Damage without vMA staffs

Typeous · June 2017

how much damage i can pull without vma staffs? i dont have any sharp or precise staff and i wonder how much i can pull max with self buff.

i do use ele drain and without spell damage potions i can pull 23k on skeleton and im new sorc user so i can improve my rotation but i want to know how much i can pull max without staffs.

Lexifer452 · June 2017

I don't have adequate via staves yet and maxed at around 31-31.5k on a target shelly before morrowind. After the patch, I'm down to about 28k on my best dummy test so far and slowly creeping back up. Still working on finding the optimal cp setup and further refining my rotation.

Best set combos I've tried so far are:

Julianos plus necropotence plus one kena (got me the highest score so far)

Julianos plus netch plus one kena

Necropotence plus netch's touch

Julianos plus illambris plus willpower

Julianos plus 3 willpower plus 3 infallible aether

Infallible aether 5 piece plus another five piece (tried all the mentioned sets with it but this combo scored too low for me to recommend using the full IA set with anything)

I tried scathing and burning spell weave in combination with each other and the above mentioned sets but those to scored considerably lower throughout my testing. (around 22-23k consistently)

I can't seem to get enough uptime on either on my sorc to make either a better substitute for julianos or netch's touch.

Also, so far anyway, I've been trying to types of setups. The standard pet sorc dps build with necropotence and a more heavy attack central build, that still uses familiar and its pulse, but without necropotence. The pet build performs better on the dummy but only slightly, maybe 2k higher overall. That could be just the way it is or it could be that my pet build's rotation is easier and thus less open to being messed up by me. The non-necropotence build runs julianos and netch's touch and so far has scored, at its highest, around 25-26k consistently. I tried that one without the familiar and instead double barred inner light but I found I lost 2-3k dps just from losing the familiar's pulse. So even when not running necropotence I usually keep the familiar double slotted.

My favorite combos for sets are julianos plus netch and a monster piece or julianos plus illambris and willpower. The necropotence pet build is great and all but I don't use it in vet trials and pretty much only use it for pug dungeons and farming maelstrom.

Lastly, maelstrom staves, with any trait, are not necessary to build a good magsorc dd. They will help, sure, but you can still pull good dps without them. My best advice would be to first try out the item sets you want to use. After that, working on perfecting your rotation will help to increase your dps more than anything else. Before borrowing I was stuck at 27-28k for weeks. Someone mentioned that my rotation was probably sloppy (overcasting was my issue) is probably not optimal or that I was weaving badly and guess what. They were right. I worked on that and my weaving and slowly but surely my damage crept upwards and I finally got past 30k selfbuffed.

The new buff timers on screen help a lot too. Now I can see when I need to return cast surge and boundless storm instead of recasting every time I was on that bar just to be safe. Precious time spent overcasting buffs or dots is less time doing optimal damage.

Hope my rambling helps. Good luck.

squinceybones · June 2017

vMA staff will only add like 1-2k dps. It should be the last thing you look for to increase your dps seeing as you may not ever get one. Given that light attacks got buffed it could be more though.

Jonnybueno · June 2017

Before morrowind I could pull 40k solo self buffed with fire blockade after morrowind I seem to be stuck at 34k. 4 moondancer with 5 necro. Inferno and shock staff are necro sharp

f047ys3v3n · June 2017

My vMA staff clocked in at +1.1k dps prior to the morrowind destruction of sustain. It will be less now, certainly below 1k, because there are less attacks per unit time with the whole required full heavy attack meta. The staff is really not worth that much given the difficulty of acquisition with the proper trait. It frankly has more value as a status symbol and advertisement of competence with mechanics than it does as an actual contribution to damage.

LegendaryMage · June 2017

Self buffed, I'm pulling between 30-32k (with willpower jewelry). Without it, probably 1k-2k less.

Horowonnoe · June 2017

Before Morrowind i could do around 44k on skelly on my pet sorc, once patch hit, my best was ~39-40k. vMA adds aboutt 2-3k of dps so i'd say, without vMA staffs, on a skeleton you should be able to pull around 36k in Morrowind.

Edit : Self buffed i mean, obvi

botanist92 · June 2017

any random sharpened staff > random trait vma staff?

Morvane · June 2017

I see difference in test and I think its because different ultimates
I think for clear test u must skip using ulti at all than post results