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Stamina Sorc(Pve, mostly Solo) Need help/advice

Dexter411
Dexter411
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Like in a title. I want to do stamina Sorc and i have no idea what skills should i use.
Race: Khajiit(for extra Crit)
Class: Sorcerer(of course)
Primary bar: 2H 1. thundering presence(extra tankiness and move speed) 2. wrecking blow(spam ability) 3. executioner(i dont need to explaine that one) 4. expert hunter(for extra crit) 5. critical surge(massive dmg bonus) Ultimate. Flawless Dawnbreaker( i have no idea with what i could replace that and passive bonus dmg is nice)
Secondary bar: Dual wield It is almost the same as 2h bar but 2. Rapid Strikes and 3. Steel Tornado.
Dual wield will be used for AoE only.

I propably will replace Rapid Strikes with Bound Armaments and take Imperial instead of Khajiit but there is something about those cats, you know ;)
The Hardened Ward, on paper, does not look like a good ability(I never used it).
Do you have any suggestions? What should i use and/or what i should not.
For sets i want to use Hunding's Rage set and Night Mother's Gaze.
Target of this build is to deal massive dmg(mostly to bosses) and be tanky thanks to thundering presence.

Note: This is for 50lvl character, while lvling Vr ranks i will test different combinations of skills and sets.

Cheers!

  • Chadwikid
    Chadwikid
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    You have the right idea so your not clueless. Looks like you did a little research and put a little effort in so....if your only using your dual wield bar for aoe (this is fine) get rid of rapid strikes replace with bound armaments (you said this) take expert hunter off your front bar and out it on your back bar. Since your looking for solo play I would put rally on my 2h bar (replacement for expert hunter) so you have a heal on demand (I dunno what your crit rating is since crit surge heals on crit but I find it hard to play without on demand healing). Replace critical surge on your front bar with rally and move it to your back bar. Move thundering presence from your front bar to your back bar and replace it with bound armaments (it's a toggle so you need it on both bars).

    Also your going for a crit build so you should be using dual daggers. For PVE purposes your 2h is up to you (axes suck). That should leave you with one "flex slot" on your back bar if I can count.

    Also you should be in full medium armor. Hundings rage 5 pc for sure. You can modify the other sets from there standard is ashen grip for weapon dmg or nights silence if you need recovery.

    That should do you well. Tweak it from there.
  • Tadhg_Longhouse
    Tadhg_Longhouse
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    Looks fine. My only concern is what do you do against ranged opponents? You don't appear to have any gap closers (apart from the speed boost from Thundering Presence). You could use Stampede on Two-handed to fill this role, or Ball of Lightning on either bar. It's up to you if you think this is really necessary: the Major Expedition buff may be enough.

    Otherwise, what Chad said.
    Tadhg Longhouse
    Reachman Sorcerer
    Aldmeri Dominion
  • Chadwikid
    Chadwikid
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    Good call!

    forgot the gap closer lol. Not totally necessary in pve. Totally necessary in pvp lol. For a stam sorc Crit rush would be the way to go (because Crit surge and garunttee Crit duh). If you don't want or feel you need a gap closer you also have flying blade from the dual wield line if you want or would rather range. Your going to have to play with it to figure out what works for you

    My build (pvp focused) is totally non standard but it works extremely well well for me and is very effective. Play your way.
  • Dexter411
    Dexter411
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    I dont really think i need gap closer ;)
    And for sure i will not change Critical Surge with Rally. Why? Beacuse of Exper Mage passive(bonus weapon dmg and spell dmg for every Class skill) and both gives 20% bonus dmg. I will play around with Expert hunter and Bound Armaments and i will see how often i crit. I took Redguard for better Stamina menagment. It looks so perfect on paper you know, bonus dmg everywhere, passives to stamina regen and max stamina.
    Anyway thanks.
    Cheers!


  • Chadwikid
    Chadwikid
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    2% doesn't amount to much. Do the math and see for yourself. Try without it and see how it goes. Unfortunately as a stam sorc we don't get to use many of our class skills. Play around and see what works. Bound armaments should be a definite...20% increased health and stam regen just for having it slotted (very unlikely there is another daedric ability you would have slotted. Not to mention the bonuses from the skill itself
  • ADarklore
    ADarklore
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    I find it interesting that, as a solo PvE player, you don't want to use a shield (as in Hardened Ward) or Rally (self-heal + damage buff) and instead would depend solely on Critical healing from Critical Surge. It's definitely doable, but I like the added protection HW offers- but I also run Purple food to help boost my Magicka as well.

    Granted, I've had a couple of successful solo Stamina Sorc builds... usually I have Bow on one bar for range and DW on the other for group dungeon mob situations.

    2H: Brawler, Wrecking Blow, Executioner, Critical Rush, Rally
    DW: Hardened Ward, Elude, Steel Tornado, Boundless Storm, Silver Shards
    Ultimate: Energy Overload

    I basically use my DW bar as a dungeon/delve mob "easy mode" option. I never found a need to keep both Critical Surge and Rally at the same time. With my Bow/DW loadout, I would use Critical Surge.

    Bow: Silver Shards, Bombard, Focused Aim, Magnum Shot, Camouflaged Hunter
    DW: Hardened Ward, Elude, Steel Tornado, Critical Surge, Camouflaged Hunter
    Ultimate: Energy Overload

    I also range 5pc Hunding's Rage and the rest Night Mother's Gaze along with using Thief Mundus... or if running Camo Hunter, would switch to Shadow if Crit rating was over 50% w/o Thief.

    I was never lacking for weapon damage to be successful in solo content- in other words- I never died. I didn't feel a need for 'excess' damage above and beyond what I had- I'm not a min/maxer- especially considering we're talking about PvE solo content. Also, depending on how I wanted to play, on some loadouts I would keep Thief mundus and drop Camo Hunter in favor of Clannfear pet, as he is a great companion for drawing aggro away.
    Edited by ADarklore on October 22, 2015 12:19PM
    CP: 2078 ** ESO+ 2025 Content Pass ** ~~ ***** Strictly a solo PvE quester *****
    ~~Started Playing: May 2015 | Stopped Playing: July 2025~~
  • Huggalump
    Huggalump
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    Granted, he's describing a pvp build... but solo pve/leveling is a lot like pvp really. You need to do damage quickly and maintain your health on your own.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76CTHgFgejo

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8yco_XKSHs
  • Chadwikid
    Chadwikid
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    Hardened wade is virtually useless as a stam sorc as it scales off magicka. That being said you could use it as an oh *** button. I did at one point. Protects you long enough to get off a heal or a pot. Assuming you have either. If your relying on a Crit and don't get one your screwed hence my suggestion of rally. I use vigor personally.

    I tried fengrush's build. It's great but didn't fit my play style. I find it's never benificial to copy a build but rather use what works for you from it and leave the rest. Play as you want as I've already said. But yes as you said a solo pve build needs much of the same things as a pvp build
  • Dexter411
    Dexter411
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    Chadwikid wrote: »
    2% doesn't amount to much.
    I know what you mean but since i will have 3 abilites in each bar that is 6%bonus weapon dmg plus Flawless Dawnbreaker 5%.
    That is 11% bonus dmg ;)
    Maybe it is too much to just pomp my weapon damage, here is the thing I finished(lvl50) my Blazing Dunmer build(magicka Dragonknight) and i could not reach more then 5K dps(i know it is more about AoE damage then single target and now i am overreacting).

    Point of this build is to smash everything with 2h sword and looking cool while doing so.(Thundering Presence)
    Chadwikid wrote: »
    I tried fengrush's build. It's great but didn't fit my play style. I find it's never benificial to copy a build but rather use what works for you from it and leave the rest. Play as you want as I've already said. But yes as you said a solo pve build needs much of the same things as a pvp build
    I agree
    I played so much Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 that i can easly say copying build in 100% is so boring. For me it is better to work around the idea of build then work around that.

    That is a lot of info and i am only lvl 10 ;D
    Thanks all of you!
  • Jar_Ek
    Jar_Ek
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    At level 10 you can forget dawnbreaker for a bit then, try Storm Atronach at low level.
    Personally I run a tank variation build with 2h and bow or DW (both work).
    The skill that are a must for me are:

    Boundless lightning - magicka dump giving armour and mobility
    Bound armaments or Clannfear - Clannfear is actually very useful in solo pve even as a stam build
    Rally or critical surge - either one gives some heals and a weapon power boost

    Vigour - alliance war stamina healing

    Brawler - damage shield that stacks with number of opponents hit = great for solo
    Wrecking blow - decent damage, a little unwieldy on high mobility builds, but the best we have
    Executioner - good for the passive execute and good single target execute
    Stampede - auto-critical gap closer synergises well with crit surge + the mobility can be a life saver
    [not all at the same time - never more than 3 of these]

    Bombard - rooting multiple opponents can be very very useful
    Werewolf - it is very effective as a damaging ultimate once you start levelling the skills - but it is also very skill point intensive

    I flex in Evil Hunter, Steel Tornado, Shuffle, Defensive Stance and even Liquid Lightning on occassions.

    I also use heavy armour (willows path + DK slayer) and Malubeth dungeon set. With this I can solo most Upper Craglorn Delves.

    My advice would be to level all stamina weapon skills and all class skills - and even all morphs of both. Also level Fighters Guild, Mages Guild and Undaunted - in fact level everything you can... the flexibility is very useful - especially when skills get changed suddenly and unexpectedly.
  • Chadwikid
    Chadwikid
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    Flawless dawn breaker is 8% at max level and I'm telling you from experience 2% doesn't amount to much lol
  • dodgehopper_ESO
    dodgehopper_ESO
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    Chadwikid wrote: »
    2% doesn't amount to much. Do the math and see for yourself. Try without it and see how it goes. Unfortunately as a stam sorc we don't get to use many of our class skills. Play around and see what works. Bound armaments should be a definite...20% increased health and stam regen just for having it slotted (very unlikely there is another daedric ability you would have slotted. Not to mention the bonuses from the skill itself

    That's 2% per skill. Crit Surge + Lightning Form + Bound Armaments + Sorc ultimate is 8%. (more if you use Flawless Dawnbreaker). Throw in the fact you get an 11% boost to heavy attacks. Slot a weapon skill like Crit Rush + Wrecking Blow. Its not a bad set up at all.
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  • Chadwikid
    Chadwikid
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    I've been playing a stam sorc since console launch. I'm well aware of how the passive works lol.. The drop of 2% is negligible. Do the math yourself.

    I walk around with approx. 4200 weapon dmg 2% additional to that is 84 that amounts to another 25-50 points of damage depending on the skill modifier. For me that doesn't compare to having the extra survivability of an on demand heal. You can't damage anything if your dead
  • ADarklore
    ADarklore
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    A lot of people mention "Vigor" but that requires PvP for quite some time to get up to rank... and if you're an exclusive PvE or solo PvE player, then that skill is out. :(

    Hardened Ward is weak for stamina, which is why I tend to run Purple food which helps boost Magicka a bit and can be useful in certain situations- mainly for soloing Public Dungeons.

    Also, @Jar_Ek Why run Storm Atronach versus Overload? I used to run Storm Atronach until I discovered how awesome Overload actually is. On the Overload bar I put all defensive skills- Clannfear, Bound Armor, Hardened Ward, Critical Surge, and Elude (Medium armor passive). With Energy Overload, I pretty much destroy anything within seconds. Granted, it's not one of those "oh crap" moves because it does require activating several abilities off the Overload bar, but, it's awesome for soloing Group Bosses- which is about the only time I've ever actually needed an Ultimate.
    CP: 2078 ** ESO+ 2025 Content Pass ** ~~ ***** Strictly a solo PvE quester *****
    ~~Started Playing: May 2015 | Stopped Playing: July 2025~~
  • Stannum
    Stannum
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    I think bound armaments - must have skill as it grants stamina pool (more base dmg and more sustain) and extra armour,
    And streak is very good for AoE bar as it grants good mobility, CC and 2% weapon dmg buff

    I usually use such build

    Race Orc. health 19, else stamina, Hunding(5) + Ashen(4)(3), Heavy chest, light belt + 5 med (6% to pools undaunted passive), warrior mundus
    AoE bar DW(swords)
    steel tornado (main spam)
    bound armaments (stamina pool buff, armor buff)
    thundering presence (AoE Dot, armor buff, 2% weapon dmg buff passive)
    streak (CC, gap closer, escape, 2% weapon dmg buff passive)
    critical surge (weapon dmg buff, 2% weapon dmg buff passive)
    power overload (2% weapon dmg buff passive)

    Single bar 2H(sword)
    Wreaking blow (CC, main spam)
    bound armaments (stamina pool buff, armor buff)
    thundering presence (AoE Dot, armor buff, 2% weapon dmg buff passive)
    Critical rush ( gap closer, heal)
    dark deal (heal+stamina restore) or executioner (if i have tamplar with shrds in group)
    ice comet (for burst DPS)

    When i need ranged (vet DC final boss, vet SoA Titan etc) I change DW for bow (with focused aim)
  • Leifnier
    Leifnier
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    My stam sorc pve build is pretty well refined. It has a higher ramp time and higher dps than the normal build

    Mainhand dw steel tornado, rapid strikes, blood craze, crit surge, bound armaments and flawless dawnbreaker

    Backbar bow, arrow barrage, snipe (razor caltrops if you have it, instead.), poison injection, evil hunter, bound armaments and flawless db or ice comet (though I keep flawless for 90% of fights)

    Using 2pc moleg kena, 5 hundings 3 agility and 2 night mother daggers

    If you don't have moleg kena use more pieces of night mothers.

    Start off with procing moleg kena if you have it, then razor caltrops, poison injection, arrow barrage-switch to main bar and put up blood craze then rapid strikes until you need to re apply the bow dots.

    Proc moleg kena when it goes down, weave heavy attacks between rapid strikes.

    This is both single target and aoe damage, make sure to ult on the dw bar.
  • Leifnier
    Leifnier
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    Seeing people posting crap with thundering presence and streak for pve dmg is just... no. Another good option is 2h instead of dw for wrecking blow and executioner, no real need for crit rush in most fights, use it for something that will passively give you damage instead, (evil hunter, trap beast.)
  • Jar_Ek
    Jar_Ek
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    Well storm atromach was really because at level 10 you won't have flawless dawnbreaker and at that level it can kinda act as a tank in pve. However as you get higher it tends to swapped out either for overload or a more stamina oriented ultimate.

    As for crit rush, it has its uses in pve when synergised with surge but it's really more useful in spread out fights to zip about... However if you go bow on one bar it's not really needed generally. That said it does depend of you are pure dps or not, if kill speed is not fast enough then having some sure fire heals is a must.. or very good defensive skills. The latter are not built into the class for stamina though.
  • dodgehopper_ESO
    dodgehopper_ESO
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    Chadwikid wrote: »
    I've been playing a stam sorc since console launch. I'm well aware of how the passive works lol.. The drop of 2% is negligible. Do the math yourself.

    I walk around with approx. 4200 weapon dmg 2% additional to that is 84 that amounts to another 25-50 points of damage depending on the skill modifier. For me that doesn't compare to having the extra survivability of an on demand heal. You can't damage anything if your dead

    Vigor only has to sit on one bar... what's so hard about slotting it and still getting a good damage bonus?
    US/AD - Dodge Hopper - Vet Imperial Templar | US/AD - Goj-ei-Raj - Vet Argonian Nightblade
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    <And plenty more>
  • Chadwikid
    Chadwikid
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    I'm not sure what your trying to say. I never mentions vigor other than to say I use that personally. Rally is 2h skill hence would have to be on that bar.

    Maybe I or you is misunderstanding what it is either of us is trying to say.
  • Dexter411
    Dexter411
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    Jar_Ek wrote: »
    Well storm atromach was really because at level 10 you won't have flawless dawnbreaker and at that level it can kinda act as a tank in pve. However as you get higher it tends to swapped out either for overload or a more stamina oriented ultimate.
    We are talking here about lvl50 build or 16vr(i prefer lvl50 since vr ranks are going so slowly). While i lvl up i use different abilities, focused on grinding and lvling up skill trees.
    Flaweless Dawnbreaker gives you passive bonus dmg and huge damage vs daedra and undead(and those are a lot in main story and in quest all over tamriel). For now Overload looks nice and i propably will switch too Storm Atronach.
    Bound Armaments is truly must ability, that's for sure. About Critical Surge and Rally conflict:
    -Critical Surge looks nice on a paper(bonus dmg from passives) but to heal myself i need to Crit
    -Rally guaranteed heal but doesn't scale with any passive
    The one which looks cooler wins :)
    I dont like bows in this game(and that is wierd, most of the RPG that i have played i started as archer) and i dont like bow skills. Plus, from what i know, Steel Tornado is the best AoE in game right now for Stamina characters.
  • Jar_Ek
    Jar_Ek
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    @Dexter411 Well you were the one that said you are level 10! So I was providing a bit of levelling advice too.

    As for soloing at vr levels it depends which way you go tbh. Glass cannon style with full DPS and high crit, at that point surge becomes more effective then rally generally. Or a more tanky style, in which case your crit may not be high enough to ensure you get enough critical heals... which is when rally and vigor shine, and Brawler for aoe is all soo good at helping you stay alive. Tbh the biggest problem you will find is with multiple simultaneous bosses where you just cannot keep up enough healing and you can't cc them... but they are thankfully fairly rare.
  • dodgehopper_ESO
    dodgehopper_ESO
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    Chadwikid wrote: »
    I'm not sure what your trying to say. I never mentions vigor other than to say I use that personally. Rally is 2h skill hence would have to be on that bar.

    Maybe I or you is misunderstanding what it is either of us is trying to say.

    I think I get what your'e saying now. You're saying at the increment one 2% buff isn't worth knocking rally/vigor off the bar. That makes fair enough sense.
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    <And plenty more>
  • Chadwikid
    Chadwikid
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    Yes precisely!
  • Stannum
    Stannum
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    I think I get what your'e saying now. You're saying at the increment one 2% buff isn't worth knocking rally/vigor off the bar. That makes fair enough sense.
    If you have ~50%crit chance and bound armament+thundering presence surge heal is completely enought and you do not need rally or vigor.
    (and crit rush gives you garanteed heal which is better then rally recast)

  • Bhakura
    Bhakura
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    If its PVE, drop WB and get brawler.
    Put surge on second bar and replace with critical charge.
    Now you have a guaranteed self heal if surge is up, gap closer, and the means to take on 3-4 groups in public dungeons. With brawler the more mobs you fight the stronger your shield becomes + surge healing you behind that shield.
    Its immortality(and probably will get nerfed because its ridiculous what brawler can do in PVE).

    Edited by Bhakura on October 24, 2015 7:15AM
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