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Why is my parse always so bad relative to my build?

Nyseto
Nyseto
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I should be getting 100k+ dps for my build yet I'm always stuck in low 70k. Even on Nightblade, I have the same result when switching deadly out for tide-born.

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  • Renato90085
    Renato90085
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    buff and food/pot wrong
  • Soarora
    Soarora
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    Aside from sugar skulls (parse food is 1 stat or 1 stat + recovery for that stat. Content food is 1 stat + health or 1 stat + recovery for that stat + health usually), the build looks okay. You are missing major brutality/sorcery though and that one's pretty important. DK DPS would use weapon or spell power potions to get the buff, but if you want to keep using tri pots you'll have to source it from molten weapons or entropy or some other source.

    Aside from that, it'd be making sure you have all your passives and then working on your rotation. I don't know DK well enough to look at your skill casts and know if you're doing it right, but your burning talons amount looks pretty low, you should cast it every 5 seconds. If you're a stamDK you might want to not use it due to sustain problems.
    [PC/NA] Dungeoneer (Tank/DPS), Retired Trialist, and amateur Battlegrounder (DPS) with a passion for The Elder Scrolls lore.
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  • Nyseto
    Nyseto
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    buff and food/pot wrong

    I've done lava foot with weapon power pot and got similar results. Just because I didn't use the optimal food and pot can't possibly account for tens of thousands of dps loss
  • Soarora
    Soarora
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    Nyseto wrote: »
    buff and food/pot wrong

    I've done lava foot with weapon power pot and got similar results. Just because I didn't use the optimal food and pot can't possibly account for tens of thousands of dps loss

    I'm fairly certain it's your skill, then. Especially since it's multiple builds. We've all been there (or at least I have). The only way forward is to continue parsing and watching other people parse. You don't have to do full parses if you don't want to, just keep working on your rotation until you're able to keep all your buffs up (maybe shift some skills around based on timer length*). Watching other people parse (especially by watching videos) will help you understand how to use your skills (like using talons every 5 seconds, stacking the carve timer, building stacks of whip). Look for old meta DKs, that'll probably be your best bet for finding a similar video.

    *On the topic of timer length, do be sure to either have skill timers turned on in settings or get an addon that shows skill timers (there are many).

    A suggestion I've heard is also to go skill-by-skill and learn the weaving for each one (slowly doing LA -> skill and speeding up until you've hit the right speed). If you don't have a weaving addon, combat metronome is the one I use. Personally, I just learn the weaving for my spammable and wing the rest of them.
    Edited by Soarora on January 21, 2026 5:12AM
    [PC/NA] Dungeoneer (Tank/DPS), Retired Trialist, and amateur Battlegrounder (DPS) with a passion for The Elder Scrolls lore.
    • Current GM of Hard Dungeoneers
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    • DPS: Frost Warden - Stamarc
    • Ex-healer
    • Dungeons: 32/32 HMs - 26/26 Tris

      View my builds!
  • Renato90085
    Renato90085
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    Nyseto wrote: »
    buff and food/pot wrong

    I've done lava foot with weapon power pot and got similar results. Just because I didn't use the optimal food and pot can't possibly account for tens of thousands of dps loss

    missing major brutality/sorcery ,you need give up engulfing flames to swap a skill have this buffs,like Degeneration or make a
    scribing dot,the trial dummy have 100% engulfing flames debuff work time so you dont need this
    check your all passive(class/weapon guild/race)
    and why dk run deadly..?
  • Nyseto
    Nyseto
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    Here is Nightblade parse, 80k just now. Lavafoot, already get major brutality from power extraction. Apparently my weaving average sucks? Total time wasted is 30.5 seconds. Am I just taking too long to cast the next skill?


    yng502bnwtkj.png
    6aijqew0q05e.png
  • Nyseto
    Nyseto
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    Nyseto wrote: »
    buff and food/pot wrong

    I've done lava foot with weapon power pot and got similar results. Just because I didn't use the optimal food and pot can't possibly account for tens of thousands of dps loss

    missing major brutality/sorcery ,you need give up engulfing flames to swap a skill have this buffs,like Degeneration or make a
    scribing dot,the trial dummy have 100% engulfing flames debuff work time so you dont need this
    check your all passive(class/weapon guild/race)
    and why dk run deadly..?

    Deadly gives you 15% damage bonus to DoTs
  • ZhuJiuyin
    ZhuJiuyin
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    It's clear your DoT management is poor. Flames of Oblivion and Stampede both last 15 seconds, but you cast one 18 times and the other only 14. Other DoTs with the same duration, like Engulfing Flames, you only cast 3 times, but Venomous Claw 12 times.

    Furthermore, your light attack weaving isn't good, and fewer light attacks reduce the chance of weapon Enchanting procs.

    Additionally, a 21M training dummy provides major brutality/sorcery, so not using molten weapons is possible, but not in actual combat.
    Edited by ZhuJiuyin on January 23, 2026 11:16AM
    "是燭九陰,是燭龍。"──by "The Classic of Mountains and Seas "English is not my first language,If something is ambiguous, rude due to context and translation issues, etc., please remind me, thanks.
  • Nyseto
    Nyseto
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    84k parse on the NB. 25.89 seconds wasted between skill casts?

    1ga5q8siy2yp.png
    ljiolhcadteh.png
  • Nyseto
    Nyseto
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    ZhuJiuyin wrote: »
    It's clear your DoT management is poor. Flames of Oblivion and Stampede both last 15 seconds, but you cast one 18 times and the other only 14. Other DoTs with the same duration, like Engulfing Flames, you only cast 3 times, but Venomous Claw 12 times.

    Furthermore, your light attack weaving isn't good, and fewer light attacks reduce the chance of weapon Enchanting procs.

    Additionally, a 21-meter training dummy provides major brutality/sorcery, so not using molten weapons is possible, but not in actual combat.

    In the 84k NB parse, I only missed 1 light attack, but it says I wasted 25.8 seconds between skill casts. Many times it's hard to tell if I even cast a skill for the instants since there's no cooldown.
  • Soarora
    Soarora
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    Nyseto wrote: »
    ZhuJiuyin wrote: »
    It's clear your DoT management is poor. Flames of Oblivion and Stampede both last 15 seconds, but you cast one 18 times and the other only 14. Other DoTs with the same duration, like Engulfing Flames, you only cast 3 times, but Venomous Claw 12 times.

    Furthermore, your light attack weaving isn't good, and fewer light attacks reduce the chance of weapon Enchanting procs.

    Additionally, a 21-meter training dummy provides major brutality/sorcery, so not using molten weapons is possible, but not in actual combat.

    In the 84k NB parse, I only missed 1 light attack, but it says I wasted 25.8 seconds between skill casts. Many times it's hard to tell if I even cast a skill for the instants since there's no cooldown.

    I'm not sure what the "miss" for light attack means, but it's the skills you should be looking at. In the parse you're referencing, you missed 31 light attacks before surprise attack.

    Edit: Weaving isn't the problem really, though. Especially with Velothi. It can be important but what's really getting you is the rotation. You also shouldn't have to heavy attack. If you're struggling for resources, swap some of your skills to the opposite resource.
    Edited by Soarora on January 21, 2026 5:38AM
    [PC/NA] Dungeoneer (Tank/DPS), Retired Trialist, and amateur Battlegrounder (DPS) with a passion for The Elder Scrolls lore.
    • Current GM of Hard Dungeoneers
    • Tanks: Sorcerer - Necromancer - Templar
    • DPS: Frost Warden - Stamarc
    • Ex-healer
    • Dungeons: 32/32 HMs - 26/26 Tris

      View my builds!
  • Renato90085
    Renato90085
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    Nyseto wrote: »
    Nyseto wrote: »
    buff and food/pot wrong

    I've done lava foot with weapon power pot and got similar results. Just because I didn't use the optimal food and pot can't possibly account for tens of thousands of dps loss

    missing major brutality/sorcery ,you need give up engulfing flames to swap a skill have this buffs,like Degeneration or make a
    scribing dot,the trial dummy have 100% engulfing flames debuff work time so you dont need this
    check your all passive(class/weapon guild/race)
    and why dk run deadly..?

    Deadly gives you 15% damage bonus to DoTs

    dot percentage is not high..most dot maybe doing 5-7k dps,the arc/templar use Deadly main is need channeled attacks 15%.
    dps mean dmg per sec,so if you did some mistick,spend to many time the dps will be low,
    also,for nightblade,yes you miss too many light attack,your highest dps skill,grim focus need stack from light attack,so if you miss more light attack mean shot more few time bow,it a very big dps lost
    This is the parse I just done in pts,you can see we have same hit to grim focus(28 and 32),but i only parse 2.5min,you are 4 min,if you can did more lightattack and do more bow,it will be more high you shot more bow,same time doing more dps,it main reason nb and sorc is the only 2 class for require good weave,they good skill need light attack stack.
    I personally think your nightblade biggest problem right now is skill/light attack weave
    c0ert5xfbt86.jpg
    kgf8g83lxgdb.jpg
    Edited by Renato90085 on January 21, 2026 6:33AM
  • ceruulean
    ceruulean
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    Ansuul is useless on trial dummy because you are penetration capped and can't interrupt it. Deadly is not optimal for nightblades because that class doesn't use many dots or channels.

    Make sure to copy the exact sets, traits, potions, builds, and cp when people post CMX. They're there for a reason.

    If you have the exact build, then yeah your weaving is too slow. Get a metronome and set it to 115-120 BPM and follow it for the light attack>skill press. The goal is to get "weaving average" as close to 0 as possible. You are around 0.1-0.2, you would want under 0.1 to hit 85% of max ceiling.
    Edited by ceruulean on January 21, 2026 5:32PM
  • PeacefulAnarchy
    PeacefulAnarchy
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    Your weaving isn't great but it's good enough for velothi. Your cast cadance is also ok, anything under .2 is decent under .15 is good, under .1 is very good.
    You have some small suboptimal choice like food, gear (deadly on a whip dk is not the best choice) and those little things do add up. However as you note that shouldn't account for the big gap you're seeing. I'm not familiar with the specific builds you're using but I would guess you are not properly sequencing your casts to get the best value. Not having major brutality is a big issue on the dk parse.
    I assume those heavy attacks in your parse are actually slightly overheld light attacks but that is also an issue. If they are actual HAs for reaources then it's a big issue.
    ZhuJiuyin wrote: »
    Additionally, a 21-meter training dummy provides major brutality/sorcery, so not using molten weapons is possible, but not in actual combat.
    No it doesn't. It gives the minor buffs
    Soarora wrote: »

    I'm not sure what the "miss" for light attack means, but it's the skills you should be looking at. In the parse you're referencing, you missed 31 light attacks before surprise attack.
    .
    Miss for LA means you hit two LAs in a row, just like miss on a skill means you hit another skill after it instead of a LA
    ceruulean wrote: »
    Ansuul is useless on trial dummy because you are penetration capped and can't interrupt it.
    Ansuul may not be the meta but it is far from useless. It still has a strong flat % to monsters which is competitive and universal to all builds.
  • Nyseto
    Nyseto
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    Nyseto wrote: »
    Nyseto wrote: »
    buff and food/pot wrong

    I've done lava foot with weapon power pot and got similar results. Just because I didn't use the optimal food and pot can't possibly account for tens of thousands of dps loss

    missing major brutality/sorcery ,you need give up engulfing flames to swap a skill have this buffs,like Degeneration or make a
    scribing dot,the trial dummy have 100% engulfing flames debuff work time so you dont need this
    check your all passive(class/weapon guild/race)
    and why dk run deadly..?

    Deadly gives you 15% damage bonus to DoTs

    dot percentage is not high..most dot maybe doing 5-7k dps,the arc/templar use Deadly main is need channeled attacks 15%.
    dps mean dmg per sec,so if you did some mistick,spend to many time the dps will be low,
    also,for nightblade,yes you miss too many light attack,your highest dps skill,grim focus need stack from light attack,so if you miss more light attack mean shot more few time bow,it a very big dps lost
    This is the parse I just done in pts,you can see we have same hit to grim focus(28 and 32),but i only parse 2.5min,you are 4 min,if you can did more lightattack and do more bow,it will be more high you shot more bow,same time doing more dps,it main reason nb and sorc is the only 2 class for require good weave,they good skill need light attack stack.
    I personally think your nightblade biggest problem right now is skill/light attack weave
    c0ert5xfbt86.jpg
    kgf8g83lxgdb.jpg

    What do you mean by dot percentage is not high? I thought most dk damage is dots

  • Nyseto
    Nyseto
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    Your weaving isn't great but it's good enough for velothi. Your cast cadance is also ok, anything under .2 is decent under .15 is good, under .1 is very good.
    You have some small suboptimal choice like food, gear (deadly on a whip dk is not the best choice) and those little things do add up. However as you note that shouldn't account for the big gap you're seeing. I'm not familiar with the specific builds you're using but I would guess you are not properly sequencing your casts to get the best value. Not having major brutality is a big issue on the dk parse.
    I assume those heavy attacks in your parse are actually slightly overheld light attacks but that is also an issue. If they are actual HAs for reaources then it's a big issue.
    ZhuJiuyin wrote: »
    Additionally, a 21-meter training dummy provides major brutality/sorcery, so not using molten weapons is possible, but not in actual combat.
    No it doesn't. It gives the minor buffs
    Soarora wrote: »

    I'm not sure what the "miss" for light attack means, but it's the skills you should be looking at. In the parse you're referencing, you missed 31 light attacks before surprise attack.
    .
    Miss for LA means you hit two LAs in a row, just like miss on a skill means you hit another skill after it instead of a LA
    ceruulean wrote: »
    Ansuul is useless on trial dummy because you are penetration capped and can't interrupt it.
    Ansuul may not be the meta but it is far from useless. It still has a strong flat % to monsters which is competitive and universal to all builds.

    So in the NB parse, it says I missed 1 light attack, but missed 31 surprise attacks. Could you break down what that means exactly?
  • Renato90085
    Renato90085
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    Nyseto wrote: »
    Nyseto wrote: »
    Nyseto wrote: »
    buff and food/pot wrong

    I've done lava foot with weapon power pot and got similar results. Just because I didn't use the optimal food and pot can't possibly account for tens of thousands of dps loss

    missing major brutality/sorcery ,you need give up engulfing flames to swap a skill have this buffs,like Degeneration or make a
    scribing dot,the trial dummy have 100% engulfing flames debuff work time so you dont need this
    check your all passive(class/weapon guild/race)
    and why dk run deadly..?

    Deadly gives you 15% damage bonus to DoTs

    dot percentage is not high..most dot maybe doing 5-7k dps,the arc/templar use Deadly main is need channeled attacks 15%.
    dps mean dmg per sec,so if you did some mistick,spend to many time the dps will be low,
    also,for nightblade,yes you miss too many light attack,your highest dps skill,grim focus need stack from light attack,so if you miss more light attack mean shot more few time bow,it a very big dps lost
    This is the parse I just done in pts,you can see we have same hit to grim focus(28 and 32),but i only parse 2.5min,you are 4 min,if you can did more lightattack and do more bow,it will be more high you shot more bow,same time doing more dps,it main reason nb and sorc is the only 2 class for require good weave,they good skill need light attack stack.
    I personally think your nightblade biggest problem right now is skill/light attack weave
    c0ert5xfbt86.jpg
    kgf8g83lxgdb.jpg

    What do you mean by dot percentage is not high? I thought most dk damage is dots

    yes...dk have many dot,but problem in dot,since long years zos nerfed dot dmg.now dot just did very few dmg(every dot in my nb do3.8-4k,in your cmx do 5k for no major brutality/sorcery,it just mean deadly not worth it
    if you real want buff your dot build,dk bacak bar should use vma Inferno Stave
  • Renato90085
    Renato90085
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    Nyseto wrote: »
    Your weaving isn't great but it's good enough for velothi. Your cast cadance is also ok, anything under .2 is decent under .15 is good, under .1 is very good.
    You have some small suboptimal choice like food, gear (deadly on a whip dk is not the best choice) and those little things do add up. However as you note that shouldn't account for the big gap you're seeing. I'm not familiar with the specific builds you're using but I would guess you are not properly sequencing your casts to get the best value. Not having major brutality is a big issue on the dk parse.
    I assume those heavy attacks in your parse are actually slightly overheld light attacks but that is also an issue. If they are actual HAs for reaources then it's a big issue.
    ZhuJiuyin wrote: »
    Additionally, a 21-meter training dummy provides major brutality/sorcery, so not using molten weapons is possible, but not in actual combat.
    No it doesn't. It gives the minor buffs
    Soarora wrote: »

    I'm not sure what the "miss" for light attack means, but it's the skills you should be looking at. In the parse you're referencing, you missed 31 light attacks before surprise attack.
    .
    Miss for LA means you hit two LAs in a row, just like miss on a skill means you hit another skill after it instead of a LA
    ceruulean wrote: »
    Ansuul is useless on trial dummy because you are penetration capped and can't interrupt it.
    Ansuul may not be the meta but it is far from useless. It still has a strong flat % to monsters which is competitive and universal to all builds.

    So in the NB parse, it says I missed 1 light attack, but missed 31 surprise attacks. Could you break down what that means exactly?
    it not mean you only miss 1 light attack , the blue circle,weapon attack mean light attack so you all missed 96 light attack,skill mean you total skill,there 31 mean in 72 surprise attacks,you miss 31 time light attack(the weave rule is >skill+light)but you are running Velothi,so you not lost many light attack dmg here,main lost from bow cant shot because it need lightattack stack
    71necrhv8l5r.jpg
    j6j4x38j1j5x.png

  • Nyseto
    Nyseto
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    Nyseto wrote: »
    Your weaving isn't great but it's good enough for velothi. Your cast cadance is also ok, anything under .2 is decent under .15 is good, under .1 is very good.
    You have some small suboptimal choice like food, gear (deadly on a whip dk is not the best choice) and those little things do add up. However as you note that shouldn't account for the big gap you're seeing. I'm not familiar with the specific builds you're using but I would guess you are not properly sequencing your casts to get the best value. Not having major brutality is a big issue on the dk parse.
    I assume those heavy attacks in your parse are actually slightly overheld light attacks but that is also an issue. If they are actual HAs for reaources then it's a big issue.
    ZhuJiuyin wrote: »
    Additionally, a 21-meter training dummy provides major brutality/sorcery, so not using molten weapons is possible, but not in actual combat.
    No it doesn't. It gives the minor buffs
    Soarora wrote: »

    I'm not sure what the "miss" for light attack means, but it's the skills you should be looking at. In the parse you're referencing, you missed 31 light attacks before surprise attack.
    .
    Miss for LA means you hit two LAs in a row, just like miss on a skill means you hit another skill after it instead of a LA
    ceruulean wrote: »
    Ansuul is useless on trial dummy because you are penetration capped and can't interrupt it.
    Ansuul may not be the meta but it is far from useless. It still has a strong flat % to monsters which is competitive and universal to all builds.

    So in the NB parse, it says I missed 1 light attack, but missed 31 surprise attacks. Could you break down what that means exactly?
    it not mean you only miss 1 light attack , the blue circle,weapon attack mean light attack so you all missed 96 light attack,skill mean you total skill,there 31 mean in 72 surprise attacks,you miss 31 time light attack(the weave rule is >skill+light)but you are running Velothi,so you not lost many light attack dmg here,main lost from bow cant shot because it need lightattack stack
    71necrhv8l5r.jpg
    j6j4x38j1j5x.png

    I see now, it makes sense and Nightblade is an even better example because of not firing relentless focus bow often enough, which requires light attack stacks as you said. So I guess I was right-most of my dps loss is from bad weaving rather than suboptimal gear. If the weaving was perfect, it would be 100k+ parse easily. I don't have that parse saved to where I can scroll to the bottom and see the light attacks on that list.

    I re-cast a lot of skills before their cooldowns are entirely finished, like when there's 2-3 seconds remaining on the cooldown.

    I can't tell if I'm missing light attacks from trying to cast too fast, or casting too slow.
    Edited by Nyseto on January 22, 2026 4:57AM
  • Renato90085
    Renato90085
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    Nyseto wrote: »
    Nyseto wrote: »
    Your weaving isn't great but it's good enough for velothi. Your cast cadance is also ok, anything under .2 is decent under .15 is good, under .1 is very good.
    You have some small suboptimal choice like food, gear (deadly on a whip dk is not the best choice) and those little things do add up. However as you note that shouldn't account for the big gap you're seeing. I'm not familiar with the specific builds you're using but I would guess you are not properly sequencing your casts to get the best value. Not having major brutality is a big issue on the dk parse.
    I assume those heavy attacks in your parse are actually slightly overheld light attacks but that is also an issue. If they are actual HAs for reaources then it's a big issue.
    ZhuJiuyin wrote: »
    Additionally, a 21-meter training dummy provides major brutality/sorcery, so not using molten weapons is possible, but not in actual combat.
    No it doesn't. It gives the minor buffs
    Soarora wrote: »

    I'm not sure what the "miss" for light attack means, but it's the skills you should be looking at. In the parse you're referencing, you missed 31 light attacks before surprise attack.
    .
    Miss for LA means you hit two LAs in a row, just like miss on a skill means you hit another skill after it instead of a LA
    ceruulean wrote: »
    Ansuul is useless on trial dummy because you are penetration capped and can't interrupt it.
    Ansuul may not be the meta but it is far from useless. It still has a strong flat % to monsters which is competitive and universal to all builds.

    So in the NB parse, it says I missed 1 light attack, but missed 31 surprise attacks. Could you break down what that means exactly?
    it not mean you only miss 1 light attack , the blue circle,weapon attack mean light attack so you all missed 96 light attack,skill mean you total skill,there 31 mean in 72 surprise attacks,you miss 31 time light attack(the weave rule is >skill+light)but you are running Velothi,so you not lost many light attack dmg here,main lost from bow cant shot because it need lightattack stack
    71necrhv8l5r.jpg
    j6j4x38j1j5x.png

    I see now, it makes sense and Nightblade is an even better example because of not firing relentless focus bow often enough, which requires light attack stacks as you said. So I guess I was right-most of my dps loss is from bad weaving rather than suboptimal gear. If the weaving was perfect, it would be 100k+ parse easily. I don't have that parse saved to where I can scroll to the bottom and see the light attacks on that list.

    I re-cast a lot of skills before their cooldowns are entirely finished, like when there's 2-3 seconds remaining on the cooldown.

    I can't tell if I'm missing light attacks from trying to cast too fast, or casting too slow.

    you can use some gcd or weave addon like Global Cooldown Monitor to training..or just training SA+lightattack first(front bar only surprise attack and try weave)
    sometime need give up dot to do more spamblade,like when trial dummy last 15%,nb should only killer blade and buff skill(trap/stampede)
  • UntilValhalla13
    UntilValhalla13
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    Do you have a video so we can physically see what's going on?
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