Magicka Dragonknight Destro/Resto Pyromage PVP Build for Clockwork

RinaldoGandolphi

So,

On the PTS forums a few weeks ago, I had a few people asking me what I run on my Magicka Dragonknight. Of course when i tell folks I don't use Sword and Shield I get looked at like some sorta pariah LOL! (j/k).

Anyways, I have been having a lot of fun with this set up. It has really good damage, it has great sustain, and its far more tanky then one would expect for a 5 Light Destro Staff/Resto Staff Build. There are a few flex slots I talk about, and this set up is capable of dishing out a ridiclious amount of damage, and to be honest you can pretty much spam Talon every 2 seconds with no real pressure on your sustain pools at all.

I wanted to share this to give people an option that want to try to to play a Mag DK without the typical Sword and Shield set up. I play mostly solo or with my buddy @Minno so I am not reliant on support skills and outside healing sources, your pretty much 100% reliant on yourself. This build does have a smaller margin for error then the Sword and Board set up. You will not be able to fallback on permablock if you make mistakes, its important to understand that...you give up slight survivability for significantly more more damage and sustain. Thats the trade.

The video is a little longer then what I normally do, but i got into detail "why" I do what I do, as I don't like just telling people to "put this on and use these skills" I always like to explain the reasoning and synergy behind why I choose a particular path. I hope you enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSyWleB5rDI

Below is the build in action in some small scale and 2vX with my buddy @Minno its been a lot of fun so far, im still learning all the nuiances of the class considering i played Mag Sorc mostly for a period of nearly 3 years, but I have been having a lot of fun with this. As always if you have any questions, or need any help feel free to contact me. I love helping folks explore other avenues outside the typical meta setups.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bfJbPqX2K8

Take care!

Sixty5

Clicked through the build pretty quickly and it looks pretty nice.

One question though, why not just run Lich back bar to open you up for a Masters Inferno staff front bar?

I know that it isn't easy to get either of those compared to a lot of the other gear here, but I feel like it would help out.

RinaldoGandolphi

Sixty5 wrote: »

Clicked through the build pretty quickly and it looks pretty nice.

One question though, why not just run Lich back bar to open you up for a Masters Inferno staff front bar?

I know that it isn't easy to get either of those compared to a lot of the other gear here, but I feel like it would help out.

Thank you

If you have a Master's Inferno Staff, by all means use it and put a Lich Staff on your back bar. It would be slightly better. I just have an aversion for farming gear, and back in the day i had over 60 clears of VDSA without a single Master's Destro Staff of any kind to show for it. I got lucky just to get the Lich Fire Staff as RNG doesn't seem to like me.

Since I don't have a Master's Staff and got lucky enough to get an Asylum Resto to boost my Blessing of Restoration, I decided just to go with that. I'd def use the Master's Inferno Staff instead of the Lich Fire staff if I had it though!

thanks again for the great feedback!

ak_pvp

Ayy, pretty unique. Liking the use of BOP, since its a half decent burst heal with good buffs.

How is it solo, whilst its possible for DK to put out lots of damage quite well and survive with others, solo its harder which is why s/b is used.

RinaldoGandolphi

ak_pvp wrote: »

Ayy, pretty unique. Liking the use of BOP, since its a half decent burst heal with good buffs.

How is it solo, whilst its possible for DK to put out lots of damage quite well and survive with others, solo its harder which is why s/b is used.

It’s pretty good solo, you just have to be more aware of your positioning. It has less room for error then s&b does but it’s not designed to tank people. This set up is less forgiving when it comes to mistakes, but it’s a lot of fun!

Minno

RinaldoGandolphi wrote: »

ak_pvp wrote: »

Ayy, pretty unique. Liking the use of BOP, since its a half decent burst heal with good buffs.

How is it solo, whilst its possible for DK to put out lots of damage quite well and survive with others, solo its harder which is why s/b is used.

It’s pretty good solo, you just have to be more aware of your positioning. It has less room for error then s&b does but it’s not designed to tank people. This set up is less forgiving when it comes to mistakes, but it’s a lot of fun!

In one of his videos, you'll see me yolo against an AD near Brindle. I get focused by two of them and die like a flithy casual. But Rin is still up and survives quite well enough to pack them up and avenge me.

I think most don't expect DK to output the DMG Rin does and spamming talons based on the enemy's CC immunity offsets the DK's lack of speed. He can move out of melee using talons, or setup targets for burst while his enemy has to think about if they should waste Stam to break out of the talons.

Aedaryl

It's a pretty bad build, really.

You have low resistance, you have low damage, you have low defense, you have no defensive mechanic (not a shield, block or dodge build), you are using bad skills, like flame reach, wings, molten arments instead of better skills like stone fist/petrify, Engulfings flame or entropy.

All your stats are trash expect regen. You have too much regen and that's overkill. Destruction staff isn't really good like you build it, you have less damage than S&B even with the flame staff passive on single target attacks, and you don't weave with it.


I'm tired now, I will explain further tomorrow. But no one can tell it's a good build. It's a funny build yeah, but in term or min max, it's not good at all.

The interessting thing is about your build is the alysium staff combine with the blessing of protection and healing ward : it's a good way to deal with defile, and maybe a good option over coagulating blood and ingenious shield.

RinaldoGandolphi

Aedaryl wrote: »

It's a pretty bad build, really.

You have low resistance, you have low damage, you have low defense, you have no defensive mechanic (not a shield, block or dodge build), you are using bad skills, like flame reach, wings, molten arments instead of better skills like stone fist/petrify, Engulfings flame or entropy.

All your stats are trash expect regen. You have too much regen and that's overkill. Destruction staff isn't really good like you build it, you have less damage than S&B even with the flame staff passive on single target attacks, and you don't weave with it.


I'm tired now, I will explain further tomorrow. But no one can tell it's a good build. It's a funny build yeah, but in term or min max, it's not good at all.

The interessting thing is about your build is the alysium staff combine with the blessing of protection and healing ward : it's a good way to deal with defile, and maybe a good option over coagulating blood and ingenious shield.

I mention the skills your talking about as alternatives. (Engulfing Flames, Entropy, and Flame Reach) are personal flavor. I use Engulfing Flames all the time. I mention using it. Reflective Scales isn’t totally useless there are 5 big ranged CC it’s effective against...Javelin, Destructive Touch, Crystal Frags, Snipe, and Stone Fist.

My damage number is at the perfect spot it should be...there is a point in damage you reach where it makes no sense to add more damage, and with the prevalence of cost increasing poisons and everything else the sustain is valuable. sure you can add more damage but you won’t get the benefit you would get in areas otherwise. The fact you pretty much have to use Leap as an execute against a competent player it is what it is.

Further more Apprentice Mundas + 3 gold SD glyphs is 255 + 174 + 174 + 174 = 777 SD it’s not like I’m neglecting damage.

The build favor sustain because you need it to spam expensive skills like healing Ward and Blessing of Protection. I can easily hit 40k max mag and higher crit slotting mage light and mage Mundas but DK skills benefit from SD more then Max Magicka and so does the healing. Light attack weaving doesn’t always work with lag and sometimes the light attacks work but re not even visible up close it’s been like this for a long time.

Armor and spell resist is nearly 3 times what my mag Sorc has in light armor it’s pretty good. Combing Healing Ward with Mist Form is also probably better in most cases then using Dampen Magic.

I have always favored sustain over damage. I get you don’t like it, fine. The damage however is perfectly acceptable to kill with. I have not run into anyone outside of pure dedicated tanks that I can’t kill in Cyrodiil.

I knew this set up would get some push back because it’s not typical. I am fine with that. Most DK don’t have anywhere close to my sustain as I have said before though I prefer the sustain. It matters very little if my Leap hits for 9k instead of 11k...in 9 out of 10cases the 9k is enough.

it’s a very good build once you know how to play it to it’s strengths. You can also swap apprentice for Mage and Add Magelight for 40k max mag, but I personally prefer the SD. Most mag DK run lower regen and higher spell damage but they also can’t maintain offense as long as I can and have to fall back to block. Everything has its pros and cons. I prefer this over sword and shield and I have had more success with this then any other setup including Sun and BSW...

zParallaxz

Lol my build hits way harder, 48k max, 3.8 spell damage with major sorcery and berserker glyph, 11k+ spell pen, and 45% crit

zParallaxz

Aedaryl wrote: »

It's a pretty bad build, really.

You have low resistance, you have low damage, you have low defense, you have no defensive mechanic (not a shield, block or dodge build), you are using bad skills, like flame reach, wings, molten arments instead of better skills like stone fist/petrify, Engulfings flame or entropy.

All your stats are trash expect regen. You have too much regen and that's overkill. Destruction staff isn't really good like you build it, you have less damage than S&B even with the flame staff passive on single target attacks, and you don't weave with it.


I'm tired now, I will explain further tomorrow. But no one can tell it's a good build. It's a funny build yeah, but in term or min max, it's not good at all.

The interessting thing is about your build is the alysium staff combine with the blessing of protection and healing ward : it's a good way to deal with defile, and maybe a good option over coagulating blood and ingenious shield.

Everything you said was right lol.
Dks synergize the best with low regen and max stats and high damage. Hence why a dragon can breath viscous flames and melt it’s enemies before it runs out if fuel.

Jjitsuboy98

Like to see some true solo pvp pop to determine its viability. You talk alot like you can do good with it. I cant fathom running witout sword and board even though i would love too. Didn't see you weaving much. I have been on Stam DK for several months now because it's just overall better for solo play. Anyways I'd love to see more videos. I ran shackle Sun and blood spawn light armor on my setups. Double SnB. Powerful dueler. Damage just is to low with no consistent burst and execute. Sustained damage was great but you gotta nuke people down quick in open world.

RinaldoGandolphi

zParallaxz wrote: »

Aedaryl wrote: »

It's a pretty bad build, really.

You have low resistance, you have low damage, you have low defense, you have no defensive mechanic (not a shield, block or dodge build), you are using bad skills, like flame reach, wings, molten arments instead of better skills like stone fist/petrify, Engulfings flame or entropy.

All your stats are trash expect regen. You have too much regen and that's overkill. Destruction staff isn't really good like you build it, you have less damage than S&B even with the flame staff passive on single target attacks, and you don't weave with it.


I'm tired now, I will explain further tomorrow. But no one can tell it's a good build. It's a funny build yeah, but in term or min max, it's not good at all.

The interessting thing is about your build is the alysium staff combine with the blessing of protection and healing ward : it's a good way to deal with defile, and maybe a good option over coagulating blood and ingenious shield.

Everything you said was right lol.
Dks synergize the best with low regen and max stats and high damage. Hence why a dragon can breath viscous flames and melt it’s enemies before it runs out if fuel.

Low regen, max stats, and high damage doesn’t synergize well on a class whose primary damage sources are DOTs.

You can get an extra 2k worth of damage on Dragon Leap for example with your stats but 9 out of 10 times what you kill with an 11k Leap would die with a 9K Leap, only difference is my sustain is vastly superior.

Look I know most DK run lower regen and push for higher max stats. (I used to myself) This set up also attacks an enemies Stam pool which doesn’t show up on the character sheet because I can Talon every 2 seconds(if you roll out) perpetually without ever running out of magic and someone who can’t move can’t fight

I could easily swap Lich for Silks of Sun or another set for more damage for example and it is more damage but I found it unnecessary most of the time. I also personally do not like relying on Battle Roar with low regen. It’s been nerfed numerous times and it’s not as effective of a resource sustain as it used to be hence why DK complain about not having class passive sustain on par with other classes, (The new Siphoner also reduces resource return on Battle Roar)so i simply geared more sustain. What I killed with a 11k Leap dies with a 9k Leap as well, but I’ll never run out of magic in crucial situations.

Minno

Jjitsuboy98 wrote: »

Like to see some true solo pvp pop to determine its viability. You talk alot like you can do good with it. I cant fathom running witout sword and board even though i would love too. Didn't see you weaving much. I have been on Stam DK for several months now because it's just overall better for solo play. Anyways I'd love to see more videos. I ran shackle Sun and blood spawn light armor on my setups. Double SnB. Powerful dueler. Damage just is to low with no consistent burst and execute. Sustained damage was great but you gotta nuke people down quick in open world.

I would like to see some solo vids as well. I think Rin can handle the challenge .

Question, why would snb be better than destro for a mag class? What im seeing is that his resists, with base block will give him around 76% total dmg mitigation against a 15000 tooltip attack (with minor maim). Then consider this:
- If he hit base block with the DK passive, he will mitigate 89% dmg.
- if he added snb, this will increase to 91%
- if it was ranged, it would be 92%
- if it was ranged and he had defensive posture it would be 93%.

I agree 93% is nothing to ignore; that's huge. But consider the fact you lost destro 10% penetration with flame clench dots/heavy attack burst opener, you lost 100% increased time to cause burning through fire dmg, lost 8% direct dmg, lost regen if you went dual snb and have to use the DK heal. Not to mention, you only go up 2% total mitigation through block (91%-89%).

Now consider his build with 15280 armor debuff and with base block:
- his total mitigation with minor maim and no block is 69%
- if he base blocks 86%
- if he adds SNB 88%
- if the attack was ranged 90%
- and if he had defensive posture 91%

91% is about 5% increase to his total mitigation with base block, 88% is only 2% total mitigation if he had to give up defensive posture. It will be a 19% increase to his total mitigation if he slots SNB and blocks, but slotting SNB will still give him the same 69% total mitigation outside of block (maybe a little boost through the extra armor of the shield).

Now consider the fact he is a vampire for the mobility (that all magdks must run):
- you cannot block therefore SNB is useless.
- mistform + minor maim + 15280 debuff gives Rin 92% total mitigation.

Mistform gives more benefit to his build than slotting SNB. More mag recovery gives him more uptime on minor maim+ AOE control on his enemies, and the destro staff helps proc burning/DOT penetration which in turn gets a bonus to dmg via being a dark elf. And valkyn is needed for the extra burst with ferocious leap for the "execute" hard cc.

Maybe with other builds SNB is superior, but for DK's its arguable that SNB is a bit outdated. For templars SNB is probably more important, because our block passive is only for melee and we lose out on ranged builds without it. DK's get 10% regardless.

I do agree Rin could pump his penetration up a tad (maybe 9.5k).

Xvorg

Rinaldo, DKs dots are melee range and that forces you to go S/B, otherwise DW mDK would be top dog everywhere.

For ranged DoT, mageblade is way better than mDK and that one can solo easily because it has the tools to reposition itself. I'm quite sure your build, that's OK for a mDK, should be lethal on a mageblade.

Nevertheless, I appreciate a lot the build coming from a (ex) Sorc since you can see things mDKs usually can't see. Some mDK have looked for a build that allows you to go in light armor and using a staff but the thing is melee makes everything complicated, and not having a good reposition tool (mist is just a bad option, but the only mDKs have) hurts you badly.

Regarding DoTs, something I've been thinking a lot during the last weeks: though I like a lot the concept of a class that rely on DoTs, I think having thaum in the physical dmg constelation does not good for any magicka class that tries to based their build on them. That, and the exploiter passive put most of the mDK in disadvantage compared to other classes. I found hilarious a stam class can take advantage of Tactician and Exploiter while retaining most of its dmg potential, while mDK (who depends entirely of setting enemies off balance for burst) has to juggle their points to be able to use those two stars. That sole fact affects a lot the possibilities to build something different to the S/B mDK

Raudgrani

Hijackin' this one for a magicka DK question, which might be relevant as well. Never played much with magicka, but how would Silks of the Sun/Vicious death work with Eye of Flame on a magicka DK? I have all necessary components, and thinking of starting to play a little magicka.
Magicka DK's reeeeally doesn't seem to be popular these days, I know - but that makes it a lot more fun to try. I really hate "meta", and all these run-around-trees-misting-and-shuffling templars etc. I mean I could build one, but really that's not the way I roll.

NBrookus

Destro/VD DK is really a large group build... and at that point a magblade or magsorc is better. Both have more damage and magsorc has a ton more group utility.

zParallaxz

Lol if u really think dot are what’s powerful on a dk u probably haven’t mastered magdk. What makes magdk special is the ability to hold block longer, burst heal from burning embers or dragon blood, and whip into an ult.

Quantum_V

Nice build. Keep it up.




OBS.: But please avoid using resource poisons. It's sacrilege to the PvP community.

Raudgrani

NBrookus wrote: »

Destro/VD DK is really a large group build... and at that point a magblade or magsorc is better. Both have more damage and magsorc has a ton more group utility.

Yes, I intend to have a "switchable" set, for group play. I'm thinking of using Molag Kena for that as well, I suppose it could be a good part of the buff before going Eye of Flame or whatever. I have been victim of "Eye of Flame kamikaze" attacks in the last stage of keep sieges myself, and indeed it took a lot of lives.

Needless to say, and to stick to topic - a destro staff mag DK would probably cause the most damage here, no doubt.