Medusa vs. Mother's Sorrow

DigiAngel

Well here we are again...another rousing rendition of "which is better". I have Mother's Sorrow (2 light armor, gold, 3 jewelry, epic). The armor have all the right traits, enchantments, the jewelry, only the enchantments (needing bloodthirsty). So...the Medusa will need a fair bit of work...will need new enchantments and traits for all (2 heavy armor, 3 jewelry), will need to epic 2 of the jewelry, and gold the armor. Now...all that being said, as I compare these sets I stand to lose 1096 magicka, and 200 spell critical...all for 10% critical damage. So...is it worth it?

WrathOfInnos

Generally you want to have that 10% crit damage from Minor Force regardless of which set you choose. Medusa just saves you the bar slot that would typically be Barbed Trap or Channeled Acceleration. If you have the bar space for these then Sorrow will give slightly higher DPS, but Medusa is really nice for fights where you need to slot a shield or utility skill, or even just to simplify the rotation on a class you're not experienced with. IMO the two sets are very closely balanced.

DigiAngel

Thanks...just what I needed. The mantra I've seen in this forum is "if you can slot it or potion it, do that instead and save the armor for something". However...there's nothing else I'd really put in there besides False God's Devotion...and honesty I doubt I'll ever see that set....not having the DLC (not to mention never being able to get in a trial run group with what I DO have) means it's far away .

tsaescishoeshiner

Both sets are getting nerfed in Update 29 in a few weeks, based on the current PTS changes. It's important to note that Medusa is getting nerfed less, so it will be comparatively better with Update 29 (unless more stuff changes). I'm still farming an inferno staff myself >_> But I have characters who I don't slot Minor Force on, so I think it will be worth it

El_Borracho

If you don't have access to something like Siroria or Master Architect, there is a set call Spell Strategist you can use effectively with Medusa/MS. Its from Cyrodiil, but readily available through guild traders. A pretty powerful single target set. You'll want the inferno staff, which is not as expensive as it once was. Body pieces are very cheap. Burning Spellweave is another great set, but good luck getting an inferno staff. Its highly elusive.

I hate using Channeled or Trap, so I like the convenience of Medusa and the extra resistance from the 2 heavy pieces. Works very well on a magblade and mag necro who don't have the shields a magsorc does. But I still run MS on my magsorc.

DigiAngel

Great advice...thanks all!

Septimus_Magna

Looking at the stats I always assumed that Mothers Sorrow was a lot better due to the fact that you can get minor force from trap or channeled. As a magsorc I really lack bar space, Mothers Sorrw is getting nerfed and the new mag sets are not really interesting so I might as well try out Medusa.

rumple9

new moon acolyte is better than both

WrathOfInnos

rumple9 wrote: »

new moon acolyte is better than both

This is not true. NMA makes sustain hard, often gives too much Spell Pen, and still does lower damage than crit sets.

DigiAngel

Increases the cost of your active abilities by 5%. Ya hard pass.

notachik

I wander how the false gods would work with nma

DigiAngel

I'm sure it's really good..sadly I do not have that DLC yet

WrathOfInnos

notachik wrote: »

I wander how the false gods would work with nma

@notachik That was a very popular build about a year ago. Every class would run it on trash, since FGD would return enough Magicka that the cost increase was no problem. MagDK would even use this gear on bosses (Elf Bane wasn’t good yet, and Siroria had a slow ramp-up). A lot of changes killed that meta though:
- False Gods lost its extra 5pc bonus
- NMA 5pc was reduced from 481 to 401
- Penetration buffs (Breach and Alkosh) meant the line of Spell Pen was no longer useful
- Crit damage buffs (Catalyst, Brittle and Major Force) made high crit chance more valuable, resulting in mandatory Sorrow/Medusa

Edit: Also Siroria was changed to ramp up in 10s instead of 20s, so it can now be used almost anywhere. No reason to even consider NMA compared to that.

QuebraRegra

notachik wrote: »

I wander how the false gods would work with nma

lemme see, I could have an *% cost reduction or a 3% cost reduction? Depends on how you sustain I guess?

DigiAngel

Wait what...when did FGD lose it's 5th bonus?

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:False_God's_Devotion

Is that not accurate?

DigiAngel

Well...after crunching numbers (and just assuming full sets) depending on how bad the nerf to MS/Medusa are:

Mothers sorrow
Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
Adds 3603 Spell Critical

Medusa
Adds 3399 Spell Critical
Gain Minor Force at all times, increasing your Critical Damage by 10%.

Treasure hunter
Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
Adds 1666 Spell Critical
Adds 171 Spell Damage, Gain Major Prophecy at all times, increasing your Spell Critical rating by 2629.

Juliano
Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
Adds 1666 Spell Critical
Adds 300 Spell Damage

It looks like Juliano/Treasure hunter might be a viable option after all....again, depends on just how bad the nerf is :-/

notachik

I’ll keep minor force over treasure hunter..I get prophecy from 2 different skills and pots

WrathOfInnos

DigiAngel wrote: »

Wait what...when did FGD lose it's 5th bonus?

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:False_God's_Devotion

Is that not accurate?

@DigiAngel That is accurate. It previously had an additional 129 Spell Damage on the 5pc, so False Gods was mirroring VO. Basically normal FGD had the bonuses we now only see on Perfected FGD, and Perfected FGD had an additional 1096 Max Magicka (making it better than normal VO, as it should be).

These extra bonuses were deleted in Stonethorn patch, August 2020. So IMO False Gods was only a good set for the first 15 months of its existence, and has now been dead/situational for the last 6 months.

Edit: It probably doesn’t sound like much difference from one stat line, but it has a large effect when comparing to other sets. Before Stonethorn you needed to stand in a Siroria circle for 15s before it would begin to outperform False Gods. After Stonethorn Siroria beats False Gods after just 5s within the circle.

DigiAngel

Thanks to you both. Ya I feel the same with the effectiveness of Siroria..I've tested out Siroria/MS vs. Juliano/MS...and honestly I just don't see much of a difference....besides having to stand in one place. Same everything else to include skills and head/shoulder (Selletrix is a hoot, Maw for bosses). Guess I gotta just wait and see when the patch comes out