Welcome to the fourth installment of a weekly segment where we dive into oneElder Scrolls Online’smanySets, and explore what sort ofBuildsyou can make. Not only will we show you how to get the most from these Sets, but we’ll explain where to get them, what requirements there are to obtain them (if any), and everything else you could possibly want to know about them. This week’s Set comes in Light, Medium and Heavy Armor making it one of the more unique Sets in ESO:Bahraha’s Curse. This Set was named afterMagnifico Bahraha, a necromancer inHew’s Bane.
An Introduction To This Set
This Set was introduced with theThieves Guild DLCin spring of 2016. This Set’s bonuses have never changed since it’s introduction and it can currently be found inHew’s Bane. Access toHew’s Banerequires theThieves Guild DLC, however, you can purchase or trade this Set with other players because it is bind-on-equip. An interesting thing about this Set is that it comes in Light, Medium and Heavy Armor. However, you must run dailyHeistsin order to obtain Medium and Heavy pieces, as only Light will drop on the landscape.
Since this is aOverland Set, you can get Weapons, Shields, Armor and Jewelry. TheTraitson this Armor are random, so you may have to farm in order to get the ones that you need. Jewelry for this set comes in Arcane, which makes it only useful to Magicka builds. The really interesting thing about this Set, as mentioned above, is that it comes in Light, Medium and Heavy Armor, making it extremely versatile. Since it’s bind-on-equip it is still possible to find some pieces out there that are not Light if you look hard enough.
I could not get this set to deal higher than 1195 Magic Damage at Champion Rank 160 at Legendary quality. However the heal will increase if you have +% Healing Taken or if you have +% Healing Done. The chance to proc and amount that it reducesMovement Speed(70%) do not change no matter level or quality. Since this Set is a “proc Set” it cannotCritically Strikeon either the damage or the heal it does.
Movement Speed Reduction Information
One of the great things about this Set is that it reduces theMovement Speedof the target by 70% while they are standing in the the AoE. However, there are some things you need to know aboutMovement Speed Reductionthat are seemingly nowhere to be found on the internet. I took the time to do some research and although I am not certain it’s 100% accurate, I am confident that what I have witnessed with my own eyes is fairly damn close.
Firstly, from all my testing,Movement Speeddebuffs from Abilities do NOT stack. That means if you cast 2 or more Abilities on a target that reduce itsMovement Speedby a certain amount, they won’t all add up or multiply up and effect it. Instead what happens is that the highestMovement Speed Reductionwill apply, overwriting the lower value, and if it wears off first the other will come back into effect. For all intents and purposes the game considers theMovement Speed ReductionfromBahraha’s Cursean Ability.
Second,Weapon Poisonsthat reduceMovement SpeedWILL stack multiplicatively with AbilityMovement Speed Reductions. What this means is: if you cast an Ability that reduces the target’sMovement Speedby 40% and then apply aWeapon Poisonthat reduces it by 50% the target will have aMovement Speed Reductionof 70%. TheWeapon Poisonwill reduce the remaining 60%Movement Speedby half (50%), down to 30%, making for a total reduction of 70%. If my math is correct the highestMovement Speed Reductionyou can have on a target is 85%.
What You Need To Know About This Set
How this Set works is: whenever you damage an enemy you have a 25% chance to castBahraha’s Curseon the ground for 5 seconds. It doesn’t matter if it’s direct damage, damage over time, an AoE, or a Light or Heavy Attack. Just any sort of damage. WhenBahraha’s Curseprocs it will land under the targets feet no matter how far they are from you, and will begin dealing damage, healing you and reducing theirMovement Speedas long as they are standing on it. If they move out if it, the effect will remain but will no longer affect them.
You can only have oneBahraha’s Curseup at once, and you can’t have this on multiple targets.Bahraha’s Cursewill vanish if a) the 5 seconds are up or b) the target dies. Since there is no cooldown, the instant either of these happenBahraha’s Cursecan proc again. This means if you stack a few DoTs on your target then there will most likely be no downtime between Curses. It also means that if you have DoTs on multiple targets that you may proc this under a different target than intended.
Master-at-ArmsandElemental Expertin theChampion Systemboth affect the damage and thereby the healing this Set will do. And, although it doesn’t increase the tooltip,Spell Erosionwill increase the damage on the target as well by removing resistance.BlessedandQuick Recoverywill also increase your healing of this, but not your damage.
Notes For PvE Players
This Set can work extremely well for Tanks because it allows them to heal themselves with a HoT that they can keep up nearly 100% of the time. SinceLeeching Platehas a very similar effect, just with a smaller proc chance, consider pairing these two Sets for best results. Adding something likeSwarm Mothermay help increase the overall effectiveness of a setup like this, since it will pull in enemies you block, increasing your damage dealt and the healing your receive. Since most Tanks have some heals, using these Sets in conjunction with their own heals may allow them to tank some Dungeons without a Healer.
Notes For PvP Players
This Set can work for either Stamina or Magicka Builds because of the bonuses, but if you’re a Stamina build you will need to find some Medium or Heavy pieces to make it worthwhile. You don’t want to be using Arcane Jewelry if you’re a Stamina player and you definitely don’t want to be using Light Armor. you may try to purchase these off of players or Guild Traders or you can runDaily HeistsinHew’s Bane.
Neither the damage, nor the heal, nor theMovement Speed Reductionare AMAZING, however, when you add them all together the Set has some versatility. For example, fighting against a large group is sure to snag several people, slowing them and healing you so that you can keep on attacking. The benefit of this Set is that it allows you to keep the pressure up on your opponent by constantly snaring/damaging them and healing you at the same time. On myTemplarI can: hit players withVampire’s Bane, thenToppling Charge, and then justPuncturing Sweepon them and never let up because not only are they perma-snared, they are taking damage fromBahraha’s Curse, my DoT,Puncturing Sweepall the while I’m being healed. There is no reason for me to ever switch to my back bar unless I’m being attacked by someone else.
Final Tips
When using this Set try not to worry about how much damage it deals and don’t try to maximize it withChampion Points, because you might gimp your character overall in doing so. Instead put your points where they normally would go and you will be more effective when using this Set.
The biggest downside toBahraha’s Curseis that the AoE area isn’t that large. This means that although you will have nearly 100% up time, you won’t get 100% of the benefit all of the time. Try to position your character in a way that it can get the most form the Curse itself. Grouping up lots of enemies on it if you’re in a dungeon, or players if you’re out inCyrodiilcan be difficult, but can ultimately make this set more effective than some others.
Since you cannot control where this Set procs if you are damaging more than one target, be sure not to hit things away from the group of enemies/players so that you don’t accidentally proc this on the one guy near absolutely no one. Also, consider waiting a second when you first pull a group of enemies/players and wait for the moment they are grouped before unloading to maximize effectiveness. This ability is great when defending Keeps because it can slow tons of people under Oil. Mix inFire Runeand you’ve got yourself a great Keep defensive setup.
Stay tuned next week for ourBuildGuidearound anotherESOSet, and one you might not use too frequently!
