PancakeHead wrote: »

I'm not certain but I don't think going more tanky is going to help much and will actually make it harder because you'll be exposed to more risk when you need to burn quickly. I'm thinking particularly of stage five and six. In stage five you have to kill the boss quickly after she bashes the second ice block or she'll eventually bash the last one (that you're standing on) and you'll die. In stage six you only have so much time to defeat the boss or you get one shotted.

I think the OP is saying he will forget about vMA for the time being and concentrate on playing a tank in general.

While I agree with your sentiment, you can afford to be somewhat tanky and it makes the arena easier when you don't know the spawn points and mechanics off by heart. For example on magplar I use Pirate Skeleton + 3x Protective, my PvP setup, but with light armor. Damage only plummets too much in heavy for my taste. I think that may have to do with the templar crit passive. When people talk about power creep, I think this is one way it happened: The ability to build heavy armor resistances into light and medium armor builds. It's perfectly fine for stage 5.

In stage 5, the pacing of the fight is entirely up to you. At 60% you get a wave of adds on the second island. At 45% she destroys that island. Basically you can destroy the adds, then take it easy while building ultimate and heavy attacking for resources, so you are ready to burn on the last island. As I played vMA yesterday with a fairly high-damage DOT DK build, my problem in stage 5 was actually burning the boss too quickly. She caught me off-guard numerous times with her enrage, while I was still busy with adds.

You are wrong in regards to stage 6. You can't afford to miss any hoarvors or maybe just one. You must turn all the obelisks. If you keep doing that, the boss will never enrage to the point of one shotting you.

ATomiX96 wrote: »

just for reference, how many cp do you have?

Yeah, that's a good question. Better yet, enter your full build into the UESP build editor, including CP allocation, then post the link here. It could be your skill or it could be your build. For example, if it's a stamina build and you have never PvPd, then you don't have Vigor. Not having Vigor is a big no no, but that's just one example.

BNOC wrote: »

The fact that you didn't even bother googling the build editor would imply you're not trying to finish MSA but instead, join the league of MSA haters who don't know how easy they actually have it.

I will say to you what I told someone else: You know nothing about me, or my intentions.

I did point out that this was a run that I decided to do in-the-heat-of-the-moment, and decided it would be fun if I were to record how it was going. Obviously it didn't go over so well as I ditched the quest in the second arena.

Though I do appreciate the link to a WIKI post... But it seems to actually have more than just an article about what it is so... Maybe I'll have a look at it.

You might wanna move a few points from master at arms into piercing, also Ironclad in the red tree would help alot to make you tanky by reducing direct damage taken.
For maelstrom you urgently need vigor, id suggest replacing igneous weapon, and for ultimate you could just run corrosive armor on the backbar as your "oh ***" button.
I assume youre using Igneous for major brutality? Rather run the Weapon Crit / Weapon Damage / Stamina Pots for that purpose and free up that slot for vigor.
Wings can also be helpful on rounds where there are alot of casters, or if you just feel that youre getting overwhelmed by ranged attacks.

Kalgert wrote: »

For a larf I decided to go attack the skeleton in my house. It seems I've done 17k damage to it after tunnel-focusing on the uptime of my damage over time abilities.

Buuut I imagine it is insufficient and all that jazz, and that I should probably not attempt doing anything above Normal, let alone Normal Trials unless I can poop out 40k DPS with only one ability... *rolls eyes*

man dont put yourself down like that, the first time I cleared vma was with a heavy armor 1hs/2h stamdk back in orsinium, I definitly wasnt doing 20k dps back then, not with the build I had.

ATomiX96 wrote: »

man dont put yourself down like that, the first time I cleared vma was with a heavy armor 1hs/2h stamdk back in orsinium, I definitly wasnt doing 20k dps back then, not with the build I had.

I thought this was being realistic, according to most people who seem to be experts on this sort of thing. Unless I'm doing 20k or more, I will be "Having a hard time" in these Arenas. Implying that it ain't worth doing

Also, how did you get past the Ice Arena? Considering that B.S is a DPS Check (Which is a terrible mechanic that should be abolished and the designer of it to be crucified)

vesselwiththepestle wrote: »

[You should watch a video guide on light attack weaving

Already know the basis of it, and I already light attack before I use an ability, and use it as soon as I hear a "Clink" that my attack landed.

Thanks though.

@Kalgert, I thought you'd gone off tanking. My question was for @Grianasteri.

There are a ton of issues with your build. Where to even start? On the plus side, vMA will feel much better once you adjust it.

Let's start with an easy nitpick: You must read up on CP jump points. It's been explained elsewhere, so I'm not going to repeat it.

Point 2: Medium Armor Focus and Spell Shield are horribly ineffcient stars for most builds. Focus on Ironclad, Hardy, Elemental Defender and Thick Skinned, getting Hardy and Ele Defender to either 37 or 49, but don't put 75 in Ele Defender either. Something better:

Ironclad: 56, Med Focus: 5, Spell Shield: 5, Hardy: 49, Ele Defender: 49, Thick Skinned: 28, Quick Recovery: 7, Expert Defender: 2

Point 3: Your forgot Mighty altogether and pen is inefficient from CP. Also, you're DK, so focus on DOT damage. Blue trees:

Thaumaturge: 56, Precise Strikes: 56, Mighty: 49, Piercing: 1, Master at Arms: 40

Point 4: Green trees:

Warlord: 40, Mooncalf: 49, Healthy: 37 (assuming Troll King), Tumbling: 56, Shadow Ward: 20

Point 5: Your build appears to be a DD build with little consideration given to self-healing, damage mitigation or sustain. In other words, it's a dungeon build, designed for groups that include a tank and healer. This won't work and that's, by far, the biggest problem you have.

You haven't paid any attention to where your heals might be coming from. Instead of Rapid Strikes, use Bloodthirst. Instead of Rending Slashes, use Blood Craze. Instead of Flames of Oblivion, use Stamina + Health + Crit potions, making room to slot Vigor. Supplement that with Troll King, because Vigor on it's own is, frankly, insufficient when you have no burst heal, e.g. Rally. (This could be different for a vMA expert, but not for you).

Point 6: Experiment with Shrouded Daggers as your spammable. Probably the best spammable for vMA, except maybe in stage 7. It lacks the Bloodthirst heal and buff from Thaumaturge, but it will give you Major Brutality, thus replacing Igneous Weapons.

Point 7: Don't get hung up on DPS figures, but do learn to weave light attacks, if not already. This is important. If you're not weaving light / heavy attacks that is a major DPS loss you need to fix.

Point 8: Even if you use no Fighter's Guild skills, the passive that gives you ultimate from killing Undead / Daedra is very important, especially on DK.

Point 9: Reflective Scales are extremely useful. Examples include NPCs pelting you with ranged attacks from the ice in stage 5, which are hard to get to with a melee build. Also extremely useful against "Taking Aim" archers, as you may well kill them "passively" while you deal with another NPC. Sadly this will be nerfed next patch. This skill is my reason for recommending Shacklebreaker, though.

Point 10: Even though it's the quintessential vMA set, I wouldn't get hung up on farming VO. You might try Vengeance Leech instead, available in guild stores for cheap, but there are any number of ways to build for sustain.

Point 11: You have no Earthen Heart skills in your build, which gives you Minor Brutality from a DK passive. I am not personally pushed about that, but many solo players / PvPers swear by the Fragmented Shield + Vigor combo for the best healing. You gain Minor Brutality as a side effect.

Point 12: Speed can help you greatly. This is one of the reasons for wearing VO. Alternate skills to contemplate are Shuffle for snare removal and damage reduction, dodge rolling on the bow bar for Major Expedition, Quick Cloak for Major Expedition and damage reduction instead of Shuffle. Speed really changes the dynamics of some fights. Snare removal gets rid of the endless snares in round 3. Speed helps to juggle hoarvors and spider swarms in round 6, dancing around poison plumes in 7, and picking up golden ghosts in round 9. Don't *** it until you've tried it. 3x Swift jewelry is much better than people think, albeit has strong competition from Protective. The Ranger set is good, though not great. Most importantly you should try combining the Steed mundus, gold food (Artaeum Takeaway Broth) and Troll King, at some point, as this is a strong build pattern for both speed and healing.

Point 13: I hardly ever heavy-attack. Too slow. If you have to do many of those, you will likely be overwhelmed. Tailor your build with glyphs until sustain feels comfortable. Use the Serpent mundus, if necessary. Use Dubious or Artaeum. Consider sets that give you some stamina regen. Experiment with the Consuming Trap skill for resource management. Seriously. No one does that, but it's a really underrated skill for vMA.

On DK you can also spec heavily into ulti-gen for resource management, but I find this depends on playstyle. In vMA there are cases where you want to withhold your ulti to for specific monsters or to nuke the boss. Ulti-gen builds have never suited me and Blood Spawn, in particular, is a set I've never come to like, even though it is a staple for DKs.

Point 14: Do NOT switch out Hardened Armor for Vigor! You need both! Look at your DK passives. Having Hardened Armor active makes you tankier AND increases your healing. If anything - but this is a personal choice as everyone else does it differently - omit Fragmented Shield. The reason I don't like Fragmented Shield is that it consumes an extra GCD while healing and that I'd rather dump my magicka into wings. In medium, you are also more of a dodge rolling than blocking build. Fragmented Shield gives you a little bit of stamina, but that's more valuable for blocking builds.