BSW, WM or SM paired with Julianos on a MagBlade

Sparr0w · May 2018

Well now Mech Acuity is getting the nerf hammer, I'll be moving back to Julianos.

Question I have is should I pair with Burning Spellweave, War Maiden or Scathing Mage? (No access to trial sets yet)

Ty in advance

Asardes · May 2018

SM has the same problem as MA, and it will only proc on direct damage. Funnel Health cost will be increased in Summerset, so it's actually more advantageous to use Force Pulse as spammable, and that's entirely elemental damage, so it won't be buffed by War Maiden at all. I would pick BSW since you'll run double inferno staves, so your weaving will be flame damage, and so will be your blockade. If you also pair it with a monster set that does flame damage, like Zaan or Skoria, it will proc even faster. Jewelry and 2 armor pieces should be relatively easy to farm.

Sparr0w · May 2018

Asardes wrote: »

SM has the same problem as MA, and it will only proc on direct damage. Funnel Health cost will be increased in Summerset, so it's actually more advantageous to use Force Pulse as spammable, and that's entirely elemental damage, so it won't be buffed by War Maiden at all. I would pick BSW since you'll run double inferno staves, so your weaving will be flame damage, and so will be your blockade. If you also pair it with a monster set that does flame damage, like Zaan or Skoria, it will proc even faster. Jewelry and 2 armor pieces should be relatively easy to farm.

Already got all 3 sets just wondering what to use, ty for the help

Didn't read the 'Direct Crit Damage' from SM, thought it was just crit damage *dumb*, choice would then be between War Maiden & BSW.

I'll run 3 Juli body, 2x Fire Staves (still trying to get vMA one), 2x BSW body, 3x Jewellery & probably pair with Valkyn as there's no way I'll be able to get Zaans

Asardes · May 2018

Sparr0w wrote: »

Asardes wrote: »

SM has the same problem as MA, and it will only proc on direct damage. Funnel Health cost will be increased in Summerset, so it's actually more advantageous to use Force Pulse as spammable, and that's entirely elemental damage, so it won't be buffed by War Maiden at all. I would pick BSW since you'll run double inferno staves, so your weaving will be flame damage, and so will be your blockade. If you also pair it with a monster set that does flame damage, like Zaan or Skoria, it will proc even faster. Jewelry and 2 armor pieces should be relatively easy to farm.

Already got all 3 sets just wondering what to use, ty for the help

Didn't read the 'Direct Crit Damage' from SM, thought it was just crit damage *dumb*, choice would then be between War Maiden & BSW.

I'll run 3 Juli body, 2x Fire Staves (still trying to get vMA one), 2x BSW body, 3x Jewellery & probably pair with Valkyn as there's no way I'll be able to get Zaans

That looks decent. It's probably one of the best overall setups. In well coordinated groups I think only Master Architect will perform slightly better. After you get Maelstrom inferno save your current backbar Julianos and re-enchant with a Prismatic Onslaught glyph for daedra/undead bosses. It hits like a truck

WrathOfInnos · May 2018

I'll agree that architect is probably your best option. You'll have to run the architect staff front bar, along with soul harvest. The VMA staff will have to be back bar. This makes it tough to find a destruction staff skill for front bar, you may be forced into using force pulse instead of funnel health, which removes a lot of magblade's utility in group content.

If you are going to use force pulse anyway, you could also consider using a perfected asylum staff instead of a monster helm set. This would allow both 5-Piece sets to be active all the time. It opens up possibilities like running 5x Juli and 5x Mother's Sorrow.

Bladerunner1 · May 2018

If force pulse is the spammable why not use Acuity on a front bar? There's a 95% chance of proccing the effect before swapping back. I tested that setup, my magblade is a glass bazooka that is fast catching up to my Stamblade, which took a noticable hit with the acuity nerf. I wouldn't use it most of the time though since I prefer funnel health.

WrathOfInnos · May 2018

Bladerunner1 wrote: »

If force pulse is the spammable why not use Acuity on a front bar? There's a 95% chance of proccing the effect before swapping back. I tested that setup, my magblade is a glass bazooka that is fast catching up to my Stamblade, which took a noticable hit with the acuity nerf. I wouldn't use it most of the time though since I prefer funnel health.

You can do this, and you are correct that it is very likely that Acuity will proc at some point while you are on the front bar. The problem is that you want it to proc immediately when going to front bar, so you have 5s of 100% crit during all your spammables, bow procs, light attacks and all your DoT's are ticking. If Acuity procs when about to leave front bar, its only affecting the DoT's that are ticking while you are refreshing all your DoT's and buffs. Basically the back bar part of the rotation is lower DPS than the front bar, so ideally acuity would proc either just before leaving back bar, or right when you get to front bar. That is difficult to do with any reliability with the change to a direct damage proc condition, especially if it is only used on one bar.

Sparr0w · May 2018

Will likely stick to using funnel over force pulse since it provides really nice off heals so MA is pretty much out of the question (unless I run it on both bars and hope for lucky procs...).

Tested Juli and BSW last night, didn't see much of a dps difference so that should be fine until I can farm a trial set

BigBadVolk · May 2018

I would also add but its probably a later phase for you to get Master architect on body and get a bsw jewellery and staff that could maybe work a little bit better then a juli bsw combo at least thats what I'm planning for my magblade

Bladerunner1 · May 2018

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Bladerunner1 wrote: »

If force pulse is the spammable why not use Acuity on a front bar? There's a 95% chance of proccing the effect before swapping back. I tested that setup, my magblade is a glass bazooka that is fast catching up to my Stamblade, which took a noticable hit with the acuity nerf. I wouldn't use it most of the time though since I prefer funnel health.

You can do this, and you are correct that it is very likely that Acuity will proc at some point while you are on the front bar. The problem is that you want it to proc immediately when going to front bar, so you have 5s of 100% crit during all your spammables, bow procs, light attacks and all your DoT's are ticking. If Acuity procs when about to leave front bar, its only affecting the DoT's that are ticking while you are refreshing all your DoT's and buffs. Basically the back bar part of the rotation is lower DPS than the front bar, so ideally acuity would proc either just before leaving back bar, or right when you get to front bar. That is difficult to do with any reliability with the change to a direct damage proc condition, especially if it is only used on one bar.

I'll have to give BSW a try then, I just assumed it had the same issue with proccing just before leaving the bar and buffing dots that are ticking and other damage that isn't lined up with soul harvest.

gnarlyvandal · May 2018

Don’t want to start a new thread as the sets are already being discussed here...
Question: is it better to pair a proc set like bsw and wm with a pure buff set like julianos rather than with each other? Or do the 5 piece up times make up for it?

Septimus_Magna · May 2018

gnarlyvandal wrote: »

Don’t want to start a new thread as the sets are already being discussed here...
Question: is it better to pair a proc set like bsw and wm with a pure buff set like julianos rather than with each other? Or do the 5 piece up times make up for it?

From what Ive seen on the PTS one of the best ranged setups is Siroria and BSW. The effectiveness does get reduced if you have to move a lot in a fight.

For melee setups Architect and Acuity are still pretty good if you run Force Pulse.