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VMaelstrom Mageblade Build Quickie

Nirnrotten
Nirnrotten
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Hello all so I would like to quickly share my VMA build for Magicka Nightblade. It is a poor man's build with minimal farming and CP. Hopefully a new or struggling Mageblade will find this helpful.

So I found out that playing Normal Maelstrom is kind of pointless and will give the player a false sense of confidence. My suggestion is to run it maybe once through just to get a feel for the levels but after that just play Veteran.

Gear is 5 piece crafted Julianos but Twice Born Star is also a great choice, and arguably better.
3 Piece Willpower Jewelry. I use 1 healthy and 2 arcane.
2 Piece Valkyn, Kena, or Engine Guardian.
If you find sustain lacking go Engine, otherwise the DPS from the other two sets is the way to go. A little farming here but not much.
1-2 piece Torugs. This is a flex set spot and you can choose.

Should go without saying but CP160 gear gold everything. You want to squeeze every stat out of your slots. I go full magicka enchants.

DW Bar: Impale/Crippling/Inner Light/Swallow Soul/Sap Essence/\Soul Harvest

Resto Bar: Siphoning Attacks/Merciless Resolve/Refreshing Path/Rapid Regen/Healing Ward/\Shooting Star

VMA is tough. Very tough. This DW/Resto combo affords High DPS without costing us too much sustain. Destro staff is also a great option and if you can make sure to weave in attacks the DPS is on par with DW and magicka won't be an issue.

Champion Point allocation for a CP 300 character is:
10 Blessed/27 Elf Born/63 Elemental Expert
25 Magician/ 75 Arcanist
11 Thick Skin/32 Hardy/32 Elemental defender/ 25 Bastion

CP really shines here. I wouldn't say it's impossible to clear this content as a lower CP but the difficulty is ridiculous. So if you are a fresh CP160 struggling in here, it might be best to do some other content first and stack those champion points before giving it another go.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask away. Good luck out there and don't get discouraged. You can all clear VMA!
  • TheDarkRuler
    TheDarkRuler
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    I suceeded on a similiar build like this.
    It was hard, harder than on my high-end optimized builds but it was definitely doable.
    Knowing the mechanics of each arena is more important than just flat-higher DPS.
  • Nirnrotten
    Nirnrotten
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    @TheDarkRuler I agree that knowing the mechanics is more important than higher DPS.

    Id say Mechanics>DPS>Sustain
  • HawkStan
    HawkStan
    Destro over dualwield in situations like this. If you get good at lightattack weaving it outperforms by a LOT. La's are arouns 30% of my dmg.
    #VMA token system
  • Nirnrotten
    Nirnrotten
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    @HawkStan In many situations Destro does perform better both in dps when light weaving and sustain if medium weaving. But for most of VMA I am able to kill mobs within 2-3 abilities. Because my spell damage is much higher using DW, my heals from Sap Essence and Swallow Soul are much burstier, and are many times the only heals I need to stay topped off. I run it with Destro as well but I have to switch to my Resto Staff more often.
  • Brrrofski
    Brrrofski
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    Double destro for the win in vma :)
  • Nirnrotten
    Nirnrotten
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    @Brrrofski maybe once I hit CP cap ill try that lol. Would that use Harness Magicka then? I gotta imagine the self healing being difficult on certain bosses/miniboss. But if everything is melting before it hits you...I can see how this would make VMA easier.

  • Brrrofski
    Brrrofski
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    Nirnrotten wrote: »
    @Brrrofski maybe once I hit CP cap ill try that lol. Would that use Harness Magicka then? I gotta imagine the self healing being difficult on certain bosses/miniboss. But if everything is melting before it hits you...I can see how this would make VMA easier.

    Don't even think the CP would make more of a difference than any build. I'm only using it because of the vma destro. You use wall of elements on the back bar, then a staff as part of a set (willpower in my case) with a spell damage enchant to keep 350 up all the time (weaving with Swallow soul). On mobs it's overkill but can really push your dps up on static bosses.

    Basically, you use dampen magica when you drop to or below 50% and let Swallow soul/sap/refreshing path get you back up.

    Takes a while to get use to but once you it's fine.

    Stam sorc can do it without vigor (I barely use it to be fair) so the same method on a nb works fine too. Better on fact because you even have a shield.
  • darthsithis
    darthsithis
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    Ty! Stuck on the ice stage, gonna try your cp allocation. She was built like my sorc and it didn't work lol.

    No 100 in bastion I guess
    Edited by darthsithis on October 4, 2016 5:09AM
    Message me if you want to do trials/dungeons, or need a trading guild! Flawless conqueror magsorc with a bad sense of armor fashion.
  • Afafrenferr
    Afafrenferr
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    @darthsithis I run it on magblade and the main thing I've noticed about frozen rink is just getting used to when and where the adds spawn on the boss round. Try taking the speed boost first, and slow your dps on the boss down just a little. If you over dps the boss, it's easy for the adds to overwhelm you, once speed platform is busted, take the healing sigil, then once that platform is busted, go to last one and take power boost, but don't take the shield boost until 30% when the archers show up. Ignore the archers and burn the boss down. You don't wanna dps race that boss until 30%. Keep at it, you'll nail it.
    PC/NA
  • darthsithis
    darthsithis
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    @Afafrenferr

    Thanks for the tip man! I farm it on my sor and know the mechanics- the problem is actually being overwhelmed by adds in the middle rounds. I feel so squishy and end up spamming harness and sap essence...

    How do you handle mobs?
    Message me if you want to do trials/dungeons, or need a trading guild! Flawless conqueror magsorc with a bad sense of armor fashion.
  • Afafrenferr
    Afafrenferr
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    i feel pretty squishy too, but if I hit harness magicka, swallow soul heal is enough to get me back to full. Sometimes I'll harness into healing ward. I don't use sap in there. Use your assasin's will very carefully in there, use it on whatever is giving you the most trouble at the moment, never on a troll. Soul harvest as well. I think the only way I get through there is just getting target prioritization right, which I don't always get right lol. Archer>mage>whisp>Troll>melee>Atro. One thing I think people do is make killing a troll priority, which I don't do, i just interrupt him until I have time to take him down easily. I never wanna kill a troll with an archer and or a make hitting me. I've also talked to people that think magblade has gotten more difficult since the thieves guild patch. Don't know what's changed, but they are def harder than they used to be.
    PC/NA
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