Trial gear

bongtokin420insd16

So I've been running Spriggs and Hundings but i finally have the pieces to replace hundings with rele. Do you guys think its worth it and the right move? I'd rather replace spriggs cause in a good raid group i wouldn't need the extra pen but i cant assume that.

Also, does the 5 percent bonus to damage apply to Arenas too or no?

Danksta

Neither Spriggans or Hundings are ideal front bar sets but if forced to choose I would go with Hundings. While Hundings might not be ideal if you're group isn't getting high uptime on penetration debuffs, Spriggans would be next to useless if you are.

Minor Slayer is applied in Arenas but Relequen isn't a good set for arenas because it lacks AoE and burst damage.

bongtokin420insd16

i know its not but its my first trial set and i want to use it lol. The spriggans mainly too because i have the jewelry. Is their a better overland set to pair rele with?

Again, ty for the feedback it helps the learning curve.

El_Borracho

For alternative overland sets, some are using Briarheart with Relequen. If you want to buy a set, you could get Morag Tong. That pairs nicely with Relequen, too. And it has jewelry pieces.

I don't know how you would effectively pair Relequen with Hundling's as there are no jewelry pieces for Hundling's. Do you have Relequen jewelry?

bongtokin420insd16

sadly no. thats why i was using spriggs. I believe i have some tong from the midyear mayhem.

BooPerScOOper

You can run Briarheart, Leviathan, Spriggans(if your raids penn isnt up) Hunding's(craft the jewelry at any major guild house) Morag Tong, Flanking Strategist.

Danksta

bongtokin420insd16 wrote: »

i know its not but its my first trial set and i want to use it lol. The spriggans mainly too because i have the jewelry. Is their a better overland set to pair rele with?

Again, ty for the feedback it helps the learning curve.

Veiled Heritance is another good overland set to pair with Relequen. It comes in heavy armor though, so you will need to transmute the jewelry. It will probably be much cheaper than Briarheart if you decide to buy it instead of farm it.

bongtokin420insd16

Ty danksta. i had looked there as well. I'll likely farm it all anyway as thats how i tend to roll.

El_Borracho

@bongtokin420insd16 I forgot about Leviathan. Good set, too. Its a dungeon set, so its a little harder to farm, but not much. Another old/out of fashion set is Sunderflame. It was used more when heavy attacking was the meta. But its easy to get from COA 1. Obviously, you're using these to obtain the BiS gear, so it doens't matter if they are not BiS.

I would avoid Flanking Strategist. Its five piece is completely useless for trials and arena. You have to hit from behind to make it work. Just not going to happen in most group content

John_Falstaff

One thing to be wary of with Sunderflame is that if you're running with group, the Minor Fracture debuff is often already present, so this set effect may end up being redundant - but on overall, it's a nice set.

I would say join the others' voices and say that one of nicest front bar sets to pair with Relequen is Briarheart - no transmutation needed (careful, jewelry comes in three traits, Robust may be more expensive than others), easily available weapons, effect carries over bars and the heal is nice too.

bongtokin420insd16

I actually have the rele weapons, so i just need the briar chest belt and jewelry.

Danksta

bongtokin420insd16 wrote: »

I actually have the rele weapons, so i just need the briar chest belt and jewelry.

Weapons for both bars? I wouldn't recommend running it on just one and I wouldn't recommend dropping the vMA bow if you have one available.

bongtokin420insd16

Weapons on both bars yup, and i dont have a vma yet. I'm trying to get a VDSA team together because i want to learn it and run it, but Vma i think is still quite far off. I've easily cleared ndsa and nma but those don't even compare and i know it.

I actually have more rele than i need weapon wise. Battle axe and great sword, bow, axe, dagger and sword lol. I know none of this setup is BIS, im just excited to start the next phase in the evo. And im learning ncr so that i can try running vet and get more comfortable in trials.

Kanar

If you have rele weaps on both bars, I'd suggest to use TFS on body and warrior mundus. If you can't get TFS then spriggan's with warrior is a good choice.

El_Borracho

@bongtokin420insd16 I'd run axe/dagger DW and bow over any 2H with Relequen. Just flat out better.

As for getting more comfortable in trials, do Hel Ra. Sounds like you eventually want to get Advancing Yokeda to go with the Relequen. That's where it is. Its also the easiest of all trials. And unlike the 3 Craglorn trials, Vet Cloudrest is a gigantic jump up from normal. I'd at least run some ncr +2 and +3s before vet. Its a pain

bongtokin420insd16

@El_Borracho thats exactly what im running

bongtokin420insd16

and your right, looking at Yokeda seems like it would pair well given the crit so i will look into that. The sticker is the jewelry lol none so far from either.

El_Borracho

bongtokin420insd16 wrote: »

and your right, looking at Yokeda seems like it would pair well given the crit so i will look into that. The sticker is the jewelry lol none so far from either.

In order to get jewelry from Cloudrest, you have to run at least nCR +2. That will get you blue drops with the chance of getting purple from the coffer. Vet HRC will get you chances at purple and gold jewelry drops and the same from chests and the coffer. There's just more opportunities to get weapons and jewelry in Hel Ra. Plus, a lot of people running vet seem to have the jewelry, so you can get some handouts.

But here's the colossal downside: the AY dagger. I have one. Been farming for the second, along with every single other person in there. There is a rumor that the axe/dagger DW is set to be far less effective than dagger/dagger once Murkmire hits (I'm on PS4). Whether or not that is true, its driving the mad dash. Upside is you can also get the dagger in normal, though I've found it drops more in vet. No proof of that, just observations.

nCR+2 isn't super tough, neither is a +3. But as you already have Relequen body pieces, there isn't the pressing need for it. AY body pieces are heavy so you can't effectively mix and match with Relequen on a stam build, so the Relequen jewelry isn't all that necessary. I mean, it is desirable, but not as desirable as AY jewelry.

bongtokin420insd16

So riddle me this: Rele jewelry and weapons and AY armor with monster set. Or AY Jewelry and the rele medium pieces?

I feel like my gaming mmo history tells me medium armor is better for dps. Yet the heavy AY seems to give me the same benefits minus the medium armor buffs but then i get the heavy buffs and my survive goes up. I don't have to then rely so much on group members for protections as much.

However, i feel like in a good group i should only worry about dps, hence the medium buffs.

I love this discussion, its very eye opening and helpful. TY all for the input.

bongtokin420insd16

Also if NCR + is easier the HRC vet, then maybe farming it for jewelry could be easier. Easy being relative of course.

El_Borracho

@bongtokin420insd16 Vet Hel Ra, in my opinion, is easier than nCR+3. Its just longer. Plus, there are way more PUGs for vHRC than nCR+3. Once you know the mechanics, its cake. Stuff like "stand on this rock" and "kill the enraged welvas with the boss" and "block and don't stack when its shehai phase" and "avoid shield throws." After a few times, when you go back to normal its almost comical.

You are correct, the medium armor is better for DPS, specifically stamina regen and weapon damage/crit. Heavy would be great for survivability, but that's not an issue with a decent healer and tank for buffs. With heavy, you would blaze through your stamina in one rotation and be heavy attacking to build it back up.

I currently run 5 Relequen body with AY Dagger/Dagger on the front bar and Asylum Bow (best I have, not near BiS) on the back with 3 pieces of gold AY jewelry and Stormfist head/shoulders. Until I got my gold AY necklace, I ran a purple Relequen necklace and wore a divines AY body piece instead of one Relequen piece. I thought there was not much of a change until I put back on that 5th piece and regained the 12% damage boost. Its a big boost, at least 3-5K in DPS on my not-at-all perfect rotation. If you were to wear 5 body pieces of AY versus 5 of Relequen, you would lose all of that and more. Its not just a min/max thing, its significant. I would be surprised if you could put out 15K DPS if you flipped the gear.

I'm not some sort of self-proclaimed expert on this. Far from it. I'm a stam DK who just went through the same thing you are about a month ago. Switched from Vicious Ophidian/TFS to the Relequen/AY combo. Had the same questions and got similar answers. Put the advice into practice and its worked so far.

One thing I found helpful was the "Claw of the Mad God" build someone posted on this site. Its a Relequen/AY or Relequen/Morag Tong build. I use it as I don't have a vMA bow, but this gives my Asylum bow some added utility with the increase in follow-up damage after using Acid Spray. Its a pretty easy rotation that has some very good DPS output. You could probably run it with the Spriggans/Hundlings combo until you get the AY you need.

bongtokin420insd16

interesting. I have an asylum bow. I think I'll sit on Rele with spriggs for now and start to grind out the HRC. Get into a few raids and learn the mechanics. I'm a NB but same applies here as it does for your dk i'd imagine.

Donny_Vito

bongtokin420insd16 wrote: »

So I've been running Spriggs and Hundings but i finally have the pieces to replace hundings with rele. Do you guys think its worth it and the right move? I'd rather replace spriggs cause in a good raid group i wouldn't need the extra pen but i cant assume that.

Also, does the 5 percent bonus to damage apply to Arenas too or no?

For Trials? Relequins is some of the best gear you can use, especially on bosses is where this set comes in very handy. Relequins/Advancing Yokeda (Berserking Warrior now I think) is probably one of the best combos out there. I'm on console, so there might be a better combination with Murkmire that I haven't seen yet.

John_Falstaff

One important omission is whether topic starter has vMA (or Master) bow to put on back bar. If no, then the choice of front bar set is easier, because it doesn't have to be a set with effect that carries over bar swaps. Hunding's will give same or more weapon damage as Briarheart (minus the heal). Leviathan, numerically, will give almost the same bonus as AY (and AY in that case will be even worse because it doesn't have bow in loot table anymore). And so on and so forth.

bongtokin420insd16

oh wow no AY bow? I have an asylum bow but not a vma or vdsa. And the asylum bow isn't really awesome. I get it now though. If i had a vma bow it goes on the other bar and its fine since its not melee damage i don't need AY to proc. I've been running ndsa tot ry and get a good feel for a vet run to try for that bow as i think that will be my best course of action atm. VMA is still out there for me right now. I ran it normal a few times but im not ready lol.

El_Borracho

@bongtokin420insd16 Yeah, they pulled the AY bow a while back. AY is a melee set, kind of like Ravager, where the 5th piece is a melee bonus, something you can't get with a bow.

@John_Falstaff is correct, you can find sets like Leviathan or Briarheart that have a bow to give the full 5-piece on both bars. As I too run Asylum, I agree its not great, which is why I run that build that incorporates Acid Spray into the rotation which buffs Poison Injection. Again, not a substitute for the vMA or Master's Bows, but it does an adequate amount of damage on the bow bar.

TheDarkShadow

Rele is a very niche set that I don't use that often. If you are stamblade or stamplar (hardly see other stam class now) War Machine is useful in more situations. Of course it's best use with AY or ravager, but if you don't have those, hunding work too. You can use 5 piece hunding body and WM weapon. It's better than 5 rele body and hunding weapon for you will lose 5 pieces Hunding bonus on bow bar (assume you use Maelstrom bow).

For arena like vBRP, vDSA or vMA I use 2 fang and ravager as stamplar, or 2 fang and VO as other class.

Danksta

TheDarkShadow wrote: »

Rele is a very niche set that I don't use that often. If you are stamblade or stamplar (hardly see other stam class now) War Machine is useful in more situations. Of course it's best use with AY or ravager, but if you don't have those, hunding work too. You can use 5 piece hunding body and WM weapon. It's better than 5 rele body and hunding weapon for you will lose 5 pieces Hunding bonus on bow bar (assume you use Maelstrom bow).

For arena like vBRP, vDSA or vMA I use 2 fang and ravager as stamplar, or 2 fang and VO as other class.

There are very few trial fights that Relequen isn't good for. Some you may have to make an effort to keep up your stacks, but it is still far and away the best set for stam dps.