Small rant + Need feedback on MagSorc build

[KitKat]

Hope this is an ok place to ask such things though.
And really, before I show my stats and whatnot, I wanna say this. ESO gives me this real dumb feeling that I'm just "bad" at it. At the game and at build making overall. Despite how good(in my opinion) my current build performs in "outside world" questing + Delves + Open dungeons, even the NON-veteran Maelstrom Arena. Works like a charm, roflstomping through stuff easily and quickly.
And really, I just have this feeling about ESO in general that you have to resort to some "meta" to be good, to look through all those countless hour-long video guides of "easy builds"... Yeah, seriously? An hour long video to explain an "easy build", eh?

Anyway, enough ranting. First, the stats. Breton, vampire magSorc 235 champion points(so far). Lotsa passives too, can be more specific if needed.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1544029570
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1544029738
5-item Julianos set + 2 items Assassin's guile set(for that spell crit). And one item without a set. Full light armor. (All crafted by me, since I got all crafting maxed, still learning some of the traits though)
Main bar:
Endless Fury / Blockade of Storms / Liquid Lightning / Inner Light / Bound Aegis (Shooting Star ult)
Second bar:
Empowered Ward / Power Surge / Harness Magicka / Boundless Storm / Bound Aegis (Energy Overload ult)

I usually just buff with Power Surge and Boundless Storm when fighting regular enemies. More rarely go for Empowered Ward/Harness Magica when I do actually need shields to survive + regen some energy(if enemy has spellcasters). Inner Light and Bound Aegis - for passives, obviously. Energy Overload - for panic energy regen as well(rarely used)

Once needed buffs are up, switch to main. Blockade of Storms + Liquid Lightning, then spam light attack. Closer to 20% HP on some target - click Endless Fury. On very fat bosses/larger crowds sometimes Shooting Star(rarely used as well).

So... Yeah. Feel free to tell me how bad it is. It's not some meta-build that I googled around, but something I built myself from scratch. A lot of AOE damage for easy PvE clearing. Plus high survivability from high crit stat coupled with Power Surge, as well as shields of course. And magicka regen through Harness Magicka, when needed.

I am kinda comfortable with it, but after the addition of Psijic skill tree(just unlocked) and checking out the skills + opinions about them on the forums... Once again I get that feeling that my efforts are all worthless crap and I just need to do what 90% of people do - "meta or don't play at all".

P.s. I only play PvE. I decided not to touch PvP at all. As to what kind of PvE content - for now it's just questing, gathering skill points from shards/"main" questlines.

[LadstonFelisGaming]

Anything goes in PvE. The way the game is set up means that any class can handle any role and experimenting with character building is part of the fun.

As far as "critquing" goes, the only thing I would suggest for you is ditch vampirism. Vampires are mostly a PvP meta thing, they're horrible for PvE. The reason for this is that fire is the second most common damage type used by PvE mobs (the most common being physical). Other than that though, your build is solid.

[KitKat]

Originally posted by LaddytheOutcast:

Anything goes in PvE. The way the game is set up means that any class can handle any role and experimenting with character building is part of the fun.

Yeah, I know it's part of the fun. That's why I spent time on building everything myself. But the more time I spend in this game, the more I see how people treat those who don't go for the "meta" builds. And how some of the builds are indeed sub-optimal for the later-game content... Which is a shame. Despite the variety of choices, some things are still "a must". Which minimizes the freedom of choice :\

Originally posted by LaddytheOutcast:

As far as "critquing" goes, the only thing I would suggest for you is ditch vampirism. Vampires are mostly a PvP meta thing, they're horrible for PvE. The reason for this is that fire is the second most common damage type used by PvE mobs (the most common being physical). Other than that though, your build is solid.

Good point, thank you. I'll do that. Nothing else though?

[Brownstone]

You should eat, your character is hungry.

[Brownstone]

Also I don't get the part about the Psijic skill tree. Psijic skills are only good for Pvp. Where exactly does it say that they're the new Pve meta? That's nonsense...

Don't spam light attacks, get force pulse and spam it. It's the main spammable of Destruction Staff builds. Ofc don't forget to weave light attacks between abilities.

2 shields are overkill, you don't need anything other than Ward. Harness Magicka can be useful against ranged mobs on Maelstrom arena tho. I completed Veteran Maelstrom with only Hardened Ward. You're never going to take that much damage while playing the content you're interested in.

[Brownstone]

Get the Undaunted passives that grant you %6 more resources while wearing different types of armor and wear 5 Light + 1 Medium + 1 Heavy to get the most out of it. Chest armor gives the highest armor value so use your chest as heavy armor. Light Trinimac robes look nice (I'm a Trinimac lover as well) but you can already look like you're wearing full light armor with the outfit system.

Ditch the Assassin's Guile set and find yourself another 5-piece set. Most sets are not worth wearing unless you wear all 5.

[KitKat]

Originally posted by Mr. Brownstone:

You should eat, your character is hungry.

Already cured vampirism. No need to feed anymore.

Originally posted by Mr. Brownstone:

Also I don't get the part about the Psijic skill tree. Psijic skills are only good for Pvp. Where exactly does it say that they're the new Pve meta? That's nonsense...

I'm not talking about Psijic stuff specifically. I meant that unlocking it and going through forums to see what people think about them made me start thinking about all of this again.

Originally posted by Mr. Brownstone:

Don't spam light attacks, get force pulse and spam it. It's the main spammable of Destruction Staff builds. Ofc don't forget to weave light attacks between abilities.

Why not? Light attacks are free. While Force pulse costs mana. And what exactly should I replace on my main bar then, eh? Endless Fury? Blockade? Liquid Lightning?

Originally posted by Mr. Brownstone:

2 shields are overkill, you don't need anything other than Ward. Harness Magicka can be useful against ranged mobs on Maelstrom arena tho. I completed Veteran Maelstrom with only Hardened Ward. You're never going to take that much damage while playing the content you're interested in.

That is true. I'll think of some other buff instead of Harness Magicka then... Perhaps Accelerate from Psijic skill tree? :D Since we're talking about it already anyway. For that Minor Force(mostly for 10% crit dmg). Just a thought.

Originally posted by Mr. Brownstone:

Get the Undaunted passives that grant you %6 more resources while wearing different types of armor and wear 5 Light + 1 Medium + 1 Heavy to get the most out of it. Chest armor gives the highest armor value so use your chest as heavy armor. Light Trinimac robes look nice (I'm a Trinimac lover as well) but you can already look like you're wearing full light armor with the outfit system.

I was thinking of that... But was wearing all light for the passives from Light Armor skill tree that are based off how many of them light armor items I got. Not the "5 or more), but the +4%MagRecovery per piece/ +2% MagCost per piece. But I guess you are right, I can try to go for the one light, one medium tho.

Originally posted by Mr. Brownstone:

Ditch the Assassin's Guile set and find yourself another 5-piece set. Most sets are not worth wearing unless you wear all 5.

Well, what options do I have then?

[Brownstone]

Not talking about the vampire feeding, eat food. Food boost your stats by a huge amount and you shouldn't be playing serious content while hungry. Your hp reaches 17-18k instead of 12k and your Magicka will get closer to 40k. Try the most popular & cheapest food, Solitude Salmon-Millet Soup. You said your craft skills are maxed o you should be able to craft it easily. Just craft around 50 of it and eat one whenever you're hungry.

You already should be spamming light attacks BETWEEN abilities like I said, but it shouldn't be your main spam attack. Force Pulse is one of the top dps abilities, without spamming it your damage will be low. When you're low on Magicka, just do some heavy attacks to restore magicka.

What are your armor traits? I recommend having the Divines trait and using the Atronach Mundus to boost your Mag recovery. I know most people will recommend other Munduses that increase damage/crit but with Atronach I never run out of Magicka and can deal damage much more consistently.

You should go with 3 types of armor because each type increases all your resources while light armor parts buff only your magicka.

There are tons of Magicka sets, you can use whichever you like https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Light+Armor+Sets

But I recommend the Burning Spellweave set which is, well, meta. It drops from City of Ash I.

Also, get yourself a monster set. Monster sets drop from dungeon bosses and are only 2 part sets, which makes them very effective. You wear only 2 parts and get the main effect.
https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Monster+Helm+Sets

Ilambris set is the best available for your build.

You can have 12 items equipped.

Head
Shoulders
Chest
Belt
Gloves
Pants
Boots
Necklace
Ring 1
Ring 2
Staff (counts as 2 items)

Which means you can wear two 5-piece sets and a monster set.

[KitKat]

Originally posted by Mr. Brownstone:

Not talking about the vampire feeding, eat food. Food boost your stats by a huge amount and you shouldn't be playing serious content while hungry. Your hp reaches 17-18k instead of 12k and your Magicka will get closer to 40k. Try the most popular & cheapest food, Solitude Salmon-Millet Soup. You said your craft skills are maxed o you should be able to craft it easily. Just craft around 50 of it and eat one whenever you're hungry.

Oh, I know that :D
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1544939038
And yeah, I do use food all the time. Just not on the screenshots above.

Originally posted by Mr. Brownstone:

You already should be spamming light attacks BETWEEN abilities like I said, but it shouldn't be your main spam attack. Force Pulse is one of the top dps abilities, without spamming it your damage will be low. When you're low on Magicka, just do some heavy attacks to restore magicka.

Alright. I see what you mean. Will think of how to make it all work, thanks.

Originally posted by Mr. Brownstone:

What are your armor traits? I recommend having the Divines trait and using the Atronach Mundus to boost your Mag recovery. I know most people will recommend other Munduses that increase damage/crit but with Atronach I never run out of Magicka and can deal damage much more consistently.

All armor traits are Divines.
I also use the Thief mundus, for the crit chance... I don't really run out of magicka in regular combat - enemies just die much earlier. Only times I had "problems" with that is on the Maelstrom Arena. But even then it just kinda slowed me down to heavy attacks instead of being a reason for my deaths :) Major reasons for my death on just two arenas were POISON damage, never died on others. But then again, it's a normal MA, not veteran...

Originally posted by Mr. Brownstone:

You should go with 3 types of armor because each type increases all your resources while light armor parts buff only your magicka.

There are tons of Magicka sets, you can use whichever you like https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Light+Armor+Sets

But I recommend the Burning Spellweave set which is, well, meta. It drops from City of Ash I.

Also, get yourself a monster set. Monster sets drop from dungeon bosses and are only 2 part sets, which makes them very effective. You wear only 2 parts and get the main effect.
https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Monster+Helm+Sets

Ilambris set is the best available for your build.

You can have 12 items equipped.

Head
Shoulders
Chest
Belt
Gloves
Pants
Boots
Necklace
Ring 1
Ring 2
Staff (counts as 2 items)

Which means you can wear two 5-piece sets and a monster set.

And I didn't know staff counts as 2 items... Silly me.
I was thinking, how about having Julianos set(the one I use now) + Magnus' Gift set?
https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Magnus%27+Gift+Set
Plus that Ilambris set you suggested... If I ever get to farming/finally get a drop of that.

[Brownstone]

Ofc regular enemies will die before you run out of Magicka, you shouldn't even consider the regular world mobs to test your build :D I'm talking about boss fights in dungeon where combat takes long and you run out of magicka eventually.

It's normal that you don't know that, it's a kinda new change.

You said you don't run out of Magicka so you won't benefit much from negating the cost of abilities. Another really good set is is Mother's Sorrow since you're interested in crits. It's sold for cheap on every guildstore afaik

[Zornvel]

All my toons were solobuilds that mean I never look for a party (but because I am in some guilds I am in for about 2 dungeon runs per week, and noone says something)
You could also try to find a social guild/player friendly guild and run dungeon with them.
Or try the sololife and yes you cannot run every dungeon alone, not because the bosses but because mechanics but the most, even on veteran are no big deal.
Why Vetrean because of the monstersets (head, shoulders you get from untaunded chest) or just for fun, because I can.

For testing a build you should have access to a training dummy (nice skeletons from 3-6 kk hp, ask in guilds) Here you should kill him and look what is you dps and how is your resource management (When you fight a dungeonboss with 4 kk, he don't stop attacking you just because you have no resources) And when you feel comfortable, try it out in the world, worldbosses are nice for testing, Vvardenfell is great because this bosses were stronger than mainland.
Also there is sometimes a big difference between some bosses in strenght, try a few of them.

Also a nice traning were public dungeons if the worldbosses were to strong, run them kill everything, there you will also get a lot of skill points and on every map is at least one.

I always experiment with my builds, change some skills or more often change the sets. Some combinations were very funny to play and some surprisingly strong.

But however it takes time for experiments, also don't underestimate the champion level there is a big difference between 200+ and 700+.

And if you would like to test PvP then start with battlegrounds, the battles were fast and you will learn very fast whats wrong.

Oh you can also get monstersets without veteran dungeon/untaunded, every weekend there is the golden trader in cyrodiil (you don't need to do any PvP just enter it) and she sells monstersets but very random and for a "nice" prices.

[Requimatic]

I don't know much about Magsorcs, but the first thing I noticed from your first screenshot is that you aren't wearing a Monster set of any kind.

Monster sets offer amazing bonuses, and you should seek one out ASAP.

Monster sets drop from Veteran Dungeons, with the end boss having a 100% to drop the head item in any style, with any trait. Typically, folks will enter said dungeons and say what they're after, that way if anyone gets it you're free to trade it.

The shoulder piece, however (Monster sets are 2 pieces; head and shoulders), comes from the Undaunted chests.. which you get keys for for completing the Undaunted dailies. The bad part about this is RNG--each of the three chests has its own loot table, so you have to hope that:

1. The shoulder piece you want comes out of it.
2. It comes in the armor type you need.
3. It comes with the trait you want (typically Divines), however this one isn't such a bad thing now with the introduction of Clockwork City, where you can transmute traits on items in to traits you actually want. So just focus on getting the shoulder item you want, in the armor type (light?) that you need.

I believe it's 1 key for a Veteran completion, and 2 keys if you do the hard mode.

I would look in to an actual build, if you aren't using one already, that way you can solidify your knowledge as to what you should be working towards, and before anything else, get that Monster set.

I have no idea what the BiS set is for a Magsorc, but the sets themselves aren't that hard to get.

Other than that basic stuff, the only other thing I can tell you that you're going to have to master is the art of weapon bar swapping to cancel animations.

Unfortunately, due to the way this game is, animation canceling is still very much a part of PvE combat, even solo. The difference between fighting, say.. a public dungeon boss, both using animation canceling, and then not using it.. is staggering.

[KitKat]

The question is - am I strong enough for Veteran dungeons even? To get those monster sets... -.- Aren't 'veteran' dungeons supposed to be difficult and only suitable for top-tier meta builds with best gear and whatnot?

[Commancho]

Originally posted by Tiny Tina:

The question is - am I strong enough for Veteran dungeons even? To get those monster sets... -.- Aren't 'veteran' dungeons supposed to be difficult and only suitable for top-tier meta builds with best gear and whatnot?

Only these 300CP+ are difficult, but not because of increased stats of mobs. They are difficult because unique mechanics which you need to learn to acomplish them or to avoid being killed. Sure, good build will help you alot, but I meet in radom quickplay alot of terrible players and we still manage to finish dungeon (at least as long tank is good xd).

[ᴛᴀʟᴜ 🐦]

You should do something about that health, 15 - 20k is what everyone should run minimum for dps otherwise you get one shotted everytime the monsters even touch you in DLC/Veteran dungeons, they can even land a fart on you and you fall dead. Eat some 5000+ health foods. I put all my attributes into stamina, that food is awesome.

[KitKat]

Well, yeah, those screenshots in the main post are WITHOUT food. But i do use it all the time, dont worry.