Reasons why I use Frost Staff for the Mag Warden

esp1992

Before I get on with the discussion, this is the build I’m planning to go for PVE or Group Content...

Frost Staff
Fecther Infection
Crystallized Slab
Arctic Blast
Winter’s Revenge
Blockade of Frost
Northern Storm

Restoration Staff
Fetcher Infection
Blue Betty
Enchanted Growth
Budding Seeds
Blessing of Restoration
Healing Thicket

There are 3 simple reasons why I’m using the Frost Staff for the Mag Warden...

1. Every time I try to look up a cool Mag Warden Build, I see a crap ton of people using Inferno or Lightning Staff on top of Frost Magic which, to be honest, NEVER made any sense to me as a Frost Mage. Nothing personal, just want to feel like a genuine Frost Mage and Nature Healer.

2. Aiming for the Winterborn Set, which activates on frost damage.

3. Along with Nature Magic and out of the 3 Destruction Magic, Frost Damage is (and will be) my upmost favorite type of damage. I know the Tri-Focus passive is pretty lackluster (which I genuinely avoid), but it’s super hilarious to turn someone into Solid Ice and watch them shatter ino millions of pieces.

So yeah... 3 simple reasons on why I always choose the Frost Staff for the Warden.

Have a nice day...

Waffennacht

Well it's not really a discussion lol

I mean I'm not about to try and convince you that you don't like being a frost mage lmao.

People use inferno/Lightning just because it does more DMG.

If you wanna RP a frost mage, all the power to you! In PvE 4 man content you'll be fine

Have fun!

VaranisArano

The only game-play-oriented reason to choose a Frost Staff and use the ice staff to its full current potential is to run a tank using the ice staff heavy attack taunt with the tri-focus passive.

For anything else, there's an objectively better option that doesn't use a frost staff.

However, I don't particularly enjoy playing the meta myself, so as long as you are happy with your build for the content you want to run, go for it! Enjoy the heck out of it! Just please don't use the tri-focus passive that puts a taunt on your ice staff heavy attack unless you actually want to tank the boss.

Vaoh

As long as you understand the DPS output is really bad then it’s all good

I quest sometimes with an Ice Mage build and am probably one of the loudest forum ppl in trying to make Ice Staves and Ice Mages viable for high end DPS. Funnest playstyle imo

AverageJo3Gam3r

You double barred fetchers, lack a spammble, and are missing shalks--one of the highest damage skills available to a warden. In group content, are you trying to be a dps or a healer? If a dps, you need to add inner light and drop the resto staff for a back bar lightning staff for elemental rage. If a healer, you need to drop winterborn, the ice staff, and the damage skills for support skills/healing skills. You need more hots, a burst heal, orbs, warhorn, and blockade of lightning.

This is all for vet content. Normal content, you can run it naked if you want so it doesn't really matter what you do.

Betsararie

Frost staff is garbage.

Koensol

Blanco wrote: »

Frost staff is garbage.

Do you ever have anything constructive to say?

@ The OP,
This can ofc be a fun build. But be ready to expect some scepticism from other players though. Also, what is your goal with this build? Your skill choice seems to be all over the place.

WuffyCerulei

I'm only saying this one the behalf of tanks out there: please don't if you're gonna do dungeons. If you heavy attack with an ice staff, you'll taunt the npc you targetted. If it's a boss, it could really screw over the group. However, in pvp or solo, this build would be fun.

Qbiken

I´ve a "Frost-Mage" Warden build (or more like an Elementalist build tbh) that I use at the moment (might do a build write-up about it when I´ve played it a bit more) for PvP. I sense this thread is more aimed towards PvE but I´ve found good usage of it in PvP at least. The big pros of ice-staff in my opinion:

* I can decide if I want to use stamina or magicka to block (by swapping to ice-staff bar)

* I can proc minor maim whenever I want to on my enemies. By using charged as trait on my frost-staff, the freeze effect procs instantly (giving minor maim on my opponents).

* I can snare + slow my opponents. Hardcounters such as Forward momentum, shuffle etc are a bit tricky to deal with, but can be worked around.

As many people have said, your damage output will be lower compared to using a flame-/lightningstaff. But if you´re like me and want to test and play around with builds you think are fun, then the "fun-factor" will outweigh the loss of performance

VaranisArano

WuffyCerulei wrote: »

I'm only saying this one the behalf of tanks out there: please don't if you're gonna do dungeons. If you heavy attack with an ice staff, you'll taunt the npc you targetted. If it's a boss, it could really screw over the group. However, in pvp or solo, this build would be fun.

Fortunately the taunt only appears if the ice staff user has the Tri-focus passive. That's where ice staff gets its taunt effect.

However, I'll admit that as a tank, nothing gets me watching like a hawk faster than seeing one of my DPS or healer whip out an ice staff. Because I don't know if you have the Tri-focus passive active or not, but I will know if you pull boss aggro from me. (And if you pull aggro, I will inform you that if you taunt it again, you'll be tanking it.)

Stannum

frost staff is not a chiose for DPS anyway, with all set\cold bonuses you loose main destro passive dmg bonus that will be more significant.
But frost staff can be very interesting for semitank PvE (mostly for fun cause it's unoptimal fo trials but good for pledge dps tanking) and espessially PvP build. But it's stamina build.

starlizard70ub17_ESO

I run an ice staff using magic warden (with resto staff on the back bar), and as most people have said, your DPS is lower but the fun factor is higher.

Illurian

I have a healing tank warden for 4 man content (vet pledges etc), using the frost staff and restoration staff. It's fun and effective, since I can run 3 dps in my group.

It's worked pretty well so far.

esp1992

Thank you all... makes me feel like I’m not on my own on this topic.
Thanks for the constructive Critisism as well

FrancisCrawford

Hi.

Your resto bar makes no sense to me. It looks like there's only one resto skill on it, unmorphed, and not one I'd pick for solo play even if it were morphed. Rapid Regeneration/Mutagen and Healing Ward are much more useful resto skills in almost any kind of casual play.

Also -- double-barring the Fetcher DoT and not having a spammable (Bird or otherwise) seems very weird. And as others have said before, Shalks is a great skill; I use it even when I'm healing, along with Blockade.

And while I've been late figuring this out myself -- Lotus Blossom seems way underrated, especially since it's said to proc the Nature's Gift Passive.

esp1992

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Hi.

Your resto bar makes no sense to me. It looks like there's only one resto skill on it, unmorphed, and not one I'd pick for solo play even if it were morphed. Rapid Regeneration/Mutagen and Healing Ward are much more useful resto skills in almost any kind of casual play.

Also -- double-barring the Fetcher DoT and not having a spammable (Bird or otherwise) seems very weird. And as others have said before, Shalks is a great skill; I use it even when I'm healing, along with Blockade.

And while I've been late figuring this out myself -- Lotus Blossom seems way underrated, especially since it's said to proc the Nature's Gift Passive.

Thanks for the Advice... Ill have to post my recent Skill Set soon.

Apache_Kid

Why are you using a restoration staff? It seems to me like you are stuck between wanting to heal and deal damage. If this is for group content then I suggest picking one of those tasks and focusing on that. If you want to heal and want to use a restoration staff then you MUST have a lightning staff bar with wall of elements to provide off-balance to your group. If you are a damage dealer in a group for PvE that resto staff has no business being on your build.


Your listed skill bar only even has 1 restoration staff skill on it so why don't you just put a lightning staff on your back bar and wall of elements on there so you can actually give your group some off-balance.

Qbiken

Apache_Kid wrote: »

Why are you using a restoration staff? It seems to me like you are stuck between wanting to heal and deal damage. If this is for group content then I suggest picking one of those tasks and focusing on that. If you want to heal and want to use a restoration staff then you MUST have a lightning staff bar with wall of elements to provide off-balance to your group. If you are a damage dealer in a group for PvE that resto staff has no business being on your build.


Your listed skill bar only even has 1 restoration staff skill on it so why don't you just put a lightning staff on your back bar and wall of elements on there so you can actually give your group some off-balance.

You never need to have an lightning staff to provide off-balance support (the only time perhaps would be with a magDK that absolutely needs off-balance to proc powerlash but no other build in the game needs off-balance). I´m not saying it´s beneficial because it really is and will give a huge boost to the group. But is it absolutely needed?? no

trowlk

Hello, a couple of days ago I made a proposal to rework the Ice Staff Skill line. I would really appreciate if you all give me some feedback about it. It's quite long, but I was very detailed to cover all the possible problems relating to the magicka tank.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/387374/proposal-ice-staff-tanking-rework

Apache_Kid

Qbiken wrote: »

Apache_Kid wrote: »

Why are you using a restoration staff? It seems to me like you are stuck between wanting to heal and deal damage. If this is for group content then I suggest picking one of those tasks and focusing on that. If you want to heal and want to use a restoration staff then you MUST have a lightning staff bar with wall of elements to provide off-balance to your group. If you are a damage dealer in a group for PvE that resto staff has no business being on your build.


Your listed skill bar only even has 1 restoration staff skill on it so why don't you just put a lightning staff on your back bar and wall of elements on there so you can actually give your group some off-balance.

You never need to have an lightning staff to provide off-balance support (the only time perhaps would be with a magDK that absolutely needs off-balance to proc powerlash but no other build in the game needs off-balance). I´m not saying it´s beneficial because it really is and will give a huge boost to the group. But is it absolutely needed?? no

I mean, no it's not like necessary to compete content but it helps your group and causes your DPS to get better up-time on off-balancd thus increasing the damage output thus making the dungeon run take less time. If I join a dungeon group and the healer is not using a lightning staff back-bar then that is an immediate signal to me that the player doesn't understand the game and it's mechanics entirely. You're handicapping your group by not providing it. Stamina DPS are going to eat up a ton of the off-balance having it provided by the healer is invaluable.

Either way the buld that OP is currently using is ineffective because it's halfway between a DPS and healer build which was the main point of my post.

esp1992

Ok, so here’s my new Skill Setup...

Frost Staff
Crystallized Slab
Ice Fortress
Blockade of Frost
Winter’s Revenge
Frost Clench
Northern Storm

Restoration Staff
Blessing of Restoration
Leeching Vines
Enchanted Growth
Budding Seeds
Rapid Regeneration
Healing Thicket

And I should also add this reason on Why I use a Frost Staff...
I prefer to Role-Play as a Genuine Frost Mage/Green Healer for the sake of Role-Playing for Kyne’s Sakes.

Apache_Kid

esp1992 wrote: »

Ok, so here’s my new Skill Setup...

Frost Staff
Crystallized Slab
Ice Fortress
Blockade of Frost
Winter’s Revenge
Frost Clench
Northern Storm

Restoration Staff
Blessing of Restoration
Leeching Vines
Enchanted Growth
Budding Seeds
Rapid Regeneration
Healing Thicket

And I should also add this reason on Why I use a Frost Staff...
I prefer to Role-Play as a Genuine Frost Mage/Green Healer for the sake of Role-Playing for Kyne’s Sakes.

Ah sorry didn't realize you were doing an RP thing. My bad.

esp1992

Apache_Kid wrote: »

esp1992 wrote: »

Ok, so here’s my new Skill Setup...

Frost Staff
Crystallized Slab
Ice Fortress
Blockade of Frost
Winter’s Revenge
Frost Clench
Northern Storm

Restoration Staff
Blessing of Restoration
Leeching Vines
Enchanted Growth
Budding Seeds
Rapid Regeneration
Healing Thicket

And I should also add this reason on Why I use a Frost Staff...
I prefer to Role-Play as a Genuine Frost Mage/Green Healer for the sake of Role-Playing for Kyne’s Sakes.

Ah sorry didn't realize you were doing an RP thing. My bad.

It’s fine... you were just Trying to help...

esp1992

Apache_Kid wrote: »

esp1992 wrote: »

Ok, so here’s my new Skill Setup...

Frost Staff
Crystallized Slab
Ice Fortress
Blockade of Frost
Winter’s Revenge
Frost Clench
Northern Storm

Restoration Staff
Blessing of Restoration
Leeching Vines
Enchanted Growth
Budding Seeds
Rapid Regeneration
Healing Thicket

And I should also add this reason on Why I use a Frost Staff...
I prefer to Role-Play as a Genuine Frost Mage/Green Healer for the sake of Role-Playing for Kyne’s Sakes.

Ah sorry didn't realize you were doing an RP thing. My bad.

It’s fine... you were just Trying to help...

FrancisCrawford

esp1992 wrote: »

Ok, so here’s my new Skill Setup...

Frost Staff
Crystallized Slab
Ice Fortress
Blockade of Frost
Winter’s Revenge
Frost Clench
Northern Storm

Restoration Staff
Blessing of Restoration
Leeching Vines
Enchanted Growth
Budding Seeds
Rapid Regeneration
Healing Thicket

And I should also add this reason on Why I use a Frost Staff...
I prefer to Role-Play as a Genuine Frost Mage/Green Healer for the sake of Role-Playing for Kyne’s Sakes.

A warden without Animal Companion skills is going to do very weak damage.

But I guess that's the price of your RP.

Apache_Kid

I wish they would scrap the whole ice staff as a tank weapon idea and give it some extra DPS effects to make it better. It'd be fun to use on a MagDen

esp1992

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

esp1992 wrote: »

Ok, so here’s my new Skill Setup...

Frost Staff
Crystallized Slab
Ice Fortress
Blockade of Frost
Winter’s Revenge
Frost Clench
Northern Storm

Restoration Staff
Blessing of Restoration
Leeching Vines
Enchanted Growth
Budding Seeds
Rapid Regeneration
Healing Thicket

And I should also add this reason on Why I use a Frost Staff...
I prefer to Role-Play as a Genuine Frost Mage/Green Healer for the sake of Role-Playing for Kyne’s Sakes.

A warden without Animal Companion skills is going to do very weak damage.

But I guess that's the price of your RP.

Maybe I should’ve kept the Blue Betty...

Apache_Kid

esp1992 wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

esp1992 wrote: »

Ok, so here’s my new Skill Setup...

Frost Staff
Crystallized Slab
Ice Fortress
Blockade of Frost
Winter’s Revenge
Frost Clench
Northern Storm

Restoration Staff
Blessing of Restoration
Leeching Vines
Enchanted Growth
Budding Seeds
Rapid Regeneration
Healing Thicket

And I should also add this reason on Why I use a Frost Staff...
I prefer to Role-Play as a Genuine Frost Mage/Green Healer for the sake of Role-Playing for Kyne’s Sakes.

A warden without Animal Companion skills is going to do very weak damage.

But I guess that's the price of your RP.

Maybe I should’ve kept the Blue Betty...

Blue betty is nice I would use it. And if you keep it up you can use the necro set for a huge magicka pool.

esp1992

Apache_Kid wrote: »

esp1992 wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

esp1992 wrote: »

Ok, so here’s my new Skill Setup...

Frost Staff
Crystallized Slab
Ice Fortress
Blockade of Frost
Winter’s Revenge
Frost Clench
Northern Storm

Restoration Staff
Blessing of Restoration
Leeching Vines
Enchanted Growth
Budding Seeds
Rapid Regeneration
Healing Thicket

And I should also add this reason on Why I use a Frost Staff...
I prefer to Role-Play as a Genuine Frost Mage/Green Healer for the sake of Role-Playing for Kyne’s Sakes.

A warden without Animal Companion skills is going to do very weak damage.

But I guess that's the price of your RP.

Maybe I should’ve kept the Blue Betty...

Blue betty is nice I would use it. And if you keep it up you can use the necro set for a huge magicka pool.

Time to respec my skillpoints... Again.

GreenhaloX

Like many have commented that using a frost staff if your intention is to tank. If you plan to dd/dps, be aware of the heavy attack that taunts. As most will wear light or medium armor with a sorc, warden or not, when you blast out that heavy frost attack, you taunt, and if at a boss, yeah, you'll be back-paddling around while the boss chases you; which happens quite often with a sorc or warden with a frost staff. Ha ha. Plus, the ice heavy attack breaks a S&B tank's active taunt. I hate this when I'm on my S&B tank toon at a world boss pit or running dungeon where there is also a sorc dd with ice staff. Whatever if he/she realize it or not, but that damn heavy ice blast always breaks my tank's taunt. Also, if even someone plans to actually tank with a heavy frost, it is still at a disadvantage over a S&B Pierce Armor taunt which also reduces the target's physical and spell resistances which the heavy ice blast does not do.

As for being a dd/dpsers with a sorc or staff warden, you just miss out on the perks/passives of the lightning staff aoe and the extra damage of the inferno, when you use a frost in place of either. Plus, it is seemingly more efficient to regen your resources with a lightning heavy attack. However, hey, if you like using a frost staff and it works for you, then use it, but be aware of the taunt effect of the heavy blast. Well, if you're also built to take damages like a tank and is ok with the boss being on you like a tank. Yeah, that forest/trees healing ultimate is awesome for a warden; otherwise you probably won't last so long with a boss pommeling you.

esp1992

So here’s the last skill option for my build...

FROST STAFF
Crystallized Slab
Ice Fortress
Blockade of Frost
Winter’s Revenge
Frost Clench
Northern Storm

RESTORATION STAFF
Blue Betty
Leeching Vines
Enchanted Growth
Budding Seeds
Rapid Regeneration
Healing thicket

And yes... I’m very well aware of the Tri-Focus passive and I ALWAYS Try to avoid it whenever possible.