LA Sorc in IC -- damage/mitigation questions

tinythinker

I finally decided to take my 7-light Sorc into the sewers today to practice, kill generals for the achievements, etc. But I noticed that my armor and shields were like tissue paper and the mobs were harder to kill than in PvP even though they were trash mobs. I've done the sewers with 2H/5L Templar, a 2H/5L DK, and a 7L NB, and while some generals were easier or harder based on the strength of the class I was playing, my Sorc had to work his ass off/burn through resources to finish packs of generic mobs. Was there a recent change or bug I missed?

The gear is as good as I can manage at the moment but should be OK for basic grinding:

5 pc Julianos (purple V15)
3 pc Archamge (purple V16)
3 pc Willpower (purple V16, 2 health/1 arcane)

Sans any buffs except Battle Spirit my relevant stats:

Max Magicka: 31606
Mag Recovery: 1506
Spell Damage: 2373
Spell Critical: 48%

(Racial bonuses=Breton)

I am using a resto/destro combo. I even had the Emp health bonus going for a max of 24858 (forgot about that).

Again, not an OP setup, but with Hardened Ward, a healing spell like either Blessings of Restoration or Healing Ward, Power Surge to get extra heals from AoE, and the offensive arsenal at a Sorc's disposal, I was really surprised how poorly I was doing. Is this setup adequate for what I was trying to do or did I get something wrong?

NativeJoe

Sorcs need a slight buff in their shields... Hence my post : http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/2718365#Comment_2718365

otherwise in places like IC you do feel like a wet noodle in anything under "Best in slot", my advice: if the meta doesn't change... go for a streak+ full dps set up. don't even use a shield except your healing ward, and keep urself topped off with power surge or whatever that skill is... not remembering now for some reason. but the one that heals you for critting.

tinythinker

C'mon, I *know* there are plenty of magicka Sorcs in LA who farm/explore the sewers and other areas of IC. I really want to get this character up to speed and have fun. I won't be a PvP powerhouse, but I would like to be able to clear things and nott die to trash mobs 1/3 of the time because I ran out of magicka on shields and heals. This is the only class I can't readily run in sewers with using a heavy magicka/LA type build.

If you are worried about your secret getting out message me in-game if you are PC-NA, and if it's not a secret please point me in the right direction. I soloed 3/4 the sewer generals (the ones at the crossed-swords) yesterday but it was waaaay too hard. My magicka Templar or DK soloed them in 1/4 the time it took my magicka Sorc and clearing a room of other mobs was no problem. I would hate to bench the Sorc, but I spent 12K gold reconfiguring Champion Points and nothing worked.

Septimus_Magna

Armor is pointless if you use shields correctly, only benefit for wearing 5x LA/1x MA/1x HA is to boost all your stats by 6%. But you need the Undaunted Mettle II passive for this.

Cast Harness Magicka before Hardened Ward, each time you get hit you will restore magicka, this helps a lot wit sustain while you aoe because your shields get hit constantly.

How many CP do you have? And how many CP do you have invested in Bastion to increase shield value?

What mundus do you use atm?

For single target dps I use Crushing Shock + Cfrags on proc. For aoe dps I use Pulsar, Proximity Detonation and Boundless Storm, you can replace Proxy Det with Liquid Lighting or Daedric Minefield if you havent unlocked this skill.

The mobs in IC are a lot tougher than the mobs in Orsinium etc, those die way too quickly if you have high spell dmg.

tinythinker

Septimus_Magna wrote: »

Armor is pointless if you use shields correctly, only benefit for wearing 5x LA/1x MA/1x HA is to boost all your stats by 6%. But you need the Undaunted Mettle II passive for this.

Cast Harness Magicka before Hardened Ward, each time you get hit you will restore magicka, this helps a lot wit sustain while you aoe because your shields get hit constantly.

How many CP do you have? And how many CP do you have invested in Bastion to increase shield value?

What mundus do you use atm?

For single target dps I use Crushing Shock + Cfrags on proc. For aoe dps I use Pulsar, Proximity Detonation and Boundless Storm, you can replace Proxy Det with Liquid Lighting or Daedric Minefield if you havent unlocked this skill.

The mobs in IC are a lot tougher than the mobs in Orsinium etc, those die way too quickly if you have high spell dmg.

I traded Mines for Harness last night to get extra protection, which helped a bit with the trash mobs but didn't help at all versus the Gatekeeper general near the DC entrance to the sewer center. I'm over the CP cap and I've had CP set up for a 20% shield bonus via Bastion for a while now, but the shield(s) go down super-quick and with Battle Spirit the value of Hardened Ward only reaches a bit over 9K. Healing Ward rarely has a chance to proc the big heal so I swapped it out for Blessings of Restoration to get some kind of instant heal (my DK uses Blessings and it really helps). Currently my Mundus is the Apprentice for spell damage, but I swap it out depending on what I'm doing.

I have Det which is fine, but, I spend most of my time on my mitigation/healing bar trying not to die. I cast Hardened and whatever heal I have slotted over and over and over and if I swap to offense I might have a couple of seconds before I have to switch back because even when I keep spamming my mit/heal bar I'm rarely over 50% health. Boundless Storm is on the mit/heal bar, too, and I'm sure it helps, but it doesn't do enough.

It's just weird to me, because my DK uses Spiked Armor and maybe Obsidian Shield and is fine, I just go on offense for a bit with Draw Essence, Choking Talons, Burning Breath, Whip, etc, then every so often pop a Blessing of Restoration if I take too much damage over time or a big hit. My Templar doesn't bother with a spell-based shield, just maybe Purifying Ritual and Channeled Focus, and Breath of Life when needed, but she isn't constantly "just hanging on" either and has plenty of time for offense. Same with my magicka NB. It's just my magicka Sorc who seems vastly under-powered when I go into the sewers. I don't even worry about enemy players because I have enough trouble with the trash mobs.

Saint314Louis1985

put hardened ward on both bars otherwise you will be stuck on your healing bar (like you mentioned). i also like crushing shock especially in ic because it interrupts the casters. other than that i just staff weave, keep curse up, and use frags when procd. if my magicka runs out i use overload until my magicka is back to full then repeat. mines helps and i sometimes use shattering prison to keep the melee attackers still for a few while i take down the casters. definitely kill casters first.

i solo sewers and some of the bosses (not flag bosses) all the time with my battle leveled sorc with about 35k magicka and 2300 spell dmg. sometimes the stats are lower if i out level my gear.

tinythinker

Thanks to those who replied, but there just isn't enough mitigation. Too much damage constantly. It's zero fun. I see no reason to try to play with a Sorc when I have characters of other classes who can do far better with equal or worse gear.

Duiwel

I don't mean to deviate off topic OP but why did you waste VR16 crafting mats to make VR15 gear?

My recommendation to survival down there is PULSAR is a must on one of the bars. Streak is your friend ( to CC ) and to stay alive

Other than that I cannot say much more than what has been said above.

Practice makes perfect OP

Septimus_Magna

@tinythinker You can set up Healing Ward to give a big heal with shields.

If you cast Healing Ward, followed by Hardened and/or Harness you loose healing each time you get hit during the 6 second countdown.

If you cast Harness, Hardened and then cast Healing Ward the mobs first have to destroy Harness and Hardened before your heal gets reduced.

As for fighting NPCs, they're no very smart so try to use line of sight to avoid dmg and set up your burst once the come around the corner.

MrGigglypants

NativeJoe wrote: »

Sorcs need a slight buff in their shields... Hence my post : http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/2718365#Comment_2718365

otherwise in places like IC you do feel like a wet noodle in anything under "Best in slot", my advice: if the meta doesn't change... go for a streak+ full dps set up. don't even use a shield except your healing ward, and keep urself topped off with power surge or whatever that skill is... not remembering now for some reason. but the one that heals you for critting.

Whatever you do dont listen to this guy. hardened is still a 9k shield with v16 purple julianos etc a very standard setup can achieve decent stats. Just be patient and work on keeping you're shield up once it goes down you're squishy as can be.

Junipus

As mentioned, use LoS a lot as a sorc. I used to have similar issues grinding the mobs at the DC entrance until I added in LoS to my play and made it easier. It's also a good idea if going solo to use shattering prison to keep the melee NPCs at bay while you focus the casters, then keep reapplying shattering prison if you feel you can't handle the melee NPCs up close yet.

Also invest everything you can CP wise into bastion. As a VR11 sorc in blue VR9 gear with 100CP in bastion I can get 19k shield (harness & hardened) in IC which works better than 16k as it was before.

Brrrofski

tinythinker wrote: »

Thanks to those who replied, but there just isn't enough mitigation. Too much damage constantly. It's zero fun. I see no reason to try to play with a Sorc when I have characters of other classes who can do far better with equal or worse gear.

I agree. My magica templar, magica NB and stam Sorc heal while attacking. My stamplar has unlimited healing and stamina. They're the only 4 I go down there with.

dRudE

A sorc in IC needs a minimum of 40k max mag and preferably bastion CP maxed, getting bits of extra magicka through race, skill trees and CP really helps in this situation. You'll also want around 4k spell damage and 2k mag regen, this is easier to do in full light but I usually use a couple of pieces of heavy in PVE coupled with boundless storm my resistances sit around 25-30k so if shields drop I can block a few hits until I recast. This setup isn't new player friendly but it's what cuts through IC like butter.

Wreuntzylla

Yeah, I blow things up much faster in IC with my sorc than any of the other classes. I don't LoS anything. Not sure what is causing your issues except maybe low magicka or lack of bastion?

At V15 I would use rune prison to keep the numbers down, V16 gear does make a significant difference with enchants. But at V16 bam with the AoE.