My DK has a problem with Pen

ArchMikem · December 2021

Without the buff from Champion points, it'd be at Zero. Is, that just how things are? NONE of my other characters have Offensive Pen under 1k. I thought we always had a basic amount before modifiers from gear and such.

gariondavey · December 2021

No hammer/maul, no sharpened, no gear with lines of pen. If you don't do these you won't have penetration.

Ippokrates · December 2021

Yes, that is main issue with stamina builds - because medium armour will not provide penetration as light, you need to invest in:

1. Mauls/Maces
2. Sharpened trait for front bar
3. Sets with bonuses to pen, like Stuhn or Asylum Bow
4. Skills with debuff (for solo only), like Caltrops
5. Lover mundus
6. Getting Bosmer

If you do not have guild/friends group, i will advise you to have around 4-6k penetration on Vet Pugs. On normal it should be fine with this 700, as long as you stick to the tank

Vevvev · December 2021

Can also justify running 1 piece of light armor for boosting the Undaunted Mettle Passive for that extra 2% HP, Stam, and Mag. Would give a tiny bit more pen.

ArchMikem · December 2021

Ippokrates wrote: »

Yes, that is main issue with stamina builds - because medium armour will not provide penetration as light, you need to invest in:

1. Mauls/Maces
2. Sharpened trait for front bar
3. Sets with bonuses to pen, like Stuhn or Asylum Bow
4. Skills with debuff (for solo only), like Caltrops
5. Lover mundus
6. Getting Bosmer

If you do not have guild/friends group, i will advise you to have around 4-6k penetration on Vet Pugs. On normal it should be fine with this 700, as long as you stick to the tank

So I just never knew this entire time you're not given any flat amount. Well, that's nice. Something else I need to find sacrifices for to compensate.

Fennwitty · December 2021

I can forward you some of the emails I get. They promise to help me with my pen.

ArchMikem · December 2021

So I remembered just using Noxious Breath will give me 5k, and from what I've seen last night a Sharpened Mace on the front bar will be another 2k-ish. That should be adequate for solo right? I think I'll go Sword and Mace for DW, and if I want to go Two Handed it'll be a Maul.

MudcrabAttack · December 2021

Pen is pretty strong, 500=1% more damage in PVE.

I always have had wood elves, but now with the mage meta, where tanks don’t bother to run alkosh anymore, they seem pretty well off. I keep them in anywhere from 1- several pieces of light armor since they don’t need extra regen or cost reduction and crit damage is capped too easily while wearing all medium.

Vevvev · December 2021

MudcrabAttack wrote: »

Pen is pretty strong, 500=1% more damage in PVE.

I always have had wood elves, but now with the mage meta, where tanks don’t bother to run alkosh anymore, they seem pretty well off. I keep them in anywhere from 1- several pieces of light armor since they don’t need spare regen and crit damage is capped too easily while wearing all medium.

Thought it was 660 resistances = 1% damage mitigation as that is what all the calculations for player stats comes out as. The rules different for NPCs?

Ippokrates · December 2021

No, 660 is pen in pvp, because your level is 66. 500 is pen for pve, because mobs are level 50.

For solo you need to achieve 3 values:
9100 pen on normal bosses
12100 pen on some arena bosses
18200 pen on vet bosses.

From minor (almost 3k) and major breach (almost 9k) you will have around 9k.

From maces/maul: 1650/3300.
Sharpened trait has similar values.

Lover with 7 divines should have around 4k

2-4 bonus on some sets has almost 1,5k.

So it really depends do you wanna tackle normal or vet bosses solo.

One note - in arenas like vMA or vVH physical resist of many bosses is much weaker than spell resist - check details on ESO University website, or check it yourself with 2h Berserker Ultimate

MudcrabAttack · December 2021

Vevvev wrote: »

MudcrabAttack wrote: »

Pen is pretty strong, 500=1% more damage in PVE.

I always have had wood elves, but now with the mage meta, where tanks don’t bother to run alkosh anymore, they seem pretty well off. I keep them in anywhere from 1- several pieces of light armor since they don’t need spare regen and crit damage is capped too easily while wearing all medium.

Thought it was 660 resistances = 1% damage mitigation as that is what all the calculations for player stats comes out as. The rules different for NPCs?

Yeah people keep saying that on discord, but then I tested it myself. Wood elf penetration is about 2% more damage

Necrotech_Master · December 2021

most of my stam toons that i build the pen in usually sit at around 9000 pen (excluding debuffs on enemy)

gold sharpened maces will usually get you around 6000 pen by itself

then add in a couple sets which have pen (such as perfected maelstrom 2h) (set bonuses around 1500)

my stamplar right now sits at around 9000 pen and then can do both major and minor breach for approx -9000 resist on enemy (so i can hit PVE pen cap under my own power)

if your going with 2h weapon, then definitely use a mace at minimum (your trait may vary due to your build, but sharpened for max pen bonus)

for dual wield, daggers can be good due to crit chance, but if you really want the pen then use maces, daggers + sharpened trait is still about 3000 pen (unless your going heavy crit)