ESO's Most Infamous Set: Dark Convergence
By Andrew | 10 Mar 2022 |
New to PvP in ESO? Ever found yourself suddenly pulled towards a mysterious blue orb before being stunned and swiftly dying? Well, Dark Convergence is to blame…
This set has to be a contender for the most controversial thing ever added to ESO, and continues to dominate Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds, both delighting and horrifying PvP players.
Today we will have a look at this set and its impact on PvP and the ESO community at large.
What is Dark Convergence in ESO, and why was it created?
Dark Convergence is a set that was added in the Waking Flame update. It can be obtained via Rewards for the Worthy. The set works by snaring and pulling in enemies, then exploding to deal high amounts of AOE damage after four seconds. The explosion damage gets higher if lots of players are pulled in.The open world PvP of Cyrodiil in ESO (Elder Scrolls Online) has had a persistent feature in for most of its history: that of massive zergs (very large groups of players) dominating the campaign, their dominance further augmented by their ability to stack AOE damage and healing. While many zergs are rather uncoordinated, this is not always the case, and coordinated zergs can be almost unstoppable.
There has also been a long standing feeling that zergs were having a negative impact on server performance and causing lag in PvP, something which seems to be confirmed by Zenimax’s repeated attempts to throw a spanner in the works by conducting various tests, reworking grouping and adding new sets to the game to make it easier to counter zergs.
Dark Convergence is the latest such set. And Zenimax literally stated on the patch notes where they announced the addition of Dark Convergence that it was "designed with one goal in mind - kill large groups".
A zerg (large group) in ESOHow can I counter Dark Convergence in ESO?
While the set is definitely powerful, it is possible to survive it, but it always depends on the situation.The initial pull effect of the set is hard to avoid, however you do have a window of four seconds to CC break and get away from the explosion. I do not advise staying put and trying to take the damage, as groups that use the set will always drop AOE ultimates on top of it to finish off those who are pulled in. You can dodge roll away, use an escape ability like Streak if you have one, or gradually move out of the area while blocking some of the incoming damage.
Surviving situations like this is something you should always have in mind when making your build for PvP. It’s important to have a good balance between survivability, mobility and damage output. If you're struggling or want to see what other people are using, you can get some build ideas for ESO PvP here.
If you have friends with you and aren’t too badly outnumbered, then you can worry about fighting back against your assailants once you have survived the initial attack - players using proc sets are sometimes carried by their build, and their actual normal damage output isn’t always that great, so always give it a shot!
The Ebonheart Pact prepares to defend an Elder Scroll in ESOWhat does the ESO community think about Dark Convergence?
A recent thread on the ESO forums does a good job of representing the discourse around Dark Convergence. The majority of the feedback surrounding the set seems to be negative, and on a personal note I have to say that I found PvP less fun across the board since they added it.Some players are demanding that ZOS straight up remove the set from the game, while others take a softer stance on it and want it to have just part of its effect removed, such as the stun or the damage proc. There are however some PvE players wary of another set they like to use being nerfed because of problems with PvP balance, and asking that ZOS split the functionality of the set to be different in PvP and PvE areas. It is actually difficult to find anyone who thinks the set is fine as it is, even those who say they enjoy using it admit that it is too overpowered and that they think it needs to be changed or removed.
It really seems to me that this set is a “sticking-plaster” fix to reduce the impact of zergs while Zenimax works on a more permanent solution. This is taking a long time however, and the problem with it for me is that the set also has a massive impact in places where zergs are not present, such as Battlegrounds.
Many players will say that PvP is at its best when players, be they solo or in a group, earn their victories because they did a better job in combat than their opponents, not because they were carried by a set that they found in a reward box or bought from a Guild Trader.
In any case, while the set is having a couple of bugs related to its damage output being either lower or higher than intended fixed with Ascending Tide, it seems that it is here to stay for the time being.
We hope you enjoyed this article about Dark Convergence in ESO (Elder Scrolls Online).
by
Andrew
10 Mar 2022
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