MagBlade Theorycrafting Changes Thread

Rianai

Flame light attacks deal a lot more dmg than the lighting ones. This (+ the 8% single target dmg bonus) is the main reason why fire staff is used over the latter. Lighting is only good on builds that focus on aoe or heavy attacks.

GhostofDatthaw

Rianai wrote: »

Flame light attacks deal a lot more dmg than the lighting ones. This (+ the 8% single target dmg bonus) is the main reason why fire staff is used over the latter. Lighting is only good on builds that focus on aoe or heavy attacks.

You misunderstand, I ment just the enchants it's good to use shock because it can proc vulnerability

Rianai

I wasn't referring to your comment.

@Iskiab was wondering why dk use flame staff, that's what i was answering.

Koensol

Iskiab wrote: »

I have a noob question.

What exactly procs enchantments? I’m not 100% clear on this, I think it’s only light and heavy attacks plus weapon abilities, is this right?

So swallow soul - no
Light attacks - yes
Ritual of retribution - yes?
Crushing shock - ?

I think I’m getting confused between procing status effects and enchantments.

Light attacks and weapon skills proc enchants on impact when used. Furthermore, lingering ground dots from weapon skills (like wall of elements) keep proccing the enchants on cd while they are active and hitting a target, even after switching bar. From what I remember, an exception to the rule is blade cloak from dw, which I think also keeps proccing enchants on cooldown after switching bars. It does for poisons at least.

Keep in mind though that different enchant types have different cooldowns in order to prevent confusion on uptimes and proc rates.

So in your case, ritual of retribution = no. And crushing shock = yes.

GhostofDatthaw

Rianai wrote: »

I wasn't referring to your comment.

@Iskiab was wondering why dk use flame staff, that's what i was answering.

Oh I got ya, I didn't see his comment. Yeah lightning on dk used to be the way to go a couple years ago though, I forget exactly what it was, my buddy is magdk main, it was like lash proced on off balance and shock wall would proc off balance and vulnerability or something. I kinda forget now exactly what the advantage was then but I remember him smacking me with multiple power lashes in a row. Now though yeah it's all flame or maybe maybe snb if you like to block

Koensol

GhostofDatthaw wrote: »

Rianai wrote: »

I wasn't referring to your comment.

@Iskiab was wondering why dk use flame staff, that's what i was answering.

Oh I got ya, I didn't see his comment. Yeah lightning on dk used to be the way to go a couple years ago though, I forget exactly what it was, my buddy is magdk main, it was like lash proced on off balance and shock wall would proc off balance and vulnerability or something. I kinda forget now exactly what the advantage was then but I remember him smacking me with multiple power lashes in a row. Now though yeah it's all flame or maybe maybe snb if you like to block

Tbh, lightning staff can still work really well in some builds that focus more on AoE cleave. Engulfing flames, talons, inhale and leap all hit harder with a lightning staff. Might not be ideal on all builds but I have used it and it worked well.

WacArnold

thankyourat wrote: »

WacArnold wrote: »

Well I finally got this new update downloaded (my internet is slow as balls). Business as usual in eso, same classes same bs. Pretty disheartening. I'm gonna shelf the magblade. I just cannot find a way to take a punch in this game while throwing some punches myself.

Gonna play my magsorc. Eh not my fav but I patch or two ago I jumped on the magsorc and man It was a night and day difference in power.

If you play a meta magblade build it’s not that bad. If you use BTB/Necro/Troll king you are very survivable with good damage. You don’t really need a delayed burst ability because the bow hits with the damage of two abilities. With minor protection from undo and 10% mitigation from merciless you can get you damage shield to be sturdy enough to get you out of bad situations. Rapid regen and swallow soul are alright together. You also have cloak for flat out escape. Magblade isn’t op but it’s really not that bad either.

I will give that a try. Something I lack is damage to get the job done quickly I tanked up this patch. Also no shade to gtfo. Right now my fights are so long its crazy. Then here comes a bunch of people and im getting smacked around trying to cloak out.

Shade, I hate that skill so much. I try anything and everything not to use it. I always double cast it and instantly teleport to it, but when faced with multiple enemies I cant get away with just cloak and definitely not tanky enough to just stand there getting wailed on by a couple heavy damage builds.

Guess I will have to start practicing shade. Makes me cringe thinking about it.

zrazmab16_ESO

Can anyone advise which set would be better to pair with mother sorrow, Alfiq's or New moon acolyte. I have alfiq fire staff ninrhoned with weapon damage enchantment, while new moon acolyte fire staff infused with shock damage enchantment. Tooltip for swallow soul and elemental weapon is greater on alfiqs by 400. I run 2.1k mag recovery with both sets, just new moon have 5.5k less magicka and 5% increased cost while having overal less tooltip damage. Is it worth changing trait on new moon to nirnhoned and adding weapon damage enchant, as I would still sit at 36k magicka with 2.1k recovery.

khajiitNPC

New Moon all the way.

Langeston

zrazmab16_ESO wrote: »

Can anyone advise which set would be better to pair with mother sorrow, Alfiq's or New moon acolyte. I have alfiq fire staff ninrhoned with weapon damage enchantment, while new moon acolyte fire staff infused with shock damage enchantment. Tooltip for swallow soul and elemental weapon is greater on alfiqs by 400. I run 2.1k mag recovery with both sets, just new moon have 5.5k less magicka and 5% increased cost while having overal less tooltip damage. Is it worth changing trait on new moon to nirnhoned and adding weapon damage enchant, as I would still sit at 36k magicka with 2.1k recovery.

I wasn't super impressed with New Moon on my magblade tbh, so I'd go Alfiq's — I'd miss the extra magicka too much (especially if I'm in no-CP.) If you choose New Moon, you might want to try playing it with infused first before transmuting. The two are extremely close, and from what I understand infused outperforms nirn in many scenarios.

Iskiab

Langeston wrote: »

zrazmab16_ESO wrote: »

Can anyone advise which set would be better to pair with mother sorrow, Alfiq's or New moon acolyte. I have alfiq fire staff ninrhoned with weapon damage enchantment, while new moon acolyte fire staff infused with shock damage enchantment. Tooltip for swallow soul and elemental weapon is greater on alfiqs by 400. I run 2.1k mag recovery with both sets, just new moon have 5.5k less magicka and 5% increased cost while having overal less tooltip damage. Is it worth changing trait on new moon to nirnhoned and adding weapon damage enchant, as I would still sit at 36k magicka with 2.1k recovery.

I wasn't super impressed with New Moon on my magblade tbh, so I'd go Alfiq's — I'd miss the extra magicka too much (especially if I'm in no-CP.) If you choose New Moon, you might want to try playing it with infused first before transmuting. The two are extremely close, and from what I understand infused outperforms nirn in many scenarios.

I just tried New Moon out today, switched out spinners.

I’m not sure what to think of it either, I ran OOM a couple times. I would be sure to put cloak on the non-New Moon bar for sure. I’ve been using it like spinners and only using the 5 piece on one bar, think that’s it’s best use.

GhostofDatthaw

New moon is an interesting set but it's one of those very one sided sets that imo don't fit magnb in it's current form. Sets like julianos, spell strat or new moon are suboptimal to me because they focus so hard on damage. They buff your base damage alot, but the only thing that honestly buffs is rapid Regen if you run it. Swallow soul is damage done so it is effected by pen and in turn give better heals with spinners in my experience. Meanwhile you are left with having to balance your remaining stats with 1 set and glyphs.

Langeston

Iskiab wrote: »

Langeston wrote: »

zrazmab16_ESO wrote: »

Can anyone advise which set would be better to pair with mother sorrow, Alfiq's or New moon acolyte. I have alfiq fire staff ninrhoned with weapon damage enchantment, while new moon acolyte fire staff infused with shock damage enchantment. Tooltip for swallow soul and elemental weapon is greater on alfiqs by 400. I run 2.1k mag recovery with both sets, just new moon have 5.5k less magicka and 5% increased cost while having overal less tooltip damage. Is it worth changing trait on new moon to nirnhoned and adding weapon damage enchant, as I would still sit at 36k magicka with 2.1k recovery.

I wasn't super impressed with New Moon on my magblade tbh, so I'd go Alfiq's — I'd miss the extra magicka too much (especially if I'm in no-CP.) If you choose New Moon, you might want to try playing it with infused first before transmuting. The two are extremely close, and from what I understand infused outperforms nirn in many scenarios.

I just tried New Moon out today, switched out spinners.

I’m not sure what to think of it either, I ran OOM a couple times. I would be sure to put cloak on the non-New Moon bar for sure. I’ve been using it like spinners and only using the 5 piece on one bar, think that’s it’s best use.

Yes, cloak on the back bar is a necessity with that set. I wound up going back to spinner's, I think it's just a better set for magblades overall (at least for how I play.) Penetration, max magicka, & sustain are my priorities & the spell damage & crit chance from New Moon just didn't feel quite as useful.

zrazmab16_ESO

I wasn't super impressed with New Moon on my magblade tbh, so I'd go Alfiq's — I'd miss the extra magicka too much (especially if I'm in no-CP.) If you choose New Moon, you might want to try playing it with infused first before transmuting. The two are extremely close, and from what I understand infused outperforms nirn in many scenarios.[/quote]

For my playstyle I can’t really decide. New moon on on my fight initiations (cloack>bar swap>Light attack>Elemental weapon) seems to be performing better due to shock enchantment. Ofcourse having 40k+ mag with alfiq is comfortable, but i think 36k should be very reasonable amount to work around even for cloaking magblade.

Is there any another sets, which could perform better combined with mothers sorrow, on my initial rotation damage? As well i run slimecraw and can’t see any better option for my build atm

Langeston

Are sets like Innate Axiom & War Maiden affected by the Master Assassin passive and/or Major Sorcery? I always just assumed that they weren't because the spell damage from them doesn't show up in your stats, but it just occurred to me that it's possible that that is an incorrect assumption.

ExistingRug61

Langeston wrote: »

Are sets like Innate Axiom & War Maiden affected by the Master Assassin passive and/or Major Sorcery? I always just assumed that they weren't because the spell damage from them doesn't show up in your stats, but it just occurred to me that it's possible that that is an incorrect assumption.

I believe they do someone tested for the buffs, see
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/343255/psa-for-sets-like-automaton-netch-war-maiden/p1
I assume master assassin would work similarly.

Additionally in addition to magic damage I think I saw that someone had tested and found that war maiden affects Resto (and maybe other) heals as well. Can’t find that thread now so you might want to check.

ExistingRug61

The problem I find with those sets though is they won’t help your destro light attacks so most of the time you are better off still going for a generic damage buff.

Mayrael

Langeston wrote: »

Are sets like Innate Axiom & War Maiden affected by the Master Assassin passive and/or Major Sorcery? I always just assumed that they weren't because the spell damage from them doesn't show up in your stats, but it just occurred to me that it's possible that that is an incorrect assumption.

They are affected. I saw once very detailed vid about it which proved that major sorcery affects War Maiden thus I think its safe to asume it all works together as it should.

Moonsorrow

fred4 wrote: »

If ZOS ever decide to nerf Zaan, Cauurion, Cloak sustain, Cloak speed, or they take the sustain out of the CP system, I'm done for.

Well.. they did toy around with the idea of changing Caluurion into a sort of magicka version of Alkosh, so it would proc Penetration debuffs on enemies instead of pure damage procs.

True story (or Riften tavern RP gossip - you decide).

Moonsorrow

Langeston wrote: »

Are sets like Innate Axiom & War Maiden affected by the Master Assassin passive and/or Major Sorcery? I always just assumed that they weren't because the spell damage from them doesn't show up in your stats, but it just occurred to me that it's possible that that is an incorrect assumption.

Yes they are affected.

All such sets, like Sun, Netch, Ysgramor with them bonuses to certain type of attack all are calculated with Major (and Minor) Sorcery and other modifiers like Minor and Major Courage what comes to those attack types, with Innate Axiom obviously also on class heals.

So yes, If you use Innate Axiom and use class spammable like Swallow Soul as an example, the damage scales up correctly with Major Sorcery and other buffs to spell damage.


Oh and before you ask, Sun, Netch, Ysgramor sets also affect each of their elemental type destro staff Light and heavy attack damage. So Silks of the Sun makes your Inferno staff light attacks have a bit more punch as an example.

GhostofDatthaw

zrazmab16_ESO wrote: »

I wasn't super impressed with New Moon on my magblade tbh, so I'd go Alfiq's — I'd miss the extra magicka too much (especially if I'm in no-CP.) If you choose New Moon, you might want to try playing it with infused first before transmuting. The two are extremely close, and from what I understand infused outperforms nirn in many scenarios.

For my playstyle I can’t really decide. New moon on on my fight initiations (cloack>bar swap>Light attack>Elemental weapon) seems to be performing better due to shock enchantment. Ofcourse having 40k+ mag with alfiq is comfortable, but i think 36k should be very reasonable amount to work around even for cloaking magblade.

Is there any another sets, which could perform better combined with mothers sorrow, on my initial rotation damage? As well i run slimecraw and can’t see any better option for my build atm

Tbh I would drop mother sorrow all together. I really dislike building crit like that because you can easily hit like 40-50% crit without it. And have much better stats in the process. Ms is a pve set through and through imo. You would be better off dropping Ms for a stat set like btb, shackle, necro, and then running your damage set.

Iskiab

GhostofDatthaw wrote: »

zrazmab16_ESO wrote: »

I wasn't super impressed with New Moon on my magblade tbh, so I'd go Alfiq's — I'd miss the extra magicka too much (especially if I'm in no-CP.) If you choose New Moon, you might want to try playing it with infused first before transmuting. The two are extremely close, and from what I understand infused outperforms nirn in many scenarios.

For my playstyle I can’t really decide. New moon on on my fight initiations (cloack>bar swap>Light attack>Elemental weapon) seems to be performing better due to shock enchantment. Ofcourse having 40k+ mag with alfiq is comfortable, but i think 36k should be very reasonable amount to work around even for cloaking magblade.

Is there any another sets, which could perform better combined with mothers sorrow, on my initial rotation damage? As well i run slimecraw and can’t see any better option for my build atm

Tbh I would drop mother sorrow all together. I really dislike building crit like that because you can easily hit like 40-50% crit without it. And have much better stats in the process. Ms is a pve set through and through imo. You would be better off dropping Ms for a stat set like btb, shackle, necro, and then running your damage set.

Agreed. Crit itself is okay, crit modifier (in CP only) is what gives it punch.

Pvp wise mother’s sorrow is only a good healing set.

zrazmab16_ESO

GhostofDatthaw wrote: »

Tbh I would drop mother sorrow all together. I really dislike building crit like that because you can easily hit like 40-50% crit without it. And have much better stats in the process. Ms is a pve set through and through imo. You would be better off dropping Ms for a stat set like btb, shackle, necro, and then running your damage set.

Thanks for input. thinking of it I could achieve same
Crit chance by replacing MS with Julianos and using spell crit potions. Or swapping MS for Btb/alfiq and have a bit less crit chance, thought it’s not that important since in pvp I initiate fight from cloack.

Thx for advice guys

WacArnold

@thankyourat

Tryed that build It does feel tanky. However, I still feel like my damage is lacking. I did a bunch of duels tonight trying it out, I feel better using this setup then my other build. But I dont see how you get a 24k tool tip mine is 20.8k with 50k magicka. I do not have infused on my restro staff with a damage enchant, is that adding 3k damage?

My bar setup is: shade, ele drain, fear, swallow, merciless, sHarvest
Siphoning, rapid, dampen, rat, cloak, TG

I dont like fear anymore since I dont have lotus fan, prolly switch that out for the destro kockback skill. Its probably me not setting up combos very well, I have never been good at a static rotation. Im a mess right now trying to juggle all the skills, need a lot more practice with this setup.

But if there is anyway to pump out more damage please let me know. I couldn't break through any sorcs shields, but I think if I can get ranged cc that might help.

BTW for anybody on xbox there is a cp bug with shields not increasing.

fred4

brandonv516 wrote: »

I tried out Marauder's Haste finally. The speed buff is nice and easy to proc, but I just feel that my build is lacking by trying to use a utility set.

So back to my bread and butter.

I tried it too. You lose so much stat compared to wearing something like Bright-Throat's. The clincher for me was that I use RAT. Given the choice of RAT -> dodge roll -> Cloak or Healing Ward -> dodge roll -> Cloak (I play with a fair amound of stam regen), I find RAT is basically fine, as is Healing Ward without the speed at different times. The set would probably suit a build that uses the light armor shield. Then again, you lose so much mag and thereby weaken your shield. It's just not very good.

It's frustrating that shield size is tied to magicka and that healing is tied to damage stats. Everything pushes you towards optimizing your basic stats. Many things that are nice to play result in a damage or healing / shielding deficit that nerfs you pretty hard.

Langeston

fred4 wrote: »

brandonv516 wrote: »

I tried out Marauder's Haste finally. The speed buff is nice and easy to proc, but I just feel that my build is lacking by trying to use a utility set.

So back to my bread and butter.

I tried it too. You lose so much stat compared to wearing something like Bright-Throat's. The clincher for me was that I use RAT. Given the choice of RAT -> dodge roll -> Cloak or Healing Ward -> dodge roll -> Cloak (I play with a fair amound of stam regen), I find RAT is basically fine, as is Healing Ward without the speed at different times. The set would probably suit a build that uses the light armor shield. Then again, you lose so much mag and thereby weaken your shield. It's just not very good.

It's frustrating that shield size is tied to magicka and that healing is tied to damage stats. Everything pushes you towards optimizing your basic stats. Many things that are nice to play result in a damage or healing / shielding deficit that nerfs you pretty hard.

What if you back bar Marauder's with Willpower on the front bar?
Or, if your other set is something like Spinner's, front bar that, back bar Marauder's, with 2 willpower rings.

ExistingRug61

Langeston wrote: »

fred4 wrote: »

brandonv516 wrote: »

I tried out Marauder's Haste finally. The speed buff is nice and easy to proc, but I just feel that my build is lacking by trying to use a utility set.

So back to my bread and butter.

I tried it too. You lose so much stat compared to wearing something like Bright-Throat's. The clincher for me was that I use RAT. Given the choice of RAT -> dodge roll -> Cloak or Healing Ward -> dodge roll -> Cloak (I play with a fair amound of stam regen), I find RAT is basically fine, as is Healing Ward without the speed at different times. The set would probably suit a build that uses the light armor shield. Then again, you lose so much mag and thereby weaken your shield. It's just not very good.

It's frustrating that shield size is tied to magicka and that healing is tied to damage stats. Everything pushes you towards optimizing your basic stats. Many things that are nice to play result in a damage or healing / shielding deficit that nerfs you pretty hard.

What if you back bar Marauder's with Willpower on the front bar?
Or, if your other set is something like Spinner's, front bar that, back bar Marauder's, with 2 willpower rings.

If your using healing ward you are probably already back barring brp Resto. Maybe if you were using harness/dampen but then as Fred noted you will run into low stat issues.

Really, if you want the speed and you don’t already have swift jewellery that’s a better option - three gold swift will give you 18% at the cost of ~2.5k mag (if replacing arcane) or ~300 spell damage or regen (if replacing infused). Which should be even or less than what you can gain with a more specialised 5piece bonus from another set. Plus the speed is permanent.

fred4

WacArnold wrote: »

Shade, I hate that skill so much. I try anything and everything not to use it. I always double cast it and instantly teleport to it.

This! This is why I hate the skill too, especially in lag. I'm not fond of the Merciless mini-game either.

The alternative to using the shade is RAT and speed in general. Perhaps my build will suit you? I play a ganker who wants to brawl when she can, especially in the latest iteration. It's a build for having fun more so than be competitive at duelling. You won't kill decent players with this in a 1v1, but I really don't know what that would take. In terms of dealing with sorcs, the only thing I can recommend is fearing them like clockwork, which will sort out the mediocre ones from the good ones eventually. The only post that impressed the heck out of me and who I believe may play a truly competitive magstamblade is this one:

[ As an aside: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/501408/stamina-nightblade-iron-cannon-pvp-build-1vx-2vx-video-max-possible-damage-build-dragonhold/p1 ]

If you look at the stats of my build, well, they're complete s h * t, but it's a Caluurion build and the crit is decent, so there's that. It also just plays well:

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=191290

The basic attack combo is Lotus Fan -> Fear (+ Caluurion) -> Soul Harvest -> Swallow Soul -> Impale.

I used to run Zaan, but with my current bar layout I find that I back away from the target after Soul Harvest. It's more consistent damage than attacking with Concealed, which I ran before, which compensates a little for the lack of Zaan.

So I was looking at how I could get some tankiness into the build and decided to try the recently buffed Endurance. Still testing this, but I like it. Might go back to simply Bright Throat's and Troll King, but the idea behind running the resistance pieces is to be tankier against burst.

I've written about speed and sustain before. Very briefly, this build is optimised for perma-cloaking and casting a fair amount of RAT in cloak. You need cost reduction for that. Speed, stamina sustain and cloak has great synergy. Unless the stamplar you're facing (bane of my existence) is really, really good (and using detect pots), RAT cancelled into dodge roll into cloak gets you away from them, although you do have to juggle the direction, sometimes rolling through them. I have gotten into the habit of cancelling either RAT or Healing Ward with a dodge roll. This is doable in CP. In no CP this playstyle requires a bigger stam pool really.

Don't underestimate the Infused health restore enchant, both for damage in such a low stat build and for the healing. You have to keep up Siphoning Attacks as well. Stacking Swallow Soul, the enchant, SA and the health regen allows you to face tank at least some templars without constantly having to break off the attack and trying to get out of range. In general with the speed and sustain, this build is about relentlessly staying on target. That said, you do have to cloak or fear and run the proper combo as appropriate. One of my mistakes has been forgetting about the resistances from the shadow skills.

I've posted the following video before. Nothing new to see here, but in case you haven't read the whole thread. This is an earlier iteration of the build with Concealed as the main damage source and two shields, but I think it illustrates the difference speed and stam sustain makes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dxsUVeGGLc

Langeston

ExistingRug61 wrote: »

Langeston wrote: »

fred4 wrote: »

brandonv516 wrote: »

I tried out Marauder's Haste finally. The speed buff is nice and easy to proc, but I just feel that my build is lacking by trying to use a utility set.

So back to my bread and butter.

I tried it too. You lose so much stat compared to wearing something like Bright-Throat's. The clincher for me was that I use RAT. Given the choice of RAT -> dodge roll -> Cloak or Healing Ward -> dodge roll -> Cloak (I play with a fair amound of stam regen), I find RAT is basically fine, as is Healing Ward without the speed at different times. The set would probably suit a build that uses the light armor shield. Then again, you lose so much mag and thereby weaken your shield. It's just not very good.

It's frustrating that shield size is tied to magicka and that healing is tied to damage stats. Everything pushes you towards optimizing your basic stats. Many things that are nice to play result in a damage or healing / shielding deficit that nerfs you pretty hard.

What if you back bar Marauder's with Willpower on the front bar?
Or, if your other set is something like Spinner's, front bar that, back bar Marauder's, with 2 willpower rings.

If your using healing ward you are probably already back barring brp Resto. Maybe if you were using harness/dampen but then as Fred noted you will run into low stat issues.

Really, if you want the speed and you don’t already have swift jewellery that’s a better option - three gold swift will give you 18% at the cost of ~2.5k mag (if replacing arcane) or ~300 spell damage or regen (if replacing infused). Which should be even or less than what you can gain with a more specialised 5piece bonus from another set. Plus the speed is permanent.

Yeah, I personally can't afford to do either swift or Marauder's, as I don't feel like I could stand the lower damage — there are already plenty of builds that I can't kill as it is. (Healing is just so over the top right now.) I just thought it might be a decent compromise.

fred4

Langeston wrote: »

fred4 wrote: »

brandonv516 wrote: »

I tried out Marauder's Haste finally. The speed buff is nice and easy to proc, but I just feel that my build is lacking by trying to use a utility set.

So back to my bread and butter.

I tried it too. You lose so much stat compared to wearing something like Bright-Throat's. The clincher for me was that I use RAT. Given the choice of RAT -> dodge roll -> Cloak or Healing Ward -> dodge roll -> Cloak (I play with a fair amound of stam regen), I find RAT is basically fine, as is Healing Ward without the speed at different times. The set would probably suit a build that uses the light armor shield. Then again, you lose so much mag and thereby weaken your shield. It's just not very good.

It's frustrating that shield size is tied to magicka and that healing is tied to damage stats. Everything pushes you towards optimizing your basic stats. Many things that are nice to play result in a damage or healing / shielding deficit that nerfs you pretty hard.

What if you back bar Marauder's with Willpower on the front bar?
Or, if your other set is something like Spinner's, front bar that, back bar Marauder's, with 2 willpower rings.

Those are all good ideas, but it doesn't change the fact that you can swap out Marauder for Bright Throat's in all those setups...

EDIT: Well, OK, you would usually double-bar Bright-Throat's, Alfiq or Necro. The real problem with back barring Marauder is that the BRP resto is too good.

...and have two things:

(1) A ton more magicka, good for your shield(s). Shields really only come alive when you're over 40K or, better yet, 50K magicka. That's where you actually start to feel tanky from using shields alone. Talking about warden and magblade here, not sorc.

(2) Bright Throat's gives you some IDLE MAGICKA REGEN from the 5-piece. On paper the regen from Marauder's looks almost the same, but it is not. The higher idle magicka regen translates into better sustain for RAT when the combat engine considers you out of combat while you're cloaking. This is what really kills the Marauder set for me as a perma-cloaking magblade. I can gain a higher top speed by using it, but my RAT sustain suffers. I also cannot stack RAT and the Marauder speed in a single GCD and I need the snare removal. So it doesn't do anything for me when I most need it, at least not in a build that uses shields reactively (Healing Ward) rather than proactively (Dampen / Harness). I feel ExistingRug is right. Swift is better and all Swift + Concealed + Steed + RAT already gets you pretty close to the speed cap.