Magicka NB - heavy or light?

Torbschka

Hey guys,

Im writing via mobile phone, so there might occur wird sentences

I have a few questions regarding mag NB:

1. I have an argonian NB, should i race change or is it ok for pvp/pve?
2. Should I wear heavy or light in pvp, how does the playstyle change?
3. Is resto still needed or what is about destro+SNB?
4. Overall Situation for mag NB?

What do u guys think about:

5x trans
2x Kena
5x Magnus

In pvp? I also does have the lich gear, is there use for that with a desto setup?

Thannks!

KenaPKK

Argonian is good for sap setups using lots of heals over time. Heal over time builds are very strong right now, so perhaps go that route. Breton is best overall.

Heavy keeps you safer against op stam one shots. Light works if you use more elusive mechanics like cloak and shade to avoid damage or play a hit and run play style. A few of us have been using Transmutation to shore up light armor's susceptibility to burst as well, and it's been a godsend for light armor mageblade. I won't take mine off at this point. You can see it at work in Aeryj's last video.

Resto is really helpful if you're not pumping 50k+ max magicka for large dampen shields. If you go that route, though, you won't have a reliable burst heal but can be tankier while blocking on a snb bar. Overall, destro resto mageblade can be made very tanky though. Snb isn't necessary unless that's your primary bar or unless you just really like it, which is an entirely different play style.

Mag NB is in a pretty odd place. It is balanced internal to the class, but snares pin it down with little escape, and stamina damage can one shot light armor builds lacking big shields. You'll have to build tankier (using either trans, heavy armor, and/or big shields) and learn to stand your ground to deal with those.

5 Magnus + 2 Kena + Trans would be dual wield or snb. Kena is really clunky if a staff isn't your main bar, so I recommend using a different undaunted set like Engine or Malubeth. 5 Magnus + 2 Kena has great synergy -- I used to run that in 1.7 -- but it's largely unnecessary in my opinion. You get more bang for your buck with 1 Kena + 2 torug's (head and staff) or an entire 5pc in your jewelry head and shoulders.

Lich fits well with Willpower + 3 Torug's + vma/vdsa staff or 4 Magnus.

Try to hang onto Willpower if you're not using Necropotence.

Torbschka

Thanks for the great input!

I do have 1 thing to add regarding the listed magnus/kena/trans setup:

Destro magnus

Retro trans

Head kena
Shoulder Jena
Torso magnus
Belt trans
Gloves magnus
Trousers magnus
Shoes magnus

Necklace trans
Ring trans
Ring trans

Woukdnt that work, am i missing somethibg? Besides that, bevause you are defenity one oft the most experienced mag NB in this game, what setup woukd u run?

I cant geht necropotence, but any other (even lich). Im more the run and gun plaxstyle guy.

Thanks for ur help

KenaPKK

@Torbschka

Dividing Magnus and Trans between your staff bars would work perfectly fine. You can apply a Swallow Soul hot to yourself on your 4 Trans front bar and swap back and still get the 5 Trans buff now -- the set was not released that way initially but has since been changed. I love using Path with Rapid Regen on my resto bar myself. Those abilities are always strong options for additional hots. A heal over time tanky destro mageblade is very strong right now, and Argonian is a great race for that.

I ran Magnus + Kena back in 1.7 (you can see it at work in my old video). The synergy is really sweet. Back then, I could sustain indefinite Kena procs with 5 Magnus even using 3 damage jewelry glyphs and Apprentice mundus. Not sure if the build still can.

If it were my build, barring the use of vMA or vDSA weapons, I would run the following:
4 Trans armor
1 Trans jewelry
2 Willpower jewelry
Willpower staves
1 Kena armor
2 Torug's armor
Apprentice mundus for damage, or Thief for more crit heal ticks

I split the jewelry between WP and Trans like that because golding one additional piece of Willpower gives more relevant stats than golding one additional piece of Trans. You'll also have two crafted pieces of armor to achieve 5-1-1 in case your Kena pieces do not cooperate.

I simply find 2 Kena unnecessary in PvP now. 3 reasons I do not use it anymore:

• I don't need the damage. Everyone's tankier, and fights last longer now. I don't burst nearly as much as I wear opponents out with battles of attrition. Mageblade excels at this.
• We have lower regen and higher base ability costs across the board than we did in 1.7, making it slightly harder to sustain. I have not tested if 5 Magnus can still sustain indefinitely, but I know for a fact that 5 Trans will not without Atronach mundus or some regen glyphs, both of which I consider a waste.
• Weaving Swallow Soul procs Kena, making it impossible to control procs in realistic fights. This used to be an advantage. With today's lower sustain and longer fights, I now consider it a risk.

If my math is correct, your 2 Kena build will have about 340 spell damage equivalent more overall damage than my proposed build when Kena is procced. When Kena is not procced, my build would deal greater damage. I would run my build because it will perform more consistently with less risk. That said, yours does have moar damages.

Kena still feels super badass though. If you want to use it, go for it. The build you proposed is really solid and will function fine open world, just not as consistently.

Edit: about running 5pc Trans on your back bar alone, make sure your front bar has greater health than your back bar by a little bit. Structured Entropy or Shadow abilities will achieve this. That way, you can apply Path or Regen on your back bar, swap to your front, and get the Trans buff on the swap. Using this method to keep Trans up when moving around will help protect you from ganks. I will be so jelly of your max health as an argonian.

Torbschka

Wow, cant thank you enough! I will defenitely go for your build, because it is so well thought out.

One last question: would u try amberplasm on a mag NB? I just got 3 jewelry and some armor. I dont know if it is useful becauae of the stamina Gavin via SA

KenaPKK

Torbschka wrote: »

Wow, cant thank you enough! I will defenitely go for your build, because it is so well thought out.

One last question: would u try amberplasm on a mag NB? I just got 3 jewelry and some armor. I dont know if it is useful becauae of the stamina given via SA

Your tradeoff using Amberplasm would be giving up Willpower in order to not use Siphon Attacks anymore. Using Amber with SA would just give you excess sustain that you don't need, and you've got to get a positive tradeoff somewhere.

So if you use Amberplasm, make sure that the skill you use in place of SA is worth giving up the raw magicka and spell damage from Willpower. Dampen Magicka comes to mind as totally worth.

If you do use Amberplasm, use two infused large armor pieces + jewelry. I would end up using prismatics on the armor myself, but that's up to how much max health and stam you want.

Oh, and keep in mind that Amberplasm will give you back like a fifth of the stamina sustain of SA. I would sooner trade Entropy for another ability and use spell power potions in place of tripots (which is an entirely feasible way to play mageblade because of SA).