Stam Sorc solo PVE, is Magicka better for this playstyle?

gel214thb14_ESO

I have a level 50 CP110 Stamina Sorcerer.

My build is Power Surge, Hurricane, and dual wield abilities for damage and healing. All Medium armor with all medium perks. I absolutely love the Sprint speed boost, though. That makes questing feel amazing getting from point to point.

That works ok, and is fairly stable, however it always feels like I am on a knife edge if something goes wrong. If I forget Hurricane, or Power Surge when facing three enemies I faceplant. So for every fight I'm always "On" , there are no lazy or easy moments. When things go right, it's a fairly predictable playstyle, however.

I'm wondering if Magicka Sorcerer would be more forgiving. Lightning Staff with passive for AOE damage on heavy hits, Lightning Armor, Bound Armor, Endless Lightning spam, and Lightning Flood for AOE, and of course Power/Crit surge for healing.With the ability to swap to the back bar for restoration staff Ward and heals over time if things go badly.

Has anyone played both sides and can you advise?

Biro123

Hi. I currently play both - although my stamsorc is more 'mature' with his build more 'honed' while my magsorc has only just hit 50 and doesn't yet have all passives/skills unlocked. I'm also more practiced with the stamsorc.

For me currently, (probably due to the above), my stamsorc is better for all content, and it can solo some vet dungeons, so its definitely viable.

For you I'd suggest a couple of things though... One is to wait till you hit 160cp and get a finished stam build before making any major decisions. Two is to perhaps look for some other heals to add.. Rally from the 2-h line, Vigor from the PvP line, and Dark Deal from the Dark Magic line is great too.

Thrasher91604

All I know is that having one pet to tank (and heal) makes soloing content infinitely easier.

It's a fire and mostly forget ability. Also takes no majicka if it can survive, unlike power surge, heals, and shields.

ostrapz

From a standpoint of entertainment mag sorcs dnt really have more attacks so if your wanting a deeper skill rotation I'd say you won't find magic much more entertaining for sorc.

From a standpoint of efficiency and a more forgiving game play I'd say magicka and stamina sorc are extremely survivable.
Crit surget is extremely powerful and while you are right about dying when your buffs fall off that applies tonly most classes but magicka sorcs feel that the most ( only 6 second shields and you will die if they are not on 24/7).
Vigor will really help while your still levelling but stamsorc heals are so good with crit surge that they are able to clear the hardest solo content (vma) without any other healing abilities on. Juse keep grinding until you've had the chance to really test it all out

cellobuddy

I'm the inverse of Biro(more experience w/ mag), but I still think stam is better for a lot of content, especially if you're not penalized for being in melee range(anti-stack mechanics). The huge AoE potential it has from hurricane, caltrops, endless hail, and steel tornado(if you even feel like using it. I don't.) makes anything other than the boss not worth your attention. I would suggest going crit surge intead of power surge for your stamsorc, though. The major sorcery does nothing for any of your skills.

If you make a magsorc later(which I highly suggest), the survivability is a bit different as is the DPS rhythm. They're honestly 2 completely different animals in playstyle.

f047ys3v3n

I have played both sides and sorc is a very good solo class for both sides and basically for the same reasons. Sorc does heals while doing damage, and has many excellent, long duration, combination skills (major spell power / weapon power from your heals skill, and major expedition from a good aoe skill.)

Beyond that, magic and stam sorcs are very different. Magic has the overload ulti option for fairly sustained dps as well as the big freaking shield. Msorc is currently the highest dps ranged build available. Msorc is lastly perhaps the build with the steepest learning curve as far as dps goes. The best are above 30k unbuffed on bloodspawn but few are above 20k. The rotation is very deep into 2 bars, has very off timed DOT's, a weird ground cast DOT in liquid lighting, and some subtly differing timing on the weave between skills. Lastly, it has a very powerful execute that is also quite annoying as it doesn't start till 20% and the damn templars are hitting so hard by that point you don't get much out of it a lot of the time.

Stam has the advantage of being stam and thus having the much better gear options and big stam dps weapon line skills. It should be noted here that stam sorc is more effected than most stam classes by vMA weapons. Without them you will lose more than 10k dps vs someone who does. Yes, it is stupid, but that is stam vMA weapons and stam sorc, not having a class spamable better than rapid strikes, looses much not having them. What can I say, they nerfed stam vMA weapons and you still get >10k from them but <3k from the magic one. Stam sorc is the easiest stam build for vMA and one of the easiest overall. (It should be noted here that though many folks easily roll stam through vMA now and even consider it easier, much of that is because they already are using stam vMA weapons which are still quite OP. A new player on stam will not have as easy a time) Stam sorc is also a rather easy build to learn and get good at. Even for a stam build I am to understand it is rather easy to do. I have been very surprised at both how fast friends reached ceiling on it and even how fast I got some good returns from it as I have dabbled.

My advice, watch the build videos from the guys much better than me on youtube, make a choice, and learn it. Your initial post does not inspire my confidence that you know at this point. In general, if I were to guess I would guess that things will swing back in favor of magic in the future for PVE because there really are very, very few magica dps's out there right now getting genuinely competitive numbers. It is very much easier to do this on stam and very hard not to pull good numbers if stam and having vMA weapons even if you just face-rolling the keyboard. I also would say I never expect magica to be the norm again in PVP. Everybody knows that he who's name shall not be spoken plays a stam DK and prefers to have an edge in PVP. Though, if you are magica in PVP, sorc might be the most fun as your suite of burst damage leading to enemy death is awesome and crazy well designed.

gel214thb14_ESO

Soooo I went Magicka, did a full respec. Been grabbing Light Armor pieces off dead bodies.

And I prefer it so far. It's easier, it flows better by myself and doesn't feel as frenetic.

I end up Firing off the lightning Armor, then the Crit/Power surge. Then I drop lightning Flood (which I realise I should have taken the one with the larger radius compared to the longer time) and then elemental wall. THen I sit and use a lightning staff hold down the left mouse button and fire off Heavy Attack after heavy attack, which as we know is an AOE.

Within 30 seconds most enemies are dead, and that will be about 3 of them. If crap happens I can swap to my back bar and use the Restoration Staff's Healing Ward or Regeneration.

Using the Heavy Attack means I top up my Magicka constantly , the Surge is constant heals as well so I'm just a little electricity bunny managing my resources and buffs with blue crackling lightning just everywhere!

THis compared to my Stamina Sorcerer where the uptime on Hurricane is shorter meaning more recasts, and I had to constantly spam DUal Wield's single target attack, and then switch between targets. The Lightning Heavy turning into an AOE means less power spam, and less having to swap back and forth between targets.

At this level, before I have a proper Set and named Weapons, I am not noticing much difference between time to kill on the Stamina Sorcerer, and time to kill on the Magicka. The difference is Magicka seems like less work to make the kill, and is more versatile with the Restoration staff back bar. I can also put a Ward , or even Encase or another offensive spell on there if I wanted to I suppose.

Remember, this all PVE. I am not PVPing at all.