Theorycrafting for Light Armor Magicka Nightblade - Homestead Update

Metemsycosis

Jitterbug wrote: »

Yeah okay. No way around sharpened it seems

I actually like infused fire staves for opening attacks and use mark target to cover the sharpened trait. but over time I notice the difference in damage from skills besides heavy attacks. So if you build to kill within seconds infused might not be the worst option.

Chokethorn seems more pve to me. Malubeth is great against gap close / melee burst. Particularly effective against stamina sorcerers . But against ranged opponents IDK....

Jitterbug

Metemsycosis wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Yeah okay. No way around sharpened it seems

I actually like infused fire staves for opening attacks and use mark target to cover the sharpened trait. but over time I notice the difference in damage from skills besides heavy attacks. So if you build to kill within seconds infused might not be the worst option.

Chokethorn seems more pve to me. Malubeth is great against gap close / melee burst. Particularly effective against stamina sorcerers . But against ranged opponents IDK....

Yeah that's kinda the thing. I PvP mostly running with large pugs taking keeps and so on. Which means a lot of the time I'm fighting at max range trying to kill people on the wall for example. And a lot of these monster sets (groth/malu) have a melee range proc. That was why I was thinking Chokethorn because it procs on my main spammable and lends me a little survivability. A lot of the time when groth/malu procs it doesn't make a difference.
Now, I haven't had luck with aquiring Skoria, but I'm guessing it fits this philosophy better as it is also ranged (right) and probably way more useful than Chokethorn.

Jitterbug

I would also like to ask in here...

Is a sharpened ice spinners staff better than an any-trait fire spinner?

Berenhir

Jitterbug wrote: »

I would also like to ask in here...

Is a sharpened ice spinners staff better than an any-trait fire spinner?

I'd say no. Spinners + light armor already negates 80% of light armor resistance, so sharpened is usually overpenetrating those builds anyway.

Against heavy armor builds, sharpened would increase damage by ~12%, but a fire staff increases damage by 8% and many heavy armor builds are vampires, adding huge fire vulnerability. If the any-trait staff happened to be precise, infused, charged or nirnhoned I'd take this option for more damage in PvP.

Note that frost clench and frost ultimate are extremely useful skills, especially in group play. If you run a MagNB in a group, frost spells have valuable utility that outweigh the 1%-10% damage loss.

thankyourat

Jitterbug wrote: »

Metemsycosis wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Yeah okay. No way around sharpened it seems

I actually like infused fire staves for opening attacks and use mark target to cover the sharpened trait. but over time I notice the difference in damage from skills besides heavy attacks. So if you build to kill within seconds infused might not be the worst option.

Chokethorn seems more pve to me. Malubeth is great against gap close / melee burst. Particularly effective against stamina sorcerers . But against ranged opponents IDK....

Yeah that's kinda the thing. I PvP mostly running with large pugs taking keeps and so on. Which means a lot of the time I'm fighting at max range trying to kill people on the wall for example. And a lot of these monster sets (groth/malu) have a melee range proc. That was why I was thinking Chokethorn because it procs on my main spammable and lends me a little survivability. A lot of the time when groth/malu procs it doesn't make a difference.
Now, I haven't had luck with aquiring Skoria, but I'm guessing it fits this philosophy better as it is also ranged (right) and probably way more useful than Chokethorn.

Yes skoria is worth it if you are using dots. It's definitely worth the time farming it. It will put the amount of pressure you put on someone over the top

bubbygink

thankyourat wrote: »

@bubbygink are you using crit pots? If not you may want to try it. It really complements the shadow mundus well. Really helpful for when you go for the kill.

I've been running with inner light on my bar for the last few days so I've been getting my major prophecy from that. But magblade has so many useful skills it's probably not worth running so I may end up running another skill there.

My favorite open world pots are the crit + immovable + restore magicka ones but I'm super poor in everything except AP lol so I almost always just use the alliance war pots. Actually I do have a lot of tel var stones so I should just pick up a bunch of those alchemy bags to make some pots. Which ones do you typically run?

thankyourat

bubbygink wrote: »

thankyourat wrote: »

@bubbygink are you using crit pots? If not you may want to try it. It really complements the shadow mundus well. Really helpful for when you go for the kill.

I've been running with inner light on my bar for the last few days so I've been getting my major prophecy from that. But magblade has so many useful skills it's probably not worth running so I may end up running another skill there.

My favorite open world pots are the crit + immovable + restore magicka ones but I'm super poor in everything except AP lol so I almost always just use the alliance war pots. Actually I do have a lot of tel var stones so I should just pick up a bunch of those alchemy bags to make some pots. Which ones do you typically run?

I use the crit, immovable, magicka if I'm fighting multiple players and one is using a unblockable CC, or I use crit max health max magicka, this one is my favorite, I also use crit, spell damage, max magicka if I take sap of my bar and need a spell damage increase. I don't do that often though it's just something I'm trying out. The crit/health/magicka pot is really good though for when you need a burst heal. Yea I dropped magelight the extra crit wasn't worth the utility I could get from else where

Jitterbug

thankyourat wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Metemsycosis wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Yeah okay. No way around sharpened it seems

I actually like infused fire staves for opening attacks and use mark target to cover the sharpened trait. but over time I notice the difference in damage from skills besides heavy attacks. So if you build to kill within seconds infused might not be the worst option.

Chokethorn seems more pve to me. Malubeth is great against gap close / melee burst. Particularly effective against stamina sorcerers . But against ranged opponents IDK....

Yeah that's kinda the thing. I PvP mostly running with large pugs taking keeps and so on. Which means a lot of the time I'm fighting at max range trying to kill people on the wall for example. And a lot of these monster sets (groth/malu) have a melee range proc. That was why I was thinking Chokethorn because it procs on my main spammable and lends me a little survivability. A lot of the time when groth/malu procs it doesn't make a difference.
Now, I haven't had luck with aquiring Skoria, but I'm guessing it fits this philosophy better as it is also ranged (right) and probably way more useful than Chokethorn.

Yes skoria is worth it if you are using dots. It's definitely worth the time farming it. It will put the amount of pressure you put on someone over the top

I actually only (in my favored setup) run Degeneration (I don't any of my other skills will count as a DoT). Do you think it's still worth it to run Skoria?

thankyourat

Jitterbug wrote: »

thankyourat wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Metemsycosis wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Yeah okay. No way around sharpened it seems

I actually like infused fire staves for opening attacks and use mark target to cover the sharpened trait. but over time I notice the difference in damage from skills besides heavy attacks. So if you build to kill within seconds infused might not be the worst option.

Chokethorn seems more pve to me. Malubeth is great against gap close / melee burst. Particularly effective against stamina sorcerers . But against ranged opponents IDK....

Yeah that's kinda the thing. I PvP mostly running with large pugs taking keeps and so on. Which means a lot of the time I'm fighting at max range trying to kill people on the wall for example. And a lot of these monster sets (groth/malu) have a melee range proc. That was why I was thinking Chokethorn because it procs on my main spammable and lends me a little survivability. A lot of the time when groth/malu procs it doesn't make a difference.
Now, I haven't had luck with aquiring Skoria, but I'm guessing it fits this philosophy better as it is also ranged (right) and probably way more useful than Chokethorn.

Yes skoria is worth it if you are using dots. It's definitely worth the time farming it. It will put the amount of pressure you put on someone over the top

I actually only (in my favored setup) run Degeneration (I don't any of my other skills will count as a DoT). Do you think it's still worth it to run Skoria?

Kena in my opinion would be better then if you want to use a offensive two piece. That's why I switched to Kena for open world I don't have enough dots on my current build. We are running the same sets spinners/alchemist if you use Kena with that set up, i can tell you from testing it not many people can survive your burst. Most low cp get killed from just a heavy attack into a cc, swallow soul, execute. Even heavy armor can be one shot. I one shot a heavy armor Templar with shooting star, assassins will. The only thing is when you proc Kena you really need to watch your resources. And not using a defensive 2 piece can hurt your survivability. I think it will work really well for you playing group PvP though because you won't be able to be targeted while have op burst

zammo

bubbygink wrote: »

I think you're thinking of troll king, which gives health recovery that's killed by vamp.

OK, just so I understand, you're saying vampirism reduces the 2 piece bonus of troll king by 75%, not just your base health regen? lol, time to stop waiting for the shoulders of that one to drop then

bubbygink

zammo wrote: »

OK, just so I understand, you're saying vampirism reduces the 2 piece bonus of troll king by 75%, not just your base health regen? lol, time to stop waiting for the shoulders of that one to drop then

@zammo Correct. It doesn't end up being a full 75% because the unnatural recovery passive "reduces the severity of the health recovery determinant" but I did some testing the other day and my health recovery was 1200ish with troll king proced.

I am away from my xbox right now so I can't verify it again. If somebody else gets a different result let me know.

Jitterbug

thankyourat wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Metemsycosis wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Yeah okay. No way around sharpened it seems

I actually like infused fire staves for opening attacks and use mark target to cover the sharpened trait. but over time I notice the difference in damage from skills besides heavy attacks. So if you build to kill within seconds infused might not be the worst option.

Chokethorn seems more pve to me. Malubeth is great against gap close / melee burst. Particularly effective against stamina sorcerers . But against ranged opponents IDK....

Yeah that's kinda the thing. I PvP mostly running with large pugs taking keeps and so on. Which means a lot of the time I'm fighting at max range trying to kill people on the wall for example. And a lot of these monster sets (groth/malu) have a melee range proc. That was why I was thinking Chokethorn because it procs on my main spammable and lends me a little survivability. A lot of the time when groth/malu procs it doesn't make a difference.
Now, I haven't had luck with aquiring Skoria, but I'm guessing it fits this philosophy better as it is also ranged (right) and probably way more useful than Chokethorn.

Yes skoria is worth it if you are using dots. It's definitely worth the time farming it. It will put the amount of pressure you put on someone over the top

Okay so I finally got some Skoria in my life (divines heavy helm, reinforced light armor shoulder (still working on that)), and I just want to say thank you! It fits my playstyle perfectly. It actually procs a lot off just Degeneration and Flame Reach, and it seems to proc on cooldown off Path and Blockade. Plus, it looks downright fantastic. I've always wanted to run a DoT build and now I have the perfect excuse to do so :-P

On another note, after 3 hours a day 7 days a week in Crimson Cove I've thrown in the towel on getting the sharpened inferno spinner's staff. I've decided to go with crit and call it a day. I can't find it in any of the guild stores and if I have to kill Pilot Ostrala one more time I'll strangle myself in my mouse cord. So my setup is now

2xSkoria
5xSpinner's (front bar, precise staff - resulting in 2k spell damage unbuffed, 43% crit with shadow mundus, around 9k pen)
5xAlchemist (back bar, resto staff)

5 light, 1 heavy, 1 medium - sitting at 28k health and 32k magicka in Cyro (CP enabled) with 1300 recovery.

I'm still working on my bar setups, and that's the reason for this post.
I'm thinking
FRONT - Swallow Soul - Degeneration - Merciless Resolve - Flame Reach - Impale - (Soul Harvest)
BACK - Healing Ward - Siphoning Attacks - Elusive Mist - Mass Hysteria - Double Take - (Ice Comet)

Any advice/thoughts/harsh words on any of this would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

thankyourat

Jitterbug wrote: »

thankyourat wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Metemsycosis wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Yeah okay. No way around sharpened it seems

I actually like infused fire staves for opening attacks and use mark target to cover the sharpened trait. but over time I notice the difference in damage from skills besides heavy attacks. So if you build to kill within seconds infused might not be the worst option.

Chokethorn seems more pve to me. Malubeth is great against gap close / melee burst. Particularly effective against stamina sorcerers . But against ranged opponents IDK....

Yeah that's kinda the thing. I PvP mostly running with large pugs taking keeps and so on. Which means a lot of the time I'm fighting at max range trying to kill people on the wall for example. And a lot of these monster sets (groth/malu) have a melee range proc. That was why I was thinking Chokethorn because it procs on my main spammable and lends me a little survivability. A lot of the time when groth/malu procs it doesn't make a difference.
Now, I haven't had luck with aquiring Skoria, but I'm guessing it fits this philosophy better as it is also ranged (right) and probably way more useful than Chokethorn.

Yes skoria is worth it if you are using dots. It's definitely worth the time farming it. It will put the amount of pressure you put on someone over the top

Okay so I finally got some Skoria in my life (divines heavy helm, reinforced light armor shoulder (still working on that)), and I just want to say thank you! It fits my playstyle perfectly. It actually procs a lot off just Degeneration and Flame Reach, and it seems to proc on cooldown off Path and Blockade. Plus, it looks downright fantastic. I've always wanted to run a DoT build and now I have the perfect excuse to do so :-P

On another note, after 3 hours a day 7 days a week in Crimson Cove I've thrown in the towel on getting the sharpened inferno spinner's staff. I've decided to go with crit and call it a day. I can't find it in any of the guild stores and if I have to kill Pilot Ostrala one more time I'll strangle myself in my mouse cord. So my setup is now

2xSkoria
5xSpinner's (front bar, precise staff - resulting in 2k spell damage unbuffed, 43% crit with shadow mundus, around 9k pen)
5xAlchemist (back bar, resto staff)

5 light, 1 heavy, 1 medium - sitting at 28k health and 32k magicka in Cyro (CP enabled) with 1300 recovery.

I'm still working on my bar setups, and that's the reason for this post.
I'm thinking
FRONT - Swallow Soul - Degeneration - Merciless Resolve - Flame Reach - Impale - (Soul Harvest)
BACK - Healing Ward - Siphoning Attacks - Elusive Mist - Mass Hysteria - Double Take - (Ice Comet)

Any advice/thoughts/harsh words on any of this would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

I think your bars are fine. I don't really think there is a best bar set up, as long as the abilities match your playstyle and you have all the essential buffs it should work fine. A suggestion I would make though is since you are going to be playing group play I would drop degeneration for sap essence. I would drop flame reach for crippling grasp, and then I would drop soul harvest for the destro ultimate. That way you can have some AOE damage because your build is lacking in that department and still keep the same number of dots. your magicka seems a little on the low side for whatever reason maybe you aren't a min/max race?

Jitterbug

thankyourat wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

thankyourat wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Metemsycosis wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Yeah okay. No way around sharpened it seems

I actually like infused fire staves for opening attacks and use mark target to cover the sharpened trait. but over time I notice the difference in damage from skills besides heavy attacks. So if you build to kill within seconds infused might not be the worst option.

Chokethorn seems more pve to me. Malubeth is great against gap close / melee burst. Particularly effective against stamina sorcerers . But against ranged opponents IDK....

Yeah that's kinda the thing. I PvP mostly running with large pugs taking keeps and so on. Which means a lot of the time I'm fighting at max range trying to kill people on the wall for example. And a lot of these monster sets (groth/malu) have a melee range proc. That was why I was thinking Chokethorn because it procs on my main spammable and lends me a little survivability. A lot of the time when groth/malu procs it doesn't make a difference.
Now, I haven't had luck with aquiring Skoria, but I'm guessing it fits this philosophy better as it is also ranged (right) and probably way more useful than Chokethorn.

Yes skoria is worth it if you are using dots. It's definitely worth the time farming it. It will put the amount of pressure you put on someone over the top

Okay so I finally got some Skoria in my life (divines heavy helm, reinforced light armor shoulder (still working on that)), and I just want to say thank you! It fits my playstyle perfectly. It actually procs a lot off just Degeneration and Flame Reach, and it seems to proc on cooldown off Path and Blockade. Plus, it looks downright fantastic. I've always wanted to run a DoT build and now I have the perfect excuse to do so :-P

On another note, after 3 hours a day 7 days a week in Crimson Cove I've thrown in the towel on getting the sharpened inferno spinner's staff. I've decided to go with crit and call it a day. I can't find it in any of the guild stores and if I have to kill Pilot Ostrala one more time I'll strangle myself in my mouse cord. So my setup is now

2xSkoria
5xSpinner's (front bar, precise staff - resulting in 2k spell damage unbuffed, 43% crit with shadow mundus, around 9k pen)
5xAlchemist (back bar, resto staff)

5 light, 1 heavy, 1 medium - sitting at 28k health and 32k magicka in Cyro (CP enabled) with 1300 recovery.

I'm still working on my bar setups, and that's the reason for this post.
I'm thinking
FRONT - Swallow Soul - Degeneration - Merciless Resolve - Flame Reach - Impale - (Soul Harvest)
BACK - Healing Ward - Siphoning Attacks - Elusive Mist - Mass Hysteria - Double Take - (Ice Comet)

Any advice/thoughts/harsh words on any of this would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

I think your bars are fine. I don't really think there is a best bar set up, as long as the abilities match your playstyle and you have all the essential buffs it should work fine. A suggestion I would make though is since you are going to be playing group play I would drop degeneration for sap essence. I would drop flame reach for crippling grasp, and then I would drop soul harvest for the destro ultimate. That way you can have some AOE damage because your build is lacking in that department and still keep the same number of dots. your magicka seems a little on the low side for whatever reason maybe you aren't a min/max race?

I'm argonian so not really, although more so than before
My gear is only purple and with purple enchants so that might also be it?
Plus, the 3 big armor pieces are enchanted with health. Should I see if I can survive with magicka enchants? (I just really like having a large health pool).

Lexxypwns

zammo wrote: »

bubbygink wrote: »

I think you're thinking of troll king, which gives health recovery that's killed by vamp.

OK, just so I understand, you're saying vampirism reduces the 2 piece bonus of troll king by 75%, not just your base health regen? lol, time to stop waiting for the shoulders of that one to drop then

If you're a vamp, wearing troll king(1pc regen bonus) plus troll king proc gives you around 1500 health regen. Its still a really good defensive monster set for vamps, its just not better than pirate on light armor builds, its probably worse than bloodspawn too for vamps. However, it does proc with no cooldown and can proc on any amount of friendly players.

Jitterbug wrote: »

thankyourat wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Metemsycosis wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Yeah okay. No way around sharpened it seems

I actually like infused fire staves for opening attacks and use mark target to cover the sharpened trait. but over time I notice the difference in damage from skills besides heavy attacks. So if you build to kill within seconds infused might not be the worst option.

Chokethorn seems more pve to me. Malubeth is great against gap close / melee burst. Particularly effective against stamina sorcerers . But against ranged opponents IDK....

Yeah that's kinda the thing. I PvP mostly running with large pugs taking keeps and so on. Which means a lot of the time I'm fighting at max range trying to kill people on the wall for example. And a lot of these monster sets (groth/malu) have a melee range proc. That was why I was thinking Chokethorn because it procs on my main spammable and lends me a little survivability. A lot of the time when groth/malu procs it doesn't make a difference.
Now, I haven't had luck with aquiring Skoria, but I'm guessing it fits this philosophy better as it is also ranged (right) and probably way more useful than Chokethorn.

Yes skoria is worth it if you are using dots. It's definitely worth the time farming it. It will put the amount of pressure you put on someone over the top

Okay so I finally got some Skoria in my life (divines heavy helm, reinforced light armor shoulder (still working on that)), and I just want to say thank you! It fits my playstyle perfectly. It actually procs a lot off just Degeneration and Flame Reach, and it seems to proc on cooldown off Path and Blockade. Plus, it looks downright fantastic. I've always wanted to run a DoT build and now I have the perfect excuse to do so :-P

On another note, after 3 hours a day 7 days a week in Crimson Cove I've thrown in the towel on getting the sharpened inferno spinner's staff. I've decided to go with crit and call it a day. I can't find it in any of the guild stores and if I have to kill Pilot Ostrala one more time I'll strangle myself in my mouse cord. So my setup is now

2xSkoria
5xSpinner's (front bar, precise staff - resulting in 2k spell damage unbuffed, 43% crit with shadow mundus, around 9k pen)
5xAlchemist (back bar, resto staff)

5 light, 1 heavy, 1 medium - sitting at 28k health and 32k magicka in Cyro (CP enabled) with 1300 recovery.

I'm still working on my bar setups, and that's the reason for this post.
I'm thinking
FRONT - Swallow Soul - Degeneration - Merciless Resolve - Flame Reach - Impale - (Soul Harvest)
BACK - Healing Ward - Siphoning Attacks - Elusive Mist - Mass Hysteria - Double Take - (Ice Comet)

Any advice/thoughts/harsh words on any of this would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

I'd really really really run sharpened spinners, otherwise you're spending a whole 5pc bonus to gives less pen then you'd have in 5 X 5 Alchemist 2 skoria with sharpened inferno. 5 X w/ sharp staff >>>> 5 Spinners w/ precise staff

Jitterbug

Lexxypwns wrote: »

zammo wrote: »

bubbygink wrote: »

I think you're thinking of troll king, which gives health recovery that's killed by vamp.

OK, just so I understand, you're saying vampirism reduces the 2 piece bonus of troll king by 75%, not just your base health regen? lol, time to stop waiting for the shoulders of that one to drop then

If you're a vamp, wearing troll king(1pc regen bonus) plus troll king proc gives you around 1500 health regen. Its still a really good defensive monster set for vamps, its just not better than pirate on light armor builds, its probably worse than bloodspawn too for vamps. However, it does proc with no cooldown and can proc on any amount of friendly players.

Jitterbug wrote: »

thankyourat wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Metemsycosis wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Yeah okay. No way around sharpened it seems

I actually like infused fire staves for opening attacks and use mark target to cover the sharpened trait. but over time I notice the difference in damage from skills besides heavy attacks. So if you build to kill within seconds infused might not be the worst option.

Chokethorn seems more pve to me. Malubeth is great against gap close / melee burst. Particularly effective against stamina sorcerers . But against ranged opponents IDK....

Yeah that's kinda the thing. I PvP mostly running with large pugs taking keeps and so on. Which means a lot of the time I'm fighting at max range trying to kill people on the wall for example. And a lot of these monster sets (groth/malu) have a melee range proc. That was why I was thinking Chokethorn because it procs on my main spammable and lends me a little survivability. A lot of the time when groth/malu procs it doesn't make a difference.
Now, I haven't had luck with aquiring Skoria, but I'm guessing it fits this philosophy better as it is also ranged (right) and probably way more useful than Chokethorn.

Yes skoria is worth it if you are using dots. It's definitely worth the time farming it. It will put the amount of pressure you put on someone over the top

Okay so I finally got some Skoria in my life (divines heavy helm, reinforced light armor shoulder (still working on that)), and I just want to say thank you! It fits my playstyle perfectly. It actually procs a lot off just Degeneration and Flame Reach, and it seems to proc on cooldown off Path and Blockade. Plus, it looks downright fantastic. I've always wanted to run a DoT build and now I have the perfect excuse to do so :-P

On another note, after 3 hours a day 7 days a week in Crimson Cove I've thrown in the towel on getting the sharpened inferno spinner's staff. I've decided to go with crit and call it a day. I can't find it in any of the guild stores and if I have to kill Pilot Ostrala one more time I'll strangle myself in my mouse cord. So my setup is now

2xSkoria
5xSpinner's (front bar, precise staff - resulting in 2k spell damage unbuffed, 43% crit with shadow mundus, around 9k pen)
5xAlchemist (back bar, resto staff)

5 light, 1 heavy, 1 medium - sitting at 28k health and 32k magicka in Cyro (CP enabled) with 1300 recovery.

I'm still working on my bar setups, and that's the reason for this post.
I'm thinking
FRONT - Swallow Soul - Degeneration - Merciless Resolve - Flame Reach - Impale - (Soul Harvest)
BACK - Healing Ward - Siphoning Attacks - Elusive Mist - Mass Hysteria - Double Take - (Ice Comet)

Any advice/thoughts/harsh words on any of this would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

I'd really really really run sharpened spinners, otherwise you're spending a whole 5pc bonus to gives less pen then you'd have in 5 Julianos 5 Alchemist 2 skoria with sharpened inferno. 5 Julianos w/ sharp staff >>>> 5 Spinners w/ precise staff

I don't quite get that. You can't wear 5 alch/5 juli right? No jewelry?

Lexxypwns

Jitterbug wrote: »

Lexxypwns wrote: »

zammo wrote: »

bubbygink wrote: »

I think you're thinking of troll king, which gives health recovery that's killed by vamp.

OK, just so I understand, you're saying vampirism reduces the 2 piece bonus of troll king by 75%, not just your base health regen? lol, time to stop waiting for the shoulders of that one to drop then

If you're a vamp, wearing troll king(1pc regen bonus) plus troll king proc gives you around 1500 health regen. Its still a really good defensive monster set for vamps, its just not better than pirate on light armor builds, its probably worse than bloodspawn too for vamps. However, it does proc with no cooldown and can proc on any amount of friendly players.

Jitterbug wrote: »

thankyourat wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Metemsycosis wrote: »

Jitterbug wrote: »

Yeah okay. No way around sharpened it seems

I actually like infused fire staves for opening attacks and use mark target to cover the sharpened trait. but over time I notice the difference in damage from skills besides heavy attacks. So if you build to kill within seconds infused might not be the worst option.

Chokethorn seems more pve to me. Malubeth is great against gap close / melee burst. Particularly effective against stamina sorcerers . But against ranged opponents IDK....

Yeah that's kinda the thing. I PvP mostly running with large pugs taking keeps and so on. Which means a lot of the time I'm fighting at max range trying to kill people on the wall for example. And a lot of these monster sets (groth/malu) have a melee range proc. That was why I was thinking Chokethorn because it procs on my main spammable and lends me a little survivability. A lot of the time when groth/malu procs it doesn't make a difference.
Now, I haven't had luck with aquiring Skoria, but I'm guessing it fits this philosophy better as it is also ranged (right) and probably way more useful than Chokethorn.

Yes skoria is worth it if you are using dots. It's definitely worth the time farming it. It will put the amount of pressure you put on someone over the top

Okay so I finally got some Skoria in my life (divines heavy helm, reinforced light armor shoulder (still working on that)), and I just want to say thank you! It fits my playstyle perfectly. It actually procs a lot off just Degeneration and Flame Reach, and it seems to proc on cooldown off Path and Blockade. Plus, it looks downright fantastic. I've always wanted to run a DoT build and now I have the perfect excuse to do so :-P

On another note, after 3 hours a day 7 days a week in Crimson Cove I've thrown in the towel on getting the sharpened inferno spinner's staff. I've decided to go with crit and call it a day. I can't find it in any of the guild stores and if I have to kill Pilot Ostrala one more time I'll strangle myself in my mouse cord. So my setup is now

2xSkoria
5xSpinner's (front bar, precise staff - resulting in 2k spell damage unbuffed, 43% crit with shadow mundus, around 9k pen)
5xAlchemist (back bar, resto staff)

5 light, 1 heavy, 1 medium - sitting at 28k health and 32k magicka in Cyro (CP enabled) with 1300 recovery.

I'm still working on my bar setups, and that's the reason for this post.
I'm thinking
FRONT - Swallow Soul - Degeneration - Merciless Resolve - Flame Reach - Impale - (Soul Harvest)
BACK - Healing Ward - Siphoning Attacks - Elusive Mist - Mass Hysteria - Double Take - (Ice Comet)

Any advice/thoughts/harsh words on any of this would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

I'd really really really run sharpened spinners, otherwise you're spending a whole 5pc bonus to gives less pen then you'd have in 5 Julianos 5 Alchemist 2 skoria with sharpened inferno. 5 Julianos w/ sharp staff >>>> 5 Spinners w/ precise staff

I don't quite get that. You can't wear 5 alch/5 juli right? No jewelry?

you're right, I just dabbed before posting that. Regardless, don't run precise in pvp its ultra bad, terrible. Sharpened literally adds more penetration than spinners so you're wasting a whole 5pc set to run more penetration then giving up the most efficient source of penetration. You're building in a circle and it doesn't make any sense to do this. Necro, Mother's Sorrow, and Treasure Hunter in sharpened are all better than 5 Spinners with precise. Also, you'd have more damage(and huge shields) running 5 Spinners 5 Necro/Julianos with just 1 monster piece than running with the precise spinners staff. Seriously, there's no reason to ever run anything other than sharpened in pvp, for any reason, anything else is gimping yourself a lot.

Another example, not running sharpened is like not taking the light armor penetration passives...

bubbygink

Jitterbug wrote: »

On another note, after 3 hours a day 7 days a week in Crimson Cove I've thrown in the towel on getting the sharpened inferno spinner's staff. I've decided to go with crit and call it a day. I can't find it in any of the guild stores and if I have to kill Pilot Ostrala one more time I'll strangle myself in my mouse cord. So my setup is now

I feel you because I spent forever on that grind too. Ended up having to buy the sharpened inferno spinners staff. But as others have said, it is worth it. Sharpened is just really the only way to go for your offensive bar. I highly encourage you to keep pushing for the sharpened staff, you will notice a big difference with it.

Jitterbug wrote: »

I'm still working on my bar setups, and that's the reason for this post.
I'm thinking
FRONT - Swallow Soul - Degeneration - Merciless Resolve - Flame Reach - Impale - (Soul Harvest)
BACK - Healing Ward - Siphoning Attacks - Elusive Mist - Mass Hysteria - Double Take - (Ice Comet)

Any advice/thoughts/harsh words on any of this would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

Your bars look pretty good to me. Nothing really stands out as wrong so if it fits your play style then keep going going with it! One thing I would recommend is cripple or refreshing path in place of flame reach since you already have fear, the best open world cc in the game. I slot sap essence over degeneration and destro ult over soul harvest when in a group Proccing clever then doing destro ult + sap spam is probably the most powerful offensive combo in the game - see, this from a week or so ago as an example: http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/Bubbygink/video/27529627 (excuse my sloppy playstyle, was really laggy lol). Also, on light armor builds I always run dampen and healing ward for the tankiness. But again, what you're running looks pretty good in my opinion so nothing you absolutely have to change

Jitterbug

Yeah I have been looking at Dampen but the 4k tooltip just seems kinda meh. No?
And it's not that I don't believe what you're all saying about sharpened and I obviously wouldn't turn one down, I just need a good, long break from Crimson Cove. It was getting to the point where I would shout at the other players IRL or throwing my mouse when I got caught on the bonfire... so not healthy on other words. And even if I had the 600k (which I don't) I can't find the staff anywhere. So in order to keep my sanity and actually get enjoyment out of my few gaming hours I've called it quits. For now at least.
Maybe I could look into another set all together? Like some brilliant defensive setup, I don't know...

As to the sap essence and all that AOE jazz I'm not sure I understand. In all the keep fights aren't you basically wasting that skill (and the major buff) since players are 30 meters away from you? I can't quite envision the game play I think.
I know I could go bomblade. Is that what you mean?

bubbygink

Jitterbug wrote: »

As to the sap essence and all that AOE jazz I'm not sure I understand. In all the keep fights aren't you basically wasting that skill (and the major buff) since players are 30 meters away from you? I can't quite envision the game play I think.
I know I could go bomblade. Is that what you mean?

I'm not advocating creating a pure bombblade, I don't like that style at all. In my clip above I am just running my standard open world gear of destro/restro with 2 pirate skelly, 5 clever, 5 necro and wicthmothers brew drinks - certainly not a "bombblade" setup - but you can see even with that setup how devastating the EotS + Sap is (I'll note that my buddy did drop a negate).

Truthfully, I don't typically do a lot of fighting at keeps, but when I do I will just pop an alliance war magicka pot for major sorcery and clever and then range people with swallow soul + spectral bow and/or meteor as I usually would. So slotting Sap and EotS certainly won't limit your range in that you'll still have all your ranged offensive skills. But once there is a breach (like in the clip) EotS + Sap is extremely potent. Typically I fight on resources or on the paths in between keeps and in those cases if you can kite your opponents into an enclosure and drop EotS + Sap you will get a lot of kills. I'm not saying it is mandatory, but if you are in a group (particularly with a sorc who will drop negate) then EotS + Sap is you best bet of fighting other groups and even wiping out larger groups.

Metemsycosis

If I may chip in. I don't run high spell damage builds but eots is still very good, I'll second or third that. But I like the ranged health return degeneration gives. With both degeneration and siphoning attacks up (credit kenas video), all three resources are returning while I attack. Plus shooting star is still awesome and jibes well with the insane ultimate Regen of the nightblade. I think the cc and might of the mage guild is why I consistently keep meteor on my bar and have since obtaining it. Adding skoria means both more meteors and ranged aoe. Personally I leave the eots to sorcerers who have two great cc set ups with encase and streak.

thankyourat

Jitterbug wrote: »

Yeah I have been looking at Dampen but the 4k tooltip just seems kinda meh. No?
And it's not that I don't believe what you're all saying about sharpened and I obviously wouldn't turn one down, I just need a good, long break from Crimson Cove. It was getting to the point where I would shout at the other players IRL or throwing my mouse when I got caught on the bonfire... so not healthy on other words. And even if I had the 600k (which I don't) I can't find the staff anywhere. So in order to keep my sanity and actually get enjoyment out of my few gaming hours I've called it quits. For now at least.
Maybe I could look into another set all together? Like some brilliant defensive setup, I don't know...

As to the sap essence and all that AOE jazz I'm not sure I understand. In all the keep fights aren't you basically wasting that skill (and the major buff) since players are 30 meters away from you? I can't quite envision the game play I think.
I know I could go bomblade. Is that what you mean?

Yes the dampen tooltip is kind of low I think mine is only like 6.7k, but I think it comes out to almost 9k when buffed because it gets boosted by every piece of light armor you wear. If you haven't tried it I would give it a try. What I don't like about it is it's kind of strong 1v1 but if you get multiple people on you it's actually really weak I find I'm better off teleporting before I get focused. If you build around it by magicka stacking and putting points into bastion it can be a pretty big shield though almost 15k.

As for AOE I think it's always good to have atleast 1 AOE on your bar for me I play in open fields and I'm usually outnumbered so sap allows me to hit multiple people. It's also a decent heal and it's especially useful when fighting cloak spammers and roll dodgers because it goes through both. For you in a keep fight eventually your side will have to stack and push and at this point your single target skills are kind of useless and you will have to AOE the enemy alliance to wipe them. Sap will also heal you and your group

Lexxypwns

Metemsycosis wrote: »

If I may chip in. I don't run high spell damage builds but eots is still very good, I'll second or third that. But I like the ranged health return degeneration gives. With both degeneration and siphoning attacks up (credit kenas video), all three resources are returning while I attack. Plus shooting star is still awesome and jibes well with the insane ultimate Regen of the nightblade. I think the cc and might of the mage guild is why I consistently keep meteor on my bar and have since obtaining it. Adding skoria means both more meteors and ranged aoe. Personally I leave the eots to sorcerers who have two great cc set ups with encase and streak.

Tbh, the heal from degeneration is alright for heavy armor builds, but in light I think the bonus HP from the other morph is amazing for surviving burst. Your HoTs aren't keeping you topped off in light like they will in heavy.

bubbygink

thankyourat wrote: »

As for AOE I think it's always good to have atleast 1 AOE on your bar for me I play in open fields and I'm usually outnumbered so sap allows me to hit multiple people. It's also a decent heal and it's especially useful when fighting cloak spammers and roll dodgers because it goes through both. For you in a keep fight eventually your side will have to stack and push and at this point your single target skills are kind of useless and you will have to AOE the enemy alliance to wipe them. Sap will also heal you and your group

100% agree that having an AOE on your bar is nice and makes you more versatile and in my opinion Sap is one of the best AOEs - it is such a good offensive and defensive skill. It is obviously great to use offensively when fighting big groups so that you can maximize damage. But it is also very good defensively in this scenario because it will heal you and your group. It is also good offensively and defensively against nightblades as it helps you pull them out of cloak to finish them off or pull them out before they can unload a burst combo on you. It also helps you by giving you major sorcery and by increasing your healing done via the soul siphoner passive. I don't necessarily consider it a mandatory open world skill (and in duels I always use entropy/degeneration) but it is a very versatile and well-rounded skill in a magblade's arsenal.

Metemsycosis

Lexxypwns wrote: »

Metemsycosis wrote: »

If I may chip in. I don't run high spell damage builds but eots is still very good, I'll second or third that. But I like the ranged health return degeneration gives. With both degeneration and siphoning attacks up (credit kenas video), all three resources are returning while I attack. Plus shooting star is still awesome and jibes well with the insane ultimate Regen of the nightblade. I think the cc and might of the mage guild is why I consistently keep meteor on my bar and have since obtaining it. Adding skoria means both more meteors and ranged aoe. Personally I leave the eots to sorcerers who have two great cc set ups with encase and streak.

Tbh, the heal from degeneration is alright for heavy armor builds, but in light I think the bonus HP from the other morph is amazing for surviving burst. Your HoTs aren't keeping you topped off in light like they will in heavy.

I agree but you shouldn't be taking too much damage at range anyway.

Whyn Aurum

Hey, anyone running julianos+transmutation+boodspawn in 5 heavy +1+1?

I hear its a decent destro setup as in 5 julianos 4 trans and 2 bloodspawn. Looking to get this yet not completely sold on the idea. Anyone try that yet?

Lexxypwns

Whyn Aurum wrote: »

Hey, anyone running julianos+transmutation+boodspawn in 5 heavy +1+1?

I hear its a decent destro setup as in 5 julianos 4 trans and 2 bloodspawn. Looking to get this yet not completely sold on the idea. Anyone try that yet?

It'll work, but it's gonna be low on the damage side of things. You'll be 100% dependent on will+ulti to kill anyone with a brain.

arkansas_ESO

Whyn Aurum wrote: »

Hey, anyone running julianos+transmutation+boodspawn in 5 heavy +1+1?

I hear its a decent destro setup as in 5 julianos 4 trans and 2 bloodspawn. Looking to get this yet not completely sold on the idea. Anyone try that yet?

Personally, I didn't have much luck with Transmutation, as with proc sets no longer critting you no longer need to stack crit resist so high. The changes to Elemental Drain also made the regen from Trans less appealing. It's still a good setup for newer players, though, as the gear's all easy to get.

I'd recommend running 5 Spinner (replace with Necropotence if you're not a vamp, and replace Mist Form with Shadow Image) 5 Clever Alchemist, 2 BS/Valkyn/Pirate Skeleton/Troll King (if you're not a vamp)

Whyn Aurum

What traits should go with a heavy build in a Mag NB? Ive never used heavy armor, so I really dont know. I'm guessing impenetrable if not divines/infused.

I dont like clever alchemist. I dont really like to realy my damage on potions and i think this set is mostly for gankers. i prefer sustained damage without pots.

Lexxypwns

arkansas_ESO wrote: »

Whyn Aurum wrote: »

Hey, anyone running julianos+transmutation+boodspawn in 5 heavy +1+1?

I hear its a decent destro setup as in 5 julianos 4 trans and 2 bloodspawn. Looking to get this yet not completely sold on the idea. Anyone try that yet?

Personally, I didn't have much luck with Transmutation, as with proc sets no longer critting you no longer need to stack crit resist so high. The changes to Elemental Drain also made the regen from Trans less appealing. It's still a good setup for newer players, though, as the gear's all easy to get.

I'd recommend running 5 Spinner (replace with Necropotence if you're not a vamp, and replace Mist Form with Shadow Image) 5 Clever Alchemist, 2 BS/Valkyn/Pirate Skeleton/Troll King (if you're not a vamp)

Very solid setup. If you're running small group, a mageblade weaving funnel is a good way to proc troll king for your group and allow others in your group to run other 2pc sets, even if you're vamp the proc gives you 1500ish regen, which isn't terrible in conjunction with the utility it provides a group.