Valrien wrote: »

With Update 6 being an incredible beast to tackle, I realized I'd probably need help with my character. So I come to you, forums, to help me rebuild my Sorcerer!

My Sorcerer is a magicka-based sorcerer with 7 light armor and 2 destruction staves. He used to be a spell critical build, but I'm not sure if that's good or not anymore. I also think I might need to switch to restoration staff on one bar? I'd like help with my character on how I should play him now, especially with the restoration staff bar if I end up needing one, as I am totally unfamiliar with it

Preferences:
Magicka-based on most or all abilities
Self-sufficient, I like to solo
At least 1 destruction staff
At least 5 pieces of light armor
Only 1-2 out of 5 bar slots should be taken up with toggles
I only want one of these two toggles to be a pet if it has to be there
DPS does not have to be godly, as long as I can stay alive
Does not have to be good in PvP, although that would be a nice bonus

Please post a skill-bar for setup and maybe a standard rotation to use in combat, or at least post some mandatory abilities I should be using?

This is my pre-1.6 character build:
http://esobuild.com/?EwbgDCAskgzAjAOmbUBWA7ALg4ghnmMAKb6FgDGZxARsFvGGXWA2RVsGZMPUgGYUowNDTRokCCjUgAOXLGgBOYJAWqxkJSESNdTPYYPHkp00AA==

If you had decent armor sets before they should work for you still. If your 7/7 LA then add two pieces of Heavy armor to help with the LA reduction. You'll want to put your CP into the areas that will boost your damage like Elemental Expert, Elfborn, Staff Expert. Those are all in the Mage Tree so put at least 10 points into Elemental Expert, Elfborn and the rest into Staff Expert. Then go with Magicka regen with Magician & Arcanist as well as buffing LA more with Light Armor Focus.

Those will all help ALOT!

Valrien wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

@Valrien,
Attributes:
31/31/0

CS (72 total):
24 CPs in Magician (reduce magicka cost of spells - Tower)
24 CPs in Light armor Focus (increase LA by % if 5 pc. LA- The Lady)
24 CPs in Elfborn (increase spell critical damage and healing by % - the Apprentice)

Armor:
5 pc - Martial Knowledge (sash, shoulders, robe, gloves, legs enchants - magicka)
2 pc - Adroitness (necklace - enchant magicka cost reduction, head enchant magicka)
2 pc - Torug's Pact (two (2) Lightning staffs - enchant magicka absorb - trait precise, boots - enchant magicka - trait divines)
2 pc - Cyrodiil's Light (two (2) rings - enchant magicka cost reduction)

Bar 1:
1 - Inner Light
2 - Degeneration
3 - Boundless Storm
4 - Liquid Lightning
5 - Force Pulse
U - Greater Storm Atronach

Bar 2:
1 - Inner light
2 - Elemental Drain
3 - Mages wrath
4 - Shattering Prison
5 - Crystal Fragments
U - Ice Comet

Just something I'm playing around with atm. Don't have a set rotation yet.
Mostly just toggle IL, buff Degeneration and BS, place LL and spam Force Pulse. Switch to bar 2 for execute, CC, stun and ele drain single target debuff as needed.

Food:
Purple v10

Stats:
Single Target Dps: ~10k (crits as high as 14k)
Mob Dps: ~18-22k (crits as high as 34k)

Magicka - ~26k
HP - ~18k
Stam: ~11k

Spelldamage - ~2700
Spellcrit - ~43%
Spell resist - ~6k
Armor - ~3.6k

Will post pics when have a chance I can't remember the rest and I'm at work

Thank you so much. I'll definitely try out a version of your build and see how it does. I should have pretty much every ability available except Ice Comet. Lvl 9 in Mages' Guild so i should have it soon. Would Endless Fury work instead of Wrath and Thundering Presence instead of Boundless, or do those skills have to stay as they are?

I would keep Mages wrath, the increased damage is too good to pass up for your execute. Thundering/Boundless doesn't really matter. Thundering is what I'm using now, the increased time saves on magicka costs.

Just a note, I've gone to about 20k HP now, 18k is just too low, attributes are 20/42/0. I also spread my CPs out more into things like regen and elemental damage. took most out of elfborn for now casue my crit is too low to warrant it. When I have 12% more crit from passive may go back.

As a general rule for sorcs bar setups, stacking mages guild skills on a bar will increase HP. Stacking class skills will increase spell damage.

I have been experimenting with a summoner set up for soloing that I have found quite effective.

Bar 1

1. Empowered Ward
2. Shattering Prison
3. Daedric Prey
4. Volatile Familiar
5. Twilight Matriarch

U Storm Atronach

Bar 2

1. Boundless Storm
2. Dark Conversion
3. Streak
4. Volatile Familiar
5. Twilight Matriarch

U Suppression Field

I utilize the synergy of Empowered Ward and Daedric Prey to give my pets the damage boost while using bar 2 to keep my distance. I find it to be a lot of fun personally, but I have always liked pet classes in MMOs.

dancing.in.the.webeb17_ESO wrote: »

hasn't tried my magika sorc after 1.6
But think that shattering prison+elemental blocade+liquid lightning will be good for fast and safe killing groups of common mobs + mag light as toggle you can put all these AoE and do heavy to get some magika.
for single boss-type targets it will be good to try smth like degeneration+elemental drain+crystal and mage's fury for finishing.

Liquid Lightning is genuinely good now, for single- or multi-target situations. But your spammables will still be from the destro stave. Force Pulse for single and Pulsar/ Elemental Ring for AoE provide the best damage output.

http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#1.mMkXeek9MGy9M8hMtx8AIP18NiaQ8AIPq8A4hI8A4uT8NNgI8AIQ18hmOd8A4rK8A4hI8NUoE8L7XcdoQr6MdoQF6MdoQC6MdoQK6MdoQJ8e7XMi4bD6Mi4bU6Mi4b16Mi4bX6Mi4b46Laqj6LaqT8H7XLbHm6MNieT6MNieA6MNieh6MNiey6rzwM8J7XrziD6MNUIz6MNUIc6MNUIi6MNUIN8K7XLkg6rzun6MANRQ6MANRU6MANRW6MANRZ6rzuI8O7aLkP6rdeF6rdeB6zAZqS6MA3FN6MA3FA6MA3FL6MA4Cb847zzxLCe8zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7zzKpUN8zL7zzK4EX

This is the build I made up based on your guys' advice. I really didn't want pets in the build, so I left out curse and ward. Also, I heard Hardened Ward was nearly useless in PvE, but great in PvP, so I dropped it. I really only rarely do PvP, so having it on my bar all the time wouldn't have helped

Ladiev wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

@Valrien,
Spelldamage - ~2700

Assuming this is a typo and you meant ~1700

Nope @Ladiev, my spell damage is now at 2875 and when I get all gear to v14 legendary will be 3k+.

Cuyler wrote: »

Ladiev wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

@Valrien,
Spelldamage - ~2700

Assuming this is a typo and you meant ~1700

Nope @Ladiev, my spell damage is now at 2875 and when I get all gear to v14 legendary will be 3k+.

@Cuyler Is that with the Martial Knowledge 5pc proc or something (didn't think it increased spell dmg but had to ask)? I run 4 piece MK, 2 torug, 2 cyrodiil light, 2 adroitness and I have right around 2k spell damage. Do you use spell dmg jewelry enchants? Even that doesn't make up our huge difference.

Erock25 wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

Ladiev wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

@Valrien,
Spelldamage - ~2700

Assuming this is a typo and you meant ~1700

Nope @Ladiev, my spell damage is now at 2875 and when I get all gear to v14 legendary will be 3k+.

@Cuyler Is that with the Martial Knowledge 5pc proc or something (didn't think it increased spell dmg but had to ask)? I run 4 piece MK, 2 torug, 2 cyrodiil light, 2 adroitness and I have right around 2k spell damage. Do you use spell dmg jewelry enchants? Even that doesn't make up our huge difference.

Uh may have forgot to mention that is with the 20% major prophecy buff.

But yes all spell damage enchants on jewelry. Spell cost reduction only coming from magician, and magicka regen CS passives and absorb magicka enchants on weapons.

Also what you put on your skill bar makes a huge difference. Stacking all class skills now increases spell damage with new passive. (in contrast stacking all mage guild skills increases HP). Most are using Structured entropy to provide the major prophecy buff, but you lose the spell damage passive synergy with our class skills if you do. Therefore I still use Power surge because it's a class skill that not only give the buff but increases SD too because of the passive synergy.

What level are your cyro rings and MK pieces?

I'm using:
5pc - MK (v13)
2pc - Cyro's light (v14)
2pc - Adroitness (v12)
2pc - Torugs (v14)

You should be able to get 1 more pc of MK in there.

Erock25 wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

Erock25 wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

Ladiev wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

@Valrien,
Spelldamage - ~2700

Assuming this is a typo and you meant ~1700

Nope @Ladiev, my spell damage is now at 2875 and when I get all gear to v14 legendary will be 3k+.

@Cuyler Is that with the Martial Knowledge 5pc proc or something (didn't think it increased spell dmg but had to ask)? I run 4 piece MK, 2 torug, 2 cyrodiil light, 2 adroitness and I have right around 2k spell damage. Do you use spell dmg jewelry enchants? Even that doesn't make up our huge difference.

Uh may have forgot to mention that is with the 20% major prophecy buff.

But yes all spell damage enchants on jewelry. Spell cost reduction only coming from magician CS passive and absorb magicka enchants on weapons.

Also what you put on your skill bar makes a huge difference. Stacking all class skills now increases spell damage with new passive. (in contrast stacking all mage guild skills increases HP). Most are using Structured entropy to provide the major prophecy buff, but you lose the spell damage passive synergy with our class skills if you do. Therefore I still use Power surge because it's a class skill that not only give the buff but increases SD too because of the passive synergy.

What level are your cyro rings and MK pieces?

I'm using:
5pc - MK (v13)
2pc - Cyro's light (v14)
2pc - Adroitness (v12)
2pc - Torugs (v14)

You should be able to get 1 more pc of MK in there.

Everything is V14 Epic besides Adroitness of course. I'll have to look again when I get home what spell power values I have, but I was very confident I was not passing 2300 with Power Surge running.

The 5pc MK bonus doesn't play into SD. I'd say it's more to do with what you've got on you're bars. Need to stack sorc class skills. It's possible that some CS passive is coming into play behind the scenes that I'm not aware of as well and just got lucky when selecting them.

Snit wrote: »

Cuyler's values look right for a magicka sorc. With blue food, major prophecy and mundus stone: the mage as my only buffs, I have the following:

- Max Magicka 26,023
- Max Health 21,0974
- Spell Damage 2,397

Gear:

- 4x Martial Knowledge Head/ Pants/ Shoes/ Belt (2 V14, 2 V13, all legendary with magicka enchants)
- 3x Torug's Pact Chest/ Shoulders/ Staves (all legendary V14, mix of health, magicka and a weapon enchant)
- 2x Healer Neck/ Gloves ( both epic, one V13 and one V14)
- 2x Light of Cyrodiil Rings (V14 epic)

That's with four sorc skills on the main bar for PvP. It drops a bit in PvE, as I have only two to three sorc skills on the primary bar (for hard fights, when I will be chugging pots nonstop, I remove Inner Light for Bound Armor and let the pots take care of Major Prophecy).

One difference is that all three accessories are enchanted with legendary spell cost reduction (each is -200 to spell cost). I find that to be the minimum viable level of sustain in PvP, and in PvE as well (even with a fair bit of potion chugging). And that's with a Breton (3% cost reduction) in six pieces of Light Armor (18%) and 20 CP into Magician (6%), a total of 27% cast cost reduction.

Yeah but I have 2.3k, you have 2.4k, and he is claiming he will have over 3k. I know I had quite a few Sorc skills on my bar as well.

Cuyler wrote: »

Valrien wrote: »

http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#1.mMkXeek9MGy9M8hMtx8AIP18NiaQ8AIPq8A4hI8A4uT8NNgI8AIQ18hmOd8A4rK8A4hI8NUoE8L7XcdoQr6MdoQF6MdoQC6MdoQK6MdoQJ8e7XMi4bD6Mi4bU6Mi4b16Mi4bX6Mi4b46Laqj6LaqT8H7XLbHm6MNieT6MNieA6MNieh6MNiey6rzwM8J7XrziD6MNUIz6MNUIc6MNUIi6MNUIN8K7XLkg6rzun6MANRQ6MANRU6MANRW6MANRZ6rzuI8O7aLkP6rdeF6rdeB6zAZqS6MA3FN6MA3FA6MA3FL6MA4Cb847zzxLCe8zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7zzKpUN8zL7zzK4EX

This is the build I made up based on your guys' advice. I really didn't want pets in the build, so I left out curse and ward. Also, I heard Hardened Ward was nearly useless in PvE, but great in PvP, so I dropped it. I really only rarely do PvP, so having it on my bar all the time wouldn't have helped

Hey @Valrien,

That's great and it looks like you're on the right track for a good PvE build. Some other skills to take a look at is velocious curse and using overload ult for a third skill bar instead of using atronach.

I used Overload before, but I stayed away from it because I heard they nerfed it. Is it still viable?

Erock25 wrote: »

Snit wrote: »

Cuyler's values look right for a magicka sorc. With blue food, major prophecy and mundus stone: the mage as my only buffs, I have the following:

- Max Magicka 26,023
- Max Health 21,0974
- Spell Damage 2,397

Gear:

- 4x Martial Knowledge Head/ Pants/ Shoes/ Belt (2 V14, 2 V13, all legendary with magicka enchants)
- 3x Torug's Pact Chest/ Shoulders/ Staves (all legendary V14, mix of health, magicka and a weapon enchant)
- 2x Healer Neck/ Gloves ( both epic, one V13 and one V14)
- 2x Light of Cyrodiil Rings (V14 epic)

That's with four sorc skills on the main bar for PvP. It drops a bit in PvE, as I have only two to three sorc skills on the primary bar (for hard fights, when I will be chugging pots nonstop, I remove Inner Light for Bound Armor and let the pots take care of Major Prophecy).

One difference is that all three accessories are enchanted with legendary spell cost reduction (each is -200 to spell cost). I find that to be the minimum viable level of sustain in PvP, and in PvE as well (even with a fair bit of potion chugging). And that's with a Breton (3% cost reduction) in six pieces of Light Armor (18%) and 20 CP into Magician (6%), a total of 27% cast cost reduction.

Yeah but I have 2.3k, you have 2.4k, and he is claiming he will have over 3k. I know I had quite a few Sorc skills on my bar as well.

My weapons are enchanted with magic damage and magicka absorb. I'm just speculating but is it possible the magic damage also applies to increasing spell damage?

Tonight after I get home from work I can post my CP allocation. Maybe I get spell damage from those as well.

I'd like to know by some good magicka spec sorc how they are dealing in Hel Ra with the following:

- Liquid lighning grabbing agro 10 times more than elemental ring despite not doing 10 times the damage.

For the first time in my life, I could not avoid taking aggro from the last AA boss.

- No real self heal build struggling vs the second Hel Ra portion (with lots of fire AoE and so on).

- Pet still dying like a pro. Both in AA and HR. I'd love to see those 15k sorc parses dealing with these things, while the other classes just merrily stab stab stab and that's it.

- Even going for blue food and similar stats allocation, I could not replicate the amount of health shown by the guys posting specs left and right. All that +spell damage gear is handpicked to get the set bonus with 2 pieces per each set you wear... but as a side effect you miss every +health bonus (often it's a 3 pieces bonus, or you get +health bonus with 2 pieces but need 3 to get the +spell damage bonus).

- If I start casting ANYWHERE as "fast and furious" as I did with no problem before patch 1.6, I get to zero mana in few seconds. That is, I can get a decent parse with short-ish fights, but the post patch 1.6 trial bosses come with lots of health so fights are not so short. Result: with no mana replenish and even with mana pots, after 1 minute or so my DPS drops to the abyss.
I tried enchanting for mana adsorb on weapons, it still helps way too little.

Vahrokh wrote: »

I'd like to know by some good magicka spec sorc how they are dealing in Hel Ra with the following:

- Liquid lighning grabbing agro 10 times more than elemental ring despite not doing 10 times the damage.

For the first time in my life, I could not avoid taking aggro from the last AA boss.

- No real self heal build struggling vs the second Hel Ra portion (with lots of fire AoE and so on).

- Pet still dying like a pro. Both in AA and HR. I'd love to see those 15k sorc parses dealing with these things, while the other classes just merrily stab stab stab and that's it.

- Even going for blue food and similar stats allocation, I could not replicate the amount of health shown by the guys posting specs left and right. All that +spell damage gear is handpicked to get the set bonus with 2 pieces per each set you wear... but as a side effect you miss every +health bonus (often it's a 3 pieces bonus, or you get +health bonus with 2 pieces but need 3 to get the +spell damage bonus).

- If I start casting ANYWHERE as "fast and furious" as I did with no problem before patch 1.6, I get to zero mana in few seconds. That is, I can get a decent parse with short-ish fights, but the post patch 1.6 trial bosses come with lots of health so fights are not so short. Result: with no mana replenish and even with mana pots, after 1 minute or so my DPS drops to the abyss.
I tried enchanting for mana adsorb on weapons, it still helps way too little.

1. Hasn't happened to me at all in Hel Ra, so I really don't know. Things usually aggro the person who first hits them, let your tank go in first is my only advice.

2. Aggro from the Mage? She doesn't have aggro, she does chain lightning on RNG. Sometimes you get unlucky. In my opinion luck isn't a class problem.

3. I've never had or used any self healing as a DPS on any class, you really shouldn't need to. You have a dedicated healer for the 6 people on your side, if the healer can't keep people up he/she might need to be looking at their build.

4. You need 18,5K HP or you will die to everything as soon as an enemy looks at you. If you are VR14 this shouldn't be hard to achieve, but remember to place your CP as you gain stats from that too. I have ~18,5K HP and 27K mana without PVP buffs.

5. Do you have your jewelry enchanted with reduce spell cost? You need that. And invest all your green CP in mana regen and mana cost reduction. Also it sounds like your healer wasn't using Siphon Spirit, which is fail.

Hmm @Pppontus I have noticed you have 3 x mana reduction. So, there's no diminishing returns at stacking that?

Where do you get the Adroitness necklace? I am looking on trading guilds every day and have yet to see it listed once.