VMA as Stamina without Dual Wield ?

oahaha · March 2017

After a looooong period of time I've decided to try VMA again, last time (around 2 or 3 months ago) I raged quit the game and canceled my subscription just because it's stupid hard.
So because I did not have anything to do (PvP is soooooo bad right now), I've decided to try this no life challenge, but guess what, only Dual Wield WORKS, and I hate dual wield.
From my point of view only 2 skills (steal tornado and the ulti) have a nice animation in that skill tree, the rest are garbage. Because of this I've tried one hand and shield with a tank build.
At first it's fun you don't die but also you don't have any dmg, so it's not good, next I've tried 2h, ooooooooo bad move, a lot of dmg but you die like a bug, then i've decided to go with one had and shield but with more dps and it was ok till the round 4 when it's no longer viable to use it.
So my question to you all how one can finish this stupid challenge if you like to play this game as a tank,healer a 2h damage dealer, bow dps or another thing that is not related to the classic builds ????????
You DON"T, you just DON"T, the game is punishing you for playing what you like.
I get that the arena should be hard but not impossible if you don't use a copy/paste build.
So how can I finish it if I don't use a copy/paste build ?????
You get punished in PvE, you get punished in PvP, it's just not fun I guess the only thing to do is to cancel again my subscription and be done with the game, I should move on to other games that don't punish ppl for playing what they like.
I don't want to be the first or anything I only want to finish it and that's all it's that to much to ask ????

SparklyRook · March 2017

Try this.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/330690/deadly-arrow-stamina-sorcerer-vma-bow-bow-build-homestead-ready#latest

Everstorm · March 2017

Or just use dual wield in vma and whatever you like in the rest of the game.

oahaha · March 2017

Everstorm wrote: »

Or just use dual wield in vma and whatever you like in the rest of the game.

WHY just WHY should i play something that i don't like ?????

lolo_01b16_ESO · March 2017

You could also use something like this.
You wont get the highest scores with that setup, but it's strong enough to get a relatively clean run.

Ghettokid · March 2017

You should be able to do it without dual wield. Cause I mean back in my days while doing VMA we had to walk butt naked through fifty miles of snow, uphill both ways. We fought with fists only, 26 hours a day, for prosperous daggers. If you wanted training weapons you had to live four months by eating from trash can and drinking from mud pond. For green items we had to sell our organs.

And still you nowadays kids are complaining about VMA.

oahaha · March 2017

lolo_01b16_ESO wrote: »

You could also use something like this.
You wont get the highest scores with that setup, but it's strong enough to get a relatively clean run.

a nightblade build for stam sorc nice.

oahaha · March 2017

Ghettokid wrote: »

You should be able to do it without dual wield. Cause I mean back in my days while doing VMA we had to walk butt naked through fifty miles of snow, uphill both ways. We fought with fists only, 26 hours a day, for prosperous daggers. If you wanted training weapons you had to live four months by eating from trash can and drinking from mud pond. For green items we had to sell our organs.

And still you nowadays kids are complaining about VMA.

I'm not new to the game and also not a kid.
That's the problem i'm not a kid anymore, I don't have time for grinding, i play 1 - 2 hours if i have time with what i can get, and that's ok.
I don't want to be the best at this, not even in top 100 i don't care, i just want to finish it in my own time on my own way even that means 3 - 4 months grinding it to get an item.
That's the problem actually i'm old, I no longer have the reflexes of a 16 or 20 years old, but i guess you don't have the same problem, your still young.

lolo_01b16_ESO · March 2017

oahaha wrote: »

lolo_01b16_ESO wrote: »

You could also use something like this.
You wont get the highest scores with that setup, but it's strong enough to get a relatively clean run.

a nightblade build for stam sorc nice.

If you only look for stam sorc builds, you maybe should state that somewhere in the first post.

oahaha · March 2017

lolo_01b16_ESO wrote: »

oahaha wrote: »

lolo_01b16_ESO wrote: »

You could also use something like this.
You wont get the highest scores with that setup, but it's strong enough to get a relatively clean run.

a nightblade build for stam sorc nice.

If you only look for stam sorc builds, you maybe should state that somewhere in the first post.

you are right i didn't specified, my bad, unfortunately i don't have time to reroll a nb.

DeadlyRecluse · March 2017

A friend of mine passed it the week it came out on a 2H stam DK with 100 points in bastion, just brawlering his way through trash.

Hardly optimal, but it worked!

Tryxus · March 2017

I've beaten vMSA on my StamBlade using 2H+Bow. In fact, I prefer to use 2H for the Stam Regen when you kill someone and the Rally skill

The only time I did swap to DW was during the final boss, where Deadly Cloak really came in handy, as well as Rend. But on a Stam Sorc, I don't think you'll need to do that, since you have Dark Deal and Arnaments

DocFrost72 · March 2017

My first clear was a bow and greatsword stamplar. You can absolutely do VMA with dual wield.

@Ch4mpTW had a person show them a flawless clear with sword and shield.

If you want help, I can make you a Storc build for vMA? VERY survivable, and high burst (great for vMA)

Didaco · March 2017

My first clear was with a Vampire Stamblade, when being a vampire gave you 25% more damage taken from fire, with a greatsword.

My hybrid sorc clears it with a 2h.

Slot Brawler, makes your life so much easier.

CultOfMMO · March 2017

2h can work pretty well actually, in fact thats the safe build

DW is used to push for fast clears, 2h can have pretty good survivability. a lot of earlier stam vma builds use 2h

oahaha · March 2017

I see so many ppl running 2h and they say they finished it, i can't get it, in pvp i always play 2h and medium armor and i do a decent job but when it comes to vma on a 2h it's like 2 shots and i'm dead, can't make it, as I said maybe I'm to old for this ***, on that frost stage it's even worse, i get one shots like hell.

kylewwefan · March 2017

It's just hard man. Like really freaking hard. I'd say go with whatever gets you through. I have all legendary BIS gear....gold jewelry etc. twice fanged, VO, Veledrith......I even have a sharpened VO great sword, 2 sharp VO daggers, bow etc.

And my sorry ass can't beat the last boss.

Any Stam toon is gonna use pretty much the same gear or close to it. DW/ Bow is good for 5/5/2 setup or could go 2H and use either 5/5 or 5/3/2.

All the gear in the world hasn't made anything easy for me.

Give yourself a time limit. I won't "work" on it for more than 30 minutes at a time now. I'm getting better at the theatre of despair, but it can still take me at times 20 minutes to get to Solkyn Voriak. Which gives me not a lot of time to work on the most difficult part for me, but it's better this way. It can easily turn into hours of me beating my head against the wall.

Ch4mpTW · March 2017

DocFrost72 wrote: »

My first clear was a bow and greatsword stamplar. You can absolutely do VMA with dual wield.

@Ch4mpTW had a person show them a flawless clear with sword and shield.

If you want help, I can make you a Storc build for vMA? VERY survivable, and high burst (great for vMA)

To this day, I've yet to see anything so incredible and yet unique at the same time (regarding VMA). O_O

DocFrost72 · March 2017

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

DocFrost72 wrote: »

My first clear was a bow and greatsword stamplar. You can absolutely do VMA with dual wield.

@Ch4mpTW had a person show them a flawless clear with sword and shield.

If you want help, I can make you a Storc build for vMA? VERY survivable, and high burst (great for vMA)

To this day, I've yet to see anything so incredible and yet unique at the same time (regarding VMA). O_O

I tagged you for this very reason, one of my buddies ran that build before the crit nerf and crushed it xD

@oahaha If you have time, can you list your skills? Equipment? What specifically is giving you trouble? What your health, stam, and mag are at? We can help you get it, I assure you

Ch4mpTW · March 2017

DocFrost72 wrote: »

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

DocFrost72 wrote: »

My first clear was a bow and greatsword stamplar. You can absolutely do VMA with dual wield.

@Ch4mpTW had a person show them a flawless clear with sword and shield.

If you want help, I can make you a Storc build for vMA? VERY survivable, and high burst (great for vMA)

To this day, I've yet to see anything so incredible and yet unique at the same time (regarding VMA). O_O

I tagged you for this very reason, one of my buddies ran that build before the crit nerf and crushed it xD

@oahaha If you have time, can you list your skills? Equipment? What specifically is giving you trouble? What your health, stam, and mag are at? We can help you get it, I assure you

Your buddy must be quite the intriguing individual. I'm jelly you're in tight with them. XD

Also, I'd love to help out OP. As Doc said, simply list out what you're working with. And from there, I'll tell you everything I know relative to it. That way you can hopefully have an easier experience.

Toc de Malsvi · March 2017

I was doing it regularly on a bow/bow setup on my DK. I initially was doing it with 2H/Bow and bow mainhand. It is very doable with other weapons than DW, you just need to learn the rounds better and improve your setup and play.

As bow/bow I generally run it with 5 set/5 set/1 set and you don't need a particular set to be able to beat VMA. I've beaten it with:

5marksman5hawkeye
5hundings5marksman
5hundings5hawkeye
5redmountain5hundings
5gladiator5hawkeye

With those setups I'm running a 1peice of Kragh or Kena.

I've also run 5/3/3 using agility rings, or 5/3/2 with moster set and off set weapons.

Some setups work better than others but really you can complete it with just about any set in the game. Once you learn the rounds its more about avoiding mechanics that kill you and then outputting just enough dps to continue.

For the longest time I did round 7 boss where I kited him the entire time and avoided going anywhere near him so he couldn't stun me and it was easier to avoid the stomp tremors. I used venom arrow to keep him interrupted and bursted his adds anytime they spawned. This was generally a safe strategy but took much longer in time.

The only thing that greatly changes your experience of the rounds is the damage output and how fast you are killing adds. If you don't greatly change your setup, the rounds are almost exactly the same each time. Then it just becomes a measure of learning what to expect and when to expect it.

The super high scores are not done by players who don't know the rounds, if you watch the videos those players are prepping and setting up for each portal before the portal appears or adds spawn.

Because VMA is repeatable in that the rounds are pretty much exactly the same, then if you are having issues with it there are really only a few things to be said. Either you are taking unnecessary damage because you are not positioning yourself well to avoid damage, or possibly you are not killing priority targets and navigating specific design mechanics, or you just don't know the rounds well enough and need to watch videos and practice.

There are people now who are completing it with little to no CP and very bad gear so its really more a measure of the time you are willing to put into it, as well as how clever you are as to dealing with mechanics or whether you are willing to go look up a video and watch someone else explain how to deal with something.

Izaki · March 2017

If you only knew that I farm vMA on my stamblade with a 2H because of Rally and the insane survivability it gives...

DW is amazing for score runs. For farming, I like my 2H better (and getting Flawless runs while farming is pretty satisfying too).

rosendoichinoveb17_ESO · March 2017

I play as a stamina DK and 99% of the time I use a bow. The only time when I need to use dual wild is for some of the final bosses (and even that is not mandatory). Yes my DPS sucks at 8k-13k DPS but doing a bow only run is totally achievable.

oahaha · March 2017

So, right now i have 2 setups.
1. 5 Sword-Singer 5 Seventh Legion on 2h build.
the build is classic 2h skills on 2h bar and on bow bar is buff skills like crit surge hurricane shuffle and dark deal.
2. 5 Black Rose 5 Viper 2 Tremorscale
This one is one hand and shield, on skills it's some what similar with the build that fengrush is running in pvp but without streak and i'm using the charge from one hand and shield not 2h skilll line (it's just more easy to have it on the same bar as my dps skills)
Only Black Rose and Viper setup is golden, the rest are epic, no money to make them gold.
And also I have in the bank TBS medium, Huntings Rage medium and Clever Alchemist also medium.
As for monster sets I have a lot of them cos i'm a tank in pve so it's easy to get a group.
Practically that's my problem, I've always played as a tank in PvE never a dps, and I have no clue how to dps, tanking is so different you don't have a specific rotation you just react to what is happening and stand there and take dmg

oahaha · March 2017

I was also thinking of farming bone pirate and pair that with Seventh Legion on a one hand and shield build, but i don;t know if i'll have dps.

nickl413 · March 2017

OP not long ago I was in the same boat as you, trying to clear vma and wanting to quit the game because it was so hard. I struggled to get my 2H stamplar to the final boss which i just couldnt beat. I probably spent easily 50 hours trying to clear. Eventually I leveled a stam sorc and went in there on a dual weild setup (which I was also uncomfortable with) and ended up clearing the entire arena in less time than my stamplar typically spent trying to clear a single boss.

I know its not what you want to hear but a stam sorc really is better off dual wielding. Its not about personal preference or going for leader board scores, its about playing to the strength of the class. I know its uncomfortable at first without the burst heal from rally but you get used it. And honestly rally is all 2H has going for it.

A Stamplar can do fine with 2H (and ya I eventually went back and beat it) because templar have a class spamable that doubles as a cone aoe, and acccess to major mending. Stam sorc has none of that. Stam sorc has crit surge. To get the most out of crit surge and ensure you get heals every second you need as many chances to crit as you can get, i.e. dots. 2H doesnt have dots other than cleave and thats no good for single target and its a poor aoe. Dual weild has the best aoe in the game and 3 skills that return heals, blood thirst, blood craze and the dual wield ultimate, all while simultaneously giving you chances to also heal through crit surge. Not to mention that all this does more damage than 2H skills which is important in vma because the faster things die, the easier it will be.

So basically you just keep huricane and crit surge up, poison inject things far away. blood thirst/craze things nearby, drop endless hail somewhere and pop vigor regularly. You may want to run bound armaments for extra resists and stam. Just make sure crit surge is always up. If you die, check your combat logs to see when was the last time you got a surge heal. If you weren't getting them, either it went down or you didnt have enough dots up. After that its just learning the mechanics.

DocFrost72 · March 2017

oahaha wrote: »

So, right now i have 2 setups.
1. 5 Sword-Singer 5 Seventh Legion on 2h build.
the build is classic 2h skills on 2h bar and on bow bar is buff skills like crit surge hurricane shuffle and dark deal.

Sword Singer makes total sense, but seventh legion is a little out of place for a PvE toon. Might I suggest spriggans, leviathan, or (if you use 5 body pieces seventh legion) running 5 medium divines hundings rage? The reasoning behind this is because more medium = more crit = more damage and healing, thanks to critical surge. Also, if you typically wear impen, know that it won't offer anything to you in PvE: mobs can't crit. Try a divines set, running the thief stone!

2. 5 Black Rose 5 Viper 2 Tremorscale
This one is one hand and shield, on skills it's some what similar with the build that fengrush is running in pvp but without streak and i'm using the charge from one hand and shield not 2h skilll line (it's just more easy to have it on the same bar as my dps skills)
Only Black Rose and Viper setup is golden, the rest are epic, no money to make them gold.
And also I have in the bank TBS medium, Huntings Rage medium and Clever Alchemist also medium.

Good, let's put that hunding's to use. Definately run Tremorscale for a sword and shield build. The fact that your main spammable has a chance to proc some real nastiness, and costs next to nothing, are powerful factors on your side. I'd also recommend running low slash for the ult gen and minor maim. Don't overlook running sword and shield ulti with reflect on your front bar; stage 5, stage 7, and stage 9 final boss this can literally turn a death sentence into crippling DPS on the boss.

As for monster sets I have a lot of them cos i'm a tank in pve so it's easy to get a group.

wearing a two piece monster set is hard on a non dw/sword+shield build, but not impossible. I reccomend 1 piece kra'gh shoulder, as the penetration is really helpful. Kena/veli are also solid choices.

Practically that's my problem, I've always played as a tank in PvE never a dps, and I have no clue how to dps, tanking is so different you don't have a specific rotation you just react to what is happening and stand there and take dmg

More general info:

PvE load outs for stam typically feature 18k health, medium armor, all divines. For maelstrom, 20-22k health can make a world of differnce.

More later- at uni, in class xD

EDIT- Further notes:

You'll want to learn to play a DPS a little different than a tank. You need to train yourself out of block and into dodge roll, and only use it for emergencies. Case in point: On a tank, blocking stops your regen but you can compensate with constitution, right? If you're running medium, that is not enough/not applicable. You DO, however, get a bonus to dodge cost reduction. If the round 9 boss throws a skull, don't block: dodge.

Dots are your damage. Spamming pierce armor, uppercut, or snipe will net you a whopping 10-15k dps. Adding poison injection below 50 (really should be at all times) will drastically increase damage. Always reapply dots off cool down, NEVER when still ticking (DPS loss numbers, basically). Have rearming trap for the crit bonus damage, it really helps.

Weave in light attacks with animation canceling. I wish I know who said it, because I'd tag them for credit, but on a recent post one user described it as "ka-boom". The ka sound is the light attack, boom is the skill. When you say it, you have the right cadence for weaving light attacks.

Anything pat this is entirely mechanics, and I cannot stress this enough. Learning a stage is far and away the best form of preparation for future rounds. It was easier on my stamblade than stamplar because I knew where to be, what to kill, and when to stop DPS to obey mechanics (round 5, round 7, round 8).

Hope this helps, friend. Don't give up untIL you're flawless, then come back to plead for a token system!

Masel · March 2017

IzakiBrotherSs wrote: »

If you only knew that I farm vMA on my stamblade with a 2H because of Rally and the insane survivability it gives...

DW is amazing for score runs. For farming, I like my 2H better (and getting Flawless runs while farming is pretty satisfying too).

This. I used 3 vengeance leech(very overlooked set for vMA, especially when learning), 5 vicious ophidian and two velidreth (one heavy piece) to farm the arena with a vMA bow and 2h with surprise attack. Makes flawless a lot easier than dual wield because of the amazing sustain and survivability it gives. And you can still burst down e.g. The last boss to 70 before a deadroth even spawns with ballista. 3600 WD, 34000 stamina and great sustain and self-healing.

oahaha · March 2017

So Saturday I had some time on my hands and decided to go back in and finish this awful challenge.
After some rage quits and probably a new keyboard, I decided to respec and try magsorc, on stamsorc i got till the frost round, and could not manage to beat it no matter what, so I went as mag.
I crafted some purple gear and went swinging.
Long story short now i'm at the last boss, yeeeeeeey, probably it will take me another week to finish it due to time but at least i'm at the freaking LAST BOSSSSSSSS.
Thank you all for tips and tricks, it's a frustrating dungeon but probably as magicka i'll manage to finish it, wish me luck.
In the future i'll go back to try stamina dps but I find it very hard, I need to make some divines sets, all my gear is pvp orientated, only the tank gear is divines.
I know impen is not the best trait for pve but time is of the essence here, so I did know i'll have a handicap with impen gear but not that much of a handicap.
Anyway thank you all again for everything, it's nice to see the community is happy to help a old guy out

.

oahaha · March 2017

O and also, I have a question, I died so much to get at the last boss, if i kill it I'll still get any loot ?
I died like 50 + times.

Wizball1987 · March 2017

Lol inpen

yes u still have a chance at a weapon but ofc wont get a score...
Im old too!
http://www.wizball.16mb.com/hof/Hofmain.htm