mdk hands down, both pve and pvp (and I'm saying this as a pve sorc main). Then magplar, magsorc. From there I don't play the other classes enough to have an opinion.
Edited by Seminolegirl1992 on March 4, 2021 2:15PM
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Dragonknight doesn't even have a skill that regains resources for them, incredibly expensive skills, and no % cost reduction for skills outside of stamina poison abilities, which is incredibly specific and limited; they are gated behind using their ult to regain resources, and even then it's not much. Templars have 5% skill cost reduction, Repentance, along with the cheapest Major resolve buff in the game, which also gives them 240 Stamina or Magicka every second (equal to 480 recovery) and still struggle for resources. Nightblades have Incapacitating Strike for 100 Magicka/Stamina just for hitting stuff, Executioner for 1000 of each when they kill an enemy, 15% Stam/Magicka recovery and Leeching Strikes/Siphoning attacks for even more sustain. Sorcerers have Dark Deal, along with 6% skill cost reduction, 15% ult cost reduction, and an additional 15% cost reduction after blocking, on top of Rebate for 300 every time they use a Daedric skill and 20% Stamina recovery. And Necro/Warden, as DLC classes, are packed with even more sustain, to the point where I can feel my hands starting to cramp just thinking about documenting it all. The comparison isn't even remotely close, DK desperately needs a pass over all of its skills to return them to more modern efficiency standards along with a skill to actually grant sustained recovery of their resources without having to blow their ult at what may be an inopportune time.
Sustain is different across builds, even for same class. A heavy attack mag build would have no sustain issues while a meta LA weaving build might have. Even a meta LA weaving build will not have sustain issues if you slow down the rotation. Sustain only becomes an issue if you are pushing to the top dps. I've played all 6 mag classes and magDK and magSorc have the worst sustain when pushing to top dps. Both are equally bad.
But I vote for magSorc for one reason, they start to lose more dps than magDKs if they run out of magicka during a fight. That's because magsorcs have higher percentage of dps coming from directly activated attacks than magDKs (attacks such as spammable, crystal frags and light attacks). So if you stop the rotation and use a sustain skill / heavy attack, magSorcs will start losing more dps.
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