Nirn Vs Sharpened Weapon Trait & TFS paired with...Hunding's or Briarheart?

PernixTheRanger

So my current gear set up is:

Twice-Fanged Serpent - 5 Piece Divines (Legendary)
Briarheart - 5 Piece - Legs & Shoulders legendary + (3 purple Jewls)

I have heard that running Hunding's is better then Briarheart but after the numbers add up to like 299 similar plus apparently TTK is lower with Briars PLUS it has healing which for a squishy dps stamblade has saved me from death MULTIPLE MULTIPLE times, especially when it procs when endless hail is down then.

Also I have nirnhorned traits on my bow which i transmuted from Precise, but I have heard that sharpened is better. But with TFS and then spammable Reapers mark skill both at around 5k pen isnt the sharpened weapon trait overkill??

I am not sure whatsoever. Hence why i need some advice. I know for BIS i need to farm VO sets which is what im currently trying to do, i have like 2 pieces in divines currently and 1 blue ring.

So what i am trying to get at is? Should i run Hundings or Briarheart? and should i try get my bow or weapons in sharpened or Nirn??

davey1107

You’re down to the last fine-tuning to max a character, and honestly the choices are going to depend a lot on your individual play style.

Hundings and Briarhearts have always tested nearly identical in dps. The main issue is being able to sustain the briar at max uptime, but your setup sounds ideal for doing so. I love briar on my stamblade. They could have nerfed the weapon damage more given thenheal, but they didn’t really.

Nirnhoned is considered better than sharpened right now. This is mostly because the nirn buff is calculated at their very beginning of the proc, while sharpened comes into play when your attack hits an enemies armor, negating part of it. Thus, if the ability hits a damage shield the nirn helps push through the shield faster/harder, while sharpened does nothing for this portion of the hit. Nirn also increases the value of heals you cast...which might not be a big deal in trials if you’re not casting vigor for yourself.

jakeedmundson

I use 5pc VO on all stam builds.

The other set depends on what you run but the difference will be minor in whatever choice you make.

Lots of trials? >>> coordinate with group members. make sure you have NMG and sunderflame to get max mitigation. If you're the odd man out... use briarheart or hundings

lots of 4 person dungeons? Use TFS/spriggan/sunderflame to boost your own damage and reach penetration cap

Mostly solo? Same as dungeon (its over kill at this point but its still how to get the most out your class)

On my stam characters i almost always use Briarheart (daggers + 3 body pieces) and VO (jewelry + 2 body pieces) and velidreth or krags monster set (except stam sorc uses stormfist)
I like briar heart because the proc carries over to the back bar and provides some minor healing. However, hundings is much easier to obtain.

Ender1310

I like Briars. Hundigs is good too...

Oreyn_Bearclaw

The glaring problem I see with your setup is, where is the monster set? Are your weapons just random non set pieces? The reason most people prefer hundings to briarheart has nothing to do with the damage (wich is basically a wash) or the extra heals (meaningless in a good group) its that hundings weapons are far easier to get than briarheart weapons in ideal traits. As to traits, there is no perfect answer for all encounters. For group play, your safest all around bet is Infused + Nirn for your DW weapons and Nirn for your Bow.

As a stamblade, the grind you want to focus on is War Machine, not VO. A set of VO is useful when solo, but War Machine for a NB is meta in group content. The grind sucks as you will want WM daggers, but that is where you want to focus.

As to what you pair it with, well, that is really up to your group. Briarheart and Hundings are both great damage sets if all your penetration sets are covered. TFS is a useful set when solo, during some trash pulls, or in a really bad group that doesnt give you any penetration. It is not BIS for any damage dealer in a proper group. Nightmothers is probably your best group buff set for a stamblade if no one else is running it. Sunderflame is not great on stamblade because they dont heavy attack enough, and Alkosh is a bad set to pair with War Machine because the minor slayer is redundant (same problem with VO).

elijafire

I only read the first few but can someone riddle me why you can't do both Briar and Hundings at the same time?

witchdoctor

elijafire wrote: »

I only read the first few but can someone riddle me why you can't do both Briar and Hundings at the same time?

Quite the necro.

You can do both at the same time. Hundings is a staple crafted stamina set. Briarheart is a great, and easily bought/farmed overland set.

If you did not have access to trial gear, then, sure, it is a decent combo.

People in the thread suggested other sets would be better to fill in the gaps: TFS or Spriggan for penetration, VO for stam recovery.

kalimar44

On my stam dk I'm currently using velidreth monster set, 5 pieces of VO and advancing yokeda jewelry with daggers. I'm a dps machine.