Maintenance for the week of October 5:
• [COMPLETE] ESO Store and Account System for maintenance – October 8, 8:00AM EDT (12:00 UTC) – 12:00PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
• [COMPLETE] ESO Store and Account System for maintenance – October 8, 8:00AM EDT (12:00 UTC) – 12:00PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
The Markarth DLC and Update 28 base game patch are now available to test on the PTS! Read the full patch notes here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/categories/pts/
Vampire Lord Set and Perfect Scion
TX12001rwb17_ESO
✭✭✭✭✭
✭
✭
Does anyone know how this morph interacts with that set given the Perfect Scion morph puts you at stage 5.
-
red_emu✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭You still get the set buffed benefits of stage 4 but no drawbacks while in Perfect Scion form.
Useless morph to be honest, as you will hardly run out of resources or die within the 20 seconds.Edited by red_emu on August 8, 2020 12:30PMPC - EU:
Falathren Noctis - AD MagNecro
Falathren - AD StamSorc
Falathren Eryndaer - AD StamDen
Falathren Irimion - AD MagPlar
Talagan Falathren - AD StamDK
Falathren Infernis - AD MagDK
Your-Ex - AD MagBlade -
TX12001rwb17_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭You still get the set buffed benefits of stage 4 but no drawbacks while in Perfect Scion form.
Useless morph to be honest, as you will hardly run out of resources or die within the 20 seconds.
I own Bastion Sangunaris, I can duel people there and stay in the form forever.Edited by TX12001rwb17_ESO on August 8, 2020 3:43PM -
Vevvev✭✭✭✭✭
✭Even with the Vampire Lord set you run into the problem where you do not generate ultimate when Perfect Scion is active. You can't create a situation where you can stay in it indefinitely in the actual game which is quite sad to be honest. The old batswarm ultimate could generate ult while it was active giving you opportunities to keep it on in certain circumstances.PC NA
Breton MagDK -
TX12001rwb17_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭
You miss the point, you believe the morph is only bad because it is limited to 20 seconds and you cannot do much in 20 seconds, staying in stage 5 for a long time however is a different story because you can sustain the form, in a long duel this effect would become much more noticeable. -
SlimeBro1✭✭✭✭TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »
You miss the point, you believe the morph is only bad because it is limited to 20 seconds and you cannot do much in 20 seconds, staying in stage 5 for a long time however is a different story because you can sustain the form, in a long duel this effect would become much more noticeable.
Alright riddle me this. You apparently missed the point as well. Who in their right mind is going to duel you inside of your house besides friends maybe, exactly?
You are literally saying "Well, because I can fight people in my house then the morph becomes good". That literally means nothing. -
TX12001rwb17_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »
You miss the point, you believe the morph is only bad because it is limited to 20 seconds and you cannot do much in 20 seconds, staying in stage 5 for a long time however is a different story because you can sustain the form, in a long duel this effect would become much more noticeable.
Alright riddle me this. You apparently missed the point as well. Who in their right mind is going to duel you inside of your house besides friends maybe, exactly?
You are literally saying "Well, because I can fight people in my house then the morph becomes good". That literally means nothing.
Well I have friends so it means something to me. -
SlimeBro1✭✭✭✭TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »
You miss the point, you believe the morph is only bad because it is limited to 20 seconds and you cannot do much in 20 seconds, staying in stage 5 for a long time however is a different story because you can sustain the form, in a long duel this effect would become much more noticeable.
Alright riddle me this. You apparently missed the point as well. Who in their right mind is going to duel you inside of your house besides friends maybe, exactly?
You are literally saying "Well, because I can fight people in my house then the morph becomes good". That literally means nothing.
Well I have friends so it means something to me.
That doesn't mean the form isn't useless though. The mere fact you literally have to say "Well, it is alright inside this house and no where else" proves the point. There is no argument here, it is objectively a bad morph unless you're in this house.
And friend-wise, why would they duel in this house when they know you can stay in scion form forever? Wouldn't really be a fair duel in the slightest and would be kind of cheap unless you both were scions.
Don't get me wrong, you do you. Have fun with the morph in your home by all means, but don't try to sit here and tell people it is useful when you have to use "it lasts forever in my house" as a claim to back your statement up.
-
Erelah✭✭✭✭TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »
You miss the point, you believe the morph is only bad because it is limited to 20 seconds and you cannot do much in 20 seconds, staying in stage 5 for a long time however is a different story because you can sustain the form, in a long duel this effect would become much more noticeable.
Alright riddle me this. You apparently missed the point as well. Who in their right mind is going to duel you inside of your house besides friends maybe, exactly?
You are literally saying "Well, because I can fight people in my house then the morph becomes good". That literally means nothing.
Well I have friends so it means something to me.
That doesn't mean the form isn't useless though. The mere fact you literally have to say "Well, it is alright inside this house and no where else" proves the point. There is no argument here, it is objectively a bad morph unless you're in this house.
And friend-wise, why would they duel in this house when they know you can stay in scion form forever? Wouldn't really be a fair duel in the slightest and would be kind of cheap unless you both were scions.
Don't get me wrong, you do you. Have fun with the morph in your home by all means, but don't try to sit here and tell people it is useful when you have to use "it lasts forever in my house" as a claim to back your statement up.
Not knowing the poster I can think of a few reasons off the top of my head.
1. Vampire dueling event.
2. Playing the lone silver guard.
3. RP event.
Now I will say the form (and all vampire skills) are useless and the only good thing of the skill line is the run invisible passive Which is the only reason why I have a vampire since greymoor with the rest of my characters curing it. Also if we are going to go with fair and dueling unless both characters are running the same gear and have the same skills loaded one player has a statistical advantage. -
redshirt_49✭✭✭✭TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »
You miss the point, you believe the morph is only bad because it is limited to 20 seconds and you cannot do much in 20 seconds, staying in stage 5 for a long time however is a different story because you can sustain the form, in a long duel this effect would become much more noticeable.
Alright riddle me this. You apparently missed the point as well. Who in their right mind is going to duel you inside of your house besides friends maybe, exactly?
You are literally saying "Well, because I can fight people in my house then the morph becomes good". That literally means nothing.
Well I have friends so it means something to me.
That doesn't mean the form isn't useless though. The mere fact you literally have to say "Well, it is alright inside this house and no where else" proves the point. There is no argument here, it is objectively a bad morph unless you're in this house.
And friend-wise, why would they duel in this house when they know you can stay in scion form forever? Wouldn't really be a fair duel in the slightest and would be kind of cheap unless you both were scions.
Don't get me wrong, you do you. Have fun with the morph in your home by all means, but don't try to sit here and tell people it is useful when you have to use "it lasts forever in my house" as a claim to back your statement up.
Not knowing the poster I can think of a few reasons off the top of my head.
1. Vampire dueling event.
2. Playing the lone silver guard.
3. RP event.
Now I will say the form (and all vampire skills) are useless and the only good thing of the skill line is the run invisible passive Which is the only reason why I have a vampire since greymoor with the rest of my characters curing it. Also if we are going to go with fair and dueling unless both characters are running the same gear and have the same skills loaded one player has a statistical advantage.
Not sure what you're talking about. Simmering Frenzy is insane. Blood for Blood/Arterial Burst are powerful spammables. Hypnosis is an incredibly effective skill in BGs. AoE unblockable stun? Lol. Yes, please. Mist Form + Simmering Frenzy + Mist Form exit buff = massive burst DPS. -
SlimeBro1✭✭✭✭redshirt_49 wrote: »TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »
You miss the point, you believe the morph is only bad because it is limited to 20 seconds and you cannot do much in 20 seconds, staying in stage 5 for a long time however is a different story because you can sustain the form, in a long duel this effect would become much more noticeable.
Alright riddle me this. You apparently missed the point as well. Who in their right mind is going to duel you inside of your house besides friends maybe, exactly?
You are literally saying "Well, because I can fight people in my house then the morph becomes good". That literally means nothing.
Well I have friends so it means something to me.
That doesn't mean the form isn't useless though. The mere fact you literally have to say "Well, it is alright inside this house and no where else" proves the point. There is no argument here, it is objectively a bad morph unless you're in this house.
And friend-wise, why would they duel in this house when they know you can stay in scion form forever? Wouldn't really be a fair duel in the slightest and would be kind of cheap unless you both were scions.
Don't get me wrong, you do you. Have fun with the morph in your home by all means, but don't try to sit here and tell people it is useful when you have to use "it lasts forever in my house" as a claim to back your statement up.
Not knowing the poster I can think of a few reasons off the top of my head.
1. Vampire dueling event.
2. Playing the lone silver guard.
3. RP event.
Now I will say the form (and all vampire skills) are useless and the only good thing of the skill line is the run invisible passive Which is the only reason why I have a vampire since greymoor with the rest of my characters curing it. Also if we are going to go with fair and dueling unless both characters are running the same gear and have the same skills loaded one player has a statistical advantage.
Not sure what you're talking about. Simmering Frenzy is insane. Blood for Blood/Arterial Burst are powerful spammables. Hypnosis is an incredibly effective skill in BGs. AoE unblockable stun? Lol. Yes, please. Mist Form + Simmering Frenzy + Mist Form exit buff = massive burst DPS.
Not sure what you're talking about. Simmering Frenzy is actually quite trash and not used in any end game PvE content. Might get away with it in PvP though. Blood for Blood and Arterial burst are okay, but will be useless once this patch goes through.
Hypnosis isn't that good of a skill in PvP nor PvE as there are PLENTY of other stuns in the game that do the same thing, but more. It being unblockable is not accurate compensation for the fact people have to look at you.
Mist Form has always been a good PvP skill, doesn't mean the skill isn't useless in PvE though. Which it is. Only use it has in PvE is going in and out of it quickly for the extra 300 spell/weapon dmg.
Edited by SlimeBro1 on August 9, 2020 6:57PM -
SlimeBro1✭✭✭✭TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »
You miss the point, you believe the morph is only bad because it is limited to 20 seconds and you cannot do much in 20 seconds, staying in stage 5 for a long time however is a different story because you can sustain the form, in a long duel this effect would become much more noticeable.
Alright riddle me this. You apparently missed the point as well. Who in their right mind is going to duel you inside of your house besides friends maybe, exactly?
You are literally saying "Well, because I can fight people in my house then the morph becomes good". That literally means nothing.
Well I have friends so it means something to me.
That doesn't mean the form isn't useless though. The mere fact you literally have to say "Well, it is alright inside this house and no where else" proves the point. There is no argument here, it is objectively a bad morph unless you're in this house.
And friend-wise, why would they duel in this house when they know you can stay in scion form forever? Wouldn't really be a fair duel in the slightest and would be kind of cheap unless you both were scions.
Don't get me wrong, you do you. Have fun with the morph in your home by all means, but don't try to sit here and tell people it is useful when you have to use "it lasts forever in my house" as a claim to back your statement up.
Not knowing the poster I can think of a few reasons off the top of my head.
1. Vampire dueling event.
2. Playing the lone silver guard.
3. RP event.
Now I will say the form (and all vampire skills) are useless and the only good thing of the skill line is the run invisible passive Which is the only reason why I have a vampire since greymoor with the rest of my characters curing it. Also if we are going to go with fair and dueling unless both characters are running the same gear and have the same skills loaded one player has a statistical advantage.
Alright that's fine and fair. But again, these things still do not make the morph not useless, so I don't get the point.
And differences in gear is absolutely fair when dueling. Being able to stay in your ult form forever though? That might as well be a cheat code lol. Big difference there. -
redshirt_49✭✭✭✭
Not sure what you're talking about. Simmering Frenzy is actually quite trash and not used in any end game PvE content. Might get away with it in PvP though. Blood for Blood and Arterial burst are okay, but will be useless once this patch goes through.
Hypnosis isn't that good of a skill in PvP nor PvE as there are PLENTY of other stuns in the game that do the same thing, but more. It being unblockable is not accurate compensation for the fact people have to look at you.
Mist Form has always been a good PvP skill, doesn't mean the skill isn't useless in PvE though. Which it is. Only use it has in PvE is going in and out of it quickly for the extra 300 spell/weapon dmg.
What you're saying is it isn't useful...to you. That does not make it useless. -
SlimeBro1✭✭✭✭redshirt_49 wrote: »
Not sure what you're talking about. Simmering Frenzy is actually quite trash and not used in any end game PvE content. Might get away with it in PvP though. Blood for Blood and Arterial burst are okay, but will be useless once this patch goes through.
Hypnosis isn't that good of a skill in PvP nor PvE as there are PLENTY of other stuns in the game that do the same thing, but more. It being unblockable is not accurate compensation for the fact people have to look at you.
Mist Form has always been a good PvP skill, doesn't mean the skill isn't useless in PvE though. Which it is. Only use it has in PvE is going in and out of it quickly for the extra 300 spell/weapon dmg.
What you're saying is it isn't useful...to you. That does not make it useless.
Go take a look around the forums. It isn't useful to a lot of people. -
TX12001rwb17_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »redshirt_49 wrote: »
Not sure what you're talking about. Simmering Frenzy is actually quite trash and not used in any end game PvE content. Might get away with it in PvP though. Blood for Blood and Arterial burst are okay, but will be useless once this patch goes through.
Hypnosis isn't that good of a skill in PvP nor PvE as there are PLENTY of other stuns in the game that do the same thing, but more. It being unblockable is not accurate compensation for the fact people have to look at you.
Mist Form has always been a good PvP skill, doesn't mean the skill isn't useless in PvE though. Which it is. Only use it has in PvE is going in and out of it quickly for the extra 300 spell/weapon dmg.
What you're saying is it isn't useful...to you. That does not make it useless.
Go take a look around the forums. It isn't useful to a lot of people.
[Quoted post was removed]
[Quoted post was removed]
Well most of these people fight and the same and use the abilities in combat, it is obvious they copied off of someone who posted a build and that person who posted said build probbaly have no clue how to play a Vampire.Edited by ZOS_ConnorG on August 10, 2020 10:19AM -
redshirt_49✭✭✭✭redshirt_49 wrote: »
Not sure what you're talking about. Simmering Frenzy is actually quite trash and not used in any end game PvE content. Might get away with it in PvP though. Blood for Blood and Arterial burst are okay, but will be useless once this patch goes through.
Hypnosis isn't that good of a skill in PvP nor PvE as there are PLENTY of other stuns in the game that do the same thing, but more. It being unblockable is not accurate compensation for the fact people have to look at you.
Mist Form has always been a good PvP skill, doesn't mean the skill isn't useless in PvE though. Which it is. Only use it has in PvE is going in and out of it quickly for the extra 300 spell/weapon dmg.
What you're saying is it isn't useful...to you. That does not make it useless.
Go take a look around the forums. It isn't useful to a lot of people.
Noone's arguing that it isn't situational or more helpful to some classes than others (Nightblade especially) but this applies to a lot of skilllines. That's kind of like saying staff skillines and the Mages Guild are useless because I prefer playing stamina based.
It's strength in PvP is pretty apparent, especially for gank builds. It's useful for running overland content, speedrunning public dungeons, can be used as a crutch with suboptimal dungeon supports and is a very useful tool for running solo dungeons, without running a resto staff or healer-friendly class.
It's uses are many, calling it useless just seems so silly. -
Vevvev✭✭✭✭✭
✭redshirt_49 wrote: »redshirt_49 wrote: »
Not sure what you're talking about. Simmering Frenzy is actually quite trash and not used in any end game PvE content. Might get away with it in PvP though. Blood for Blood and Arterial burst are okay, but will be useless once this patch goes through.
Hypnosis isn't that good of a skill in PvP nor PvE as there are PLENTY of other stuns in the game that do the same thing, but more. It being unblockable is not accurate compensation for the fact people have to look at you.
Mist Form has always been a good PvP skill, doesn't mean the skill isn't useless in PvE though. Which it is. Only use it has in PvE is going in and out of it quickly for the extra 300 spell/weapon dmg.
What you're saying is it isn't useful...to you. That does not make it useless.
Go take a look around the forums. It isn't useful to a lot of people.
Noone's arguing that it isn't situational or more helpful to some classes than others (Nightblade especially) but this applies to a lot of skilllines. That's kind of like saying staff skillines and the Mages Guild are useless because I prefer playing stamina based.
It's strength in PvP is pretty apparent, especially for gank builds. It's useful for running overland content, speedrunning public dungeons, can be used as a crutch with suboptimal dungeon supports and is a very useful tool for running solo dungeons, without running a resto staff or healer-friendly class.
It's uses are many, calling it useless just seems so silly.
You have a good point calling it useless is silly, but SlimeBro is known for exaggerating things. That being said he does have some good points regarding the vampire skills. While they're not good for everything they should at least have a toolkit that is adaptable considering vampire is on 24/7 unlike werewolves where they have to flip on a switch, as well as give to the group in some way like a synergy, buff, or heal.
I honestly find it pretty annoying to have to lower my stage before going into trials and dungeons if my role is anything but DPS. PVP I tend to hang out in stage 3 because stage 4's benefits are overshadowed by those painful debuffs. Most notable being the -100% health regeneration. It can be quite dangerous when running away from something on horseback and don't have the time to dismount and heal.Edited by Vevvev on August 10, 2020 2:49PMPC NA
Breton MagDK -
SlimeBro1✭✭✭✭redshirt_49 wrote: »redshirt_49 wrote: »
Not sure what you're talking about. Simmering Frenzy is actually quite trash and not used in any end game PvE content. Might get away with it in PvP though. Blood for Blood and Arterial burst are okay, but will be useless once this patch goes through.
Hypnosis isn't that good of a skill in PvP nor PvE as there are PLENTY of other stuns in the game that do the same thing, but more. It being unblockable is not accurate compensation for the fact people have to look at you.
Mist Form has always been a good PvP skill, doesn't mean the skill isn't useless in PvE though. Which it is. Only use it has in PvE is going in and out of it quickly for the extra 300 spell/weapon dmg.
What you're saying is it isn't useful...to you. That does not make it useless.
Go take a look around the forums. It isn't useful to a lot of people.
Noone's arguing that it isn't situational or more helpful to some classes than others (Nightblade especially) but this applies to a lot of skilllines. That's kind of like saying staff skillines and the Mages Guild are useless because I prefer playing stamina based.
It's strength in PvP is pretty apparent, especially for gank builds. It's useful for running overland content, speedrunning public dungeons, can be used as a crutch with suboptimal dungeon supports and is a very useful tool for running solo dungeons, without running a resto staff or healer-friendly class.
It's uses are many, calling it useless just seems so silly.
You have a good point calling it useless is silly, but SlimeBro is known for exaggerating things. That being said he does have some good points regarding the vampire skills. While they're not good for everything they should at least have a toolkit that is adaptable considering vampire is on 24/7 unlike werewolves where they have to flip on a switch, as well as give to the group in some way like a synergy, buff, or heal.
I honestly find it pretty annoying to have to lower my stage before going into trials and dungeons if my role is anything but DPS. PVP I tend to hang out in stage 3 because stage 4's benefits are overshadowed by those painful debuffs. Most notable being the -100% health regeneration. It can be quite dangerous when running away from something on horseback and don't have the time to dismount and heal.
To be fair I didn't call it completely useless, just said not a lot of people found it useful. That seems to be the majority vote. That said I do tend to exaggerate some things. But I am glad you agree with my points.
Vampire has no room to be a niche semi-ok skill line in very niche situations when its debuffs are on all the time. It needs to be adaptable.Edited by SlimeBro1 on August 10, 2020 6:34PM -
SlimeBro1✭✭✭✭redshirt_49 wrote: »redshirt_49 wrote: »
Not sure what you're talking about. Simmering Frenzy is actually quite trash and not used in any end game PvE content. Might get away with it in PvP though. Blood for Blood and Arterial burst are okay, but will be useless once this patch goes through.
Hypnosis isn't that good of a skill in PvP nor PvE as there are PLENTY of other stuns in the game that do the same thing, but more. It being unblockable is not accurate compensation for the fact people have to look at you.
Mist Form has always been a good PvP skill, doesn't mean the skill isn't useless in PvE though. Which it is. Only use it has in PvE is going in and out of it quickly for the extra 300 spell/weapon dmg.
What you're saying is it isn't useful...to you. That does not make it useless.
Go take a look around the forums. It isn't useful to a lot of people.
Noone's arguing that it isn't situational or more helpful to some classes than others (Nightblade especially) but this applies to a lot of skilllines. That's kind of like saying staff skillines and the Mages Guild are useless because I prefer playing stamina based.
It's strength in PvP is pretty apparent, especially for gank builds. It's useful for running overland content, speedrunning public dungeons, can be used as a crutch with suboptimal dungeon supports and is a very useful tool for running solo dungeons, without running a resto staff or healer-friendly class.
It's uses are many, calling it useless just seems so silly.
I find comparing it to mages guild or staff skill lines to be quite silly. The reason why people have a lot of issues with vampire is because it doesn't really fit in anywhere except PvP or if you're a nightblade.
I find using the overland argument to be even sillier as literally anything works in overland or public dungeons. Unless you're referring to being able to invis run through stuff, which eh, I wouldn't say utilises the vampire play style that much. Just one of the passives.
I also am not saying it is completely useless, I am arguing that its uses are way less than you think and thus why a lot of people dislike it. It is very niche. It should be adaptable and useable in the same way werewolf is. It doesn't even have a complete kit to call its own.
My thing here is you need to accept that. Im not saying people can't find ways to use the class, but the fact is tons upon tons of people do not like the kit and can not find uses for it. It isnt a just me thing. -
exeeter702✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭Let me try and break down the usability in the vamp kit in order of practical implementation.
At the top is definitely mist form. This skill seems the most low maintenance in terms of incorporating into most magicka builds and actually fulfills a purpose that is usable in pvp. Engaging with and benefiting from this skill does not require any steep commitment ie you can only slot this skill and make it work alongside stage 1. The cost even at stage one is completely manageable.
Pre pts patch bfb was another easy slot that was functional at stage 1 and without any other vamp integrations to make work for pve. The sustain it afforded was nice and its tooltip even at max health was higher in budget than other spammables. An easy slot by itslef for many magicka dps builds.
Swarming scion is a strong ult but its price beyond stage 1 make sit harder to really rely on vs other ults. The downtime when exiting form leaves you vulnerable for a brief moment which can mean death in pvp, and without a gap closer, it's very easy to be kited for its duration. Despite this, the ult is still ultimately low maintenance and can be slotted independently from going for an all in vampire build approach.
Hypnosis is a decent fear, and if we compare it to its closest siblings, mass hysteria and turn evil, it beats them both in range, target count and potentially cost. Facing criteria is the trade off of course and depending on your stage, alternative stuns become the more attractive choice. Still this is another skill that is not really dependant on any other vamp elements.
Fury is where ZOSs intentions for vampire skill interactions come into focus. Fully engaging with this skill means you will have to have access to self healing even with sated fury morph. Couple this skill with bfb amd drain, and it seems zos wanted players to gamble with their health pool for a juicy damage buff. it being off the GCD helps its usability in that you can toggle it quickly before hitting a frag or will proc for example, but the commitment and maintenance of fully utilizing this skill becomes a matter of is it worth it if you arent spending x amount of time with it toggle on vs just slotting something else for consistent uptime. Niche with select use cases in both pvp and pve.
Drain is a shell of its former self. Essentially a big "hey bash me please" indicator in pvp and a waste of 3 GCDs in pve for tanks. The ult gen is cute and a nord nb tank can actually have some pretty silly warhorn uptimes between drain, BS etc but honestly its damage is abysmal and its healing only feels good if you are at 30k in pvp and toggle it when at around 15 percent health and even then you are dead against any non potatoe. The idea on paper is that between bfb and fury, you will float the health costs with this skill and transformation uptime.
Passives are a bit different. Undeath + pariah on my magblade healer actually feels good coupled with dark cloak, but on less tanky setups, undeath is whatever. The stage commitment is minor though. Unnatural movement sprint cost while nice, is still trash for anything other than cutting through annoying mob infested locations in pve. I still find it humorous how many people thought this passive alone was going to invalidate NB shadowy disguise.
-
SlimeBro1✭✭✭✭exeeter702 wrote: »Let me try and break down the usability in the vamp kit in order of practical implementation.
At the top is definitely mist form. This skill seems the most low maintenance in terms of incorporating into most magicka builds and actually fulfills a purpose that is usable in pvp. Engaging with and benefiting from this skill does not require any steep commitment ie you can only slot this skill and make it work alongside stage 1. The cost even at stage one is completely manageable.
Pre pts patch bfb was another easy slot that was functional at stage 1 and without any other vamp integrations to make work for pve. The sustain it afforded was nice and its tooltip even at max health was higher in budget than other spammables. An easy slot by itslef for many magicka dps builds.
Swarming scion is a strong ult but its price beyond stage 1 make sit harder to really rely on vs other ults. The downtime when exiting form leaves you vulnerable for a brief moment which can mean death in pvp, and without a gap closer, it's very easy to be kited for its duration. Despite this, the ult is still ultimately low maintenance and can be slotted independently from going for an all in vampire build approach.
Hypnosis is a decent fear, and if we compare it to its closest siblings, mass hysteria and turn evil, it beats them both in range, target count and potentially cost. Facing criteria is the trade off of course and depending on your stage, alternative stuns become the more attractive choice. Still this is another skill that is not really dependant on any other vamp elements.
Fury is where ZOSs intentions for vampire skill interactions come into focus. Fully engaging with this skill means you will have to have access to self healing even with sated fury morph. Couple this skill with bfb amd drain, and it seems zos wanted players to gamble with their health pool for a juicy damage buff. it being off the GCD helps its usability in that you can toggle it quickly before hitting a frag or will proc for example, but the commitment and maintenance of fully utilizing this skill becomes a matter of is it worth it if you arent spending x amount of time with it toggle on vs just slotting something else for consistent uptime. Niche with select use cases in both pvp and pve.
Drain is a shell of its former self. Essentially a big "hey bash me please" indicator in pvp and a waste of 3 GCDs in pve for tanks. The ult gen is cute and a nord nb tank can actually have some pretty silly warhorn uptimes between drain, BS etc but honestly its damage is abysmal and its healing only feels good if you are at 30k in pvp and toggle it when at around 15 percent health and even then you are dead against any non potatoe. The idea on paper is that between bfb and fury, you will float the health costs with this skill and transformation uptime.
Passives are a bit different. Undeath + pariah on my magblade healer actually feels good coupled with dark cloak, but on less tanky setups, undeath is whatever. The stage commitment is minor though. Unnatural movement sprint cost while nice, is still trash for anything other than cutting through annoying mob infested locations in pve. I still find it humorous how many people thought this passive alone was going to invalidate NB shadowy disguise.
Very good post.
