Sorcerer - What's your build and why did you choose it?

iso_1a_ESO

Hey guys, I've decided recently that I'm going to reroll to a Sorcerer and mess around with some pure casting to break up the monotony of leveling my Nightblade. I've seen a lot of crazy builds around the Sorcerer, from Tanks to Healers and everything in between. What's your build, why did you choose to play that way, and what makes it effective / fun? I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say.

Here is a link to the build I've been playing with. Nothing set in stone, but just passing some extra time I had today messing with the skill calculator. If you can give me any insight / advice / criticism on it I'd very much appreciate it.

crislevin

I am only lvl23, can't critic much, but what is your strategy and though behind your design?

http://tinyurl.com/o57gaxu

top is what i have at the moment, which I will try to continue, pretty good for kiting.

will gradually fix my near-range combat with the bottom one, don't have 4 out of 5 skills in the bar right now.

andrantos

I'm going for that "bard" concept.

primary weapon: bow
secondary:restoration staff

Originally, I was using sword and board as my secondary but found it unnecessary. Solo, I can effectively kite if needed and restoration gives me some survivability in addition to allowing to run as a primary healer in groups.

Primary action bar setup (can't remember ability names)
1. Dark magic nuke with knockdown
2. Dark magic root
3. Bows scattershot (knockback + mez)
4. Silver bolts
5. Storm calling nuke

Works well in solo environments. In group, the CC tends to become useless for bosses. Haven't been able to seamlessly integrate a secondary weapon setup (so far everything has felt awkward).

LilMcGinley

I feel like I went the 'path least taken' with my sorc. This is PvP build only, meant for CC and AoE.

Sword/Board - Main, Resto Off-Hand
- 5 Medium/2 Heavy Armor
- Currently 3 set bonuses, Warlock, Dragon, Shadows.
- Ultimate - Switch between Dawnbreaker/ Atro / Negate
- 1) Mages Wrath
- 2) Invasion (Shield Charge Morph)
- 3) Lightening Pool
- 4) Shattering Prison
- 5) Bolt Escape

Off-Hand is the same except for Resto staff #2 instead of Invasion.

steinernein

Primary - Resto Staff (10% extra damage)
1. Crystal Frag - Primary nuke, restores health, does everything really.
2. Daedric Minefield - Secondary nuke (1200+ every 3 seconds is hard to ignore) / Conjurer's Ward in the event that I can't close in for safety reasons.
3. Winged Twilight - I have too many actives, I need to supplement my DPS, also aura
4. Dark Conversion - Stamina to health / Magicka (will replace this with Symmetry for more DPS)
5. Magelight - MOAR crit.
Ult - Anything. Probably Overcharge to take advantage of ult reduction benefits and Werewolf benefits.

Secondary - Destro Staff
1. Volatile Imp - hardest hitting AoE and has CC.
2. Mage's Fury - Execute damage
3. Elemental Drain - To enhance Mage's fury.
4. Dark Conversion - Same as above but won't replace with Symmetry.
5. Magelight - Crit.
6. Anything. Probably Overcharge but also possibly Meteor.

Joke Build - Resto Staff
1 Crystal Frag
2 Entropy
3 Symmetry
4 Fire Rune
5 Magelight
6 Meteor

crislevin

overcharge? which skill line?

iso_1a_ESO

crislevin wrote: »

I am only lvl23, can't critic much, but what is your strategy and though behind your design?

http://tinyurl.com/o57gaxu

top is what i have at the moment, which I will try to continue, pretty good for kiting.

will gradually fix my near-range combat with the bottom one, don't have 4 out of 5 skills in the bar right now.

The whole philosophy behind my design was to have one bar for AOE effectiveness focusing on keeping the mobs grouped tightly and under the full influence of the area-based damaging abilities. Mage's Fury and Energy Overload are there to get magicka back as needed.

The second bar focuses on single target dps for bosses or up to three mobs while soloing. Inner Light for crit, Elemental Drain to make you hit that much harder while restoring magicka, and Critical Surge to ramp up base damage while providing some means of gaining a bit of health back. Soul Assault is just a huge damage dump on a single target and good to have for finishing off those tougher fights in a single press.

However, based on some more tinkering, I may go back towards my original idea of a dark caster type build. This would focus more on making the most of your basic staff attacks. I have by no means put more than maybe 5 minutes into this build, but to give you and idea, go here.

steinernein

crislevin wrote: »

overcharge? which skill line?

I meant Overload. Whatever the stupid ult from the Storm line is; it offers high DPS both AE and single target while giving health/magicka returns. That and you can store it unlike many ults.

jammery2k

My Sorc Currently at level 32 -> My Current solo build http://bit.ly/1sBoPAF

A couple things about this build that might seem odd -

Power surge on both bars, Why? As a caster I run out of Magicka frequently when chaining mob packs, if I am taking my time, I never run out. If I am against a elite 1 or 2 mob it is efficient to use Destro staff (Frost is great for kiting with points in effect chance!) and using a resto staff is crazy nice for heals in the same scenario where you are just waiting for Magicka to build to go all nuke crazy again.

Negate (Dark Magic Tree) on the resto bar?
Easy stun + Cleanse = See ya IM OUT! best get away a Sorc has until 50!

I use the Restoration staff for weapon damage WAY more than I use the Destruction staff - mainly because I'm usually kiting at this point and trying to stay alive.

Here is my solo rotation (if you can call it that)

1 to 2 mobs
If Ranged Mob First -
Crystal Fragment - Usually drops 1/3 of the mobs HP at even level
Endless Fury (At this point I get about a 40% proc rate on instant Crystal Fragment) - Usually drops mob to 1/2 HP
Crystal Fragment - that mob is almost dead if not one more Endless Fury and it is dead from the Endless Fury explosion and I get my Magicka back

Melee Mob -
Shattering Prison (Morph from Encase) - doesn't do initial damage but explodes after the mob is free
Crystal Fragment - Usually drops 1/3 of the mobs HP at even level
Endless Fury - Shattering Prison does its damage (Endless Fury explosion goes off if HP < 20% )
Crystal Fragment - Usually not needed but I wind it up for the finish

Now for Dungeons and large pack areas I will often switch what skills Ihave on my bars to this - > http://bit.ly/1krEilF
3-5 Mob packs - And You Sorc becomes a beast mode glass cannon
Liquid Lightning - If triggered by the tank it does sooo much damage right away.
Deadric Curse - Great damage over time and AoE burst on final tick
Endless Fury - Pick low targets and start finishing them off almost using no Magicka with the Magicka return from the Morph
Once Mobs are at 50% - POWER OVERLOAD!!! And melt anything in your way Damage is insane with this and with the Range Morph you can stay safe from most melee advances before they get to you.

Boss Fights -
Be aware - you hit HARD and are officially 1 shot squishy if its a hard attack.
Open with Deadric Curse - low Aggro, high dps, clears adds too
Crystal Fragment - Watch your tank - if he is chasing the boss, switch to resto and get your Magicka back until Boss is under control
Refresh Deadric Curse
Boss HP at 30% POWER OVERLOAD!!!
Once it is below 20% Endless Fury until out of Magicka then break out the staff.

This is a ROUGH sketch of a rotation - If I grab to much aggro to often, I will leave out Liquid Lightning for Shattering Prison and then just spam Deadric Curse.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: My build has Energy Overload selected on the esohead build - should have been Power Overload!

Rosebloome

Currently running.

Weapon Set 1-
Dual Wield ( Dagger/Dagger optimal. )
1- Rapid Strikes ( Multi-hit attack that adds atk spd increase. )
2- Blood Craze/Shrouded Daggers ( Depends if I feel i need more healing or some aoe with a snare. )
3- Restraining Prison ( Root and snare at end. Also Dark Magic Debuff )
4- Critical Surge ( Bread and Butter part of the build. )
5- Bound Aegis ( Chose this over lightning form. Need less spenders and a toggle is nice. Always on Benefit. )

Weapon set 2-
Bow ( Atm, I'm just using it for daedric/undead/werewolf killing and aoe. Switch out skill for chasing, pvp. )
1-Scorched Earth ( Mmmm. Aoe. )
2-Silver Shards ( AoE silver Bolts. )
3-Restraining Prison ( Snare and roots. )
4- Expert Hunter ( Damage proccing. )
5- Bound Aegis


Now the complete idea behind this build is to get as much crit as possible as a melee oriented fighter. Full medium armor, restraining prison for exploitation, twin blade and blunt for dagger critical, any other passive you can get your hand on for crit. I'm even khajit for the crit passives.

You proc Critical Surge ( Heals for 65% of critical damage done. ) with rapid strikes and shrouded daggers, interchanging with light attacks when neccessary. Bound Aegis for overcharged armor and more durability. If its a single target, boss like fight, switch out shrodued daggers with blood craze for an extra HoT.

I'm gonig to also try Whirling Blades morph off Whirlwind for AoE spam with critical surge and its morph for stanima back. Makes it, from the looks, really easy aoe spam for critheal hp regen.

At the moment this is a pve build. Sure can change out a couple of skills for a more pvp oriented type build.

iso_1a_ESO

Rosebloome wrote: »

Currently running.

Weapon Set 1-
Dual Wield ( Dagger/Dagger optimal. )
1- Rapid Strikes ( Multi-hit attack that adds atk spd increase. )
2- Blood Craze/Shrouded Daggers ( Depends if I feel i need more healing or some aoe with a snare. )
3- Restraining Prison ( Root and snare at end. Also Dark Magic Debuff )
4- Critical Surge ( Bread and Butter part of the build. )
5- Bound Aegis ( Chose this over lightning form. Need less spenders and a toggle is nice. Always on Benefit. )

Weapon set 2-
Bow ( Atm, I'm just using it for daedric/undead/werewolf killing and aoe. Switch out skill for chasing, pvp. )
1-Scorched Earth ( Mmmm. Aoe. )
2-Silver Shards ( AoE silver Bolts. )
3-Restraining Prison ( Snare and roots. )
4- Expert Hunter ( Damage proccing. )
5- Bound Aegis


Now the complete idea behind this build is to get as much crit as possible as a melee oriented fighter. Full medium armor, restraining prison for exploitation, twin blade and blunt for dagger critical, any other passive you can get your hand on for crit. I'm even khajit for the crit passives.

You proc Critical Surge ( Heals for 65% of critical damage done. ) with rapid strikes and shrouded daggers, interchanging with light attacks when neccessary. Bound Aegis for overcharged armor and more durability. If its a single target, boss like fight, switch out shrodued daggers with blood craze for an extra HoT.

I'm gonig to also try Whirling Blades morph off Whirlwind for AoE spam with critical surge and its morph for stanima back. Makes it, from the looks, really easy aoe spam for critheal hp regen.

At the moment this is a pve build. Sure can change out a couple of skills for a more pvp oriented type build.

I really like the idea behind this. Good job with the build! Please update us on how the testing goes. Actually, great job everyone who has responded so far. Some really cool ideas here! I look forward to playing with a few of them myself. Keep em coming!

Rosebloome

iso_1a_ESO wrote: »

Rosebloome wrote: »

Currently running.

Weapon Set 1-
Dual Wield ( Dagger/Dagger optimal. )
1- Rapid Strikes ( Multi-hit attack that adds atk spd increase. )
2- Blood Craze/Shrouded Daggers ( Depends if I feel i need more healing or some aoe with a snare. )
3- Restraining Prison ( Root and snare at end. Also Dark Magic Debuff )
4- Critical Surge ( Bread and Butter part of the build. )
5- Bound Aegis ( Chose this over lightning form. Need less spenders and a toggle is nice. Always on Benefit. )

Weapon set 2-
Bow ( Atm, I'm just using it for daedric/undead/werewolf killing and aoe. Switch out skill for chasing, pvp. )
1-Scorched Earth ( Mmmm. Aoe. )
2-Silver Shards ( AoE silver Bolts. )
3-Restraining Prison ( Snare and roots. )
4- Expert Hunter ( Damage proccing. )
5- Bound Aegis


Now the complete idea behind this build is to get as much crit as possible as a melee oriented fighter. Full medium armor, restraining prison for exploitation, twin blade and blunt for dagger critical, any other passive you can get your hand on for crit. I'm even khajit for the crit passives.

You proc Critical Surge ( Heals for 65% of critical damage done. ) with rapid strikes and shrouded daggers, interchanging with light attacks when neccessary. Bound Aegis for overcharged armor and more durability. If its a single target, boss like fight, switch out shrodued daggers with blood craze for an extra HoT.

I'm gonig to also try Whirling Blades morph off Whirlwind for AoE spam with critical surge and its morph for stanima back. Makes it, from the looks, really easy aoe spam for critheal hp regen.

At the moment this is a pve build. Sure can change out a couple of skills for a more pvp oriented type build.

I really like the idea behind this. Good job with the build! Please update us on how the testing goes. Actually, great job everyone who has responded so far. Some really cool ideas here! I look forward to playing with a few of them myself. Keep em coming!

Level 46 atm. IT does really good, although you'll struggle some in toe to toe fights with very strong bosses 1 on 1 of course. But general gameplay, theres absolutely no downtime with the build.

Grjjboy

During beta I was mostly staff mage and one time I did tank mage (never again, I could not hold agro). Now I'm doing 2h mage because I thought it was really cool with the Storm Calling buffs. Right now I'm lvl 25 and I've been going;

1) Carve (from Cleave)
2) Dizzying Swing (from Uppercut)
3) Thundering Presence (from Lightning Form)
4) Surge (probably going to morph into Critical Surge)
5) (right now it's anything I want to lvl up, haven't figured out what I want there yet)

Ulti) Summon Charged Storm Atronach (from Summon Storm Atronach
Armor; Heavy

It works really well, you just ulti when you fight bosses/hordes of enemies and, while the ultis up, you can usually Carve to get your ulti back up to half way. Dizzying Swing is really good to chain CC after you block their critical hit and then, after you critical hit them back so they fall over, you Dizzying Swing so they stay down (by this point they're dead usually). Thunder Presence is great because of the armor/spell resistance it gives you and morphing it into Thundering Presences can help conserve your mana (I don't like the other morph, I just don't value % movement speed that much).

I really don't know what I want as my secondary weapon right now though. I've toyed with the Staff and dual wield, both were pretty 'good', but it felt like I accomplished just as much with the build I have now. Right now I'm toying with the Bow, since that's what everyone else is comboing with 2h (or so I've seen/heard), haven't had a chance to see if it's any good though.

I can't really say that my build is good or bad though, my provisioning is 50 right now and I've been crafting/eating 2 trait foods for the past 5 levels, the only time I die is when I'm running away from a horde or if I miss block a spell that stuns/knocks me down (they can do a lot of damage to you while Thundering Presence is down).

ahampelb14_ESO

I saw someone post about making a DAOC-like thane class so I took that logic and ran with it. I don't have this many points but you see where I'm headed:

http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#cMkzxvAhIV8NNax8wAim8wAiA8AuEU8NP1G8AhIV8NNax8hgQf8hgP18DVjo8NP1G8L7ocdoQr6MdoQF8T7JcrqLw6MrqAi6MrqAZ6MrqAD8x7Hqsfr6MwGAR6MwGN16MwGAs6MwGAb6Isfi8v7HIanU6IanW6Mhx0y6Mhx0l6Mhx0n6Mhx0B8H7DIbHm6MNieT6MNiey6MNieA8J7rqziD6MNUIz8K7Dqkg6Izun6MANRQ6MANRU6MANRZ847pzxLCe6cxLDm6cxLDo6cxLDs8zf7zINbo

did all 3 level 15 dungeons the other night. I start the fight with 2 or 3 mage's wrath and if my hands glow purple, I fire off an instant crystal fragment then charge in with stampede. Hack it up a few times and throw an uppercut in there. Keep an eye on everyone heath and you can switch bars and pop a few heals and kite the boss with resto staff which can still proc the instant crystal fragment. Ultimate pet can save your tank or yourself, in those close fights since you can get a few seconds for the pet to take the aggro.

My review is a highly aggressive and mobile build with magic/melee/healing all in one

JumboWheat01

After all my melee classes, I was thinking of starting up my Aldmeri Dominion main as a sorcerer, going for this kind of build.

Normally, I'm not the best of "builders," as I often just choose things as I will, but this seemed like a decent set up. Maybe one of you more min/maxers or better planners would come up with something more effective, and while I wouldn't drastically change it, I wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts on my build as well.

Rosebloome

Changed my build up a bit.

VR 1 - Dual Wield Crit Heal|Life Leech Attributes 2:1 on HP to Stam
Mundus Stone The Thief for Bonus Crit %. ( This also works very well with armor with Mundus Stone enhancement traits. )
All Medium Armor, focus on getting traits with Mundus Stone % Enhancement when you start crafting.

Weapon Set 1: Dual Wield ( Daggers most optimal. )

1: Rapid Strikes ( Flurry morph that adds attack speed. )
2: BlooD Craze ( Dual Wield first ability morph for Heal over Time. )
3: Degeneration ( Entropy Morph that is a DoT as well as a 100% damage heal on hit.Found in Mage Guild Tree. )
4: Critical Surge ( Surge morph for Heal on Crit. )
5: Bound Aegis. ( Always on Armor Overcharging. I'm not sure if the bound armors work with Daedric Protection passive. Need to test more. Later on if you have more than enough armor overcharged without it, you could replace with Twilight summon morphed to magicka regen or the channeled heal. )

Weapon Set 2: Bow ( Though Any physical will do. Set it up however you'd prefer. AoE or Kiting. Weapon Set 1 is the main focus of this build at the moment. )

Currently using for secondary as Bow.

1: Scorched Earth ( Targettable AoE )
2: Acid Spray ( Morph off arrow spray. Frontal cone aoe. )
3: Restraining Prison ( CC root + snare. )
4: Crit Surge ( Weapno damage + crit heals. )
5: Bound Aegis ( Overcahrged Armor )

This is the same idea as the build I posted above with a few tweaks. Mainly replacing Restraining Prison with Degeneration for 1 on 1 fights. A second buff for heal for 100% damage caused trumps Restraining prison generally, as restraining prison for exploitation proc will NOT work on flyers, nor bosses that are immune. However restraining prison is king if you use it with aoe on trash. I'd recommend using a AoE build on second weapon set for this. Restraining Prison + shrouded daggers with dual wield as secondary as well, or bow with scorched earth + restraining. You could even use two hander on secodnary with cleave morphed to brawler + restraining prison.

With weapon set 1 and its abilities. You'll EASILY have around 30% base crit. Then factor in twin blade and blunt, khajit racials, thief mundus stone, mundus stoen trait enhancements. A ton of fuel for proccing Critical Surge 65% heal crit damage. Then you have blood craze for a heal over time AND then Degeneration for a DoT and a FLAT 100% HEAL FROM WEAPON DAMAGE CAUSED. You'll have a ton of heal on hit coming in. Very durable.

Rahaya

Sorcerer Tank - Dual Destruction Staffs

Bar 1:
Crystal Fragments - Instant cast proc with 50% cost reduction is too good. Everything I use has a chance of procing this.
Endless Fury - Execute, morphed to give magicka back making killing blows with this free
Bound Armaments - Because armor, making me less squishy and additional heavy attack damage that works nicely with Destruction staff passives.
Liquid Lightning - Aoe Damage, relatively cheap, I normally don't even care if the mob stays in the effect as I just spam it for procs.
Inner Light - Crit chance

Bar 2:
Crystal Fragments - yup. Handy for extra damage on a boss or knocking down a pesky add bothering the healer.
Shattering Prison - Lots of CC and my main pulling ability for trash packs. Makes it easier for the dps to pick a target to kill and initial damage on everything gives me some threat.
Bound Armaments - Armor, heavy attack damage.
Boundless Storm - Generally my 'oh crap' ability when I need to get out of something pronto. Going to be replaced with Conjured Ward when I get it as my usual healer packs Circle of protection. I walk around hard capped on spell resist, and that Circle caps me on armor.
Inner Fire/Entropy - Mages Guild ability, it can be put on multiple targets at once for and am angling for the weapon heal chance morph when I get to it. I use heavy attacks a lot. Replaced with Inner Fire on bosses.

Wearing 7/7 light armor, running out of magicka doing anything is rare. The only time it happens is if I'm spamming Shattering Prison because for some reason that ability costs a butt load.

sump

PVE Build Name: Survivalist / Wastelander
Race: Altmer
Class: Sorcerer
Stat Allocation: 16 / 33 / 0

Armor: 5LA & 2HA

Skill set #1 - Offensive
Weapon: 1H & Shield

Ultimate: Overload
1. Crystal Fragments
2. Endless Fury
3. Critical Surge
4. Thundering Presence
5. Dark Conversion / Lightning Flood


Skill set #2 - Defensive
Weapon: Restoration Staff

Ultimate: Absorption Field
1. Illustrious Healing
2. Rapid Regeneration
3. Restraining Prison
4. Thundering Presence
5. Dark Conversion

Generally
This is PvE Build. Thanks to insane MP2 (Altmer +9%, 5LA +20%, mage +10% = +39% magicka regen!) you are still caping mp2, but that also means you still got enough magicka to spam spells. You keep your Thundering Presence up all the time, putting on Critical Surge when you go melee (to save some mana).

Range Offensive
You use Crystal Fragments and Endless Fury to make a lethal combo. Endless Fury (as any other instant spell) has a 35% chance of triggering the fragments ability which means you cast your next Crystal Fragments for 50% magicka and instantly. Once you hit lvl around 35, your passives makes you spamming Endless Fury really cheap and OFTEN - magicka gain for kills only helps sustaining this simple combo.

Close Offensive
Once you know youll have to face more enemies, use Lightning Flood as your 5th skill. Otherwise stick to Dark Conversion! Before combat, never forgot to use Critical Surge and run in! putting on your Thundering Presence. By now you probably dont have much magicka (1/3), but you are buffed, so just run in and kill em with a sword. Reuse Thundering Presence and keep it on. Now you have capped mp2, armor and spell resist with your wpn dmg incerdibly increased. In case you need to deliver a lot of dmg or you are surrounded too much, use Overload. Even tho you should try to throw Endless Furies to kill enemies off.

Defence
In case your enemies are far away, you dont have to swap to skill set #2 and just use Dark Conversion to patch yourself up.
In case there are mobs surrounding you, just swap to skill set #2 and use Restraining Prison, then Rapid Regeneration followed by Dark Conversion. Healed.

Healing
You can even heal dungeons and pretty effectively with this character. Again, Thanks to magicka regen, you can afford to spam healing spells. (you ofc gotta change a skill set bar #2 a bit). Dark conversion ensures that you are not gonna run out of magicka - especially as a healer, where you still have full stamina to sacrifice.

*Looking forward to reading your comments! Thanks

chaosngn_ESO

I'm a bit of an oddball. I built a Thane. Right now I am focused on AOE. I am also a vampire, so this doesn't necessarily apply to just everyone.

Uppercut works great with this as you level, because a) you feel like Thor and b) you level up Ultimate.

Right now I am level 45 and my primary abilities are:

1. Mage's Wrath IV
2. Carve IV
3. Crystal Blast IV
4. Invigorating Drain (vampire)
5. Poison Mist III (vampire)
6. (U) Devouring Swarm (though sometimes I still pull out the Atronach).

Thane is a fun build, and there are many ways you can mix it up. Keep in mind that this is for PvE.

I use heavy armor, so I feel I can put most of my points into magicka without too much suffering. I am use a 2 hander (preferably a hammer, of course)