The skill



PvP balance

Since the very start of the game, PvP builds have been about balance and trade off from the 3 core parts of a build;

Damage.
Survivability.
Sustain.

You can obviously lean into each for different roles, but that comes at a cost; Build all damage and nothing else, you’re a glass cannon ganker. Build all survivability and sustain, you’re a tank with no damage. Etc etc.

Until now

The release of this reworked skill has essentially removed the need for ANY sustain on a build using it.
If an average max pool of resources is 30k (which is fairly typical) and you consider that stamina and magicka recovery stats grant their values every 2 seconds… This can give up to the equivalent of +4500 Magicka AND stamina recovery once cast. Obviously that’s based on a 30k pool and casting low enough, but if you use this at all in any capacity, you’ll see that it’s the ONLY sustain you need.

You don’t need recovery race, recovery glyphs, recovery mundus stone, heavy attacks or even tri pots anymore.
I had a full weekend of PvP using Ardent flame on a nightblade base, and could literally just cast this occasionally and completely forget sustain on a build that otherwise had none.
Comparatively; I used another NB build using wretched vitality (A sustain set) and didn’t use this skill, and the sustain was notably worse. This skill alone is outperforming any combination of sustain sets right now.

The alternatives

We currently have 2 other sustainable skills in the game; Balance (Mages guild) and Dark deal (Sorceror)

Neither come even remotely close to how game breaking Core of Flame is. They don’t remove the need for other sustain, they aren’t instant cast, don’t restore anywhere near as much resources, and don’t come with a free AOE burst at the end.

The effect on PvP

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE is going to be using Ardent flame very soon. Most are already. It’s bad enough that whip is entirely overtuned;
- Hits like a spectral bow.
- Stacks 5 times for spam.
- Massive self heal
- AOE

That already damages PVP imo with how busted that skill is.

Now add Core of flame, which allows us all to forget 1 out of the 3 core parts of building anything for PvP, and just go full damage sets.
As I mentioned above, you’ll don’t even need tri pots to sustain at all, so you can use speed / armour / healing potions etc, and it’s essentially turned anyone using Ardent flame into Thanos.

If in some way this was across the board, and recovery in eso was just removed so we could cast whatever, whenever and infinitely block or dodge roll, then fine I guess.

But right now, if you aren’t using ardent flame, you have no chance in PvP, and that’s not even just about the new revamped DK skills that other classes will get in time, it’s because you can ignore sustain completely.

After reading today’s PTS notes, it’s extremely disappointing that this hasn’t been addressed, and I can only guess the lack of posts about it on the forums are due to many DK fans, but this absolutely needs to be changed.
Infinite mag / stam (and soon to be a better heal) from a single skill that also comes with a delayed burst for kill combos, is absolutely not balanced at all.

Please review this ZOS. Thanks