Solar (Dark) Flare Question

Sealish · April 2021

Hey, so I know that Solar/Dark Flare was useless in PvE for a long time because you couldn't weave it properly and so even though it did higher than normal damage per hit it was a DPS loss overall... but with the recent change (just started playing again after taking a break) that made it a 0.8 second cast on the 1 sec GCD and it still doing slightly higher hit damage than other casted/instant spammables available to Templar plus the 3 sec empower to enhance the now-possible weaving, also triggering Minor Sorcery, is it finally a viable choice for spammable?

It seems to me like it might be, but there is probably something I am not taking into account. Does anyone have any thoughts or things that I need to know about which would make it useless? It would be nice to not have to use Elemental Weapon or that spear ability for a while without completely gimping myself.

Sorry if this has already been discussed here but I went back through 10 pages and also did a search and didn't see anything.

phaneub17_ESO · April 2021

Personal opinion, I feel Solar Barrage is the better option as its instant cast, Empower persists as long as its pulsing not just 3 seconds, and all 3 of my Templars whether Stam or Mag are generally melee oriented so it works perfectly. With my Stam build Dark Elf I use Solar Barrage in conjunction with Deadly Cloak so there's a double AOE pulse and 10 seconds of Empower.

Sealish · April 2021

That makes sense, but if you are a Melee Templar, you would use a version of the spear spammable since it is way too good not to if you are in melee range. Since it would be the spammable of choice, using Solar Barrage just makes sense.

This question applies more to people who are not in Melee Range and so Barrage wouldn't be useful anyways. I guess I should clarify my question. With the changes, does Solar/Dark Flare finally compete with other ranged spammables available to Templar for the purposes of building a Ranged Magicka DPS build? If not, why?

ealdwin · April 2021

Personally, I just don't think the ability weaves well, so I don't use it for a ranged spammable. There's just something about the animation that makes it not as smooth as other cast time spammables to weave with light attacks.

In PVP, I used to use a combo of Purifying Light > Dark Flare > Javelin > Radiant Oppression that would do quite well and was fun to use. But that was before Greymoor.

Sealish · April 2021

It is a little trickier to weave properly, but that can be worked around. It only provides 0.2 seconds to weave whereas the instants give about 0.5 (or so it feels). I could see that being a turnoff for some.

YandereGirlfriend · April 2021

It'll be a DPS loss versus using Jabs and playing in melee but if you want to play ranged then it's perfectly fine.

As with all of the channeled spammables, it takes some additional practice to get used to weaving with but its difficulty is, IMO, overstated.

WrathOfInnos · April 2021

I think the main downside is that it doesn’t proc Burning Light. Puncturing Sweeps is carried by Burning Light damage.

Comparing to other ranged spammables, it might be decent damage, especially since you wouldn’t be using Barrage for Empower as a ranged build. It does slow you down while casting, so more difficult during movement mechanics. Dark Flare also prevents block casting, and doesn’t cause the 3 elemental status effects that Elemental Weapon and Crushing Shock/Force Pulse do.

Sealish · April 2021

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

I think the main downside is that it doesn’t proc Burning Light. Puncturing Sweeps is carried by Burning Light damage.

Comparing to other ranged spammables, it might be decent damage, especially since you wouldn’t be using Barrage for Empower as a ranged build. It does slow you down while casting, so more difficult during movement mechanics. Dark Flare also prevents block casting, and doesn’t cause the 3 elemental status effects that Elemental Weapon and Crushing Shock/Force Pulse do.

Alright, this is the sort of thing I was looking for. I kinda figured that it would be this way. The skill would give more raw DPS compared to other ranged spammables but at the downside of slower walking, no block casting, and no elemental status effects (though you WOULD get the new raw magic status effect). So if you are the only ranged magic DPS, the others may be better for the status effects, but if someone else is already applying them then using it would be a personal and group DPS improvement as long as you can manage the movement and block penalties. Cool.

Hotdog_23 · April 2021

Not worth a slot honestly. As mentioned above their are better options. People would not slot sorcerer delayed cast of it did not have a instant cast attached to it. They really need to rework this morph of the skill into something worth slotting.

Stay strong and safe 😊