MagDK Recommendations?

Texecutioner187

7 years in, first time trying MagDK. I am fine with sustain, rotation and DoT uptime but am racking my brain thinking about sets to use.

I'm pretty content with Grothdarr or Illambris(I like the fire).

As far as 5 piece sets... I'm between a crit set like Mother's Sorrow/Medusa and a Damage Set like Burning Spellweave/Silks/Elf Bane... Or two damage sets and put crit with mundus, traits, etc...

Any suggestions? I tried searching but just found a lot of old results... Since I haven't done MagDK, I'm not sure what's even better than others now with current patch level.

Any help is appreciated!

Texecutioner187

I forgot to mention, I'm not necessarily looking for a meta setup... this toon will probably be just for fun, dungeon running... get lots of fiery death going, etc... I don't want to mix/max this toon, just do some decent damage while having reasonable sustain and fun.

Hotdog_23

Like BSW and False Gods. Not meta but have been running BSW for years and False Gods since it came out in the game. Could drop False Gods since last patch but enjoy the Major Expedition for 8 seconds too much to give it up.

Still running 2 crit monster sets pieces from last patch for dungeons and trials. Used to run Grothdarr for years prior to that. Zaan was more damage for single target fights but as I don’t score push, I always like Grothdarr for the AOE damage.

Solo I generally run Slimecraw for the crit and Ring of hunt and either a BSW or False Gods shoulder piece, so I always have two 5 piece sets active. Solo Arenas I will change to the Ring of Pale order from the Wild hunt. Dungeon or trial lose the mythical and go 2 crit monster pieces.

Stay safe and Happy Holidays

newtinmpls

I combine Silks of the Sun, Burning Spell weave and Valkn Skoria (better than Illabris, as many of the magDK abilities are stuff over time).

He does really well.

Texecutioner187

I do like the idea of combining two damage sets, just want to be sure I can push enough crit. Is Elf Bane decent anymore?

@newtinmpls what do you use for solo healing, just skills or Pale Order?

newtinmpls

Can't think of it right off, but there is one DK skill that on the second (follow-up) strike heals you ... dang I think that's my main heal, and I've solo'ed through a lot of public dungeon mobs with him and not had a problem. I'll have to look up his build and post it.

I don't like the pale order ring since they nerfed it.

Hotdog_23

Main reason I don’t use Silk anymore is it does nothing for heals just straight fire damage. Elf bane is nice but other sets are just better. Overland stuff dies to quick for the extra 5 seconds to matter and harder areas either the boss or adds move too much to get the extra 5 seconds in of damage or other sets just give more damage overall.

For healing burning embers is a nice heal for a skill you should already be using. In a pinch you can always use the skill before it runs out to get a burst heal from it.
Cauterize is also a nice skill to heal with if you don’t want the Damage from FOO. You should have either Cauterize or FOO slotted on your main bar anyway for the passive “While slotted, you gain Major Prophecy and Savagery”

Coagulating Blood is a great heal but personally I don’t use it as burning embers and Cauterize are enough for me. Really need to change Cauterize to Flames of Oblivion since it was buffed last patch. Just to lazy to do it.

Stay safe and Happy Holidays

Texecutioner187

Hotdog_23 wrote: »

Main reason I don’t use Silk anymore is it does nothing for heals just straight fire damage. Elf bane is nice but other sets are just better. Overland stuff dies to quick for the extra 5 seconds to matter

These are both good points and I'm glad you said this. I now realized that Silks is for fire damage and not spell damage, so the heal strength wont increase with that set... thanks for the reminder!

Also, good point you made about overland stuff dying too quick for the 5 seconds to matter anyway, since I'll probably be using this character just for puttering around and having some fun... nothing extreme just yet. I may throw Medusa on and go to town

etchedpixels

MS/Medusa seems to work best small group for me at least. In a good group you may well hit the crit damage cap so want to go more weapon damage. For solo content MS/Defiler is also really good (and IMHO hugely under-rated). It gives you damage plus a load of crit chance plus 5 second stuns and an aoe on the targets which for solo is a great helper. It's a medium set but post hybridisation it's usable as the weapons/jewellery with MS and it's easy to get as it's overland and you can farm the purple rings from daily quests.

My MagDK doesn't do meta though. llambris, Jorvalds, Sanctuary, Master's Resto plus a taunt on the bar. Queues for pugs as a healer but with enough DK skills to tank most normal dungeons at the same time with the spammable resto staff shield extended by the jorvalds and deal with the fake healer/fake tank problem plus exploding wall and DK skills to deal with the fake dps problem too

So sad there isn't a fire version of winter's respite.

noblecron

I run Valkyn, Mother's Sorrow and Julianos on my magdk. I feel pretty decent with it as I also don't do endgame stuff

El_Borracho

I had a lot of fun with Spell Strategist + Elf Bane + Grothdarr. You can swap Spell Strat out for Siroria in most group content. Elf Bane + Grothdarr is great for boss fights.

Texecutioner187

Do you guys think that Elfbane and BSW would be too low crit-wise? I keep wavering back to Elf Bane just because I know it will help prolong the DoTs.... or is it more important to be doing harder hitting DoTs with less time?

El_Borracho

Texecutioner187 wrote: »

Do you guys think that Elfbane and BSW would be too low crit-wise? I keep wavering back to Elf Bane just because I know it will help prolong the DoTs.... or is it more important to be doing harder hitting DoTs with less time?

You can be hard hitting without crit builds. Need to fix your CP, but the difference in DPS is not that big. I guildie I know plays with a magplar that runs War Maiden and Soulshine and can hit over 90K.

If you are going to run a DK with Elf Bane, you need to build for it. The damage comes from the extended durations of your DOTs which allows you to activate more spammables and AOEs in your rotation while still keeping up the sustain. Plus, if you are building for spell damage over crti, that will increase the damage from Grothdarr, the preferred monster set with Elf Bane

Texecutioner187

El_Borracho wrote: »

Texecutioner187 wrote: »

Do you guys think that Elfbane and BSW would be too low crit-wise? I keep wavering back to Elf Bane just because I know it will help prolong the DoTs.... or is it more important to be doing harder hitting DoTs with less time?

You can be hard hitting without crit builds. Need to fix your CP, but the difference in DPS is not that big. I guildie I know plays with a magplar that runs War Maiden and Soulshine and can hit over 90K.

If you are going to run a DK with Elf Bane, you need to build for it. The damage comes from the extended durations of your DOTs which allows you to activate more spammables and AOEs in your rotation while still keeping up the sustain. Plus, if you are building for spell damage over crti, that will increase the damage from Grothdarr, the preferred monster set with Elf Bane

So then I'm guessing BSW and Elf Bane is a perfectly reasonable setup then? I was debating on going with BSW/Medua but I anticipate my playstyle will be lay down DoTs and then hit the spammable. Not sure if that is leaning more towards one combo or the other.

newtinmpls

Hotdog_23 wrote: »

Main reason I don’t use Silk anymore is it does nothing for heals just straight fire damage.

That's the main reason I use it; the "second strike" of burning embers heals up just fine - it's the follow up to engulfing flames, burning talons and draw essence - and somewhere in there Valkin Skoria will proc. My weapons are fire staves, with fire glyps - all fire all the time.

Lovely melty mobs

El_Borracho

Texecutioner187 wrote: »

El_Borracho wrote: »

Texecutioner187 wrote: »

Do you guys think that Elfbane and BSW would be too low crit-wise? I keep wavering back to Elf Bane just because I know it will help prolong the DoTs.... or is it more important to be doing harder hitting DoTs with less time?

You can be hard hitting without crit builds. Need to fix your CP, but the difference in DPS is not that big. I guildie I know plays with a magplar that runs War Maiden and Soulshine and can hit over 90K.

If you are going to run a DK with Elf Bane, you need to build for it. The damage comes from the extended durations of your DOTs which allows you to activate more spammables and AOEs in your rotation while still keeping up the sustain. Plus, if you are building for spell damage over crti, that will increase the damage from Grothdarr, the preferred monster set with Elf Bane

So then I'm guessing BSW and Elf Bane is a perfectly reasonable setup then? I was debating on going with BSW/Medua but I anticipate my playstyle will be lay down DoTs and then hit the spammable. Not sure if that is leaning more towards one combo or the other.

Its is. The meta will always hit harder, but its not like you will be hitting 20K while meta players are hitting 100K. BSW/Medusa is solid if you are not looking for longer uptimes on DOTs. I still run a MS/Medusa setup on my magplar with Kjanar's and I have no complaints.

The main thing to remember is the meta is for group play, primarily trials, where you are getting synergies and buffs from healers and tanks. If you aren't running trials all the time on your Mag DK, then these setups players have suggested above are all solid in any dungeon. While its nice to have a trials gear set for that 5% damage buff, you can get my without it if you have the right CP and rotation

Texecutioner187

That makes sense. And last question, will I be having any serious detriment using Elf Name and BSW? I threw on Medusa/BSW but I don't know why the Elf Name set is still stuck in my head

El_Borracho

Texecutioner187 wrote: »

That makes sense. And last question, will I be having any serious detriment using Elf Name and BSW? I threw on Medusa/BSW but I don't know why the Elf Name set is still stuck in my head

Elf Bane + BSW was once upon a time THE Mag DK combo because of what it did to all of the DK's fire DOTs, but even more for what Elf Bane did to Zaan. It made Zaan UNBELIEVABLY overpowered as it kept the 100% kick going for another 5 seconds. That was why Elf Bane had to be changed to not effect channeled or beam abilities.

One detriment to running those sets together is neither of them are a trials set. But the former meta of MS/Medusa were also not trials sets and they worked well. The only other detriment is the cooldown. From what I recall, the maximum uptime for BSW on a Mag DK is around 67% because of that 12 seconds. But the uptime gives a lot damage for Mag DKs due to the Burning status effect.

My personal preference is running Siroria instead of BSW because I don't mind the circle and most boss fights are stationary. It has a lower cooldown than BSW and is a trial set. However, if its a mobile boss fight, i would say BSW is in the same league as Siroria.

Texecutioner187

And as far as the whip, how is the most effective way to set enemies off balance for magdk?

Texecutioner187

I'm wondering if, as a solo MagDK, it's worth running a Charged Lightning Staff backbar to help maintain Off Balance? Thoughts?