Penetration and stuff

Mobius0

I recently returned to the game, and have been working on a PvP build as a NB.

I was running some No-CP, and was a little surprised by how much of a potato I felt like! I swear my death recaps would be like - 8k damage, 8k damage, 6k damage. I had to play like a total sissy to survive.

But I'm not getting anywhere NEAR that kind of damage against others! Admittedly, I have a bit of progression to go, so I am in all purple crafted sets with all Training (NMA and Jullianos. Now NMA and Hundings Rage, since I switched from mag to stam.). I know it's not perfect, and is a temporary setup until I get more CP, but I wouldn't think my damage would be SO much lower.

I went ahead and got a couple of proc sets (I decided on Selene + Unfathomable Darkness because they seem pretty non-meta currently.), which I will put on once I level a bit more, but am also wondering about penetration. I hear people saying you should have like 17k+ penetration, but I can't get anywhere near that without building for it specifically. But with proc sets it seems even more important!

I am running infused on my weapons, so all I really have left is Mundus and maybe debuffs? I can use Mark Target, but I already have so many buffs in my routine, I swear I have to use 5 abilities before every fight before dealing any damage! It's enough to make me want to rethink my entire build! I wish buffs lasted longer!!!

I decided on infused, because it will help both my sets proc, since they are 10% and 15% (I refuse to go meta, so no venomous smite, etc..), plus it just seems like a lot of extra dps from the enchants themselves.

So in the end, how much penetration should I REALLY care about?

EDIT: I also should add that I plan on running CP once I have more levels.

Mobius0

Man, no advice on this?

I am thinking of dropping Infused on my off hand weapon, and getting penetration instead.

But I am still wondering what my fellow stamblades consider a good penetration amount to shoot for!

Wandering_Immigrant

Other people would know more about this than me, but the way I understand it is your penetration caps at half your Target's resists. So 17k would be recommended because most people aren't going to be over 34k resists. I find 17k to be overkill in most situations though, most people seem to be between 24k-30k, so I aim for between 12k-15k pen. At higher CP it'll probably be easier to hit 17k but I'm only about 530cp right now.

Spriggan's is a great set, especially for NB and any other class without decent access to major fracture. I can't stand Mark Target, it's a big glowing flag reminding the person to purge, which depending on the purge they use will not only remove Mark Target but also any other debuffs you have on them. I often run Caltrops but you don't get decent uptime with that if the person knows how to avoid red circles. spriggan's isn't meta, it's just a really good bridge set until you can get more pen, so don't avoid it just because it's common.

Dual Wield I always run one in sharpened. The other I'll either run nirn, or charged or infused with disease damage, or infused with Stam drain. I also always run one hammer, you can double hammer if you want more pen though.

Beardimus

Mobius0 wrote: »

I recently returned to the game, and have been working on a PvP build as a NB.

I was running some No-CP, and was a little surprised by how much of a potato I felt like! I swear my death recaps would be like - 8k damage, 8k damage, 6k damage. I had to play like a total sissy to survive.

But I'm not getting anywhere NEAR that kind of damage against others! Admittedly, I have a bit of progression to go, so I am in all purple crafted sets with all Training (NMA and Jullianos. Now NMA and Hundings Rage, since I switched from mag to stam.). I know it's not perfect, and is a temporary setup until I get more CP, but I wouldn't think my damage would be SO much lower.

I went ahead and got a couple of proc sets (I decided on Selene + Unfathomable Darkness because they seem pretty non-meta currently.), which I will put on once I level a bit more, but am also wondering about penetration. I hear people saying you should have like 17k+ penetration, but I can't get anywhere near that without building for it specifically. But with proc sets it seems even more important!

I am running infused on my weapons, so all I really have left is Mundus and maybe debuffs? I can use Mark Target, but I already have so many buffs in my routine, I swear I have to use 5 abilities before every fight before dealing any damage! It's enough to make me want to rethink my entire build! I wish buffs lasted longer!!!

I decided on infused, because it will help both my sets proc, since they are 10% and 15% (I refuse to go meta, so no venomous smite, etc..), plus it just seems like a lot of extra dps from the enchants themselves.

So in the end, how much penetration should I REALLY care about?

EDIT: I also should add that I plan on running CP once I have more levels.

A holistic view of your setup, where you play and skills is kinda key. It's hard to give siloed answers..

Training traits certainly won't help your damage.

Are you playing in Ravenwatch / BG? NoCP?

In terms of pen, you only have too much when you out pace the targets resistances. I.e. PvE Skelton's are ~18k which IIRC is the same as some of the bosses in vMA.

Remember 5 light gives you Pen, and the debuffs.

PvP IS harder as armour varies so you have to make a call on where to draw the line. With ward users running resistances now tho it's not a bad thing to have pen