Best all-around sets for dungeon PUGs (DD)

Luke_Flamesword · September 16

I can see that most meta builds are created around trial dummy parses or trial organised groups. And what's best there, sometimes is almost useless in other content. Also when we looking for BiS sets, we mostly cover situational options (for example Relequen which is superior in single damage on longer fights, but sucks in every other situation)

I have 13 DD characters of all classes and I need gear for some of them to do normal and vet PUG dungeons (not hardmodes). I don't want to switch gear between trash and bosses for most of them, so I'm looking for more universal sets like Ansuul which may not be BiS but decent enough to have good damage. I just look for things which are reliable and decent enough to not be a burden for other players on vet dungeons.

So far I'm most satisfied with:
Ansuul
Briarheart/Burning Spellweave
Deadly (on Arcanist)
Velothi as mythic

I'm looking mostly for some interesting proc sets for frontbar (but not only!). I spent some time with Pillar of Nirn but this thing overrated - it misses so many times. Aegis Caller is another "meta" proc, but everytime when I see it in dungeon, it mostly make some wind on dead bodies

Are there any interesting proc sets which had lower numbers on dummy but perform better in actual content where things well... just move?

Please, share with your personal PUG dungeons "meta" - universal sets for all classes but also options for specific class (or magicka/stamina option) only. I need some inspiration because I don't want to put same sets on every character (it's too boring), but I also I don't want burden other people with "roleplay" builds

El_Borracho · September 16

Ansuuls + Azureblight is the easiest combo for pug dungeons because of all the adds, especially with boss fights with adds. You could always bring back Berserking Warrior, works well on Templars. There was also an older magplar build that used War Maiden with Soulshine that I loved. Hit hard, but haven't tried it in a while. There are some interesting bow/bow builds for DKs out there that use Pyrewatch, Highland Sentinel, Null Acra, and others.

Soarora · September 16

I use ansuul/deadly on arcanist. Adds don’t live long enough to proc azure usually, and can’t sustain coral as well as in a parse or a trial. My warden I don’t use much anymore because arcanist is just so strong, but I use frostbite/whorl.

Luke_Flamesword · September 16

War Maiden looks interesting for templar, I will look for this.

And yeah, I use Ansuul/deadly/velothi on arcanist and it's my favourite character for chill runs.

For now I have arcanist and dk fully covered. I'm still working on:

* both templars
* both necro (magicka is vampire - I know it sucks

)
* stamina nb
* stamina warden
* magicka sorc

Cheveyo · September 17

Luke_Flamesword wrote: »

War Maiden looks interesting for templar, I will look for this.

I use War Maiden on my Templar. I have no desire to be BIS and gear swap.
War Maiden is a set I've used on that character since I was able to get a full set. The other pieces I've alternated. I was using Julianos for a while. Currently using Order's Wrath as the second set and Oakensoul Ring. Not the best of the best, but I have no complaints.

As for why I built that way:

I don't like constantly weapon swapping. I find it annoying. Usually, I'll have one bar be single target and the other be Aoe. I hate the buff/swap stuff most people seem to do. So I use Oakensoul and just change the weapon I'm using based on what I'm currently doing, not between fights though. What I mean is that I'm using a Lightning Staff when I'm out in the world messing around, questing, or running a dungeon. I'll switch to Sword and Board when I go fight world bosses solo. Tougher bosses mean switching out some abilities as well.

The scribing system has made the single bar feel less restricting. I use the Destro staff's Elemental Explosion as my main AoE from range and Wield Soul as my main single target spammable. Both built for magic damage, instead of any element. Thinking about getting Shield Throw for when I fight world bosses.

Kisakee · September 17

Tarnished Nightmare might be a good fit for you. If you use it on backbar you can also choose at what point you want to proc it. Keep in mind that it'll get a 1.3 second delay with the next patch (current PTS status) but i guess this won't matter much in PvE content:

For the boss fight part you can easily combine it with Null Arca and even in trash fights it'll pack a punch:

As both sets have a cooldown you can also pull the trick with having two five piece sets, a monster set AND a mythic:
Just make sure to use two one-hand weapons on frontbar and make each weapon one of the sets while the backbar has a two-hand weapon or two one-hand weapons to complete the second set. In best case you want Null Arca on frontbar and Tarnished on backbar.

Something like Nerien'eth comes into mind and will also add some needed attack damage:

notyuu · September 18

Deadly on Templar is brutal as it effects both jabs and beam.
I run it with ansuul/lancer class set (testing combat feel)
Ur mythic
And a monster shoulder that gives a little pen bonus. Then you add in some player skill and you manage alright with lugs for most things

Zodiarkslayer · September 19

I consider Order's Wrath universally good. Because it's a crafted set, you can optimise your amour weights.
Also, Tzogvin's Warband brings a lot to the table. Especially ranged builds and builds with tight barspace benefit from the free minor Force. Not speaking of the over 3000 crit chance
Mora's Whispers is great on any build.

Blackbird_V · September 19

Whether you're stamina or magicka - you always want full light armour in dungeons. The reason is penetration. Having full medium armour vs light is like a 40% dps loss.

Order's Wrath on body is massive in dungeons. Insane crit rate, pen for it being light armour, and free crit damage. It's an all-around brilliant set. Also great for general overland. You basically want to run this 100% of the time.

(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(5 items) Adds 943 Critical Chance, Increases your Critical Damage and Critical Healing by 8%.

Macabre Vintage on front bar for AoE trash mobs, or fights with MANY mobs (like Baron Zaudrus) splatters enemies with massive damage. NOTE: you must deal the killing blow to proc this set. Imo it should leave a debuff on an enemy to proc it, but it sadly does not work like that, oh well...

(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(5 items) Adds 150 Weapon and Spell Damage, When you kill a monster they burst with blood magic, dealing 50% of their Max Health to enemies within 6 meters as Bleed Damage, up to 24096 Bleed Damage. This damage cannot critically strike. This effect can occur once every 0.5 seconds.

Slivers of the Null Arca front bar is an all-around good proc set for single target.

(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.
(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(5 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage (Perfected only)
Dealing Critical Damage gives you a stack of Sliver for 10 seconds, up to once every 0.5 seconds. Upon gaining your third stack, they merge into a crystal that launches at the last enemy you damaged, dealing 1799 Physical Damage. This effect scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage, and you cannot gain Sliver for 5 seconds after the crystal is launched.

Ansuul's Torment front bar. Set and forget set. Free damage, always nice.

(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.
(4 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration
(5 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance (Perfected only)
Increases your damage done against monsters by 7%. When you interrupt an enemy, you increase your damage done against monsters by an additional 7% for 10 seconds.

Mora Scribe's Thesis front-barred. Free crit chance and damage, depending on group buffs. With pugs, you're going to want to stack buffs yourself. Ulfsild's Contingency with Intellect and Endurance Affix Script will give 2 free minor buffs, Major gallop is a free 100% uptime Major buff. Spell/Weapon power pots are 3 free Major buffs.

(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.
(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(5 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance (Perfected only)
Increase your Critical Chance by 128 for every Major Buff active on you, up to 1536 Critical Chance. Increase your Critical Damage done by 1% for every Minor Buff active on you, up to 12% Critical Damage done.

Deadly Strike front bar for Arcanists and Templars. Bug buff to both beams, jabs (lol), dots etc.

(2 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(3 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(5 items) Increase the damage your damage over time and channeled attacks do by 15%.

Burning Spellweave front-barred is great for trash fights. Big Weapon and Spell damage boost + free burning proc.

2 items: Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
3 items: Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
4 items: Adds 657 Critical Chance
5 items: When you deal damage with a Flame Damage ability, you apply the Burning status effect to the enemy and increase your Weapon and Spell Damage by 490 for 8 seconds. These effects can occur once every 12 seconds.

Tooth of Lokkestiiz is good in groups where you have synergies you can activate. Free Major Slayer for 16 seconds.

2 items: Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
3 items: Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.
4 items: Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
5 items: Adds 657 Critical Chance (Perfected only)
When you activate a synergy while in combat, gain Major Slayer for 16 seconds, increasing your damage done to Dungeon and Trial monsters by 10%.

Whorl of the Depths is great for stationary bosses. Gives a massive damage boost, and has a brilliant AoE portion to it as well.

2 items: Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
3 items: Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.
4 items: Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
5 items: Adds 657 Critical Chance (Perfected only)
When you deal damage with a Light Attack, you apply Whorl of the Depths to the target, dealing 988 Frost Damage over 8 seconds. When this effect ends, a 5 meter whirlpool is created under the target for 6 seconds and deals 743 Frost Damage every 1 second. This effect can occur once every 18 seconds and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.

Flame Blossom is very situational. It's only really good against Maarselok as the proc will hit 3 times.

2 items: Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
3 items: Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
4 items: Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration
5 items: When you deal damage, you summon a line of flame that moves forward after 1 second, dealing 1537 Flame Damage to any enemy in its path and applying the Burning status effect. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.

Berserking Warrior on front bar if you really like crit %. Hard to maintain on melee Magicka chars, but melee Stamina chars have it easier to upkeep.

2 items: Adds 657 Critical Chance
3 items: Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
4 items: Adds 657 Critical Chance
5 items: When you deal Martial melee damage, your Critical Chance is increased by 241 for 5 seconds, stacking up to 10 times. This effect can occur once every half second.

mocap · September 20

35k HP, HA warden (Sergeant, Duelist, Oaken, Slime, 5-1-1 light/divines/Sugar Skulls/Thief or Shadow).
Skills: Polar Wind, SubTerran, Growing Swarm, flex, flex; Wild Guard

*flex: Lotus Blossom, Predator, ResVigor, Flare, ElementalSuscept, Pulsar, StructEntropy, Orb, ProxyDet, CrystalShield. Whatever from scribing or just any Animal skills for +4% crit damage.

Best for PUGs with fake healer or very bad tank or even both. Strong single target damage, strong AoE damage, exeptional survivability, infinite sustain.

BXR_Lonestar · September 20

Honestly, a set almost EVERYONE is sleeping on is Macabre's vintage. It gives 4 lines of weapon and spell damage (total over 500) and it has an aoe bleed damage proc that can proc every half second that just annihilates trash mobs either in normal or vet. It's also a medium armor set, so it can be worn on the body pieces if need be without hurting your overall DPS build.

Given that it is just raw damage and a damage proc, it has build flexibility in it because its not geared towards any damage type, mag dps spec or stam dps spec. Its a good overall set. It may not help you parse 100k, but I've run through vet dungeons with massive trash pulls (city of ash 2, maarselok, imperial city prison, oathsworn pit, etc) and the people running with me were blown away at how fast these trash packs were melting.

Overall, its a great set, a ton of fun, and goes particularly well with any builds that have a decent amount of aoe. I use it on my HA 2 pet sorc that is specced towards single target damage, and it still does great with this set.