Help me decide on a fun class for solo-PVE

[Ron]

Here are some factors:

• I will play in first person view, because thats how I played Skyrim.
  
  
• I will pretty much ignore PVP and group content.
  
  
• My favorite WoW class is BM hunter, because they are kings of solo, the traps and mobility and range are fun. They can even stealth which is a huge plus for me. I love all the fun gadgets hunters have.
  
  
• I dont like downtime, or auto-attacking.
  
  
• I like mobility a lot
  
  
• My skyrim main was a stealth archer but I switched to shield + sword when in melee. Is this viable in ESO?
  
  
• I am the kind of guy that only likes to play 1 main, so no alts. I want to experience the content as fully as possible with that main.
  
  With all that said, I am inclided on a Warden because I like the theme, BUT.... if two of their three skill trees are group focused (tanking and healing) wouldnt that mean that I will be basically only enjoying 1/3th of the class? If thats the case, then I rather play something else to get the most out of their skills.

[Requimatic]

Well.. this is a hard one; let me try to explain.

First off, 1st vs. 3rd person: this will make the game very difficult due to ground hazards which don't exist in Skyrim (save for rune traps that are easily visible). So chances are you wouldn't have a very pleasant time in even solo PvE because of that--almost every enemy in the game, especially casters, have some kind of ground AoE that they'll spam at you from time to time.

But, give it a try and see how you like it. I used to use first-person mode when I started, for the very same reason, but kept dying due to things like that, so I switched to third-person, and never went back.

Now, on to the class stuff!

1. There is very, very little in ESO like there is in WoW, class-wise. The only difference between classes in this game are the three class-based skill lines. Everything else, like two-handed, dual-wield, 1-hand and shield, etc. every class can use, level, and make use of.. this includes the three armor types; heavy, medium, and light.

Note that there are some discrepencies between the armor types, though: heavy is generally for tanking, or PvP (it's kinda OP in PvP; even DPS gankers often use heavy armor for the survivability), medium armor is generall for Stamina-based DPS (weapon skills like two-handed, bows, etc. use Stamina), and light armor is generally for casters.

There IS an NPC guild skill line, the Fighter's Guild, that possesses an ability called "Trap Beast".. and it's just what it sounds like, a trap that you lay on the ground. It roots targets in place for a small amount of time and applies a pretty strong DoT to them.

2. Downtime and autoattacking.. you control your light attacks and heavy attacks in this game; nothing is done for you like in WoW. However, light attacks are very important for your damage output, where heavy attacks regenerate your resources, Stamina and Magicka. So you'll be using them.

3. Mobility can be achieved by many classes. Nightblades get a skill that's like Shadowstep from WoW, the two-handed skill line gets a Charge ability, Sorcerers have something like Blink, etc.

4. Sword & board is very viable in ESO, but your damage output won't be as good as if you were using something like two-handed, or dual wield. Speaking of this, bow by itself is very subpar, however it is the meta for Stamina DPS builds to be used on the back bar. (Second action bar; it unlocks at level 15 and allows you to quickly switch between two weapons, even different ones, with different abilities.)

I would suggest pairing sword+shield with something like either bow, or two-handed, on the back bar. You would start combat by either buffing up with a two-handed ability that heals you over time (Rally), Charge your target (Critical Rush), then switch to the sword and board and wittle them away.

5. This is easily doable. Respeccing is a thing if you decide at some point you don't like the route you've taken. It only costs a small amount of gold to reset your ability points or attribute points.

Do keep this in mind, though: when leveling, it's best to figure out what you want to do first and focus all your attribute points on one thing: health, stamina, or magicka. The reason for this is that abilities that cost stamina to use deal more damage the more stamina you have; the same thing applies to magicka abilities.

So if you're trying to use bow abilities but you've dumped all your attribute points in to magicka, those bow abilities are going to hit like wet noodles.. whereas the guy next to you with 10k+ more stamina than you is going to shred their targets down.


Warden was the class I was going to suggest to you, specifically with a Stamina build, because the majority of their abilities are animal-based, and their ultimate ability gives you a pet freaking bear that follows you around. :)

From the DW/Bow Warden build I've seen, the main damage bar (front bar; dual wield) only had one non-Warden ability on it for dealing damage (maybe two), and that was a dual-wield ability called Rending Slashes. (Also the morph of Whirlwind, called Steel Tornado, because it is absolutely amazing for AoE damage.)

Everything else was the Warden animal-based class abilities, plus the bear running around doing whatever it is that the bear does.

When you focus on one build like that, though, there are a lot of class abilities that you simply won't use. But like I said, if you decide you don't like that build later on, you can easily reset your skills (and their morphs), and go another route. Keep in mind, though, that any under-leveled abilities (they all have 4 ranks) will have to be leveled to be effective. (Slotting them on a bar and turning in quests is good for this.)

When you hit rank 4 on an ability, you can use another skill point on that ability to morph it in to something with either more damage, or an additional effect. This is typically where you will see an ability that normally uses Magicka get a Stamina-based option, or the other one might still use Magicka but be stronger, or have an additional effect.

The ability I mentioned above, Trap Beast, gets a morph called "Rearming Trap".. after the 10 seconds of a very strong DoT, and a buff to your critical damage, the trap rearms itself and goes off again. I think it does something else compared to the base ability also, but it's been too long for me to remember.

But that's the general idea about ability morphs. You can even morph your ultimate abilities.

You can do anything you like on every class.. meaning, every class can tank, heal, or DPS using either a Stamina or Magicka build. Some classes are better suited for certain roles, but they're all viable; especially for solo PvE.

[Ron]

thanks, so far I am leaning towards shield + sword main bar and bow second bar

I still cant decide if i should play nightblade or warden tho..

[barefootkiller]

If you are concidering nightblade, Stamina Nightblades pretty much need PvP skills to play well, caltrops and vigor to help them self heal. Not an issue for Magika nightblades.

I'm a non-pvp player and my stamina nightblade dies easily for lack of heals solo.My comp barely plays the game so I really cant go into Cyrodill for just the few hours it would take to grind those two abilities out.

My toughest solo character is my Stamina Warden, can easily solo normal dungeons and solo most world bosses. She is a tank for PvE groups, but I switch gear and she tears through dungeons in werewolf form. Doesn't do a lot of damage, but hard to kill. Stamdens have a stamina based heal and a spell that make their light and heavy attacks heal the group for 30 seconds....so they are popular in groups since most dungeons can be done well enough with 4 dps and a stamina warden both tanking and healing.

Sorceror and Nightblade can be frustrating under lvl 30 as they'll seem weak as hell until they get some of their later abilities. End game Sorcs are great farmers with the powerful AoEs.

Templars are probably the best solo...My templar kicks butt, but I find the abilities boring so I dont play him much.

[Sever]

About 1st person view. Absolutly possible- i am tank , cap lvl , only 1st person view everywhere - pvp , dungeon ( vet,of course) . 2 years about already. But i know that 99% peoples think
that pvp and vet dungeon cant be done in 1st person , which makes me feel very proud of my way of playing)) and - yes , i am doing this without dying 100 times for dungeons.
Its very possible , but of course - much harder .Only WW time ( wolf) i have to play 3d person , sadly .
So , if you like feel immersive - do not afraid go for your style - first per view. Tamriel much better , when you not looking at it not from bird height - 3d per view - liitle mappet.

[Trigger]

warden front bar, DW on back bar

[Commancho]

1st person view is terrible in this game. It's kinda gimping yourself and some form of sado-masochizm if you ask me. It's FAR AWAY from 1st person view from Skyrim, because animations, hitboxes and combat visuals are way more simplicited.

[Sever]

Lol , compare to play with a little mapper (3d view ) when no any detailed graphic around - 1st view just amazing ) all bosses from 3d view - just a little dolls , from 1st - like real monsters , which gives more immersive feeling .Also - all details around - disappear , when you switch to 3d view . Like picture , tatoo on mobs etc . For me - its importante , as Teso - its like Skyrim - another world , another life . And there is no any connection to caracter , if you - "not see world from his eyes" , but just playing with little model from unrealistic view .

[Ron]

After trying different classes to lvl 5.. i decided to stick with magicka templar, its by far the easiest and more fun in my newbie experience

[Wolfstorm]

Stamina dragon knight would be good for a bow.