Upping my damage - MagSorc

Stewart1874

Hey folks,

Hopefully someone can help me out here I'm a CP 375 magsorc using the following;

Grothdarr X 2 both have reinforced - can't get Divines despite loads of attempts
Julianos Robe, waist, hands, legs & Shoes
Mothers sorrow Neck & rings X2 & Destro staffs Fire + Lightening
I use the thief mundas stone
I'm also a vamp if that makes any difference?

Outside of Grothdarr every apparel piece has divines and is at least purple. Both staffs have sharpened.
My spell damage is 1505 on both bars with a spell crit of 58.7%. My Crystal shards is only doing between 9 and 18k which I don't feel is very strong.

I know Julianos is a decent set but I feel like Mothers sorrow maybe isn't the best. If I put Inner light on my skill bar i'm pretty sure it ups my crit rating but I feel like my character could do an awful lot better with some tweaks, although I'm not sure exactly what tweaks to make.

I'm not sure if you need more info to be able to advise more effectively so just ask and i'll update if required!

Thanks in advance

blackelf74

hi,i am in the same situation,i am 275cp and my gear is 5 julianos + 2 grothdarr + 4 Necropotence.
Today i wanna try the Netch's Touch instead of Necro for the increased spell damage in the lightning ability (spells and destruction staff), i have also tried with julianos 5 pieces of Mother Sorrow but without great results.
My spell damage unbuffed is 2088,with power surge is 2510,but i think i'm wrong in something......

alexkdd99

If you want to use pets you can dump mothers sorrow for necropotence. Moon dancer, will power, and necro would all be better than mothers sorrow imo. Netch touch is also good if you set your bar up right.

Also if you are not using vma weapons and you are using a crafted set it is always good to make the weapons crafted as most sharpened weapons from dropped sets are more expensive. Like if you would have made your staves julianos and used 2 of those julianos armor as mothers sorrow you could have sold or not bought the mothers sorrow staves.

Imo that is one of the biggest positives to crafted sets. Being able to fill hard to get or expensive pieces with crafted pieces.

blackelf74

alexkdd99 wrote: »

If you want to use pets you can dump mothers sorrow for necropotence. Moon dancer, will power, and necro would all be better than mothers sorrow imo. Netch touch is also good if you set your bar up right.

Also if you are not using vma weapons and you are using a crafted set it is always good to make the weapons crafted as most sharpened weapons from dropped sets are more expensive. Like if you would have made your staves julianos and used 2 of those julianos armor as mothers sorrow you could have sold or not bought the mothers sorrow staves.

Imo that is one of the biggest positives to crafted sets. Being able to fill hard to get or expensive pieces with crafted pieces.

hi and thanks for the reply.
Yes,i use 2 lightning juliano sharpened staff,3 pieces of light julianos + 1 med julianos,1 heavy Molag Kena and yesterday instead of Necropotence i have tried 5 netch's touch (2 light divine + 3 spell damage enchantment jewerly) for my lightning bar,is a good damage overall,nothing of enourmus but with a lot of mobs this set help a lot.
i use:
first bar: elemental blockade-liquid lightning-shock clench-endless fury-bound aegis
second bar: bound aegis- boundless storm-power surge-hardened ward-elemental drain
i'm wrong in something?
My opinion.
The only thing that isn't clear to me is Master at Arm cp allocation,must allocated some point into it or not?
thanks and hope the reply help Stewart1874 too

FrancisCrawford

1. Mother's Sorrow isn't the best set.

2. But it's unfair to judge Mother's Sorrow by the size of your crits. Mother's Sorrow is all about increasing their frequency.

3. Netch's Touch may not fit well with a build that wants to get a lot of its damage from Crystal Frags. You basically have to be doing over 75% of your damage from lightning before it is better than Julianos, although that's slightly inaccurate insofar as spell power is particularly important to basic staff attacks.

Stewart1874

So I've got a wee update, a few of the posts inspired me to rejig a few things:

I put inner light on my 'primary' bar which has upped my crit rating nicely
I've also started using the willpower set rather than Mothers Sorrow and put an enchantment on a couple of the pieces increasing spell damage.

I'm now at 2015 spell damage and 62.7% spell crit on my main bar which is a welcome sight! If I use power surge that adds another 400ish which is considerably better than what I was at.

I've got increase spell damage on 2/3 of the willpower pieces, I'm a bit worried about resource management with my magicka so don't want to lose more regen than I have to (I use witchmothers brew for the regen too) without witchmothers my regen is sitting at 1702.

Anyone got any thoughts? (as a general rule what would you 'expect' a sorc's spell damage to be at ?)

Waffennacht

BTW gold weapons adds 200 spell damage over purple weapons

Dixa

getting to cp630 is your largest overall source of forward progression and damage increase. you get a passive increase in stats from every cp level. i forget how much, but at cp 375 in the exact same gear, passives, traits, enchants, class and skills as someone who is cp630, the 630 will have more magicka, health and stamina than you.

alexkdd99

1700 regen is more than enough imo. You could easily switch to blue health/ magicka food and gain more health and magicka. The switch to willpower was good and your stats are getting much better. Thurmatage is really good if you got 75 points to put into it to get the exploiter passive, plus as a sorc you are probably using a few dots. Wall of elements and liquid lightning being 2 main ones.

Also as the person above me said, gold out your weapons. Gold weapons are more important than gold armor. And your spell damage could use a little boost.

Betsararie

To be blunt your spell damage is really low

I get the impression this is meant to be a pve build, so will offer feedback based on that assumption.

Illambris is objectively the best Monster set to use with mag sorc in pve.

Ideally you want both pieces divines and ideally the head is heavy shoulders are medium. That is for the undaunted passive, and you want the head to be heavy because the head armor piece protects against more damage than the shoulder piece.

Julianos isn't the worst, granted you can get higher dps with a familiar pet build with all necro and divines... you are on the right track with the thief mundus.

Staff should be sharpened and gold (strongly suggested).

Inner light should be slotted on one or both bars depending on the build.

Willpower would also be a better jewelry set. You can enchant them all for spell damage to help your spell damage, however the only glyphs worth using are gold glyphs, the rest are worthless (to weak).

Cameron991

This is just a simple question I just started a high elf mag sorc is it a good move for vamp or nah?

cellobuddy

It does give a bit of regen, which is nice. Just drop down a stage or two if you're going into somewhere w/ a lot of fire damage.(mainly vHRC)

lauykanson

Use max stat blue food, with lightning staff u can heavy attack to get magicka back, make sure u put cp into tenacity. Drop fire blockade and liquid lightning then heavy attack. Dont sacrifice too much spell dmg for regen.

CastaLyron

Im cp 320 or so and found myself a little lackluster as well. I have a non pet build and I do below 20k single target dps most times. Willpower set with Spelldmg, full gold julianos and ilambris. My staves are just sharpened blue though.
I play mostly solo and can solo most normal Dungeons, but i was surprised the dps was not higher.
There is still room for improvement in the cp and staves area. Almost have full netch, just lack the belt as mundus, but not sure i will feel that upgrade overly much.

Morvane

Stewart1874 wrote: »

Hey folks,

Hopefully someone can help me out here I'm a CP 375 magsorc using the following;

Grothdarr X 2 both have reinforced - can't get Divines despite loads of attempts
Julianos Robe, waist, hands, legs & Shoes
Mothers sorrow Neck & rings X2 & Destro staffs Fire + Lightening
I use the thief mundas stone
I'm also a vamp if that makes any difference?

Outside of Grothdarr every apparel piece has divines and is at least purple. Both staffs have sharpened.
My spell damage is 1505 on both bars with a spell crit of 58.7%. My Crystal shards is only doing between 9 and 18k which I don't feel is very strong.

I know Julianos is a decent set but I feel like Mothers sorrow maybe isn't the best. If I put Inner light on my skill bar i'm pretty sure it ups my crit rating but I feel like my character could do an awful lot better with some tweaks, although I'm not sure exactly what tweaks to make.

I'm not sure if you need more info to be able to advise more effectively so just ask and i'll update if required!

Thanks in advance

blackelf74 wrote: »

hi,i am in the same situation,i am 275cp and my gear is 5 julianos + 2 grothdarr + 4 Necropotence.
Today i wanna try the Netch's Touch instead of Necro for the increased spell damage in the lightning ability (spells and destruction staff), i have also tried with julianos 5 pieces of Mother Sorrow but without great results.
My spell damage unbuffed is 2088,with power surge is 2510,but i think i'm wrong in something......

5 juliaos (staves+4 pieces), 5 necro (ring+neck+2pieces), 1 kena or something with maxmagika
and 630cp
630cp doing all ur work mates
u not need spoil ur time on trying netch or somethin g like it

X3ina

Hey, folks.
As i see alot of threads about people asking for help with mag sorc pve builds, i'll add something that might be usefull.

1. Netch, necro, mothers sorrow - it don't worth it if you gave 4 pieces only...
2. If you can, go for a set that gives minor slayer in any quality. The bonus itself gives from 350ish sp, up to 420ish spell damage (full buffed).

A little info about endgame sets:

1) Netch's touch - i highly recommed this set for altmer mag sorcs with lightning heavy attack build only, last bonus is applied only for lightning attacks so if you're using fire blockade you're gimping yourself by alot. And you must have full set on both bars so the bonus will remain active if you switch to single target and vice versa.
2) Mother's Sorrow - this set used to be a best when major and minor force used to be multiplicative. And now its just a tier two set. I highly recommed using shadow with this set while having about ~70% spell crit to get the full benefit from it. Is it strong, hell yeah especcially full buffed in a proper endgame group but for average solo player it lacks direct spell damage bonus itself.
3) Julianos - pretty well-rounded set, high crit rating with always active spell damage portion. Easy to get if you're missing weapons or any part of other set.
4) Infallible Aether - set that gives the most part of dps increase at 4 piece. 5th piece bonus can still be used by netch's touch heavy attack builds (but this will lead to loosing ilambris or grothdar). So 4 piece is sweet spot, 3 piece is one of the BiS bonuses that u can get for pve dd, so aim for 3 or 4 pieces (3 jewelry + 1 body if you don't want to grind trials for the next couple of months and/or loosing about 300k ish gold via buying weapons from luckier groupmate.
5) Moondancer - almost same as above. 1 difference if you're lucky enouph to combine it with 1 proc set (burning/scathing) and even more lucky to get synergies while you're at full moondancer bar ... Haven't tried it (5 moondancer+4something else) yet.
6) Scathing Mage - almost identical to Julianos, but the higher uptime is, the higher numbers you pull. Pretty easy to grind (i'm still missing 1 piece xD).
7) Twice-Born Star - craftable, but requires 5 pieces. Still adds some dps almost as Julianos (a bit less unfortunately).
8) Burning Spellweave - still strong set, but after recent nerfs uptime is lower and gives less spell damage. I would qualify it as a budget Scathing mage set.
9) Necropotence - still pretty decent set, but pet damage have been reduced and pet AI remained the same + you can't use it everywhere. Have to be a full bonus to get a benefit, overwise not worth it.
10) Martial Knowledge - pretty decent set, but 5th bonus is wasted because of unreliability of it. You just can't be 100% when it procs to use proced frags (for more dps of course).
11) Ovewherlming Surge - Identical to Martial, 1 difference - last bonus gives you buff (almost same as thundering presence).
12) Master Architect - new set. 5th bonus is a must have for dual weild mag dds (imo). Can't grind solo xD And even in a group might have some troubles.

So, I would advice you guys to get 1 of this combinations to get the (easily get maximum dps increase):
A. 5 julianos/scathing/netch/necro/burning/tbs/sorrow + 4 moondancer/inf aether.
or
B. 5 moondancer/julianos/netch/burning/scathing/necro/sorrow/aether/architect + martial/surge

Weapons MUST be sharpened and gold!!!

All the calculations and testing done in above average endgame pve guild ( because i just can't get a free time IRL to test it with 1 of the Aquila's high end groups).

Vet maelstrom staves (sharp) gives more benefit for type A builds.

Hope this helps!

FrancisCrawford

Blanco wrote: »

You can enchant them all for spell damage to help your spell damage, however the only glyphs worth using are gold glyphs, the rest are worthless (to weak).

"Worthless" is too harsh. The difference between a gold and a purple glyph is less than .1% to DPS, even in a build that features heavy attacks.

Betsararie

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Blanco wrote: »

You can enchant them all for spell damage to help your spell damage, however the only glyphs worth using are gold glyphs, the rest are worthless (to weak).

"Worthless" is too harsh. The difference between a gold and a purple glyph is less than .1% to DPS, even in a build that features heavy attacks.

That's fine IMO it is not good advice to recommend less than gold glyphs under any circumstances, if you disagree have fun with lower dps.

With the very high numbers I pull with my mag sorc I'm very glad I invested gold into some gold glyphs.

Stewart1874

Blanco wrote: »

To be blunt your spell damage is really low

I get the impression this is meant to be a pve build, so will offer feedback based on that assumption.

Illambris is objectively the best Monster set to use with mag sorc in pve.

Ideally you want both pieces divines and ideally the head is heavy shoulders are medium. That is for the undaunted passive, and you want the head to be heavy because the head armor piece protects against more damage than the shoulder piece.

Julianos isn't the worst, granted you can get higher dps with a familiar pet build with all necro and divines... you are on the right track with the thief mundus.

Staff should be sharpened and gold (strongly suggested).

Inner light should be slotted on one or both bars depending on the build.

Willpower would also be a better jewelry set. You can enchant them all for spell damage to help your spell damage, however the only glyphs worth using are gold glyphs, the rest are worthless (to weak).

Found this very helpful, I've done the gold weapon upgrade just now and that has me on 2230 and 2659 if I use power surge! Getting there slowly but surely

My intention is to work on getting Illambris the issue is I play on console and both me & my mate are damage dealers (although I have a tank secondary) so finding matches takes ages (and guild chat can be quite unreliable).

X3INA - Another fantastic and very insightful post, I'd have quoted you but there isn't a multiquote function (or I'm being thick) lots of detail and Netches touch is definitely on my to do list.

I'm quite keen to try out the war maiden set to see if that will improve my DPS (Anyone used it & can confirm?).

But yeah, a big thank you to everybody that has posted. I feel like my character has improved tenfold from just a few of the tweaks you have all suggested. The advice has been invaluable and I'll continue to work on my character

Betsararie

Stewart1874 wrote: »

Blanco wrote: »

To be blunt your spell damage is really low

I get the impression this is meant to be a pve build, so will offer feedback based on that assumption.

Illambris is objectively the best Monster set to use with mag sorc in pve.

Ideally you want both pieces divines and ideally the head is heavy shoulders are medium. That is for the undaunted passive, and you want the head to be heavy because the head armor piece protects against more damage than the shoulder piece.

Julianos isn't the worst, granted you can get higher dps with a familiar pet build with all necro and divines... you are on the right track with the thief mundus.

Staff should be sharpened and gold (strongly suggested).

Inner light should be slotted on one or both bars depending on the build.

Willpower would also be a better jewelry set. You can enchant them all for spell damage to help your spell damage, however the only glyphs worth using are gold glyphs, the rest are worthless (to weak).

Found this very helpful, I've done the gold weapon upgrade just now and that has me on 2230 and 2659 if I use power surge! Getting there slowly but surely

My intention is to work on getting Illambris the issue is I play on console and both me & my mate are damage dealers (although I have a tank secondary) so finding matches takes ages (and guild chat can be quite unreliable).

Really happy to help man. The Illambris grind (especially for the shoulders), is tough but it is so worth it.

If you stick with it and go for that 5-1-1 setup with illambris and all 7 pieces divines and thief mundus, your dps will go to incredible places. lol

Mix that in with gold sharpened staves with gold level enchants or vMA and you have a top tier build.

I don't necessarily want to steer you in the direction of a pet build because some people prefer to play without them, but necro is another set that will up your dps dramatically.

Just last night I pulled 59k dps on a wb lol. I was just messing around dropping ultimates and stuff but it was fun.

X3ina

@Stewart1874 - the reason i didn't list War maiden is, it is very niche set if used by sorcs ... more for pvp bomber group (negate monkey) oriented.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

Blanco wrote: »

To be blunt your spell damage is really low

I get the impression this is meant to be a pve build, so will offer feedback based on that assumption.

Illambris is objectively the best Monster set to use with mag sorc in pve.

Ideally you want both pieces divines and ideally the head is heavy shoulders are medium. That is for the undaunted passive, and you want the head to be heavy because the head armor piece protects against more damage than the shoulder piece.

Julianos isn't the worst, granted you can get higher dps with a familiar pet build with all necro and divines... you are on the right track with the thief mundus.

Staff should be sharpened and gold (strongly suggested).

Inner light should be slotted on one or both bars depending on the build.

Willpower would also be a better jewelry set. You can enchant them all for spell damage to help your spell damage, however the only glyphs worth using are gold glyphs, the rest are worthless (to weak).

@Blanco

You have now posted this twice in separate threads and its NOT true. Head and shoulders have identical armor ratings. Yes you want one medium and one heavy, but it doesn matter in the slightest as to which is which. He is correct that Ilambris is certainly better than grothdar, and if running a pet, Necro is the 5 piece you want. Mothers Sorrow is poor mans jewelry.

For Jewelry: Moondancer = Master Architect > Infallible > Willpower

For Weapons: Back Bar sharp Fire VMA, Front Bar Sharp Lighting That Matches your Jewelry. If running willpower, just use any sharp staffs.

Edit: as for traits, Sharp is deal breaker on staffs. As for armor, Divines is certainly best, but 1 or 2 bad traits on your monster sets are barely noticeable. Its more important that you have 5/1/1 than perfect traits. Just for fun, the first 600k VMA score (all about DPS) was done with a well fitted shoulder.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

Cameron991 wrote: »

This is just a simple question I just started a high elf mag sorc is it a good move for vamp or nah?

@Cameron991
Vamp is a no brainer on sorcs, and virtually any class for that matter. The only downside to vamp is that you are ugly AF. The regen more than makes up for any issues with fire damage, etc. Most tanks/Healers are Vamp as well.

Waffennacht

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Cameron991 wrote: »

This is just a simple question I just started a high elf mag sorc is it a good move for vamp or nah?

@Cameron991
Vamp is a no brainer on sorcs, and virtually any class for that matter. The only downside to vamp is that you are ugly AF. The regen more than makes up for any issues with fire damage, etc. Most tanks/Healers are Vamp as well.

Ya know every time I go vamp I run into nothing but DKs and Fire Sorcs when I go PvP. I swear they only come out when you're a vampire....

A lot of sets give you the same ending. For example, a lot of players do not use clever alchemist for PvE, which I typically do, and I get 30k dps solo.

A lot of players use illambris, again very good, but you can also get there using something else, i.e. Shadowrend + Necropotence + alchemist = 30k dps solo Templar Pet Build ,(that's right, a Templar Pet Build )

I prefer sets that do not require vMA or Trial gear (for the average Joe)

FrancisCrawford

Blanco wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Blanco wrote: »

You can enchant them all for spell damage to help your spell damage, however the only glyphs worth using are gold glyphs, the rest are worthless (to weak).

"Worthless" is too harsh. The difference between a gold and a purple glyph is less than .1% to DPS, even in a build that features heavy attacks.

That's fine IMO it is not good advice to recommend less than gold glyphs under any circumstances, if you disagree have fun with lower dps.

With the very high numbers I pull with my mag sorc I'm very glad I invested gold into some gold glyphs.

I understand now.

If your 59K DPS had instead been 58,967, the pleasure you experience in life would have been much lower. It was wise of you to avert such misfortune, and everybody else should follow your brilliant example.

Berenhir

Dixa wrote: »

getting to cp630 is your largest overall source of forward progression and damage increase. you get a passive increase in stats from every cp level. i forget how much, but at cp 375 in the exact same gear, passives, traits, enchants, class and skills as someone who is cp630, the 630 will have more magicka, health and stamina than you.

@Dixa
That's outdated information. Resource gains from CP are capped at 300 CP since Morrowind.
However, a CP 630 has more points to spend and can invest more into damage modifying stars.

Dixa

Berenhir wrote: »

Dixa wrote: »

getting to cp630 is your largest overall source of forward progression and damage increase. you get a passive increase in stats from every cp level. i forget how much, but at cp 375 in the exact same gear, passives, traits, enchants, class and skills as someone who is cp630, the 630 will have more magicka, health and stamina than you.

@Dixa
That's outdated information. Resource gains from CP are capped at 300 CP since Morrowind.
However, a CP 630 has more points to spend and can invest more into damage modifying stars.

That is good to know. Wasn't the case on the early ptr when I was fartin around with the premades

acw37162

@Oreyn_Bearclaw unless they changed something in Morrowind head and shoulder do not have identical armor ratings.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

acw37162 wrote: »

@Oreyn_Bearclaw unless they changed something in Morrowind head and shoulder do not have identical armor ratings.

@acw37162

They do if they are the same weight and quality. A heavy shoulder and a heavy helmet in gold will both have an armor rating 2425 if I am remembering that correctly (as long as they arent reinforced).

From an enchanting standpoint, Helm=Chest=Legs>Shoulders=Gloves=belt=boots.

From an armor rating standpoint Chest>Helm=Shoulders=Legs=boots>Gloves>Belts.

Unless that was changed in the last patch or two, this has been the case for a long while. I am at work so I can't login for a screenshot, but please, someone prove me wrong if I am.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

@acw37162

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/244590/armor-values

This post is a bit dated, but it shows the same thing. It was from when gear was VR16, but I dont believe the values changed.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

@acw37162 @Blanco

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I did just confirm this. Gold Heavy head and shoulders both have an armor rating of 2425 and Gold Medium head and shoulders both have an armor rating of 1823.

In other words, the armor rating for them is exactly the same and it does not matter which is which in the typical light armor 5/1/1 setup.

If running a crafted 5 piece and 5/1/1, you want your chest to be heavy, and any one of your Shoulders, Heads, Legs, or Boots to be medium, but again, doesnt matter which.

If going with a heavy armor build in 5/1/1, you want medium boots and light belt if trying to min/max.