I needed to re-post this guide since it didn’t have it’s own section.  This hasn’t been updated for 1.5 but I’m working on it.  So let’s get started with our ESO Dragonknight DPS Build Crit Pickle.

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Build Objective

Burn, nuke, and destroy. This is the cookie cutter ultra-high DPS build that most DK’s run (plus or minus a couple of skills). The idea here is that you have a pocket healer for mana taps via Spell Symmetry (magicka for health). With essentially unlimited magicka, you continue to maintain a rotation or a set of three DoTs and spam Elemental Ring (AKA Fire Ring) when you have extra magicka.

The DPS or healing rotation is very easy and to be honest, not very engaging. This build is effective, very effective though sometimes boring. What’s not boring is doing 1000 DPS and ripping through any content. So let’s see what this Crit Pickle build is packing in order to achieve those type of numbers.

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Skills

Bar 1 | Destruction Staff

• Inner Light – This is a must have on both bars. The trick is turning this on and off to proc the spell power bonus via the Mage’s Guild passive. 20% critical chance yeah, gotta have it.
• Engulfing Flames – The start to our rotation as it increases flame damage taken, AoE, and good single target DoT. Keep this up every 6-7 seconds.
• Unstable Flame – A big time single target damage spell which can be swapped out for Flames of Oblivion (more crit) or Force Pulse (more range and AoE) depending on your play-style. Second DoT we need to keep up.
• Elemental Ring – A spammable AoE damage and a decent DoT. This is where our extra magicka goes after our DoTs are all applied.
• Spell Symmetry – A magicka tap that should be used frequently though I call it out in voice coms to let the healer know why my health is dropping rapidly.
• Flawless Dawnbreaker (Ultimate) – This adds a lot of passive weapon damage for those who use heavy charge in between abilities. Though plan on swapping frequently to drop the lovely Standard.

Bar 2 | Restoration Staff

• Inner Light – Same as above, spell crit is good.
• Healing Springs – The standard spam on ground heal. I generally just continue to cast this on my party if they’re clumped together.
• Rapid Regeneration – A good HoT to keep up that lasts roughly 16 seconds. Keep this up and spam the springs.
• Blessing of Restoration – This is a conal heal that I’ll use with Rapid Regen for max HPS.
• Spell Symmetry – Same as above though watch your health if you’re the healer!
• Standard of Might (Ultimate) – Swap, drop, and burn!

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Gear

 

The premise behind my gear setup is maximizing spell critical (hence Crit Pickle) and spell power. Most games usually have a cap on spell critical, but not ESO. Add more critical hit on top of high spell power with a Mundus increasing spell critical damage, and you’ll see major results.

Before we go on, there are some extremely rare and time consuming gear sets that are probably the “ultimate” for maxing critical. Considering it might be unrealistic to gather all of those items, I put together a basic list that most gamers have time/patience to do. Just know, it’s possible to get upwards of 70% critical chance with abilities and gear. Holy DPS Batman!

Health 2500 > Spell Crit > Spell Power > Magicka 2000 > (stamina for PvP)

Armor Weight – I run 5 light 2 heavy.  The light is an obvious choice for spell damage and critical, though I like the heavy for the passive healing effectiveness.  If you wanted, a full light set would be the best for max DPS though I like a better balance for soloing and or farm.

Jewelry – Both rings and necklace spell power to reach the soft cap.

Traits – Pretty much the same thing here as for my tank build. I maximize my stats on all the large pieces (infused). The Divines increases the critical strike damage so it just makes sense to maximize this, in my opinion. I also use weighted trait on my restoration staff for faster heavy attack to get my magicka back (if my health is low and I can’t use Spell Symmetry).

Glyphs – Mo’ magicka, mo’ damage. I like the armor debuff glyph on my destruction staff combined with the Night Mother’s Gaze passive to strip away the opponents armor.

Set bonuses – 5 piece Night Mother’s Gaze (5% spell critical and critical reduce armor by 20%) and 3 piece Willow’s Path (5% spell critical)

Attributes – Even though we’re DPS, it’s more effective to spend points in health and put glyphs towards magicka or stamina. Go full 49 points into health.

Mundus Stone – the Shadow for extra damage on critical hit damage. This is the only buff I know of other than potions that can add to your critical damage. Considering we’ll be running plus 50% critical, we want that damage to count.

Food – VR5 Consummate Pudding (increase health, magicka, and stamina by 271 for 2 hours)

There’s some wiggle room in this build for more range via Force Pulse or more critical (if you can believe that) with Flames of Oblivion. Both have positives and negatives, so I suggest you play around to find your preferred build. Stick with this setup for a solid high DPS that can produce results.