Reactive vs Black Rose

Alucardo

So I've got a bunch of stones lying around and pretty much zero gold, and just hit VR16. Buying a set from IC seems like the logical choice. I'm interested in trying out HA for a change and honestly, both Black Rose and Reactive look pretty good.
Considering a majority of my deaths come from unbreakable fear, soul harvest and NB combos, Reactive was looking pretty tantalising. Though Black Rose actually looks quite decent too.
Has any one had some experience with these sets and prefer one over the other? Why did you like it more?

Cheers!

azoriangaming

Alucardo wrote: »

So I've got a bunch of stones lying around and pretty much zero gold, and just hit VR16. Buying a set from IC seems like the logical choice. I'm interested in trying out HA for a change and honestly, both Black Rose and Reactive look pretty good.
Considering a majority of my deaths come from unbreakable fear, soul harvest and NB combos, Reactive was looking pretty tantalising. Though Black Rose actually looks quite decent too.
Has any one had some experience with these sets and prefer one over the other? Why did you like it more?

Cheers!

I'm a fan of reactive for stam dk in pvp the dmg reduction while cc'd is very nice as your always cc'd ^^

Glory

Some have had much success with the Reactive Armor set due to the exact reasons you mentioned. If you enjoy the idea of preserving stamina to do other things while taking significantly reduced damage, the set might be for you. I will say though that it's a major gameplay shift that you'll have to commit to! Vir Cor has a bunch of videos with the playstyle if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6KJij8cvvY

I'm sure others have looked into Black Rose. In general I have been disappointed with heavy armor (my DK is heavy armor and in PvP it feels like I'm just playing a less sustainable light armor build), so YMMV.

Alucardo

ebethke_ESO wrote: »

I'm sure others have looked into Black Rose. In general I have been disappointed with heavy armor (my DK is heavy armor and in PvP it feels like I'm just playing a less sustainable light armor build), so YMMV.

Yeah, I've been trying out heavy armour lately and honestly, it feels like trash. I have a little more health, but I still feel like I'm taking around the same amount of damage, plus I'm missing those beautiful medium passives. Feels slightly like a downgrade at the moment. I now see why people have been complaining it needs a buff

Praeficere

Heavy armour is only one piece of the puzzle, don't forget your Impen and CP into Resistant - it works wonders.

danno8

They really should de-couple max stamina from damage (and max magicka from damage too) and just make weapon damage (and spell damage) be what determines skill strength.

Then they could go ahead and add all sorts of stamina regeneration and maximum stamina and blocking bonuses to heavy armour without worrying that it would overshadow Medium armours' DPS potential.

As long as stamina is both a determiner of both damage and survivability, it can never really be balanced.

Vanzen

I use reactive on my mag DK when a lot of nbs are around. All pieces divines with Magicka glyphs and it works just fine. With Magelight on, I kill 90% of the nb. Reactive+magelight on mag DK is NB nemesis. A not too well known fact ...

Forestd16b14_ESO

Either one is good. Too bad HA is just useless in PvP cause of gankers QQ. "Oh I can 1 burst kill this guy nerf him nerf him."

Grymhawk

I have both sets. I prefer Reactive because there is so much CC in this game and immunity is broken.

There was a time when Reactive + high health regen was very, very survivable for me.

Problem is people have pushed their damage so high once more that it seems no amount of damage mitigation is really a counter.

My Templar is currently spec'd Magicka for running dailies but I'd like to test stamplar + reactive + health regen + werewolf more soon. I think if I can get my health recovery up high enough it may be a very tanky setup.

Alucardo

Grymhawk wrote: »

I have both sets. I prefer Reactive because there is so much CC in this game and immunity is broken.

There was a time when Reactive + high health regen was very, very survivable for me.

Problem is people have pushed their damage so high once more that it seems no amount of damage mitigation is really a counter.

My Templar is currently spec'd Magicka for running dailies but I'd like to test stamplar + reactive + health regen + werewolf more soon. I think if I can get my health recovery up high enough it may be a very tanky setup.

True, the game has become all about CC, which is why I was leaning towards Reactive, but I really like versatility Black Rose offers so it's a hard choice.
I'm guessing if you're a vampire it's even better. Once the Undeath passive kicks in and you get CCd you'd be looking at something like a 60+% damage resistance. That's an insane amount.

Alucardo

rdbrown1987 wrote: »

I'm a fan of reactive for stam dk in pvp the dmg reduction while cc'd is very nice as your always cc'd ^^

Yep, I think if my DK was VR16 I'd probably go with Reactive without thinking about it. I'm not too fussed about damage on him because of all the other utilities DK offers, but I should have mentioned this is for my stam sorc.

Grymhawk

Vampire seems really squishy to me right now. Even with that damage reduction passive. I don't think mitigations stack quite right in this game, or even work correctly.

Go into werewolf form though with 30K physical and spell resist, 35% damage mitigation while CC'd, and high health recovery and it's beastly (pardon the pun).

zornyan

Alucardo wrote: »

Grymhawk wrote: »

I have both sets. I prefer Reactive because there is so much CC in this game and immunity is broken.

There was a time when Reactive + high health regen was very, very survivable for me.

Problem is people have pushed their damage so high once more that it seems no amount of damage mitigation is really a counter.

My Templar is currently spec'd Magicka for running dailies but I'd like to test stamplar + reactive + health regen + werewolf more soon. I think if I can get my health recovery up high enough it may be a very tanky setup.

True, the game has become all about CC, which is why I was leaning towards Reactive, but I really like versatility Black Rose offers so it's a hard choice.
I'm guessing if you're a vampire it's even better. Once the Undeath passive kicks in and you get CCd you'd be looking at something like a 60+% damage resistance. That's an insane amount.

Pop mist form too just before the CC, or even during as you can get CC in mist form now, although it's bugged and only adding 20%

20% mist form
35% reactive
30% undeath
6% nord...

Get above armor cap and have 40k each resistance

Only problem is you'll always die, as it's only for those few seconds then it's back to being beat on hard, and you'll hit like a wet noodle.

Alucardo

Grymhawk wrote: »

Vampire seems really squishy to me right now. Even with that damage reduction passive. I don't think mitigations stack quite right in this game, or even work correctly.

Go into werewolf form though with 30K physical and spell resist, 35% damage mitigation while CC'd, and high health recovery and it's beastly (pardon the pun).

Personally I wouldn't ever go Vampire. The health regen debuff and FG weakness with everyone running around with camo hunter scares the crap out of me. Just crafting some theories.
I do have WW on my guy maxed out, but haven't used it for some time. I've seen since their buff they are pretty tanky now after facing a few. Maybe it's time to release him from his cage

Alucardo

So Reactive seems to be a popular choice. I might try out the cheaper blue version (only 5k stones which is great) and see how it runs.
I've bought the Black Rose set too, but honestly, its benefits just don't feel good enough. Still a decent set and wasn't a waste of stones by any means, but I have the feeling Reactive may be more useful.

Alec508

Alucardo wrote: »

So I've got a bunch of stones lying around and pretty much zero gold, and just hit VR16. Buying a set from IC seems like the logical choice. I'm interested in trying out HA for a change and honestly, both Black Rose and Reactive look pretty good.
Considering a majority of my deaths come from unbreakable fear, soul harvest and NB combos, Reactive was looking pretty tantalising. Though Black Rose actually looks quite decent too.
Has any one had some experience with these sets and prefer one over the other? Why did you like it more?

Cheers!

Black rose looks cool that's all I know lol

Jura23

I think with Reactive its also good to invest some CP into "elusive" so you don't have to break free from CCs.

zornyan

Alucardo wrote: »

Grymhawk wrote: »

Vampire seems really squishy to me right now. Even with that damage reduction passive. I don't think mitigations stack quite right in this game, or even work correctly.

Go into werewolf form though with 30K physical and spell resist, 35% damage mitigation while CC'd, and high health recovery and it's beastly (pardon the pun).

Personally I wouldn't ever go Vampire. The health regen debuff and FG weakness with everyone running around with camo hunter scares the crap out of me. Just crafting some theories.
I do have WW on my guy maxed out, but haven't used it for some time. I've seen since their buff they are pretty tanky now after facing a few. Maybe it's time to release him from his cage

Vampire is the only way...

I enjoy vamp on all my builds, but it's essential for my templar and dk to have mobility, and a decent ultimate for my templar.

Bat swarm is very very good for pvp, even in pve I love it.

But double camo hunter procs suck

Wifeaggro13

Alucardo wrote: »

ebethke_ESO wrote: »

I'm sure others have looked into Black Rose. In general I have been disappointed with heavy armor (my DK is heavy armor and in PvP it feels like I'm just playing a less sustainable light armor build), so YMMV.

Yeah, I've been trying out heavy armour lately and honestly, it feels like trash. I have a little more health, but I still feel like I'm taking around the same amount of damage, plus I'm missing those beautiful medium passives. Feels slightly like a downgrade at the moment. I now see why people have been complaining it needs a buff

This issue has been going on since launch. They never improved heavy significantly. ZOS did not have a strong foundation of sensible devs. they jumped on the bandwagon of the GW2 game deisng of limited roles and DPS fights. build on that foundation not much will be done to include survivablity and actual tanking as viable play style

Alucardo

Alec508 wrote: »

Black rose looks cool that's all I know lol

Haha yeah it really does. I haven't tried Reactive on yet so I'm not sure how it looks, but Black Rose is sexy af.

VincentBlanquin

i just have upgraded reactive to purple and wanna try it next week. glad that it looks like good investment according to topic here

PrinceFabious

Alucardo wrote: »

So I've got a bunch of stones lying around and pretty much zero gold, and just hit VR16. Buying a set from IC seems like the logical choice. I'm interested in trying out HA for a change and honestly, both Black Rose and Reactive look pretty good.
Considering a majority of my deaths come from unbreakable fear, soul harvest and NB combos, Reactive was looking pretty tantalising. Though Black Rose actually looks quite decent too.
Has any one had some experience with these sets and prefer one over the other? Why did you like it more?

Cheers!

Blackrose is the strongest stam set at the moment.

Alucardo

PrinceFabious wrote: »

Alucardo wrote: »

So I've got a bunch of stones lying around and pretty much zero gold, and just hit VR16. Buying a set from IC seems like the logical choice. I'm interested in trying out HA for a change and honestly, both Black Rose and Reactive look pretty good.
Considering a majority of my deaths come from unbreakable fear, soul harvest and NB combos, Reactive was looking pretty tantalising. Though Black Rose actually looks quite decent too.
Has any one had some experience with these sets and prefer one over the other? Why did you like it more?

Cheers!

Blackrose is the strongest stam set at the moment.

Lol yeah, it is. This thread was made back in December 2015 when it wasn't so widespread xD

ZOS_Ragnar

Often old threads can contain outdated information that can cause confusion. As this thread has recently resurfaced we have now closed the thread. If you feel that there is something worth discussing and there are no recent threads feel free to create a new discussion on the topic.