Best PVE Magblade Gear

WrathOfInnos

I'm working on my magblade that has been shelved for over a year. I'm liking the changes to Assasins Will, which seems to be much more forgiving to a missed light attack in Dragon Bones.

My question for magblade players, particularly in end game PVE, is about best in slot gear. I'll go ahead and make a series of statements below, that I invite others to agree with, or debate and provide alternative options.

I'm currently using inferno front bar with lightning back bar, but I think dual inferno will be better next week, if the off-balance cooldown makes it to live.

I enjoy a funnel health light attack rotation, which is cheap enough that heavy attacks are not mandatory if built for some sustain. This means I do not plan on using force pulse or an asylum destro. It also means that I will not be dealing "direct damage" frequently enough to justify Scathing Mage or Nerieneth.

In all my testing, Valkyn Skoria ends up being about 4% of my DPS, and has a fairly useless 1 piece bonus. I see this set used in a lot of end game builds, but I cannot seem to get good results with it. In fact, my DPS seems higher with mismatched monster sets like Iceheart + Kena. There doesn't really seem to be a good 2 piece option for a monster set for a ranged magblade: Slimecraw is redundant, Grothdarr is melee only, Kena requires consecutive light attacks (skipping a skill in the rotation) and bad for sustain, Ilambris does not proc much without force pulse, Domihaus requires very specific range, and Stormfist has a stamina 1 piece. I already mentioned my problems with Skoria and Nerieneth.

That being said, I am leaning toward 2 5-piece sets with a 1-piece Monster helm. One of the 5-piece sets would be lost while on back bar (Maelstrom staff), and the magblade rotation spends a decent amount of time on the back bar.

I plan to run 6 light, 1 heavy. It seems to be the best balance between sustain, damage, and survivability. It also is easy to make since any sets in the running are available in light armor and a 1-piece monster helm can be heavy. If I end up in a crafted set, I would probably make a heavy chest and wear a light monster helm.

The front bar only set could be Mechanical Acuity, since has good uptime even if you have 4/5 on back bar. Crit sets seem to synergizes well with magblade, given the 10% extra crit damage. My main hesitation with this set is that with 2 assassination abilities slotted, and Major and Minor prophecy, I am at 49% crit without any gear bonuses. Any additional crit from the 2nd gear set would diminish the Acuity proc effectiveness.

Another option would be Moondancer, since synergies are getting improved. The spell damage bonus is great, and the Magicka regen could allow the use of Blue Magicka + Health food instead of Witchmother's or Clockwork Citrus Filet. This means higher damage and higher health. Minor slayer is typically about 1% higher DPS than other 3-pc set bonuses. If using a front bar Moondancer staff, I would just have to be careful to only use synergies while on the front bar (might be tricky for something like orbs).

Master architect seems good for melee magblade, but for a ranged build I do not see any ultimate cheap enough to make it worthwhile.

Sets like Julianos, War Maiden, Mothers Sorrow, also seem good for magblade. These would be best if they had 100% uptime (not used on staves). Julianos could be paired with Moondancer, but not Acuity (since both are crafted and have no jewelry).

War maiden would pair pretty well with either Acuity or Moondancer and is available with jewelry (I already have a gold neck, and purple rings are cheap). The 400 spell damage only applies to about 2/3 of my damage skills, so it works out to roughly 260 spell damage, making it less effective than Julianos.

Mother's Sorrow could work well with Julianos or Moondancer, but would be terrible with Acuity. If combined with Juli, one of the two 5-piece bonuses would be lost on the Maelsteom bar.

I think this all this brings me to a few options, listed in order of my perceived best to worst (open to feedback here).

Moondancer + Acuity (front bar) + 1 Kena with Blue Food

Julianos + Moondancer (front bar) + 1 Iceheart with Blue Food

War Maiden + Acuity (front bar) + 1 Kena with Clockwork Food

Julianos + Mother's Sorrow (front bar) + 1 Kena with Clockwork Food (my current setup on live, probably not ideal)

I'm sure there are other sets and combinations I have not considered. Looking for some feedback and discussion on these and any other options. Thanks all!

Edit: Just thought about Burning Spellweave. Might be able to make a comeback with a dual inferno build. Would be a good for a front bar only set, paired with any of the sets mentioned above.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

The reason people use valky on end game builds is for the health you so easily dimiss. An extra 1k health can be the difference between life and death. Also for consistency, the proc from valkyn might be less then miss matched sets on a dummy, but if you are doing a mechanic heavy fight, you are more likely to get damage out of it, as the proc is a guaranteed hit.

Doesnt matter for much longer though, next patch all mag dps will have zaan, it is still 2-4k dps single target.

May I suggest another set that is over looked a lot, destruction mastery, it gives a ton of mag and if you use harness, the set makes that bigger.

WrathOfInnos

Thanks for the reply. I suppose there is a use for the health bonus, especially on a build that does not fully utilize undaunted passives for the extra health or if someone uses a food with lower health. I'll have to play with it more to see how sustainable blue food with 6-1 or 5-1-1 really is, or how survivable lower health is in trials.

As for Zaan, I don't see it becoming used on magblade unless they are given melee spots that are currently filled with stamina DPS. If that were to happen, architect would probably become the best gear option. For stack and burn fights, I will agree that Zaan is looking like a good option, but I'm mainly talking about a ranged DPS build.

Edit: As for Destruction mastery, last I checked the 5-piece bonus was not affected by the CP multiplier, which means that it is 20% weaker than it appears (necropotence suffers from the same calculation). Not sure if this is a bug or intended. Compared to other DPS sets it really falls behind.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

Yes destruction mastery is not impacted by CP but it is still a good amount of magic that you can get. I am not saying it is better then the ones you stated, though I would use it over mothers sorrow, I don't like low stats and MS will give you low base stats, destruction mastery is an option. As for 20% weaker then it appears, it is still amped by race, undaunted, inner light and Magicka flood, that is like 30 or 31% if you are a dark elf or high elf and Breton. So it is only 13% "weaker" then it appears, as 130%/150%= 87%, though I agree it is a problem that both the max stat five piece sets, hulking, necro, plague, mastery, and the max stat mundases, lord, mage and tower, are not givin the 20% boost.

When you say "really falls behind" what do you mean? Because all the math I have seen it is around 1-4% dps difference between all the sets you have asked about.

I actually just use nerienith on my magblade with julinanos body and font bar flame IA anf jewelry with a lightning crushing wall set. I get around 30k dps on the high end, though I am terrible at weaving, something the nightblade class as a whole relys a bit too much on if you ask me. I use nerienith cause I like the way it looks most fights is around what you said with skoria and I run Witchmothers.


With all that said, watch this, if you want high end advice. The only thing that are changing is off balance and the buff to merciless resolve.

https://youtu.be/5T8Ap5z-384

WrathOfInnos

Yeah, I would estimate Destruction Mastery to be about a 2% DPS loss from most of the other sets, so only significant in the context of end game optimization. However, my discussion is exclusively about end game PVE optimization.

The small amount I've played Magblade on live server (CWC) I've been using dual lightning staves, with an Asylum (imperfect) front bar and Maelstrom back bar. With Julianos and Mother's Sorrow I was able to break 40k on a solo dummy parse (usually more like 38k average). My main problem with this build is that it is heavily reliant on off-balance, which is likely about to be nerfed into the ground. With the Maelstrom effect, lightning heavy attacks were not much of a DPS loss, so I was able to build without much sustain. Even with heavy attacks, 2 assassins will procs were easy in 20s (although no way to get 3 unless doing only light attacks).

Now I'm thinking dual inferno will be the way to go, but inferno heavy attacks are horrible for DPS, and are barely effected by the Maelstrom effect. The desire to run a full light attack build leads to the preference of funnel health over crushing shock (for lower cost), and this means dropping the Asylum staff. The loss of the Asylum staff doesn't seem very big, since the value of concussion is about to be heavily diminished. I should still have plenty of burning uptime if I run dual inferno staves, and chilled is simply low damage and has a debuff already applied by the tank (minor maim).

I am looking to improve my magblade, but I don't want to head in a direction that is likely to be useless in a week. Obviously nothing is set in stone from the PTS, but there are some excellent nightblades on this forum that I'm sure have a plan on how to adapt. Maybe my ideas can help them, hopefully their ideas can help me.

C4Bliss

It all depends on the group and content... the highest possible dps I had was dual inferno with master architect back bar and mechanical front bar.
Chances are pretty high I'll keep mechanical as a front bar and will play around with a back bar set. The problem is that I really wanna keep my 5% damage from the trial setups. But both moondancer and aether have a *** 5 piece tbh...

My next test is going to be: 5mechanical front bar, 4aether (I get higher dps with aether over moondancer) with vma staff back bar

Zer0oo

For range monster sets:

• Skoria is a nice set since it always will hit the target even if it decides to jump around like a maniac and i would not calling the 1 x hp piece useless since you really have low hp with witchmother (even lower if you go 6 light 15k hp is fun in trials).
• Nerieneth is only good with force pulse spam it has higher aoe damage but can miss. You have to give up funnel (cheap and does give a heal).
• Ilambris needs 2 different elem damage types so it would probably only be good if you have mixed staffs and force pulse. Can also miss the target.
• Kena: thb i haven't tested it but 30% increased cost after the morrowind nerfs doesn't sound like something useful (maybe in combination with Acuity it could be nice; 2 light attacks on backbar before the proc of Acuity)

I think if you go with a full monster set skoria is the best the others can only outperform it if you run fp. (2monster+julianos/BSW +4trial set)



For add fights it is still better to have a lightning staff for the aoe and only go 2xfire in boss fights.

WrathOfInnos

@Zer0oo Good points about Skoria targeting compared to other sets. If the health bonus from the 1pc is necessary for trials (is 15k after Warhorn and Ebon?), I guess I that leads to another question:

Assuming for a moment, a 5 piece set like Mechanical Acuity, a 4 piece set like Moondancer, and a 1 piece Skoria are equipped. What is the best 11th piece to use? A 2nd Skoria (adding maybe 3% DPS in trials, 4% on a dummy) or a 5th piece of the 4 piece set. In the case of Moondancer, if you are able to grab a synergy every 30s (likely with the changes on PTS) it should give 448 spell damage (roughly 7% DPS increase) or 448 Magicka recovery. On average that should work out to a 3.5% DPS increase and a 224 Magicka recovery. This recovery may be enough to drop Witchmother's for something that gives significantly more Magicka (for more damage) and health (so the 1pc Skoria can be replaced with Kena for damage or maybe Shadowrend for recovery). In theory this all totals a build with about 4-6% higher DPS than Skoria and more health.

Now the viability of Moondancer in trials is TBD, as I have not been able to get 12 people together on PTS. Other sets could possibly fill the same role. Would 5 Julianos with 5 spellweave and 1 Skoria (with clockwork citrus food) give more benefit than 5-4-2 with Skoria? What about 5 Juli and 5 spellweave with a 1 piece shadowrend and blue food?

It seems like Skoria is being used mostly for the health, and low health is a problem created by using Witchmother's. Maybe there are other ways to solve this? Absorb Magicka glyph on infused front bar? That gives about 200 Magicka/s and does nearly as much damage as a shock glyph. It doesn't provide concussed or lead to off-balance, but 75% of the time neither will shock in the new patch.

WrathOfInnos

@Zer0oo I also want to discuss your lightning staff suggestion. How does this work? Would it be lightning front bar and replace funnel spam with lightning heavies? I'm guessing cripple and merciless resolve would be on the back (inferno) bar for the 8% single target damage. Wall/blockade would also stay back bar for fire, and siphoning attacks and inner light would finish that skill bar.

That means you would only lose the 8% single target damage on funnel, impale, and front bar light attack weaves. This is Likely balanced by the 8% increased path, blockade and Destro ulti damage while on the front bar.

Cybercore_Death

If you were to go for a Fire / Fire build I would suggest 5 BSW / 4 Martial Knowledge / 2 piece of your choice. Skoria bring the better option atm. Gives you decent spell damage and allows you to have drop the 1 piece when swapping to back back MA Staff (assuming you’re using BSW Flame staff on front bar).

Cheap and effective over all. If you have Moondancer or IA then use them but as a cheap to build option BSW + MK is a good way to go imo.

I should also add that I don’t run an NB, I run a MagDK with Shock staffs on both bars and Ilambris as the monster set as I benefit from both procs and it’s oretty much up on cool down which is also nice. You could get away with Ilambris if you were to use a Flame staff with Shock Glyph on front bar as that will fully proc Ilambris without having to use Force Pulse.

I may be way off the mark on what you’re looking for but figured I’d bring up MK as is a really nice 4 piece for spell damage.

code65536

The "vanilla" meta setup works fine. Why reinvent the wheel?

5p Juli
2p Skoria
4p Slayer (fire staff front)
1p vMA lightning (back)

Skoria's 1p health is absolutely necessary. With 5-1-1, Skoria, and Withmother's, I'm sitting at around 17K pre-Ebon, which is about where I need to be. Without Skoria, I'd need to swap an enchant to health.

Next patch, I'll likely use vMA fire for single-target fights and lightning for trash AoE.

Cybercore_Death

code65536 wrote: »

The "vanilla" meta setup works fine. Why reinvent the wheel?

5p Juli
2p Skoria
4p Slayer (fire staff front)
1p vMA lightning (back)

Skoria's 1p health is absolutely necessary. With 5-1-1, Skoria, and Withmother's, I'm sitting at around 17K pre-Ebon, which is about where I need to be. Without Skoria, I'd need to swap an enchant to health.

Next patch, I'll likely use vMA fire for single-target fights and lightning for trash AoE.

Assuming you’re going double vMA staffs how would you conpensate for losing the 5 piece Julianos bonus? And would you consider something like MK to try and recoup a little?

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

The "vanilla" meta setup works fine. Why reinvent the wheel?

5p Juli
2p Skoria
4p Slayer (fire staff front)
1p vMA lightning (back)

Skoria's 1p health is absolutely necessary. With 5-1-1, Skoria, and Withmother's, I'm sitting at around 17K pre-Ebon, which is about where I need to be. Without Skoria, I'd need to swap an enchant to health.

Next patch, I'll likely use vMA fire for single-target fights and lightning for trash AoE.

Assuming you’re going double vMA staffs how would you conpensate for losing the 5 piece Julianos bonus? And would you consider something like MK to try and recoup a little?

5 Julianos is on the body, 4 piece of a minor slayer set, fire front bar, they are all around the same dps and then switch out the back bar lightning for fire on single-target fights and then lightning for trash AoE, this is what he meant.

Cybercore_Death

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO wrote: »

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

The "vanilla" meta setup works fine. Why reinvent the wheel?

5p Juli
2p Skoria
4p Slayer (fire staff front)
1p vMA lightning (back)

Skoria's 1p health is absolutely necessary. With 5-1-1, Skoria, and Withmother's, I'm sitting at around 17K pre-Ebon, which is about where I need to be. Without Skoria, I'd need to swap an enchant to health.

Next patch, I'll likely use vMA fire for single-target fights and lightning for trash AoE.

Assuming you’re going double vMA staffs how would you conpensate for losing the 5 piece Julianos bonus? And would you consider something like MK to try and recoup a little?

5 Julianos is on the body, 4 piece of a minor slayer set, fire front bar, they are all around the same dps and then switch out the back bar lightning for fire on single-target fights and then lightning for trash AoE, this is what he meant.

Ah, of course. My bad. Misread that one. Makes more sense that way

WrathOfInnos

code65536 wrote: »

The "vanilla" meta setup works fine. Why reinvent the wheel?

5p Juli
2p Skoria
4p Slayer (fire staff front)
1p vMA lightning (back)

Skoria's 1p health is absolutely necessary. With 5-1-1, Skoria, and Withmother's, I'm sitting at around 17K pre-Ebon, which is about where I need to be. Without Skoria, I'd need to swap an enchant to health.

Next patch, I'll likely use vMA fire for single-target fights and lightning for trash AoE.

@code65536 Thanks for the reply, few people have your understanding of game mechanics. My intent is not so much to reinvent the wheel, it's just looking like we're about to be on different terrain where the current wheel might not be the best option. I also have slight doubt that the current META build is actually the most effective. I have much larger doubt that the 5-4-2 with Skoria will be the best gear after the patch.

When I see magblades pulling 60k+ on a boss like Ra Kotu, but using 2 set pieces (Skoria) that together contribute only 2.7% damage that sounds like it is underperforming. Especially since most 5-piece set bonuses add 5-6% DPS.

In general, I have found most proc sets to be underwhelming since the crit nerf. I can say with certainty that on both magWarden and pet Sorc 5-5-1 outperforms 5-4-2. I just wonder if the same can be said for magblade.

Now I don't want to ignore the fact that Skoria also procs burning, so currently adds a little DPS from that, but with the change to inferno staves next patch I suspect that burning uptime will already be fine, and most if it will not be a result of Skoria.

Now on the topic of Skoria's health bonus, I want to explore your option about switching an enchant to health. One enchant changing from Magicka to health would result in a loss of 868 Magicka (really around 1450 after buffs). If this could allow the use of a different monster helm 1pc, such as Kena 129 spell damage (161 after buffs), wouldnt that be an improvement? Since magblade Magicka to spell damage ratio is about 12:1, the 1450 Magicka is only worth about 120 spell damage, vs the 161 from Kena. It seems to me that 1 health enchant + 1 spell damage set bonus would beat 1 Magicka enchant + 1 health set bonus by about 0.5% DPS. Furthermore, this scenario could be improved by using 2 prismatic armor glyphs to obtain the same health and Magicka, plus some free stamina.

I guess my point is that there are better ways to get health than the Skoria 1 pc, and better ways to get damage than the Skoria 2 pc, so I'm not really understanding how this became META. I could be missing something here, that's why I want to keep discussing all options.

The other main aspect of the META magblade I am questioning is the use of Witchmother's Brew, which is the main cause of the health problem. It seems like there are other options for sustain that don't reduce max health and max magicka by around 2500 each. I'm seriously considering infused Absorb Magicka glyphs as an option next patch, since shock glyphs are effectively getting nerfed. Fire glyph would still be good, but with dual inferno staves, it might be possible to keep good burning uptime without it. The only thing I would really miss by going to absorb Magicka is the option to switch to prismatic for some fights. The additional max Magicka from blue food more than makes up for the slight difference in damage between the Magicka proc compared to a fire or shock proc.

I hope to continue this discussion, and would like to hear more ideas.

WrathOfInnos

@Cybercore_Death I don't think anyone is suggesting to use 2 vMA staves. It would be a vMA inferno back bar replacing the vMA lightning back bar.

kaithuzar

What abilities are you guys using?
I thought both refreshing/twisting path & wall of elements had a limited range, how far back are you standing from the boss or do you run up close to melee range to launch the attack?

A long time ago, stam user weren't allowed in trial groups, magdk was the only thing allowed in melee range but a little hidden fact is that magblade could do just as good, maybe better in melee, but magdk wouldn't have had a role, so since magblade could go ranged with only a slight dps loss, that's what happened.

If spell power pots are on cooldown & sustain isn't easy, use consuming trap instead of entropy, the dot should also proc skoria & it's great for add/mob phases to give you resources when they die.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

I think @code65536 pretty much covered it. Dont reinvent the wheel. The DPS from skoria is not ideal, but the health is absolutely needed for more difficult content.

The vast majority of mageblades in really good trial groups are running one of two setups. 5 Juli, 4 Slayer Set (IA, moondancer, etc), 2 Skoria, back bar light VMA or they are going 5 MA, 5 Julianos, Front Perfect Asy, Back VMA. They use soul harvest as an ulti. Yes its melee, but you move in for it.

Next patch, I am sure everyone will run Zaan, and do something else to compensate for health.

WrathOfInnos

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

5 MA, 5 Julianos, Front Perfect Asy, Back VMA. They use soul harvest as an ulti. Yes its melee, but you move in for it.

That is interesting, I didnt realize this was a common trials build. I wonder how well this works with an imperfect asylum, since I haven't been able to down vAS+2 yet and have had no luck with the weeklies.

So they just time when to move into melee? Like on vMoL forgotten, just run in for an ulti right after curses have gone out? Or on vAA Mage, wait until after a chain lightning?

How does Juli compare to Acuity in this setup? I hear acuity is gaining some traction for magblades since they have 10% more crit damage, despite their high base crit chance. Maybe more for a 5-4-2 build than 5-5-1, since Acuity has minimal loss on a single bar setup.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

5 MA, 5 Julianos, Front Perfect Asy, Back VMA. They use soul harvest as an ulti. Yes its melee, but you move in for it.

That is interesting, I didnt realize this was a common trials build. I wonder how well this works with an imperfect asylum, since I haven't been able to down vAS+2 yet and have had no luck with the weeklies.

So they just time when to move into melee? Like on vMoL forgotten, just run in for an ulti right after curses have gone out? Or on vAA Mage, wait until after a chain lightning?

How does Juli compare to Acuity in this setup? I hear acuity is gaining some traction for magblades since they have 10% more crit damage, despite their high base crit chance. Maybe more for a 5-4-2 build than 5-5-1, since Acuity has minimal loss on a single bar setup.

I think the general consensus is that a non-perfect staff is not worth switching to a FP build from a funnel build. If it makes you feel better, I dont have one either. As to julianos vs mechanical acuity (to be clear, MA meant master architect in my post), it is definitely gaining some traction. It really comes down to a more bursty set vs a more consistent set, which likely means it depends on the fight to some degree. I dont have enough experience with mechanical acuity in a trial environment to comment on it specifically vs Julianos.

Zer0oo

To be honest you can run around with 15k hp(before raid buffs - ~18k raidbuffed) i quite a lot of fights even if it makes your healer nervous. You just need to know the mechanics and know which fights will get you killed with that little hp(especial if you are a vampire). For those fights you should either use a setup with more hp or change your enchants. At the moment i try blue food with one reg enchant if i think i need more hp but not sure if it is the best solution or switch to skoria. Also you can always ask for guard from a healer or off-tank.


Kinda disappointing in the many player who just say take what everyone is using and call it a day. The standard setup is good but why the hate for some other ideas? 5 master architect for example does not only buff you but also buffs 2 grp member and it gives insane burst damage if you are going for some nukes with ultimates. Acuity allows you to have a controlled burst window (every second rotation it will be up if you are on the front bar) but not sure how to make the most of it on a nb you could have attack for resources if it is not up and switch to light attack if it is but that is more useful on sorcs. Even SPC is sometimes nice on a mag nb to get better uptime or to try to go with just one heal but still not sure if it is worth it.


I think for adds fights you still want to have a lightning wall(lightning staff on back bar) of element to set them off-balanced since they do not have the same immunity as bosses. 70% more damage on heavy attacks and 10% more damage for stam is probably to nice to give up for the 20% more damage from woe on burning targets.

WrathOfInnos

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

5 MA, 5 Julianos, Front Perfect Asy, Back VMA. They use soul harvest as an ulti. Yes its melee, but you move in for it.

That is interesting, I didnt realize this was a common trials build. I wonder how well this works with an imperfect asylum, since I haven't been able to down vAS+2 yet and have had no luck with the weeklies.

So they just time when to move into melee? Like on vMoL forgotten, just run in for an ulti right after curses have gone out? Or on vAA Mage, wait until after a chain lightning?

How does Juli compare to Acuity in this setup? I hear acuity is gaining some traction for magblades since they have 10% more crit damage, despite their high base crit chance. Maybe more for a 5-4-2 build than 5-5-1, since Acuity has minimal loss on a single bar setup.

I think the general consensus is that a non-perfect staff is not worth switching to a FP build from a funnel build. If it makes you feel better, I dont have one either. As to julianos vs mechanical acuity (to be cleaer, MA meant master architect in my post), it is definitely gaining some traction. It really comes down to a more bursty set vs a more consistent set. I dont have enough experience with mechanical acuity in a trial environment to comment on it specifically vs Julianos.

@Oreyn_Bearclaw Yep, I got which MA you were talking about given the context of running in close to use a cheap ultimate. Not that Acuity could be combined with Juli anyway. I was just changing subject to talk about MA + MA (architect + acuity, which is actually what I run on magwarden and love it).

It actually does not make me feel better that you don't have a perfect asylum staff yet, given how solid the raid groups are in Order of the Bear. You should get in there, get your gear, and also bring me

WrathOfInnos

C4Bliss wrote: »

The problem is that I really wanna keep my 5% damage from the trial setups

@C4Bliss If only Minor Slayer really gave 5%, in reality it is more like 3.5% due to the way it is calculated. It is still better than most other set bonuses (usually worth 2-3% DPS), but not by nearly the margin the tooltip would lead you to believe.

C4Bliss wrote: »

My next test is going to be: 5mechanical front bar, 4aether (I get higher dps with aether over moondancer) with vma staff back bar

I agree that IA is typically slightly better than MD, however mechanical acuity is a special case. For 5 seconds every 18 seconds, the 3.8% spell crit from the Aether 2pc does absolutely nothing (since your crit chance is already 100%). Effectively you will only get 72% uptime of the 3.8% spell crit, or about 2.7% spell crit on average. The Max Magicka from the Moondancer 2pc bonus on the other hand, is always helping. So I think this may be one of the rare cases where 4 MD beats 4 IA.