What is the best second gear set to pair with the Taranis set? That question was what I initially set out to answer when I started my testing, but I discovered that the Taranis set plays by its own rules with regards to its ‘bonus’.

First, it is interesting to note that bows do not ‘count’... the set’s language of being ‘completely unarmed’ really means that Eivor has no hand weapons when performing melee attacks. Now, that being said, I have not yet done any extensive testing with diamond rune application on bows to see if there’s any way additional damage can be applied to Eivor’s unarmed ‘bonus’, but I have determined that pretty much any rune that would apply towards a weapon stat does not affect Taranis damage output or frequency, so Attack and Speed do not matter, as well as Critical Chance and Critical Damage.

Second, because Eivor is not using a hand weapon/shield, the stats reflecting Melee Damage do not apply. This became very obvious when I did some testing to combine the Taranis set with the Wayland and Paladin sets. If that’s the case, what is the real numerical ‘bonus’ of the Taranis set? Well, that’s hard to say for sure... but if you go punch people around with Eivor completely unarmed, and then you put on the Taranis set, you’ll typically see somewhere between four and five times the damage for regular light attacks. That multiplier seems to go up to six or seven times the damage for strong attacks, depending on critical hits.

Lastly, what secondary gear sets might be best paired with the Taranis set for maximum unarmed combat fun? The answer to that seems to be any set which improves Armor, Health, Melee Resistance, and Range Resistance. If you want your Eivor to be a tank, I recommend the Brigandine set, as the higher armor bonus will help when surrounded by multiple enemies. However, I’ve found that the Druid set is probably the best to compliment the Taranis set as Eivor is bound to take damage and some quick punches can bring back any lost health pretty quickly, even with Idunn’s Heart helping out.

Additionally, the best runes to compliment the Taranis set are obviously those that improve Armor, since pairing an additional set cuts out that +25 Armor bonus, which can be easily fixed with at least five great runes. I would also recommend Health and Evasion runes for balancing. As for the ideal diamond rune to go into the Taranis Armor, your best bet is either the Thor’s Rune or Mentor Rune.

@thenorfolkian

great and huge job you did there !
Many, many Thanks to you

@thenorfolkian I thought Taranis would be great for the Yule brawl, but unfortunately it doesn't work there.

@kormac67 Ugh... really? I was just about to do that myself. It was literally the only reason I got the Taranis gear via Reda over the course of several months. Thanks for giving the heads up about this... what a bummer.

Still... the Taranis set holds up in its damage output despite all of the updates since I made this analysis. It’s a good set for having fun on its own.

@thenorfolkian
@Kormac67

I spent opals for it in the purpose to use it for :

1. Weekly "fist" challenges
2. Yule brawls

.... Two epic fails ...