Heavy Armor Magicka NB?

Draehl · March 2015

Preface: So I've played a full light armor NB caster/healer since launch. I've enjoyed it rather well and have been impressed with just how well I can combine skills and items to re-create the playstyles, strengths, and weaknesses of different classes I've played over the years in various MMOs. The interesting archetypes to me have always been the attrition/utility based offensive hybrids that combine solid sustained damage, debuffing/CC, emergency/off-heals, and a modicum of durability to act as something of a mid-liner for a group, right behind the tanks- or a solid 1v1 foe to wear enemies out over time. The weaknesses of this type of build typically being low mobility and low burst. Nightblade, at least on paper, fits this archetype to a T with many of the skills and effects available.

In any case- the full light armor build felt a bit too squishy & offense oriented so I took advantage of the changes to armor caps and Shadow Barrier in 1.6 to move over to a 5 heavy/2 light armor setup. (5pc seducer + 2pc Lights/Torugs/Adroitness for the spellpower, reduced spell cost enchants - Dual Resto or Resto + Destro - ) Skills @ ESOhead

I'll often swap out Crippling Grasp for Sap Essence in zergs, and Mirage for Piercing Mark if its looking much smaller scale. I've kicked ass with it in PvE and have been extremely impressed with it on that front- until I came to PvP where it has absolutely failed. I just switched back to light armor and have been doing much better, however would like to pursue heavy if its viable. I've always been successful at PvP in MMOs/FPS/MOBAs so this level of failure is honestly a bit foreign to me...

Would anyone care to address this general concern as well as possibly some more specific notes below?

Health shields seem far, far stronger than raw mitigation. Using Harness Magicka + Dark Cloak spam on the light armor build seemed to absolutely eclipse the survivability from heavy.
Magicka was an issue in heavy- even considering Seducer, Siphoning Attacks + light/funnel weaving, Breton, Atronach mundus, reduced spell cost enchants. With the light armor setup I dropped Siphoning Attacks and still could spam much harder, along with the noticeably better defense/utility.
Could some of the (seemingly) OP builds such as 2H DK and Hardening Ward Sorcs make something less... abusive/broken like this build seem weaker than it really is? They do seem to be rather common opponents. Could the poor performance of this build be a symptom of the overall game balance? Certain other builds/classes are somehow able to achieve a higher level of defense than I while outputting significantly higher damage...
Full tank or full burst seems to be the name of the game. There doesn't appear to be much room for hybrid/attrition type builds in general at least in this meta. True or just my brief (false) perception since 1.6 launched?
I've tried S&B, but the loss of a ranged light attack for purposes of siphoning attacks amplified my magicka issues even further.

Anyway. Loving ESO and Cyrodiil but just looking to be a little more viable if possible. Maybe heavy armor and NB aren't destined to mix well, but if it could even come close to how well it works in PvE I'd be amazed. Thanks for any feedback you may have!

nukeemstudiosub17_ESO · March 2015

Im a hybrid sap tank. I will say that it is a VERY viable PvP build. DEF Takes more skill than a one button spam.(as people used to be so fond of saying)
In cyrodill = Health 25k mana 18.5k stam 18.4k. I actually do very well. The key to being effective IMO is my armor sets and jewelry inchants. 5x willows path 5x footmans(6h 1L) x2 cyrodills light. and all jewelry enchants are mana skill cost reduction.
All my cp goes into reduce block cost, mana and stam regen, increase cpell crit, and increase effectiveness of healing and damage absorbing effects, and also resistance to crit damage.
My build allows me to jump right into the enemy and have excellent survive-ability. I Rely heavily on siphoning attacks(the toggle skill) Used with my mana skill cost reduction enchants x3 is nearly unlimited resources.
I can last longer than DK tanks and just as long as templars in large battles.

Draehl · March 2015

nukeemstudiosub17_ESO wrote: »

Im a hybrid sap tank. I will say that it is a VERY viable PvP build. DEF Takes more skill than a one button spam.(as people used to be so fond of saying)
In cyrodill = Health 25k mana 18.5k stam 18.4k. I actually do very well. The key to being effective IMO is my armor sets and jewelry inchants. 5x willows path 5x footmans(6h 1L) x2 cyrodills light. and all jewelry enchants are mana skill cost reduction.
All my cp goes into reduce block cost, mana and stam regen, increase cpell crit, and increase effectiveness of healing and damage absorbing effects, and also resistance to crit damage.
My build allows me to jump right into the enemy and have excellent survive-ability. I Rely heavily on siphoning attacks(the toggle skill) Used with my mana skill cost reduction enchants x3 is nearly unlimited resources.
I can last longer than DK tanks and just as long as templars in large battles.

What weapons/skills do you run?

EricGraham1987_ESO · March 2015

What 2H DK builds are OP?

Draehl · March 2015

EricGraham1987_ESO wrote: »

What 2H DK builds are OP?

No clue what the actual builds are, but it appears to be full medium or maybe 5 medium/2 heavy the damage is primarily coming from Critical Rush, Wrecking Blow, with partially charged heavy attacks (Igneous Weapons?) and Unable Flame mixed in. Not only is the damage rather high but the sustain is incredibly strong too- in many 1v1 or even 2v1 situation it can be very difficult to even get them below 60-70% hp due to Dragon Blood, Rally, and Reflective Scales/Igneous Shield. In any case- its not so much that it does great damage, or that it has great defense/sustain, but rather that it has both. IMO builds should have to choose between a strong offense, strong defense, or go hybrid and be decent at both. That doesn't appear to be the case here...

Anyway, I'm not trying to call nerf so much as compare/contrast what they are able to do and what I seem unable to given that I've pretty well dedicated myself to sustain and completely written off doing any meaningful burst.

nukeemstudiosub17_ESO · March 2015

Draehl wrote: »

nukeemstudiosub17_ESO wrote: »

Im a hybrid sap tank. I will say that it is a VERY viable PvP build. DEF Takes more skill than a one button spam.(as people used to be so fond of saying)
In cyrodill = Health 25k mana 18.5k stam 18.4k. I actually do very well. The key to being effective IMO is my armor sets and jewelry inchants. 5x willows path 5x footmans(6h 1L) x2 cyrodills light. and all jewelry enchants are mana skill cost reduction.
All my cp goes into reduce block cost, mana and stam regen, increase cpell crit, and increase effectiveness of healing and damage absorbing effects, and also resistance to crit damage.
My build allows me to jump right into the enemy and have excellent survive-ability. I Rely heavily on siphoning attacks(the toggle skill) Used with my mana skill cost reduction enchants x3 is nearly unlimited resources.
I can last longer than DK tanks and just as long as templars in large battles.

What weapons/skills do you run?

Srry ! lol Sword and board on both bars. Skills Absorb magic, Siphoning attacks, mass hysteria, Shield charge , Sap essence,
bar two - absorb magic again(mainly for the block mitigation) siphoning attacks , Magic detonation, dark cloak, Funnel health. ultimate- Devouring Swarm both bars

Draxys · March 2015

For both my DK and NB magicka builds I added heavy chest and legs and my survivability is just as good as it ever was. Not using siphoning attacks either because cost reduction is so easy to get

Draxys · March 2015

nukeemstudiosub17_ESO wrote: »

Draehl wrote: »

nukeemstudiosub17_ESO wrote: »

Im a hybrid sap tank. I will say that it is a VERY viable PvP build. DEF Takes more skill than a one button spam.(as people used to be so fond of saying)
In cyrodill = Health 25k mana 18.5k stam 18.4k. I actually do very well. The key to being effective IMO is my armor sets and jewelry inchants. 5x willows path 5x footmans(6h 1L) x2 cyrodills light. and all jewelry enchants are mana skill cost reduction.
All my cp goes into reduce block cost, mana and stam regen, increase cpell crit, and increase effectiveness of healing and damage absorbing effects, and also resistance to crit damage.
My build allows me to jump right into the enemy and have excellent survive-ability. I Rely heavily on siphoning attacks(the toggle skill) Used with my mana skill cost reduction enchants x3 is nearly unlimited resources.
I can last longer than DK tanks and just as long as templars in large battles.

What weapons/skills do you run?

Srry ! lol Sword and board on both bars. Skills Absorb magic, Siphoning attacks, mass hysteria, Shield charge , Sap essence,
bar two - absorb magic again(mainly for the block mitigation) siphoning attacks , Magic detonation, dark cloak, Funnel health. ultimate- Devouring Swarm both bars

If you are a khajiit or whatever other race gets stealth damage bonus (wood elf maybe?), try stacking spell dmg and switching to clouding swarm. I do something like this...

Relentless focus (I think that's the new skill that buffs dmg)
Magicka det
Gap closer into enemies
Sap
Invis bats
Sapeverything

Emma_Overload · March 2015

nukeemstudiosub17_ESO wrote: »

Im a hybrid sap tank. I will say that it is a VERY viable PvP build. DEF Takes more skill than a one button spam.(as people used to be so fond of saying)
In cyrodill = Health 25k mana 18.5k stam 18.4k. I actually do very well. The key to being effective IMO is my armor sets and jewelry inchants. 5x willows path 5x footmans(6h 1L) x2 cyrodills light. and all jewelry enchants are mana skill cost reduction.
All my cp goes into reduce block cost, mana and stam regen, increase cpell crit, and increase effectiveness of healing and damage absorbing effects, and also resistance to crit damage.
My build allows me to jump right into the enemy and have excellent survive-ability. I Rely heavily on siphoning attacks(the toggle skill) Used with my mana skill cost reduction enchants x3 is nearly unlimited resources.
I can last longer than DK tanks and just as long as templars in large battles.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one using Willow's Path on Heavy! And to anyone reading this, NOW is a good time to invest in the Footman's set, because all the FOTM builds are chasing Light Armor spell damage gear. I'm seeing Footman rings selling for half what I paid during the 1.5 era.

nukeemstudiosub17_ESO · March 2015

Draxys wrote: »

nukeemstudiosub17_ESO wrote: »

Draehl wrote: »

nukeemstudiosub17_ESO wrote: »

Im a hybrid sap tank. I will say that it is a VERY viable PvP build. DEF Takes more skill than a one button spam.(as people used to be so fond of saying)
In cyrodill = Health 25k mana 18.5k stam 18.4k. I actually do very well. The key to being effective IMO is my armor sets and jewelry inchants. 5x willows path 5x footmans(6h 1L) x2 cyrodills light. and all jewelry enchants are mana skill cost reduction.
All my cp goes into reduce block cost, mana and stam regen, increase cpell crit, and increase effectiveness of healing and damage absorbing effects, and also resistance to crit damage.
My build allows me to jump right into the enemy and have excellent survive-ability. I Rely heavily on siphoning attacks(the toggle skill) Used with my mana skill cost reduction enchants x3 is nearly unlimited resources.
I can last longer than DK tanks and just as long as templars in large battles.

What weapons/skills do you run?

Srry ! lol Sword and board on both bars. Skills Absorb magic, Siphoning attacks, mass hysteria, Shield charge , Sap essence,
bar two - absorb magic again(mainly for the block mitigation) siphoning attacks , Magic detonation, dark cloak, Funnel health. ultimate- Devouring Swarm both bars

If you are a khajiit or whatever other race gets stealth damage bonus (wood elf maybe?), try stacking spell dmg and switching to clouding swarm. I do something like this...

Relentless focus (I think that's the new skill that buffs dmg)
Magicka det
Gap closer into enemies
Sap
Invis bats
Sapeverything

Sorry I am also a redgard. For the stamina regen. Other than that our builds are very close.