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Looking for PvE alternatives to Puncturing Strikes/Puncturing Sweep

beanasaurus
beanasaurus
Soul Shriven
I'm a new player who recently reached level 50 and unlocked Subclassing and Scribing, and have been enjoying exploring different ways to customize my character with these systems. This has been especially great because I have a disability that makes it difficult for me to precisely aim; I can just avoid skills that have targeting type "Enemy", and thankfully there are plenty of skills with other targeting types (Ground, Area, etc) that have allowed me to tailor my skill bar to have skills that works for me and the casual content I'm engaged in. My bread and butter has been Puncturing Sweep.

However, I've realized that as I explore other skill lines with Subclassing, Puncturing Sweep is generally the only active skill I'm using from the Aedric Spear skill line. Which makes me think that it would be nice if I could replace Aedric Spear with another Subclass...but if I do that, I'd love to find another spammable move to replace Puncturing Sweep, whether it comes from Subclassing or Scribing. I'm guessing nothing will be exactly like it (from what I've heard, Puncturing Sweep is fairly top-tier as far as spammables go, especially if I want AoE), but are there any other AoE moves that provide effective spammable skills? I am not looking to be a top-tier DPS (though I'm not opposed to it!), I just want to be able to do casual and solo content at a reasonable pace.

I'm still new and have yet to truly grok all the game's systems, and most web results I've found on this kind of topic are old enough that I'm not sure if they are still accurate to the current update of the game. Because of that, the recommendations of experienced players would be really helpful so I can determine what alternatives to prioritize trying out or working towards. Thank you!
  • Soarora
    Soarora
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    Fatecarver from arcanist! It’s a fairly large channeled AoE ability that doesn’t require a target BUT in the accessibility settings there’s a slider (default is max I believe) for auto targeting (beam slowly moves towards your target). If you don’t have arcanist or don’t like fatecarver, you can use pulsar (destro staff) or whirling blades (dual wield), which are AoEs centered around yourself.
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  • BasP
    BasP
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    I agree that the Arcanist's Fatecarver would be the best alternative. I believe its base damage is only slightly lower than that of Puncturing Sweep, but if you utilize the Arcanist's Crux mechanic it will actually deal a lot more damage. The morph called Pragmatic Fatecarver gives you a big damage shield as well, which can be nice.
  • LunaFlora
    LunaFlora
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    besides Fatecarver, Abyssal Impact seems useful too as it too doesn't require a target to use.
    both from Herald of the Tome
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  • Zodiarkslayer
    Zodiarkslayer
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    Arrow Spray, Cleave, Whirlwind are all AoE spammables that can be used without class restriction. They all have a significant stamina cost attached, though.
    Force Shock, Sap Essence, Draw Essence and Unstable Wall of Elements are all Magicka based and have considerable AoE effects/damage.
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