1.9 arcanist or netherwind?

[seth]

what with my project and all the shit ive been doing i havnt been able to keep up to date with my reading... however i was glancing over a post on the mage forum about the changes to arcanist/netherwind set and the implementation of -resist gear. and from what i've read arcanist 5 piece looks rediculously overpowered. am i wrong or whats going on here? looks like they turned nw into a pve based set and arcanist into more of a hardcore dmg set ...

just looking for your thoughts

[Blackened]

8 piece Netherwind > *

[seth]

yeah but the value they give -resist gear as an item mod is highly underrated atm

[MoonStar]

8 piece Netherwind > *

My thoughts on it.

Get the -resists on Staff Rings Trinkets.

[Bloodshot]

yeah but the value they give -resist gear as an item mod is highly underrated atm

It's underrated and "cheap" only if you are shooting at targets that have resistances > 0 to the class of spells you are using.

For example, if you are shooting fireballs at a target that has 60 fire resistance, getting items that have -resist as a mod is by far the best way of increasing your DPS against that target. (You can also increase damage done to that target by getting +damage items, +crit and +hit). However, +damage, crit and hit are much, much more "expensive" as a mod.

The really big issue is that -resist is only effective until the target reaches 0 resists. Ie, stacking more than -60 resists against the target above does absolutely nothing in terms of damage, while you can never have enough +damage or +crit, they effectively never cap.

PvE-wise, -resists will never really be good, unless blizzard makes it necessary by introducing mobs with resistances to every school of magic (such as the whelps and dragonkin during the Rend event).

PvP-wise, it's probably a good mod, up to a certain point. Since everyone runs around with at least 40 resists to every school of magic, mixing that amount of -resists with your damage gear should be the best.

[Rhaegor]

The new 5 piece Arcanist is only -10 resists. Pathetic.

Just go slap on the new AV ring or WSG trinket if you want -resists.

[seth]

good point blood