Arcanist in PvP

Udrath · August 2023

I haven’t levelled up a arcanist yet, so only fought against them. They’re kind of like necro but way better. Most just stall in the back casting fatecarver, and are pretty hard to take down due to their shields. Then hit you with the ultimate+charm stun into fatecarver which does a lot of damage, and can wipe clusters of players like necro.

Great teammates to have in battleground if they use their shields to body block damage on others, and use their ultimates at good times. Most do not seem to put out a ton of pressure outside of their ultimate, except a few players playing melee with a meta set up - but that’s good on any class.

LittlePinkDot · August 2023

I have noticed some very tanky Arcanists...
But the masters dual wield weapons seem to be used by every class except DK and Nightblade.

But I don't know how they can still do enough damage with proc sets only.

I have 1 but there's no way I can see just adding another one could make a big difference.
I had to invest heavily into damage to get bow to do enough damage. I only have 27.5k health on my Arcanist.

OBJnoob · August 2023

@LittlePinkDot well there's a difference between the proc you use (sheer venom, right?) And the procs they use. You need to have decent base damage to make your proc scale but some of the other procs are constant values.

Overall... I didn't buy Arcanist so I have nothing to add. Except agreement. Arcanist are very hard to kill once they turtle up at low health... It's annoying... But they really don't seem capable of much damage at all. But yes I have seen some in BGs using their ulti on clusters and it looks pretty effective and cool.

Also @LittlePinkDot bows are getting some of their passives buffed next patch I guess so your Arcanist and my bowsorc are gonna be hitting a little harder soon. I can't wait. I already hit pretty hard and I'm not even using any bow abilities except the ultimate. It's gonna help me quite a bit.

BasP · August 2023

LittlePinkDot wrote: »

BasP wrote: »

LittlePinkDot wrote: »

SandandStars wrote: »

Alright, my last entry on this unscintillating topic.

I’ve been pvping Arcanist off n on for a few weeks and just can’t get excited about using Fatecarver. It’s just too sloppy/crude/imprecise.

Been using Deadly Strike set and getting a decent amount of kills with FC, but it’s dull as dirt.

Being a tanky healy Plar spamming javelins and radiant O feels more dynamic, and I hate that crap.

Can anyone inspire me to see an exciting aspect of Fatecarver that I am ignorant of?

JUST GET RID OF IT!

I don't use fatecarver on my PVP build. It's completely unnecessary. Flail for crux generation, immobilization and 5% DMG debuff to enemy. Then use whatever weapon skills you want, plus 1 proc set.
I use bow, shes a poison/DOT build with Sheer venom. Destruction staff back bar for weakness to elements
No offensive crux spender at all.
All crux is reserved for impervious rune ward.

Fyi Arcanist passive "Psychic lesion" increases damage with status effects by 15% and the chance to apply by 75%

I've seen you mentioning your bow build a handful of times and I've been wondering, what gear sets do you use? I did quite a few BGs while leveling my Arcanist and during MYM, but began to get bored of using Fatecarver after a while (and I didn't feel like switching to the generic Master DW / Vateshran Hollows Ice Staf setup).

I'm using swamp raider(600 weapon DMG to poison abilities) and sheer venom for the poison proc on execute from poison injection. It's the same old combo used on gank NB's years ago.

The Toxic Barrage bow ultimate has some pretty insane damage. It's technically a channeled ability so I guess deady strike might work too.
I could get more damage, but I'm liking blood spawn set for survivability and ultimate generation.
And I use 3xswift trait jewelry since Arcanists mobility sucks.
Obviously if I used infused or blood thirsty traits I would have more damage.

I also don't have bar space for that awesome stun Arcanist has, I need camohunter for major savagery. But being able to hit from range means it's not too bad without a stun.

But the real critical piece of the build to me is impervious rune ward on the front bar.
With all your crux reserved for rune ward, it's basically an on demand burst heal with a massive shield. That and Runeguard of Freedom has saved my hide many times.
My only real heal I'm currently slotting is audacious runemend for the minor heroism. Vigor might be a better heal, but I don't want to lose the minor heroism I need to get Toxic Barrage up as soon as possible.
And Runeguard of Freedom has the minor resolve like Vigor. I'm trying to determine which I like better, vigor or Runeguard of Freedom.

I can see why ZoS didn't give Arcanist a burst heal like Templar, NB etc.
Because their healing is spread out over multiple skills.

But the problem I see is that Arcanist can only hold 3 crux at a time. So there isn't enough crux to use both runeward AND fatecarver sequentially.
And it doesn't help that Arcanist has a passive that increases healing the more crux you have.
So as soon as you spend your crux on fatecarver, your healing is gimped. That passive even gimps how much healing you get from vigor, and that's not even an Arcanist skill.

Thanks for the thorough reply, I appreciate it!

LittlePinkDot · August 2023

OBJnoob wrote: »

@LittlePinkDot well there's a difference between the proc you use (sheer venom, right?) And the procs they use. You need to have decent base damage to make your proc scale but some of the other procs are constant values.

Overall... I didn't buy Arcanist so I have nothing to add. Except agreement. Arcanist are very hard to kill once they turtle up at low health... It's annoying... But they really don't seem capable of much damage at all. But yes I have seen some in BGs using their ulti on clusters and it looks pretty effective and cool.

Also @LittlePinkDot bows are getting some of their passives buffed next patch I guess so your Arcanist and my bowsorc are gonna be hitting a little harder soon. I can't wait. I already hit pretty hard and I'm not even using any bow abilities except the ultimate. It's gonna help me quite a bit.

Perhaps you've figured out how proc sets should be balanced... Should scale with weapon/spell damage. If you build too tanky your procs will be weak potatoes.

IxSTALKERxI · August 2023

Was just looking through some recordings, I managed to hit someone for 67k.

olsborg · August 2023

I think magsorcs have something to learn from arcanists in terms of their damage shields. ...wink wink.

LittlePinkDot · August 2023

olsborg wrote: »

I think magsorcs have something to learn from arcanists in terms of their damage shields. ...wink wink.

Why only magsorc and not Stam sorc?
Arcanist and sorc shields both scale with health.
And they would need the bar space. Front bar space that is.
Stam sorc is superior to magsorc because they can use weapon skills.

I find by the time I need the shield I would already be dead if I have to switch to back bar.
And they still have crappy healing. You still need to be able to heal back up to full health after you pop the shield.
The Arcanists shield comes with a burst heal includes when you have crux.

Sorc has superior mobility though.
Streak on the front bar it probably better.

OBJnoob · August 2023

My bowsorc front bar is: curse, streak, hardened ward, crystal weapon, bound armaments.

I should probably drop hardened ward because I'm not even built for max HP like I was trying in the beginning. BUT, having like 33k HP (orc, 3 heavy, 15 attribute points,) the shield is still worth like 7k in cyrodiil and it's honestly not bad. What makes it not bad is crystal weapon. Always cast crystal weapon first and the shield costs less. 10% I think? Anyway since we don't have a reliable burst heal I find the shield to be viable, even on a stam toon, because if you just cast the shield and stay on offense you can heal yourself with crits and blood magic passive. Obviously I have some actual heals on back bar. Bow/Resto is the way to go, IMO.

I'm honestly curious why everybody says magsorc is worse than stamsorc. Melee stamsorc running arena weapons-- sure-- but I don't see how a magsorc would be noticably worse than my bowsorc. Having access to Ele Sus if you want it sounds nice. And there's nothing wrong with force pulse as a spammable.

LittlePinkDot · August 2023

OBJnoob wrote: »

My bowsorc front bar is: curse, streak, hardened ward, crystal weapon, bound armaments.

I should probably drop hardened ward because I'm not even built for max HP like I was trying in the beginning. BUT, having like 33k HP (orc, 3 heavy, 15 attribute points,) the shield is still worth like 7k in cyrodiil and it's honestly not bad. What makes it not bad is crystal weapon. Always cast crystal weapon first and the shield costs less. 10% I think? Anyway since we don't have a reliable burst heal I find the shield to be viable, even on a stam toon, because if you just cast the shield and stay on offense you can heal yourself with crits and blood magic passive. Obviously I have some actual heals on back bar. Bow/Resto is the way to go, IMO.

I'm honestly curious why everybody says magsorc is worse than stamsorc. Melee stamsorc running arena weapons-- sure-- but I don't see how a magsorc would be noticably worse than my bowsorc. Having access to Ele Sus if you want it sounds nice. And there's nothing wrong with force pulse as a spammable.

My Stam sorc is an off meta build for sure.
Her front bar is shrouded daggers, whirling blades, camo hunter, streak and curse.

Back bar is vigor, radiating regen, Crit surge, dark deal, hurricane.

With that set up she can have 100% uptime on Diamonds victory.

OBJnoob · August 2023

I'd like to say I was the one, on these forums, who encouraged you to use diamonds. It wasn't my idea but I told you it'd be fine

Or maybe you were working on a Warden at the time.

Either way, it's your Arcanist I enjoy hearing about. I chose not to buy the dlc unfortunately but if I had I would be following your advice.

Not much point sharing my stamsorc build I'm playing in Ravenwatch at the moment. Heartland conqueror, agility, trainee, Markyn Ring.

With continuous attack and my front bar enchant procced I get just about exactly 6k weapon damage. Not bad for a sharpened bow.

You could always say stamsorc healing sucks but I had a nice clip recently of me 1v2ing two DKs at the top of a resource tower. They weren't great players obviously, or I wouldn't be telling this story, but they weren't squishers either. I was facetanking them on my resto bar for at least a minute waiting for my ulti and I recall saying out loud (because my wife was watching,) "here in a second I'm gonna have a chance to kill one of these guys." Mmmmmmmyuuup.

My backbar is the same as yours only I took rapid Regen instead of radiating.

Edited to add: Oh and I had a 1v1 against a player I know is decent... They were on a Warden... And after I killed them they messaged me and said "those heals are OP." LOL. Imagine.

SandandStars · August 2023

really enjoying these accounts of off-meta pvp builds! Thank you pink dot and OBJ!

One question regarding magsorc versus stamsorc in PVP.

Doesn’t Crystal weapon with a bow on a stamsorc provide a lot more damage than force pulsw on a magsorc? Any time I have tried to use force pulse as a spammable on magsorc, even building specifically into fp damage like spider cultist set, it does absolutely nothing in pvp.

?

Necrotech_Master · August 2023

SandandStars wrote: »

really enjoying these accounts of off-meta pvp builds! Thank you pink dot and OBJ!

One question regarding magsorc versus stamsorc in PVP.

Doesn’t Crystal weapon with a bow on a stamsorc provide a lot more damage than force pulsw on a magsorc? Any time I have tried to use force pulse as a spammable on magsorc, even building specifically into fp damage like spider cultist set, it does absolutely nothing in pvp.

?

i think the ganks that use force pulse stack it with proc sets, usually something like winterborn or draugrkin (since force pulse gets the draugrkin bonus applied 3 times)

winterborn procs off frost dmg which can trigger from force pulse

OBJnoob · August 2023

SandandStars wrote: »

really enjoying these accounts of off-meta pvp builds! Thank you pink dot and OBJ!

One question regarding magsorc versus stamsorc in PVP.

Doesn’t Crystal weapon with a bow on a stamsorc provide a lot more damage than force pulsw on a magsorc? Any time I have tried to use force pulse as a spammable on magsorc, even building specifically into fp damage like spider cultist set, it does absolutely nothing in pvp.

?

Weeeell.

Crystal weapon is a good skill. It does pretty good damage on the first hit and a little damage on the 2nd LA which can be combined with another skill. The thing is I'm using Curse and Bound Armaments in tandem because bow doesn't have a spammable. So I normally combine the second hit with streak or something... Else. Crystal Weapon does physical damage meaning it can proc the sundered status effect which, I think, is just another way of saying minor breach. Higher uptime is always good, but since I'm light attacking with a bow anyway one could argue that the sundered effect is something already in my kit.

Force pulse is kinda cool in my opinion for a couple of reasons. All the possible status effects it can proc are useful for one thing. I've always found it to be THE single most easy skill to land in PvP. Very fast, very smooth, and can land even if your light attack misses which Crystal can not.

I just don't honestly see why a magsorc can't use crystal weapon WITH force pulse. I can see how the stam drain might be rough-- but at the same time, sorcs have a unique ability to regain stam if they so choose. And my stamsorc uses hardened ward, crit surge, curse, and rapid Regen. I think a magsorc could use one or two stam abilities if they wanted.

But magsorcs run frags instead, and even some stamsorcs (probably melee,) prefer it for the superior burst. Which is all well and good, until you start hearing them complain about how it can be roll dodged. Crystal weapon can be roll dodged too... But you'll just have another one coming at you when you stand up, versus having to wait for another proc.

I've actually run my stamsorc in 5 pieces of light armor before and had success with it. The extra crit and penetration are amazing. Finding crit, which is very needed for sorcs, is hard to do sometimes. Penetration is hard as well.

My point with that last bit is... Imagine how much penetration a sorc could have if they wore like 4 pieces of light armor, ran crystal weapon (unique 900 armor debuff if you didn't know,) occasionally procced sundered, and used Ele Sus, AND used a sharpened fire staff.

I don't know if bow is better than fire staff or not-- I think they're similar-- slightly underperforming. I choose to use a bow for major expedition and extra crit. But if I was wearing light armor and using boundless storm instead of hurricane then I'd still have both.

So. I'm not saying one version of sorc is better than the other. I'm saying I think they're very similar. Again, my bowsorc uses curse, crystal weapon, and bound armaments. I could do the exact same thing with a staff.

My recoveries, FYI, are less than 1000 for mag and stam. I split my usage pretty evenly and therefore sustain alright.

The only thing I can honestly say in favor of bow over Destro is that the bow ulti works nicely with the sorc kit. A staffsorc would need to use Overload I guess, which isn't as good in my opinion (but a lot of people like it,) but it does give you a way to basically maintain your mag forever. Which means you can dark deal for stam forever. Just saying.

So. There. That's what I think about that. Remember... You asked for it!

SandandStars · August 2023

This is a detailed and insightful answer. Ty @OBJnoob!

Parrot1986 · August 2023

Played quite a bit of arcanist in no cp pvp and liked it but don’t think I’d ever love it in its current state.

Defensively and sustain its fantastic. I rarely run out of resources and find them really easy to manage with long fights or being outnumbered.

As others have said they are really tanky and you definitely feel like you can get right in the mix and take on multiple people and be comfortable which I like. I don’t run vampire as can’t be bothered levelling it but can only imagine how this would add to it. Overall their defensive toolkit is probably too strong but is very good.

Damage wise they do suffer a bit. I’ve tweaked sets and skill set ups. Mainly stacking herald of tome skills for as high pen as I can get but realistically I apply ele sus for armour rebuff and some damage, minor breach from shield skill then tentatical, stun, beam and from there I know if im going to be able to kill people.

One thing I have noticed is the interrupt free beam is useless against guards since they do what they want so I’ve gone with the snare and higher duration for a bit more damage and easier to keep people in the beam and ulti. Next to no one even attempts to bash it so that’s been worth it for me.

I’ve never had so many fights which end up in me just not having enough damage to kill and feeling in no way like the opp has a chance to kill me so we both just stop.

Other classes I always feel like I have multiple ways I can finish them but arcanist is too one dimensional. When I went super offensive and dropped some defensive skills to go more attacking, you notice the defensive drop off massively but other skills you add just don’t make up the difference at all.

I would say if they were to improve the toolkit for damage then shields/damage reduction would need to suffer as they’d be way too strong overall.

Rhaegar75 · August 2023

What’s the average set up you’ve tested out in your Arcs?

LittlePinkDot · August 2023

Parrot1986 wrote: »

Played quite a bit of arcanist in no cp pvp and liked it but don’t think I’d ever love it in its current state.

Defensively and sustain its fantastic. I rarely run out of resources and find them really easy to manage with long fights or being outnumbered.

As others have said they are really tanky and you definitely feel like you can get right in the mix and take on multiple people and be comfortable which I like. I don’t run vampire as can’t be bothered levelling it but can only imagine how this would add to it. Overall their defensive toolkit is probably too strong but is very good.

Damage wise they do suffer a bit. I’ve tweaked sets and skill set ups. Mainly stacking herald of tome skills for as high pen as I can get but realistically I apply ele sus for armour rebuff and some damage, minor breach from shield skill then tentatical, stun, beam and from there I know if im going to be able to kill people.

One thing I have noticed is the interrupt free beam is useless against guards since they do what they want so I’ve gone with the snare and higher duration for a bit more damage and easier to keep people in the beam and ulti. Next to no one even attempts to bash it so that’s been worth it for me.

I’ve never had so many fights which end up in me just not having enough damage to kill and feeling in no way like the opp has a chance to kill me so we both just stop.

Other classes I always feel like I have multiple ways I can finish them but arcanist is too one dimensional. When I went super offensive and dropped some defensive skills to go more attacking, you notice the defensive drop off massively but other skills you add just don’t make up the difference at all.

I would say if they were to improve the toolkit for damage then shields/damage reduction would need to suffer as they’d be way too strong overall. [/quo

Just use weapon skills. Don't use fatecarver

OtarTheMad · August 2023

I think that’s why Arcanist might be one of the more balanced new classes. Tanking is great, healing is passable and damage is great but with a huge “curse” to it… like a kiss-curse deal.

Fatecarver to me is very avoidable, on my Magcro and Magsorc I have avoided this ability pretty good but where I have seen players use this to some real success is choke points and small areas/corridors. If you’re opponent can’t dodge because of walls or stuff in the area then FC and the watcher ult will melt but that’s a big if because even then some classes could still get away or tank the damage.

I will say, despite its negatives, Arcanist seems like a real fun class.

SandandStars · August 2023

Offensively Arcanist feels sloppy. Cephs Flail is s great skill with lots of utility, but looks and sounds like puke shooting out of a whale,

I’m getting better at aiming Fate Carver while ambling along at Arcanist slow pace, but it too feels crude and imprecise.

Runeblades are sharp and crisp, but sadly useless in PvP.

I keep coming back to Pink Dot’s suggestion to just use weapon skills, Not happy with this, as there are already classes that have to spam dizzy/exec or freaking masters dual wield… disgusting.

Rhaegar75 · August 2023

SandandStars wrote: »

Offensively Arcanist feels sloppy. Cephs Flail is s great skill with lots of utility, but looks and sounds like puke shooting out of a whale,

I’m getting better at aiming Fate Carver while ambling along at Arcanist slow pace, but it too feels crude and imprecise.

Runeblades are sharp and crisp, but sadly useless in PvP.

I keep coming back to Pink Dot’s suggestion to just use weapon skills, Not happy with this, as there are already classes that have to spam dizzy/exec or freaking masters dual wield… disgusting.

the sad thing I have noticed (and i shall soon conform to) is that most effective arcanists tend to use: Vateshran, Master DW, and Way of Fire, Marselok.

I can't recall the last time I was killed by a 'non proc arcanist'. Out of the meta you are either truly amazing skill wise or you will really struggle to do damage.

NordSwordnBoard · August 2023

SandandStars wrote: »

Offensively Arcanist feels sloppy. Cephs Flail is s great skill with lots of utility, but looks and sounds like puke shooting out of a whale,

I’m getting better at aiming Fate Carver while ambling along at Arcanist slow pace, but it too feels crude and imprecise.

Runeblades are sharp and crisp, but sadly useless in PvP.

I keep coming back to Pink Dot’s suggestion to just use weapon skills, Not happy with this, as there are already classes that have to spam dizzy/exec or freaking masters dual wield… disgusting.

I have one non arcanist skill each bar. Awesome sustain back, pen front. Try turning the aim assist OFF for fatecarver. It takes practice, skill, and judicious use but you can make the beam wreck people. Even running solo, it's not as simple as other classes to line up burst. Its also telegraphed. I'm not using vate or masters, but I am using dw with shield back bar. I deal with the odd range limits. Applied correctly, you can make people melt, but it's not the same as bombing.
Arcanist works best when going full arcanist, not slapping a weapon based build on and expecting it to work like dk or Warden.

LittlePinkDot · August 2023

NordSwordnBoard wrote: »

SandandStars wrote: »

Offensively Arcanist feels sloppy. Cephs Flail is s great skill with lots of utility, but looks and sounds like puke shooting out of a whale,

I’m getting better at aiming Fate Carver while ambling along at Arcanist slow pace, but it too feels crude and imprecise.

Runeblades are sharp and crisp, but sadly useless in PvP.

I keep coming back to Pink Dot’s suggestion to just use weapon skills, Not happy with this, as there are already classes that have to spam dizzy/exec or freaking masters dual wield… disgusting.

I have one non arcanist skill each bar. Awesome sustain back, pen front. Try turning the aim assist OFF for fatecarver. It takes practice, skill, and judicious use but you can make the beam wreck people. Even running solo, it's not as simple as other classes to line up burst. Its also telegraphed. I'm not using vate or masters, but I am using dw with shield back bar. I deal with the odd range limits. Applied correctly, you can make people melt, but it's not the same as bombing.
Arcanist works best when going full arcanist, not slapping a weapon based build on and expecting it to work like dk or Warden.

I like Bowcanist! Not DW.

Fyi fatecarver is easy to aim with a controller.
Mouse and keyboard just suck.

SandandStars · August 2023

I applaud Pink Dot for enjoying/creating Bowcanist! Anyone in PVP who is not using masters dual wield/vatesh is my hero these days.

really tired of the pervasiveness of this meta hump

CameraBeardThePirate · August 2023

SandandStars wrote: »

Runeblades are sharp and crisp, but sadly useless in PvP.

This is far from the truth. Runeblades is a fantastic skill and it can destroy healthbars. I've been running it constantly on a max mag stack build - it has a 10k tool tip (all 3 portions combined) before the extra 9% from Crux. It's a very strong skill.

LittlePinkDot · August 2023

CameraBeardThePirate wrote: »

SandandStars wrote: »

Runeblades are sharp and crisp, but sadly useless in PvP.

This is far from the truth. Runeblades is a fantastic skill and it can destroy healthbars. I've been running it constantly on a max mag stack build - it has a 10k tool tip (all 3 portions combined) before the extra 9% from Crux. It's a very strong skill.

Really? I've tried rune blades because it feels like it synergizes better with bow because of its better range than flail.
But I didn't think it did enough damage to justify losing the immobilize and abyssal ink of flail. I wish rune blades had the immobilize instead of flail if the damage is going to suck.
I just wish flail went further. Sometimes I hit air with flail because I'm using Lethal arrow and poison injection from a distance too far for flail. That being said, it's nice to have that immobilize when somebody is trying to get close to me.

SandandStars · August 2023

Yeah I also couldnt get runeblades to do damage, but honestly didnt try a max magicka build. I’ll try it! But doesnt the shield and heals scale off health?

Does your build still feel tanky, Camera Beard? The BGs I play in you get melted if youre not tanky/healy.

Are you using crafty alfiq?

Initially, I tried war maiden thinking I would get maximum damage out of Rune blades and Fate Carver, as they both scale off of magic. But I didn’t go all in on a magicka build.

CameraBeardThePirate · August 2023

SandandStars wrote: »

Yeah I also couldnt get runeblades to do damage, but honestly didnt try a max magicka build. I’ll try it! But doesnt the shield and heals scale off health?

Does your build still feel tanky, Camera Beard? The BGs I play in you get melted if youre not tanky/healy.

Are you using crafty alfiq?

Initially, I tried war maiden thinking I would get maximum damage out of Rune blades and Fate Carver, as they both scale off of magic. But I didn’t go all in on a magicka build.

Impervious scales off health, but even at 28k-30k health it's still really strong, ~15k first shield and 9k second shield.

Chakrams scales off max mag or max stam - I can spam 10k shields on myself and all my teammates in BGs. This stacks with impervious, but unlike impervious, is a crux generator. If they can't break through this shield, you just cast until you have three crux and heal yourself back to full with Impervious.

The trick is to use mag cost reduction glyphs - it makes all your expensive skills much cheaper and makes Fatecarver free (which, BTW, with almost 50k mag in no cp means you have a free 8k shield from it).

Throw in Undeath (which for some silly reason still applies to shields) and you'll feel very tanky.

And yes, Crafty and Ancient Grace front bar.

LittlePinkDot · August 2023

CameraBeardThePirate wrote: »

SandandStars wrote: »

Yeah I also couldnt get runeblades to do damage, but honestly didnt try a max magicka build. I’ll try it! But doesnt the shield and heals scale off health?

Does your build still feel tanky, Camera Beard? The BGs I play in you get melted if youre not tanky/healy.

Are you using crafty alfiq?

Initially, I tried war maiden thinking I would get maximum damage out of Rune blades and Fate Carver, as they both scale off of magic. But I didn’t go all in on a magicka build.

Impervious scales off health, but even at 28k-30k health it's still really strong, ~15k first shield and 9k second shield.

Chakrams scales off max mag or max stam - I can spam 10k shields on myself and all my teammates in BGs. This stacks with impervious, but unlike impervious, is a crux generator. If they can't break through this shield, you just cast until you have three crux and heal yourself back to full with Impervious.

The trick is to use mag cost reduction glyphs - it makes all your expensive skills much cheaper and makes Fatecarver free (which, BTW, with almost 50k mag in no cp means you have a free 8k shield from it).

Throw in Undeath (which for some silly reason still applies to shields) and you'll feel very tanky.

And yes, Crafty and Ancient Grace front bar.

Is that PVE? That sounds like you wouldn't have enough bar space for both chakram shields AND Impervious rune ward on a PVP build.

What would your skill bars look like?

Rhaegar75 · August 2023

LittlePinkDot wrote: »

CameraBeardThePirate wrote: »

SandandStars wrote: »

Yeah I also couldnt get runeblades to do damage, but honestly didnt try a max magicka build. I’ll try it! But doesnt the shield and heals scale off health?

Does your build still feel tanky, Camera Beard? The BGs I play in you get melted if youre not tanky/healy.

Are you using crafty alfiq?

Initially, I tried war maiden thinking I would get maximum damage out of Rune blades and Fate Carver, as they both scale off of magic. But I didn’t go all in on a magicka build.

Impervious scales off health, but even at 28k-30k health it's still really strong, ~15k first shield and 9k second shield.

Chakrams scales off max mag or max stam - I can spam 10k shields on myself and all my teammates in BGs. This stacks with impervious, but unlike impervious, is a crux generator. If they can't break through this shield, you just cast until you have three crux and heal yourself back to full with Impervious.

The trick is to use mag cost reduction glyphs - it makes all your expensive skills much cheaper and makes Fatecarver free (which, BTW, with almost 50k mag in no cp means you have a free 8k shield from it).

Throw in Undeath (which for some silly reason still applies to shields) and you'll feel very tanky.

And yes, Crafty and Ancient Grace front bar.

Is that PVE? That sounds like you wouldn't have enough bar space for both chakram shields AND Impervious rune ward on a PVP build.

What would your skill bars look like?

I was about to ask the exact same thing plus, how do you do any actual damage?