Need ideas on tweeking my Sorc

Kyosji

Currently I am VR1 and built mainly for solo group encounters and many bosses. My current setup is this:

Attributes (Guessing for most part since I'm at work):
Magika: all lines are at soft cap. Max Magika is around 1900
Health: Roughly around 1650
Stamina: Roughly 1100

Using all cloth except for shoulders, which are heavy. Also running 2 sets, Seducer set (reduces spell cost by 3%) and Magnus set (5% chance to negate spell cost)

My setup is as follows:

Bar set 1, Weapon 103 dmg Fire destructo staff:
1) Crystal Blast (Maxed)
2) Endless Fury (Maxed)
3) Invigorating Drain (Vampire)
4) Twilight Matriarch (Maxed)
5) Unstable Clannfear (Maxed)
U) Greater Storm Atronach

With this build I'm averaging around 300-400 DPS or so from my attacks alone, not including what my summoned pets do. I'm not sure how viable it is in a vet dungeon.

Bar 2, Weapon 103 dmg Resto staff:
1) Crystal Blast (Maxed)
2) Endless Fury (Maxed)
3) Grand Healing
4) Twilight Matriarch (Maxed)
5) Unstable Clannfear (Maxed)
U) Greater Storm Atronach

I only use this when I'm being begged to heal, or I'm fighting a boss that is a bit too much for myself. Also, slightly helps in groups in a pinch.

I am thinking of doing a respec, but would like some ideas. I'm looking for something that will help further in the vet dungeons mainly. Can any of you suggest anything for an end game build?

Loxy37

I prefer the ultimate that makes me feel like Darth Sidius not played my sorc for about 2 weeks. Got to VR 2 and decided to roll a Templar. I love the sorc though and so hope they don't nerf the class. I'm sorry I can't help you with your question though as I just kill mobs, if I'm getting beat then I'll change a few things, never bothered with DPS Meters and never play to be competitive.

Tadhg_Longhouse

Dump the pets in my view.

Use Daedric Curse for extra dps and Mage Light to increase your crit chance. I'd also consider the Crystal Shards over Crystal Blast. Just use it when your hands glow purple for instant 50% cheaper casts.

You probably want to consider Combat Prayer if you are healing, and the HoT. Being able to buff your friends is handy.

Kyosji

Tadhg_Longhouse wrote: »

Dump the pets in my view.

Use Daedric Curse for extra dps and Mage Light to increase your crit chance. I'd also consider the Crystal Shards over Crystal Blast. Just use it when your hands glow purple for instant 50% cheaper casts.

You probably want to consider Combat Prayer if you are healing, and the HoT. Being able to buff your friends is handy.

This seems more like a PVP build. How would this fair in a boss battle? Also, I don't see it working against multiple targets. Would you get enough protection?

Tadhg_Longhouse

Daedric Curse explodes for AoE damage. Against regular mobs I find the fact I can insta-cast shards that knock down enemies they have trouble getting close so I'm pretty well protected. I have Encase with the snare morph if I need to kite something that gets close. Against some enemies this wouldn't work of course. So, I've got damage mitigation too.

I'll list what I currently use.

Main bar: (restoration staff)

1: Crystal Shard (opener/insta-cast knockdown)
2: Endless Fury (Finisher and Shard procer)
3: Combat Prayer (damage buff and heal/shard proc)
4: Velocious Curse (AoE damage every 3.5 sec/Shard proc)
5: Inner light (18% crit chance)

Secondary bar: (sword and shield)

1: Critical surge (heals me for 65% of any critical damage for 20 seconds)
2: Thundering presence (overcharges my spell resistance and armor for 8 seconds in a pinch)
3: Dark conversion (replenish my magicka and stamina quickly when required)
4: Encase (immobile and snare enemies when they get too close)
5: Inner light (so it doesn't go away)

I only need to switch to the secondary bar every 20 seconds for critical surge then back to my primary for damage and heals. Then I can switch back again for emergencies/low on magicka.

I use it mostly in PvE but I guess it's a viablish PvP build.

Halrloprillalar

As others have said and to add to it:


-Use the instant shard morph (it really is the best morph).
-Daedric curse (velocious morph) for single target (decent damage, small aoe and chance to proc shards)
-Mage light with extra spell crit morph
-surge if you do any kind of weapon attacks
-resto staff if you mostly do spell attacks (the 10% bonus dmg passive affects ALL damage, but have to have resto staff equipped); resto heavy attacks also restore magika
-twilight matriarch I have no idea about, but the restoring twilight gives you more magika regen, and thus superior since pets are useless in vet dungeons otherwise (except atronach)
-use dark exchange (on your offset bar) because stamina tap = incredible longevity in a fight (obviously use stamina potions instead of magika potions for this reason)
-for aoe: use surge + destro fire pulsar like everyone else in the game, or be cool like me and spam lightning flood (especially if your group is competent with synergy triggering), or if you are solo, mix it up with the volcanic fire rune morph (mage guild) for cc and damage
-healing offset bar for solo I use combat prayer and the long healing hot but that's personalized and up to you. Combat prayer gives you a short dps boost.

Single target 300-400 is fine if you can sustain that for several minutes. There is only a few (one hard, a couple soft) dps check fights in the first set of VR dungeons. Most are 'derp' checks.

Aoe as sorc you should decimate whole groups no problem, especially if your tank can keep them more or less in place.

EDIT: this is speaking strictly PVE. PVP is a whole another basket of worms.

Solomon_Cato

This is what I came up with for a Resto/Destro DPS Sorc:

http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#mMczvek9cW0mii8NNgI8AIQ18heRJ8NUVF8A4hI8NUoE8Niqz8NiaA8AIUM8hM1c8A4hI8Nikc8L7JcdoQr6MdoQC6MdoQF6MdoQJ6MdoQK8e7Hraqk6Laqq6raqj6LaqS6Mi4bD6Mi4bU6Mi4bX6Mi4b16Mi4b48v7HLanQ6ranS6ranU6LanW6LanX6Mhy3D6Mhx0n6Mhx0y6Mhx0l6Mhx0B8H7DLzf26LzwM6Lzwm6LbHm6MNieh6MNieA6MNieT6MNiey8J7NmziB6rziD6LziY6mziZ6MNUIz6MNUIN8K7JLkg6Lzuu6LzuN6Lzuj6Lzun6MANRQ6MANRU6MANRW6MANRZ8O7MrdeF8Z7zznrJs8zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7zzKpUN8zL7zzK4EX

Bar 1 is your single target look along with Combat Prayer, which I do believe those buffs apply to yourself as well. Bar 2 is your AoE bar. Also remember, even if you have a tank that is competent in rooting/snaring be sure to use your Restraining Prison, as it increases your critical chance against those targets by 15%. So, with all passives (light armor included) and Inner Light active you are looking at a 45% chance to critically hit with Pulsar. Seems legit.

Also, some more food for thought....

1. If you are using Dark Conversion and use it quite often, not only is it logical to use stamina potions, but (and I plan on experimenting with this a little bit, since I heal on my sorc and use Ring of preservation along with Dark Conversion) you may want to consider picking up two pieces of medium armor for a little extra stamina regeneration. Like I said, I plan to experiment, it may not make enough of a difference to justify the change, but I believe it is worth the consideration.

2. You may (and this is something else that I am considering as well) want to skip Dark Conversion completely and go with Spell Symmetry instead. It will take more time to invest, but once you have Spell Symmetry and the Mage's Guild maxed out Spell Symmetry will offer a 20% increase to spell power on your next cast. Yes please, Pulsar.

Enjoy!

P.S. I chose Orc as the race since that is the race I choose. Obviously you will most likely have the passives from your chosen race as well.

Artemiisia

just a little hint soul magic, use the ultimative for boss fights.

single target 2800 damage

and for me whos a vampire, I use drain essense, if there are mobs around to fill it up faster.

the other ultimative im aiming for right now is metoer from mages guild, just hard leveling it up to get it

Kyosji

A lot to consider before my respec.

SexyVette07

I prefer Crystal Blast because Crystal Shards cant proc off itself.

My single target bar: Inner Light, Critical Surge, Dark Exchange, Hardened Ward, Crystal Blast. Ultimate is Devouring Swarm.

With the Vampire passives to increase stamina regen, I have plenty for Dark Exchange. Also a note, its not worth it to take medium armor just for the stamina regen, youre losing out on so many more benefits in light armor, but particularly the magicka cost reduction per piece worn. If you are going to be a caster, wear light armor.


Edit, Mages Fury becomes fairly pointless once you get Dark Conversion leveled up. Skip it and free up an extra space on your bars and just use Crystal Blast. Unless youre doing PvP, that is.

Kyosji

Before I respec, I'm trying out some of these skills. Namely Impulse and Mage Light. The only issue's I'm running into right now is how bad it is to level once I hit VR1. I'm having a bit of trouble at the moment handling City of the Lost, but know I should be able to handle it easily once I get Impulse to Pulsar and Mage Light to Inner Light. After an hour in City of the Lost, my Impulse is only half way to level 2

Also, would a fire staff work better, or a lightning staff? I see that lighting has a chance of adding concussion, but what does that really mean?

Solomon_Cato

@SexyVette07‌: you are probably right about the medium armor, just something I wanted to experiment with. As far as your skills, I think you are wasting a slot for critical surge if you are not using weapon skills. Weapon skills become extremely powerful under the affects of surge. If you are using solely for the heals you may be better served using Degeneration.

Also, regarding crystal fragments, the whole point is to NOT spam crystal shards/blast because it is magicka intensive. I think you would see an increase in dps if you spammed mage's fury or even force shock for their efficiency to proc crystal fragments.

Halrloprillalar

Solomon_Cato wrote: »

Also, some more food for thought....

1. If you are using Dark Conversion and use it quite often, not only is it logical to use stamina potions, but (and I plan on experimenting with this a little bit, since I heal on my sorc and use Ring of preservation along with Dark Conversion) you may want to consider picking up two pieces of medium armor for a little extra stamina regeneration. Like I said, I plan to experiment, it may not make enough of a difference to justify the change, but I believe it is worth the consideration.

interesting idea; however you would be losing 6% spell cost reduction, 8% magika regen and 16% spell penetration. Not sure if that's worth it.

Solomon_Cato wrote: »

2. You may (and this is something else that I am considering as well) want to skip Dark Conversion completely and go with Spell Symmetry instead. It will take more time to invest, but once you have Spell Symmetry and the Mage's Guild maxed out Spell Symmetry will offer a 20% increase to spell power on your next cast. Yes please, Pulsar.

You would waste spell symmetry on pulsar... whyyyy oh whyyy...
Just one cast of pulsar eats it. Better to use it on surge, which will buff a lot of your pulsars. Or fire rune, which (if you use the mage guild passive that buffs your next cast) will buff the damage of your next spell.

Halrloprillalar

SexyVette07 wrote: »

I prefer Crystal Blast because Crystal Shards cant proc off itself.

Edit, Mages Fury becomes fairly pointless once you get Dark Conversion leveled up. Skip it and free up an extra space on your bars and just use Crystal Blast. Unless youre doing PvP, that is.

Yes but you don't use the shards to proc shards. You simply enjoy the benefit of a half cost instant cast and weave it with daedric curse, fire rune or whatever else you are using (including fury). Fury is pointless as a magika return (for now, until the changes to the way it works are implemented) especially on single targets, but it is an excellent, instant and cost-effective 'execute', which is the only reason I keep it.

Kyosji

http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#mMkz9s8AIQ18hM1c8hmOd8jKvQ8A4hI8NUod85oL7JcdoQr6MdoQF6MdoQC6MdoQK6MdoQJ8T7ocrqLw6MrqAi8e7HLaqS6LaqT6Mi4bD6Mi4bU6Mi4b16Mi4bX6Mi4b48H7RMNieT8J7DLziD6MNUIz6MNUIi8K7DLkg6MANRQ6MANRU6MANRW6MANRZ8O7krdeF6zAZqS6MA3FL8P7VzLp4d6cLncn6cLncp8Y7RrfJI6MjFYi6zjFYd6MjFYh6zjFYf847pzxLCe6cxLDm6cxLDo6cxLDs8zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7asKpUN6cKTkb6cKTko6cKTks6cKTkc8zL7asK4EX6cK4YW6cK4YK6cK4YF6cK4YQ

This is what I got now, even this I'm kinda wanting to hold out longer until I get all of my crafting research done.

Solomon_Cato

@Halrloprillalar‌ : yea the medium armor was a bad idea. And I get what you are saying on Spell Symmetry, which was how I was envisioning it in the first place, I just failed to really clarify, thanks for pointing it out. Really is a great combo.

Erock25

Halrloprillalar wrote: »

You would waste spell symmetry on pulsar... whyyyy oh whyyy...
Just one cast of pulsar eats it. Better to use it on surge, which will buff a lot of your pulsars. Or fire rune, which (if you use the mage guild passive that buffs your next cast) will buff the damage of your next spell.

@Halrloprillalar‌ I'm trying to figure out what you mean in the above quote. Are you just talking about Spell Symmetry 25% less magicka cost on next spell effect or are you saying that the Might of the Guild Passive (proc'd from casting Spell SYmmetry) will make your Surge weapon buff more powerful?

Halrloprillalar

I never thought about might of the guild with surge - that's an excellent idea if it works.

I meant as in why waste the spell symmetry on a spammable spell: use it on something expensive (like surge).

Solomon_Cato

What Erock pointed out is exactly what I was suggesting, the idea finally blooms lol.

SexyVette07

Solomon_Cato wrote: »

@SexyVette07‌: you are probably right about the medium armor, just something I wanted to experiment with. As far as your skills, I think you are wasting a slot for critical surge if you are not using weapon skills. Weapon skills become extremely powerful under the affects of surge. If you are using solely for the heals you may be better served using Degeneration.

Also, regarding crystal fragments, the whole point is to NOT spam crystal shards/blast because it is magicka intensive. I think you would see an increase in dps if you spammed mage's fury or even force shock for their efficiency to proc crystal fragments.

Thats the whole point of my build though. I CAN spam Crystal Blast. I dont have to waste precious skill slots weaving in other spells to try and conserve magicka. Everything I do is for cost reduction. I currently have the cost down all the way to 275 per cast, a mana pool of about 10 times that (glass cannon build) and regen past the soft cap. With Dark Exchange, heavy attack with the resto staff for 10% max magicka every time, the Warlock set,(all of these scale with max magicka), plus potions, im never starved for mana.

Critical Surge isnt for the weapon damage (I dont even use weapons for this spec), its for the healing from critical strikes, which is what my build focuses on. High crit rate + spamming our highest dps spell = maximum dps and thus very high heals per second when I keep Critical Surge active. Thats also why I chose Crystal Blast, the splash damage can crit so its more heals (plus Crystal Shards basically never procs for this play style). Plus I get 5% max health from the passive for each cast.


Im a glass cannon build in mid-high veteran content. If im not careful, I die. This is a high risk and high reward spec. Thats why I also have Hardened Ward, to prevent the dips in my relatively small health pool. My shield absorbs about 900 damage because it scales very well with max magicka, my dps is very high, and my heals per second is very high. Best of all worlds IMO.


About Degeneration, that spell is a joke. The healing it does is minimal, you cant target multiple enemies with it, and the bonus heals only come from weapon attacks, which im not even doing with this spec. Same with Velocious Curse, total waste of a skill slot because it can only affect one enemy at a time, and the damage it does is less than Crystal Blast. But to each their own. Im not saying anyone else is doing it wrong, I just feel very strongly that my spec is superior for my type of gameplay.

Kyosji

Kyosji wrote: »

http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#mMkz9s8AIQ18hM1c8hmOd8jKvQ8A4hI8NUod85oL7JcdoQr6MdoQF6MdoQC6MdoQK6MdoQJ8T7ocrqLw6MrqAi8e7HLaqS6LaqT6Mi4bD6Mi4bU6Mi4b16Mi4bX6Mi4b48H7RMNieT8J7DLziD6MNUIz6MNUIi8K7DLkg6MANRQ6MANRU6MANRW6MANRZ8O7krdeF6zAZqS6MA3FL8P7VzLp4d6cLncn6cLncp8Y7RrfJI6MjFYi6zjFYd6MjFYh6zjFYf847pzxLCe6cxLDm6cxLDo6cxLDs8zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7asKpUN6cKTkb6cKTko6cKTks6cKTkc8zL7asK4EX6cK4YW6cK4YK6cK4YF6cK4YQ

This is what I got now, even this I'm kinda wanting to hold out longer until I get all of my crafting research done.

This is what I respeced in, and my god, I am having a HUGE problem soloing. I'm at that minimum threshold where I can handle 4 mobs my level at once, and can't handle single high difficulty mobs to well. I will say, though, it's an awesome build for PvP and dungeon grouping, as it is all basically AoE damage and DoT damage.

I'm hoping that since I'm at that minimum threshold that once I morph and max out the new skills I can handle things with ease. Only thing I am not liking is Dark Exchange. It doesn't regen as well as the drain essence skill while in combat. Currently I only use it once I leave combat, as it doesn't seem to do well while in combat.

At the end, once I research all of my crafting I need, I will respec again, keeping all that is currently there, but seeing if I can add my other build I came from before. At least with my previous build, I could solo almost anything in the game rather quickly.

matt29070

Here's my setup, I'm VR4 and have no problems soloing everything short of a world boss who summons adds.

Armor-Full light, using 2 3-pc bonuses (3% reduced spell cost, 5% spell crit)

Bar 1 is my single target bar, use a resto staff with precise trait.
1-Crit Surge
2-Crystal Shards
3-Spell Symmetry
4-Inner Light
5-Daedric Tomb
Ult-Varies, normally I'm a sith lord and run overload hear, but once I get fighter's guild topped out I'm going to see how Flawless Dawnbreaker works since light attacks are an integral part of the rotation.

Most of the time, Tomb isn't even necessary, but if it's a named mob or one that has at least 2x your hp it is really good. Crit surge, then spell symmetry, then shards, then after that use animation cancelling to do a light attack followed up by shards. 2-3 light attack>shards and it should be dead. If it's a named mob, you'll go oom doing this, so the way you kill these guys is to lay down the mines (tomb) and do the normal sequence until you're about 20% magicka. Then spell symmetry, light attack>shards while watching your hp. If you go oom or your hp starts to drop (make sure you keep up crit surge at all times), let the target run into a mine and use heavy attacks to rebuild your magicka. Lay down tomb again if necessary, and keep on chipping away until it's dead. If you're dpsing in a group, swap out tomb for something else, normally I go for a heal just to help out the group. This build is very heavily crit reliant, both for damage and passive healing since you're using spell symmetry to regen magicka and boost your spell power (it trades HP for Magicka). You need a good bit of crit and crit surge active at all times to make this work comfortably. My stat sheet crit is 20% from Inner Light, 10% from Light armor, 5% from weapon, 5% from staff, and any alliance bonuses or pots that I have.

Bar 2 is the AOE bar, and as others have said, fire destro staff with precise trait.
1-Crit Surge
2-Restraining Prison or Shattering Prison (i prefer restraining so that exploitation lasts longer)
3-Pulsar
4-Inner Light
5-Dark Exchange
Ult-I prefer Devouring Swarm as it essentially makes you invulnerable with at least 3 mobs around you, but Atronach is another good choice here

Pre-pull pop crit surge, then I usually top off the magic bar with dark exchange. Run in, toss out Restraining Prison, and start pulsar spamming. If you start to go oom, and the mobs aren't about to die, devouring swarm then dark exchange, and continue spamming pulsar until dead. Once again, make sure crit surge is always active. As I said earlier, I have minimum 40% crit at all times, the Fire Staff bumps it up to 50%, and Exploitation via Restraining Prison bumps it up to 65% crit, plus any bonuses I get from Alliance and Scrolls. Watch out for heavy attacks, though. You should stop spamming if you see a mob wind up a heavy attack and block it. With this build, I can solo public dungeons.

With these two together, I can solo a lot of the world bosses. The only mobs I have trouble with are the ones that can't be cc'd or are immune to knockdown effects. Hope this helps.

PS-I used pets until about lvl 40 and loved them. At VR, I find they just take up valuable slots on my bar.

Solomon_Cato

@SexyVette07‌: Now that you have shed some light in how your build exactly works, I get what you are going for. It actually interests me, my first question is how to you spread your points, and what exactly do you go for on your gear?

P.S. I thought Velocious Curse had a built in AoE as well? Other then waiting for it to proc, does the damage not scale well compared to Crystal Blast?

matt29070

Curse does have a built in AOE component, but the problem is if you group with another sorc, only one curse can be active at a time meaning if you both cast it, the second cast will over ride the first and reset the timer. It will only go off once.

Also, I find animation cancelling with light attacks and shard spam to be easy, trying to animation cancel with an "insta" cast curse lowers my overall dps.

And like @SexyVette07‌ said, it does less dps than crystal blast or crystal shards.

Solomon_Cato

Ah okay, that makes sense. It's kind of vague in the tooltip about only one curse active, thought it was per sorcerer.

alexj4596b14_ESO

@SexyVette07‌ umm degeneration works vary nicely, it applys too more then one target and when you apply it too multi targets and use lighting flood or it's morph is causes more healing, the last time I payed attention too it was last night, I got 8 26 heals so 8x26 226 and this was from just one person...just saying oh and that's not even including the main heals from it.

Kyosji

http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#mMkXeek9MxrV08NNgI8hM1c8hmOd8jKvQ8A4hI8NUod8AIQH8hM1c8hmOd8jKvQ8A4hI8jKEL8L7JcdoQr6MdoQF6MdoQC6MdoQK6MdoQJ8e7HLaqS6LaqT6Mi4bD6Mi4bU6Mi4b16Mi4bX6Mi4b48H7DLbHm6MNieT6MNieA6MNiey8J7DLziD6MNUIz6MNUIN6MNUIi8K7Drkg6MANRQ6MANRU6MANRW6MANRZ8O7krdeF6zAZqS6MA3FL8P7szLp4d6cLncn6cLncp6zLncy8Y7RLfJN6rfJI6MjFYi6zjFYd6MjFYh6zjFYf847pzxLCe6cxLDm6cxLDo6cxLDs8zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7asKpUN6cKTkb6cKTko6cKTks6cKTkc8zL7asK4EX6zK4PZ6cK4YW6cK4YK6cK4YF6cK4YQ

Tweeked it a bit more to help out with solo questing. Still hurts like a *** in PvE when I get hit, but it helps me live a bit longer. Bar 2 is what I use in PvP. Not a huge difference, but works well I think.

Erock25

alexj4596b14_ESO wrote: »

when you apply it too multi targets and use lighting flood or it's morph is causes more healing

The tooltip says degeneration can heal on melee hits, so if in fact it was healing on lightning flood than this is a bug or an incorrect tool tip.

Halrloprillalar

Has anyone messed around with a surge/DW type build?

SexyVette07

Solomon_Cato wrote: »

@SexyVette07‌: Now that you have shed some light in how your build exactly works, I get what you are going for. It actually interests me, my first question is how to you spread your points, and what exactly do you go for on your gear?

P.S. I thought Velocious Curse had a built in AoE as well? Other then waiting for it to proc, does the damage not scale well compared to Crystal Blast?

Everything Magicka. Like I said, its a total glass cannon build, but because everything scales with max magicka, even how much damage a spell does, its still worth it despite losing quite a bit of stats to the soft cap.

With magicka/health food, I still only have around 1600 hp, but im able to pull it off as long as I pay attention and I burn through VR6 mobs easily and solo bosses with 5 times my health without stopping for Dark Ritual.

But I die easily, and thats a tradeoff im willing to make. Perhaps ill switch to health talent points after im done with all the PvE quests.

LordNowe

What I'm wondering is why Pulsar instead of Elemental Ring? Sure, the reduction to an enemy's HP is decent, but by the time I've hit it once with Impulse (or its derivatives), I've already generally done that much in damage to it. Elemental Ring on the other hand adds a DoT that can crit. This DoT, spread out to a number of mobs, along with Crit Surge, gives a decent amount of healing while on my AoE bar.

So, just wondering, why Pulsar?