Regen vs Cost Reduction

Soaren

Which is better?

I'm currently playing on a DK. I've been stacking cost reduction as much as possible, to facilitate ability and spell spamming. My rotation has both mana using a stamina using abilities... And I don't go oom/oos very easily, but I'm looking to facilitate that even further.

Soaren

I cannot find a good source for "theorycrafting" the mathematics of this games combat system. I am not sure if regen is nerfed when in combat etc.

Panda244

If you have 130 Magic Recovery or higher without any Recovery enchantments I'd say Spell Cost Reduction, it also depends on what you want.... Technically Recovery would be better for longer fights, IF it was high enough, while Cost Reduction is just better overall as you don't have to wait, and it helps in the short-term.

Soaren wrote: »

I cannot find a good source for "theorycrafting" the mathematics of this games combat system. I am not sure if regen is nerfed when in combat etc.

Recovery isn't downgraded in combat, you have your out of combat recovery and your combat recovery, what you see in your character sheet is your recovery while in combat, unless you have addons you can't actually see your out of combat recovery.

Cody

I personally use "reduce X damage" enchants, so my view on this topic would not be trustworthy.

However, be that as it may, I say cost reduction.

I would rather be able to cast more than simply having increased regeneration rate. That's my take on it.

Gokmak

Soaren wrote: »

Which is better?

To me, It's more of a question of which play style do you prefer. Both have advantages:

• If you kill quickly, but have to wait between fights, you might want more regen.
• If you kill slowly, have long fights, and/or burn through all of your resources, then you might want cost reduction.

I tend to prioritize regen first, to at least soft cap, then add in cost reduction if I can. But that's just me. I carry necklaces and rings for both, so I can swap them out, when desired. It's a good investment IMHO.

NotSo

I'd say keep accessory enchantments as cost reduction but have gear set bonuses be +regen or +regen%, i.e. seducer set, magnus set, willows path set.

Whatever setup you have, just make sure to note what effect is more powerful (plus regen flat rate or plus regen percent rate).
A high flat rate will be boosted better with a +percent rate.
A high percent rate (that you may already have with certain passives, ect.) will be boosted better with a +flat rate.
To put it simply, if your base regen is under 100 then you will want +flat regen.
You will have to do some math to figure out your base regen if you have passives that you can't switch off.

likewow777

It's been said in one way or the other by fellow members, but it depends on how you battle.

For example, if you're a tank, which you might be as a DK, what you will want is sustain. Sustain doesn't come from cost reduction, it comes from regen. Being able to cast a spell at low cost means nothing if you can't regenerate the cost quickly. And as a tank, you absolutely need to make sure you don't run out of resources. A good group, with healers and Templars that can give stamina, will give you resources, but you should go into a fight expecting nothing.

As DPS, which you also very well could be as a DK, you might want very high cost reduction. That means you can cast spells without worry about cost, leading to higher damage. When you do run out magicka, you can use a heavy staff attack or Balance/Spell Symmetry to get it back. Stamina based DPS would work approximately the same way, using heavy weapon attacks to get stamina back directly and Green Dragon Blood to boost your stamina regen.

As a healer, which you CAN do as a DK, despite what might people say, you will likely want spells to cost 0 magicka. Healers really should never run out, though of course that's not realistic. Anything you can do to achieve something close to that, though, is best. In essence, you don't care about regen as much as a healer because you aren't, ideally, being targeted.

Personally, I use magicka regen boosts using armor sets, Seducer, and two rings. My necklace is reduce cost. That is for my main tanking build, which is 5/2 heavy/light. For healing, I swap three heavy for light, therefore giving me further reduce spell cost. Combined with regen being at softcap, I can cast a lot before I run out.

You really have to try gimping yourself in various ways, and then go into battle. Have low regen, then fight. Have low magicka/stamina reduction, then fight. Likely, your playstyle is going to take you closer to high regen or high cost reduction. I would say, don't focus on one to the exclusion of the other. Find a medium that suits you best!

Soulac

On 1.5 use regeneration until softcap, then reduction.
1.6 use reduction only, regeneration can't keep up..

kelly.medleyb14_ESO

Regen is always better.

Sharee

Technically, cost reduction and regen improvement do the same thing.

If you have 100 regen bonus, you regenerate 100 resource every 2 seconds.
If you have 100 cost reduction, you 'regenerate' 100 resources everytime you use an ability.

- If you use an ability exactly once every 2 seconds, the two regens have the same effect.
- The first works always, the second only while you are using an ability.
- The second has the potential to regen more (if you use an ability more often than once every 2 seconds), but only until the resource pool is depleted.

One thing to consider is that a regen bonus works on everything that consumes a resource, while a cost reduction might only affect some of the resource-consuming activities. For example the champion stamina cost reduction does not make roll-dodging cheaper(there's a separate champion point passive for that), but the champion stamina-regen bonus covers everything.

olsborg

Use cost reduction, its better in 1.6 and thats right around the corner.

Muizer

What @Soulac and @olsborg say about 1.6 makes sense.

I've experimented with both cost reduction and regen jewelry for my stamina build. In 1.5 they're very close, with (as has been noted) the balance shifting one way or another depending on the circumstances of battle. But for 1.6, cost reduction gets a multiplier that's nearly 3 times that of regeneration. Thus it looks as if cost reduction will be the way to go.

Armitas

Sharee wrote: »

For example the champion stamina cost reduction does not make roll-dodging cheaper(there's a separate champion point passive for that), but the champion stamina-regen bonus covers everything.

Was testing this yesterday to plan my points for release. I was really disappointed about that, it didn't reduce block cost either. One weird thing I found out was that "reduce feat cost" jewelry glyphs reduced roll/dodge, but not block.

I tested a bunch of things in 10 point increments and I was really disappointed with tumble. I don't have my notes so I'm going off memory, but 10 points in tumble reduce my cost by 152 stamina. In the case of CP it seemed like reduce cost was much more efficient. I think 10 points in recovery got me 32 more stamina on tick so I'm going with reduction. I am guessing it has to do with ability cost being a higher number than recovery costs and so a higher return per percent.

I was using a template character and at the mercy of what I had in the box. Perhaps with my live toon I could return a better investment in recovery due to have much more base recovery.