magblade dps issues

jakeedmundson · February 2018

I recently switched my NB from stam to mag
Didn't really enjoy the stam blade stuff so i thought it was worth the switch to try it out.
Even though i didn't ENJOY the stam blade... i was able to hit 35k-40k on the dummy. just normal trial gear and rotation.

Long story short - i can barely hit 26k on the mag blade. I'm comfortable with magicka builds and the rotation seems similar to everything else (with the exception of merciless resolve/spectral bow)

I've already looked up other people builds (alcast, deltia, tam foundry, etc.) I'm just looking for someones personal advice on how they up'd their magblade dps.

I know its not a gear issue... something has to be fundamentally wrong with my rotation/skills. even with an imperfect rotation i would think i'd be hitting 30k at least.
Any tips and pointers would be great to hear.

My setup/rotation.
Apprentice stone
witch mothers drink

All divine/mag enchant and all gold quality
5 julianos
4 aether (jewelry, inferno staff-infused flame enchant)
2 skoria
maelstrom lightning back bar (nirn berserk)

activate MR and SS - drink spell power pot - drop meteor
> (light attack) EB > crippling grasp > twisting path bar swap cancel
> funnel health > funnel health > bow proc (reapply if second proc)
Reapplying SS when it runs out and casting soul harvest on cooldown

If anyone on PS4/NA would be willing to help me out on a dummy test or two... i'd really appreciate it.

Danksta · February 2018

You're waiting to use your bow proc on your sixth light attack. You also should be able to get another funnel or two in there before you swap back to your back bar. You're treating Twisting Path as a 8 second DoT, thus overcasting it.

You should have Destro ult on front bar for Ancient Knowledge passive, if nothing else.

I think ideal bar setup is:
Front bar: Inner Light, Funnel, Merciless, Twisting, Impale Ult: Destro
Back Bar: Inner Light, Blockade, Cripple, Siphoning, Harness Ult: Soul Harvest

^ Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that.

I wish I could give you a set rotation , but fact is I'm trying to figure mine out as well.

Vermintide · February 2018

It's all about the weave. All the high end magblade rotations I've seen consistently get 2-3 bow procs per cast, time their blockade/path/cripple perfectly, and never miss a light attack. So I'm inclined to believe it mainly comes down to honing the rotation.

Swallow soul is a pain in the ass to weave, so I usually miss at least 1-2 light attacks per rotation. I still manage around 25k, without a maelstrom staff or trial gear.

I'm also pretty sure there are more useful sets for magblade than Aether, since the class works best with a light attack rotation in order to sustain and keep proccing that bow.

jakeedmundson · February 2018

Danksta wrote: »

You're waiting to use your bow proc on your sixth light attack. You also should be able to get another funnel or two in there before you swap back to your back bar. You're treating Twisting Path as a 8 second DoT, thus overcasting it.

You should have Destro ult on front bar for Ancient Knowledge passive, if nothing else.

I think ideal bar setup is:
Front bar: Inner Light, Funnel, Merciless, Twisting, Impale Ult: Destro
Back Bar: Inner Light, Blockade, Cripple, Siphoning, Harness Ult: Soul Harvest

^ Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that.

I wish I could give you a set rotation , but fact is I'm trying to figure mine out as well.

This is similar to what i read every where else too... but yes i'm probably casting twisting too early. i'll look at that.
Also, i just weave another light attack between the bow proc out of normal weave habit i think. I'll try to cast instant.

also, i'll change my skills around to match what you said and give it a shot.

jakeedmundson · February 2018

Vermintide wrote: »

It's all about the weave. All the high end magblade rotations I've seen consistently get 2-3 bow procs per cast, time their blockade/path/cripple perfectly, and never miss a light attack. So I'm inclined to believe it mainly comes down to honing the rotation.

Swallow soul is a pain in the ass to weave, so I usually miss at least 1-2 light attacks per rotation. I still manage around 25k, without a maelstrom staff or trial gear.

I'm also pretty sure there are more useful sets for magblade than Aether, since the class works best with a light attack rotation in order to sustain and keep proccing that bow.

I've noticed that one

... weird animation or something?

And i do get 2 bow procs on every cast. Its just an alt for me... so i'm not going to try to perfect it and get 3 procs. But i have a hard time believing that would prevent me from hitting 30-35k on a dummy.

Xvorg · February 2018

jakeedmundson wrote: »

show previous quotes

Vermintide wrote: »

It's all about the weave. All the high end magblade rotations I've seen consistently get 2-3 bow procs per cast, time their blockade/path/cripple perfectly, and never miss a light attack. So I'm inclined to believe it mainly comes down to honing the rotation.

Swallow soul is a pain in the ass to weave, so I usually miss at least 1-2 light attacks per rotation. I still manage around 25k, without a maelstrom staff or trial gear.

I'm also pretty sure there are more useful sets for magblade than Aether, since the class works best with a light attack rotation in order to sustain and keep proccing that bow.

I've noticed that one ... weird animation or something?

And i do get 2 bow procs on every cast. Its just an alt for me... so i'm not going to try to perfect it and get 3 procs. But i have a hard time believing that would prevent me from hitting 30-35k on a dummy.

try force pulse instead. Maybe change SS for ele drain

mpicklesster · February 2018

jakeedmundson wrote: »

show previous quotes

Vermintide wrote: »

It's all about the weave. All the high end magblade rotations I've seen consistently get 2-3 bow procs per cast, time their blockade/path/cripple perfectly, and never miss a light attack. So I'm inclined to believe it mainly comes down to honing the rotation.

Swallow soul is a pain in the ass to weave, so I usually miss at least 1-2 light attacks per rotation. I still manage around 25k, without a maelstrom staff or trial gear.

I'm also pretty sure there are more useful sets for magblade than Aether, since the class works best with a light attack rotation in order to sustain and keep proccing that bow.

I've noticed that one ... weird animation or something?

And i do get 2 bow procs on every cast. Its just an alt for me... so i'm not going to try to perfect it and get 3 procs. But i have a hard time believing that would prevent me from hitting 30-35k on a dummy.

Another couple of things you want to keep in mind for mag NBs is your CP distribution and how you sequence elemental blockade into your rotation.

Mag NBs, like stam NBs, deal more direct damage than most other classes. Swallow Soul, Impale, Soul Harvest, and light attacks all count as direct damage--and they all make up a substantial amount of your DPS. Like someone mentioned above, light attacks do make up a large percentage of an experienced mag NB's DPS. Part of the reason for that is the expertise of their weaving, and the other part is the large investment they make into Master at Arms, the direct damage CP star. Try buffing that more than you do for other classes and see if it helps.

Also, if you're not used to playing magicka DPSs (or with a vMA staff), you might also want to make sure that you're not bar swapping immediately after casting elemental blockade. Otherwise, the crushing wall buff from your vMA staff might not apply. I believe you have to deal at least 1 sec of damage with elemental blockade before the vMA buff applies. So, just to be safe, I usually cast elemental blockade first when I'm on my back bar. Then I recast my other back bar DoTs. (Elemental blockade should get the same attention you devote to Endless Hail on a stamina build).

I know those might sound like minor details, but they can actually make a big difference in your parse.

On a personal note, I also like to simplify my execute rotation. At 25% I just maintain blockade and my buffs while spamming Impale on top of that. (I only stop to cast my bow proc or Soul Harvest if it's up.) Anyway, the more Impales you can squeeze in during execute, the better. Remember that, if you have more Impales in your execute rotation, you have a better chance of getting critical hits on your execute--which creates a huge boost to your DPS. (I only maintain blockade during execute because it's a good DoT and to get the vMA light attack buff).

jakeedmundson · February 2018

mpicklesster wrote: »

show previous quotes

jakeedmundson wrote: »

Vermintide wrote: »

It's all about the weave. All the high end magblade rotations I've seen consistently get 2-3 bow procs per cast, time their blockade/path/cripple perfectly, and never miss a light attack. So I'm inclined to believe it mainly comes down to honing the rotation.

Swallow soul is a pain in the ass to weave, so I usually miss at least 1-2 light attacks per rotation. I still manage around 25k, without a maelstrom staff or trial gear.

I'm also pretty sure there are more useful sets for magblade than Aether, since the class works best with a light attack rotation in order to sustain and keep proccing that bow.

I've noticed that one ... weird animation or something?

And i do get 2 bow procs on every cast. Its just an alt for me... so i'm not going to try to perfect it and get 3 procs. But i have a hard time believing that would prevent me from hitting 30-35k on a dummy.

Another couple of things you want to keep in mind for mag NBs is your CP distribution and how you sequence elemental blockade into your rotation.

Mag NBs, like stam NBs, deal more direct damage than most other classes. Swallow Soul, Impale, Soul Harvest, and light attacks all count as direct damage--and they all make up a substantial amount of your DPS. Like someone mentioned above, light attacks do make up a large percentage of an experienced mag NB's DPS. Part of the reason for that is the expertise of their weaving, and the other part is the large investment they make into Master at Arms, the direct damage CP star. Try buffing that more than you do for other classes and see if it helps.

Also, if you're not used to playing magicka DPSs (or with a vMA staff), you might also want to make sure that you're not bar swapping immediately after casting elemental blockade. Otherwise, the crushing wall buff from your vMA staff might not apply. I believe you have to deal at least 1 sec of damage with elemental blockade before the vMA buff applies. So, just to be safe, I usually cast elemental blockade first when I'm on my back bar. Then I recast my other back bar DoTs. (Elemental blockade should get the same attention you devote to Endless Hail on a stamina build).

I know those might sound like minor details, but they can actually make a big difference in your parse.

On a personal note, I also like to simplify my execute rotation. At 25% I just maintain blockade and my buffs while spamming Impale on top of that. (I only stop to cast my bow proc or Soul Harvest if it's up.) Anyway, the more Impales you can squeeze in during execute, the better. Remember that, if you have more Impales in your execute rotation, you have a better chance of getting critical hits on your execute--which creates a huge boost to your DPS. (I only maintain blockade during execute because it's a good DoT and to get the vMA light attack buff).

I'm definitely familiar with mag dps classes. I use the vma staves on dk, sorc, and templar (soon to be warden as well) And i've hit 35-40k with them. This damn magblade just throws me off my game

I have not adjusted my CP though.... i'll check that later too. Also, i'm willing to bet i'm screwing up my executes. I'll try to keep it simple like you're suggesting.

Thanks all for the advice! putting all these tips together gives me a little confidence.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · February 2018

LMAO. Mageblade and Rotation dont go in the same sentence. Mageblades have by far the most non-circular "rotation" (for lack of a better word, crap broke my own rule) of any class spec there is. You cant make this rotation into a circle, it won't work.

Mageblades basically have to do 4 things:

1. Keep up potions, ultimates, and siphoning on cooldown. This doesn't fit into any standard rotation.
2. Manage merciless. The gold standard is to do 4 light attack skill weaves and then weave your bow as the fifth attack. this got a little wonky this patch, but hopefully a fix is incoming. You should see 11-12 bow procs on a 3 million health dummy. Much less than that, and you are not mangaging merciless very well. Also, it means you can NEVER miss a light weave. If you dont see around 60+ light weaves on a 3 million dummy, your weave needs work. If weaving is not your thing, NB is not the class for you.
3. You need to control 3 DOTs, all with different effective durations. The difference between low to mid 30s and breaking 40 lies here. The best mage blades juggle all 3 independently, casting them immedietly as they expire. Blockade and Crippling Grasp have the same durations, but CG has a travel time. Unless you have your nose on the boss, casting them back to back is a DPS loss. Path has a longer duration, again, should be managed seperately. Alcasts build suggests casting these 3 in order, which can still land you in the mid to high 30s, but people breaking 40k arent doing this.
4. You need to manage your execute. Generally this means Soul Harvest instead of your destro, no CG, and impales over funnels. If you just start spamming impale, it wont go well.

People will call mageblade OP in the current meta, and maybe they are, but most people cant pull it off. This is how you mageblade:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOH0uQ-Qgbw

Maybe a dozen people in the game can hit that "rotation" like that. He bar swap cancels 74 times in that parse.

jakeedmundson · February 2018

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

LMAO. Mageblade and Rotation dont go in the same sentence. Mageblades have by far the most non-circular "rotation" (for lack of a better word, crap broke my own rule) of any class spec there is. You cant make this rotation into a circle, it won't work.

Mageblades basically have to do 4 things:

1. Keep up potions, ultimates, and siphoning on cooldown. This doesn't fit into any standard rotation.
2. Manage merciless. The gold standard is to do 4 light attack skill weaves and then weave your bow as the fifth attack. this got a little wonky this patch, but hopefully a fix is incoming. You should see 11-12 bow procs on a 3 million health dummy. Much less than that, and you are not mangaging merciless very well. Also, it means you can NEVER miss a light weave. If you dont see around 60+ light weaves on a 3 million dummy, your weave needs work. If weaving is not your thing, NB is not the class for you.
3. You need to control 3 DOTs, all with different effective durations. The difference between low to mid 30s and breaking 40 lies here. The best mage blades juggle all 3 independently, casting them immedietly as they expire. Blockade and Crippling Grasp have the same durations, but CG has a travel time. Unless you have your nose on the boss, casting them back to back is a DPS loss. Path has a longer duration, again, should be managed seperately. Alcasts build suggests casting these 3 in order, which can still land you in the mid to high 30s, but people breaking 40k arent doing this.
4. You need to manage your execute. Generally this means Soul Harvest instead of your destro, no CG, and impales over funnels. If you just start spamming impale, it wont go well.

People will call mageblade OP in the current meta, and maybe they are, but most people cant pull it off. This is how you mageblade:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOH0uQ-Qgbw

Maybe a dozen people in the game can hit that "rotation" like that. He bar swap cancels 74 times in that parse.

Bold above - ha, i've heard this too... makes this class tough to use for many.

Also... after trying again last night i still struggle with it. Even though i enjoy the skills and play style, i'm only hitting around 27k. I'll try some more through the weekend but its hard to be optimistic about it. It seems like you need to risk carpal tunnel to play this class... loads of canceling.

I'll probably have to stick to my other magicka characters i guess (DK - when its un-nerfed, templar, sorc, warden - when it gets stronger)

Thanks again to everyone that took the time to provide me with some info.

Danksta · February 2018

.

jakeedmundson wrote: »

show previous quotes

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

LMAO. Mageblade and Rotation dont go in the same sentence. Mageblades have by far the most non-circular "rotation" (for lack of a better word, crap broke my own rule) of any class spec there is. You cant make this rotation into a circle, it won't work.

Mageblades basically have to do 4 things:

1. Keep up potions, ultimates, and siphoning on cooldown. This doesn't fit into any standard rotation.
2. Manage merciless. The gold standard is to do 4 light attack skill weaves and then weave your bow as the fifth attack. this got a little wonky this patch, but hopefully a fix is incoming. You should see 11-12 bow procs on a 3 million health dummy. Much less than that, and you are not mangaging merciless very well. Also, it means you can NEVER miss a light weave. If you dont see around 60+ light weaves on a 3 million dummy, your weave needs work. If weaving is not your thing, NB is not the class for you.
3. You need to control 3 DOTs, all with different effective durations. The difference between low to mid 30s and breaking 40 lies here. The best mage blades juggle all 3 independently, casting them immedietly as they expire. Blockade and Crippling Grasp have the same durations, but CG has a travel time. Unless you have your nose on the boss, casting them back to back is a DPS loss. Path has a longer duration, again, should be managed seperately. Alcasts build suggests casting these 3 in order, which can still land you in the mid to high 30s, but people breaking 40k arent doing this.
4. You need to manage your execute. Generally this means Soul Harvest instead of your destro, no CG, and impales over funnels. If you just start spamming impale, it wont go well.

People will call mageblade OP in the current meta, and maybe they are, but most people cant pull it off. This is how you mageblade:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOH0uQ-Qgbw

Maybe a dozen people in the game can hit that "rotation" like that. He bar swap cancels 74 times in that parse.

Bold above - ha, i've heard this too... makes this class tough to use for many.

Also... after trying again last night i still struggle with it. Even though i enjoy the skills and play style, i'm only hitting around 27k. I'll try some more through the weekend but its hard to be optimistic about it. It seems like you need to risk carpal tunnel to play this class... loads of canceling.

I'll probably have to stick to my other magicka characters i guess (DK - when its un-nerfed, templar, sorc, warden - when it gets stronger)

Thanks again to everyone that took the time to provide me with some info.

Don't give up. It's a bit trickier for us console folks but it's a fun and rewarding class to play. I was about where you were a couple weeks ago and a night here a night there practicing in front of the dummy or taking into a dungeon for some live action and I got it up to 37k. And I'm honestly still having issues with Twisting Path, either over or under casting. Also not even going for 3 proc rotation til I get the rest of my rotation ironed out, so I still have tons of room for improvement.

jakeedmundson · February 2018

Danksta wrote: »

.
show previous quotes

jakeedmundson wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

LMAO. Mageblade and Rotation dont go in the same sentence. Mageblades have by far the most non-circular "rotation" (for lack of a better word, crap broke my own rule) of any class spec there is. You cant make this rotation into a circle, it won't work.

Mageblades basically have to do 4 things:

1. Keep up potions, ultimates, and siphoning on cooldown. This doesn't fit into any standard rotation.
2. Manage merciless. The gold standard is to do 4 light attack skill weaves and then weave your bow as the fifth attack. this got a little wonky this patch, but hopefully a fix is incoming. You should see 11-12 bow procs on a 3 million health dummy. Much less than that, and you are not mangaging merciless very well. Also, it means you can NEVER miss a light weave. If you dont see around 60+ light weaves on a 3 million dummy, your weave needs work. If weaving is not your thing, NB is not the class for you.
3. You need to control 3 DOTs, all with different effective durations. The difference between low to mid 30s and breaking 40 lies here. The best mage blades juggle all 3 independently, casting them immedietly as they expire. Blockade and Crippling Grasp have the same durations, but CG has a travel time. Unless you have your nose on the boss, casting them back to back is a DPS loss. Path has a longer duration, again, should be managed seperately. Alcasts build suggests casting these 3 in order, which can still land you in the mid to high 30s, but people breaking 40k arent doing this.
4. You need to manage your execute. Generally this means Soul Harvest instead of your destro, no CG, and impales over funnels. If you just start spamming impale, it wont go well.

People will call mageblade OP in the current meta, and maybe they are, but most people cant pull it off. This is how you mageblade:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOH0uQ-Qgbw

Maybe a dozen people in the game can hit that "rotation" like that. He bar swap cancels 74 times in that parse.

Bold above - ha, i've heard this too... makes this class tough to use for many.

Also... after trying again last night i still struggle with it. Even though i enjoy the skills and play style, i'm only hitting around 27k. I'll try some more through the weekend but its hard to be optimistic about it. It seems like you need to risk carpal tunnel to play this class... loads of canceling.

I'll probably have to stick to my other magicka characters i guess (DK - when its un-nerfed, templar, sorc, warden - when it gets stronger)

Thanks again to everyone that took the time to provide me with some info.

Don't give up. It's a bit trickier for us console folks but it's a fun and rewarding class to play. I was about where you were a couple weeks ago and a night here a night there practicing in front of the dummy or taking into a dungeon for some live action and I got it up to 37k. And I'm honestly still having issues with Twisting Path, either over or under casting. Also not even going for 3 proc rotation til I get the rest of my rotation ironed out, so I still have tons of room for improvement.

I don't think i'll get rid of the character or anything like that... I'll keep pushing the dummy once in a while and see what i can do to improve. From what i read, mag sorcs are taking a dps hit this patch from off balance changes. So maybe i wont' have much of a choice but to learn the mag blade stuff.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · February 2018

jakeedmundson wrote: »

show previous quotes

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

LMAO. Mageblade and Rotation dont go in the same sentence. Mageblades have by far the most non-circular "rotation" (for lack of a better word, crap broke my own rule) of any class spec there is. You cant make this rotation into a circle, it won't work.

Mageblades basically have to do 4 things:

1. Keep up potions, ultimates, and siphoning on cooldown. This doesn't fit into any standard rotation.
2. Manage merciless. The gold standard is to do 4 light attack skill weaves and then weave your bow as the fifth attack. this got a little wonky this patch, but hopefully a fix is incoming. You should see 11-12 bow procs on a 3 million health dummy. Much less than that, and you are not mangaging merciless very well. Also, it means you can NEVER miss a light weave. If you dont see around 60+ light weaves on a 3 million dummy, your weave needs work. If weaving is not your thing, NB is not the class for you.
3. You need to control 3 DOTs, all with different effective durations. The difference between low to mid 30s and breaking 40 lies here. The best mage blades juggle all 3 independently, casting them immedietly as they expire. Blockade and Crippling Grasp have the same durations, but CG has a travel time. Unless you have your nose on the boss, casting them back to back is a DPS loss. Path has a longer duration, again, should be managed seperately. Alcasts build suggests casting these 3 in order, which can still land you in the mid to high 30s, but people breaking 40k arent doing this.
4. You need to manage your execute. Generally this means Soul Harvest instead of your destro, no CG, and impales over funnels. If you just start spamming impale, it wont go well.

People will call mageblade OP in the current meta, and maybe they are, but most people cant pull it off. This is how you mageblade:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOH0uQ-Qgbw

Maybe a dozen people in the game can hit that "rotation" like that. He bar swap cancels 74 times in that parse.

Bold above - ha, i've heard this too... makes this class tough to use for many.

Also... after trying again last night i still struggle with it. Even though i enjoy the skills and play style, i'm only hitting around 27k. I'll try some more through the weekend but its hard to be optimistic about it. It seems like you need to risk carpal tunnel to play this class... loads of canceling.

I'll probably have to stick to my other magicka characters i guess (DK - when its un-nerfed, templar, sorc, warden - when it gets stronger)

Thanks again to everyone that took the time to provide me with some info.

Yep, and sorry if that came off as sarcastic. Just hear it a lot lately the mageblade is so OP. If you are in the top .01% of button pressers, it probably is. If not, it will feel like a very average class.

I have at least taken a stab at every DPS rotation (Stam and magic or all 5 classes) and none of them come close to the dexterity required of a magic nightblade. Stam nightblade is no picnick, but it can be played at least somewhat circular.

For what it’s worth, ranged Sorc is easier. If you go for a full on FP/frag/no pet rotation it won’t do the numbers of a mageblade, but it’s way easier on the fingers.

Problem with mageblade is that mistakes in rotation are really hard to recover from. Once your DPS drops, you aren’t getting it back.

I can’t even begin to imagine trying to play this class on console with bad swaps and no buff timers.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · February 2018

jakeedmundson wrote: »

show previous quotes

Danksta wrote: »

.

jakeedmundson wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

LMAO. Mageblade and Rotation dont go in the same sentence. Mageblades have by far the most non-circular "rotation" (for lack of a better word, crap broke my own rule) of any class spec there is. You cant make this rotation into a circle, it won't work.

Mageblades basically have to do 4 things:

1. Keep up potions, ultimates, and siphoning on cooldown. This doesn't fit into any standard rotation.
2. Manage merciless. The gold standard is to do 4 light attack skill weaves and then weave your bow as the fifth attack. this got a little wonky this patch, but hopefully a fix is incoming. You should see 11-12 bow procs on a 3 million health dummy. Much less than that, and you are not mangaging merciless very well. Also, it means you can NEVER miss a light weave. If you dont see around 60+ light weaves on a 3 million dummy, your weave needs work. If weaving is not your thing, NB is not the class for you.
3. You need to control 3 DOTs, all with different effective durations. The difference between low to mid 30s and breaking 40 lies here. The best mage blades juggle all 3 independently, casting them immedietly as they expire. Blockade and Crippling Grasp have the same durations, but CG has a travel time. Unless you have your nose on the boss, casting them back to back is a DPS loss. Path has a longer duration, again, should be managed seperately. Alcasts build suggests casting these 3 in order, which can still land you in the mid to high 30s, but people breaking 40k arent doing this.
4. You need to manage your execute. Generally this means Soul Harvest instead of your destro, no CG, and impales over funnels. If you just start spamming impale, it wont go well.

People will call mageblade OP in the current meta, and maybe they are, but most people cant pull it off. This is how you mageblade:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOH0uQ-Qgbw

Maybe a dozen people in the game can hit that "rotation" like that. He bar swap cancels 74 times in that parse.

Bold above - ha, i've heard this too... makes this class tough to use for many.

Also... after trying again last night i still struggle with it. Even though i enjoy the skills and play style, i'm only hitting around 27k. I'll try some more through the weekend but its hard to be optimistic about it. It seems like you need to risk carpal tunnel to play this class... loads of canceling.

I'll probably have to stick to my other magicka characters i guess (DK - when its un-nerfed, templar, sorc, warden - when it gets stronger)

Thanks again to everyone that took the time to provide me with some info.

Don't give up. It's a bit trickier for us console folks but it's a fun and rewarding class to play. I was about where you were a couple weeks ago and a night here a night there practicing in front of the dummy or taking into a dungeon for some live action and I got it up to 37k. And I'm honestly still having issues with Twisting Path, either over or under casting. Also not even going for 3 proc rotation til I get the rest of my rotation ironed out, so I still have tons of room for improvement.

I don't think i'll get rid of the character or anything like that... I'll keep pushing the dummy once in a while and see what i can do to improve. From what i read, mag sorcs are taking a dps hit this patch from off balance changes. So maybe i wont' have much of a choice but to learn the mag blade stuff.

Sorry for double. The reality is that the off balance nerf affected everyone in an actual trial/dungeon setting. Sorcs really only got nerfed on a dummy compared to everyone else. Sorc parse have always been very inflated on a dummy because they could get extremely high offbalance time without any assistance, which was brought back into line a smidge. My Double Pet sorc rotation lost about 5k DPS on the 3 million dummy, but admittedly, I havent done anything to adjust it yet. In other news, my mageblade has pulled ahead of my pet sorc on a dummy, so there's that as well.

jakeedmundson · February 2018

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

I can’t even begin to imagine trying to play this class on console with bad swaps and no buff timers.

Yeah... it gets pretty rough sometimes. It's bad enough on the dummy when you get lag/bar swap problems/heavy attack stuck on. It's even worse with all the lag in a trial

But yes, i didn't shelf the mag blade or anything. I'll keep giving it a shot once in a while. I probably just don't play the character enough to be really familiar with the button mashing necessary for good dps.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · February 2018

jakeedmundson wrote: »

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Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

I can’t even begin to imagine trying to play this class on console with bad swaps and no buff timers.

Yeah... it gets pretty rough sometimes. It's bad enough on the dummy when you get lag/bar swap problems/heavy attack stuck on. It's even worse with all the lag in a trial

But yes, i didn't shelf the mag blade or anything. I'll keep giving it a shot once in a while. I probably just don't play the character enough to be really familiar with the button mashing necessary for good dps.

Even on PC, there can be a world of difference between Dummy and Trial. On a dummy, I can get 3 bow procs per merciless almost every time. In a trial, even on bosses that stand still, that number drops. Light weaves just arent as reliable once any kind of lag hits, which is probably the biggest drawback to mageblade currently.

Splattercat_83 · February 2018

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

show previous quotes

jakeedmundson wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

I can’t even begin to imagine trying to play this class on console with bad swaps and no buff timers.

Yeah... it gets pretty rough sometimes. It's bad enough on the dummy when you get lag/bar swap problems/heavy attack stuck on. It's even worse with all the lag in a trial

But yes, i didn't shelf the mag blade or anything. I'll keep giving it a shot once in a while. I probably just don't play the character enough to be really familiar with the button mashing necessary for good dps.

Even on PC, there can be a world of difference between Dummy and Trial. On a dummy, I can get 3 bow procs per merciless almost every time. In a trial, even on bosses that stand still, that number drops. Light weaves just arent as reliable once any kind of lag hits, which is probably the biggest drawback to mageblade currently.

This is the gospel, so preach brother! I finally got a rotation down that I can hit three bow procs per merciless activation. The thing I am learning now, is when I can and can't get the three bow procs to reliably hit. When I can get my rotation in a trial/dungeon, I always have a few seconds where blockade and cripple will drop off. I prioritize the bow proc over the couple of seconds lost on my blockade and cripple.

When I know for certain that I will not be able to get the three bow proc, because I have missed a light weave due to rezing a player, blocking, roll dodging. I get the 2 bow procs and refresh the merciless and prioritize the dots/AoE and keep them up. I found this has helped with DPS fall off quite a bit even with such a little thing. In other words I go for the three bow, but If I for sure can't get it, I settle with the two on that round of my rotation and focus on keep up the dots/AoE and get that Merciless refreshed so I can restart my rotation.

LunaOM · February 2018

Also, if you're not used to playing magicka DPSs (or with a vMA staff), you might also want to make sure that you're not bar swapping immediately after casting elemental blockade. Otherwise, the crushing wall buff from your vMA staff might not apply. I believe you have to deal at least 1 sec of damage with elemental blockade before the vMA buff applies.

That's false. The first tick of blockade applies as soon as you press the button, so you don't need to worry at all about barswapping off of blockade.