BUILD FAQ
This page is intended to answer specific questions players ask regarding Elder Scrolls Online builds.
1) WHERE IS DISCORD ACCESS?
Our content platforms and Discord have grown to a size where it is a better and safer experience for our communities to have Discord closed to public access. This allows a bit more personalized interactions for our members, without having to deal with all the potential instability an open access server can have, and while having a community a bit more invested in The Gameroom itself. Don't worry, there are still lot's of ways to get access!
Some ways to access The Gameroom Discord:
-Any VIP or subscriber to Twitch along with free channel point rewards.
-Any YouTube Member.
-All levels of Patreon. (Patreon access also has a private section within Discord for more priority responses and assistance.)
-Friends and Family of long time members.
-Anyone in the moderator role on any platform.
-Anyone contributing content on any platform.
-Select sponsors and affiliates.
-Special case-by-case access.
2a) WHY AM I DOING LESS DPS WITH THE SAME BUILD?
After multiple years of helping countless players at this point in this specific area, the answer to this question almost always ends up being one of the following:
A) Individual parsing/dps ability.
There is an enormous amount of old and misinformation on parsing on the internet and still circulating around Discords. Often times what a player may think is proper parsing habits/technique, is actually far from optimal.
B) A difference in build set up.
Many times when a player insists they have followed a guide exactly, there is a small oversight or a change for individual preference. Many times for a highly optimized build, a very small oversight or change can end up having a significant negative impact on a builds performance.
Don't worry, we can help! At the top of this page is the Discord logo that will link you straight to The Gameroom Discord community. Once there, locate the parsing channel:
If you play on console, the best we can do is discuss the issue with you and see if we can get to the bottom of what's going on. If you play on PC, there are much more tools available that will allow us to almost certainly find the issue very quickly for you.
First, we will need your Combat Metrics (CMX) screen shot of your parse. It should look like the following:
Make sure you click where the Blue Arrow is indicating if your character is Magicka based before taking the screen shot, likewise the Green Arrow if your character is Stamina based. Also, just in case it is needed, scroll down on the damage sources at the bottom, and take a second screen shot including any damage sources that don't fit on the screen.
The second thing we need is a screen shot of the complete view of your build. This can be done in three different easy ways. The first is to click this tab from your CMX parse, which will show your complete build.
The second way is the addon "SuperStar." Once downloaded, simply type /superstar in chat, press enter, and then the following window should appear with your complete build:
The third way is the addon "Overview." Once downloaded, simply type /overview in chat, press enter, and then the following window should appear with your complete build:
(Note on Overview: It is a bit more "messy" as each element of the build is displayed in its own window. Make sure they are all toggled on before posting your screen shot.
Between these two screen shots (Parse + Build) we should be able to see what is going on rather quickly and get it sorted for you!
2b) WHY DO MY STATS NOT MATCH WHAT I SEE ON YOUTUBE/WEBSITE?
Builds in ESO are complex with many factors that contribute to various stats. Also, there are various percent based increases to many stats. This means that small oversights or creative freedoms can have big losses in stats.
We have been at this for a very long time and have helped countless players with this exact issue. For what it is worth, to date, zero players who were missing stats, had the identical set up, even when angrily and adamantly insisting that they do. If you have missing stats, you have something missing from the build. (A small caveat to this is nerfs/buffs that happen after a build has been published, but that is very rarely the actual cause of the missing stats.)
Most times its just not possible for a player to say "you have X stats and I have Y stats, why?" and us to even begin to know what you are missing without being able to see your set up. You have to sit down and line things up and find what you are missing or what is different.
Some usual suspects for you to take a look at:
-Verify your food is exactly the same.
-Verify your potion is exactly the same.
-Verify gear is the same with armor weights in the same spots shown.
-Verify your CP is exactly the same.
-Verify your enchants are exactly the same.
-Verify your traits are exactly the same.
-Verify your skills being used are exactly the same.
-See if your racial passives are far off from what is being shown in the build if not using the same race.
-Verify what you are cross referencing is buffed or unbuffed. (Example: A common question is "why is my health recovery not the same?" on the 2 and 3 button set ups using the Strategic Reserve CP slottable. Almost every player who was short health recovery, was due to not having the Major Fortitude buff (+30% health recovery) from using their potions.)
3) YOU ONLY SHOWED THE CHAMPION POINT (CP) SLOTTABLES. WHAT ABOUT THE REST?
People don't typically show passive CP anymore because its just kind of implied "you take all of them" since the CP system was overhauled to version 2.0. The CP trees are a bit of smoke and mirrors. It's not as in depth as it looks on the screen. There are only a handful of passives (yellow stars) in the combat trees of red and blue. You simply just get all of them.
So that means every single player in the game with a build participating in PvP, PvE, Dungeons, Raids, Solo, everything, all have the identical CP build, with the only difference being the 4 slottable stars at the top. Its much less diverse than it seems.
You can get all the offensive stars at about ~1250 CP and you can get all of the offensive + defensive stars at about ~1550 CP. So everything after about ~1550 provides no value to your build at all as you already will have all of the passives stars and 4 slottables.
If you dont have 1550 CP, it's impossible to quantify the exact route, for every player at every number of cp, for every build. Farming CP is just part of the ESO journey until you reach the ~1550 cap to reach maximum power. If you need a general guide of where to allocate CP as you are farming them, we have a very general guide for you broken up by each role in the game located here: CP GUIDE.
In the screen shot below, you can get a bit of context for just how little of the tree is actually being used.
-The Red Circles indicate the only passive stars on this screen.
-The Red Arrows indicates a sub tree where a only few more passive stars are tucked away.
-The Orange Stars indicate slottables we cannot use as we already have 4 chosen at the top (also indicated by the Blue Circles).
4) WHAT PASSIVES DO I TAKE?
Passives in ESO are very important for builds to function properly. At minimum, as a baseline standard, you always want to have the following passives, for every build for every role in the game in combat related content:
1) All Class Passives.
2) All Weapon Passives of the weapon types you are using.
3) All Armor Passives of the armor type(s) you are wearing.
4) All Racial Passives.
5) All Guild Passives of the ability you are using that will increase output or sustain in anyway (EX: Fighter's Guild passive Slayer, Mages Guild Passive Magicka Controller, etc.)
6) Alchemy Passive Medicinal Use 3/3.
7) Both Undaunted Passives
Once you have excess skill points you can circle back and fill out the passives you missed like the misc. guild passives, world passives, crafting etc. But as a minimum baseline, you should have enough skill points to get all the passives from # 1-7 above, on every character, on every build.
It is a lot, but its part of the grind of ESO and why grabbing skyshards and things like dungeon skill points along the way are so important. Just about every player in the game, at some point, has had to circle back and farm more skill points to round out a build until they had enough to where it didn't matter, so being short early on is totally normal.
While this is probably not the answer you wanted to hear, there are 2 good takeaways:
1) Once it's done on a character, its done. You never have to worry about it again for that char.
2) You now have the knowledge base and confidence to not have to worry about "what passives do I need" anymore. Now you know, every class, every role, every combat related content piece in ESO, you should at least have 1-7.
5) CAN YOU MAKE A BASE GAME VERSION OF THIS BUILD?
Most of the DPS and SOLO builds on the Website and on our Youtube channel are the product of extensive theory crafting and play testing. These play testing periods can last days, weeks, or even at times a month or more depending on various factors. It's unfortunately not feasible to be able to modify every build to various player needs such as a base game gear requirements or not having access to a certain DLC for access to a specific gear set. Not because we don't want to (we really wish we could accommodate everything everyone needs in this area!), but because its just not possible from a time perspective.
The builds that are posted are the final versions at the conclusion of our time we have available to play test them. However there are always lots of great theory crafting discussions in our Discord where people share ideas and alternatives. The Gameroom Discord link is located at the top of this page if you are interested in joining that community. Everyone is welcome!
6) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT CHANGING _______ ELEMENT OF THE BUILD?
Many of the DPS and SOLO builds on the Website and on our Youtube channel are the product of extensive theory crafting and play testing. These play testing periods can last days, weeks, or even at times a month or more depending on various factors.
We all play differently, have different strengths, weaknesses, and interests. We absolutely encourage you to make your own quality of life changes to any build you see fit. However, with that it should be expected that the output of the build will change. Whether that change ends up being a positive or negative aspect of the build is uncertain, there are many sliding scales involved including individual ability. The version of the build posted is the strongest version we had the time to develop, with the intention of it working both efficiently and easily for the largest scope of players possible.
If you have other fun or interesting ideas to shake up a build to make it better or more personalized for you, please do it! We just can't circle back and evaluate every idea from every player just simply from a time standpoint, as much as we would like to. The build is yours now, make it your own flavor if you wish!
7) CAN THIS BUILD WORK FOR OTHER CONTENT?
Every build on the website should be divided into a category for you of the suggested content to use it in. If there is a Youtube video guide for it, often times this goes more in depth explaining where and how to use a build. If you wish to use a build outside the listed content areas, it's usually not advisable without often times extensive overhaul(s) to the build.
Group PvE, Solo PvE, and PvP have very different requirements typically for a build to function properly. It's not that a build can't be used for content outside it's suggested lane, it's just that it likely won't perform nearly as well as other build options. So this is a heavy "individual results may vary" emphasis area for you should you wish to use a build outside the suggested content areas.