On November 1, 2021, the new Update 32 Deadlands for the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online will be released. The major topics are proc set balance, a hard cap on critical damage, and the continued hybridization of gear sets, which was already started in the previous update. MeinMMO shows you the most important changes and explains what they mean for you and your group.
The next update will bring many changes, especially affecting the endgame. Raid groups will need to make changes to their group setup after release. Here you will find out in advance what to expect.
ESO gets a hard cap of 125% on critical damage
Due to a number of gear sets added in recent years, the potential value for critical damage has increased significantly. To ensure that other stats gain more importance again, the developers have decided to introduce a hard cap of 125% on critical damage.
This primarily impacts PvE endgame content. In trials, several sets or skills within the group have been used that increase critical damage in some form. With a hard cap, some of the buffs and debuffs achieved so far will become unnecessary.
There will be a significant meta change concerning raid groups, and the equipment setup will look significantly different than before.
Here is an overview of previous sources to increase critical damage:
That means some slots for sets, buffs, champion points, or abilities will be eliminated. These will be replaced by others within groups to increase group damage.
Hybridization of all item sets
The hybridization refers to the attributes of stamina and magicka. All sets in the game will be adjusted according to the following rules:
- Sets that grant magicka OR weapon power will in the future grant both.
- Sets that grant physical penetration OR magic penetration will in the future grant both.
- Sets that grant critical magic OR weapon hits will in the future grant both.
The rationale behind this is that players will have a freer choice of equipment based on the principle of “play the way you want”.
Proc sets will be able to critically hit again
More specifically, sets that scale with magic & weapon damage, maximum stamina, and maximum magicka will be able to critically hit again. Item sets that scale differently (e.g., cumulatively) will not be able to critically hit. The scaling of the sets that will be able to critically hit again will also be reduced by about 5%.
These are the item sets that will be affected by the changes and will be able to critically hit again:
Arena Weapons:
- Merciless Charge
- Rampaging Momentum
- Wild Impulse
Craftable Sets
- Ashen Grip
- Dragon’s Appetite
- Legacy of Karth
- Memory
- Endless Hunt
- Coldharbour’s Favorite
- Vampire’s Kiss
- Morkuldin
- Nocturnal’s Favor
- Shalidor’s Revenge
- Redistribution
Dungeons & Arenas
- Aegis Caller
- Assailing Agony
- Harvesting Decline
- Azure Plague Reaper
- Caluurion’s Legacy
- Thunder of the Auroran
- Thunder Caller
- Draugr Rest
- Icy Caller
- Iceforger
- Unshackled Terror
- Flame Blossom
- Cursed of Doylemish
- Hitis’ Hearth
- Pestilent Host
- Pure Poison
- Pillars of Nirn
- Plague Flinger
- Severing Flame
- Overwhelming Wave
- Viper Bite
- Advantage of Forgetting
- Wild Werewolf
- Winter Child
- Widowmaker
Monster Sets / Mask Sets
- Iceheart
- Bloodletter
- Domihaus
- Ilambris
- Infernal Watcher
- Kjalnar’s Nightmare
- Kra’gh
- Mephala’s Brutality
- Night Flame
- Nerien’eth
- Prior Thierric
- Chasm of the Infernal
- Selene
- Sellistrix
- Stoneclad
- Stormfist
- Valkyn Skoria
- Velidreth
- Strangling Thorn
Open World
- Thunderbug Armor
- Thornheart
- Legacy of the Draugr
- Poison Strike
- Night Terror
- Shadow of the Red Mountain
- Profaner
- Syvarra’s Scales
- Deadlands Assassin
- Trinimac’s Valor
- Endless Darkness
- Mind Bender
- Way of Fire
- Winter Rest
- Wrath of the Storm Knight
- Twin Sisters
PvP Sets
- Almalexia’s Grace
- Misery
- Galerion’s Revenge
- Cruel Death
- Kyn’s Kiss
- Phoenix
- Vice-Canon of Poison
Trial Sets
- Roar of Alkosh
- Poison Snake
- Destructive Mage
- Dusk Healing
Burst Sets get a global cooldown
Item sets that deal burst damage within 4 seconds will receive a global cooldown of 1 second. This means that sets whose burst damage works the same cannot be activated simultaneously.
If a player is still wearing multiple sets with this mechanism in the future, the first applied set will be triggered first. After 1 second, another effect of this type can be triggered.
The only sets that are not affected are sets with counter chances, with cooldowns of 1 second or without cooldown.
This change could particularly impact small-scale PvP. This means in player fights of smaller groups, battlegrounds, or duels.
So-called gank builds will be particularly affected. These are builds that aim to deal massive (proc) damage in the shortest time possible, making it seem as though an opposing player is defeated with a single hit. However, various damage effects are visible in the death recap.
Here is a list of item sets affected by the changes:
- Ashen Grip
- Thunderbug Armor
- Thunder Caller
- Misery
- Cursed of Doylemish
- Poison Snake
- Hrothgar’s Chill
- Kra’gh
- Lamae’s Song
- Rampaging Momentum
- Deadlands Assassin
- Stormfist
- Syvarra’s Scales
- Defending Warrior
- Viper Bite
- Way of Fire
- Winter Child
Other small changes with significant impact
Additionally, the next update will also make minor adjustments. Some of these will have major impacts on specific combat situations.
The Vampire’s Mist form will now only reduce damage from attacks by other players. This targets the developer team’s efforts against the use of this damage-negating ability for many situations in PvE content.
Here is the comment from the developers:
“This ability has become increasingly popular as a one-size-fits-all solution to many different challenges in PvE that were actually meant to require specific strategies from players. As a result, many situations have become completely trivialized, or it has sometimes given the impression that one must necessarily be a vampire to handle certain content. “Mist Form” is actually intended to escape fights. However, the previous version allows it too easily to remain steadfast in PvE or become invincible. Therefore, we are limiting the damage reduction to PvP, to continue offering this option while simultaneously making its use as a defensive tool in PvE impossible.”
(via ESO forums)
This will have a significant impact on the latest raid content. The ability has been increasingly used in the newest raid Felshain. Healers, DDs, and even tanks currently use it against massive damage from the second boss Bahsei or his mechanics.
With this change to the ability, its use in PvE will become unviable. Many raid groups will also be forced to adjust their builds in this regard.
Are you currently looking for your own build or perhaps don’t know exactly what to pay attention to? Then check out our builds for every role. You can also access the other guides in the article ESO: The best Magicka DD Builds for Beginners.
