mundus stones

Syiccal

which is considered better for a magplar
apprentice or mage

geonsocal

good question - i'm gonna guess the apprentice (only cuz that's what I use and don't feel like changing )...

davey1107

The math nerds and experts are all saying in the current update that straight spell power beats everything else (unless you need recovery). I don’t know precisely why, but most buildmasters go apprentice for power.

I’ll note that I followed this advice on my stamblade...going warrior because the current buildmasters recommend it. But I felt like I was getting less power than shadow, so I switched back. For my playstyle the opening attack being a crit that has more power just performed better than a weapon damage boost.

Biro123

They're all pretty much equivalent in power to each other and equivalent set bonuses.
Its really all down to what gap you have to fill in your build, or what stat you want to boost a bit more.

The_Protagonist

For me as a rookie vet dungeon delver, I prefer lover for penetration, I used apprentice before but never got to pen cap, changing to lover got me above 32k dps, it meager but for me an improvement, still learning to play and trying to git gud.

Hutch679

If 10 mag = 1 spell power, then you would need a max magicka/max stamina % buff of ~73% to equivalent the 238 spell/weapon power with a major buff (20%). But, max resources add a sustain factor in as well. Whereas it might not give recovery, it allows you to use more skills before you are dry. (My math might be slightly off, but you get the picture.)

Minno

Depending on what you need, but on my current HA build im testing out, im seeing the following on the build editor using the "Effective Spell Power" stat to see which one is higher:
- Lover (penetration) > Apprentice (spell dmg) > Shadow (crit dmg) > Mage (max mag) > Thief (crit chance).
- this is because I don't have the penetration of light armor and im testing nirn on my main weapon, but the build editor doesn't calculate my penetration using destro staff skills either. And I most likely need regen, so ill loose out on the mundas damage anyway.
- thief is lower than everything, but I am using two sets that give two spell crit bonuses, so that might be skewing this comparison.

On the same build im testing but using light armor instead of heavy armor, im seeing:
- Lover > Apprentice > shadow/mage (tied)> thief.
- But the build has 13000 penetration outside of elemental drain/destro skill passive so that's way too high for the average build. taking apprentice/atronach would be better spent since the spell damage pairs well with the light armor penetration passive and the atro stone pairs even better with the light armor magicka regen passive.

Other things to consider:
- penetration doesnt work against shields and if you have already penetrated the armor of your target (especially since Light armor builds are making a comeback this patch, but this is more of an issue for stam builds than mag builds).
- spell dmg boost's your skill tooltip values and therefore works better against shields. This is because your attacks against a shield will be doing closer to tooltip value (after your target's percentage based mitigations are taken into effect). Without a strong unblockable CC, running more damage against shields is better, especially if you are using Unstable Core for unblockable damage.
- max mag, while is a combo defense/offense/sustain stat if you use a shield, magplars do not have the mobility like sorcs/nightblades to justify running high cost shields. Plus breath of life/honor the dead is just as costly as a shield, making it arguably annoying to try to run a shield based templar. But your mag pool will be higher, so you can sustain more spells in combat.

Therefore, if you need more damage, run Apprentice/Lover stones depending on how much penetration you have. If you need more sustain, pick Mage/Atronach depending on how big your regen/max mag pools are.