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Nunatak is the first frost based monster helmet set since the introduction of Iceheart back in 2016. Since then there have been many flame and magic damage monster helmets, but none for frost. Frost and Shock based sets had recieved very little love until finally last year @ZOS_Liforce stated that they would be introducing more frost and shock based sets in future patches. ZOS has absolutely kept their word on this front, with the frost based examples including the solid Frostbite set, the controversial Hrothgar's Chill and this patch the new glacial guardian set, which brings us to Nunatak. I was well aware that this boss's set would be coming eventually, and even made a suggestion for it as seen in this post due to my excitement: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/587571/frost-dps-based-set-ideas/p1. I had figured that finally, as it has been so incredibly long since we had recieved a frost based monster helm, that we would receive a new and solid frost based helm when nunatak was finally brought into the game. One that was able to be capitalised on by frost based damage dealers.
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but, alas, it was not to be, for this is what we recieved:
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For such a pretty outfit, Nunatak is awful. Not even in the sense that it's awful as a frost damage dealer set. I quite literally mean in general It does not do anything well.
It wouldn't seem like that makes any sense! Nunatak hosts a new buff completely unique to it, that being the fearsome Major Brittle. This buff is naturally the more powerful version of the frost staff's minor brittle, a huge +20% critical damage taken effect that is applied to enemies. Another source that can, or could, help the group to reach the critical damage cap.
Nunatak also provides a very small frost damage tick along with a stacking snare that immobilises at 4 stacks! so how can it be so bad when it has so many strong effects?
Just look at it in action. Here is the kicker that really kills the set:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn3tTfHYMJA
Immunity to immobilisation of any form means that major brittle will not proc. but not only that, it's easily walked out of by players, not even running which would do the job a lot faster
Here is the set used in a dungeon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udjnYZVoZBQ
This was @Whiskey_JG and i running through part of Veteran Wayrest Sewers 1. for a 4 second duration until the major brittle procs, it's not going to help at all for trash packs in a lot of dungeons, the only benefit you get from it is the small damage tick. Later on in the video, you can see that against a boss like slimecraw, that is immune to immobilisations, major brittle does not proc a single time. So it's useless against bosses and some bigger elite adds. Why would you even bother using this against trial trash packs or even at all when there are so many better options in the first place anyway?
Here are 2 seperate parses from @Whiskey_JG and @Tannus15 respectively, looking at the damage % of nuna, it's damage is not looking good either, but with an uptime and a tooltip like that, that should be expected. a couple of different settups were tried in Whiskey's case, and this was still the highest result that nunatak got.
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]
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What are some other things that could happen to increase it's viability?
[list=1]
[*] if the set was made into single target instead of AOE it would likely see use, but the snare remaining as is is incredibly toxic and unfun to fight against. the major brittle effect would be nice for frost dps in pvp to use though.
[*] the immobilize proc condition for major brittle means that the major brittle is just genuinely useless unless fighting weak trash mobs that die really fast anyway. it should absolutely be removed. even if this set remains tank focused, this is the biggest problem outside of it's really weak uptime.
[*] The set could be entirely redesigned from the ground up, there are some fun ideas i've suggested in a previous thread that could act as inspiration.(https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/587571/frost-dps-based-set-ideas/p1)
[/list]
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TL:DR
Nunatak has several problems which will be listed
[list=1]
[*] The Immobilise is the proc condition for the major brittle meaning it doesn't work on powerful enemies like bosses. This has been changed to instead proc from damage ticks instead as of week 4
[*] The Major Brittle proc condition takes too long
[*] The Area of Effect animation is genuinely awful to look at and doesn't even look completed
[*] The set's Area of Effect stacking snare design makes it useless in pvp even though it is an IC set.
[*] The damage is pitiful and but also it's only decent quality
[*] the 1pc armor bonus doesn't do anything for dps.
[*] The Major Brittle uptime is a bit too low even if everything does manage to proc correctly
[*]As of Week 2 the tooltip does not list the cooldown of the proc dispite having the line for it. It also does not make sense after it talks about dealing damage since it immediately cuts in with the proc name. -This has been fully fixed as of week 4.
[/list]
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Closing Remarks
Zenimax, it's taken 5 years to get a new frost monster helm, and while you have shown that you are indeed creating more frost and shock sets, some have definitely not hit the mark. Nunatak is absolutely one of the biggest examples i can think of in recent memory. Is @ZOS_Liforce or @ZOS_Gilliam (or any set team member) able to confirm their intentions with this set? As it seems like it is currently trying to do too many things at once. Is it supposed to be a frost dps monster helm like the frost dps community has been hoping for? Or is it supposed to be mostly tank based? The frost dps community has been holding out for a new and powerful frost dps based helmet and/or mythic item(since greymoor) that can help them stand out from a normal damage dealer for years now. Nunatak definitely is not it.
------------
but, alas, it was not to be, for this is what we recieved:
-----------
For such a pretty outfit, Nunatak is awful. Not even in the sense that it's awful as a frost damage dealer set. I quite literally mean in general It does not do anything well.
It wouldn't seem like that makes any sense! Nunatak hosts a new buff completely unique to it, that being the fearsome Major Brittle. This buff is naturally the more powerful version of the frost staff's minor brittle, a huge +20% critical damage taken effect that is applied to enemies. Another source that can, or could, help the group to reach the critical damage cap.
Nunatak also provides a very small frost damage tick along with a stacking snare that immobilises at 4 stacks! so how can it be so bad when it has so many strong effects?
Just look at it in action. Here is the kicker that really kills the set:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn3tTfHYMJA
Immunity to immobilisation of any form means that major brittle will not proc. but not only that, it's easily walked out of by players, not even running which would do the job a lot faster
Here is the set used in a dungeon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udjnYZVoZBQ
This was @Whiskey_JG and i running through part of Veteran Wayrest Sewers 1. for a 4 second duration until the major brittle procs, it's not going to help at all for trash packs in a lot of dungeons, the only benefit you get from it is the small damage tick. Later on in the video, you can see that against a boss like slimecraw, that is immune to immobilisations, major brittle does not proc a single time. So it's useless against bosses and some bigger elite adds. Why would you even bother using this against trial trash packs or even at all when there are so many better options in the first place anyway?
Here are 2 seperate parses from @Whiskey_JG and @Tannus15 respectively, looking at the damage % of nuna, it's damage is not looking good either, but with an uptime and a tooltip like that, that should be expected. a couple of different settups were tried in Whiskey's case, and this was still the highest result that nunatak got.
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]
--------------------------
What are some other things that could happen to increase it's viability?
[list=1]
[*] if the set was made into single target instead of AOE it would likely see use, but the snare remaining as is is incredibly toxic and unfun to fight against. the major brittle effect would be nice for frost dps in pvp to use though.
[*] the immobilize proc condition for major brittle means that the major brittle is just genuinely useless unless fighting weak trash mobs that die really fast anyway. it should absolutely be removed. even if this set remains tank focused, this is the biggest problem outside of it's really weak uptime.
[*] The set could be entirely redesigned from the ground up, there are some fun ideas i've suggested in a previous thread that could act as inspiration.(https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/587571/frost-dps-based-set-ideas/p1)
[/list]
------------------------------------
TL:DR
Nunatak has several problems which will be listed
[list=1]
[*]
[*] The Major Brittle proc condition takes too long
[*] The Area of Effect animation is genuinely awful to look at and doesn't even look completed
[*] The set's Area of Effect stacking snare design makes it useless in pvp even though it is an IC set.
[*] The damage is pitiful and but also it's only decent quality
[*] the 1pc armor bonus doesn't do anything for dps.
[*] The Major Brittle uptime is a bit too low even if everything does manage to proc correctly
[*]
[/list]
-----------------------------------
Closing Remarks
Zenimax, it's taken 5 years to get a new frost monster helm, and while you have shown that you are indeed creating more frost and shock sets, some have definitely not hit the mark. Nunatak is absolutely one of the biggest examples i can think of in recent memory. Is @ZOS_Liforce or @ZOS_Gilliam (or any set team member) able to confirm their intentions with this set? As it seems like it is currently trying to do too many things at once. Is it supposed to be a frost dps monster helm like the frost dps community has been hoping for? Or is it supposed to be mostly tank based? The frost dps community has been holding out for a new and powerful frost dps based helmet and/or mythic item(since greymoor) that can help them stand out from a normal damage dealer for years now. Nunatak definitely is not it.