MagBlade BG build advice, Murkmire

CasNation · October 2018

Hey all,

I am working on gearing up my magblade for BGs, but I don't have much experience with the class in PvP. I have a couple different builds that I am playing with, and wanted to seek some experienced players advice on a few points. An important note: my character is a vampire, and I plan to lean heavily into that, even if the big mean MagDKs touch me in a bad way as a result. These points are as follows:

- Heavy or Light?
- Melee or Ranged?

To start out, my Back Bar is pretty set, and I don't see it changing much, but am open to advice:

Resto Staff: Healing Ward, Shadow Image, Elusive Mist, Mirage, Siphoning Strikes, U: Devouring Swarm.

For front bar I am debating between two weapons: Fire Staff or Greatsword. Obviously one playstlye would be for melee, and the other for range. Here are the two potential front bars:

Greatsword: Merciless Resolve, Crippling Grasp, Concealed Weapon, Lotus Fan, Accelerating Drain, U: Soul Harvest

Fire Staff: Merciless Resolve, Crippling Grasp, Swallow Soul, Elemental Drain, Accelerating Drain, U: Soul Harvest

I personally think I would prefer the melee style, as I dont like how swallow soul weaves. That being said, I worry the melee build doesnt have enough healing, or sustain for that matter. In both cases, I am using Accelerating drain as a speed buff, stun, and heal, similar to how a vamp magplar might. Any advice is welcome.

Finally, heavy vs light. I lean towards heavy, but worry about the sustain/damage loss. Then again, I dont know if I could survive in melee without heavy. In either case, let's talk about gear.

In both cases, I would have Lich backbared (scavenged from my sorc), and a willpower weapon front bar. Monster set for melee would be Grothdar (dont have Zaan) and for ranged...I dont know...Valkyn? For the light armor setup I would try War Maiden for damage, but I am not sure how to that will actually perform. I coyld even front bar war maiden instead and squeeze in more willpower. For heavy, I am considering Shacklebreaker, or Innate Axiom. I guess Rattlecage is an option as well, but I will probably just use spell power pots instead.

Anyways, I love to hear people's ideas. Thanks!

Metemsycosis · October 2018

i am intending 7 heavy: 5 dragonguard, 5 transmutation (DW or destro or 2h/resto), 2 earth gore. For BGs, 4 well-fitted, 3 sturdy. In CP enabled, i think full impen will be best. I am also a vampire.

bar set up

dw: as of now nirnhorn/shock:
crippling grasp or lotus, cloak, concealed weapon, sap essence, impale, soul tether/incap/devouring swarm.

**a destro build foregoes sap for merciless and concealed for a ranged spammable and focuses on the incap/bow combo for kills**

resto: infused berserker or powered
fear or drain, refreshing path, healthy offering, healing ward, elusive mist, light's champion

the strategy is to stay back. crowd control and heal allies (while enjoying roughly 15%+ healing received), but play the vampire and once you smell blood attack viciously. I like the melee AOE approach here. I am finding if I either lotus or cripple my way into an enemy group and hit soul tether or swarm that earthgore likes to proc rendering my character dang near invulnerable for the duration of my attack

lucky_dutch · October 2018

It's probably going to have to be heavy build now tbh which is a big damage nerf. To counteract that I'll be swapping out the consistency (and range) of Valkyn Skoria for raw damage output of Zaan.

I'll need to play around with it a bit more but I'm contemplating swapping out something for mutagen. In your build that would probably be mist. Not a huge fan of vampire given the prevalence of MagDKs in BGs in my region.

CasNation · October 2018

lucky_dutch wrote: »

It's probably going to have to be heavy build now tbh which is a big damage nerf. To counteract that I'll be swapping out the consistency (and range) of Valkyn Skoria for raw damage output of Zaan.

I'll need to play around with it a bit more but I'm contemplating swapping out something for mutagen. In your build that would probably be mist. Not a huge fan of vampire given the prevalence of MagDKs in BGs in my region.

I see your point, and kind of wish that I could fit mutagen on my bars as well. That being said, I really dont want to drop mistn as I think Major Expedition is too strong in BGs to ignore, and snare immunity to boot.

As for vamp, this is just a weakness I have decided I am going to have to deal with. It fits my character too well. I am also hoping that the new Major Evasio will assist with all the Dawnbreakers and Dragon Leaps out there.

Do you know which heavy set you will be running? I am undecided on my end.

CasNation · October 2018

@Metemsycosis

Thanks for the reply! Although, it sounds like your build isnt really my playstyle. I prefer to play aggressively, and want to more proactive than reactive on this build.

Is there a reason you chose DW over 2H for the build? It's the extra enchant I imagine. Personally, I want the stam recovery passive from Battle Rush, and may decide to use poisons anyways.

Metemsycosis · October 2018

just the vampire fang-style.

also keep in mind you can be really, really aggressive with this build because you can take a lot of damage, with many many instances of self-healing to keep you damaging.

to push for more damage i'd swap out trans for lich, earthgore for balorgh and focus on reliably landing incap/bow/execute.

(imo, the combo between dragonguard+ light's champion + earthgore is op)

brandonv516 · October 2018

For my damage Magblade...

I'll try light out first. I've got my eye on the new light armor Rewards of the Worthy set to go along with my Caluurion set.

Monster set will need to be defense or utility though (Troll King, Pirate Skeleton, etc.).

Pretty sure I'll be running an Ice Staff front bar and Blackrose Resto on the back bar.

2 Protective jewelry
1 Swift jewelry

For my healer Magblade...

Won't change too much - gotta keep up the same "aids" healing that people keep calling it.

lucky_dutch · October 2018

CasNation wrote: »

lucky_dutch wrote: »

It's probably going to have to be heavy build now tbh which is a big damage nerf. To counteract that I'll be swapping out the consistency (and range) of Valkyn Skoria for raw damage output of Zaan.

I'll need to play around with it a bit more but I'm contemplating swapping out something for mutagen. In your build that would probably be mist. Not a huge fan of vampire given the prevalence of MagDKs in BGs in my region.

I see your point, and kind of wish that I could fit mutagen on my bars as well. That being said, I really dont want to drop mistn as I think Major Expedition is too strong in BGs to ignore, and snare immunity to boot.

As for vamp, this is just a weakness I have decided I am going to have to deal with. It fits my character too well. I am also hoping that the new Major Evasio will assist with all the Dawnbreakers and Dragon Leaps out there.

Do you know which heavy set you will be running? I am undecided on my end.

I can see where you're coming from. I'm pretty good at having a shade placed though for escaping sustained pressure (plus I always have cloak on my bars) so for me its more about making sure I don't die inside a single cc (especially since so many of them are buggy as hell on PS4 and can't be broken out from). Even stage 1 vamp puts me at risk of that.

As to what sets, I'm really not sure yet. I like shacklebreaker but I'm not sure if it has enough damage in it when I'm also making the swap to heavy. Necropotence could be an option but then I'm doubly-exposed in those situations where I'm caught out without a shade up. I'd basically be accepting that being jumped without one up equals death in return for maximised damage when I do have one up.

Back-bar is probably going to be caluurions again for the same reason as Zaan - I want as much extra damage as possible given my tooltips won't be too impressive (which is annoying as I'm not looking forward to farming the jewellery). The other option would be Lich as it has nice sustain so that I can go full damage on jewellery.

Having said all this, there is a very good chance I will just be swapping to Magplar or Magsorc this patch as I think they might be objectively better in BGs now. Mirage kinda makes up for the loss of shield stacking but the lost healing (through siphon), sustained pressure (through path changes) and bow nerf really, really hurts Magblades.

CasNation · October 2018

@lucky_dutch

As a Magsorc main...I wouldn't advise swapping to magsorc...

As a Magplar half-main, hell yeah man magplar is fun as hell.

And regarding Major Expedition, my main worry is being able to get to objectives, not necessarily as an escape. Unlike most people, I really like the objective based gameplay, and being able to move around the map freely is really important to me.

I think i will try light armor first though and see how it goes. I have some light shacklebreaker from my sorc I can recycle, so we'll see how that goes on the survivability front.

Thanks for all the input!

CasNation · October 2018

brandonv516 wrote: »

For my damage Magblade...

I'll try light out first. I've got my eye on the new light armor Rewards of the Worthy set to go along with my Caluurion set.

Monster set will need to be defense or utility though (Troll King, Pirate Skeleton, etc.).

Pretty sure I'll be running an Ice Staff front bar and Blackrose Resto on the back bar.

2 Protective jewelry
1 Swift jewelry

For my healer Magblade...

Won't change too much - gotta keep up the same "aids" healing that people keep calling it.

Yeah, I have my eye on Spell Strategist as well. Should be really strong for bursting down single targets, which is my goal.

I'll have to think about the monster set problem. I can't use Troll King because Vamp, and Pirate skeletonnis rough because I am already running minimal healing.

Ice Staff is an interesting idea. Chilled has a lot of utility in BGs.

lucky_dutch · October 2018

CasNation wrote: »

@lucky_dutch

As a Magsorc main...I wouldn't advise swapping to magsorc...

As a Magplar half-main, hell yeah man magplar is fun as hell.

And regarding Major Expedition, my main worry is being able to get to objectives, not necessarily as an escape. Unlike most people, I really like the objective based gameplay, and being able to move around the map freely is really important to me.

I think i will try light armor first though and see how it goes. I have some light shacklebreaker from my sorc I can recycle, so we'll see how that goes on the survivability front.

Thanks for all the input!

Nah there's some pretty tasty magscorc builds floating around in the sorc discord atm. They're going to be absolutely fine in Nerfmire.

I get what you mean about objectives. I used to use refreshing path for that but now that it's effectively taken a 50% nerf I can't justify the bar space for it. Haven't quite if an how I'll be making-up the lost mobility though. As I said, this is a really horrible patch for magblades. Losing more than anyone.

kaithuzar · October 2018

My thoughts:
Cruthching on Zaan if melee or skoria if ranged is still op af.

If going heavy, best choices imo:
Spinner jewelry & weapon(s)
If not spinner I think 3 willpower (Golden) isn’t bad, rattlecage is good if you are ranged, if you are melee I think sap is better, you should be using tripots preferably for staying alive.
If you use rattlecage or some set beside spinner, you’re going to want sharpened weapon & lover mundus for spell pen

GL

Metemsycosis · October 2018

I agree spinner + heavy is likely gonna be strong across the board. Or potentially heavy twice-born star or shacklebreaker combined with the new "mag bp" set for good base stats.

CasNation · October 2018

lucky_dutch wrote: »

CasNation wrote: »

@lucky_dutch

As a Magsorc main...I wouldn't advise swapping to magsorc...

As a Magplar half-main, hell yeah man magplar is fun as hell.

And regarding Major Expedition, my main worry is being able to get to objectives, not necessarily as an escape. Unlike most people, I really like the objective based gameplay, and being able to move around the map freely is really important to me.

I think i will try light armor first though and see how it goes. I have some light shacklebreaker from my sorc I can recycle, so we'll see how that goes on the survivability front.

Thanks for all the input!

Nah there's some pretty tasty magscorc builds floating around in the sorc discord atm. They're going to be absolutely fine in Nerfmire.

...sounds like I need to get on this Discord...mind sharing a taste of the builds you are seeing?

CasNation · October 2018

kaithuzar wrote: »

My thoughts:
Cruthching on Zaan if melee or skoria if ranged is still op af.

If going heavy, best choices imo:
Spinner jewelry & weapon(s)
If not spinner I think 3 willpower (Golden) isn’t bad, rattlecage is good if you are ranged, if you are melee I think sap is better, you should be using tripots preferably for staying alive.
If you use rattlecage or some set beside spinner, you’re going to want sharpened weapon & lover mundus for spell pen

GL

Definitely going to go with Lover this patch. With the shield changes there is bo reason not to.

What heavy set would you pair with spinners? It wouldnt work with Lich as I have it currentlyn so I would need to think about sustain a bit more.

And yeah, I definitely intend to lean on my monster set for extra damage. I don't have Zaan, but I can at least run Grothdar for additional pressure if I decide to go melee.

And just to clarify, when you say sapn you mean Sap Essence right? What skill would you drop to fit it in? Accelerating Drain?

LegacyDM · October 2018

Have you considered crushing shock and flame clench instead of swallow soul and elemental drain. Also double take is superior to accelerant use that instead.

lucky_dutch · October 2018

CasNation wrote: »

lucky_dutch wrote: »

CasNation wrote: »

@lucky_dutch

As a Magsorc main...I wouldn't advise swapping to magsorc...

As a Magplar half-main, hell yeah man magplar is fun as hell.

And regarding Major Expedition, my main worry is being able to get to objectives, not necessarily as an escape. Unlike most people, I really like the objective based gameplay, and being able to move around the map freely is really important to me.

I think i will try light armor first though and see how it goes. I have some light shacklebreaker from my sorc I can recycle, so we'll see how that goes on the survivability front.

Thanks for all the input!

Nah there's some pretty tasty magscorc builds floating around in the sorc discord atm. They're going to be absolutely fine in Nerfmire.

...sounds like I need to get on this Discord...mind sharing a taste of the builds you are seeing?

https://discord.gg/gW9UxK

You want Zaan for magblade in murkmire. Don't let the fact that you don't have it now be an excuse for not using it - go get it.

Tonturri · October 2018

I've been thinking about Spell Strategist, Caluurion, and Zaan.

Bar1: Concealed, CC (Fear or Clench), Impale, Bow, Ele Drain
Bar2: Swallow Soul, Defensive (LA shield, healing ward), Crippling Grasp, Cloak, Shade.

Can potentially give up your CC skill (fiddling around with replacing it with Siphoning Attacks - Ele + Siph is pretty neat sustain and would probably let me just go all-in to spell damage on my jewelery enchants) and just use Cloak -> Concealed if you're willing to have a little bit of trouble against heavy block builds. Cloak -> Concealed for guaranteed Caluurion proc will be pretty sweet, and it won't be luck if Zaan procs too. Apply pressure until Zaan is over or they're dead, then go back to kiting.

And Argonian for that little bit of extra beefiness and regen.

HackTheMinotaur · October 2018

Try 5 heavy Shacklebreaker on the body, spinners on jewelry and front bar. You can choose melee or range. I prefer skoria for the helm set because zaan is more easily countered now and has a long cool down.

If you are playing range I would drop mist for cloak. Vampire might be OK for a melee build because it will help with your speed, but it is many times a greater liability with increased dawnbreaker damage.

CasNation · October 2018

LegacyDM wrote: »

Have you considered crushing shock and flame clench instead of swallow soul and elemental drain. Also double take is superior to accelerant use that instead.

I am using Mirage because I already get Major Expedition from Elusive Mist, and Accelerating Drain is there more as a stun and a heal, not a mobility tool.

I havent really thought about Crushing Shock mainly due to giving up the healing from Swallow Soul, and not wanting ro be too similar to my mag sorc. As for Clench, it is a strong CC, but I am leaning toward melee at the moment, so probably wouldnt be using destro staff.

Thanks for the input though!

CasNation · October 2018

HackTheMinotaur wrote: »

Try 5 heavy Shacklebreaker on the body, spinners on jewelry and front bar. You can choose melee or range. I prefer skoria for the helm set because zaan is more easily countered now and has a long cool down.

If you are playing range I would drop mist for cloak. Vampire might be OK for a melee build because it will help with your speed, but it is many times a greater liability with increased dawnbreaker damage.

Heavy Shackle is definitely on my list. I am taking a mush closer look at spinners now that shields have resistances, I'll just need to figure out how to handle sustain at that pointn given if I go melee I will have to drop Elemental Drain. For Monster set Skoria is definitely on the list, though I worry that with only 1 DoT I wont be able to reliably proc it.

And yeah, I definitely am aware of the risks of vampire. The DBs are gonna hurt, and I am going to go into things knowing that. Vampire is just "right" for this character. For better or worse, I always play to have the mechanics serve my character concepts, not the other way aroundn so unfortunately removing vamp isnt on the table here.

HackTheMinotaur · October 2018

You could still melee with a fire staff front bar and use elemental drain. Drain would help with your sustain quite a bit.

Also for the melee set up I would recommend swapping accel. Drain for fear. Fears up to 2 enemies and you don’t have to channel it.

CasNation · October 2018

HackTheMinotaur wrote: »

You could still melee with a fire staff front bar and use elemental drain. Drain would help with your sustain quite a bit.

Also for the melee set up I would recommend swapping accel. Drain for fear. Fears up to 2 enemies and you don’t have to channel it.

Yeah...I think I am coming to realize that I WANT to use greatsword, but I know fire staff is probably stronger and I am just looking for excuses not to use it.

I hear you on fear vs accel drain. Fear is definitely stronger in melee range. However, part of my reasoning for accel. Drain was the heal. If I drop that, do you think the build as I describe it would have enough healing? Without drain or swallow, that would just leave healing ward, and that loses the upfront heal next patch. I suppose that if I drop accel drain, I'd HAVE to use swallow soul to make up for the heals.

Thanks for the feedback by the way. I appreciate it.

lucky_dutch · October 2018

Having more extensively tested it, just give up and swap class.

You will never land a merciless resolve against a skilled player even if you stun them first. Nevermind the weakened sheilds or nerfed healing, that change has broken the class completely.

It’s exclusively a noob-stomp gank class now.

ChefZero · October 2018

lucky_dutch wrote: »

Having more extensively tested it, just give up and swap class.

You will never land a merciless resolve against a skilled player even if you stun them first. Nevermind the weakened sheilds or nerfed healing, that change has broken the class completely.

It’s exclusively a noob-stomp gank class now.

IMO magNB is a better healer/support than a killing machine now.

thankyourat · October 2018

It should be very easy to build for Max resistances and Max magicka to make your shields strong as well as giving you good damage. I would look to go that route a defensive set with resistances since they affect shields now, and Max magicka for shield size and damage. Or run heavy armor which is viable as well. Heavy melee is hard Because of lack of a burst heal and heavy doesn't fit that kiting playstyle

Gorilla · November 2018

ChefZero wrote: »

lucky_dutch wrote: »

Having more extensively tested it, just give up and swap class.

You will never land a merciless resolve against a skilled player even if you stun them first. Nevermind the weakened sheilds or nerfed healing, that change has broken the class completely.

It’s exclusively a noob-stomp gank class now.

IMO magNB is a better healer/support than a killing machine now.

I completely agree with these statements.

HowlKimchi · November 2018

5 heavy shackle
5 spinners destro
1 m 1 l troll king
Backbar defending black rose resto
Non-vamp

Frontbar: inner light, swallow soul, merciless resolve, ele drain, mass hysteria, soul assault
Badkbar: refreshing path, ward ally/healing ward, entropy, siphoning, cloak, resto ult

Shade is broken, if it wasnt i replace entropy with shade and get major sorc from pots.

Melee magblade I’ve tried to make work for a while. While the mobility and trickery you can do with cloak + concealed + fm is very nice, the damage is so backloaded that it gets hard to secure kills. imo you HAVE to go caluurions if you wanna go melee. Zaan is also nice, but with the shield changes, i feel like you have to go troll king or bloodspawn on a melee light armor magblade.

kaithuzar · November 2018

HaruKamui wrote: »

5 heavy shackle
5 spinners destro
1 m 1 l troll king
Backbar defending black rose resto
Non-vamp

Frontbar: inner light, swallow soul, merciless resolve, ele drain, mass hysteria, soul assault
Badkbar: refreshing path, ward ally/healing ward, entropy, siphoning, cloak, resto ult

Shade is broken, if it wasnt i replace entropy with shade and get major sorc from pots.

Melee magblade I’ve tried to make work for a while. While the mobility and trickery you can do with cloak + concealed + fm is very nice, the damage is so backloaded that it gets hard to secure kills. imo you HAVE to go caluurions if you wanna go melee. Zaan is also nice, but with the shield changes, i feel like you have to go troll king or bloodspawn on a melee light armor magblade.

You can just use a tank set like fortified brass w/spinner & Zaan.
Or impreg w/reinforced & nirnhoned.

HowlKimchi · November 2018

kaithuzar wrote: »

HaruKamui wrote: »

5 heavy shackle
5 spinners destro
1 m 1 l troll king
Backbar defending black rose resto
Non-vamp

Frontbar: inner light, swallow soul, merciless resolve, ele drain, mass hysteria, soul assault
Badkbar: refreshing path, ward ally/healing ward, entropy, siphoning, cloak, resto ult

Shade is broken, if it wasnt i replace entropy with shade and get major sorc from pots.

Melee magblade I’ve tried to make work for a while. While the mobility and trickery you can do with cloak + concealed + fm is very nice, the damage is so backloaded that it gets hard to secure kills. imo you HAVE to go caluurions if you wanna go melee. Zaan is also nice, but with the shield changes, i feel like you have to go troll king or bloodspawn on a melee light armor magblade.

You can just use a tank set like fortified brass w/spinner & Zaan.
Or impreg w/reinforced & nirnhoned.

Actually with the new light armor passive, that may be the better option. My build doesnt have snare removal and 20% reduction should go a long way.

fortified brass + spinner + trollking/zaan should be nice! I also already have the sets since I main a magplar xD

Knootewoot · November 2018

lucky_dutch wrote: »

Having more extensively tested it, just give up and swap class.

You will never land a merciless resolve against a skilled player even if you stun them first. Nevermind the weakened sheilds or nerfed healing, that change has broken the class completely.

It’s exclusively a noob-stomp gank class now.

Magblade yeah. I stick to it, but i will give up melee though. I don't have Caluurion and survival i better from ranged.
Don't know which gear to wear still.