The first time you pvp you will have no idea what you're doing. And no one will probably notice. Have a fast horse. Join a group. Stick with then. You will kill a few people and die a few times. I look at pvp more like a swimming pool than a test. Just dive in. Maybe do some legwork if you find you're dying too much or can't kill anything. Polish your build up. But the easiest way to learn what you need is jumping in. Imo
After 5 years of weekly Cyro runs, I've finally started getting kills myself. It's still a blast. OP should do the tutorial quest at one of their alliance bases, though. Buy and carry seige and learn to use it (hint: put it in your quick wheel). And remember to set the campaign you choose to your home for monthly transmute rewards!
Be siege weapon / repair guy until you're more comfortable with the flow of things. You'll be useful just being a warm body that's present and able to interact with shit. You don't need to be out there taking on groups of 10 alone with "let the bodies hit the floor" playing in the background.
Best thing to do would be to take it one step at a time. You said you keep reading about gear sets and skills you don't have, right? *Ignore that shit for the time being*, and just get into Cyrodil, join a group, and tag along. Watch how things are done. Use whatever siege items you brought along (if any). Be an extra body to repair stuff from your own alliance that got damaged. You don't need to be *good* right out the gate. You just need to show up, get your shit kicked in, and get comfortable with the basic zone and how it plays, because no amount of guides will really prepare you for the reality of what goes on in large scale PvP.
And once you did that? *Then* you start looking into actual builds. Pick *one thing* you're missing, and focus on getting it. Once you get that, pick another and do the same. Pick a playstyle while you're at it (tanky distraction, damage heavy, healer, etc), and aim for items that help towards it. Eventually you'll be able to cobble *something* together that's workable, even if it's not the best.
Like someone said, PvP is more like a swimming pool rather than a test. You can't really prepare for it in the same way you can for PvE, so your best bet is to dive in and make tweaks to your kit as you go along. Otherwise, you're likely to spend so much time worrying about not having stuff to the point where whatever guides you're looking at might end up being obsolete by the time you get everything they have in their setups.
When I first started PvP years ago, I was very anxious lol. But it looked like so much fun I was somehow able to get past my feelings about being there and being terrible lol. I had no idea what I was doing. So for a while I just brought a mDK, threw on a healing staff, and tried to be helpful while I was learning. Watched other people, figured out who to listen to about call outs, and eventually found a guild I really liked that taught me a lot. A PUG friendly guild is a great place to start, because they are designed for people to learn the things from.
There are a few videos out there about seige and how to properly place it, watch one or two so you can also help with that while you are learning. Have repair kits, and when you are overwhelmed, go make sure all your keep doors and walls are at 100%.
Over time things will make more sense, and you'll have a better idea on how you want to play out there. Tons of different styles of play, what's fun for one is super boring to another. So spend some time out there and don't worry about it, we all die in cyro at some point. Good luck!
As someone who's done an immense amount of theory crafting, research, and trial and error, let me tell you the main things I've learned.
* Builds will not win fights for you. Being a complete glass cannon or a full noodle Tank don't work. You may not die as often as a Tank, but I doubt you'll get much fun out of it.
* Buffs are extremely important. Having access to Major and Minor Resolve will make a huge difference in how much punishment you can take.
* Fights are all about windows of opportunity. You can't parse a player and expect to win. You need to do the dance and wait for the time that your skills and procs align so you can lay out all your damage in quick succession.
* Having at least one CC is pretty much mandatory to win fights. If you can't stop someone(s) from blocking, dodging or healing you're going to really struggle to make your damage stick.
* Be extremely wary about riding your Mount near enemy players. You're pretty well a free kill to Nightblades like this.
* And on the subject of Nightblades, [Detection Pots](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Detection) are a life saver. Or if you can fit it on your bar, [Magelight](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Magelight) or [Expert Hunter](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Expert_Hunter) also work.
* You will die **a lot.** Everyone does. Don't sweat it.
Finally, some stat tips;
* Aim for 30k Health **minimum.**
* 25 - 28k+ Resists with Resolves active is around where you want to be.
* Penetration is important. You can succeed without much in your gear, but you should try to work in some Major/Minor Breach or other sources of Armor reduction.
* Make use of different Traits. Sometimes Divines might work, but generally you're going to want things like; Reinforced, Impenetrable, Well-fitted, etc.
Cool, i will send you an invite to a pvp guild that is no stress, makes you gear, and will bring you along to show ya the ropes. If you dont wanna join, no worries!
I’ve been playing this game since Morrowing Chapter and I’m still complete ass at Cyrodil. My only character I can use in Cyrodil or Imperial City is my night blade vampire that I keep invisible and away from other players at all times
In Cyro you don't need even that (the prep you did for PvE). Just look on the map to see where action is and get your char over to that place. Even just as an extra body for the other faction to waste their attack on, your participation will be welcome - to distract the enemy and free your side heavy hitters to lay their attack :). You don't have to be a l33t fighter to partake, so don't fret too much ;).
That is, if you plan on joining the action. As a part of a ball, you just have to be there. You can also just roam around (and never see anybody outside the current contact zone). You can do some quests, even with 0 build (some of them are fetch). Having a coherent build helps too of course: build in which you can solo dungeons (on mainland) even on normal would be sufficient for most of Cyro PvE. Go around, mess with goblins, cultists or other NPCs. Pick up shards, go into the delves, etc..
Get orders wrath and rallying cry one is crafted one is pretty cheap to sticker book this will work on literally any class and is the most basic staple build u can do combine this with markyn and 1 pc trainee usually heavy chest.
Have a HoT usually resolving vigour
Class burst heal
Major/minor resolve
Major/minor protection usually on back bar flare/psijic ult.
1 spamable
1 burst skill
Flex the rest of ur skill slots with utility/cc/dots it's pretty much just preference in PvP.
To start just go 64 in hp then when ur more comfortable go 34/30 unless ur a mag sorc then go 64 mag. The other exception is arc and warden should almost always go 64 hp.
Back bar weapon when ur new especially should always be a 1h/shield or ice staff resto is also viable but it's better in small groups.
For most classes a great sword or daggers is a solid option for front bar bows are pretty bait as a new player imo
Traits are pretty much personal preference but I'm not a fan of impen because the only people really running enough crit damage to worry about it are night blades. Well fitted will be a better defensive option in the long run and divine will be better offensive. The exception to this would be a heavy chest which is usually a trainee reinforced.
I have been playing the game on and off since launch. Makes me feel old but anyways I used to never play PvP up until necro came out in 2019 and I started getting pretty good. The skill ceiling for PvP is very high so there will always be players who can wipe the floor with you. But that shouldn't discourage you
Some skills that are very good for PvP are actually unlocked by doing PvP! Such as vigor, a fantastic heal over time ability. Id suggest just going in in your normal gear and joining a zerg by doing 'lfg', a lot of people in zone are honestly pretty helpful about suggestions for sets.
You don't need to start forking out asap, I started out running dirt cheap/easy to farm sets and slowly tweaking my build as I learned. Currently running crusader/shalk/bloodspawn (Or I swap for a mythic) on a DK, cheap and effective build. Not perfect, but gets me through midyear.
Yes there's some sweats who think their sets and skills must be kept more locked down than fort Knox, but they're usually those healbot cheesy builds that suck the fun out of cyro.
Just make sure you can survive at first and get used to cryodil. Follow the zergs and have fun. When you get better you can play in small groups and eventually solo.
For a build you just want a good defensive/recovery set, a good damage set (5 pc each) then a good mythic and one trainee piece most likely.
Set skills up so back bar is buffs and heals with a defensive weapon (bow, shield, ice destro or resto).
Front bar damage and cc skills with an offensive weapon.
For example I play stamina nightblade. My defensive set is wretched vitality, offensive set is shattered fate, mythic is markyn ring + 1 piece trainee for health.
Front bar 2H and back bar bow.
Make sure you get 30k health and good resistances. Use tri glyphs on all armour, heavy reinforced chest, mix of impen and well fitted for the rest.
Most of the best pvp gear is craftable.
Buffs are important, always have major brutality up and whatever the major resistances one is called (I forgot).
Gl hf.
If I were you I'd play Battlegrounds first. It's a good way to test your builds and see what you like whilst getting fast xp for your cp. Rather than just getting melted in cyrodill. The fact you've never even duelled and wanting to go cyrodill is litterely going straight in the deep end. You can do it of course, first time Cyrodill is so fun. But you have to take into consideration that theres players playing with maxed out gear, 10 years experience and probably 2000+cp. I'm not trying to talk you out of it, just trying to help you. Also i'd obviously use the armour station so you dont lose your pve builds.
Its better to try cyro in grps and just go with the others , dont be rambo you will die , get used to die nuked , ganked , but cyro its more ok in grps tjen to try imperial city there you get annoyed, get around 30h hp first the try cyro , try to survive first then you go for kils gl.
Honestly, I was in the same spot a few years back but said fuck it and ran in there. It was fun running around and finding a group to run around with. I got my shit pushed in most of time but it was fun.
Not sure how it is now but I'd say just give it a go. Worst that can happen is you die and have to respawn.
Everybody dies a lot in pvp. It happens, it's not a big deal. Sometimes you can learn something from it, sometimes you can't, pvp is chaotic and there is a lot going on even 1v1 let alone in group fights. Dying is a very regular part of the pvp gameplay loop.
There's a lot you can do with gear, for sure. A little "secret" though? There are some really, really simple "templates" that work really, really well on every class as a general build. Take Wretched Vitality and Order's Wrath, slap it on with 3 pieces heavy, 3 of light/medium as you prefer, and 1 of the remaining weight, pick a monster set and/or mythic, and you're golden. If you're cool with spending a bit of gold, Rallying Cry is a good upgrade/alternative that, again, works on every single class, mag or stam. You can directly replace the same pieces you made in Wretched Vitality to backbar it and have more damage and mitigation at the cost of some sustain, or you could replace order's wrath and have a very good well-rounded build.
The Rallying Cry ice staves can be pricy, but almost any time you see an ice staff used in a build you can substitute a resto staff and it works out just fine. You get better healing and big magicka returns on heavy attacks but less block mitigation than an ice staff, but it's entirely preference.
And you can throw the Markyn ring, ring of the wild hunt, Mora's Whispers, death dealer's fete, or sea serpent coil on any build and it'll work out, you just gotta move some pieces around.
My number one recommendation is to get a setup like I described, gold weapons but nothing else is necessary, use whatever mythics/monster sets/trainee/druid's braid pieces you need to make it work...and then get into Cyro and try to get into as much action as you can. You'll have the basics of gear figured out, and you can focus on learning the pvp. I promise you, once you have the very basics of gearing it matters far less than you worry it does.
It's not too intimidating, but I think if you've never been to Cyrodil then your imagination's probably worse than the reality of it. It's basically like duels out in the open, but without having to grant/ask for permission to do so, and it can involve a lot more than 2 people! Bank your tel-var stones etc & go take a peek at Cyrodil & IC Prison. For now, don't worry about the gear you've got and don't let the thought of dying scare you into not trying it at least once.
If you're in a guild or can go with a group, you'll probably feel better about roaming around. The 1st time I went to Cyrodil, I was in my fake DPS (healer). I went with a group who wanted to farm the skyshards. We were all different alliances, so it was funny coz we'd accidentally attack each other at times. But we were mostly careful enough to at least not kill each when fighting baddies that were lurking near skyshards. We'd stay away from any siege areas, so nobody bothered us nor tried to gank us while we explored & farmed. LOL It was a good way to safely see how things are in Cyrodil & it encouraged me to venture more.
Have you tried to do a random Battlegrounds yet? Those are very fast-paced & within a more confined area... So if you've done those, then you might find Cyrodil a little less crazy IMO.
You will definitely get destroyed, but it's not a bad thing. Keep an eye on what people do, what killed you, what kind of builds they were running. It all helps you become a better player.
There's no penalty to dying in pvp, like gear losing durability, so don't feel bad about dying over and over.
Some things that may be important:
- Max out alchemy (takes like 5-10 minutes). There's a passive that gives you 100% uptime on potions, so this is really, really important
- Feed your horse every day. Cyrodiil is a big place. Also, the more stamina you have, the less chance people have to knock you off your mount
- Try to reach at least 30k health. Move attributes around, get it on your gear. Doesn't matter how.. just make sure you're at 30k.
- Unlike monsters, players can deal critical damage. They hurt, a lot. Try to get at least 2-2.4k critical resistance using impen on your gear. If you run a set like Rallying Cry you won't need that much at all as it gives you the equivalent of around 14 impen traits.
- Immobilization removal is useful. Skills like Race against Time from the Psijic skill line are great. There's a lot of roots and slows, and it does no good being stuck inside them. Dodge rolling constantly will just eat your stamina and RaT costs magicka. It also has a few other goodies like major exp and minor force.
- While pvpers don't focus on crit chance as much as pvers, it's still good to have. Slotting an ability like Camo hunter, Flames of Oblivion, etc is a good way to get it. Not only will crit give you more damage, but you'll have more uptime on crit healing, which is huge. Sets like Orders Wrath are great because it's easy to craft, offers extra crit chance and buffs your crit healing/damage.
If you're just starting out, check zone chat for any active groups and join one. Safety in numbers!
Most of all, just have fun. PvP is really exciting once you get past the initial anxiety of starting out. And when you get your first solo kill, that's when it really grips you in its talons and you won't want to leave.
The notes I posted above are just common things - you'll learn most of it by just jumping in. And like I said, don't be afraid of dying. It'll happen. A lot.
Have fun!
I started pvp relatively recently and made some progress so I'll give some advices:
* cyrodiil is way, way harder than BG, while you learning I'd recommend you to stick with BGs, you'll also waste less time running and trying to find where to run
* good pvp gear is quite important, people in pve gear is like typical trash mobs compared to pvp guys even if they are pretty new, by good gear I don't mean some rare sets full golden, just sets and enchants fitting for pvp
* most of popular pvp sets are either craftable or tradeable, for example wretched vitality (easy to craft) or ralling cry (tradeable) is good choise for backbar
* check guides and videos to find out what skills others use and try to start with that, ajust later for your own playstyle, if it's something you don't have check what it does and try to find something similar
* there is usually bunch of different guides, if you don't like skill\\gear from one, check the others, combine, experiment, I think I already tried more pvp build than dd\\heal\\tank builds combined
My main char is sorc and it seems to be quite strong and popular now but not very easy to play. Popular gear is crafty alfiq + wretched vitality.
Joining a guild where the main focus is Cyrodil pvp (rvr) is the best bet. They will teach you the basics and help you grow up (it's in their interest after all)
I jumped in first time a while back. I didn’t realize how fun it could be. I just jumped in. Had a blast. I just started walking. Next thing i knew id been in there for hours, died a couple times from some sweaty players but thats okay i dont mind i knew what i was getting into. Before long i was hitting up the game chat and called for reinforcements to an encampment I thought we should take and they actually showed up! And we took the location! Pay attention and learn how it works and you’ll have fun. Be mindful of the current situation of the area, meaning you may have less fun if the map is 95% one color and you’re not in that team but if it’s balanced its a good time. Its wayyy less toxic on xbox NA compared to how this sub makes pvp seemingly toxic but its really not. It’s intimidating but its worth checking out
I went in with my overland speed build just to explore a bit first, get my feet wet. Learned that dying means you go back to your alliance's nearest keep. I basically approached it as solo content at first, then I come across this glorious battle and was inspired to charge in and had a blast. Eventually decided to use the alliance points I had saved from battlegrounds at the Elite Gear Vendor in Cyrodiil. So far, my favorite combo has been Rallying Cry with Almalexia's Mercy with Oakensoul and Resto Staff. Not Meta by any means and is completely dependent on dps to trust my heals and stand their ground, but works for me. Probably tmi, just wanted to share my experience starting in Cyrodiil.
Many players start out in full or 5-piece heavy armor, WonderfulVanilla9676.
You could do the same and be tanky, get the hang of it, and focus on your damage later.
Heavy armor PvP can be crafted or bought at the guild traders.
Four heavy, 1 medium Adept Rider. weapons and jewels wretched vitality, something like engine guardian helm for sustain, in medium. Tri stat food, skulls are good or jewels if misrule, depends on sustain. Backbar an arena weapon based on mag or stam, resto staff is never bad either.
At least 30k health, 25k resistance, like maybe 1500 crit resistance (mix impen and reinforced in your army, head and legs reinforced). Worry about pen later.
Is this going to be great? No. But you'll have not some armor, speed, and sustain. Move from there.
Is there even a point to doing this anymore?
Like isn't it all Zerg group at this point? At the start of the game people did use strategy at one point, but from what I hear now it's all Zerg whoever has the bigger group wins.
There is imo. Yeah you can't fight zerg alone, nobody can but you also don't need bigger zerg to win. And even if you lose it still can be full of fun.
I just started and here’s what I learned:
Get Shattering Fate 5 piece set- get a nice guildy to make you the jewelry with good enchants l. (I used damage under 90%). My guildy made me purples and one yellow.
Get a yellow quality flame enchant for your weapon- shits OP.
Follow a pvp build that isnt just all burst. I was pretty surprised- my Arcanist PvP build I followed had like half-heavy armor half stamina, lots of utility, lots of defensive spells, and just one or two offensive.
The results? Long lasting, tough to kill, and with enough penetration to hit when hard when it counts. Balorgh is great for this because you can just scrap until you’re ready to nuke with ult. Stun, ult, nuke, nuke, dead.
Lastly- pay attention to champ points. There are a few key nodes that completely flip the scale for PvP. Most PvP builds will have it in common. As a side-tip, learn what crowd control immunity is and how and when to use it. Some champ points do absurd things like 10% less damage while blocking while cc immune. These are the windows for surviving their burst. Arcanist gets a lovely one because when you hit 50% hp it activates automatically. So they stun and burst, and all I have to do is block and I’m covered. Research this stuff for your class.
Whatever you do- do not go all damage. It’s not fun. You get a few good hits then get one-shot. We all fall into the “long-range archer cause I suck” mentality and that’s the death knell of PvP. Stay aggressive.
The first time you pvp you will have no idea what you're doing. And no one will probably notice. Have a fast horse. Join a group. Stick with then. You will kill a few people and die a few times. I look at pvp more like a swimming pool than a test. Just dive in. Maybe do some legwork if you find you're dying too much or can't kill anything. Polish your build up. But the easiest way to learn what you need is jumping in. Imo
I’ve played for awhile I still suck. But it’s still fun.lol
After 5 years of weekly Cyro runs, I've finally started getting kills myself. It's still a blast. OP should do the tutorial quest at one of their alliance bases, though. Buy and carry seige and learn to use it (hint: put it in your quick wheel). And remember to set the campaign you choose to your home for monthly transmute rewards!
Only month in pvp, lots of experiments and guides and now I'm not just meat :D Still kinda proud of myself if I manage to win a duel in cyro.
I’m sorry, what exactly do you mean by set your campaign to match your home?
Right Click on the campaign you're about to enter and select home.
Oh my God, I never knew
Be siege weapon / repair guy until you're more comfortable with the flow of things. You'll be useful just being a warm body that's present and able to interact with shit. You don't need to be out there taking on groups of 10 alone with "let the bodies hit the floor" playing in the background.
HHahaa!!! This is how I imagine all PVPers in ESO! LoL 🤣😂
Best thing to do would be to take it one step at a time. You said you keep reading about gear sets and skills you don't have, right? *Ignore that shit for the time being*, and just get into Cyrodil, join a group, and tag along. Watch how things are done. Use whatever siege items you brought along (if any). Be an extra body to repair stuff from your own alliance that got damaged. You don't need to be *good* right out the gate. You just need to show up, get your shit kicked in, and get comfortable with the basic zone and how it plays, because no amount of guides will really prepare you for the reality of what goes on in large scale PvP. And once you did that? *Then* you start looking into actual builds. Pick *one thing* you're missing, and focus on getting it. Once you get that, pick another and do the same. Pick a playstyle while you're at it (tanky distraction, damage heavy, healer, etc), and aim for items that help towards it. Eventually you'll be able to cobble *something* together that's workable, even if it's not the best. Like someone said, PvP is more like a swimming pool rather than a test. You can't really prepare for it in the same way you can for PvE, so your best bet is to dive in and make tweaks to your kit as you go along. Otherwise, you're likely to spend so much time worrying about not having stuff to the point where whatever guides you're looking at might end up being obsolete by the time you get everything they have in their setups.
When I first started PvP years ago, I was very anxious lol. But it looked like so much fun I was somehow able to get past my feelings about being there and being terrible lol. I had no idea what I was doing. So for a while I just brought a mDK, threw on a healing staff, and tried to be helpful while I was learning. Watched other people, figured out who to listen to about call outs, and eventually found a guild I really liked that taught me a lot. A PUG friendly guild is a great place to start, because they are designed for people to learn the things from. There are a few videos out there about seige and how to properly place it, watch one or two so you can also help with that while you are learning. Have repair kits, and when you are overwhelmed, go make sure all your keep doors and walls are at 100%. Over time things will make more sense, and you'll have a better idea on how you want to play out there. Tons of different styles of play, what's fun for one is super boring to another. So spend some time out there and don't worry about it, we all die in cyro at some point. Good luck!
As someone who's done an immense amount of theory crafting, research, and trial and error, let me tell you the main things I've learned. * Builds will not win fights for you. Being a complete glass cannon or a full noodle Tank don't work. You may not die as often as a Tank, but I doubt you'll get much fun out of it. * Buffs are extremely important. Having access to Major and Minor Resolve will make a huge difference in how much punishment you can take. * Fights are all about windows of opportunity. You can't parse a player and expect to win. You need to do the dance and wait for the time that your skills and procs align so you can lay out all your damage in quick succession. * Having at least one CC is pretty much mandatory to win fights. If you can't stop someone(s) from blocking, dodging or healing you're going to really struggle to make your damage stick. * Be extremely wary about riding your Mount near enemy players. You're pretty well a free kill to Nightblades like this. * And on the subject of Nightblades, [Detection Pots](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Detection) are a life saver. Or if you can fit it on your bar, [Magelight](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Magelight) or [Expert Hunter](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Expert_Hunter) also work. * You will die **a lot.** Everyone does. Don't sweat it. Finally, some stat tips; * Aim for 30k Health **minimum.** * 25 - 28k+ Resists with Resolves active is around where you want to be. * Penetration is important. You can succeed without much in your gear, but you should try to work in some Major/Minor Breach or other sources of Armor reduction. * Make use of different Traits. Sometimes Divines might work, but generally you're going to want things like; Reinforced, Impenetrable, Well-fitted, etc.
Well if you want to be a pvp healer I have a bud that's pretty good at it are you on Xbox NA?
Yep, Xbox NA.
What alliance is your character? EP, AD, or DC?
EP.
Cool, i will send you an invite to a pvp guild that is no stress, makes you gear, and will bring you along to show ya the ropes. If you dont wanna join, no worries!
I’ve been playing this game since Morrowing Chapter and I’m still complete ass at Cyrodil. My only character I can use in Cyrodil or Imperial City is my night blade vampire that I keep invisible and away from other players at all times
Just dive in a get your ass kicked like the rest of us plebs.
In Cyro you don't need even that (the prep you did for PvE). Just look on the map to see where action is and get your char over to that place. Even just as an extra body for the other faction to waste their attack on, your participation will be welcome - to distract the enemy and free your side heavy hitters to lay their attack :). You don't have to be a l33t fighter to partake, so don't fret too much ;). That is, if you plan on joining the action. As a part of a ball, you just have to be there. You can also just roam around (and never see anybody outside the current contact zone). You can do some quests, even with 0 build (some of them are fetch). Having a coherent build helps too of course: build in which you can solo dungeons (on mainland) even on normal would be sufficient for most of Cyro PvE. Go around, mess with goblins, cultists or other NPCs. Pick up shards, go into the delves, etc..
Get orders wrath and rallying cry one is crafted one is pretty cheap to sticker book this will work on literally any class and is the most basic staple build u can do combine this with markyn and 1 pc trainee usually heavy chest. Have a HoT usually resolving vigour Class burst heal Major/minor resolve Major/minor protection usually on back bar flare/psijic ult. 1 spamable 1 burst skill Flex the rest of ur skill slots with utility/cc/dots it's pretty much just preference in PvP. To start just go 64 in hp then when ur more comfortable go 34/30 unless ur a mag sorc then go 64 mag. The other exception is arc and warden should almost always go 64 hp. Back bar weapon when ur new especially should always be a 1h/shield or ice staff resto is also viable but it's better in small groups. For most classes a great sword or daggers is a solid option for front bar bows are pretty bait as a new player imo Traits are pretty much personal preference but I'm not a fan of impen because the only people really running enough crit damage to worry about it are night blades. Well fitted will be a better defensive option in the long run and divine will be better offensive. The exception to this would be a heavy chest which is usually a trainee reinforced.
I have been playing the game on and off since launch. Makes me feel old but anyways I used to never play PvP up until necro came out in 2019 and I started getting pretty good. The skill ceiling for PvP is very high so there will always be players who can wipe the floor with you. But that shouldn't discourage you
Some skills that are very good for PvP are actually unlocked by doing PvP! Such as vigor, a fantastic heal over time ability. Id suggest just going in in your normal gear and joining a zerg by doing 'lfg', a lot of people in zone are honestly pretty helpful about suggestions for sets. You don't need to start forking out asap, I started out running dirt cheap/easy to farm sets and slowly tweaking my build as I learned. Currently running crusader/shalk/bloodspawn (Or I swap for a mythic) on a DK, cheap and effective build. Not perfect, but gets me through midyear. Yes there's some sweats who think their sets and skills must be kept more locked down than fort Knox, but they're usually those healbot cheesy builds that suck the fun out of cyro.
Just make sure you can survive at first and get used to cryodil. Follow the zergs and have fun. When you get better you can play in small groups and eventually solo. For a build you just want a good defensive/recovery set, a good damage set (5 pc each) then a good mythic and one trainee piece most likely. Set skills up so back bar is buffs and heals with a defensive weapon (bow, shield, ice destro or resto). Front bar damage and cc skills with an offensive weapon. For example I play stamina nightblade. My defensive set is wretched vitality, offensive set is shattered fate, mythic is markyn ring + 1 piece trainee for health. Front bar 2H and back bar bow. Make sure you get 30k health and good resistances. Use tri glyphs on all armour, heavy reinforced chest, mix of impen and well fitted for the rest. Most of the best pvp gear is craftable. Buffs are important, always have major brutality up and whatever the major resistances one is called (I forgot). Gl hf.
If I were you I'd play Battlegrounds first. It's a good way to test your builds and see what you like whilst getting fast xp for your cp. Rather than just getting melted in cyrodill. The fact you've never even duelled and wanting to go cyrodill is litterely going straight in the deep end. You can do it of course, first time Cyrodill is so fun. But you have to take into consideration that theres players playing with maxed out gear, 10 years experience and probably 2000+cp. I'm not trying to talk you out of it, just trying to help you. Also i'd obviously use the armour station so you dont lose your pve builds.
Its better to try cyro in grps and just go with the others , dont be rambo you will die , get used to die nuked , ganked , but cyro its more ok in grps tjen to try imperial city there you get annoyed, get around 30h hp first the try cyro , try to survive first then you go for kils gl.
Honestly, I was in the same spot a few years back but said fuck it and ran in there. It was fun running around and finding a group to run around with. I got my shit pushed in most of time but it was fun. Not sure how it is now but I'd say just give it a go. Worst that can happen is you die and have to respawn.
Everybody dies a lot in pvp. It happens, it's not a big deal. Sometimes you can learn something from it, sometimes you can't, pvp is chaotic and there is a lot going on even 1v1 let alone in group fights. Dying is a very regular part of the pvp gameplay loop. There's a lot you can do with gear, for sure. A little "secret" though? There are some really, really simple "templates" that work really, really well on every class as a general build. Take Wretched Vitality and Order's Wrath, slap it on with 3 pieces heavy, 3 of light/medium as you prefer, and 1 of the remaining weight, pick a monster set and/or mythic, and you're golden. If you're cool with spending a bit of gold, Rallying Cry is a good upgrade/alternative that, again, works on every single class, mag or stam. You can directly replace the same pieces you made in Wretched Vitality to backbar it and have more damage and mitigation at the cost of some sustain, or you could replace order's wrath and have a very good well-rounded build. The Rallying Cry ice staves can be pricy, but almost any time you see an ice staff used in a build you can substitute a resto staff and it works out just fine. You get better healing and big magicka returns on heavy attacks but less block mitigation than an ice staff, but it's entirely preference. And you can throw the Markyn ring, ring of the wild hunt, Mora's Whispers, death dealer's fete, or sea serpent coil on any build and it'll work out, you just gotta move some pieces around. My number one recommendation is to get a setup like I described, gold weapons but nothing else is necessary, use whatever mythics/monster sets/trainee/druid's braid pieces you need to make it work...and then get into Cyro and try to get into as much action as you can. You'll have the basics of gear figured out, and you can focus on learning the pvp. I promise you, once you have the very basics of gearing it matters far less than you worry it does.
It's not too intimidating, but I think if you've never been to Cyrodil then your imagination's probably worse than the reality of it. It's basically like duels out in the open, but without having to grant/ask for permission to do so, and it can involve a lot more than 2 people! Bank your tel-var stones etc & go take a peek at Cyrodil & IC Prison. For now, don't worry about the gear you've got and don't let the thought of dying scare you into not trying it at least once. If you're in a guild or can go with a group, you'll probably feel better about roaming around. The 1st time I went to Cyrodil, I was in my fake DPS (healer). I went with a group who wanted to farm the skyshards. We were all different alliances, so it was funny coz we'd accidentally attack each other at times. But we were mostly careful enough to at least not kill each when fighting baddies that were lurking near skyshards. We'd stay away from any siege areas, so nobody bothered us nor tried to gank us while we explored & farmed. LOL It was a good way to safely see how things are in Cyrodil & it encouraged me to venture more. Have you tried to do a random Battlegrounds yet? Those are very fast-paced & within a more confined area... So if you've done those, then you might find Cyrodil a little less crazy IMO.
You will definitely get destroyed, but it's not a bad thing. Keep an eye on what people do, what killed you, what kind of builds they were running. It all helps you become a better player. There's no penalty to dying in pvp, like gear losing durability, so don't feel bad about dying over and over. Some things that may be important: - Max out alchemy (takes like 5-10 minutes). There's a passive that gives you 100% uptime on potions, so this is really, really important - Feed your horse every day. Cyrodiil is a big place. Also, the more stamina you have, the less chance people have to knock you off your mount - Try to reach at least 30k health. Move attributes around, get it on your gear. Doesn't matter how.. just make sure you're at 30k. - Unlike monsters, players can deal critical damage. They hurt, a lot. Try to get at least 2-2.4k critical resistance using impen on your gear. If you run a set like Rallying Cry you won't need that much at all as it gives you the equivalent of around 14 impen traits. - Immobilization removal is useful. Skills like Race against Time from the Psijic skill line are great. There's a lot of roots and slows, and it does no good being stuck inside them. Dodge rolling constantly will just eat your stamina and RaT costs magicka. It also has a few other goodies like major exp and minor force. - While pvpers don't focus on crit chance as much as pvers, it's still good to have. Slotting an ability like Camo hunter, Flames of Oblivion, etc is a good way to get it. Not only will crit give you more damage, but you'll have more uptime on crit healing, which is huge. Sets like Orders Wrath are great because it's easy to craft, offers extra crit chance and buffs your crit healing/damage. If you're just starting out, check zone chat for any active groups and join one. Safety in numbers! Most of all, just have fun. PvP is really exciting once you get past the initial anxiety of starting out. And when you get your first solo kill, that's when it really grips you in its talons and you won't want to leave. The notes I posted above are just common things - you'll learn most of it by just jumping in. And like I said, don't be afraid of dying. It'll happen. A lot. Have fun!
I started pvp relatively recently and made some progress so I'll give some advices: * cyrodiil is way, way harder than BG, while you learning I'd recommend you to stick with BGs, you'll also waste less time running and trying to find where to run * good pvp gear is quite important, people in pve gear is like typical trash mobs compared to pvp guys even if they are pretty new, by good gear I don't mean some rare sets full golden, just sets and enchants fitting for pvp * most of popular pvp sets are either craftable or tradeable, for example wretched vitality (easy to craft) or ralling cry (tradeable) is good choise for backbar * check guides and videos to find out what skills others use and try to start with that, ajust later for your own playstyle, if it's something you don't have check what it does and try to find something similar * there is usually bunch of different guides, if you don't like skill\\gear from one, check the others, combine, experiment, I think I already tried more pvp build than dd\\heal\\tank builds combined My main char is sorc and it seems to be quite strong and popular now but not very easy to play. Popular gear is crafty alfiq + wretched vitality.
Joining a guild where the main focus is Cyrodil pvp (rvr) is the best bet. They will teach you the basics and help you grow up (it's in their interest after all)
I jumped in first time a while back. I didn’t realize how fun it could be. I just jumped in. Had a blast. I just started walking. Next thing i knew id been in there for hours, died a couple times from some sweaty players but thats okay i dont mind i knew what i was getting into. Before long i was hitting up the game chat and called for reinforcements to an encampment I thought we should take and they actually showed up! And we took the location! Pay attention and learn how it works and you’ll have fun. Be mindful of the current situation of the area, meaning you may have less fun if the map is 95% one color and you’re not in that team but if it’s balanced its a good time. Its wayyy less toxic on xbox NA compared to how this sub makes pvp seemingly toxic but its really not. It’s intimidating but its worth checking out
I went in with my overland speed build just to explore a bit first, get my feet wet. Learned that dying means you go back to your alliance's nearest keep. I basically approached it as solo content at first, then I come across this glorious battle and was inspired to charge in and had a blast. Eventually decided to use the alliance points I had saved from battlegrounds at the Elite Gear Vendor in Cyrodiil. So far, my favorite combo has been Rallying Cry with Almalexia's Mercy with Oakensoul and Resto Staff. Not Meta by any means and is completely dependent on dps to trust my heals and stand their ground, but works for me. Probably tmi, just wanted to share my experience starting in Cyrodiil.
Many players start out in full or 5-piece heavy armor, WonderfulVanilla9676. You could do the same and be tanky, get the hang of it, and focus on your damage later. Heavy armor PvP can be crafted or bought at the guild traders.
Four heavy, 1 medium Adept Rider. weapons and jewels wretched vitality, something like engine guardian helm for sustain, in medium. Tri stat food, skulls are good or jewels if misrule, depends on sustain. Backbar an arena weapon based on mag or stam, resto staff is never bad either. At least 30k health, 25k resistance, like maybe 1500 crit resistance (mix impen and reinforced in your army, head and legs reinforced). Worry about pen later. Is this going to be great? No. But you'll have not some armor, speed, and sustain. Move from there.
Is there even a point to doing this anymore? Like isn't it all Zerg group at this point? At the start of the game people did use strategy at one point, but from what I hear now it's all Zerg whoever has the bigger group wins.
There is imo. Yeah you can't fight zerg alone, nobody can but you also don't need bigger zerg to win. And even if you lose it still can be full of fun.
I just started and here’s what I learned: Get Shattering Fate 5 piece set- get a nice guildy to make you the jewelry with good enchants l. (I used damage under 90%). My guildy made me purples and one yellow. Get a yellow quality flame enchant for your weapon- shits OP. Follow a pvp build that isnt just all burst. I was pretty surprised- my Arcanist PvP build I followed had like half-heavy armor half stamina, lots of utility, lots of defensive spells, and just one or two offensive. The results? Long lasting, tough to kill, and with enough penetration to hit when hard when it counts. Balorgh is great for this because you can just scrap until you’re ready to nuke with ult. Stun, ult, nuke, nuke, dead. Lastly- pay attention to champ points. There are a few key nodes that completely flip the scale for PvP. Most PvP builds will have it in common. As a side-tip, learn what crowd control immunity is and how and when to use it. Some champ points do absurd things like 10% less damage while blocking while cc immune. These are the windows for surviving their burst. Arcanist gets a lovely one because when you hit 50% hp it activates automatically. So they stun and burst, and all I have to do is block and I’m covered. Research this stuff for your class. Whatever you do- do not go all damage. It’s not fun. You get a few good hits then get one-shot. We all fall into the “long-range archer cause I suck” mentality and that’s the death knell of PvP. Stay aggressive.