VMA in Homestead - Question for Leaderboard runners.

BNOC · February 2017

Hi all,

I'm on Xbox and we don't have Homestead until the 21st (I think) - I'm essentially looking for build advice next patch / what people have tested.
I'm a Magicka Templar.

I run the standard template (Minus double destro option) of:
2 Grothdarr
5 Julianos
3 WP
1 VMA Inferno
1 VMA Resto / VMA Inferno #2

How effective would this setup still be, against something (Not definitive) like:
5 BSW
5 Julianos
1 VMA Lightening / Inferno?
1 VMA Resto / Inferno / Lightening?

I'm thinking that the damage changes to Grothdarr might make the combo of itself and Willpower, less effective than BSW (Which I assume will roughly proc at the start of every pre-dotted portal spawn and throughout on a boss fight)

1 - Does anyone know anything about that?

Also, changes to the staffs - As I'm what, 80% AOE, is Lightening going to be front barred or will the Inferno still be the go to?
I'm not certain but I imagine even with the 8% single target buff won't even be close to the extra dot damage?

2 - Does anyone have any information on that?

That's basically it, the set choice I've suggested isn't definitive and there may well be better options of 2 5 sets, which I'm open to hearing about as well.

Thanks

Ainikki · March 2017

Hej dude:),
Homested Patch ist pretty much the same setup like last patch.

I'm still running Destro/Restostaff. 5x Julianos, 3x Willpower and 2x Grothdarr.
I tested some other Setups like double Destro/ Dual Wield, Destro / Lightning/Destrostaff or BSW. Dont really like theese Setups. I lost so much time compared to my Destro/Resto setup.

Hope that helps if you didnt tried it by yourself:)
Greatz.

BNOC · March 2017

Hey man,

Thanks for getting back with what you've found.

I've only just moved across to the NA server so I've only got 400CP at the minute and I'm running BSW and double destro.
I'm doing rough ~50min 540k runs which is 15 minutes off of my EU runs, I feel like BSW is making a difference sometimes, mainly the start of rounds where it's almost guaranteed to proc and on boss fights - I can't tell with 400CP and missing passives/weapons what that really means so I'll have to try it again at 600.

Duel wield for me seems weak beacause TTK is so low and I get better scores with double destro but destro/resto is definitely easier, I literally never panic with resto; Sometimes I take gambles on double destro and because I've not got a shield it can catch you off guard.

I'll see how I get on when I'm nearer the point.

Cheers for the reply maybe I'll end up crafting myself a Julianos set and trying it.

GilGalad · March 2017

I had a pretty easy time with dual destro:

2 Grothdarr
5 BSW
4 Moondancer/Aether (Lightning frontbar)
VMA Inferno backbar

Harness instead of healing ward, ritual for a hot. Did only 3 runs since homestead, fastest was 40 mins, 568k with 3 unnecessary deaths. I was always able to nuke the stage 8 boss in one phase without problems every time, so the dmg is pretty good.

BNOC · March 2017

GilGalad wrote: »

I had a pretty easy time with dual destro:
2 Grothdarr

5 BSW

4 Moondancer/Aether (Lightning frontbar)

VMA Inferno backbar

Harness instead of healing ward, ritual for a hot. Did only 3 runs since homestead, fastest was 40 mins, 568k with 3 unnecessary deaths. I was always able to nuke the stage 8 boss in one phase without problems every time, so the dmg is pretty good.

That is a good run.

I was trying to decide whether lightening or inferno was better front bar and done some tests - I went with Inferno front bar, only because of TTK, I should probably try swapping back to lightening at the start of a boss round as they'll bathe longer and see more of my damage - Still not sure which is best really, but I'm glad you're giving it a go and have had a really good run with it.

I'm testing Grothdarr and Willpower vs 5 Julianos now to see whether swapping my Willpower out for BSW and putting 5 julianos on would be better, I get a fair bit of lost time on Grothdarr (From what I can see, I don't have a recount type addon on Xbox) - I suppose I get lost time on BSW too so it's all up in the air.

Cheers for letting me know how you're doing it though!

Ainikki · March 2017

No problem dude,
Yeah i saw that you switched to NA. I dont wanna say BSW is weaker or something like that. It just feels like it^^.
Maybe i'll give BSW and Lightningstaff another go to see if its a question of rng:).
I just prefer Destro/Resto in vMA. I can play so much more aggressiv than on the other Setups.

BNOC · March 2017

Ainikki wrote: »

No problem dude,
Yeah i saw that you switched to NA. I dont wanna say BSW is weaker or something like that. It just feels like it^^.
Maybe i'll give BSW and Lightningstaff another go to see if its a question of rng:).
I just prefer Destro/Resto in vMA. I can play so much more aggressiv than on the other Setups.

My god. I only just looked at your signature when you said you seen I'd moved across; Too many names to remember them all!

You're 585 this patch? I'm going to go watch your clip because that's ace! and an improvement on last patch so damage definitely isn't down! Good news for us all.

I agree you can be more aggressive on destro/resto because there's less worry and I only really used back destro for weakness on boss fights so maybe I'll go for the safe option unless I end up changing skills about.

I'm still running the exact same skill set up as last patch as well so I may need to change that, it's hard to know when you're a 400CP noob

Yeah, try BSW and let me know how it works - It almost always procs at the start of a round so however many adds you can kill in 8 seconds are dying quicker than normal but then there's downtime so it's tricky to tell because I'm not doing consistent time runs even with the same sets.

I think Inferno is better because a lot of what you're doing is Heavy attack - VB - Radiant which is all single target but it's worth trying out as well - I'm sure it'll probably be more dps on a boss but there's only 8 of them.

Cheers

Ainikki · March 2017

BNOC wrote: »

Ainikki wrote: »

No problem dude,
Yeah i saw that you switched to NA. I dont wanna say BSW is weaker or something like that. It just feels like it^^.
Maybe i'll give BSW and Lightningstaff another go to see if its a question of rng:).
I just prefer Destro/Resto in vMA. I can play so much more aggressiv than on the other Setups.

My god. I only just looked at your signature when you said you seen I'd moved across; Too many names to remember them all!

You're 585 this patch? I'm going to go watch your clip because that's ace! and an improvement on last patch so damage definitely isn't down! Good news for us all.

I agree you can be more aggressive on destro/resto because there's less worry and I only really used back destro for weakness on boss fights so maybe I'll go for the safe option unless I end up changing skills about.

I'm still running the exact same skill set up as last patch as well so I may need to change that, it's hard to know when you're a 400CP noob

Yeah, try BSW and let me know how it works - It almost always procs at the start of a round so however many adds you can kill in 8 seconds are dying quicker than normal but then there's downtime so it's tricky to tell because I'm not doing consistent time runs even with the same sets.

I think Inferno is better because a lot of what you're doing is Heavy attack - VB - Radiant which is all single target but it's worth trying out as well - I'm sure it'll probably be more dps on a boss but there's only 8 of them.

Cheers

I know what you mean, your Forumname is the same, so easier for me:p.
Yeah that Run was so good, only one screw up overall. On the last round i switched to BSW for the burst. Dont think ill push that score.... just tooo perfect:).
The overoll dmg is a bit higher than last patch, but you feel the nerf on Jesusbeam, Destroult and Grothdarr...
My Killrotation is different compared to last patch. Ill changed a bit, because of the nerfs

BNOC · March 2017

Ainikki wrote: »

I know what you mean, your Forumname is the same, so easier for me:p.
Yeah that Run was so good, only one screw up overall. On the last round i switched to BSW for the burst. Dont think ill push that score.... just tooo perfect:)

I've just watched a load of them, that was real nice, same setup still as well - You can definitely push that another 2k.

Speak to Supernatural - he knows a way to make sure you have a Spectral Explosion 5-8 seconds into the last boss fight (Gives you time to get some dps in, re dot and then boom, nuke time) - something to do with specific ghost selection on the previous round, I haven't actually asked him about it yet because I'm not at a point where it's worth it but he has said he'd let me know.

We might not be able to one shot it in the stun but it'd make the finish after the crystals a lot quicker.

Ainikki · March 2017

BNOC wrote: »

Ainikki wrote: »

I know what you mean, your Forumname is the same, so easier for me:p.
Yeah that Run was so good, only one screw up overall. On the last round i switched to BSW for the burst. Dont think ill push that score.... just tooo perfect:)

I've just watched a load of them, that was real nice, same setup still as well - You can definitely push that another 2k.

Speak to Supernatural - he knows a way to make sure you have a Spectral Explosion 5-8 seconds into the last boss fight (Gives you time to get some dps in, re dot and then boom, nuke time) - something to do with specific ghost selection on the previous round, I haven't actually asked him about it yet because I'm not at a point where it's worth it but he has said he'd let me know.

We might not be able to one shot it in the stun but it'd make the finish after the crystals a lot quicker.

Good call out, ill speak to him:).
But overall i cant push that...., the trashfights and every Bossfight accept from Stage 2 Boss (the one screw up i had/maybe 10-15 secs timelost) were just tooo perfect. No healing ward needed, speed, everthing was on Point. Maybe with Supernaturals Nuketaktik ill push that:). And dont forget the loadingscreen times on Xbox compared to PC.
We'll see it^^