MAGBLADE pvp theorycrafting

rteezy

Alright, with my lack of experience and very small amount of time since i started playing this game i realised somethigns about magblade pvp (bare with my noobness):

(oh and im talking about 1v1 (open world) 1 vs x and SMALL scale pvp, none of that skilless laggy no brain activity requires zerg mode(which by the way its closer to PVE then pvp since youa re just aoe'ing a see of red healthbars)


So, we do have the damage, and we can build for even more damage and burst, but with a unreliable cloak and image our defenses are poor! I tried some gank builds liek Daniels Torugs build and a variation of it with elegant/spinners for HA ganks, They work, but if the gank fails and you fail to cloak ur dead..so its funny for the first 10 ganks then it gets boring.

Im trying to build for sustain survivability and killing/bursting potential (even if within a window)


I always try both melee and destro/resto builds

So far i tried some variations with Shaklebreaker (seems the best overall option) :

-With spinners, your damage is pretty good (swallow soul tooltip is about 9k unbuffed), but u migth need to sacrifice some SP for mag regen.

-with necro, well, kinda fun to have 50k+ magika, but for some reason it doesnt seem to work well.

-with wizards reposte you become more tanky, but it seems that the lack of penetration really messes your burst capability forcing you into more sustain/regen.


So far a few things i dont udnerstand:

What crit resistance i should go for? iw as playing with 1700 and it sucks...then i got up to 2500 and it felt liek a diferent game even though on paper the numbers werent that diferent.

what penetration should i go for? getting it from CP seems crappy since its not % based, i always try to be above 10k but without spinners get very hard.

I always play with Light armor for the passives, and i do think its needed, but, would heavy armro really cut our damage and regen that much? cuz the hp and tankyness gain woudl be great.

What mag regen should i go for? i feel like that if ur under 1600 u need to play with leeching strikes and/or elemental drain, what is the sweet spot?1800?2k+ ?

Melee vs destro- love both, diferent playstyles , cant really tell if one is better then the other (even though the stuns and proximity for fears on a melee playstyle seem to suit betetr the magblade...but destor is so badass!)


Things i noticed:
Health pool really seems to matter on magblade, i changed to argonian form dark elf (ty @KenaPKK for the advice on youtube ), and my health now its always between 24-27k and i feel like anythign under 24k for a magblade REALLY sucks.


Thinking about trying wizards repost/spinners (one for each bar) with skoria/groth/bloodspawn?!..mag would go down, tnakiness and *** would go up, what do you guys think?

Kode

You seem to be headed in the right direction. I don't like pushing a meta so I wont suggest any other sets, other than saying you seem to be looking at good sets with a good evaluation of them... I would have told you the same thing you figured out for yourself.

I think your play-style will dictate what your build looks like, what sets you choose and skills you slot.

Some people like to be squishy and high dps, some people like shield play, some are evasive. Your choice really. I think you need to know what you enjoy, and that will probably become what you do best.

Waffennacht

Jumped on my Mag blade last night (love the available abilities)

Just couldn't get that "death knight" thread outta my Head.

So what I'm using is:

Troll king - cuz it makes u tanky
Axiom - because I don't wanna gold anything out any time soon and it's very useful
Transmutation - one of the best defensive sets

Heavy armor cuz I'm a death knight lol

Front bar is: swallow soul, ele drain, Merc, the Execute ability, cripple ult Soul tether
Back bar is resto staff (maybe 2h for BGs) healing ward (or FM) cloak, entropy, refreshing path (yay expedition and heals) siphon, ult Champion

Mad resistance and heals, (4k impenetrable) hots via Swallow, refreshing and entropy (yay TK triggers) burst is Merc + Tether into Execute using cripple and swallow to work em down.

No shades cuz it gives my xbox a nervous break down.

Buffed is something like 3.3k ish spell DMG? 1800 Regen + ele drain and siphon

It's got everything, plus perma invisibility!

Loads o fun (I highly recommend not perma invisibility in duels - it's not cool)

paallterrain148

I normally run skoria/wizards/transmutation. It's great for small group or outnumhered, your burst is a little tough to line up and you more rely on sustained pressure. I have about 3700 crit resist with trans buff, something I need to play with.

I swapped wizards for spinners last night and took it for a quick run in bgs. Less tanky for sure. I removed all my cp from pen, and put it into damage stars. Hits significantly harder on anything without a shield. I have slightly less sustain. Running shade its solid in 1v1 but outnumhered you can feel the added pressure.

Like both set ups so far. I haven't tried melee yet, it's on the to do list, because wings *** me off when all I can do is resto heavy and drop path.

Subversus

I'd go with 2 skoria 5 heavy julianos frontbar and 5 riposte/transmutation backbar as a beginner setup. Be sure to run refreshing path as well.

rteezy

i really want to try Wizards repost/spinenrs and war maiden/spinners, sounds good on paper..but then again im like..1 month old into the game, it snot like what is on my "paper" even makes sense in eso pvp theory

Anyoien ahve any exp for these combos?

Ty for the replys so far

Waffennacht

Those sets are very effective

thankyourat

Waffennacht wrote: »

Jumped on my Mag blade last night (love the available abilities)

Just couldn't get that "death knight" thread outta my Head.

So what I'm using is:

Troll king - cuz it makes u tanky
Axiom - because I don't wanna gold anything out any time soon and it's very useful
Transmutation - one of the best defensive sets

Heavy armor cuz I'm a death knight lol

Front bar is: swallow soul, ele drain, Merc, the Execute ability, cripple ult Soul tether
Back bar is resto staff (maybe 2h for BGs) healing ward (or FM) cloak, entropy, refreshing path (yay expedition and heals) siphon, ult Champion

Mad resistance and heals, (4k impenetrable) hots via Swallow, refreshing and entropy (yay TK triggers) burst is Merc + Tether into Execute using cripple and swallow to work em down.

No shades cuz it gives my xbox a nervous break down.

Buffed is something like 3.3k ish spell DMG? 1800 Regen + ele drain and siphon

It's got everything, plus perma invisibility!

Loads o fun (I highly recommend not perma invisibility in duels - it's not cool)

Is axiom working? I had stayed away from it because i heard it was bugged

Subversus

thankyourat wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

Jumped on my Mag blade last night (love the available abilities)

Just couldn't get that "death knight" thread outta my Head.

So what I'm using is:

Troll king - cuz it makes u tanky
Axiom - because I don't wanna gold anything out any time soon and it's very useful
Transmutation - one of the best defensive sets

Heavy armor cuz I'm a death knight lol

Front bar is: swallow soul, ele drain, Merc, the Execute ability, cripple ult Soul tether
Back bar is resto staff (maybe 2h for BGs) healing ward (or FM) cloak, entropy, refreshing path (yay expedition and heals) siphon, ult Champion

Mad resistance and heals, (4k impenetrable) hots via Swallow, refreshing and entropy (yay TK triggers) burst is Merc + Tether into Execute using cripple and swallow to work em down.

No shades cuz it gives my xbox a nervous break down.

Buffed is something like 3.3k ish spell DMG? 1800 Regen + ele drain and siphon

It's got everything, plus perma invisibility!

Loads o fun (I highly recommend not perma invisibility in duels - it's not cool)

Is axiom working? I had stayed away from it because i heard it was bugged

I stay away from it mostly because it doesn't buff staff attacks and other non-class items; I'd rather much have BSW (but that staff @_@).

Tiggero3o3

5 piece kagrenacs hope is pretty good for a magblade

WacArnold

Skoria/ war maiden/ wizards works decent for me just be sure to get the recovery where you feel confortable. I run 1900 mag and 700 sum stam. I wish stam was higher but i can manage unless pinned down by multiple enemys. I am wondering if i could use amberplasm instead of war maiden. To be able to dodge into cloak more, but i really feel confortable with the damage from maiden. Spinner does more damage but not against shields so i went for a more average damage against all players build.

Waffennacht

thankyourat wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

Jumped on my Mag blade last night (love the available abilities)

Just couldn't get that "death knight" thread outta my Head.

So what I'm using is:

Troll king - cuz it makes u tanky
Axiom - because I don't wanna gold anything out any time soon and it's very useful
Transmutation - one of the best defensive sets

Heavy armor cuz I'm a death knight lol

Front bar is: swallow soul, ele drain, Merc, the Execute ability, cripple ult Soul tether
Back bar is resto staff (maybe 2h for BGs) healing ward (or FM) cloak, entropy, refreshing path (yay expedition and heals) siphon, ult Champion

Mad resistance and heals, (4k impenetrable) hots via Swallow, refreshing and entropy (yay TK triggers) burst is Merc + Tether into Execute using cripple and swallow to work em down.

No shades cuz it gives my xbox a nervous break down.

Buffed is something like 3.3k ish spell DMG? 1800 Regen + ele drain and siphon

It's got everything, plus perma invisibility!

Loads o fun (I highly recommend not perma invisibility in duels - it's not cool)

Is axiom working? I had stayed away from it because i heard it was bugged

ZoS said they had fixed it, (where it wasn't buffing Merc) but it seems to be, Ill have to go back and check to be absolutely sure.

For me, it buffs all the things I use. Swallow for spammable, tether, Merc, cripple, path. I only use ele drain healing ward and lights that aren't class abilities. Ele drain doesn't use spell DMG, same with ward, and lights is so powerful already that it gets you to full no matter what.

Best thing is axiom's mag and Stam buff isn't on the 5th piece so I only front bar it.

Also... Crafted. I have never had bsw inferno staff drop, I have frost Lightning resto 2h shield 1 hand but no inferno

thankyourat

Waffennacht wrote: »

thankyourat wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

Jumped on my Mag blade last night (love the available abilities)

Just couldn't get that "death knight" thread outta my Head.

So what I'm using is:

Troll king - cuz it makes u tanky
Axiom - because I don't wanna gold anything out any time soon and it's very useful
Transmutation - one of the best defensive sets

Heavy armor cuz I'm a death knight lol

Front bar is: swallow soul, ele drain, Merc, the Execute ability, cripple ult Soul tether
Back bar is resto staff (maybe 2h for BGs) healing ward (or FM) cloak, entropy, refreshing path (yay expedition and heals) siphon, ult Champion

Mad resistance and heals, (4k impenetrable) hots via Swallow, refreshing and entropy (yay TK triggers) burst is Merc + Tether into Execute using cripple and swallow to work em down.

No shades cuz it gives my xbox a nervous break down.

Buffed is something like 3.3k ish spell DMG? 1800 Regen + ele drain and siphon

It's got everything, plus perma invisibility!

Loads o fun (I highly recommend not perma invisibility in duels - it's not cool)

Is axiom working? I had stayed away from it because i heard it was bugged

ZoS said they had fixed it, (where it wasn't buffing Merc) but it seems to be, Ill have to go back and check to be absolutely sure.

For me, it buffs all the things I use. Swallow for spammable, tether, Merc, cripple, path. I only use ele drain healing ward and lights that aren't class abilities. Ele drain doesn't use spell DMG, same with ward, and lights is so powerful already that it gets you to full no matter what.

Best thing is axiom's mag and Stam buff isn't on the 5th piece so I only front bar it.

Also... Crafted. I have never had bsw inferno staff drop, I have frost Lightning resto 2h shield 1 hand but no inferno

i been waiting to craft it. I'm going to use it for my 2hand build. I only use class abilities as well. I been wondering how this set would stack with war maiden. I don't have time to really test builds anymore

rteezy

whats the minimu mag regen u guys feel confortable playing without leeching strikes

thankyourat

rteezy wrote: »

whats the minimu mag regen u guys feel confortable playing without leeching strikes

With or without elemental drain? Solo vs group vs dueling? Open world solo i can run as low as 1400 but that makes elemental drain mandatory. Usually i like to get close to 1700. If i wasn't going to run siphoning attacks or drain i would want to be above 2000. For duels I've run as low as 1200

jaws343

I have been playing around with a torags pact knight slayer build on my ranged magblade. It is fun but kinda a one trick pony. But dropping someone from a heavy attack is hilarious. Although, I prefer pairing spinners and shackle and going the melee magblade route.

StayAlfresco

These are some really good questions, and I feel like you're on the right path as is. I think you'll have to find a playstyle you enjoy, for me, it's melee mageblade.

I like to sit at a minimum of 1800 regen for open world. I play solo 90% of the time, so I need some regen for kiteability.

2500 crit resist is also where I like to sit. I've played as low as 1600 and it just doesn't play as nice in outnumbered situations when cloak isn't a reliable escape option.

I've played both light and heavy armour, and you've got the burst to still get kills in heavy with incap, Merc combo, but for the most part I find it more efficient to kite in light than to soak up damage in heavy. It can be done however, it's just not a playstyle I like as a solo player.

Argonian is imo the best race for mageblade hands down, although I'm currently running a Breton, just to compare.

I don't like pushing sets on people, but all of the sets you've listed are good ones for a mageblade. It's more about finding a playstyle that you enjoy, and practicing at it to find what works and what doesn't. Health is a major factor too, I don't like to run at anything below 23k.

I think once you've decided what you enjoy playing the most, whether that be small group, solo, BG's, ranged or melee, you should then build around that playstyle with sets. You're on the right track!!

Lexxypwns

@WacArnold try leeching strikes

Kram8ion

I've narrowed my magblade down to turogs and mothers sorrow with infused weapons after much theory crafting, it's working quite well for me I've only got one toon so it's pvp and now pve swapping impenetrable with devines and a few skills and I'm good to go I don't even change cps ( I'm bit lazy)

raistin87

If you are interested in terrible, terrible damage, you should try a modified version of Daniels build with Skoria and Lich on the back bar and tri-stat food.

kaithuzar

The amount of regen you need is based upon your ability to manage or not manage your resources properly.
The amount of health you need is dependent on your kiting & healing ability.
The lower your health or resources, the higher the skill cap is.

I run with 23k health, almost 24k & I feel that's the sweet spot based on my skill.
I was running 2.4k regen but now I'm at around 1900-2k

It's been stated before, you have to kill your opponents quickly as you often don't have time for a 1v1 before your friends or their friends come along & interrupt. So choosing your targets based on their health or name becomes important as to whether or not you engage them.

AllPlayAndNoWork

rteezy wrote: »

whats the minimu mag regen u guys feel confortable playing without leeching strikes

I run about 1500-1600 with no problems

Kram8ion

Oh my, rattlecage
I'm trying this set out on my magblade today and finding it underwhelming although it did double my weapon dmg
Or maybe a lot of weapon damage isn't all it's cracked up to be thoughts?

kaithuzar

Typically people say running rattlecage isn't efficient because you get the same buff from sap; which is what I do.
However, it's great on magplar & not bad on magdk

Vapirko

kaithuzar wrote: »

Typically people say running rattlecage isn't efficient because you get the same buff from sap; which is what I do.
However, it's great on magplar & not bad on magdk

Much better on a melee magplar.

Datthaw

kaithuzar wrote: »

Typically people say running rattlecage isn't efficient because you get the same buff from sap; which is what I do.
However, it's great on magplar & not bad on magdk

Never been a fan of sap. Doesn't fit light armor playstyle imo. Maybe on a melee magblade, but destro resto degeneration is my go to

Waffennacht

Datthaw wrote: »

kaithuzar wrote: »

Typically people say running rattlecage isn't efficient because you get the same buff from sap; which is what I do.
However, it's great on magplar & not bad on magdk

Never been a fan of sap. Doesn't fit light armor playstyle imo. Maybe on a melee magblade, but destro resto degeneration is my go to

+ Mage guild passives.

How important is snare removal to your guys' magNB?

Datthaw

Waffennacht wrote: »

Datthaw wrote: »

kaithuzar wrote: »

Typically people say running rattlecage isn't efficient because you get the same buff from sap; which is what I do.
However, it's great on magplar & not bad on magdk

Never been a fan of sap. Doesn't fit light armor playstyle imo. Maybe on a melee magblade, but destro resto degeneration is my go to

+ Mage guild passives.

How important is snare removal to your guys' magNB?

Snare removal? Cyro is full of snares. I run mistform and immovable pots. Snares snares snares everywhere

Waffennacht

Datthaw wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

Datthaw wrote: »

kaithuzar wrote: »

Typically people say running rattlecage isn't efficient because you get the same buff from sap; which is what I do.
However, it's great on magplar & not bad on magdk

Never been a fan of sap. Doesn't fit light armor playstyle imo. Maybe on a melee magblade, but destro resto degeneration is my go to

+ Mage guild passives.

How important is snare removal to your guys' magNB?

Snare removal? Cyro is full of snares. I run mistform and immovable pots. Snares snares snares everywhere

Hrm, maybe I can rely on Immovable potions.... Ty

Datthaw

Waffennacht wrote: »

Datthaw wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

Datthaw wrote: »

kaithuzar wrote: »

Typically people say running rattlecage isn't efficient because you get the same buff from sap; which is what I do.
However, it's great on magplar & not bad on magdk

Never been a fan of sap. Doesn't fit light armor playstyle imo. Maybe on a melee magblade, but destro resto degeneration is my go to

+ Mage guild passives.

How important is snare removal to your guys' magNB?

Snare removal? Cyro is full of snares. I run mistform and immovable pots. Snares snares snares everywhere

Hrm, maybe I can rely on Immovable potions.... Ty

Think about escapist poisons also

thankyourat

Waffennacht wrote: »

Datthaw wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

Datthaw wrote: »

kaithuzar wrote: »

Typically people say running rattlecage isn't efficient because you get the same buff from sap; which is what I do.
However, it's great on magplar & not bad on magdk

Never been a fan of sap. Doesn't fit light armor playstyle imo. Maybe on a melee magblade, but destro resto degeneration is my go to

+ Mage guild passives.

How important is snare removal to your guys' magNB?

Snare removal? Cyro is full of snares. I run mistform and immovable pots. Snares snares snares everywhere

Hrm, maybe I can rely on Immovable potions.... Ty

Immovable pots don't stop snares or roots. You can try mist form. I'm not a huge fan of mist form though because i play a hot based build. I just try to avoid open fields, and have a way out planned before the fight starts