Rhaegar75 wrote: »

Hey guys,

I'm trying to get over my addiction to using Bone Pirate. I've used it in practically every build...with Fury, Hundings Rage, NMA, Ancient Dragonguard etc.

Do you always use a sustain/utility set? if you've ditched BP what are you guys using for your stamina builds?

depends on the class, but if mag is useful, shacklebreaker can be a nice alternative. and, depending on other elements of the build, can let you run a dual stat food for more max stam/health (or skull candy tri stat)

in terms of other sustain/utility options, and especially tht can be one barred, trappings of invigoration is pretty cool for that. if you pair it with a 1 bar front set you can run agility jewels (or potentates) too

edit: suggestions based on no cp... I wouldn't use a sustain set with CP.

If you're looking for a new sustain set to try, I highly suggest Battlefield Acrobat. Back when I used a sustain set, this was my go to option that seems to fly under the radar for whatever reason vs BP. Imo, it's a much stronger overall sustain option that is also much more flexible because you can use any food (Sugar Skulls is my go to favourite, cheap, tons of resources, gold so free hp regen.)

Acrobat also lowers ALL ability costs. What counts as an ability? Abilities with Stamina cost, Magicka cost, Health cost, Ultimate cost, Sprinting/Blocking/Dodge Rolling and Bashing. It does a lot that people don't account for, if you're using Magicka abilities for example, this set helps you sustain them better than BP ever could, especially since your resource pool for Magicka will be higher with something like Sugar Skulls.

Battlefield Acrobat:
(2 items) Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
(3 items) Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
(4 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
(5 items) Reduces the cost of all of your abilities by 6%.

VS

Bone Pirate:
(2 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
(3 items) Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
(4 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
(5 items) While you have a drink buff active, your Maximum Stamina is increased by 2000 and Stamina Recovery by 150.

So quick comparison with Sugar Skulls VS Dubious Cameran Throne as an example.

BA + Sugar Skulls:

• 258 Stam Regen
• -6% ALL ability cost.
• 1096 + 4250 = 5346 Stam
• 4250 Magicka
• 4620 Health
• 462 Health Regen

BP + Dubious:

• 279 + 315 = 594 Stam Regen
• 4192 + 2856 = 7048 Stam
• 0 Magicka
• 3094 Health
• 0 Health Regen

On the surface, BP may provided better stamina sustain/damage, but depending on how you play, Acrobat is close on straight stamina sustain while much greater on on overall sustain since it affects more than just stamina based abilities. You have a ton more Magicka and Magicka Sustain to play with. Less stamina, but more HP and HP Regen. Ultimates come out quicker, depending on how you look at it, this can help you with better defense/offense.

If you like to sprint and dodge roll a lot, BA is providing sustain through active combat instead of passively like BP which can also be seen as a possitive. While 600 Stamina Regen is good, it's not active when you're sprinting, dodge rolling, etc. 300 + 6% cost reduction might be a better balance.

All that being said, I've opted for a 5x piece set body + 3x Agility jewelry (2x + 1x mythic in Greymoor), 2x Monster set and 2x ability altering weapon sets (front/back). My sustain comes from enchantments on jewelry/dark deal so a sustain set is no longer necessary for me. BP's + Dubious's 600 regen is actually way more than I need in no CP. I get by with 6 Medium + 270 Mag/Stam Regen via infused enchantments. I've never been a huge fan of Stamina Regen to begin with due to my evasive stam sorc playstyle, especially with a controller since dodge rolling requires blocking to activate, stamina regen is cut off more often for me. Thats also why BA use to be my go to option. BA, Sorc and Bloodspawn made Dawnbreaker cost 100 and help my pump it out more often.

I wanted to highlight some other options for set combinations that should be more viable with all the most recent changes:

1. 3 piece set values increased in overall power budget to 1.6x a 1 piece bonus for a total of 3.2x stats.
2. 2 piece Monster sets nerfed in Greymoor.
3. 2 piece Perfected ability altering sets now offer 4/5th the power of a 1 piece bonus.
4. 1 piece Mythic items are nice replacements for the 3rd bonus is a 3 piece set, 2 piece monster set or 5 piece set.

So there is now multiple viable ways to build your set combinations. The traditional 2x 5 piece sets, 1x monster set and 1x back bar ability altering set or Potentates is not the only option. I'd argue that wasting a 5 piece set on just sustain isn't all that viable to me anymore, nor entirely interesting, thus why I rely on Jewelry enchantments, Food, Mundus Stone or Race instead to cover sustain. Unique set bonuses and syngergies between them are what I strive to aim for when making a pvp build because frankly.. it's just fun.

Disclaimer: A 5 piece "unique set bonus" is usually between 2.3x stat bonus ( Static sets like Hundings, Spriggan's, Hulking Drauger) to 3.7x-4.6x stat bonus (Proc/Kiss Curse sets like New Moon, Fury, etc) of a 1 piece stat bonus. If you're more interested in pushing higher stats for raw damage or healing, the traditional 2x 5 piece sets and 1-2 monster pieces is still the best option. Since there is way too many variables, I just considered 5 piece bonuses as "Unique set bonuses" in the comparsions. Objectively, the 1-4 piece bonuses can be calculated.

Option 1 (currently using this):

• 3 piece set (3.2x stat bonus)
• 5 piece set (3x stat bonus + 1x unique set bonus)
• 2 piece monster set (1x stat bonus + 1x unique set bonus)
• 2x 2 piece perfected ability altering sets (0.8x stat bonus active at a time + 2 unique set bonuses)

Result: 4 unique set bonuses, 8x stat bonuses.

Option 2 (most people use this option):

• 2x 5 piece set (5x - 6x stat bonus + 2x unique set bonuses)
• 2 piece monster set (1x stat bonus + 1x unique set bonus)
• 2 piece perfected ability altering set (0.8 stat bonus active only on back bar + 2x unique set bonuses)

Result: 4 unique set bonuses, 7x - 6.8x stat bonuses (when on back bar you lose 1x bonus from a 5 piece but gain 0.8x bonus from a perfected ability altering set).

Option 3:
[*] 2x 5 piece set (6x stat bonus + 2x unique set bonuses)
[*] 1/2 piece monster set (1x stat bonus)
[*] 1 mythic item (1x unique set bonus)
[*] 2 piece perfected ability altering set (0.8x stat bonus active only on back bar + 1x unique set bonus)
[/list]

Result: Same as Option 2, really just trading a monster set bonus for a mythic item bonus. I imagine many people will do this option next patch.

Option 4 (personal upcoming favourite):
[*] 2/3 piece set (1.6x stat density)
[*] 5 piece set (3x stat density + unique set bonus)
[*] 1 mythic item (1 unique set bonus)
[*] 2 piece monster set (1x stat density + unique set bonus)
[*] 2x 2 piece perfected ability altering sets (0.8 stat desnity active at a time + 2 unique set bonuses)
[/list]

Result: 5 unique set bonuses, 6.4x stat bonuses.

Option 5 (and more):
Using a 5 piece set on back bar like Clever Alchemist (damage) or Trappings of Invigoration (sustain), this comment is already long enough, so you can consider this 1 in combination with some of the ones above. Personally, I don't like this option because you sacrifice a 1 piece bonus on your front bar while also losing a slot for a 2 piece on your back bar. It works well for people who want to use an ability altering weapon on front bar, but like I listed above in option 1, you get much higher stat bonuses from a 3 piece set that can be active all the time. If you don't need Clever Alchemist for Burst Damage or Trappings for Bursty sustain, you can get more constistancy out of option 1. This is just preference really.

Option 1 and option 4 by far look like the funnest combinations for me based on what I look for. However, the choice of mythic items right now isn't super interesting, most of them just give statistcal bonuses, but at least they change up the way you play.

I'll be aiming for the "Torc of Tonal Constancy" (swapping out 206 weapon damage from Agilities 3 piece for 450 mag/stam sustain when below 50%) allowing me to drop 1-2 sustain enchantments for more damage enchantments anyway. The set synergizes with my stam sorc build that relies heavily on Magicka abilities like Dark Deal, Streak and Crit Surge. 1 piece to cover so much sustain is awesome.

"Malacath Band of Brutality" looks interesting for a proc build in no cp pvp under option 4, but it's not viable for me since I love my Crit Surge. If you do want to try that ring, consider the fact that you can use it in option 4 while also having 4 other proc sets earning +25% damage, that's absolutely insane. Also consider the fact that all of your proc set damage avoids crit resistance which has gone up this patch. That more than makes up for the 6.4x stats which is only 1.6x below option 1. Pair that with Heavy Armor since you don't need higher crit chance/weapon damage and you've got a potentially bonkers build on your hands.

I cringe at what people will be able to accomplish with this when they realize they can buff 4 of their proc sets..

thank you so much for the insightful posts.

Mine is more like a general discussion. However it makes sense to be more specific I tend to 'main' a StamDk and a Stamplar

What ive done is taken 24 points from stamin and put in health then i run lava food for 500 recovery. I sit at 1800 stam recovery in bg on a stamplar running 1 recovery glyph, serpent mundus and this food. Im running new moon and spriggans. Downside is i have like 27k stamina but im pushing 4k unbuffed weapon damage

Rhaegar75 wrote: »

Hey guys,

I'm trying to get over my addiction to using Bone Pirate. I've used it in practically every build...with Fury, Hundings Rage, NMA, Ancient Dragonguard etc.

Do you always use a sustain/utility set? if you've ditched BP what are you guys using for your stamina builds?

I don't use any sustain set on my stamina toons and for non-CP I just switch jewelry to 3x infused stamina cost reduction and I'm set