Magblade builds

Canned_Apples

Anyone know of a good no-cp build? Most of them are pretty dated.

GhostofDatthaw

Could look at the mag blade theory crafting thread that's on this same page

stamdammered

Deciding between necro/alfiq/bloodspawn and necrosis/spinners/bloodspawn

Edit: Necro* but necrosis sounds like a good set

Iskiab

Depends on what role and setting you want to play.

For duels shadowrend (pet monster) is pretty good. You also don’t need as much sustain so those sets could be decent.

For BGs/small scale/healing you’ll need more sustain so bright throat’s good. Aim for 2k mag recovery min.

For no-CP I’m general:
- you’ll need recovery to do well
- Pen’s a better damage stat than spell power
- you’ll be squishy without a defensive set (or two) in light, or heavy but heavy will hurt your sustain

You can usually peg where someone plays by how they build:

Solo you’ll need to burst someone down yourself so they skimp recovery, more get one kill and then retreat style so are useless in BGs.

Small scale coordination and sustain is more important so they’ll aim for 2k+ recovery.

Large scale’s all guild secret so no one will say a thing.

A lot is playstyle and what works for one person won’t work for another. Just trial and error, and practice light attack weaving, without weaving magblades are bad.

Canned_Apples

GhostofDatthaw wrote: »

Could look at the mag blade theory crafting thread that's on this same page

that's filled with a lot of fluff.
it's one of those needle in a haystack bits.

Canned_Apples

Iskiab wrote: »

Depends on what role and setting you want to play.

For duels shadowrend (pet monster) is pretty good. You also don’t need as much sustain so those sets could be decent.

For BGs/small scale/healing you’ll need more sustain so bright throat’s good. Aim for 2k mag recovery min.

For no-CP I’m general:
- you’ll need recovery to do well
- Pen’s a better damage stat than spell power
- you’ll be squishy without a defensive set (or two) in light, or heavy but heavy will hurt your sustain

You can usually peg where someone plays by how they build:

Solo you’ll need to burst someone down yourself so they skimp recovery, more get one kill and then retreat style so are useless in BGs.

Small scale coordination and sustain is more important so they’ll aim for 2k+ recovery.

Large scale’s all guild secret so no one will say a thing.

A lot is playstyle and what works for one person won’t work for another. Just trial and error, and practice light attack weaving, without weaving magblades are bad.

was never a fan of large scale. that usually depends on who's better at ult bombing.
I guess I can continue trying a few things. I've noticed a few dot+poison builds in bgs.

GhostofDatthaw

Canned_Apples wrote: »

GhostofDatthaw wrote: »

Could look at the mag blade theory crafting thread that's on this same page

that's filled with a lot of fluff.
it's one of those needle in a haystack bits.

Yeah I agree, point I was making is you could have just asked in the thread. Already populated with magnb.

fred4

You're going to get a ton of different answers. Would probably help to know your playstyle preferences. Ranged or melee? Brawler, ganker or bomber? BGs or Cyro? Single target or AOE? Solo or small group? Shadowy Disguise or no cloak? Do you like the shade? Do you like the Merciless mini-game? How much do you value speed? Do you mind being a vampire?

My own build is heavily influenced by those questions. In addition one of my main concerns has always been to retain control of the fight and be able to draw or retreat, if I couldn't win. I've played melee magblade since forever, e.g. since before Caluurion, Zaan and RAT were a thing. I hate the Merciless mini-game and, to a lesser extent, the shade. I also don't want to be a vampire. This meant the Concealed speed buff and some form of root / snare removal were always my go to choices, which lead me to Forward Momentum and the melee playstyle a long time ago.

Zevrro

Iskiab wrote: »

Depends on what role and setting you want to play.

For duels shadowrend (pet monster) is pretty good. You also don’t need as much sustain so those sets could be decent.

For BGs/small scale/healing you’ll need more sustain so bright throat’s good. Aim for 2k mag recovery min.

For no-CP I’m general:
- you’ll need recovery to do well
- Pen’s a better damage stat than spell power
- you’ll be squishy without a defensive set (or two) in light, or heavy but heavy will hurt your sustain

You can usually peg where someone plays by how they build:

Solo you’ll need to burst someone down yourself so they skimp recovery, more get one kill and then retreat style so are useless in BGs.

Small scale coordination and sustain is more important so they’ll aim for 2k+ recovery.

Large scale’s all guild secret so no one will say a thing.

A lot is playstyle and what works for one person won’t work for another. Just trial and error, and practice light attack weaving, without weaving magblades are bad.

Why would you use shadowrend on a magblade? Fear lost minor maim but shadow image still has it.

fred4

Zevrro wrote: »

Iskiab wrote: »

Depends on what role and setting you want to play.

For duels shadowrend (pet monster) is pretty good. You also don’t need as much sustain so those sets could be decent.

For BGs/small scale/healing you’ll need more sustain so bright throat’s good. Aim for 2k mag recovery min.

For no-CP I’m general:
- you’ll need recovery to do well
- Pen’s a better damage stat than spell power
- you’ll be squishy without a defensive set (or two) in light, or heavy but heavy will hurt your sustain

You can usually peg where someone plays by how they build:

Solo you’ll need to burst someone down yourself so they skimp recovery, more get one kill and then retreat style so are useless in BGs.

Small scale coordination and sustain is more important so they’ll aim for 2k+ recovery.

Large scale’s all guild secret so no one will say a thing.

A lot is playstyle and what works for one person won’t work for another. Just trial and error, and practice light attack weaving, without weaving magblades are bad.

Why would you use shadowrend on a magblade? Fear lost minor maim but shadow image still has it.

Fair question, but probably just bar space? Shadowrend also has / had a tendency to run after cloaked nightblades, so it's nice that way.

Canned_Apples

fred4 wrote: »

You're going to get a ton of different answers. Would probably help to know your playstyle preferences. Ranged or melee? Brawler, ganker or bomber? BGs or Cyro? Single target or AOE? Solo or small group? Shadowy Disguise or no cloak? Do you like the shade? Do you like the Merciless mini-game? How much do you value speed? Do you mind being a vampire?

My own build is heavily influenced by those questions. In addition one of my main concerns has always been to retain control of the fight and be able to draw or retreat, if I couldn't win. I've played melee magblade since forever, e.g. since before Caluurion, Zaan and RAT were a thing. I hate the Merciless mini-game and, to a lesser extent, the shade. I also don't want to be a vampire. This meant the Concealed speed buff and some form of root / snare removal were always my go to choices, which lead me to Forward Momentum and the melee playstyle a long time ago.

That sounds like a very unique build... I don't mind race against time, or being a vampire, but I do not like merciless resolve- which seems to be the go to play style.... the majority of builds are built around that one skill, which any half decent player can easily avoid. Once you hear the ability's sfx, you dodge roll back and can avoid both the fear.
Right now..if I get hit with a Dizzy, I'm usually dead before I can break free because of the generic combo- master's poison injection, dizzy, onslaught, execute.

brandonv516

Canned_Apples wrote: »

fred4 wrote: »

You're going to get a ton of different answers. Would probably help to know your playstyle preferences. Ranged or melee? Brawler, ganker or bomber? BGs or Cyro? Single target or AOE? Solo or small group? Shadowy Disguise or no cloak? Do you like the shade? Do you like the Merciless mini-game? How much do you value speed? Do you mind being a vampire?

My own build is heavily influenced by those questions. In addition one of my main concerns has always been to retain control of the fight and be able to draw or retreat, if I couldn't win. I've played melee magblade since forever, e.g. since before Caluurion, Zaan and RAT were a thing. I hate the Merciless mini-game and, to a lesser extent, the shade. I also don't want to be a vampire. This meant the Concealed speed buff and some form of root / snare removal were always my go to choices, which lead me to Forward Momentum and the melee playstyle a long time ago.

That sounds like a very unique build... I don't mind race against time, or being a vampire, but I do not like merciless resolve- which seems to be the go to play style.... the majority of builds are built around that one skill, which any half decent player can easily avoid. Once you hear the ability's sfx, you dodge roll back and can avoid both the fear.
Right now..if I get hit with a Dizzy, I'm usually dead before I can break free because of the generic combo- master's poison injection, dizzy, onslaught, execute.

I play BGs only and having more success now that I removed Merciless Resolve from my bar.

I put Elemental Weapon on instead and it's very satisfying.

Sustain and damage are awesome, defense not so much. But I do have many Cloak, Image, Dampen, and Rapid Regen, all of which I use very tactically.

Metemsycosis

Caluu, lich, skoria, brp resto
Soul trap, reach, elemental weapon, pulse, impale, meteor
Elusive mist, cloak, cripple, ward, harness, lights champion

Devastating damage
High speed, timely shields
Sit on ultimate

Canned_Apples

I've tried Elemental Weapon, but it always felt a little clunky for me.

Dampen usually only lasts one hit for me. I never understood how people manage to sustain that and healing ward.

fred4

Well, for what it's worth, this is the build I play, along with notes I made earlier. The notes were mostly written in Elsweyr, but I still play this exact build (with slightly changed CP). While I've played for 4 years and am fairly decent, I am not top tier, nor am I aiming to be meta. This build is my idea of fun, which includes little foresight, high speed, and the sustain to keep fighting and being able to throw in some dodge rolls.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=164253

I mostly play in CP. In no CP you may want to use Deep Thoughts in the flex spot, occupied by Inner Light. You might also want to use Shacklebreaker instead of Bright Throat. If I had a BRP resto, I'd use that.

Danica is a melee magicka nightblade ganker / brawler. The highlights of this build include instant, reliable burst from Caluurion, random additional pressure from Zaan, extreme speed, ability to perma-cloak, and unusually good stamina sustain. Downsides are low sustained damage, low stats and high squishiness. However the latter is compensated for by the speed, cloak, and a high number of defensive and utility skills.

This is a highly reactive build. There is only one buff to keep up and the attack rotation is very simple. Most skills are situational. There is no complex attack or buff rotation to maintain. The front bar is more or less set in stone:

Shadowy Disguise: Needs no explanation.

Lotus Fan: The most-used opener. Buffs everything via Minor Vulnerability, including Caluurion and Zaan. Reliably procs Caluurion from Cloak and gets you into close range, so Caluurion hits the target one second later, without a travel time. Allows you to pick out your target from range, remaining safe until you attack.

Soul Harvest: Typically used after Lotus Fan. Coincides with Caluurion and buffs the subsequent Concealed spam.

Concealed Weapon: The main spammable. Can be used as an opener from Cloak. Will proc Caluurion and stun in that case. Crucial to combine with Cloak on the same bar for the movement speed.

Siphoning Attacks: Magblade healing over time is poor. This is one of the few heals it has available. Here for the sustain, the heals, and the extra 8% magicka on this bar. Cast in cloak, it does not uncloak you and is your only buff skill.

Race Against Time: Root and snare immunity is essential for magblade so you can get away from DKs, jabbing templars, and so on. This build relies on speed and eschews Shadow Image and Mist Form. You therefore need this skill. Simple as that. Can be cast without uncloaking you. This build has the crazy good sustain needed to constantly cast this inbetween cloak and not run down your magicka. Use it for escape, to run after mounted players, to get to the rear of an enemy group before attacking, and to keep up with fast (stamina) players you could not otherwise pressure with melee.

The back bar is more flexible in theory, however since this is a very low-stat build, the shields are fairly crap and I do feel you need both of them, Dampen and Healing Ward, cast in that order so as to protect the Ward. Harness Magicka is too small and a disadvantage when duelling stamina characters.

Since this a very low health build, you want at least one shadow skill on the back bar. That is Fear. The alternative is Shadow Image, but the attraction of this build is a lack of pre-planning and such high speed that Shadow Image is unnecessary and would often be out of range. Fear is useful during escape, when Zaan procs, and to run down people's stamina in prolonged duels.

Swallow Soul is my spammable for Imperial City. It's decent healing when used for PvE, and you hit daedra hard with that Infused Prismatic enchant. It's also safer to stay at range in boss fights with such a squishy build. It offers some healing during PvP, an option to fire into zergs from range, and a (weak) "execute" for targets trying to run away, especially vampires.

Temporal Guard is by far the best back bar ultimate I have tried. The resto ult (both morphs) have let me down so many times, I've lost count. Bolstering Darkness felt very meh. The Minor Protection from Temporal Guard is permanent when you are on the defensive, shielding bar, and noticeable. The block shield also helps and nothing else can save you, when focused by multiple players, like activating this ult at the right moment.

Inner Light is a flex spot. I have tried and discarded many skills in this spot. Radiating Regen may be an option, this patch. I hate the Merciless mini-game and the resistance buff comes and goes without you being fully aware. The shade is cumbersome and redundant. Inner Light suprised me. It slightly buffs the shield, healing, and the damage from Swallow Soul. It's mostly passive, thus one less thing to worry about. Used actively it works quite well on a high-speed build, though. It can be close to expiry, but when you run across a cloaking nightblade, they are still exposed for several seconds. Alternatives in this spot include Retreating Maneuvers or Siege Shield in Cyro and Deep Thoughts in no CP.

Moving on to the gear and sundries, let's start with that drink: Hissmir Fisheye Rye. I have tried being tankier, by wearing Buffer of the Swift - a good set - but this drink basically beats them all. It gives you the stamina sustain to throw in a few dodge rolls. When all is said and done, having the ability to dodge roll can mitigate more damage in outnumbered situations than anything else. It is also more fun than just being tanky. I find it very freeing, sometimes literally so. If you are under severe pressure by, say, a high-damage stamplar, whose jabs snare you, you may be forced to spam shields and have no time for Race Against Time. In those situations only a dodge roll will save you.

That drink leads you straight to Bright-Throat's. You need a high magicka set to get that stat up to a reasonable value. Also, the constant use of Race Against Time (RAT) and Cloak is very hard on magicka, thus Bright-Throat's is preferred over Alfiq. I have worn many other sets. Skooma Smuggler is redundant, when you use RAT. Buffer of the Swift would leave you with too little magicka and sustain. Likewise Auroran's Thunder. Spinner is IMO outclassed by Auroran's Thunder in this build, but either way you need the magicka from Bright-Throat's more, not least for the shield.

Incidentally, I have used Amber Plasm for stamina sustain in the past, but it gets you to maybe 900 regen, not 1.3K, like the drink. It's not enough. Amber Plasm leaves you wanting, unable to give up Deep Thoughts. Hissmir Fisheye Rye fixes that. Only something like Amber + Shackle + Blood Spawn would get you to the same value, but then you're talking about a completely different, non-proc build.

The gold Swift jewelry and Steed mundus are, IMO, very much needed to make the most of this playstyle. Your ability to escape, as well as your ability to hit players with melee and Zaan, increases exponentially with every percentage point of speed. The longer you play, the more you'll notice that you are better able to deal with good players, when you have more speed.

Caluurion and Zaan are the backbone of this build. The procs are independent of your stats. In a way, this is what enables the build to have such high sustain and speed, yet still be effective. Caluurion on it's own is somewhat "meh". It's the combination with Zaan that gives you a chance in longer fights against better or tankier players.

Zaan being a melee range set is sometimes seen as a disadvantage. In this build, though, it is an advantage. Other proc sets can proc from ranged damage. Zaan does not. This means it won't be on cooldown when you jump in for the Caluurion proc and it has a better chance to proc at just the right time during the gank.

The hard pieces to get are Zaan and the Sharpened Caluurion fire staff. That staff, in that trait, best buffs the procs. You want Caluurion single-barred, so you can control the proc. Basically the only things that activate it are Lotus Fan and Concealed. This means Caluurion procs at short range, giving opponents the least reaction time, and coincides with Soul Harvest, the Concealed stun, or both.

The ideal race is Breton. I would not recommend anything else and the 3x cost reduction glyphs are highly recommended on top of being a Breton. You're not going to add much by going for spell damage or Major Sorcery for that matter. This build is about the procs. The high cost reduction enables Cloak + RAT sustain in and out of combat. Please see below on sustain and why the distinction between being in and out of combat is significant.

Why put 31 points into Thaumaturge when the only DOT is Lotus Fan? For the Perfect Strike passive. The Prismatic resto staff enchant uses Weapon Crit. At least in earlier patches. Not re-tested in Scalebreaker.

Finally, the potion that goes with this build is Immovability / Detection / Magicka and I am using double-DOT poisons on the front bar.

The Psijic orbs passive is left disabled, as an orb firing off could give you away while casting RAT in cloak.

ABOUT MAGICKA SUSTAIN ON MAGBLADE:

Resource recovery, in ESO, differs depending on whether you are in combat or out of combat. The recoveries shown on your character sheet are the in combat figures. The out of combat figures are not shown and are typically higher.

Since the game engine considers nightblades out of combat when they first approach a fight in cloak, it is the out of combat magicka regeneration that determines how well you can sustain cloak in that scenario. This is particularly important if you are a ganker, loitering and waiting for the right moment to strike.

Out of combat magicka regeneration is influenced by the Atronach mundus and drinks. It is NOT influenced by magicka recovery bonuses on gear and jewelry. For example a set like Transmutation, which includes 2 magicka recovery bonuses, does not increase your out of combat magicka recovery and, therefore, does not help with your out of combat cloak sustain.

If you wish to enable high cloak sustain for your magicka nightblade, I recommend you use light armor, the Atronach mundus and/or a high magicka recovery drink. Add magicka cost reduction enchants on jewelry as necessary, but not magicka regeneration enchants. Use Siphoning Attacks, which you can cast inbetween cloak, especially in no CP.

Sets that give you magicka regeneration, such as Transmutation and Lich are not a good replacement for the Atro munus and/or drink on a perma-cloaking magblade. Seducer, even though it includes cost reduction, is also not particularly good. You mainly need damage sets to go with your sustain from mundus and drink.

Canned_Apples

Metemsycosis wrote: »

Caluu, lich, skoria, brp resto
Soul trap, reach, elemental weapon, pulse, impale, meteor
Elusive mist, cloak, cripple, ward, harness, lights champion

Devastating damage
High speed, timely shields
Sit on ultimate

Three back bar sets?
been trying to get brp. hard to get a group.

brandonv516

Canned_Apples wrote: »

I've tried Elemental Weapon, but it always felt a little clunky for me.

Dampen usually only lasts one hit for me. I never understood how people manage to sustain that and healing ward.

I took Healing Ward off my bar for the first time ever because it's too weak as an "oh ***" shield. I put Dampen on in lieu of it.

Dampen does not last through much damage though, you are correct - that's why I cast it and then follow with Rapid Regen. Then I Shade and Cloak or use RaT and kite.

DUTCH_REAPER

Race against time, cloak, concealed blade and lotus are a must. I run 2H then Inferno

Staff bar is cripple entropy soul trap and swallow soul. In my flex spots I rotate between mass hysteria or accelerating drain. The last flex spot is either sap essence or restoring path.

Nirn on both weps

Inferno staff and 2H sword

Lotus in, use onslaught ult, concealed wep, then bar swap, accelerating drain (tap block to cancel and start backing up) cripple, soul trap and swallow. Either they die or I bug out.

-a dirty magblade

Canned_Apples

fred4 wrote: »

Well, for what it's worth

that's interesting. I've tried something similar and it worked well enough for open world, but not in BGs.
Being that squishy and in melee is not possible.

ScruffyWhiskers

fred4 wrote: »

The hard pieces to get are Zaan and the Sharpened Caluurion fire staff.

Just curious how many dungeon runs you had to do to get the flame staff? I've been trying to a get one for Icy Conjuror or Cal but after dozens of runs I've got full jewelry sets but no magic stick. Got a frost one. Got a restro. No flame though. RNG land.

fred4

Canned_Apples wrote: »

fred4 wrote: »

Well, for what it's worth

that's interesting. I've tried something similar and it worked well enough for open world, but not in BGs.
Being that squishy and in melee is not possible.

Indeed, I only play open world.

If I wasn't so committed to the whole cloak / speed / sustain playstyle, I would probably run a simple mag-stacking build, like I do on my magden. That means something like Alfiq + Necro, 1x Domi + 1x Stonekeeper, Mage mundus, dual-stat or tri-stat food and all magicka recovery enchants. Use Inner Light and you get your mag into the 50K to 60K range in CP. Shields (Dampen) turn a corner from "pretty useless, but the best I have" to "actually pretty good". Probably use 3x DOTs: Entropy, Soul Trap, Cripple. Maybe Skoria. You get the idea.

fred4

ScruffyWhiskers wrote: »

fred4 wrote: »

The hard pieces to get are Zaan and the Sharpened Caluurion fire staff.

Just curious how many dungeon runs you had to do to get the flame staff? I've been trying to a get one for Icy Conjuror or Cal but after dozens of runs I've got full jewelry sets but no magic stick. Got a frost one. Got a restro. No flame though. RNG land.

Two runs on PC EU. I was very lucky. More runs on NA, maybe 10.

I mean, two runs when I was looking for it. Had been using 2H before RAT. I'm sure I must have run that dungeon at least two dozen times on PC EU overall.

Zevrro

ScruffyWhiskers wrote: »

fred4 wrote: »

The hard pieces to get are Zaan and the Sharpened Caluurion fire staff.

Just curious how many dungeon runs you had to do to get the flame staff? I've been trying to a get one for Icy Conjuror or Cal but after dozens of runs I've got full jewelry sets but no magic stick. Got a frost one. Got a restro. No flame though. RNG land.

I didn't take me that many runs but I might have been lucky. The thing that took the longest was queuing.

Canned_Apples

I've been searching for that inferno staff too... I only run it in normal, as there's no point in doing vet for a staff...
I get instant pops, but the groups are hit or miss.

Iskiab

Zevrro wrote: »

Iskiab wrote: »

Depends on what role and setting you want to play.

For duels shadowrend (pet monster) is pretty good. You also don’t need as much sustain so those sets could be decent.

For BGs/small scale/healing you’ll need more sustain so bright throat’s good. Aim for 2k mag recovery min.

For no-CP I’m general:
- you’ll need recovery to do well
- Pen’s a better damage stat than spell power
- you’ll be squishy without a defensive set (or two) in light, or heavy but heavy will hurt your sustain

You can usually peg where someone plays by how they build:

Solo you’ll need to burst someone down yourself so they skimp recovery, more get one kill and then retreat style so are useless in BGs.

Small scale coordination and sustain is more important so they’ll aim for 2k+ recovery.

Large scale’s all guild secret so no one will say a thing.

A lot is playstyle and what works for one person won’t work for another. Just trial and error, and practice light attack weaving, without weaving magblades are bad.

Why would you use shadowrend on a magblade? Fear lost minor maim but shadow image still has it.

Pets are useful for more than minor maim.

I’d say experiment. It’s good to see more people experimenting with the class and trying different things.

The class is definitely a little weaker than last patch so less things work, but it’s still versatile. Don’t confuse playstyle with the class.

HowlKimchi

Iskiab wrote: »

Zevrro wrote: »

Iskiab wrote: »

Depends on what role and setting you want to play.

For duels shadowrend (pet monster) is pretty good. You also don’t need as much sustain so those sets could be decent.

For BGs/small scale/healing you’ll need more sustain so bright throat’s good. Aim for 2k mag recovery min.

For no-CP I’m general:
- you’ll need recovery to do well
- Pen’s a better damage stat than spell power
- you’ll be squishy without a defensive set (or two) in light, or heavy but heavy will hurt your sustain

You can usually peg where someone plays by how they build:

Solo you’ll need to burst someone down yourself so they skimp recovery, more get one kill and then retreat style so are useless in BGs.

Small scale coordination and sustain is more important so they’ll aim for 2k+ recovery.

Large scale’s all guild secret so no one will say a thing.

A lot is playstyle and what works for one person won’t work for another. Just trial and error, and practice light attack weaving, without weaving magblades are bad.

Why would you use shadowrend on a magblade? Fear lost minor maim but shadow image still has it.

Pets are useful for more than minor maim.

That is true but not for shadowrend. It isn't targetable at all so no LOS shenanigans, aaaand it can be kited so shade is much better as a damage source. The only reason i'd use shadowrend is if i dont want to use shade for bar space. But I'd argue that shade is the best skill a magblade can have. Shadowrend is nice for duels true, but for classes other than magblades. Similar to how slimecraw is a good monster piece but you wouldn't use it on a warden.

mursie

current magblade build:

2pc engine guardian (light)
5pc shacklebreaker (heavy chest, medium legs, light for rest)
5pc front bar spinners inferno and jewels. build recovery into enchants as you see necessary
clockwork food - no vampire - 1k base health recovery
backbar maelstrom restoration staff infused with spell dmg

front bar: concealed / impale / shade / cloak / lotus fan / soul harvest
back bar: soul trap / RAT / debilitate / entropy / radiant regen / resto ult

From range you are dotting target on resto bar with soul trap, debilitate, and entropy. when you're ready, front bar into a lotus fan dot and immediate cloak into a conceal for the stun. soul harvest and impale for the finish.

merciless was gutted - so it's gone. temporal is a great ult for passive dmg mitigation if you could sit and take damage. u can't.. so it isn't.

i'm no magblade expert but this seems to be working well for me. probably very vanilla for most. alot of dots and still has that melee feel when you're ready to execute. doesn't have to go melee though..and can easily kill steal from range with impale.

just know - it ain't no magplar. try that beautiful jesus beam and you'll be cringing at your broke back impale. but hey - you have cloak

GhostofDatthaw

mursie wrote: »

current magblade build:

2pc engine guardian (light)
5pc shacklebreaker (heavy chest, medium legs, light for rest)
5pc front bar spinners inferno and jewels. build recovery into enchants as you see necessary
clockwork food - no vampire - 1k base health recovery
backbar maelstrom restoration staff infused with spell dmg

front bar: concealed / impale / shade / cloak / lotus fan / soul harvest
back bar: soul trap / RAT / debilitate / entropy / radiant regen / resto ult

From range you are dotting target on resto bar with soul trap, debilitate, and entropy. when you're ready, front bar into a lotus fan dot and immediate cloak into a conceal for the stun. soul harvest and impale for the finish.

merciless was gutted - so it's gone. temporal is a great ult for passive dmg mitigation if you could sit and take damage. u can't.. so it isn't.

i'm no magblade expert but this seems to be working well for me. probably very vanilla for most. alot of dots and still has that melee feel when you're ready to execute. doesn't have to go melee though..and can easily kill steal from range with impale.

just know - it ain't no magplar. try that beautiful jesus beam and you'll be cringing at your broke back impale. but hey - you have cloak

How is the sustain with vma resto? I dropped it for brp when they dropped the timer on Regen, I figured it destroys the sustain from it since it's what 4s timer on a 5s skill?

ScruffyWhiskers

mursie wrote: »

current magblade build:

2pc engine guardian (light)
5pc shacklebreaker (heavy chest, medium legs, light for rest)
5pc front bar spinners inferno and jewels. build recovery into enchants as you see necessary
clockwork food - no vampire - 1k base health recovery
backbar maelstrom restoration staff infused with spell dmg

front bar: concealed / impale / shade / cloak / lotus fan / soul harvest
back bar: soul trap / RAT / debilitate / entropy / radiant regen / resto ult

From range you are dotting target on resto bar with soul trap, debilitate, and entropy. when you're ready, front bar into a lotus fan dot and immediate cloak into a conceal for the stun. soul harvest and impale for the finish.

merciless was gutted - so it's gone. temporal is a great ult for passive dmg mitigation if you could sit and take damage. u can't.. so it isn't.

i'm no magblade expert but this seems to be working well for me. probably very vanilla for most. alot of dots and still has that melee feel when you're ready to execute. doesn't have to go melee though..and can easily kill steal from range with impale.

just know - it ain't no magplar. try that beautiful jesus beam and you'll be cringing at your broke back impale. but hey - you have cloak

The one thing that stands out for me is no siphon skill on the front bar to get the passive magicka boost. Also, if you can make room for inner light that will bump your magicka and crit up.

Canned_Apples

GhostofDatthaw wrote: »

mursie wrote: »

current magblade build:

2pc engine guardian (light)
5pc shacklebreaker (heavy chest, medium legs, light for rest)
5pc front bar spinners inferno and jewels. build recovery into enchants as you see necessary
clockwork food - no vampire - 1k base health recovery
backbar maelstrom restoration staff infused with spell dmg

front bar: concealed / impale / shade / cloak / lotus fan / soul harvest
back bar: soul trap / RAT / debilitate / entropy / radiant regen / resto ult

From range you are dotting target on resto bar with soul trap, debilitate, and entropy. when you're ready, front bar into a lotus fan dot and immediate cloak into a conceal for the stun. soul harvest and impale for the finish.

merciless was gutted - so it's gone. temporal is a great ult for passive dmg mitigation if you could sit and take damage. u can't.. so it isn't.

i'm no magblade expert but this seems to be working well for me. probably very vanilla for most. alot of dots and still has that melee feel when you're ready to execute. doesn't have to go melee though..and can easily kill steal from range with impale.

just know - it ain't no magplar. try that beautiful jesus beam and you'll be cringing at your broke back impale. but hey - you have cloak

How is the sustain with vma resto? I dropped it for brp when they dropped the timer on Regen, I figured it destroys the sustain from it since it's what 4s timer on a 5s skill?

he's using the 10 second morph.

The regen isn't the best...probably why he's also running engine.. but it's a decent back bar resto staff/

mursie

with the 10 second morph that hits you and a few other allies - it basically procs every 4 secs giving 600 recovery. that's substantial enough in my book.

debilitate plus clockwork plus vma resto plus engine guard makes recovery feel good wtih all jewels set to spell dmg.

regarding siphon skill on front bar... it's a good point. i'd probably switch shade front bar with debilitate and change back bar resto ult to siphon ult.

as for inner light - i wish i could fit that on the bar as well but sacrifices. i like that 8% minor vuln and dot. the options to look at for making room would be shade or trap. both are really nice so just have to weigh how important 7% magicka and crit is vs those tradeoffs.