Is there now a best in slot for PVE?

Grandchamp1989

I have always heard how ESO has 200+ sets and it's not like WOW where having a certain gear is required to be the best.

I used to believe that... but when I ask around now literally EVERYONE is using the same copy paste sets

Magicka: Mother's Sorrow/Medusa/Siroria - two 1-piece crit monster until they can farm the kilt then 1 slimecraw+kilt
Stam: Relequen/Kinra/Deadly
Both with Arena weapon backbar

Even for Tanks now it doesn't make much sense to spec for anything other than a trial setup with Yolna-Alkosh.

I used to go out of my way not to be a meta sheep, and make other things work - but it seems ESO is becoming so streamlined some sets are just so far ahead of the meta curve that spec'ing for anything but that is not being "anti meta", but more like "nerfing yourself for no reason" because it's not remotely competitive anymore.

With pretty much any other set having taken a massive backseat for PVE this patch (and previous patch with no-crit procs)...

Isn't it fair now to say you have to use these combinations to to achieve your highest potential, since these sets are so far ahead of everything else it basicly pointless not to just copy paste it on every single class?

Sluggy

So the thing is, there will always be a mathematical best no matter what. At least in ESO it usually boils down to 'best for certain situations'. Some builds and sets perform better in one scenario than in others. And of course by 'best' I mean 'highest possible group DPS'.

At the end of the day though I wouldn't buy into it too much. Some folks are really out there pushing to envelope of scores or simply want to achieve the highest possible numbers for any situation. Others think they are doing this but are not, simply following the advice they read or heard somewhere but never managing to reach the goals because they didn't learn to walk before they could run. And in the end many groups have completely insane requirements that no average group would ever achieve much less need, even when doing vet trials. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

There are plenty of perfectly viable builds that are totally off the wall. You just have to understand the game and be willing to spend some time experimenting and practicing. They might not be the best, maybe not even close. But in the end they will still function well enough to succeed, can provide some extra bonuses for less-than-perfect players, and sometimes are just downright fun to play.

JKorr

Depends on why the player is playing.

The ultra competitive reallywannawin people are going to min/max and spreadsheet everything to get that last .0001% dps out their build.

The players who play for fun and count it good if the enemy dies before they do are probably going to use the sets they have the most fun with. And some have come up with interesting combinations.

I have a tank type that uses Hunding's and Morkuldin's. She's really hard to kill but isn't going to set any "killed the boss in .01seconds" award. That would be blasphemy for the trial people who need speed, but suits my pcs mostly solo play fine.

Tannus15

People pushing for hard achieves like TTT usually run different gear and setups for trash and specific bosses.

Sure you can run those sets as a sort of catch all as they are never bad as such, but BiS really depends on the context in this game.
There are a huge list of sets that perform very well for stam and mag, and trial compositions usually want to make sure the buff sets like EC and Zen are covered.

Don't fall into the trap that thinking the BiS dummy meta is the actual BiS for all content.