VMA journal of a casual PVE stamblade!

John_Falstaff · November 2018

@ImmortalCX , uh... just be careful with purposefully not using VO. Main thing about doing vMA is to timely recognize the point where pride gradually transitions into masochism. ^^

ankeor · November 2018

ImmortalCX wrote: »

Asardes wrote: »

The first 4 arenas are basically warm-up. #5 & #7 are a real pain though, and so is the boss stage in #9; #6 & #8 are pretty easy as well. Sunderflame is a bad choice for NB since you don't do HA that often, and mobs in vMA already have low resistances, more like overland ones (9K) than dungeon ones (18K) so the Minor Fracture debuff is not that useful, considering that you already have access to Major Fracture from Surprise Attack; proc damage is not great either, since your CP won't buff it much on a stamina char, neither will it benefit from any debuff. If you have problems with sustain/survival I would recommend you to swap Sunderflame for Vicious Serpent, which is easy to farm in Craglorn trials - they're pretty easy on normal, and people group for them in Craglorn readily. Also switching from 2W to 2H would help you a bit since you can access Brawler (nice shield, AoE bleed) and Rally (Major Brutality, burst heal) - you don't really want to use potions while learning since there's no point in that, and Power Extraction is not that good. Monster set is not that important, but since most fights are trash heavy I would recommend something with AoE - Velidreth or Stormfist - the latter is actually better for learning since it gives recovery, and also it is easier to farm, since Tempest Island is easier than Cradle of Shadows. But other options such as Selene or even Kra'gh will do.

In a nutshell that's the kind of build I would use:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=52123
If you find that the heal from Rally, Briarheart and Leeching Strikes is not enough you can ditch some of the other skills for Vigor.

1) I never said sustain was a problem.

2) This playstyle is based around heavy attacks. Making constant heavy attacks gives me so much sustain that I can dodge or sprint whenever I want. I know that Sunderflame is not "meta" for VMA, but it works just fine. Maybe it should be.

3) I am doing VMA before trials so I don't have access to VO. That is just my decision, a matter of pride doing it with a stamblade without easy button VO.

4) The resistance debuff from sunderflame is 1/4th that from Surprise Attack, thats not why I'm using the set. This is a build by/for a casual and having looked at the set bonuses, I think Sunderflame is a hidden gem for VMA. One of the great things about thinking for yourself is that you discover new things.

5) Have a good day.

I admire your tenacity, mortal. Really. It's really a great thing that you figure out things by yourself. **BUT** I think you will also figure out in future that in certain stages in vMA you can not rely on heavy attacks for your stamina sustain.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · November 2018

ImmortalCX wrote: »

This is one of the hardest achievements in the game. This journal is intended to document the preparation and effort involved in clearing vma the first time. Many of you have been here before, this is done to share the experience of a typical pre-trial casual who spends 70% of his time farming, questing, and trading.

I did try vma one night at cp275 and got rekt. Repeatedly. That was before i had vigor and caltrops. It put fear into me, so i avoided vma for 300 cp levels.

Monday, tuesday, and wednesday (today) i cleared normal ma to learn the mechanics. Overall pretty easy.

My skill setup is very close to my pve setup. I replaced spectral bow on the backbar with the magica/shadow skill that gives major evasion (forget name). Caltrops, hail, leeching strikes, poison inj. Because i lost minor berserk from spectral, i am using Slimecraw monster set for 8pct dmg bonus.

Front bar is not really optimized, im using my trash frontbar, but replaced rending slashes with vigor. Surprise, killers blade, whirling blade, hidden daggers. Im doing it this way because my fingers know this setup. Each bar has only one new skill making it easy to run. Cp allocation...is loosely based on alcast stamblade.

Gear is gold Briarheart weapons and 2pcs. For vma, i farmed a 5pc Sunderflame set, 3 jewelry, 2 divines armor. I tested the nerfed sunderflame and the 5pc 5k HA bonus makes heavy attacks do as much dps as any of the spammables. Playstyle is lay down dots and circle with heavy attacks. Frontbar attacks (sa, daggers) are used for debuffs. Killers blade for execute.

Because of all the heavy attacks dodging and sprinting is almost free. There isnt any green bar anxiety. Braised rabbit food. I put two health enchants on the sunderflame for 18k health.

......

Today i played an hour of vma. Cleared the first room without any deaths! (Maybe its not as hard as they say...) My three normal clears trained me pretty well on running these skills.

On the second room, i died in first round, but after that, got to the bosses. Then i kept dying on the bosses. I would die because i let my buffs drop and eventually i would get tripped up and cleaved by a boss. I looked up a youtube vid of this stage, and found out i was missing a mechanic. If you damage both of the first bosses to 75%, a third is spawned. Fighting three with mediocre dps is difficult. I tried two more times with my new knowledge and still died, but only because i was burned and low energy. Im confident i willpss tomorrow. Time to quit for the night. Deaths on this stage so far: seven.

Pretty sure the hardest achievement in the game is Master Angler, Haha.

Keep at it. Let us know if you get stuck.

ImmortalCX · November 2018

ankeor wrote: »

I admire your tenacity, mortal. Really. It's really a great thing that you figure out things by yourself. **BUT** I think you will also figure out in future that in certain stages in vMA you can not rely on heavy attacks for your stamina sustain.

You might be right, but it works "on paper".

I had a hunch that the new Sunderflame (almost +5K HA dmg) would have good use in VMA. I replaced my Leviathan with Sunderflame. Testing on a dummy, heavy attacks do the same damage as any of the other spammables including flurry, surprise attack, single target daggers, etc. Which means that technically, I'm not giving up any dps using the heavy attacks, beyond the 5pc leviathan bonus I gave up.

Heavy attacks combined with leeching strikes gives back around 1.5K health/s return. Having so much sustain means I can chain vigors without any impact. Just seems like such a great synergy.

With my build, the only reason to use other frontbar melee skills is for their buffs or for AOE/execute utility.

This is the great thing about ESO itemization and combat, there are so many different approaches. My approach is to leverage a heavy attack proc set for "limitless" sustain for sprinting and dodging. So far mechanics are what kill me, not my gear.

ImmortalCX · November 2018

I've been playing room#2 for the past 30 minutes and have died ten times on the bosses.

There is some BS going on, either its bugged or they changed it. Two of the bosses are active at the same time now. Its not working the same way it was yesterday where they would trade off. There used to be a predictable wake/shutdown and movement pattern.

I initially dont attack the second boss (per guides) so that a third boss is not spawned. Instead of the second boss shutting down, the first wakes up and they are both active at the same time. They stack and its impossible to damage only one, so then the third spawns. This is not like anything I've seen in the guides.

This is Fed up, there are now always two active at the same time. There is also a weird movement where a boss runs away to the center of the room and then 2 seconds later I am flying backwards and die.

Tannus15 · November 2018

ImmortalCX wrote: »

I've been playing room#2 for the past 30 minutes and have died ten times on the bosses.

There is some BS going on, either its bugged or they changed it. Two of the bosses are active at the same time now. Its not working the same way it was yesterday where they would trade off. There used to be a predictable wake/shutdown and movement pattern.

I initially dont attack the second boss (per guides) so that a third boss is not spawned. Instead of the second boss shutting down, the first wakes up and they are both active at the same time. They stack and its impossible to damage only one, so then the third spawns. This is not like anything I've seen in the guides.

This is Fed up, there are now always two active at the same time. There is also a weird movement where a boss runs away to the center of the room and then 2 seconds later I am flying backwards and die.

You can burn them down when all 3 are up. I didn't even know you could limit their activation to be honest.

ImmortalCX · November 2018

Day 2:

1 Hour total, 25 deaths in room 2. I regressed from yesterday, I feel squishier and I'm starting to notice lag and skills that just won't fire. The worst problem is vigor that only partially fires. I push the vigor button, my character glows gold... but there isn't any animation and im not getting health back. Its like a half animation,,, havent figured out wtf that is about.

I should probably cheat and use some buffs.

I can only play about 20 minutes at a time without getting totally agitated and stressed.

This would be SOOOOOO much easier on a class that has primarily ranged damage skills. like a sorc. Having to physically engage mobs means more razor damage. Would be nice to be able to stay in the same place and just focus on avoiding blades. Or use teleport to jump them or stay ahead of them.

I thought wave 2 was more of a PITA than any of the ones before 5 when I did it on normal. Hopefully if i get through this i will make it through 3 and 4. I'm considering loading up some more health glyphs for this level.

Tannus15 · November 2018

ImmortalCX wrote: »

Day 2:

1 Hour total, 25 deaths in room 2. I regressed from yesterday, I feel squishier and I'm starting to notice lag and skills that just won't fire. The worst problem is vigor that only partially fires. I push the vigor button, my character glows gold... but there isn't any animation and im not getting health back. Its like a half animation,,, havent figured out wtf that is about.

I should probably cheat and use some buffs.

I can only play about 20 minutes at a time without getting totally agitated and stressed.

This would be SOOOOOO much easier on a class that has primarily ranged damage skills. like a sorc. Having to physically engage mobs means more razor damage. Would be nice to be able to stay in the same place and just focus on avoiding blades. Or use teleport to jump them or stay ahead of them.

I thought wave 2 was more of a PITA than any of the ones before 5 when I did it on normal. Hopefully if i get through this i will make it through 3 and 4. I'm considering loading up some more health glyphs for this level.

vMA builds are completely different to end game PvE builds. You really want 20k health to create a buffer to learn what you need to know to get through each arena.

You need to change your mindset about what consists of "cheating" and "easy mode". You've got the toxic, elitist attitude of someone who has got flawless on multiple characters before getting your first clear and you're stuck on round 2 which "vets" consider a warm up and Never die on.
Stam, Mag, range, melee, honestly that area is an easy one.

If you really want to finish, ditch the attitude and make the adjustments you need to make.

ImmortalCX · November 2018

Tannus15 wrote: »

ImmortalCX wrote: »

Day 2:

1 Hour total, 25 deaths in room 2. I regressed from yesterday, I feel squishier and I'm starting to notice lag and skills that just won't fire. The worst problem is vigor that only partially fires. I push the vigor button, my character glows gold... but there isn't any animation and im not getting health back. Its like a half animation,,, havent figured out wtf that is about.

I should probably cheat and use some buffs.

I can only play about 20 minutes at a time without getting totally agitated and stressed.

This would be SOOOOOO much easier on a class that has primarily ranged damage skills. like a sorc. Having to physically engage mobs means more razor damage. Would be nice to be able to stay in the same place and just focus on avoiding blades. Or use teleport to jump them or stay ahead of them.

I thought wave 2 was more of a PITA than any of the ones before 5 when I did it on normal. Hopefully if i get through this i will make it through 3 and 4. I'm considering loading up some more health glyphs for this level.

vMA builds are completely different to end game PvE builds. You really want 20k health to create a buffer to learn what you need to know to get through each arena.

You need to change your mindset about what consists of "cheating" and "easy mode". You've got the toxic, elitist attitude of someone who has got flawless on multiple characters before getting your first clear and you're stuck on round 2 which "vets" consider a warm up and Never die on.
Stam, Mag, range, melee, honestly that area is an easy one.

If you really want to finish, ditch the attitude and make the adjustments you need to make.

That was a very angry and incorrect interpretation of what I wrote. If you read the post you'll see I'm not elitist, nor have I adopted elitist attitudes. IMO, you are attempting to project your problems onto me. There are much kinder, less anti-social ways to tell someone using powerups is no big deal for a vma beginner.

Referring to using a powerup as "cheating" is just that every time I die it seems like the mechanics are the issue, I get one shotted or make a huge blunder that doing extra dps or having more healing won't really solve. Getting through a round with powerups may ultimately help me farm the gear, but it won't fully teach me the mechanics.

fred4 · November 2018

As far as I know, if you have more than one boss up at a time, that means you're not doing enough damage. Doesn't mean you can't deal with that, e.g. throw in a Dawnbreaker and use Shrouded Daggers when you get 2 (or 3) of them lined up. Sounds like you had lag. Bummer.

Round 2 is one of the reasons I wear Fortified Brass and Troll King. You can basically ignore the blades. They'll do damage, but it's manageable, allowing you to focus on the bosses. That said, I wear medium. I prefer the higher crit and weapon damage you get from it and use Brass for tankiness.

Just for laughs, you could try Bahraha's Curse for an additional 40% AOE damage reduction. It's a set you have to test as to where it works, and where not, but I believe "environmental traps" includes ground-based AOEs. It's one of Gilliam the Rogue's (who now works at ZOS) favorite dungeon sets, because it works in many places you wouldn't expect.

fred4 · November 2018

ImmortalCX wrote: »

Referring to using a powerup as "cheating" is just that every time I die it seems like the mechanics are the issue, I get one shotted or make a huge blunder that doing extra dps or having more healing won't really solve. Getting through a round with powerups may ultimately help me farm the gear, but it won't fully teach me the mechanics.

The more classes / builds you play, the more you'll find that they fail at different places in the arena. Use the powerups. You could say that's a reflection on you, or you might say it's a reflection on ZOS for not having achieved proper class balance. The powerups smoothe over that.

It is certainly true that the arena ia easier ranged. Always has been. That was a talking point when it first came out. However, I think by this time power creep has eroded it and it's easier. You have the option of Protective jewelry, for example. You can make medium or light armor builds that are quite tanky, but retain a high crit rate.

I've done my runs with melee characters. Stamina warden, DK, nightblade, and magicka templar. Shrouded Daggers makes you something of a hybrid. It is better to throw in light / heavy attacks, but you can also attack from range, and you'll very much want to in round 7.

All I can say, this patch, pay close attention to your enchants. Lack healing? Consider an Absorb Health enchant. Daedra? Prismatic enchant. Using Arrow Barrage? Make sure the bow is Infused. The bow enchant will fire every 2 seconds, while you are on your dual-wield bar, and add substantial single-target damage to your Arrow Barrage / Endless Hail.

ImmortalCX · November 2018

fred4 wrote: »

As far as I know, if you have more than one boss up at a time, that means you're not doing enough damage. Doesn't mean you can't deal with that, e.g. throw in a Dawnbreaker and use Shrouded Daggers when you get 2 (or 3) of them lined up. Sounds like you had lag. Bummer.

Round 2 is one of the reasons I wear Fortified Brass and Troll King. You can basically ignore the blades. They'll do damage, but it's manageable, allowing you to focus on the bosses. That said, I wear medium. I prefer the higher crit and weapon damage you get from it and use Brass for tankiness.

Just for laughs, you could try Bahraha's Curse for an additional 40% AOE damage reduction. It's a set you have to test as to where it works, and where not, but I believe "environmental traps" includes ground-based AOEs. It's one of Gilliam the Rogue's (who now works at ZOS) favorite dungeon sets, because it works in many places you wouldn't expect.

I was trying to imitate deltias 2015? Video where he shows how to avoid the third spawning. You intentionally avoid hurting the second one, and supposedly it will cycle between 1 and 2. Maybe they changed it, wpyld like some confirmation if that method still works.

My opinion of the blades is that it feels like they apply a debuff. I always seem to die when i concurrently get hit by an attack while in the blades. Like any hit against you will crit while you are debuffed.

fred4 · November 2018

Deltia is a good source, but 2015 is a long time ago. I also remember that he was quite useless commenting on round 5, because he never had any problems with it (the video I watched anyway). That's the round where the pacing comes into play and players differ vastly in how difficult they find it.

Tannus15 · November 2018

ImmortalCX wrote: »

Tannus15 wrote: »

ImmortalCX wrote: »

Day 2:

1 Hour total, 25 deaths in room 2. I regressed from yesterday, I feel squishier and I'm starting to notice lag and skills that just won't fire. The worst problem is vigor that only partially fires. I push the vigor button, my character glows gold... but there isn't any animation and im not getting health back. Its like a half animation,,, havent figured out wtf that is about.

I should probably cheat and use some buffs.

I can only play about 20 minutes at a time without getting totally agitated and stressed.

This would be SOOOOOO much easier on a class that has primarily ranged damage skills. like a sorc. Having to physically engage mobs means more razor damage. Would be nice to be able to stay in the same place and just focus on avoiding blades. Or use teleport to jump them or stay ahead of them.

I thought wave 2 was more of a PITA than any of the ones before 5 when I did it on normal. Hopefully if i get through this i will make it through 3 and 4. I'm considering loading up some more health glyphs for this level.

vMA builds are completely different to end game PvE builds. You really want 20k health to create a buffer to learn what you need to know to get through each arena.

You need to change your mindset about what consists of "cheating" and "easy mode". You've got the toxic, elitist attitude of someone who has got flawless on multiple characters before getting your first clear and you're stuck on round 2 which "vets" consider a warm up and Never die on.
Stam, Mag, range, melee, honestly that area is an easy one.

If you really want to finish, ditch the attitude and make the adjustments you need to make.

That was a very angry and incorrect interpretation of what I wrote. If you read the post you'll see I'm not elitist, nor have I adopted elitist attitudes. IMO, you are attempting to project your problems onto me. There are much kinder, less anti-social ways to tell someone using powerups is no big deal for a vma beginner.

Referring to using a powerup as "cheating" is just that every time I die it seems like the mechanics are the issue, I get one shotted or make a huge blunder that doing extra dps or having more healing won't really solve. Getting through a round with powerups may ultimately help me farm the gear, but it won't fully teach me the mechanics.

It's not angry or projecting.

you said

3) I am doing VMA before trials so I don't have access to VO. That is just my decision, a matter of pride doing it with a stamblade without easy button VO.

and you said

I should probably cheat and use some buffs.

I'm literally just reading your posts and responding to the words you have written.

Using the things in the arena that are put there deliberately for you to use are not cheating. It's doing the mechanics. Not all mechanics are negative. It's like saying you're cheating because you interrupt the boss when channeling.

VO is a good set with advantages and disadvantages. It's very good in vMA because of some of those reasons. you don't have to use it, but you're implying that it's somehow "easy button" just because it is good. That's like saying that no one should use relequen in stam parses because it's does good damage.

You are obviously creating bizarre handicaps for yourself for no reason other than you have somehow adopted the kind of *** talk I only hear from score pushers. "It's not a legit flawless unless you don't use sigils" etc.

A clear is a clear, and the first clear is a pain for everyone. use every advantage you can get your hands on until you get it done.

If you don't accept it you will run into a wall on stage 5.

Tannus15 · November 2018

ImmortalCX wrote: »

fred4 wrote: »

As far as I know, if you have more than one boss up at a time, that means you're not doing enough damage. Doesn't mean you can't deal with that, e.g. throw in a Dawnbreaker and use Shrouded Daggers when you get 2 (or 3) of them lined up. Sounds like you had lag. Bummer.

Round 2 is one of the reasons I wear Fortified Brass and Troll King. You can basically ignore the blades. They'll do damage, but it's manageable, allowing you to focus on the bosses. That said, I wear medium. I prefer the higher crit and weapon damage you get from it and use Brass for tankiness.

Just for laughs, you could try Bahraha's Curse for an additional 40% AOE damage reduction. It's a set you have to test as to where it works, and where not, but I believe "environmental traps" includes ground-based AOEs. It's one of Gilliam the Rogue's (who now works at ZOS) favorite dungeon sets, because it works in many places you wouldn't expect.

I was trying to imitate deltias 2015? Video where he shows how to avoid the third spawning. You intentionally avoid hurting the second one, and supposedly it will cycle between 1 and 2. Maybe they changed it, wpyld like some confirmation if that method still works.

My opinion of the blades is that it feels like they apply a debuff. I always seem to die when i concurrently get hit by an attack while in the blades. Like any hit against you will crit while you are debuffed.

they apply a bleed. swap your slimecraw for mighty chudan if you have it. More physical resists makes this arena much easier.

AndyMac · November 2018

For the second arena I always find it helpful to stay on the outside ring facing the oncoming blade as much as possible- makes it easier to dodge - YMMV

Also, and I may be wrong, I believe they can be blocked to some extent? Idk I usually do vMA on an mDK with harness so I tend to not worry too much about blades.

Protossyder · November 2018

ImmortalCX wrote: »

Day 2:

1 Hour total, 25 deaths in room 2. I regressed from yesterday, I feel squishier and I'm starting to notice lag and skills that just won't fire. The worst problem is vigor that only partially fires. I push the vigor button, my character glows gold... but there isn't any animation and im not getting health back. Its like a half animation,,, havent figured out wtf that is about.

I should probably cheat and use some buffs.

I can only play about 20 minutes at a time without getting totally agitated and stressed.

This would be SOOOOOO much easier on a class that has primarily ranged damage skills. like a sorc. Having to physically engage mobs means more razor damage. Would be nice to be able to stay in the same place and just focus on avoiding blades. Or use teleport to jump them or stay ahead of them.

I thought wave 2 was more of a PITA than any of the ones before 5 when I did it on normal. Hopefully if i get through this i will make it through 3 and 4. I'm considering loading up some more health glyphs for this level.

If you have enough distance to the bosses when they spawn, they will start casting their ranged aoe attack where they shoot vertically into the air. Then you can go melee and with enough dps you can burn them down while they're stuck in that animation (without any sigil btw). Maybe you should drop your heavy attack build as it seems to lack dps..

(with bloodcraze and vigor you outheal the blades easily, no need to get more health)

Sun7dance · November 2018

fred4 wrote: »

Sun7dance wrote: »

fred4 wrote: »

On the nightblade I would run:

Shrouded Daggers
Blood Craze
Evil Hunter
Quick Cloak
Surprise Attack
Dawnbreaker of Smiting

Arrow Barrage
Leeching Strikes
Relentless Focus
Razor Caltrops
Shadowy Disguise
Bolstering Darkness

I think you mean Vigor instead of Evil Hunter, right?

Did I forget Vigor? Oops. I was trying to piece a build together that I would run past the Infused fixes. I do like Evil Hunter as I tend to use tri-pots. Is there a Crit, stam, health pot? That would be ideal, and drop Evil Hunter.

Have amended my post as suggested, although I'd be tempted to drop Relentless for Vigor and keep Evil Hunter. I like a passive skill for the zero opportunity cost.

There is a potion like you want:

Dragonthorn, Mountain Flower and Water Hyacinth (i hope that's right in english)

But much more important for you should be using an Assassination Skill on your frontbar at least (better on both!). You really want that 10% extra crit. damage. Also it's really helpfull for sustain killing enemies with killer's blade. Combined with VO you get almost 4k stamina for every kill. It's a must-have in my opinion!

fred4 · November 2018

Anyone who says the blades need to be dodged or avoided has probably come to grips with vMA before 2018. You do, if your build is squishy. Worst case, you're a light armor magplar, you have no stamina to dodge, you heal with Honor the Dead when you get hit, and you run out of magicka pretty quickly, because there isn't always something right in front of you to use Sweeps on. Time to change build. You could probably dance around the blades, but these days you can just build tanky while retaining enough damage.

There is nothing wrong with that. Power creep is real, but vMA has always been about problem solving. People used to rearrange their CP for it, change builds between levels, and so on. Back in the day Kena would proc from a Wrecking Blow weave, even though it was only supposed to proc from two consecutive light attacks. So people used that. Why is vMA so fiendishly hard in the first place? Because players do use every tool at their disposal, and whether something is unbalanced or bordering on an exploit is largely in the eye of the beholder. ZOS' natural response is producing content where you have to use every trick in the book.

fred4 · November 2018

Sun7dance wrote: »

But much more important for you should be using an Assassination Skill on your frontbar at least (better on both!). You really want that 10% extra crit. damage.

True. I really did throw that post together, didn't I?

The build I was actually running to clear vMA on stamblade was a Torug's Pact build the first week of Murmire. Clearly that needed to be changed. I ran roughly the build I posted here, yesterday, up to stage 4, before RL called.

Pajor · November 2018

Stamblade is hard to figure out in my opinion. But maybe try some alcast builds and recommendations. I follow his magsorc pve build for my Khajiit Magsorc and ended up with 546,984 points at the end of vMA. Which was better than my stamblade khajiit.

Asardes · November 2018

As I said before, the gear I recommended does make things a lot easier. I'm not trying to be condescending, because I'm not near an "elite" player, especially on my Stamina NB, which was one of my hardest clears - only Mag Templar has been harder, until I totally changed the approach; I've cleared it on all chars in bold in my signature but I don't have a single flawless.

One of the secrets of having good DPS in Maelstrom is to prep the spawn points by putting down your DoTs there (Razor Caltrops, Endless Hail, Rearming Trap) as soon as the portal starts to spawn, and loading a heavy bow attack at it, and have it fire when the mob actually spawns, waving Poison Injection right before it fires off. This way you have all the back bar DoTs going on the enemy and you can immediately bar swap to cast your other DoTs (optionally Rending Slashes) and spammable (Surprise Attack/Shrouded Daggers/Rapid Strikes) - you should be able to cast those 4x until the other DoTs run out. Shoot the relentless focus when ready, cast ultimate when ready - Ballista/Incapacitating strike or Dawnbreaker - for vMA and dungeon runs I actually recommend Dawnbreaker of Smiting morhp because it does more upfront damage and stuns more dangerous mobs. Execute when <25% with Killer's Blade, and don't forget to keep Leeching Strikes and Relentless Focus up. That's the NB rotation in a nutshell.

The centurions in Seht's Balcony final round shield after a time, if their health falls under a certain threshold. If you're having 2 up at the same time it means your DPS is probably very low so you haven't damaged the first one enough to make him shield. If your DPS is low the best solution by far is to stack them tightly in one spot then lay down AoEs there (Endless Hail, Caltrops, Rearming Trap). This way you don't waste any stamina recasting those on invulnerable enemies, which will happen if you try to move between their spawn points and keep them there. If your DPS is decent and you have an ultimate ready you should be able to kill the first outright as explained above, then burst the 2nd to ~50% before it shields even without using any ultimates - if you're using Incapacitating Strike it should be nearly up before he shields, so you can probably burst the 3rd too and then quickly return and kill 2 quickly as he's nearly in execute range.

kylewwefan · November 2018

I also have problems with vigor not firing off here. Blade cloak is awesome for AOE reduction from spinning blades and mortar fire.

I did not know about keeping third one from spawning by not Damage below %75. Usually go far beyond that.

Always keep them in Endless hail. Caltrops is negotiable since it cost a lot of stamina. When they stop to do frontal steam attack, go to their side or back and get your heavy attack in to sustain.

If taking too much damage, consider using pirate skeleton head, Lord Warden or Mighty Chudan Shoulder. Those combined with major resistance you get from surprise attack makes you very tanky.

If your not good enough to get those spectral bow procs off consistently, siphoning strikes is probably better.

Starting off this round from the beginning, go to the first mob spawn by the switch. Stay there and fight there for the whole match until bosses come out. It’s easier to dodge blades every now and then. Heavy attack bow followed by poison inject kills most things. Keep endless hail up where you fight.

Gl

ImmortalCX · November 2018

Protossyder wrote: »

ImmortalCX wrote: »

Day 2:

1 Hour total, 25 deaths in room 2. I regressed from yesterday, I feel squishier and I'm starting to notice lag and skills that just won't fire. The worst problem is vigor that only partially fires. I push the vigor button, my character glows gold... but there isn't any animation and im not getting health back. Its like a half animation,,, havent figured out wtf that is about.

I should probably cheat and use some buffs.

I can only play about 20 minutes at a time without getting totally agitated and stressed.

This would be SOOOOOO much easier on a class that has primarily ranged damage skills. like a sorc. Having to physically engage mobs means more razor damage. Would be nice to be able to stay in the same place and just focus on avoiding blades. Or use teleport to jump them or stay ahead of them.

I thought wave 2 was more of a PITA than any of the ones before 5 when I did it on normal. Hopefully if i get through this i will make it through 3 and 4. I'm considering loading up some more health glyphs for this level.

If you have enough distance to the bosses when they spawn, they will start casting their ranged aoe attack where they shoot vertically into the air. Then you can go melee and with enough dps you can burn them down while they're stuck in that animation (without any sigil btw). Maybe you should drop your heavy attack build as it seems to lack dps..
(with bloodcraze and vigor you outheal the blades easily, no need to get more health)

This is a good tip. If I create space before the first spawn instead of running to it, I can get a better rotation on the boss.

The problem isn't my dps ( I dont think). The issue is just getting overwhelmed by mechanics.

I may try it tonight and find out all my skills are firing and I can pass it.

ImmortalCX · November 2018

kylewwefan wrote: »

I also have problems with vigor not firing off here. Blade cloak is awesome for AOE reduction from spinning blades and mortar fire.

I did not know about keeping third one from spawning by not Damage below %75. Usually go far beyond that.

Always keep them in Endless hail. Caltrops is negotiable since it cost a lot of stamina. When they stop to do frontal steam attack, go to their side or back and get your heavy attack in to sustain.

If taking too much damage, consider using pirate skeleton head, Lord Warden or Mighty Chudan Shoulder. Those combined with major resistance you get from surprise attack makes you very tanky.

If your not good enough to get those spectral bow procs off consistently, siphoning strikes is probably better.

Starting off this round from the beginning, go to the first mob spawn by the switch. Stay there and fight there for the whole match until bosses come out. It’s easier to dodge blades every now and then. Heavy attack bow followed by poison inject kills most things. Keep endless hail up where you fight.

Gl

Ohh.. what a great idea! I know how much more tanky I feel when I can weave in Surprise Attack, with those individual pieces, I will have an extra 10K resistances. I dont have the Mighty Chudan DLC, but I think I have the shoulders somewhere.

Robo_Hobo · November 2018

An_An wrote: »

Do not leave through the Wrothgar portal or you will painfully discover as I did today that it doesn’t save progress.

My vMA journey -
- took a week to get to stage 5. kept wiping at it. Abandoned quest.
- Restarted vma and cleared 8 stages in one day. Kept wiping on stage 9 final boss for a week. Abandoned quest.
- Restarted vMA yesterday, reached stage 5 with moderate difficulty at best. Decided to take a break and try today. Turns out it didn’t save my progress and I had to start again from Stage 1. Abandoned quest. Abandoned ambitions.

Total soul gems used - 400+
Total repair kits used - a lot

Came to terms that I’m no PvE god. Maybe I’ll try again once I reach CP cap (currently at 550CP)

@An_An

The quest is what saves your progress in VMA. If you have the quest and you leave the place, you can return and continue on the same arena that you were last on, but on the first round of that particular arena. (as long as it's still the same difficulty setting, of course, Veteran or Normal. That tricks people sometimes)

ImmortalCX · November 2018

Update..

20 more deaths on bosses in room#2, over 1.5 hours. I'm *this* close.

I think this would be 200% easier with a game controller or a gaming mouse.

The setup that my fingers "know" was chosen randomly ages ago and ingrained through many quests and dungeon runs, but I can't reliably hit buttons 1-5 while running around, dodging, and responding to the environment (4 fingers - > 5 buttons, doesn't always work out.. sometimes hit the wrong one). Its easy to run through your rotation when you aren't under constant pressure., but some of the buttons aren't available depending on how you are moving. For instance.. when you are moving forward (w), its almost impossible to hit buttons 2 or 3 above because they are physically blocked. If moving left, its impossible to hit buttons 1 or 2. And when moving right, buttons 4 and 5 are impossible.

That said, its just a matter of not getting too greedy and accidentally letting the buffs fall off. Instead of trying for that last 10% dps, just run through the progression, refresh buffs, take your time...

I am using chudan shoulders, and pirate skeleton head for resistances. Combined with blade cloak, and the 5K resistances from Surprise Attack, its possible to keep up a solid rotation without having to worry much about the blades.

The other PITA thing about room#2 is that when you are near the edge, the view zooms in, and it doesn't reliably zoom out, so I find myself using the mouse wheel to zoom out again so I'm not nearsighted. I would say at this point 75% of my issues are UI related, I either need to work out some better keybinds or get a gaming controller. Possibly figure out a way to keep the view zoomed out, or at least zoom back out again when I move away from the edge.. you know.. so i can see.

fred4 · November 2018

Having an ingrained keyboard setup that turns out to be sub-optimal is tough. I've run into that and I also sometimes play sub-optimal builds, because they better match how I'm playing other classes. For what it's worth, I don't use W A S D, but a complete custom layout.

My left middle finger rests on the E key, which is my run forward key.
The index finger can roam over the R T D F G and 5 keys.
The ring finger uses the W 2 3 and S keys.
The little finger uses Q A 1 ` and Tab.
The thumb uses the space bar and Alt keys.

The idea was to keep the hand in position, with the middle finger never moving, while the other fingers can stretch to different keys. I also prefer not using a toggle key for bar swap, but dedicated keys, Q and A. Better when there's lag.

I play completely zoomed out and camera angle set to 130 degrees (the maximum) in the arena. If running to the edge, you can end up in first person, but I haven't had a problem where that sticks when moving away from the edge again.

Abysswarrior45 · November 2018

Juhasow wrote: »

VMA so hard on stam...

https://youtu.be/NraXZtHn6NE

Thats the issue PvE players seem to never understand, but PvP players who are competent and long-time veterans fully understand. Thats is not an issue with stam as much as it is sets doing damage for a player. It didn't used to be that way. But pugs will continue to praise ZOS for the proc sets being added, and PvE players will continue to pretend they're needed and cry when they're nerfed.

ccfeeling · November 2018

Don't give up.

My suggestion , try WW, ez mode.