Oakensoul Ring is Already Getting Nerfed in ESO's Next Patch
By Andrew | 13 Jul 2022 |
The Oakensoul Ring has only been in the game for little over a month, and yet it's already got an extensive history of nerfs, buffs and controversy.
This Mythic item first appeared on the High Isle PTS in a very powerful state, and was then nerfed heavily. It then got buffed again before the official launch of the Chapter, giving an array of Major buffs to players including rare ones like Major Heroism, which was generally well received by PvE players, especially more casual players, but disliked by some PvP players who thought that it was leading to some overpowered synergies with certain builds. Nightblades and Dragonknights were noted as being especially powerful when using the mythic.
However, a considerable nerf to the Oakensoul Ring has already been revealed in the patch notes for the Lost Depths PTS. 
What will Change with the Oakensoul Ring in ESO?
The Oakensoul Ring will now grant the wearer Minor Courage, Minor Berserk, Minor Force, Minor Protection and Minor Heroism as opposed to the Major versions of those buffs. It will also have Minor Mending added to its list of buffs. The other Major buffs on the ring remain in place.The developer comment pretty much reiterated that the target audience of the Oakensoul Ring was intended to be players who are more casual or who struggle with complicated skill rotations. The nerf is supposed to keep the ring as a valid option for those players, while limiting its usefulness in creating very powerful builds that rival or even outperform conventional 2-bar builds.
This does now mean however that the Oakensoul Ring offers very little value at all for group play, because all of these minor buffs can be obtained quite easily by the players who need them. The most powerful ones are Minor Courage, Minor Berserk and Minor Heroism.
Minor Courage is extremely common in PvE group play because it comes from the tank set Claw of Yolnahkriin, which most tanks will have apart from beginners. It also comes from the Magma Incarnate monster set.
Minor Berserk is very easy to get, you simply need to slot Camouflaged Hunter on your front bar to get this buff, which is pretty common practice among more experienced DPS players, and definitely worth doing if you do not have another source of this buff. You can also get Major Savagery and Major Prophecy from the same source.
Minor Heroism obviously comes from the Heroic Slash skill, but this isn't viable for DPS players to use. However DPS players who can afford some expensive potions have been using Heroism potions for quite some time now to get this buff and augment their DPS output by casting more ultimate abilities. And if you can't afford to get those potions, it probably isn't worth using the Oakensoul Ring in group play just for this buff. You will almost certainly get more value from another mythic item, for example Harpooner's Wading Kilt.
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