The latest update to Elder Scrolls Online (ESO), Update 38, introduces a significant change to the Empower buff, which increases the damage of heavy attacks by 80%. The new update reduces the Empower buff to 70%, which has generated a lot of discussion and debate within the ESO community. In this article, we will analyze the change and provide some perspective on how it might affect your gameplay.

 

• ZOS's Developer Comment on the Heavy Attack Changes
• The Misunderstanding of Percent Boosts in ESO
• Empower Nerf Analysis
• Impact on Builds

 

 

↖ ZOS's Developer Comment on the Heavy Attack Changes

Before we dive into the analysis, let's take a moment to understand the reasoning behind the change. According to ZOS developer comment in the patch notes, heavy attack builds have become increasingly popular in the past year.

 

While the developers are happy to see more players being able to participate in in-game content, they are concerned that some heavy attack builds are performing too well and are outperforming standard builds. As a result, they are reducing the Empower buff from 80% to 70% to address the issue.

 

↖ The Misunderstanding of Percent Boosts in ESO

One of the primary reasons for the community's negative reaction to the change is a misunderstanding of how percent boosts work in ESO. Many players see a 10% reduction in the Empower buff and assume their overall damage will be reduced by 10%, which is not the case. Percent boosts in ESO are generally additive with each other, so a 10% reduction in the Empower buff does not equate to a 10% reduction in overall damage.

 

↖ Empower Nerf Analysis

To provide a clearer perspective on the change, let's look at the chart below. The chart compares the percent increases in heavy attack damage from Update 37 to Update 38 using a one-bar open soul build. The base damage for heavy attacks is 100, and the chart shows the additional damage percentages from buffs such as Empower, Weapon Expert, Exploiter, CP Boost, and Open Soul.

 

Buff	Update 37	Update 38
Empower	80%	70%
Weapon Expert	20%	20%
Exploiter	3%	3%
CP Boost	6%	6%
Open Soul	10%	10%
Total	219%	209%
Difference	-4.57%	-

 

 

 

 

The chart shows that heavy attack damage is reduced by approximately 4.5% from Update 37 to Update 38 with the Empower Nerf. However, keep in mind that this is just a loss to heavy attack damage, not a total damage loss. Most players will probably find themselves in the 40 to 70% range with their traditional one-bar heavy attack builds. Therefore, for most players, the overall damage loss will be around two to 3%, which is a worst-case scenario. The actual difference will be smaller with more percent buffs added in.

 

↖ Impact on Builds

The changes will affect heavy attack builds that rely heavily on empower, but the impact may not be as significant as some players fear. For most players, the overall damage loss will be in the 2% to 3% range, which translates to single-digit differences in seconds for fight times. However, some players may experience a greater impact in encounters lasting longer than five minutes.

 

Conclusion:

The heavy attack change in Update 38 may seem significant at first glance, but when analyzed, it is clear that it is not a drastic nerf to heavy attack builds. The change only affects heavy attack damage, and the actual difference in overall damage is small, ranging from 2% to 3% for most players. We hope this analysis provides some clarity on the Empower Nerf and helps alleviate any concerns or worries that players may have. Remember to keep an open mind and continue to experiment with different ESO builds to find the one that works best for you.