PLAYER ROLES

 

 

Player roles are typically defined in three ways:

  • Damage dealers (DPS): These characters primary role is to simply deal damage.
  • Healers: Primarily used to heal other members of your party.
  • Tanks: Hold the attention of enemies for damage to kill.

 

Skills in the game take on a few different forms. It is important to understand what exactly the skill does so that you can understand when to use each skill.

  • Single target: These skills affect one target for one tick of damage.
  • Area of Effect (AoE): These skills will hit multiple targets within a certain range.
  • Damage Over Time (DOTs): These skills will hit one target multiple times over the duration of the skill.
  • Area of Effect Damage Over Time (AoE DOTs): These skills will hit multiple targets within a certain range for the duration of the skill.
  • Damage Shields: These skills will absorb a determined amount of incoming damage over the duration of the skill.
  • Buffs: These skills will increase stats for yourself and/or your party for the duration of the skill.
  • Debuffs: Decrease the stats of enemies for the duration of the skill.
  • Taunts: Hold the attention of enemies for 15 seconds.

 

 

A note to new players: Your gear choices are not important until you reach Champion Point Level 160. That is the maximum gear level in the game. If you grind for gear before that point, your character will ‘outgrow’ the gear. Before you hit 160CP, it is more important to level up all of your necessary skill lines to level 50 and understand what exactly your skills do rather than worry about your gear.

DAMAGE DEALERS (DPS)

DPS characters are based as either stamina or magicka. The resource that your skill consumes will dictate the damage you can do. Because of how damage is calculated, hybrid DPS characters are rather ineffective in PvE.

 

DPS Responsibilities:

  • Do Damage: It sounds simple, but the difference between a good and a bad damage dealer will strictly depend on their skill rotation. Maximizing your damage is reliant on maintaining your AoE and DoT skills and using your single target skills in between recasting. This comes through practice. Doing damage is 20% gear and skills, and 80% practicing your rotation.
  • Understanding mechanics: Pay attention to the enemies. Try to remember their attacks and understand when to expect to take damage so that you can move away or block the enemy’s attacks. Never stand behind the tank, always stand beside or in front of your healer.
  • Stay alive: This goes along with understanding mechanics. Make use of your mobility and damage shields to stay alive. Rely on yourself to stay alive and don’t automatically point the finger at your healer in group content.

 

Magicka:

 

Magicka DPS can builds can be successfully be made with any of the subclasses in the game. There are three clear top contenders for racial choice for magicka based damage dealers.

    • Altmer (High Elf): Boosts magicka recovery, max magicka, and spell damage for frost, flame, and lightning.

 

  • Dunmer (Dark Elf): Boosts max magicka, large boost to flame damage, minor boost to frost and lightning damage, increased flame resistance
  • Breton: Increased max magicka and magicka recovery, increased spell resistance

 

 

Armor

When looking at gear, magicka DPS characters will benefit the most from using light armor. The passives in the light armor skill line give boosts to all magicka based skills. Another option includes running five light armor pieces, one medium, and one heavy piece. This will only be effective with the Undaunted Mettle passive which gives boosts to all of your resources when wearing armor of different weights. Stats to look for when choosing gear sets are:

  • Maximum Magicka
  • Spell Damage
  • Spell Critical
  • Magicka Regeneration
  • Spell Penetration

 

Additional benefits from gear sets will be dictated by your race, subclass choices, and what you are lacking skill wise. For example, if you are running out of magicka quickly, you want to focus on magicka regeneration. If you are not doing critical damage often enough, you want to choose gear that boosts your spell critical.

 

Weapons

Inferno and lightning staves are the best choices for magicka DPS. The reason for this is for secondary status effects of dealing flame or lightning damage. Flame damage has a chance to apply a burning status effect to the enemy. While burning, the enemy takes flame damage over time for three seconds. Lightning damage has the chance to apply a concussed status effect which decreases the amount of damage they can do. It also has a chance to apply the off balanced status effect which, along with the Exploiter champion point passive will increase all incoming damage from your party by 10%

 

Additional Skills

Leveling the Mage’s Guild skill line is greatly advantageous to magicka DPS characters. The skills and passives will give boosts to all of your magicka stats. You can level this skill line through completing daily Mage’s Guild quests and collecting the blue lore books scattered throughout the overworld. Leveling this skill line is time consuming and annoying, but well worth the time.

 

Stamina:

 

Stamina DPS can be successful with any of the races in the game. The best racial choices are:

  • Redguard: Boosts to maximum stamina and stamina regeneration. Also, restores a percentage of stamina on melee attacks every 5 seconds
  • Khajiit: Boosts health regeneration, stamina regeneration, and weapon critical.
  • Orc: Boosts max health, max stamina, and weapon damage
  • Imperial: Boosts max health, max stamina, and melee attacks restore a percentage of your health.

 

Armor

Stamina DPS characters will benefit most by wearing medium armor. Passives will give boosts to your stamina based stats, as well as stamina resource management. Gear sets for stamina DPS should include the following stats:

  • Maximum Stamina
  • Weapon Damage
  • Weapon Critical
  • Stamina Regeneration
  • Physical Penetration

Additional benefits from gear sets will be dictated by your race, subclass choices, and what you are lacking skill wise. For example, if you are running out of stamina quickly, you want to focus on stamina regeneration. If you are not doing critical damage often enough, you want to choose gear that boosts your weapon critical.

 

Weapons

The best weapons for stamina DPS would be dual wielding with a bow, or two-handed with a bow. Bows are used to apply DoTs and AoEs to enemies. The options for melee weapons will depend on what stats your character needs more of.

 

Players who choose dual wield can choose any combination of two one handed weapons. Your choice will be dictated by the Twin Blade and Blunt passive in the Dual Wield skill line.

 

  • Axes give you the chance to apply a Bleeding DoT to an enemy.
  • Maces ignore a percentage of the enemy’s physical resistance.
  • Swords increase all damage by a percentage.
  • Daggers increase weapon critical rating.

 

Players who choose two-handed weapons will choose one weapon. Your choice will be dictated by the Heavy Weapons passive in the Two-Handed skill line.

 

  • Swords increase all damage by a percentage.
  • Axes have a chance apply a Bleeding DoT to the enemy
  • Maces ignore a percentage of the enemy’s armor rating.

 

Additional Skills:

Leveling the Fighter’s Guild skill line is greatly advantageous to stamina DPS. The skills and passives in the skill line will boost all of your stamina stats. You can level up your Fighter’s Skill line by completing daily Fighter’s Guild quests, killing undead or Daedric enemies, and closing the dolmens found in the overworld.

 

Also, the Assault and Support skill lines from PvP offer a few skills such as Caltrops and Vigor which are typically a requirement for all stamina DPS characters.

 

Healing:

 

Healing skills are primarily magicka based. The amount of healing you do will be based on your maximum magicka, spell critical, and spell damage.

 

Healer Responsibilities:

 

  • Keep the Group Alive: Above all else, this is obviously the most important. Maintaining your AoE healing skills and keeping your group’s health at max is your job.
  • Understand Mechanics: Understanding enemy attacks is important so that you can anticipate large damage spikes so you can prepare for them then react when they happen. Rather than relying on a skill rotation, healing is much more about group maintenance and reacting to mechanics.
  • Communicate with your group: Be sure to reposition your group if they are not within your healing range. Communicate with your tank to understand when the tank will be moving enemies so that your team can move accordingly.
  • Buff your team/Debuff the enemies: Once you are comfortable with your group healing, you can use your skills to boost the damage and resistances of the group, and decrease the damage and resistances of enemies.
  • Stay alive: This goes along with understanding mechanics. Know where to stand in a fight, and communicate with your team when you are moving to avoid damage.

 

Race and Classes

All of the subclasses in the game have healing abilities, but Templars are hands down the best choice for healing. Wardens can also successfully heal, but offer less group utility than Templars.

 

The best races for healing are:

  • Argonians: Boosts to maximum magicka and health. Increased poison and disease resistance. Increased healing done and healing received.
  • Breton: Boosts to maximum magicka, spell resistance, and reduced cost to magicka skills.
  • Altmer (High Elf): Boosts to magicka recovery and maximum magicka.

 

Armor

Light armor is the best choice for healers because of the passives in the Light Armor skill line. When choosing gear sets, you should look for the following perks:

  • Maximum Magicka
  • Magicka Regeneration
  • Healing Done

The other perks in a healer set will be dependent on what will offer you the most group utility.

 

Weapons

Healers should use a combination of a restoration staff and lightning staff. The Restoration Staff skill line offers you the majority of the healing skills you will use. The Destruction Staff skill line offers debuffs for enemies such as Elemental Drain. It also allows you to use the lightning staff to apply concussed and off-balanced status changes to enemies which allow your DPS characters to deal more damage.

 

Additional Skills:

Leveling the Mage’s Guild skill line is greatly advantageous to healing characters. The skills and passives will give boosts to all of your magicka stats. You can level this skill line through completing daily Mage’s Guild quests and collecting the blue lore books scattered throughout the overworld. Leveling this skill line is time consuming and annoying, but well worth the time.

 

Tanks

 

Tanks rely on all three resources (Health, Magicka, Stamina). They rely on health to take big hits from enemies, magicka to apply self-buffs, and stamina to block attacks. Tanks are typically the only member of a team that uses a taunt ability. Unlike other MMORPGs, there are no AoE taunts available. There are four ways to taunt enemies:

  • Puncture- One hand and Shield skill line
  • Inner Fire- Undaunted skill line
  • Ice Staff heavy attacks
  • Shield Charge- One hand and Shield skill line (Only while wearing the Tormentor gear set from Banished Cells)

 

Tank Responsibilities

 

  • Maintain ‘aggro’: The most important thing is to taunt the large enemies and turn them away from the other members of the group. Taunts are on a 15 second timer and should be reapplied before the timer runs out. Losing ‘aggro’ often means a one or all of your team dying.
  • Group Enemies Together: Use skills abilities that pull enemies close to you and use a crowd control (CC) ability to trap them in place while your DPS characters can burn them down.
  • Position Enemies: Make sure to keep large and heavy hitting enemies faced away from your group. Also, understand the mechanics of a fight and understand when a boss moves and when additional enemies spawn so that you can move them to you.
  • Maintain your Buffs/Debuff Enemies: Maintaining your buffs can provide survivability for yourself, and your group. Maintaining debuffs on enemies prevent them from dealing extra damage and allows your group to do more damage to them.
  • Interrupt Casted Attacks: Some attacks can be interrupted by shield bashing as well as other skills. This is important as these attacks usually hit your group very hard.
  • Stay Alive: Understanding fight mechanics, knowing where to stand, and knowing when and where to move will help you with this.

 

Race and Classes

Dragonknights are the best choice for tanking. They can supply the tank and the group with the most utility as far as crowd controlling and self-buffs. Templar, Nightblade, and Warden tanks can also offer additional healing or damage in niche situations. The best racial choices are:

  • Argonians: Increased max magicka, max health, poison and disease resistance, healing done, and healing received.
  • Nord: Increased max stamina, max health, health recovery, cold resistance, and reduced damage taken.
  • Orc: Increased max health, max stamina, healing received, and health recovery.
  • Imperial: Increased max health and stamina

 

Armor

Tanks most benefit from wearing heavy armor. Heavy armor passives grant increased health as well as spell and physical resistances. It is also advantageous to use the Undaunted Mettle passive and wear one light and one medium piece of armor. When choosing gear sets, you should look for the following perks:

  • Maximum Health
  • Magicka Regeneration
  • Stamina Regeneration
  • Healing Taken
  • Physical Resistance
  • Spell Resistance

The other set bonuses will depend on what will offer you more survivability and group utility.

 

Weapons

Tanks should be using a one handed weapon and a shield. One handed weapons can be enchanted in order to reduce enemy resistances. Shields allow the tank to block large amounts of damage. The passives in the One-Hand and Shield skill line allow you to block more damage.

 

Additional Skills

The Undaunted skill line has a ranged taunt called Inner Fire. Also, the Undaunted Mettle passive boosts all maximum stats. This skill line can be leveled up by doing group dungeons.

The Assault and Support skill line offer useful skills such as Warhorn, Vigor, and Purge for tanks to offer group utility.