Getting into PvP as a noob

Brometheus89 · April 2020

Hey all, been playing for the past few weeks casually, really have been wanting to get into PvP since I started. I am only CP 120 or so right now. What I have noticed is that I am basically useless right now. I am playing a stamblade, I die almost instantly seem to do basically no damage. My abilities literally don't phase the health bars of my enemies, its almost comical. I assume this is all down to gear?

Does it get better after 160? How much gear grinding do I have to do to become competitive in PvP? I'm trying to decide if its even worth pursuing as a casual player.

Thanks!

Turelus · April 2020

What class/build/gear are you running, this could help find any issues in those areas.

One thing to note is that in PvP a lot of players use the Impenetrable trait on their gear and potentially wear numerous heavy armour pieces to drastically lower player damage.

If you're not getting a lot of penetration you might be doing less damage just because of that reason.

Eshelmen · April 2020

Have you ever worked your combos on a training dummy? Great way to practice combos and try different builds without getting your butt kicked.
Weaving light attacks inbetween your normal combos adds a decent amount of damage too.

These PVP guys are usually constantly working on bettering their gear and techniques too. I recommend following some good builds online and going from there.

120 CP isn't the highest gear goes as well, so you're missing out on not only your CP bonuses(810 is maximum), but gear level too. So you've got a little ways to go until you start seeing your character's full potential.

It's worth it if you really want it. Otherwise, just join up with big groups and have fun with them. Any damage you do helps when in a group.

VaranisArano · April 2020

CP 160 gear will help. So will using the impenetrable trait on your gear to prevent some critical damage bursts. However, be prepared that PVP has a steep learning curve and the real improvement comes with practice.

Here's a couple things to practice:
1. Heal proactively, before you reach execute range. Experienced PVPers will have heals over time and buffs running when they start combat or even right before, that way they don't drop to low health. Its much harder to recover from low health in PVP than in PVE.

2. Watch your opponent to tell when to play defensively and offensively. If they are attacking you, focus on defense. That can mean turtling up, healing, dodging, or even running around using line of sight around obstacles to your advantage. If they are in full defensive mode, its probably not the best time to launch your full arsenal of attacks - when you have burst damage, you want to wait for the window when they are low on their own resources and can't react as effectively.

3. Whether this is Battlegrounds or Cyrodiil, stick close to your team. Especially when learning, teamwork is a great way to watch other experienced players and to learn the ebb and flow of battle.

Finally, getting good at PVP is just going to take practice. You'll die a lot; we all died a lot. Right now, if you focus on paying attention to why you died, what works and what doesn't, and don't give up, you'll set yourself for later success in PVP.

Firstmep · April 2020

Brometheus89 wrote: »

Hey all, been playing for the past few weeks casually, really have been wanting to get into PvP since I started. I am only CP 120 or so right now. What I have noticed is that I am basically useless right now. I am playing a stamblade, I die almost instantly seem to do basically no damage. My abilities literally don't phase the health bars of my enemies, its almost comical. I assume this is all down to gear?

Does it get better after 160? How much gear grinding do I have to do to become competitive in PvP? I'm trying to decide if its even worth pursuing as a casual player.

Thanks!

I would recommend that you dont go into cp pvp until you have at least 400-500 cp.

Once you reach cp160, try and grab yourself some crafted gear, some of the best, most popular pvp sets can be crafted right now.
You can buy them from guildstore, or if you are in a guild ask a guildmate.
As said above, most pvpers run miltiple heals over time/shields etc, so thats one of the reasons why you feel like you do no damage.
On my stamina nightblade i run new moon acolyte and shackelbreaker sets. As a new player you wont be able to craft these, but they can be picked up fairly cheap, all exept jewellery. If you dont have a lot of gold something like Agility jewellery is usually pretty cheap to pick up, you can also get these from doing daily random dungeons.
In general its a good idea to do 4 man dungeons, there is a skill line dedicated for 4 player content, and it has some very useful passives, even for pvp.
Also recommend that you start levelling your crafting professions, most importantly alchemy, as it has a very important passive, both for pvp and pve.

Beardimus · April 2020

Brometheus89 wrote: »

Hey all, been playing for the past few weeks casually, really have been wanting to get into PvP since I started. I am only CP 120 or so right now. What I have noticed is that I am basically useless right now. I am playing a stamblade, I die almost instantly seem to do basically no damage. My abilities literally don't phase the health bars of my enemies, its almost comical. I assume this is all down to gear?

Does it get better after 160? How much gear grinding do I have to do to become competitive in PvP? I'm trying to decide if its even worth pursuing as a casual player.

Thanks!

In short, it can be overwhelming to start with. Some things are key, like correct level of Crit Resistances and your stats.

Also where did you PvP? Was it Ravenwatch? As if so at CP160 you are on a level playing field..if you went in Grey Host you will suffer.

Want to post your build / stats / gear?

Practice does help. Knowing your build helps..battlegrounds are good for this as faster fights less riding about on your horse. And BGs are noCP

A few pointers, a bit of practice make a load of difference. Also find a PvP guild PvPers are generally mega helpful and you'll learn alot fast