Nirnhoned, Precise and Sharpened
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Asayre
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TL;DR – For PvE DPS: Sharpened > Precise > Nirnhoned
Precise can be better for organised groups running most armour debuffs in the game
When evaluating between these three item traits it is imperative to recall the average damage formula
where
The skill coefficient, a, depends on the skill in question and an excellent list of skill coefficients can be found at http://esoitem.uesp.net/viewSkills.php. b is around 10.5 for most abilities. Attacker Bonus refers to certain Champion Points like Elemental Expert, Mighty or Thaumathurge and includes certain skills and passives such as Major or Minor Berserk. For simplicity, we can just set this to one and ignore it for the large part.
Armour debuffs include Major/Minor Breach, 5 piece bonus of Roar of Alkosh and the Crushing Enchantment. An example of percentage penetration is Penetrating Magic (Destruction Staff). Flat Penetration includes the base penetration of 100, Concentration and Spell Erosion/Piercing.
In order to compare the three traits, we can convert both the additional flat penetration offered by Sharpened and the extra critical chance into Spell/Weapon Damage. Finally we can convert the Spell/Weapon damage equivalence to an increase in an arbitrary ability tooltip.
I’ll use a generic magicka build as an example, I’ll assume a Magicka pool of 40k and Spell Damage of 3k which is reasonably typical for endgame builds. Only legendary trait values are considered.
Nirnhoned
It increases the tooltip value of a weapon by 11% which in turn increases Spell/Weapon damage by 11% before any buffs. For a staff, this corresponds to a base increase in spell damage of 146 Spell Damage and for dual wielding swords it corresponds to 175 Spell Damage. Typically this base spell damage is buffed by 25% by Major and Minor Sorcery. So you would expect 183 Spell Damage for a staff and 219 Spell Damage for dual wielding swords. Thus if we’re dual wielding swords, Nirnhoned leads to an increase ability tooltip of roughly 3.2%.
Precise
The 7% increased weapon and spell critical can be converted to an equivalent spell damage with the following equation
A reasonably common spell critical for endgame builds is around 60% and a critical modifier between 0.6-0.7 is typical for most magicka builds. This assumes around 30 points in Elfborn which is a fairly common recommendation from my Champion Point optimisation spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Zp9v1Vp4Z7X6zfDfcxTwyAnejv-tEC5LujbXYBiVMDk/edit?usp=sharing) thus the spell damage equivalence for Precise is about
This translates to an increase in average ability tooltip by 3.5%. Note that we can reach this answer quicker by noting that
Sharpened
In a similar fashion to the previous section, the increased physical and spell penetration of Sharpened can be converted to an equivalent spell damage or more directly into an increase in ability tooltip
where Mitigation has been separated into a Sharpened component and everything else. The key concern here is that the Resistance of a target cannot go below zero. Let us consider a typical 4 person dungeon, bosses have around 18k resistance and trash have anywhere from 10 to 18k resistance (http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/2-1-boss-resistance/). The main source of armour debuff is Major Breach (5280) and Flat Penetration for Magicka Characters is at least 4984 (100 base + 4884 Concentration). Flat Penetration is typically higher by around 1-2k depending on the number of points assigned into Spell Erosion. This means the average boss will have about 6.5k resistance and 100% of the Sharpened bonus is used meaning that it increase ability tooltip by
Unfortunately, Sharpened is useless on any mob with less than about 12k resistance as its resistance is already reduced to zero from other sources. So at first glance, the optimal trait seems to be Sharpened for bosses and Precise for trash, similar to the meta on Live.
But there may be another way around this, given that we are reaching unmitigated damage it is reasonable to remove all points from Spell Erosion and apply it all into Elfborn instead. Then a more interesting question would be how much resistance does Sharpened need to remove for it to be equivalent to Precise. Precise provides 3.5% increase in ability tooltip, this value can be achieved if Sharpened removes at least 1750 resistance. My optimal champion point spreadsheet tends to suggest around 30 points in Elfborn which corresponds to this value. Thus it is possible to simply use Sharpened for most trash and all bosses and put 66 points in Elfborn (67 points in Elfborn works the same as 66 points so spent the last point in something else like Staff Expert. In this way Sharpened is acting at worst equivalent to Precise but you get additional points in Elfborn thus increasing your average damage or it significantly outperforms Precise on bosses.
Although I've only discussed magicka builds primarily, this conclusion of using Sharpened in most situations holds true for stamina builds as well. Stamina builds do not have a Flat Penetration skill but this is compensated by several armour debuff methods.
Edited by Asayre on June 18, 2016 3:29PM Precise can be better for organised groups running most armour debuffs in the game
When evaluating between these three item traits it is imperative to recall the average damage formula
where
The skill coefficient, a, depends on the skill in question and an excellent list of skill coefficients can be found at http://esoitem.uesp.net/viewSkills.php. b is around 10.5 for most abilities. Attacker Bonus refers to certain Champion Points like Elemental Expert, Mighty or Thaumathurge and includes certain skills and passives such as Major or Minor Berserk. For simplicity, we can just set this to one and ignore it for the large part.
Armour debuffs include Major/Minor Breach, 5 piece bonus of Roar of Alkosh and the Crushing Enchantment. An example of percentage penetration is Penetrating Magic (Destruction Staff). Flat Penetration includes the base penetration of 100, Concentration and Spell Erosion/Piercing.
In order to compare the three traits, we can convert both the additional flat penetration offered by Sharpened and the extra critical chance into Spell/Weapon Damage. Finally we can convert the Spell/Weapon damage equivalence to an increase in an arbitrary ability tooltip.
I’ll use a generic magicka build as an example, I’ll assume a Magicka pool of 40k and Spell Damage of 3k which is reasonably typical for endgame builds. Only legendary trait values are considered.
Nirnhoned
It increases the tooltip value of a weapon by 11% which in turn increases Spell/Weapon damage by 11% before any buffs. For a staff, this corresponds to a base increase in spell damage of 146 Spell Damage and for dual wielding swords it corresponds to 175 Spell Damage. Typically this base spell damage is buffed by 25% by Major and Minor Sorcery. So you would expect 183 Spell Damage for a staff and 219 Spell Damage for dual wielding swords. Thus if we’re dual wielding swords, Nirnhoned leads to an increase ability tooltip of roughly 3.2%.
Precise
The 7% increased weapon and spell critical can be converted to an equivalent spell damage with the following equation
A reasonably common spell critical for endgame builds is around 60% and a critical modifier between 0.6-0.7 is typical for most magicka builds. This assumes around 30 points in Elfborn which is a fairly common recommendation from my Champion Point optimisation spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Zp9v1Vp4Z7X6zfDfcxTwyAnejv-tEC5LujbXYBiVMDk/edit?usp=sharing) thus the spell damage equivalence for Precise is about
This translates to an increase in average ability tooltip by 3.5%. Note that we can reach this answer quicker by noting that
Sharpened
In a similar fashion to the previous section, the increased physical and spell penetration of Sharpened can be converted to an equivalent spell damage or more directly into an increase in ability tooltip
where Mitigation has been separated into a Sharpened component and everything else. The key concern here is that the Resistance of a target cannot go below zero. Let us consider a typical 4 person dungeon, bosses have around 18k resistance and trash have anywhere from 10 to 18k resistance (http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/2-1-boss-resistance/). The main source of armour debuff is Major Breach (5280) and Flat Penetration for Magicka Characters is at least 4984 (100 base + 4884 Concentration). Flat Penetration is typically higher by around 1-2k depending on the number of points assigned into Spell Erosion. This means the average boss will have about 6.5k resistance and 100% of the Sharpened bonus is used meaning that it increase ability tooltip by
Unfortunately, Sharpened is useless on any mob with less than about 12k resistance as its resistance is already reduced to zero from other sources. So at first glance, the optimal trait seems to be Sharpened for bosses and Precise for trash, similar to the meta on Live.
But there may be another way around this, given that we are reaching unmitigated damage it is reasonable to remove all points from Spell Erosion and apply it all into Elfborn instead. Then a more interesting question would be how much resistance does Sharpened need to remove for it to be equivalent to Precise. Precise provides 3.5% increase in ability tooltip, this value can be achieved if Sharpened removes at least 1750 resistance. My optimal champion point spreadsheet tends to suggest around 30 points in Elfborn which corresponds to this value. Thus it is possible to simply use Sharpened for most trash and all bosses and put 66 points in Elfborn (67 points in Elfborn works the same as 66 points so spent the last point in something else like Staff Expert. In this way Sharpened is acting at worst equivalent to Precise but you get additional points in Elfborn thus increasing your average damage or it significantly outperforms Precise on bosses.
Although I've only discussed magicka builds primarily, this conclusion of using Sharpened in most situations holds true for stamina builds as well. Stamina builds do not have a Flat Penetration skill but this is compensated by several armour debuff methods.
Reference for any calculation I make Introduction to PvE Damage Calculation
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RoyJade✭✭✭✭✭
✭Wait before recrafting anything. ZOS give us a first try, they can change something at any time.
And thanks Asayre, your thread are alway useful
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gw2only1b14_ESO✭✭✭Forgive me since this confuses me but it looks like for weapons Sharpend is the way to go magic or stam?0 -
CasNation✭✭✭✭✭Well I am pretty happy I decided to be cheap and craft sharpened swords instead of nirn swords recently...thanks again, Asayre. Things may change, of course, but having this info early on is a big help.PC NA AD
Gamma Fyr: Dunmer Sorcerer Stamina DPS (the Missing Sister...props to those who get the reference)
Samekh Fyr: Dunmer Nightblade Magicka DPS
Claire Le'Rouge: Breton Templar Heal/Tank (the Resplendent Bastion)
Augustus Constantine: Imperial Nightblade PvP (Blackwater Bandit)
Shadow-of-Sundered-Star: Altmer Dragonknight Lowbie2 -
Asayre✭✭✭✭✭
✭@Destryan, yea powered increases healing done and is better than precise in most cases if you are solely interested in healing.
I do agree with @RoyJade wait before recrafting in the (unlikely) event that ZOS changes things.
Yes, @gw2only1b14_ESO sharpened for pretty much everyone in PvE. Nirnhoned may be of interest in PvP due to the increased prevalence of shields but then again Sharpened may be nice to kill them 10% quicker when you do finally break through the shield.Edited by Asayre on April 26, 2016 4:40PMReference for any calculation I make Introduction to PvE Damage Calculation0 -
AlcastClass Representative@Asayre I guess those calculations change if we use Aggressive Warhorns and other increase crit damage modifiers?https://alcasthq.com - Alcasthq.com Builds & Guides
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Asayre✭✭✭✭✭
✭Yes it changes if you are using Warhorn, Minor Breach and Roar of Alkosh. But then again don't underestimate the sharpened plan with 66 in Elfborn since Major Force is multiplicative. I don't know if there is that much interest in a niche buff situation so I didn't write about it.Reference for any calculation I make Introduction to PvE Damage Calculation2 -
Xeven✭✭✭✭✭
✭Sharpened in DB 2.4 is significantly better than Nirnhoned is currently in TG 2.3, and it's also significantly better than Nirnhoned is in DB 2.4.
The net effect is a ~5-6% damage buff for all magicka classes vs the current PvP stam meta. We can penetrate more resistance than ever before.2 -
Lightspeedflashb14_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭@Destryan, yea powered increases healing done and is better than precise in most cases if you are solely interested in healing.
I do agree with @RoyJade wait before recrafting in the (unlikely) event that ZOS changes things.
Yes, @gw2only1b14_ESO sharpened for pretty much everyone in PvE. Nirnhoned may be of interest in PvP due to the increased prevalence of shields but then again Sharpened may be nice to kill them 10% quicker when you do finally break through the shield.
could you elaborate on this? the extra 7% healing done is better then the extra 7% crit?0 -
phaneub17_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Lightspeedflashb14_ESO wrote: »
could you elaborate on this? the extra 7% healing done is better then the extra 7% crit?
That would be nice seeing which is overall better for healers with Powered, Precise, or Nirnhoned for optimization. Taken into account if you're dual wielding for Templar healers or using a Restoration Staff.1 -
Asayre✭✭✭✭✭
✭@Lightspeedflashb14_ESO, from the OP Precise leads to ~3.5% increase ability tooltip but Powered gives 7% healing done so in most cases it is better. However, because healing done is additive if you have a lot of healing done bonuses say 100 points in Blessed then the effectiveness of Powered decreases (in this example it becomes 1.32/1.25 or 5.6%)Reference for any calculation I make Introduction to PvE Damage Calculation4 -
code65536✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭What if we dual-wield with nirnhoned on the main hand and sharpened on the off-hand? You'll gain 146 extra SD/WD and 2580 penetration. It would be a kind of half-way compromise for people who don't want to recraft all of their nirn swords.Edited by code65536 on April 26, 2016 5:42PMNightfighters ― PC/NA and PC/EU
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- Depths Defier and Relentless Raider
- Defanged the Devourer and Nature's Wrath
- In Defiance of Death and No Rest for the Wicked
- Bane of Thorns and True Genius
- Ardent Bibliophile and Subterranean Smasher
- Battlespire's Best and Bastion Breaker
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kojou✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭So if I read this correctly Nirnhoned would have to be an increase of about 19% to spell damage to be equivalent to precise and sharpened?
Playing since beta...0 -
Joy_Division✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭TY @Asayre for your insights and analysis. I very much appreciate your contributions.8 -
SanTii.92✭✭✭✭✭
✭Hi @Asayre I believe Nirn Staffs and 2-Handed stats are bugged. One-handed nirn weapons give 11% dmge but sharpened 2580 each. While Nirn values are the same for all weapons, staffs, 2-H and 1-H.
If Nirnhoned weapons work like every other trait Staffs and 2-Handed weapon should give 22% Extra Spell and Weapon Dmge.Edited by SanTii.92 on April 26, 2016 6:04PMWhen the snows fall and the white winds blow,
the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.
Arg | Pc Na | Factionless Mag Warden.3 -
Lightspeedflashb14_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭@Lightspeedflashb14_ESO, from the OP Precise leads to ~3.5% increase ability tooltip but Powered gives 7% healing done so in most cases it is better. However, because healing done is additive if you have a lot of healing done bonuses say 100 points in Blessed then the effectiveness of Powered decreases (in this example it becomes 1.32/1.25 or 5.6%)
You are a GOD, Yeah, so you are saying the more you have into blessed, the less value powered has, I only have +10% healing done in blessed, it ought to be better then precise, so powered on my restoration staff is a must. Then I will prolly keep nirn on one of my swords, as I actually have a vr16 gold sharpened sword from when I couldn't make nirn, lol. So the extra spell damage from the nirn sword will help with the HOTs I have going and then the sharpened will help with the radiant glory, my execute.Edited by Lightspeedflashb14_ESO on April 26, 2016 6:03PM0 -
DUTCH_REAPER✭✭✭✭✭
✭What if we dual-wield with nirnhoned on the main hand and sharpened on the off-hand? You'll gain 146 extra SD/WD and 2580 penetration. It would be a kind of half-way compromise for people who don't want to recraft all of their nirn swords.
Will be testing this. To the OP thank you for the break down and explanations.0 -
code65536✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Hi @Asayre I believe Nirn Staffs and 2-Handed stats are bugged. One-handed nirn weapons give 11% dmge and 2580 each. While Nirn values are the same for all weapones, staffs, 2-H and 1-H.
No, it's not bugged.
As I've repeated in other threads, half-potency traits for 1H weapons only apply for traits are character-wide and not item-specific. Nirnhoned is now a weapon-specific trait, affecting the tooltip damage of that weapon. It is not a character-wide 11% increase in SD/WD. In contrast, Sharpened and Precise (among other traits) affect character-wide stats are not weapon-specific, so their values are halved for 1H weapons.Nightfighters ― PC/NA and PC/EU
Dungeons and Trials:SpoilerPersonal best scores:- Dragonstar Arena: 46817 (NA)
- Maelstrom Arena: 600526 (NA)
- Blackrose Prison: 99274 (EU) (Unchained)
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- Battlespire's Best and Bastion Breaker
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- Curator's Champion (Valinna) and Temporal Tempest
- Unshakeable Fervor and Lighting the Embers
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Xeven✭✭✭✭✭
✭ztyhurstub17_ESO wrote: »So if I read this correctly Nirnhoned would have to be an increase of about 19% to spell damage to be equivalent to precise and sharpened?
Completely dependent on target resistance. The TLDR is Sharpened beats Nirn vs anything with ~12k resists or more. So basically everything but trash, in which case it doesn't really matter what trait you're using.Edited by Xeven on April 26, 2016 6:06PM0 -
DDuke✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭They definitely need to buff the nirn weapons & make them competitive with Sharpened.
That said, the opposite is true with nirn armor traits: nirnhoned heavy armor gives more armor/spell resistance now than reinforced heavy armor. Even on shield slot with Shield Expert passive unlocked, I got around 50 more armor & spell resistance with Nirnhoned than I did with Reinforced.5 -
code65536✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭They definitely need to buff the nirn weapons & make them competitive with Sharpened.
That said, the opposite is true with nirn armor traits: nirnhoned heavy armor gives more armor/spell resistance now than reinforced heavy armor. Even on shield slot with Shield Expert passive unlocked, I got around 50 more armor & spell resistance with Nirnhoned than I did with Reinforced.
Actually, for large heavy pieces, Reinforced outperforms Nirn. For small pieces or for light armor, nirn would be better.Nightfighters ― PC/NA and PC/EU
Dungeons and Trials:SpoilerPersonal best scores:- Dragonstar Arena: 46817 (NA)
- Maelstrom Arena: 600526 (NA)
- Blackrose Prison: 99274 (EU) (Unchained)
- Maw of Lorkhaj: 165227 (EU)
- Halls of Fabrication: 220708 (NA) (Tick-Tock Tormentor #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12)
- Asylum Sanctorium: 114957 (NA) (Immortal Redeemer #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10)
- Cloudrest: 131256 (NA) (Gryphon Heart #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7)
- Sunspire: 250866 (EU) (Godslayer #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7)
- Kyne's Aegis: 235841 (EU) (Dawnbringer #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8)
Dungeon trifectas:- Mountain God and Leave No Bone Unbroken
- Apex Predator and Pure Lunacy
- Depths Defier and Relentless Raider
- Defanged the Devourer and Nature's Wrath
- In Defiance of Death and No Rest for the Wicked
- Bane of Thorns and True Genius
- Ardent Bibliophile and Subterranean Smasher
- Battlespire's Best and Bastion Breaker
- Zero Regrets and Land, Air, and Sea Supremacy
- Fist of Tava and Invader's Bane
- Curator's Champion (Valinna) and Temporal Tempest
- Unshakeable Fervor and Lighting the Embers
Extended Journal Add-Ons: Item Set Browser ― Loot Log ― Character Knowledge ― Collectibles Tracker ― RaidificatorOther Add-Ons: Combat Alerts ― Deconstruction Junk Marker ― Purge Tracker ― Asylum Status Panel ― Smart Looter ― Improved Companion Rapport Information1 -
Tryxus✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Thank you OP for these insights. So basically, Sharpened yields the most damage, followed by Precise and then Nirnhoned, right? Does this count for PvP too? And is this just for swords, or do other weapons work better with other traits (ex: Maces with Nirnhoned)?"Stand strong, stay true and shelter all."
Tryxus - Guardian of the Green - Warden - PC/EU0 -
Smolt✭✭✭https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/index.html
I think if we band together maybe we can get Assure the recognition this kind of work deserves. Bravo sir, bravo.9 -
Asayre✭✭✭✭✭
✭@code65536 yea I suppose you could go one nirn and one sharpened if you want to save money. It would alleviate the problem of reaching 0 resistance a bit for mobs but you'll be losing out on bosses.
@ztyhurstub17_ESO, well I'm saying that roughly Sharpened gives up to 12% increased damage as long as you don't hit 0 resistance which is likely on trash mobs or if you have a lot of armour debuffs going on for a boss. I would say Nirnhoned is slightly worse than precise. If Nirnhoned were increase to about 13-14% it would be the same as Precise. For Precise/Nirnhoned to be comparable to Sharpened it then depends on what you think the average resistance but I would say they could be buffed a bit to make it more competitive with Sharpened.
@sAnn92, I don't think Nirnhoned is bugged. The tooltip says "Increase Damage of this weapon by 11%" so I wouldn't expect two Nirnhoned swords to add 22% to total weapon/spell damage. I think @code65536 nailed it actually. I should have his comment first!
@Xeven i don't know some trash in vMoL have like really high resistances. I guess I don't know of any extensive list of trash resistances.
@Tryxus yes Sharpened > Precise > Nirnhoned for PvE. PvP is slightly different. If you think shields are the worst part then Nirnhoned since the other two don't help but if you think you want to kill faster when their shield is down then probably Sharpened. The conclusion may change slightly if you are using maces as that has some inbuilt percentage penetration but I feel that Sharpened will still be better because you don't get that many armour debuffs going on in PvP. Also players are usually 'Level' 66 (160 CP) whereas mobs are 'Level' 50, irrespective of how many CP they have beside their name this means you tend to get slightly lower returns from Sharpened.Edited by Asayre on April 26, 2016 6:19PMReference for any calculation I make Introduction to PvE Damage Calculation2 -
Septimus_Magna✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭What if we dual-wield with nirnhoned on the main hand and sharpened on the off-hand? You'll gain 146 extra SD/WD and 2580 penetration. It would be a kind of half-way compromise for people who don't want to recraft all of their nirn swords.
This might be a smart combination because the off-hand of DW only contributes 20% weapon/spell dmg.PC - EU (AD)SpoilerSeptimus Mezar - Altmer Sorcerer
Septimus Rulanir - Orsimer Templar
Septimus Desmoru - Khajiit Necromancer
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Septimus Thragar - Dunmer Nightblade
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Septimus Nerox - Redguard Warden
Septimus Ozurk - Orsimer Sorcerer1 -
Gilliamtherogue✭✭✭✭✭
✭In a raid scenario with the new changes to the crusher enchant and what not I've been pretty torn between these in a stamina situation. Sharpened becomes useless in most cases in raids due to the staggering amount of mitigation reduction we have access to, but as you mentioned it allows reallocation of CP. Since FTC isn't working atm on PTS I find it extremely difficult to get any concrete information out about this.
In a fully optimized raid scenario for stamina we have the following armor reductions; - 5280 (Major Fracture), - 3010 (Alkosh), -1188 (Minor Fracture), -2580 (Nightmother's Gaze), -3360(? forgetting exact value, but Sunderflame), and -1946 (Infused Crusher enchant), -100 (Base) This equates to a total of 17464 armor reduction, which most bosses have 18k-22k Even on a target with 22500 (maximum physical reduct in game I've seen on a boss who casted an armor buff on himself) that over penetrates. On top of this, this is without any points into Piercing, which I currently have 2442 pen from on Live. I feel like it's safe to say that in a proper raid scenario, or even some 4 mans that Precise will still remain optimal for Stamina builds, as it has since the sharpened bug was fixed.
Casters do lose the Nightmother's and Sunderflame buff but their LA passive only brings down the difference to 1056 of less pen access, so down to 16408 without any erosion. Even then, this means that only the Planor Inhibitor would benefit from Sharpened, assuming you are using flame damage (which all top DPS builds are using).
I'm fairly certain that proper group compositions will have Precise being favored, as it is on live. Sharpened is merely a one size fits all setup that favors pug groups or players not looking to min max insane buff management. I could be incorrect though, which I'd love to dissect further if you see any contradictions/issues. Regardless, great work with your break downs.Edited by Gilliamtherogue on April 26, 2016 6:21PMOld member of The Order of Mundus, Mostly Harmless, Hostile, and Genesis Elite. Avid theorycrafter. Herald to competitive stamina DPS pre 1.5. How far we've come!
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Tryxus✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭@Tryxus yes Sharpened > Precise > Nirnhoned for PvE. PvP is slightly different. If you think shields are the worst part then Nirnhoned since the other two don't help but if you think you want to kill faster when their shield is down then probably Sharpened. The conclusion may change slightly if you are using maces as that has some inbuilt percentage penetration but I feel that Sharpened will still be better because you don't get that many armour debuffs going on in PvP. Also players are usually 'Level' 66 (160 CP) whereas mobs are 'Level' 50, irrespective of how many CP they have beside their name this means you tend to get slightly lower returns from Sharpened.
I see. Thank you for clearing that up, and thank you again for the info "Stand strong, stay true and shelter all."
Tryxus - Guardian of the Green - Warden - PC/EU0 -
DDuke✭✭✭✭✭
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Actually, for large heavy pieces, Reinforced outperforms Nirn. For small pieces or for light armor, nirn would be better.
I literally just tested this by crafting 2 legendary shields. One with nirnhoned, another with Reinforced. Nirnhoned shield gave me 50 more on both resistances (didnt have Defending weapon on either bar, in case you were wondering).
I'll log back in to PTS shortly to test it with heavy armor chest.0
. Good work once again 
