Returning Sorc - what's viable these days?

KaizoMK · March 2015

I'm just returning to ESO from a long hiatus. I left shortly after craglorn came out, but before they rebalanced vet content to be more manageable solo play wise. I was playing a 2h heavy armor sorc, but I had to convert to a proper staff sorc in order to barely solo content, as well as chunk out dps for trials.

So my questions are as follows:

1: is all vet content soloable outside of trials and dungeons?

2: can content be completed with a build that is not necessarily optimal?

3: is stamina sorcerer a viable thing these days? It's badass charging around beating the *** out of someone with a *** sword and then shocking them to death, I WANT that.

4: have people determined stat weights yet?

Thanks for the help guys!

anitajoneb17_ESO · March 2015

1 - Yes, except trials, dungeons AND Craglorn quests (due to the mechanics of the quests, not the difficulty - even though it's quite hard I believe it's soloable by good players)
2 - Not as a sorc, not any more. You'll need optimal builds for most high level - end game content. Vet quests areas should be fine even with a non optimized charachter.
3 - Cannot answer this one, i have a magicka sorc, but there are a few (quite heated) discussions right now and right here about sorcs, including stam sorcs.
4 - don't understand the question.

Welcome back and good luck ! :-)

KaizoMK · March 2015

Thanks! Seeing as how I really want to play 2h sorc it's good to know I can do it in vet content at least. That said, is it possible to have two different builds without having to constantly pay money to reset my points?

For the record, stat weights are the impact stats have on your character as compared to similar stats. For instance, stamina and weapon damage both influence different attack skills in varying amounts.

Mumnoch · March 2015

KaizoMK wrote: »

Thanks! Seeing as how I really want to play 2h sorc it's good to know I can do it in vet content at least. That said, is it possible to have two different builds without having to constantly pay money to reset my points?

For the record, stat weights are the impact stats have on your character as compared to similar stats. For instance, stamina and weapon damage both influence different attack skills in varying amounts.

If you download the addon for skyshards and always make it a point to do the quests that yield skill points (SP) you will have enough SP's by the time you hit Vet ranks to have 1-2 builds + 1 crafting. This means if can have a total load-out for 2h sorc and magicka sorc and only need to switch out your bar and skills (unless you get the class morphs for stamina, then it'd cost to switch those back and forth).

However if you are coming back to the game I'd like to bring up a couple of negative and positive points.

Yes Sorc's "can" do all content regardless if they are stamina or magicka based. The problem is the Sorc class is the worst DPS class in the game. They are the 3rd best Healer. They are the 3rd/4th best tank. See the issue? For every roll in a group/raid environment there is at least 2 other classes that can "do it better" than the Sorc.

If you are coming back and are interested in endgame content I'd suggest you go ahead and reroll to any of the other classes. Once you reach endgame and start doing trials etc you'll be grateful someone suggested you reroll. /sigh

KaizoMK · March 2015

That was insightful! I've heard the bad things about sorcs, and I'll still play. Even if they never see buffs, I'm sure I'll get to see the endgame content.

f047ys3v3n · March 2015

Honestly, I don't think you will have as much issue with endgame and group content as many have said. Playing 2H is the new OP build though you should go medium armor. The mechanics of this are not all that different from class to class and though you will do somewhat less damage as a sorc the 2H dps is pretty good with anything. I am not saying you will be a competitive DPS'r in trials but you can probably do OK.

Probably the biggest problem you will have is soloing anything. Crit surge is very weak now and broken so that it doesn't proc off of a lot of things it should. As a result the only ways to really heal as a sorc are resto staff and your twilight. Neither of these is a good option for a stam build. The bottom line is you will probably die a lot.

My opinion of sorcs post 1.6 is that the damage output options are better than before though still lower than probably any other class (magica NB does less but stamina NB more) and the survivability took a massive hit. They sucked before and they still pretty much suck.

My take on classes post 1.6 is that it is a Templar (much stronger than 1.5), DK (somewhat weaker than 1.5 but still strong) world with NB's being relatively much weaker post 1.6 and sorcs being in a similar sorry way to before 1.6. Realistically, in-game population is now so heavily Templar / DK that I don't know if ZOS has the latitude to balance classes at this point. It would aggravate the 75% of players that now play the stronger 2 classes to have class balance brought into line. For my part, my 3rd toon is almost leveled and I don't care what they do with my mothballed sorc at this point provided he can still craft armor for the others.

serenity_painted · March 2015

Going 2h with a Sorc is very viable, however stamina manegment is an issue during bossfights and i find myself going through potions faster than i'm getting them. Tanking is ok, we can keep our mitigationg very high with bound armor and lightening form but again, stamina is a huge problem and beacuse of the lack of self heals DK's and Templars are in another legue.

You can solo just fine, great even, at VR 10 i've been able to solo alot of Craglorn content without much trouble. But this is mainly beacuse how powerful 2h are atm. Some Sorc skills like lightening form, liquid lightening and the Clanfear(especially Clanfear when you're soloing bosses, that thing can take a beating and works well as an "oh *** button" beacuse of the 35% heal) sure help but the shields you get from Brawler and the insane healing from Rally can keep you alive though most trash.

Now at VR12 i avarage around 5-7k dps during bossfights, higher during shorter bosses that stay still where i've peaked at 10k dps. But i don't really have a frame of referance so i don't know if that is good or bad...

Thelon · March 2015

If you enjoy soloing with you sorc, you may find a pet build stacking magicka is highly effective. I'm working on one and have posted my results so far on Tamriel Foundry. You can find the link in my signature.

Mumnoch · March 2015

serenity_painted wrote: »

Going 2h with a Sorc is very viable, however stamina manegment is an issue during bossfights and i find myself going through potions faster than i'm getting them. Tanking is ok, we can keep our mitigationg very high with bound armor and lightening form but again, stamina is a huge problem and beacuse of the lack of self heals DK's and Templars are in another legue.

You can solo just fine, great even, at VR 10 i've been able to solo alot of Craglorn content without much trouble. But this is mainly beacuse how powerful 2h are atm. Some Sorc skills like lightening form, liquid lightening and the Clanfear(especially Clanfear when you're soloing bosses, that thing can take a beating and works well as an "oh *** button" beacuse of the 35% heal) sure help but the shields you get from Brawler and the insane healing from Rally can keep you alive though most trash.

Now at VR12 i avarage around 5-7k dps during bossfights, higher during shorter bosses that stay still where i've peaked at 10k dps. But i don't really have a frame of referance so i don't know if that is good or bad...

If you google ESO 1.6 DK or Templar or NB you will find several video's showcasing 15K+ DPS. I have seen DK's hit 18k DPS ST as a reference.

However, it's all relevant to what you consider good or bad. 10k might be good dps for you, I personally think it's a big slap in the face from Zenimax when other classes are doing so much more.

It's a even bigger slap in the face that to do our "max" DPS we need at least 1 toggle ability in the form of the pet. Which is basically a permanent DOT that follow's you around doing what it wants (IE You have very limited control over the pet. Laughable control that no other game out there would even consider calling our pet's "pets" limited control).

serenity_painted · March 2015

I'm VR12, those guys are VR14 with sick gear and they know what they're doing so i
don't really think it's a very helpful referance.

Cuyler · March 2015

spell damage>max magicka>spell crit

weapon damage>max stam>weapon crit.

magicka sorc doing 11-12k single target boss is good as an individual (as good as it gets roughly) but compared against stam sorc or other class is pitiful.

Khivas_Carrick · March 2015

The new good DPS is 8 to 10k, since everything got a multiplication factor of roughly 7, thus 7 is the new 1k, which isn't terrible for obvious reasons.

Those that so 15k though usually do it using a very set in stone skill set and usually if not always in a short term engagement.

Real DPS tests come when you're forced to fight for longer periods of time and do more than stand and get healed in a fight. If you can manage 15k then, then you deserve to be called a BAMF.

Until then, know that Sorcs could use a little love but the place ranking of combat roles in this game are no longer as drastic as they used to be, and you'll be just fine as a sorc using a 2h and medium armor.

Also get the Undaunted Passives. They help soooo much.