Sorcerer Tank Build Options

Ir0nB34r

I am looking to optimize my Sorcerer Tank. He was originally a shield stacking tank but after so many updates and changes I do not feel he is as viable as he once was. I have made some changes but feel more are necessary. Here is a basic setup:

Armor
Bloodspawn Helm/Shoulders (One light, other heavy)
5 Piece Whitestrake (One medium, rest heavy, sword, shield)
5 Piece Greenpact (3 Jewelry, rest heavy)

Dedicated Skills/Abilities
Ransack
Twilight Matriarch (Extra bodies to distract adds as well as emergency self heals)
Hurricane
Hardened Ward
Bone Shield w/ Returning damage morph
Negate Magic w/ healing morph

Now the groups I typically run dungeons with think I am the best tank they ever had. But I think I can do better. I was thinking I should switch out Whitestrake for a different set, but not sure which one. Thanks to the Greenpact my health is between 33k-36k (depending on buffs from other players) with food active. Also, does the bloodspawn bonus stack with the hurricane buff? Do you have any suggestions for a replacement for Whitestrake? How about a more useful ability than my hardened ward?

Kravz

magicka or stamina ?

i just got to 50 on a redguard sorc and im running stamina, doing pledges till undauted 9.

5xblack rose for sustain 5xwhatever for pledges 2x monster dont matter much, running on a blue thunderbugs atm and blood spawn.

ransack
dark deal
bone shield
hurricane
shuffle
ult atro for passives

second bar a ranged taunt and buffs

no idea why you run hardened ward AND bone shield... think u can optimize there.

i think a magicka sorc tank can have bigger shields with hardened ward, got to test someday.

Tremors

The issue with Stam sorc tanking is having to buff, shield and block with one resource pool. The amazing thing about a magicka sorc tank is the ability to do the opposite. I've mag sorc tanked since release and tried Stam as of recently, I soon gave it the flick. Lmk how you go with it.

Ir0nB34r

I am actually a Mag Sorcerer for the same reasons RedVyper mentioned above. My abilities are split between two resource pools.

Kravz wrote: »

no idea why you run hardened ward AND bone shield... think u can optimize there.

i think a magicka sorc tank can have bigger shields with hardened ward, got to test someday.

I run both because one uses Magicka and the other is Stamina. Boneshield also gives a pretty great Synergy boost for my teammates so its multilayered in its usefulness. When I said shield stacking, I meant it. And it has for the most part been extremely effective. With even just a basically competent healer, I will not go down easily.

RedVyperOfDorne wrote: »

I've mag sorc tanked since release

What is your loadout for skills and what armor sets do you use? I have been a MagSorc Tank since the release on Xbox, and I love it. No one complains about my ability as a tank at all.

Erock25

Ir0nB34r wrote: »

I am looking to optimize my Sorcerer Tank. He was originally a shield stacking tank but after so many updates and changes I do not feel he is as viable as he once was. I have made some changes but feel more are necessary. Here is a basic setup:

Armor
Bloodspawn Helm/Shoulders (One light, other heavy)
5 Piece Whitestrake (One medium, rest heavy, sword, shield)
5 Piece Greenpact (3 Jewelry, rest heavy)

Dedicated Skills/Abilities
Ransack
Twilight Matriarch (Extra bodies to distract adds as well as emergency self heals)
Hurricane
Hardened Ward
Bone Shield w/ Returning damage morph
Negate Magic w/ healing morph

Now the groups I typically run dungeons with think I am the best tank they ever had. But I think I can do better. I was thinking I should switch out Whitestrake for a different set, but not sure which one. Thanks to the Greenpact my health is between 33k-36k (depending on buffs from other players) with food active. Also, does the bloodspawn bonus stack with the hurricane buff? Do you have any suggestions for a replacement for Whitestrake? How about a more useful ability than my hardened ward?

First off, what content are you trying to tank ... trials or vet dungeons?

Ir0nB34r

Erock25 wrote: »

First off, what content are you trying to tank ... trials or vet dungeons?

Typically just Vet Dungeons for now until I am a higher CP level. I know pretty much squat about trials so I don't know where I stand as far a viability in trials.

Erock25

Ir0nB34r wrote: »

Erock25 wrote: »

First off, what content are you trying to tank ... trials or vet dungeons?

Typically just Vet Dungeons for now until I am a higher CP level. I know pretty much squat about trials so I don't know where I stand as far a viability in trials.

I run a sorc stamina tank for vet dungeons that is focused on self healing and DPS while also being a ultimate battery.

5 tava's (3 heavy sturdy pieces and two weapons per bar)
5 akaviri dragonaguard (Reinforced chest and legs + 3 jewelry (I have a reduced block cost set and a weapon dmg set))
revolving monster helms (swarm mother, skoria, velidreth, bloodspawn, lots of options)

I run sword and shield on one bar (Tava's infused sword, Tava's nirnhoned shield) and dual wield on the other (2 Tava's Precise daggers).

SnB ability bar : Pierce Armor, Heroic Slash, Dark Deal, Shuffle, Crit Surge, Aggressive Warhorn
Dual Wield bar : Inner Fire, Bloodthirst, Resolving Vigor (should be echoing but I pvp), Hurricane, Deadly Cloak, Dawn Breaker of Smiting

The ranged taunt and Deadly Cloak are flex spots where I can add Blood Craze or Steel Tornado or even Streak or any other fight specific uses you may need. I'm usually using Swarm Mother monster set so the ranged taunt is useful for activating the pull and I like deadly cloak because I can basically stand in red whenever I want and it doesn't hurt too bad which really let's me focus on outputting some DPS.

I'd say that most fights in vet dungeons I don't even need a healer. Crit Surge plus Bloodthirst plus Vigor plus Dark Deal and all the blocking I can do because of Dark Deal makes me pretty self sufficient in heals. I've got somewhere around 60% crit on my DW bar (I am a khajiit however and use Thief mundus) so Crit Surge is always proccing.

I made this build for carrying pugs through vet HM dungeons and that's what it excels at. It's sad but I frequently have aggro on me against bosses without even having to use a taunt because of my DPS output. I Dawn Breaker my way through trash while saving Aggressive for boss fights when I have competent DPS with me.

With this build I can handle every standard duty of a tank (50% warhorn uptime, survive against bosses, CC for trash, block whenever I need to) while putting out adequate DPS and self heals.

CreepyPahuska

Ir0nB34r wrote: »

I am looking to optimize my Sorcerer Tank. He was originally a shield stacking tank but after so many updates and changes I do not feel he is as viable as he once was. I have made some changes but feel more are necessary. Here is a basic setup:

Armor
Bloodspawn Helm/Shoulders (One light, other heavy)
5 Piece Whitestrake (One medium, rest heavy, sword, shield)
5 Piece Greenpact (3 Jewelry, rest heavy)

Dedicated Skills/Abilities
Ransack
Twilight Matriarch (Extra bodies to distract adds as well as emergency self heals)
Hurricane
Hardened Ward
Bone Shield w/ Returning damage morph
Negate Magic w/ healing morph

Now the groups I typically run dungeons with think I am the best tank they ever had. But I think I can do better. I was thinking I should switch out Whitestrake for a different set, but not sure which one. Thanks to the Greenpact my health is between 33k-36k (depending on buffs from other players) with food active. Also, does the bloodspawn bonus stack with the hurricane buff? Do you have any suggestions for a replacement for Whitestrake? How about a more useful ability than my hardened ward?

I think Whitestrake & Greenpact aren't good for a magicka tank sorc build. Health recovery isn't really usefull and you don't need to stack 36k HP as a tank.
You should consider removing Twilight Matriarch as well, unless you want to go for a tank/heal build to be able to play with 3 DDs. You're a tank, healing isn't your job. It's the healer's job. If your healer is bad, trying to make up for his lack of skill is going to make you bad too.

I used to play a kind of shield stacking tank myself (Not the 100k shields with crappy resistances and crappier HP kind of shield stacking sorc tank though) but I recently changed my equipements and tweaked my skill bars for a more up-to-date Magicka sorc tank build, based mostly on Hardened Ward and Dark Deal. It might be the kind of playstyle you'd like, so feel free to take a look here : https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/297694/build-magicka-sorcerer-tank-pve

Ir0nB34r

@CreepyPahuska I actually really liked reading about your build. I saved it to my favorites bar back when you first posted it, you will also find that I commented on it as well. I think its a great basis for a pure magtank. But our visions differ I think. I want to focus on a mostly passive tank. One where I do not need to constantly rely on active abilities to survive. So far its been working great. At 36k health I can stand in the red AOE zones with no issues, sustain hits that would normally One Hit KO any of my team members, while also giving bonuses to my group.

The Twilight not only heals me but others as well. My negate magic (Which I started using specifically after reading your build, btw) does amazing AOE heals that any close range DPS will love. My bone shield synergy gives huge damage shields to my group while also redirecting damage. And if and when I lose everyone and I am the last one standing, my health gives me an amazing buffer zone to revive my teammates without needing to activate abilities. There have been so many times that this would happen and I can safely let even a boss beat on me while I revive players.

So essentially I have a two tier defense. Magicka & Stamina abilites are tier one, but are mostly supplemental.

This is what I love about this game. There are so many ways you can do different things.

-

@Erock25 Thats an excellent build. I don't know that I would want to go that far into DPS though. I created another character to dabble in the DPS role but I was not having as much much fun with it as I was tanking. I can definitely appreciate the importance of a DPS/Tank combo though. I just don't know that it fits my play style lol

CreepyPahuska

Haha ! I didn't realized it was you !

Well, I see what you mean. My build relies essentially on spamming active abilities so that's not what you're looking for.
My point about the Matriarch is that everytime I've read about people using it in a tank build it was always for one reason : being able to do the healer's job if the healer is incompetent. I just assumed it was the same for you (but I may be wrong). The problem is that you are using 2 skill slots for the matriarch just to be able to do the something that should be done by your healer. That's why I think you might be wasting two slots that could be used for something else, unless you plan on running dungeons without a healer.

I don't know if you've read all the answers on my build, but @Autolycus mentionned Bahraha's curse to take advantage of the self-healing potential of the sorcerer (like Crit Surge for example). It could be paired with something like the Leeching Plate set maybe. I think it could be closer to the passive tanking playstyle you like.

Fettkeewl

In conjuction with Boundless storm/hurricane and power surge for heals:
I would suggest the Thunderbug's Caparace instead of your Whitestrake.

(2 items) Adds 1935 Physical Resistance

(3 items) Adds 1935 Spell Resistance

(4 items) Adds 129 Spell Damage

(5 items) When you take Physical Damage, you have a 50% chance to deal 5160 Shock Damage in a 5 meter radius around you. This effect can occur once every 3 seconds.


Or the Storm Knight's Plate Set.

2 items) Adds 1935 Spell Resistance.

(3 items) Adds 1935 Spell Resistance.

(4 items) Adds 1064 Max Health

(5 items) When you take non-physical damage, you have a 10% chance to deal 4374 Shock Damage all to all enemies within 5 meters of you every 2 seconds for 6 seconds. This effect can occur once every 6 seconds

Autolycus

CreepyPahuska wrote: »

I don't know if you've read all the answers on my build, but @Autolycus mentionned Bahraha's curse to take advantage of the self-healing potential of the sorcerer (like Crit Surge for example). It could be paired with something like the Leeching Plate set maybe. I think it could be closer to the passive tanking playstyle you like.

I used Leeching Plate for quite some time on my NB tank after Imperial City was released. In terms of flavor, it's one of my favorite sets.. the animation is really cool, the heal is quite potent, and it's incredibly effective in dungeons (or really, wherever there are many enemies to deal with). It definitely has the characteristics of a passive tanking set. Basically, just put it on forget about it, and then bring on the heals.

There are two things I would note about Leeching:
1. Its proc rate is notably lower than Bahraha's Curse, despite having the same potential up-time. There is no way to force it to proc, unlike Bahraha's, so its usefulness on boss fights is somewhat limited. In an extreme example, like if everyone in a vet dungeon dies except the tank, having control over that proc can mean the difference between a wipe and a clutch.
2. It scales with physical CP stars, whereas Bahraha's scales with magicka CP stars. With Leeching, you would ideally want to supplement the damage/healing component of it by having points into Mighty and Precise Strikes, and as a Sorcerer tank, it might be more realistic to use Bahraha's and put points into Ele Expert and Elfborn (Thauma can buff Bahraha's too). The latter option is one that synergizes better with magicka-based tanks in general, and is one of the main reasons I switched on my NB.

It's not exactly a meta setup or realistic for trials, but using both sets in one build is a lot of fun. Procs galore!

Ir0nB34r

CreepyPahuska wrote: »

Well, I see what you mean. My build relies essentially on spamming active abilities so that's not what you're looking for.
My point about the Matriarch is that everytime I've read about people using it in a tank build it was always for one reason : being able to do the healer's job if the healer is incompetent. I just assumed it was the same for you (but I may be wrong). The problem is that you are using 2 skill slots for the matriarch just to be able to do the something that should be done by your healer. That's why I think you might be wasting two slots that could be used for something else, unless you plan on running dungeons without a healer.

My little addiction to the matriarch is actually 3 fold:
1) Another body to distract adds (Tank)
2) Ranged Lightning attack (DPS)
3) Emergency Heals (Healer)

Now of course she does not excel in any of these, but I find she is definitely worth having just for numbers 1 and 3.

@Autolycus What are the bonuses of the leech set? I am at work and pretty much all of the ESO resources are blocked. Why the forum is not, I am not sure.

Autolycus

Ir0nB34r wrote: »

CreepyPahuska wrote: »

Well, I see what you mean. My build relies essentially on spamming active abilities so that's not what you're looking for.
My point about the Matriarch is that everytime I've read about people using it in a tank build it was always for one reason : being able to do the healer's job if the healer is incompetent. I just assumed it was the same for you (but I may be wrong). The problem is that you are using 2 skill slots for the matriarch just to be able to do the something that should be done by your healer. That's why I think you might be wasting two slots that could be used for something else, unless you plan on running dungeons without a healer.

My little addiction to the matriarch is actually 3 fold:
1) Another body to distract adds (Tank)
2) Ranged Lightning attack (DPS)
3) Emergency Heals (Healer)

Now of course she does not excel in any of these, but I find she is definitely worth having just for numbers 1 and 3.

Autolycus What are the bonuses of the leech set? I am at work and pretty much all of the ESO resources are blocked. Why the forum is not, I am not sure.

I couldn't find a decent image of it so I'll just post the Wiki description for your convenience:

Leeching Plate Set

LEVEL 50 CHAMPION 160
(2 items) Adds 1064 Max Health
(3 items) Adds 4% Healing Taken
(4 items) Adds 4% Healing Taken
(5 items) When you take damage, you have a 8% chance to summon a cloud of leeching poison under the attack that deals 1204 Poison Damage in a 4 meter radius every 1 second for 5 seconds and heals you for 100% of the damage caused.

Bahraha's Curse

LEVEL 50 CHAMPION 160
(2 Items) Adds 1064 Maximum Health
(3 Items) Adds 967 Maximum Magicka
(4 Items) Take 40% less damage from traps
Adds 967 Maximum Stamina
(5 Items) When you deal damage, you have a 25% chance to create desecrated ground for 5 seconds, which reduces the Movment Speed of enemies within by 70%, damages them for 1138 Magic Damage every 1 second and heals you for 100% of the damage done.

Neither of these sets will scale with weapon or spell damage, nor will they scale with max magicka or stamina. They will scale with crit chance, crit modifier, and any CP that increase your magic/poison damage (respectively), damage over time, healing done, and healing received. Leeching can proc from virtually any type of incoming damage, including channels and ground-based AoEs. Bahraha's will only proc from direct-damage abilities.

Erock25

Ir0nB34r wrote: »

CreepyPahuska wrote: »

Well, I see what you mean. My build relies essentially on spamming active abilities so that's not what you're looking for.
My point about the Matriarch is that everytime I've read about people using it in a tank build it was always for one reason : being able to do the healer's job if the healer is incompetent. I just assumed it was the same for you (but I may be wrong). The problem is that you are using 2 skill slots for the matriarch just to be able to do the something that should be done by your healer. That's why I think you might be wasting two slots that could be used for something else, unless you plan on running dungeons without a healer.

My little addiction to the matriarch is actually 3 fold:
1) Another body to distract adds (Tank)
2) Ranged Lightning attack (DPS)
3) Emergency Heals (Healer)

Now of course she does not excel in any of these, but I find she is definitely worth having just for numbers 1 and 3.

@Autolycus What are the bonuses of the leech set? I am at work and pretty much all of the ESO resources are blocked. Why the forum is not, I am not sure.

You really enjoy when the pet ends up tanking some random mob far away from you? I hate that (when DPS people are running pets) because it interferes with my ability to ball everyone up for max aoe dps.

The dmg from the ranged lightning attack is pretty small if you have between 33 and 36k HP.

Heals are cool but isn't that also improving based on max magicka which I'm not sure how much you have. If I wanted to magicka sorc tank with the healing matriarch I would definitely be focused on being a focused healer/tank that could support both roles letting you bring 3 DPS. I'd run 3 heavy seducer and 5 trainee (jewelry and two armor you can get from quests which comes in heavy and doesn't have the training trait), whatever monster helm set you wanted, 2 seducer on sword and shield bar and 1 maelstrom resto on resto bar. Your sword and shield bar would have your taunts and Wards and have matriarch heal for quick oh snap heal while you'd have your proper heals on resto bar. I'd also probably keep dark deal so I can spend magicka to regen stam and you may need it as a magicka tank for blocking.

darthsithis

I tank icp on my magsorc for fun with 5 lich, 5 warlock, and maelstrom destro resto. It's unstoppable with those wards omg...the two procs mean you NEVER run out of inner fire, hardened ward, healing ward, harness, plus bound aegis + boundless storm is extra dps and more magick, plus a great HoT with power surge. Equip barrier on front bar for even crazier recovery (with the lich proc and warlock set bonuses I'm just under 3700 regen- but you can't ever get to 33% in the first place...) and use your overload bar for things like dark exchange, mines, liquid lightning if u wanna be meta.

I also recommend using maelstrom resto w/mutagen for even more unlimited shield spamming glory. Why do much recov? Hit hardened ward, Healing ward, harness, and streak out sticky situations without ever having to drink a pot or lose aggro!

As far as stam sorc....idk man gl. I think there's a stam set that gives you a ward randomly. Plus infiniheal with crit surge hurricane endless hail caltrops....but I still think shield stacking with emergency barrier would be better.

heavy armor immovable spell with the imperium set (mini barrier kinda) might work out nice with shuffle, dark conversion for spamming vigor and rally, points into quick recovery, and some of the new tank monster sets!

Gl hv, come fight my sorctank when yours is ready!!

darthsithis

I hear footman is kinda good too, but try for a great medium armor set with a cool fifth trait. Mighty chudan is good, and lord warden is VERY underrated imo. 50% proc rate when hit? you can do a lot of cool stuff with that hurricane, crit surge, and skoria. damage mit against the heavy hitters is my biggest concern (go tank the first icp boss to see if your build is viable).

Try weird stuff like dagger cloak and blood fountain, bat swarm for mooooaaaar aoe heal,

But I'm a magsorc so may be totally off.