Volatile Familiar

hedna123b14_ESO

The tooltip on this skill states cast time to be 1.3 seconds. I tried spamming it and was only able to get it to cast 11 times in 30-33 seconds...that's almost 3 seconds per summon/unsummon. Is this working as intended?

Waffennacht

Well there is the cast time, and I do believe it takes a moment for the Pet to unsummon. Watching the animation, the pet flops over and thinking about it feels like it takes about a second.

So if the unsummon does take a second or so, then it would add up to 30ish seconds to spam.

I personally do not like the familiar as even with 60k magicka it only does 12k and as you pointed out, it takes a long time. Frag, Curse, etc can do far more dps than the familiar. Clannfear is typically the superior choice, as it is the biggest instant heal on the Sorc skill line.

You also can't improve the damage via CP etc.

Which after giving it thought makes perfect sense. Pets are considered Allies, CPs are allocated to your main character, as by lore they are Daedra forced by your magic to serve you, they have no real connection to the main character.

This is also why all spells and abilities that have "allies" work with the sorc Pets.

hedna123b14_ESO

Waffennacht wrote: »

Well there is the cast time, and I do believe it takes a moment for the Pet to unsummon. Watching the animation, the pet flops over and thinking about it feels like it takes about a second.

So if the unsummon does take a second or so, then it would add up to 30ish seconds to spam.

I personally do not like the familiar as even with 60k magicka it only does 12k and as you pointed out, it takes a long time. Frag, Curse, etc can do far more dps than the familiar. Clannfear is typically the superior choice, as it is the biggest instant heal on the Sorc skill line.

You also can't improve the damage via CP etc.

Which after giving it thought makes perfect sense. Pets are considered Allies, CPs are allocated to your main character, as by lore they are Daedra forced by your magic to serve you, they have no real connection to the main character.

This is also why all spells and abilities that have "allies" work with the sorc Pets.

So here is what i was considering it for. On the dual wield bar (not sure if its intended) it does 21% of max magicka. The damage it does is AoE. The damage it does is lightning and is thus buffed by Elemental Expert. thus if you have lets say 42,500 Magicka, then it does .21 x 42,500 x 1.25 (ele expert) = 11,156 base damage as AoE (small range though). If you keep it on your Dual Wield Bar your DoTs will tick much harder and you can keep doing AoE damage as they tick:)

Asayre

It does 21% because you're getting 5% damage increase from Twin Blade and Blunt. You also get an additional 5% because of the Energized passive.

Waffennacht

The CPs definitely do not change the familiar's tool tips, (not to my knowledge) there is another thread here stating the CPs did not increase pet damage. As im on xbox I cannot say, we know tool tip values do not necessarily show everything.

Also, keep in mind your 11,000ish familiar is over the course of 3 seconds, that's, rounding up, 4kish dps.

That's horrible dps for a Sorc if not a tank, not to mention you are using casting time and resources to this 4kish dps.

Remember that your instant frag does 10kish dps dwarfing the familiar.

I currently run a dps Pet Build for PvE.

I started out with familiar, at best I was using him as dps only when I had complete control. In mtg this would be considered, "winning more" sure it works, however by that point anything should work as you already "won"

Clannfear has less dps, but far more health capable of holding aggro for a long time.

I couple this with Hardened Ward and Trinimac's Valor set. The proc on valor gives me added dps with no cost and because Clannfear is a beast it allows him to do more damage and gets healed (if you're close enough you get healed too)

The familiar's dps is way too low imo, even if it gets a slight buff (even 30k dmg over the 3 secs is only equivalent to sorc dps moves)

hedna123b14_ESO

Waffennacht wrote: »

The CPs definitely do not change the familiar's tool tips, (not to my knowledge) there is another thread here stating the CPs did not increase pet damage. As im on xbox I cannot say, we know tool tip values do not necessarily show everything.

Also, keep in mind your 11,000ish familiar is over the course of 3 seconds, that's, rounding up, 4kish dps.

That's horrible dps for a Sorc if not a tank, not to mention you are using casting time and resources to this 4kish dps.

Remember that your instant frag does 10kish dps dwarfing the familiar.

I currently run a dps Pet Build for PvE.

I started out with familiar, at best I was using him as dps only when I had complete control. In mtg this would be considered, "winning more" sure it works, however by that point anything should work as you already "won"

Clannfear has less dps, but far more health capable of holding aggro for a long time.

I couple this with Hardened Ward and Trinimac's Valor set. The proc on valor gives me added dps with no cost and because Clannfear is a beast it allows him to do more damage and gets healed (if you're close enough you get healed too)

The familiar's dps is way too low imo, even if it gets a slight buff (even 30k dmg over the 3 secs is only equivalent to sorc dps moves)

Again I am a bit confused why you are bringing up instant frag when I am talking about a skill that is meant to be used as AoE damage. After testing I found that it does indeed do less damage than elemental ring, but only if you animation cancel elemental ring. After testing done by Asayre he was able to cast 40 ele rings in 33 seconds VS 13 familiar summons/unsummons in the same amount of time. The margin of difference (when including the buff to the dots from Dual Wield bar) is very slightly in favor of ele ring. However if you are not animation cancelling it, then the familiar definitely outdoes it as an AoE skill.

Waffennacht

I bring it up as a staple for sorcs, as a base line. Ok Aoe, Liquid Lightning does far more as an AoE for dps. Magicka Detonation does more, Mines does more. There's at least 3 AoEs that are either faster or instant that do more dps and don't require two slots.

Edit: AC is a given and should always be done

hedna123b14_ESO

Waffennacht wrote: »

I bring it up as a staple for sorcs, as a base line. Ok Aoe, Liquid Lightning does far more as an AoE for dps. Magicka Detonation does more, Mines does more. There's at least 3 AoEs that are either faster or instant that do more dps and don't require two slots.

Edit: AC is a given and should always be done

Ok clearly Im not explaining my thoughts well. My idea was to substitute the familiar explosion for elemental ring. Since you can keep the familiar skill on your dual wield bar, your liquid lightning and boundless armor would be buffed by the increased spell damage from Dual Wield and you would use the Volatile Familiar explosion as AoE. However after some testing we have discovered that neither the boost to your liquid lightning and boundless armor nor the fact that familiar explosion is buffed by your passives makes up for the amount of damage you can achieve while block casting elemental ring...

Waffennacht

hedna123b14_ESO wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

I bring it up as a staple for sorcs, as a base line. Ok Aoe, Liquid Lightning does far more as an AoE for dps. Magicka Detonation does more, Mines does more. There's at least 3 AoEs that are either faster or instant that do more dps and don't require two slots.

Edit: AC is a given and should always be done

Ok clearly Im not explaining my thoughts well. My idea was to substitute the familiar explosion for elemental ring. Since you can keep the familiar skill on your dual wield bar, your liquid lightning and boundless armor would be buffed by the increased spell damage from Dual Wield and you would use the Volatile Familiar explosion as AoE. However after some testing we have discovered that neither the boost to your liquid lightning and boundless armor nor the fact that familiar explosion is buffed by your passives makes up for the amount of damage you can achieve while block casting elemental ring...

Oh, i understand, that info is useful