How to build a Stam Sorc

Dositheus · May 2015

Fengrush seems to be having fun with it.

cozmon3c_ESO · May 2015

Im going to try out dual wield I just need to unlock flying blade, i need some direct damage that is fast and flying blade is pretty decent for that I hope. It may such for other classes but I think this will work well with the sorc.

Vis · May 2015

Dositheus wrote: »

Fengrush seems to be having fun with it.

I don't think I have ever seen Fengrush solo roaming. Anything is "doable" if you have a group to fill in your weak spots.

Vis · May 2015

cozmon3c_ESO wrote: »

Im going to try out dual wield I just need to unlock flying blade, i need some direct damage that is fast and flying blade is pretty decent for that I hope. It may such for other classes but I think this will work well with the sorc.

It's meh if you do not couple it with some kind of a fast acting CC and secondary burst (as I learned by sad experience). It's great for finishing off a bolt if he is stam drained (can't roll) from trying to escape a zerg.

cozmon3c_ESO · May 2015

i found so far is the lack of instant damage, wrecking blow gets you caught with your pants down when its 1vx so i need something that actually hurts, even if it hits as hard as curse as magicka spec, but its spamable and isntant cast so can be done while dodge rolling.

RinaldoGandolphi · May 2015

when i was using Stamina on on My Sorc for awhile, this is what I done:

1. Gotta be a Vampire, its a MUST. Stealth is very important to using Stamina, Med Armor has bonuses to stealth so it can be just useful in repositioning as Bolt Escape. Vamps get increased Stealth speed and enter stealth faster at night time, it can save your life since you won't have the magic to Bolt Escape endlessly like you can on a magic spec.

2. Critical Surge is VERY useful on a Stamina Sorc,

3. Critical Surge, Critical Charge, and Magnum Shot with your bow and two handed all Synergize together. Use Magnum Shot to create distance and stun your opponent, then use Crit charge to hit him hard AND heal you since Crit Charge is a 100% Crit.

4. You want Streak over Ball of Lighting because your going to be up close and personal way more often where BOL has no advantage, You can use Streak to stun your opponent immediately followed up by a Crit Charge from range (Just like Magnum Shot that knocks them back and you back, Streak Synergies with Critical Surge and Critical Rush allowing you to burst quickly, get max damage from Crit Charge, and Heal you for big chunks) You have dodge rolls for projectiles and will be able to do a lot more of it, and if your wearing the Crusader Set well...hahaha...you will see. You can use Streak and Magnum shot to set up Crit Charges that do more damage the farther away you are, which also means they will heal you for more with Critical Surge.

5. As a Vamp Stamina Sorc you want Clouding Swarm. This also Synergizes with Critical Surge and Crit Charge...You will become Invisible, your opponent then can't see your character animations allowing you to crit rush folks and land hits you normally couldn't,. and wind up Wrecking Blows your opponent can't see (thank you Ebonheart Templar! Darklight FTW!) you will be surprised how many people you can wreck doing this as its hard to dodge a wrecking blow you can't see or don't know is coming.

6. there are 3 sets good for a Stamina Sorc(probably others too), Way of the Air, Skirmisher, and my personal favorite, the Crusader's Set. The Way of the Air Weapon Damage Bonus after dodge rolling does stack with Critical Surge, so you can get a fair bit of weapon damage out of it by combining them.So keep that in mind.

The Crusader Set is just awesome from a survivability perspective. you will give up a bit of damage for being pretty much impossible to hit with single target attacks or projectiles as long as you use drink to get high regen. You will be amazed the nonsense you can survive just by simply dodging with a 5 piece Crusader Set. its absurd really, its so stinking OP its off the charts.

There is a period of time after executing a dodge roll you can't be hit, the Crusader Set extends that time making you very hard to hit, it will help keep you alive, the traits suck, but its not noticeable once you realize how much damage you can avoid and you laugh as you evade numerous, numerous attacks. The Way of the Air is a good all around set due to it also buffing spell damage, may help the few Sorc Abilities you use.

6. it may be hard to fit on your bar, but don't discount Bound Armaments, its gives a nice bonus to Heavy Attack Damage and Max Stamina, its one of the few Sorc abilities that is Stamina so if possible find a way to take advantage of it. sometimes Heavy Bow Attacks from Stealth hit harder then Lethal Arrow with Bound Armaments on and Surge, I have one shot poor saps with Crit Surge + Wrecking Blow from Stealth too busy firing their siege engines, its a one shot kill often times..its really ridiculous. This is why being a Vamp is nice, it works with the Stamina Sorc as it makes what Stamina Sorc's can do, and makes it better.

7. Power Overload is still useful as a Stamina Sorc. if you invest most of your points into Stamina, then Power Overload damage will scale of Max Stamina and Weapon Damge, so its still a very useful Ultimate, As an added bonus, few people know this nor will they expect a two handed stamina Sorc to start Overloading them lots of damage, so it could give you the element of surprise. along with a 3rd bar to do what you want with.

8 Of course use Boundless Storm, Executioner is one you will have to play with and see if you think you need it or not.

I have watched Fengrush roam around by himself and wreck people using a stamina Sorc Build with Two handed and Bow. As long as your willing to use Streak to press your offensive advantage, and synergize with your skills, you should have no problem dishing out lots of damage.

oh and investing champ points into Mighty seems to be the best bang for your buck, and points into Mighty and piercing with a two handed Maul is the sweet spot, since the Maul also ignores a percentage of armor with the passive, you should get a little extra ooph out of it.

I recently went back to magic because i change builds like i change socks, i always get an idea in my head and have to try it to keep the game from getting boring to me, but i never had any trouble otherwise. It was definitely much easier to kill people with stamina, and Streak + Dodge roll(especially with Crusader Set) was a more reliable escape then Ball of Lighting most times. Stamina can wreck people, perhaps put a few points into Bastion to help your Hardened Ward if you feel like running it, that s preference.

I modeled by Stamina Sorc off Ebonheart Templar's Darklight Stamina Templar Build...i made modifications because i didn't have Blazing Shield and such, but i did have Crit Surge, Bound Armaments, Power Overload that scaled off Stamina and Weapon Damage(Ulty scale off whats highest between the two now) Boundless Storm for the movement speed and defense.

If you can practice animation canceling Lethal Arrow + Poison Injection + Light Attack and get them all to land at the same time buffed with Surge before hand you will insta kill a lot of people...I never built as a gank build, but its possible too.

I am just putting this all out here as ideas,. hope it helps you settle on something. there are lots of combos

Here is Ebonheart Templar's Darklight Build that i built my Stamina Sorc around

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0wwQ8XWuVo

You could put a little into Magic and Bastion to take advantage of Hardened Ward much like he does Blazing Shield. You will have overload, Crit Surge heals off Crit Charge, Magnum Shot and Streak to set up Crit charges for damage and heals, Stamina Sorc is viable, Fengrush runs it, there are others, i actually bounced back and forth between them depending. seems bout every 2-3 months i switch from magic to stamina, and back to magic, back to stamina. its viable i assure you, its just a different playstyle...you will die more earrly on, but once you get the hang of it (it won't take you very long trust me), you can wreck shop.

cschwingeb14_ESO · May 2015

4x shadow Walker, 3x dreugh king(2h, 2armor), 4x morag tong(DW+2armor), 2x blood spawn undaunted. 5med 2 heavy. Drinks or food depends on your play style. I find drinks better

This gives you a ton of weapon damage and 2x Stam regen set bonuses. DW/2h. Flying blade for insta and ranged damage, rally and/or surge. If you're using surge, don't use lightning form/caltrops, but do use immovable. Rally is to good to pass up though

The only thing it's missing gear wise is nirnhoned.

It's still worse than any other class for a stam build

Erock25 · May 2015

@woodsro Please correct me if I am wrong, but Crit Charge does not crit on a blocking opponent, right? I looked into this a long time ago and noticed I got no heals from Crit Surge + Crit Charge if the enemy was blocking and I am wondering if that changed? I'd love to make a Crit Surge + Crit Charge build, but if someone can shut down your main healing just by blocking, the build won't work against anyone who knows what they are doing.

RinaldoGandolphi · May 2015

Erock25 wrote: »

@woodsro Please correct me if I am wrong, but Crit Charge does not crit on a blocking opponent, right? I looked into this a long time ago and noticed I got no heals from Crit Surge + Crit Charge if the enemy was blocking and I am wondering if that changed? I'd love to make a Crit Surge + Crit Charge build, but if someone can shut down your main healing just by blocking, the build won't work against anyone who knows what they are doing.

No it doesn't heal on a Blocking opponent BUT

thats where Magnum Shot and Streak come into play...

Magnum Shot both knocks back and disorients your opponent while pushing you back, this allows you to open a healing window for Crit Charge whenever you want/need to.

Streak is an unblockable stun that can also be used to open a healing window in situations your opponent is holding block.

Combine these with using Clouding Swarm making you invisible and hiding all your character animations, and the speed bonus of Boundless Storm, and you can dish out some serious hurt while always having a speed advantage over your opponent.

Vamp Accelerating Drain is very good with this build too.

There are many ways to skin a cat

Streak Forces their Block down allowing you to force open a window when needed., Magnum Shot prevents them from blocking and opens the Window when needed. Clouding Swarm is just money for often then not when combined with these skills.

No build is perfect mind you, everything can be countered, even Ebonheart Templar's Darklight can be countered, but it can also be very successful....a Crit Charge + Crit Surge build is viable using Streak, Magnum Shot, and Clouding Swarm as you will have ways to open windows.

Watch the tail end of that vid with Ebonheart Templar, you cna play the Sorc very simliar except you will have Streak, Boundless Storm, etc. You could run both Rally and Surge, one for burst heals, and onefor dot, but Accelerating Drain is a very good heal as well. lots of options

SturgeHammer · May 2015

Varicite wrote: »

I'm surprised none of these suggestions incorporate Bound Armaments, which is probably the only Sorc skill worth putting on your bars outside of an Ultimate.

I main a stam sorc and this skill really appeals to me, but I absolutely hate the look of the bound armor. Might run it one day if they ever give me the option to disable the visual.

To address the original topic I build mine with a focus on stam regen and max stam, with cps in Stam and Magic cost reduction, physical damage, and crit resistance. Bolt, crit rush, and boundless can get you in and out of most fights quickly. If you can't burst your opponent down quickly, put your crazy stam sorc mobility to use and scram. Bolt, magnum shot can allow you to maintain good positioning if going in for melee burst isn't an option. I prefer momentum over surge because magicka for bolt is precious (ZOS if you are reading make crit surge cheaper or longer duration please). I tried different stam gears and most of them seem to perform about the same, pick which ever makes you feel the most mobile because 90% of playing stam sorc is identifying what will get you killed and how to disengage. Your biggest threat will be bursty NBs attacks from stealth, carry some detect pots or pray that your reflexes are fast enough to bolt and roll away if the initial hit doesn't kill you.

Weng · May 2015

It helps a lot if you have a racial that favors stamina like Redguard. And I have chosen Werewolf for the stamina regen, obviously.

Since I have the luxury of having the skill Resolving Vigor, I made a stam sorc build based on dual wield and bow recently.

The sorc skills I use are Boundless storm (for the speed buff and armor), Streak (it's more offensive in stam builds, you use it as a gap closer), Power Surge (the heal is not worth it, but weapon power and spell power buff combined without having to use a 2-H), Liquid Lightening (just as a magicka resource drain for ranged fights and group fights).

I try to get Bound Armaments for the stam increase into my build as well, but currently I don't have enough skill slots

.

I use 5 Hunding's Rage and 3 Dreugh King slayer pieces. Most of them with stamina increase and a few with health.

And I am using potions with immovable and stam regen, that's not very common but really effective if you time the potions well.

FENGRUSH · May 2015

Vis wrote: »

Dositheus wrote: »

Fengrush seems to be having fun with it.

I don't think I have ever seen Fengrush solo roaming. Anything is "doable" if you have a group to fill in your weak spots.

FENGRUSH is alone about half the time.

FENGRUSH is more than "doable", and He does not embody any spots of weakness. To insinuate such ideas would be considered defamation and as such FENGRUSH will find you and bring you the truth.

Emma_Overload · May 2015

woodsro wrote: »

when i was using Stamina on on My Sorc for awhile, this is what I done:

1. Gotta be a Vampire, its a MUST. Stealth is very important to using Stamina, Med Armor has bonuses to stealth so it can be just useful in repositioning as Bolt Escape. Vamps get increased Stealth speed and enter stealth faster at night time, it can save your life since you won't have the magic to Bolt Escape endlessly like you can on a magic spec.

2. Critical Surge is VERY useful on a Stamina Sorc,

3. Critical Surge, Critical Charge, and Magnum Shot with your bow and two handed all Synergize together. Use Magnum Shot to create distance and stun your opponent, then use Crit charge to hit him hard AND heal you since Crit Charge is a 100% Crit.

4. You want Streak over Ball of Lighting because your going to be up close and personal way more often where BOL has no advantage, You can use Streak to stun your opponent immediately followed up by a Crit Charge from range (Just like Magnum Shot that knocks them back and you back, Streak Synergies with Critical Surge and Critical Rush allowing you to burst quickly, get max damage from Crit Charge, and Heal you for big chunks) You have dodge rolls for projectiles and will be able to do a lot more of it, and if your wearing the Crusader Set well...hahaha...you will see. You can use Streak and Magnum shot to set up Crit Charges that do more damage the farther away you are, which also means they will heal you for more with Critical Surge.

5. As a Vamp Stamina Sorc you want Clouding Swarm. This also Synergizes with Critical Surge and Crit Charge...You will become Invisible, your opponent then can't see your character animations allowing you to crit rush folks and land hits you normally couldn't,. and wind up Wrecking Blows your opponent can't see (thank you Ebonheart Templar! Darklight FTW!) you will be surprised how many people you can wreck doing this as its hard to dodge a wrecking blow you can't see or don't know is coming.

6. there are 3 sets good for a Stamina Sorc(probably others too), Way of the Air, Skirmisher, and my personal favorite, the Crusader's Set. The Way of the Air Weapon Damage Bonus after dodge rolling does stack with Critical Surge, so you can get a fair bit of weapon damage out of it by combining them.So keep that in mind.

The Crusader Set is just awesome from a survivability perspective. you will give up a bit of damage for being pretty much impossible to hit with single target attacks or projectiles as long as you use drink to get high regen. You will be amazed the nonsense you can survive just by simply dodging with a 5 piece Crusader Set. its absurd really, its so stinking OP its off the charts.

There is a period of time after executing a dodge roll you can't be hit, the Crusader Set extends that time making you very hard to hit, it will help keep you alive, the traits suck, but its not noticeable once you realize how much damage you can avoid and you laugh as you evade numerous, numerous attacks. The Way of the Air is a good all around set due to it also buffing spell damage, may help the few Sorc Abilities you use.

6. it may be hard to fit on your bar, but don't discount Bound Armaments, its gives a nice bonus to Heavy Attack Damage and Max Stamina, its one of the few Sorc abilities that is Stamina so if possible find a way to take advantage of it. sometimes Heavy Bow Attacks from Stealth hit harder then Lethal Arrow with Bound Armaments on and Surge, I have one shot poor saps with Crit Surge + Wrecking Blow from Stealth too busy firing their siege engines, its a one shot kill often times..its really ridiculous. This is why being a Vamp is nice, it works with the Stamina Sorc as it makes what Stamina Sorc's can do, and makes it better.

7. Power Overload is still useful as a Stamina Sorc. if you invest most of your points into Stamina, then Power Overload damage will scale of Max Stamina and Weapon Damge, so its still a very useful Ultimate, As an added bonus, few people know this nor will they expect a two handed stamina Sorc to start Overloading them lots of damage, so it could give you the element of surprise. along with a 3rd bar to do what you want with.

8 Of course use Boundless Storm, Executioner is one you will have to play with and see if you think you need it or not.

I have watched Fengrush roam around by himself and wreck people using a stamina Sorc Build with Two handed and Bow. As long as your willing to use Streak to press your offensive advantage, and synergize with your skills, you should have no problem dishing out lots of damage.

oh and investing champ points into Mighty seems to be the best bang for your buck, and points into Mighty and piercing with a two handed Maul is the sweet spot, since the Maul also ignores a percentage of armor with the passive, you should get a little extra ooph out of it.

I recently went back to magic because i change builds like i change socks, i always get an idea in my head and have to try it to keep the game from getting boring to me, but i never had any trouble otherwise. It was definitely much easier to kill people with stamina, and Streak + Dodge roll(especially with Crusader Set) was a more reliable escape then Ball of Lighting most times. Stamina can wreck people, perhaps put a few points into Bastion to help your Hardened Ward if you feel like running it, that s preference.

I modeled by Stamina Sorc off Ebonheart Templar's Darklight Stamina Templar Build...i made modifications because i didn't have Blazing Shield and such, but i did have Crit Surge, Bound Armaments, Power Overload that scaled off Stamina and Weapon Damage(Ulty scale off whats highest between the two now) Boundless Storm for the movement speed and defense.

If you can practice animation canceling Lethal Arrow + Poison Injection + Light Attack and get them all to land at the same time buffed with Surge before hand you will insta kill a lot of people...I never built as a gank build, but its possible too.

I am just putting this all out here as ideas,. hope it helps you settle on something. there are lots of combos

Here is Ebonheart Templar's Darklight Build that i built my Stamina Sorc around

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0wwQ8XWuVo

You could put a little into Magic and Bastion to take advantage of Hardened Ward much like he does Blazing Shield. You will have overload, Crit Surge heals off Crit Charge, Magnum Shot and Streak to set up Crit charges for damage and heals, Stamina Sorc is viable, Fengrush runs it, there are others, i actually bounced back and forth between them depending. seems bout every 2-3 months i switch from magic to stamina, and back to magic, back to stamina. its viable i assure you, its just a different playstyle...you will die more earrly on, but once you get the hang of it (it won't take you very long trust me), you can wreck shop.

Great post, but I wish you hadn't mentioned the *rusader set so much

BossTuggles · May 2015

I have seen the Lord Commander Fengrush two-shot many mighty warriors on the fields of Cyrodil with his powerful sword. Those who diminish what my Lord has accomplished shall face his wrath.

Vis · May 2015

BossTuggles wrote: »

I have seen the Lord Commander Fengrush two-shot many mighty warriors on the fields of Cyrodil with his powerful sword. Those who diminish what my Lord has accomplished shall face his wrath.

You witnessed it? Guess he was not alone.

Cathexis · May 2015

Stamina sorc can't be done. I've tried, its terribad. Its entirely built around roll dodge. You feel like a wet noodle because that's what they are. I tried 9 builds, and a hybrid split does 100x better than pure stamina.

Cathexis · May 2015

....my best build for pure stam was as follows:

In champion points max out tumbler and get the 10 point passive that gives 15% DMG on interupt
Go 7 pieces of heavy armor with dreugh king slayer x3 cyrodiil set x2 and whatever the third damage set is can't remember x2
Ravager neck, damage rings

Tank bow with the interupt poison arrow morph [Evade, the storm armor ability, regen circle of protection from fighters guild, BoL, poison arrow]

Kite everything ..when you see low health...

Damage stacked 2h [critical rush with damage bonus, wrecking blow, evade, surge, 2h dmg buff]

Never fight alone.

cozmon3c_ESO · May 2015

so, discovered that you hit like a wet noodle if you dont used sharpened on your weapons. so i was playing hard mode frustrated as hell until i had some sharpened weapons made.

Mojomonkeyman · May 2015

Your best bet is vamp, s&b & dw for bombing or some 2h variations for "not bombing" which makes any kind of 1vX very rough. You also need, imo, BoL instead of streak, when using Iyas build.

As far as I can tell you are coming from magicka sorc expectations - you wont be as versatile and effective, ever, as stam sorc. But you can have loads of fun. Going vamp and mist, clouding my way out of trouble in combo with BoL made 1vX sometimes doable and is a very fun playstyle. Also you can make really good dueling builds as stam sorc, but always kinda special purpose, not allround.

Jitterbug · May 2015

Great stuff

I'll just throw my own thread into the discussion

Shaman

TBois · May 2015

Stam sorc at #6 AD on Azura's (NA). I'm not saying this has anything to do with my build, but it can be an effective option in groups. Super fun solo too.

Edit: #5 sorc in the campaign

Dyride · May 2015

Lots of good pointers listed here but I'll throw my take on stam Sorc.

Boundless Armaments is great for Stamina DPS in PVE but is too limiting for pvp, same with the Clannfear, I use it to tank in PVE but it is not on my bar in PVP.

I run 2H/Bow, using 6Med/1Hvy, 5 Pc Way of Air, 4 pc Shadowwalker, 1 pc Bloodspawn. Crafted Sword and bow until I get Master weapons.

This gives me about 2k stamina regen, 2940 Weapon Damage coming out of a roll. I'm a Breton, but this would work much better on a Redguard, Imperial or even Orc.

2H:

Ball of Lightning, Silver Shards/Executioner, Critical Rush, Wrecking Blow, Rally, Flawless Dawnbreaker.

BoL can only be used 3 times roughly in a row unless spaced out, so sometimes I use it to chase, but mostly it is used to break contact and line of sight. Silver Shards knockdown can allow a quick follow up with Wrecking Blow.

Bow:

Shuffle, Poison Injection, (Lethal Arrow/Magnum Shot/Efficient Purge), Boundless Storm, Dark Deal, Energy Overload

I love Shuffle, purging snares is so useful. This bar is primarily used for mobility. Dark Deal is incredible if you can get the space, let it run 2 secs then block cancel. I rarely let it run a full course.

Overload:

Ball of Lightning, Defensive Rune, Radiant Magelight, Critical Surge, Retreating Maneuvers

Overload bar is used while travelling with Defensive Rune and Radiant Magelight to prevent being ganked. Cast Critical Surge and watch the tears flow.

For group play, I change out the bow bar.

Shuffle, Bombard, Efficient Purge, Retreating Maneuvers, Dark Deal, Suppression Field

Dyride · May 2015

I have found Bound Armor to be effective for a ganking build. This is my own spin for a stam sorc to gank with.

Use Rally in stealth, then hit them with Lethal Arrow. Follow with a Heavy Attack cancelled by Poison Injection then Rune Cage, otherwise Crit Charge and use Executioner.

It is pretty sadistic, but you can watch them melt from Poison Injection inside Rune Cage.

Dyride · May 2015

cozmon3c_ESO wrote: »

Im going to try out dual wield I just need to unlock flying blade, i need some direct damage that is fast and flying blade is pretty decent for that I hope. It may such for other classes but I think this will work well with the sorc.

I use Silver Shards for instant damage. It doesn't hit as hard as flying blade but brings the benefit of a knockdown if they are a vamp.

TBois · May 2015

infracanisub17_ESO wrote: »

I have found Bound Armor to be effective for a ganking build. This is my own spin for a stam sorc to gank with.

Use Rally in stealth, then hit them with Lethal Arrow. Follow with a Heavy Attack cancelled by Poison Injection then Rune Cage, otherwise Crit Charge and use Executioner.

It is pretty sadistic, but you can watch them melt from Poison Injection inside Rune Cage.

I like that build. MIght try it out if i do some ganking later. Great tips on this thread for those of us who are playing with stam sorc.