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Tips for a PVE player that wants to go to the dark side (aka PVP)

Athyrium93
Athyrium93
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I've always been a primarily PVE player, but recently started dabbling a bit with PVP, and to my surprise it's fun! The community has been way more positive than I was expecting, and honestly a lot less elitist than end game PVE, but I'm horrible at it!

I've tried different classes and builds (and looked up a ton of guides) and I've gotten a bit better, but I still suck. So can anyone give me some tips? Maybe suggest a class/build that is the easiest? (not the best, their are tons of guides about the "best" class or build, but very few about the easiest to learn on? Maybe something that doesn't make a splat noise the second it gets hit?)

I have zero issue with getting wrecked by better players (most are) but I'm struggling to improve when I'm dead 92% of the time, I'd really like to get that number down to only being dead around 87% of the time, and maybe be able to kill a completely unarmored level 10 before I make a splat noise. (not that I would, that seems mean, but I likely couldn't anyway)

I've been playing in both Cyrodiil and Bg's- primarily on a templar healer, but also on a stamden and a magblade. I know the Templar class the best, but I'm kinda sick of playing a healer, and completely open to making a new character. I'm a pretty decent PVE healer, but that staying at the back, not moving a lot style isn't working quite as well in PVP as it does in PVE. (to my surprise players don't stand neatly in my AOE, and are smart enough to target the healer hiding in the back.... yeah, I should have expected that)

So any tips on making my KD ratio better than 0/45897452?

*some slight exaggerations may have been made in the name of humor, but seriously I would appreciate some tips!

  • Theignson
    Theignson
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    This is a big topic and some guides to PvP have been written that are worth googling. But here are some random ideas.

    1) Concentrate on learning how to survive first. How to do this? Pick a tankier build in heavy armor, eg stam den or stam DK or stam necro. Equip sword and board on your back bar, when you are attacked you can switch to SnB and block. But don't block too long (unlike PvE). learn to walk through your attacker, do some dodge rolls, root them (fossilize is good for slowing down an attacker). Learn to block cast heals. Use 5 heavy 2 medium. Get 30k buffed resists and 3k critical resists using sets plus buffs plus CP.
    2) Join a guild to learn the basics of open world PvP
    3) Never stand still. Always move. If you stand still you will get ganked eventually
    4) Learn how to do a basic combo. The Stam Den is best for this: cast subterranean assault. This takes three second to hit. Then Cast your dizzying swing, cut it off with a partial heavy attack, and cast executioner. This is a widely used combo. If done right, Subterrean assault, dizzy and heavy attack can all hit at once and executioner one GCD later.
    5) Practice your combo on your target dummy
    6) learn how to stealth and run away. New players often waste themselves attacking an outnumbered group and die a lot needlessly. Try to get a sense of when there is no point to attacking.
    7) Get a cold fire ballista and blow people up while defending the keep. You will get kills from this
    8) Use an "essence of invisibility" potion to escape. You get invis, burst heal and Heal over time. This can save you from many deaths.
    9) consider using ring of wild hunt in your build. That speed will save your life many times.
    10) As you learn how to survive you can transition your build to damage by increasing weapon damage (infused jewelry) and using a medium armor build as opposed ot health/stam regen and heavy armor.
    Quakrson, Stam DK, Grand Overlord
    Trackrsen, Stam Warden, Grand Overlord
    Quakrsen, Mag DK, Overlord
    Tolliverson, Stam NB, General
    Farfarel, Stam Necro, Praetorian
    Spencerson, Templar, Prefect
    Phosphorsen, Stam Sorc, Colonel
    Phosphorson, Mag Sorc, Centurion
    Glimson, Arcanist, Major
    All EP/ PC NA
  • Athyrium93
    Athyrium93
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    @Theignson THANK YOU!!! That was actually super helpful! All the guides/builds are focused on being "good" already, which I'm not, so that advice was super helpful!
  • West93
    West93
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    Watch different builds to have an idea which sets/skills to use for pvp.

    Learn to anticipate damage and figure out when you should be offensive and defensive.

    Pick a class that you like and looks cool to you, the best way to get better is to play a lot and keep trying, don't play a class that you don't like coming back to.

    Join a pvp guild, ask someone to duel you and help you understand the basics.

  • ecru
    ecru
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    Athyrium93 wrote: »
    @Theignson THANK YOU!!! That was actually super helpful! All the guides/builds are focused on being "good" already, which I'm not, so that advice was super helpful!

    #5 is especially important IMO. If you're dying before you can do anything, you never get to practice doing anything. Hit a dummy over and over again. Parse on it, use combos, kill the precursor over and over again, etc. Repetition is extremely important for developing the muscle memory needed to be "good".

    Don't ever just stand around doing nothing in game. Get into the habit of refreshing your buffs over and over again on time even when you'd be doing nothing instead, you'll develop the muscle memory needed to swap to the bar you need and use the correct abilities. Do all of this while moving, and weave light attacks at nothing in between everything. If I'm waiting on a queue I'm not just staring at my screen, I'm running back and forth refreshing my buffs over and over again, hitting fragmented+vigor, etc. Part of that is my need to fiddle constantly due to ADHD but it's also the reason I never fumble around with basic stuff like this.
    Edited by ecru on August 8, 2020 2:05AM
    Gryphon Heart
    Godslayer
    Dawnbringer
  • Athyrium93
    Athyrium93
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    Any tips on mag vs stam? I've got pretty much every decent mag set in the game and played almost every class as mag (except necro because it's just not my thing) but I don't have much in the way of stam gear. (I've got a master crafter and can farm/buy whatever so it doesn't really matter)

    I definitely need to work on moving more, I've gotten in the bad habit of staying pretty much stationary unless a mechanic requires I move.
  • Daviiid_ESO
    Daviiid_ESO
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    Both mag an stam are equal, it's a bit different in playstyle but in the end the killer will be the inevitable lag. Try some different builds, mobility is important regardless of preference of stat.
  • AMeanOne
    AMeanOne
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    Stam and mag are not equal. You will have an easier time surviving on a stam class. Stamden is a great class, I would play that since you have one.
  • LordMitchell123
    My 2 cents is play what you like the most. You can run some fotm stuff and change every few patches what you play but chances are you'll never git gud then. Choose a class and commit to it, get to know it in and out.

    This doesn't mean it isn't good to try out other classes and get to know them a bit, it helps a lot in both offense and defense (recognising combos, knowing strenghts and weaknesses, anticipating moves etc.)
    A strong player on a 'low tier' class will still wreck a bad player on a 'high tier' class. People go kinda crazy over which class is better and there is some truth in it, but don't go nuts over it.

    Something I don't see mentioned yet but is of great importance is Line of Sight. Use rocks, trees, pets, walls and whatever there is to break enemy line of sight. This prevents them from being able to target you. At first, a simple rock wall looks useless, but clinge to it and a world of free mitigation will open up to you :p This is part of the movement tips mentioned above here. Move a lot but don't just run around like a headless chicken. Use the terrain to your advantage.

    PvP has a lot more viable ways to run stuff than PvE. Think about how you like to play and build towards it. If the streamer build you read adds a lot of cp points in for example tenacity but you rarely heavy attack.. see where I'm going?

    Last but not least, when you die: find out what killed you. Was it lag? Or did you overstretch and forget your buffs? Did you jump in a group of people too excited? Learn from your own mistakes and you successes. Do the same when killing a player with the same level of skill as you, what exactly made you win here?

    What's your server and platform? You might find a bunch of people willing to help you out or run together :)
    Edited by LordMitchell123 on August 8, 2020 1:27PM
    PC EU
  • coletas
    coletas
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    duel all you can vs every class and players. Pay attention to details. When and what to block. what and when to Dodge. Doing damage is easy so you Will learn soon with any clase. Avoiding damage is much more difficult. Start in easy mode (going heavy or with a set like pariah). There are many tricks, most of them for your class or sets. Always try to burst... dont waste resources blocking innecesary damage, dodging no damage or doing low damage for nothing but that. Try to máster a class first. After mastering one, is much more easy to try others. To choose one just look videos and see if you would be comfortable the way is played. Try to watch players killing good players and not a potato fighter. Try to look for challenging fights. You wont learn anything playing in zergs. Every class is fine and both stamden or magplar are easy mode for pvp (i play both). Try to be fair on outnumbered fights... people remember people and usually when you are fair, they are fair. Some are just ap chasers who will never fight and win on an even fight, and they will never learn to play. Have fun, takes many months even years to máster a class, and dont worry about a k/d ratio, that says nothing about a player. I know some that end with 100:1 that wont survive 2 seconds in a 1vs1, and i know some that are always trolling or trying builds with 100:30 ratio that would delete you in 2 seconds with their mains
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