Sorcerer abilities with minions

Sixsixsix161

I posted this at 10 this morning in another forum and no replies yet, so maybe someone here can point me in the right direction.

I'm not the best player in the world, so I really like the daedric abilities, because I can have minions tanking for me, while I stand in the distance and reduce the chance that an enemy comes after me. I've been using one minion (the unstable familiar), so far. But, I'd like to try the build that also uses the summoned winged twilight.

However, I've not been able to find a build that provides the exact details. I found one build but it was based on the sorcerer using 1H sword and board, and I want to use a destro staff on bar 1. (planning on a resto staff and heals for bar 2).

What I've come up with is a combination of abilities that I've gathered from different builds: Destro staff; Unstable Familiar; Summon Winged Twilight; Daedric Curse, Bound Armor; and Conjured Ward. For the ultimate I'm thinking Overload from the Storm Calling tree. This setup gives me some offensive abilities, additional protection, and some help to protect my minions.

So, if you are familiar with this build, please tell me what your setup is for bar 1 (including the morphs), or what you recommend.

Thank you.

Artfuldodger

Hi.

I am not quite certain why you think a build is in any way a relation to which aid you summon, I am a Sorc and I have been using winged twilight. My build was forever changing as I tried to find the best one that suited me, with each build I found the WT to always be invaluable during lvl 1-50. From reaching Vet I found I have not needed it.

I have a destruction staff and a healing staff, I use a self heal on the healing staff and everything else is damage. As a sorc you are better off doing DPS having a sword and shield is a good option alongside a destruction staff with a self heal. Benefits of the WT are the morphs, healing, more damage given ext.

Depends on what you are doing as well, PVP or PVE as the builds are completely different.

Two things are a must, mage ward and empowered ward.

I got to the vet stages with relative ease, building my Sorc not around a summoned aid but what suited best all round.

Knewos

I would recomend to use the Storm Atronach Ultimate, so you get a DMG boost out of the Deadric Curse there too.
You need to have the Same setup on the 2nd. bar so there isnt much space left there, i would recommend you put the Conjured Ward on the second Bar with healing Springs, so you can put a dmg abillity on the first bar.
Something like Force Pulse or something.
Then i wouldnt morphe the Familiar to the unstable one, because it cant really tank on this morph and you have to recast it to often (The Twilight cant tank either).

Enteum

I'm using Flame Destro Staff. Morphed Destructive Clench (Knocks enemies back) Crystal Blast (Knocks enemies down) Lighting form (For a little aoe) and Morphed Clannfear with more health. I also use the morphed twilight that can heal you.

For solo PvE I feel this is working very well. I also use a 2nd Detro staff I can switch too to change up spells but keeping the summons.

Ultimate is Storm Atronach.

Asayre

It sounds to me like you're looking for tamrielfoundry.com/topic/1-6-6-the-unholy-herdsman-thelons-pet-build/

Sixsixsix161

Thanks all.

Knewos, yeah I already changed yesterday back to the Storm Atronach.

Enteum, I wasn't aware that the morphed twilight could heal you, so I'll take that.

Asayre, despite the almost 4 hours of research I did for my sorc and all the different websites I saw, I never saw this. It's an interesting build and I'm going to try it.

Enteum

@Sixsixsix161 Yes, on one of the morphs the Twilight can heal you when you go below a certain amount of health. Very helpful if you're a solo kind of person.

Artfuldodger

Sixsixsix161 wrote: »

Thanks all.

Enteum, I wasn't aware that the morphed twilight could heal you, so I'll take that.

Well you would have done if you had of read my reply!
I'm joking, being pedantic is a nice way

Morimizo

Enteum wrote: »

I'm using Flame Destro Staff. Morphed Destructive Clench (Knocks enemies back)

Once the update hits tomorrow, are you going to change from the Flame Staff since it loses it's stun? The removal of Wizard Golf removes quite a bit of fun from PVE mobs I think. I'm switching to the Lightning Staff to maintain the Stun, because the damage with this ability is low, and the CC is what is important.

Enteum

@Morimizo I'm not too fussed about the stun from Destructive Clench. However, I'm in consideration. But, I will see how things go before dedicating to a switch.

Thelon

Sixsixsix161 wrote: »

Asayre, despite the almost 4 hours of research I did for my sorc and all the different websites I saw, I never saw this. It's an interesting build and I'm going to try it.

Pet build is rawr! There's tons of great info on Tamriel Foundry so its well worth a look!

SmalltalkJava

Thelon knows what he is talking about!

Morimizo

Enteum wrote: »

@Morimizo I'm not too fussed about the stun from Destructive Clench. However, I'm in consideration. But, I will see how things go before dedicating to a switch.

The adjustment to the Lightning staff is fine; though the difference in heavy attack takes getting used to, and stunning up close just merits a change of place for the DoTs (it was fun to knock 3 npcs into a corner and lightning flood them, but alas).

I actually get the feeling most folks don't even use this ability anyway, no wonder they thought it was fine to change it. Guess we all have to hope it never happens to our own personal favorite, eh?

Enteum

@Morimizu I understand that. However, I roll with a Dunmer so fire seems to be my thing. It never has done much damage, it was all about breaking up the group for me. The pets do the rest. I may try running a Lightning staff as my second bar and see how it turns out. Patching now

Thelon

The biggest issue with a Lightning Staff for PvE is that you cannot use medium attack weaving, as the Lightning Staff's attack is channelled. This means you'll have to use light attack weaving with any attack associated with your Lightning Staff bar, costing you considerable DPS.

myrrrorb14_ESO

I've been rolling through quests, world bosses, and dolmens with a pets build. Its pretty crazy.

I run fire staff / resto staff

Both the Clanfear and Matriarch. I was trying to level up the skill line so had bound armor, velocious curse, force pulse, and greater atronarch.

On second bar had power surge and combat prayer.

When I had Ward available I switched out bound armor.

It works really well for me. Level 39 atm.

Thelon

myrrrorb14_ESO wrote: »

I've been rolling through quests, world bosses, and dolmens with a pets build. Its pretty crazy.

I run fire staff / resto staff

Both the Clanfear and Matriarch. I was trying to level up the skill line so had bound armor, velocious curse, force pulse, and greater atronarch.

On second bar had power surge and combat prayer.

When I had Ward available I switched out bound armor.

It works really well for me. Level 39 atm.

Make sure you grab your Lorebooks to level Mages Guild ASAP. You'll need the Meteor ultimate later to help with AOE.

myrrrorb14_ESO

Thelon wrote: »

myrrrorb14_ESO wrote: »

I've been rolling through quests, world bosses, and dolmens with a pets build. Its pretty crazy.

I run fire staff / resto staff

Both the Clanfear and Matriarch. I was trying to level up the skill line so had bound armor, velocious curse, force pulse, and greater atronarch.

On second bar had power surge and combat prayer.

When I had Ward available I switched out bound armor.

It works really well for me. Level 39 atm.

Make sure you grab your Lorebooks to level Mages Guild ASAP. You'll need the Meteor ultimate later to help with AOE.

Yeah, I forgot. Its a slow ride getting the books without addons. I miss them so much. Currently running my third bar fore aoe, but its pretty weak. Just running the lightning form, liquid lightning, and shattering prison. Its eadier to just drop an atro and pop them when they are weakened.

Enteum

Thelon wrote: »

myrrrorb14_ESO wrote: »

I've been rolling through quests, world bosses, and dolmens with a pets build. Its pretty crazy.

I run fire staff / resto staff

Both the Clanfear and Matriarch. I was trying to level up the skill line so had bound armor, velocious curse, force pulse, and greater atronarch.

On second bar had power surge and combat prayer.

When I had Ward available I switched out bound armor.

It works really well for me. Level 39 atm.

Make sure you grab your Lorebooks to level Mages Guild ASAP. You'll need the Meteor ultimate later to help with AOE.

In progress I got the add-on and I have been back tracking.

brtomkin

I have a level 34 sorceror and I use all of the summons. I only do solo pve with this character, so I bring my own army with me. Here is my setup:

Bar 1 (Resto Staff): Shattering Prison, Lightning Flood, Combat Prayer, Unstable Clannfear, Winged Twilight, Greater Storm Atronach

Bar 2 (Sword & Shield): Shielded Assault, Deep Slash, Thundering Presence, Unstable Clannfear, Winged Twilight, Power Overload

Bar 3 (Power Overload): Shattering Prison, Velocious Curse, Crystal Fragments, Unstable Clannfear, Winged Twilight

I keep the Unstable Clannfear and Winged Twilight on every bar because I do a lot of switching back and forth and I don't want to have to keep re-summoning them. For groups of enemies, I get close enough to cast Shattering Prison to lock them down so they can't escape, then I put down Lightning Flood. The Clannfear and Twilight will move in to attack and then I will usually re-cast Shattering Prison to keep the enemies locked in place. This works great in delves and public dungeons most of the time. I can usually stand back and watch the chaos from a distance. If needed, Greater Storm Atronach destroys most bosses.

I switch to Bar 2 if I need (or just want) to jump in and do some melee damage. I don't use Power Overload too much, because honestly I forget about it. Shattering Prison - Velocious Curse - Crystal Fragments progression works pretty good for me, though. My weakness is getting caught off guard. But, even then, the Clannfear and Twilight will bail me out a lot of times.

Violynne

Storm Antronoch is a freaking waste of Ultimate. Use the Lightning Ultimate. Not only does it not burn down as quickly, costs less, but it does significant damage more than that idiotic stand in the way antronoch. But that's just my opinion.

I use 3 skills, though I can't remember the names! Haha.
One knocks back enemies. I think that's Clench. Extremely powerful skill.

Crystal shards is my go-to for the big baddies.

Early on, I used the lightning spell which explodes on low level enemies. This baby saved me many times in boss fights. Plus, I just love that explosion! *POP*

I traded that skill for the one which lowers an enemy's HP (nearly by 50%). This is the greatest freaking skill ever!

Frankly, between these three skills, I don't even use my Ultimate. Don't need to.

Oh, and I should point out something: I only put 5 points in health (when I started the game) and everything else went into Magicka. I think I'm now 40:5.

I also use provisioning, because who doesn't love those 1 hour magicka and health boosts.

I will say this: I made it to VR1 with my sorc so much faster than I did with my NB. :O

Sixsixsix161

Back again.

I went with this setup: Crystal Shard, Daedric Curse, Conjured Ward, Unstable Familiar, and Summoned Winged Twilight.

Problem was, in every fight, the NPCs kept breaking away from the unstable familiar and coming straight for me. Eventually, I figured that with only two offensive spells, maybe I wasn't doing enough damage. So, I had to drop one ability, and it was conjured ward.

I needed to keep the shards for the damage and knockdown, and the two minions. Daedric curse is a must because it morphs into an ability that increases your pet damage by 55% (40% increase for your ultimate, I think).

So, I added the ability that comes from the staff that has the knockdown ability, and things improved very nicely. I also figured, once I tag an enemy, I need to give the familiar time to get there. I think I may have been pulling the enemy off of my familiar - although this is mainly my WoW thinking -- don't know if that happens in this game. But, I decided that once I launch my initial attack (lightning staff), I'll wait a few seconds.

So, now the enemy isn't coming straight for me anymore and things are good.

One more question, when I do research, I see references to Heavy Attack. And, I see that in casting and melee comments. So, how do you do a heavy attack. With my lightning staff, I push the key and hold it down till it stops, and then do the same thing again. Of course, with multiple enemies, the tactics change depending on how many there are, etc.

Thanks.

Thelon

@Sixsixsix161

As you suspected, you need to let your pets start your fights so that the Clannfear takes aggro. Just command hour pets to attack the most dangerous mob at the onset. (Default is hold Y + left click)

The info you see on Heavy Attacks is commonly referred to as weaving. This means that you want to have heavy attacks register before each skill cast. What you're effectively doing is cancelling the animation of the heavy attack by casting the skill directly afterwards.

You will struggle to use weaving with a Lightning Staff though. The heavy attack for this staff (and only this staff) is considered a channelled attack, meaning you cannot cancel the animation and be credited for the damage. Switch to an inferno staff ASAP.

Check out any of my PvE vids to see how your weaving should look.

Morimizo

Thelon wrote: »

@Sixsixsix161



You will struggle to use weaving with a Lightning Staff though. The heavy attack for this staff (and only this staff) is considered a channelled attack, meaning you cannot cancel the animation and be credited for the damage. Switch to an inferno staff ASAP.

This is what is particularly frustrating why they took away the stun on the Fire Destructive Clench. The Fire Staff allows the player to load up a heavy atk, let it fly, and have another skill firing before it even hit (all hail the Stealth Mage!), and the Lightning Staff channels right away, so by the time you've finished the heavy atk, even a melee enemy has closed the gap. So if I want the stun, I have to endure this. I'm seriously considering forgoing the stun for the utility of the fire hvy atk.

Either way, this change is yet another nerf. Not stat-wise this time (those can usually be overcome, and I know they're desperately trying to balance the CP system for players who've accumulated hundreds of points already, but aren't most of the players less than a hundred, esp on console?), but changing the utility of a skill is not so easily overcome.

Sixsixsix161

Thelon wrote: »

@Sixsixsix161

As you suspected, you need to let your pets start your fights so that the Clannfear takes aggro. Just command hour pets to attack the most dangerous mob at the onset. (Default is hold Y + left click)

Check out any of my PvE vids to see how your weaving should look.

Thanks Thelon, I didn't know pulling aggro was possible in this game, and I didn't know about the Y Left Click command, that certainly changes things now, going back to the WoW type attacks when playing with pets (I miss my lock and Big Blue - I unsubbed on 12 August).

Thanks again.

CGPsaint

This is all great information. I just started playing recently, and my first toon is a now a level 30 Bosmer Archer/DW Stamina Build. As you can imagine, after the changes, it isn't exactly a viable build for endgame soloing. Even at level 30, I find myself struggling to manage even small mobs. So I've been trolling the forums here, and after reading about the Sorcerer w/Minions Build, decided this was going to be my next toon. I will continue to work my 1st toon as my account crafter, and will most likely make my Sorcerer my primary for running PvE. So, thank you all for the insight!

Sixsixsix161

CGPsaint wrote: »

This is all great information. I just started playing recently, and my first toon is a now a level 30 Bosmer Archer/DW Stamina Build. As you can imagine, after the changes, it isn't exactly a viable build for endgame soloing. Even at level 30, I find myself struggling to manage even small mobs. So I've been trolling the forums here, and after reading about the Sorcerer w/Minions Build, decided this was going to be my next toon. I will continue to work my 1st toon as my account crafter, and will most likely make my Sorcerer my primary for running PvE. So, thank you all for the insight!

I started playing this game in June, and my first character was a bow character. I figured a pure bow character would be great in this game. Instead, I found myself kiting my opponent in every fight - very frustrating because the enemy would be on top of me before I could get the third or fourth shot off. So, whether I wanted to or not, I had to continually switch to a sword or other melee weapon. Not what I had thought it would be like. So, two weeks ago, I finally got so frustrated, I got rid of her bow, and got her a melee weapon. She was a NB, so I'll try that. I'll probably delete her eventually because I already have a melee character, and I'm not into the NB roque play-style.

Good luck, hope you can make it work.

Sixsixsix161

@CGPsaint

I forgot, I'm running a sorceress so magicka is your main option when you level up. I recommend the Mage Stone, or whatever it's called - increases the amount of magicka you have. Also, she's a high elf because of the magicka issue.

The other magicka builds I play is an imperial templar and a Breton, but only the Breton is a sorceress. The imperial is a caster on bar 1 (destr staff), and a healer on bar 2 (resto staff) (Templars have excellent DPS trees, and their own healing tree). Templars have an ability called Piercing Javelin that is an absolute life saver.

CGPsaint

Sixsixsix161 wrote: »

@CGPsaint

I forgot, I'm running a sorceress so magicka is your main option when you level up. I recommend the Mage Stone, or whatever it's called - increases the amount of magicka you have. Also, she's a high elf because of the magicka issue.

The other magicka builds I play is an imperial templar and a Breton, but only the Breton is a sorceress. The imperial is a caster on bar 1 (destr staff), and a healer on bar 2 (resto staff) (Templars have excellent DPS trees, and their own healing tree). Templars have an ability called Piercing Javelin that is an absolute life saver.

Excellent! I went with the High Elf Sorcerer and have plans to utilize the Mage Mundus Stone as soon as I can get to it. Right now I'm relying on food to up my Magika and I'll be crafting set armor with my 1st toon as soon a I have the research done on Light Armor. Even early on, I have had zero issues and the progression from 1-8 went very quickly. I'm not focusing on grinding, however I will be using a guide to find all of the Lore Books for Mage's Guild progression and for all Skyshards. I can already see this toon becoming my main, and just finishing out my other toon for max crafting ability as a support character.

Brrrofski

I have a v14 Dk.

Started a high elf sorcerer and been having so much more fun in pve and pvp.

I'm min maxing pretty much. 35 in magic, 5 in health and 0 in stamina.

I'm not running pets though. I don't feel the need for anything to tank. I'm killing most things before I get hit.

There's so many better skills that warrant a slot on your bars

Violynne

Sixsixsix161 wrote: »

@CGPsaint

I forgot, I'm running a sorceress so magicka is your main option when you level up.

I only have 5 attributes assigned to health. Every other point went to magicka. The next time I pass a respec shrine, I'm removing the 5 and putting them all into magicka.

Provisioning can't be stressed enough for mages. Steal recipes if you must, but having magicka/health buffs in fights is helpful. My game doesn't play without both those bars extended.

I feel a bit OP, but it sure beats spending soul gems to revive.