[Murkmire] Sorc Ice-Staff Battlegrounds Build

Vermethys

Good morning, afternoon, or evening wherever you are!

I was running vMA for the weekly leaderboard the other day and happened to obtain what I've always considered to be among the most disappointing vMA weapons in existence: the Maelstrom Ice Staff (since most are usually expecting either an inferno or shock staff at that point). However, it got me thinking, and mind you, it was 9 in the morning after a sleepless night -- one thought lead to another, and I had the foundation of an unorthodox magicka Sorcerer build in mind. Whether this has been done by other players before, I honestly don't know and never bothered to know.

The build is a double destruction staff build with an ice staff on the back-bar and a lightning staff on the front -- Yes, I know I know; Blockade of Frost is the new annoying meta popularised by magdens, and I mainly play a StamDK so I've had my fair share of annoyances with people throwing ice WoE every which way and basically draining my stamina on a set-up that already lacks mobility. But among the rest of the annoying metas in BGs (such as Spin2Win, permafrost, and Werewolves) this one sort of gets lost somewhere in the middle in my personal opinion.

I have played this build in my magicka Sorcerer's already high MMR bracket for 2 days now and I think it is performing excellently, despite some shortcomings I could not build around. The main things that I have personally enjoyed with this build is the high pressure it applies on targets at melee range, the amount of DoTs at your disposal (usually lacking in most magsorc builds), the tankiness, and the fact that you don't have to rely on Endless Fury to secure kills (so you won't see the usual high KBs, low assists). Oh, and it's technically a melee build much like a MagDK.

Anyway, I'll leap right into it:

(unbuffed stat-sheet)


(fully buffed stat-sheet)


This is a build dedicated for Battlegrounds, and I would not recommend it for Cyrodiil. It performs best in "closed environments" where you can basically control the field -- like maps such as Arcane University, Ularra, and Istirus Outpost.

[Gear]
*Shacklebreaker
*Spinner's Garments
*Zaan
*The Maelstrom's Ice Staff

This is a 5 light, 1 medium, 1 heavy set-up for max stats. Since we are using a crafted set, try having your chest piece in heavy and your legs in medium -- that way, you'll get the best resistances out of this build. All pieces should have the Impenetrable trait (gone are the days of infused big pieces). Enchant your big pieces with tristat glyphs and your small pieces with magicka glyphs. As for your jewelry: 2 rings with the Protective trait and your necklace in Arcane for more magicka. I run 2 Magicka Recovery glyphs and one Spell Damage, but you may want less recovery if you are a High Elf, for example.

Both staves are infused, with flame enchantment on the lightning staff and frost enchantment on the ice staff. The frost enchantment is only there for a greater chance to proc the "Chilled" status effect and hence immobilise targets in our Blockade of Frost, though honestly you can go with Absorb Magicka for more sustain if you want to. The snare alone from Blockade of Frost is enough to make up for magsorc's lack of snares imo.

Other sets you can run:
*Necropotence is a good choice instead of Spinner's Garment since we are running at least one pet with this build.
*Valkyn Skoria for more tankiness and more burst. We have enough DoTs to proc it.

[Abilities]
*Front Bar: LIGHTNING STAFF
(1) Shock Reach -- Your primary stun. I would not recommend running Rune Cage since it is highly telegraphed and easy to dodge.
(2) Twilight Matriach -- Your emergency heal. You hardly ever need to use it unless there is too much pressure and you are dropping below 60%.
(3) Hardened Ward -- Your primary defence. Helps in keeping your Matriarch alive, otherwise you lose your source of burst healing.
(4) [FLEX SPOT] Volatile Familiar -- I don't recommend using this dumb pet honestly, he is literally never there when you need him. You can run Haunting Curse (not Daedric Prey) instead.
(5) Boundless Storm -- Your source of Major Resolve/Ward and Major Expedition. Helps in procc'ing Critical Surge too, since let's be honest, there is no such thing as being ranged in BGs.
- Ultimate: Dawnbreaker of Smiting -- You are playing melee anyway, and this deals an insane amount of damage and pressure on enemies when timed right.

*Back Bar: FROST STAFF
(1) [FLEX SPOT] Volatile Familiar -- Again, generally useless. I would recommend running a utility skill here like Ball of Lightning or Elemental Drain (but make sure to drop Spinner for another set then). Avoid using Dark Conversion because your stamina is limited.
(2) Twilight Matriarch.
(3) Blockade of Frost -- The basis of this build and your source of snares and immobilisation. This is incredibly useful against Nightblades, especially magblades since they will quickly run out of stamina. Since we cast this from a vMA staff, your heavy attacks on the lightning front bar deal an insane amount of additional damage.
(4) Critical Surge -- Your primary source of passive healing. Never let this run out or you'll find yourself dying too quickly. Running Power Surge instead is the cheaper option if you want to avoid using Essence of Spell Power.
(5) Endless Fury -- Your execute ability. Most times people will melt from your heavy attacks and Zaan, but you can use this for added burst damage. I usually forget to use it anyway.
- Ultimate: Greater Storm Atronach -- Your defensive ultimate. Use this like you would use Shield Wall on a StamDK. If outnumbered or your team is retreating, drop it down until you can push again. Most opponents tend to re-position themselves when you drop the atronach, so take that time to regain resources and gain the upper hand.

[Buff Food]
*Clockwork Citrus Filet
*Witchmother's Potent Brew (cheaper option)

[Mundus]
*The Atronach -- a Sorc out of magicka is a dead sorc

[Potions]
*Essence of Spell Power (better crit chance for procc'ing surge and better damage)
*Tristat Potions

[Race]
*High Elf
*Breton
*Argonian

The most important part about playing this build, from what I've experienced so far, is locking down your target in your Blockade of Frost -- otherwise you lose a lot of damage. Most of your engagements with opponents should go like: Critical Surge and Boundless Storm pre-buffed > Hardened Ward > Blockade of Frost (once you are in melee range) > Volatile Familiar/Haunting Curse > Shock Reach (to lock them down in your WoE) > Lightning Staff heavy attack > Endless Fury (generally timed with curse). The best combo, unarguably, is slamming down your Dawnbreaker after your heavy attack, with Zaan burning your target and Haunting Curse exploding -- people cannot outheal that unless they've got a pocket healer around.

I don't have any gameplay footage since my poor laptop barely handles the game at the lowest settings but I can assure you that the build plays very nicely in Battlegrounds and doesn't feel too cheesy ^^
https://i.imgur.com/HO4H89Y.png
https://i.imgur.com/KAAHP2R.png
https://i.imgur.com/lzW0Pow.png
https://i.imgur.com/2d0uR4R.png

I hope anyone out there gives it a try and enjoys it
Have a nice day.

omarxz11

so here is the thing , the first picture where you show stats i don't think its right now because when you are in open world the CP will effect your stats i believe you need to take screenshot in battleground , as for pet Volatile Familiar he is pretty good because you can control both of these pets by hold Y+ left click for attack or Y + right click for retreat , you want them near you and not go attack far away enemy for when enemy suddenly attack you ( like NB or someone came from behind for example ) they are ready to defend you , as for Dark Conversion there is morph you can make it cost magica instead of stamina

also you need to post gear glyph and stats , like how much impen you use for which gear ? etc

Vermethys

@omarxz11 I wonder how you found this months old thread.

I haven't played this build in maybe two months, but the stats in the pictures are the same ones you'd get in BGs. Otherwise, I wouldn't have uploaded them.

Here's an old picture I took during a BG match -- Same stats (minor SD difference due to barswap - Sorc passive giving % SD).

omarxz11 wrote: »

also you need to post gear glyph and stats , like how much impen you use for which gear ? etc

Enchantments and gear traits are right below the screenshots.

Didgerion

I used a similar setup (no zaan though) prior shield scaling of HP nerf. It was great for 1v1s but it lacked sustain to get away of zerg groups. Still use this setup nowadays sometimes in zerg vs zergs britches fights. Frost vma back weapon and lightning spinner staff front weapon do wonders on britches.

Vermethys

It surely shines in 1v1, but it also does very well in what I wanted to do with it: Battlegrounds. I don't play open-world/Cyrodiil, so I wouldn't know how it functions there. In BGs, it can handle 1v2 well enough if you use your environment well and keep your targets in your WoE, but beyond that it becomes near futile to try -- Surge, the Matriarch's heal, and Hardened Ward are not enough to handle more than 2 opponents at once. But sustain and mobility are never a problem in my experience; when I'm outnumbered or positioned incorrectly, I don't have much trouble escaping enemies (through stuns, snares, and Major Expedition).

raasdal

Well thought out. Done something similar. Main problem is, other classes will do this build better.

Swap out Spinner for Torugs though. You will see a HUGE damage increase. Not kidding. Frontbar Torugs will affect both the backbar ice enchant, which will proc every 2 sec on anyone in your WoE, and affec the Ligtning Staff Heavy as well, which give 2 enchant procs on one full heavy. Most builds using WoE are best off with Torugs currently.

Vermethys

@raasdal Thanks! You're actually right, that does seem like a better set to use. I remember that I briefly thought about using Torug's Pact, but didn't want to craft purple jewelry at the time. I'll be sure to test it whenever I have time to play with this build.