Choosing the right race

FomaldehydeJim · August 2015

I thought that, since with the recent sales, a lot of new people are starting ESO I would run though the various classes and the races which most suit them, as this is poorly explained in character creation. I will deal only with the racial skills that affect each class, and I will deal only with the most popular roles for each class as any combination is possible in this game, but that is for each player to discover in time: -

Dragon Knight (DPS)

A DPS Dragon Knight is likely to mainly utilise magicka and fire spells.

Dark Elf
+6% maximum magicka and stamina and a +7% fire damage.

High Elf (my choice)
+9% magicka recovery, +10% maximum magicka and +4% fire damage.

Others
N/A

Dragon Knight (Tank)

A Dragon Knight Tank is likely to utilise magicka for various defensive and crowd control class skills and stamina for blocking, taunting (at least at lower level) and dodging. Health distantly followed by stamina are arguably the most important attributes for a tank.

Dark Elf
+6% maximum magicka and stamina and a +7% fire damage.

Imperial (my choice)
+12% maximum health, +10% maximum stamina and a 10% chance to restore a given quantity of health on a melee hit (varies with level).

Others
Nord or Orc.

Sorceror (DPS)

A DPS sorceror needs magicka and lots of it. An increase in elemental damage is also useful fr staffy weapons (which scale off magicka).

High Elf
+9% magicka recovery, +10% maximum magicka and +4% eleemental damage.

Breton (my choice)
+10% maximum magicka and -3% spell cost (which can result in a huge decrease of circa 10-20% with the right equipment).

Others
Dark Elves

Templar (Tank)

A Templar Tank is likely to utilise magicka for various defensive and self-healing class skills and stamina for blocking, taunting (at least at lower level) and dodging. Health distantly followed by stamina are arguably the most important attributes for a tank.

Imperial (my choice)
+12% maximum health, +10% maximum stamina and a 10% chance to restore a given quantity of health on a melee hit (varies with level).

Others
Nord or Orc

Templar (Healer)

A Templar healer needs magicka and lots of it.

High Elf
+9% magicka recovery, +10% maximum magicka.

Breton (my choice)
+10% maximum magicka and -3% spell cost (which can result in a huge decrease of circa 10-20% with the right equipment).

Others
Dark Elves or Argonian.

Nightblade (DPS)

A Nightblade tends to rely on stamina, stealth, weapon damage and critical damage.

Redguard
+9% stamina recovery, +10% maximum stamina and restoration of stamina on a melee hit (amount varies with level).

Khajiit (my choice)
+30% health recovery, +10% damage while in stealth, -3m stealth radius, +6% weapon critical.

Others
Imperial or Wood Elves.

I hope this guide is helpful. Please share your thoughts below.

Kyleran · August 2015

Very helpful, should be useful to many new players starting out. You associated race to role, but are there considerations based on armor and weapons? Like say I want to to be a DK who wears light armor and wields a damage staff? Also are some races better if one plans on being a werewolf or vampire?

FomaldehydeJim · August 2015

Kyleran said:

Very helpful, should be useful to many new players starting out. You associated race to role, but are there considerations based on armor and weapons? Like say I want to to be a DK who wears light armor and wields a damage staff? Also are some races better if one plans on being a werewolf or vampire?

Yes, light armour is generally best for magicka based classes; medium armour for stamina and stealth based classes; and heavy armour for health and damage mitigation reliant classes.

Staffs scale off magicka so are best for magicka users, restoration staffs are almost essential for healers, dual wield generally gives the best dps for stamina users although two hands and bows are alternatives, and one hand and shield is almost essential for a good tank.

Werewolf tends to be more for stamina users and vampire leans towards magicka.

In your example I would roll a High Elf or Dark Elf vampire magicka DK with (mainly) light armour and a fire staff (plus dw as off weapon).

immodium · August 2015

I think splitting them off into classes isn't the right way of doing it. For example you can be a tank, dps or a healer as a NightBlade.

Should split them off into which is better for magicka, health and stamina.

FomaldehydeJim · August 2015

immodium said:

I think splitting them off into classes isn't the right way of doing it. For example you can be a tank, dps or a healer as a NightBlade.

Should split them off into which is better for magicka, health and stamina.

If you are going to roll a NB tank you are going to be at quite a disadvantage to DK or Templar tanks, and likewise if you roll a NB healer you are going to be at quite a disadvantage to Templar healers... I didn't approach it in this format for good reason- people should really acquaint themselves with the build they want to make if they choose a class and role that is inferior from the outset to the alternatives.

Kyleran · August 2015

FomaldehydeJim said:

Kyleran said:

Very helpful, should be useful to many new players starting out. You associated race to role, but are there considerations based on armor and weapons? Like say I want to to be a DK who wears light armor and wields a damage staff? Also are some races better if one plans on being a werewolf or vampire?

Yes, light armour is generally best for magicka based classes; medium armour for stamina and stealth based classes; and heavy armour for health and damage mitigation reliant classes.

Staffs scale off magicka so are best for magicka users, restoration staffs are almost essential for healers, dual wield generally gives the best dps for stamina users although two hands and bows are alternatives, and one hand and shield is almost essential for a good tank.

Werewolf tends to be more for stamina users and vampire leans towards magicka.

In your example I would roll a High Elf or Dark Elf vampire magicka DK with (mainly) light armour and a fire staff (plus dw as off weapon).

So when I played my first character at game launch, I got the race correct (DE) for my DK, but I focused my points on Heavy Armor and Dual Wield, with some points put into fire staff when I couldn't really solo some of the story line and still had to massively kite.

I quit around level 35 or so and at that time I was actually stuck on a storyline boss, just couldn;t beat it (was actually lower than me), and I was a bit frustrated at the time. (think it was this snake queen who kept self healer herself with bubbles, while I couldn't do enough damage or heal myself enough.

Amegashie · August 2015

Funny how more than half of the races are not suited to any of the roles. Argonians anyone ? ZOS literally laughed them in the face and told them to go f*** themselves.

MsGamerlady · August 2015

Amegashie said:

Funny how more than half of the races are not suited to any of the roles. Argonians anyone ? ZOS literally laughed them in the face and told them to go f*** themselves.

Yeah =/ I haven't seen any guides based off of that race sadly. I like to try out each race and class in a game. I was thinking about a healy templar build but it seems that may not be a good idea.
Also, I have a Nord dps templar stamina build. She does pretty well at the moment but then again she's only 15.

Archlyte · August 2015

I have tried Imperial and Nord tanks in the lower half of levels and the Nords feel better. Maybe at end game there's a lean toward Imps but I'm not seeing it yet. I love that they decided to have consequential differences for races, and I think that Argonians abilities are more about fun and feel than min/maxing. I also think that ESO is on the easier side of difficulty, so for most of the game I'm betting you can get away with not doing a perfectly tuned min/max build.

FomaldehydeJim · August 2015

Kyleran said:

FomaldehydeJim said:

Kyleran said:

Very helpful, should be useful to many new players starting out. You associated race to role, but are there considerations based on armor and weapons? Like say I want to to be a DK who wears light armor and wields a damage staff? Also are some races better if one plans on being a werewolf or vampire?

Yes, light armour is generally best for magicka based classes; medium armour for stamina and stealth based classes; and heavy armour for health and damage mitigation reliant classes.

Staffs scale off magicka so are best for magicka users, restoration staffs are almost essential for healers, dual wield generally gives the best dps for stamina users although two hands and bows are alternatives, and one hand and shield is almost essential for a good tank.

Werewolf tends to be more for stamina users and vampire leans towards magicka.

In your example I would roll a High Elf or Dark Elf vampire magicka DK with (mainly) light armour and a fire staff (plus dw as off weapon).

So when I played my first character at game launch, I got the race correct (DE) for my DK, but I focused my points on Heavy Armor and Dual Wield, with some points put into fire staff when I couldn't really solo some of the story line and still had to massively kite.

I quit around level 35 or so and at that time I was actually stuck on a storyline boss, just couldn;t beat it (was actually lower than me), and I was a bit frustrated at the time. (think it was this snake queen who kept self healer herself with bubbles, while I couldn't do enough damage or heal myself enough.

I had difficulty with this boss at release as well, you have to kill the orbs before they heal the boss, but targetting them was difficult. Targetting has been improved since then and the boss is now easy (perhaps too easy).

FomaldehydeJim · August 2015

Amegashie said:

Funny how more than half of the races are not suited to any of the roles. Argonians anyone ? ZOS literally laughed them in the face and told them to go f*** themselves.

Yeah. It is not so much that they are not suited, just that there are several better options. Wood Elf, Argonian and Orc seem especially homeless. That said, I play a Wood Elf NB.

FomaldehydeJim · August 2015

Archlyte said:

I have tried Imperial and Nord tanks in the lower half of levels and the Nords feel better. Maybe at end game there's a lean toward Imps but I'm not seeing it yet. I love that they decided to have consequential differences for races, and I think that Argonians abilities are more about fun and feel than min/maxing. I also think that ESO is on the easier side of difficulty, so for most of the game I'm betting you can get away with not doing a perfectly tuned min/max build.

The Nord health regeneration is quite a weak skill (particularly when you have a healer on you in group play) when compared to the increased health pool, recovery on melee hits and increased stamina pool of an Imp. The +6% damage mitigation is quite a nice racial though. The reason I didn't offer Nord as an alternative is that the difference, particularly once you have unlocked all racials, is quite pronounced.

Octagon7711 · August 2015

Argonians, a water race that can't go under water in the game. O_o

dustyfellow · August 2015

but i love my argonian sorcerer

FomaldehydeJim · August 2015

dustyfellow said:

but i love my argonian sorcerer

The reason for this post is just to advise people of the best options, so that time isn't wasted getting to V1 or higher on a comparatively (and marginally) weaker combination of race and role. But, you are best to play what you enjoy playing.

Octagon7711 · August 2015

FomaldehydeJim said:

Kyleran said:

FomaldehydeJim said:

Kyleran said:

Very helpful, should be useful to many new players starting out. You associated race to role, but are there considerations based on armor and weapons? Like say I want to to be a DK who wears light armor and wields a damage staff? Also are some races better if one plans on being a werewolf or vampire?

Yes, light armour is generally best for magicka based classes; medium armour for stamina and stealth based classes; and heavy armour for health and damage mitigation reliant classes.

Staffs scale off magicka so are best for magicka users, restoration staffs are almost essential for healers, dual wield generally gives the best dps for stamina users although two hands and bows are alternatives, and one hand and shield is almost essential for a good tank.

Werewolf tends to be more for stamina users and vampire leans towards magicka.

In your example I would roll a High Elf or Dark Elf vampire magicka DK with (mainly) light armour and a fire staff (plus dw as off weapon).

So when I played my first character at game launch, I got the race correct (DE) for my DK, but I focused my points on Heavy Armor and Dual Wield, with some points put into fire staff when I couldn't really solo some of the story line and still had to massively kite.

I quit around level 35 or so and at that time I was actually stuck on a storyline boss, just couldn;t beat it (was actually lower than me), and I was a bit frustrated at the time. (think it was this snake queen who kept self healer herself with bubbles, while I couldn't do enough damage or heal myself enough.

I had difficulty with this boss at release as well, you have to kill the orbs before they heal the boss, but targetting them was difficult. Targetting has been improved since then and the boss is now easy (perhaps too easy).

A lot of the bosses have been watered down. I think the problem is that early beta testers are usually people who put a lot of time in the game and want a challenge, so they recommend the adventures have high or hard difficulty levels. The problem is the general game player is casual and doesn't want or have time to create excel spread sheets and read every guide to learn how to play, they just want to jump in, play, and figure out stuff as they go along. Companies use to hire a cross section of gamers to alpha and beta test games so you had more balanced feedback. Now you have casuals not giving feedback until the game has launched or is in soft launch beta. That's when stuff starts getting nerfed, or the game becomes niche with a small to medium, but usually very loyal hard core crowd.

All that to say when I came back the fight with that boss was very very easy compared to how it was before.

d_20 · August 2015

Isn't the next big update going to tweak racials? Is this from the PTS?

FomaldehydeJim · August 2015

d_20 said:

Isn't the next big update going to tweak racials? Is this from the PTS?

Apparently so although I haven't seen details, Here's hoping Argonians, Wood Elves and Orcs get a boost.

d_20 · August 2015

FomaldehydeJim said:

d_20 said:

Isn't the next big update going to tweak racials? Is this from the PTS?

Apparently so although I haven't seen details, Here's hoping Argonians, Wood Elves and Orcs get a boost.

Absolutely. I've got an Argonian NB that needs some love and I've always wanted to roll an Orc. As it is now, it looks like when in doubt, roll an Imperial unless you know you're going pure magicka.

Amegashie · August 2015

FomaldehydeJim said:

Amegashie said:

Funny how more than half of the races are not suited to any of the roles. Argonians anyone ? ZOS literally laughed them in the face and told them to go f*** themselves.

Yeah. It is not so much that they are not suited, just that there are several better options. Wood Elf, Argonian and Orc seem especially homeless. That said, I play a Wood Elf NB.

You just have to be trolling. Wood Elf NB is the most game breaking combination.

FomaldehydeJim · August 2015

Amegashie said:

FomaldehydeJim said:

Amegashie said:

Funny how more than half of the races are not suited to any of the roles. Argonians anyone ? ZOS literally laughed them in the face and told them to go f*** themselves.

Yeah. It is not so much that they are not suited, just that there are several better options. Wood Elf, Argonian and Orc seem especially homeless. That said, I play a Wood Elf NB.

You just have to be trolling. Wood Elf NB is the most game breaking combination.

Well, redguard have better stamina sustain and Khajiit have better all around stealth and crit abilities... so it is third best if you are kind.

immodium · August 2015

FomaldehydeJim said:

immodium said:

I think splitting them off into classes isn't the right way of doing it. For example you can be a tank, dps or a healer as a NightBlade.

Should split them off into which is better for magicka, health and stamina.

If you are going to roll a NB tank you are going to be at quite a disadvantage to DK or Templar tanks, and likewise if you roll a NB healer you are going to be at quite a disadvantage to Templar healers... I didn't approach it in this format for good reason- people should really acquaint themselves with the build they want to make if they choose a class and role that is inferior from the outset to the alternatives.

Disadvantage? I have a Breton NB Restoration staff healer and he has no problem healing end game stuff.

All you've done is gone with obvious cookie cutter classes. Sure, if you don't want a challenge go with your advice.

Iselin · August 2015

FomaldehydeJim said:

d_20 said:

Isn't the next big update going to tweak racials? Is this from the PTS?

Apparently so although I haven't seen details, Here's hoping Argonians, Wood Elves and Orcs get a boost.

The racial changes (from the PTS forum):

Racial

All passives which increase Health, Magicka or Stamina regeneration now provide full benefit regardless of whether you are in or out of combat. Previously, these only applied while in combat.
Argonian
- Amphibious: Increased the bonus Health, Magicka and Stamina restore upon consuming a potion to 2/5/8% from 2/4/6%.
High Elf
- Spellcharge: Increased the Magicka regeneration from this passive to 4/8/12% from 3/6/9%.
Khajiit
- Removed the Robust passive, and replaced it with Robust Constitution. This will increase your Health regeneration by 6/13/20% and Stamina regeneration by 3/6/10%.
- Carnage: Increased the Critical Strike bonus to 2/5/8% from 2/4/6%.
Nord
- Resist Frost: Increased the maximum Health bonus to 2/4/6% from 1/2/3%.
Orc
- Swift: Renamed this passive to Swift Warrior. Swift Warrior will no longer increase Charge attacks, but will instead increase all Melee Weapon attack damage by 2/3/4%.
Wood Elf

Resist Affliction: Increased the maximum Stamina to 2/4/6% from 1/2/3%.

Also BTW, there has been a whole breakdown of what races work best for each class broken down by role over at Deltia's for quite a while: http://deltiasgaming.com/2015/06/01/best-race-and-class-choices-in-the-elder-scrolls-online/

The summary is this:

Class	Magicka DPS	Stamina DPS	Healer	Tank
Dragonknight	Dunmer	Imperial	Breton	Nord
Nightblade	Breton	Imperial	Breton	Redguard
Sorcerer	High Elf	Bosmer	Breton	Nord
Templar	Breton	Imperial	Breton	Imperial

And there are a couple of videos with details about his choices.

Enjoy.

FomaldehydeJim · August 2015

immodium said:

FomaldehydeJim said:

immodium said:

I think splitting them off into classes isn't the right way of doing it. For example you can be a tank, dps or a healer as a NightBlade.

Should split them off into which is better for magicka, health and stamina.

If you are going to roll a NB tank you are going to be at quite a disadvantage to DK or Templar tanks, and likewise if you roll a NB healer you are going to be at quite a disadvantage to Templar healers... I didn't approach it in this format for good reason- people should really acquaint themselves with the build they want to make if they choose a class and role that is inferior from the outset to the alternatives.

Disadvantage? I have a Breton NB Restoration staff healer and he has no problem healing end game stuff.

All you've done is gone with obvious cookie cutter classes. Sure, if you don't want a challenge go with your advice.

Yes, the point of the thread is to identify the best race/class/build combinations for those who are new to the game (they are cookie cutter for a reason). I now assume that you are just choosing to be antagonistic.

FomaldehydeJim · August 2015

Iselin said:

FomaldehydeJim said:

d_20 said:

Isn't the next big update going to tweak racials? Is this from the PTS?

Apparently so although I haven't seen details, Here's hoping Argonians, Wood Elves and Orcs get a boost.

The racial changes (from the PTS forum):

Racial
All passives which increase Health, Magicka or Stamina regeneration now provide full benefit regardless of whether you are in or out of combat. Previously, these only applied while in combat.
Argonian
Amphibious: Increased the bonus Health, Magicka and Stamina restore upon consuming a potion to 2/5/8% from 2/4/6%.
High Elf
Spellcharge: Increased the Magicka regeneration from this passive to 4/8/12% from 3/6/9%.
Khajiit
Removed the Robust passive, and replaced it with Robust Constitution. This will increase your Health regeneration by 6/13/20% and Stamina regeneration by 3/6/10%.
Carnage: Increased the Critical Strike bonus to 2/5/8% from 2/4/6%.
Nord
Resist Frost: Increased the maximum Health bonus to 2/4/6% from 1/2/3%.
Orc
Swift: Renamed this passive to Swift Warrior. Swift Warrior will no longer increase Charge attacks, but will instead increase all Melee Weapon attack damage by 2/3/4%.
Wood Elf
Resist Affliction: Increased the maximum Stamina to 2/4/6% from 1/2/3%.

Also BTW, there has been a whole breakdown of what races work best for each class broken down by role over at Deltia's for quite a while: http://deltiasgaming.com/2015/06/01/best-race-and-class-choices-in-the-elder-scrolls-online/

The summary is this:

Class Magicka DPS Stamina DPS Healer Tank
Dragonknight Dunmer Imperial Breton Nord
Nightblade Breton Imperial Breton Redguard
Sorcerer High Elf Bosmer Breton Nord
Templar Breton Imperial Breton Imperial

And there are a couple of videos with details about his choices.

Enjoy.

Interesting. Some odd decisions, particularly with regard to High Elf and Khajiit who were already top of their game for their specific classes... I wonder why they improved them further?

EDIT: I would add that I disagree with almost half of this guys conclusions.

immodium · August 2015

Iselin said:

Also BTW, there has been a whole breakdown of what races work best for each class broken down by role over at Deltia's for quite a while: http://deltiasgaming.com/2015/06/01/best-race-and-class-choices-in-the-elder-scrolls-online/

The summary is this:

Class Magicka DPS Stamina DPS Healer Tank
Dragonknight Dunmer Imperial Breton Nord
Nightblade Breton Imperial Breton Redguard
Sorcerer High Elf Bosmer Breton Nord
Templar Breton Imperial Breton Imperial

And there are a couple of videos with details about his choices.

Enjoy.

Now that's great advice for new players as they haven't split classes in to specific roles.

Howdy, Stranger!

Choosing the right race

Dragon Knight (DPS)

Dragon Knight (Tank)

Sorceror (DPS)

Templar (Tank)

Templar (Healer)

Nightblade (DPS)

Comments

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey

Howdy, Stranger!

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Choosing the right race

Dragon Knight (DPS)

Dragon Knight (Tank)

Sorceror (DPS)

Templar (Tank)

Templar (Healer)

Nightblade (DPS)

Comments

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey