A few questions about The Sorcerer class

Mercutio · March 2015

Hey all,

I'm finally trying The Sorcerer class and have some questions that I would be very thankful if someone could answer:

1) Does the Daedric Pet still lower your max mana? I've gotten mixed answers on this. If not, is there any reason to not have it out all the time?

2) For PVE, what is the best AOE skill line in Destruction Staff?

3) It seems every class has a self heal. I am familiar with those of the other 3 classes but not sure what I should be shooting for with the Sorcerer.

4) For dungeons, should I be using a single target nuke to assist the tank?

Lastly, can anyone point me towards some relevant, up to date guides on how to play a Sorcerer?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me. Have a great day!

olsborg · March 2015

Deadric pet, while it does not reduce your max magicka anymore, it does take up 2 slots if you want it out all the time. Its a toggle spell.

Liquid lightning will beat any Ground aoe from destruction staff, Impulse however, from destro staff is a good AoE cast.

A few tips of the top of my head. Use hardened ward, alot, youre in light armor and need damage mitigation. (because light armor has none)

Surge is a good heal, not good for burst(emergency) heals, but good HoTs if your critical rating is near or above 40%.

Deadric mines is also great to setup before you pull enemies to you. I use mines, aggro enemies, when they get closer to me and my mines I place liquid lightning in the area and they get nuked rather fast.

Flaminir · March 2015

Hi Mercutio

No the pet does not lower mana. Reasons for having them out or not... some people like them... especially for levelling. A lot of people dislike them (Especially at end game where the rather crappy AI can start to cause problems).

For PvE best AoE on destro staff is elemental ring (Morph of impulse). Also make sure you are levelling lightning splash... the stormcalling ground based AoE... this is the hardest hitting DoT now... but has quite a small area so you have to use wisely... but its very strong when you do.

Heals.... This is a bone of contention among Sorcs... my opinion is that we don't have a particular heal thats useful... BUT we have an awesome shield instead!!! Hardened ward is fantastic... stack magicka & it becomes very strong, and you can pop it up before you into a fight so you dont even start taking damage straight away.

Single target nuke = Crystal Fragments. Use it when you get an instant cast (With the crystal fragments morph... your hands will glow purple & you'll hear a noise to let you know it's proc'ed).

Any guide that you see on any class will be somebody elses idea of how to play it.... their build may not suit you so you do need to have a play yourself. That said... try going to Deltia's site & having a look... that's always a pretty good place to start getting ideas when you're first starting. www.deltiasgaming.com

Snit · March 2015

Daedric Pets now increase max magicka. This is a big improvement. They're still two-bar toggles, though, and they still have behavior issues.

Impulse remains the best AoE skill. The new Liquid Lightning is very nice, too, and should be on most sorcs' PvE bars.

Our true Self-Heal is now Conjured Ward. It's a shield, but it prevents death like a heal (you have to run something else to do the actual healing, or let the group healer take care of it). For light armor users, shields synergise better with the overall build anyway. No mitigation means healing is a poor survivability tool.

For dungeons, the current best non-pet rotation generally has Force Pulse (force shock morph) as the 'spam' spell, while maintaining Liquid Lightning under the boss's feet and casting Crystal Fragments (dark crystal morph) only when it procs. For execute range, switch to a Mage's Fury morph. You'll also need to weave light/ heavy attacks.

The best site for builds is probably Tamriel Foundry. Google it and head to the Sorc Theorycrafting section.

Thelon · March 2015

As @Snit mentioned, you'll find the best Sorc builds at Tamriel Foundry.

If you are levelling or soloing, pet builds are very effective and a ton of fun, if it suits your play style.

Caster builds put out a ton of DPS in group content once you've got the gear and have practiced the rotation.

Cuyler · March 2015

1. Answered
2. Answered
3. I can't believe no one has mentioned our actual NEW self heal......wait for it........the CLANFEAR! Desummoning the Clanfear now returns 35% of your max HP and is the sorcs definitive new self heal (new change for 1.6). Hardened ward is a great shield but is not a heal.
4. Answered
5. Answered

Snit · March 2015

Cuyler wrote: »

3. I can't believe no one has mentioned our actual NEW self heal......wait for it........the CLANFEAR!

Yeah.. That morph should be renamed, "Daedric Disappointment."

As for the ward, it's as good as a heal in most circumstances. It adds to your hit point bar. It keeps you from dying. The only times where a straight-up heal is inarguably better are:

- You're in execute range
- You have enough armor that healing can take advantage of that mitigation
- You've built enough stamina regen to do a substantial amount of blocking

The first is a PvP concern, while the latter two won't apply to most light-armor sorcs.

I know it sounds a bit silly on its face, but I genuinely believe that magicka sorcs are more survivable in most cases with a good spammable shield (which we have) than a good class heal (which we lack). If we ever get the heal, there's likely to be a tradeoff.

Mercutio · March 2015

Wow! Thank you all for taking the time to answer my questions. I am bookmarking this thread and the sites mentioned for easy reference as I level up. What a great community we have here! I hope you all have great weekends!

HungerCity · March 2015

Dark exchange for hp and magicka (or hp and stamina with the other morph) for self heal/restoration I use it ALOT adds a lot of sustainabilty