Sorcerer Pet build - a viable option?

Feynn

I have heard a lot of hype about pets from Daedric Summoning before 1.6 was released on live. Now that I have tried them for myself, I feel very disappointed. My character is a magicka-based DPS sorcerer. I have tried taking out large groups of mobs using pets, but I find that just impossible. So I did some single target testing (using the mammoths in the Rift). I tried different combinations of skills against each other.

The pet build I tried consisted of the following skills: Inner Light, Clannfear, Twilight Matriarch, Daedric Prey, Empowered Ward (the last two are meant to increase the damage from pets). With this build, my DPS was extremely low. If I just spammed Fire Ring with Power Surge I would get almost the same DPS (using an AoE against a single target!). If I only spammed Crushing Shock, my DPS would be noticeably higher. If I also included Crystal Fragments to be cast when procced by Crushing Shock, the DPS would be much higher still.

So what's the point of pets? Am I doing something wrong? So far the only use I would have for them would be if I needed to solo some single target boss, in which case my survivability would be improved. This is exactly the same way I used them before 1.6, which is to say a very limited use. If pets are not a viable option, and considering that both Surge and light armor have been nerfed in terms of survivability, should I consider 1.6 simply as nothing but a nerf for me?

Can I get someone else's perspective please? What was the hype about pets all about? Weren't they supposed to be really powerful now? In my experience they may be better than before, but they are still terribly underpowered compared to any other option one might use. Or am I missing something? Any suggestions? Thank you very much.

Feynn

Just after I posted this I went to level up my lvl 33 Dragonknight. I found myself pitted against a lvl 35 Sand Serpent in the Alik'r. I was utterly shocked to notice that my lvl 33 Dragonknight got more DPS than the pets on my VR14 Sorcerer got against a VR10 Mammoth. Seriously, there's got to be something wrong here.

1572 DPS - VR14 pets vs VR10 Mammoth


1740 DPS - lvl 33 Dragonknight vs lvl 35 Sand Serpent

Kova

I posted this in another thread. Here are my current numbers, with proof, of the build.

Kova wrote: »

Altmer Sorcerer, Full Magicka, VR13(No PVP Buffs)

Build: "Load of Pets"
A ) Crushing Shock weaved with light attacks + Crystal Frament Proc + Power Surge(20% Spell dmg) = 4k avg/7.2k max
B ) Clannfear and Restoring Twilight + Empowered Ward(22% dmg) + Deadric Prey(30% dmg) = 2.8k avg/ 3.2k max
C ) Energy Overload with B+Inner Light on 3rd bar + Power Surge = 11k avg/ 13.8k max

Armor: 5 piece warlock VR12 purple, 2 piece Torug's Pact blue, 2 piece Seducer blue/purple
Weapon: Fire Destruction Staff of Seducer, Blue.

Stats: 61 Magicka, 1629 Spell Dmg, 35.2% Spell Crit, 1223 Weapon Dmg.(with Magelight and Power Surge)

This video shows the build against VR9 Mammoths:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHX-ORZSC9M


I went into this build with an open mind, hearing that Sorcerers were the highest dps in 1.6 during a live cast and that they needed to be brought down a notch. I later learned that this was achieved with pets, hence the use of them for this build and hence the name(because I thought it was a load of it to have to use them). Now, with some armor tweaks I'm sure that you could add at least 2k to each value and with the use of potions you can boost it a little more. It's fun to play with and I can definitely see the power behind it.

However, this build(or any pet based build) takes WAY too much micro managing in order to have your pets do as much dps as possible. You have to pop the ward, pop Power Surge, Curse the target and then make sure your pets attack that target; all while weaving light attacks with Crushing Shock and looking for that Frag Proc. This makes long battles tedious to regulate, especially if the enemy can knock out your pets with AOE.

The real meat and potatoes of this build is the fun and relief of using Overload. With the third bar as above you can manage your pets and do some serious, sustainable damage. Overload costs almost nothing and is easily charged. If you go into a long battle with 1k% of ultimate, you can bring even beefiest bosses to smack'n level before you run out, then charge it up with all that surplus magicka.

This is a fun PVE build, but that's where the fun ends. In pvp you can take on most 1v1, but you have to be too meticulous for anything more. You can only stack two shields, unless you part ways with Power Surge(which is recommended in PVP), and you'll want to slot thundering presence in your overload bar to keep from being just another Glass Cannon. All that takes about 5s to complete and, as we all know, 5s can mean death. In group pvp/seiges, this build is still useful if you slot your AOEs instead of Cruhsing Shock and Daedric Prey.

That being said, it's definitely not what the PR hyped us up about. Either that or it was a pretty big notch to take it down to.


Edit:

I wanted to add that no build should have to rely on ultimate for the heavy lifting. It's just not effective, as the timing and cost will never line up.

As per usual, the only tips I received were to gear better for dps. Though my mathematical background and degree tells me that an 8% increase in spell crit and a 5% increase in spell damage isn't going to give me those "best dps in testing" numbers, I'm going to forgo it and try the recommended dps sets.

Craven_Killmore

everyone jumped off the LA ship before 1.6 dropped, pets activate boss abilities, hard to make attack proper targets, and absorb healing, you would be the last pick for a group, don't believe me try it.

Nightreaver

Though I am sure there are others who are having better success with pets, for myself I have better luck when I consider pets as DOTs to augment my DPS rather than the primary focus of my DPS.

Few comments

Daedric Prey
1) The damage from this ability hits at the back end after 6 seconds. If it is removed or the target dies then it does zero damage.
2) The increase to pet damage only applies to the target with the debuff.
If your pets are hitting something else then they are not getting the damage bonus.
Any AOE from your pets will only see the damage increase on the target with the debuff
If your pets are fighting multiple targets the damage bonus will only apply to the one with the debuff.
If your pets are fighting multiple targets you will probably be spending the encounter trying to keep them alive.

Empowered Ward
Fully leveled, the damage from your pet should be increased by 25% and your Atronach by 10%. Last time I tested this I was only seeing a 20% increase by the pet and 8% from the Atronach. I personally had better luck with Hardened ward even with pets. Since a larger shield meant less time recasting it or healing I spent more time DPSing.

With the latest change to the Clannfear pet it's questionable if it worth the time and the mana to resummon it once it dies.

I wouldn't go as far as to say 1.6 is a total nerf to Sorcerers but I am not currently finding pets to be the answer either.

Suggestions?

Can't speak for others and I'm sure there are many better solutions but can only say what works for me

I got a nice DPS increase using the nirnhoned trait on my staff. In addition to an increase in DPS it also provides a 18% increase to spell resist.

Enchanted all jewelry with cost reduction

If you are ok with less Stamina then you might consider a Blue food to further increase Max Magicka + Health

Make sure to weave Light attacks if for no other reason to gain Ultimate

AOE
Hardened Ward + Lightning Form +Entropy + Liquid Lightning + Impulse will melt most groups real quick. Just need to keep an eye on Ward to make sure it never drops. If it does, recast Ward first then heal if needed.

ST
Hardened ward +Pet ( Clannfear to hold the target in place or Twilight if not needed) + Liquid Lightning + Entropy + Crystal Shard

Execute
I use Power overload for execute (power because it does more damage than other morph). Even if you don't use the ultimate itself it still gives you a third bar with your execute phase setup.