Sorcerers! Are you Single Target, or AoE?

ArchMikem · February 7

I'm curious how many Sorc Mains have chosen which playstyle, since the Class in my view is the one that has the clearest divide between focusing on Single Target damage, or multi Target while having the Class Abilities to foster both. I myself has built heavily into Single Target, with Force Pulse and Crystal Frags with Meteor being the majority of my damage since not only is it good for PvE but I can take it into PvP easily as well when I want to.

Even so I used to play as an AoE MagSorc with Shock Wall, Liquid Lightning, Heavy Attacks and even had fun with Infernal Guardian, lobbing mortars with every Ward.

LunaFlora · February 7

AoE Sorc

i focus on AoE.
but can't exactly avoid single target.

my main sorcerer uses Mages' Wrath, Hurricane, Power Overload, and Lightning staff for AoE.

RebornV3x · February 7

Single Target Sorc

single target i guess but I have Pillar of Nirn front bar and use Wall of Elements so. a little bit of both

autocookies · February 15

"I have both Builds in the Armory"

deleted

Necrotech_Master · February 15

AoE Sorc

my sorc is a healer, but i have a few aoes to throw down to help the group lol

Araneae6537 · February 22

Hmm, aren’t heavy attack sorcs single target focused by definition? Then I often have Daedric Prey and either Structured Entropy or Elemental Susceptibility on my bar depending on the content. But I like the aoe abilities, including the aoe (Charged) Ateonach.

Necrotech_Master · February 22

AoE Sorc

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Hmm, aren’t heavy attack sorcs single target focused by definition? Then I often have Daedric Prey and either Structured Entropy or Elemental Susceptibility on my bar depending on the content. But I like the aoe abilities, including the aoe (Charged) Ateonach.

if you had a lightning staff, it was effectively full aoe before the adjustments, and then only aoe on the final tick (current functionality) due to the trifocus passive

FrancisCrawford · February 22

HA Oakensoul, with a single-target bias.

Sometimes I even swap out the lightning staff for resto.

AcadianPaladin · February 22

AoE Sorc

My solo pve Oakensorc slots Elemental Susceptibility, Wall of Elements, Vigor and 2 passives. Her main skill is HA which I consider AoE. The only single target skills she has (not counting EleSus) is light attack and a tank companion.

moo_2021 · February 22

Single Target Sorc

do curse and mage's wrath count as single target or AoE? They're my only AoE but require a single target to trigger the explosion.

moderatelyfatman · February 24

The problem with sorc is that you have to choose between one or the other.
Even though I can parse higher on my sorc than I can on any other class, I can take my parse build of my DK, Warden and Templar into actual content and get vastly superior dps.
It's a pity they can't give a 5m cleave to some of the single target spammables (e.g. Crystal Frags, Crystal Weapon etc) instead of forcing players to rely on Silver Shards.

AcadianPaladin · February 24

AoE Sorc

@moderatelyfatman I have similar results with my HA Oakensorc. She is top dps vs 3M unbuffed dummy but not really better than my other chars vs a real boss. And my OakenBowWard trounces her vs real bosses.

moderatelyfatman · February 26

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

@moderatelyfatman I have similar results with my HA Oakensorc. She is top dps vs 3M unbuffed dummy but not really better than my other chars vs a real boss. And my OakenBowWard trounces her vs real bosses.

I think Oakensoul should be an option and not a requirement for a class build.
I'd recommend giving your stamden a Bow/Bow setup (with Maelstrom backbarred). It's a lot more fun than a 1-bar.

the1andonlyskwex · February 26

Single Target Sorc

moderatelyfatman wrote: »

The problem with sorc is that you have to choose between one or the other.
Even though I can parse higher on my sorc than I can on any other class, I can take my parse build of my DK, Warden and Templar into actual content and get vastly superior dps.
It's a pity they can't give a 5m cleave to some of the single target spammables (e.g. Crystal Frags, Crystal Weapon etc) instead of forcing players to rely on Silver Shards.

The old Crystal Blast morph was an AoE spammable that had costs and damage equivalent to a single target spammable. It was actually way overturned according to ZOS standards. Unfortunately "nobody" used it because people hate cast times, so it got replaced.

Alienoutlaw · February 26

i play both, sorc has ability to be effective in both roles at the same time

moderatelyfatman · February 27

the1andonlyskwex wrote: »

moderatelyfatman wrote: »

The problem with sorc is that you have to choose between one or the other.
Even though I can parse higher on my sorc than I can on any other class, I can take my parse build of my DK, Warden and Templar into actual content and get vastly superior dps.
It's a pity they can't give a 5m cleave to some of the single target spammables (e.g. Crystal Frags, Crystal Weapon etc) instead of forcing players to rely on Silver Shards.

The old Crystal Blast morph was an AoE spammable that had costs and damage equivalent to a single target spammable. It was actually way overturned according to ZOS standards. Unfortunately "nobody" used it because people hate cast times, so it got replaced.

GIven that Frag Spamming is now a thing, maybe it is time to bring it back?

Araneae6537 · February 27

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Hmm, aren’t heavy attack sorcs single target focused by definition? Then I often have Daedric Prey and either Structured Entropy or Elemental Susceptibility on my bar depending on the content. But I like the aoe abilities, including the aoe (Charged) Ateonach.

if you had a lightning staff, it was effectively full aoe before the adjustments, and then only aoe on the final tick (current functionality) due to the trifocus passive

But since the adjustments HA sorc with lightning staff is more single target oriented, right? I don’t why that was changed actually…

moderatelyfatman · February 27

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Hmm, aren’t heavy attack sorcs single target focused by definition? Then I often have Daedric Prey and either Structured Entropy or Elemental Susceptibility on my bar depending on the content. But I like the aoe abilities, including the aoe (Charged) Ateonach.

if you had a lightning staff, it was effectively full aoe before the adjustments, and then only aoe on the final tick (current functionality) due to the trifocus passive

But since the adjustments HA sorc with lightning staff is more single target oriented, right? I don’t why that was changed actually…

Personally, I think they meant to nerf it but didn't get it right. They should have kept the lightning staff an AOE buff and a flame staff single target, but reudced the damage on tri-focu for lightning if it was too powerful.

Necrotech_Master · February 27

AoE Sorc

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Hmm, aren’t heavy attack sorcs single target focused by definition? Then I often have Daedric Prey and either Structured Entropy or Elemental Susceptibility on my bar depending on the content. But I like the aoe abilities, including the aoe (Charged) Ateonach.

if you had a lightning staff, it was effectively full aoe before the adjustments, and then only aoe on the final tick (current functionality) due to the trifocus passive

But since the adjustments HA sorc with lightning staff is more single target oriented, right? I don’t why that was changed actually…

out of the total dmg the lightning heavy deals, about 50% of it is aoe

the first 2 ticks are no longer aoe at all (do not trigger trifocus), the final tick is still aoe (benefits from trifocus) and on a true HA build should still hit for a good amount of splash dmg

the problem with this though is that if the enemy happens to die before the final tick connects, there will be no splash dmg at all (not really a problem for most "big enemy" fights like WBs, dungeon boss, or trials), but it is more noticeable in overland when stuff will die before the final heavy tick goes off

SpacemanSpiff1 · February 27

i am a wet noodle

AcadianPaladin · February 27

AoE Sorc

My Oakensorc focuses on HA vs bosses but tends to spam wall of elements vs trash groups.

Have been running Oak (duh), Slimecraw x1, Sergeant's Mail and Mother's Sorrow. Tried switching MS for Storm Master yesterday and my dps vs both 3M dummy and a few WBs went from 32k to just over 33k with pretty consistent results over quite a few tries with each setup. Hate having my crit drop below 50% but can't argue with the results I guess. It also meant going from 5xLight/1/1 to 5xMedium/1/1.

Sakiri · February 29

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

My Oakensorc focuses on HA vs bosses but tends to spam wall of elements vs trash groups.

Have been running Oak (duh), Slimecraw x1, Sergeant's Mail and Mother's Sorrow. Tried switching MS for Storm Master yesterday and my dps vs both 3M dummy and a few WBs went from 32k to just over 33k with pretty consistent results over quite a few tries with each setup. Hate having my crit drop below 50% but can't argue with the results I guess. It also meant going from 5xLight/1/1 to 5xMedium/1/1.

I'm running Sergeants mail and deadly strike. You can use lover stone to make up for penetration in medium armor if you need it(only real reason to use light), but I'm usually over pen in trials anyway. I typically parse around 77k on the 21m dummy. Need to do better..... I'm failing my mentor lol.

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Sorcerers! Are you Single Target, or AoE?

Sorcerers! Are you Single Target, or AoE? 45 votes