Finally completed (normal) Maelstrom at +900 CP. I pulled a frost staff. What do I do now?

GQManOfTheYear · July 2022

I finally completed (normal) Maelstrom at +900 CP. I pulled a frost staff for my Necromancer (Magicka). What do I do now? Do I spend another +6 hours to complete it for a chance at a fire staff? And is the damage output really better than my gold Julianos inferno staff?

jaws343 · July 2022

Damage output is definitely better.

And, once you get the hang of it, especially on normal, that time it took to clear the first attempt is drastically reduced.

I think I spent maybe 2 hours in normal first attempt, and now can do it under 30 mins. And spent like 10 hours on Vet and can do it under an hour now.

fiender66 · July 2022

First, accept my compliments. Bravo!

Second, regretfully, I don't have any precise answer to your question. What I know is that, as I see around, Maelstrom is used mainly on the backbar. If you have a complete set of Julianos' (weapon and jewels), it's unlikely that you get any perceptible advantage changing the weapon, especially a legendary one, on the front bar. Also the skills you use are relevant.

Quethrosar · July 2022

i had to do maelstrom normal 6 times i think before i got the fire staff.
It was an annoying learning process, but i got to the point where it took 40 minutes or something without dying.
The trolls would always kill me until i learned more about cleaning my dots off.

i found the last 2 fights the easiest lol.

i am now on vet run quest but don't do it until i am very in the mood for it. i took maybe 10 attempts to just get past level 2 of it. I am sorry but those blades are the demon. i don't know how people can just stand there and fight the bosses like i see in the videos lol. i ended up using all the damage shield procs i could find.

so now i am on stage 3 and die all the time from the lightning.

UntilValhalla13 · July 2022

What does your build/rotation look like?

WrathOfInnos · July 2022

I'd say it's worth putting the vMA frost staff on your back bar for now. It's not terrible for solo Necromancer, just starts falling behind Inferno significantly when you have group buffs like Engulfing Flames, Encratis, and high Burning uptime.

I also think you'll be surprised how easy your 2nd run on Maelstrom will be. First time can be tough, but after that it becomes quicker and easier every time.

Necrotech_Master · July 2022

once you improve a bit more (the first run is always the most difficult) a normal run should take between 30-60 min depending on your understanding of the mechs and dmg output

p00tx · July 2022

Quethrosar wrote: »

i had to do maelstrom normal 6 times i think before i got the fire staff.
It was an annoying learning process, but i got to the point where it took 40 minutes or something without dying.
The trolls would always kill me until i learned more about cleaning my dots off.

i found the last 2 fights the easiest lol.

i am now on vet run quest but don't do it until i am very in the mood for it. i took maybe 10 attempts to just get past level 2 of it. I am sorry but those blades are the demon. i don't know how people can just stand there and fight the bosses like i see in the videos lol. i ended up using all the damage shield procs i could find.

so now i am on stage 3 and die all the time from the lightning.

Depends on the class you're on. If NB, use Swallow soul as your primary dmg spammable so you get healed while doing dmg. You can also layer in Structured Entropy for a little more passive healing. If you're on Sorc, keep your Crit Surge up, and if on Templar, use the mag jabs as your spammable. Ez clears that way. Other classes have other mitigation/healing options as well. You're right though, those blades are pretty wicked.

Yakidafi · July 2022

Quethrosar wrote: »

i had to do maelstrom normal 6 times i think before i got the fire staff.
It was an annoying learning process, but i got to the point where it took 40 minutes or something without dying.
The trolls would always kill me until i learned more about cleaning my dots off.

i found the last 2 fights the easiest lol.

i am now on vet run quest but don't do it until i am very in the mood for it. i took maybe 10 attempts to just get past level 2 of it. I am sorry but those blades are the demon. i don't know how people can just stand there and fight the bosses like i see in the videos lol. i ended up using all the damage shield procs i could find.

so now i am on stage 3 and die all the time from the lightning.

I am 1200cp, On NB I run swallow soul and reapers mark(mostly for the major breach) as the only skills to heal me and I do not use damage Shields. That give me no death run on vet unless the ice stage desync.

On 2nd stage I simply walk to the middle and sides to avoid most blades

or you can press the levers to stop them.

I do not play other classes that much atm for pve. I do play stamplar with pvp gear and only have vigor to heal and that is enough. So I think you only need 1 source to heal you and the rest come down to knowing the spawns somewhat and mechanics.

I forgot you also need damage sets so the monsters die fast

so regen is not a trouble.

MidniteOwl1913 · July 2022

I just did it the first time last week. DK with Oakensoul, it wasn't easy, but very doable. It took me a little over an hour I think. It required a lot of focus and I didn't look at the clock.

I'm going to miss my Oakensoul DK so much. I cry a little every time I think about it. It's been such a help to me. I wouldn't even have considered Maelstrom without it.

phaneub17_ESO · July 2022

If you have enough alts, you can farm it weekly. I do it on at least 12 characters a week trying to get all the stickerbook items before update 35. Most of my characters do it in 50 minutes to clear, while my wardens do it in just under 40 minutes.

Some of those sets in there aren't too bad actually, I got Winterborn's Glacier Spike to do 6000 damage before applying Frostbite bonuses on Frost Warden. The Hunt works perfectly with my Redguard Stamsorc, sustain is no issue with both racial and the set giving 1k stamina returns. I'm working on Para Bellum on a Nightblade since mine is kind of squishy and Succession for Necromancer, but those pieces have been quite a low drop rate.

I focus heavily on recovery champion stars like Reaving Blow 7% direct damage healing is nice for this sort of thing, then I do the health recovery stars in Red, I don't bother using my ultimate at all running through them so I can keep up 1800-3000 health recovery depending on the character; that offsets a lot of incoming damage.

angelofdeath333 · August 2022

Now you do it on vet