So what traits are currently the best for weapons/armor?

Sewedir · January 14

So i want to create a new weapon but i kinda cannot figure out/decide which ones are better.
Precise, Infused or Nirnhorned.
Precise - increase critical strike
Infused - makes enchantment better
Nirnhorned - increase weapon damage.

Am i getting this right that precise and nirnhorned are the best since the first one increases critical strike chance and the second one increase weapon and by that skills damage.
I would be thankful if anyone could help me with this.
Cheers,

Dagoth_Rac · January 14

Solo? 4-man dungeons? 12-man trials? PvP?

Nord_Raseri · January 14

Depends on a few factors. What is your class, build, and how are your stats(Crit chance/weapon damage/penetration) before changing weapon trait? And as Dagoth asked, it's purpose?

Sewedir · January 14

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

Solo? 4-man dungeons? 12-man trials? PvP?

Nord_Raseri wrote: »

Depends on a few factors. What is your class, build, and how are your stats(Crit chance/weapon damage/penetration) before changing weapon trait? And as Dagoth asked, it's purpose?

I play solo and, from time to time do random normal dungeons etc.
I wield two two-handed legendary sword with precise trait.
with the sword equipped I have: 27 critical chance, 4448 weapon/spell damage, and penetration 700.
Additional info Templar, unbuffed max stamina 26 k.
Damage of my weapon is 1571.
I didn't create her using any guide or builds.
I have ancient dragonguard set and hunding rage set. I have all bonuses of these sets.
All armor is medium, all passive for medium armor bought.
I still wonder if i should switch to 5 medium, i light, 1 heavy to get bonus from the undaunted passive.

ClowdyAllDay · January 14

depends on your armor set. if you were using heartland conqueror set i'd use infused and then make a gold glyph as that would buff you up good.

Sewedir · January 14

ClowdyAllDay wrote: »

depends on your armor set. if you were using heartland conqueror set i'd use infused and then make a gold glyph as that would buff you up good.

As i stated i am using ancient dragonguard set and hunding rage sets.

ClowdyAllDay · January 15

since you are building around weapon and spell damage, migtht as well go nirnhoned

Sewedir · January 15

ClowdyAllDay wrote: »

since you are building around weapon and spell damage, migtht as well go nirnhoned

So it would be better than critical strike?

ClowdyAllDay · January 15

lots of things would be better but since you chose to build around damage might as well use a nirnhoned.

Now if you wanted to build around critical strike rating then use the sets that enhance that, namely back alley gourmand and orders wrath, then yeah since you'd be building off of critical strike rating then use precise and i guess thief mundus stone...

How you build is for you to decide. gourmand and order's wrath is what i would use but you know, to each their own i guess

Dagoth_Rac · January 15

Sewedir wrote: »

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

Solo? 4-man dungeons? 12-man trials? PvP?

Nord_Raseri wrote: »

Depends on a few factors. What is your class, build, and how are your stats(Crit chance/weapon damage/penetration) before changing weapon trait? And as Dagoth asked, it's purpose?

I play solo and, from time to time do random normal dungeons etc.
I wield two two-handed legendary sword with precise trait.
with the sword equipped I have: 27 critical chance, 4448 weapon/spell damage, and penetration 700.
Additional info Templar, unbuffed max stamina 26 k.
Damage of my weapon is 1571.
I didn't create her using any guide or builds.
I have ancient dragonguard set and hunding rage set. I have all bonuses of these sets.
All armor is medium, all passive for medium armor bought.
I still wonder if i should switch to 5 medium, i light, 1 heavy to get bonus from the undaunted passive.

For solo, try 2H Maul with Sharpened and Thief Mundus. Penetration is always your best damage stat to start with and Light Armor is the penetration armor, which is not a good choice if your primary attribute is stamina. You'll struggle with resources in light armor. Maul and Sharpened will get penetration up pretty high, then Thief will add some crit chance. For random dungeons, you may even want to switch out Thief with Lover for more penetration because dungeon mobs have twice the armor of overland mobs.

FrancisCrawford · January 15

In PvE, Divines is always a good choice for armor.

That said, if you use Training instead, you'll level up or increase your CP a lot faster.

But don't use Training on your weapon. You'd give up too much damage.

Zodiarkslayer · January 15

Sewedir wrote: »

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

Solo? 4-man dungeons? 12-man trials? PvP?

Nord_Raseri wrote: »

Depends on a few factors. What is your class, build, and how are your stats(Crit chance/weapon damage/penetration) before changing weapon trait? And as Dagoth asked, it's purpose?

I play solo and, from time to time do random normal dungeons etc.
I wield two two-handed legendary sword with precise trait.
with the sword equipped I have: 27 critical chance, 4448 weapon/spell damage, and penetration 700.
Additional info Templar, unbuffed max stamina 26 k.
Damage of my weapon is 1571.
I didn't create her using any guide or builds.
I have ancient dragonguard set and hunding rage set. I have all bonuses of these sets.
All armor is medium, all passive for medium armor bought.
I still wonder if i should switch to 5 medium, i light, 1 heavy to get bonus from the undaunted passive.

Wow, those are low stats. Is this unbuffed?

Since your crit chance is very low, I'd argue to use precise. Although the normal rational is to get to at least 50% crit chance with 6k SD and 7k to 9k penetration for SOLO Templar gameplay.

Also, use Dual Maces ... There is no reason to not use Dual Wield on a Templar. There simply isn't.
You are always in melee range, because of Jabs/Sweeps. The beams are the best execute abilities in the game. And dual wield just has better passives, compared to 2H.

Sewedir · January 15

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

Sewedir wrote: »

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

Solo? 4-man dungeons? 12-man trials? PvP?

Nord_Raseri wrote: »

Depends on a few factors. What is your class, build, and how are your stats(Crit chance/weapon damage/penetration) before changing weapon trait? And as Dagoth asked, it's purpose?

I play solo and, from time to time do random normal dungeons etc.
I wield two two-handed legendary sword with precise trait.
with the sword equipped I have: 27 critical chance, 4448 weapon/spell damage, and penetration 700.
Additional info Templar, unbuffed max stamina 26 k.
Damage of my weapon is 1571.
I didn't create her using any guide or builds.
I have ancient dragonguard set and hunding rage set. I have all bonuses of these sets.
All armor is medium, all passive for medium armor bought.
I still wonder if i should switch to 5 medium, i light, 1 heavy to get bonus from the undaunted passive.

Wow, those are low stats. Is this unbuffed?

Since your crit chance is very low, I'd argue to use precise. Although the normal rational is to get to at least 50% crit chance with 6k SD and 7k to 9k penetration for SOLO Templar gameplay.

Also, use Dual Maces ... There is no reason to not use Dual Wield on a Templar. There simply isn't.
You are always in melee range, because of Jabs/Sweeps. The beams are the best execute abilities in the game. And dual wield just has better passives, compared to 2H.

From where do you get so much critical strike or penetration?
My set bonuses are:
Hunding Rage:
(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(5 items) Adds 300 Weapon and Spell Damage
Ancient Dragonguard:
(2 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(5 items) Adds 300 Weapon and Spell Damage while your Health is above 50%. Adds 3460 Physical and Spell Resistance while your Health is 50% or less.

When it comes to my enchantments they give bonus to my stamina. 2 armor pieces buff my enchantment effect and increase my mundus stone effect.

By unbuffed i mean stamina, health, and magicka. When i ear purple food i have 31k stamina.

Sewedir · January 15

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

Sewedir wrote: »

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

Solo? 4-man dungeons? 12-man trials? PvP?

Nord_Raseri wrote: »

Depends on a few factors. What is your class, build, and how are your stats(Crit chance/weapon damage/penetration) before changing weapon trait? And as Dagoth asked, it's purpose?

I play solo and, from time to time do random normal dungeons etc.
I wield two two-handed legendary sword with precise trait.
with the sword equipped I have: 27 critical chance, 4448 weapon/spell damage, and penetration 700.
Additional info Templar, unbuffed max stamina 26 k.
Damage of my weapon is 1571.
I didn't create her using any guide or builds.
I have ancient dragonguard set and hunding rage set. I have all bonuses of these sets.
All armor is medium, all passive for medium armor bought.
I still wonder if i should switch to 5 medium, i light, 1 heavy to get bonus from the undaunted passive.

For solo, try 2H Maul with Sharpened and Thief Mundus. Penetration is always your best damage stat to start with and Light Armor is the penetration armor, which is not a good choice if your primary attribute is stamina. You'll struggle with resources in light armor. Maul and Sharpened will get penetration up pretty high, then Thief will add some crit chance. For random dungeons, you may even want to switch out Thief with Lover for more penetration because dungeon mobs have twice the armor of overland mobs.

I use a tower since it increases my maximum stamina. Like I said i wear full set of medium armor. I only mentioned light armor because some people on twitter/youtube were mentioning it. So you are saying that I should focus on one thing rather than invest some in penetration/Weapon damage/stamina etc.

Sewedir · January 15

ClowdyAllDay wrote: »

lots of things would be better but since you chose to build around damage might as well use a nirnhoned.

Now if you wanted to build around critical strike rating then use the sets that enhance that, namely back alley gourmand and orders wrath, then yeah since you'd be building off of critical strike rating then use precise and i guess thief mundus stone...

How you build is for you to decide. gourmand and order's wrath is what i would use but you know, to each their own i guess

So i should build my avatar around one stat aka critical strike/weapon damage etc. Rather than focusing on all of them.

Dagoth_Rac · January 15

Sewedir wrote: »

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

Sewedir wrote: »

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

Solo? 4-man dungeons? 12-man trials? PvP?

Nord_Raseri wrote: »

Depends on a few factors. What is your class, build, and how are your stats(Crit chance/weapon damage/penetration) before changing weapon trait? And as Dagoth asked, it's purpose?

I play solo and, from time to time do random normal dungeons etc.
I wield two two-handed legendary sword with precise trait.
with the sword equipped I have: 27 critical chance, 4448 weapon/spell damage, and penetration 700.
Additional info Templar, unbuffed max stamina 26 k.
Damage of my weapon is 1571.
I didn't create her using any guide or builds.
I have ancient dragonguard set and hunding rage set. I have all bonuses of these sets.
All armor is medium, all passive for medium armor bought.
I still wonder if i should switch to 5 medium, i light, 1 heavy to get bonus from the undaunted passive.

For solo, try 2H Maul with Sharpened and Thief Mundus. Penetration is always your best damage stat to start with and Light Armor is the penetration armor, which is not a good choice if your primary attribute is stamina. You'll struggle with resources in light armor. Maul and Sharpened will get penetration up pretty high, then Thief will add some crit chance. For random dungeons, you may even want to switch out Thief with Lover for more penetration because dungeon mobs have twice the armor of overland mobs.

I use a tower since it increases my maximum stamina. Like I said i wear full set of medium armor. I only mentioned light armor because some people on twitter/youtube were mentioning it. So you are saying that I should focus on one thing rather than invest some in penetration/Weapon damage/stamina etc.

You want a nice mixture of weapon/spell damage, crit chance, crit damage, and penetration. But penetration is most important if running solo or in non organized groups and is almost always the stat casual players are too low in.

The Tower, with 7 pieces of legendary divines armor, gives you about 3300 stamina. So it raised your max stamina from about 23K to about 26K. That is a 14%-ish increase in stamina.

A 2H legendary maul gives about 2974 penetration. Or about a 424%-ish increase over your 700 penetration.

Overland mobs have 9100 armor. Dungeon mobs have 18200 armor. 700 is barely penetrating that.

You have a decent amount of weapon/spell damage already. You have a decent amount of max stamina already. There is a pretty high baseline of that stuff that pretty much everyone gets from attribute points and simply equipping a weapon and passives and so on. But not much in the way of penetration. Light Armor passives give penetration, but light armor is a poor choice for a 2H stamina build running solo.

Basically, penetration is going to be a weak spot on your type of build. As is critical chance, another stat that is a Light Armor passive. So some combo of increasing penetration and critical chance is going to aid weak spots in your build.

FWIW, medium armor passives give critical damage and weapon/spell damage. So if you were a light armor wearing magicka staff build, you would have critical chance and penetration mostly taken care of, but would likely be weak in critical damage and weapon/spell damage.

There is really no single answer to, "What trait do I want?" You need to know what are the strong and weak points of your particular build are and adjust accordingly.

Muizer · January 15

Some general advice for self-reliant stam builds:

If you use two 5 piece sets, you have two pieces left: try get a good monster set.

You can create room for a mythic item if one of the 5 piece sets is a proc set. E.g. briarheart's 5th piece bonus is extra WD when you make a critical hit. You can do that with a briarheart bow, for instance, and then swap to a weapon of your other 5 piece set. You don't have the briarheart 5 piece bonus then, but who cares, the effect remains active.

Ensure you have a source of the Major Brutality and Major Savagery buffs. Many classes can get one or both from slotting or using skills. I prefer to use the essence of power potion instead.

For food, I like Ozorga's triple tripe pocket. I think it's one of the best in terms of value for money for stamina builds, with a good boost to health and stam regen.

Ensure you have a source of major breach. It complements your weapon penetration by debuffing the enemy's armor. Don't know where Templar can get it. Everyone's got access to caltrops though (alliance war skill line).

Having said that, it's useful to have a major penetration bonus on at least one of your 5 piece sets. Sharpened weapons also work. I've been told the value to aim for is generally around 7k.

If you're going the crit route, also check the critical damage. Intuitively, it does not seem very useful to have either high crit chance and low crit damage or vice versa. Should be a balance, but don't go over 120 crit damage, because it is 'soft capped'.
Minor Force can be a good thing to get from either set or ability (It's one one of the fighter's guild trap abilities).

P.S. Anyone feel free to correct me. I'm by no means an expert theory crafter.

Zodiarkslayer · January 16

@Sewedir You have to give the buffed amount, because the entire potential of your build has to be taken into consideration. If not, you are opening the door for mistakes. Maybe even Big Mistakes.

For example, what abilities do you even use? Templar has some class abilities that can seriously buff you. Or not, if you do not use them.
Or do you use bar buffers like Inner Light or Camouflaged Hunter? They both give Major Savagery passively and that is 12% crit chance. Do you have it? Or not?

The Thief with 7 pieces Divines armour trait is THE STANDARD. Only Nightblades and StamSorcs sometimes use the Shadow.
Noone uses the Tower. And if you need more Max Stamina, look somewhere else. For example putting all attribute points in Max Stamina and enchanting all armor pieces with a golden glyph of max stamina will get you there, too. Only your cost of opportunity is much lower.

Deciding between Precise amd Sharpened trait is heavily influenced by all that. So, maybe you have been asking the wrong question? 😊

Look, planning a build is work and not everyone wants to do that. I get it.
I like to use the Uesp.net build calculator when I do my planning. It's super simple and gives a good measure of your power. Other build creators don't do that.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildEditor

ClowdyAllDay · January 16

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

In PvE, Divines is always a good choice for armor.

That said, if you use Training instead, you'll level up or increase your CP a lot faster.

But don't use Training on your weapon. You'd give up too much damage.

using training on your weapon is fine. if you use heartland conqueror armor set you get double the training points from them, ie 16% for 2h weapons and 8% for each one handed weapon. One can compensate by using slaughterstone on their jewls to buff weapon damage and at about 4k per slaughterstone, adding 12k cost for proper leveling gear isn't bad or unreasonable, esp if you use it for a long time.

Zodiarkslayer · January 17

ClowdyAllDay wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

In PvE, Divines is always a good choice for armor.

That said, if you use Training instead, you'll level up or increase your CP a lot faster.

But don't use Training on your weapon. You'd give up too much damage.

using training on your weapon is fine. if you use heartland conqueror armor set you get double the training points from them, ie 16% for 2h weapons and 8% for each one handed weapon. One can compensate by using slaughterstone on their jewls to buff weapon damage and at about 4k per slaughterstone, adding 12k cost for proper leveling gear isn't bad or unreasonable, esp if you use it for a long time.

That only makes sense when you go all in with Torug's Pact and Heartland Conqueror. The infused backbar glyph will offset a great part of the missing power.

Heartland Conqueror alone isn't all that great for levelling.

ClowdyAllDay · January 17

i use torgus sometimes and orders wrath other times with mixed results. the main point would be to use infused weapon trait with torugs and heartland but using training for heartland and anything else. have you used torugs and heartland with training traits on weapons and armors? how'd it go for you? did you use bloodthirsty jewls?

ClowdyAllDay · January 17

on my healer with staff and dual wield i have used torugs and heartland with all infused weapons and magicka restor on back bar and on my dual wields, one crusher and one weakening enchant. My healer does a lot besides just heal and buff as you can imagine.

BUT we digress..

he asked what trait and really that depends on your result desired.

Sewedir · January 20

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

@Sewedir You have to give the buffed amount, because the entire potential of your build has to be taken into consideration. If not, you are opening the door for mistakes. Maybe even Big Mistakes.

For example, what abilities do you even use? Templar has some class abilities that can seriously buff you. Or not, if you do not use them.
Or do you use bar buffers like Inner Light or Camouflaged Hunter? They both give Major Savagery passively and that is 12% crit chance. Do you have it? Or not?

The Thief with 7 pieces Divines armour trait is THE STANDARD. Only Nightblades and StamSorcs sometimes use the Shadow.
Noone uses the Tower. And if you need more Max Stamina, look somewhere else. For example putting all attribute points in Max Stamina and enchanting all armor pieces with a golden glyph of max stamina will get you there, too. Only your cost of opportunity is much lower.

Deciding between Precise amd Sharpened trait is heavily influenced by all that. So, maybe you have been asking the wrong question? 😊

Look, planning a build is work and not everyone wants to do that. I get it.
I like to use the Uesp.net build calculator when I do my planning. It's super simple and gives a good measure of your power. Other build creators don't do that.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildEditor

Sorry for the late reply.
It has more to do with the reason that i have more fun finding/discovering things myself.
I changed some stuff around since i first posted.
I changed my greatsword to maul, put weapon damage enchant on it.
When it comes to skill i use following on my first bar: bitting jabs, power of light, stampede, reverse slice, expert hunter, and as my ultimate I now use dawnbreaker.
My overall damage has improved, it is noticeable.