Lv46 Mage Assault or Brutality? Quick PvE Gear Guide

[Lastmind]

Hi guys,
wanted to give some insight on the new Legendary Sorcerer sets available for level 46. So if u are unsure which set suits ur playstyle the best, read on.
I will not go indepth onto the numbers and digits here, since u are all free to compare them urself in the auction house. I will give u my point of view and a simple guideline on which set fits ur goals for PvE.

Why not Lethality?
Obviously as a Mage we want to deal damage and there is another option that promises even more damage than Assault or Brutality. Lethality offers in exchange for a secondary stat a critical strike bonus in addition to the huge damage bonus. In my opinion though, this option costs u way too much survivability. Yes, u gain an immense amount of DPS through all that crit bonus, but I doubt it is worth the loss of more than 1k(!) hp. U simply need some survivability to consistently run elites without burning through all ur Ankhs.

As most of u noticed STS relatively lowered the Str stat on Brutality gear for lv46. While most Brutality gear grants u 20+ Str, Assault provides u 30+ Dex. 10 points per gear par are huge! On a full legendary set, that makes a difference is 50 statpoints!
Because of this most people I talked with said that Assault is now obviously much better and this picture continues if u compare the prices in auction house.
So why exactly is Assault so much more popular?
Most people know that every Str point provides 10hp and Dex provides u with some additional damage, increased crit/dodge and decent 5hp per statpoint.
So if Assault gives 50% more Dex than Brutality would grant Str, the Hp gap of both sides gets slimmer. That is why most people think Assault is so much better.

So why am I writing this? I apparently might have something to say in favour of the Brutality set right?
It is quite simple. Str just scales too well with Arcane Shield.
(((2*strength)+intelligence)*3)
100 Str points increase increase the shield size by 600 hp!
On the new Rengol maps, stuns are a big deal and even though STS confirmed to make some adjustments there, I assume stuns are still going to be a threat in the upcoming elite maps. Arcane Shield grants u stun immunity and surviability, which has two effects, it safes Ankhs and increases ur dps. Since every time u gotta revive or u lay on the ground for multiple second, u obviously can not attack.

Let's talk about builds!
The most important factor to decide wether or not u want to use an Assault or Brutality set is the skillset u plan to run Rengol elites with.
U have the choice between 4 Damage builds:
Ice, Fire, Time and Lightning
and a build with Arcane Shield:
Ice, Fire, Time and Arcance Shield.
Both builds are very viable and considering that survivability and stun immunity grants u indirectly increased DPS, there should not be too big of a difference in ur farming speed.
The choice of ur build should solely depend on ur preferance. I personally run the Shield build and swap Time with Lightning once reaching a boss and feel confortable with that style.
If u are not a big fan of Arcane Shield and u want to run with Lightning pretty much all the time, Assault seems to be a must. It's slightly higher damage and 5%+ critical strike chance just scales too well with Lightning.

So before u rush and spend all ur gold on an Assault set, ask urself where ur preferances in skillsets lie. Are u big fan of Arcance Shield? Feel free to try out Brutality and otherwise jump on the trails of the Assault hype train.