Just roll both.

I've mostly tested a Stamina build with a DW front bar and (Inferno) Staff back bar, which I enjoyed and had no sustain issues, so I'll replicate that build first.

I'll probably play as a Khajiit though and switching to a Magicka build will be easy enough (I'll only need to level both morphs of Abyssal Impact).

Only stamina for me.
None of my builds use Fatecarver - it isn't usable in the harder content I do.

I learned early that MAG sustain is terrible. Recuperative is extremely weak - almost no help at all. SInce I don't use Fatecarver I am forced to use Tentacular as the only crux dump, but that makes MAG sustain even worse. So I dropped MAG and spent a few days building many stamina builds.

Sustain is great on all my STA builds. I tried building with Whorl or Pillar of Nirn as back bar with monster and kilt, then with arena weapon on the back bar. All got about the same DPS, but an arena back bar makes for an easier rotation, and you don't have to closely track your proc set on the back bar (i..e. don't need to swap bars just to proc a set).

All STA builds used MAG skills Tentacular, Inspired, Fulminating. This was easily sustainable using 6 medium armor and Weapon Power potions (no extra MAG sustain). STA stayed basically full so you could swap some medium armor for light. When I added a back staff with Unstable Wall, I used tri-pots (and Camo Hunter both bars for major crit chance). In that case you had to be careful not to use Tentacular early or MAG sustain could be an issue.

Most of the builds got me around 100k which is what I currently do on live using Whorl + Nirn (Rele would bump the parse I suspect but I don't use it often in content). DW/Maelstrom 2h and DW/bow both make easy rotations. DW/staff is a little busier rotation but still not difficult. I like the large AOE of wall vesrus the 5m of a bow, although stampede on the back is fun.

My bow/staff build with Unstable wall also gets 100k and will probably be used when I need a ranged build. FYI - I used the new 5s Arrow Spray on cooldown.

So I have tested both, and keeping in mind that I am not an elite, high-skilled player, but kind of a middling one, I'd say that overall they are about the same, but there are some tactical advantages to Magicka.

This will be different if you have subconsciously mastered your rotations and don't make mistakes. I.e., if you are playing flawlessly, I suspect one build will clearly outmatch the other. But if you're just playing and screwing up occasionally, they're both about the same in terms of damage and sustain. And if you're worried about sustain problems, go breton for magicka or imperial for stamina and go with the recuperative treatise and keep it up and you'll be fine.

The advantage magicka has is that it's ranged. The main reason this is an advantage is because I find it's hard to stay in melee range in a fight with a lot of enemies because you'll be constantly repositioning yourself to get the green beam of ennervating death in a spot where you can get the most of them with as little sweeping as possible. This usually put me out of the 7m range, which meant that for my stamina character it meant firing off ranged abilities while uselessly holding dual blades or a greatsword. Staves become super useful because you can still try to weave while you're outside of the seven meter distance. Also, staves seem to be the best shot you have for taking advantage of the status effect boosts (as far as I can tell the 75% boost in triggering status effects does not apply to poison) so even if you're stamina you'll probably want at least one staff to trigger burning or concussed or... the ice one, I can't remember what it does.

That said, it didn't really seem to make much of a difference for me. Most of my attacks were building crux for the Shining Emerald Beacon of Zap, which did most of the damage, and magicka really only pulled slightly ahead there. If you're more comfortable with positioning the Gleaming Jade Spotlight of Infinite Doom while you're in the thick of melee combat (or only dealing with a few targets) the tactical advantages will be a nonissue.

I guess I'm trying to see where the magicka sustain problem is coming from. It appears that people seem to think that throwing in a HA during their rotation is such a DPS loss, that they'd rather nerf themselves and then complain about it. From my own personal experience running a Magcanist, I've not had a single problem with sustain, as I'm always throwing in a staff HA after my Fatecarver rotation. Am I losing some DPS, probably, but is it detrimental to my success in completing content, NO. Am I an elitists who chases scoreboards, NO.

I think that is what I'm trying to understand. Because the idea that magicka has a sustain problem is only due to people not utilizing HA's into their rotation. New players or even some existing players are going to read all this hype about Arcanist and magicka sustain problems and get the wrong impression... the sustain issues are player created because of how they are choosing to play Magicka Arcanist. You cannot sit and spam skills over and over and not even attempt to regen some of your spent resources, that is completely unrealistic, you cannot even do that on other classes. Even on my Magplar I always threw in HA's to regen resources.

So my advice for new players and non-elitist players, is try Arcanist for yourself and don't just follow what someone else says. Initially I was very concerned about Magcanist because I hate playing strictly melee builds, and I'd much rather use a staff than any melee weapon. However, I downloaded PTS and tried it for myself. I equipped the gear that I plan to use and ran dungeons, a few world bosses, and didn't have any sustain issues because I included HA's into my rotation.

ADarklore wrote: »

I guess I'm trying to see where the magicka sustain problem is coming from. It appears that people seem to think that throwing in a HA during their rotation is such a DPS loss, that they'd rather nerf themselves and then complain about it. From my own personal experience running a Magcanist, I've not had a single problem with sustain, as I'm always throwing in a staff HA after my Fatecarver rotation. Am I losing some DPS, probably, but is it detrimental to my success in completing content, NO. Am I an elitists who chases scoreboards, NO.

I think that is what I'm trying to understand. Because the idea that magicka has a sustain problem is only due to people not utilizing HA's into their rotation. New players or even some existing players are going to read all this hype about Arcanist and magicka sustain problems and get the wrong impression... the sustain issues are player created because of how they are choosing to play Magicka Arcanist. You cannot sit and spam skills over and over and not even attempt to regen some of your spent resources, that is completely unrealistic, you cannot even do that on other classes. Even on my Magplar I always threw in HA's to regen resources.

So my advice for new players and non-elitist players, is try Arcanist for yourself and don't just follow what someone else says. Initially I was very concerned about Magcanist because I hate playing strictly melee builds, and I'd much rather use a staff than any melee weapon. However, I downloaded PTS and tried it for myself. I equipped the gear that I plan to use and ran dungeons, a few world bosses, and didn't have any sustain issues because I included HA's into my rotation.

It’s more about how one builds than if they’re utilizing HA. I very rarely HA on my DPS and I do fine, even on warden which has “bad sustain”. You can also use staff on stam. I’m thinking of having both daggers and a staff for my arcanist since I find myself LA’ing air with my daggers during trash fights despite having 2H backbar. Additionally, the supposed sustain issues also goes into mag healing and healers do HA but they can only HA so much. Glad it works for you though.

neither. making a tank.

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

If you're a solo player and have problems with sustain, Azandar makes a great companion choice, if using nothing but Zone of Recuperation. His Zone of Recuperation can stack multiple times and the recovery effect adds up for each zone that is active. With all Quickened and Telvanni Efficiency it's possible for him to drop 2-3 stacks regularly at a time, with Light armor and Haste in the second slot he can have 4 up at once briefly every 6.3 seconds. There are diminishing returns though; 1 stack is 150 recovery as the ability states, 2 stacks is 275 (+125), 3 stacks is 375 (+100), and 4 stacks is 450 (+75). The healing done by each Zone of Recuperation does not diminish so everyone standing in it can be healed by 1552 per stack.

I reported this early in the PTS when they made Quickened additive, since they haven't fixed it I assume its intentional to stack this way from a single Azandar. I did not test it with 2 players or multiple numbers of him, I assume they just keep stacking up to 6 since each one goes down by 25 recovery each stack.

That's awesome. I've honestly never slotted that skill but may have to consider it now. Thanks for the info.

Solo player that uses companions and doesn't do PvP or high end stuff. Will be doing a hybrid build.