Infallible Aether set questions and causing Concussion and off-balance

malistorr · August 2019

Hi all,

I'm a lazy player that just wants to have fun and not light attack weave. So please don't comment telling me there is another/better way to play or cause more damage, I don't care. I'm not seeking comments about the play style, I have specific questions about this gear set, and the most efficient way to cause concussion and off-balance.

1. I read that there was a bug where if you applied Minor Vulnerability with this set, that it would somehow prevent you from being able to trigger concussion and therefore off-balance. Does anyone know if that was ever true? And if so, is it still?
2. Basically, I want to be able to trigger concussion and off-balance as much as possible so that when I heavy attack I get the 170% heavy attack bonus damage. My goal is to get the best heavy attack damage possible. Given that, is wearing Undaunted Infiltrator and Infallible Aether sets my best option? I read that the UI 5th-item set bonus affects the damage on every tick of the heavy attack. However I read that the IA 5th-item HA bonus only applies to the last tick (which is the only tick that does Direct Damage I believe). Is that all correct? I know I can test this all myself, but I was hoping to avoid that since I won't be playing today and this post can help many others if answered correctly.
3. If IA only affects HA damage on the last tick for example and/or the applying of Minor Vulnerability somehow prevents me from being able to cause concussion, maybe that set is not best for someone that just wants to maximize damage from heavy attacks? Please share your opinions. (Supported by facts hopefully).
4. What is the most effective way for a mag sorc with a lightning staff and shock glyph to be able to proc/trigger concussion? I know if I do it, I use Wall of Elements (and morphs) to cause off-balance. I want to do whatever skill(s) can proc/trigger concussions most efficiently/quickly, then use Wall of Elements to cause off-balance, then heavy attack away while enjoying the 170% damage increase.
5. I see that the asylum lightning staff can cause/proc concussion by casting Force Pulse twice, but I wanted to use the Maelstrom lightning staff to get the buff to heavy attack damage. Is it best to use both if I did go with 2-bars? And if so, which is front and which is back bar? Is there another/better way to proc. concussion reliably with just using 1-skill instead of the asylum staff and having to cast Force Pulse twice quickly?

Based on what I read, my plan for now was to use UI and IA for my 2-sets and have the UI lightning staff charged with shock glyph on the front/main bar. Then use the Maelstrom lightning staff infused with shock glyph on the back bar. I'll be on the back bar to start the fight and do whatever skill(s) can trigger concussion most quickly, then use Wall of Elements to cause off-balance, then swap to the front bar and do heavy attacks. Thanks in advance for any help. If I have to test this all I will, but I really hate turning my game playing time into math equations and science experiments. I figured I'd rely on the knowledge that some of you may already have, since I know some of you have spent months or years perfecting your builds.

idk · August 2019

Is this for playing in groups or solo?

malistorr · August 2019

I do both and really would like to try and avoid having to swtich gear and mundus around just based on the situation. I believe I read that you can't cause off-balance on some or all bosses so this would apply to overland mobs and 4-man dungeon and trial mobs mostly. Really my goal is:

1. Cause the most lightning staff heavy attack damage at all times
2. Cause the most concussion/off-balance possible which I think could lead to #1 above. Feel free to comment on staff traits as well. I wasn't sure if back-bar infused and front charged are the best traits for this purpose.

If you have to assume that I'll always be solo, then please do that. I quite often play in PUGs for 4-man or trials and can't reliably assume anyone will be doing anything (or wearing anything) that they're supposed to.

tsaescishoeshiner · August 2019

1-3: If any of these problems with IA are true, Necropotence or Elegance would be good sets, as well. Necropotence offers huge max magicka if you have a pet, bound armor, and inner light on your heavy attack bar.

4. Shock enchants have a 20% chance of applying concussed, and can proc every 4 seconds. If you use an Infused staff on your backbar (the one with maelstrom staff and wall of elements), your enchant will proc every 2 seconds even while you're on your front bar.

Now ... if your frontbar has a Charged staff, your enchant has a 60% chance to apply concussed every 2 seconds - on top of your other shock damage sources. Probably want fire enchant front bar? not sure

skill bars could be like this (typical "Lazy Sorc" setup):

Front:
Daedric Prey - Familiar - Twilight Tormentor - Bound Aegis - Inner Light; Meteor (for the passive damage)

Back:
Wall of Elements - Familiar - Twilight Tormentor - Bound Aegis -Inner Light; Ult of choice

rotation: Wall of Elements -> Bar swap -> Daedric Prey -> Familiar -> Tormentor -> 1-2 heavy attacks -> restart

Shock heavies take 2.2 seconds, and each of those skills takes 8 seconds to run out

You can remove Bound Aegis on the backbar for another skill (Entropy would add a LOT more damage if ur not using spellpower pots for Major Sorcery), but you would only use 1 heavy attack I think.
Or you could replace Daedric Prey with it, but Prey adds a lot of damage if you'll be using your pets' active abilities

Edit: edited text

El_Borracho · August 2019

Check this out:

https://www.xynodegaming.com/easysorc

I've also tried this build with Elegance and it works as well

malistorr · August 2019

tsaescishoeshiner:

So are you saying that you think my suggested setup is best in terms of traits for the staff and which bar they're on?
So start the fight on my back bar with the Maelstrom lightning staff with shock glyph and infused trait and use WOE to trigger concussion and off balance at the same time? Is that even possible? And is it the best/fastest way to cause concussion and off-balance?

I read that infused is the only staff trait that can carry over to the front bar, which is why I suggested using it on the back bar, and charged on the front bar. But really I think my goal is just to trigger concussion and off-balance once (ASAP in each fight) and then heavy attack right away within the 7-second window that off-balance now lasts. The mob will be dead before that 7-seconds is up. I just want my 1 or 2 heavy attacks that I use to finish the mob off to hit as hard as possible.

Given that scenario, would using the charged trait on the back-bar staff help trigger concussion at the very beginning of the fight more often because of the 220% increase in causing status effects? If that's the case I should probably use charged on the back bar and do whatever skill is needed to cause concussion, use WOE to cause off-balance, then switch to the front bar with a staff with a (more) damage causing trait like Infused, Sharpened, or Precise, and then heavy attack away.

And if anyone has input on my IA questions that would be awesome.

malistorr · August 2019

El_Borracho:

I've seen Xynode's videos many times, and no offense, but that doesn't answer the specific questions that I'm asking. But thanks for the reply anyway.

El_Borracho · August 2019

malistorr wrote: »

El_Borracho:

I've seen Xynode's videos many times, and no offense, but that doesn't answer the specific questions that I'm asking.

My bad. Never know on these boards.

Was more focusing on 1-3 with that. Can't help you with 4 & 5. Have yet to break out my heavy attacker on the new DLC

malistorr · August 2019

His stuff is not relevant to me because I'm not using the same skills. I just want to cause concussion and off-balance immediately and heavy attack with the strongest heavy attack possible. Looking to have all my specific questions above answered, and if not, I'll just have to roll with what I think is best, or spend a ton of time testing, which is not how I want to spend my time.

Considering my goals, the only reason I can see to even keep/use 2-bars is that I can keep a monster set. UI staff front bar to keep the UI 5-piece bonus, and Maelstrom back bar to get that big bonus to heavy attack as well.

tsaescishoeshiner · August 2019

O i see what you're saying about charged backbar! Also I forgot about the Destro Staff Elemental Force passive >_>

Shock damage enchant base Concussed chance: 20%
x Elemental Force passive: 40%
x Charged trait: 84%

If you cast Wall of Elements on your backbar, and then Shock Reach, that's an 84% chance from enchant and another 42% chance ... it'll proc concussed then you can go to frontbar for 20 seconds while off-balance is on cooldown. Cool idea!! And the Shock enchant will keep pulsing while Wall of Elements is up for more damage.

Infused weapon damage enchant (which most dps builds run backbar) will give you ~500+ spell damage for your frontbar.

(For AoE, the new Pulsar morph of Impulse has a base 15% chance for concussed, meaning a 63% chance on each enemy each usage, then WoE makes them all off-balance. Lots.)

I tried to answer considering your build goals rather than what is overall best for another player.

Side note: I use a "lazy sorc" 2-pet heavy attack build using necropotence and crafty alfiq's for 63k max magicka that does like 21k+ dps with very little effort (on argonian), could do more with actual effort lol.

malistorr · August 2019

I'm basically just looking for the best/easiest/fastest way to make concussion happen and then I know to use WOE for off-balance. I don't care if it's front or back bar, just the fastest period. I'll have the maelstrom staff equipped and from what I've read, the damage boost it does to heavy attacks caries over from back bar to front. And I've read that infused is the only trait that carries over from back bar to front as well. But if using the front bar (because it has the UI staff with charged trait) will cause concussion the best/fastest, then maybe I should start on the front bar with the UI staff that is charged and proc concussion and use WOE to cause off balance, then swap to back to use Infused. Or go both charged, or charged back and infused front. Too many damn possibilities and not enough time to test them. Unless someone who's tested the possibilities is willing to share their mad knowledge, then I'll have to test myself. Or just guess what's best and move on. Blah

malistorr · August 2019

And still looking to get the guestions answered about IA.

WrathOfInnos · August 2019

The Minor Vuln from IA will not affect your concussion or off-balance. It may cause some strange interactions when looking at Minor Vuln uptimes in addons/logs, but the concussion still works fine, and off-balance can still hit max uptimes.

Asylum + Force Pulse works very well, and most would consider the Force Pulse bar to be the front and the Maelstrom bar to be the back, but it doesn't really matter. Keep in mind you'll want a perfected Asylum staff, the non-perfected requires 3 casts of Force Pulse to cause status effects.

malistorr · September 2019

Thanks for the answer. I guess I'll just have to test things. If I can cause concussion by doing 1 skill consistently then I don't want to have to farm that staff or use Force Pulse twice in-a-row all the time. It kind of takes away from the fact that I'm trying to get my heavy attacks as strong as possible and use mostly that. I already have to use Structured Entropy now because the dev has basically forced us to use it by putting a heal there, dot, and Major Sorcery. And I have to use Crit Surge for self heals. And WOE to cause off-balance. I guess I'll have to experiment around with what can cause concussion since nobody has any good input there.

Masel · September 2019

Infused shock enchant back Bar anf charged Staff front bar with fire enchant is your best bet. On mag dk you get a ton of magicka back with charged due to the combustion passive, quite underrated trait there, and burning does a lot of damage on dk as well. If you use force pulse as a spammable, you get a 42% for each element with charged as well, pretty strong.

And yeah, 20%*(1+100%+220%)=84% is what you get for enchants with charged and elemental force passive.

It will not be the ultimately best build for single target dps but it is very powerful. And has group utility through the vulnerability uptime and off-balance, because most builds do put 75 in thaumaturge since the buff to off-balance.

malistorr · September 2019

I'm a mag sorc who doesn't use pets but thanks for the comments.

malistorr · September 2019

I tested removing the 5th item of the IA set and my heavy attack damage without Major Sorcery and probably some other buffs went from about 4,500 per 1st 3-ticks to roughly 2,800 per. I know I lost the 8% damage bonus and extra 4% (roughly) crit. chance also, but obviously losing those 2 doesn't account for losing 1,700 damage per tick on the heavy attack. So I quickly came to the conclusion that the IA sets 5th item bonus does affect every tick of a heavy attack. Hopefully this is correct because I can't account for the damage decrease any other way than by assuming it's from the 5th piece loss from the IA set.

WrathOfInnos said above that causing Minor Vuln. from the 5th item set bonus in IA will not affect a players ability to cause concussion and therefore off balance, so assuming he's correct, there is not better set for a mag sorc. that does a good amount of heavy attacking like I do. There are too many bonuses from this set and nothing else compares for this purpose. I guess I'm just bummed knowing that the only ways left I have of improving my build is by getting the maelstrom and possibly Perfected Asylum staves and transmuting a few last items. I've already hit level cap and pretty soon I won't be able to improve anything via gear-related improvements either. So then I guess it's just finish all the single player content and then I'm not sure what reason I'll have to keep playing unless for an occasional update. Hopefully ES6 comes out soon or my money will go to another dev company I guess.