Briarheart vs Blooddrinker

Swordbreaker · August 2019

I'm currently working toward this build for running vMA:
https://alcasthq.com/eso-solo-stamina-werewolf-build-pve/

It calls for Alessian + Briarheart. I wanna keep Alessian for the heavy armor/health recovery bonuses, and Briarheart is a great all-around set, but i'm wondering in Blooddrinker might be better than Briarheart for a Werewolf build. Alot of my DPS appears to come from bleeds while in werewolf form since every light attack applies bleeds (100% up time), so the additional 20% should, in my thought process, deal more damage than Briarheart, since it only seems to proc occasionally.

Should i try to go for Blooddrinker or is Briarheart actually better?

virtus753 · August 2019

You’d have to weigh Blooddrinker’s extra bleed damage (that’s 20% of the bleed “effect” itself, so not the whole attack, as far as I understand it) against the nearly 450 extra weapon damage *and* heals of Briarheart. Briarheart should have a decent uptime - somewhere above 60%, I would guess, based on non-WW parses. On the whole I would think that Briarheart would offer a more valuable combination of damage and healing than Blooddrinker, even with the boost to bleed damage that Berserker got this patch. (Briarheart’s extra WD will also boost things like the heal from Claws of Life, which relies directly on damage done by that skill. So it has more utility even than may be apparent from the tooltip.)

Lord_Eomer · August 2019

Vicious Serpent is another best set for VMA, can replace BH with this.

ccfeeling · August 2019

WW is EZ mode in VMA .

This WW build is a very strong defensive setup .

Once you well know all the mechanics in VMA , you could complete the run with this build easily .

Heavy armor body set , Troll king , so what you miss is a strong weapon set to compensate the damage lost from heavy armor and monster .

Blooddrinker , Briarheart , VO , Essence Thief are all fine , I don't see much difference .

Austinseph1 · August 2019

It’s not bad.. Just not as strong. Most of the damage comes from the light attacks not the bleed, and the rest of your moves wouldn’t benefit from it. Also the heals from briarheart really add up. Can you do it? I’m sure you can, but is it a better addition to the build? Not really

Nemesis7884 · August 2019

briarheart also gives a bit of a heal...vicious ophidian is also nice

mighty chudan might be also nice as alternative to trollking - maximizing resistances maximizes alessian

id probably use ophidian + chudan + alessian

Hamish999 · August 2019

Alessian and Chudan would put you over resistance cap I'm sure.
I recently did vMA as a WW wearing Chudan, Hunding's (5 x medium armour) and Green Pact (Weapons and jewellery). That puts you just over spell resistance and just under physical resistance caps whilst in WW form.
Guess you could swap Briarheart for Hunding's 😊

Edit: clarification of medium armour.

Lord_Eomer · August 2019

Hamish999 wrote: »

Alessian and Chudan would put you over resistance cap I'm sure.
I recently did vMA as a WW wearing Chudan, Hunding's (5 x armour) and Green Pact (Weapons and jewellery). That puts you just over spell resistance and just under physical resistance caps whilst in WW form.
Guess you could swap Briarheart for Hunding's 😊

If u use 5 medium 1 or 2 heavy then go for Chudan.

Gargath · August 2019

What about Deadly Strike instead of Blooddrinker (flat 14% increase in both LA bleed and the disease dmg from Claws of Life, also should increase the healing. And Automaton instead of Briarheart (stable all time buff to WW's physical damage)?

Chilly-McFreeze · August 2019

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

briarheart also gives a bit of a heal...vicious ophidian is also nice

mighty chudan might be also nice as alternative to trollking - maximizing resistances maximizes alessian

id probably use ophidian + chudan + alessian

Briarhearth + Vichious Ophidian + Iceheart on a Stam Sorc is what I learned vMA with. Damage, offheals, defense, sustain and mobility.

rumple9 · August 2019

Deadly set is better than blooddrinker as it affects all dots not just bleeds

virtus753 · August 2019

Gargath wrote: »

What about Deadly Strike instead of Blooddrinker (flat 14% increase in both LA bleed and the disease dmg from Claws of Life, also should increase the healing. And Automaton instead of Briarheart (stable all time buff to WW's physical damage)?

Deadly, Blooddrinker, Briarheart, and Automaton would all be competing for the same spot to complement Alessian Order, which provides most of the enormous passive health regen for this build. If you give up Alessian Order to run two of the above, you’ll be relying only on Claws of Life, Hircine’s Fortitude/Rage, and possibly Briarheart heals.

Automaton has a better weapon damage average than Briarheart, but only for the Physical damage parts of skills, as you said. It doesn’t heal like Briarheart, and since it doesn’t affect the Disease part of Claws of Life, it wouldn’t help the heal of that skill either. I’m not sure if Automaton’s fifth piece bonus would help bleed damage any either. I suspect not, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong.

Ratzkifal · August 2019

I'd go for Briarheart because of the heal it adds.
I've started doing Werewolf vMA runs since that build was presented to me. Werewolfs feel like easy mode in most arena. I am currently running Affliction and Fury, but plan on swapping Affliction for Briarheart once I have obtained it.

Gargath · August 2019

rumple9 wrote: »

Deadly set is better than blooddrinker as it affects all dots not just bleeds

I found it a bit misleading that Deadly's +14% DoT increase isn't added to the damage on abilities tooltip, it's hard to guess what exactly damage it does.

Yesterday was trying PvE in Deadly Strike + Molag Kena + Darkstride (had nothing better on hand).
Darkstride seems awesome for questing and harvesting in WW form which likes to run a lot, so a lot of stamina is saved.
Kena is up all the time - seems perfect and with Deadly the DoTs from LA and Claws of Life are powerful.

Although probably Darkstride wouldn't be best for the arenas like MA. I'd probably try the Essence Thief (looks like a stable health/stamina source each 10 secs), if there was a higher chance to get it...

Vlad9425 · August 2019

I tried running Briarheart and then I tried running Hundings. Let’s just say I no longer try to run Briarheart...

Gargath · August 2019

virtus753 wrote: »

Automaton has a better weapon damage average than Briarheart, but only for the Physical damage parts of skills, as you said. It doesn’t heal like Briarheart,...

Did anyone check a real healing from Briarheart per second? Is it that potent?
The tooltip doesn't look good, the heal is small, the chance is small, and once every 15 secs.

And btw. if I have an enchantment on Gold Infused Battle Axe, that deals dmg and restores 1119 health, and I transform into WW, does it mean I'll get this healing each 2-3 seconds with LA bleeds?

p_tsakirisb16_ESO · August 2019

Swordbreaker wrote: »

I'm currently working toward this build for running vMA:
https://alcasthq.com/eso-solo-stamina-werewolf-build-pve/

It calls for Alessian + Briarheart. I wanna keep Alessian for the heavy armor/health recovery bonuses, and Briarheart is a great all-around set, but i'm wondering in Blooddrinker might be better than Briarheart for a Werewolf build. Alot of my DPS appears to come from bleeds while in werewolf form since every light attack applies bleeds (100% up time), so the additional 20% should, in my thought process, deal more damage than Briarheart, since it only seems to proc occasionally.

Should i try to go for Blooddrinker or is Briarheart actually better?

If you do not want to use Briarheart and understand the downtime argument as @Vlad9425 said and I do not like the set myself either, have you considered Automaton?

Katahdin · August 2019

I've been running VO, briarheat and chudan on my werewolf. I put prismatic runes on 3 pieces to get extra mag for heals, ran weapon crit potions when in WW form and Arteum takeaway broth.

Got flawless last night with this build