Magicka Sorcerer in VMA

magnusthorek

I can't be that terrible! My gear is 80% optimized (Julianos + Willpower). It's just not better because I can't get my hands in my Molag Kena helmet (RNG from hell) or craft Twice-Born Star that, accordingly to what I read, might be as good as Julianos or better.

I've finished WGT countless times, ICP just a few because I can't find good DPS to pair with me and even the regular version of MA. Heck... I even finished VCoA being a vampire while staying far away from the healer (I jumped in the wrong island >.<). I'm not perfect, but I'm not bad either. But I just can't manage to pass, believe me or not, Stage 3 of VMA (Toxic Shock).

In my opinion, it's inconceivable to have shields that only protects me against physical damage and the 70% of the stage hits me with poison that breaks through it. Or then just because shields are conjured with Magicka they have to be that fragile against shock. Shock is supposed to diminish the magicka of the player, like an electric chain that disrupts the flow of magicka in humans' body (considering humans with magickal abilities, of course).

When that guy using Boundless Storm appears, I can't move. I tried Streak through, but mobs are much faster than me, and the increased cost of this ability makes it prohibitive to my magicka pool, which is around 33k because thanks to the stupidly low regen I can't use a bi-food and have to stick to Orzorga's Red Frothgar.

I could improve a bit of my damage trying over and over again the first two stages to, hopefully, get a Elemental Succession set, which AFAIK would be a fixed ~400 spell power thanks to Force Pulse hitting with all three elements. But there's the RNG... again. And this could mess with the TBS idea...

I tried to slot Structured Entropy to raise my tiny health a bit to (+/- 18k) without luck. I tried to use Unstable Clannfear thinking it could tank a bit for me, be it so I can raise shields again, unsummon it to regen after some badly critical hit and nothing worked. Not even the Undeath passive helped me avoiding getting 3-shotted (with shields!)

Awn... Please, if you're an elite player and have finished this trial with a Magicka Sorcerer, answer only if you really want to help. If you have nothing useful to say like those idiotic "L2P", please, abstain yourself.

GrigorijMalahevich

My friend to pass this level you need to first kill "Stranglers" those crazy plants, they are the ones that slow you down. Change streak for Boundless storm and just move around damage your opponents and don't forget to always keep your shield up.

Try to kill those annoying plants as soon as they respawn. With Julianos potentially put some willpower rings for Magicka regeneration to boost your sustain.

If you want Molag Kena - I would go Engine Guardian for PvE. Just imho.

Good luck!

LadyNalcarya

I did my first vMA sorc run with my dungeon setup - Julianos, double Kena, all spell damage enchants and low regen. On top of that, this char didnt have undaunted rank, so I barely had 16k hp. It was fine, even though I was too careless with Kena procs and died several times due to running out of everything. So I just crafted a Torugs hat to replace my Kena helmet.
Imo, with all these cheesy oneshots and wonky hitboxes (I have to do this as a sorc because I have severe latency issues in this damn place and shields can at least mitigate being hit by aoes when Im not in aoes etc) offense is the best defense, for a sorc anyway. Just keep your shield and surge up 100% of time. And dont forget to use sigils when you need burst or extra defense.

magnusthorek

I give up. In this meanwhile I tried again and managed to pass the Toxic Shock stage and after several tries, the next one too (those sentinels being protected for 60 freaking seconds is too much), but in the ice stage, although I managed to get to the boss, I couldn't take him (or her?) down.

There is just not enough time or not enough firepower, since ZOS decided to give away Kena to everyone I played with except me. Not only the troll breaks the icebergs but the boss too and when they do they pop a Neireid. C'MON! WHY A NEREID! I can't take her down that quickly

And my Valkyn's, the only damage dealing monster helmet I could assemble so far, this stupidly hard to get with a stupid performance, keeps proc'ing on dead bodies. >.<

The closest I've got was 38%. I won't do it again, at least not until I get my Kena IF I can finish her from now and on, since the "brilliant" "engineers" decided to remove the Blessed Shard synergy of Kena's fight to get away the lightning wall

Or I'll wait this crap become obsolete. All I want is the achievement anyway.

I tried, I really did, but it's too much for me.

LadyNalcarya

magnusthorek wrote: »

I give up. In this meanwhile I tried again and managed to pass the Toxic Shock stage and after several tries, the next one too (those sentinels being protected for 60 freaking seconds is too much), but in the ice stage, although I managed to get to the boss, I couldn't take him (or her?) down.

There is just not enough time or not enough firepower, since ZOS decided to give away Kena to everyone I played with except me. Not only the troll breaks the icebergs but the boss too and when they do they pop a Neireid. C'MON! WHY A NEREID! I can't take her down that quickly

And my Valkyn's, the only damage dealing monster helmet I could assemble so far, this stupidly hard to get with a stupid performance, keeps proc'ing on dead bodies. >.<

The closest I've got was 38%. I won't do it again, at least not until I get my Kena IF I can finish her from now and on, since the "brilliant" "engineers" decided to remove the Blessed Shard synergy of Kena's fight to get away the lightning wall

Or I'll wait this crap become obsolete. All I want is the achievement anyway.

I tried, I really did, but it's too much for me.

Well, on this stage all mobs spawn at certain percentage. So if you triggered the next wave of adds, you can take your time and kill them, and then proceed dpsing the boss. If you have problems with the trolls, just morph your force pulse to crushing shock - theyre interruptable.
Also the boss breaks platforms at certain % as well, so you can avoid getting hit by the explosion. It also helps when your last platform is the one with defensive sigil - that helps a lot.
P.S. Full Kena is not needed for this, it even caused deaths due to lack of sustain on my first run.

Heindrich

Ur gear is not the problem. Twice-Born Star is not better than Julianos and Kenax2 makes sustain trickier, so it only helps if u're aiming for the very top of weekly leaderboards because it'll significantly improve your overload dps. I don't have Kenax2 myself and my highest score is 421k with 1 death.

Try this setup:

Destro Staff:
1) Force Pulse
2) Elemental Drain
3) Crystal Frag
4) Hardened Ward
5) Inner Light
U) Meteor

Dual-Wield
1) Daedric Minefield
2) Liquid Lightning
3) Power Surge
4) Harness Magicka
5) Inner Light
U) Energy Overload

Overload Bar
1) Boundless Storm
2) Liquid Lightning
3) Power Surge
4) Hardened Ward
5) Inner Light

The way to get 450k+ scores is to go all out dps and double bar Inner Light and Bound Aegis, but I think my build provides a better balance between dps and survivability and is easier to play for non-elite players. Harness Magicka in particular will help u survive the lightning dmg better and restores resources too... Though if I am being brutally honest, vMA only really gets hard from stage 5 onwards, so you've got a long way to go if you're struggling on stage 3.

In terms of gear... before I got maelstorm weapons, I completed vMA with:

Julianos x5
Willpower x3
Torug's Pact x2 (3 on DW bar)
Kena x1

Hope it helps. There's also a lot of videos on youtube. I suggest you watch them to familiarise yourself with the mechanics and even remember the mob spawns, but bear in mind that different players develop subtlety different tactics and builds that suits themselves.

Good luck in any case. If I ever get a flawless run, I might share my full run as well

Azarath_tiberius

I suggest you read this guide ( link ). It has everything you need to know about mechanics / mob prioritization / one-shots and etc etc.

It might help