Snow Treaders

KaironBlackbard · July 15

It's purpose is granting immunity to movement hampering effects (snares and immobilizations).

I'd like either an upgrade or another mythic that has one of the following effects:

While standing still, become Unstoppable. (CCI) - aka, similar proc to Adamant Lurker, but Unstoppable (CCI) instead of heal/recovery.
While standing still and bracing, become rooted and Unstoppable. This Unstoppable does not make you immune to this specific rooting.
Or something along those lines anyways.

Navaac223 · July 15

I think you would need a really big drawback or another proc condition because that set would 100% be used by pvp tanks to become actually immortal, I think this is the last playstile that needs a buff right now

KaironBlackbard · July 15

Besides the fact that tanks cant get any penetration or damage output? What other drawbacks are you proposing?
No. Tanks have no damage. There's nothing that kills them more.
If they can't kill the insane sustain dps, then they should be able to survive them until they decide they've wasted enough time trying to gank an unkillable in Imperial City.
I'm a pacifist who loves doing Imperial City. I hate PvP fights.
Yesterday was fun! Over a dozen enemies ignored me, and I them. Some of us even aided each other in PvE fights.
Then this one Red (At the time I was blue) attacked me.
He was dragonknight with greatsword.
I'm a blocktank khajiit nightblade.
I have Thews of the Harbinger.
At the time I had shattered fate for pen, but it was utterly useless so I just traded it for Adamant Lurker.
If I had Syrabane's, he wouldn't have been able to whittle me.
Harbinger was dealing 600 each time he hit me. He instantly healed.
I even had rejuvenating path running and he still managed to whittle me. My sustain wasn't great. Thus the trade for Adamant might help my next fight. Untested.
Dark Cloak would have helped greatly, but I A: don't have it equipped, B: Have it set as Shadowy Disguise for PvE content.
Hopefully Adamant Lurker is almost as good.

Literally all I do is hold block. Why?
When I don't block, my connection will glitch and I end up dead on reconnect. I hate Centurylink.
I try to cast one ability and they somehow cast 5 in the same time frame, as if they have anim skips on all their abilities. I get hit by chain knife, uppercut, cleave, and critical charge in 0.2 seconds.
But when I block, it seems more like everything goes as it's supposed to. No anim skips. Normal combat timing. Fewer lag spikes.
I survive for 1 second not blocking, or 1 minute blocking.
Doesn't really matter the character.
Block tanks lasts 5+ minutes.

Back to the dragonknight.
His ally arrived and I met said ally earlier. He just watched in disbelief as the dragonknight kept wailing on me.
It's not like he could help me. He was that guy's ally after all. Any intervention would have only helped the DK kill me faster.
I was hoping he would give up, but after seeing my rejuvenating path no longer have much effect when I hit 50%, I knew he wouldn't stop till I was dead.
15 minutes blocking him, and he eventually got me.
No stuns used.
Even if I was immune to stuns, still not invulnerable.
Syrabane's ward however, may have given the boost needed. 30% more block mitigation (or 15 more points to block since base is 50.)
He (my main) is in the 80s (block mit), so it woulda let him hit 90% (cap). Might've reduced his (the DK's) damage enough to let my sustain make the difference.

fred4 · July 15

You're a nightblade. You have the best escape tools for IC, bar none. If you want to escape a melee player, you drop a shadow image and run. If they stay near your shadow image, you keep running. If they follow you, you port back. Either way, you then cloak. There isn't much a typical melee player, such as a DK, can do about that. Maybe they can leap you once, but that's about it.

I get that you have connection issues. It's just, players like that DK are quite common. You will get stuck, engaged with other players in IC, unless, well, you're a cloaking nightblade.

The cheapest way to frustrate such players is arguably porting out to Cyrodiil and back into IC, possibly using an addon to initiate that quickly. You have to do it to save your Tel Var from time to time anyway. I don't think you'll teach them to leave you alone. Especially not if they can whittle down your health. Not all PvPers can do that, because they run burst builds. If someone has a pressure build with high sustained damage, they may well love a target like you, because that's essentially what they're made for.

That said, I'm sure you can do better than your current build. For one thing: Don't build for health regen. Health regen is cut in half by Battle Spirit. It's not a good stat to chase for PvP. Consider a set like Cyrodiil's Crest, which heals you while blocking, although I don't know whether that's optimal. I had a friend who elevated PvP tanking to a high art, but I don't know what he ran. Here are some of my own, less informed, ideas:

The Esoteric Environment Greaves are what I personally wear for gank protection. However I'm much squishier than you and that's why I need them. They are generally good against other nightblades and sorcs, but not against pressure builds that DOT you up.
Zoal + Slippery CP will automatically break you free and stun attackers 1 in 3 times.
Stormweaver's Cavort would allow you to shift block cost to magicka, which leaves you free to invest into stamina regen and to cast the heavy armor skill to become permanently un-CCable, like you asked. However that is a big shift in how to build. Most utility skills use magicka. I think the class that can possibly make this work is arcanist, because you can have a stamina-costing burst heal. EDIT: I forgot: You can also just use an ice staff for magicka-costing block.
A potion duration extension or cooldown reduction build could increase CC immunity uptime, but those builds are not perfect and tend to involve a lot sacrifices. They are also expensive to run and, if at all, then best done on an Argonian.
There is a crafted set increasing poison duration by 4 seconds. Escapist poisons make you CC immune for up to 4.4 seconds with a 10 second cooldown. Using that armor set gets you to 8.4 seconds. However poisons have a random proc chance and aren't hugely reliable.
If you have 80+% block mitigation, you seem to have that sorted. Just to say there is a set called Steadfast's Mettle which reduces your core combat costs, including blocking.

That said, if you have high health, you can probably afford Siphoning Attacks and block indefinitely. What you're really missing is sources of healing. Off the top of my head, if I were to make a blocking tankblade, and not use Dark Cloak, I'd probably wear Cyrodiil's Crest + Soulcleaver with some block cost reduction and plenty of mag sustain (Atro mundus, Witchmother's Potent Brew). You can use Swallow Soul + Sap Essence to PvE. You can sustain blocking with Siphoning Attacks, but you need heals over time running in addition to Healthy Offering. Swallow Soul is one, especially if you hit an NPC with it. Path is another. You might want 1H+S on one bar, resto staff on the other for more heals.

KaironBlackbard · July 15

Cloak is useless in PvP. Every time I try I get slapped WHILE invisible. What do they always say? Detect pot. Those things are OP.

Again, cloak is useless in PvP.

22 Tel Var? Seriously?

Not only is health recovery cut 50%, but Healing Received is cut 55%, so healing sets are more useless than recovery ones.

Esoteric will murder my stamina. Sorry, no can do.
He wasn't stunning me. That would be useless. Only really useful against gankblades, but Radiant Magelight counters their stun, so again useless CP.
I'm a block build. Jewelry build infused and reduce block cost Kuta. My block cost is 129. Almost unbreakable. I alternate Ice Staff and Shield, especially if they are at 30+ attacks per second.
^^
I might be able to use that poison, but I need my Harbinger and survival sets.
Steadfast Mettle might be useful, but my block cost and alternating fashion for cost already have that sorted. I need better health sustain, like Adamant Lurker. If they can't outpace my recovery, they'll eventually get bored and move on to greener pastures.

I have health boost version of Siphoning Strikes. Wasn't outhealing his dps. I was losing 100 per second with his damage, including my healing. My siphoning healing 1800 (800) per second and path healing 1000 (450) per second.
Health Recovery 900 outside PvP zones. Adamant makes it 2900. That would have outhealed it had I had it at the time.
Which is 450 in PvP, 1450 in PvP. That extra 1k every 2 seconds would have outhealed his 100 dps. Without my heals it probably would have been 2k per second and taken only 24-30 seconds to take me out.

Sluggy · July 16

KaironBlackbard wrote: »

Cloak is useless in PvP. Every time I try I get slapped WHILE invisible. What do they always say? Detect pot. Those things are OP.

Again, cloak is useless in PvP.

Perhaps it's useless to you due to connections issues but assure you that on the whole it's not useless. Anyway, Fred specifically suggested the other morph which gives you insane healing while standing still.

Overall your build just isn't well optimized for what you are trying to do. Properly made, a true troll tank can withstand a dozen non-coordinated players wailing on them all day long. A solo that is going all in with a single big attack like d-swing shouldn't even be able to scratch you.

KaironBlackbard · July 16

All my defense is in block.
Traits all sturdy to prolong block. Full Heavy.
Jewelry infused with kuta bracing enchantments, greatly reducing block cost.
Weapons have Defending/Sharpened, although sharpened doesn't seem to be doing anything so probably gonna trade for defending, to boost res a bit.
Primary Set Thews of the Harbinger.
Just got Adamant Lurker so gonna test that eventually.
Might trade chest & legs trait from sturdy to reinforced (better than nirnhoned for some reason).

xylena_lazarow · July 16

Yes, buff Snow Treaders, on the condition that they no longer function inside PvP zones.

KaironBlackbard · July 17

Sluggy wrote: »

Anyway, Fred specifically suggested the other morph which gives you insane healing while standing still.

I've reread it a few times and I don't see that. However, I do see:

fred4 wrote: »

You're a nightblade. You have the best escape tools for IC, bar none. If you want to escape a melee player, you drop a shadow image and run. If they stay near your shadow image, you keep running. If they follow you, you port back. Either way, you then cloak. There isn't much a typical melee player, such as a DK, can do about that. Maybe they can leap you once, but that's about it.

fred4 wrote: »

Dark Cloak

Oh, he did mention it in the last paragraph.

fred4 wrote: »

That said, if you have high health, you can probably afford Siphoning Attacks and block indefinitely. What you're really missing is sources of healing. Off the top of my head, if I were to make a blocking tankblade, and not use Dark Cloak, I'd probably wear Cyrodiil's Crest + Soulcleaver with some block cost reduction and plenty of mag sustain (Atro mundus, Witchmother's Potent Brew). You can use Swallow Soul + Sap Essence to PvE. You can sustain blocking with Siphoning Attacks, but you need heals over time running in addition to Healthy Offering. Swallow Soul is one, especially if you hit an NPC with it. Path is another. You might want 1H+S on one bar, resto staff on the other for more heals.

I'm running Leeching Strikes and Rejuvenating Path and 900 health regen and he was doing 100 dps.
With my new Adamant Lurker, if I fight him again, my sustain should outpace his dps. 2900 regen instead of 900.
Leeching Strikes pops every second I am attacked while blocking due to Thews of the Harbinger damaging them every time they hit my block.
Rejuvenating Path active most of the time, if I have the mag for it. That's why its on the shield bar.
Alt bar Ice Staff for mag blocking.
One of these nights I'll remember to spill my entire build.
1800 Leeching -55% = 810
435 Rejuvenating... But it was healing over 400 in Imperial City, so maybe it isn't effected by battle spirit since it's naturally low? Maybe it was doing only about 200 and I just didn't notice...
Health recovery 900 -50% = 450. Oh, there's the 400 pointer. So... Oh, I had a 235 going. That must've been from Rejuvenating Path.
New with Adamant: 2900 -50% = 1450. Should outheal his 100 dps now, yes?
Only one way to find out...

Sluggy · July 19

Is that 2900 before or after Battle Spirit? Either way that is nothing compared to most heals. I can easily get double that with regular HoTs on my brawler DK build while actively killing people.

Yes, that one paragraph at the end basically spelled it out: You need more healing. Dark Cloak is one of the strongest if you're planning on playing a non-mobile block tank. Combine that with something like the heavy armor Immovable buff and the Psijic Meditation and you're going to be laughing all day long while recovering health, stam, and mag all at once.

But if you want to stay perma block that's fine too. Fred mentioned Cyrodiil's Crest and there is also Battalion Defender - both of which give you some pretty crazy heals while blocking. I'd also consider dropping thews entirely, that set really doesn't do much for you. A much better alternative would be leeching plate since it deals damage and heals you based on that damage.

I've tried the health recovery thing. My DK was getting almost 6k after battle spirit but it's just not enough to survive if you get feared and bursted down in a single global cooldown. Healing that scales off of max health and lots of health to avoid the initial shock of an attack is currently the best way to survive.

KaironBlackbard · July 19

Why would I trade 2.2k dph for 600 dps? That's idiotic.
I've made 500k dps with Thews. (Fabled Firecaster) (300k hp dead in 0.5 seconds, basically instantly)
I'm NEVER dropping Thews.
I'm not changing my abilities. Anything I use must be passive, and set based.
Battalion Defender is only a 800 heal, which is 350 in PvP. 700 per 2 seconds. Adamant adds at least 1000 every 2 seconds.
I cannot block while Meditating.
Battle Spirit:
-50% player damage taken
-50% health recovery
-55% healing received
Healing is worse than recovery.

Sluggy · July 20

So you like Thews for dealing with mobs? Fair enough, I suppose. And your connection is so bad that you can't do literally anything other than block? Okay, I can get that too. Mine's the opposite, lag can be spotty so I rarely ever bother with pressing block. Anyway, I hate to break it to you but your options for success are extremely limited. At some point you need to expect to have to use a skill. And I don't think asking ZoS to redesign an already contentious item into an even stronger one that flies in the face of the Unstoppable skill's trade-offs is something that will ever happen.

So instead I'm trying to come up with solutions that can work with your limits. It seems that you're fixated on this one DK that was obviously poorly equipped to deal with this exact situation - but what about the next person you meet that isn't? I can tell you right now that my DK would eat your tank for breakfast since it mostly ignores your block and can easily outpace that 3k heal every two seconds. However, if you had one more significant source of healing (like, say the aforementioned Dark Cloak) it might be enough to tip the scales in your favor. But some others run builds with defiles and unblockable stuns which will bring that all crashing to the ground. The best way to deal with as many of these situations is to try to find something that can a) far outpace any damage you take while blocking and b) allow you a chance to survive and recover when the inevitable stun, DoTs, and defiles do happen.

So here's my hot take: Drop the refreshing path. It's heal is very weak for a non-damge build and you clearly don't need the mobility it grants. Instead, slot Dark Cloak. Even on a naked character with no CP and all points into Health this heals around 3600 every second (when standing still). That's more than twice as much healing as you were looking for. Put on some armor and get your health up to 40k+ which is still low for this kind of build) and you now have a heal that ticks for over 6.1k every second. Now swap the Leeching Strike for Siphoning Attacks to help with sustain. Grab the Heavy Armor buff Immovable to give yourself an good uptime on your major armor buff plus grant you immunity to knockbacks and stuns on demand. Again, the snare shouldn't matter if you are just holding block anyway. Throw on a good monster set that provides some sustain like stone keeper (Engine Guardian and Sentinel are good too but players can target and kill them) and now you have a 5 piece that you can dedicate to whatever you want.

Here's a quick build I threw together in the PTS. I didn't even remember to assign a mundus!

I took it into vet HRC and tanked everything from the bridge to the door until I was satisfied that the block sustain worked. Then I tried it out in Imperial City Sewers against a bunch of mobs plus Obb the Carver (the guy that hits really hard with his 2-hand whirlwind). He didn't even scratch me. Will this make you immortal? Absolutely not. I just threw it together and it's not really optimized in any way. A good four-person team with a sorc will make quick work of you if they coordinate their attacks. But it will absolutely withstand a random solo d-swinging dragon knight any day. Obviously there's quite a few extra skills on the bar and they all serve a purpose but really as long as you can hold block and cast cloak and maybe vigor and your armor buff now and then it should be okay.

KaironBlackbard · July 20

It's not the healing that's most beneficial, it's the recoveries to stam and mag. It allows me to regain my used resource faster while using the alternate block item.
Run low on mag, swap to shield, run low on stam, swap to ice staff.
Refreshing Path boosts those recoveries by 15%.
I wish it also did health recovery. Perhaps its heal is based off my health recovery, but made in a way that vamps can still heal from it? If so, I need to double check its healing when Adamant is active.
900 recovery with 435 heal from path, seems like it.
So now I need to check its healing at 2900 recovery.
Again, it's not the miserable healing, it's the Minor Intellect and Endurance that is most beneficial.
The longer I can block, the better.
I can't get off any heavy attacks to restore it. If I try, I die instantly.
If I try to escape, I don't go further than 5 feet and die.
If I let go of block, I die within 5 seconds.
If I try to cast Lotus Fan, I die mid cast. It kills block for some reason.
Defensive Stance uses a lot of stamina.
Pierce Armor is nice, but seems not to do anything to them. Like they have more than enough armor to ignore both breaches and then some. Stack that with my 16k penetration at that time and it had no effect, no increase in damage.
Hitting me hard if I don't block, ignoring my resistance completely, and no amount of penetration has any effect.
How on earth do they get stats so high?

KaironBlackbard · July 20

They have over 3000 damage, over 54k resistance (33k+21k to ignore my pen+breach), and over 35k pen to ignore all my resistance. Their average damage with uppercut/snipe is 13k, which would be 26k PvE.
I cannot fathom it.

KaironBlackbard · July 20

At this rate I wish Thews did Oblivion damage, then I wouldn't have to worry about its meager PvP damage being effectively negated by simple armor. Let alone stacked armor on a greatsword or bow wielder with stacked penetration and high damage output.

I killed 5 people during the last PvP tickets event using harbinger, though they were low level.
My block is much better now though.
In that event, greatswords and bows wasted me like crazy. Now they hardly graze me.
I doubt your block killer build would waste me as fast as you say. Unless you use Unblinking Eye. Literally the only thing that swiftly kills me nowadays. Everything else takes a while, like that greatsword guy. He's only the most recent fool to waste time on me. For 11 tel vars. 11. I don't go hunting for tel var. I don't keep tel var on me. I stash whenever possible. It is pointless to kill me.

KaironBlackbard · July 20

Sometimes I wish I could have both versions of an ability, like both dark cloak and shadowy disguise, and both shadow image and dark shade.
Speaking of, anyone know why they are always bretons, and don't look like a shadow version of your character?

Sluggy · July 21

KaironBlackbard wrote: »

It's not the healing that's most beneficial, it's the recoveries to stam and mag. It allows me to regain my used resource faster while using the alternate block item.
Run low on mag, swap to shield, run low on stam, swap to ice staff.
Refreshing Path boosts those recoveries by 15%.

As a person that used to exclusively tank in PvE I can tell you that there are better ways to sustain while blocking. I listed them out for you: Potions, Siphoning Attacks, and a sustain monster set if you still need more. Honestly I don't even think the monster set is all that important since in my example Stone Keepers only procced every 15 seconds. You might be better off running something like Sea Seperpents and a piece of Trainee which basically makes you invulnerable after a sudden health drop from 100%. And you can still pair all of these along with the ice staff backbar and some max health/dual regen food to do the barswap thing.

You can only be charged for block cost four times per second. So once you reduce the cost enough and find a passive way to outpace that cost is a solved problem. The build I showed above solves that 100% and grants far far far more healing. There's what, thirty NPCs at the start of Hel Ra? I tanked all of them without breaking a sweat on a build I threw together in fifteen minutes.

KaironBlackbard wrote: »

I wish it also did health recovery. Perhaps its heal is based off my health recovery, but made in a way that vamps can still heal from it? If so, I need to double check its healing when Adamant is active. 900 recovery with 435 heal from path, seems like it.

Damage reduction will always be a better option that health recovery. The less damage they do, the more effective your healing becomes. This is why everyone in PvP chooses stage 3 vampire. A scaling damage reduction up to 30% is far more valuable than a couple hundred extra heals coming in every other second. Next patch you can go stage 1 vamp, get 10% damage reduc and STILL have some health recovery. Also, if you're not interested in a set like Battalion Defender then I'd suggest something that purges instead. Mara's Balm will do that for you and provide a bit of a heal as well. Again, reducing the effectiveness of damage coming in is the way to go. After that strengthening your heals. The heals I suggest aren't at random. They all scale off of max health so you are getting strong heals merely by choosing more passive defense.

KaironBlackbard wrote: »

Pierce Armor is nice, but seems not to do anything to them. Like they have more than enough armor to ignore both breaches and then some. Stack that with my 16k penetration at that time and it had no effect, no increase in damage.
Hitting me hard if I don't block, ignoring my resistance completely, and no amount of penetration has any effect.
How on earth do they get stats so high?

Honestly 16k pen isn't even bad. But if thews is your only source of damage it simply isn't enough. These are people experienced in dealing with a half-dozen attacks coming in from every direction at all times. Their trick? Healing. Over. Time. They stack it like crazy. And the keep it going at all times.

KaironBlackbard wrote: »

I doubt your block killer build would waste me as fast as you say. Unless you use Unblinking Eye. Literally the only thing that swiftly kills me nowadays.

Well if you are on PCNA there's only one true way to find out!

But to be more detailed about how it works: I don't bother stacking into big damage numbers. Instead I max out the number of attacks I do. It will max out your block cost and because I didn't bother with huge tooltips the percentage-based damage reductions have less of an effect. Every second I'll strike with between 6 and 8 sources of damage and even when blocked I regularly see numbers like 200-300 pop up. I also have four DoTs. They aren't strong but they ignore block altogether and can deal another 500-1000 every two seconds. As a DK, if I really want to go for a perma-block tank I'll swap out one of my DoTs for an unblockable stun and I'll equip Corrrosive Armor. Now when I'm ready for a big attack my direct damage can ignore your armor for 12 seconds and stun you right at the start of that window to maximize my damage. People like Aixy and Mitch can still tank me when I'm solo all day long. But troll tanks like that stopped stacking health regen and thews a long time ago. And if I catch a group going after them I'm always able to tip the balance just enough that they suddenly go from surviving comfortably to dropping health rapidly.

Sluggy · July 21

Just for the sake of it I tried it out in Cyrodiil. A team of five couldn't kill me without using siege combined with a coordinated damage dump. And that's using blue gear, the wrong morph of Siphoning, and a Onehand and Shield rank of 5...

KaironBlackbard · July 22

which sets? and setup (skills)?

Sluggy · July 22

For reference, here's the stats when buffed up with a potion and both armor buffs going.

And here's the setup.

After a couple days of testing in live fights in Cyrodiil I optimized it a good bit based on various issues I had. I went with leching cause I don't have thews. It definitely helps keep me a live a bit longer but that really only matters when completely surrounded by foes. Battalion Defender put in some great work and that extra 1.5k healing really helps in a tight spot. As an alternative you could aslo go with Mara's and get a free purge with a burst heal every fifteen seconds. Sentinel for the monster set cause I didn't know what else to try. The health, mag, and stam don't hurt. No mythic. I tried Sea Serpent on the PTS and quickly found that getting glued to the floor wasn't worth it. You still need to be able to move to avoid siege and negates and if it procs at the wrong time and you can't move you are dead. For that same reason I dropped the Immovable skill. Id end up using it at the very worst time and get myself glued to the floor when I needed to move. Maybe someone more experienced could get great use out of it but I'm not that dedicated lol.

I tried ice staff backbar with mag costs and it just hurt sustain too much. It never worked well in PvE and it's even worse in PvP. Drop the passive for sure. Up to you if you want Staff or SnB for backbar but you absolutely do not want to be spending mag on blocking. Stack as much mag regen as you can and use your Siphoning Attacks to regen both stam and mag whenever you need. Against a solo target you will never have to leave your frontbar at all. Just keep your Dark Cloak heal going at all times and use Siphoning and Offering when you need them and you'll never die. I went with Orzorga's Red Frothgar for my drink. A classic for PvE tanks and it works great here. Atro seems the best bet for mundus but if you feel comfortable with your mag sustain you could always try Thief or Ritual for stronger heals. For potions I had tri-pots at the ready but whipped up a batch of Immovables that give Health and Mag. Great for when you need to rezz or burn siege.

The frontbar

I played with this a lot and this is what I landed on for now. Healthy Offering is great in a pinch where you need to double up your healing. It can make surviving a group possible. Also nice that you can slightly help others nearby. Flare was just for the passive damage reduc but it can also annoy Nightblades. Cloak is obviously your main source of healing. Siphoning was my choice since it passively gives stam and mag when dealing damage but the other morph might be good too since in theory if you are really getting wailed on by a large group then it will cost you nothing to cast it. Siphoning if you want easier sustain against a few enemies. Leeching if you want better sustain and survivability against many. I finally unlocked Defensive Stance and it makes a huge difference. Absolute must-have. Also fun to throw frags back at sorcs if you can afford it. I didn't have the shield ultimate unlocked you but Spell Wall would be my choice for a few seconds of free block and reflect. This is great if you want to go for a rezz uninterrupted. I use meteor here because why not - more mag regen and a potential stun against people.

The backbar

Caltrops is a total flex slot. If you run ice staff you could consider Elemental Drain to give a little more mag sustain and maybe help others out with yourself. I went with caltrops to help make my leeching plate deal a little more damage and thus heal me a little more. Btw - I noticed I was getting minor breech too somehow so I think leeching must proc sundered or something. Useful if others are nearby since you can apply AoE dual breech for them. Mage Light is totally a flex spot. Whatever you want there. I just wanted more crit chance since if I'm on my backbar it means I absolutely need more healing and I want a better chance for them to be big. Phantasmal Escape is excellent when things go terrible. It gives 20% reduced damage and can potentially make an emergency roll (like out of siege or negates) completely free. Snare removal too. Refreshing path is just one more heal cause why not. In an emergency you want everything you can get. It also lets you move a bit faster when stuck in combat and running on foot plus you can help out others nearby. And finally Precognition. It didn't seem to work at all when I was stunned to hell and back but whatever. If nothing else it gives me a 10k damage shield when i flip to my backbar and that little extra bit might make the difference when you want to get all of your heals going before swapping back to your mainbar.

I can safely say this: There are no NPCs in Imperial City that can kill you. And I'm as certain as anyone can be that a single person has absolutely no chance of killing you (barring any unknown exploits or a massive lag spike). There just isn't enough damage in the game. You don't even need to leave your main bar since everything you need to heal and sustain is right there. That being said I did manage to tank a few small groups of sweat lords and with some optimizations over time and some practice I managed to go from handling three to handling five or six. The only way they could kill me was with siege. That being said, I think a group well equipped with unblockable stuns and coordinating in chat could eventually do it if you slip up even once. It's not free though and it does take work to survive that many if they are good. As for random pugs... I dunno, ten, maybe fifteen? It was hard to count and keep myself alive but eventually they did get me with a combination of dots, unblockables, negates, siege, and a heck of a lot of damage while I was pinned to the ground for three seconds. Siege, negates, the templar stun (which lasts like three seconds) are all things to watch out for. Outside of that they can't do much except stack more numbers. Of course with spotty internet service your mileage may vary but I assure you no solo will ever kill you as long as you manage your heal and your regen.

KaironBlackbard · July 22

For me I'm running

Thews 5/5
Was running 6/5 Shattered Fate
Lady Malagias Visage
Traded 5 SF for Adamant, kept the gold necklace (Infused, block cost reduction)
Harbinger Rings Purple also reduced block cost, still need to get summerset to research infused to transmute it

Ice Staff Bar is
1:
2: Overflowing Altar (Mostly for PvE)
3:
4: Radiant Magelight (Immunity to the Stun from sneak attacks, could care less about critical)
5: Lingering Flare (Major Protection)
Ult: Ice Storm (levelling purposes)

Shield Bar is (passive mostly)
1: Pierce Armor
2: Rejuvenating Path (Shadowy Disguise in PvE)
3: Defensive Stance
4: Leeching Strikes
5: Grim Resolve, no.. Merciless Resolve? I think I did the better arrow morph. How I use it atm though I should have it as better stacks instead.
Ult: Spell Wall

I honestly forgot what he's using. I've been using my Vamp, werewolf, and templar healer lately.
I have two other skills on in those empty slots for levelling, but I forget what they are.
Normally I'm running lotus fan in Ice #1, but I'm pretty sure I have a different skill there for levelling atm.
I might have Impulse on for levelling.
All my Harbinger is Purple. Malagia is purple.
Adamant is a mix of blue and purple.
Shattered Fate is purple, except for the Gold Necklace.

olsborg · July 23

(1 item) While you are in combat, you are immune to snares and immobilizations that can be cleansed, but you cannot Sprint. Increase your movement speed by 7%

KaironBlackbard · July 23

KaironBlackbard wrote: »

For me I'm running

Thews 5/5
Was running 6/5 Shattered Fate
Lady Malagias Visage
Traded 5 SF for Adamant, kept the gold necklace (Infused, block cost reduction)
Harbinger Rings Purple also reduced block cost, still need to get summerset to research infused to transmute it

Ice Staff Bar is
1:
2: Overflowing Altar (Mostly for PvE)
3:
4: Radiant Magelight (Immunity to the Stun from sneak attacks, could care less about critical)
5: Lingering Flare (Major Protection)
Ult: Ice Storm (levelling purposes)

Shield Bar is (passive mostly)
1: Pierce Armor
2: Rejuvenating Path (Shadowy Disguise in PvE)
3: Defensive Stance
4: Leeching Strikes
5: Grim Resolve, no.. Merciless Resolve? I think I did the better arrow morph. How I use it atm though I should have it as better stacks instead.
Ult: Spell Wall

I honestly forgot what he's using. I've been using my Vamp, werewolf, and templar healer lately.
I have two other skills on in those empty slots for levelling, but I forget what they are.
Normally I'm running lotus fan in Ice #1, but I'm pretty sure I have a different skill there for levelling atm.
I might have Impulse on for levelling.
All my Harbinger is Purple. Malagia is purple.
Adamant is a mix of blue and purple.
Shattered Fate is purple, except for the Gold Necklace.

Ice Staff corrections:
1: Lotus Fan
2: Frost Impulse (for levelling, and minor protection {miserably low duration})
3: Overflowing Altar (It's fun to use, unless I'm getting ganked)

Only wandering horrors and some players can kill me. Nothing else can.

KaironBlackbard · July 23

olsborg wrote: »

(1 item) While you are in combat, you are immune to snares and immobilizations that can be cleansed, but you cannot Sprint. Increase your movement speed by 7%

Should probably be a little more than 7%, like 12%. Or grant an Expedition buff relative to what you do not have or cannot cast, excluding sprint based sources (Cowards Gear).
Like grant Major Expedition, if already have Major then instead grant Minor Expedition, that sort of thing.
You could also say it turns sources of Major Expedition into sources of Minor Expedition since it already grants Major Expedition.
Something like that anyways.