Introduction
There are many new ESO gear sets for the Waking Flames DLC on August 23rd for PC and I’m here to give you all the juicy details. ESO will be adding two new dungeons with light, medium, and heavy five-piece item sets as well as two monster helms. And perhaps most importantly, for all of you PvPers out there, there will be some absolutely insane zerg-busting gear sets via Rewards of the Worthy.
Table of Contents
Light Armor Sets in Waking Flames DLC
We will start off with the light armor sets and the first are coming from the Dread Cellar, my favorite of the two new dungeons and by far one of the hardest out there!
Set #1 Scorion’s Feast – Waking Flames DLC
Scorion’s Feast: obtained in Dread Cellar Dungeon Waking Flame DLC
- (2 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
- (3 items) Adds 129 Magicka Recovery
- (4 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage and Spell Damage
- (5 items) When you deal damage with a fully-charged Heavy Attack, you gain an Imbued Aura for 10 seconds, granting you and up to 3 other group members 307 Magicka and Stamina Recovery. This effect can occur once every 20 seconds. If you deal damage with a fully-charged Heavy Attack with an Imbued Aura active, consume it and gain an Overflow Aura for 10 seconds, granting you and up to 3 other group members 307 Weapon Damage and Spell Damage.
Is This Set Useful in Content?
Essentially this set rewards you for double heavy attacking within a short window. Very boring gameplay and not that viable in my opinion for dps, and there are much better support sets for healers out there. For example, our healer Mannz ran it in Veteran HM Dread Cellar and it wasn’t very useful because the radius was small and it would rarely hit melee dps, tank and ranged dps. I feel there are better options to get the added weapon/spell damage like tanks running Powerful Assault and healers running Hollowfang for reliable sustain
Light Set #2 Thunder Caller – Waking Flames DLC
Thunder Caller: obtained in Red Petal Bastion Waking Flame DLC Dungeon
- (2 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration
- (3 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage and Spell Damage
- (4 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage and Spell Damage
- (5 items) Dealing damage with a fully-charged Heavy Attack calls a bolt of lightning at your target, dealing 1875 Shock Damage and leaving a 4 meter lightning crater at their location for 6 seconds, dealing 393 Shock Damage per second to enemies touching the crater. This effect can occur once every 12 seconds and scales off of the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.
I found this set to be meh…the reason being is that it rewards heavy attacking which I find boringin gameplay and it lacks mobility. The AoE damage scales off of weapon damage or spell damage, and can hit very hard but it only has a 6 second up time and a 12 second down time giving you a lower up time than one would want.
Is This Set Useful in Content?
The one use I could see for this set is the one bar magicka sorcerer build or some type of heavy attack build that magicka sorcerers in PvP love to use. However, beyond that, I can’t see myself ripping off constant fully charged heavy attacks just to see mobs or players move out of the radius
Light Set #3 Dark Convergence – ESO Waking Flames DLC
Dark Convergence: obtained via PvP Rewards of the Worthy
- (2 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
- (3 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration
- (4 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage and Spell Damage
- (5 items) Casting abilities that leave an effect on the ground will create an area that applies a 30% snare and pulls enemies every 2 seconds after a 1 second delay, and stun them for 1 second. After 4 seconds, the area deals 1092 Magic Damage to all enemies in the area, and 2185 Magic Damage to enemies within 3 meters of the center, increasing by 10% for each target. This effect can occur once every 20 seconds and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.
Is This Set Useful in Content?
With around 5700 spell damage I nearly nuke my opponent, not to mention his is just one target so that damage can scale much higher the more targets there are. Moreover, the snare is insane to deal with. The 12 meter radius matches the Templar’s ritual, and even if you use shuffle or race against time, it almost surely still hits you! I’m actually scared of this set being used by zergs, and getting xv1 by a group of templars spamming ritual and sucking me in close only to get bombarded, spammed, and bombed. BUT, this for sure will do the job of breaking up large groups. So when you see that purple ball, get out of dodge, otherwise you will be wrecked
Medium Armor Sets in Waking Flames DLC
Medium Set#1 Rush of Agony – ESO Waking Flames DLC
The first medium armor set is Rush of Agony from Dread Cellar and a decent set which looks to used primarily in PvP
Rush of Agony: obtained in Dread Cellar Dungeon
- (2 items) Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
- (3 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage and Spell Damage
- (4 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration
- (5 items) When you deal direct damage with a Blink, Charge, Leap, Teleport, or Pull ability, pull enemies within 10 meters to you. After 2 seconds, deal 1790 Physical Damage to all enemies within 7 meters. This effect can occur once every 8 seconds and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage. The pull will not apply Crowd Control Immunity to a target.
Is This Set Useful in Content?
The strength of this set is that it has a smaller cool down of 8 seconds rather than 10 like Unleashed Terror and that it is an AoE. It’s a very strong set to combine with the two-handed skill stampede or even a Stamina Templar (Stamplar) running Toppling Charge. However in 1v1 scenario, I still prefer Unleashed Terror for the bleed pressure that it applies on another player. With that said, Rush of Agony is going to be very strong in large Cyrodiil fights, providing even more incentive to use for Stampede spammers.
Medium Set #2 Grisly Gourmet – ESO Waking Flames DLC
Grisly Gourmet: obtained in Red Petal Bastion Waking Flame DLC Dungeon
- (2 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
- (3 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage and Spell Damage
- (4 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration
- (5 items) Adds 526 Maximum Stamina, Dealing Light Attack damage grants you a stack of Baker’s Delight for 5 seconds. When you gain 3 stacks, you create a Sweetroll next to your target for 5 seconds. If you or an ally touches the Sweetroll, both you and your ally gain one of the following effects: -Restore 1593 Health, Magicka and Stamina -Gain Empower for 10 seconds -Gain Major Force for 10 seconds This effect can occur once every 2 seconds.
Is This Set Useful in Content?
The effect reminds me of Essence Thief where it places a pick up item for opponents as a debuff, but unlike Essence Thief, a friendly can pick it up and you and your teammate can be buffed. When we parse tested this, my dps stayed around the same in comparison with another set like Briarheart on a stamplar. When my friend John ran around and picked it up, it still stayed the same and I didn’t find this very impactful due to its unpredictable buff and requirement to pick it up. In conclusion, I’d prefer to stick with Essence Thief in PvP for a guaranteed effect and in PvE it is just not really that viable.
Medium Set #3 Plaguebreak – ESO Waking Flames DLC
Plaguebreak: Obtained in PvP Awards for the Worthy
- (2 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration
- (3 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage and Spell Damage
- (4 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage and Spell Damage
- (5 items) Dealing direct damage to an enemy turns them into a Plague Carrier for 10 seconds, dealing 2068 Disease Damage over the duration. If the plague is removed early, it explodes, infecting enemies within 8 meters of the carrier dealing 2075 Disease Damage. The explosion deals an additional 10% damage per enemy hit. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds and scales off of the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage
Is This Set Useful in Content?
This set is surprisingly strong both for single target and large groups as it scales off of weapon damage. It also puts a dot up that compares with Rush or Unleashed and does decent damage if someone cleanses. This also has a 10 second cool down making it 100% uptime and a great choice for anyone–even magicka users because of the hybridization of stats. I can see using this in replacement of Unleashed terror because it does great single target damage, with the added effect of big aoe damage if you use purge
Heavy Armor Sets in Waking Flames DLC
Heavy Set #1 Crimson Oath’s Rive – ESO Waking Flames DLC
Crimson Oath’s Rive: obtained in Dread Cellar Dungeon
- (2 items) Adds 1487 Armor
- (3 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
- (4 items) Adds 1487 Armor
- (5 items) When you use an ability that applies a Major or Minor buff to yourself or an ally, send out a wave of energy that reduces the Armor of nearby enemies within 12 meters by 3541 for 15 seconds. This effect can occur once every 12 seconds, and will only occur if an enemy is within range.
Is This Set Useful in Content?
Any type of character can reliably proc this and keep a very high up time. Not to mention the 3541 reduction in armor is great for both PvE and PvP. Note that this reduction is not apart of any major or minor buff, so stacking it on top of any major/minor fraction via pierced armor and an infused crusher enchant can reduce armor by nearly 14,000 from a single tank! Not to mention the Roar of Alkosh set from Maw of Lorkaj has been reworked, allowing you to strike armor by 6000, a buff up from 3000 previously. With the uptime being very high and easy to proc and a generous 12 meter radius, this has a great application in PvP tanking, along with PvE, making it a must collect set in my opinion!
Heavy Set #3 Silver Rose Vigil – ESO Waking Flames DLC
Silver Rose Vigil: obtained in Red Petal Bastion Waking Flame DLC Dungeon
Set bonus
- (2 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
- (3 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
- (4 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
- (5 items) Blocking an attack grants you a stack of Realmshaper for 15 seconds, gaining up to 1 stack every 0.5 seconds. When you reach 3 stacks, you consume them and launch necrotic energy at your attacker, dealing 3226 Magic Damage and applying Major Maim for 12 seconds, reducing their damage done by 10%. Once you fire the necrotic energy, you cannot gain additional stacks of Realmshapper for 12 seconds. Damage scales off of Maximum Health
Is This Set Useful in Content?
I don’t see using this as a tank in PvE because major maim will be easy to obtain via Frost Staff Descrutive Clench in Waking Flames. Moreover, the damage isn’t that viable, but sure, you could stack 60k health in PvP and get bigger procs and that might be useful to combine with Radiant Ward. But when we tested against my teammate, he had 25k resistances and it hit for roughly 2,000. I suppose if you pair with Plague Doctor and use it against an inexperienced player, it might do alright. But otherwise, I will probably skip this set as I see better set options in PvE and PvP
Heavy Set #4 Hrothgar’s Chill – ESO Waking Flames DLC
Hrothgar’s Chill: obtained in PvP Mail rewards of the worthy
- (2 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
- (3 items) Adds 1487 Armor
- (4 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration
- (5 items) Stunning or Immobilizing your enemy causes them to burst with frost magic, applying the Chilled status effect and dealing 26% of their total Physical Resistance and Spell Resistance as Frost Damage to themselves and enemies within 8 meters of them. This effect can occur once every 7 seconds.
Is This Set Useful in Content?
When I initially tested it, I was not impressed. However, we stacked my teammate’s resistances up to 38k and I hit him with a 4300 proc. Keep in mind I wasn’t wearing Malacaths, amping up frost damage or anything else. This is a good counter set for super high resistance tanks and consider it’s an aoe set as well, it feels like there are some options for spacing into a tank killer
Monster Helms in Waking Flames DLC
Monster Set #1 Magma Incarnate – Waking Flames DLC
Magma Incarnate: obtained in The Dread Cellar Dungeon Waking Flame DLC
(1 item) Adds 129 Magicka Recovery, Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
(2 items) When you heal yourself or a group member with a single target heal ability, grant the lowest Health group member within 28 meters Minor Courage and Minor Resolve, increasing their Weapon Damage and Spell Damage by 215 and Armor by 2974 for 10 seconds. Daedric Energy will then bounce to a nearby group member within 8 meters, up to 3 times, applying Minor Courage and Minor Resolve for 10 seconds. This effect can occur once every 15 seconds.
Yay or Nay?
Let’s just say this thing is utterly amazing! The 1 piece is worth collecting and the two piece effect has some limitations in range, but it is great in small group and solo PvP giving you Minor Courage and Minor Resolve. Make this your priority collection piece in the entire DLC in my opinion, because whether you tank, heal or PvP this is worth collecting!
Monster Set #2 Prior Thierric – Waking Flames DLC
Prior Thierric: obtained in Red Petal Bastion Dungeon Waking Flame DLC
- (1 item) Adds 129 Weapon Damage, Adds 129 Spell Damage
- (2 items) Dealing direct damage with an area of effect ability creates a 6 meter shadowy whirlwind below your enemy for 7 seconds. Enemies within the whirlwind take 297 Physical Damage each second and increase their damage taken from your area of effect abilities by 5%. This effect can occur once every 15 seconds.
Yay or Nay?
The damage isn’t that high, the up time is too low and it’s not mobile, making other monster helms like Selene’s or mythics like Death Dealer’s Fete or the Kilt a much better choice in my opinion
Summary
Overall, i feel there are some worth while sets to collect in this upcoming DLC. If I were you, collect Magma Incarnate first and then make sure to check out my dungeon guide, which I’ll drop the day of the DLC. Then, I would prioritize the sets in Dread Cellar and those collected by Rewards of the Worthy if you were a PvPer. The one thing I’m worried about is the incredible strength of Dark Convergence and it’s ability to hit extremely hard on a solo player. However, this is results from testing in a controlled environment so we will see how it plays out in actual gameplay
Lastly, thanks for checking out this guide on the new ESO gear sets for the Waking Flames DLC! If you want to check out other ESO guides click here
Last Updated for ESO Blackwood Update 30. If you want the latest information on the Waking Flames DLC patch update click here. For a high level summary of the changes affecting combat, please visit this forum post.