Precise trait vs Sharpened trait

olivaresdonjuan · November 2015

Hey guys just a quick question and hopefully I don't get eaten alive for asking. So which is a better trait, precise or sharpened? Precise increases you crital values but sharpened penetrates spell and armor. Any input is appreciated since I know I'm not the only one who has this question.

Maulkin · November 2015

olivaresdonjuan wrote: »

Hey guys just a quick question and hopefully I don't get eaten alive for asking. So which is a better trait, precise or sharpened? Precise increases you crital values but sharpened penetrates spell and armor. Any input is appreciated since I know I'm not the only one who has this question.

Are you a magicka or stamina build?

Generally stamina builds prefer sharpened for pvp as it deals better damage against blocking or shielded targets because you can't crit them anyway. Also cause impenetrable trait can reduce your crit damage even further.

dodgehopper_ESO · November 2015

It also depends how important crits are for your build. Suppose you're a khajiit stamina-sorc, you probably want to dual wield daggers with crit trait, wear medium armor, get the thief mundus, and otherwise do everything in your power to crank crits up to make full use of crit surge.

Forestd16b14_ESO · November 2015

Me personally sharpen cause there's stuff to reduce crit damage how ever there is nothing stopping penetration damage. Personal feelings HA needs a passive that increases armor/spell penetration res so HA 25K armor doesn't become 10K.

dodgehopper_ESO · November 2015

Forestd16b14_ESO wrote: »

Me personally sharpen cause there's stuff to reduce crit damage how ever there is nothing stopping penetration damage. Personal feelings HA needs a passive that increases armor/spell penetration res so HA 25K armor doesn't become 10K.

I agree with everything you've said here. Nevertheless, I do realize there is a place for critical builds out there, and they'd probably want to go with the crit-trait daggers if they are minmaxing for crit.

olivaresdonjuan · November 2015

Thanks guys for the input. I am running a stamina dk with sharpened traits on my weapons. I tend to run into spamming nbs and teleporting sorcerers. 1v1 I can take them but anything outside of that I'm dead. Now if it's my group vs another group I do well as long a the healers are doing their jobs. But back to the traits, should I stick to sharpened to go against the nbs and sorcerers or do I go with precise. I also thought about the nirn traits but I think it would be futile since they would be able to counter it, so I'd rather hit their soft spot.

Nirnrot · November 2015

dodgehopper_ESO wrote: »

It also depends how important crits are for your build. Suppose you're a khajiit stamina-sorc, you probably want to dual wield daggers with crit trait, wear medium armor, get the thief mundus, and otherwise do everything in your power to crank crits up to make full use of crit surge.

Khajit Stamina Sorc here with 84% crit. I can say that my build depends on a high crit rating and it works well for me. For someone who doesn't need to worry about landing a crit to get a heal off, I would say go Sharpened all the way. Crit Damage is great but as stated above, is easily negated by shields and blocks. If your worry is Sorc or NB definitely try for armor/spell penetration and unresistable damage enchants on weapons. Plus make sure you have enough armor or health to survive the burst damage and you'll be fine.

alex394053 · April 2016

Forestd16b14_ESO wrote: »

Me personally sharpen cause there's stuff to reduce crit damage how ever there is nothing stopping penetration damage. Personal feelings HA needs a passive that increases armor/spell penetration res so HA 25K armor doesn't become 10K.

Found this old thread. Correct me if I'm wrong: there IS something stopping penetration - physical resistance. And one of the ways to increase it is to invest CP into LA/MA/HA Focus into the Warrior Guardian constellations. It is "Focus vs Piercing" game, taking into account all other factors are equal.

kadar · May 2016

@Asayre recently did all sorts of Math-y calculations for the incoming Dark Brotherhood DLC and found that basically Sharpened is best trait for maximum DPS against opponents with more than 12k resistance. So everyone except trash mobs and glass cannon gankers, I believe.