alcast HQ builds

xaraan

His builds are fine.

Best thing you can do is watch the videos along with them and try to understand why he makes the choices he makes (same with any build) then you'll understand what will happen when you tinker with them or customize them at all.

And understand that builds will have different uses. A lot of players will run with a variety of gear pieces and change throughout a run. For example he might have Perf. Releq. as the best setup for a stam build, but I don't often use it in dungeons (quicker ones) and don't use it in parts of some trials (like downstairs at the end of SS hm I found the stacks don't build up enough to matter).

Same thing applies to support builds, sometimes he offers builds that are more on the interesting side if not optimal (not that they can't do the job). And it can be fun to run those builds, especially in dungeons or other lighter content. But you might find that for end game meta, you'll often wear almost the same sets as you would on any other class for that role. So I say there is nothing wrong with that. I actually carry the typical tanking stuff like ebon, alkosh, yolo, etc. on my tanks, but then also have a 'fun' build for 4-man stuff just to keep things interesting.

So yeah, just make sure you understand why he does what he does and you'll be set. And be wary of changing too much without knowing why. He will often say you can use "this" food instead of "that" food and you'll only see a tiny drop in DPS, or change this or that piece of gear or enchant, etc. If you do that half a dozen times, those half dozen changes will add up. So definitely take the time to watch the vids and read the whole build guide and not just the gear and bar setups.

Watchdog

I am grateful for Alcast's builds, as they provide me with many ideas on what works with what. Some of the combinations I may never have thought of. The additional tips and notes are an awesome source of information too.

As my connection does not allow me to do any trials, and group dungeons are often a problem too, I modify the builds in a way allowing me to use the sets I can obtain. In case the build would contain Vigor or Caltrops, I have to find substitute skills too, because I don't do any PvP.

Still, Alcast provides me with very valuable information.

Pauls

Very poor pvp builds that have no use outside of zerg. How is it acceptable to recommend heavy armor build that have 1300 stamina recovery fully buffed for solo Cyrodiil? Nonsense.

mocap

one thing i dislike in Alcast builds - they doesn't viable in vet PUG dungeons, due to the fact that Alcast probably never play with randoms.

They maded all around premade or even static groups and any trials ofcuz. Like using Sanctuary set, alkosh, torugs... Means that healer must heal and sustain only, tank must buff and debuff only. Sorry Alcast, but that is not how vet DLC PUG works.

My heavy healer (almost all bonuses to heal, except Sanctuary) can switch to DD with 25-28k dps and still can heal and sustain. My DD can heal super strong with Matriarch when needed. My tank doesn't need healer at all, i can infinite sustain and heal almost any amount of damage myself, even res people under heavy fire. Cuz my characters maded to handle any crazy situations in PUG.

MyPrist

Do not like Alcast and his builds, but it is really good thing for potatos. They can do some dps in it + it is not hard for them to understand.

But i think it is far from good gaming.

Raisin

One of the most important things to remember with Alcast builds is that there's more than just pretty pictures. Say what you want about him and his builds, there's a lot of good information on the website. People just don't read it. If you actually take in all the information, click the suggested links and educate yourself you'll find a lot of 'ifs and buts' that clue you in on how dynamic these builds still are.

Alcast's CP are also usually fairly standard and more or less beginner-friendly. They're already playing into the classes and builds' strengths, but will work much better for you if you tweak them to be optimal for you. I haven't used his stuff in a while so this example may be outdated, but I definitely recall a lot of the DPS builds being slightly more weighted towards dots because the assumption is that you haven't perfected your weaving and spammable use yet. For tanking especially while there's some important guidelines to follow, there's a lot of room for individuality. All that stuff.

But yeah, if you're gonna just copy a build, actually READ the explanations that come with it. Understand why things are the way they are, and what parts are flexible, what your options are for different content. An Alcast build is very, very rarely actually 100% the best thing for you to run (just recently there was a thread about Alcast now adding Orb to a lot of mag dps builds -- most players have been running this already for a while, so his previous builds were lacking that), but there's a lot more information than people give him credit for in the build articles. It's just rare that people fully take the time to read it all.

This goes especially for tanking and healing, but is also good advice for DDs: There is no single setup you want. It's good to know some gear to start grabbing, but in the end you want to have all the necessary sets available for you to pick and choose from. Same goes for skills. It's about slowly getting a grasp of the tools you have available. Don't look at Alcast's tank build and convince yourself that Ebon (for example) is the best set for you to wear all the time because it happens to be the standard set listed in there. The reason it's the standard set listed is because it's easy to obtain, a solid basis, and especially if you're starting to tank with low-CP you're gonna be lacking the mitigation 810CP folks have so health/resistance sets are a good choice. There's a reason for everything in those builds, and you need to understand them. You will definitely get better advice on this from guildies, anyhow.

You can also use the esologs website to see some realistic builds in action, but that's more useful when you're looking for something in specific content.

In the end, Alcast isn't just a guy, he's a guy with a brand that has a lot of hype. The hype means that a lot people (both fans and haters) have a tendency to act like Alcast builds are some kind of absolute truth of meta, and especially cluseless ones will assume that what they see there is an easy insight into what he or top players in general are running right now in the content they are bulldozing. If you read everything, his builds generally clue you in on the fact that this isn't really the case... But his traffic and popularity also benefit from this hype, so it's not gonna be thrown in your face either.

Brandathorbel

dem0n1k wrote: »

Alcast puts in mad effort to make & test all these builds. I do like to check them out to get ideas, especially because he always has a video telling you why the sets/skills chosen go well together & how you might need to adjust playstyle to suit the build. Gotta respect the guy's commitment to the game.

his commitment is making money on his youtube channel and to do that you have to be commited to the game you are doing it on. It is about money.
and the mad effort to test these builds are on a dummy which in real game conditions is worthless. That is the issue. Dummies are for trying things out, comparing, seeing if you are improving. They are not there to set gear law. They ignore cleave, they ignore Aoe mechanics, they ignore player skill when it comes to having all your synergies perfectly timed and ready. And worst, they are used to exclude people.

FrancisCrawford

Drop any idea of them being the "best" and simply ask whether they're good.

I think you'll get strongly favorable response to the idea that they're good.

Four barriers to them being the "best", however, are:

• Different builds are best for different players.
• He doesn't really rethink them from scratch for every patch that changes the game.
• He doesn't vary them as much from context to context as would be ideal.
• Those considerations even aside, no opinion writer is ever perfectly correct, Alcast included.

Taemiru

xbobx15 wrote: »

Because they are not that good. They are designed for one thing, max parses on dummies. it is not realistic in real content. As i stated, his magicka builds for the most part are horrible. This magdk one is worthless. He has spell symmetry, a waste of a slot, and false gods, a waste of a set.
I have a dumner magdk, used regen food, never have to heavy attack and do not use false gods or sypell symmetry so why use resource sets and skills when not needed.

Other than sorc and magcro, no one mag class needs false gods.

*crying in endgame*

So what were you using instead of false god before elf bane? Undaunted infiltrator?
And btw, on dummy before elf bane you would use Siroria, now 3 piece FG

Brandathorbel

Taemiru wrote: »

xbobx15 wrote: »

Because they are not that good. They are designed for one thing, max parses on dummies. it is not realistic in real content. As i stated, his magicka builds for the most part are horrible. This magdk one is worthless. He has spell symmetry, a waste of a slot, and false gods, a waste of a set.
I have a dumner magdk, used regen food, never have to heavy attack and do not use false gods or sypell symmetry so why use resource sets and skills when not needed.

Other than sorc and magcro, no one mag class needs false gods.

*crying in endgame*

So what were you using instead of false god before elf bane? Undaunted infiltrator?
And btw, on dummy before elf bane you would use Siroria, now 3 piece FG

Succession

Taemiru

xbobx15 wrote: »

Succession

Pre-Harrowstorm people used FGD together with NMA and an Asylum inferno staff so if you drop false god in favor of Succession you are going to lose your minor slayer buff which is not worth it. Succession is definitely not a bad set but if you are going to replace something with it, it has to be NMA. FGD + NMA + AS staff used to be biS for the majority of fights (not dummy)

DjMuscleboy02

I'm just here to watch all the people who can't do vet trials give PvE advice over someone who's effectively lead what is widely considered the best PvE guild ESO has ever seen.

DMuehlhausen

LordGavus wrote: »

They're a good starting point for skills and gear. You should them change it up to suit you.

The problem is if you have to pug content, like most people do, if you don't have exactly what he does people will boot you.

Brandathorbel

DjMuscleboy02 wrote: »

I'm just here to watch all the people who can't do vet trials give PvE advice over someone who's effectively lead what is widely considered the best PvE guild ESO has ever seen.

and there is more than vet trials in this game

Brandathorbel

DMuehlhausen wrote: »

LordGavus wrote: »

They're a good starting point for skills and gear. You should them change it up to suit you.

The problem is if you have to pug content, like most people do, if you don't have exactly what he does people will boot you.

this is the problem. I always have a heal on my bar because you cant trust pug healers. Lokke is also useless most of the time because i dont know how many times i have gone into a trial and had maybe 5 synergies the entire run.

CMDR_Un1k0rn

I was never under the illusion that they were the "best", as some seem to think they are.

They're not. Frankly I can see all this just looking at what my High-DPS guildmates are pulling. I know their builds and they are not Alcast copy-paste.

With that said... I myself, as a bit of a bad DPS player, see a significant personal increase in DPS using his builds, over what I try to come up with myself.

It means I can clear vDLC dungeons as DPS. That's all I'm after in that role, as when I'm chasing serious stuff, I play tank, the role I'm actually good at.

And going from that touch upon tanking... It was Alcast's site that got me started. It his work that has taught me what I need to know as a tank, and what I am looking for in gear. There's a reason all my stored gear is tanking gear.

As you might have guessed, I view his site as a starting point. And as that, it is very good for anyone interested in PvE. I cannot comment on PvP.

From this starting point, I think players should be encouraged to find their strongest roles/classes, and build upon the base provided by Alcast's work. This is why I am a tank main. Because I explored everything using Alcast as a foundation, and discovered that I'm naturally capable in the tank role.

I am now expanding my horizons in this role and looking at more unorthodox tanking techniques, as well as retaining one character to truly chase the meta, as that is handy to have for high-level content, naturally.

I'll retain two DDs (stamina & magicka) and one Healer of course, as well as a PvP character. But the rest of my slots are for tanks, as it is by far my favourite role.

All this, and I do have Alcast's site to thank for getting me started in CP160+ content.

TL;DR: Alcast is a good starting point to explore yourself as a player, but do not treat it as gospel.

Mitrenga

They are amazing. Now, he's including videos, too. Alcast's builds and rotations will give you a lot of insight on why you are doing, what you are doing. After that, it's your decision to use his builds or modify them to your liking.

Nestor

Theorycrafters are a great source of ideas. I have sat next to Alcast, Woeler, Xynode and other Theirycrafters and watched them play. I have also watched Trials videos with all these guys involved (Hodor Guild)

Here are my conclusions:

1. These guys are awesome at the game and have phenomenal muscle memory and near perfect rotations. Put them in non set whit gear and they could out parse most players in the game.
2. These guys understand how builds work. They also come up with several different builds and achieve near the same performance no matter which one.
3. For each Class, there are literally dozens of builds that are within 2 or 3% of each other on a perfect rotation on a dummy parse. No matter what someone tells you, 3% does not matter, unless your chasing Trial Leaderboards. Even that has more to do with the team than anyone player, as evidenced by the huge disparity in DPS in Hodor Trials. Only VMA would having the ultimate build with the ultimate rotation make a difference at the very top of the leaderboards.

Take aways, gather ideas from many sources, create a build and rotation that makes sense to you and works for you and most importantly is fun for you. That is the Best Build.

thadjarvis

ryry2010b14_ESO wrote: »

im trying to get into warden tanking

Tank builds can't really be generalized, and warden is particularly difficult. Other than always have Inner Fire, Polar Wind, and almost always Netch+Resist Skill they are no rules.

I suggest as you learn warden tank, have fun trying these out in varied content to gain experience on when they help you and your group the most.

Winter's Embrace: all skills
Green Balance: Budding Seeds, Leeching Vines, Tree Ultimate
Animal Companions: Netch, Fetcher, Deceptive Predator

non-class skills to unlock and try out:
Destruction: Crushing Shock, Wall of Ele, Ele Drain
One and Shield: first three skills
Undaunted: all skills
Assault: Aggressive Warhorn (basically required for trials)
Support: Barrier, Eff Purge, Guard

Not required at all, but can certainly help as an intermediate with lower CP tanking hard content
Symmetry from Mages and/or Meditate from Psijiic

SidraWillowsky

Got me to 45k DPS (6 mil, this was before the trial dummy) on my stamblade. Yeah, just awful, right? It was my first char and I had no idea what I was doing, so Alcast was a godsend. I *do* find some of his magicka builds a little cut and paste-y at this point, but I've been playing for close to two years and now play a class that I understand inside and out, so I'm way more comfortable doing my own thing. Those early days though? I took Alcast as gospel and it worked.

This game provides zero guidance on builds when you're first starting. If you're new to MMOs like I was, it's even worse. The concept of a rotation, DoTs, bar swapping, penetration vs. crit, etc etc was entirely foreign. Following an Alcast build got me form 2.5k DPS at CP 220 (don't ask...) to 30k relatively quickly, and I followed his stamblade build until Elsweyr, at which point I switched up a few skills and then ultimately stopped playing the class because it was awful. I've still got him to thank for providing me with a very solid starting point.

Morgul667

They are great builds
You can try them and have something that works for most game content

Grianasteri

ryry2010b14_ESO wrote: »

how good are those builds? I was thinking about once i got to cp 160 using alcasts warden tank build. however some peopel say the builds arent good until a certain level. i get to get the most out of it u need all the cp points but does that make it automatically bad?

I use Alcast builds (and other content creators) to aid creative juices and see what a meta player is doing to optimise matters for any given set up. I rarely if ever follow any content creators builds exactly.

Alcast does generally provide beginner and mid CP options so there is a variety of viable set ups provided.

I would say however that his builds tend to be more meta optimised, as in needing expensive pots, needing team mates in a trial/group to be providing certain buffs/debuffs etc and despite the different options the builds seem optimised for 810 CP. That said I think he is one of the best out there, along with T3hasiangod and Xynode. Others like Decimus and Hacktheminator, Dottz, all good guys and have helped me over the years.
.

January1171

xbobx15 wrote: »

[snip]

IndianaJames7 wrote: »

People talking down Alcast builds smh...

I’ll say this, for someone who is unable/unwilling to spend a lot of time tinkering on PTS... his pve builds are an amazing resource. Tells you everything you need/skills to use and you can pull very respectable numbers by following them.

Because they are not that good. They are designed for one thing, max parses on dummies. it is not realistic in real content. As i stated, his magicka builds for the most part are horrible. This magdk one is worthless. He has spell symmetry, a waste of a slot, and false gods, a waste of a set.
I have a dumner magdk, used regen food, never have to heavy attack and do not use false gods or sypell symmetry so why use resource sets and skills when not needed.

Other than sorc and magcro, no one mag class needs false gods.

other thing is, he spends the time because it helps his website and youtube channel to make money. He does it for money. Its a job to him and funds his schooling.

it is a game, the fun part of games is discovery.

Trial and error. Have fun, ignore the youtubers.

[Edit for bait.]

Yes how dare he make a living off of doing something that takes the time of a full-time job if not more

His builds don't work for you? That's fine. You play how you want and build how you want. That's awesome. But there are lots of people that are tremendously helped by those builds because they give a starting point to then customize from. It helps them learn about rotations, and the kinds of skills that would work. And even if they copy paste the build exactly that's fine too. Some people don't have the time or desire to create a build, but they deserve to play too.

CMDR_Un1k0rn

January1171 wrote: »

xbobx15 wrote: »

[snip]

IndianaJames7 wrote: »

People talking down Alcast builds smh...

I’ll say this, for someone who is unable/unwilling to spend a lot of time tinkering on PTS... his pve builds are an amazing resource. Tells you everything you need/skills to use and you can pull very respectable numbers by following them.

Because they are not that good. They are designed for one thing, max parses on dummies. it is not realistic in real content. As i stated, his magicka builds for the most part are horrible. This magdk one is worthless. He has spell symmetry, a waste of a slot, and false gods, a waste of a set.
I have a dumner magdk, used regen food, never have to heavy attack and do not use false gods or sypell symmetry so why use resource sets and skills when not needed.

Other than sorc and magcro, no one mag class needs false gods.

other thing is, he spends the time because it helps his website and youtube channel to make money. He does it for money. Its a job to him and funds his schooling.

it is a game, the fun part of games is discovery.

Trial and error. Have fun, ignore the youtubers.

[Edit for bait.]

Yes how dare he make a living off of doing something that takes the time of a full-time job if not more

His builds don't work for you? That's fine. You play how you want and build how you want. That's awesome. But there are lots of people that are tremendously helped by those builds because they give a starting point to then customize from. It helps them learn about rotations, and the kinds of skills that would work. And even if they copy paste the build exactly that's fine too. Some people don't have the time or desire to create a build, but they deserve to play too.

Aye, and I commend the player who wants to DD and uses a safe, proven option in a PuG situation, over a player insisting their weak technique is better "Because he says so."

Makes my life as a tank much better, more enjoyable, and indeed, I often make friends with those who are humble.

There is no shame in needing a mentor, which is what Alcast's site provides on demand.

DMuehlhausen

They are guidelines, but he even has said they are not the builds he uses in his raids with Hodor I believe.

CMDR_Un1k0rn

DMuehlhausen wrote: »

They are guidelines, but he even has said they are not the builds he uses in his raids with Hodor I believe.

This, exactly.

JinMori

They are pretty good, and people are salty, that's about it.

But people always talk *** about youtubers, so why don't you make your own, and prove it's better if you can?

gatekeeper13

Alcasts builds didnt work great for me as they are presented on his website. I always had to chang sth either in traits, skill sets or CP e.g the Dragonknight tank build has no CC skills which is unacceptable (only grip)

But they are very helpful into showing you the way and also have good set suggestions.

MyPrist

I do not see them as best PVE guild.

I do not see peoples play better than me becouse they have more friends than me, that plays good. If you have 12 good playing people it is easier make trial faster.

But it is far from good play.

Good play is doing it on your own. With less number of people.

With good group we do vBRP for 46 minutes, with bad group 2-3 hours. But we always make it. Becouse we can do it with only 2 of us in group.

It is no problem to one shot boss with over dps, if you have constant people, but it is only 1 game side. If you can not do anything else it is a bad play. You play really bad. You can only do it in some rare condition.

If you can do it solo, yes you play good. If it is impossible to make solo, not depend on others as much as possible is a good game for me.

Different game expirience.

I one shot bosses in another game, it take us to kill any top dunguan boss less than 10 seconds, and what ? Is it a top level gaming. All do so, it is trash gaming. All can do it, but those who can not shot it can not do dunguan.

We can do it by 2 of us, some groups of 10 players can not. Becouse we perfectly know what to do. This is the good gaming, not only 1 side of the game - "we just dps all, if we can not we die".

It is not good gaming it is trash playing.

It is not hard for brain tooneshot with dps. You need know nothing more than stuck all buffs and debuffs in same time. Get big burst - and boss die very fast.

Even if you have 12 potatos with low skill you can do it. Is it now named good pve gaming in this game community ? Very funny.

By the way, infiltrator is very good set.

All sets now get standartization.

As example: relequin - good on solo target, bad in aoe. Azurblight - bad in solo, perfect in solo target + some adds.

I easely do 50 k on dummy with self buffs in relequin + azurblight on self buffs. On NORD. And what ? My azurblight strikes every 7 seconds from adds by primary target, and gives me +dps. If boss is not a solo target i get up to 70 k dps with only self buffs to primary target with only that. + i will do dps to each if this adds.

But this do not work on solo target dummy. So some trash build have more dps on it. Okey. And what ?

I can do AA hm with just me and tank. I do not need any support of other people in group.

Some people try it and do it "right", they really think that they are top guilds, but they afraid that they can lose if they use HM: "oh so hard, oh my god-can we do it?"

810 *12 party ! It is a shame !

Becouse their brain is poisoned by like Alcats players. Thay lose ability to play and think with their own brains !!!

You say Alcats give some think to community? I say it gives brain poison to it. It stole peoples ability to think and play !

People who have brain do not need his builds, they are all the same. Peoples who do not have it get even harder degrodation and will newer start thinking with ownn brain !!!

Do you know how we do vAA for example ?

We take any 300+ cp players. We can not fail here, we even have no thoughts like it in brain. Becouse we can do it only with 2 of us ! We have brain. If any 1 in group have it it is pissible to make just by cooperation even if i go solo.

vMol is not as simple, becouse your party members can wipe you any time, but we give a big +chanse to groups like that.

vCR is a problem, to many mechaniks to make, have not got enough people to not depend on others. And to many bugs with senergy, disconects and etc.

But vHof, vAS, vSS, is simple. And it is not your bad play if ither player wipes you.

If you just always play same way with constant people - yes you win the dunguan this way. But you will newer learn to play.

Becouse ability to play is like understanding the reasong of life. It can only be obtain in different situations. Not always one - the same. And such deeper it will be, as harder it will go.

JinMori

The pretentiousness of some people.

I see a lot of bs thrown around in this forum.

It almost seems like people find excuses when they see something they do not like or someone doing better then them.

You either find an excuse or a solution.