If you are an endgame PvEer who likes to deal damage, chances are you have a Magicka Sorcerer, and you are well aware your class spec currently deals the highest DPS of them all. After a bunch of theorycrafting, I have discovered a way to enhance their DPS even further from what we have previously seen. Magicka Sorcerers are capable of pulling
much higher damage than they currently do, and it's mostly due to a tweak to their skill set and rotation.
It is not an easy play style, but if you enjoy 53K solo DPS parses and 70K+ DPS when raid buffed then you are in luck! On top of dealing higher overall DPS, this build has the potential to deal extraordinary burst damage when needed that will skyrocket your DPS to melt certain adds excessively fast (Sun Eaters, Reflections, etc).
It is very similar to the current meta gear setup, but mainly utilizes a different skill setup and rotation.
Even if you are a very good player you will easily learn a lot from this thread and should consider trying out this build:
Gear and Skill Setup
Gear Setup
•
Ilambris (1 heavy helm, 1 medium shoulder)
•
Necropotence (5 light body pieces)
•
Moondancer (3 jewelry, 1 lightning staff)
•
Maelstrom Staff (1 inferno staff)
(nothing new)
- Notes -
- Divines traits/Max Magicka glyphs on all armor
- Arcane traits/Spell Damage glyphs on all jewelry
- Sharpened trait on both staves, Spell damage enchant on the frontbar (Moondancer) staff
- Use The Thief mundus stone
- All 64 attribute points into Magicka
- Stage 4 Vampirism is helpful, though not required
- Maximum Health+Maximum Magicka food is best
- Infallible Mage (aka Infallible Aether aka IA) is an almost equal replacement for Moondancer. Master Architect (Morrowind set) has the exact same 2/3/4-piece bonuses as Moondancer.
- In Morrowind, it *might* be better to run 2x Ilambris, 5x Master Architect, 3x Willpower, and then 1x Maelstrom Inferno and 1x Maelstrom Lightning staff/Random Lightning Staff. I cannot confirm whether this is true as I do not have access to the Morrowind PTS.... perks of being a PS4 player
It is also worth noting that Precise may be stronger than Sharpened, but it all depends on just much the Champion System has changed. I cannot test on PTS to confirm.
Skill Setup
Frontbar: Moondancer Lighting Staff
1. Bound Aegis
2. Conjured Ward (either morph)
3. Summon Volatile Familiar
4. Daedric Tomb
5. Inner Light
Ult. Elemental Rage / Shooting Star
Backbar: Maelstrom Lighting Staff
1. Bound Aegis
2. Lightning Splash
3. Summon Volatile Familiar
4. Daedric Prey
5. Blockade of Fire
Ult. Elemental Rage / Shooting Star
- Notes -
- Conjured Ward is more useful than Harness Magicka since you'll likely never have sustain issues anyway. It provides a small boost to your Spell Damage ("Expert Mage" Sorcerer passive). With that said, you can certainly use Harness Magicka if you want to.
- Hardened Ward is stronger. Empowered Ward buffs your whole group with slightly more Magicka Regeneration (Wardens will do this in Morrowind) and has a slightly cheaper cost with a much longer duration. It is up to preference which you take.
- Most of the time, people slot Shooting Star on the frontbar and Elemental Rage on the backbar. It's up to preference which way you set yourself up. More DPS will probably come out of running it the usual way since Shooting Star is cast a lot and it slightly buffs frontier DPS, though it is nice to switch it up imo due to the sheer strength of the Lightning version of Elemental Rage.
- If you are confident enough, more DPS is achievable by replacing Daedric Prey with Inner Light, and Conjured Ward with Daedric Prey. You essentially replace your shield to passively deal more extra damage.
Rotation
Current Magicka Sorcerer Max DPS rotation
The meta Magicka Sorcerer rotation to get the highest damage currently goes like this:
•
Liquid Lightning -> Blockade of Fire -> Daedric Prey -> Volatile Familiar Pulse -> 4x Force Pulse/Crystal Fragment proc/Mages' Wrath -> Repeat
The *better* rotation I have used along with a small fraction of the stronger Magicka Sorcerer DPS players goes like this:
•
Liquid Lightning -> Blockade of Fire -> Volatile Familiar Pulse -> Daedric Prey -> 5x Force Pulse/Crystal Fragment proc/Mages' Wrath -> Repeat
The New (similar) Rotation
This new rotation is very similar to the "better" rotation, but now includes two parts - a sustain portion and an immense damage portion:
Sustain:
•
Liquid Lightning -> Blockade of Fire -> Volatile Familiar Pulse -> Daedric Prey+Bar Swap -> Heavy Lightning Attack -> Daedric Tomb -> Heavy Lightning Attack+Bar Swap-> Repeat
OR
•
Liquid Lightning -> Blockade of Fire -> Volatile Familiar Pulse -> Daedric Prey+Bar Swap -> 2x Heavy Lightning Attack -> Daedric Tomb+Bar Swap-> Repeat
OR
•
Liquid Lightning -> Blockade of Fire -> Volatile Familiar Pulse -> Daedric Prey+Bar Swap -> Daedric Tomb -> Heavy Lightning Attack -> Heavy Lightning Attack+Bar Swap-> Repeat
Damage:
•
Liquid Lightning -> Blockade of Fire -> Volatile Familiar Pulse -> Daedric Prey -> 5x Daedric Tomb -> Repeat
- Notes -
- The key to making use of this rotation is to know when it is safe to use the "Damage" rotation. It consumes an enormous amount of Magicka, while the "Sustain" rotation will regenerate a small amount of Magicka over the course of its duration. I often wait until I have at or above 50% Maximum Magicka before bombing enemies with the "Damage" rotation.
- In Morrowind, the only difference will be newfound requirement to place 100CPs into Tenacity and maintain a higher threshold of Magicka before casting 5x Daedric Tombs.
- You need to be very precise with your timing to make use of what I labeled the "better" rotation. The new rotation I have created is just as difficult to use.
Why 5x casts after DoTs works out
- When you cast your DoTs (Liquid Lightning+Blockade of Elements+ Volatile Familiar Pulse+Daedric Prey), you are given about 5 seconds to do other stuff on your frontbar before needing to reapply them.
- The meta rotation tells us to cast 4 skills on our frontbar before switching back which is easier and safer. The "better" rotation tells you to cast 5 skills, which is stronger but also more difficult to pull off because you cannot make mistakes (if you do, then you only cast 4 skills after reapplying DoTs on that specific rotation)
- Lightning Staff Heavy Attack last about 1.8-1.9 seconds.
- Instacast skills take like 0.9 seconds to use
- 5x casts = basically 5 seconds after bar swapping
- 2x Lightning Heavy Attacks + 1x skill cast = basically 5 seconds after bar swap
Champion Points:
Homestead
Blue
• Elfborn - 24
• Elemental Expert - 100
• Staff Expert - 1
• Thaumaturge - 75
Green
• Magician - 75
• Arcanist - 50
• Tenacity - 75
Red
• Depends on content.
I always run place 12 points into Quick Recovery and 0 into Bastion.
- Notes -
- I do not yet know what the best CP allocation will be in Morrowind. You will always stack 100 points into Tenacity (Heavy Attack resource restore).
DPS Parses/Build Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnjTGYetGYsBuild/Stats: 00:00 - 00:43
Solo Test 1: 00:44 - 02:15
Solo Test 2: 02:16 - 03:37
Solo Test 3: 03:38 - 04:52
Raid Buffed Test: 04:53 - 06:40
DPS Parse Data
- Solo -
• A solo DPS parse means that no one else is allowed to help me in any way whatsoever
I tested two different ways:
• Test 1 used my exact raid setup. No Elemental Drain or Blockade of Storms is applied.
• Test 2 included Elemental Drain being casted every other rotation instead of a Daedric Tomb. Elemental Drain replaced Empowered Ward on my skill bar for the sake of more accurate DPS test results.
• Test 3 was the same as Test 2, but also included the addition of a backbar Maelstrom Lightning Staff instead of a backbar Maelstrom Inferno Staff. This was meant to get as much DPS as possible on my own (Exploiter CP passive)
- Raid Buffed -
• These tests include the use of raid buffs that I would receive when running Veteran Trials. I will run my normal setup with the slight modifications of removing my shield in order to double-bar Inner Light. My allies will provide buffs.
• Raid-Buffed Test will provide me with 3 friends who will supply raid buffs to me. These buffs are Elemental Drain, Blockade of Storms, Spell Power Cure, Stalwart Guard (Minor Force), Aggressive Warhorn, Combat Prayer, Roar of Alkosh, Crusher, Powerful Assault, and Worm's Raiment
Averaged DPS
Solo Test 1: 39688.7 DPS
Solo Test 2: 45315.4 DPS
Solo Test 3: 51903.8 DPS
Raid-Buffed Test: 71.1K
- Judging by mistakes made as well as the use of Heavy attacks, it would be highly feasible with more orb synergies (unlimited Magicka) and a perfect rotation to reach around 76K DPS in the Raid-Buffed test.
Magicka Sorcerers are probably wondering right now - Is this actually viable in trials? The answer is simple. Yes, it is, but you will not be able to fully benefit from this damage all of the time.
***However, it is
extremely difficult to use.***
You will need to practice casting Daedric Tomb before you consistently hit enemies with at least 2 mines per cast (very difficult). Only when you master the rotation, manage resources well, and land 2-3 mines per cast on enemies will you notice a significant DPS increase. This build is particularly strong versus Vet trial bosses because they tend to stand still a lot and make this process easier (stationary targets become almost easy to consistently hit 3x with practice). It can be a good strategy when fighting a boss to hold off on casting 5x Daedric Tombs until you know you are perfectly lined up to activate all mines.
Keep in mind that not all targets can be hit by all three mines. You will often only damage these targets with two mines. As long as you land a single mine on the enemy, you will not be loosing DPS from the old rotation. Landing 2-3 mines is where the DPS boost begins to show in single target DPS. You are bound to deal higher AoE damage with this build rather than the current meta build.
This build feels more fun than the current meta Magicka Sorc we are all used to imo, though you may come to hate it due to the difficulty of managing higher DPS than the old build. In Morrowind, only the slightest adjustments (if any) will need to be made to sustain.
Can't say exactly if Magicka Sorcerers will still pull the highest DPS in Morrowind. Either way, they are bound to still be strong. Good luck out there my fellow Magicka Sorcerers!