Relequens stacks refresh every time a HA/LA is done. Contrary to what another poster stated (which is misleading in how they stated it, in my opinion), a lightning HA gives 3 stacks of relequens. Relequens cannot crit, while the damage from the SM & SM build can crit. The damage it does is build-dependant. Relequens does not factor in your stam/magicka into its damage like abilities do, it cares only about weapon/spell damage. Be careful of following out-of-game tooltips as they don't factor in your character's stats- I'm looking right now and my relequens is doing this much on a non-optimized build per second at max stacks:
(it goes even higher on many other builds, but remember this is only like 5-6k DPS of what many would try to push to be 100k and above, so abilities, synergies, and what your group comp turns out to be are KEY to pushing higher numbers)
With a HA build you are missing out on a full GCD which means you miss using an ability per each HA, while you can use abilities between HAs normally. it's a point to note this because by using HAs you are getting an insane amount of resources back, if you are not utilizing these resources between HAs your gain is negated
by using Sergeant's Mail you are locking yourself into using HA sets and HAs as your major damage source. You are also locking yourself into one proc every 2 GCD as opposed to one proc per GCD. This is probably a big reason why Empower grants 180% extra damage as you are sacrificing an entire skill and other procs for something else.
I do not recommend using lightning staves for boss encounters even on a HA build unless there's a compelling reason for cleave damage to be used, you are sacrificing so much of your damage just to do some AOE that you are better off running inferno staff.
The most compelling argument against Relequens in non dummy HA build parsing scenarios- It will take you a full 20 seconds to get to max stacks on Relequens with an inferno staff HA build, while it would take around 6-7 seconds on a lightning staff build (Again, it goes against my recommendations to routinely recommend lightning staves, but with a whopping 20 seconds to reach max stacks in certain fights you will likely be forced to swap targets and lose all your stacks- hurting your group DPS overall). You can proc Storm Masters much earlier in most fights and have the damage swap to multiple targets on a Storm Masters/Sergeant's build- whose procs both buff you, as opposed to needing to be inflicted on your target (with a Relequens build), so pick your poison.
Another factor to consider is that if your crit chance is poor (you don't expect at least 1 of your HAs to crit per 10 seconds, so realistically your crit chance needs to be over 20% per the in-game tooltip, assuming you are landing 5 HAs per 10 seconds), you might want to consider not using Storm Masters as that is the proc requirement, though if your crit chance is this poor I think your build has other issues starting with the traits your gear has.
In addition to all this information, a source of minor slayer would be nice to include. Relequens does indeed provide this 5% boost in damage to NPC targets, but if you are willing to go Light Armor consider looking at Infalliable Aether, especially if you have no source of minor vulnerability (note- things that apply Concussed status, like Elemental Susceptability applies every 6 seconds for 4 seconds, as well as occasional procs from lightning staves), though this set might just be considered instead of Sergeant's Mail at that point as it provides all the stat bonuses of Relequens- certainly consider it for veteran solo content (arenas, mostly) as it is a more versatile HA set providing 10% damage boost overall in PvE to HAs in the absence of minor vulnerability and minor slayer.
In the absence of a reliable source of Empower or a good arena backbar (build-dependent), consider oakensoul, which will also buff your PvE dps considerably and skips over many pre-buffs and slotted passives you might need to have to reach optimal damage output. This also covers your minor slayer source- taking pressure off of Relequens/IA, while covering your empower source and adding minor berserk as a damage source for your build. Minor berserk may or may not be covered by your healer already, but for solo content it's a harder buff to come by, but the need to remind for a lot of pre-buffing for empower, your 20% damage buffs, and your crit buffs can be covered by the use of this ring. With all your bases covered, your DPS relies on crit damage increasing builds provided by your group members as well as any temporary/ancillary buffs provided by certain sets others may be running (MK, war machine/rojo, spc, yoln, TT, encratis, EC, etc) and abilities they may be using (pierce armor, necro ult, warhorn, etc)
TLDR: the sets to provide optimal outcomes entirely rely on the type of content you want to run, and the playstyle you have. If your group wants you to stick with the main boss and only the main boss, then a Relequens build might suit you. If you are going to be asked to change targets, then storm master may help. Sergeant's Mail pigeonholes you into using a HA build and prevents you from more versatile alternatives that don't always require you to use HA to benefit from what the set has to offer like Infalliable Aether, which has minor slayer and three different 5 piece bonuses as well as all the 1-4 bonuses on the gear being the same as normal rele, and a little better than perfected rele as a whole (except for the proc, of course). There's no one size fits all build, you need to know your group and yourself very well, but allowing for some flexibility can be more beneficial to your group overall.
goatlyonesub17_ESO wrote: »My standard public dungeon XP+gold farming set is 5 pieces New Moon Acolyte, 5 pieces Aetheral Ascension, 1 Molag Kena (shoulder), and that speed buff ring that you get from antiquities. All heavy with impenetrable trait. All enchanted with stamina buff, except the speedy ring.
The 3 BIG armor items and the weapons (sharp trait for melee, infused for bow) are NMA. Three of the little armor items, excluding the shoulder, the necklace and one ring are AA set. This gives a lot of defense versus weapon attacks and decent defense vs magic - and most of the Crimson Cove (Malabal Tor) enemies are sword/dagger users. It also nicely boosts my weapon damage.
My nightblade character also uses an alternate set that differs with the aforehereindescribed standard set by substituting Swamp Raider for New Moon Acolyte. SR gives a 600 damage boost to poison/disease attacks, such as the nightblade's Power Extraction.
However, since SR is a medium set found overland in Shadowfen and isn't craftable, only one minor bit of worn armor is SR (the hand or waist piece). The other SR bits are necklace, 1 ring, and weapons. The Aetheral Ascension bits are the wearable armor excluding shoulder, which is Molag Kena, and either hand or waist, whichever is SR. Again, all worn armor has the impenetrable trait and the stamina enchantment, and all non-SR pieces are heavy armor.
goatlyonesub17_ESO wrote: »My standard public dungeon XP+gold farming set is 5 pieces New Moon Acolyte, 5 pieces Aetheral Ascension, 1 Molag Kena (shoulder), and that speed buff ring that you get from antiquities. All heavy with impenetrable trait. All enchanted with stamina buff, except the speedy ring.
The 3 BIG armor items and the weapons (sharp trait for melee, infused for bow) are NMA. Three of the little armor items, excluding the shoulder, the necklace and one ring are AA set. This gives a lot of defense versus weapon attacks and decent defense vs magic - and most of the Crimson Cove (Malabal Tor) enemies are sword/dagger users. It also nicely boosts my weapon damage.
My nightblade character also uses an alternate set that differs with the aforehereindescribed standard set by substituting Swamp Raider for New Moon Acolyte. SR gives a 600 damage boost to poison/disease attacks, such as the nightblade's Power Extraction.
However, since SR is a medium set found overland in Shadowfen and isn't craftable, only one minor bit of worn armor is SR (the hand or waist piece). The other SR bits are necklace, 1 ring, and weapons. The Aetheral Ascension bits are the wearable armor excluding shoulder, which is Molag Kena, and either hand or waist, whichever is SR. Again, all worn armor has the impenetrable trait and the stamina enchantment, and all non-SR pieces are heavy armor.
First of all, this thread is about heavy attack sets, as in sets that boost the damage of heavy attacks. This is not about offensive heavy armor sets. Second, I don't know how far your progression is CP wise and stuff but you shouldn't be needing heavy armor to survive in a public dungeon. Full out dps and a maybe a self heal should suffice.
Not to make it weirder, but observing almost everybody around me dishing out insane damages, with heavy attack one-bar builds, without a rotation at all, and having around 27k health ontop of all of this, I am unsure if this is something I should adapt as well, or not. I *enjoy* having two bars, but it's awkward to put all this work into a rotation and have less to show for it. ^^'
sergeants mail / storm master only on the trials dummy or in groups with pen sources. sergeants mail / noble duelist outperforms storm master in pen-limited cases where positioning for the 5th pc bonus is not a problem
Araneae6537 wrote: »What about storm master / noble duelist? But how often is pen limited, at least in a PVE group? I thought everyone was wearing medium armor for maximum DPS now.