Replies: 613
Kindling power – the Whips ‘n’ chains rebirth
[img]http://i.imgur.com/TkE5GnD.png[/img]
Welcome to my build-thread for the Magicka DK in One Tamriel. This build is, for all intents and purposes, for PvE only and will aim to keep Magicka DKs at their current, highly esteemed level. The gap between magicka and stamina is closing slightly with the impending vMA DW nerf, so I believe we’ll really be close to being on par with our stamina counterparts whilst still providing great utility to the group.
This build is largely based on @IWM’s Magicka DK build, but with my own opinions and testing for this new DLC. I’ll be trying to minimize the grind for gear, whilst putting in my opinions on several different setups, tell you why they may or may not work aswell as listing my preferred and basic setups.
Enjoy!
Changelog
[spoiler]
11.03.2016 – The Birth of the Build
11.03.2016 – Fixed typos
28.03.2016 – Updated the build extensively. Added new gear, new skills, MoL specific setups, updated CPs and added more depth to the MoL section.
29.03.2016 – Fixed errors with gearsets and changed non-Kena gear to a levelling build. Thanks @Latin for the help with enchants!
30.05.2016 – Fixed errors, typos and cleaned up the vMoL section a bit. Started minor updates for Dark Brotherhood.
03.08.2016 – Major update to reflect changes in the Shadows of the Hist DLC.
03.08.2016 – Updated build with a less complex rotation, courtecy of @AlfonsoV
06.08.2016 – Updated Character Sheet picture and fixed typos all over OP. Thanks @Drungly for pointing out errors!
10.08.2016 – Made an attempt to make the rotation more simple and understandable. Also reintroduced the FAQ section.
26.09.2016 – Updated the build for One Tamriel! Also changed the “Gear I want to test” section to “Optional Gearsets” to reflect the large influx of options we now have when choosing gear.
26.09.2016 – Fixed typos and formatting. Clarified why I’m using Entropy.
28.09.2016 – Fixed even more typos…
29.09.2016 – Uploaded some new parses
08.10.2016 – Fixed some minor stuff and added more parses from pre-1T.
19.10.2016 – Added new parses with the 1T setup and revised the rotation.
25.10.2016 – Fixed an error in the rotation. Thanks @RUNNINGCOUNT
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Character sheet
[img]http://i.imgur.com/6jyUGxV.png[/img]
These are my stats with only buff-food, Inner Light and Minor Slayer active. I’m using the same gear as stated in my BiS Powerhouse section minus a Moondancer Staff. This means Spell DMG should be slightly less unbuffed, but significantly higher while buffed.
Gear
The “I’m not CP160 yet!”- Setup
[img]https://i.gyazo.com/7bd7c06490a0c6def0970634419b615c.png[/img]
Perfect for leveling. Magicka Furnace gives alot of magicka aswell as resistances and Torug’s gives Spell DMG and health so it’s the perfect combo. Skills are mostly the same, but if you’re solo leveling you might wanna consider some more self-heals such as inhale, rapid regen and/or healing ward.
The Best-in-Slot Powerhouse
[img]https://i.gyazo.com/0e11b6ef23d5409903be4fbb1329d46c.png[/img]
Armor-types are simply set up like this because this is the way the gear dropped for me. You can mix and match in any way you wish, but Divines on all 7 pieces is extremely important. You also want 5 Light, 1 Medium, 1 Heavy for the Undaunted passives.
Twice-Born star is only viable in a group where Aggressive War-Horn is at 60% uptime or higher. If you are in a good raidgroup, use TBS for any trial. Julianos will still outperform TBS when there is a lack of WH.
Optional Gearsetups
[img]https://i.gyazo.com/e1e91c3fe973b62033bdd65baf2b80c3.png[/img]
Burning Spellweave got a significant buff in One Tamriel. Unfortunately, it’s not quite on par with Twice-born Star, but it’s outparsing both Julianos and Silks of the Sun, so for non-trial content it’s the way to go.
[img]https://i.gyazo.com/cf052a6115fa25cce4f99b8cacb437b9.png[/img]
Mother’s Sorrow is a very interesting gearset. Unfortunately it requires more of your group than TBS does and thus I don’t see it as a good enough set to outshine TBS in end-game raiding. If you want an explanation and propably a more suited setup for using it, have a look here.
[img]https://gyazo.com/c3523e9c6b1054003aa1c25792aaeef2[/img]
Silks of the Sun is also a viable way to go. You can mix and match how you please with this set, but ultimately it will fall slightly behind Burning Spellweave and even further behind TBS. For those of you who have bought it and don’t care about max DPS, feel free to run it.
Skills
[img]https://gyazo.com/d1f2ecf7b3c0baff35bd036a682b43d3.png[/img]
These are my skills in most instances. I’ll go into more detail below.
Main-bar
- Molten Whip – Your main spammable. It gains a huge increase in damage from your Standard aswell as your Ardent Flame passives, so it really hits like a truck.
- Engulfing Flames – A nice DoT which buffs all of our fire attacks. Since 99% of our damage is fire, I’d say it’s a good idea to slot EF.
- Burning Embers – Also a nice DoT, but this one adds alittle healing to the mix aswell – even moreso in Thieves Guild. The damage coupled with the healing makes it a perfect DoT in our arsenal
- Entropy – This is really a fillerslot, but I’ve decided to put Entropy there because it’s a nice skill to have for 4man content. It grants 2% extra Max Magicka through Mages Guild passives, gives 5% Max Health aswell as gives us an opportunity to get Major Sorcery outside of potions, which is a gold save. For trials, I’ll slot Force Pulse in it’s place given you need to be able to output some ranged damage for alot of situations.
- Inner Light – the unbeatable Max Magicka + Spell Crit slot. A must-have for all magicka builds! Our sorce for a constant Major Prophecy aswell as +7% Max Magicka.
- ULTIMATE: Shooting Star – This ultimate is more for the passive 2% extra Max Magicka than anything, but it’s a very nice ultimate for trash-packs and such. We rarely use it, but the extra magicka it gives is very nice.
Off-bar
- Eruption – An incredibly strong ground-DoT which lasts quite a while aswell. Place it where the boss will stay and watch it tick!
- Rearming Trap – Our source of Minor Force. You only need to pop it once every other rotation, but make sure to reapply it once your Minor Force runs out. It adds a crapton of DPS.
- Flames of Oblivion – With the changes in TG to this skill and it’s morphs, the choice of morph is obvious. We’re not healers, we’re DDs so we choose what’ll net us the most damage! I’ve had this bad-boy tick for 23k a pop so it’s definitely not worth trashing just yet.
- Elemental Blockade – With my testing, I couldn’t justify choosing Unstable Wall of Elements simply for it’s explosion. Therefore, I have chosen Elemental Blockade as my morph. It has a longer duration, so in my testing it ended up helping my rotation more than the extra explosion from UWoE. This skill is a must-have for anyone using Destro staff. Especially if you have the Maelstrom Destro!
- Inner Light – We need that Max Magicka and Spell Crit on both bars, so double-slot it!
- ULTIMATE: Standard of Might – Propably the best ultimate in the game DPS-wise. It not only does insane damage, but it also buffs our whips. Being our main spammable, this is too crazy to pass up on. Pop it and watch those numbers rise faster than a fat persons blood-pressure!
Mundus Stone
The choice here is relatively set in stone. We want more crit and crit dmg, so we’re going for the Thief stone aswell as the Shadow since we’re using TBS. If you want the math behind it, check out @Asayre‘s fantastic work. If you’re not using TBS, go for Thief stone.
Rotation
Many people fear Magicka DKs for their rotation and the complexity involved. I think my rotation is fairly simple once you get into it, but it relies on alot of weaves and muscle memory. Keep your tongue straight and it’ll work like a charm!
First off, terminology. FHA = Full Heavy Attack, LA = Light Attack, MA = Medium Attack, BC = Block Cancel.
Pre fight you need to activate FoO, your potion and Inner Light in order to empower your Full Heavy. FHA -> eruption -> LA -> trap -> LA -> standard -> LA -> engulfing -> LA -> embers -> LA -> Blockade -> 6x whip+LA -> LA -> Blockade -> LA and restart at eruption. Now, some aspects cannot be put into the rotation, such as reactivating Standard and Potions. Reactivate potions on cooldown and drop your standard either on cooldown or when it seems reasonable. Additionally, we don’t do another FHA during the rotation as it’s only for the initial burst. That is also why we empower our FHA and pray to RNGesus for a crit (50k opener is nice if RNGesus blesses us).
Champion Points
These are extremely subject to change as my testing progresses. I’m basing my Mage CPs on @Asayre‘s incredibly helpful spreadsheet.
[img]https://i.gyazo.com/448e2999d4ca0a1f5c8da02498f5e3a7.png[/img]
Changes for vmol
Based on several vMoL completes, I can conclude with the following:
DKs will now become more for utility whilst still dishing out high DPS. We’re needed for chaining more than ever, which is kind of nice. The ranged nature of many fights means we’ll be loosing Entropy for Force Pulse and swap FoO for situational skills such as Deep Breath and Chains.
As far as skills go, this is what I’ll be operating with for 90% of the Trial:
skills
[img]https://i.gyazo.com/accbd2636f4e0cc57397e3b8cfdd2021.png[/img]
As far as skills go, the above setup is what I run for 1st and last boss. If I’m on chain-duty for 2nd boss, I’ll swap FoO for chains and IL for Deep Breath. For first boss I run the same as my normal PvE setup. For AoE, we obviously need Ele Ring so drop FoO for it. For first and last boss, you can swap IL on backbar for Harness if needed (It usually is).
Gear
[img]https://i.gyazo.com/0e11b6ef23d5409903be4fbb1329d46c.png[/img]
Since it’s a trial, we’ll run TBS as it’ll net us the highest DPS increase. Make sure you have an Aggressive War Horn rotation in your group before using TBS.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What kind of potions and food do you use?
A: Max Magicka + Max Health food. Unfortunately we’re chugging potions like we have a bad Skooma addiction. If you don’t have the gold to spend, atleast try to use 2stat pots with Spell DMG and Magicka. If you’re really that cheap, you can also keep Entropy on your bar…
Q: When do we get more parses?
A: I upload them as often as I get them. I’m picky about my parses – especially now that we’re running a very different setup from previous updates – so don’t expect new parses every week.
Parses
[spoiler]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/9LG5Wg7.png[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/YmTorBb.png[/img]
While chaining
[img]http://i.imgur.com/WRjv4un.png[/img]
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Credits
First off, I’d like to thank @IWM, Mashinate, for the original Whips ‘n’ Chains build. I’d also like to thank him for theorycrafting with me alittle during the early phases of TG PTS.
Secondly, I’d like to thank @AlfonsoV for helping me getting started with the Magicka DK aswell as theorycrafting and testing with me for hours on end. It’s been a hell of a ride!
Notable thanks go out to @Cordee for helping me with testing, @benawaw89 for healthy theorycrafting, @Koshka-Murka for moral support and @Asayre for being nothing short of a mathematical gaming genius. I’d also like to give a shoutout to the fantastic people such as @SleepyRip, @SapphireFury, @Wikter, @GeorgeWall and many others that were nice enough to share their dropped armor pieces since RNGesus is never on my side.
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This topic was modified 4 days, 8 hours ago by
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pretzl. Reason: See Changelog
