Melee Magblades

HowlKimchi

Are there any still out there? I'd like to know how you guys are built nowadays...

2 LIght armor defensive sets and banking on zaan to start the kill combo? Heavy Armor? Or something totally different? I'm really interested in the playstyle of a sneaky magicka assassin without destro staves. I tried making it work with pretty good success in the past (Dragon Bones) but the combo is just so back-loaded that It doesn't feel good at all.

I'm hoping to get insightful comments and hopefully not just "roll stam nb instead" posts. Thanks for the replies!

Datthaw

Melee magblade is not my favorite, I really love the destro resto play style.

That being said, when I do roll melee magblade it's normally with Calurions. You can proc the set from stealth with concealed and cloak. As far as what else to run is where I get gray and am always tinkering.

Atm I'm running with 5pc spinners and 2 zaan. It's....ok I guess when that zaan procs it can hit very hard but that 18s timer along with the proc itself turns me off sometimes. It's like it either is always procing or I will go an hour and have to check and make sure I'm actually wearing the 2pc because it hasn't proced.

I have often thought of dropping vamp all together (I use mist in pure destro builds for snare removal) and running a calu destro/2h build and just rely on TK And funnel to heal in cloak. Have yet to try this setup though.

HowlKimchi

I've dropped vamp on my magblade as well. With the damage increase this patch with 2h weapons being 2pc, I found that im too squishy with vamp on.

I agree that Zaan is pretty hit or miss, especially with that long ass cd. I wish it was reduced to a 2 sec channel, and get a lower cooldown.

Hmmm, calurion's would definitely solve the back-loaded burst issue of a melee magblade... I'd like to try Calurions but I have yet to farm the entire set . I might try frontbar calurions, with amber plasm + tri food on both bars, and a willpower resto staff where my magicka ward would be. Not sure on what monster set would fit that set-up though. Probably a domi+infernal guardian.

zammo

Currently Caluurion's front bar only, Shacklebreaker both bars, Julianos resto, and Skoria 2 piece.

Caluurions is great for burst, and Shacklebreaker for max stats (with tri-food). > 19k stam pool is great for rolling more often than I should and breaking free.

Having the Julianos resto just stops spell crit from bouncing around between bars. I am however very interested in the Blackrose resto when that arrives.

Skoria is primarily for the health 1 piece, to keep me above 27k health with battle spirit. Using 1 dot skill, plus double dot poison on 2H front bar procs the skoria meteor just enough to vindicate the 2 piece. I would like to try Thurvokun instead of Skoria though, but pugging Fang Lair is proving painful, and so far i've only been able to drop the medium helm.

The theory is pew pew back bar to build up merciless while closing distance, then when ready, stealth and nuke.

I enjoy the play style, and have way more fun than I ever did destro/resto

Knootewoot

I still play as one occasionally. But since most use Zaan/Caluurion i am no match for that as i don't have it myself.

Sadly i now mostly play destro with swallow soul in heavy armor. But yeah.. sometimes i go either dual wield or destro and wear warmaiden+krag's+valkoria and try to survive as a vampire (light armored)

HowlKimchi

zammo wrote: »

Currently Caluurion's front bar only, Shacklebreaker both bars, Julianos resto, and Skoria 2 piece.

Caluurions is great for burst, and Shacklebreaker for max stats (with tri-food). > 19k stam pool is great for rolling more often than I should and breaking free.

Having the Julianos resto just stops spell crit from bouncing around between bars. I am however very interested in the Blackrose resto when that arrives.

Skoria is primarily for the health 1 piece, to keep me above 27k health with battle spirit. Using 1 dot skill, plus double dot poison on 2H front bar procs the skoria meteor just enough to vindicate the 2 piece. I would like to try Thurvokun instead of Skoria though, but pugging Fang Lair is proving painful, and so far i've only been able to drop the medium helm.

The theory is pew pew back bar to build up merciless while closing distance, then when ready, stealth and nuke.

I enjoy the play style, and have way more fun than I ever did destro/resto

5-1-1 light armor? Just clarifying. I'm interested with your route of going all in on stats with shackle breaker + tri foods. It's usually amber plasm + tri food, or shackle + witchmother. amber plasm comes out on top between those 2 setups though. How is the sustain with shackle+tri food?

I always aim to have around 2000 magicka recovery + siphoning on my magblades since i dont want to run out of resources against many, while having just enough damage for burst combos.

ChefZero

You have to use destro for DMG now, even on melee range.

HowlKimchi

ChefZero wrote: »

You have to use destro for DMG now, even on melee range.

But then I wouldn't have FM... Also, may I ask why?

ChefZero

HaruKamui wrote: »

ChefZero wrote: »

You have to use destro for DMG now, even on melee range.

But then I wouldn't have FM... Also, may I ask why?

Since summerset destros are superior cause of obvious changes + penetration and status effects they already had. FM will be less necessary with murkmire changes to light armor.

zammo

HaruKamui wrote: »

zammo wrote: »

Currently Caluurion's front bar only, Shacklebreaker both bars, Julianos resto, and Skoria 2 piece.

Caluurions is great for burst, and Shacklebreaker for max stats (with tri-food). > 19k stam pool is great for rolling more often than I should and breaking free.

Having the Julianos resto just stops spell crit from bouncing around between bars. I am however very interested in the Blackrose resto when that arrives.

Skoria is primarily for the health 1 piece, to keep me above 27k health with battle spirit. Using 1 dot skill, plus double dot poison on 2H front bar procs the skoria meteor just enough to vindicate the 2 piece. I would like to try Thurvokun instead of Skoria though, but pugging Fang Lair is proving painful, and so far i've only been able to drop the medium helm.

The theory is pew pew back bar to build up merciless while closing distance, then when ready, stealth and nuke.

I enjoy the play style, and have way more fun than I ever did destro/resto

5-1-1 light armor? Just clarifying. I'm interested with your route of going all in on stats with shackle breaker + tri foods. It's usually amber plasm + tri food, or shackle + witchmother. amber plasm comes out on top between those 2 setups though. How is the sustain with shackle+tri food?

I always aim to have around 2000 magicka recovery + siphoning on my magblades since i dont want to run out of resources against many, while having just enough damage for burst combos.

Yep, 5-1-1 light. Couldn't sustain in heavy, and missed the penetration.

Few reasons for Shacklebreaker. Mainly, It's craftable. Easy to obtain, and I can fully min / max the armour weights to big / little pieces. I've one of those brains that knows if I were to go heavy head, medium shoulders rather than heavy chest, medium legs i'd be missing out on stats (regardless of how few they really are). The 2000 stam gives me ~19.4k in total, which allows for a lot of rolling, break free, and sneaking when needed. I really do use the whole stam pool. At the same time, i'm at exactly 900 stam regen, which i feel is just enough, no need for more. I rarely run dry. Mag regen is about 2331 (not 100% sure the exact figure, but it's around there), and i'd describe that as borderline enough. When things get a bit hectic, and cloak ends up being used more liberally than I would like I do get issues, and have to throw a few heavy resto's. (Blackrose resto 1 piece would help out here).

With tri-food i'm at about 37.5k mag, 27.4k health, and 19.4k stam. Witchmother's, while giving me ample mag regen, drops my health below what i'm comfortable with. Anything < 27k I find i'm too squishy.

I'm already running 7 x prismatic defence glyphs also.

I'm under no illusion there's better builds, and i've made the wrong choices in places, but it does what I need and keeps the game fun for me.

(this is in CP campaign, I wouldn't use it in no CP)

arkansas_ESO

Zaan+Spinners+Caluurion+VMA staff, 3 Swift, all impen, all recovery enchants on jewelry and all prismatic on armor, sharpened 2H with infused resto, Lover stone. Low stats, high penetration, insane mobility (+55% move speed in stealth before using a speed pot/Crippling Grasp), high recovery, and enough damage with Caluurion and Zaan to oneshot if they're not paying attention. It's my "fun build" for open world PVP when I'm tired of destro staff.

mursie

i've been running zaan/innate/surge with vma resto for a long time now. it's ok. caluurions would be better than surge if you can farm the 2h.

innate axiom vs shackle vs that new mag set that is the bone pirate equivalent are all interesting ideas. even sloads could be good.

thurvoken i dont think would be good in this build. you arent sitting around brawling which is what thurv needs as the bile pit expands in your fight. skoria or zaan are bis.

i wish i could play destro/resto but i honestly just dont understand that playstyle. dmg is underwhelming...usually just getting dodge rolled on your swallows or elementals and the lack of FM and quick movement with cloak/conceal just makes you an inevitable sitting duck.

melee is much easier to obtain a kill. zaan/skoria and caluurion are bis. pair that with w/e. sloads/innate/shackle/amber/mag bone pirate. all could work.

HowlKimchi

mursie wrote: »

i've been running zaan/innate/surge with vma resto for a long time now. it's ok. caluurions would be better than surge if you can farm the 2h.

innate axiom vs shackle vs that new mag set that is the bone pirate equivalent are all interesting ideas. even sloads could be good.

thurvoken i dont think would be good in this build. you arent sitting around brawling which is what thurv needs as the bile pit expands in your fight. skoria or zaan are bis.

i wish i could play destro/resto but i honestly just dont understand that playstyle. dmg is underwhelming...usually just getting dodge rolled on your swallows or elementals and the lack of FM and quick movement with cloak/conceal just makes you an inevitable sitting duck.

melee is much easier to obtain a kill. zaan/skoria and caluurion are bis. pair that with w/e. sloads/innate/shackle/amber/mag bone pirate. all could work.

thanks for the insight! Tried earlier with war maiden instead of caluurion before I farm it. 21k hp is a bit low though so i might go the skoria route with some prismatics.

ScruffyWhiskers

I don't play nearly as much as I used to but having come back recently for Summerset, I have found that magicka melee nb is in pretty much the same postion it was 2+ years ago.....lots of frustration with moments of pure joy. Without the appearance of Caluurians I would have just walked away again.

I am running 5 1 1 light. DW swords/Restro with Caluurian, War Maiden and Slime Craw. I've tried Zaan and found that it's just too unreliable and it's only effective if the target player does not know what it is and how to counter or can't visually see the beam due to a glitch. I have a vr 14 Valkyn Skoria set that I sometimes use but I don't want to spend any time farming a vr 16 again. And cripple + lotus just isn't enough to really get a proc off consistently. So I just use slime for the extra modest constant damage boost and spell crit.

Unlike a stam blade you have to really pick your fights and know when to give up on certain builds/players.Mag sorcs, Hurricanes and rolly pollie stam blades are the most frustrating. You really have to give up and try to reset if you don't catch them unprepared. Players above 25k hp should be avoided. Best to surf the ebbs and flows between outposts and keeps looking for the wounded and horsies. Escape and evasion are almost impossible if you get marked or have a detect potion user on your tail.

Maybe it's just rose tinted glasses but melee class skill nb was the most fun that first summer after launch. A game has to evolve though. I've been critical in the past...even apocalypticly so sometimes. But the combat team and Wrobel have done a pretty good job over the years. It's a tough and mostly thankless job and I wouldn't want to walk very far in their shoes.

ChefZero

ScruffyWhiskers wrote: »

I don't play nearly as much as I used to but having come back recently for Summerset, I have found that magicka melee nb is in pretty much the same postion it was 2+ years ago.....lots of frustration with moments of pure joy. Without the appearance of Caluurians I would have just walked away again.

I am running 5 1 1 light. DW swords/Restro with Caluurian, War Maiden and Slime Craw. I've tried Zaan and found that it's just too unreliable and it's only effective if the target player does not know what it is and how to counter or can't visually see the beam due to a glitch. I have a vr 14 Valkyn Skoria set that I sometimes use but I don't want to spend any time farming a vr 16 again. And cripple + lotus just isn't enough to really get a proc off consistently. So I just use slime for the extra modest constant damage boost and spell crit.

Unlike a stam blade you have to really pick your fights and know when to give up on certain builds/players.Mag sorcs, Hurricanes and rolly pollie stam blades are the most frustrating. You really have to give up and try to reset if you don't catch them unprepared. Players above 25k hp should be avoided. Best to surf the ebbs and flows between outposts and keeps looking for the wounded and horsies. Escape and evasion are almost impossible if you get marked or have a detect potion user on your tail.

Maybe it's just rose tinted glasses but melee class skill nb was the most fun that first summer after launch. A game has to evolve though. I've been critical in the past...even apocalypticly so sometimes. But the combat team and Wrobel have done a pretty good job over the years. It's a tough and mostly thankless job and I wouldn't want to walk very far in their shoes.

That's why I rerolled to stam... First IC day's were the funniest on magNB two years ago. I was never a staff player in any MMO.

Koolio

Nope I retired mine. The risk/reward just isn’t there

StayAlfresco

I ran 2h/Resto, bloodthorn, Shackle and monster set of choice. Extremely fun build, though I haven't played at all this patch.

LegacyDM

Melee mageblade is subpar. Just go destro/resto and run crushing shock. Opens you up to more options and a more variable play style.

Magicka Melee nb is counter intuitive. You can’t dodge roll for days and have no class shield. You don’t really have enough burst damage to kill most players and a nb needs to rely on not getting hit via cloak and teleport. With all the counters to cloak. Ask yourself, as squishy as a nb is in LA why would you put yourself in melee range? You’ll get roasted by DKs, mag sorcs, bleeding stam sorcs, jabbing Templars, and stamblades. Last thing you want to be is in melee range. Now you might think you’ll gank or get in get out for a quick kill but Concealed weapon hits like a wet noodle and if that’s the playstyle you want stamblade does it better.

I run fire destro with cauulrons legacy and spinner set. Skoria is probably best but I prefer grothdar with 3 piece swift jewelry. I prefer crushing shock as a spammable because it hits from range, non reflectable, procs weapon enchants, 10% spell pen, and slotting a destro skill gives you increased damage. Going destro is s no brainer over melee. Unless you enjoy getting frustrated with having a very small target pool to pick and choose from while attempting to weave in and out of combat from melee range. In addition to watching your concealed weapon get block, absorbed, dodge rolled, or flat out misses 90% of the time.

ScruffyWhiskers

LegacyDM wrote: »

Melee mageblade is subpar. Just go destro/resto and run crushing shock. Opens you up to more options and a more variable play style.

Magicka Melee nb is counter intuitive. You can’t dodge roll for days and have no class shield. You don’t really have enough burst damage to kill most players and a nb needs to rely on not getting hit via cloak and teleport. With all the counters to cloak. Ask yourself, as squishy as a nb is in LA why would you put yourself in melee range? You’ll get roasted by DKs, mag sorcs, bleeding stam sorcs, jabbing Templars, and stamblades. Last thing you want to be is in melee range. Now you might think you’ll gank or get in get out for a quick kill but Concealed weapon hits like a wet noodle and if that’s the playstyle you want stamblade does it better.

I run fire destro with cauulrons legacy and spinner set. Skoria is probably best but I prefer grothdar with 3 piece swift jewelry. I prefer crushing shock as a spammable because it hits from range, non reflectable, procs weapon enchants, 10% spell pen, and slotting a destro skill gives you increased damage. Going destro is s no brainer over melee. Unless you enjoy getting frustrated with having a very small target pool to pick and choose from while attempting to weave in and out of combat from melee range. In addition to watching your concealed weapon get block, absorbed, dodge rolled, or flat out misses 90% of the time.

QFT. All this is 100% true in my experience. And I would add that when your ping starts getting into the 200's you will have a hell of a time landing a concealed weapon on a moving target. Sometimes the ping will say 150 - 180 and it's pretty tough.

Plus you will also die countless times because when you hit healing ward it went to the poor sap near you who had lower health. If only there was a magicka version of vigor that didn't require you to run around naked without a cloak

Despite all that I just can't bring myself to pick up the wooden stick. Besides the silly aesthetics of waving that large stick around, I often find myself confused during bar swaps which are very unreliable during high latency playing. At least I know when my 2 swords are up that I am in attack mode.

kaithuzar

LOL

To be fair, I really haven’t played much over the last patch, but I will say melee magblade was never meant to be an easy playstyle; you are intentionally putting yourself at a disadvantage against many more optimized, efficient, synergistic, & overall easier build/class combinations.

That being said, if you still want to perform this playstyle, realize you need to open your mind (& in game wallet) & be ready to spend millions on theory crafting. You have to try to maximize what you have available and what you need, even if it’s not fotm.

When you die, think about why & what you can change. A build is never finished, always think of improvement. Only when you have tried every possible improvement & still revert to your original, can you call it complete. (& by that time likely another new patch has dropped with new gear to try)

I haven’t seen anyone here talk about using forward momentum but my build uses it.
I haven’t seen anyone mention impreg or willpower, or even 2 heavy chest & legs in reinforced & the rest light with nirnhoned, but I’ve ran/may still be running that.

Think outside the box, stick with it, & git gud.


Glhf
-Kai

NyassaV

I love melee... But at this point it's just a discount stamblade and pretty bad. Try Impreg + Front bar damage set +vMA resto on back bar

ScruffyWhiskers

kaithuzar wrote: »

by that time likely another new patch has dropped with new gear to try

Wish there was more gear that was useful for a mag melee build. Just look at the latest arena weapon offerings. It would be nice if they came up with versions that made sense for magicka. You have to go with sticks for both of those.

kaithuzar wrote: »

I haven’t seen anyone here talk about using forward momentum but my build uses it.
I haven’t seen anyone mention impreg or willpower, or even 2 heavy chest & legs in reinforced & the rest light with nirnhoned, but I’ve ran/may still be running that.
Glhf
-Kai

My personal problem with the FM two hander and impreg type set is that it is predicated on the idea that you are going to be fighting stand up style and getting hit a lot. With a small stam pool that has always led to tragedy for me. I can dodge roll once and then I have to be careful to have enough stam to break cc.

It will be nice if the new dodge roll changes make fighting rollerblades a little less frustrating.

mursie

kaithuzar wrote: »

LOL

To be fair, I really haven’t played much over the last patch, but I will say melee magblade was never meant to be an easy playstyle; you are intentionally putting yourself at a disadvantage against many more optimized, efficient, synergistic, & overall easier build/class combinations.

That being said, if you still want to perform this playstyle, realize you need to open your mind (& in game wallet) & be ready to spend millions on theory crafting. You have to try to maximize what you have available and what you need, even if it’s not fotm.

When you die, think about why & what you can change. A build is never finished, always think of improvement. Only when you have tried every possible improvement & still revert to your original, can you call it complete. (& by that time likely another new patch has dropped with new gear to try)

I haven’t seen anyone here talk about using forward momentum but my build uses it.
I haven’t seen anyone mention impreg or willpower, or even 2 heavy chest & legs in reinforced & the rest light with nirnhoned, but I’ve ran/may still be running that.

Think outside the box, stick with it, & git gud.


Glhf
-Kai

umm - ok Yoda.

go back - open your eyes and try reading again. FM stands for forward momentum.

HowlKimchi

LegacyDM wrote: »

Melee mageblade is subpar. Just go destro/resto and run crushing shock. Opens you up to more options and a more variable play style.

Magicka Melee nb is counter intuitive.

I think it can work. Forward Momentum is very good in enabling cloaks. You can be very annoying in open world. As for the lacking burst, I agree. Very back loaded. But imo, it IS possible with Caluurions. It's a really niche playstyle and when it works it feels great. Destro/resto is fun and all, but the thought of using a stick to assassinate targets is funny xD

kaithuzar wrote: »

That being said, if you still want to perform this playstyle, realize you need to open your mind (& in game wallet) & be ready to spend millions on theory crafting. You have to try to maximize what you have available and what you need, even if it’s not fotm.

When you die, think about why & what you can change. A build is never finished, always think of improvement. Only when you have tried every possible improvement & still revert to your original, can you call it complete. (& by that time likely another new patch has dropped with new gear to try)

I haven’t seen anyone here talk about using forward momentum but my build uses it.
I haven’t seen anyone mention impreg or willpower, or even 2 heavy chest & legs in reinforced & the rest light with nirnhoned, but I’ve ran/may still be running that.

Think outside the box, stick with it, & git gud.


Glhf
-Kai

FM has been mentioned several times in this discussion. It is probably the ONLY edge melee magblades have over ranged in open world cyro.

Yes, we are all theorycrafters here. It's why I enjoy eso actually. I dont spend millions on it though xD I just use build editors to get adjust numbers, then make the final product in-game, test it out in pvp, then make small changes from there. It never ends xD

kaithuzar

ScruffyWhiskers wrote: »

kaithuzar wrote: »

by that time likely another new patch has dropped with new gear to try

Wish there was more gear that was useful for a mag melee build. Just look at the latest arena weapon offerings. It would be nice if they came up with versions that made sense for magicka. You have to go with sticks for both of those.

kaithuzar wrote: »

I haven’t seen anyone here talk about using forward momentum but my build uses it.
I haven’t seen anyone mention impreg or willpower, or even 2 heavy chest & legs in reinforced & the rest light with nirnhoned, but I’ve ran/may still be running that.
Glhf
-Kai

My personal problem with the FM two hander and impreg type set is that it is predicated on the idea that you are going to be fighting stand up style and getting hit a lot. With a small stam pool that has always led to tragedy for me. I can dodge roll once and then I have to be careful to have enough stam to break cc.

It will be nice if the new dodge roll changes make fighting rollerblades a little less frustrating.

Use the stam morph of siphoning attacks back bar & tri-stat glyphs to help with that.
Don’t forget you can still use/semi-spam bubble if needed.
Back bar’ing either the psijic temporal guard ult for the 8% dmg reduction or resto ult are viable

Pijng

ScruffyWhiskers wrote: »

kaithuzar wrote: »

by that time likely another new patch has dropped with new gear to try

Wish there was more gear that was useful for a mag melee build. Just look at the latest arena weapon offerings. It would be nice if they came up with versions that made sense for magicka. You have to go with sticks for both of those.

kaithuzar wrote: »

I haven’t seen anyone here talk about using forward momentum but my build uses it.
I haven’t seen anyone mention impreg or willpower, or even 2 heavy chest & legs in reinforced & the rest light with nirnhoned, but I’ve ran/may still be running that.
Glhf
-Kai

My personal problem with the FM two hander and impreg type set is that it is predicated on the idea that you are going to be fighting stand up style and getting hit a lot. With a small stam pool that has always led to tragedy for me. I can dodge roll once and then I have to be careful to have enough stam to break cc.

It will be nice if the new dodge roll changes make fighting rollerblades a little less frustrating.

You don't need to take a lot of hits as a melee mNB. Basically you need to criple/cloak kite until you get your bow proc. Then go in and burst. Repeat if needed. Ofc there are times when you need to act different, but it goes to all classes.
What's the problem with stam pool? I have like ~18k in noCP. That's enough.

LegacyDM

Pijng wrote: »

ScruffyWhiskers wrote: »

kaithuzar wrote: »

by that time likely another new patch has dropped with new gear to try

Wish there was more gear that was useful for a mag melee build. Just look at the latest arena weapon offerings. It would be nice if they came up with versions that made sense for magicka. You have to go with sticks for both of those.

kaithuzar wrote: »

I haven’t seen anyone here talk about using forward momentum but my build uses it.
I haven’t seen anyone mention impreg or willpower, or even 2 heavy chest & legs in reinforced & the rest light with nirnhoned, but I’ve ran/may still be running that.
Glhf
-Kai

My personal problem with the FM two hander and impreg type set is that it is predicated on the idea that you are going to be fighting stand up style and getting hit a lot. With a small stam pool that has always led to tragedy for me. I can dodge roll once and then I have to be careful to have enough stam to break cc.

It will be nice if the new dodge roll changes make fighting rollerblades a little less frustrating.

You don't need to take a lot of hits as a melee mNB. Basically you need to criple/cloak kite until you get your bow proc. Then go in and burst. Repeat if needed. Ofc there are times when you need to act different, but it goes to all classes.
What's the problem with stam pool? I have like ~18k in noCP. That's enough.

The effort is not worth the reward when other classes and play styles do it easier and more simpler. Timing is everything and even if you get your merciless resolve off there are so many counters. Success rate is low and here's why.

1. Addons telling people when to dodge roll incoming projectiles.
2. Sorc with shields will soak up your burst damage, hit you with hunting curse, and blow you up with an instant proc execute. A well played sorc in CP will never let their shields down and never run out of stamina if played right.
3. Heavy armor Templars will soak it up and heal up and cleanse your dots, and jab you to death once in Melee range.
4. Dk will soak up the damage and always have wings up, lock you in place until they leap you in melee range.
5. Stam warden will soak it up, cast ultimate, cast beetles, and dawnbreaker you in melee range.
6. Stam sorc and stam blade will reverse kite you, los you, dodge for days, and set up their own burst in melee range.
7. Most people are running some sort of detect invis skill, steel tornado, or pot so cloak becomes pretty negated fairly quickly.

The counter counters for melee NB just aren't there to defeat the above. Playing hide and go seek relying on a small burst window with wet noodle concealed weapon and merciless resolve is just to frustrating and requires way to much work. This may work on the unexpecting noob but most people I run into know the drill and are pretty competent at doing the above.

ItsNebula

Heavy melee magblade is VERY fun to play! 5-2 (2 light)
Not the best, but its very fun to play and once you learn to play it, it can get the job done to an extent

HowlKimchi

LegacyDM wrote: »

Pijng wrote: »

ScruffyWhiskers wrote: »

kaithuzar wrote: »

by that time likely another new patch has dropped with new gear to try

Wish there was more gear that was useful for a mag melee build. Just look at the latest arena weapon offerings. It would be nice if they came up with versions that made sense for magicka. You have to go with sticks for both of those.

kaithuzar wrote: »

I haven’t seen anyone here talk about using forward momentum but my build uses it.
I haven’t seen anyone mention impreg or willpower, or even 2 heavy chest & legs in reinforced & the rest light with nirnhoned, but I’ve ran/may still be running that.
Glhf
-Kai

My personal problem with the FM two hander and impreg type set is that it is predicated on the idea that you are going to be fighting stand up style and getting hit a lot. With a small stam pool that has always led to tragedy for me. I can dodge roll once and then I have to be careful to have enough stam to break cc.

It will be nice if the new dodge roll changes make fighting rollerblades a little less frustrating.

You don't need to take a lot of hits as a melee mNB. Basically you need to criple/cloak kite until you get your bow proc. Then go in and burst. Repeat if needed. Ofc there are times when you need to act different, but it goes to all classes.
What's the problem with stam pool? I have like ~18k in noCP. That's enough.

The effort is not worth the reward when other classes and play styles do it easier and more simpler. Timing is everything and even if you get your merciless resolve off there are so many counters. Success rate is low and here's why.

1. Addons telling people when to dodge roll incoming projectiles.
2. Sorc with shields will soak up your burst damage, hit you with hunting curse, and blow you up with an instant proc execute. A well played sorc in CP will never let their shields down and never run out of stamina if played right.
3. Heavy armor Templars will soak it up and heal up and cleanse your dots, and jab you to death once in Melee range.
4. Dk will soak up the damage and always have wings up, lock you in place until they leap you in melee range.
5. Stam warden will soak it up, cast ultimate, cast beetles, and dawnbreaker you in melee range.
6. Stam sorc and stam blade will reverse kite you, los you, dodge for days, and set up their own burst in melee range.
7. Most people are running some sort of detect invis skill, steel tornado, or pot so cloak becomes pretty negated fairly quickly.

The counter counters for melee NB just aren't there to defeat the above. Playing hide and go seek relying on a small burst window with wet noodle concealed weapon and merciless resolve is just to frustrating and requires way to much work. This may work on the unexpecting noob but most people I run into know the drill and are pretty competent at doing the above.

this post makes me sad because I know how it feels xD

Melee magblade's burst never works on people who know what they're doing. It's only good in targeting potatoes. I think the main culprit is that they cant deal sustained damage all that much. It's either you get em with your burst combo, and if not, you just forward momentum ->cloak away.

One solution I did was to put funnel health on my resto bar so I can weave at range. It works in small scale pvp/IC. The problem there now is that I now have 1 additional skill to put on my already crowded bars.

HowlKimchi

ItsNebula wrote: »

Heavy melee magblade is VERY fun to play! 5-2 (2 light)
Not the best, but its very fun to play and once you learn to play it, it can get the job done to an extent

I'm curious how your heavy melee is built. Could you please show us?

PickleRick

2h+Resto is still BiS for melee mageblade post Murkmire.

I think your best choice is to stack damage 5 Spinners+5 Caluurion+2 Balorgh with VMA resto. 3x swift gives you tons of mobility and you use that and shade while working around the Caluurion and Balorgh cooldowns. Remember that Spinners and the Flame Blossom 4pc are the only equipment options to increase the damage of your proc sets. I like Balorgh because you’ll add a ton of damage to your incap before your Caluurion procs which adds another 20% damage increase.

There’s an argument for dropping Spinners for Julianos and using Onslaught, since a successful kill will ensure you have a huge defensive buff and access to your resto ult for escaping, but that’s a pretty niche build which will require very specific CP to be as effective as a generic incap setup