regen similar to reduce cost? (with all other RSC passives)

crislevin · August 2014

On paper, it seems they have similar effect.

e.g., assume you cast 5 abilities in 10 sec, in this 10 sec,

with a 16RSC item, you save 16*5=90 magicka, this is discounted by passives, so 90*.7=63 magicka
with +14 regen, you save 14*5=60 magicka

did I miss something here?

Cyhawk · August 2014

Nope, you are indeed correct with your math (ok I didn't really check but it looks right). While they have similar effects they have different uses. For PvP reduced cost is better for burst damage where you may be able to squeeze in an extra attack. Regen is better for sustained battles or kiting battles where you can get more effect out of your regen the longer the battle or the longer you're out of direct combat.

If you want a definitive answer, you'll need to do the math on your spam skill. Will the reduced cost add an extra cast? If not, regen will most likely be better.

p_tsakirisb16_ESO · August 2014

I will add to the great post of @Cyhawk‌ that on the same equation you need to calculate the Spell power and armour....

Eg for Templar, in Medium/Heavy, spell cost reduction glyphs are good. But in light armour, more likely you will got for more spell power, since the is going to be a hefty discount of the spell cost because of the light armour passives.

crislevin · August 2014

Well, every battle can be divided into small segment of time, within each of these segment, above calculation holds. So I don't see how a long or short battle changes anything. Unless the battle is over in 2 seconds.

Neither RSC nor Regenration changes spell power?

If you meant items that add spell power, not sure it worth it. Apparently, every 1 spell power increase deals 1-2 more damage.

guybrushtb16_ESO · August 2014

p_tsakirisb16_ESO wrote: »

I will add to the great post of @Cyhawk‌ that on the same equation you need to calculate the Spell power and armour....

Eg for Templar, in Medium/Heavy, spell cost reduction glyphs are good. But in light armour, more likely you will got for more spell power, since the is going to be a hefty discount of the spell cost because of the light armour passives.

Bear in mind though, that spell cost reduction scales much better the more you put into it. Let's say you had 50% reduction already (made up, impossible number to illustrate), another 5% are now actually worth 10% of the remaining costs. Also, reduced spell costs scale better with any outside source of "income" magicka, like pots or a group member's abilities.

The same is not true for regeneration however, and this is why the breton passive (-3% spell cost) is arguably better then any of the regeneration passives, despite looking smaller at first.

crislevin · August 2014

not sure.

First, RSC is negatively discounted by passive reductions, if you have a 16 RSC ring, it will only do 8 reduction if you have 50% passive reductions from armours and racial skills.

Although incoming magicka favors RSC, you rarely get to the max magicka using pot, As long as you are not at max magicka all the time, RSC doesn't really do more than regen.