DK Tank/DPS Build for PVE and PVP.

So I was trying to put together a build that I liked that could both server as my melee DPS and tank with a decent set up for PVP. And I came up with this. Though this build is not finished in anyway shape or form, so insights to improving it would be welcomed.

There are 3 different set ups used in this build for 3 different situations.

Race.

I chose Dunmer for some very specific reasons. One they have a boost to fire dam and two they have resists to fire. The other option I looked at was the Imperial and they have some decent passives I like as well. Though I think for this build I will get more out of the Dunmer Racials over the Imperial Especially since the Vampire passives are going to play an important role in this build.

Armor, Traits, Enchants, and Mundus Stone.

Tank - As for armor I'm going 7 heavy. I may change this to a 5 heavy 2 light or 2 medium depending on how my stats look at VR 10. Right now I'm aiming for 7 heavy for tanking.

DPS - For DPS it's with out a doubt I'll be going 5 medium and 2 light. It looks to be the best way to set it up on paper. Again if I find that a different set up results are better I'll update this.

Enchants - The one thing about this build is that in either set up, tank or DPS, you need lots of both resources. Though I found as DPS you need far less magicka vs the tank set up. For this I may go for a mix of Stamina and Magicka enchantments.

Traits - For traits I'm thinking of using increased enchantment strength. I think this will allow me to soft cap in both Magicka and stamina for DPS and tanking. If I find I can't soft cap both I will most likely go with a stamina set up for DPS and Tanking.

Mundus Stone - So this is where this build has a lot of wiggle room. A lot of Mundus stones could be used to complete this build. It's really going to depend on what stats I have at what cap before I can commit to a single on. Though for DPS I would most likely lean toward Shadow for the increased Critical damage.

Point Distribution.

Because of the nature of this set up I'm leaning towards a 10/29/10 (magicka/Health/Stamina) split. I may have to respec at end game depending on how my stats look.

The Builds.

The are a lot of builds to link for this. mainly because this build is so versatile that I want to give you guys an idea of how I'm thinking to get the most out of this.

This first build is the over all point set spent and PVP quick bar. Overall build.

This next build is my PVE DW build.

And this is my PVE Tank Build.

Closing thoughts.

This build hasn't been tested and is just a theory on paper to being a good set up. This is completely comprised of my doing research and seeing what other people have come up with. I am more than open to suggestions to improving this build, not only for me, but anyone who wishes to also try to do the same thing with their DK character.

I have been playing a DK "Fire Mage" along side my wife Mealla, and although we are still very low level, I have been thinking about creating a DK DPS Tank to head out and join the war, while my wife stays at home and tends to the crafting chores. (her idea) :)

My plan would start with a Nord, because I want the RP feel of a Celtic or Viking Warrior, and Nords are tough with health passives among others. To balance this and again for the RP of the character he will wear 5 med leather pieces of armor with another one in light and one in heavy to give him some passives from both, even if the affect will be small.

Then he will be using both a board & sword and a two handed weapon, giving him the ability to drop his shield and go two handed when he wants and also both weapon types have nice charge abilities. This also again fits with the Celtic / Viking warrior theme.

Tall hairy brute with a shield hanging from his back and a very long sword or huge battle axe or hammer.

I might add Spiked Armor (and morphs) to the ability line up and I would lean toward AoE a lot.

This is only in my head at this point (no comments about what's in my head please) but he gets closer to seeing the sun shine in Tamriel each and every day!

Thanks for indulging me. :)

Tuz

Edit: I neglected to add that the needed magicka will come from traits, enchantments, stones and more goodies like that including potions and soups, breads, cakes and pie. mmm... I love pie... but you get the idea! :)

Hm, this seems way beyond my scope of comprehension yet since I haven't figured out the difference between running a medium piece versus a heavy. I didn't realize there is seven total pieces (that's what you mean, correct?)

I'm a DK tank/low dps, but I'm only level 24. I've actually been putting the most into stamina with a balance of health and magicka since majority of my shield skills require stamina.

seems I have a lot to learn yet.

Right, when someone is saying they are running a 7 pieces of a type of armor they mean they are running a full set of armor in every armor slot on their character. So for like my DPS set up I'm be running 5 pieces of medium (Shoulders, chest, legs, boots, and gloves) and 2 pieces of light (head and belt). This allows you to "double dip" in resource manage with bonuses to regen and over all amount of a particular stat. it also allows you to pick the crit passive in the medium armor line increasing dps even farther than you would be able to with out any medium pieces at all. Where as in my tank set up running a full set of heavy armor means I'm trying to cap my defenses and health regen.

While I will say this medium armor is really focused on dps because the set focuses on crit bonus.  Light armor is a spell caster set because of all the mana regen bonuses and magicka reduction.  Heavy is pretty much the tacky set but it's bonuses seem to be lackluster to most.  That being said if you plan to tank and be good at it, you will want at least five pieces of heavy armor.   It gives you a bonus to armor and spell resistance and it reduces block cost while wearing pieces, plus it does give you increased health regen which is all about tanking.  I know that the thread does state they are looking to tank and do dps, but when tanking you may have to swap out some of the medium if not all of it for heavy.  Also medium does give some stamina regen, which again is great for dps.  

Overall based on what you are planning, you see, to befocusing more on the dps side of things with a possible off tank, as a main tank will not really focus on the ardent flame line because it's a dmg tree not a tanks tree.   

I think you missed what this build is. It's both and it can MT just as well as OT. But if you don't need a tank you can easily switch to dps and roflstomp PVE while still being able to play with both during PVP situations. When you tank with this build you use 7 pieces of heavy... not 5 medium and 2 light. That's only when you are DPSing. The only time as a tank with this set up when you will be using 5 pc heavy is to get the bonuses to Stam/Mag amount and regen.

As far as the Ardent flame line there are utilities in that tree that are very useful for tanking, which is why I grabbed and use them in the PVE tanking set up. Standard of might, 35% dam increase 35% dam mit. Flame whip heals self increase not only single target threat but AOE as well, Engulfing flames, DPS increase for you which again builds threat also an AOE ability and a Group wide DPS boost for all fire base spells, Empowering chains is really only for the a pull, it's not always a good idea to charge into mobs while tanking, sometimes pulling to you is better.

Yeah they are some ok additions from the ardent flame tree but to be honest with only ten hot bars and two ultimately your abilities are rather limited for tanking and I would rather slot abilities from the other two lines that have more reliable heal effects or dmg mitigation, or crowd control such as snares and stuns than dmg abilities that do not provide tanking benefits.  If we had access to all the abilities at any given time then it would be more useful for tanking.  As it is the one heal you mention isn,t that reliable compared to inhale or green dragons blood, and the banner is nice but with corrosive armor being the go to tanking ultimate it leaves your other ultimate choice limited between that banner or some other tanks ultimate or one that builds ultimate faster like the werewolf ultimate.   

I do understand you are trying to be split and more of a utility option between the two, but if you are really focused on tanking you will need both your hot bars to do an adequate job as you will need to switch between an aoe tanking hot bar and single target tanking. 

That is why I said the build will more than likely be an off tank style than full tank because of swapping between sword and board and a two handler.  Simply because you won't have access to all the tanking abilities in the middle of a fight unless you change out the two hander, and if you do that you won't be using the dmg abilities to be dps.   

Not discouraging you just helping others by letting them know that it's hard to be a dedicate tanking dragon knight by limiting your hot bar to just one as it means you have to pick and choose from a wide selection of abilities is all.  

Well I don't know what to say, my tank set up has all that. So after reading both of your post I have to ask, did you even look at the THREE DIFFERENT LINKS of the way the tool bars are set up or the weapons they use. Because in both your post you talk about stuff I didn't do. This build can MT as well as OT. It uses 2 different weapon sets with 3 different hot bar set ups depending on what you are going to do.

I know that, I am stating for those who also want to tank using a dragon knight, that to be optimized for tanking, using all the abilities for tanking, when tanking you will want to use two different shields and 1handers.    I am not saying you can't swap weapons, just that if you are going to be tanking a dungeon, it would be best to use specific options while tanking, not swapping to a 2hander, other wise, if you go into a dungeon with a 2hander in one of your weapon slots and expect to swap to that, i am simply stating that it will be more of an off tank because of the two hander.   If you swap your skills out and other weapon before the dungeon, or before pvp that is fine.  I am simply stating this to those who are reading your post incase they were to think that they could go into a dungeon and expect to maximize their tanking using two different weapon slots is all.   

I understand you have taken all those abilities, but it is not clear in your first post above that while tanking you intend to use two different sword and board weapons, and full on heavy armor. 

Since  you do plan to pvp with this build, I assume that you will probably swap things out and run around in cyrodil with the two weapon types, but for full on tanking, i was just clarifying that the utility of skills is limited if you are just relying on one set of hotbars for tanking due to the dungeons having a variety of encounters.   Since you were sharing this build with others, and you stated it hasn't been tested yet, i was simply suggesting a few things for the tanking side incase others were to stop by, read your post here and look over your build and then try to tank.    After all, tanking and Dps are two seperate roles, and if you are going into a dungeon, you pretty much need to focus on one or the other, but a dps can have a role as an off tank should the need arise and still be dps by having one hot bar dedicated to sword and board with a few important skills on it, and the other be focused on dps, but a full on tank will probably want two hot bars dedicated towards tanking skills.   Same goes for a healer, the other important role, that a full on healer might still want to invest into two seperate hot bars with healing skills, because they may want to have one hot bar that is focused on aoe healing, and another that may be focused on more tank healing, which will still to be honest include some group healing, but their are some dedicated 1-3 target healing spells and group healing spells, just like their is single target tanking abilities and aoe tanking abilities that are suggested.   

The tank build linked does have two sword and shield ability bars. 

Chill out, guys. 

I like what you've put up here. I don't think of it as a guide so much as it's more trying to do a bit of everything with mostly theoretical builds and advice than tested data. But it's still nice to see melee DKs get some attention and discussion going. 

Good work. 

Syphon, no offence, but it clearly states in the OP that the build has 3 different set ups that I would use. PVP, PVE DPS, and PVE Tank. It even goes as far as to say which armor I would be using in both PVE set ups while leaving PVP open for debate. It has an entire skill set just for PVE tanking that is shown to demonstrate one of the many possibilities to go with for PVE tanking on this build and point spread. Most of the stuff you keep commenting on either has no real relevance to the original post or is more or less referencing someone else's build.

Giving insight to someones build is one thing.... going off on saying that this build can't main tank and is only for off tanking at best is not doing any thing. In fact in this instance it really doesn't even hold any truth. If you are commenting on how someone else is doing their build then you need to @username. Other people are going to read what you wrote and assume that the original build is not set up correctly or is missing some key elements. Also as far as me not being clear, I will admit that I'm not always clear because of the way I string my thoughts together. But in this instance and with most guides/theory crafting stuff I do I tend to be as clear and precise as I can get when explaining things. It was very clear that I would be using a set up just for PVE tanking. It even states "This is my PVE tanking build". Again it states "Tank - As for armor I'm going 7 heavy. I may change this to a 5 heavy 2 light or 2 medium depending on how my stats look at VR 10. Right now I'm aiming for 7 heavy for tanking." I honestly don't know how it couldn't be more clear.

This will be my last comment on this to avoid any possible heated arguments that could arise. If people still have questions on this set up let me know I'll do my best to explain what I can. If you have any suggestions on how to make the build better please let me know. I just want to be clear. There are 3 different set ups used in 3 different situations.

» Edited on: 2014-04-15 06:18:32

Aunvyrae: Thanks for the post as it is refreshing to see an open Dragon Knight discussion with clear and predictable results.

Syphon: Thanks for your input and clear distinction between style types.

Between all the posts here the point I take away is that to 'be all that you can be' or want to be, it becomes necessary to be willing to make changes along the way. Some changes even being on a moments notice when duty calls.

There was another post that this discussion reminds me of but I can't remember the author or title, and was focused on the Sorcerer class with the same point made that there will be need to make changes along the road of experience and adventure.

I tend to be a lazy gamer about gear and like to stick with or stick in the mud as some might think but, ESO has shaken more than a few ideas in my old head so here's /cheers to a new horizon and a new adventure!

peace...

Tuz

And for Whitestone and all the others like myself who are feeling or have felt 'in the dark', here is a link to a list of armor skills from http://tamrielfoundry.com/armors/

Armor Skills

Light Armor

• [Active] Annulment – Absorb damage from incoming spells up to a maximum amount per hit.
• [Passive] Evocation – Reduces the Magicka cost of spells per piece for light armor equipped.
• [Passive] Recovery – Increases Magicka regeneration per piece of light armor equipped.
• [Passive] Spell Warding – Increases spell resistance per piece of light armor equipped.
• [Passive] Concentration – Your spells ignore some enemy spell resistance per piece of light armor.
• [Passive] Prodigy - While wearing 5 or more pieces of light armor you gain increased critical damage.

Medium Armor

• [Active] Evasion – Using unnaturally quick reflexes, avoid incoming melee attacks which will have a moderate chance to miss for a medium duration.
• [Passive] Improved Sneak – Decreases the area within which you can be detected and decreases the time to become fully hidden per piece of medium armor equipped.
• [Passive] Windwalker – Increases Stamina regeneration per piece of medium armor equipped.
• [Passive] Athletics – Increases sprint speed and reduces the cost of dodging per piece of medium armor equipped.
• [Passive] Dexterity – Increases critical strike chance per piece of medium armor equipped.
• [Passive] Agility – When wearing 5 or more pieces of medium armor you have increased attack speed with weapon attacks.

Heavy Armor

• [Active] Immovable – Reduces damage taken and become immune to knockbacks and disabling effects for a moderate duration.
• [Passive] Juggernaut – Increases power with melee attacks per piece of heavy armor equipped.
• [Passive] Rapid Mending – Increases healing received per piece of heavy armor equipped.
• [Passive] Resolve – Reduces damage taken per piece of heavy armor equipped.
• [Passive] Constitution – Increases health regeneration per piece of heavy armor equipped.
• [Passive] Bracing – While wearing five or more pieces of heavy armor, reduce the cost of blocking.

I have a pretty similar set-up, Aunvyrae, except I went 2h for my dps side. I like the charge crit followed up by the molten weapons crit booster morph (good in PVE, likely less effective in AvA). Dual wield might be more effective for total damage, but my DPS weapon is also my AOE weapon. I am only 35 at the moment but I am enjoying the build a lot. The build takes abuse and it is easy to set up a crit with Lava Whip (flame lash). 

Oh with out a doubt, Just I wanted to set up a tank and already had a DW DK PVE build set up. Even though the Templar could be argued for having a better set up for tanking I love the fact that the DK has a ton of tools and none of the trees are locked into any certain role.

I only looked at the PvE Tank build and it looks pretty solid but I have some recommendations.

Pierce Armour is generally considered to be the better Morph than Ransack.

Get Unstable Flame in there somewhere - one of the best (if not the best) dot in the game.

Get Igneous Weapons in there, its a huge damage buff for your entire group.

Get Dragon Fire Scale, it's fantastic for laughing at packs of casters!

Inner Beast from Undaunted gives you access to a ranged taunt that uses Magicka in case you're low on Stam from Blocking/Bashing.

If you end up with room on your bar for Crippling Slash you should make it Deep Slash.  Everything around you should be snared due to Cinder Storm or Warmth (if it isn't rooted by Burning Talons), so the 15% reduction in all damage is better than the snare.

Things to consider dropping to make space for the above:

• Crippling Slash
• Flame Lash
• Empowering Chains (This should really be Extended Chains for AvA IMO)
• Razor Armour
• Shielded Assault

You should take Immovable from the Heavy Armour Line in case you need it and I would suggest avoiding Vampire as a Tank.  It's not impossible to be a Vampire Tank but you're making it a lot harder on yourself.

Hope the recommendations help and I hope I didn't come off as bashing your build!

Have Fun!

Well my thoughts on the flame lash was from my time playing with my healing Templar. One of the things that I noticed is how much hate heals draw, and with the amount of snares/roots that a DK has it would self heal for a bit and in hopes of creating extra hate from it's heal. I'm not sure if it would work, but looking at what some other Templar tank builds did with a self heal made me think that flame lash just might be able to do the same thing when used in in this rotation Ransack, Power attack, Crippling slash, power attack, Flame Lash, Power attack, then Ransack.

Crippling Snare was suppose to be used in conjunction with flame lash for the self healing part to generate extra threat.

On Ransack, I do agree with you, but as I said in this post it was just a theory on paper. I do think the other morph is better for both the group and yourself.

Empowered chains was one of the suggestions that I got from a DK tank set up and I thought, OK so CHain then Ransack... but tbh I also though the extended range would be far more useful in PVE and PVP.

The only reason I put Razor armor up there was if I was going to tank I wanted to make sure my Armor was at least overcharge and Razor armor was going to do that, but  from what I've been playing around with right now is even with out Razor armor and in full 7 pc heavy I was hitting overcharged so that is one of my throw away abilities for sure.

Shield assault is because I wanted to be able to charge over pull, Some times charging is better than pulling imho. Not always but sometimes and I wanted to make sure that I was able to have multiple ways of getting to mobs. But I have yet to test this so Shield assault may not have a place out side of PVP as I had hoped.

Well the Vampire line had some things in it that could work as a tank set up, which is why I thought of it to begin with. Coupled with the fire resists passive from the Dunmer and get a couple Fire resists on your gear I'm hoping that I would be able to cancel the two out. THough you would have far more experience as a Vamp than I since I saw one of your videos you where one.

Myst, you never come across bashing my builds. You always give suggestions and ways that you would make a build like I put up your own. It's one of the things I love about this game. There is no one way to do things. If you can make it work it's viable and you always give food for thought. I appreciate your insight on these builds. I think only one thing you said in my Sorc build had me confused and that was because you never said which build you where talking about.

With Dunmer Passive you won't need any gear to hardcap vs Fire damage - the problem is that even when hardcapped you're still taking more damage than a similarly geared non-vamp.

Like I said, it's not impossible, I know a NB Vampire who has tanked everything currently in the game successfully - it is just harder.  There are a bunch of bosses that have fire attacks and even random trash seems to predominantly use fire.  If you want to be a Vamp you can definitely make it work though.

None of the abilities you were planning on using were bad - there is a good use for all of them in tanking, but you only have 10 slots and it can be hard to pare down all the skills you want into 2 bars of 5 ><

Most of your "hate" is going to come from the 15s taunt from Pierce Armour/Inner Beast, you'll tank 1 or 2 serious threats using that.  For the packs of trash you have Talons - group it up, root it and then step out of melee range while you breathe fire on it and your team AoE's it down.

I try to throw that comment in the end there because I know people are protective of their builds and while I'm just trying to help sometimes people feel like I'm saying "your build is bad, throw out all these abilities and replace them with these ones" and then they feel like it's not even the same build anymore.  It's why I steer clear of build threads like the Thane one - not because I have a problem with the build or designing your character around a theme, but because if I went in and made suggestions on how to make the build better in *my* eyes I know that isn't what the OP wants.

That kinda saddens me, I was hoping to be a vamp on that character.  Well I guess I could make my Templar healer a Vamp, but I didn't see to many abilities that was overly exciting about that match. The Sorc might benefit from it though. hard to tell.

Yeah I won't be able to tell with this build till I get it higher. Having to much fun on the sorc so the leveling is kinda slow on the DK. So it might be awhile before I can really test my tanking set up. One of the problems and blessings of this game, until you actually try it there is no clear and precise way of knowing how well something might work.

So much to take in here. Being a complete pile of dirt on build crafting this is a lot of options to look into. I think I'm going to need to wipe my palate clean and re-spec my skill lines.

I would like to focus on being beefy moreso than a burst DK, but I don't want to be a walking rock in regular PvE.

Thanks for the help guys.

  yep we were talking about this last night but  for templars   ,  honestly  due to temps have such bad mana regen , as well as unless i`m planing on going heavy stam damage attacks  i  don`t see a need to go 5 heavy 2 light .

  going 3 heavy  chest, legs , shoulder  gives me the 3 biggest armor pieces of heavy give me the look i want and still allows me to have a good magik passives from 4 light  the 2 extra  heavy gives me reduced block , and a little extra healing recieved 

  the weapon damage i`m not sure it`ll make that huge of a difference , heavy /light attacks are not much anyway , and i will mostly have spell damage or heals on my bars except for  a  melee attack per bar  from wep trees 

  i`ll have to try  both set ups and see how much of a difference they make .