MagDK PvP build help/tips please

ReverseVenom

Currently running
2pc Valkyn/2pc grothdar (when in group play)
5 silks of the sun
5 shacklebreaker
DW/S&B

I'm an argonian vampire, my mag recovery is at around 1700 max mag 35k health 29k

Is this a decent set up? sustain is sometimes and issue because of DW and lack of heavy attacks but I'm more concerned with its damage in execute range, when people get low and turtle up I become far less effective and run out of mag trying to burst them down.

on my DW bar Im running- Chains, burning embers, whip, burning talons, and draw essence, ferocious leap
S&B bar im running- Igneous, green dragon blood, wings, volatile Armour, entropy, and standard of might

My survivability is decent and shackle helps with blocking sustain but I'm stuck between magicka resource managment and damage

ReverseVenom

Oh and about 2.8k spell damage

Ophion

It's very much a preference thing but I would consider dropping igneous (since it's a very tiny shield and the mending passive is only 7 seconds). Instead you could slot inner light to boost your max magica and by that get a larger heal from green dragon blood. You could also try to find a way to move burning embers to your backbar so that skill also gets the max magica gain. And since you are already on 29k health I would consider putting some more into stamina so you can break free abit more.

I would also swap to bat swarm as your back bar ultimate so that you have one defensive and one offensive ability.

ak_pvp

Ditch chains for FOO/Inner light. Ditch igneous for mist if solo (Its a bit ***, but igneous is shitter, you are best of casting the heal twice. Can also use FOO heal morph if solo for some more survivability) Swap to coag blood. Swap wings/talons for fossilize. Much cheaper and better for single target damage.

Standard isn't great, if you want to use it, use the shifting morph, longer and movable. Maybe use bats for offensive heals.

The build is quite low on sustain, I use desert rose+shackle and get damage from dunmer+enchants. Bloodspawn provides good regen if you feel like running it, but I like valkyn.

The playstyle best advice I can give is to get most of your heals from embers/power lash, and go easy with mist/coag/wings, because they all cost way too much for what they do.

ReverseVenom

ak_pvp wrote: »

Ditch chains for FOO/Inner light. Ditch igneous for mist if solo (Its a bit ***, but igneous is shitter, you are best of casting the heal twice. Can also use FOO heal morph if solo for some more survivability) Swap to coag blood. Swap wings/talons for fossilize. Much cheaper and better for single target damage.

Standard isn't great, if you want to use it, use the shifting morph, longer and movable. Maybe use bats for offensive heals.

The build is quite low on sustain, I use desert rose+shackle and get damage from dunmer+enchants. Bloodspawn provides good regen if you feel like running it, but I like valkyn.

The playstyle best advice I can give is to get most of your heals from embers/power lash, and go easy with mist/coag/wings, because they all cost way too much for what they do.

thanks so much, one question.... FoO?

Edit: After PvPing for about four hours I can say that removing chains for fossilize and igneious for inner light has made a huge improvement, the shield was a huge magicka sink and not worth the use at all, chains I miss slightly because my mobility and gap closer is gone but when actually in combat my effectivness is much higher and I'm definitely more of a threat. Thanks for your help

ReverseVenom

Ophion wrote: »

It's very much a preference thing but I would consider dropping igneous (since it's a very tiny shield and the mending passive is only 7 seconds). Instead you could slot inner light to boost your max magica and by that get a larger heal from green dragon blood. You could also try to find a way to move burning embers to your backbar so that skill also gets the max magica gain. And since you are already on 29k health I would consider putting some more into stamina so you can break free abit more.

I would also swap to bat swarm as your back bar ultimate so that you have one defensive and one offensive ability.

I considered vamp an offensive ult but I suppose the healing makes it defensive, I kept standard purely as a "Oh it happens to be up and we're crammed in a tiny area, as more of an environmental control than anything but I'll definitely test it out

IZZEFlameLash

ReverseVenom wrote: »

ak_pvp wrote: »

Ditch chains for FOO/Inner light. Ditch igneous for mist if solo (Its a bit ***, but igneous is shitter, you are best of casting the heal twice. Can also use FOO heal morph if solo for some more survivability) Swap to coag blood. Swap wings/talons for fossilize. Much cheaper and better for single target damage.

Standard isn't great, if you want to use it, use the shifting morph, longer and movable. Maybe use bats for offensive heals.

The build is quite low on sustain, I use desert rose+shackle and get damage from dunmer+enchants. Bloodspawn provides good regen if you feel like running it, but I like valkyn.

The playstyle best advice I can give is to get most of your heals from embers/power lash, and go easy with mist/coag/wings, because they all cost way too much for what they do.

thanks so much, one question.... FoO?

Flames of Oblivion. It does decent amount of damage and passively gives you crit.

geonsocal

if you can actually hit anything with it - using an inferno staff (it's pretty played out - but, eye of flame along with grothdarr and blockade of fire is a beautiful thing) and heavy attacking helps with sustain...

Edit: add elusive mist and you can be super hard to root and kill...

DKsUnite

This is something you should probably learn. If people are turtling up a huge amount and you just can't kill them, don't waste your resources, just try again once you have your ulti up again.

caeliusstarbreaker

Drop the sb back bar and use an ice staff don’t select the first passive of destro and your block will still consume stam... then slot ele drain.

Taylor_MB

Specifically regarding your question of executing people, you really have 3 options that can be used (multiple together or just one depending on your build and playstyle).

1) Save your hard CC
Save your hard CC for when you are ready to burst them from 50% to zero. Having that one second where they cannot heal/ward gives a huge advantage. Depending on the opponent I generally open with a CC and when their immunity expires they'll be ready to execute so I can hard CC again to finish off.

2) Use a burst ultimate
Using Dragon Leap to execute is a tried and true way to secure a kill for a MagDK. It's meant to be undodgable, but it still can miss sometimes which is annoying, but it's range is great for people trying to run away from your pressure. Can be used in conjunction with suggestion 1 very effectively.

3) Stack your DoT's
MagDK has access for more damage over time abilities then any other class in the game. If it fits your build and playstyle, stack these on your opponent, combined with even minimal burst it will be hard for even a MagPlar to overcome. Using many DoT's in conjunction with suggestion 1 and 2 is pretty much a guaranteed kill if everything lines up correctly.

Shameless plug for my MagDK build and gameplay videos.

ReverseVenom

Taylor_MB wrote: »

Specifically regarding your question of executing people, you really have 3 options that can be used (multiple together or just one depending on your build and playstyle).

1) Save your hard CC
Save your hard CC for when you are ready to burst them from 50% to zero. Having that one second where they cannot heal/ward gives a huge advantage. Depending on the opponent I generally open with a CC and when their immunity expires they'll be ready to execute so I can hard CC again to finish off.

2) Use a burst ultimate
Using Dragon Leap to execute is a tried and true way to secure a kill for a MagDK. It's meant to be undodgable, but it still can miss sometimes which is annoying, but it's range is great for people trying to run away from your pressure. Can be used in conjunction with suggestion 1 very effectively.

3) Stack your DoT's
MagDK has access for more damage over time abilities then any other class in the game. If it fits your build and playstyle, stack these on your opponent, combined with even minimal burst it will be hard for even a MagPlar to overcome. Using many DoT's in conjunction with suggestion 1 and 2 is pretty much a guaranteed kill if everything lines up correctly.

Shameless plug for my MagDK build and gameplay videos.

Never even thought of your first point, and that I feel will be a game changer in the way I fight. Thank you for your help

sinxsader

ReverseVenom wrote: »

Currently running
2pc Valkyn/2pc grothdar (when in group play)
5 silks of the sun
5 shacklebreaker
DW/S&B

I'm an argonian vampire, my mag recovery is at around 1700 max mag 35k health 29k

Is this a decent set up? sustain is sometimes and issue because of DW and lack of heavy attacks but I'm more concerned with its damage in execute range, when people get low and turtle up I become far less effective and run out of mag trying to burst them down.

on my DW bar Im running- Chains, burning embers, whip, burning talons, and draw essence, ferocious leap
S&B bar im running- Igneous, green dragon blood, wings, volatile Armour, entropy, and standard of might

My survivability is decent and shackle helps with blocking sustain but I'm stuck between magicka resource managment and damage

Are you wearing heavy or light armor?

Master_Kas

Atm running:

5x Axiom
5x Bloodthorn
2x Skoria (groth for group, zaan when I'm triggered)

Sometimes I swap out Bloodthorn for Desert Rose and slot Elusive mist. The HP bonus and spellres + mag back while misting feels good in zergy situations ^^

5 light / 1m / 1h.

Maybe not BIS but works decently

AverageJo3Gam3r

Silks is decent but doesn't affect your heals. Also, consider dropping talons for a more useful skill. With both lash and embers being dodgeable, you don't want your enemies dodge rolling which is what they'll do as soon as you use talons. I use chains instead as it goes through block.

Currently I'm running skoria, 2pc willpower on the DW bar, wizard riposte jewels+1HS back bar, and 5 innate axiom on the body (5-1-1 light). 5 light-2heavy would be slightly better but I'm not farming vcoa2 for a heavy helm.

Subversus

Master_Kas wrote: »

Atm running:

5x Axiom
5x Bloodthorn
2x Skoria (groth for group, zaan when I'm triggered)

Sometimes I swap out Bloodthorn for Desert Rose and slot Elusive mist. The HP bonus and spellres + mag back while misting feels good in zergy situations ^^

5 light / 1m / 1h.

Maybe not BIS but works decently

Looks pretty BiS to me...

sinxsader

Master_Kas wrote: »

Atm running:

5x Axiom
5x Bloodthorn
2x Skoria (groth for group, zaan when I'm triggered)

Sometimes I swap out Bloodthorn for Desert Rose and slot Elusive mist. The HP bonus and spellres + mag back while misting feels good in zergy situations ^^

5 light / 1m / 1h.

Maybe not BIS but works decently

Mind sharing your skill bar?:)

jnelson1182

I have actually been trying to find someone who would know something about running wizards Riposte on a mag dk, right now I'm running bsw or silks depending on how I'm feeling, I think bsw hits lil harder for me, but I also have Grothdarr', or Skoria for my monster then for neck & rings I have been running willpower but I have wizards in bank as well as knight slayer and warrior Poet as well as the other warrior sera the comes from doing bg's. I'm just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on those sets with a mag dk?

Checkmath

Wizards would work similar as on a magplar, so if you dont have any other source of mitigation, its a solid choice. But if you are specced for a lot of blocking, i wouldnt use it. Anyway dks have minor maim included in the skill choking talons. That also would be an option to gain that debuff instead of wizards. Knightslayer would work on a magdk heavy attack build with a flamestaff, since one morph of molten weapons also increases the damage of heavy attacks by 40%. Warrior poet is a health set and therefore i wouldnt use it. Also the health buff in the last bonus can be given to you from warhorn or if you are healed by a warden.
The other warrior set....? Impregnable armor set? That would be pretty good choice, if you want other traits on your armor like robuste. Very good set if you want to go permablocking.

Avnr

Nice thread

if i may ask OP

my magdk have heavy armor with good 28k hp,40k mag and sustain 2k magicka
the only way to avoid damage for me is to block , but 14k stam...hard to last long
i saw "best" magdk's hardly move and mostly block damage, no idea how , my stamina run out in few second

thx
i

usmguy1234

ReverseVenom wrote: »

Currently running
2pc Valkyn/2pc grothdar (when in group play)
5 silks of the sun
5 shacklebreaker
DW/S&B

I'm an argonian vampire, my mag recovery is at around 1700 max mag 35k health 29k

Is this a decent set up? sustain is sometimes and issue because of DW and lack of heavy attacks but I'm more concerned with its damage in execute range, when people get low and turtle up I become far less effective and run out of mag trying to burst them down.

on my DW bar Im running- Chains, burning embers, whip, burning talons, and draw essence, ferocious leap
S&B bar im running- Igneous, green dragon blood, wings, volatile Armour, entropy, and standard of might

My survivability is decent and shackle helps with blocking sustain but I'm stuck between magicka resource managment and damage

I myself prefer innate axiom to sun. The main reason is I can make my chest and leg pieces heavy. Yes you miss out on a little weapon damage but you get more stam in return... plus around 50% crit. Sustain set bread n butter for dk is bloodthorn. Also axiom gives you better heals from blood and cauterize than sun does.

ZarkingFrued

Sun and bloodthorn resto and s/b, you'll love the stam and mag return. I switch in and out burning spellweave for both sets some tho, depending on situation. Grothdarr, Skoria, zaans, bloodspawn, all depends on your playstyle, I mostly run skoria for unexpected bursts. Flame lash, embers, talons, flames of oblivion, obsidian shard, dragon leap flame morph///////entropy, wings, heal ward, coag blood, volatile armor, resto ulti. Good setup, trade something out for mist for solo if ya gotta be able to escape. Light attack weave for spell damage proc is helpful. I know no one runs obsidian shard, but I usually run out over fossilize due to the range, and the healing is nice to. Just when they try to use that mobility against you to escape when things are tight, you knock them down from quite a distance, heal while doing it, and dragon leap them or just rush them.

Checkmath

Avnr wrote: »

Nice thread

if i may ask OP

my magdk have heavy armor with good 28k hp,40k mag and sustain 2k magicka
the only way to avoid damage for me is to block , but 14k stam...hard to last long
i saw "best" magdk's hardly move and mostly block damage, no idea how , my stamina run out in few second

thx
i

@Avnr
i believe those dks use many robuste armor pieces to reduce their blockcosts. before dragon bones it also was quite common to use a shieldplay jewelry glyph for further block cost reduction. another points is, that you can restore stamina while blocking as dk with the set bloodthorn all 5 sseconds or with skill from the earthen heart skillline: they recover pretty much 1k stamina per cast. also a stamina absorbtion glyph can help to sustain a bit.

raasdal

Why is no one mentioning Caluurion here? I made the swap from Sun to Caluurion, and i am not looking back. Skoria + Caluurion is all the burst you will ever need. Especially as you can pretty easily time both with a Power Lash Combo.

ak_pvp

raasdal wrote: »

Why is no one mentioning Caluurion here? I made the swap from Sun to Caluurion, and i am not looking back. Skoria + Caluurion is all the burst you will ever need. Especially as you can pretty easily time both with a Power Lash Combo.

Too single target oriented. I tried it both on my DW/S&B build, and a destro/resto with bloodthorn. You can't time its proc that well in my view, and if its missed, then you are low on damage for 10s, wheras sun is constant.

Savos_Saren

@raasdal @ak_pvp

I use Caluurion, Flame Blossom, and Valkyn on my proc DK (ganker)

I've just recently started using Silks, Innate, and Chudan on my tanky, light armored DK. (group oriented)

CrazYDunm3r

Also something not many DK's know: casting wings and then going mistform still reflects spells. Keep that in mind, it really is a lifesaver.

NBrookus

Avnr wrote: »

Nice thread

if i may ask OP

my magdk have heavy armor with good 28k hp,40k mag and sustain 2k magicka
the only way to avoid damage for me is to block , but 14k stam...hard to last long
i saw "best" magdk's hardly move and mostly block damage, no idea how , my stamina run out in few second

thx
i

If you want to go full permablock tank, you have to give up all damage for it and even then use the S&B ult to drop block and regen stam.

If you want to be tanky and block a lot, a set like Bloodthorn will help with 20-21% block cost reduction in CP, plus you still have to drop block from time to time and get a heavy attack in when you can.

If you want to actually kill, light armor is the way to go. You can be viable in heavy, but light armor is superior for damage oriented builds.

raasdal

ak_pvp wrote: »

raasdal wrote: »

Why is no one mentioning Caluurion here? I made the swap from Sun to Caluurion, and i am not looking back. Skoria + Caluurion is all the burst you will ever need. Especially as you can pretty easily time both with a Power Lash Combo.

Too single target oriented. I tried it both on my DW/S&B build, and a destro/resto with bloodthorn. You can't time its proc that well in my view, and if its missed, then you are low on damage for 10s, wheras sun is constant.

That sounds really weird to me.

First of all, i am ofc only frontbarring it. And i am DW / Destro. When swapping to my frontbar, i will hit Fossilize and then Double Flame Lash. With 37,5% Crit in No CP, thats about a 75% to proc it. And i find that it procs alongside my Skoria very often. My entry-combo is, from Destro Bar (with LA weaves) : Ele Drain - Entropy - Chains Gapclose - Barswap (while in transit) - Fossilize (maybe Embers first if hard-to-kill target) - Whip - Whip.

Tbh, it is the highest damage output, both in burst and sustained damage, i have tried on a DK, while not being squishy AF. (using Pariah as the last set, with Lingering Health + Speed). I did not change the playstyle at all, from Sun, and i can FEEL the burst change it gave.

EDIT: Might be because i am talking from a pure NO-CP environment where procsets are even more OP, than in CP.

ReverseVenom

Alright so this thread seems to have picked up pace again lol, thank you to everyone who has added their tips and advice a lot of it has been super helpful.

I've gotten my build to a perfect place for me and in a large part due to this thread (and also just some practice)

I've permanently switched to grothdar, I find much more success with it than skoria regardless of solo or group play and changed some skills around (removed igneous sheild) but I'm not on the xbox and its been a while since ive played so I can't name em off by memory.

I definitely find heavy armour better I don't think the survivability is worth sacrificing for the damage of light armour and I think looking like a tank has given me massive advantages because I'm usually avoided or ignored which is a HUGE mistake on their part because (not to sound dramatic but) they go after my friend and I rain down so much fire their health melts by the time they start worrying about defense I have a NB buddy on their ass with killers blade

I definitely prefer magDK for group PVP so thanks everyone for your help. You've added a little fire back into my gaming