Stats needed for VMSA

FloppyFrank

So I'm a vet 16 sorc and I was wondering what should my stats be at to attempt to complete VMSA? Currently I'm sitting at 38k magicka buffed with blue v10 food, 2700 spell dmg buffed, and around 1000 regen unbuffed. I'm running willpower jewelry, engine guardian set, and Julianos set with the apprentice mundus stone. Should I put spell dmg glyphs on my jewelry for currently they are regen glyphs and then change my mundus stone to the mage or atronach, or should I be good as I am? Just asking because I tried it and arena 1 was easy enough, but arena 2 with all the spinning blades was really a challenge.

paul_j

I would definitely put the spell dmg enchants on jewelery. I run a similar setup and tried vet maelstrom the other day and got to round 4 but had to stop because I had to run some errands

Waffennacht

At 3800 spell dmg and 900 regen, I run out of magicka

At 3400 spell dmg 1400ish regen I fair better actually.

andy_s

Sorcs usually go 40k+ magicka and full spell damage. Mobs die from few Force Pulses/Crushing Shocks, and for bosses you have overload. Check this 480k score video: http://www.twitch.tv/thekenmann/v/40350234 Even with cheapest magicka pots no magicka problems, though I prefer v15 crafted pots

So the setup is: v15 blue food, 2x molag kena, 5x julianos, 3x willpower (all spell dmg), inferno staff (maelstrom or nirnhoned), 2x torug pact swords nirnhoned. If you don't have molag kena and maelstrom staff, you can go with magnus / arch mage.

cdobratz

if you have sustain problems switch from you health/magic food to the orzingas food with health and magic recovery

LadyNalcarya

I use full burst build, with all spell dmg enchants + bound aegis/magelight combo. My regen is around 800, and I have 43-something k magicka and 16,8 hp.
Dont have any issues with vMA except lag and overload getting stuck.
P.S. The only thing I use for utility and not for higher damage is crushing shock. It helps a lot against archers and mages, and the last boss whom I cant reliably bash due to lags.

Septimus_Magna

Always go all into spell dmg on a sorc.

If you have troubles with sustain you can use Elemental Drain on bosses.

You can also use Energy Overload to gain back magicka ofc.

Reznique

I have tried running different builds for vma as a sorc and I managed to preform much better using the usual PVE setup (statswise)

Thief mundus
43k+ magica
~900 mana regen
16k health (blue food- magicka+hp)
2pc Kena
fire destro staff and 2 torug pact swords.

The logic behind this is quite simple:

1) more spell dmg+ more magicka= more DPS (more DPS= forget about the mechanics)
2) more magicka= stronger shield
3) more magicka= more to spend ^_^

When running low on resources just use a potion and/or use overload

LadyNalcarya

OLIVI3R wrote: »

1) more spell dmg+ more magicka= more DPS (more DPS= forget about the mechanics)
2) more magicka= stronger shield
3) more magicka= more to spend ^_^

Exactly.
Magicka sorcs have 2 advantages that make them supeb vMA chars: insane burst and shields. More shields = more room for error, which is very important for those who are just learning the mechanics, and in situation where another char would be dead, you will just lose your shield and have time to react. More burst means shorter and easier fights.
So imo boosting these 2 things is more beneficial than going for regen/sustain route.

dylanjaygrobbelaarb16_ESO

andy.s wrote: »

Sorcs usually go 40k+ magicka and full spell damage. Mobs die from few Force Pulses/Crushing Shocks, and for bosses you have overload. Check this 480k score video: http://www.twitch.tv/thekenmann/v/40350234 Even with cheapest magicka pots no magicka problems, though I prefer v15 crafted pots

So the setup is: v15 blue food, 2x molag kena, 5x julianos, 3x willpower (all spell dmg), inferno staff (maelstrom or nirnhoned), 2x torug pact swords nirnhoned. If you don't have molag kena and maelstrom staff, you can go with magnus / arch mage.

40k with cp around the cap, i dont know if id go as far as saying its the "Usual"

dylanjaygrobbelaarb16_ESO

cdobratz wrote: »

if you have sustain problems switch from you health/magic food to the orzingas food with health and magic recovery

this makes no sense on a sorc you have overload to dps while getting your pool back up for free and 20k shields to keep you alive. only sorc gets to completely ignore everything but max magica+spellpower, may as well utalize it. max magia+health food, overload is your magica regen

FloppyFrank

Alright, thanks for all the advice guys. It looks like I'll be putting spell power glyphs on my jewelry and hoping I can finally get my kena shoulder as I got the helm. Also, is there any way to really up my magicka without upgrading to v16 gear and gold quality as the grind for that is ridiculous?

Najjynn

On a side note, how much sustain would a sorc need in PvP? This information for Vmsa is helpful, and looking to see how to build both for PvE and PvP.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

My two cents, much of which has already been said. If any class can go straight glass cannon in here, it is a Sorc. I personally would ditch the engine guardian and replace with Kena (best choice) or nerien'eth (solid choice) or 1 piece Kena 2-3 torugs pact (how I got my first clear). The last might be your best option, just make a torugs shoulder until the kena drops for you. All praise RNGesus.

I run 5 Julianos, 2 Kena, 3 Willpower, 2 Torugs Swords, 1 VMA staff (used to run a random nirn staff). I put Magic and Spell Damage on everything. I sit at 16809 health and right around 43K magic with double toggles. My shield is about 25k with 100 into bastion. Gold gear is not required, but it certainly makes things easier. DPS is so gear dependent. At least make sure your weapons are v16 and gold. This place is not to be undertaken without appropriate gear, CP, and resources (pots and repair costs). It will be a miserable experience.

Here is the thing. Sustain is definitely a real issue, but it cuts both ways. If you kill stuff faster, it takes less magic. If you kill stuff slower, you need more regen. I find the first one works better. The only time sustain is an issue for me is if I find myself playing more defense than offense or spread my DPS around too much. 2 crushing shock weaves and a frag will kill almost everything in the arena. Make sure you dont spread your damage around or try to AOE everything. Use your tab target and focus a target until it is dead. If it starts getting healed from somewhere, stop what you are doing and kill the healer (always solid advice). Burning an add for 10 seconds while it is getting healed is the best way to run out of magic. I just use cheap magic pots at this point, and that seems to be enough to keep my magic up.

The other thing to consider is that the more magic and spell damage you have, the bigger the shield. My total "health" (max health+shield) is actually higher if I run absolutely nothing into health. My health pool is lower, but my shield is bigger. Blue food is the way to go, the only place that purple food is potentially handy is the lost boss, but its really not necessary.

I think the definitive bar setup for a sorc speedruns is as follows:

Destro: Crushing Shock, Crystal Frags, Elemental Drain, bound aegis, Inner Light, Overload
DW: Surge, Liquid Lightening, Hardened Ward, bound aegis, Inner Light, Overload
Overload Bar: Exact same as DW bar.

I run a slight variation on this. First, I generally dont run Ele Drain and run Hardened Ward on both bars. This is safer because you dont have to bar swap, but is less DPS and can cause resource issues if you overcast your shield. Elemental drain not only gives resources (fixes the sustain problem), but also gives Major Breach, which is really handy on mini-bosses/bosses.

Second, I slot Rune Cage instead of Liquid lightening in a handful of situations (mostly round 9, but also handy on rounds 5 and 7, especially those archers). I need it less and less as I get better with spawns, but its handy to lock down and add for bit. If you really feel like you need more skills, you can always drop bound Aegis. This frees up 2 slots, but lowers your overall DPS because your magic pool is lower. It might seem trivial, but it is a noticeable DPS loss. I learned the Arena that way, but once I got comfortable, I found simple (high DPS) works best.

FloppyFrank

Thanks for all the insight @Oreyn_Bearclaw. I would go with a vet 16 gold torugs pact staff, but I feel like it would cost a *** and my vet 16 gold willpower staff has been doing me well. Also, is nerieneth that much better than engine guardian? Maybe its because I play on xbox so there is no combat text, but is there that much of a noticeable damage difference? I really like the sustain provided by engine guardian but if nerieneth is really that much better I must just have to go with that.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

FloppyFrank wrote: »

Thanks for all the insight @Oreyn_Bearclaw. I would go with a vet 16 gold torugs pact staff, but I feel like it would cost a *** and my vet 16 gold willpower staff has been doing me well. Also, is nerieneth that much better than engine guardian? Maybe its because I play on xbox so there is no combat text, but is there that much of a noticeable damage difference? I really like the sustain provided by engine guardian but if nerieneth is really that much better I must just have to go with that.

Are you running 3 willpower Jewelry or do you actually need the staff to make the 3 piece set work? The first place to drop gold is on getting all Willpower jewelry in Arcane. I would also work to craft a gold v16 torugs staff in Nirn if you can. They arent cheap, but prices on v16 wood and rosin have dropped a lot recently. The most expensive part will be a potent nirncrux, but that can be farmed in craglorn.

Think about it this way. Your jewelry is an obvious place for a 3 piece, which CANT be crafted, and willpower jewelry is currently best in slot for that. A 4th piece of willpower (your staff), doesnt really help anything. You have 2 armor pieces left (head and shoulders) after you make your 5 piece Julianos and 1-2 weapon slots depending on your bar.

So really, you are trying to figure out how to maximize 3-4 slots (3 jewelry and 5 pieces of armor are spoken for). You have a few options:

- a 2 piece monster set (Engine, Kena, nerien'eth) and 1-2 pieces of another set. Torugs is a really obvious choice here because its 2 piece bonus is spell damage. With this setup, your set on your staff is irrelevant, but Torugs is still what I would craft because you could use it elsewhere (I have made like 6 of these damn things). Ideally, you use a Maelstrom staff here, but that is putting the cart before the horse. Your swords will both be torugs so you get the spell damage bonus for your overload bar. Again, v16 gold torugs swords in gold is something you should work towards. This is the best option IMO.

- a 1 piece bonus like Kena, and 2-3 of another set. This is prob what I am suggesting for you in the meantime. This way you get the spell damage from kena AND the spell damage from torugs on both weapons bar. The 3rd torugs bonus when on your overload bar just makes you a little tankier, which isnt the worst thing.

- Finally, you could make 3-4 pieces of Magnus. This is also not a terrible option. You basically get extra magic and magic regen on both your bars and extra damage on your DW bar. Problem here is that if you are going to go all in and craft 2 Gold Nirn swords, I would make the Torugs swords first. They are more useful overall IMO, and once you get a kena shoulder, I would hate for you to have to recraft 2 very expensive pieces.

In terms of which Monster set to use, there are really only 3 to consider. Engine Guardian, Kena, Nerienth (maybe Skoria if it is finally fixed next patch0. They are all very different in what they do. There is not a right answer.

-Engine Guardian does NOTHING for DPS, but it is wonderful for sustain. If you are constantly running out of resources, this might be the best set for you, but kind of the whole point of my posts is that sustain is not that much of an issue if you do it right.

-Nerienth (and Skoria) are both passive DPS sets. Meaning that you can equip and forget. Just wearing them is going to boost your overall DPS. Nerienth is no joke. The procs hit very hard, especially in AoE situations. Most of the bosses are pretty static in here so a high number of your procs should land.

-Kena is king for DPS, especially on sorcs. When you overload, you will automatically proc Kena. This makes your overloads hit REALLY hard, and it doesnt take any extra effort on your part. Sorcs are arguably best in the arena and it is for 2 reasons. We have shields, and we can Overload the bosses. When you arent overloading, you can also use this to burst down some higher threat targets that might not be worthy of spending ultimate, but you must actively do this by using 2 Light attack weaves in a row. It's really a win win. As people push times on this arena further and further, it wouldnt shock me to see people running Kena on boss rounds, and nerienth on trash heavy rounds, but that is over my head.

FloppyFrank

Again @Oreyn_Bearclaw and everyone thanks for the posts of help. I've decided to go with spell power arcane willpower jewelry, nerieneth set, and the thief mundus. I'll still use my gold vet16 willpower staff until I can work up the gold for 2 gold torugs act swords. Those changes have built up my spell dmg buffed to 2900 and magicka to almost 35k. I will try a VMSA run tomorrow and hope it goes well!
Edit: In my original post I said I had 38k magicka buffed, I meant 33k lol

paul_j

Good luck!

Oreyn_Bearclaw

FloppyFrank wrote: »

Again @Oreyn_Bearclaw and everyone thanks for the posts of help. I've decided to go with spell power arcane willpower jewelry, nerieneth set, and the thief mundus. I'll still use my gold vet16 willpower staff until I can work up the gold for 2 gold torugs act swords. Those changes have built up my spell dmg buffed to 2900 and magicka to almost 35k. I will try a VMSA run tomorrow and hope it goes well!
Edit: In my original post I said I had 38k magicka buffed, I meant 33k lol

If you dont have torugs swords, you might consider a Resto staff on your back bar in the meantime. Healing ward and rapid regen arent the worst skills in there. Good luck in there. If you get stuck somewhere, dont be afraid to ask for help. Also, dont be a hero. Use the sigils!!! You can use all 4 at once if your really want to.

I know Sypher got his no death clear with Destro/Resto. It is not as much DPS, but it is probably safer. I think his bars looked like this:

Destro: Crushing shock, crystal Frags, Hardened ward, Mages fury, Innerlight, overload.
Resto: Healing Ward, Liquid lightening, Streak, Surge, Innerlight, Overload.

The nice thing is that you really keep all your DPS on your main bar, and shouldnt have to bar swap too much.

FloppyFrank

well *** I was going to try it today but my ESO plus ran out this very day. Do you guys recommend just buying Orsinium now or waiting until after TG to see if any bundle comes out?

aLi3nZ

With eso plus don't you have enough crowns to buy the expansion?
It's hard to say if they will bundle them together.

FloppyFrank

So I decided to just go ahead and buy Orsinium. However in VMSA, I managed to get through arenas 1-3 without too much trouble, but I got stuck on the final boss of arena 4, Seth's flywheel. I was getting very little dps on the boss as there were too many adds and they eventually overwhelmed me every time, most notably those damn clockwork sentries. So does anyone have some advice on how to get past him and how to progress in further arenas?

paul_j

You gotta make sure to kill those guys before they setup shop. Walk back and forth to target them before killing other adds

Joy_Division

FloppyFrank wrote: »

So I decided to just go ahead and buy Orsinium. However in VMSA, I managed to get through arenas 1-3 without too much trouble, but I got stuck on the final boss of arena 4, Seth's flywheel. I was getting very little dps on the boss as there were too many adds and they eventually overwhelmed me every time, most notably those damn clockwork sentries. So does anyone have some advice on how to get past him and how to progress in further arenas?

Yes. It's a DPs race.

1. Beginning of round grab power sigal.
2. DPS boss inside green circle.
3. ignore all little sentry robots.
4. When boss stops, go behind the pillar to LOS boss and kill the spider and sphere
5. Resume DPS on boss (again ignoring sentry robots)
6. If your DPS is good/had lots of Overload, you might be able to burn Boss without dealing with second add (battlemage)
7. If not, repeat LOS and kill the add. She has low health, but a dangerous streak.
8. After this you do nothing but DPS boss. No matter what, DPS boss.

Note: don't be afraid to grab the defensive or healing power sigal after killing the second add if you feel you are behind on your DPS.