Warden

Petoften · September 2022

So, I want someone else to carry stuff and don't have a Warden yet, so thinking of spending the crows to buy it. A guy and his bear sounds fine, but it's hard to decide what to make.

I saw a site with builds that said they're great for dps, and th best for tanks, and tied for best healer with Templar. No help there.

Tanks can be nice because of instaqueues, especially if they play differently than a normal tank. I haven't had an archer before and that could be nice maybe.

My main things are fun, viable pve, and easy to play. If the phrase 'animation cancel' comes up, forget it. I lean magicka because it feels like it fits better.

I already have most of the roles I'd like. What are Wardens especially good to do?

Nexxperumbra · September 2022

Wardens before u35 were my favorite class, especially mag wardens. I mean, it's still my favorite, but right now it's the worst dps spec in the game. Can it still do content? Of course, but when you get into "animation cancelling" /weaving and doing top tier DPS, they're the absolute bottom of the barrel, and they're now forcing them into using frost staves with the upcoming update. Had this been two patches ago, I'd recommend it entirely, but now's not the time of the wardens. They're still the best healers, and they're good tanks in certain content, but they're definitely not the best tanks either. I'd opt for a different class for the time being, at least until zos figures out what they want the warden to do, and it finally arrives where they're taking it.

LeHarrt91 · September 2022

Warden is a jack of all trades class, it can do all 3 roles and sometimes all at once. You have have builds saved in the Armory system for all kinds of situations.

With Hybridization you can can live your Magical Archer fantasy (though i would recommend a staff on the backbar to regain magicka of you need).
It is a very fun class to play and very versatile, you can spec into builds that have all animals, Frost Builds, Pure Magic and Multi Element builds.
Yes with the current update they are the least performing class in High End Game situations, but for dungeons, overland, trials, etc they are more than capable.
They are also great in PvP at the moment.

Darkstorne · September 2022

Like all classes, it's still perfectly viable to play, even using the wackiest of build ideas you can dream up. When you start getting into vet PVE content you'll need to refine your build decisions a bit more, and if you want to start progressing trials... that's the point you'll probably start noticing that Warden isn't in a great spot for DPS right now. We continue sharing the hopium that ZOS will get it right one day, but poor @ESO_Nightingale and @Mr_Stach must be struggling to keep that hopium supply up these days.

If you're only interested in casual play, you'll have a blast though. As an example, my frost warden has 64 points in health, uses gripping shards to lock mobs in place, then holds block to proc the Frozen Watcher set (deals AOE frost damage while blocking) and bashes to trigger the Turning Tide set (blast of water that damages everyone in front of you) after blocking an attack. I let my bear cuddle everything to death while blocking and freezing everything in place. The vast majority of my damage scales from max health.

That build would be straight garbage in a trial, or even in dungeons if I queued as DPS. But it's amazing for solo play, and also amazing for tanking normal dungeons (make sure you slot a taunt). So really it's just figuring out what you find fun to play, and then building to that playstyle's strengths. You only have to worry about meta from vet content onwards (and even then, only really in trials to be fair).

dmnqwk · September 2022

Magden are really poor atm and have been for some time.

Warden, as a class, lacks the following:
1. Spammable AoE
2. Execute

Because of this, you need to supplement those with non-class skills and the best way to do this is usually combine the two with dual wielding's whirling blades - this puts Stamden into a strong position.

The other issue is that Warden has very inferior spammables - Cutting Dive (stamina morph) provides low dps (something like 9k plus a potential 900/second with the bleed up 100%) while screaming cliff racer is 9500 with a good buff.
The problem is compared to other classes who get over 10k and you'll see why Rapid Strikes at 12k makes stamina a superior option.

Wardens are still definitely fun and strong in their roles (except magden) but since U35 decimated my permablock tank build I've spent 90% of my time on Nightblades instead - who can do all the roles, pull same numbers, tank the same stuff and heal the same content (weaker healer, but stronger dps while healing or tanking and better sustain in any form).

ixthUA · September 2022

Hybrid DD warden has no problem with dps or recovery and has strong self healing. I soloed all base game world bosses on my warden without companion or pale order ring.
Warden healer and tank are ok, i did veteran dlc dungeons on them without problems.

Mr_Stach · September 2022

ixthUA wrote: »

Hybrid DD warden has no problem with dps or recovery and has strong self healing. I soloed all base game world bosses on my warden without companion or pale order ring.
Warden healer and tank are ok, i did veteran dlc dungeons on them without problems.

Overland content is not really a great measuring stick imo.

Also Warden as a Healer and Tank have always been good. Warden as a healer is arguably the best healer in the game.

Warden as a DD in the Endgame content is where the focus is because that is where it's weaker, like you can do the Endgame content no problem, but viable =/= great.

That's the main issue, I want Warden to be great in all content, in all roles. That doesn't mean #1, just be competitive with the other great classes. I also want all classes to be great and feel good, my focus is on Warden because that's what I main.

Kahnak · September 2022

Warden is a really good choice for a support role, but the disparity that people are referring to in regards to their DPS is only apparent at the high end. Folks also like to forget that skill plays a huge role in performance in this game, so it's not like you're going to be at the bottom simply because you are a Warden. It's a great class; brings a lot of group utility to the table and is a lot of fun to play.

ixthUA · September 2022

Mr_Stach wrote: »

Overland content is not really a great measuring stick imo.

Also Warden as a Healer and Tank have always been good. Warden as a healer is arguably the best healer in the game.

Warden as a DD in the Endgame content is where the focus is because that is where it's weaker, like you can do the Endgame content no problem, but viable =/= great.

That's the main issue, I want Warden to be great in all content, in all roles. That doesn't mean #1, just be competitive with the other great classes. I also want all classes to be great and feel good, my focus is on Warden because that's what I main.

Veteran trials and hardmode vet dlc dungeons are very niche. Like many people, i did none of them over the time i play ESO.

Petoften · September 2022

Thanks for the comments. I'm not seeing a role for Wardens they're the class for and are especially fun; I did see they're good as healers, and that a frost build that's not very good is fun. Being able to solo WB is quite good, though.

Caribou77 · October 2022

I main a MagDen in PVP, and it's pretty challenging these days. As mentioned by others above:

-No execute (except on ultimate/bear, which wanders around and is hard to control -- nothing like any other class's execute)
-Spammable is bad (Screaming Cliff Racer is really slow and obvious in PVP -- people dodge it 95% of the time)
-You main offensive pressure, Deep Fissure, took a seriously class-breaking nerf in U35, significantly reducing its damage, but most imporantly moving the "heavier hitting" burst out to a 9 SECOND DELAY.
-Advanced Species, prior to U35, gave you some damage passive (2% per animal skill slotted) to help balance your weak, slow skills. U35 replaced this with 445/990 pen, which while mildly helpful in PVP, still isn't as good as the raw 2% damage.

If you like the idea of playing a Magicka-focused Warden, it's not a good time at all to try the class out. My current MagDen PVP build uses crushing shock and dawnbreaker of smiting for most of its damage. I've got deep fissure on there for pen, it's now too slow (9 seconds) and weak (first burst especially) to be good for anything but breach.

If you just want to roam around Tamriel, exploring, it's an awesome class with a variety of wacky, often useless but cool-looking spells.