Class-spell damage types and Blazing Spear vs Elemental Ring (Impulse)

Dudis

So I'm playing a Templar and i'm curious about this...

A lot of class abilities just say "magic damage" rather than what type of elemental or otherwise damage it's doing. Is "magic damage" just it's own thing or is there a way to tell? Only one of my abilities states that it's Flame Damage (Sun Fire + morphs), the rest don't.

Assuming that it IS it's own thing, how do you think Blazing Spear compares to Elemental Ring? They both deal the same damage, cost the same ammount of magicka, can be cast at the same speed but have different effects attatched to them.
If Blazing Spear deals fire damage, i think the choice is pretty clear. However...

Blazing Spear
-Stuns one target every cast
-Can be used on range
-Procs Burning Light (extra damage) both on the initial hit and DoT ticks
-Has a (not useless) synergy /use

Elemental Ring
-More convenient to use since it's just a one button tap you don't have to aim it and it has no delay
-Can chose damage type and also has some synergies through that

Lynx7386

Personally, I tried going with the destro staff / impulse on my templar, and just found it a huge hassle dealing with the poor destruction staff attacks/animations and such. The destro staff, to me, feels very clunky, and if all I'm getting out of it is impulse... which isnt really that much better than any class skills I have (blazing spear, as you mentioned)... I'd rather just use a different weapon and make up for it with the class skills.

I stuck to using a resto staff on both bars, and using solar barrage / reflective light / blazing spear for AoE damage (sometimes I throw in explosive charge or biting jabs for effect).

The resto staff passives work out so much better for me - I can regain mana by attacking, I heal myself or an ally by attacking, and I get a passive 10% damage bonus as long as I'm at full health, and that alone makes my class abilities outperform impulse.

Plus, using reflective light/solar barrage gives you more ultimate gain through dawn's wrath passives, which means dropping suns on your enemies more often.

Dudis

This is what I run atm btw (for pvp solo/duo). Resto staff is kinda my "melee" option. Quick Siphon + Biting Jabs synergizes amazingly well. I'm thinking of changing to Siphon Spirit instead but remember being very frustrated with the casting time in pvp

I use Bat Swarm (lifesteal morph) because It's the ult i've found i get the most use out of really. Nova deals more damage over it's duration but is easy to dudge out of and doesn't give nearly the same survivability that Bat Swarm does.

http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#mozzev9k8hmKX8bzpM8rHLg8hMZD8frrK8jKEL8b0LJ8bznl8hesE8bzvj8frrK8jKEL8N7JrDG6LDi6rDM6LDT6MbMXv6MbMXO6MbMX26MbMUf8L7JcdoQr6MdoQF6MdoQC6MdoQK6MdoQJ8j7DLUa6MrJPr6MrJPu6MrJPh6MrJO18n7DLWQ6MfwgU6MfwgO8e7HraqT6raqS6Mi4bD6Mi4bU6Mi4b16Mi4bX6Mi4b48v7HLanS6Mhx0y6Mhx0l6Mhx0n6Mhy3D6Mhx0B8Y7sLfJN6MjFYi6zjFYd6MjFYh6zjFYf6zjFYb8zc7zzgeXm8zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7zzKpUN8zL7zzK4EX


So yeah, not sure if I should go Blazing Spear or not, i guess i'll just try it out and see how it goes :P

I'd still love to know about "magic damage" and elemental types etc though.

chaosme

My interpretation is that magic damage just means non-elemental damage that is mitigated by spell resistance. The advantage that Impulse and its morphs has over Blazing Spear is that you can take advantage of elemental weaknesses and also regain magicka from kills with the destruction staff passive. The advantage for Blazing Spear is that spell damage scales far better than weapon damage and you can increase the damage potential for Blazing Spear more with +spell damage glyphs vs damage potential for Impulse and its morphs with +weapon damage glyphs.

I also find that I can throw spears far quicker than I can cast Impulse. Remember, you can start throwing another spear even before the previous one impacts.

ysimeonoveb17_ESO

Actually the advantage of blazing spear is that it can proc burning light with each tick of the dot. If you can chose only one skill to spam, blazing spear is the superior choice. If you prefer to have a more complex rotation including dots, blazing spear is the first priority to apply.

Dudis

There are lots of advantages to Blazing Spear, the only disadvantages it seems are that

1) you have to aim it (which really isn't too bad), and it can be used at range too, so it's really an advantage i suppose...
2) you might screw up a cast if you're not careful by clicking before you have selected the spell and wasting time on a light attack
3) you don't get the 50% bonus against vamps (which burning light is rougly equal to on average anyways)


So yeah, since I'm only running one AoE, it might aswell be the spear.

NerfEverything

Click to cast and makes it far inferior to impulse. You can spam impulse while blocking. You can use impulse for animation canceling. If you don't see how this makes a difference, then you aren't playing correctly.

Dudis

You can block while spamming spear too, and you can't use light attacks while blocking so no point in trying to do animation canceling while blowing up multiple targets anyways.