The Strider Build: a dossier on being an archer in Cyrodiil

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Introduction

 The Strider: This build title is to pay homage to my old MMO LOTRO. I spent a lot of time in that game and to this day I am still a Tolkien fan. Strider was the alias of Aragorn who became King Elessar Telcontar. IRL I bow hunt (not as much as I used too) and I thought how can I create a char that has a bit of the strider feel that ecoorporates my old bow hunting skills. This is not a typical build thread. You’ll get skills, armor etc but I anticipate many wont want to run this build. To be blunt it’s a playstyle that required the build specifics. Not everyone can be a hunter/bowman.

We are playing a NB for this build and this allows us great flexibility. This build will place you somewhere in the 90-95% of DPS. You wont be able to tank, melee damage isn’t happening. This is a pretty select playstyle that might be applicable to less than 1% of the player base I don’t know. Im putting this out here because ive played it long enough and am moving on from the build and wanted to share some of my thoughts and observations. I have to say that overall being a bowman in ESO has a lot of draw backs and its been trying at times to play the toon. However when everything goes right, the kills are very gratifying.

 

Other

First lets cover the other skills and mechanics you’ll need to get. You don’t have to do any of this to produce decent results. However the more of it you incorporate the better results you will attain. As a quick note to the reader, I have been playing a bow primary NB for a long time and this build has been through the ringer for over a year. I play other charecters but over a long period of time I found this to be an extremely flexible build that can be adapted to nearly 100% of the content. I play this in Cyrodiil, I PvP and I do mostly solo. However I run dungeons with this and with some tweaks you can too.

 

Light attacking weaving and the bow build

 

No matter what content you run, if you are running a bow primary you have to begin to incorporate light attack weaving into your rotation. The IC update made this a critical component for bow users for two important reasons: (from the patch notes)

1. Increased the overall damage from Bow light attacks by 16%.
2. Grim Focus: The bow on Assassin’s Will is now easier to see in first-person view, and can now be activated after 4 light attacks instead of 7.

The second is a monster change as Grim Focus already gave us the morph relentless focus which gives us minor berserk buff and minor endurance, buffing stamina and damage respectively. So on top of that you’re getting access to spectral bow with 4 light attacks. I’m not going to lie to you here and tell you I am an animation cancelling wizard, my personal feelings on animation canceling are it’s not WAI. That said the results can’t be dismissed, it’s absolutely needed to max your DPS with a bow build. If you want to light attack 4 times, fine but make sure you get LA into your rotation so you can proc spectral bow. Practice, practice, practice weaving, left click the mouse then quickly hit your skill. That is a LA weave, yes it’s that simple but it takes practice.

 

 Important bullets: 

1. Bows require stamina, this is a stamina build. So for attributes I like to go full stam. If I need health I will adjust as needed either glyph or food or gear bonus’s.

 

2. Stam race preferred: Race bonuses are important when trying to extract the best output for your toon. For a bow build overall Khajiit is probably the best right now, The reason is Khajiit has stam regen, carnage which increases weapon crit and stealthy which increases your damage out of stealth. Remember in Cyrodiil you’re going to be in stealth, the racial passive “stealthy” stacks with the class passive “master assassin” and then the Camo hunter slot bonus of 10% crit. So stacked together the khajiit out of stealth hits dam hard. I am an imperial, I’ve had this toon for a long time and if you want more survivability Imperial is the way to go. Wood Elf and Red guard are fine choices as well. As any additional class bonus’s of stam regen are a great have for this build.

 

3. Weapon Damage: Stack this via gear choices. Yes it’s that simple.

 

4. Crit: It’s got to be over 50%. Gear + Mundus. Once we get to the gear section, you’ll have to mix and match. Divine trait which increases the mundus is a great way to pump up crit, but did you take a kahjiit? You may not need it.

 

5. Consumbales: I like tri stat food. Its easy to manage and I use stam potions to help alieviate resource management issues. Can you do more? Yep there are people who use all kinds of potions and they all work and can be incorporated into your rotations. Use them, tell me how it worked. For me I keep it simple

World Skill lines:

Most of these are self-explanatory, read the tool tips they should be obvious on how they help your performance but let’s address the critical ones here. Soul magic is reliant on where you are with the main story, finish that up. Ledgermain is covered below and WW/Vamp requires an in game bite/scratch from someone or npc infected. In addition to obtaining the bite/scratch the lines have to be leveled. Last, in the latest build you must have one of the skill slotted from the line to enjoy the passives.

 

1. Ledgermain: Improved hiding. Must have passive as it’s a -40% to stam costs for sneaking. This is a priority, make it happen. You are going to need level 16 in the line to get the 4 ranks. With caps to how much you can launder per day this is going to take some time to attain. Get on it and make it a daily. Take a peek at Deltia’s video’s he has a pretty good one on getting this leveled.

 

2. Soul Magic: There really isn’t a reason to not have all the passives maxed here unless you are short on points. Nothing spectacular but the ultimate is a nice “surprise” from an NB, the beam resembles radiant destruction and it throws people off, it does good damage as well. These aren’t must have passives, but if you have the points get them.

III. Vamp or WW?: Like most everyone else I was WW last update to get the +15% in combat stam regen. This update you have to have one of the skills               slotted from the line to get the passives. For a NB bow build neither is worth it. DK’s and Templar’s? Ya mist form is a decent escape, but neither line               offers our NB archer much. Some of the passives are nice, a NB with dark stalker can move well in stealth but more for melee, you’re an archer.

 

The interlude: “Wow thor are you going to give us a build or just type more” Yes I will eventually, this is a little different approach for the simple fact that I think it’s important to talk out the subtleties of the build first. It would be easy to slap 12 skills up and say “do this” but let’s start with a broad narrative and go from there.

Guild Skill lines:

 I.  Fighter’s guild: Critical non class skill line that we need to invest in. You are going to need this maxed so go do dark anchors and grind undead. Max out           the passives. Do you need them all for the build? No you don’t but this is an end game build you should have plenty of skill points so get them. We will           get into specific skills from this line in the build specifics.

 

2. Mages Guild: I don’t use it for this build, as the passives are reliant on the use or slotting of one of the guild skills. Persuasive will is something you’ll want for leveling, but otherwise you can ignore this. Of course if you have the points, yep get the passives because down the road you may want to go magi build with the toon. Get your lore books along the way, Cyrodiil is full of them.

 

3. Undaunted: Undaunted mettle/command are good passives. I don’t have them, I simply haven’t had time or desire to level through the dungeons but go ahead get it. The gear sets I will propose to you later on will accommodate a 5/1/1 build to max this passive. I don’t go that way and I am admittedly deficient because of it. Get it if you have the time.

Alliance War:

 

1. Emperor: 1.7 changed this dramatically. I never got the title, but the skills and passives are only of use while you hold the title. I mean, as a bowman if you can get the emperor title, you don’t need this guide.

 

2. Assault: Nice passives here and every skill has a use. Really you can find a spot for all of them in builds, it’s such a versatile line. We’ll be using Caltrops for AOE CC (when we get it) but what isn’t to like about the active abilities here? Rapid maneuver is a nice have to create space but we have class skills that help us with that. The passives are equally as nice albeit dependent on cyrodiil events. Max them all out as you can, this will take time to level so hang in there. Key passive is “reach” as you can extend your ranged attacks near a keep, which for a sniper/bowman is a phenomenal boost.

 

3. Support: Not a lot here for us as bowman. “combat medic” is a nice passive though and it applies to rally which is going to be our heal in this build. I know your saying “why not vigor it’s a better heal” ya it is, but rally gives us a HOT and major brutality the later makes it the skill we use.

 Crafting

 “Thor I am not going out there to make ingots”

No you aren’t but you’ll be using consumables and thus you need to level provisioning. It’s actually not too bad to do you just need cash to buy mats as searching them out in the world is a pain. Additionally you can make your own food and potions, not a bad way to go I have a crafting alt and that’s where I get my consumables (most of them)

1. Provisioning: You’ll need Gourmand and Connoisseur. Not only do they extend the buff time of food and drinks but the NB has a nifty passive on the siphoning line called “Catalyst” which increases your ultimate gain every time you drink a potion. That adds up over time. One of the variations on the build that I am going to give you is slotting soul tether as our ultimate on our buff bar. So you swap to that bar, drink your potions.

UI/key binds:

 Real quick here, I don’t have any wonderful set up but make sure you know your binds. However one key one is “targeting/ Cycle preferred enemy target”. Get this on a key bind because it’s going to help you identify enemies beyond using our marks. This becomes extremely helpful in large fights when you are on the fringe looking to pick people off. See that level 38 in the veteran campaign? Yep he’s the target, use this key bind it will illuminate the toon with a white barrier and allow you to keep an eye on him(Much better than what we had in the last build). Did he move away from the healer? Hit him !

Other Wrap

So far we have covered what I call the add on passives you can get from other non class , weapon and armor lines. There is a lot here and it shouldn’t be ignored. This is a bowman’s build and you are going to need complimentary lines to pull in from everywhere to make it viable. It’s never been easy being a primary bow user in Cyrodiil, the current meta of reduced damage slower fights makes it even harder, gone are the days of snipe/heavy attack spamming. Take some play time and work on these, slow and steady wins the race but it’s best to work on these items as you level if you can. Are you in a quest and the room is empty (no npc’s) but closets and chests locked? Steal everything, move ledger main up. Completed a quest in an area with a lot of undead? Do another cycle through and kill the mobs one extra time before moving on bumping fighters guild a pinch more.

OMG enough already Thor get to the build !!!!!!!

Okay let’s handle skills first. I’ll give you the skill and provide a narrative on why it’s here and some thoughts on how to use it.

Bar 1 Bow: No need to elaborate on the passives here they are all pretty self-explanatory. Hasty retreat is the only one that doesn’t directly impact the bow output but what a great passive. Major expedition after a roll dodge? What’s not to like.

1. Lethal Arrow/Flex spot: You can get away with a heavy attack opener into skill 2 poison arrow. That’s why this can be a flex spot. I use lethal here because of the poison status affect and yes it creates a dot (not a big one). Poison damage is important in this build as we are going to invest in thermagurge with champion points.
2. Poison arrow: Must have bow skill for this build. It’s also an execute, a poison dot and it does more damage to enemies under 50% health. No cast time either. Not a lot to expand on here, keep this dot on people it adds up over time. Go to skill on low targets spam it if they are below half bar. Also is there a WW running around? Hit them with this they take additional poison damage in WW form.
3. Flex between Acid spray or Magnum Shot: Situational use here, Acid spray is going to provide you with another poison dot (yes it stacks) and a slow. You use this when you are grouped or fighting zergs as it’s an AOE spray. Magnum shot is for our solo runs dependent on comfort level. Really I stay with acid spray but magnum shot is great when you have gap closer spammers (you know those NB’s that spam ambush?) it pushes you back and leaves them disoriented. Now normally I’m swapping to my second bar when I have a gap closer spammer and fearing them but this isn’t a bad alternative. Still I go 70/30 spray vs magnum
4. Camo Hunter 1/3: First buff skill. It gives a % chance to do additional damage out of stealth and return stamina (which is a good thing) keep it refreshed. Having it slotted gives you major savagery increasing weapon crit. If you are rolling in IC you’ll thank me for having this the damage is great.
5. Relentless focus: 2/3 buff. Increases damage, increases stam regen, gives you the chance to proc spectral bow (remember the LA weaving?) this has to be up all the time, keep it refreshed even to the point of absurd because that spectral bow does magic damage which is going to buff from our thermagurge investment. Spectral bow is a really big hit and done correctly this worked into a rotation might be the star of the DPS show. Its not always easy to pull off the LA weave, but keep working it you’ll see more and more spectral bows pop up the more you play and that’s a good thing.
6. Ultimate: Flawless dawn breaker: You listened to uncle thorgrum right and did the dark anchors? Good because you’ll need to have fighters guild maxed to have this, but it’s totally worth it. +8% weapon damage while slotted, wow. Now you need to use it, it’s a “cone” affect in front of you with a moderate AOE that does magic damage. Yep thurmagurge again buffs the damage… Even better undead and daedra take +60% damage. Yes there are still vamps in Cyrodiil but this can hit hard with the thurmagurge investment and don’t be afraid to drop it early when people gap close and melee. I don’t view this as an execute/finisher it’s a buff that can do damage at a reasonable ulti cost.

Bar 2 Two Hander: We aren’t using this for the melee, although crit rush into wrecking blow followed by executioner is a stunning dps performer. We are using this for Rally because rally gives us major brutality for 33 seconds and a HOT. That’s a 20% increase in weapon damage. Two very important passives here, balanced blade and battle rush. Rally had its cost increased, balanced blade mitigates it to a degree. Battle rush gives you a 30% stam regen after a target is killed. Now I am pretty sure (need to test more) that you have to have the 2h slotted when the person dies, not kill them with a 2h ability. Either way get the passives.

1. Reapers Mark/Flex: I have mixed feelings about this skill, so I’m listing it as a flex spot. However in my bow builds I find it making it back on the buff bar more often than not. You are advertising that a hit is coming that’s a bad thing. However you are reducing their spell and armor by 8000, that’s a major buff and in the age of reduced damage that’s going to help. In the end you can put something else here it’s not a big deal. I’ve had mixed results. on the one hand I’ve lost people because they go defense mode right away and or roll dodge. On the other, I’ve had some of my biggest hits happen on marked targets. You figure it out, don’t like it? Nice place for double take or something from the siphoning line. Remember siphoning line is magi based and you’ll be stam main so the pool isn’t infinite, you’re escapes are magi based plan accordingly. Rapid manuevre could find a home here too.
2. Razor Caltrops: This is an AOE slow and damage. This is to help control the battle area and expose stealthed targets. However often you are going to find the battlefield littered with Caltrops, which makes it redundant. A nice alternative is light weight beast trap from the fighter’s guild line. Easier to get (caltrops is a level 6 assault line skill) and yes it does magic damage (thurmagurge again !). Beast trap got a nice buff for IC, its 60 seconds now, cast time was cut in half to 1.5 and you get a crit bonus on top of that. Caltrops AOE is bigger and it’s harder to get as you can level beast trap in PVE content.
3. Mass Hysteria: IMHO the best NB skill. Everyone loves it for the fear and so do I. This is the basis for your escape, and or space creation. Escape? Pop this and skill 4 below and get away. Space creation? Pop this, swap, dodge roll and the bow hasty retreat passive gives you major expedition to get away then range. Did you slot magnum shot? Great fear them let them CC break then magnum shot away. Mass hysteria though has a nice debuff, minor maim which reduces their damage by 15% not a game breaker but those melee classes are a pain in the ass on a bow build.
4. Dark Cloak: Another must have NB skill. This is your escape skill in this build. Removing debuffs is nice but I use this to get out of jams or create space. Beware here, on a stam build you can’t spam this. Mass hysteria, dark cloak, come out of cloak swap roll dodge run, dark cloak, hide, escape. That’s your escape rotation. On your flex spots did you slot double take or rapid maneuver? Fine, pop this then pop those for the major expedition but remember you had the bow passive as discussed and it doesn’t stack (It did, I don’t think it does anymore, need to test).
5. Rally 3/3: buff that always has to be up. Refresh, refresh, refresh. Heal over time and major brutality. You don’t break stealth with any of our buffs either so keep them running. This skill does wonders for our DPS. Again this always has to be up if it isn’t you are doing it wrong.
6. Flex spot: Soul tether compliments our provisioning passive to increase potion effects (you have to have a siphon skill slotted to get the benefit). Did you go vamp ? Nice place for one of the bat swarm morphs each has its own benefits. So many good ultimate’s the sky is the limit. Remember this bar is to buff and get our asses out of trouble or create space. You pick, Ice comet, soul tether, war horn…. It’s an extensive list as long as you have flawless on your bow bar you are fine, put what you want here surprise me, I use Ice comet (which then gets me all the mage guild passives)

How to use the skills:

The narratives on the skill descriptions should give you a glimpse of what to do when. Look this isn’t complex, you are a bowman, stay at ranged and shoot people. Light attack weave when you can, proc spectral bow, create distance, rinse repeat. You’re going to have to play and test, are slows how you create space? Speed buffs? You have some flexibility here but the main goal is attack at range, keep them at range, kill them at range. It isn’t easy, this is by no means a face roll build. This is an archer build in a melee heavy game, you’ve been warned don’t expect miracles.

Once you have fooled around some you are going to have to pick, CC with a slow or increased movement. My thoughts on that are pretty simple every melee class as some kind of a gap closer even DK ultimates and on top of that Crit rush from the 2H weapon is alive and well. Using increased movement speed isn’t ideal as you’ll be gap closed over and over and over. That’s why we go Caltrops as we want an AOE slow, but maybe movement speed works for you.

Rotation:

• Buff: Rally must be up, swap to bow relentless focus camo hunter. You are stealthed and you have all 3 buffs running.
• Target selected, open with a heavy attack or Lethal arrow. This should stun when it hits. Immediately after the skill begins to animate tap left click on your mouse to proc a light attack. Once you see the light attack proc, 2^nd skill immediately we want poison arrow dot.
• The target is likely reacting, be mindful of the class and anticipate likely avenues of pursuit toward you. They will gap close, its rare as a bowman to get into ranged conflict. Begin the offensive rotation again, get light attacks in as best you can for spectral bow.
• They are now either attacking you or are taking evasive action/self healing. This is where your instinct has to be hoaned. Are there others around this player? Have they spotted you? Can you out range DPS their heals/evasion? Did they gap close? This is when engagements are won and what you do next is critical. You cannot panic. If they are self healing but staying at range, continue to range and LA weave and keep that poison arrow dot up. If they gap closed fear, cloak and create distance. This is where you have to play the style for sometime to get a feel for your comfort level. I am okay with a magnum shot into a LA into a spectral bow (If its up) run, range rinse repeat. You might not be and that’s okay.

 

Picking your spots:

It’s important we talk about “picking our spots” what does that really mean? This build is not a good high volume build. Meaning if the fight is at Nikel front door moving back and forth to the gate you will not shine as there are too many people. Look for terrain that allows you vantage point over a well traveled area. Cliff’s and nooks on hilled terrain are ideal as you cant be gap closed if you picked your spot correctly. You are a hunter here, you must pick a good location and that requires understanding the flow of combat during your playtime. Watch zone chat, look at the call outs, consider the ebb and flow of the night. There are hot spots in Cyrodiil that always seem to see action, get to know the terrain there. Understand where people set up siege. Buy a .99 cent notebook and journal your observations you’ll be amazed at how many trends you’ll see over a given time period.

 

1. Critical is the ability to pick a target that gives you the best chance to kill it quickly without exposure. Ideally you hit at range, it dies and you never have to move. Don’t be ashamed of picking the non VR16 target. Don’t be ashamed if your target is getting healed and you cant kill it, stealth and get away.

 

1. Move ! once you have engaged at range your spot is exposed. Move around the field of battle but remember your pearch come back another night, or if the area is under another factions control. Its okay to have the same hunting spots but don’t be predictable in your prescense there.

 

1. Use other people. That’s right, some Sorc is hitting a solo target, snipe it steal the kill if you can. No regrets no remorse, ignore whispers that QQ. Only engage if you think you can get a kill out of it, if that same sorc draws 3 people and they are going to die, let them. We aren’t hero’s here. If you are in a group different story, but this guide was written for the soloist.

 

1. Run when you need to and no regrets. So you are spotted by 5 people? There is no honorable death here, that’s not what this build is about. For me a good night is also denying zergs a kill on me. 3v1 you simply aren’t equipped for it, remember this is a very specific game play style if you want to tangle with 3v1+ its going to likely end with a lot of your deaths. Frustrating zergers creates the conditions by which individuals get sloppy. They move away from the safety of the group and now you have opportunity.

 

1. You will get negative feedback. Ive had people flip alliances just to send me whispers about how I am a coward for sniping them while they were seiging a keep. Ive had people in my own alliance QQ in zone chat about “stealing their kills”. Remember, no one is owed anything and everything is fair game.

 

Gear

There isn’t a lot here to expand on that hasn’t been covered elsewhere. This is a medium armor build, the passives are needed to create good damage output and regen. If you got your undaunted passives up sure go 5/1/1, chest heavy, waist light everything else medium. 5 Hawkeye, 5 moran tang and a master bow all VR14 is still absolutely viable. If that’s your gear set up, nothing to be ashamed of. I had a hard time finding some Hawkeye pieces and the master bow is a grind but all obtainable. VR16 presents some interesting choices. Again this is a bow build with an emphasis on poison damage this narrows our choices for VR16.

1. Agility Set: Rings and neck. Very expensive to buy in auction houses but they are out there. Otherwise you’ll need to grind content as they can drop from any VR16 content. Exceptional bonus’s from the 3 piece. Stam recovery enchants to boot. Top of the line gear, get it.

 

2. Sheer venom set: drops in IC white tower. Grind, grind and more grind. I watch a lot of deltia’s vids and this guy hasn’t gotten the full set yet and he’s a god dam meat grinder on content. I don’t have time to run 1000 white tower dungeons. Nice set if you can get it but, no thanks to that grind.

 

3. Toxic Defiance: Curious 5 piece bonus, hit with a magicka ability and your poison does more damage. I’m not seeing it myself but it’s one of the few sets that buffs poison damage.

Not much else that appeals to me, I’m not using these the VR14 set up still works well you’ll get decent damage but because its VR14 if we want VR16 gear we are going to have to look to crafted items. For me it’s a hell of a lot easier to craft stuff up and get respectable damage. Again this build was never going to be top DPS, if we had VR16 moran and Hawkeye that’s what I would be using. In lue of that we look here:

1. 5 pieces Hundings Rage: yep still a great medium armor set. I go 5 here. 5 armor pieces Stam enchants on every armor piece. Throwing on a health glyph isn’t a crime here either on armor. You want to be 20-22K health and 27-30K+ stam in cyrodiil, find the health where you can.  Divines trait, infused a close second.

 

2. 3 pieces night mothers gaze: 2 armor (for undaunted passive, light waist, heavy chest) mix and match as you see fit. 2 hand defending trait this is a buff weapon so the glyph is in play. Bow is precise trait, glyph of poison.

 

3. Need health? 3 ashen grip

 

4. Mundus stone: I know this is the gear section but I need to throw this in somewhere. The shadow mundus was increased to 12% crit chance bonus. Did you go divines on your gear? Wholly crit bat man. You can do the warrior to incease weapon damage, youre really going to need to test it out. The increased chance to crit is hard to gauge because one big hit and your DPS is through the roof. I am using Shadow and having great results.

All of these coupled with your agility set at VR16 is going to give you dam good performance. Don’t let anyone fool you, you can produce excellent results with these for minimal grind. Ya, its going to cost you in mats to craft up the VR16 but it’s worth it. So what traits again? For armor its divines infused if you cant get divines. You can of course expand on the gear, I try and keep it simple but go ahead get 3 2 piece bonuses, if it works for you great. Weapon? I like precise on my bow and on my 2H (I use a maul) I like defending or nirnhoned as this isn’t an offensive weapon on this build it’s a buff weapon.

Most theory crafter spend a long time on gear. I don’t with an archer build. You have a few armor sets that buff archer/poison directly. Get em if you can, if you can’t craft gear that boosts weapon damage and crit. Keep it simple, otherwise you’ll be grinding a lot and not actually honing your skills out in cyrodiil. As a quick note, I didn’t see much in the orsinium gear that’s going to help, the new master bow buffs volley (meh) but stay tuned the old one was great we’ll see if it changes.

Champion Points:

1. Blue = the Ritual. This is where Thaumaturge resides and this is where we buff our damage. In this build we do poison or magic damage primarily. Invest heavily into this more is better 100 if you have it. 1 into the other 3 is fine. Atronach isn’t horrible as you can increase your light attacks with bow (remember to LA weave) but that’s if thaumaturge is maxed.

 

2. Red = Steed: This is where we pick up some defense. Spell shield, medium armor focus and resistant. Even spread but you have some flexibility here. Medium armor will increase your physical resistance, spell shield will increase spell resistance. I’d go those two first but I like balance here. If we are playing the bowman correctly we are not getting into melee fights often.

 

3. Green = a little of everything. Tower and lover decrease stam costs and increase stam regen, shadow reduces costs of stam for CC effects. I try and go 40/40/20 I like to put 40% into warlord, 40% into moon calf and 20% into tumbling. Putting 100% into any of them isn’t horrible either. These are all self-explanatory you’ll find what works for you.

 

Conclusion:

This isn’t a traditional theory crafting build thread. This is more of an extensive narrative on how to get the most out of a night blade archer build for PvP. I can say absolutely that I have spent a lot of time as an archer in Cyrodiil, I don’t do videos, maybe I will in the future I don’t know. Glean what you can here, ask questions and make suggestions for improvements.

I have moved on from this playstyle and I am now running a more ranged/melee build. The 2H bar I use now includes teleport strike and surprise strike. I range, then gap close quick dps with surprise, fear, magnum shot back to teleport rinse repeat. Why am I telling you this? Because all of the passive work done in other skill lines, the crafted gear and class choice can be flipped pretty easily to accomedate a melee build. Your bowman isn’t pigeon holed here, if it isn’t working for you (and for most it wont) you can retool pretty quickly. In the end this bowman build requires a playstyle that is uncommon in Cyrodiil. It requires a hunter’s mindset and not everyone has the patience for it. Do you?

 

Couple of shout outs:

1. @jeckll for providing, IMHO the benchmark for theory crafting on Tamriel Foundry. His work on testing DPS has helped me develop my NB to the point where I was able to commit to a play style preference.
2. @Deltia for providing great content that covers such a broad swath of ESO game play. I don’t consume all of this guy’s videos, or agree with all his build but I’ve gathered so much data on squeezing max performance out of a toon it’s been a boon for me. I can’t spend hours grinding out and min/maxing, he can and I benefit, thanks.
3. @Atropos for creating Foundry Tactical Combat. Fantastic Add-on that has enhanced my game play tremendously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• This topic was modified 15 hours, 34 minutes ago by  Thorgrum.