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Class Mastery failed us - Dragonknight is still ridiculously overpowered in PvP
Usureki
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So, we have a new patch, and seems ZOS broke up the tradition of making the subject of the most recent patch (WW this time) the most overpowered thing in the game, as in my (and several others) opinion the Dragonknight is still awkwardly powerful. Don't get me wrong, I love the intention and the direction of the Class Mastery idea - some degree of balance against broken subclassing builds, bringing back class identities, enabling further character customisation, I'm all for it - so maybe my excitement set way too high expectations, but I'm sad to see that my feedback from PTS testing was not taken into consideration and as such, I'm here to complain and criticize with another forum post. I'm still playing Arcanist with the hope that the game will be a slightly bit more fair by "the next update", but that update is yet to come - my analysis below will focus on comparing Arcanist and Dragonknight, but my point is that DK is still OP.
The difference in impact between the two classes is honestly impossible to ignore, and my feeling is validated by 99% of forum and in-game responses. DK was already one of the most complete, least‑punished classes in the game, and the new passives introduced in U50 amplify exactly the parts of the kit that were already strong. Meanwhile, Arcanist’s Class Mastery mostly smooths out rotation friction without addressing the real issues that hold the class back.
On Dragonknight, every Class Mastery passive feeds directly into an existing strength. Inexorable Descent increases overall damage, healing, and shield strength just for doing what DK already does, especially with the current crit meta (whip goes br br, numbers are off the charts). Booming Voice stacks even more sustain on top of Battle Roar, which was already the best sustain passive in the game, so while they have insane damage output, at least they are also invincible. Resolute Defense gives extra block mitigation and stamina return, making one the strongest tank even sturdier. Wildfire Embers adds more DoT pressure to the class that already dominates soon-to-be DoT‑based gameplay. And Lead From the Front is probably the most impactful of all: Major Berserk and Major Protection for the whole group, scaling with ultimate spent. DKs generate and spend ultimates constantly, so the uptime on these buffs can get extremely high in organized groups.
Arcanist’s Class Mastery, by comparison, feels much more modest. The passives we have access to mostly revolve around Crux generation and spending. Abyssal Emergence gives instant Crux and a damage buff when you use an ultimate, but Arcanist ultimates are literal trash in a PvP scenario and interesting-but-weak in a PvE scenario. Fate Realigned helps you get back to full Crux more reliably, which is nice to have I guess, but it pales in comparison to other passives, even with the increased damage. These are nice quality‑of‑life improvements, but they don’t solve the core problems: the dependency on Crux to receive a weak return of effort investment, the vulnerability and desync/targeting issues of beam channels, the awkward mid‑range situation where the Arcanist deals less damage than melee but has half the range as a ranged build, and the lack of a sustain lever comparable to Battle Roar. The class still feels rotation‑sensitive and noticeably more fragile under pressure. Going against a Dragonknight as an Arcanist in a Battleground is still a 90% death sentence. Arcanist had its mid-tier strength in survivability with its defensive powers, now since every other class received great Class Masteries, even that "advantage" is gone. Yet Dragonknight received a huge boost to an already overpowered arsenal of abilities.
Because of the above, the gap between the two classes actually widens with Class Mastery. DK gets more sustain, more survivability, more pressure, and now even more group utility. Arcanist gets smoother Crux flow and some extra damage, but nothing that changes how the class performs in real combat situations. In PvP, DK becomes even harder to kill and even more oppressive in sustained fights. In PvE, DK tanks now bring some of the strongest group buffs in the game on top of their already dominant toolkit. Arcanist doesn’t gain anything comparable.
I don’t think the solution is to gut DK — the class is fun and iconic, I would like the update it received together with the two handed weapon skill line, but everything else deserves love too, and the current state is half baked... and even if Class Mastery is meant to reward pure‑class builds fairly, then the current implementation leans heavily in one direction. Either DK’s passives need a bit of tuning, or Arcanist needs Class Mastery passive that actually addresses its structural weaknesses instead of the current "you do slightly better damage" and "you buff a bit better" situation. Right now, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Dragonknight gained far more from Class Mastery than Arcanist did, and the gap that already existed between the two classes is now even more noticeable.
The difference in impact between the two classes is honestly impossible to ignore, and my feeling is validated by 99% of forum and in-game responses. DK was already one of the most complete, least‑punished classes in the game, and the new passives introduced in U50 amplify exactly the parts of the kit that were already strong. Meanwhile, Arcanist’s Class Mastery mostly smooths out rotation friction without addressing the real issues that hold the class back.
On Dragonknight, every Class Mastery passive feeds directly into an existing strength. Inexorable Descent increases overall damage, healing, and shield strength just for doing what DK already does, especially with the current crit meta (whip goes br br, numbers are off the charts). Booming Voice stacks even more sustain on top of Battle Roar, which was already the best sustain passive in the game, so while they have insane damage output, at least they are also invincible. Resolute Defense gives extra block mitigation and stamina return, making one the strongest tank even sturdier. Wildfire Embers adds more DoT pressure to the class that already dominates soon-to-be DoT‑based gameplay. And Lead From the Front is probably the most impactful of all: Major Berserk and Major Protection for the whole group, scaling with ultimate spent. DKs generate and spend ultimates constantly, so the uptime on these buffs can get extremely high in organized groups.
Arcanist’s Class Mastery, by comparison, feels much more modest. The passives we have access to mostly revolve around Crux generation and spending. Abyssal Emergence gives instant Crux and a damage buff when you use an ultimate, but Arcanist ultimates are literal trash in a PvP scenario and interesting-but-weak in a PvE scenario. Fate Realigned helps you get back to full Crux more reliably, which is nice to have I guess, but it pales in comparison to other passives, even with the increased damage. These are nice quality‑of‑life improvements, but they don’t solve the core problems: the dependency on Crux to receive a weak return of effort investment, the vulnerability and desync/targeting issues of beam channels, the awkward mid‑range situation where the Arcanist deals less damage than melee but has half the range as a ranged build, and the lack of a sustain lever comparable to Battle Roar. The class still feels rotation‑sensitive and noticeably more fragile under pressure. Going against a Dragonknight as an Arcanist in a Battleground is still a 90% death sentence. Arcanist had its mid-tier strength in survivability with its defensive powers, now since every other class received great Class Masteries, even that "advantage" is gone. Yet Dragonknight received a huge boost to an already overpowered arsenal of abilities.
Because of the above, the gap between the two classes actually widens with Class Mastery. DK gets more sustain, more survivability, more pressure, and now even more group utility. Arcanist gets smoother Crux flow and some extra damage, but nothing that changes how the class performs in real combat situations. In PvP, DK becomes even harder to kill and even more oppressive in sustained fights. In PvE, DK tanks now bring some of the strongest group buffs in the game on top of their already dominant toolkit. Arcanist doesn’t gain anything comparable.
I don’t think the solution is to gut DK — the class is fun and iconic, I would like the update it received together with the two handed weapon skill line, but everything else deserves love too, and the current state is half baked... and even if Class Mastery is meant to reward pure‑class builds fairly, then the current implementation leans heavily in one direction. Either DK’s passives need a bit of tuning, or Arcanist needs Class Mastery passive that actually addresses its structural weaknesses instead of the current "you do slightly better damage" and "you buff a bit better" situation. Right now, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Dragonknight gained far more from Class Mastery than Arcanist did, and the gap that already existed between the two classes is now even more noticeable.
4
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Nordstern✭✭✭You run the class, thats been the worst for pvp for a long time and then complain about dk being op. Several other classes are close to dk now and some setups might even outperform. You should criticize them for the long-lasting inferior strength of arcanist, not for the strength of dk. Also 3 of the 5 class passives of dk arent really good for most pvp setups at all.2 -
Luneca✭✭✭To say that classes are anywhere near each other because of masteries is delusional. DK is far ahead of the "pack" and the masteries only buff people going all-in "niche" scenarios. The mastery system is not enabling more and different kinds of builds; it's doing the opposite while still falling behind subclassing.
Of course there will people that disagree, but like I said elsewhere when a certain someone tried to claim otherwise and disappeared once they got refuted, the class skill lines are BAD on a majority of classes and that is what subclassing alleviates and why a pure class cannot compete, even with masteries.
I just tried pure templar on live and it was a disappointment. I had no real skills to slot because most of templar's skills are trerrible, they don't have a slottable major buff that matters (repentence and the other morph don't count, no one slots that let's be honest here).
Compare that to subclassing where I can take skill lines that give me slottable buffs and simplify my buff uptime, which means a greater DPS output, and in PvP more damage or healing that can be done within an instant of time or reactively without losing buffs.
This is something that those who thought that class masteries would "address" didn't really think about: the combat system at its core and the number of actions you can save, reduce, or outright forget about through subclassing and setting the right skill lines.
The masteries do not come anywhere near to giving that much power back, which is lost if you aren't subclassing.
I asked someone, how much WD/SD is equivalent to another cast of a skill where you would otherwise be wasting time keeping buffs up over an interval? They didn't need to think long to figure out that even 2000 WD/SD is simply not equivalent or as beneficial as an additional action, especially in the context of PvP where you'd want to be stacking damage instances consistently.
But of course, there are those that said I was wrong and I just scoffed and now we see that little 3-star me wasn't wrong at all.
They should have never wasted time with masteries and advanced the class rework schedule instead. And if not that, at least fix the buggy skills esp. on arcanist and necro. Ridiculous having half your skills black out because a guy is barely above you in height above you on the ground, even at point blank range.
^ That alone makes taking all class skill lines on both necro and arcanist a bad proposition, before we even get into how useless the skill lines are on their own without subclassing, in the context of the game now that subclassing exists.2 -
Zama666✭✭✭✭They could have just skip DK class mastery passives for now. Help the other classes catch up.
Better than nothing?2 -
Nordstern✭✭✭To say that classes are anywhere near each other because of masteries is delusional. DK is far ahead of the "pack" and the masteries only buff people going all-in "niche" scenarios. The mastery system is not enabling more and different kinds of builds; it's doing the opposite while still falling behind subclassing.
Of course there will people that disagree, but like I said elsewhere when a certain someone tried to claim otherwise and disappeared once they got refuted, the class skill lines are BAD on a majority of classes and that is what subclassing alleviates and why a pure class cannot compete, even with masteries.
I just tried pure templar on live and it was a disappointment. I had no real skills to slot because most of templar's skills are trerrible, they don't have a slottable major buff that matters (repentence and the other morph don't count, no one slots that let's be honest here).
Compare that to subclassing where I can take skill lines that give me slottable buffs and simplify my buff uptime, which means a greater DPS output, and in PvP more damage or healing that can be done within an instant of time or reactively without losing buffs.
This is something that those who thought that class masteries would "address" didn't really think about: the combat system at its core and the number of actions you can save, reduce, or outright forget about through subclassing and setting the right skill lines.
The masteries do not come anywhere near to giving that much power back, which is lost if you aren't subclassing.
I asked someone, how much WD/SD is equivalent to another cast of a skill where you would otherwise be wasting time keeping buffs up over an interval? They didn't need to think long to figure out that even 2000 WD/SD is simply not equivalent or as beneficial as an additional action, especially in the context of PvP where you'd want to be stacking damage instances consistently.
But of course, there are those that said I was wrong and I just scoffed and now we see that little 3-star me wasn't wrong at all.
They should have never wasted time with masteries and advanced the class rework schedule instead. And if not that, at least fix the buggy skills esp. on arcanist and necro. Ridiculous having half your skills black out because a guy is barely above you in height above you on the ground, even at point blank range.
^ That alone makes taking all class skill lines on both necro and arcanist a bad proposition, before we even get into how useless the skill lines are on their own without subclassing, in the context of the game now that subclassing exists.
The reason nobody wants to discuss with you is that it leads nowhere. You can have your opinion but i would love to give up at least 3 skills for 2000 wd/sd each and I bet ive spent much more time in eso pvp than you.0 -
nightbringer1993✭✭✭✭The situation we are having right now is the reason why I stopped playing ESO.
The class refresh order is wrong because the most nerfed classes like necromancer is being done last while OP classes like DK, warden and sorcerer are being done first. So the class imbalance is being made worst. Especially with those class masteries that are buffing pure classes, and therefore the refreshed classes are being made stronger.
This situation is unplayable for me because I don’t want to change class and I am tired of being forced to do it if I am to continue playing.PC EU2 -
X94✭You could nerf dk damage 80% across the board and it would still be insanely good, a 15k spammable whip would do 4k instead which is insane for a spammable.0 -
X94✭Also I don't understand why they would just upgrade one class instead of all at once? and why is Werewolf the second upgrade? We have to play a broken game for what 2 years? Until they've upgraded all the classes?
[snip]
[edited for bashing]Edited by ZOS_Icy on June 19, 2026 12:08PM3 -
Oblivion_Protocol✭✭✭✭✭
✭Also I don't understand why they would just upgrade one class instead of all at once? and why is Werewolf the second upgrade? We have to play a broken game for what 2 years? Until they've upgraded all the classes?
[snip]
…As opposed to having to play a broken game with fewer options for two years until all of the classes are upgraded at once? This process was always going to take time. I’d rather they release something while working on the updates than leave us in subclassing hell while they cook up some kind of balance.
[edited to remove quote]Edited by ZOS_Icy on June 19, 2026 12:10PM1
