"The Selfless Zoo" Magicka Sorc Triple Pet Build - Summerset Isles

Waffennacht · February 2018

Horowonnoe wrote: »

show previous quotes

Waffennacht wrote: »

Horowonnoe wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

I would like to remind people that necro doesn't need to be double barred, with how little time you spend on back bar with these kinds of builds, you'll probably gain dps by back barring acuity and front barring necro and adding a monster set. - for those that don't own vMA weapons

BTW, did ya guys like copy and paste @Alcast ?

Copy and paste alcast? Not sure what ya mean.
And acuity is front bar actually. So you can control the proc (somewhat). Necro is both bars.

I mean it's almost literally word for word the guide on his site. Could be quite the coincidence!

I just backbar acuity and have LL and Blockade backbar, with the rotation you always proc Acuity on cool down when you refresh.

You spend about 1 GCD and bar swap anim cancel to front bar, so you lose the max mag for only 1 tick by front barring necro and gain a monster set.

For non vMA staff user, this will result in higher dps than double barring Necro

I hadn't looked at Alcast's site in like a year. Well his rotation/cp is slightly different.
Ill just go do trials naked from now on.

That would be insanely impressive, and I actually bet you could do it frankly. I didn't mean to be so Offensive, my apologies.

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

show previous quotes

Waffennacht wrote: »

Lynx7386 wrote: »

How is this three pets, unless you're counting the atronach? Wouldn't it be better to go with maw of the infernal monster set for the daedroth that gets buffed by daedric prey?

I want to see how well a full pet build using that Works for farming vma. I've never been able to clear it in other characters.

I'm actually running that very thing. Necro front, acuity back, maw it's personally got the highest dps of the set ups I've tried.

But I also only run familiar (cuz I solo vet dungeons) have 2 shields use trash potions and love streak (for solo PvE)

Does pet damage proc Mechanical Acuity?

Yes

djyrb · February 2018

Horowonnoe wrote: »

Rotation:
Initialize - Summon both pets, Potion, Desro Ult, Command both pets
Rota: Liquid Lightning, Light Attack (la), Elemental Blockade, (barswap cancel), LA, Familiar, LA, Curse, Heavy Attack x1, Tormentor (only while enemy is above 50% health. Cast tormentor every 2 rotations. )(barswap cancel)
Repeat.
Execute (20% or less): LL, LA, Ele Blockade, (swap), LA, Familiar, LA, Mages wrath + LA Weave until ele blockade has 1 sec left, repeat.

Nice build, thanks for sharing and the update. I was thinking of dusting off my sorc and might give this a run, although I only have IA fully gold, and a smattering of Moondancer (and no weapon).

I noticed that Shock Clench was on the back bar, but I didn't see it in the rotation description. Would you include that in the back bar portion of the rotation, or perhaps elsewhere?

Horowonnoe · February 2018

djyrb wrote: »

show previous quotes

Horowonnoe wrote: »

Rotation:
Initialize - Summon both pets, Potion, Desro Ult, Command both pets
Rota: Liquid Lightning, Light Attack (la), Elemental Blockade, (barswap cancel), LA, Familiar, LA, Curse, Heavy Attack x1, Tormentor (only while enemy is above 50% health. Cast tormentor every 2 rotations. )(barswap cancel)
Repeat.
Execute (20% or less): LL, LA, Ele Blockade, (swap), LA, Familiar, LA, Mages wrath + LA Weave until ele blockade has 1 sec left, repeat.

Nice build, thanks for sharing and the update. I was thinking of dusting off my sorc and might give this a run, although I only have IA fully gold, and a smattering of Moondancer (and no weapon).

I noticed that Shock Clench was on the back bar, but I didn't see it in the rotation description. Would you include that in the back bar portion of the rotation, or perhaps elsewhere?

Oh sorry, clench was on there in the previous iteration of the build. I found it was better to not use it after patch since it didn't really provide much extra anymore. So i got rid of it. Lemme check and adjust.

Horowonnoe · February 2018

Waffennacht wrote: »

show previous quotes

Horowonnoe wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

Horowonnoe wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

I would like to remind people that necro doesn't need to be double barred, with how little time you spend on back bar with these kinds of builds, you'll probably gain dps by back barring acuity and front barring necro and adding a monster set. - for those that don't own vMA weapons

BTW, did ya guys like copy and paste @Alcast ?

Copy and paste alcast? Not sure what ya mean.
And acuity is front bar actually. So you can control the proc (somewhat). Necro is both bars.

I mean it's almost literally word for word the guide on his site. Could be quite the coincidence!

I just backbar acuity and have LL and Blockade backbar, with the rotation you always proc Acuity on cool down when you refresh.

You spend about 1 GCD and bar swap anim cancel to front bar, so you lose the max mag for only 1 tick by front barring necro and gain a monster set.

For non vMA staff user, this will result in higher dps than double barring Necro

I hadn't looked at Alcast's site in like a year. Well his rotation/cp is slightly different.
Ill just go do trials naked from now on.

That would be insanely impressive, and I actually bet you could do it frankly. I didn't mean to be so Offensive, my apologies.
show previous quotes

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

Lynx7386 wrote: »

How is this three pets, unless you're counting the atronach? Wouldn't it be better to go with maw of the infernal monster set for the daedroth that gets buffed by daedric prey?

I want to see how well a full pet build using that Works for farming vma. I've never been able to clear it in other characters.

I'm actually running that very thing. Necro front, acuity back, maw it's personally got the highest dps of the set ups I've tried.

But I also only run familiar (cuz I solo vet dungeons) have 2 shields use trash potions and love streak (for solo PvE)

Does pet damage proc Mechanical Acuity?

Yes

Let's see if i can make this happen. Naked trials run.

djyrb · February 2018

OK no worries, thanks for the clarification!

FrancisCrawford · February 2018

Waffennacht wrote: »

show previous quotes

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

Lynx7386 wrote: »

How is this three pets, unless you're counting the atronach? Wouldn't it be better to go with maw of the infernal monster set for the daedroth that gets buffed by daedric prey?

I want to see how well a full pet build using that Works for farming vma. I've never been able to clear it in other characters.

I'm actually running that very thing. Necro front, acuity back, maw it's personally got the highest dps of the set ups I've tried.

But I also only run familiar (cuz I solo vet dungeons) have 2 shields use trash potions and love streak (for solo PvE)

Does pet damage proc Mechanical Acuity?

Yes

Thanks. In that case Acuity is indeed a tempting single-bar set for a pet sorcerer.

FrancisCrawford · February 2018

My basic approach to sorcerer has long been:

Sets:

5x Necropotence
4x Julianos (because that's what I have sitting around)
2x monster

The idea to go 5 Necropotence on one bar and 5 Acuity on the other looks like an improvement.

Monster sets I've tried include:

Grothdarr -- great damage but I didn't like the range requirements.
Ilambris -- duh.
Slimecraw -- I duo a lot, so Combat Prayer was often not present -- but then I realized it adds under 6% to DPS, not 8%.
Maw of the Infernal -- new choice. Works great on a target dummy, but is trickier or me in a live fight.

I've gone lightning/inferno more often than lightning/lightning, in part to proc Ilambris and in part because that's what I've had lying around.

Non-ultimate active skills generally include:

2x Volatile Familiar
2x Twilght Matriarch
Elemental Blockade
Liquid Lightning
Ward (almost always Empowered, although I'm about to switch to Hardened just to see how it goes)
Elemental Drain if nobody else is running it.
Daedric Prey
Power Surge

That's the full 10 skills right there, without any single-target spammable and without an execute. So one ultimate is Overload, and Endless Fury is on the Overload bar. Also on the Overload bar typically are 2 pets, Ward, and 1 of Power Surge/Daedric Prey/Liquid Lightning.

Since my Altmer sorcerers aren't rank 10 in Mages Guild, the other ultimate is the destro ultimate (lightning).

Truth be told, I usually hit right under 20K on a target dummy. What SHOULD I be getting with better playing skill, self-buffed, blue food, dropped potions only?

Also, what seem like the best choices for weapon traits and enchantments?

rikimm16_ESO · February 2018

Why do most of these MagSorc builds don’t include Power Surge? It adds Major Sorcery...

Horowonnoe · February 2018

rikimm16_ESO wrote: »

Why do most of these MagSorc builds don’t include Power Surge? It adds Major Sorcery...

Because you het that same buff from usingg spellpower potions. Not having surge on your bar allows you to use other skills instead since the space is limited.

Lynx7386 · February 2018

Horowonnoe wrote: »

show previous quotes

rikimm16_ESO wrote: »

Why do most of these MagSorc builds don’t include Power Surge? It adds Major Sorcery...

Because you het that same buff from usingg spellpower potions. Not having surge on your bar allows you to use other skills instead since the space is limited.

Yea but I'd rather not use potions outside of trials, they're pricey.

Anyways, here's the setup I'm thinking of using for my sorc if I decide to respec from stamina (which is almost sure at this point, it seems so much easier and more fun to run pets than trying to animation cancel and get a perfect stam rotation):

5x Necropotence
3x Willpower Jewelry
2x Maw of the Infernal OR Infernal Guardian (swap depending on content/needs)
1x vMA lightning if I can ever get it, for now Ill probably just slot some crafted generic staves as 1 piece items

Front bar (main bar/single target)
Daedric Prey
Empowered Ward
Power Surge
Twilight Matriarch
Volatile Familiar
Energy Overload

Back bar (aoe)
Liquid Lightning
Elemental Blockade
Boundless Storm
Twilight Matriarch
Volatile Familiar
Greater Storm Atronach

Overload Bar (execute phase)
Daedric Prey (or crystal frags)
Mage's fury (not sure which morph to use?)
Inner Light
Twilight Matriarch
Volatile Familiar
Energy Overload

The idea is to buff on the front bar with power surge, weapon swap and lay down aoe's (boundless storm then liquid lightning and blockade, since storm lasts longer), swap back to front bar and use daedric prey/heavy attack on priority targets so that my pets attack the important enemies while aoe hits everything else (from both spells and my lightning staff heavy). Also utilizing volatile familiar's activated aoe damage when necessary.

On boss fights, the rotation is mostly the same but I'll cast greater storm atronach early in the fight (will likely have ultimate built up already for it) to front load more damage. When the boss gets into execute phase, make sure power surge and boundless storm are refreshed then activate energy overload to go to the overload bar. On that bar, basically keep daedric prey active while weaving light attacks with mage's fury (still need to figure out which morph), not sure if crystal frags might be better there or not for overall damage but i think daedric prey will be ideal for the pet focus. Inner light is on the execute bar to boost max magicka by 8% and give major prophecy for 10% more spell crit while in the execute phase to burn faster.

Will this setup work? What kind of DPS should I be getting with something like that? If it can do over 25k without too many issues, it's definitely going to out-perform my stamina build.

Horowonnoe · February 2018

Lynx7386 wrote: »

show previous quotes

Horowonnoe wrote: »

rikimm16_ESO wrote: »

Why do most of these MagSorc builds don’t include Power Surge? It adds Major Sorcery...

Because you het that same buff from usingg spellpower potions. Not having surge on your bar allows you to use other skills instead since the space is limited.

Yea but I'd rather not use potions outside of trials, they're pricey.

Spoiler
Anyways, here's the setup I'm thinking of using for my sorc if I decide to respec from stamina (which is almost sure at this point, it seems so much easier and more fun to run pets than trying to animation cancel and get a perfect stam rotation):

5x Necropotence
3x Willpower Jewelry
2x Maw of the Infernal OR Infernal Guardian (swap depending on content/needs)
1x vMA lightning if I can ever get it, for now Ill probably just slot some crafted generic staves as 1 piece items

Front bar (main bar/single target)
Daedric Prey
Empowered Ward
Power Surge
Twilight Matriarch
Volatile Familiar
Energy Overload

Back bar (aoe)
Liquid Lightning
Elemental Blockade
Boundless Storm
Twilight Matriarch
Volatile Familiar
Greater Storm Atronach

Overload Bar (execute phase)
Daedric Prey (or crystal frags)
Mage's fury (not sure which morph to use?)
Inner Light
Twilight Matriarch
Volatile Familiar
Energy Overload

The idea is to buff on the front bar with power surge, weapon swap and lay down aoe's (boundless storm then liquid lightning and blockade, since storm lasts longer), swap back to front bar and use daedric prey/heavy attack on priority targets so that my pets attack the important enemies while aoe hits everything else (from both spells and my lightning staff heavy). Also utilizing volatile familiar's activated aoe damage when necessary.

On boss fights, the rotation is mostly the same but I'll cast greater storm atronach early in the fight (will likely have ultimate built up already for it) to front load more damage. When the boss gets into execute phase, make sure power surge and boundless storm are refreshed then activate energy overload to go to the overload bar. On that bar, basically keep daedric prey active while weaving light attacks with mage's fury (still need to figure out which morph), not sure if crystal frags might be better there or not for overall damage but i think daedric prey will be ideal for the pet focus. Inner light is on the execute bar to boost max magicka by 8% and give major prophecy for 10% more spell crit while in the execute phase to burn faster.

Will this setup work? What kind of DPS should I be getting with something like that? If it can do over 25k without too many issues, it's definitely going to out-perform my stamina build.

You should definitely be able to hit 25k with that. While I personally wouldn't consider this setup optimal, if 25k is what you are aiming for its definitely doable.

Lynx7386 · February 2018

Horowonnoe wrote: »

show previous quotes

Lynx7386 wrote: »

Horowonnoe wrote: »

rikimm16_ESO wrote: »

Why do most of these MagSorc builds don’t include Power Surge? It adds Major Sorcery...

Because you het that same buff from usingg spellpower potions. Not having surge on your bar allows you to use other skills instead since the space is limited.

Yea but I'd rather not use potions outside of trials, they're pricey.

Spoiler
Anyways, here's the setup I'm thinking of using for my sorc if I decide to respec from stamina (which is almost sure at this point, it seems so much easier and more fun to run pets than trying to animation cancel and get a perfect stam rotation):

5x Necropotence
3x Willpower Jewelry
2x Maw of the Infernal OR Infernal Guardian (swap depending on content/needs)
1x vMA lightning if I can ever get it, for now Ill probably just slot some crafted generic staves as 1 piece items

Front bar (main bar/single target)
Daedric Prey
Empowered Ward
Power Surge
Twilight Matriarch
Volatile Familiar
Energy Overload

Back bar (aoe)
Liquid Lightning
Elemental Blockade
Boundless Storm
Twilight Matriarch
Volatile Familiar
Greater Storm Atronach

Overload Bar (execute phase)
Daedric Prey (or crystal frags)
Mage's fury (not sure which morph to use?)
Inner Light
Twilight Matriarch
Volatile Familiar
Energy Overload

The idea is to buff on the front bar with power surge, weapon swap and lay down aoe's (boundless storm then liquid lightning and blockade, since storm lasts longer), swap back to front bar and use daedric prey/heavy attack on priority targets so that my pets attack the important enemies while aoe hits everything else (from both spells and my lightning staff heavy). Also utilizing volatile familiar's activated aoe damage when necessary.

On boss fights, the rotation is mostly the same but I'll cast greater storm atronach early in the fight (will likely have ultimate built up already for it) to front load more damage. When the boss gets into execute phase, make sure power surge and boundless storm are refreshed then activate energy overload to go to the overload bar. On that bar, basically keep daedric prey active while weaving light attacks with mage's fury (still need to figure out which morph), not sure if crystal frags might be better there or not for overall damage but i think daedric prey will be ideal for the pet focus. Inner light is on the execute bar to boost max magicka by 8% and give major prophecy for 10% more spell crit while in the execute phase to burn faster.

Will this setup work? What kind of DPS should I be getting with something like that? If it can do over 25k without too many issues, it's definitely going to out-perform my stamina build.

You should definitely be able to hit 25k with that. While I personally wouldn't consider this setup optimal, if 25k is what you are aiming for its definitely doable.

What would you change?

FrancisCrawford · February 2018

Wait a moment -- does Boundless Storm work when it's only on a single bar?

Also:

Even in pure single-target cases, has Atronach now been buffed to be better than the nerfed destro ultimate against a stationary boss?
Does Atronach have any range/radius advantage over the destro ultimate vs. mobile bosses?
Is Meteor better, and by how much?

Lynx7386 wrote: »

show previous quotes

Horowonnoe wrote: »

rikimm16_ESO wrote: »

Why do most of these MagSorc builds don’t include Power Surge? It adds Major Sorcery...

Because you het that same buff from usingg spellpower potions. Not having surge on your bar allows you to use other skills instead since the space is limited.

Yea but I'd rather not use potions outside of trials, they're pricey.

Anyways, here's the setup I'm thinking of using for my sorc if I decide to respec from stamina (which is almost sure at this point, it seems so much easier and more fun to run pets than trying to animation cancel and get a perfect stam rotation):

5x Necropotence
3x Willpower Jewelry
2x Maw of the Infernal OR Infernal Guardian (swap depending on content/needs)
1x vMA lightning if I can ever get it, for now Ill probably just slot some crafted generic staves as 1 piece items

Front bar (main bar/single target)
Daedric Prey
Empowered Ward
Power Surge
Twilight Matriarch
Volatile Familiar
Energy Overload

Back bar (aoe)
Liquid Lightning
Elemental Blockade
Boundless Storm
Twilight Matriarch
Volatile Familiar
Greater Storm Atronach

Overload Bar (execute phase)
Daedric Prey (or crystal frags)
Mage's fury (not sure which morph to use?)
Inner Light
Twilight Matriarch
Volatile Familiar
Energy Overload

The idea is to buff on the front bar with power surge, weapon swap and lay down aoe's (boundless storm then liquid lightning and blockade, since storm lasts longer), swap back to front bar and use daedric prey/heavy attack on priority targets so that my pets attack the important enemies while aoe hits everything else (from both spells and my lightning staff heavy). Also utilizing volatile familiar's activated aoe damage when necessary.

On boss fights, the rotation is mostly the same but I'll cast greater storm atronach early in the fight (will likely have ultimate built up already for it) to front load more damage. When the boss gets into execute phase, make sure power surge and boundless storm are refreshed then activate energy overload to go to the overload bar. On that bar, basically keep daedric prey active while weaving light attacks with mage's fury (still need to figure out which morph), not sure if crystal frags might be better there or not for overall damage but i think daedric prey will be ideal for the pet focus. Inner light is on the execute bar to boost max magicka by 8% and give major prophecy for 10% more spell crit while in the execute phase to burn faster.

Will this setup work? What kind of DPS should I be getting with something like that? If it can do over 25k without too many issues, it's definitely going to out-perform my stamina build.

ryanborror · February 2018

Lynx7386 wrote: »

Ok, I've been happy with my stamina sorc build but now ive got the itch to try this since ive never played a pet sorc or even a magicka sorc.

So here's what I'm thinking:
2 piece maw monster set (maximum petness)
5 piece necropotence
3 piece willpower OR grace of the ancients
Once I get it ill add an MA staff or two

Front bar:
Daedric prey
Clannfear or volatile familiar
Twilight matriarch
Bound aegis
Inner light
Greater storm atronach

Back bar:
Elemental blockade
Clannfear or volatile familiar
Twilight matriarch
Bound aegis
Inner light
Overload

Overload bar:
Liquid lightning or boundless storm
Clannfear or volatile familiar
Twilight matriarch
Bound aegis
Inner light
Overload

So here's my questions:

1. Would willpower or grace of the ancients be Better? Willpower offers 1451 magicka and 193 spellpower, while ancients offers 1096 magicka and 4% max magicka. Which would give the highest bonus?

2. If I want to slot hardened ward (which is probably a must), I have to drop either bound aegis or inner light. What should I do there? I want to keep both the slotted pets on my bars, which leaves me very little room to work with. Personally I like the glowing eyes I get with bound aegis, but obviously it means I lose crit and max magicka from inner light in exchange for minor resolve and ward.

3. Is it worth running boundless storm at all, or should I avoid it for liquid lightning on the overload bar? I might be able to do both if I give up bound aegis or inner light.

4. Will this build, which basically uses just ground aoes, heavy attacks, and pets with curse, be able to pull decent numbers? Will it be able to easily finish vMA?

5. Is it better to use the clannfear or the volatile familiar? I like the clannfear as a personal tank and it gives an extra heal, but does the volatile so enough damage to counter that?

6. Would it work any better to do this build with dual wield or 1h/sh instead of a staff, losing the sustain a staff gives in exchange for a second 5 piece set? Does dw still give more spell damage than staffs for magicka users?

1. Probably willpower
2. Drop inner light as it's not a toggle and you get more from bound aegis
3. Boundless storm does great in aoe fights. But using an overload bar in the rotation is a terrible idea. If anything activate before fights but don't keep it up.
4. It should do decently well if you practice the rotation
5. Clannfear for solo. Familiar for everything else
6. Don't use swords on above magic build. You'll loose too much damage from lift weaves/enchants.

Horowonnoe · February 2018

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Wait a moment -- does Boundless Storm work when it's only on a single bar?

Also:
Even in pure single-target cases, has Atronach now been buffed to be better than the nerfed destro ultimate against a stationary boss?

Does Atronach have any range/radius advantage over the destro ultimate vs. mobile bosses?

Is Meteor better, and by how much?

Hey there,
Atronach was buffed indeed as of the last patch notes : ) Check it out, its pretty cool.
Atro does have an AOE attack, and the synergy grants one ally in your group a buff of Major Berserk by granting them 25% buff in damage done (better than Master Architect set! altho only one person gets this buff, rip). So this is a good choice in a couple of ways.

From my personal testing, Atronach was a tiny bit better than meteor. They are basically the same tho. Around 100 dps difference between the two as it stands at the moment.

Lynx7386 · February 2018

I was only managing a best of about 20k dps when I tested this last night. I actually got more dps slotting bound aegis for the magicka boost and just using liquid lightning, blockade, and daedric prey with heavy attacks.

Horowonnoe · February 2018

Lynx7386 wrote: »

I was only managing a best of about 20k dps when I tested this last night. I actually got more dps slotting bound aegis for the magicka boost and just using liquid lightning, blockade, and daedric prey with heavy attacks.

I think your biggest DPS loss is not using spellpower potions and using overload bar.
If you can figure out a way where you can use spellpower potions, lose the surge and add something useful like Destro ult or metoeor or Storm atronach instead of the overload, you will see your dps increase by a lot. Also- i didn't ask but - make sure your weapons are golded and have the proper enchants. That alone can account for like 4-5k dps. Alchemical use passive - another 2k.

Lynx7386 · February 2018

For now the gear is all purple. Can't afford more than that.

Heres the setup I was using in the tests:

Front bar: Daedric prey, empowered ward, volatile familiar, twilight matriarch, Bound aegis, storm atronach

Same toggles on back bar, but liquid lightning and elemental blockade instead of prey/ward.

Laid down aoe, prey, activate volatile familiar and heavy attack 2 times, prey again and refresh aoes, repeat.

firedrgn · February 2018

I run 4 pets. Sorc teo pets. Atro and maw. Want to add two more .

Does anyone know if the pets

ElFonz0 · February 2018

Mad Tinkerer, Morkuldin, and Defiler all summon pets, though Morkuldin and Defiler are stamina sets and Mad Tinkerer/Defiler summon pets for a single attack. You'd have to use dual wield or 1h&s to have 3 pet sets active at once.

There's also the 2 spiders from Trapping Webs, but those are also stamina-based and require someone else to be using the skill

pteam · February 2018

Does the newly buff greater storm atro ult I do more single target damage vs a Destro ulti? Assuming your running Daedric prey all the time to buff it.

When the atro is done do you restore Magicka back from the rebate passive?

rikimm16_ESO · February 2018

Lynx7386 wrote: »

For now the gear is all purple. Can't afford more than that.

Heres the setup I was using in the tests:

Front bar: Daedric prey, empowered ward, volatile familiar, twilight matriarch, Bound aegis, storm atronach

Same toggles on back bar, but liquid lightning and elemental blockade instead of prey/ward.

Laid down aoe, prey, activate volatile familiar and heavy attack 2 times, prey again and refresh aoes, repeat.

I’m also stuck at 20k dps. What’s ur CP?
Check out my thread:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/390869/low-cp-easiest-class-to-achieve-25k-dps/p2

I think my issues are 1) no gold weapon, 2) no spell power potion, 3) no spell power jewelry and 4) low CP. I think the last one is the main issue thou.

Faulgor · February 2018

Pet sorcs are so good, it almost feels like cheating. I can't reach that kind of dps with any other build, sadly.
If it weren't for the downsides of using pets in certain trial situations, I might not bother with anything else.

I really love that the Atronach is finally useful. In my latest parse, he was even my top damage skill ...

Lynx7386 · February 2018

I'm at like 475 cp or so. Right now I'm going to attribute the low dps to lack of light armor and destroy passives (this character has been stamina based from the start so never leveled those, working on it still) and lacking a maelstrom staff. Also don't have inner light on my bar, as it isn't unlocked yet.

I did look up some guides that only use the familiar with ilambris, but a single pet build seems so much less fun. Guess I could use familiar with my non combat scamp for a pair of them =p

Currently my setup is:

Front bar
Daedric prey
Empowered ward
Volatile familiar
Bound aegis
Twilight matriarch
Greater storm atronach

Back bar:
Liquid lightning
Blockade
Volatile familiar
Bound aegis
Twilight matriarch
Absorption field

Running 5 necro, 3 ancient grace, 2 maw, and a placeholder staff until I get my vma staves.

Will eventually replace absorption field with destro ultimate for aoe, but its a close second for the moment.

The guide I read online used a similar setup but replaced matriarch with inner light and empowered ward with hardened ward (personally I like empowered for the group benefit). It also used ilambris as the monster set, or zaan for single target.

The rotation either way is really simple and efficient though:
Liquid lightning - LA - blockade - LA - familiar - swap - LA - prey - heavy x2 - prey - swap - repeat

The timing on everything lines up really well. Liquid lightning lasts ten seconds and blockade/familiar last 8, and prey lasts 6, so by the time you do the first rotation and cast two heavies prey detonates and your aoes fall off about the same time.

Faulgor · February 2018

So I've been testing setups and rotations all day, and no matter what I do it seems Netch's Touch comes out ahead of Necropotence, something I really did not expect. Has anybody else tried this?

Lynx7386 · February 2018

Since most of your damage is probably shock based, netch's touch is going to boost nearly everything. The extra magicka from necropotence primarily helps scale up your pets' damage (it does factor into your own damage, but not as much as the spell power from netch). If you're only using volatile familiar with a 1 pet setup, you'll benefit more from netch. Of course, you could run both if you gave up a monster set (just used a 1pc) but it's up for debate whether that's more effective or not, especially if you're already using a second set like infallible mage.

Merlin13KAGL · February 2018

@Faulgor , netch's will boost all but pet damage and curse, so it depends a lot on your skill loadout and CP distribution.

I tend to get higher parses with Netch / MD vs Necro / MD, but I'm also CP specc'd for it.

It comes down to how much damage you're getting from Heavy/Light attacks vs that from pets.

Spell Damage will buff LA/HA a lot more than magicka will (about 40 to 1)

Spell Damage will do basically nothing for pet damage (the modifier is so small, it may as well be zero).

Regarding all other skills, Max stat and Spell Damage are basically interchangable, at a ratio of 10.5 Stat = 1 Spell Damage and vice versa.

So it depends on the build and your personal playstyle/timing. If you have both, use the one that gives you consistently higher numbers.

Jadax · March 2018

I want to try this but don't currently have the md staff (nor vma, but that's a work in progress), What do you recommend I run as an alternative to the md? I'm running IA as alternative to vma backbar staff.

Sordidfairytale · March 2018

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

@Faulgor , netch's will boost all but pet damage and curse, so it depends a lot on your skill loadout and CP distribution.

I tend to get higher parses with Netch / MD vs Necro / MD, but I'm also CP specc'd for it.

It comes down to how much damage you're getting from Heavy/Light attacks vs that from pets.

Spell Damage will buff LA/HA a lot more than magicka will (about 40 to 1)

Spell Damage will do basically nothing for pet damage (the modifier is so small, it may as well be zero).

Regarding all other skills, Max stat and Spell Damage are basically interchangable, at a ratio of 10.5 Stat = 1 Spell Damage and vice versa.

So it depends on the build and your personal playstyle/timing. If you have both, use the one that gives you consistently higher numbers.

Excellent points, but to add to the thought.

Max Magicka will improve your ward. Spell damage will not.
Max Magicka will also improve your heal from the matriarch (if you chose that). Spell damage will not.
So if you find yourself being a bit squishy or relying on heals a lot, consider that.

QuebraRegra · March 2018

so the third pet is just the attronach? (sorry I don't usually sorc)

Hmm, maybe with the MAW set? (too bad the 1pc bonus is health