So Proc Sets Invaded PvE Now?

Ch4mpTW · November 2016

I came across a guy in Grahtwood not too long ago who had a Flawless Conqueror on what appeared to be a StamDK, and I asked him about how he did it. Basically for a few pointers. He shows me his build, and he's running: 5pcs. Black Rose, 5pcs. Viper, 2pcs. Tremorscale, and a Maelstrom Maul. Lol...

I ask him if he's trolling me, or if he had just applied that to go PvP or duel, and he told me that it was his Maelstrom farming gear. So ever more curious, I ask if I could watch him do a few stages of VMA via SharePlay and low and behold — he was crushing things. BRUH! The amount of damage he sponged and burst damage he had was ridiciulous, as well as healing. It was truly something amazing, as usually for PvE you'd expect a stamina user to go about utilizing medium armor. But nope. His main body pieces were heavy, and he rocked a sword and shield with 2H on the backbar. No bow. No DW. He didn't even utilize Flawless Dawnbreaker, by rather Dawnbreaker of Smiting.

Is this intentional design ZOS, or n'ah? Because what I just watched was incredible, as well as the most unorthodox means of doing Maelstrom I had ever seen.

Doctordarkspawn · November 2016

This has allways been intentional, I mean why else would they include these sets? Skoria and such have been PVE staples for years now.

Wollust · November 2016

this here trumps every other flawless maelstrom run

Ch4mpTW · November 2016

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

This has allways been intentional, I mean why else would they include these sets? Skoria and such have been PVE staples for years now.

Well Skoria is different, as that can work well in either PvE or PvP. But seeing Tremorscale and Black Rose be used for PvE content caught me off guard. Same with Viper. But, it was working it's magic for the guy. He didn't die at all, and his: Burst damage, defense, healing, and sustain we're through the roof. So honestly, I don't really know what to think anymore about using PvP setups in a PvE environment. It was incredible.

andreasranasen · November 2016

Yup it's quite sad we have gear playing for you now. No skill required.

Silver_Strider · November 2016

vMaelstrom as a solo instance is probably the single best way to test if a build is PvP ready as it tests your sustain, damage and survivability all at once, all of which are important in PvP.
It, however, shouldn't be a measurement on how effective it will be in a group setting as that is a drastic change from PvP.

dagonbeer · November 2016

To be fair, vMa is closer to PvP than most PvE cotent.

Taleof2Cities · November 2016

To be honest, it's refreshing to see a player utilize a unorthodox build that they like and do really well with.

What's wrong with that?

Not related to builds, but another example of unorthodox gameplay was one 12-man vMoL team using the Propelling Siege Shield skill to boost their ranged attacks against the Vashai and S'kinrai Dro-m'Athra bosses. In that instance, Mike Finnegan at ZOS acknowledged it but wasn't going to change it (since it wasn't an exploit) ... and noted the creative thinking of the players.

Doctordarkspawn · November 2016

andreasranasen wrote: »

Yup it's quite sad we have gear playing for you now. No skill required.

It's allways been that way. I dont see how this is news.

Proc gear has allways been a thing for PVE, people need to just get over it. Or is this like that movie where a dude sees aliens with sunglasses, and only just now got the sunglasses?

Afafrenferr · November 2016

I'll totally buy that dude, I've always had a feeling that pvp players did better in vMA than pve players, generally. I guess I thought this because in my first couple runs in vMA it felt more like pvp because of the way I reacted to some things in the arena. I could be laying out damage and all the sudden I have to switch to, oh crap I'm gonna die, better get creative before I wipe mode!

Most of that was because I wasn't really familiar with the arena, but there aren't any massive mob pulls and blanket heals going on in there, so a pvp build that can be sustained really well that puts out big damage seems perfect for vMA. I love seeing people do things a little out of the ordinary, or what I'd imagine as ordinary, that works out well.

Ch4mpTW · November 2016

Afafrenferr wrote: »

I'll totally buy that dude, I've always had a feeling that pvp players did better in vMA than pve players, generally. I guess I thought this because in my first couple runs in vMA it felt more like pvp because of the way I reacted to some things in the arena. I could be laying out damage and all the sudden I have to switch to, oh crap I'm gonna die, better get creative before I wipe mode!

Most of that was because I wasn't really familiar with the arena, but there aren't any massive mob pulls and blanket heals going on in there, so a pvp build that can be sustained really well that puts out big damage seems perfect for vMA. I love seeing people do things a little out of the ordinary, or what I'd imagine as ordinary, that works out well.

The guy's HP never dropped below 80%. I kid you not. It was insane.

Alucardo · November 2016

Yeah, now imagine that build in PVP and that will show you why it's pure filth right now.

TequilaFire · November 2016

Proctologists everywhere...

Dagoth_Rac · November 2016

VMSA is 1vX PvP except the other players are NPCs. It is nothing like any other PvE in the game.

Ch4mpTW · November 2016

Alucardo wrote: »

Yeah, now imagine that build in PVP and that will show you why it's pure filth right now.

@Alucardo I feel reeeeeal bad for people who actively PvP nowadays then. Because what he did to those NPC's wasn't right. Lol. It was like they could barely scratch him; tickling him. And he was just whooping on them.

And you guys have that type of bs in Cyrodiil and duels? Hell n'ah I'm not returning to serious PvP again. Screw that nonsense. That is 110% nightmare fuel.

WalksonGraves · November 2016

Gee it's almost like high damage is universally useful.

cpuScientist · November 2016

LOL if you think it's just the build that git him through. If you build your character to do max dps it's just as easy. 1 maybe 2 force pulse kills everything anyway. Mobs in VMA die easily anyway. A quick flurry from my StamSorc running hurricane and they die. The bosses burn quickly anyway no proc needed. People get the main boss to go up before guards. This guy is just doing it a way he is most comfortable. Like that one DK video linked above of a guy doing it in damn tanking gear lol. You can be very creative in there honestly. A friend of mine goes in there with a bubbleplar build and it looks so easy and quite fun...

But get creative.

Ch4mpTW · November 2016

cpuScientist wrote: »

LOL if you think it's just the build that git him through. If you build your character to do max dps it's just as easy. 1 maybe 2 force pulse kills everything anyway. Mobs in VMA die easily anyway. A quick flurry from my StamSorc running hurricane and they die. The bosses burn quickly anyway no proc needed. People get the main boss to go up before guards. This guy is just doing it a way he is most comfortable. Like that one DK video linked above of a guy doing it in damn tanking gear lol. You can be very creative in there honestly. A friend of mine goes in there with a bubbleplar build and it looks so easy and quite fun...

But get creative.

Lol I know that you can beat Maelstrom with creative and unique builds, as I use a PetSorc to farm Maelstrom. But like, bruh. Full blown PvP gear? Impen and all? Lol. It was strange.

andreasranasen · November 2016

I feel like i'm the ONLY one in PvP not playing with proc sets. As a mag sorc i still feel very forced to not give up julianos and 1x kena piece + 1x mag monster piece. Like do i really wanna give up some nice extra spell dmg for a 2x monster set to have some lame dodgeable flame-ball / meteor shower appear?

Autolycus · November 2016

This OP is pretty insightful, but I'm not really surprised, personally.

A lot of solid pvp builds are born out of vMA, and for good reason. There are a lot of underlying fundamental similarities between pvp, both in dueling and in larger-scale, and solo content. I won't go into great detail on this, since it's not the subject of the thread. However, I will say that some of these fundamental similarities revolve around self-reliance on buffs, sustain, healing potential and damage. There is a balance between all fundamentals that must be achieved to "solidify" a build - to make it whole, to make it a solid setup.

After I completed vMA for the first time, my skill as a player in pvp improvement substantially. VMA doesn't "teach" us fundamental mechanics per se, it reinforces them.. it enables us to react instinctively to these fundamental mechanics, and this is done in many cases on a subconscious level. This allows the individual to apply their conscious efforts to more threatening matters, i.e. being able to watch one's opponent, rather than oneself.

I say I'm not surprised that this works well, because a proper balance between survivability, sustain, and damage potential is all that is required to complete vMA. A higher level of sustain and survivability affords a higher chance at Flawless Conqueror. I see no reason why this setup wouldn't work. That being said, I highly doubt this person has a competitive score from this build (perhaps a different build focused more on damage), but that doesn't really matter. Most people do vMA for CP or for a chance at weapons, not for a leaderboard spot.

DPShiro · November 2016

Even if he managed to play that way, it would still be faster and better (higher score) with a good build.

Tryxus · November 2016

5 pc Thunderbug + 5 pc Storm Knight + 2 Skoria...

A little something I'm working on

Afafrenferr · November 2016

@Ch4mpTW right?! Some people have a ton of heals in there. I'm no super player or anything, but I can get about 450k score, so I think I'm doing fair, but then I see videos of of other magblades completing it, and I swear it looks like they have 1000 points in quick recovery. They know something I don't! Crazy! I so scrub!

fastolfv_ESO · November 2016

the blackrose vma thing is actually pretty old now, combine any other set with it and it makes maelstrom easy. Been talking about this in guild for months now, i guess it was something pvpers all knew about but it took time to spread to pve players

SublimeSparo · November 2016

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

I came across a guy in Grahtwood not too long ago who had a Flawless Conqueror on what appeared to be a StamDK, and I asked him about how he did it. Basically for a few pointers. He shows me his build, and he's running: 5pcs. Black Rose, 5pcs. Viper, 2pcs. Tremorscale, and a Maelstrom Maul. Lol...

I ask him if he's trolling me, or if he had just applied that to go PvP or duel, and he told me that it was his Maelstrom farming gear. So ever more curious, I ask if I could watch him do a few stages of VMA via SharePlay and low and behold — he was crushing things. BRUH! The amount of damage he sponged and burst damage he had was ridiciulous, as well as healing. It was truly something amazing, as usually for PvE you'd expect a stamina user to go about utilizing medium armor. But nope. His main body pieces were heavy, and he rocked a sword and shield with 2H on the backbar. No bow. No DW. He didn't even utilize Flawless Dawnbreaker, by rather Dawnbreaker of Smiting.

Is this intentional design ZOS, or n'ah? Because what I just watched was incredible, as well as the most unorthodox means of doing Maelstrom I had ever seen.

Had the gear handy so just gave it a shot, pretty fun tbh.
What did his skillbars look like?
I went with;
S&b
Dragonfire scale, flames of Oblivion, trap beast, pierce armour, venomous claw, dbos
2h
Igneous shield, vigour, noxious breath, crit rush, rally, standard of might

Autolycus · November 2016

fastolfv_ESO wrote: »

the blackrose vma thing is actually pretty old now, combine any other set with it and it makes maelstrom easy. Been talking about this in guild for months now, i guess it was something pvpers all knew about but it took time to spread to pve players

Lol nope, it just took a long time to spread to some players.

OneKhajiitCrimeWave · November 2016

Tryxus wrote: »

5 pc Thunderbug + 5 pc Storm Knight + 2 Skoria...

A little something I'm working on

Khajiit thinks that is an evil plan...

and wishes this walker all the success with this, so long as you are not on the platform this one plays

Ch4mpTW · November 2016

fastolfv_ESO wrote: »

the blackrose vma thing is actually pretty old now, combine any other set with it and it makes maelstrom easy. Been talking about this in guild for months now, i guess it was something pvpers all knew about but it took time to spread to pve players

It's news to me, and those who I conversed with about it. Lol. But, if you had known about this particular setup all along then salute to you.

SublimeSparo wrote: »

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

I came across a guy in Grahtwood not too long ago who had a Flawless Conqueror on what appeared to be a StamDK, and I asked him about how he did it. Basically for a few pointers. He shows me his build, and he's running: 5pcs. Black Rose, 5pcs. Viper, 2pcs. Tremorscale, and a Maelstrom Maul. Lol...

I ask him if he's trolling me, or if he had just applied that to go PvP or duel, and he told me that it was his Maelstrom farming gear. So ever more curious, I ask if I could watch him do a few stages of VMA via SharePlay and low and behold — he was crushing things. BRUH! The amount of damage he sponged and burst damage he had was ridiciulous, as well as healing. It was truly something amazing, as usually for PvE you'd expect a stamina user to go about utilizing medium armor. But nope. His main body pieces were heavy, and he rocked a sword and shield with 2H on the backbar. No bow. No DW. He didn't even utilize Flawless Dawnbreaker, by rather Dawnbreaker of Smiting.

Is this intentional design ZOS, or n'ah? Because what I just watched was incredible, as well as the most unorthodox means of doing Maelstrom I had ever seen.

Had the gear handy so just gave it a shot, pretty fun tbh.
What did his skillbars look like?
I went with;
S&b
Dragonfire scale, flames of Oblivion, trap beast, pierce armour, venomous claw, dbos
2h
Igneous shield, vigour, noxious breath, crit rush, rally, standard of might

I don't remember how they were placed off the top of my head, but I do remember some of the skills. He used: Ransack, Resolving Vigor, Stampede, Reverse Slice, Igneous Shield, and Venomous Claw. I don't remember the rest.

Riga_Mortis · November 2016

Fair play to that stam Dk, he played it his wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

THEDKEXPERIENCE · November 2016

Having tried VMA for the first time a few days ago and getting pwn'd I decided to take a look at the leaderboards. Almost all of the top players are also top PVPers.

NewBlacksmurf · November 2016

Baller. I just plugged with a guy earlier this week and I'm like dis dude is a beast. Now it makes sense. Hahahaha

Changed the game literally ...he says. Aye man just dps I won't need much healing.
He and his real friend breasted the whole Vet dungeon. Went back on my main and we couldn't down the last boss in the next 3 PUGs and a guild group.