Help me be more helpful!! Please?

MasterGohan · January 2016

Not sure if this is the right section but here goes.

I need a little help with my character build. I’m doing fine PvE but I’ve done a couple of group dungeons now and I wasn’t very helpful to my teams even though I was at a higher level than most. I’m not new to the Elder Scrolls but this is my first MMO so I’m not very versed in group play. I feel like I need some more AoE abilities and maybe some healing but I really don’t like to use them when I’m out and about on my own since I don’t get the kind of damage that I want from them. So I thought I’d come here and see if anyone had some suggestions for me to make me a more useful team player. Let me give you my spread:

Class: Sorcerer
Level: 27
Race: Wood Elf (I know, just drop it)
Ability 1: Endless Fury (Storm Calling)
Ability 2: Crystal Blast (Dark Magic)
Ability 3: Entropy (Mages Guild) / Crushing Shock (Destruction Staff)
Ability 4: Thundering Presence (Storm Calling)
Ability 5: Destructive Clench (Destruction Staff)
Ultimate: Energy Overload (Storm Calling)

HP Attribute Points: 12
Magicka Attribute Points: 14
Stamina Attribute Points: 0

Weapon: Frost Destruction Staff

I haven’t set up a second weapon and bar because I don’t know how to switch between them but I suppose that I could have a more group-centric set on a second bar. Also, is it possible to re-spec in this game?

Thanks to anyone that helps!!

Molag_Crow · January 2016

I'm not sure if I can offer much for a Sorcerer because mine is level 19, so for both of us, it's a bit early to set up a proper build due to not having the correct skills, like the ward to absorb damage, etc.

If I were you, I'd just continue the way you are until you unlock more stuff, like daedric mines, bolt escape, conjured ward, and maybe equip a Resto staff on your "Back-up weapon" slot so that it lets you have that fresh bar, to put spells in like Healing Ward, Blessing of Protection, etc.

It's tough to help a build at the lower levels though, and of course I have no experience with Sorcs above level 19, apart from what I've seen on videos.

Check out Sypher on Youtube and you'll see his Sorcerer videos, but they're mainly designed for PvP.

Deltia's Gaming on Youtube has a few Sorcerer PvE videos which you could check out too, just for some tips on what spells, attributes and stats to use for whatever encounter.

Johngo0036 · January 2016

Hi,
it is important that you setup your 2nd bar and learn to switch between them,
as a sorc you will be doing this a million times in each fight you end up in,

2nd bar go Resto staff,
you can assist with healing in the dungeons,

Slot encase and lightning splash,
the other on this bar can all be healing

drop entropy on 1st bar and sub with elemental drain for group dungeons,
add crit surge to 2nd bar....

Also get Mage light onto both bars to boost your dps...

Johngo0036 · January 2016

My typical setup when i do dungeons is as follows:

Bar1 Destro staff
Crushing shock,
elemental ring,
Elemental Drain
Crystal Frags
Inner Light
U-Greater Storm Attronach

Bar2 Resto Bar
Mages Wrath
Encase
Healing Springs
Healing Ward
Inner Light
U-Power overload

so you use mainly bar 1 most of the time however when you run low on magicka swap to bar2 and pop power overload,
When magicka is full back to bar 1,

When boss hits 25% health bar 2 and spam mages wrath....

always keep elemental drain on boss....
Use elemental ring when mobs are around to nuke them quickly..

I do sometimes swap encase for daedric mines..

If there is someone already doing elemental drain swap this for Crit Surge..

ListerJMC · January 2016

I wouldn't call myself super knowledgeable on DPS sorcerers though my main is one (he's VR10 at the moment, not in a big hurry to level him and I'm still experimenting with skills), but there are a couple of things I've picked up from testing things/watching others which relate to some of the skills you posted:

Crystal Fragments is usually the preferred morph of Crystal Shard instead of Blast, because it can be instantly cast (find other spells to cast while waiting for it to become instant) + does bonus damage. Use something else for AoE attacks, not sure what the preferred skills are for that though. I've been using Lightning Flood at the moment, which can be activated by allies to deal bonus damage, but I'm not sure if I'll stick with it.

Also, Endless Fury should only be used when targets are on low health; don't use it as your main damage dealer, use it as your spectacular death-inducing finale

. I've been using Force Pulse (destruction staff), seems to do a better job of killing things than that one unless they're on low health. Not sure if that's the most optimal skill, but I've been casting it while waiting for Crystal Frags.

People seem to use Magelight more than Entropy for a dps increase, but I've been using Entropy lately and I think I like it better. I'm sure there'll be someone to explain to me why Magelight is superior

. Some people run both but I feel like I don't have enough slots for that, too many skills!

Also as was posted above, I have a Restoration Staff in my back bar. It does no less damage than a Destruction Staff, can't be reflected, and I've given some healing assistance from time to time if it's requested of me.

But anyway you're still a low level, you've got a lot of time to figure your build out - I still am at VR10! Looking up builds might be a good for some inspiration too if you're stuck, just make sure they're current. And yes you can re-spec in this game at a 'Re-dedication Shrine', depending on your alliance it'll be in:

Aldmeri Dominion: Elden Root, Grahtwood zone
Ebonheart Pact: Mournhold, Deshaan zone
Daggerfall Covenant: Wayrest, Stormhaven zone

Magdalina · January 2016

Well you're still little, plenty of time to figure things out=P Maybe a few tips from someone maining a sorc dps in endgame...switching weapons is unlocked at lvl 15 and is by default tied to ` key on PC(not sure about consoles) btw

You can set the actual weapon in the menu, click "inventory" or whatever and on the left where you see all your armor and all you also see 2 weapon slots(well technically 4 because some weapons come in pairs, like sword&shield), just put the weapon you want in the empty slot.

At low level destro-resto may be a nice setup for you, as you and the people you run with learn the game and your roles you'll probably want to go destro-destro or destro-DW(because DW increases spelldamage more than a staff) but don't worry about that now. Inner Light from Mages guild is a great skill, +8% magicka, +10% spellcrit, you want it on both your bars and always on. Entropy is also not a bad one though I personally have been using Power Surge lately(same buff, lasts a lot longer, costs a bit more, heals a bit more). For aoe you'll want Impulse(last destro staff skill) and might also take a look at the Liquid Lightning skill(I forget the unmorphed skill name but it's that lightning pool sorc skill; it's a pretty nice DoT both for aoe and single target, also a good aoe option if you don't have Impulse unlocked yet).
Far as your own surviveability goes Hardened Ward(last skill ion Daedric Summoning tree) is absolutely wonderful.
Also, as been said, Crystal Fragments is generally a better morph because of the instacast proc; most sorcs weave Crushing Shock+light/medium attacks in between the procs.

MasterGohan · January 2016

Wow! Thank for all the suggestions! Allow me to respond a bit.

1. I have set up a second bar with a Restoration staff and some different abilities so that I can level them up a bit. I am on the Xbox One and I'm not entirely sure how to switch between bars on the fly but I'll see if I can figure it out.
2. I realize that I may have morphed a few of my skills in the wrong direction. Is there a way to undo it? Maybe when I respec? (Thanks for the info on the respec locations ListerJMC)
3. I also realize that there is a lot more game yet to be played and the better skills will be unlocked later. I was just wondering if I could be more useful now and your suggestions for skills are great. I'll be looking into each of them and seeing how I like them.

Thanks again everyone for responding and helping me out!!

ListerJMC · January 2016

MasterGohan wrote: »

Wow! Thank for all the suggestions! Allow me to respond a bit.

1. I have set up a second bar with a Restoration staff and some different abilities so that I can level them up a bit. I am on the Xbox One and I'm not entirely sure how to switch between bars on the fly but I'll see if I can figure it out.
2. I realize that I may have morphed a few of my skills in the wrong direction. Is there a way to undo it? Maybe when I respec? (Thanks for the info on the respec locations ListerJMC)
3. I also realize that there is a lot more game yet to be played and the better skills will be unlocked later. I was just wondering if I could be more useful now and your suggestions for skills are great. I'll be looking into each of them and seeing how I like them.

Thanks again everyone for responding and helping me out!!

1. Apparently you need to press the 'Y' button to weapon swap, and it'll only work once you have something slotted (which it sounds like you do). As I am on PC I unfortunately can't confirm this for you.
2. There are several options when you re-spec, it depends on what shrine you use. If you want to reset attributes (your health, magicka, stamina points) go to the Shrine of Akatosh/Auriel/Kyne (the god's name will vary depending on your alliance). For skill points or just the morphs you chose, go to the Shrine of Stendarr/Stuhn (name varies again, alliance depending). So you can just change your morphs if you want instead of resetting everything.
3. Just keep testing things and see how you perform when you try different combinations, I do it all the time since I'm still not at max level

. I forgot to mention it before too, but armor sets are your friend! At your level you may not be able to use any of them, but after you've researched at least two traits on a piece of armor/weapons you'll start to unlock them. These can be really helpful to increase DPS/survivability/resource management etc.

MasterGohan · January 2016

ListerJMC wrote: »

1. Apparently you need to press the 'Y' button to weapon swap, and it'll only work once you have something slotted (which it sounds like you do). As I am on PC I unfortunately can't confirm this for you.
2. There are several options when you re-spec, it depends on what shrine you use. If you want to reset attributes (your health, magicka, stamina points) go to the Shrine of Akatosh/Auriel/Kyne (the god's name will vary depending on your alliance). For skill points or just the morphs you chose, go to the Shrine of Stendarr/Stuhn (name varies again, alliance depending). So you can just change your morphs if you want instead of resetting everything.
3. Just keep testing things and see how you perform when you try different combinations, I do it all the time since I'm still not at max level . I forgot to mention it before too, but armor sets are your friend! At your level you may not be able to use any of them, but after you've researched at least two traits on a piece of armor/weapons you'll start to unlock them. These can be really helpful to increase DPS/survivability/resource management etc.

I will have to test if its the Y button or not but that really doesn't make sense since that's one of the 5 slots where you put your abilities. It should just use the slotted ability when you press Y but I'll definitely check it out. I would like to change some of my morphs (and maybe regain some skill point from skills I just don't use but though I would). I definitely am still checking things out but it seems that I'm not very good at MMO play. 'm learning but I'm so used to single player play that its hard for me to figure out what works best against groups and in a group. Hopefully I'll be somewhat helpful to the next group I'm in. I've already started using Lightning Splash to level it up as well as Encase and my Daedric Summoning skill (which I had neglected). I'm actually liking the Restoration staff more than the destruction one so hopefully I'll get some good healing skills soon too.

Again, thanks for helping me out. I really do appreciate it!!

Magdalina · January 2016

MasterGohan wrote: »

ListerJMC wrote: »

1. Apparently you need to press the 'Y' button to weapon swap, and it'll only work once you have something slotted (which it sounds like you do). As I am on PC I unfortunately can't confirm this for you.
2. There are several options when you re-spec, it depends on what shrine you use. If you want to reset attributes (your health, magicka, stamina points) go to the Shrine of Akatosh/Auriel/Kyne (the god's name will vary depending on your alliance). For skill points or just the morphs you chose, go to the Shrine of Stendarr/Stuhn (name varies again, alliance depending). So you can just change your morphs if you want instead of resetting everything.
3. Just keep testing things and see how you perform when you try different combinations, I do it all the time since I'm still not at max level . I forgot to mention it before too, but armor sets are your friend! At your level you may not be able to use any of them, but after you've researched at least two traits on a piece of armor/weapons you'll start to unlock them. These can be really helpful to increase DPS/survivability/resource management etc.

I will have to test if its the Y button or not but that really doesn't make sense since that's one of the 5 slots where you put your abilities. It should just use the slotted ability when you press Y but I'll definitely check it out. I would like to change some of my morphs (and maybe regain some skill point from skills I just don't use but though I would). I definitely am still checking things out but it seems that I'm not very good at MMO play. 'm learning but I'm so used to single player play that its hard for me to figure out what works best against groups and in a group. Hopefully I'll be somewhat helpful to the next group I'm in. I've already started using Lightning Splash to level it up as well as Encase and my Daedric Summoning skill (which I had neglected). I'm actually liking the Restoration staff more than the destruction one so hopefully I'll get some good healing skills soon too.

Again, thanks for helping me out. I really do appreciate it!!

Well group play isn't THAT different from solo play...it's fun:)
Sorcerers generally don't have too much group utility unfortunately. Encase is a good skill but it costs a lot and you rarely see sorcs DPS using it. Negate got nerfed so much it's not even worth using anymore. For instance Dragonknights have Chains which can bring an enemy closer and Talons(a wonderful CC skill) which get used a lot. For sorcerer dps, later in the game you'll just want to focus on doing as much damage as possible(preferably while staying alive though) and trusting your healer/tank to keep you alive. Not to say you shouldn't be trying to avoid damage or use some shields of course, but that is basically the difference between solo and group. On your own it doesn't really matter how long it takes you to kill something, what matters is that you don't die and you have no one to help you so you have to balance it out between heals, shields and damage. In group, ideally having a tank and a healer will allow you to focus a lot more on pure damage and thus help your group by getting it done faster(dead monsters deal no damage;) ).

Most of it will probably become more actual later on though, more of an endgame point of view I suppose XD