Stamina Dk sustain issues after recent patch?

NUZGH

I’ll start by saying yes - I dare run a StamDk in this mag-meta age we’re currently playing in . It’s not my hardest hitting toon, but it is my original main and has always been a reliable go-to. One of the main reasons for this (to me anyway) was it’s great sustainability. I only hit around 76k on the 21 mil, but it’s doing a real rotation I can run in content, not just when dummy humping. And I never, ever come close to having a resource issue. Ever. After the recent changes to DK passive skills in update 32, I find it tough to get through a whole parse without breaking into heavy attacks throughout the rotation. The changes to the passive ‘world in ruin’ removed the 25% discount on flame/poison ability costs, and provided a 5% increase in damage done by these abilities. I had heard StamDk’s we’re gonna get a bit of love this go around, I was excited to see what it was and how it would perform. But I just don’t feel like this trade was worth it. A parse with an identical setup showed pretty much almost identical numbers when compared with where I was before, only this time while struggling to keep resources from running out - even while using parse food. The extra 500 stam the combustion passive is now giving back just doesn’t cut it. The only thing I will say that could possibly make it appear that it may have given a super slight damage bump would be with regard to the deadly strike nerf (again). I love the deadly set, and meta or not, I run it. So seeing it lost 3% of its effect and seeing I parsed about the same, one could say I made up for it somewhere. But at a significant cost to sustainability. I don’t think that’s a good trade. If the damage output really was noticeably higher I might think it was worth it. But honestly why nerf deadly again? I feel like ever since last year, each patch has rendered my stam toons less and less potent. Don’t get me wrong - hitting between 75-90k is enough to do most things In this game without much issue. I just feel like it’s getting harder to do so as a purely stam setup. Thoughts?

ke.sardenb14_ESO

What has worked the best for me has been using a charged 2h on the frontbar, with double infused brp DW on backbar with poisoned and fire enchants.This set up has been able sustain rotations that use the whip or stonegiant well.
I'm was not a major fan of using a mag skill as a spammable at first, but it performs so well that I can use green 6k food in solo with minimal sustain issues. Stonegiant still is not great, but I can still sustain it in content with lava or dubious.
I've not tested deadly because I don't run a spammable that would be effectived by deadly. But I would run some combination or kinras, AY, relequin, alkosh, and Sul xan, and overall I feel more powerful this patch.

ke.sardenb14_ESO

I still think that the biggest limitation to the DK is that stonegiant is not a good spammable, and using whip has made it all more apparent. Aside from weaving far better, the skill does 5% more damage then whip and it regularly procs a dot returns 45% of the skill cost.
All I want for DK is:
1. The stonegiant to weaved more consistently
2. The stonegiant to do posion damage for the extra 5% from the passive, the extra chance to apply poison for damage and resources, and the extra 10% for support sets like Morag Tong.
3. The stagger debuff scaled in the same way that engulfing flames does to dissentivise tanks using it, and increase its utility for solo play as well.

Edit: for clarity

NUZGH

I couldn’t agree whit you more. I feel that stone giant feels so awkward to weave into a rotation that I don’t use it. I am playing on Xbox so I can’t speak for how it feels on pc. I run a dw/bow setup and have stuck with rapid strikes as my spammable, which did benefit from the use of deadly. I have not ever consistently used whip as a spammable but will take another look at it.

I will make a correction with regard to my concerns about sustain, and I guess kill my own thread. I’m not sure if I had a stam recovery glitch or similar - I remember there being one a while back that would happen on occasion. But every time I have logged in after that original testing, I have had no issues managing resources during a full parse. (Yes I had remembered to eat food lol) And I will say that I have now noticed a bump in damage output. I’m seeing about a 6k-7k difference on the 21 mil parse. It’s been coming in right between 82-83k. Not record breaking, but better for how I’m setup. So again I’d have to say I agree with you. I do feel a bit more powerful this patch.

ke.sardenb14_ESO

I'm on PS5, so stonegiant is not fun to use there either. 2h sustain has traditionally been better then DW because you get 30% increase to recovery on kill, and since I'm running charge 2h, I get twice the chance to proc statuses as DW. That is not to say 2h is better, DW does do more damage in single target, and if you need them, have 2 fairly decent hots.
Since poison and fire weapon glyphs have the highest chance to proc status effects in the game, you may want to consider placing one on each of you daggers, I know I've done it on my backbar daggers. It will proc the burning a poison status nearly every second, if not more for huge sustain.