Nirnhoned. Help me understand.

GraniteDevil

I've been searching around the web to see if Nirnhoned is worth it on anything. Everywhere I look, everybody says NO! use (whatever other) trait. So here's my question: if Nirnhoned is so worthless, why the hell is it so rare (a single item as a reward for Craglorn - no drops anywhere else) and expensive (I see both forms of Nirncrux selling for ~20k)?

DPG76

probably just because for the 9th research trait

edit : for crafting

Nestor

Nirn use to be good. Then it was Best Trait Ever and if you did not have it all on your gear, you sucked. And it was very OP. So, ZOS nerfed it. In. To. The. Ground.

So, now Nirns most useful trait, pardon the pun, is to know the trait so you can make 9 Trait sets.

This is not to say that Nirn is totally worthless under every circumstance. I have it on a couple of armor pieces to buff my spell resistance on some of my alts. Not sure if I am going to keep it that way, but for now, it works for me.

As for rariity, it is rare. About a 1 in 100 drop chance, in one zone. And, the Armor Nirn drops about 6 times as often as the Weapon Nirn does. I don't remember the last time I harvested one. The drop rate was supposed to have been increased, but not from my experience. But, I would not call myself a Nirn Famer, I have about 30 of them, and no use for them, I have all traits researched, so I have all I need.

disintegr8

It used to be in demand as a highly sought after trait on weapons and armour. Like the rest of the crafting skill lines, it has been left behind for shinier and (arguably) better things. Most of the traits are worthless now anyway.

You only need it if you want to be a 9 trait crafter - which is just about a useless achievement. I would like to see ESO do a revamp of crafting to make it desirable again.

Taleof2Cities

A paradox that has been discussed in the forums many times since the recent revamp of the trait system.

You are certainly correct in that it is not the best trait in most builds.

But the rarity is a result of the trait stone only dropping in one zone, Craglorn ... at a low rate in nodes and very rarely on animals that drop hides.

While not needed for crafting per se, the nirncrux IS needed for a player to research the nirncrux trait ... to be able to craft 9-trait weapons and armor (and there are still pretty decent 9-trait gear sets to be made in Tamriel).


Bottom line, your statements are all correct. Why nirncrux isn't more important a trait in actual gear sets is a decision only ZOS knows. For a Craglorn questline that is very good, has quests that emphasize nirncrux (and ends with a nirnhoned item reward) ... it is somewhat disappointing the trait is not desirable for crafted or dropped gear.

GraniteDevil

Okay, those answers all answer my question... thanks!

AegisWolf

disintegr8 wrote: »

It used to be in demand as a highly sought after trait on weapons and armour. Like the rest of the crafting skill lines, it has been left behind for shinier and (arguably) better things. Most of the traits are worthless now anyway.

You only need it if you want to be a 9 trait crafter - which is just about a useless achievement. I would like to see ESO do a revamp of crafting to make it desirable again.

Just make all the sets craftable, and reward high-end trials and PvP with multiple gold tempers.

Code2501

There is a place for nirnhoned weapons in builds that stack weapon/spell damage to take advantage of % increase buffs. But sharpened is generally the weapon trait of choice for deeps.

SaRuZ

So a 5pc TBS all Nirnhoned wouldn't be that good? I read somewhere that with 5pc you get 24% damage reduction. Is that better than inpen?

Preyfar

SaRuZ wrote: »

So a 5pc TBS all Nirnhoned wouldn't be that good? I read somewhere that with 5pc you get 24% damage reduction. Is that better than inpen?

It wouldn't be a good choice, no. The average armor increase NIrnhoned gives is 300 increased Spell/Phys resistance. Over 7 pieces, that's pretty minimal compared going Divines (for damage/crit) or Infused. The amount of defense Nirnhoned offers is negligible,. If you're light armor you can pop a shield, medium can run Shuffle and get a fair bit more defense than what Nirnhoned can offer.

As Nestor said, Nirnhoned was nerfed into the ground, to the point it went from one of the best to one of the worst. There's a small case for it being on weapons, but even then, sharpened is better in every single aspect (if Nirn was nerfed into the ground, sharpened's buff was overbuffed too high).

AtraisMachina

AegisWolf wrote: »

disintegr8 wrote: »

It used to be in demand as a highly sought after trait on weapons and armour. Like the rest of the crafting skill lines, it has been left behind for shinier and (arguably) better things. Most of the traits are worthless now anyway.

You only need it if you want to be a 9 trait crafter - which is just about a useless achievement. I would like to see ESO do a revamp of crafting to make it desirable again.

Just make all the sets craftable, and reward high-end trials and PvP with multiple gold tempers.

Terrible idea

PS4_ZeColmeia

If you are a ma or Stygian, nirnhorned on the main hand is a likely bis if you are dw and off hand sharpened or precise

PS4_ZeColmeia

Preyfar wrote: »

SaRuZ wrote: »

So a 5pc TBS all Nirnhoned wouldn't be that good? I read somewhere that with 5pc you get 24% damage reduction. Is that better than inpen?

It wouldn't be a good choice, no. The average armor increase NIrnhoned gives is 300 increased Spell/Phys resistance. Over 7 pieces, that's pretty minimal compared going Divines (for damage/crit) or Infused. The amount of defense Nirnhoned offers is negligible,. If you're light armor you can pop a shield, medium can run Shuffle and get a fair bit more defense than what Nirnhoned can offer.

As Nestor said, Nirnhoned was nerfed into the ground, to the point it went from one of the best to one of the worst. There's a small case for it being on weapons, but even then, sharpened is better in every single aspect (if Nirn was nerfed into the ground, sharpened's buff was overbuffed too high).

reinforced is better than nirnhorned if the base armor is over 2k as a general rule. That is of course if you're making high armor, in HA that means waist and gloves should be nirnhorned.