How Combat is Changing in ESO’s Next Update
By Andrew | 10 Mar 2022 |
Over the course of the last few patches in ESO (Elder Scrolls Online), the developers at Zenimax have gradually been shifting the game’s combat to be more favorable towards “hybrid builds”.
Hybrid builds are builds which make use of both stamina and magicka skills or sets. Previously they have generally been punished by the way ESO’s combat worked, because you pretty much had to focus on either magicka or stamina to have high damage and good sustainability, especially in PvE scenarios.
Having already made many item sets automatically scale from magicka or stamina depending on which one your build is focused on, in the Ascending Tide update, most skills in the game will now also derive their damage scaling from your highest stat, instead of always taking this value from either magicka or stamina with no flexibility.
New Build Options in ESO
Previously when choosing which morph of an ESO ability to use, damage dealers were generally forced to choose the morph that fitted their build’s primary attribute - magicka or stamina.Examples of this include Biting Jabs for stamina versus Puncturing Sweep for magicka, and Surprise Attack versus Concealed Weapon.
With the new update however, players will instead be able to choose a morph based on the merits of its effect alone, without feeling forced to choose a particular one.
This also creates a new challenge for ZOS, as they will need to make sure that all skill morphs offer interesting and impactful options, lest some morphs fall completely by the wayside and become seldom used.
There are a few exceptions to the new scaling, namely Templar’s Backlash, Sorcerer’s Conjured Ward and Annulment from the Light Armor skill line, and all morphs of these abilities.
The long awaited stamina whip for Dragonknights in ESO could soon become a realityChanges to Buffs in ESO
To stay in line with the new changes, some buffs are also being slightly changed in ESO.Player abilities that granted a major buff specific to stamina or magicka attacks, such as Major Savagery, will now also grant their magicka counterpart, in this case that would be Major Prophecy.
Minor buffs granted from class passives, such as Minor Prophecy from the Sorcerer, will on the other hand stay as they are now. This is because granting both buffs in these cases would mess with the unique contribution made to an organized group by bringing a particular class.
These changes could lead to all kinds of new build options that were not previously viable, from poisonous magicka Dragonknights to magical archers. The possibilities do seem almost endless and we are excited to see what builds players will come up with.
Ascending Tide will be released on 14th March for PC/Mac players, and 29th March for console players.
We hope you enjoyed this article about the upcoming hybridization changes in ESO (Elder Scrolls Online).
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