Frost damage for warden

Oakiyo

Hi

There is lots of topics about the nerfs/buffs in this patch. So I'm not gonna talk about that.

As a main warden, I was always frustrated about the lack of frost damages sources we've got in our kit :

• A frost AOE (nerf to the ground)
• An ultimate
• And now a very expensive aoe with short duration, low radius and low damages.

As one of the main stakes of this patch is to improve class identities, I would like to suggest converting the magic damages skills to frost damages skills.

It would allow wardens

• To use efficiently frost damages sets such as winterborn or icy furnace.
• To benefit from their currently useless frost damages passive
• To give their damage some utilities beside just damages

Futur patch could focus on using that caracteristic enhance not only the overhaul damages performance of this class (using the chilled status for example), but also its uniqueness

What do you think ?

PS : I'm french, sorry for synthax mistakes

Araneae6537

I haven’t played warden much to comment on the current state but as someone who created one with the goal of making a mage using a combination of frost and nature magic, I agree that I would like these to be strong elements in their toolkit, or at least options available. It is part of the class identify and power fantasy for me.

OG_Kaveman

Well you also can use frost wall and frost reach.

The thing with artic wind, it is a tank skill. Not really for damage, even if it scales with damage stats, it is primarily a tanks skill.

So, really, you only have 3 damage skills and 2 ultis for ice that a warden has access to. Winters revenge, frost wall, frost reach, and northern storm and frost rage.

Now, wardens did get minor vulnerability on their single target dot, but that is not ice, so you probably don't want to use that skill.

ealdwin

The main problem facing any sort of ice mage build, is that a while ago (Homestead update) ZOS decided that frost magic would be for tanking instead of damage. Frost staves aren't useful for pve dps because they taunt on heavy attack (though you could just not put points into tri-focus), and aren't optimal for pvp because they give no bonus to damage. Why would you use a frost staff when fire staves increase single target damage and lightning staves increase aoe damage. Even for defense, ice staves are suboptimal, where you would get better defense from sword and shield, and healing/buffs/shield from restoration staff.

The pity is that because frost damage was deemed for tanking, when the warden class got created, the frost skill line was built with tanks in mind. I think it's a bit too late to drastically overhaul the functionality of winter's embrace skills, but perhaps the Piercing Cold passive could be buffed to provide more frost damage (maybe 12% instead of 6%). The taunt could also be removed from frost staves to make them viable for dps once again. Or, we just need a new magicka weapon skill line (such as sword & rune - something that has been suggested before) that could provide more offensive frost magic abilities so that wardens could keep the defensive frost skills and a full icy damage build could be effectively formed.

Oakiyo

Yes ... Destruction staff skill line could use some revamp about frost element.
Fire --> Single target
Lightning --> AOE
Frost --> Sustain (usefull for both damage and tank)

The taunt is very tank oriented in a skill line named "DESTRUCTION Staff Skill". I also think it must be remove and be replace by some sort of way to gain ressource back. Like half the channel time to heavy attack (with maybe 20% or 30% less ressource back).

Araneae6537

ealdwin wrote: »

The main problem facing any sort of ice mage build, is that a while ago (Homestead update) ZOS decided that frost magic would be for tanking instead of damage. Frost staves aren't useful for pve dps because they taunt on heavy attack (though you could just not put points into tri-focus), and aren't optimal for pvp because they give no bonus to damage. Why would you use a frost staff when fire staves increase single target damage and lightning staves increase aoe damage. Even for defense, ice staves are suboptimal, where you would get better defense from sword and shield, and healing/buffs/shield from restoration staff.

The pity is that because frost damage was deemed for tanking, when the warden class got created, the frost skill line was built with tanks in mind. I think it's a bit too late to drastically overhaul the functionality of winter's embrace skills, but perhaps the Piercing Cold passive could be buffed to provide more frost damage (maybe 12% instead of 6%). The taunt could also be removed from frost staves to make them viable for dps once again. Or, we just need a new magicka weapon skill line (such as sword & rune - something that has been suggested before) that could provide more offensive frost magic abilities so that wardens could keep the defensive frost skills and a full icy damage build could be effectively formed.

I’m not a fan of weapon defining role outside of sword and board being strictly tank and restoration strictly healer — because that’s what the weapons do! It makes sense that frost staff could be an option for tanks since part of frost magic is reducing enemy movement. The Undaunted skill line with new abilities for every role is a great addition. It would have made sense for the Fighters’ Guild skill line to include a taunt IMHO.

I want to make a stamina/health tank that uses S&B and 2H, a magicka/health tank that staves only and the undaunted skill mainly to taunt (and class skills for main, fracture, etc.), and a Warden DPS frost and nature mage. None of those are meta, I know, but I like to go with character themes, concepts and not follow build recommendations to the letter, at least for most of my characters.