ESO Character Build Tips For Noobs (Solo, PvP & Group)

Abardomas

Solo Builds:

A good skill build takes into account both the preferred style of play and ways to maximize advantages for those roles. Solo play in particular requires a class build that pays some attention to survivability, unless capable of healing oneself quickly. A Sorcerer, while great at ranged DPS, will need to make sure their Light Armor, pet and attack skills are up to snuff, whereas a Dragonknight will want to upgrade skills for heavy armor, shields and melee weapons.

PvP Builds:

PvP build choices in Elder Scrolls Online come down to group size and preferred role as well. Some players may see themselves as primarily solo hunters that occasionally like to contribute to a siege, whereas others may be getting together regularly with friends or guildies. For example a class spec’d for heals is very important to all groups, but could focus more on damage or control if play is mostly going to be solo (or if your guild has too many healers that day). A class used primarily for single-target DPS may wish to allocate points to aid any AOE abilities they have if part of a regular siege group.

Different zones will feature different types of combat; knowing the general types and numbers of combatants you will face can make a difference in the type of skill point allocation you’ll want in Cyrodiil.

Group Builds:

For group PvE builds a player should decide what role they like to play in groups, and allocate skill points accordingly. Whereas a solo player may have to allocate more points to skills that enhance their survivability, group builds should specialize in abilities that allow players to fulfill their job in the group. These roles tend to focus on healing, controlling enemies, tanking to keep others from being hit or damaging enemies.

When forming groups for adventuring in the rest of non-Cyrodiilic Tamriel, a balance of roles will be needed (and this will change based on the type of content, how well geared the players are etc.). Generally, all groups need at least one character with tanking skills, some with damage dealing skills, and some that can heal. If the dungeon in question is filled with trolls (or your party got wiped in a dungeon by trolls!) you can go in with more Nightblades to tank, but if the enemies are mostly skeletal archers and other distance attackers you can swap out some of them or the Dragonknight warriors for Sorcerers.

Any thoughts on these?

Yoda_Clone

Two comments only:

I've played all classes in Beta and live with variations on skills sets both to experiment and to evaluate.  There are some balance issues that ZOS is going to have to address.

Heavy Armor:  Doesn't add the kind of protection you'd expect it to.  This makes it difficult to build any kind of damage-soaking tank.  There are even several NPCs that tell you that light and medium armors can be just as good.  In practice, all I know is that my heavy armor characters got whacked a lot, much more than I expected.

Melee:  YMMV, but I've found that "pure" melee builds get their ass handed to them by ranged opponents (PvE and PvP).  I had built a  heavy melee DragonKnight with charge and crowd control skills, and it was sometimes getting beaten by individual mobs two levels lower... regular mobs, not bosses... and had no chance in solo dungeons against bosses.  I have never in any game had a tank die so often so easily.

Insure you've got a ranged capability (and not just a ranged weapon, since the weapon by itself won't do enough damage).  IMHO, a pure melee build is a non-viable setup.

Again, YMMV.

Morgaur

Originally posted by Yoda_Clone

Melee:  YMMV, but I've found that "pure" melee builds get their ass handed to them by ranged opponents (PvE and PvP).  I had built a  heavy melee DragonKnight with charge and crowd control skills, and it was sometimes getting beaten by individual mobs two levels lower... regular mobs, not bosses... and had no chance in solo dungeons against bosses.  I have never in any game had a tank die so often so easily.

Insure you've got a ranged capability (and not just a ranged weapon, since the weapon by itself won't do enough damage).  IMHO, a pure melee build is a non-viable setup.

Again, YMMV.

I don't understand how in PvE you have trouble with ranged mobs as a melee. When my Templar Melee tank was level 14, I ran around in Deshaan harvesting ore. I also entered the public dungeons there to get the skyshards. I killed tons of level 17-20 mobs, both melee and ranged, grouped and solo in there. No problem at all. It was hard sometimes, and yes I died. But i did NOT get my ass handed to me as you state above

 

Sovrath

Originally posted by Yoda_Clone

Two comments only:

I've played all classes in Beta and live with variations on skills sets both to experiment and to evaluate.  There are some balance issues that ZOS is going to have to address.

Heavy Armor:  Doesn't add the kind of protection you'd expect it to.  This makes it difficult to build any kind of damage-soaking tank.  There are even several NPCs that tell you that light and medium armors can be just as good.  In practice, all I know is that my heavy armor characters got whacked a lot, much more than I expected.

Melee:  YMMV, but I've found that "pure" melee builds get their ass handed to them by ranged opponents (PvE and PvP).  I had built a  heavy melee DragonKnight with charge and crowd control skills, and it was sometimes getting beaten by individual mobs two levels lower... regular mobs, not bosses... and had no chance in solo dungeons against bosses.  I have never in any game had a tank die so often so easily.

Insure you've got a ranged capability (and not just a ranged weapon, since the weapon by itself won't do enough damage).  IMHO, a pure melee build is a non-viable setup.

Again, YMMV.

I can't comment on the armor part as I've been told that if you do wear heavy armor in pvp you want other types of armor to help out magicka or stamina regen.

Having said that, I wonder if your issue with the "tank" was a dragon knight thing?

I say that because my templar had no problems with mobs higher than it, ranged or melee. However, the dragon knight I was playing today was getting its ass handed to it by mobs one level higher. Granted, it was a new character so it didnt' have a lot of gear but I never had that issue with the templar.

TheDarkrayne

Originally posted by Yoda_Clone

Two comments only:

I've played all classes in Beta and live with variations on skills sets both to experiment and to evaluate.  There are some balance issues that ZOS is going to have to address.

Heavy Armor:  Doesn't add the kind of protection you'd expect it to.  This makes it difficult to build any kind of damage-soaking tank.  There are even several NPCs that tell you that light and medium armors can be just as good.  In practice, all I know is that my heavy armor characters got whacked a lot, much more than I expected.

Melee:  YMMV, but I've found that "pure" melee builds get their ass handed to them by ranged opponents (PvE and PvP).  I had built a  heavy melee DragonKnight with charge and crowd control skills, and it was sometimes getting beaten by individual mobs two levels lower... regular mobs, not bosses... and had no chance in solo dungeons against bosses.  I have never in any game had a tank die so often so easily.

Insure you've got a ranged capability (and not just a ranged weapon, since the weapon by itself won't do enough damage).  IMHO, a pure melee build is a non-viable setup.

Again, YMMV.

Not true on both accounts. Heavy armour is practically required for tanks.. you need to have the passives in it. I've tanked in medium and then heavy and the difference was pretty significant. Melee characters are kicking arse. A group of 4 melee characters can tackle a dungeon. A group of 4 ranged characters can't. Want to know why? Ranged damage is a DOT most of the time, or area specific or needs to meet certain conditions (like the traget being below so much health for the attack to go off). You need to learn to BLOCK. You also need to make sure your gear is appropriate for your level.

I've read a lot of your posts and the only conclusion I can come to is that you're finding the game too hard or you are trying to tackle things beyond your means or not equipping your character properly. This is suggested because you think the public dungeons are solo dungeons... they aren't... and because you are getting killed by lower level non-elite enemies, which never happens.. ever. You're doing something wrong, stop blaming the game.

Maybe you're sprinting too much as a Melee character so you have no stamina to fight with? You should never sprint in this game when enemies are about.

cronius77

I do not really agree on the soloing build stuff here. A solo build in ESO needs to take advantage of a bit more than a self heal. and mixing up armor is very beneficial IMO. For example a dragonknight whom seems to be the weakest for soloing in the early game can easily manage multiple mobs without self healing if you know how to play them. Interrupts in ESO are your best friend and not standing in red circles etc. 

For solo builds I would recommend especially in the early game fast access to your first crowd control abilities and DPS. Self Heals I would prioritize maybe as a third. You can avoid pretty much any attacks in this game  with interrupting Mouse 1 and 2 pressed etc and avoid obvious call signs of special attacks. Also do not go for glass cannon builds if you want to not get one shotted in pvp as some players are finding out now. 

Look at what your character playstyle is and try to plan. Check out the different armor styles and weapon styles in game and read up a bit before rushing in as its 100 gold per a skill point to respec your character and that is not cheap plus your respec is in a higher level zone so its not going to be easy to just go to without a high player friend you can port to.