What armor should I be looking for or crafting?

Baron_Erich

What would be a good medium armor set for a level 26 warden?
Either found or crafted.
Thanks

GreenHere

Spriggan's Thorns is a pretty good set for most all stamina damage builds. It comes from Bangkorai; chests, Dolmens, Delves, et cetera. Be aware, though, that since its 5-piece bonus is only Penetration it only helps you offensively; no boosts to most standard heals like Vigor, for instance. But the damage boost it does give -- especially at lower levels -- is quite nice; bypassing enemies' armor is usually one of the best ways to increase damage done.

Hunding's Rage is a great basic crafted set. It gives a good average-level boost to all your important stats with no conditions or downsides. Others sets will give you more power and whatnot, but often require you to do something to activate the bonus / have a cooldown time / other tradeoff somewhere.

Shacklebreaker is another solid crafted set that can help you out a lot at earlier levels. It won't boost your raw damage much, but it does help you with resource sustain (which can often be a struggle at lower levels before you have a well-rounded build worked out).

Here's a list of Medium Armor Sets for you to browse through. Maybe you can find something that tickles your particular fancy better than what others can suggest!

Just a heads up, though -- that list of Medium sets includes stuff from Dungeons and Trials, some of which can be quite out-of-reach at the lower levels. Be sure to glance at where the set comes from when eyeballing them.



Without knowing more about your preferred skills and whatnot, it's hard to give good recommendations. For instance, if you tend not to use Damage Over Time skills much (aka, DoTs) a recommendation like the very good Deadly Strike set would actually not work too well for you. Be aware of that when getting advice from people who don't know too much about how you actually play. What works best for some might not work well for you at all! YMMV

AcadianPaladin

@GreenHere is right. Since you mention medium armor, we're assuming you are a stamina damage dealer. If you are talking about PvE, then pairing the crafted set of Hunding's Rage for damage with the overland dropped (Bangkorai) set of Spriggans Thorns for penetration will carry you very far. In fact, that is exactly what my CP1550 BowWarden wears. Simple, easy to get and very effective.

Two 5 item sets (2 handed weapons count as two slots) will take 10 of your 12 slots. For the two remaining slots, look for a simple, easy to get monster helm set like Slimecraw, two mismatched monster pieces or one or two pieces of Armor of the Trainee (drops in all starter zones). Monster helm sets and Armor of the Trainee don't require more than one piece each to be effective so they provide lots of flexibility.

Baron_Erich

Thank’s this helps.
As for preferred play style.
I generally let my eternal protector keep the targets busy while I soot them from range.
Are there any sets that would be particularly effective for that?

Fennwitty

Don't spend too much time and effort on great gear until you reach CP 160. That's when you stop outleveling equipment and can focus on long term sets.

Using crafted gear makes it easier to apply the Training trait, and you can better control your gear so you don't get too far overleveled and it's easy to replace.

For crafted, assuming you're focusing on stamina abilities, medium Hundings Rage 5 pieces, medium Night Mother's Gaze 5 pieces, Night's Silence (or some other set) remaining 2 pieces. These can be heavy and/or light. (Technically they can both also be medium but I figure you might as well train the others while you're lower level).

If you use mostly magicka attacks, you'd generally focus on light armor sets. Law of Julianos, Magnus' Gift are good.

If you're intentionally using an even mix of magicka and stamina (hybrid), then sets that boost both weapon and spell damage would be substituted in. Mechanical Acuity, Twiceborn Star, Shacklebreaker, Ancient Dragonguard are good.

El_Borracho

I usually run Hundlings and Night Mother's Gaze, everything with training traits and stamina glyphs. Yes, yes, NMG is a shell of its former self, but this is only to get from Level 1 to Level 50 on alternate characters.

For a brand new player, I would still do Huindlings but pair it with Kvatch Gladiator, Morkuldin, or New Moon Acolyte, again all with the training trait and stamina glyphs. I would plan on making new sets at Level 50, Level 100 and Level 150. I would not worry about getting overland gear or trials/dungeons gear as all of it will be useless by the time you hit CP 160. There is a caveat, however. I would level up in zones that have the overland gear that might be useful, like Bangkorai for Spriggans or Western Skyrim for Venomous Smite, to get the gear I could later reconstruct from the sticker book. You could do the same in normal group dungeons like Crypt of Hearts 1 or Black Drake Villa.

Athan1

Since you are levelling a new character, matching specific sets is too much effort for little outcome imo, so I disagree with posts above. I think you should do one of two things, either wear whatever gear you loot from dead enemies (making sure you have at least one piece of each weight so that you level it up) OR politely ask someone to craft you lvl 26 training gear. If you wear crafted gear make sure to update it every few levels for more efficiency

GreenHere

El_Borracho wrote: »

*snip*
I would not worry about getting overland gear or trials/dungeons gear as all of it will be useless by the time you hit CP 160. There is a caveat, however. I would level up in zones that have the overland gear that might be useful, like Bangkorai for Spriggans or Western Skyrim for Venomous Smite, to get the gear I could later reconstruct from the sticker book. You could do the same in normal group dungeons like Crypt of Hearts 1 or Black Drake Villa.

Athan1 wrote: »

Since you are levelling a new character, matching specific sets is too much effort for little outcome imo, so I disagree with posts above. I think you should do one of two things, either wear whatever gear you loot from dead enemies (making sure you have at least one piece of each weight so that you level it up) OR politely ask someone to craft you lvl 26 training gear. If you wear crafted gear make sure to update it every few levels for more efficiency

Yeah, honestly this is probably the best advice. Unless you plan to spend longer than normal in the sub-150 levels, farming gear from overland/dungeon/trials sources is hardly worth the work. Getting some good crafted gear is the better choice more often than not.

FWIW, most people try to get leveled up to CP160 asap for exactly this reason. The less time you spend in the "I'm only going to out-level this gear anyway" phase of the game, the better. It's hard not to feel like all your time below 160 is wasted in the long run.