Welcome to my Magicka Dragonknight (MagDK) PvP Build for the Flames of Ambition patch.
This build utilizes the revamped Champion Points system and the changes to Battle Spirit to get a surprising amount of damage and healing power while retaining a lot of sustain and survivability.
If you’re looking to be able to both pressure and burst down enemy players one by one or group by group, and dominate the no-procs version of Cyrodiil on a MagDK, you’ve come to the right place!
Before we get started, it’s important to keep in mind while viewing and using this build, that it’s meant specifically for Cyrodiil, as for the next 3-6 months, there will be a very limited pool of item sets that are usable in Cyrodiil, and are available to use in builds. This means that while this build is incredibly powerful in a no-procs ruleset environment, like Cyrodiil of this patch, it may not perform quite as well in places where proc sets and more set choices are available, such as Battlegrounds and out-of Cyrodiil duels.
The optimal race for this build is Breton. This race helps you sustain magicka skills better than any, and increases your spell resistance and your magicka pool as well.
Other good alternatives for races would be Dark Elf, Argonian and High Elf.
The mundus stone we are using on this build is The Atronach. Together with the high amount of Divines armor traits we are using on this build, this mundus stone has a massive effect and increases our magicka regeneration drastically.
This build plays as a Stage 1 Vampire. While I normally dislike using Vampirism on MagDKs, due to the damage swings this patch that case as a result of the Battle Spirit changes and Armor Penalties that got introduced, Race Against Time is no longer enough as a mobility skill when you’re taking a lot of pressure, and needs to be replaced with Elusive Mist instead to mitigate a lot of damage while we are kiting our enemies, and to use Elusive Mist we must become Vampires.
Since we choose to be a vampire anyways for Elusive Mist, we are also utilizing the vampire Ultimate ability Swarming Scion which helps increase our offensive window. With that said though, we still choose to stay on Stage 1 Vampirism as the higher stage of vampire you are, the harder it is to sustain, and due to MagDK’s sustain being difficult by default, we try to not make it harder by increasing our Vampirism stage.
Note: For the full explanation on why we use all these skills and how to utilize them effectively, make sure to check out the build video.
Unlock all the passives except Tristat Focus. It’s important to not unlock this passive.
Despite being a vampire, you don’t need to unlock any passives.
Since we remain on Stage 1 Vampirism, no passive is required for this build.
All passives are optional.
Unlock only Combat Medic
Unlock only Medicinal Use
With the no-procs ruleset being implemented in Cyrodiil, we can’t use 2 pieces of the same monster set and get the 2-piece bonus. We can, however, use two different one-pieces of two different monster sets, Swarm Mother and Domihaus, to get a lot of Max Magicka and Max Stamina from the 1-piece bonus of both, combined.
Impregnable Amor – With Malacath’s Band being disabled in Cyrodiil and with the armor changes of this patch, Critical Damage is now a real risk yet again. To mitigate a lot of Critical Damage without having to spend either Champion Points or Armor Traits, we use the Impregnable Armor set. This set enables us to make better benefit of our armor traits than using a low-value trait like Impenetrable, and to choose more relevant and effective CP stars. This set is simply the best defensive set usable in no procs Cyrodiil.
Crafty Alfiq – Out of all the damage sets within the limited pool of the no-procs ruleset, Crafty Alfiq is the one that grants the most Max Magicka. It is the 2nd best damage set, after Spinner’s Garment, but unlike Spinners it provides additional power to our healing as well, which makes it the best damage set to use on a Dragonknight in the current meta.
Weights – This patch, we are no longer forced to use 5 pieces of any type of armor, as there are no longer such limitations on any of the Armor Passives and we are not using any active armor skills. This allows us to make the best of both worlds by combining 3 pieces of Light Armor and 3 pieces of Heavy armor – to mitigate the penalties of both and benefit some from each, and one piece of Medium Armor to enjoy the full benefits of the Undaunted passives.
Divines – A lot of our traits are Divines in this build. Normally, the highest-value traits to use on any PvP build are Sturdy and Well-Fitted, however due to Light Armor making blocking very expensive, Sturdy loses a lot of it’s appeal, and because of the melee-pressure “in their face” behavior of the Dragonknight class, Well-Fitted isn’t a very effective trait to use on those either. Due to that, we are using the Divines trait, as it is the one that provides the most value to Dragonknights this patch, especially if they use multiple Light Armor pieces.
To enable us to use the Divines trait, we use the Impregnable Armor set, which gives us critical resistance for additional damage mitigation, and we combine all the Divines pieces with the Attronach mundus to gain a total of near 500 magicka recovery for our sustain on this build.
We use Arteum Pickled Fish Bowl since this one food gives us the highest value of Max Health & Max Magicka we can get from foods or drinks. We don’t need more Stamina on this build this patch, so we are not forced to use Bewitched Sugar Skulls, although it’s still a viable option.
The main potions we use on this build are Spell Power Potions (made with Lady’s Smock, Corn Flower & Water Hyacinth) as we do not have another source for Major Sorcery on this build, and Major Prophecy on the front bar. These buffs are very valuable for our damage, so whenever we go offensive to try and kill enemy targets, it’s important to have a potion buff active, especially against tanky enemies.
We also use Tri-Stat Potions (made with Bugloss, Columbine and Mountain Flower) to help us heal and sustain both our Magicka pool and our Stamina pool. We use this potion mainly when we are on the defense and need additional resources to survive the zerg that is pressuring us.
Craft (0)
Warfare (700)
Fitness (787)The Craft Champion Points as a whole do not effect combat much, and so they are completely up to your playstyle!
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My personal recommendations and preferences (by order of importance):
Passive Stars
Active Stars
Always start an engagement by applying Elemental Drain to the enemy player, and making sure you have a spell power potion effect active. Afterwards, you must cast 3 Ardent Flame abilities (Engulfing Flames or Burning Embers) to fully buff your Molten Whip’s Seething Fury effect. I prefer to start with Burning Embers before Engulfing flames as it increases the heal value I’ll be getting from Burning Embers upon recasting the skill in the next rotation.
After de-buffing your enemy and buffing yourself, you must cast Fossilize to stun your target, then quickly use your ultimate Ferocious Leap to hit them with a huge force, then finish them off with a fully buffed Molten whip. It’s important to try and weave light attacks between all of your offensive skills, if possible.
If this rotation is not enough to kill your target, you must keep applying pressure to them using your DoTs (Burning Embers, Engulfing Flames, and Burning effect from your enchantment and flame skills), and repeat the burst multiple times until your enemy is dead. If your Ultimate ability is not ready, you can skip it in the rotation and go straight to Molten Whip.
If you are taking a lot of pressure from multiple enemies and have a very high amount of Ultimate saved up, you can instead use Swarming Scion to both heal up and deal a lot of damage to all nearby enemies. It’s important in this scenario to only use Fossilize after your Ultimate, unlike with the Leap rotation, as this Ultimate ability is a Damage Over Time (DoT) ability. Make sure to recast an Ardent Flame ability as many times as needed before your Molten Whip attack, to make sure your Seething Fury effect doesn’t wear off.
When going defensive, you want to mitigate as much damage as possible using Elusive Mist, and kite around objects until enemies don’t have a direct line-of-sight to you, then exist mist form and heal up. The main heal on this build is Coagulating Blood which will heal up most of your missing health, however it’s important to keep up Cauterize as it helps you stay alive by healing you every 5 seconds, and is much more affordable than Coagulating Blood.
After you are healed up, you need to re-cast Volatile Armor to regain your Major Resolve buff for additional damage mitigation. After doing so, you might want to use Deep Thoughts (or Meditate) to regenerate some of your lost resources.
When the enemies approach you and you’re ending your defensive rotation and are preparing to go offensive, it’s important to transition between the two by using Burning Embers on your front bar, as this is a damage skill, but will also give you a significant amount of health upon recast, if it’s been applied to a target for more than a couple of seconds.
That’s about all the information you need to set up this build and play it in PvP! I hope you found this build setup useful and will enjoy playing it in game!
If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback, please feel free to reach out to me either via my discord server, or by tagging me on Twitter.
You can also find my other socials down below to get in touch with me live on my streams or see more of my content!
Good luck burning-up Cyrodiil!
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Built by Ghostbane
Divines
Tri-Stat
