It does come down somewhat to individual preference. The general rule of thumb to go by is never use more than 1 cost reduction glyph, and if you're running gear that has cost reduction, don't use any reduction glyphs (for light armor at least). First, you don't get the full value of the cost reduction for each glyph and second, stacking cost reduction has diminishing returns.

1st glyph = ~173 reduction
2nd glyph = ~130 reduction
3rd glyph = ~83 reduction

Those are just approximations. On really cheap skills (like Entropy), the cost reduction will be even less.

Meanwhile, regen gives you greater returns the more you stack it.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO wrote: »

Can I see your math for those numbers @HoloYoitsu?

And could you explain what you meant by "regen gives you greater returns the more you stack it".


To the op, you never really want to replace spell/weapon damage glyphs on your jewelry, they are simply too much to give up. It is better to get regen from your food. Either frothgar other Witchmother and then make up the difference in health with armor enchants or sets.

Ultimately that boils down to exchanging max magicka/stamina for spell/weapon power. When I run the numbers, the exchange rate doesn't seem particularly favorable. Of course, I could be making an error. Also, I tend to do those calculations with a pet sorcerer in mind, and pet sorcerers dearly love max magicka.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO wrote: »

Can I see your math for those numbers @HoloYoitsu?

Those #s specifically are from the cost of Crystal Frags

5 Light armor

• No reduction glyphs: 3443
• 1 reduction: 3270 (reduced by 173)
• 2 reduction: 3140 (reduced by 130)
• 3 reduction: 3053 (reduced by 83)

Then something interesting happens if you put Seducer on:

• No reduction glyphs: 3119
• 1 reduction: 3001 (reduced by 118)
• 2 reduction: 2883 (reduced by 118)
• 3 reduction: 2766 (reduced by 117)

As you can see, the cost reduction from Seducer somehow changes the calculation for the glyphs to remove their diminishing returns (though the base reduction amount is significantly lowered).

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO wrote: »

And could you explain what you meant by "regen gives you greater returns the more you stack it".

The regen from glyphs gets affected by w/e regen bonuses you have: CP, light armor passives, class passives, potion, continuous attack, ect.

As clarification for the poorly explained math:

The percent reductions you get to magicka abilities is applied after any flat cost reductions. This includes things like the light armor passive, sorcerer's Unholy Knowledge, etc. Presumably includes things like the Seducer set's bonus as well.

Now, I made some sample jewelry with 113 magicka cost reduction glyphs (level 40). However when I tested, it was only reducing ability costs by 94. Why?

Suppose the original ability cost was 1000. I'm wearing 6 pieces of light armor, for a 12% cost reduction. I also have the sorcerer passive that gives another 5% reduction, for a total of 17% reduction. That means the cost that I see in the tooltip is going to be 83% of the original cost. Our 1000 magicka ability will show up as costing 830.

Now I put on a ring with 113 cost reduction. It does not reduce the ability's cost from 830 to 717. Rather, it reduces the original 1000 to 887, and then reduces that by another 17%. 887 * 0.83 = 736.

The difference you see will be changing from 830 to 736, for an apparent 94 point reduction in cost.


So, the jewelry glyphs are more valuable for a setup that doesn't get a lot of percent reduction. For example, using heavy armor rather than light armor would benefit more from the enchantment. On the other hand, if you got the Seducer set in light armor, you might only be getting 75% of the enchantment's stated value.

On the other hand, stacking percent reductions is more valuable the more you add. Seducer's 8% reduction would be 8% if you started from none, but going from 83% to 75% is nearly a 10% reduction in your current expenditures.


Anyway, I'm not sure how HoloYoitsu got that first set of numbers. Possibly there was a bug in the calculations when that was done. I'm seeing flat reductions for anything I check, including Crystal Frags. I'm just getting less than the stated value, for the reasons explained above.


In terms of comparing the reduction with magicka recovery... I'm a bit weak on weaving, but I'm generally using an ability with a cost roughly every 2 seconds. That means that an enchantment glyph's reduction applies at almost exactly the same rate as a boost to magicka recovery.

So comparing a max of 169 magicka recovery glyph to a 203 cost reduction one, the ratio is right at 83% (ie: the same 17% reduction as 6 pieces of light armor plus the sorcerer passive). If your weaving is substantially faster than mine, the cost reduction would give you more benefit. If you have other sources of percent reduction (eg: the Seducer set), then magicka recovery will be more valuable. And of course magicka recovery is better during out-of-combat periods as well.

Overall, I'd probably only take the cost reduction glyphs if I was building a more tanky setup using heavy armor, though even then it would depend on how I expect the character to play.