Opinions and suggestions Warden abilities?

ascan7 · June 2017

I've recently brought a friend and we started doing pvp together. I haven't had much success in pvp before but with him it's very funny. He's playing the classic DK with heavy armor, 2 haneded and S&B. He likes to charge and be in the frontline so i made an Argonian Magicka Warden so be a support character.
I'd like to be a sort of jack of all trades, able to heal, buff and deal ranged damage.
Right now i'm doing kinda good but i feel i could be better. I'm mostly using Screaming Cliff Racer and Fungal Growth.
Can someone give me advices about Warden abilities? For example, are Green Balance abilities comparable to Resto staff ones, or are they worse? Which Winter Embrace abilities are good (right now i am finding them pretty lackluster, except the ult)? Should i use something else for damage other than Screaming Cliff Racer? Which ult and which morphs should i use?
I am only lv 20 at time, so don't give me end game only advices please but help me understand the class better. Thank you all.

Dakmor_Kavu · June 2017

I can only speak from a healer point of view (magwarden healer) but the Green abilities absolutely carry their weight in PvP and the ice tree provides a nice buff and some utility as well. I run sword/board and resto staff, so for me DPS is a very distant thought. That said, hopefully some of the stuff below on healing and group utility may be helpful to you!

The "spiderman" vine heal (that pulls you to the target) is an amazing mobility tool, and a great way to catch up to ask your sprinting stamina based buddies. It's one I always have slotted. It also makes a great self escape/heal if you can pull yourself to a buddy and out of a sticky situation.

For raw healing bloom cannot be understated, especial the morph that reduces enemy healing received in the area. It's a great way to designate a spot to fight, or to force the other guys to move out of. It's pure healing numbers are nothing to scoff at either. Couple this with heading spring and mutagen from resto staff and you can lay out some great heals.

Personally in the frost tree there are only 3 real abilities I use on a regular basis. The frost cloak is the most obvious choice. It's 20 second and a nice defensive boost. The next two depend on your play style, and who you're fighting:

My second choice from the ice tree is the frozen ward (the snare). I took the morph that allows allies to use it as well to teleport to me. This means I can use it as a great escape, or an invisible way to catch and pull targets into the dps. The best 2 uses for me though, are setting traps for cloaking enemies wanting to get into melee range to alert me to them (place it near the point you are trying to cap), or to pull a DK away from the healer he has a link established with. Yes by pulling them in you may be a target, but if you have dps support I've found it usually catches them off guard and throws them off, rather than make their job easier.

The final ability from ice I slot occasionally is the ice shards purely for the cc. If they have me guys who are targeting me, this gives a nice group cc and time to move/heal/get help.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, and best of luck with the warden!

ascan7 · June 2017

Thank you for the informations.

No one else want to share their experience with the warden?

DeviousCat · June 2017

I've been running a stam warden in PVP the last few days and the skills that really shine IMHO are:

Screaming Cliff Racer - ranged attack that can't be dodged and hits hard.

Bird of Prey - amazing skill, WIN/WIN, 30% movement speed - 20% stam recovery - 8% dmg increase. All that for one button push and good for 10 seconds. Must have skill that should be up at all times.

Subterranean Assault - AOE that adds Major Breach and Fracture, the new Proxy Det. By far the best DPS skill the Stam Warden has.

For Stam I find the Green Balance skills to be lackluster at best but Vigor is very powerful, mine isn't fully leveled yet and already a 10K HOT.

Winters Embrace skills that I have been using are Ice Fortress for the major Resolve/Ward and Minor Protection. The permafrost Ulti is really great but at 200 ultimate very expensive.

davey1107 · June 2017

I'm also just starting my newly vet Warden in pvp. I think the strategy is going to be DoTs on the back bar, big attacksmup front. I'm not certain how they're going to play yet, honestly. Skills that stand out for your magic Warden are:

Front bar
Cliff racer
Deep,fissure bugs
Lotus blossom
Magelight
Northern storm

Back
Netch
Winters revenge
Harness magic
Destro ulti

The netch and magelight make it possible to keep major sorc and prophesy up, which is nice. Honestly, I haven't quite fingered a Wardens role in pvp. They've got some nice abilities...but something isn't quite right with them for pvp yet. Like the cliff racer is nice, but it doesn't have the utility that surprise attack or jabs offer. So I'm working on it...but I'm guessing my Wardens stay kinda pve toons. Not because they're bad, they just don't seem like they'll compete in terms of fun w my stamblade, magplar or stam sorc...all who I love pvp-ing with.

ascan7 · June 2017

What are the best morphs for Sleet Storm and Living Vines? I'm having a really hard time choosing

Adenoma · June 2017

So I've been playing a lot of magwarden and I'll be using it as my new main for the foreseeable future. This is what I'll be running once I hit vet:

5L/1M/1H with the intent of stacking max magicka. This build is for no-CP and can work 1vX, but really shines in 2vX or small group. I would change the gearing slightly if I were running around in CP campaigns, but my computer crashes the second I step foot in Vivec.

Race is Argonian (because stam sustain is OP in PvP, as well as healing received and max health helps a lot in no-CP)

Gear = 5 shacklebreaker, 5 necropotence, 1 max magicka monster (I would prefer to run a sharpened vMA inferno with poisons, but I'm not wasting my time for that rare of a drop)

Destro:
-Force Pulse - as a warden we have a 300% increased chance of giving a chilled status effect so the additional proc is actually very relevant to burst combos. I value this more than the interrupt.
-Deep Fissure - The start of your burst combo. You basically run DF --> medium/light attack --> Cliff Racer --> medium/light attack --> Force Pulse
-Screaming Cliff Racer
-Inner Light
-Flex - can be Leeching Vines for 1/2vX, the spiderman that gives the HoT, or the morph that isn't the major defile in larger groups (because it is an absurdly strong heal). Leeching vines is great because it gives me stam return constantly off the Green Balance passive and it triggers off of shields. Leeching vines also does a great job of keeping major mending going and giving me minor toughness.
U: Northern Storm - in larger groups run permafrost. The CC it offers is unreal. Solo or 2vX I prefer the increased damage from the stacked max magicka

Resto:
-Healing Ward
-Harness Magicka - gives good magicka sustain and stacks really well with necro. I should likely be running this front bar, but I just can't get used to running my bars that way and having to swap bars when shield stacking.
-Mistform - probably a flex slot if you're in larger groups because you can use the spiderman heal to gain mobility.
-Blue Betty
-Ice Fortress - minor protection effectively gives you +8% to your already pretty large shields.
U: Healing Thicket - basically 10s of absurd heals.

Frankly, I love the burst combo because it has an AOE component and both Deep Fissure and Screaming Cliff Racer can't be dodged. That's already a huge amount of burst and if the target is CC'd then your Force Pulse will hit them too and is more than likely to proc. It's also great to get occasional chilled statuses on folks giving them minor maim.

Anyway, I hope this helps! The gear is really readily accessible. If I were running in CP I would likely go 5x Necropotence, 5x Spinners or 5x Necro, 5x Kagrenac's for group play.

fred4 · June 2017

I mostly play solo. On my mag warden I find all the animal abilities uesful, except for the bear ultimate. Cliff Racer and Deep Fissure are the two main damage abilities. The Netch and Necropotence combination is hard to ignore. I use the Bull Netch, in PvP, to fill in stamina regen for break free. I always find speed buffs hard to pass up and use the aggressive Bird of Prey morph.

Many people seem to like the healing tree. I don't, except for the ultimate, which is excellent. Other than that, for my style of play, I find Healing Ward superior to everything else in that tree. I play a light armor build with shields, e.g. Harness Magicka and Healing Ward. I think the Enchanted Growth is lacklustre and expensive. The ground based heal is too slow. Vines don't last long enough. Both Vines and Lotus Flower, I feel, may be better in a tankier (heavy armor) build that doesn't rely on shields, like I do. The Swing to Ally skill seems interesting for mobility. I just haven't tried it yet.

Of the Winters Embrace abilities, I think the ultimate and Shimmering Shield are excellent. I wasn't too impressed with the damage from the other shield morph and prefer the ulti gen. The portal is too slow to spawn. The Arctic Wind is obviously only for health-based tanks. The shards are excellent for PvE. I haven't tried the CC morph yet. The resistance buff skill doesn't really fit my build.

I do the "obvious" thing for the aggressive bar, which means stacking magicka. That means Inner Light, Northern Storm, Cliff Racer and Deep Fissure on that bar. Netch on the other bar, combined with Necropotence. Harness Magicka (or Dampen) is also on the aggressive bar, since stacking magicka via Northern Storm / Magelight also helps the shield. That leaves one slot free, which can be filled with Force Pulse / Crushing Shock for maximum burst, and to have the obligatory destro staff ability on the bar, for 8% damage boost from Flame staff. It kind of all falls into place, once you go this particular route; I'm sure lots of people are doing this:

Force Pulse
Screaming Cliff Racer
Deep Fissure
Inner Light
Harness Magicka
Northern Storm

Other bar:

Growing Swarm
Bird of Prey
Bull Netch
Healing Ward
Shimmering Shield
Healing Thicket

Sets:

Necropotence
One piece Grothdarr or any other Monster set that gives you magicka
Another set you happen to have, such as Shacklebreaker, Amber Plasm, Wizard's Riposte etc.

Waffennacht · June 2017

You maybe surprised but I actually just dropped Northern Storm and Ice Fortress (what?! Blasphemy! I know)

I use Northern Storm in Open world or BGs Cp and No CP
I use SA in duels (becomes an excellent execute)

I'm in heavy armor, I feel if you're heavy you can drop ice Fortress, if you're in light ice Fortress is very nice (same resistance in both situations, but la gets minor protection in this Set up)

Living Trellis in heavy is huge 1-2k heal per hit - including on wards, and a 3k+ heal when it expires

Dampen Magic+Healing Ward

Enchanted Forest (seems to always return 20 ult-great for recovering and countering back with burst and SA

I prefer Destructive Reach over Force, I use fire staff so the knock back helps land shalk and birds plus can be defensive "get away from me" ability

Innerlight front bar, reach, Shalk, racer, dampen - ult (SA or NS)
Living Trellis, Healing Ward, Corrupting Pollen (with a longer TTK on heavy the debuff is very useful) Betty, and Bird o Prey ult enchanted Forest.

I play BGs, Cyrodiil (no CP) and duels ATM. Very successful and will do even better once skills are maxed.

In No CP Cyrodiil I'm sitting at just above 40k magicka, 20k health and 10k Stam

Once I gold my staff I may actually switch one Spell DMG glyph to recovery, giving me 2k spell DMG unbuffed and 1800 Regen in no CP.

Dampen is approximately 7k in no CP, Healing can go over 10k in no CP.

Burst is: Shalk, Bird AC into Reach, then SA

I 1v2 about 4 different duos in Cyrodiil in Cropsford. It's very effective

Adenoma · June 2017

@fred4 , I love the bull netch suggestion. Depending on how I find my magicka sustain going with more testing I'll be running that morph for the stamina sustain.

Waffennacht · June 2017

Adenoma wrote: »

@fred4 , I love the bull netch suggestion. Depending on how I find my magicka sustain going with more testing I'll be running that morph for the stamina sustain.

@Adenoma it's a very solid choice on a LA user with plenty of Regen already. I think the Betty (dunno about bull) is equivalent to 300 regen

ascan7 · June 2017

Adenoma wrote: »

So I've been playing a lot of magwarden and I'll be using it as my new main for the foreseeable future. This is what I'll be running once I hit vet:

5L/1M/1H with the intent of stacking max magicka. This build is for no-CP and can work 1vX, but really shines in 2vX or small group.

Interesting, since i almost always play PvP with a friend.
Thank you all for your suggestions. Even if i'm still confused about Sleet Storm, Lving Vines and Secluded Grove morphs

Waffennacht · June 2017

Sleet storm can become Northern Storm or Permafrost. NS is really great for the max magicka etc and I believe would be best when solo or PuG mainly for the bigger wards. Permafrost seems to be great in a group where the debuffs etc can be fully utilized.

Living Vines becomes Living Trellis or Leaching Vines. Imo lifesteal is very subpar for PvP and with Trellis also giving a heal at recast and expiration makes it the superior choice in PvP

Secluded Grove becomes Healing Thicket or Enchanted Forest. Grove gives a HoT after it expires, Forest gives 20 ult, the ult might as well be a discount in cost for your next ult, meaning higher up time, I'm fairly confident the higher up time equates to far more hps than Thicket. This makes Forest the superior choice Imo.

@ascan7

fred4 · June 2017

@Waffennacht, I'm actually not surprised you dropped Northern Storm and Ice Fortress. I haven't fully levelled SA yet, and am just waiting to try it. The full burst combo + Northern Storm isn't really good enough to kill competent players. The mag warden lacks an execute or anything to follow that up with. Getting another burst ready takes 3 seconds. I've seen Blobs use Meteor on YouTube. The pressure and slowdown from SA, though, with a Deep Fissure / knock down coming, is what I really want to try.

As for Ice Fortress, it doesn't feel worth it to me in a light armor shielding build. It should, but for some reason it doesn't. The 8% minor protection reduces damage to the shields. The resistances are arguably somewhat wasted though and I kind of feel the same about the Vampire's Cloak set, regarding minor protection. It's a bit meh. The Wizard's Riposte set, on the other hand, which does the 15% minor main on everyone around you, I find really, really nice. If you're only borderline coping with high damage builds, such as stamblades, if you end up shield spamming against them, then Wizard's Riposte really makes a difference. This is more of an issue on my magblade, though. Warden feels naturally tankier (just pop the cheap healing ulti ... but then stamblades cloak and wait that out).

I'm with you on Destructive Reach. I use it on my magblade and I terribly miss an on demand CC on my warden that doesn't have a delay. I've kind of listed the prototypical obvious build (in regard to the aggressive bar). The one I actually run, at the moment, goes like this:

Front bar: Sharpened resto (!) staff:

Cliff Racer
Deep Fissure
Inner Light
Healing Ward
Harness Magicka
Northern Storm

Back bar: 2H Defending Greatsword (!):

Growing Swarm
Bird of Prey
Bull Netch
Forward Momentum
Shimmering Shield
Healing Ult

Then combine Necropotence and Wizard's Riposte. I just have fun with this, open world. It arguably doesn't have the burst to kill good players. It still kills plenty, though. It's tanky. It can brawl. It's easy to play. Having Healing Ward on that bar buffs it as well. Forward Momentum frees you up to line up your Deep Fissure. I'm a big fan of Forward Momentum, and speed, in general ... this may be different from other people.