I'm very excited to bring you my newest version of the Daedric Shepherd! This time I'm bringing you the hardest hitting version ever made, the Shepherd is a DPS Sorcerer Pet Build designed to excel in the End Game and in Solo Play that's only going to get Buffed in the next patch...
But first...
A Moment of Silence PleaseThe End of a Friend. Since Trinimac's Valor was released I had used it in my end game PvE exploits. Well unfortunately the time has come to let this dear friend go. Update 13 will bring with it the inability for sets to deal critical damage or critically heal. Both of which Trinimac's Valor did, couple this with the buff to the Pet's themselves, the utility of this set has been diminished to the point where I no longer wish to use it. Maybe one day in the future ZoS will do another 1T type update to these outdated sets.
Out With the Old in With the New!
Without further ado I wish to present the New and Improved Daedric Shepherd!
The Daedric ShepherdArmor
Neck - Burning Spell Weave necklace - Arcane - Spell Damage
Rings - Burning Spell Weave rings - Arcane - Both Spell Damage
Head - Infernal Guardian - Divines, should be infused
Shoulders - Infernal Guardian - well fitted, should be divines
Chest - Clever Alchemist - infused
Gloves - Burning Spell Weave - divines
Waist - Clever Alchemist - divines
Legs - Clever Alchemist - infused
Feet - Clever Alchemist - divines
5/1/1, 5 light, 1 heavy, 1 medium - to maximize undaunted passives and armor passives
Glyphs
All max Magicka glyphs
Main Hand - Burning Spell Weave Lightning Destruction Staff - Sharpened/Precise/(whatever you can manage to have dropped!) - wpn/spell damage enchantment
Backup - Clever Alchemist Inferno Destruction Staff - Sharpened - Crusher Glyph/Flexible
Can't you just eat that up with a spoon?The armor choices The new choices in armor are less flexible than before. I'll go over each individually so I can be clear as to why each choice has been made.
Burning Spell Weave- This set is an absolute beast, there is a reason players are spending hours upon days upon weeks trying to get just the right staff in just the right trait. I've read several payers say that they have received the lightning staff and not the inferno staff yet, well here is an opportunity to use it!
- As a side note, the lightning staff main bar allows for the use of the heavy attack to deal massive AoE damage while in dungeons, also in Update 13 the lightning staff passive will give all our AoEs 8% more damage. Considering a large percentage of the Shepherd's abilities are AoEs this a great buff that makes the lightning staff main bar preferable. However if you find you just can't break yourself from you Inferno staff addiction, don't worry, the Shepherd has what you need. 8% more single target damage in the update can be taken advantage of simply by weaving your back bar, you can even switch Liquid Lightning and Crystal Fragments on your line up to deal a bit more damage if you can manage it.
-
Infernal Guardian As a solo build the Shepherd used Hardened Ward often, not only protect himself but also his precious Cuddles (Volatile Familiar) this Procs Infernal Guardian dealing really solid damage. After Update 13 Infernal Guardian's Dps will decrease slightly, however it is still a vital piece of of the Daedric Shepherd. Using a BSW lightning Staff main bar and being a Sorcerer our access to fire abilities is limited, this is where IG comes in, the 3 mortars and their AoE damage proc BSW almost 100% of the time alone. Combining this with back baring Elemental Blockade on the Inferno staff makes BSW essentially a 100% uptime (not including cool down of course.)
Clever Alchemist is not usually seen in PvE builds, it provides massive damage but only for approximately 38% of the time (15 seconds). Within seconds the Shepherd procs BSW, leading in with a Spell Crit Potion makes the Shepherd extremely powerful, even Veteran dungeon enemies will fall within seconds. The primary reason for Clever Alchemist is the fact that the 5 set bonus can be used on the backup bar and maintained on the front bar. This essentially gives me the full bonus of 2 5 piece sets, while only having to use 3 or 4 actual set pieces. The health bonus comes in handy as it's a passive way to get to 20k health. It is a crafted set, and at 6 required traits most players will have an easy time acquiring it, and means an easy way to get the Undaunted passives without having to grind for that perfect helm.
Race:
Altmer - typical magicka spec race.
Dunmer - my alt that does just as well
Breton - other obvious choice
Sure the races specifically with magicka racial passives will do well, but in my opinion any race will work. The build doesn't need the racial passives to function well. So if you want to RP a Khajiit, then go right on and do it.
AbilitiesMain Bar
Volatile Familiar, Boundless Storm (Flex spot), Daedric Prey/Velocious Curse , Hardened Ward, Crystal Fragments - ultimate: Shooting Star/ Elemental Rage
Backup Bar
Volatile Familiar, Power Surge, Elemental Barracade, Hardened Ward, Liquid Lightning, - ultimate: Dawnbreaker of Smiting
Volatile Familiar: You're going to be seeing a lot more of this guy in PvE and PvP in Update 13. With the buff to Atronach and Prey finally working with the Familiar a lot of newer and older players are going to be flocking to Sorcerer builds. I haven't done the math behind it, however I know Velocious Curse will be the, "easier" ability to use. Prey will also be well worth the slot, and will be the ability I choose - if not just for the theme factor
Hardened Ward: I prefer Hardened Ward over Empowered Ward however I don't see where you could go wrong with either. This ability is slotted on both bars, maximizing the protection it provides to our pets. You also get a minor boost from sorcerer passives over Annulment.
Boundless Storm: This is a flex spot on the build, to increase dps players may wish to switch this out for Crushing Shock or Mage's Wrath etc. Boundless Storm is easy to use, adds very slim amount of defense (it's rare I take direct damage, but it does happen.) I prefer more consistent and less complex set ups, you can't really go wrong with an AoE. The movement increase is always welcome.
Power Surge: This is the only ability with the capability to really heal the Shepherd runs. With so many AoEs/Dots you will have a Critical hit every second, it really is the only healing move you need. The Major buff is also crucial, allowing us to run spell crit pots and immovable pots to activate Clever Alchemist.
Liquid Lightning, Elemental Blockade: AoEs that deal solid damage and last quite a while. I call these Hit-It-and-Forget-It moves, switch over, hit it, switch back. These also give us the opportunity when combined with the Lightning Staff staff heavy attack to set mobs off balance, when combined with the perk from the Blue CP line the Daedric Shepherd gains another 10% damage if you decide to use that many CPs. Blockade has to be on the Inferno staff bar to maximize damage and BSW procs, other than that the abilities can be moved freely for personal comfort.
Crystal Fragments: Hits extremely hard, when used is extremely cheap, has a knockdown, heals you, provides spell crit (you know when combined with passives), it really just does it all. So it got a slot.
Shooting Star and Dawnbreaker of Smiting/ Elemental Rage: Both provide very nice initial damage, both do AoE, both provide DoTs. One can be built up to use in the beginning, and one can be used very often. Both deal nice damage, and do not disrupt the flow of combat. Though these are my choices I can easily see players slotting Overload for more abilities and really sold damage - I use to do it myself. Of course Elemental Rage is another option, you can choose the longer lasting Lightning version or the Harder hitting Flame version, I do believe somewhere on the forums players found out that the Lightning version, with it's increased duration will deal more damage than the fire version. I have not tested this enough to know for sure myself.
https://youtu.be/BAiMid1eO1MJust a taste of the Power the Shepherd now holdsMundusThe Thief: Provides critical chance, outside of the direct dps increase the thief provides better chances to proc Power Surge, sustaining should never be a problem while maintaining a decent rotation. However if you wish to have a more forgiving playstyle I suggest using the Atronach Mundus as more regeneration will let you spam a bit more without having to pay a penalty. Another option is the Shadow Mundus, player preference is most important.
Food/Beverage
The standard blue food will just fine, however I prefer using the new Witchmother's Potent Brew beverage that provides max magicka, max health, and magicka regen.
Champion Points - adjust to personal flavor
The Steed
Spell Shield 3
Hardy 58
Elemental Defender 53
Bastion 73
The Thief
Magician 74
Tenacity 4
Arcanist 78
Tumbling 34
The Mage
Elf Born 35
Elemental Expert 73
Spell Erosion 1
Thaumaturge 78
A Bit About the Shepherd
The stats on the Shepherd are quite high. The unbuffed Spell Damage sits at 2200, this very easily and consistently is buffed to 4500 spell damage. The max Magicka sits at 37,000 but can be adjusted by using certain abilities over others, such as removing Boundless Storm for Innerlight or Bound Armor, either of this abilities would raise the max magicka to nearly 40,000. Not only does BSW add to the spell damage through stat manipulation, it also does have the added benefit of adding the burning status effect. Though the damage from this effect may be minor, it does add up. I'm currently using Witch Mother's Brew and the Atronach Mundus (again for the more forgiving playstyle) so the build sits at 1770 regen without the use of any potion buffs.
Feel free to ask any Questions!