About Whirlwind skill (Dual Wield line)

carlos.trevisan.contatonrb19_ESO · April 2014

So ive seen a lot of questions about AoE damage on Weapon skill lines, and how they doesnt compare to the destruction staff skill "ïmpulse".
So im wondering, since i hate staves (sorry guys, i hate staves, i love weapons, love crossbows, love melee weapons, but i really hate staves, i wish i could use an Dwarven engine weapon type to shot stuff frim, but its another topic...), its Whirlwind any close in damage, resource cost, and range to impulse and others AoE skills?
can we spam Whirwind in a group of enemies enough to kill them all before run out of stamina?
Thank you in advance for any help

templar_von_midgard · April 2014

It's damage on an enemy withfull health is simply pathethic, but it exponentally increase as target(s) have lower health. If you have a strong enough opener, then whirling blades is simply awesome!

carlos.trevisan.contatonrb19_ESO · April 2014

Ok, so i shouldnt expect build an "barbarian WHIRLWIND ESO" version. I need a good opener.

templar_von_midgard · April 2014

Maybe Path of Shadows and Lotus Fan in this order.
Personally, I try to stun and tag everyone in vicinity with Shadow Cloak + Surprise Attack, then use Whirling Blades.
My other setup is Lotus Fan -> Sap Essence -> Whirling Blades, rinse and repeat, for groups of 3+ this latter setup is awesome, though very risky.

Yelgis · April 2014

Whirlwind is actually better damage than Impulse if the mob is lower than 50% hp.

The issue is getting the mobs to that point, but each class has an option for that (though some are better than others).

NB has Drain Power which when morphed can hit up to 9 mobs, does comparable damage to Impulse(minus some of Impulse's bonuses explained later) and gives you a scaling weapon damage buff based on how many mobs you hit, which will really help the WW damage (though Impulse benefits from this as well).

DK has Dark Talons, Fire Breath, Inferno, and Ash Cloud all as options to get mobs low for WW finishing. Dark Talons is the best option as it roots and also delivers more damage up front than the other options.

Templar has the aoe morph to solar flare, the Aedric Spear ult (which is dirt cheap) and Piercing Strikes.

Sorc has Lightning Armor and Lightning Flood.

The problem is even with options to get WW to the point that it is good Impulse still performs better for solo aoe. This is because Impulse costs less with a full light armor setup making it more efficient even before counting the Destro staff passive that restores 250 magicka if you kill targets with it.

Also when using Impulse with a fire staff and the Elemental Ring morph you potentially apply two dots on each mob each cast (one dot is burning from the 40% chance from Impulse the other is the damage over time portion added by Elemental Ring morph). Fire dots have a chance to cause an effect called explosion that hits harder than the initial impulse (which is why Blockade morph for wall of elements with a fire staff is also good). On top of all that, the two dots help build ultimate each tick making Impulse one of the best ultimate generation tools in an AOE situation.

The only thing WW has going for it is that with the Steel Tornado morph it has an enormous radius for an AOE and it does better at finishing mobs off. Impulse will generally outperform WW in most AOE situations though.

WW is very good as an assist to others aoeing though, because others can whittle down the HP to where your WW is ablet o come in and finish the mobs off even faster. Though by doing so you are stealing potential kills from the Impulsers that would have gotten mana back from them.