A question about normal trials

Bobargus · November 2023

Hi,

I would like to get the opinions of players about something:

I've never done a normal trial before, and i feel hesitant about trying them. What kind of a build and gear would i need, in order to be able to do all the trials in the game on their normal difficulty only?

For example, as a cp 160 magicka arcanist dps, would i need any gear set bonuses, or can i just equip gear items that drop from the dolmens and just jump right in?

Thanks in advance for reading my post.

Shara_Wynn · November 2023

Your post will likely get moved to the Dungeons, Trials and Arenas Section, before it does, you really don't need any special gear to do normal trials.

Generally the Craglorn trials are the easiest, these being Aetherian Archive, Hel Ra Citadel, and Sanctum Ophidia.

But really you should just try any normal trial. There will always be a video you can watch before hand about mechanics - Xynode is very good for both video and written guides. Just google him and the name of whatever trial you want.

But first check out this video by Lucky Ghost, he will put your mind at ease about how you should just jump right in!

Hope you take the plunge!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJX_40HX_Pw

There are also a lot of friendly guilds who will teach new players how to do trials. Because there really are people who actually like to help other people! If you are on PC EU you can look up Guild for the Soloist. Their Discord page is excellent for new players and despite their name they do a lot of group and trial content for those who normally just solo the game.

I would say that if you don't have Discord set up, you should really also just take the plunge and make an account, it is super easy and most trials and guilds won't require you to have a microphone or to speak in the channels, just to be able to hear commands etc.

Bobargus · November 2023

@Shara_Wynn

I watched the video, and the video says that i need 2x5 gear sets + a monster set to be trial ready.

Shara_Wynn wrote: »

Your post will likely get moved to the Dungeons, Trials and Arenas Section, before it does, you really don't need any special gear to do normal trials.

By nothing special, do you also mean gears and weapons that don't have set bonuses, or just the ones that are earnable from normal dungeons, overland, and the craftable ones?

Thank you for your answer.

Shara_Wynn · November 2023

Ah yes sorry, you would need two x 5 piece and a two piece (usually a two piece monster set or one piece monster set and a mythic - which requires antiquities skill line - which requires you to have Greymoor Chapter).

So I mean you would need gear that is giving you set bonuses.

If you want help with building your sets for your class then just google for a "magicka arcanist dps build" - most of the guides will give you a beginner set up, which will only include overland and craftable sets. A non-trial set up, which will include dungeon sets and possibly mythics, and finally a trial set up which will usually include a vet dungeon and vet trial set up.

There are a lot of written guides on how to build gear sets for all the class combinations in the game:

https://alcasthq.com/eso-magicka-arcanist-build-pve/

https://eso.justlootit.com/eso-magicka-arcanist-dps/

https://hacktheminotaur.com/builds/eso-magicka-arcanist-beginner-build/

https://dottzgaming.com/build/magicka-arcanist-pve-build-eso-abyss/

Janni · November 2023

Bobargus wrote: »

@Shara_Wynn

I watched the video, and the video says that i need 2x5 gear sets + a monster set to be trial ready.

Shara_Wynn wrote: »

Your post will likely get moved to the Dungeons, Trials and Arenas Section, before it does, you really don't need any special gear to do normal trials.

By nothing special, do you also mean gears and weapons that don't have set bonuses, or just the ones that are earnable from normal dungeons, overland, and the craftable ones?

Thank you for your answer.

You should certainly come equipped with the best gear you can reasonably obtain. That means having full set bonuses and not just random non-set equipment you picked up along the way. Craftable sets are perfectly fine when starting out and indeed sometimes even for endgame stuff. There's no reason to hamper yourself when it is so easy to obtain some complete sets.

Bobargus · November 2023

Thank you very much to you all for your answers. I hope that all of you have a good time.

Varana · November 2023

Generally speaking, you can certainly do almost all normal trials in random dropped non-set gear as a DD. It just means that the others will carry a substantial portion of your damage. For most normal trials, you don't actually need 12 people to do damage, so you can complete basically all normal trials in that because the others will do the damage for you.
Which is okay once as a total beginner just trying to see how a trial looks but maybe not the nicest thing to do to the others in the group.

Getting some decent gear would be good and show that you're trying to take the group effort seriously. There are some really good and accessible gear options that will carry you very well through basically the whole game except for harder vet content. Be it crafted sets like Order's Wrath, or overland sets that generally support your class and playstyle. So I would advise wearing at least two sets with active 5-piece bonuses before getting into a trial group. That can be stuff dropped from dolmens, chests, and quests - just make sure you're actually wearing pieces from one set, and not ten different ones.

They don't need to be the best in slot, or what parsing build videos tell you to wear.
Use some sets that support your class and don't have overly complicated or ill-fitting proc conditions. If you're beaming all the time on an Arcanist, sets that proc from heavy attacks aren't the best, for instance.
Also, for a trial, don't put too much emphasis on self-sustain and survivability (with some exceptions for certain mechanics). You have healers and tanks in the group, and if it's a decent group, they should do much of the keeping you alive part for you. (Provided you step out of red.)

To summarise, it'd be decent of you to wear complete sets that support what you're doing, just to carry your own weight. But don't be too concerned about exactly what, just jump in and have a taste.

Aislinna · November 2023

@Bobargus, I recommend also looking for a guild that offers beginner normal trial runs, both of my social guilds offer this every weekend and it was the best way for me to learn about all the trials and the mechanics. The trial leads are great, very patient and explain everything totally and nobody gets upset if the raid wipes as a learning experience. Additionally, we tend to give all the extra gear to the new folks so that they can get their stickerbook filled out. Good luck and have fun!

vgabor · November 2023

For normal trials you don't need anything special really.
- Simple crafted gear will do, 2 from: order of wrath / hundings / jullianos/ something similar dps set, and you good to go gear wise.
- You need a decently practiced skill rotation, and honestly this the more important part, it's your skills and rotation which will do the damage not the gear, but don't need anything sweaty, 2-3 damage over time plus scholarship on back bar, beam and tentacles plus some fighters guild skills filling up the front bar (you can look up google for arcanist dps skills) and that will do. Then just cast damage over times from back bar when they expire, ane while they up just keep casting 2x tentacles and 1x beeam

ZOS_Icy · November 2023

Greetings,

After further review we have decided to move this thread to a category we think is more appropriate for this topic.

Thank you for your understanding.

kaushad · November 2023

To add to this, is there a good (preferably written) overview that compares different trials, with insights like this:

"Generally the Craglorn trials are the easiest, these being Aetherian Archive, Hel Ra Citadel, and Sanctum Ophidia."

I tried my first trial the other week. It was Cloudrest and it was much less long and difficult than I imagined. Not to say that it was easy, but this forum makes trials in general sound much more daunting. Next, I tried Kyne's Aegis, which was longer, but still okay.

Then I tried Dreadsails Reef.

It was like going from a delve to a group dungeon. It went on and on and we got wiped multiple times, by what I'm fairly sure was the final boss and I ultimately abandoned it to eat my dinner and go to bed.

Then Rockgrove was a bit like Kyne's Aegis with some special mechanics that one must understand.

Nestor · November 2023

Normal Trials are fairly easy. It is when you get to Vet, or more so Hardmode that things get real interesting. Cloudrest is an entirely different experience in Vet, and on a different Planet in Hardmode.

However, it is extremely important to learn the mechanics when doing Normal, even if you dont need them. If you ignore mechanics on Vet, it will be a Wipefest.

Nestor · November 2023

@kaushad

https://xynodegaming.com/allaboutmechanics-trials/

There are others but this should get you started