Groupfinder lets you pick Specific or Random dungeons, and "Random" will pick from any unlocked dungeon based on your level/CP.
3. Zone Chat LFG - In zone chat, you can join or start groups by typing "LFG for [role] for [dungeon]". So a group forming up for Darkshade Caverns 1 might type "Need tank for Darkshade 1" or a tank might type "Tank LFG for random dungeon."
4. Guild LFG - Pretty much the same as zone chat, except with your guildmates. Guilds may or may not have voice comms available like Discord or Teamspeak.

There are benefits and drawbacks to all these methods. Solo runs let you complete the dungeon at your own pace, but you have to deal with all of the boss mechanics on your own. With pre-made groups in zone chat and guild chat, you can run groups that don't match the 1 Tank/1Healer/2DD roles of the groupfinder, but you often have to wait and search for people to fill those roles. With Groupfinder, you can do other things while waiting for your queue to pop, but your teammates are random people who may or may not fit their stated role.

If Groupfinder isn't working, as has unfortunately been the case the last couple years, you still have three options for doing your dungeon: travel manually or port to friends into your dungeon either solo, guild LFG or zone LFG.
(If the servers aren't working, which has been the case during some recent events, I dunno. Report it to ZOS and ask for another event extension? Good grief, I hope everything works out okay!)

Before you get in your Group
There are three roles: Tank, Healer, and Damage Dealer. In your group menu, choose the role that fits what you can do. (I’ll go over the basics of each role later.)
Bring what you need to succeed: potions, food/drink, armor repair kits, soul gems
Bring a positive attitude, or if you can’t, at least try not to pass a bad mood on to your teammates.
Be patient. Tanks and Healers have the fastest queues because there are less of them. If you are considering queuing as a tank or healer even though you aren't really built like a tank or healer for the faster queue time, check the role descriptions below and make sure you can fill the basic job of that role. If you can, go for it. If you can't, don't, or queue with a pre-made group who doesn't need someone to fill that role.

Once in the dungeon, its nice to:

• Say hi
• Ask if anyone needs the quest/gear
• If you need the quest/gear, speak up. Most groups will wait for you. If someone needs the quest, its really nice to wait for them during dialogue.
• Stick together. This is a group dungeon and its polite to let the whole group do the dungeon. I know rushing ahead gets it done quicker, but its really annoying to the people left behind or stamina players who have to spend fighting resources to keep up with the pace.
• At the end, say "Thanks for group" or something nice like that. Thankfully, you now have two minutes after the group disbands before everyone gets kicked out of the instance, so you no longer have to worry about the game kicking people before they turn in their quest.

Kicking and/or Leaving
So, you’ve gotten your daily random dungeon, but it’s a hard one. It’s going to take longer than you want and you’ve got 8-14 other characters to complete random dungeons on. Nope! Hitting the leave button right now! It’d be polite to give you group a nice “Hey, guys, sorry, I’m out. Good luck!”
So, you’ve gotten your daily random dungeon, it’s a hard one, and what’s this! Someone of a lower level or lower CP than I think can complete this dungeon? KICK HIM before he ruins the dungeon run. (Most experienced players know that level is not necessarily indicative of ability, and many low level/CP players do just fine in hard dungeons.)
Both of these are going to be common during the event (along with complaints about the 15-minute timer on re-queuing for group dungeons). If someone leaves your group, you can use group finder again to fill the missing role in your group or simply carry on without them. As long as you haven’t killed the final boss, the new member will simply complete the dungeon with you and get credit like the rest of you.
Kicking people is a stickier situation. For an event like this, when everyone in game is going to be in random dungeons, if you can’t handle having a lower level player or low CP in your dungeon, for Arkay’s sake queue for a random dungeon in a premade group. In an event like this, random is random, and you are agreeing to do your best to make that group work. If you can’t or won’t, queue as a premade group with members that meet your expectations. Don’t be a jerk to players who don’t when you agreed to run with random players.
When to kick? I don’t like kicking players, period, but it’s pretty justified under two circumstances: Jerkish behavior and incompetence on a serious level. Jerks are no fun to play with, so why let them waste your time? Similarly, incompetence that prevents your group from being able to complete the dungeon is wasting your time. Now, I’m generally in favor of teaching players when I think ignorance is the problem. I’ll also put up with certain levels of incompetence that don’t derail the dungeon run, like a tank who’s really a DPS and won’t run a taunt but the group is able to carry them. Other people won’t accept that level of incompetence. (If you are worried that you'll be the incompetent once, check out the roles below and/or run specific dungeons you are comfortable with.)

So how to be competent at your role?

Tank
A tank’s most basic job is to hold boss aggro, use a taunt, and don’t die.
A good tank holds boss aggro, uses a taunt, doesn’t die, holds the boss more or less still, debuffs the boss, buffs the group, and provides crowd control.
Any class can be a good tank because they’ve all got skills that can cover those jobs.

Let’s talk taunts. If you are queued as a tank in the group finder, USE A TAUNT. There are four taunts in the game, all of them single-target (though starting a fight with AOE is a good way to grab the attention of mobs). If you don't have a taunt or aren't using one, its pretty obvious when the boss is in everyone's face but yours. So use a taunt.

• Puncture -> One hand and Shield skill. A melee taunt. The Pierce Armor morph gives both Major Fracture and Major Breach, potent debuffs
• Inner Fire -> Undaunted skill. A ranged taunt with a magicka and stamina morph.
• Ice Staff Heavy Attack -> Destruction Staff passive Ancient Knowledge Tri-focus. With ranks in Ancient Knowledge Tri-focus, the ice staff heavy attack becomes a taunt.
• Tormentor set -> 5th piece gear bonus, on a charge, the enemy is taunted.

Why be a tank?
A good tank brings order to the chaos, holding the trash mobs more or less together so that the DDs can mow them down, holding the boss in place so that DDs can focus on damage, and keeping the heavy hits focused away from the squishier members of the party.

Healer
A healer’s most basic job is to keep the party alive and stay alive. Physician, heal thyself and all that.
A good healer keeps themselves and the party alive and healthy, buffs the group, helps with sustaining resources, and does a some DPS when they aren’t focused on healing.

Sources of group healing
Any class can be a healer. Templars and Wardens have a ton of healing available through class skills. Sorcerers have the burst heal from the Twilight Matriarch pet. I’m not as familiar with Nightblade, Necromancer, or Dragonknight healers, but any class can be good healers.
Restoration Staff: The Restoration Staff has a ton of great healing abilities that mesh well with class skills in order to keep your group healed. Some skills, like Combat Prayer, will also buff the group.
Other useful skills:
Elemental Drain -> Destruction Staff, restores magicka
Necrotic Orbs -> Undaunted, restores magicka or stamina to group members with the synergy

Why be a healer?
Healers are the awesome, essential support players who keep their party in top notch fighting form. Healers make it easier for everyone to focus on their jobs. Healers can also make or break a party. Never annoy your healer. Funny comic to that effect:
Damage Dealer/DPS
The basic job of a DD is to do damage to the boss and other enemies in the dungeon.
A good DD uses a rotation with both damage over time skills (DOTs) and single target abilities for max DPS, uses AOE skills to kill mobs quickly, gets out of the way of environmental damage or big boss hits, and resurrects fallen teammates.

Tips for Damage Dealers

• Know your DPS – this is a good indicator of what level of content you should be trying. You can find out your sustained DPS on a target dummy on any platform or with add-ons for PC. The lower your DPS, the more you want to stick to Normal dungeons. In my experience (and others' will vary) most veteran dungeons can be completed with 15-20k DPS, but comfortable clears will take higher DPS. Most normal dungeons can easily be done with 5-10k DPS, and nearly every build/level can pull that much DPS with a little practice. DLC dungeons typically require the higher end of that DPS and require some awareness of mechanics even on normal difficulty - if you don't know what to do, ASK!
• Practice your rotation – having high DPS is a matter of practice combining your DOTs with single target abilities. For Stamina users, you’ll often see DPS using a bow back bar. For Magicka users, you’ll often see a destruction staff for Elemental Blockade.
• If you struggle with trash mobs, use area of effect (AOE) abilities to hit multiple targets.
• If you struggle with bosses, figure out your problem. Running out of resources? Look at improving sustain with recovery glyphs or more heavy attacks. Dying? Try to roll dodge out of big attacks or stay in front of your healer so they can watch your health bar. Boss mechanics doing you in? Ask your group members for advice. Can’t do enough damage? Practice your rotation or level up better skills.
• Please, use a food/drink that helps you with your stats or sustain. You will find that having a food/drink buff makes your life so much easier.
• Don’t use a TAUNT. Seriously, go review the list of taunts in the Tank section. See those? Don’t use them. It annoys the tank to no end and the tank might end up saying, ”You taunt it? You tank it.” And now you have to deal with the boss in your face.

Finally, be aware of your surroundings. DDs are usually the squishiest members of the party, and while your healer is frantically trying to make sure you stay alive and you probably have a self-heal of your own to pick up the slack, DDs are the most vulnerable to “standing in stupid.” If there’s an environmental hazard or a big boss aoe coming, don’t stand and take it. Get out! It’ll make your healer happy, and your teammates won’t think you’re an idiot who stands in stupid.

Why be a damage dealer?
Good DDs mow down enemies like a lawnmower cutting down grass. Its an awesome feeling to slaughter all enemies foolish enough to stand up to your group. And downing a difficult boss despite everything he can throw at you...well, damage dealing is all about having the highest damage and killing things as quickly as you can. When you do it right, its incredibly satisfying.


General Dungeon Tips

• Normal Dungeons are considerably easier than Veteran Dungeons. The mechanics are much more forgiving and the DPS required for an easy run is much lower. If you are new to dungeons, have low DPS, or just want fairly quick runs since you’ve got 8-14 characters to do, Normal Dungeons are your friend.
• With Clockwork City, ZOS changed the group finder level requirements to better reflect dungeon difficulty. All veteran DLC dungeons, Vet Crypt of Hearts II , and Vet City of Ash II unlock at CP 160. With the Level Up Advisor, normal dungeons unlock progressively before that. So, seriously, there’s not really an excuse anymore for kicking lower level/lower CP players anymore.
• Respect the boss mechanics. Some of them are ignorable on Normal, some are not. Most require respect on Veteran. If you don’t know the fight, ask your group mates.
• Remember that the Daily Random Dungeon in NOT the Daily Random Quick ‘N Easy Dungeon. Sometimes you’ll get harder dungeons if you use the Random option for Groupfinder during the event. Use the settings for "Specific Dungeons" if you only want easy ones.
• It’s a group dungeon. While most of these can be soloed, this event is all about doing the dungeon as a group. Dungeons are a lot more fun when you stick together and complete them as a group. “But its more fun for me when I complete it quickly!” I hear the showboat DPS say. You are one person of four in the dungeon. If you want a speedrun, ask the group if that’s okay and if it is, go for it. Just be courteous – its no fun for the other people to be trailing in your wake, especially if someone's trying to quest.
• Be patient. Tanks and healers have the fastest queue times. DDs have to wait because there are more DDs. If you are considering queuing for the tank or healer role to get into dungeons quicker, double check the basic job of a tank, healer, and DPS. If you can meet those, go for it. If you can’t, don’t or queue with a premade group who you know can handle it.
• Pre-made groups from zone or guild chat are the best if you A. want to run in a combination of roles that isn’t tank/healer/DD/DD. You can run dungeons in any combo you want to, but the best way to do that is in a pre-made group. B. if you have requirements for players beyond that they meet the basic job they queued for. If you want shards from a healer, queue in a pre-made with a templar. If you want 20k DPS from your damage dealer, queue in a premade with a friend, and so on.
• Don’t be afraid to research dungeons ahead of time or ask about boss mechanics. There are a ton of guides on the forums and Youtube for the different dungeons. I’m always happy to explain a boss’ mechanics, and I’m sure most players would rather take a moment to explain what to look for rather than spend that amount of time rezzing your dead body because you couldn’t know any better. Research isn’t necessary, but if you are really nervous about jumping into dungeons, guides might help.

Tips for Soloing Dungeons
Whether because you want the challenge, don't want to play with others, or just want to earn your tickets on your own terms, soloing group dungeons is a viable way to get your event rewards.
You will need:
Good self-heals and survivability (You basically get to play your own tank/healer)
Good AOE damage for mobs
Good single target damage for bosses - I'd recommend lots of DOTs if the CCs are shutting you down a lot.

• Be prepared to deal with all the mechanics yourself - those bosses have a lot of CCs when they only have one player to target.
• Its best to start off with the easiest normal dungeons (Fungal Grotto 1, Spindleclutch 1, etc.) and work your way up from there.
• If you can solo a base game public dungeon, you can handle the mobs in a normal group dungeon.
• If you can solo a base game world boss, you can handle the bosses in a normal group dungeon. Nor do you need a ton of DPS as long as you can stay alive and keep your DOTs on the boss.

How Do I Get My Event Tickets Easily?
Run an easy dungeon - Fungal Grotto 1, Spindleclutch 1, and Banished Cells 1 are the easiest dungeons. Run Solo, travel there manually, or use the option for Specific Dungeons.
Use the Random Dungeon option with a low level character - dungeons start unlocking progressively for low level characters, so if there is a low-level character in your group or you are leveling one, you will always get an easier dungeon.



Overall, chill out. Relax. Have fun. It’s a game. Be courteous to your fellow random group members. Be generous with new players. Be patient in queue and make sure you can do the basic job of whatever role you queue for. Use premade groups if you want different combinations of roles or have special requirements.

Feel free to chime in with things I missed, got wrong, or need to correct! If you have advice you want to add, or especially good guides for dungeons, feel free to add your thoughts. Please do keep comments constructive since we’ll have everyone from experienced players with maxed CP to brand new level 10s jumping into group dungeons during the event. The aim for this event is for players to get into group dungeons, not leave with impression that groupfinder is full of jerks or be scared of group dungeons. Stay positive and welcoming.

Thanks for reading!
(And here's hoping the Event works properly for everyone!)

Undaunted! Undaunted!