Sorcerer tactics and roles in PvP

AlexDrago

By the latest nerfs/patches I don't understand what role and tactics I can do as a Sorcerer in Cyrodill.
There no native healing spells, nor good control or dd spells. Or I use my Sorc wrong?

Nooblet

They excel at kiting and doing ranged dps. Good at killing bad players, not so good at killing "good" players.

AlexDrago

Nooblet wrote: »

They excel at kiting and doing ranged dps. Good at killing bad players, not so good at killing "good" players.

Thank you for the answer.
I must apologies for my bad English, because it's not my first language.
I dot't understand with what spell i can kite in PvP and how to make a ranged dmg. The only and one spell with good dmg is Crystal Fragments, but it cost 311 mana, deal 517 dmg and cast time 1,3 sec. It looks like i would be stunned before I can re-cast it.
I used "hit and run" tactics, but now it ruined .

lao

crystal fragments -> curse -> mages wrath is mad dps. also ANY skill u use that costs magicka has the chance to make ur next crystal fragments instant and cost half the magicka. u can see when it procced when ur hands glow. for kiting u use bolt escape.

i dont quite agree with Nooblet that sorc isnt so good vs "good" players. good players will know how to counter a sorc thats true and a DK is overall probably better and harder to kill as a class but then again a "good" sorc will also know how to counter the other classes. overall id say sorc is probably the most versatile class in the game as its good in large scale, small scale and also solo. it also has the best mobility and escape tools for when u need to reposition/run.

one big advantage sorc has over the other classes is that absolutely everything u do costs magicka so u dont need any stamina at all in ur build as ur only gonna use it to sneak, sprint and dodge.

Nooblet

lao wrote: »

crystal fragments -> curse -> mages wrath is mad dps. also ANY skill u use that costs magicka has the chance to make ur next crystal fragments instant and cost half the magicka. u can see when it procced when ur hands glow. for kiting u use bolt escape.

i dont quite agree with Nooblet that sorc isnt so good vs "good" players. good players will know how to counter a sorc thats true and a DK is overall probably better and harder to kill as a class but then again a "good" sorc will also know how to counter the other classes. overall id say sorc is probably the most versatile class in the game as its good in large scale, small scale and also solo. it also has the best mobility and escape tools for when u need to reposition/run.

one big advantage sorc has over the other classes is that absolutely everything u do costs magicka so u dont need any stamina at all in ur build as ur only gonna use it to sneak, sprint and dodge.

Did not mean that they cannot kill good players. Just that the spike dps nature, as well as ability to block and reflect the best spell by a mile, just make it alot more time consuming and more kiting involved. Their strengths make killing players that do not block or avoid projectiles easy, but weakness in crystal fragments having a cast time and can be easily avoided. They still have other options to killing them, but they are far from the strengths, other than the mobility aspect of bolt escape.

Nooblet

AlexDrago wrote: »

Nooblet wrote: »

They excel at kiting and doing ranged dps. Good at killing bad players, not so good at killing "good" players.

Thank you for the answer.
I must apologies for my bad English, because it's not my first language.
I dot't understand with what spell i can kite in PvP and how to make a ranged dmg. The only and one spell with good dmg is Crystal Fragments, but it cost 311 mana, deal 517 dmg and cast time 1,3 sec. It looks like i would be stunned before I can re-cast it.
I used "hit and run" tactics, but now it ruined .

Your best bet with enemies that are blocking your crystal fragments or actively charging at you 1v1 with no time to get off a fragments before they get to you:

Use a cold dmg staff. Use instant cast spells(yes I know they suck, the curse isnt too bad, and you will want to use some dest staff instant spells mainly to get the snare from cold. When your crystal fragments procs, cast it instantly. If you're having trouble keeping distance, use bolt escape more often. It can be a tough fight vs a good player.

If you're near a rock or someplace to hide, you can always bolt escape and hide behind a few seconds while using dark exchange if you need to get a fresh start on the fight with more magicka.

As far as the healing spells, from a spellcaster's perspective, I found it best to simply try avoiding dmg vs the healing options we have. Dampen magic from light armor is pretty handy to have. But the best bet is to kite and try to avoid being hit, as most our healing options are bad(Except relying on crits, which is not very sustainable for a dest/rest staff sorc in a 1v1 situation).

The difference in fighting a good player and a bad player is pretty huge though. And the skill ceiling to be a "good player" is very low.

Edit: I have not tried using any melee weapon specs, so they probably have options as well. But since I have not tried any, I will not comment on them.

AlexDrago

Thank you all for yours hints.
I tryed them, but bolt escaping is nerfed now, so looks like i would be easy kill with it. Better try to Bound aegis or Bound Armaments for better survival.

Nooblet

Bolt escape was nerfed? that's news to me. Seems to still work fine to me.

JosephChip

Bolt escape wasn't touched. Anyway Sorcerers excell in mobility and ranged dps. Typically one of the highest moments for them is when two opposing armies are positioning and confronting each other without actually charging in. They can dish out most of the damage in this phase. And obviously during sieges. They can also have it easier during medium/large fights when they can stand slightly further away from the mass and dps away, then use bolt escape to reposition or evade. 1vs1 as well bolt escape is the key. Stun your opponent, manouver so to create large enough gaps to cast your ranged nukes.

lao

JosephChip wrote: »

Bolt escape wasn't touched. Anyway Sorcerers excell in mobility and ranged dps. Typically one of the highest moments for them is when two opposing armies are positioning and confronting each other without actually charging in. They can dish out most of the damage in this phase. And obviously during sieges. They can also have it easier during medium/large fights when they can stand slightly further away from the mass and dps away, then use bolt escape to reposition or evade. 1vs1 as well bolt escape is the key. Stun your opponent, manouver so to create large enough gaps to cast your ranged nukes.

you should never ever "cast" crystal fragments other than from stealth in the back. the casttime is horrible so its easy to block or even worse, reflect. the mana cost is huge so its a megawaste if the opponent knows how to play. thats why u should always wait for the proc. its still blockable or reflectable but its much much harder for the opponent to react in time.

lao

Nooblet wrote: »

lao wrote: »

crystal fragments -> curse -> mages wrath is mad dps. also ANY skill u use that costs magicka has the chance to make ur next crystal fragments instant and cost half the magicka. u can see when it procced when ur hands glow. for kiting u use bolt escape.

i dont quite agree with Nooblet that sorc isnt so good vs "good" players. good players will know how to counter a sorc thats true and a DK is overall probably better and harder to kill as a class but then again a "good" sorc will also know how to counter the other classes. overall id say sorc is probably the most versatile class in the game as its good in large scale, small scale and also solo. it also has the best mobility and escape tools for when u need to reposition/run.

one big advantage sorc has over the other classes is that absolutely everything u do costs magicka so u dont need any stamina at all in ur build as ur only gonna use it to sneak, sprint and dodge.

Did not mean that they cannot kill good players. Just that the spike dps nature, as well as ability to block and reflect the best spell by a mile, just make it alot more time consuming and more kiting involved. Their strengths make killing players that do not block or avoid projectiles easy, but weakness in crystal fragments having a cast time and can be easily avoided. They still have other options to killing them, but they are far from the strengths, other than the mobility aspect of bolt escape.

yea i know what u mean but u can just kite good players with curse and bolt escape while keeping them snared till u get a fragments proc and then stun them and unload ur fragment. thats why i said they are still very good even vs good players. you just have to play different as dumping them will get u killed quickly.

Antonie

I read like half the comments that have been written and might have to edit my post. I am not a good player, my reaction time is slow, i do not have much pvp experience before eso and id count myself as a pve/rp player, though i am next in line for emperorship on a low population campaign. As a fellow sorc. I just want to dish out that so far i noticed that you guys limit yourself too much on class skills and traditional weapon choices like staves. There are so many more skills you can work in a decent pvp built. "We try things, sometimes they even work"-Parson G. Define your role yourself and play what you feel most happy with even in pvp.

Teargrants

My sorc just derps around in the open while my partner hides in stealth. Bolt escape FTTroll

Nooblet

Antonie wrote: »

I read like half the comments that have been written and might have to edit my post. I am not a good player, my reaction time is slow, i do not have much pvp experience before eso and id count myself as a pve/rp player, though i am next in line for emperorship on a low population campaign. As a fellow sorc. I just want to dish out that so far i noticed that you guys limit yourself too much on class skills and traditional weapon choices like staves. There are so many more skills you can work in a decent pvp built. "We try things, sometimes they even work"-Parson G. Define your role yourself and play what you feel most happy with even in pvp.

If it didn't cost me 22k I would very much like to try out different weapons.

But to do that and then need another 22k if I don't like it as much.... no thanks I don't have that much gold.

lao

Antonie wrote: »

I read like half the comments that have been written and might have to edit my post. I am not a good player, my reaction time is slow, i do not have much pvp experience before eso and id count myself as a pve/rp player, though i am next in line for emperorship on a low population campaign. As a fellow sorc. I just want to dish out that so far i noticed that you guys limit yourself too much on class skills and traditional weapon choices like staves. There are so many more skills you can work in a decent pvp built. "We try things, sometimes they even work"-Parson G. Define your role yourself and play what you feel most happy with even in pvp.

what kind of weapon would u suggest? there isnt rly any synergy between melee weapons and sorc class skills. only thing i can think of that could probably work out well is bow and thats not even a melee weapon. sometimes id like 1h+shield for blocking but thats about it. pierce armor is the only thing in there that has some kind of synergy with the class skills and u can get a similar debuff in destru line + destru also has pulsar which potentially debuffs ur targets hp by alot. ppl talk alot about freedom of choice but srsly its an illusion. it might work for pve cos lets be honest everything works in pve but if u wanna be competitive in pvp u kinda have to go with the weapons that fit ur class.

AlexDrago

Nooblet wrote: »

Bolt escape was nerfed? that's news to me. Seems to still work fine to me.

Well, probably it was a bug, but after 3-4-5 bolt escaping i can't escape anymore. Just use and .... nothing happened, only magica is lost.
It happened constantly, so it looks like some kind of nerf to me.

lao

AlexDrago wrote: »

Nooblet wrote: »

Bolt escape was nerfed? that's news to me. Seems to still work fine to me.

Well, probably it was a bug, but after 3-4-5 bolt escaping i can't escape anymore. Just use and .... nothing happened, only magica is lost.
It happened constantly, so it looks like some kind of nerf to me.

sounds more like some kind of lag/bug to me. there are alot of those since the last patch

AlexDrago

lao wrote: »

AlexDrago wrote: »

Nooblet wrote: »

Bolt escape was nerfed? that's news to me. Seems to still work fine to me.

Well, probably it was a bug, but after 3-4-5 bolt escaping i can't escape anymore. Just use and .... nothing happened, only magica is lost.
It happened constantly, so it looks like some kind of nerf to me.

sounds more like some kind of lag/bug to me. there are alot of those since the last patch

Hope it is a bug, because if it isn't - it broke kiting tactics at Cyrodill for Sorc.
I try build - CF-EF-Curse-dark conversion-BE and yes, it works sometimes. Until you meet DK, of course .

P.S. I wish to see a face of that DK, who saw how i tryed to escape and nothing happened. Hope I made day for him

Antonie

lao wrote: »

Antonie wrote: »

I read like half the comments that have been written and might have to edit my post. I am not a good player, my reaction time is slow, i do not have much pvp experience before eso and id count myself as a pve/rp player, though i am next in line for emperorship on a low population campaign. As a fellow sorc. I just want to dish out that so far i noticed that you guys limit yourself too much on class skills and traditional weapon choices like staves. There are so many more skills you can work in a decent pvp built. "We try things, sometimes they even work"-Parson G. Define your role yourself and play what you feel most happy with even in pvp.

what kind of weapon would u suggest? there isnt rly any synergy between melee weapons and sorc class skills. only thing i can think of that could probably work out well is bow and thats not even a melee weapon. sometimes id like 1h+shield for blocking but thats about it. pierce armor is the only thing in there that has some kind of synergy with the class skills and u can get a similar debuff in destru line + destru also has pulsar which potentially debuffs ur targets hp by alot. ppl talk alot about freedom of choice but srsly its an illusion. it might work for pve cos lets be honest everything works in pve but if u wanna be competitive in pvp u kinda have to go with the weapons that fit ur class.

Alright i am going sugguest one build that i have seen around lately and is decent in my opinion as well. I am not using it myself as it fits not my playstyle and also i have a different approach on how to fight 1vs1 situations already. Use a combination of Critical Surge(Upgrade of Surge), Critical Charge or any of its upgrades, Streak(Upgrade of Bolt Escape), Inner Light(Upgrade of Mage Light), Mages Fury or any of its upgrades, Flawless Dawnbreaker(Upgrade of Dawnbreaker).
Let me tell you what this build will cover and then explain synergies and how this build works.
With this you have got crowd control, a self-sustaining heal in a combat situation, a gap closer, above average damage over time, an escape tool, a finisher and most of all you will be able to use both your magicka and stamina pool actively and not as a means to passivly wait to counterreact.

When you engage in combat have Inner Light already be activated, which means your critical chance for spells will be raised, use Streak to disorient your foe, use your time to buff yourself with Critical Surge which will heal you whenever you do critical damage and also will increase weapon damage, which will increase your damage from weapon-based skills.
Critical Charge is a stamina-based gap closing 2-handed weapon skill which will always crit. Since Sorcerers mostly have a bigger magicka pool compared to stamina keep using Streak to do around 200ish magicka damage and have your target permanently be disoriented. Flawless Dawnbreaker passively increases your damage with weapons and it should also increase damage of weapon-based skills. Futhermore it should be ready with around 100 ultimate points and will put out another 400 damage to regular players and more against vampires/werwolves(needs passive from fighters guild to enable the increased damage against pups then)
When your target is around 20% health have Mages Fury finish the job.

As you can see it is a melee-based Sorcerer skill set up that synergizes well with each skill on a single bar, but as i said that is not my playstyle and there are many more set ups you can think of your own that are successfully as well. Also i feel you when someone says resetting skills cuts deep into your pocket. But if you want to theory craft you can first use a skill calculator to get an impression of what skills are available to you before putting any skill points into them. Over time one should have spare skillpoints anyways when only focused on class skills, 2 weapon skilllines and eventually a crafting job.

Btw i like the tone everyone uses so far in this thread to express their opinion. We may have different approaches and opinions but we can still phrase them without cursing.

Teargrants

@Antonie‌

Props, that actually sounds like a really fun build, but I just have to add that there's 1 flaw for pvp. It relies on Streak instead of Ball of Lightning - don't ever count on being able to escape vs another decent sorc. When I see ppl spamming Streak, it's just a giant "free kill" sign to me unless they're porting into their zerg.

It's just too easy to port after them until Shards procs by the time I'm in range. That's why I gave up on using Streak myself after 1 day in Cyrodiil and respeced to Ball of Lightning.

Censorious

Ok, Here's the way I play sorc.

I use destro staff mostly but I have a resto staff for when I neeed to heal.
For attack, I have Velocious curse, Crystal Fragments and Mage's Fury. It's important to use these correctly as I'll explain.
I also have Streak (Bolt Escape morph) and Inner Light for the crit chance. I use spell damage jewellery enchants.

It's important to realise that Mages Fury must NOT be used unless your target is going to be below 20% health in the next 4 seconds. (Don't worry - he will)
Also, Crystal Fragments should ideally only be used when it procs (Your hands glow purple)
The sequence is this:-
From stealth (ALWAYS initiate fight in stealth if possible) use Bolt Escape to get close to your victim. Hit him with V. Curse then Mages' Fury. Check now that your hands are glowing. Hopefully, the BE and VC and MF will have used enough magicka to generate that proc you need. If not , it might be wise to abort.
If they are - he's in big trouble, hit him with Crystal Fragments - it's an instant cast high damage spell now. All three spells will then detonate at once for a huge damage spike.

If he's still alive you can repeat the move but if you get a fail on the proc, it might be time to run because you've used up a lot of magicka and you can't really afford to stand around waving your hands (unless you have help)

EDIT: When I say run, I don't mean run away! I mean BE out of range, stealth and sneak back for another go.

lao

Antonie wrote: »

lao wrote: »

Antonie wrote: »

I read like half the comments that have been written and might have to edit my post. I am not a good player, my reaction time is slow, i do not have much pvp experience before eso and id count myself as a pve/rp player, though i am next in line for emperorship on a low population campaign. As a fellow sorc. I just want to dish out that so far i noticed that you guys limit yourself too much on class skills and traditional weapon choices like staves. There are so many more skills you can work in a decent pvp built. "We try things, sometimes they even work"-Parson G. Define your role yourself and play what you feel most happy with even in pvp.

what kind of weapon would u suggest? there isnt rly any synergy between melee weapons and sorc class skills. only thing i can think of that could probably work out well is bow and thats not even a melee weapon. sometimes id like 1h+shield for blocking but thats about it. pierce armor is the only thing in there that has some kind of synergy with the class skills and u can get a similar debuff in destru line + destru also has pulsar which potentially debuffs ur targets hp by alot. ppl talk alot about freedom of choice but srsly its an illusion. it might work for pve cos lets be honest everything works in pve but if u wanna be competitive in pvp u kinda have to go with the weapons that fit ur class.

Alright i am going sugguest one build that i have seen around lately and is decent in my opinion as well. I am not using it myself as it fits not my playstyle and also i have a different approach on how to fight 1vs1 situations already. Use a combination of Critical Surge(Upgrade of Surge), Critical Charge or any of its upgrades, Streak(Upgrade of Bolt Escape), Inner Light(Upgrade of Mage Light), Mages Fury or any of its upgrades, Flawless Dawnbreaker(Upgrade of Dawnbreaker).
Let me tell you what this build will cover and then explain synergies and how this build works.
With this you have got crowd control, a self-sustaining heal in a combat situation, a gap closer, above average damage over time, an escape tool, a finisher and most of all you will be able to use both your magicka and stamina pool actively and not as a means to passivly wait to counterreact.

When you engage in combat have Inner Light already be activated, which means your critical chance for spells will be raised, use Streak to disorient your foe, use your time to buff yourself with Critical Surge which will heal you whenever you do critical damage and also will increase weapon damage, which will increase your damage from weapon-based skills.
Critical Charge is a stamina-based gap closing 2-handed weapon skill which will always crit. Since Sorcerers mostly have a bigger magicka pool compared to stamina keep using Streak to do around 200ish magicka damage and have your target permanently be disoriented. Flawless Dawnbreaker passively increases your damage with weapons and it should also increase damage of weapon-based skills. Futhermore it should be ready with around 100 ultimate points and will put out another 400 damage to regular players and more against vampires/werwolves(needs passive from fighters guild to enable the increased damage against pups then)
When your target is around 20% health have Mages Fury finish the job.

As you can see it is a melee-based Sorcerer skill set up that synergizes well with each skill on a single bar, but as i said that is not my playstyle and there are many more set ups you can think of your own that are successfully as well. Also i feel you when someone says resetting skills cuts deep into your pocket. But if you want to theory craft you can first use a skill calculator to get an impression of what skills are available to you before putting any skill points into them. Over time one should have spare skillpoints anyways when only focused on class skills, 2 weapon skilllines and eventually a crafting job.

Btw i like the tone everyone uses so far in this thread to express their opinion. We may have different approaches and opinions but we can still phrase them without cursing.

it does idd sound like a fun build. however streak instead of ball of lightning is a huge weakness. its gonna be very hard to run away if u need to. in 1v1 its most likely gonna work rly well but if ur fighting more than one ur gonna run into trouble.

not sure if i agree on the dawnbreaker tho. it just seems like a really weak skill for an ultimate unless ur fighting a vamp. id probably go with overload or meteor instead. also despite critical charge always critting u have to keep in mind that ur probably gonna have really low stamina (around 1100-1200) which means even with a crit it wont hit very hard. im not sure how much ciritical surge effects it tho.
that would need to be tested.

overall i can see it work in 1v1 situations tho but ur gonna kill slower than with the cookie cutter built. that + the difficultys that arise when ur fighting more than one opponent is what id consider the greatest weakness of the build. when ur solo u wanna kill quickly to minimize the chances that ur opponent gets reinforcements in time. i can see it work well in specific situations but overall i think the cookie cutter build is more versatile. cookie cutter beeing fragments, v. curse, mages wrath, inner light, ball of lightning in this case.

like i said u can probably come up with quite some interesting builds that all work really well in specific situations but overall most effective will still be the cookie cutter build.


PS: forgot to add, a dual wield user must be the worst nightmare of that build assuming u wear light armor. without ball of lightning he can literally just spam flying blade till u die. bow users might also be trouble as u usually beat them by having the superior ranged dps which isnt the case with that build.

xDonMega

Sorc is the worst.

Halrloprillalar

xDonMega wrote: »

Sorc is the best.

fix't

xDonMega

Worst pvp class in the game.

Anytime someone says (ALWAYS initiate fight in stealth if possible) it's because the class sucks.

lao

xDonMega wrote: »

Worst pvp class in the game.

Anytime someone says (ALWAYS initiate fight in stealth if possible) it's because the class sucks.

every class should alwaays initiate the fight from stealth. thats the logical consequence when u have a system in which everyone can stealth.

Kingslayer

lao wrote: »

Antonie wrote: »

lao wrote: »

Antonie wrote: »

I read like half the comments that have been written and might have to edit my post. I am not a good player, my reaction time is slow, i do not have much pvp experience before eso and id count myself as a pve/rp player, though i am next in line for emperorship on a low population campaign. As a fellow sorc. I just want to dish out that so far i noticed that you guys limit yourself too much on class skills and traditional weapon choices like staves. There are so many more skills you can work in a decent pvp built. "We try things, sometimes they even work"-Parson G. Define your role yourself and play what you feel most happy with even in pvp.

what kind of weapon would u suggest? there isnt rly any synergy between melee weapons and sorc class skills. only thing i can think of that could probably work out well is bow and thats not even a melee weapon. sometimes id like 1h+shield for blocking but thats about it. pierce armor is the only thing in there that has some kind of synergy with the class skills and u can get a similar debuff in destru line + destru also has pulsar which potentially debuffs ur targets hp by alot. ppl talk alot about freedom of choice but srsly its an illusion. it might work for pve cos lets be honest everything works in pve but if u wanna be competitive in pvp u kinda have to go with the weapons that fit ur class.

Alright i am going sugguest one build that i have seen around lately and is decent in my opinion as well. I am not using it myself as it fits not my playstyle and also i have a different approach on how to fight 1vs1 situations already. Use a combination of Critical Surge(Upgrade of Surge), Critical Charge or any of its upgrades, Streak(Upgrade of Bolt Escape), Inner Light(Upgrade of Mage Light), Mages Fury or any of its upgrades, Flawless Dawnbreaker(Upgrade of Dawnbreaker).
Let me tell you what this build will cover and then explain synergies and how this build works.
With this you have got crowd control, a self-sustaining heal in a combat situation, a gap closer, above average damage over time, an escape tool, a finisher and most of all you will be able to use both your magicka and stamina pool actively and not as a means to passivly wait to counterreact.

When you engage in combat have Inner Light already be activated, which means your critical chance for spells will be raised, use Streak to disorient your foe, use your time to buff yourself with Critical Surge which will heal you whenever you do critical damage and also will increase weapon damage, which will increase your damage from weapon-based skills.
Critical Charge is a stamina-based gap closing 2-handed weapon skill which will always crit. Since Sorcerers mostly have a bigger magicka pool compared to stamina keep using Streak to do around 200ish magicka damage and have your target permanently be disoriented. Flawless Dawnbreaker passively increases your damage with weapons and it should also increase damage of weapon-based skills. Futhermore it should be ready with around 100 ultimate points and will put out another 400 damage to regular players and more against vampires/werwolves(needs passive from fighters guild to enable the increased damage against pups then)
When your target is around 20% health have Mages Fury finish the job.

As you can see it is a melee-based Sorcerer skill set up that synergizes well with each skill on a single bar, but as i said that is not my playstyle and there are many more set ups you can think of your own that are successfully as well. Also i feel you when someone says resetting skills cuts deep into your pocket. But if you want to theory craft you can first use a skill calculator to get an impression of what skills are available to you before putting any skill points into them. Over time one should have spare skillpoints anyways when only focused on class skills, 2 weapon skilllines and eventually a crafting job.

Btw i like the tone everyone uses so far in this thread to express their opinion. We may have different approaches and opinions but we can still phrase them without cursing.

it does idd sound like a fun build. however streak instead of ball of lightning is a huge weakness. its gonna be very hard to run away if u need to. in 1v1 its most likely gonna work rly well but if ur fighting more than one ur gonna run into trouble.

not sure if i agree on the dawnbreaker tho. it just seems like a really weak skill for an ultimate unless ur fighting a vamp. id probably go with overload or meteor instead. also despite critical charge always critting u have to keep in mind that ur probably gonna have really low stamina (around 1100-1200) which means even with a crit it wont hit very hard. im not sure how much ciritical surge effects it tho.
that would need to be tested.

overall i can see it work in 1v1 situations tho but ur gonna kill slower than with the cookie cutter built. that + the difficultys that arise when ur fighting more than one opponent is what id consider the greatest weakness of the build. when ur solo u wanna kill quickly to minimize the chances that ur opponent gets reinforcements in time. i can see it work well in specific situations but overall i think the cookie cutter build is more versatile. cookie cutter beeing fragments, v. curse, mages wrath, inner light, ball of lightning in this case.

like i said u can probably come up with quite some interesting builds that all work really well in specific situations but overall most effective will still be the cookie cutter build.


PS: forgot to add, a dual wield user must be the worst nightmare of that build assuming u wear light armor. without ball of lightning he can literally just spam flying blade till u die. bow users might also be trouble as u usually beat them by having the superior ranged dps which isnt the case with that build.

Well the spells from Destro staff scale off magicka its only the light and heavy which are stamina scaled. So Crit surge comes in hand with Pulsar etc it can keep a sorc up for quite a while then spam Ball of lightning to gain some distance. Using a fire staff to puts the extra Dot which in turn keeps ticking nicely as they catch up. Its just a case of switching to single target rotation to pick off the chasers one at a time then.