Will Hist Bark be worth using again?

Asardes

With the upcoming change to Shuffle/Elude, major evasion will only be available to people using 5 pieces of medium armor, unless they are Nightblades who have a class skill that grants this buff. For the other ones the Hist Bark set will be the only reliable means of getting this buff regardless of class and type of armor used. I used to slot shuffle on my DK tank for a long time, ever since Tava's Favor set came out more than 1.5 years ago. In some fights the mitigation was really nice, and worth the cost of this skill since it almost refunded itself by negating the cost of evaded hits that weren't depleting the stamina. Even before the change to shuffle had been announced on PTS I had switched to Torug's Pact due to the great debuff it offers, and relegated Tava's to my NB as his occasional tanking set.

Is it worth crafting Hist Bark to use it in off-tanking role on my DK in CWC patch, for situations where you block a lot and you don't really need the debuff from Torug's? (vAA Mage axes, Ozara's adds, Serpent's lamias etc.)

Pastas

Asardes wrote: »

With the upcoming change to Shuffle/Elude, major evasion will only be available to people using 5 pieces of medium armor, unless they are Nightblades who have a class skill that grants this buff. For the other ones the Hist Bark set will be the only reliable means of getting this buff regardless of class and type of armor used. I used to slot shuffle on my DK tank for a long time, ever since Tava's Favor set came out more than 1.5 years ago. In some fights the mitigation was really nice, and worth the cost of this skill since it almost refunded itself by negating the cost of evaded hits that weren't depleting the stamina. Even before the change to shuffle had been announced on PTS I had switched to Torug's Pact due to the great debuff it offers, and relegated Tava's to my NB as his occasional tanking set.

Is it worth crafting Hist Bark to use it in off-tanking role on my DK in CWC patch, for situations where you block a lot and you don't really need the debuff from Torug's? (vAA Mage axes, Ozara's adds, Serpent's lamias etc.)

I've been using HB in those situations and it works fine for me. You can conbine it with Footman for more block cost reduction or Akaviri Dragonguard/Werewolf Hide for cheaper ultimate

Asardes

Pastas wrote: »

You can conbine it with Footman for more block cost reduction or Akaviri Dragonguard/Werewolf Hide for cheaper ultimate

Except Footman's doesn't offer block cost reduction, and never did, but 8% more block mitigation, which, when taken at face value may seem a lot, but it's quite low, especially when it comes on top of things that offer much more block mitigation, armor, CP, racials and minor protection. It's probably < 1% less damage taken by a blocking tank when all of those are accounted for, especially considering the fact that % mitigation passives, when added on top of each other have diminishing returns.

Footman's Fortune Set
(2 items) Adds 1206 Max Health
(3 items) Adds 2975 Physical Resistance
(4 items) Adds 2975 Spell Resistance
(5 items) Increase block mitigation by 8%.

http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Footman's+Fortune+Set

By comparison

Draconic Power: Iron Skin passive - gives 10% block mitigation
http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Iron+Skin

One Hand and Shield: Sword and Board passive - gives 20% block mitigation
http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Sword+and+Board

One Hand and Shield: Defensive Posture skill - when slotted gives 8% block mitigation and 8% block cost reduction
http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Defensive+Posture

So 5p Footman's bonus offers 1/2 of the passive value of Defensive Posture (actually less if you already use it). Footman used to be passable at some point because there weren't other sets that included jewelry for a long time, and it used to have a larger bonus, of 12%, which was reduced without any reason by ZoS - sometimes they nerf stuff that people barely use transforming it into downright decon trash. In my opinion this set should be reworked in a way that makes it viable once again for end game tanking, given the fact that vDSA is not exactly the easiest content in the game and should reward some good sets. For example add a flat block cost reduction, similar to that of enchants, preferably a conditional one to prevent abuse in PvP would be just right.

Asardes

Qbiken wrote: »

Specter´s eye for the win

Spectre's Eye Information
(2 items) Adds 2975 Physical Resistance
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(4 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(5 items) When you cast a Magicka ability you gain Major Evasion for 3 seconds, increasing your dodge chance by 15%. This effect can occur once every 6 seconds.

To be honest I don't even know why this set is even in the game since the 5p bonus is so bad. Basically you have a 7.5% dodge chance if you cast a magicka ability every 6s. The cheapest DK skill is Burning Embers, with a base cost of 1350 magicka. By going 5p heavy, 2 light you can reduce that to about 1300. Casting a skill that lasts 8s every 6s wouldn't be that bad either, since you get the heal from it anyway. If the up time on Major Evasion were higher, I would actually consider the set for PvP magicka DK. Ideally the length of the buff should be equal to the cooldown.

Minno

Asardes wrote: »

Qbiken wrote: »

Specter´s eye for the win

Spectre's Eye Information
(2 items) Adds 2975 Physical Resistance
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(4 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(5 items) When you cast a Magicka ability you gain Major Evasion for 3 seconds, increasing your dodge chance by 15%. This effect can occur once every 6 seconds.

To be honest I don't even know why this set is even in the game since the 5p bonus is so bad. Basically you have a 7.5% dodge chance if you cast a magicka ability every 6s. The cheapest DK skill is Burning Embers, with a base cost of 1350 magicka. By going 5p heavy, 2 light you can reduce that to about 1300. Casting a skill that lasts 8s every 6s wouldn't be that bad either, since you get the heal from it anyway. If the up time on Major Evasion were higher, I would actually consider the set for PvP magicka DK. Ideally the length of the buff should be equal to the cooldown.

You can back bar spectres eye to control the proc chance. Ideally when you know you are going to be hit, barswap+cast cheap spell and block to ensure the RNG works in your favor. Based on the stats, it was clear they intended the set to help mag builds gain dodge chance against an incoming stamina melee enemy.

yodased

Could back bar gossamer too

Asardes

Gossamer has a really low proc chance. And that's a healer set.

Nestor

I use Hist Bark on my tank, and it works wonderfully.

yodased

Asardes wrote: »

Gossamer has a really low proc chance. And that's a healer set.

[img]that looks pretty sexy on a mag dk with embers, healing ward and green dragon blood. Sure its 10%, but the regen is sweet and you can put 2x block reduction on the jewels every tick of a heal can proc it, its not that low[/img]

Asardes

yodased wrote: »

Asardes wrote: »

Gossamer has a really low proc chance. And that's a healer set.

[img]that looks pretty sexy on a mag dk with embers, healing ward and green dragon blood. Sure its 10%, but the regen is sweet and you can put 2x block reduction on the jewels every tick of a heal can proc it, its not that low[/img]

Yea, but it only has a 5% chance of proccing if you are actually healing. It won't proc at full health. That's one of the weaknesses of this set.

Parvati_OAC

I built a set of HIST BARK to start learning how to tank on my stam warden. And had 5 pieces Order of Diagna in my bank (which i don't think many people use or read about - gives a total of 12% overall healing received and 2K health). Added Lord Warden helm and shoulders which puts me over resist cap with frost cloak up.

I know there are better set ups but I haven't had to change out either of these sets yet.

Qbiken

Specter´s eye for the win