Lunar Bastion set seems underpowered.

Saturn

After getting 5 pieces together of this set (some from weekly, some from the veteran Maw of Lorkhaj) I tested out the effect of having 5 pieces. Note that the 5-piece effect is extremely poorly explained, so I have "translated" it below as well as added a video to make the effect more obvious.

"When you use a synergy you create a lunar blessing for 10 seconds that grants a 2399 damage shield to nearby allies every 2 seconds."
What it actually means is:
"When you use a synergy you spawn a 12 meter (guesstimate) wide circle, lasting 10 seconds, that blesses up to 6 random allies with a 2399 damage shield that refreshes every 2 seconds for as long as they are standing in it."

Here is a video of the effect taking place:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-8eT1eeU2A
*The shields that people in the circle recieve are often invisible (the effect on you seems to vanish after 2 seconds, even if you still have the damage shield), but when you can see them they are blue shields similar to the Imperium set.

My personal opinion on this effect, and the reason for the title, is that for an endgame trial tank set the effect of having 5 pieces equipped is EXTREMELY poor. The shield refreshes every 2 seconds, but DOES NOT stack with itself, meaning it is just simply a 2.4k shield that keeps refreshing. This means you will rarely save someone's life with this effect, which ultimately makes the Imperium set that drops from veteran White-Gold Tower a way better set if you are looking for a set that grants allies damage shields. The Imperium set gives up to six players (yourself included) a 12k damage shield, and from my personal experience it has saved myself and other people countless times from dying to hard-hitting attacks, but the Lunar Bastion will likely only save you from dying to a dot (although most dots in vMoL are above 4k damage every 1-2 seconds, i.e. it is still not enough).

I think there are a few different ways it could be changed to make it viable for tanks:
A - the shield given to people in the circle is increased to 8k, or more, and still refreshes itself every 2 seconds you are in the circle.
B - the shield is kept at 2.4k but stacks with itself, and over the course of the 10 seconds you are in the circle builds up, ultimately resulting in a 12k shield to anyone who stood in it for the entire 10 seconds. Although this still wouldn't really save anyone from a dot or a hard hitting attack landed at the beginning of the circle's lifespan.
C - anyone inside the circle is granted a 12k shield, or more, that lasts for 10 seconds regardless of when they enter the circle, but the effect does not stack or refresh.

Sidenote: I wish trial sets would actually affect 12 people, you know a trial sized group. The whole nerf to the limit of shields granted by Imperium, the barrier ultimate and such, is really quite odd. Why does it have to be a limit of 6 players instead of the 12 it used to be. I mean we all know PvE is getting a hard time because a lot of changes are made to cater specifically to PvP. Anyway...

It is unlikely the set will actually be changed, which is a shame considering how cool the effect looks. Most tanks will still stick with the stuff they usually run when they realised how poor the effect is. I like the idea of having shields spawn on my friends, which is why I looked forward to this set, but it is simply a dumbed down version of the Imperium set that I'm running at the moment.

On a positive note, I do think the 5-piece synergy effect is really cool looking, especially when Twilight Remedy (golden glowing chest) and Moondancer (glowing arms or legs) have such subtle effects. I've yet to see what Alkosh looks like when triggered.


This is really just another set for the "failed to have any purpose" pile that a lot of sets in the game are tossed into. It may still be a decent 3 piece set, although I wouldn't run it. It is pretty sad since the Moondancer and Twilight Remedy are very nicely designed sets.

Silver_Strider

Another lack luster 5 piece tank set. WHAT A SURPRISE.
Honestly, people will only use it for the 3 piece jewelry in most situations.

Paulington

I think this set was designed with the void sphere mechanic on Rakkhat in mind, i.e. random damage coming into the raid that requires you to just be topped up.

However I do agree, this set is not very good and if the shield stacked it would be a lot better. Tanks could keep it up and shield the group but that would make it very, very strong.

As for Alkosh, you can barely see it being triggered. It's a cone-effect attack of some black smoke that hits the mobs in front of you. I barely noticed it the first time I used it.

kojou

IMO all of the sets are pretty bad. The only one that seems usable to me for a 5 piece is the Alkosh where the synergy does a lot of poison damage.

I like that they were trying to be creative with the set bonuses, but if they are not better than crafted sets then nobody is going to run them because there is no use suffering to the RNG gods to get good traits on something that will not be as good as other things that are easier to get.

Imperium is a much better set for the similar effect and is passive (no hitting "x" required) to make the (stronger) shields.

code65536

The shield also disappears after that 2-second duration, even if the person is still in the blessing circle and even if they are taking no damage. In a smaller group, this isn't really problematic, since the shield will refresh and they'll get it again. But when you tested it the other day in the 12-man group, what I saw was the shield disappearing from person A and reappearing on person B so that, at any point in time, only half the group had protection.

In contrast, if you cast Regeneration, it hits 2 people, and when you cast it again, it hits two more people without removing the buff from the first two, allowing 4 people to have Regeneration active. But with Lunar Bastion, on each refresh tick, current shield holders lose the shield, and if the group has more than 6 people, there is a fair chance that they don't regain that shield.

But by far the biggest problem is the pathetically low potency of this effect. Essentially, all it does is mitigate a bit over 2K damage every 2 seconds for 6 people standing in an area. A Templar's Extended Ritual covers about the same area, ticks more frequently, ticks for a lot more than 2K and doesn't require some fancy hard-to-get set to use.

For a set that's ostensibly designed for PvE trials, it is so worthless in that kind of a setting.

Saturn

code65536 wrote: »

The shield also disappears after that 2-second duration, even if the person is still in the blessing circle and even if they are taking no damage. In a smaller group, this isn't really problematic, since the shield will refresh and they'll get it again. But when you tested it the other day in the 12-man group, what I saw was the shield disappearing from person A and reappearing on person B so that, at any point in time, only half the group had protection.

In contrast, if you cast Regeneration, it hits 2 people, and when you cast it again, it hits two more people without removing the buff from the first two, allowing 4 people to have Regeneration active. But with Lunar Bastion, on each refresh tick, current shield holders lose the shield, and if the group has more than 6 people, there is a fair chance that they don't regain that shield.

But by far the biggest problem is the pathetically low potency of this effect. Essentially, all it does is mitigate a bit over 2K damage every 2 seconds for 6 people standing in an area. A Templar's Extended Ritual covers about the same area, ticks more frequently, ticks for a lot more than 2K and doesn't require some fancy hard-to-get set to use.

For a set that's ostensibly designed for PvE trials, it is so worthless in that kind of a setting.

Indeed. I still have no idea why sets have the same limitations as Barrier, with its maximum player reach being 6 people. For trials (which one would assume this was designed for) it is really quite weird. Imperium makes a bit more sense with its 6 player limit since it is likely designed for 4man content.

Saturn

ztyhurstub17_ESO wrote: »

IMO all of the sets are pretty bad. The only one that seems usable to me for a 5 piece is the Alkosh where the synergy does a lot of poison damage.

I like that they were trying to be creative with the set bonuses, but if they are not better than crafted sets then nobody is going to run them because there is no use suffering to the RNG gods to get good traits on something that will not be as good as other things that are easier to get.

Imperium is a much better set for the similar effect and is passive (no hitting "x" required) to make the (stronger) shields.

I really like the Moondancer and Twilight Remedy set, the only problem I have with them is that synergies are extremely unreliable. The extended ritual that templars have also in many cases removes the synergy option from other attacks, futher increasing this unreliability.