That was supposed to be "two" mobs.

Don't worry about killing mobs on higher level than you. It's still a little early for this, it will get easier.

Do you have trouble with groups, single targets? It seems you put points only in one class skill. It's usually best to take the first skill in all three lines for leveling. I used Stonefist very often in early game - I was an archer, so it helped me keep distance, but it's always a nice way of controlling the situation. Dark Talons are useful too.

Do you use food?

txfeinbergsub17_ESO wrote: »

I found I needed to mix light armor (which is what my racial buffs are tied to) with some heavy armor pieces to balance out my weakness.

I don't think it really helps on such low levels. It starts shining with passives, but before you get them, more protection is usually preferable. But yeah, later on it's good to mix. With a two-handed weapon, you could go for medium armor and damage role in groups.

I observe that you don't have a crowd control power. The Dark Talons power in the Draconic skill line is good for that. You also want by level 9 either Stone Fist from the Earthen Heart line, or Silver Bolts from the Fighter guild.

Note by level 9 I had rank 10 in every weapon type though only I think 1 or 2 skill points invested in my primary weapon. I also was actively using 2 different dragon knight lines.

Stone Fist and Silver Bolts both have a knock down component. Dark Talons has a hold with the ability to morph up to a DOT and hit multiple opponents.

Rosveen wrote: »

Do you use food?

[

Food?

Also, I'm using the abilities as best I can and at level 9 I STRUGGLE killing a level 8 mob, right now I'm at a complete standstill I've been level 9 for over a day now because I die repeatedly to the same mobs, all of my quests are level 10-12 so I really am at a total loss as to what to do or how to go about leveling at this point.

My guild has told me to reroll or "I must be doing it wrong" so I'm really not sure what to do.

KaraSvana wrote: »

Rosveen wrote: »

Do you use food?

[

Food?

Also, I'm using the abilities as best I can and at level 9 I STRUGGLE killing a level 8 mob, right now I'm at a complete standstill I've been level 9 for over a day now because I die repeatedly to the same mobs, all of my quests are level 10-12 so I really am at a total loss as to what to do or how to go about leveling at this point.

My guild has told me to reroll or "I must be doing it wrong" so I'm really not sure what to do.

Yup. Guar Quiche, very tasty and good for the skin. Oh, and gives you more health for half an hour so you don't go down so easily. But seriously, Provisioning is useful and easy to level, so try it. Provided you can find any recipes, because drops seem to have been nerfed...

Okay, so what's your skill setup exactly? The link in the first post shows only 3 active skills + Soul Trap. Any experiences with Stonefist?

If you have trouble with quests, I'd leave them for a while and focus on public dungeons and Dark Anchors. It's always a bit of experience and skyshards, and you have help of random people (and bots *sigh*) around you, so it should be easier. Or find someone to quest with; any guildies willing to help? Heck, even the guy above wants to team up.

Rosveen wrote: »

Okay, so what's your skill setup exactly? The link in the first post shows only 3 active skills + Soul Trap. Any experiences with Stonefist?

If you have trouble with quests, I'd leave them for a while and focus on public dungeons and Dark Anchors. It's always a bit of experience and skyshards, and you have help of random people (and bots *sigh*) around you, so it should be easier. Or find someone to quest with; any guildies willing to help? Heck, even the guy above wants to team up.

I use Empowering Chains, Unstable Flame, Critical Charge and Uppercut

As far as public dungeons and dark anchors, I don't know enough about those to seek out those groups - as far as guildies helping me goes, I've asked for about a day now in guild trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong and all I've been told is to reroll because if I'm having these many problems now I'll have even more problems later.

And the occasional "You're obviously doing it wrong" comment

You're not doing too bad. You've got a good balance of magicka and stamina skills.

I might consider not putting any more points into crafting. You don't really need it until around level 16, and by then you'll have a lot more points to play with. Until you've stabilized your combat style, focus on combat skills.

Also, have you been seeking out skyshards? That build seems a bit thin on Skill Points for a level 9.

I highly recommend taking Spiked Armor from the Draconic line when you can. It can help with your survivability, and it's a good idea to at least level that line up to Dragon Blood, which is a good self-heal.

Dark Talons is also good for crowd control, which starts to be a must at around your level.

Admittedly, I struggle here - I'm not sure when to block or if I should just block when I get the queue that sais for me to block, as far as when an enemy charges up their abilities, I usually dodge out of the way and am dead before I can charge up my heavy attack - I've never knocked an enemy down with a heavy attack. I'm not sure why, but I can't seem to do it, I also have no clue when blocking is appropriate or how to know when to block.

This I would bet is probably the cause of most of your deaths. The cue to block will not always pop up. In fact, I think it only pops up for the first few levels or so, when the game thinks you're still learning. There is a graphical cue that someone is charging up a power attack or a spell. It looks like thin lines pulsing from their center. The easiest way to tell is to look at their body language. A melee power attack will have the enemy pulling their arm way back and over their head, holding it there for a second or so, and then coming down upon you. That's plenty of time to block. You don't even need to hold it. You can tap block at the right moment and block the attack. Since you're new to the action, I would make a habit of holding block down whenever someone does this until you get used to it. You have to have enough stamina to block as well. So if your stamina bar is empty, blocking won't do you much good. Try to save enough stamina for at least one block. You never know when you will need it. If you use stamina skills heavily, drink a stamina potion when your bar gets to 1/3. Don't be caught without an empty Stam bar. If you're blocking powered attacks, you will take much less damage and you won't get knocked down. If someone is flinging you away with their sword and you land on your back, you should have blocked.

Interrupting is also easy to distinguish. Casters will typically pull their hands back in a Dragon Ball Z type move. If they're wielding a staff, they'll pull one arm back in this way and hold it there while charging up. Also the white lines are there. They are not colored on my end. I think there is a setting that changes this in case you want them to be more obvious. Hold block and tap attack and you can interrupt anyone. If you're a ranged character, pay attention to skills that interrupt. Some say this explicitly, but also any skill that says 'knockdown' or 'stun' will interrupt. This essentially cancels their entire attack, saving your poor health points from being ravaged. If you can't interrupt in time, many charged attacks are AoE (area of effect) and a red circle will spread out beneath the enemy's feet while charging. You can sprint out of this (maybe) or dodge roll out of it (more reliable). Dodge roll costs Stamina as well, so you'll have to account for that. If you don't have enough Stamina to dodge, you will be unable to execute the dodge.

Defensive maneuvers are critical to every role and every class. It doesn't matter how you're playing, if you don't block or interrupt or dodge, you will die 10 times more often.

Also, your guild really should be more sympathetic than that. They sound like braggarts, rather impatient ones at that. If the only advice your guildmates can give you is reroll, you may want to start looking for a new guild.

There's an option in the settings to always show combat cues. It might help you learn to read the visual signs better.

BlackSparrow wrote: »

Also, it's worth noting that just because you're a DPS doesn't mean you shouldn't still take defense and crowd control skills... this game is very solo focused, so everyone has to be a bit of a jack-of-all-trades in that department.

Very true. Everyone needs a self-heal and for DKs the go-to skill is Dragon Blood in the Draconic Power tree. Not at this level of course, but in the future. And even for a DPSer Dark Talons are extremely useful - they give you crowd control and the Burning morph doubles their damage output, possibly synergizing with Kindling from Ardent Flame (?)

Well as I said I went parry, dark talons, chains, silver bolts, and soul trap for my DK at about that level. Generally I could handle 2 level 10 mobs fairly easily with that build. Part of the trick was stunning them, part locking them down with talons or knocking them down with bolts, then using parry for bigger damage.

One thing to note. You don't need to buy every skill in a skill line to unlock the higher skill abilities to buy. I've skipped buying powers in my Class list that I don't want to bother with.