Armour: 5-1-1 vs 6-1 vs 7

Silvalas

I’m a returning player, magicka sorcerer, building some monster sets. I’m wondering what the best configuration is.

Does the Undaunted bonus still trump running 7 light? Or even 6 light and 1 heavy?

Malpheus_Prime

I'm doing 5-2 heavy-light right now. Trying to offset some penalties.

I guess the thing you need to look at is penalty and whether you are using the undaunted thing that gives you 1% per type of armor.

Bradyfjord

To me, the main thing that changed is that we don't have abilities locked at 5 pieces of a given armor type. So if you run a magic sorceror, you can do so with all 7 light for maximum damage, or if you need the undaunted bonus stats mix it up a little bit. The general consensus is to use all 7 light for maximum bonuses. Also, Harness Magicka scales off number of pieces worn now too, so it reinforces the use of 7.

You could wear other armor weights though if you want. A lot of players do, including me, and it seems to work just fine. If you plan to solo group content, I suggest wearing at least 1 heavy. But the new armor passives allow more flexibility.

You could always check out Dottz or Alcast if you need a more complete analysis.

LashanW

7 light for PvE sorc

Vevvev

I run 6 light and 1 heavy for magicka sustain and damage. I'm tempted to go 5/1/1 but honestly the medium armor does so little for my playstyle and build I don't personally see the extra 2% max resources worthwhile compared to the extra spell penetration, crit, and sustain.

Larcomar

3-1-3 for a bit of solo survivability. Otherwise 7 light is meta now i think

Beardimus

PvE or PvP ?

AcadianPaladin

All my characters are PvE and mostly solo.

As a result of the latest update, 3 of my 4 mages went from 5/1/1 to 7 light.

The remaining mage (NB) went from 5/1/1/ to 5/2(heavy) in order to optimize the NB passive Shadow Barrier (Casting a Shadow ability grants you Major Resolve for 6 seconds, increasing your Physical and Spell Resistance by 5948. This duration is increased by 25% for each piece of Heavy Armor equipped.) This basically bumps her passive Major Resolve from 6 to 9 seconds.

I have two stam bow/bow archers and both went from 5/1/1 to 7.

I have a DK main tank who remains with 5/1/1.

Silvalas

Thanks for the info, I’ll go for 7 light. I had a feeling the old system was a little out of date. Need to run Banished Cells a few more times for the light helm!

DinoZavr

5-1-1 is normally the "levelling" setup for the new characters to level up all 3 armor skill lines, while progressing the character.
it also makes sense to utilize Undaunted Mettle passive adding 2% of Health, Mag, and Stam for each armor type.

7-0-0 is DPS "all in" setup, however 7 light may leave character too squishy, so 6+1H or 5+2H are common for better resists

edit: corrected error

Jaraal

Malpheus_Prime wrote: »

I guess the thing you need to look at is penalty and whether you are using the undaunted thing that gives you 1% per type of armor.

I always run 5-1-1 because 6% to all resources is significant. Not only that, but you get to use all the available armor passives, even if the 1 and 1 are only a small amount.

Athan1

It's ironic how the armor rework was supposed to encourage 4-3 or 3-2-2 or whatever combinations, yet it just forced all magicka chars to run 7L and all stamina 7M. Tanks now go 5-1-1 or even 7H if you don't mind the penalties. The irony!

danno8

Athan1 wrote: »

It's ironic how the armor rework was supposed to encourage 4-3 or 3-2-2 or whatever combinations, yet it just forced all magicka chars to run 7L and all stamina 7M. Tanks now go 5-1-1 or even 7H if you don't mind the penalties. The irony!

Yah they did a good thing in removing the "when wearing 5 pieces" conditions. But then kind of screwed it up with the various penalties.

LashanW

Silvalas wrote: »

Need to run Banished Cells a few more times for the light helm!

Don't do it, maw was stealth nerfed (well, "fixed"). Zaan should be better. If Zaan is not ideal for the fight, go for 2 spell crit pieces. (1 of them should be slimecraw as it has slightly higher spell crit than others). Both options work really well. Tanks will appreciate not using maw.

DinoZavr wrote: »

7-0-0 is DPS "all in" setup, however 7 light may leave character too squishy, so 6+1H or 5+2H are common for better resists

Agree for PvP. There I still use 5-1-1. But for PvE there is no scenario where 7 light hurts survivability for a sorc. Crit surge, double shields and healing bird are more than enough to keep you alive in any PvE content. Did a lot of vCR+3 portal runs, vHoF hm and vSS hm runs (this one with parse food) recently on my sorc and had absolutely no issues surviving with 7 light. But the extra sustain and penetration from 7 light was super helpful.

Light armor penalties are pretty much irrelevant for PvE.

Varana

Athan1 wrote: »

It's ironic how the armor rework was supposed to encourage 4-3 or 3-2-2 or whatever combinations, yet it just forced all magicka chars to run 7L and all stamina 7M. Tanks now go 5-1-1 or even 7H if you don't mind the penalties. The irony!

Stamina 7M was a thing even before, because of the crit bonus.
For tanks, 5-1-1 or 7H was the standard configuration before, as well, so nothing really changed (except that 7H has become a better, probably).
The main difference is the 7L for magicka DDs because of the penetration bonus.

But then, that is for PvE only. Did it make "mixed" PvP setups more viable?

Kwoung

Varana wrote: »

Athan1 wrote: »

It's ironic how the armor rework was supposed to encourage 4-3 or 3-2-2 or whatever combinations, yet it just forced all magicka chars to run 7L and all stamina 7M. Tanks now go 5-1-1 or even 7H if you don't mind the penalties. The irony!

Stamina 7M was a thing even before, because of the crit bonus.
For tanks, 5-1-1 or 7H was the standard configuration before, as well, so nothing really changed (except that 7H has become a better, probably).
The main difference is the 7L for magicka DDs because of the penetration bonus.

But then, that is for PvE only. Did it make "mixed" PvP setups more viable?

I run 7L in cyro with no issues. 2800 crit resist, and 23k on the other 2 resists.

Wing

i run 5-2 on my armor because thats just how it turned out after tweaking.

i ran full 7 for Cyro and after feeling that for a bit and keeping track of how / why i died and what i could do different i slipped in 1 heavy, after a tiny bit more testing i slipped in 1 more and that felt perfect so thats how i left it.

one thing i love about the new system is that you can do just that super easy, just swap out one piece for a different weight to tweak your build a tad.

i just wish they adopted standardized enchant and armor values so it was even more intuitive, as you still need to keep track of the classic "heavy chest piece" because its armor value is the most significant, or what pieces have infused or divines because enchants are better on some pieces then other because reasons.

the system is almost great, still needs some tweaks.

etchedpixels

Athan1 wrote: »

It's ironic how the armor rework was supposed to encourage 4-3 or 3-2-2 or whatever combinations, yet it just forced all magicka chars to run 7L and all stamina 7M. Tanks now go 5-1-1 or even 7H if you don't mind the penalties. The irony!

Quite the reverse in my experience. Tanking used to be 7H but the penalties are so bad and the base and CP resists higher that it's now better to tank in armour mixes and use the extra magicka regen to spam shields. For normal dungeons I'm actually using combos like mother's sorrow and battalion defender so I can help fast clear the trash and tank the bosses.

EvilAutoTech

I've been tanking in 7 medium with no problems since the last update.

Bradyfjord

EvilAutoTech wrote: »

I've been tanking in 7 medium with no problems since the last update.

Out of curiosity, what sets are you running for medium? I might want to give it a try.

FrancisCrawford

Silvalas wrote: »

Thanks for the info, I’ll go for 7 light. I had a feeling the old system was a little out of date. Need to run Banished Cells a few more times for the light helm!

Beware of the incoming nerfs to proc sets, including monster sets.

Also, tanks really hate Maw of the Infernal.

EvilAutoTech

Bradyfjord wrote: »

EvilAutoTech wrote: »

I've been tanking in 7 medium with no problems since the last update.

Out of curiosity, what sets are you running for medium? I might want to give it a try.

Body pieces are Fortified Brass, monster set is Mighty Chudan. I sit at just under 33K resists on my destro staff and about 35K on my 1h&s bar.

Bradyfjord

EvilAutoTech wrote: »

Bradyfjord wrote: »

EvilAutoTech wrote: »

I've been tanking in 7 medium with no problems since the last update.

Out of curiosity, what sets are you running for medium? I might want to give it a try.

Body pieces are Fortified Brass, monster set is Mighty Chudan. I sit at just under 33K resists on my destro staff and about 35K on my 1h&s bar.

Thanks. I'll check it out.

Seminolegirl1992

If you want dps meta you'll want 7 light. On my sorc I run Medusa front bar (precise w/ flame enchant), mother's sorrow, and domihaus for monster for aoe/large fights. Zaan single target. Or two piece crit. Maw is good but it pisses off 99% of tanks. Bloodthirsty jewelry. Back bar vma staff infused. I don't struggle with resources or surviving since health was buffed with cp.

WrathOfInnos

I’d say 7 light is best now. You can do 6 light with 1 heavy for a little more survivability, but sustain and spell penetration will suffer. Necro is the only class that can comfortably run 5 light currently, because they have great sustain and penetration passives.

It’s looking like next patch will reinforce the need for max light armor because Piercing CP was reduced from 1400 to 700 penetration. However Harpooner’s Wading Kilt may justify running medium legs, in which case you definitely wouldn’t want any heavy armor, just keep 6 light.