Vateshran's or Maelstrom? Which is easier

JemadarofCaerSalis · August 2024

I once tried vateshran's (and I think that is what I really want to do as it sounds like the weapon I would use is more suited to my playstyle) and got stomped.

However, I have gotten stronger since then, and recently was thinking about trying some of the solo arenas, but not sure which one I should try first, or whether there is a noticable difference in difficulty.

As I said above, I am leaning towards Vateshran's, but want to do the easier arena first (for the experience and satisfaction) and I have the feeling that might be Maelstrom.

TybaltKaine · August 2024

Maelstrom is a bit easier IMO. I did Maelstrom earlier on (around 500 cp or so) and breezed through it. Vateshran was a nightmare at that CP.

Vateshran is also more rewarding about getting the bonuses, which means learning the mechs and paths to take. Once you get the patterns of the bosses down, it's a bit easier to deal with.

jaws343 · August 2024

I think that Vateshran is probably "easier" but not necessarily from a difficulty standpoint as much as from straight forward mechanic standpoint.

There are a lot of random variables for Maelstrom that can break a completion, and a few arenas in there that can really grind your progress to a halt.

Vateshran has maybe one mechanic that is really punishing and everything else can be managed with a bit of care.

ssewallb14_ESO · August 2024

The damage and HP is scaled higher in Vate due to it being newer. I'd say Maelstrom is more mechanically difficult if you've never done it before.

Vulkunne · August 2024

Neither lol. Pick one and prepare to invest some time. Although, I personally like Maelstrom a little more and find that easier. Vat can get rough towards the end, kind of like running into a Marauder in IA.

alpha_synuclein · August 2024

I find Maelstrom more straightforward and faster.
You just portal from arena to arena and enemies are spawning in front of you.

Soarora · August 2024

I found Vateshran to be easier, I got stuck on ice arena Maelstrom on the same character I completed Vateshran on. Just took a while to figure out a good order for me. I do fire > green > blue every time.

LunaFlora · August 2024

to me:

Maelstrom Arena is only easier on normal and vet before the ice arena.
the stages with hazardous environment are frustrating to deal with due to how tiny the areas are.
Especially the frost and venom stages which i still struggle with even after finishing it multiple times.

Vateshram Hollows is more fun.
once i got used to the mechanics it became less difficult.

i have gone to Vateshran Hollows more than Maelstrom Arena though only multiple times on normal

JanTanhide · August 2024

I think Vateshran's is much easier than Maelstrom. Maelstrom has very small areas to fight in where as Vateshran has much larger areas to move around in. Plus it's a lot more fun to me than Maelstrom Arena. Just follow the correct sequence of areas for your character. Stamina has one path and Magicka has another. For the completion of certain achievements you have to run Vateshran at least twice and do all the extra bosses. In Vet iirc. There are some good sites that show which areas to do first based on your character. You can get, iirc, up to 10,000 extra Magicka (or Stamina or Health) depending on which path you take.

I've run it in Vet on a Mag Sorc, Mag DK, Mag Arcanist and Mag Templar. I found the Arcanist a bit clumsy since it's hard to use the love beam fully. Breezed through it on the other three but smoked it best on my Mag Sorc. Made Leaderboard a bunch of times. Give it a go! It's a ton of fun.

GeneralGrundmann · August 2024

Well, it depends, as always.

I started with Maelstrom-Arena and the ice stage and poison stage were really frustrating, hard learning curve.

Vateshran is easier until you have to fight the Pyrelord as last boss before the final stage. And I had a VERY hard time beating Maebroogha, for me it was much more difficult to beat her compared to the maelstrom final boss.

Necrotech_Master · August 2024

i think maelstrom is a bit easier in terms of the general mechanics being a lot simpler and more straight forward

vateshran i think is more mechanics going on, but once you get those mechanics its a little easier to clear as you have less total fights you need to do

El_Borracho · August 2024

Maelstrom first. Lots of the mechanics in there are used throughout the game, including Vateshran. Plus, the VMA weapons have more utility throughout the game than Vateshrans (VMA inferno, VMA 2H).

Maybe its because I've done it more, but Maelstrom feels easier. Vateshran isn't a giant step up, but some of it is frustrating for other reasons. The minotaur boss still has bugs, including a stamina regen problem. There is a learning curve on the final boss fight (adds are more important to kill than the boss) and the final boss has a DPS check, which Maelstrom does not have, so if you can't put out enough DPS you will not defeat it. Its nice to have a lot of DPS in Maelstrom, but the mechanics in there don't require it. In fact, as others have said, the ice stage punishes too much DPS.

For Maelstrom, I used a magplar until the stam arc. Stam arc makes it a joke. For Vateshran, I used a mag DK, until flipping to the stam arc. Any build will require good damage mitigation, heals, and regen or high resources regardless of the arena.

Veinblood1965 · August 2024

I used to struggle on VMA on my mag sorc on the last boss. Only succeeded a handful of times. Then I rebuilt my magsorc to use more shields and started running Vet Vateshran. I struggled on the last boss for a while then finally it's not so bad. I then went back to VMA with the same build and breezed through the entire thing(The ice boss got me once though).

I think it's just all in your build. I was using a heavy attack magsorc build one bar(cheese build). Originally I was using two bar mag sorc with various skills and struggling.

JemadarofCaerSalis · August 2024

Thanks for the replies, I will try maelstrom first, and then if I can't do it, try vateshran's.

I had mainly just wondered if there was a significant difference between the two arenas, since they were put out at different times.

Orbital78 · August 2024

I found Vateshran easier, but that is gonna vary with knowledge and skill. I was brute forcing some mechs and making Maelstrom harder than it should be.

El_Borracho · August 2024

JemadarofCaerSalis wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, I will try maelstrom first, and then if I can't do it, try vateshran's.

I had mainly just wondered if there was a significant difference between the two arenas, since they were put out at different times.

Not really. VMA is very mechanic-heavy after the 4th stage. If you haven't already, check out some guides online. You'll see that speed is often the enemy in Maelstrom. Its very much a familiarity thing. There are stages I do now that I wondered how I ever struggled on them (6th stage) when back at the beginning I wondered if I could ever pass. Plus, if you beat VMA, depending on your build and the weapon you get, it could help you a lot in Vateshran.

Good luck!

React · August 2024

Both are absurdly easy, although vMA is scaled to a much lower CP.

JemadarofCaerSalis · August 2024

Well, I beat just normal Maelstrom. I died. A lot. Mainly in the ice stage and the poison stage. (I died more than I should have but that is because I got distracted by chat)

Probably going to be a while before I do any of the veteran arenas, and not sure when I will get to vateshran's.

Thanks for the tips and advice.

amig186 · August 2024

There's a similar thread that you could peruse: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/653107/flawless-conqueror-vs-spirit-slayer#latest

React wrote: »

Both are absurdly easy

What a jerkish thing to say on the thread of someone for whom they clearly aren't.

El_Borracho · August 2024

JemadarofCaerSalis wrote: »

Well, I beat just normal Maelstrom. I died. A lot. Mainly in the ice stage and the poison stage. (I died more than I should have but that is because I got distracted by chat)

Probably going to be a while before I do any of the veteran arenas, and not sure when I will get to vateshran's.

Thanks for the tips and advice.

Familiarize yourself with spawn points of the adds so you minimize your running around. Unless you have game-melting DPS, prioritize heals and shields. Use the sigils.

Keep at it. You'll yell at the game a lot and want to quit. Take a break, come back, and one day it will just click and then you'll come in here and tell people how easy it is.

JemadarofCaerSalis · August 2024

El_Borracho wrote: »

JemadarofCaerSalis wrote: »

Well, I beat just normal Maelstrom. I died. A lot. Mainly in the ice stage and the poison stage. (I died more than I should have but that is because I got distracted by chat)

Probably going to be a while before I do any of the veteran arenas, and not sure when I will get to vateshran's.

Thanks for the tips and advice.

Familiarize yourself with spawn points of the adds so you minimize your running around. Unless you have game-melting DPS, prioritize heals and shields. Use the sigils.

Keep at it. You'll yell at the game a lot and want to quit. Take a break, come back, and one day it will just click and then you'll come in here and tell people how easy it is.

Thanks, it was a lot easier than I expected it to be, it was mainly the final stage that I wanted to yell at because I couldn't figure out where to go to get the idiot down out of the air (where I was positioning myself, I couldn't see the crystals I had to kill, nor did I see the portals to get up there). Died once due to distractions in chat, when it happened again, I saw the crystal on a ledge and realized there HAD to be a way to get up there, so started looking around for it.

After that, it was relatively easy.

Finedaible · August 2024

Maelstrom feels a lot harder for stamina specs than mag. What will save you major headaches in there is having a snare removal skill like Race Against Time and shields. The only thing that held me back from getting Flawless Conqueror was Vault of Umbrage (stage 7) with its RNG mechanics and positional desync. You really need to know how the pool cleansing mechanic works and pray for luck before going into that stage.

LadyLethalla · August 2024

Vateshran vet is easier IMO, than Maelstrom. I got no death clears way sooner than in VMA.

Varana · August 2024

Although that may also be due to the fact that after clearing vMA, you had quite a lot more experience at the game.
And player experience is like 75% of what makes you good at this game.

MA is imho better suited to familiarise yourself with the game. The mechanics are more varied, due to their being more arenas, and often more applicable to the rest of the game. While VH's mechanics feel more ... gimmicky, at least to me. It does recreate the experience of running a dungeon much better, though.

AlterBlika · August 2024

On normal they both are equally easy, you will outheal all incoming damage just fine on a dps build with pale order. Maelstorm's mechanics are more random but you'll get used to it.

Lixiviant · August 2024

Great input. I've been stomped on both so I left and never went back. Looks like I'll try MA again. BTW, I am also stuck at the ice stage.

JemadarofCaerSalis · August 2024

Lixiviant wrote: »

Great input. I've been stomped on both so I left and never went back. Looks like I'll try MA again. BTW, I am also stuck at the ice stage.

Hopefully the input will help you as well.

I am slowly starting to get up there where I can solo things that stomped me when I first started. I have done all the public dungeons except Necrom ones (still not quite there to solo them and I don't have West Weald), I have soloed two world bosses (one in Auridon and the other Malabal Tor), so I thought I would try the arenas after being reminded of them.

The ice stage was hard, mainly because the ice can disappear from under you, putting you in the water that will drain your health. If you have the boss sitting on you (which is where i kept dying) it can be hard to tell that the ice is disappearing until you are already dead.

I have Oakensoul, not pale order (though I have uncovered the antiquity, I would need to remake it) and as I said, I managed it.

Good luck!

El_Borracho · August 2024

@Lixiviant and @JemadarofCaerSalis the ice stage is a controlled burn of the boss. Check out guides online. Alcast is not bad and there are others. Its preferable to do the ice pads in a certain order. The boss will wreck the pad it is on at set health percentages, 75% and 45%. Essentially, if you are just looking for a clear, you start on the pad you spawn on and go counterclockwise. Burn the boss to 75%, then sprint over to the pad on your right, burn to 45%, sprint to the last pad, which will again be on your right. That one has the shield and axe sigils that will help finish Runa off. Focus adds in between, they are more important than the boss as they put out more damage, and the boss' attacks are pretty easy to avoid. Pay attention to the stupid troll. You can not allow the troll to break any platforms or you will not beat Arena 5.

I've tended to burn the boss to just above the percentages, like around 77%, then dropped an AOE and run. It usually ticks the boss down to the percentage and it stays on that ice floe. Don't leave too early, like 80% or the boss will follow you and you're toast.

JemadarofCaerSalis · August 2024

@El_Borracho

Thanks for the advice, I did manage to complete the boss, and yeah, I saw that stupid troll just before I managed to beat the final boss, and killed him, then managed to get the boss. I realized that the troll was pounding the ice and that ice was going to leave.

Honestly, that level brought back unpleasant memories of Antarctica in Twisted Metal 2. That and New york were my two most hated levels.

El_Borracho · August 2024

@JemadarofCaerSalis well if you think that's bad, wait until you do the minotaur boss in Vateshran. That is my least favorite of all arena bosses

JemadarofCaerSalis · August 2024

@El_Borracho

That doesn't sound pleasant. It will likely be a while before I am ready to do vateshrans, I want to be able to do MA consistently and 'easily' first (and right now am running around zones looking for ore and treasure chests. I want that mining animation and I need to complete some sets)