[MAGUS] Does def work...?

[zgolec]

Hello.

I am thinking about making def spec magus for solo and for some rifting in WBs.

Question is mainly for solo.

First and foremost is it worth to go that way / class at all?
Since third tree boost toughness should i stack more tough on my items or rather go armor or wounds?
Is it good to go for fleshrender for solo magus [toughness ones]? Or rather go for more offensive acc so it doesnt hit like wet noodle?

Any tips on builds or rotations will be greatly apreciated by those more experioenced on this class

Cheers!

[Firebird]

Def spec is still viable, and if running solo really the way to go imho.

Basically you want to max toughness, damage bubbles, regen, and defensive stats.
Armor: early on, run some dominator for the +toughness (at least 2 piece, possibly 4 for the AC bonus). I didn't try it, but Oppressor 4 piece for the bubble might not be bad. Add 3 beast lord (Cloak for toughness tali slot, pocket item, and jewelry), which gives you + 225 armor. Jewelry: the +toughness, 3x 40HP/4sec regen rings, and the BL. Later add 3 piece INV for the + Toughness. Also, make sure to get the regen mushroom from K8P.
Later, play around with some def sov and look at the other higher sets. You'll know by then what you like.

Weapon: the T4 epic weapon from Chaos quest, Annihilation , Procs a damage bubble. This wep is good till you get Demonrend (Maybe demonsoul?) from BBBE.

Renown: When you can afford it, get the 2x futile strikes, then max toughness, grab +parry, and +dodge/disrupt as you can.

Mastery: first priority is Aegis of Orange fire, and the + toughness tactic with pet. After that up to you. Some like disarm, some don't.
Other tactics to run/play with are Warped Flesh for the bubble, and then up to you. I currently run Devour Energy and changer's blessing, but some like inst-summon pets.
Pots: Toughenss and armor
For reference, at 76 with a combo of Def Sov, Inv and Dom. 3 x Tougheness fleshrender, and all armor talis, I am sitting at around 960 toughness with pet up.

What I haven't tried yet is adding the Grimmshimmer BP. I plan to, just haven't got to it.

Honestly, it's a fun build, and you will survive those solo encounters much better.

[Pahakukka]

Magus is still very viable solo class, no matter the spec. Mine can get 800+ toughness with still some dmg. or a bit less toughness and lot more dmg. Lately been running in full dps spec and still find it very solo friendly.

[Zxul]

Armor, I would recommend the classic mix- domi boots/gloves/belt, annih body + head, pocket/back/gem/shoulders beastlord. This way you are getting 2 toughness set bonuses and 2 intel ones.

Invader toughness set bonus looks good on paper, but the problem is parts themselves have almost no toughness.

Higher sets don't have toughness set bonuses, which makes them a questionable upgrade. One possible option is replacing beastlord with 3 warlord, for the regen on the helm.

For weapon I prefer Apocalypse (10% chance to drain 150 hp on being hit) from bbbe, it also adds a lot of wounds/toughness. There is also lower version from epic quests.

[Firebird]

Apocalypse, I'll take a look at it. Do you have a rough estimate on how often it procs Zxul? I found that the pilfer event item didn't seem to proc very often.

I have tended towards +wounds proc weapons over the pilfer ones. My thinking is that if you are not at a point where the proc will push you over the soft cap, then you get more out of wounds procs, since the boost your wounds, and heal you for that amount. This effectively gives you a heal and a small bubble of extra HP. My thinking may be flawed, and I welcome discussion on this. I am more than willing to change my weapon out if it turns out my thinking is incorrect.

[Zxul]

Its 10% for 150 lifetap, which after the ability patch mitigated by armor, but also benefits from +dmg such as 20% from your pet.

Lets say that you are fighting a solo wh, and look at 20 sec which is the cd of +wound proc. A wh using abilities will do 20 /1.5 gcd= 13.3 ability hits during that time, and using 2.5 speed weapon 20 /2.5=8 aa + 8/2= 4 offhand aa hits, total 13.3 + 8 + 4 = 25.3 total hits.

25.3 * 0.1= 2.53 lifetap procs on average over 20 sec, or 379.5 dmg and 379.5 heals. Total value 759, almost the same as wounds proc (currently though realistically likely somewhat less because of mitigation). Once however you getting into more hits situation, like wl + pet, or 2 attackers, the +wounds proc still does the 800 heal, while lifetap proc does proportionally more. From other hand, in a solo fight under 20 sec +wounds proc becomes better.

So in general I would say it depends on magus spec, the more glass cannon magus is the better +wounds one is, and the tankier the magus the better the lifetap. Though realistically a full glass cannon magus will use something else anyway, like bloodlord stuff.