Why sorcerer archer? Makes no sense to me

Hauztein · June 2015

I want to play somehing different such as sorc arvher, that many people says wonders... But it makes no sense to me since weapond dmg is stamina and class is magicka... And hybrid characters are not good since theres no diminish retirn on sta and mag, so i should pick one stat to max level. If i have strong spells, i will have weak archery, and vice versa

Lava_Croft · June 2015

Welcome to ESO after patch 1.6.

Saddiq · June 2015

My alt is a sorc archer. Have a blast with the character, doing only ranged attacks. She's been able to solo dolmens from the beginning and that hasn't gotten worse with levelling. She won't be able to 1v1 the greatest players in the game, but then neither will my main whose class/race combo is capable of min/maxing.

Only reason to really stress about creating a sub-optimal character is if you're actually and truly aiming to defeat the best players (and console or no, if you're starting this 'late', good luck with that). If that's not your goal, I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest.

Plus with nerfs and buffs in an ever-changing game, whatever weapon you choose will at some point be on top, and at some point be on the bottom for competitiveness. Level the archery and then devote yourself to another weapon after. Really no loss to be had.

UrQuan · June 2015

Hauztein wrote: »

I want to play somehing different such as sorc arvher, that many people says wonders... But it makes no sense to me since weapond dmg is stamina and class is magicka... And hybrid characters are not good since theres no diminish retirn on sta and mag, so i should pick one stat to max level. If i have strong spells, i will have weak archery, and vice versa

You could say that about any class. All 4 classes are magicka classes if you're going heavy on the class skills. I mean, there are stamina morphs of some class skills now, but they're still predominately magicka regardless of which class you're talking about.

If you want to do a sorcerer archer put everything into stamina (well, stamina and some health too - just don't put anything into magicka), use mostly bow skills, and for your class skills focus on things like Dark Deal (morph of Dark Exchange that converts magicka into health and stamina), Bound Armaments (stamina morph of Bound Armor that increases your max stamina and your damage with heavy attacks), Unstable Familiar (either morph) & Summon Twilight Matriarch (both cost magicka, but only when you first summon them and then you send them off to fight mobs/bosses while you stay back and snipe with your bow), and Critical Surge (morph of Surge - it costs magicka but it increases your weapon damage and heals you on crits). Basically use whatever combination of those skills and bow skills works for you.

I've got a lowbie sorcerer archer who is primarily a pet & bow build with nothing in magicka, and it works out pretty well. Send in pets first, hang back and when your pets engage you use Volley, Snipe, whatever. At lower levels, anyway, it works out way better than any other class I've used as an archer.

Johngo0036 · June 2015

Here is my advice,

you bought the game, RIGHT,

You either pay monthly sub or not, RIGHT,

Do whatever floats your boat and don't worry about being the best,
you will be strong and good enough to nuke most players in PVP,
except the really good ones,

You will have NO issue with dungeons etc,

You may find Dragonstar Arena and trials too difficult but all others you will be fine,

Just do what you want mate, You paid for that by buying the game,

ESO has issues, yes
but BOKEN, Hell no,

there is alot of fun to be had,

Trollwut · June 2015

Don't see the complications?

You can get your damage skills from weapon skill lines and then use supportitive spells from class line.
So you can use both pools without interfering.

Snit · June 2015

Sorcerers bring less to the table than any other class for stamina builds.

You can make it work. A few people do -- there's at least one PvP sorc on the DC side who is extremely effective in small group situations. However, you give up the two things that make magicka sorcs so effective (Hardened Ward and Bolt Escape), while getting no particularly good toys in return.

If you're not concerned about min-maxing, everything works.

Emma_Overload · June 2015

As a VR14 Sorc, it annoys the crap out of me hearing people cry about the removal of soft caps. Do you really want to go back to running out of magicka or stamina in the middle of boss fights? Do you really want to go back to risking suicide with Spell Symmetry all the time?

If OP wants to be an optimal archer, then he should roll a Bosmer Nightblade and quit fishing for nerfs!

ThatHappyCat · June 2015

Being a Bow Sorc has some benefits, including class access to Major Brutality (no need for 2Hander or weapon power pots), a toggled survivability and damage boost in Bound Armaments and the ability to quickly regenerate health and stamina out of combat.