Best wep traits and enchants for dungeon trash mobs

Draxund · December 2021

I have a unique MagSorc setup with a dedicated front bar for single target DPS (MS + Kinras inferno staff) and a back bar for AoE trash packs. I know it's a little odd and off-meta to do it this way, but it helps me simplify my rotation and focus on LA weaving (and I'm only running 4-man content anyhow). So I have the single bar where I want it with good DPS numbers too (thanks Dooma!). What I'm trying to solidify now is the AoE back bar. My main strategy for trash packs is spamming a combo of Unstable Wall and Elemental Ring to maximize AoE burst damage. Where I'm stuck is trying to pick the best staff type, trait, and enchant to accommodate those two skills...

1. Would you run a Kinras inferno staff or lightning staff?
2. What trait would be best (assuming I just stay on that bar during trash fights)?
3. What enchant would be best? Also, if I'm spamming just those skills, will the enchant be useless or will I need to LA weave in between to trigger the enchant?

Again, the main goal is to get the strongest AoE damage possible. Thank you!!!

PvP_Exploiter · December 2021

1. Lightning staff is best for AoE so if that is your purpose go for that. It will make little difference to your ST front bar as all your AoEs will take the front inferno passives anyway.

2. Best trait would still be precise

3. Enchants can only proc on one target and have a 10 second cooldown (5 with infused), so would stick with a Berserker / Increase weapon and spell damage glyph.

Now I would also say, and this is what I do in dungeons a majority of the time, is I run an AoE Spammable on the frontbar. Even during bosses I am often too lazy to change, I run both an AoE and Single target spammable.

Flame Pulsar is the preferred trash spammable anyway, so it just fits right in if you can sacrifice a DoT, or passive skill like Inner Light.

The way you can still
1. Run inferno on backbar for better ST Light Attack damage, can only LA one enemy in trash anyway
2. Infused on backbar for 100% uptime on berserker glyph
3. Still berserker glyph

Edit: For example, my usual dungeon skill loadout.
Front: Inferno - Precise - Flame glyph
Back: Inferno - Infused - Berserker glyph

Bobby_V_Rockit · December 2021

Not too uncommon, I run Kinras on both bars (inferno front for singles and lightning back for mobs) and either Siroria for stationary fight heavy dungeons and False God’s Devotion for making sustain easier

Ippokrates · December 2021

The best way to tackle trash packs is aggro few groups of them and then hit with some nice Ulti. For this Kinras and any set with build-up is kinda annoying to use (for example Medusa > Tzogvin).

So if you really want to invest in such set, get stuff like Dead-Water Guile and Dagon. Also, arena weapons would work well, because you will use only specific skills for finishing (BRP staffs, Asylum Bow, Master 2h).

Draxund · December 2021

PvP_Exploiter wrote: »

1. Lightning staff is best for AoE so if that is your purpose go for that. It will make little difference to your ST front bar as all your AoEs will take the front inferno passives anyway.

2. Best trait would still be precise

3. Enchants can only proc on one target and have a 10 second cooldown (5 with infused), so would stick with a Berserker / Increase weapon and spell damage glyph.

Thanks for the info @PvP_Exploiter ! For clarity, is it only light/heavy attacks that proc the wep enchant, or does any weapon skill do it too? Also, if I proc berserker, that wouldn't just apply to one target in the pack, that increase in spell damage would affect my damage to all those mobs, right?

Other commenters were mentioning different gear altogether, but I don't think I'm going to change my front bar setup. That said, I was also made aware of the Wild Impulse and Destructive Impact arena sets... I wonder if those are considerations for my backbar (I guess I would just lose the 4+5 piece bonuses of Kinra for that bar though--no biggie).

OBJnoob · December 2021

Proccing berserker increases your damage to everything, yes. The weapon damage is seeable on your character sheet though you have to be fast to see it. It’ll boost your heals too.

Ippokrates · December 2021

Wall of elements/Endless Hail/Stampede/DW Cloak are triggering WE too - as long as they hit someone.

PvP_Exploiter · December 2021

Draxund wrote: »

PvP_Exploiter wrote: »

1. Lightning staff is best for AoE so if that is your purpose go for that. It will make little difference to your ST front bar as all your AoEs will take the front inferno passives anyway.

2. Best trait would still be precise

3. Enchants can only proc on one target and have a 10 second cooldown (5 with infused), so would stick with a Berserker / Increase weapon and spell damage glyph.

Thanks for the info @PvP_Exploiter ! For clarity, is it only light/heavy attacks that proc the wep enchant, or does any weapon skill do it too? Also, if I proc berserker, that wouldn't just apply to one target in the pack, that increase in spell damage would affect my damage to all those mobs, right?

Other commenters were mentioning different gear altogether, but I don't think I'm going to change my front bar setup. That said, I was also made aware of the Wild Impulse and Destructive Impact arena sets... I wonder if those are considerations for my backbar (I guess I would just lose the 4+5 piece bonuses of Kinra for that bar though--no biggie).

AFAIK AoE abilities proc Weapon Enchants. This is the reason why typically on a boss setup you have backbar infused, the glyph will continue to proc on cooldown when you are active on frontbar, as long as you have an AoE down from backbar.

Berserker glyph just increases your Weapon/Spell damage, so would increase all your skills damage to every mob.

Not sure on Kinra's 10% vs Destructive Impact, however the skill needed for that set is lacklustre even with lightning staff, and is best used every 4th ability or so just to keep the buff up, but then use a different spammable.

Plectro · December 2021

Ideally you would use wall of elements to proc backbar enchants, because as long as the wall is placed, it will keep refreshing the enchant (even if you're on the other bar). So you can use wall from backbar and it lasts for 10 seconds and activates enchant on cooldown, while you're doing whatever.

For your AoE spammable, you have a few options:
Unstable wall of elements:
+ Overall really good damage. As you reactivate, it will explode
+ Long range (can reach enemies quite far away)
+ Is in all Single Target setups as well, so you don't lose any single target DPS by having it
- There are better spammable options if you want to maximize aoe damage

Elemental Ring (Shock)
+ Higher damage than unstable wall
+ Holding a lightning staff also amplifies other aoe damage (such as lightning flood if you use it)
- Having a shock staff will lower single target damage
- Shorter range than Wall
- Uses a skill slot, further reducing single target damage
- Lose the ability to use Fiery Rage (Destro staff fire ult), which deals significantly more damage than lightning ult

Pulsar (Flame)
+ Highest aoe damage of them all (applies burning and an additional strong dot)
- Very short range (basically need to hug enemies)
- Uses a skill slot (losing single target DPS)

Your ideal trait and enchant setup would be:
Backbar Infused + Weapon Damage enchant
Frontbar Precise + Fiery Enchant

In general, I wouldn't recommend Shock ring, nor Pulsar for dungeons. There are deliberate strong aoe setups for veteran trials where you usually have enough time between Trash and Boss pulls to change your setup. However in dungeons you don't have that time as normally you would be stuck in combat since most people go pretty fast through dungeons and using deliberate aoe setups would significantly reduce your boss DPS. Especially if you're playing normal dungeons, I would say things die very quickly with just Unstable wall of Fire spam anyway.

Here is what I would highly recommend for dungeons:
Try to maximize your single target damage. Keep Unstable Wall of Elements (Inferno staff) and Orb backbar for aoe damage. Having Destro staff ult slotted backbar is also really strong. Especially if you combine it with something like a Dead Water's Guile set (Although it only works if you're getting kills, so the more players there are, the weaker it is since other players could be killing enemies too). But I think for dungeons Dead Water's Guile is amazing. You drop a destro ult on a big wave of enemies and a few seconds later your ult is fully charged again.

Normally in dungeons I just cast Orb -> Spam wall and things die in just a few wall casts

Plectro · December 2021

Oh and here's my setup that I generally run in dungeons. Especially good if you don't want to spend gold for expensive spell power potions:

Backbar:
Wall + Orb + Channeled Acceleration + Inner Light + Twilight Tormentor + Destro Staff Ult

Inferno:
Crystal Frags + Inner Light + Force Pulse + Critical Surge + Twilight Tormentor + Storm Atro / Dawnbreaker ult

Inner Light and Crit Surge provide strong damage buffs that you would otherwise get from spell power potions. Also Surge is a great self-heal, allowing you to survive easily without a healer. You can replace these skills if you use spell power potions.

Channeled Acceleration is a good replacement for the Medusa set if you're not using it and you can use that before fights. It will also provide you with a lot of movement speed, allowing you to go super fast through dungeons. If you have Medusa, I would use Boundless Storm instead of acceleration instead (It also gives speed but also some damage and resistances)

Destro ult if things die fast or if you need AoE (If boss dies in less than 9-12 seconds, use destro instead of storm atro, otherwise storm atro is stronger single target)

if you're using spell power potions, I would recommend you replace frontbar Inner Light with Prey for more single target damage and move crit surge to backbar (to keep the self-heal, or just replace completely if you trust healers. Would keep it if you're doing pug runs as most random dungeons you wouldn't actually have a healer). Then you could maybe add bound aegis to your frontbar for a bit more damage

mocap · December 2021

Assuming you have a dedicated tank, preferably with Void Bash set... So as an option you can try Balorgh + Blessing of the Potentates (+ sorc ult passive = 30% ult cost reduction) and spam Shooting Star along with Pulsar left and right. Shooting Star will cost 146 points. From now you need to hit 9-10 targets for almost insta regen of Shooting Star.

Though i suggest to use PTS, if possible, to test this.