An Easy Tank Build for Dragonknight - Freight Train Build
Grageeky
✭✭✭
I created this build with some experimenting in beta and then recreated
the same character, with some tweaks, during early access. I leveled to 30
by release day.
1. Alternate your attribute points in Health and Stamina each level.
2. Decide on your Dragonknight abilities, I initially chose Fiery Grip and
Spiked Armor, but later switched to Searing Strike and Dragon Blood.
Those are under Ardent Flame and Draconic Power, respectively.
3. Choose One Hand and Shield under Weapon.
(1 key) Puncture for damage and taunt
(2 key) Your choice, I picked low slash, but later Searing Strike
...
(5 key) Shield Charge when it becomes available.
Passives:
Fortress 2/2
Sword and Board 2/2
Deadly Bash 2/2
Deflect Bolts 1/2
4. Choose Heavy Armor under Armor.
Passives:
Resolve 3/3
Constitution 2/2
Juggernaut 2/2
Bracing 1/2
5. I played a Nord and took Robust 2/3 and Resist Frost 2/3.
6. I also leveled provisioning to help with health/stamina boosts.
The provisions you make are better than what you can pick up in loot
or purchase from vendors.
At level 30:
============
Magicka 0 Health 14 Stamina 15
Max Magicka 729 Magicka Recovery 34
Max Health 1117 Health Recovery 26
Max Stamina 1089* Stamina Recovery 34
Spell Resistance 847 Armor 995
I also used or made rings that helped with reducing stamina costs and
reducing the cost of bash and blocking. At level 30, I had a turquoise
ring of shielding that reduced cost of bash by 13 and reduced cost of
blocking by 13. And I had a turquoise ring of reduce feat cost that
reduced stamina cost of abilities by 10. There are necklaces and rings
that you get in loot that can be used with glyphs that you find or purchase.
34 Ardent Flame
33 Draconia Power
39 One Hand and Shield
39 Heavy Armor
30 Nord Skills
50 Provisioning
(1 key) Puncture morphed to Ransack III (your bread-and-butter as a tank)
(2 key) Searing Strike morphed to Unstable Flame III (your choice here)
(3 key) Dragon Blood morphed to Green Dragon Blood II (health/stamina regen)
(4 key) Dark Talons morphed to Burning Talons III (root your opponents)
(5 key) Shield Charge morphed to Invasion III (the freight train
)
Ultimate (your choice)
-=Standard of Might III=-
I tried Dragon Leap in beta, but the early bugs turned me away from it and I
went to Dragonknight Standard in beta. So in Early Access I went straight
for Dragonknight Standard. Standard of Might III gives damage buffs to party
members near the standard, and damage debuffs to opponents. Other players can shackle enemies to the standard.
So YMMV (your mileage may vary), but I found this build to be intuitive, easy, and fun to play, solo, and in small groups. It has good DPS with Puncture and Searing Strike. Heavily armored with shield, I can **stand still** and take a lot of punishment and give it back with quick strikes from Puncture and Searing Strike which alternate well with their respective cool downs.
A fun melee pattern:
Shield Charge for knockdown (the freight train)
Dark Talons for rooting opponent
Puncture / Searing Strike (alternate based on cooldowns)
Bash, bash, you're dead.
The morphs I took gave me boosts to that pattern; i.e., more damage and longer damage-over-time. And the shield charge morph gave me a bonus for long distance charges.
Footnotes:
* I had a stamina provision on at the time of the screen print, so it was probably 135 to max stamina for 35 minutes.
** Note-to-self: Stop standing still and learn to dodge
the same character, with some tweaks, during early access. I leveled to 30
by release day.
1. Alternate your attribute points in Health and Stamina each level.
2. Decide on your Dragonknight abilities, I initially chose Fiery Grip and
Spiked Armor, but later switched to Searing Strike and Dragon Blood.
Those are under Ardent Flame and Draconic Power, respectively.
3. Choose One Hand and Shield under Weapon.
(1 key) Puncture for damage and taunt
(2 key) Your choice, I picked low slash, but later Searing Strike
...
(5 key) Shield Charge when it becomes available.
Passives:
Fortress 2/2
Sword and Board 2/2
Deadly Bash 2/2
Deflect Bolts 1/2
4. Choose Heavy Armor under Armor.
Passives:
Resolve 3/3
Constitution 2/2
Juggernaut 2/2
Bracing 1/2
5. I played a Nord and took Robust 2/3 and Resist Frost 2/3.
6. I also leveled provisioning to help with health/stamina boosts.
The provisions you make are better than what you can pick up in loot
or purchase from vendors.
At level 30:
============
Magicka 0 Health 14 Stamina 15
Max Magicka 729 Magicka Recovery 34
Max Health 1117 Health Recovery 26
Max Stamina 1089* Stamina Recovery 34
Spell Resistance 847 Armor 995
I also used or made rings that helped with reducing stamina costs and
reducing the cost of bash and blocking. At level 30, I had a turquoise
ring of shielding that reduced cost of bash by 13 and reduced cost of
blocking by 13. And I had a turquoise ring of reduce feat cost that
reduced stamina cost of abilities by 10. There are necklaces and rings
that you get in loot that can be used with glyphs that you find or purchase.
34 Ardent Flame
33 Draconia Power
39 One Hand and Shield
39 Heavy Armor
30 Nord Skills
50 Provisioning
(1 key) Puncture morphed to Ransack III (your bread-and-butter as a tank)
(2 key) Searing Strike morphed to Unstable Flame III (your choice here)
(3 key) Dragon Blood morphed to Green Dragon Blood II (health/stamina regen)
(4 key) Dark Talons morphed to Burning Talons III (root your opponents)
(5 key) Shield Charge morphed to Invasion III (the freight train
)Ultimate (your choice)
-=Standard of Might III=-
I tried Dragon Leap in beta, but the early bugs turned me away from it and I
went to Dragonknight Standard in beta. So in Early Access I went straight
for Dragonknight Standard. Standard of Might III gives damage buffs to party
members near the standard, and damage debuffs to opponents. Other players can shackle enemies to the standard.
So YMMV (your mileage may vary), but I found this build to be intuitive, easy, and fun to play, solo, and in small groups. It has good DPS with Puncture and Searing Strike. Heavily armored with shield, I can **stand still** and take a lot of punishment and give it back with quick strikes from Puncture and Searing Strike which alternate well with their respective cool downs.
A fun melee pattern:
Shield Charge for knockdown (the freight train)
Dark Talons for rooting opponent
Puncture / Searing Strike (alternate based on cooldowns)
Bash, bash, you're dead.
The morphs I took gave me boosts to that pattern; i.e., more damage and longer damage-over-time. And the shield charge morph gave me a bonus for long distance charges.
Footnotes:
* I had a stamina provision on at the time of the screen print, so it was probably 135 to max stamina for 35 minutes.
** Note-to-self: Stop standing still and learn to dodge
"Perhaps his egg spent too much time in the shade before his hatching." -Wareem-
2
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Tobiz✭✭✭Very good post.
Not that im sure its the best build for the job, but I like that you explain your choice and suggest a pattern for it. Give me more when you find something out!Attention Zenimax: Stamina builds don't hold up to magicka builds, and this is causing most of your class imbalance. It makes melee weapons and bows weaker than staves and class abilities. It makes medium and heavy armor less desirable than light armor. Fix this imbalance, and you'll address most of your balance issues.0 -
Grageeky✭✭✭At level 40:
============
Magicka 0 Health 19 Stamina 20
Max Magicka 912 Magicka Recovery 44
Max Health 1578* Health Recovery 36
Max Stamina 1501* Stamina Recovery 44
Spell Resistance 1089 Armor 1302
* I'm using a provisioned food that gives me Health and Stamina 235 for an hour.
I downloaded Foundry Tactical Combat add-on and I have been watching my damage numbers.
They are around 200, non-critical, for my primary attack AND my shield bash. So my melee pattern is now:
Shield Charge for knockdown (the freight train)
Dark Talons for rooting opponent
Puncture / Bash
Searing Strike / Bash
And more of the same until you're dead
And the frequent bashes give me more opportunity to get an interrupt when there's many foes and many animations on my screen.
43 Ardent Flame
42 Draconia Power
47 One Hand and Shield
49 Heavy Armor
40 Nord Skills
50 Provisioning
My 1-5 keys are the same, but my ultimate and morphs are now at version IV.
Passives:
Ardent Flame:
Kindling 2/2
Warmth 2/2
Searing Heat 2/2
World in Flame 1/2
Draconic Power:
Iron Skin 2/2
Burning Heart 2/2
Elder Dragon 2/2
One Hand and Shield:
Fortress 2/2
Sword and Board 2/2
Deadly Bash 2/2
Deflect Bolts 2/2
Battlefield Mobility 1/2
Heavy Armor:
Resolve 3/3
Constitution 2/2
Juggernaut 2/2
Bracing 2/2
Rapid Mending 1/2
Fighters Guild:
Intimidating Presence
Slayer 3/3
I'm wearing a necklace of Reduce Stamina Costs of Abilities by 15 and a ring of Reduce Cost of Bash by 15 and Reduce Cost of Blocking by 15. The necklace was from loot and the ring was enchanted from a glyph I found.
I'll report again at level 50."Perhaps his egg spent too much time in the shade before his hatching." -Wareem-1 -
sr383✭I'm at Level 15 and haven't been that thrilled with Talons IV--I'd rather just have another attack queued up. At this point, Stonefist IV and Silver Bolts III are my favorite attacks. Searing Strike IV is among the five, but the results are meh. I abandoned Dragonknight at Level III and started using Dragon Leap, but neither one is doing much for me, yet. At this point, though, I haven't touched the weapon or armor perks. I've been focused on crafting, instead. (It made me invincible, in Skyrim.) ;-) But your build is intriguing. Maybe it's time to re-roll.Edited by sr383 on April 9, 2014 7:35PM0 -
Grageeky✭✭✭I'm at Level 15 and haven't been that thrilled with Talons IV--I'd rather just have another attack queued up. At this point, Stonefist IV and Silver Bolts III are my favorite attacks. Searing Strike IV is among the five, but the results are meh. I abandoned Dragonknight at Level III and started using Dragon Leap, but neither one is doing much for me, yet. At this point, though, I haven't touched the weapon or armor perks. I've been focused on crafting, instead. (It made me invincible, in Skyrim.) ;-) But your build is intriguing. Maybe it's time to re-roll.
I mainly developed Dragon Talons for PvP, but I've been so entralled with PvE, I haven't had to use it much. It was just something that I thought I should develop because of my PvP experience in Beta.
On the skill points, I know what you mean. I've been fortunate to have my own personal armorer, so I developed provisioning and spent points in other things. Recently, at level 43, I've finally changed out an attack on my main bar to a new attack, Power Bash. I'm liking it and rotating it in my main attack pattern."Perhaps his egg spent too much time in the shade before his hatching." -Wareem-0 -
Grageeky✭✭✭At level 50 (Veteran Rank 1)
===================
Magicka 0 Health 24 Stamina 25
Max Magicka 1080 Magicka Recovery 60*
Max Health 1789 Health Recovery 49*
Max Stamina 1540 Stamina Recovery 60*
Spell Resistance 1639 Armor 1763
* I'm using a provisioned drink that gives me recovery 6 to all three attributes for two hours.
50 Ardent Flame
47 Draconia Power
9 Earthen Heart
50 One Hand and Shield
50 Heavy Armor
50 Nord Skills
50 Provisioning
I'm still using the same attacks and attack pattern as mentioned in the previous post, but now I'm augmenting the attack using my alternate bar for support abilities. I'm also experimenting with Earthen Heart. I'll activate Molten Weapons, Rapid Maneuver, Green Dragon Blood, switch to primary bar, and then commence with attack pattern freight train
Primary Bar:
1 - Puncture morphed to Ransack
2 - Searing Strike morphed to Unstable Flame
3 - Power Bash morphed to Power Slam
4 - Dragon Talons morphed to Burning Talons
5 - Shield Charge morphed to Invasion
Secondary Bar:
1 - Molten Weapons
2 - Blank
3 - Dragon Blood morphed to Green Dragon Blood
4 - Rapid Maneuvering
5 - Fiery Grip morphed to Extended Chains
It's been a great 15 days, partnering with my son, a Dark Elf Sorc, we've gone from 1 to 50 (or nearly, he's 48), and we've complemented each other's abilities in our attacks. His blood alter keeps us healed and I have Dragon Blood and potions to fall back on. Grouping with a third or fourth, would make leveling that much easier, but soloing with this build should be possible."Perhaps his egg spent too much time in the shade before his hatching." -Wareem-0 -
leandro.800ub17_ESO✭✭✭✭Still going to change things after Lv50 im Lv43 now. Need to remake things but final would look like:
I'm a dual wield Dark Elf (Tank Hybrid)
Primary Bar:
1 -Blood Craze (For Health and Dmg)
2 -Burning Embers (For Health and Dmg)
3 - Dark Talons (To increase Dmg)
4 -Deep Breath (For Life Steal)
5 -Immovable Brute (For Armor and Spell Res)
R-Standard Of Might (For All)
Still thinking of Secondary
Stats: 0 Magika 35 Health 15 Stamina
Enchants on Armor on Max Health and Heath Regen and Weapon On Life Steal
Rings and Neck on Armor and Spell Resistance
3x3 Set Pieces Of Heavy Armor of Max Health of Health Regen
What you think?0 -
Grageeky✭✭✭leandro.800ub17_ESO wrote: »Still going to change things after Lv50 im Lv43 now. Need to remake things but final would look like:
I'm a dual wield Dark Elf (Tank Hybrid)
...
What you think?
I think you should start a separate thread."Perhaps his egg spent too much time in the shade before his hatching." -Wareem-0 -
kraig.mitchellb14_ESOSoul ShrivenEveryone seems to neglect the Earthen Heart skills for tanking, is it really just not as good?0
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Stautmeister✭✭✭kraig.mitchellb14_ESO wrote: »Everyone seems to neglect the Earthen Heart skills for tanking, is it really just not as good?
What does earthen heart offer for tanking?
A ranged CC that doesnt work on bosses? rather use inner beast for taunting
Molten weapons, nice for dps in large groups where you want 1 dk to perma buff it. But useless for tanks.
Obsidian shield: Yea, green dragonblood costs the same but heals for more. The shield on allies is neglible. Mana better spend on yourself.
Petrify, groups are to big to be usefull.
Ash cloud sounds nice but gets overclassed by burning talons for aoe control.
The earthen heart tree is very usefull for support dks in pvp or large group, probably with a healing stave.
Using moltenn weapons, obsidian shield group heal, mutagen and the protection skill from the fighters line.
Youl be very usefull in a a zerg.
Dk skills are pretty clean cut:
Dmg/Survivability/utility. I basically never used anything from earthen heart xcept magma armor and the 2 passives for 20% increased duration on magma armor.An orc marrying a wood elf?! Enjoy your Borsimer mutants!1