Gear Review and Alternatives
The Ultimate gain in addition to the Resistances again from Bloodspawn can be quite nice in situations where you're playing defensively or kiting groups of people. This monster set can be interchanged with Magma Incarnate or Balorgh if you prefer to go more offensive.
Hrothgar's Chill is too strong to be ignored as a set and not wearing it is pretty much a disadvantage. As the set calculates the total sum of your target's resistances and is also an AoE damage effect to those around your target, this can make for some pretty good counters against people who outnumber you or are careless when you're about to land a Shalks/Dawnbreaker/Hrothgar's Chill combo.
Daedric Trickery is your backbar set and this is more so geared towards gaining certain Major buffs such as Major Protection, Major Expedition, Major Mending and Major Vitality. There is a RNG factor so if this set's not working out for you in terms of consistency, you can opt for sets such as Clever Alchemist or Powerful Assault on the backbar with the same traits.
As we're not using 2x Vateshran two hander frontbar, we do have a spare slot so we'll be allocating that slot to 1x Trainee to gain that max stat. The last set we'll have on will be Malacath's Band of Brutality which will boost the base damage of Hrothgar's Chill.
Skills Review
Pretty straightforward skill setup here:
Subterranean Assault goes off after 3 seconds initially then once again 3 seconds after that for the second/final time. This gives you two chances to time your burst combo with a medium weave attack on an Off Balanced enemy with Dawnbreaker of Smiting as the Shalks go off which will also proc Hrothgar's Chill proc at the same time once you stun them with the medium weave attack after applying Off Balance with a Dizzying Swing.
Executioner is the skill you cast once your opponent(s) is at 30% and under or within a comfortable execute range. Bird of Prey is both a passive and active skill that gives you Minor Berserk while giving you an Animal Companions passive damage modifier of 2% (Advanced Species) that adds up to 4% with Subterranean Assault/Shalks.
Rally for the healing is very nice, Forward Momentum is an option but if you're going to go with Shuffle, the Forward Momentum isn't really needed.
Speaking of Shuffle, we need this not just for the snare/root removal and immunity but also for the Major Evasion's 20% damage mitigation against Area-of-Effect attacks. There tends to be quite a lot of AoE damage in PvP especially if you're squaring up against groups that outnumber you. In addition, with the arrival of other proc sets such as Dark Convergence for Update 31, the Major Evasion is even harder to ignore.
Resolving Vigor will be one of your primary Heal-over-Time abilities. Arctic Wind is both a HoT and a stun you can utilize if someone is trying to finish you off at close range but it's also a decent heal as it scales off of your Max Health rather than your Max Magicka/Spell Damage despite it being a Magicka-based skill. Bull Netch is one of the primary ways you sustain your Stamina pool. It's a no-cost skill so you can even spam it to Cleanse/Purge negative effects on you should you be playing safe or while you're kiting with other HoTs up. It also procs the Animal Companions passives.
Healing Thicket is optional here, many specs like to use Temporal Guard (Psijic Order ultimate) for a source of Minor Protection and a potential second chance/kiting skill. However the Minor Protection only applies once you're on the bar it's slotted on whereas Ice Fortress' Minor Protection is active so long as the skill itself is active.
Craft
Warfare
Fitness
Champion Points Review
The Ironclad slottable is debatable but as it made its return with Update 31 it is a significant source of damage mitigation that works against many different types of attacks. Initial impact of AoE damage, Light Attacks, single target skills and initial impact of other set damage and so forth are affected by Ironclad. Celerity could be a potential option instead of Juggernaut depending on your preference/spec.
Unassailable is, in a similar reasoning to Shuffle as discussed above, probably a must in most open world or enclosed PvP settings. Master-at-Arms and Deadly Aim are your primary damage Slottables although depending on your spec/setup, you can opt for Biting Aura instead of Deadly Aim since that would affect your Shalks, Dawnbreaker, Whirling Blades (if Dual Wield) and Hrothgar's Chill AoE effect.
Introduction (Update 31, Waking Flame)
This is a standard Stamina Warden build for general Champion Points enabled PvP (Imperial City, Cyrodiil, Duels) and Champion Points disabled PvP (Battlegrounds only as no CP campaigns are no procs).
With the advent of incredibly strong proc sets such as Hrothgar's Chill which are hard to ignore, Stamina Wardens and many other specs/classes will see somewhat similar setups.
While any race could work, the recommended race for this in terms of min-maxing would be Imperial.
Recommended Mundus Stone is The Serpent.
Recommended potions for this build will usually be Essence of Health (tri-stat potions that give Health, Magicka and Stamina) or Immovability/Armor Potions if need be.
Recommended food for this build is Artaeum Takeaway Broth.
Vampirism is a must due to the Undeath passive's strong mitigation benefit at Stage 3.