Any alternative to Shadow + Thief

Bobby_V_Rockit

I run TBS set as a DPS, is there any other combo of mundus stones that is viable for vMA, mostly in the way of survivability than shadow and thief?

Cheers

DannyLV702

Nope. Simply because you want damage over survivability.

code65536

Think of the 5p TBS bonus as whatever bonus you'd get from an extra Mundus stone.

So, for example, if you normally run Thief, and you decide to run Thief+Apprentice, then you can think of TBS as:
2: add 1064 max health
3: add 967 max stam
4: add 967 max mag
5: add 213 spell damage (assuming 7p legendary divines)

If you look at it that way, it's not very appealing--you'd be numerically better off with Kagrenac+Thief or Julianos+Thief than you would with TBS+Thief+Apprentice. And this is why nobody should ever be using Apprentice if they use TBS.

One way to gauge the bang-for-the-buck of a particular Mundus stone choice is to compare its strength to a standard set bonus.

• Lady/Lover: adds 1952 resistance; vs. 1935 resistance from a standard set bonus; Mundus stone advantage of +0.8%
• Lord/Mage/Tower: adds 1952 health/mag/stam; vs. 1064 health and 967 mag/stam from a standard set bonus; Mundus stone advantage of +83%/+102%
• Atronach/Serpent: adds 320 mag/stam recovery; vs. 129 from a standard set bonus; Mundus stone advantage of +148%
• Apprentice/Warrior: adds 213 spell/weapon damage; vs. 129 from a standard set bonus; Mundus stone advantage of +65%
• Thief: adds 16.8% crit; vs. 3.1% from a standard set bonus; Mundus stone advantage of +437%

As you can see, not all Mundus stones are created equal. Lady/Lover are basically junk. Atronach is pretty good. Thief (and Shadow, though Shadow has nothing to directly compare it to) are, however, in a league entirely of their own.

So, for example, if you had a choice between enchanting a piece of jewelry with recovery (169 recovery) and using the Apprentice stone (213 damage), or enchanting a piece of jewelry with spell damage (174 damage) and using the Atronach stone (320 recovery), you should do the latter.

There are really only 4 Mundus stones that are really worth using in this game, and that's Thief, Shadow, Atronach, and Ritual. All other Mundus stones are simply too weak.

The choice of using Thief+Shadow isn't just because higher DPS makes vMA easier (and safer), but also because the other Mundus stones just aren't very potent. You could consider using Thief+Atronach/Serpent if you have sustain issues. Otherwise, Thief+Shadow is the way to go.

Bobby_V_Rockit

Cheers! But I actually found for my own playstyle that the tower seems the best oddly enough. With undaunted mettle and boynd armaments it actually increased my stamina by 2033, providing a good balance between additional resources and more damage.

I just completed my first normal group pledge solo with it (yes, thats a milestone for me). So pretty chuffed