MagNB PvP Setup (no Trial Gear)

Wump

Heyho,

thinking about building a classic "Warlock-Theme" for my PvP MagBlade. As I'm tired of the stupid Procc-Stack-Nonsense I'm considering a few preconditions - I'm fully aware that this will propably give me a few disadvantages, but as a Magblade I'm in for a bit of pain anyway, right?

1. As I dont have the time to farm Trial Gear (stupid RL...) I only have access to crafted gear/Vet Dungeon Drops/Monster Sets.
2. I'd love to use at least one crafted set; you know: as a Magblade its all about style!
3. As a draining, self-healing, fearing Warlock Heavy Armor is no Option (apart from maybe one Piece (+ one Medium) to get the Undaunted Bonus: Heavy Armor is for the brawns, not for the Brains.

Considering these preconditions I'm actually thinking about something in this direction:

5PC Kagrenacs (4 Body, Destro/Resto); all Mag Glyphs, Destro Spell Dmg Glyph; all Impen
5PC Spinners (3 Jewelry, 2 Body); Jewelry Spell Dmg Glyphs, Body Max Magicke (maybe one Health)
1PC Kena (Body) (Max Magicka)

This should get me a bit of spell dmg and spell pen. Kagrencas delivers a bit of health, too; the LA Magblade is so squishy that every bit of health might Count. Kena 1PC gives a bit more Spell Dmg. My questions are:

1. Kagrenacs or Julianos? I'm not a fan of Julianos in PvP as the crit doesn't seem to be really good - to much impen everywhere. Should I consider Julianos nonetheless?
2. Spinners worth it? Should I go für burning spellweave? I will propably only use Force Pulse, does this Trigger the Spellweave Set reliable?
3. Any Recommendations regarding Skill Setups? Right now I'm considering:
Destro: Force Pulse (Strife?) - Crippling Grasp - Dampen Magic - Mass Hysteria - Merciless Ulti: Eye of the Storm
Resto: double Take - Mutagen - Blessing of Restoration - Cloak - Siphoning Attacks; Ulti: Soul Assault

Do you Guys think this could be playable? Do you recommend any set up changes?

Ty all!

psychotic13

I use x2 skoria, x5 alchemist and x5 Necropotence for pvp I think it works great

I use shields for defence, only relying on dampen Magic and healing Ward and that's easily enough to keep me alive with high magicka due to Necropotence and CPs into bastion. You're not using shields by the look of it, that's probably why you feel so squishy

Berenhir

Heavy armor is the way to go, if you want to be "self healing" and "draining". Heavy armor buffs self healing significantly and synergizes well with shadow barrier and health passives of magblade as well as damage reduction from vampire. In light armor you won't be draining anything but your magpool and end up trying to shield stack your mediocre shields like a wannabe sorc. As a magblade, you don't really loose anything going heavy. Try it, you won't look back.

Saying crit doesn't matter in PvP is super stupid for nightblades, as our whole defense relies on layered heals over time that crit with a high chance and high crit modifier.

I would recommend 5 heavy alchemist plus 5 spinners/destruction mastery/spell power cure/transmutation and 2 skoria.

Slot strife, it saves your life. Mutagen is unreliable this patch, not worth to put on your bar.
Slot refreshing path, it's getting buffed anyway so time to get used to build a nightblade house.
Mist form. There is no ability remotely as useful in open world PvP.
Maybe slot cloak if it gets fixed next patch. Degeneration is a super useful skill when weaving, should only be switched out for sap when zerging.
Healing Ward is bugged but the best shield we have.

Just my 2 cents

psychotic13

Berenhir wrote: »

Heavy armor is the way to go, if you want to be "self healing" and "draining". Heavy armor buffs self healing significantly and synergizes well with shadow barrier and health passives of magblade as well as damage reduction from vampire. In light armor you won't be draining anything but your magpool and end up trying to shield stack your mediocre shields like a wannabe sorc. As a magblade, you don't really loose anything going heavy. Try it, you won't look back.

Saying crit doesn't matter in PvP is super stupid for nightblades, as our whole defense relies on layered heals over time that crit with a high chance and high crit modifier.

I would recommend 5 heavy alchemist plus 5 spinners/destruction mastery/spell power cure/transmutation and 2 skoria.

Slot strife, it saves your life. Mutagen is unreliable this patch, not worth to put on your bar.
Slot refreshing path, it's getting buffed anyway so time to get used to build a nightblade house.
Mist form. There is no ability remotely as useful in open world PvP.
Maybe slot cloak if it gets fixed next patch. Degeneration is a super useful skill when weaving, should only be switched out for sap when zerging.
Healing Ward is bugged but the best shield we have.

Just my 2 cents

So that's just Kenas build then

Berenhir

psychotic13 wrote: »

Berenhir wrote: »

Heavy armor is the way to go, if you want to be "self healing" and "draining". Heavy armor buffs self healing significantly and synergizes well with shadow barrier and health passives of magblade as well as damage reduction from vampire. In light armor you won't be draining anything but your magpool and end up trying to shield stack your mediocre shields like a wannabe sorc. As a magblade, you don't really loose anything going heavy. Try it, you won't look back.

Saying crit doesn't matter in PvP is super stupid for nightblades, as our whole defense relies on layered heals over time that crit with a high chance and high crit modifier.

I would recommend 5 heavy alchemist plus 5 spinners/destruction mastery/spell power cure/transmutation and 2 skoria.

Slot strife, it saves your life. Mutagen is unreliable this patch, not worth to put on your bar.
Slot refreshing path, it's getting buffed anyway so time to get used to build a nightblade house.
Mist form. There is no ability remotely as useful in open world PvP.
Maybe slot cloak if it gets fixed next patch. Degeneration is a super useful skill when weaving, should only be switched out for sap when zerging.
Healing Ward is bugged but the best shield we have.

Just my 2 cents

So that's just Kenas build then

No, that's just everybodys destro resto build since dark brotherhood.
I think @NightbladeMechanics (summoned!) runs alchemist/spinner or transmutation/julianos as dd iirc. There is no real alternative for skoria monster set though, its like it was designed for dd nb. If you wanna go tanky you can put on lord warden or good old malubeth/bloodspawn.

altemriel

Berenhir wrote: »

psychotic13 wrote: »

Berenhir wrote: »

Heavy armor is the way to go, if you want to be "self healing" and "draining". Heavy armor buffs self healing significantly and synergizes well with shadow barrier and health passives of magblade as well as damage reduction from vampire. In light armor you won't be draining anything but your magpool and end up trying to shield stack your mediocre shields like a wannabe sorc. As a magblade, you don't really loose anything going heavy. Try it, you won't look back.

Saying crit doesn't matter in PvP is super stupid for nightblades, as our whole defense relies on layered heals over time that crit with a high chance and high crit modifier.

I would recommend 5 heavy alchemist plus 5 spinners/destruction mastery/spell power cure/transmutation and 2 skoria.

Slot strife, it saves your life. Mutagen is unreliable this patch, not worth to put on your bar.
Slot refreshing path, it's getting buffed anyway so time to get used to build a nightblade house.
Mist form. There is no ability remotely as useful in open world PvP.
Maybe slot cloak if it gets fixed next patch. Degeneration is a super useful skill when weaving, should only be switched out for sap when zerging.
Healing Ward is bugged but the best shield we have.

Just my 2 cents

So that's just Kenas build then

No, that's just everybodys destro resto build since dark brotherhood.
I think @NightbladeMechanics (summoned!) runs alchemist/spinner or transmutation/julianos as dd iirc. There is no real alternative for skoria monster set though, its like it was designed for dd nb. If you wanna go tanky you can put on lord warden or good old malubeth/bloodspawn.

and what about grothdar or infernal guardian?

Berenhir

altemriel wrote: »

Berenhir wrote: »

psychotic13 wrote: »

Berenhir wrote: »

Heavy armor is the way to go, if you want to be "self healing" and "draining". Heavy armor buffs self healing significantly and synergizes well with shadow barrier and health passives of magblade as well as damage reduction from vampire. In light armor you won't be draining anything but your magpool and end up trying to shield stack your mediocre shields like a wannabe sorc. As a magblade, you don't really loose anything going heavy. Try it, you won't look back.

Saying crit doesn't matter in PvP is super stupid for nightblades, as our whole defense relies on layered heals over time that crit with a high chance and high crit modifier.

I would recommend 5 heavy alchemist plus 5 spinners/destruction mastery/spell power cure/transmutation and 2 skoria.

Slot strife, it saves your life. Mutagen is unreliable this patch, not worth to put on your bar.
Slot refreshing path, it's getting buffed anyway so time to get used to build a nightblade house.
Mist form. There is no ability remotely as useful in open world PvP.
Maybe slot cloak if it gets fixed next patch. Degeneration is a super useful skill when weaving, should only be switched out for sap when zerging.
Healing Ward is bugged but the best shield we have.

Just my 2 cents

So that's just Kenas build then

No, that's just everybodys destro resto build since dark brotherhood.
I think @NightbladeMechanics (summoned!) runs alchemist/spinner or transmutation/julianos as dd iirc. There is no real alternative for skoria monster set though, its like it was designed for dd nb. If you wanna go tanky you can put on lord warden or good old malubeth/bloodspawn.

and what about grothdar or infernal guardian?

Grothdarr is more of a magtemp/magdk set. Viable on MagNB only if you go full potato slayer with destro ult and your zerg train. If you play destro/resto nb you want to keep your opponents at range and need burst, both reliably provided by skoria.

Infernal Guardian was a good set for exploiter sorcs as long as it revealed nightblades and went through walls.
But after the upcoming fix the telegraph will be too long to consider slotting it. It does not help to set up burst because when it procs you force the other player to either roll dodge, stun you or gap close, so thats not really something you want him to do when you yourself are forced to put up your oh crap shield. If you are not forced to shield up, you loose dps by doing so and your ward is gonna be really small.
The only reason sorcs run infernal over skoria is that they shield all the time anyway and dont have any decent dots in pvp.

For cloak nbs infernal is crap because you cant shield during or before cloaking then, as it reveals you immediately.

SneaK

My favorite skill bar setup was -

Destro Bar - Merciless, Swallow, Impale, Cloak, Inner Light, Soul Assault
Resto Bar - Cripple, Mass Hysteria, Healing Ward, Shade, Double Take, Meteor/Soul Tether.

Requires spell pots..

Lexxypwns

I'd recommend something like:

5 alchemist (4 armor+ resto)
5 spinner/mothers sorrow/whatever damage set you want
2 pirate skeleton

The pirate skeleton set gives you mitigation on your shields, effectively making them 30% larger. Then you just rely on siphoning+pots for resources and your other two sets pump out the huge damage

NightbladeMechanics

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

psychotic13

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

Do you find you use enough DoTs to proc skoria reliably? (Just started watching the first video) I use skoria myself but I try and use entropy, cripple and flame reach

NightbladeMechanics

psychotic13 wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

Do you find you use enough DoTs to proc skoria reliably? (Just started watching the first video) I use skoria myself but I try and use entropy, cripple and flame reach

Honestly yea. Even with Path as the only way to proc it sometimes, it still procs plenty if you're fighting a melee opponent, or multiple people standing on it. You're most lethal in melee range anyway. Entropy + Cripple procs it almost on cooldown.

Also Grothdarr is really good for those builds too, if you want something with a higher proc chance. It just requires you to stay in melee range. Although these are aggressive builds, I find myself often preferring to kite for a while then strike in hard, making Grothdarr less my style.

AzuraKin

Wump wrote: »

Heyho,

thinking about building a classic "Warlock-Theme" for my PvP MagBlade. As I'm tired of the stupid Procc-Stack-Nonsense I'm considering a few preconditions - I'm fully aware that this will propably give me a few disadvantages, but as a Magblade I'm in for a bit of pain anyway, right?

1. As I dont have the time to farm Trial Gear (stupid RL...) I only have access to crafted gear/Vet Dungeon Drops/Monster Sets.
2. I'd love to use at least one crafted set; you know: as a Magblade its all about style!
3. As a draining, self-healing, fearing Warlock Heavy Armor is no Option (apart from maybe one Piece (+ one Medium) to get the Undaunted Bonus: Heavy Armor is for the brawns, not for the Brains.

Considering these preconditions I'm actually thinking about something in this direction:

5PC Kagrenacs (4 Body, Destro/Resto); all Mag Glyphs, Destro Spell Dmg Glyph; all Impen
5PC Spinners (3 Jewelry, 2 Body); Jewelry Spell Dmg Glyphs, Body Max Magicke (maybe one Health)
1PC Kena (Body) (Max Magicka)

This should get me a bit of spell dmg and spell pen. Kagrencas delivers a bit of health, too; the LA Magblade is so squishy that every bit of health might Count. Kena 1PC gives a bit more Spell Dmg. My questions are:

1. Kagrenacs or Julianos? I'm not a fan of Julianos in PvP as the crit doesn't seem to be really good - to much impen everywhere. Should I consider Julianos nonetheless?
2. Spinners worth it? Should I go für burning spellweave? I will propably only use Force Pulse, does this Trigger the Spellweave Set reliable?
3. Any Recommendations regarding Skill Setups? Right now I'm considering:
Destro: Force Pulse (Strife?) - Crippling Grasp - Dampen Magic - Mass Hysteria - Merciless Ulti: Eye of the Storm
Resto: double Take - Mutagen - Blessing of Restoration - Cloak - Siphoning Attacks; Ulti: Soul Assault

Do you Guys think this could be playable? Do you recommend any set up changes?

Ty all!

if you are truly building for pvp, the best pvp builds are not the glory hog builds, but team centric builds. eso pvp is and always will be at its core, team based. also nb's are fearsome in teamplay.

sap essence, funnel health, and fear are great in pvp.

personally the best gear to use to best utilize this is, combination of spc, transmutation, vicious death, scathing mage. coupled with dw mage build 5 5 2 combination.

personally i favor spc + transmutation for the damage buff and impen buff as strife is the most powerful direct damage single target ability available to a nb, only dots and 1 magicka melee spell do more damage then strife. but any effective minded pvper knows, you will want multiple formats available as to best utilize buffs without overwriting fellow teammates.

AzuraKin

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

psychotic13 wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

Do you find you use enough DoTs to proc skoria reliably? (Just started watching the first video) I use skoria myself but I try and use entropy, cripple and flame reach

Honestly yea. Even with Path as the only way to proc it sometimes, it still procs plenty if you're fighting a melee opponent, or multiple people standing on it. You're most lethal in melee range anyway. Entropy + Cripple procs it almost on cooldown.

Also Grothdarr is really good for those builds too, if you want something with a higher proc chance. It just requires you to stay in melee range. Although these are aggressive builds, I find myself often preferring to kite for a while then strike in hard, making Grothdarr less my style.

considering that real pvpers utilize impen to point you need 100% crit damage boost for a critical hit to deal as much damage as a noncritical hit, you can in pvp utilize non-magicka monster sets as well without too much loss of effectiveness over stamina users. remember med armor doesnt have penetration passive so the only thing you would be missing is cp boosts/pene.

Lexxypwns

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

I run 7 light mageblade and sparingly use cloak because pirate king. If you're shield stacking its BiS monster 2 piece, kena. I'm not going to argue that your build isn't better, but for light armor, Pirate > all. I agree, 5h is inordinately better, but if you want to run light you almost need pirate king or you'll just melt the second 2 people focus you

AzuraKin

Lexxypwns wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

I run 7 light mageblade and sparingly use cloak because pirate king. If you're shield stacking its BiS monster 2 piece, kena. I'm not going to argue that your build isn't better, but for light armor, Pirate > all. I agree, 5h is inordinately better, but if you want to run light you almost need pirate king or you'll just melt the second 2 people focus you

meh honestly, mages should run 5 1 1 light, med, heavy. you lose only 8% recovery and 6% cost reduction but gain, 4% more health, stamina, and magicka, plus slight benefits from medium and heavy armor passives that are not 5p locked.

Xvorg

Currently I'm using 5 elegance + 5 WMK + 1 kenna + MSA lit staff (yes, it is 2014 back again)

Lexxypwns

AzuraKin wrote: »

Lexxypwns wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

I run 7 light mageblade and sparingly use cloak because pirate king. If you're shield stacking its BiS monster 2 piece, kena. I'm not going to argue that your build isn't better, but for light armor, Pirate > all. I agree, 5h is inordinately better, but if you want to run light you almost need pirate king or you'll just melt the second 2 people focus you

meh honestly, mages should run 5 1 1 light, med, heavy. you lose only 8% recovery and 6% cost reduction but gain, 4% more health, stamina, and magicka, plus slight benefits from medium and heavy armor passives that are not 5p locked.

yeah, I have 9 max level characters and haven't done the undaunted grind on this particular one, that's the only reason I'm running 7l instead of 5/1/1. You're absolutely correct, for magika builds 5/1/1 is the way to go

Tryxus

My builds are all focused around 5x Necropotence:

- With 5x Seducer for some great sustain. Works really nice in Azura's Star and for duelling
- With 3x Willpower and a Monster set of choice. I'm currently using Infernal, but might swap to Skoria or Grothdarr soon
- With 5x Clever Alchemist, for some insane damage on Assassin's Will procs

All with 5 Light, 1 Med and 1 Heavy. Mostly using an Ice Staff (except on Alchemist setup, Fire for that one) and a Resto staff back bar

Lexxypwns

Tryxus wrote: »

My builds are all focused around 5x Necropotence:

- With 5x Seducer for some great sustain. Works really nice in Azura's Star and for duelling

If I may, lich outperforms seducer in light armor builds. Once you get all your cost reduction from CP and light armor the extra 8% is all but un-needed. If you ran lich instead you could squeeze a 2pc monster set in here as well, since lich will be on your back bar resto.

Tryxus

Lexxypwns wrote: »

Tryxus wrote: »

My builds are all focused around 5x Necropotence:

- With 5x Seducer for some great sustain. Works really nice in Azura's Star and for duelling

If I may, lich outperforms seducer in light armor builds. Once you get all your cost reduction from CP and light armor the extra 8% is all but un-needed. If you ran lich instead you could squeeze a 2pc monster set in here as well, since lich will be on your back bar resto.

Well, I've been thinking about swapping Seducer with Lich but I'm currently using a vDSA Ice staff atm which I def want to keep for next update. So I don't have the room for a monster set

NightbladeMechanics

AzuraKin wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

psychotic13 wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

Do you find you use enough DoTs to proc skoria reliably? (Just started watching the first video) I use skoria myself but I try and use entropy, cripple and flame reach

Honestly yea. Even with Path as the only way to proc it sometimes, it still procs plenty if you're fighting a melee opponent, or multiple people standing on it. You're most lethal in melee range anyway. Entropy + Cripple procs it almost on cooldown.

Also Grothdarr is really good for those builds too, if you want something with a higher proc chance. It just requires you to stay in melee range. Although these are aggressive builds, I find myself often preferring to kite for a while then strike in hard, making Grothdarr less my style.

considering that real pvpers utilize impen to point you need 100% crit damage boost for a critical hit to deal as much damage as a noncritical hit, you can in pvp utilize non-magicka monster sets as well without too much loss of effectiveness over stamina users. remember med armor doesnt have penetration passive so the only thing you would be missing is cp boosts/pene.

Can you show testing to support any of this? Even pushing my crit resistance above 3600, I have not been able to fully mitigate the crit damage modifier since they nerfed crit resistance and the resistant cp star a couple patches ago. Even with Transmutation, pushing my crit resistance that high is unrealistic for a general purpose PvP build.

Also sure, physical damage procs are fine to use, but in no-cp campaigns only, as cp bonuses are extremely important. Just be very careful about accumulating inefficient stats from their 1pc bonuses, like weapon damage from Velidreth.

Lexxypwns wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

I run 7 light mageblade and sparingly use cloak because pirate king. If you're shield stacking its BiS monster 2 piece, kena. I'm not going to argue that your build isn't better, but for light armor, Pirate > all. I agree, 5h is inordinately better, but if you want to run light you almost need pirate king or you'll just melt the second 2 people focus you

Ah yes, if you're insisting on using light armor and Dampen, this is true! I wrote that post up sort of in a hurry and forgot defensive 2pc suggestions for light armor. I have been using Pirate religiously on my sorc since the day after the patch, but only briefly on mageblade because heavy armor with an offensive 2pc brings more damage and surivability. Pirate is godlike for defense, you're right, but against well built heavy armor targets or other shield stackers, it can leave damage lacking even in a light armor build. That's my experience at least.

I'm going to try combining Meritorious Service and Transmutation with 2 Kena for a higher damage light armor build that doesn't rely on Pirate or shields next patch. We'll see if it works! I was running around dueling in light Julianos + Trans + Kena with no Dampen some the other week, but that build wouldn't function in open world.

Lexxypwns

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

AzuraKin wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

psychotic13 wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

Do you find you use enough DoTs to proc skoria reliably? (Just started watching the first video) I use skoria myself but I try and use entropy, cripple and flame reach

Honestly yea. Even with Path as the only way to proc it sometimes, it still procs plenty if you're fighting a melee opponent, or multiple people standing on it. You're most lethal in melee range anyway. Entropy + Cripple procs it almost on cooldown.

Also Grothdarr is really good for those builds too, if you want something with a higher proc chance. It just requires you to stay in melee range. Although these are aggressive builds, I find myself often preferring to kite for a while then strike in hard, making Grothdarr less my style.

considering that real pvpers utilize impen to point you need 100% crit damage boost for a critical hit to deal as much damage as a noncritical hit, you can in pvp utilize non-magicka monster sets as well without too much loss of effectiveness over stamina users. remember med armor doesnt have penetration passive so the only thing you would be missing is cp boosts/pene.

Can you show testing to support any of this? Even pushing my crit resistance above 3600, I have not been able to fully mitigate the crit damage modifier since they nerfed crit resistance and the resistant cp star a couple patches ago. Even with Transmutation, pushing my crit resistance that high is unrealistic for a general purpose PvP build.

Also sure, physical damage procs are fine to use, but in no-cp campaigns only, as cp bonuses are extremely important. Just be very careful about accumulating inefficient stats from their 1pc bonuses, like weapon damage from Velidreth.

Lexxypwns wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

I run 7 light mageblade and sparingly use cloak because pirate king. If you're shield stacking its BiS monster 2 piece, kena. I'm not going to argue that your build isn't better, but for light armor, Pirate > all. I agree, 5h is inordinately better, but if you want to run light you almost need pirate king or you'll just melt the second 2 people focus you

Ah yes, if you're insisting on using light armor and Dampen, this is true! I wrote that post up sort of in a hurry and forgot defensive 2pc suggestions for light armor. I have been using Pirate religiously on my sorc since the day after the patch, but only briefly on mageblade because heavy armor with an offensive 2pc brings more damage and surivability. Pirate is godlike for defense, you're right, but against well built heavy armor targets or other shield stackers, it can leave damage lacking even in a light armor build. That's my experience at least.

I'm going to try combining Meritorious Service and Transmutation with 2 Kena for a higher damage light armor build that doesn't rely on Pirate or shields next patch. We'll see if it works! I was running around dueling in light Julianos + Trans + Kena with no Dampen some the other week, but that build wouldn't function in open world.

I don't like to run heavy armor on mageblade, its just a personal preference and I agree, its weaker than your heavy setup for sure.

On really tanky targets it comes down to empowered assassin's will + ulti for the kill. Overall, I think heavy armor is better, but pirate actually helps to make light armor usable in open world.

C4Bliss

5x rattlecage
5x spinner
1x kena
Easy to get and works like a charm

Lexxypwns

C4Bliss wrote: »

5x rattlecage
5x spinner
1x kena
Easy to get and works like a charm

rattlecage is trash on mageblade. We have sap and entropy to give major sorcery, both are great skills.

NightbladeMechanics

AzuraKin wrote: »

Wump wrote: »

Heyho,

thinking about building a classic "Warlock-Theme" for my PvP MagBlade. As I'm tired of the stupid Procc-Stack-Nonsense I'm considering a few preconditions - I'm fully aware that this will propably give me a few disadvantages, but as a Magblade I'm in for a bit of pain anyway, right?

1. As I dont have the time to farm Trial Gear (stupid RL...) I only have access to crafted gear/Vet Dungeon Drops/Monster Sets.
2. I'd love to use at least one crafted set; you know: as a Magblade its all about style!
3. As a draining, self-healing, fearing Warlock Heavy Armor is no Option (apart from maybe one Piece (+ one Medium) to get the Undaunted Bonus: Heavy Armor is for the brawns, not for the Brains.

Considering these preconditions I'm actually thinking about something in this direction:

5PC Kagrenacs (4 Body, Destro/Resto); all Mag Glyphs, Destro Spell Dmg Glyph; all Impen
5PC Spinners (3 Jewelry, 2 Body); Jewelry Spell Dmg Glyphs, Body Max Magicke (maybe one Health)
1PC Kena (Body) (Max Magicka)

This should get me a bit of spell dmg and spell pen. Kagrencas delivers a bit of health, too; the LA Magblade is so squishy that every bit of health might Count. Kena 1PC gives a bit more Spell Dmg. My questions are:

1. Kagrenacs or Julianos? I'm not a fan of Julianos in PvP as the crit doesn't seem to be really good - to much impen everywhere. Should I consider Julianos nonetheless?
2. Spinners worth it? Should I go für burning spellweave? I will propably only use Force Pulse, does this Trigger the Spellweave Set reliable?
3. Any Recommendations regarding Skill Setups? Right now I'm considering:
Destro: Force Pulse (Strife?) - Crippling Grasp - Dampen Magic - Mass Hysteria - Merciless Ulti: Eye of the Storm
Resto: double Take - Mutagen - Blessing of Restoration - Cloak - Siphoning Attacks; Ulti: Soul Assault

Do you Guys think this could be playable? Do you recommend any set up changes?

Ty all!

if you are truly building for pvp, the best pvp builds are not the glory hog builds, but team centric builds. eso pvp is and always will be at its core, team based. also nb's are fearsome in teamplay.

sap essence, funnel health, and fear are great in pvp.

personally the best gear to use to best utilize this is, combination of spc, transmutation, vicious death, scathing mage. coupled with dw mage build 5 5 2 combination.

personally i favor spc + transmutation for the damage buff and impen buff as strife is the most powerful direct damage single target ability available to a nb, only dots and 1 magicka melee spell do more damage then strife. but any effective minded pvper knows, you will want multiple formats available as to best utilize buffs without overwriting fellow teammates.

I'll chime in agreeing with this. A buff set combined with funnel, path, sap, fear, and other utility abilities turns mageblade into a powerful group support spec. I will warn against dedicated support builds unless you know you'll be sitting inside a competent group capable of carrying a squishy low damage member, though.

Also switch your dw bar out for a destro staff and sit the transmutation on your resto bar, and you'll gain some damage and ranged reach. Trans is a 20s long buff, so uptime won't be impeded.

My favorite mageblade build ever was gossamer destro + trans resto + Undaunted. 100% uptime on both buffs on my allies as long as they were taking some damage, and I didn't have to alter my play style significantly to keep them up.

Wump

Hey guys,

been busy in the office the whole day, so just stepping in to thank you all for you feedback! Much appreciated! I'm reading all the suggestions, watching the vids as soon as there are a few free mins for me. Thx so far!

Berenhir

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

Might be true for NA, but I really doubt that. Your bar setup isnt anything really innovative, just standard destro resto like for example this guy from patch 2.0.8.
https://www.eso-skillfactory.com/de/skillung/nachtklinge/assassin-s-will-magicka-destro-resto-nb-pvp-pve-build/5139/

Going heavy is just an obvious decision for PVP after DB and well, alchemist isn't exactly a new set, you know.

Sorry if I hurt your feelings, but you are not the special snowflake you think you are

NightbladeMechanics

Berenhir wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

Might be true for NA, but I really doubt that. Your bar setup isnt anything really innovative, just standard destro resto like for example this guy from patch 2.0.8.
https://www.eso-skillfactory.com/de/skillung/nachtklinge/assassin-s-will-magicka-destro-resto-nb-pvp-pve-build/5139/

Going heavy is just an obvious decision for PVP after DB and well, alchemist isn't exactly a new set, you know.

Sorry if I hurt your feelings, but you are not the special snowflake you think you are

Point on the doll where Sypher touched you..

AzuraKin

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

AzuraKin wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

psychotic13 wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

Do you find you use enough DoTs to proc skoria reliably? (Just started watching the first video) I use skoria myself but I try and use entropy, cripple and flame reach

Honestly yea. Even with Path as the only way to proc it sometimes, it still procs plenty if you're fighting a melee opponent, or multiple people standing on it. You're most lethal in melee range anyway. Entropy + Cripple procs it almost on cooldown.

Also Grothdarr is really good for those builds too, if you want something with a higher proc chance. It just requires you to stay in melee range. Although these are aggressive builds, I find myself often preferring to kite for a while then strike in hard, making Grothdarr less my style.

considering that real pvpers utilize impen to point you need 100% crit damage boost for a critical hit to deal as much damage as a noncritical hit, you can in pvp utilize non-magicka monster sets as well without too much loss of effectiveness over stamina users. remember med armor doesnt have penetration passive so the only thing you would be missing is cp boosts/pene.

Can you show testing to support any of this? Even pushing my crit resistance above 3600, I have not been able to fully mitigate the crit damage modifier since they nerfed crit resistance and the resistant cp star a couple patches ago. Even with Transmutation, pushing my crit resistance that high is unrealistic for a general purpose PvP build.

Also sure, physical damage procs are fine to use, but in no-cp campaigns only, as cp bonuses are extremely important. Just be very careful about accumulating inefficient stats from their 1pc bonuses, like weapon damage from Velidreth.

Lexxypwns wrote: »

NightbladeMechanics wrote: »

@Berenhir lol nah, that's my build to a T. Destro mageblade was considered a gimmick prior to 1T patch, not Dark Brotherhood, and it only became popular for duels this patch because I showed NA how to make it strong. I can elaborate on the exact chain of events if I really need to. Please don't downplay my contributions to the class. I have put too much time and effort into it over a year and a half to have that. Little known fact: I've been in the background for all this time because I haven't streamed or bothered to make videos, but I have in fact driven every mageblade trend, successful build, and in-class meta on NA/PC since shortly after the Imperial City patch.

@Wump Are you a b***? Are you a sorc? No, you're a bloodmage ***ing warlock. You don't spam cloak or dainty shields in a desperate attempt to survive. No. You suck the life out of your enemies and go ***ing ham in their faces, using their lifeblood as heals to keep you up. You anticipate their moves, break their attempts to wrest control away from you, cripple their minds, and crush them with fluid and precisely orchestrated combos.

Watch this carefully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

Does that look like "brawn" to you? Am I overpowering people by sheer force of stats and specs? Do I lack damage?? NO! Am I survivable as heck? You bet I am! But my defense is not raw tankiness. My defense is stolen from my opponent -- I heal off my damage, and I break all my enemies' attempts to attack me and then turn on them with aggressive precision. My mageblade is careful and cognitive, and overwhelmingly powerful if I get inside my opponent's head.

Watch this for details on my builds and in depth discussion on gameplay mechanics and combat philosophy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWX9iG-_Ms

If you do insist on light armor, run either Necropotence + Willpower or Julianos (destro) + Transmutation (resto) with 2pc Kena. Just know that you'll be sacrificing a stronger offensive tempo for moments where you have to shield spam off damage, or you'll become reliant on hiding like a p*** with your buggy cloak. *crosses fingers for fixes next patch*

Honorable mentions that didn't make it into the video..

Light's Champion resto ult -- I'd been using it a ton on my sorc and whenever I would duo, but it's also super strong solo, especially against blockers who you need to fear combo. It fits perfectly into the steady offense with passive defense theme of the build and gives big burst potential for after you fear people off you.

Meteor > Agony/destro clench > Assassin's Will > Impale combo. This can be a strong ranged combo capable of massive damage.

Lemme know if you have further questions.

I run 7 light mageblade and sparingly use cloak because pirate king. If you're shield stacking its BiS monster 2 piece, kena. I'm not going to argue that your build isn't better, but for light armor, Pirate > all. I agree, 5h is inordinately better, but if you want to run light you almost need pirate king or you'll just melt the second 2 people focus you

Ah yes, if you're insisting on using light armor and Dampen, this is true! I wrote that post up sort of in a hurry and forgot defensive 2pc suggestions for light armor. I have been using Pirate religiously on my sorc since the day after the patch, but only briefly on mageblade because heavy armor with an offensive 2pc brings more damage and surivability. Pirate is godlike for defense, you're right, but against well built heavy armor targets or other shield stackers, it can leave damage lacking even in a light armor build. That's my experience at least.

I'm going to try combining Meritorious Service and Transmutation with 2 Kena for a higher damage light armor build that doesn't rely on Pirate or shields next patch. We'll see if it works! I was running around dueling in light Julianos + Trans + Kena with no Dampen some the other week, but that build wouldn't function in open world.

lol they never have nerfed impen. 3665 impen equals 50% crit mitigation. you can tell this by 733 impen from cp is 10% crit mitigation, and there is no soft cap system in the game, that was removed with 1.6 2 years ago.

ninjaguyman

Berenhir wrote: »

altemriel wrote: »

Berenhir wrote: »

psychotic13 wrote: »

Berenhir wrote: »

Heavy armor is the way to go, if you want to be "self healing" and "draining". Heavy armor buffs self healing significantly and synergizes well with shadow barrier and health passives of magblade as well as damage reduction from vampire. In light armor you won't be draining anything but your magpool and end up trying to shield stack your mediocre shields like a wannabe sorc. As a magblade, you don't really loose anything going heavy. Try it, you won't look back.

Saying crit doesn't matter in PvP is super stupid for nightblades, as our whole defense relies on layered heals over time that crit with a high chance and high crit modifier.

I would recommend 5 heavy alchemist plus 5 spinners/destruction mastery/spell power cure/transmutation and 2 skoria.

Slot strife, it saves your life. Mutagen is unreliable this patch, not worth to put on your bar.
Slot refreshing path, it's getting buffed anyway so time to get used to build a nightblade house.
Mist form. There is no ability remotely as useful in open world PvP.
Maybe slot cloak if it gets fixed next patch. Degeneration is a super useful skill when weaving, should only be switched out for sap when zerging.
Healing Ward is bugged but the best shield we have.

Just my 2 cents

So that's just Kenas build then

No, that's just everybodys destro resto build since dark brotherhood.
I think @NightbladeMechanics (summoned!) runs alchemist/spinner or transmutation/julianos as dd iirc. There is no real alternative for skoria monster set though, its like it was designed for dd nb. If you wanna go tanky you can put on lord warden or good old malubeth/bloodspawn.

and what about grothdar or infernal guardian?

Grothdarr is more of a magtemp/magdk set. Viable on MagNB only if you go full potato slayer with destro ult and your zerg train. If you play destro/resto nb you want to keep your opponents at range and need burst, both reliably provided by skoria.

Infernal Guardian was a good set for exploiter sorcs as long as it revealed nightblades and went through walls.
But after the upcoming fix the telegraph will be too long to consider slotting it. It does not help to set up burst because when it procs you force the other player to either roll dodge, stun you or gap close, so thats not really something you want him to do when you yourself are forced to put up your oh crap shield. If you are not forced to shield up, you loose dps by doing so and your ward is gonna be really small.
The only reason sorcs run infernal over skoria is that they shield all the time anyway and dont have any decent dots in pvp.

For cloak nbs infernal is crap because you cant shield during or before cloaking then, as it reveals you immediately.

grothdar most definitely works outside of zergs, and without destro ult for that matter. but it requires you to play at melee range. tho melee mag nb isnt really a thing in the current meta. just saying it can still work. skoria as you say is better suited for ranged play of course