Best sorc support skills & builds for PvP?

NBrookus · January 2016

PvP noob here.

What are the must-have skills for a PvP support focused character? Most raids have at least a few templars handling a lot of the healing, so I am looking to build a setup that supports groups in other ways, as well as healing.

Is Ward Ally very helpful at all?
Is Barrier the ultimate of choice?
What other resto and alliance skills should get must-have skillbar slots?

Thanks.

Tankqull · January 2016

ward ally is not that usefull on a sorc as you are lacking any direct instant heal healingward is the must have shield if you like to support.

barrier absolutly is a nice to have ulti. reviving barrier is awesome.

you will mostlikely use one or two of the hots provided by the resto staff.

Waffennacht · January 2016

Purge, and barrier are great group support moves atm. Healing Ward is good for you and allies. Combat prayer can help dps be more dps.

None of the main stream sorc moves provide a debuff so not too much for support there,

Encase can help allies kill people and manage where mobs go.

Johngo0036 · January 2016

The best support a sorc can bring to the table when running in a group in cyrodiil is the following,

Some healing,
Barrier
purge..

but the most important skill is Negate(Silence)

Erondil · January 2016

Run a full regen build with cleanse and orbs spam (undaunted skill, any morph) and maybe aswell encase and volcanic rune. Also combat prayer for the 8% damage buff. Negate and barrier as ultimates.

BigTone · January 2016

Negate on both bars.

Streak for CC

Purge

Impulse for health debuff

NBrookus · January 2016

I don't have Barrier yet, so I've been running Negate on both bars. Problem is, like many skills, when raid meets raid in Lagville I can hardly tell what I am doing let alone what my skills are doing to other players.

@Erondil - I haven't much use of Orbs in PVP, and wondered why. It seemed like resource management was really not a pain point in PvP like it is in dungeons.

So if sounds like I should run something like the following --

Resto:
Mutagen
Combat Prayer
Healing Ward
Purge/Cleanse
Radiant Light or Necrotic Orbs
*Negate Magic

Destro or DW
Hardened Ward
Streak
Elemental Ring (if using Destro) or Volcanic Rune (if DW)
Siege Shield
Radiant Light or Rapids
*Negate/Reviving Barrier

Lucky28 · January 2016

Healing ward is great, ward ally, not so much. I mean i'm not a support sorc, but whenever i res someone i always slap a healing ward on them when they get up. it's useful.

Negate and shooting star/ice comet for ults. mostly for the passives, negate = spell power, Meteor = max magicka/Magicka regen. barrier is also good when you unlock it.

Hulk_VI · January 2016

NBrookus wrote: »

PvP noob here.

What are the must-have skills for a PvP support focused character? Most raids have at least a few templars handling a lot of the healing, so I am looking to build a setup that supports groups in other ways, as well as healing.
Is Ward Ally very helpful at all?

Is Barrier the ultimate of choice?

What other resto and alliance skills should get must-have skillbar slots?

Thanks.

It depends, you can run purge, encase, negate (templars/stam NB usually take care of barriers), streak, combat prayer, healing orb, many more. I would only recommend purge, negate, streak, combat prayer unless you are going full support. But if you want the best possible set up it would be Ice Staff and Resto for full support. Bars should be set up like:

Destro:
Wall of Elements
Encase
Streak
Necrotic Orb (healing morph)
Boundless Storm
Ult: Negate

Resto:
Combat Prayer
Proxy
Purge
Healing Ward
Bound Armor
Ult: Barrier

Reason for ice staff you might ask?
The wall of Elements with ice staff slows and concuses enemy's, great for group play.

Hope this helped, any questions just ask.

NBrookus · January 2016

Hulk_VI wrote: »

Destro:
Wall of Elements
Encase
Streak
Necrotic Orb (healing morph) - use ???
Boundless Storm
Ult: Negate

Resto:
Combat Prayer
Proxy - us Radiant Magelight instead?
Purge
Healing Ward
Bound Armor
Ult: Barrier - use Negate instead?

I was planning on going full support. I didn't think Wall of Elements was good for much of anything. Hmm.

Question: why is Bound Armor only on one bar? It doesn't persist if you switch bars and it's not on the other. And no Hardened Ward?

Hulk_VI · January 2016

Meant hardened ward my bad

NBrookus wrote: »

Hulk_VI wrote: »

Destro:
Wall of Elements
Encase
Streak
Necrotic Orb (healing morph) - use ???
Boundless Storm
Ult: Negate

Resto:
Combat Prayer
Proxy - us Radiant Magelight instead?
Purge
Healing Ward
Bound Armor
Ult: Barrier - use Negate instead?

I was planning on going full support. I didn't think Wall of Elements was good for much of anything. Hmm.

Question: why is Bound Armor only on one bar? It doesn't persist if you switch bars and it's not on the other. And no Hardened Ward?

I meant hardened ward

Kas · January 2016

encase
encase
encase
negate
negate
negate
...
purge
barrier
prox det to sync with others
...
maybe frostwall with winterborn set
...
probaby siege shield after next patch

Makkir · January 2016

I spent a lot of time leveling in Cyrodiil. If I could offer any advice it would be start your undaunted grind early on. Learn some PvE and then run at least the gold and silver pledge daily...as a bonus, you will likely pick up some monster set pieces too. The 6% stat increase from the Undaunted passive is just too good to pass.

NBrookus · January 2016

Thanks all, I appreciate the feedback.

So I'm getting a picture of less of a back of the line ranged healer, and more of a melee support PITA crowd control mage? Interesting. Since my first impulse is to wade in to the thickest part of things, that's actually more in my comfort zone. But I'd need to get a whole lot better at shield stacking than I am now.

I could also do this exact role with minor skill swaps (except Negate) on my magicka DK tank.

@Makkir - this is my second vet toon, so I am definitely running pledges and saving keys until I hit V16, plus I have a growing stash of helms and shoulders already. Even a prime Molag Kena drop... heavy well-fitted.

Makkir · January 2016

You cant join my club until you get a bank full of sturdy and well fitted monster items!!!!! You need at least 10 for me to even consider your application!

NBrookus · January 2016

RNG usually favors me with monster light reinforced. Like anyone needs a light reinforced Blood Spawn helm.

Makkir · January 2016

@NBrookus since you are a self proclaimed Noob in PvP, you will get destroyed if you try to do any solo PvP. Run with a group to learn the ropes. That being said, it's really a different ballgame in terms of abilities when in a group vs solo play.

So with a group in mind, since you expressed interest in support:

Resto Bar
Encase, Hardened Ward, Trapping Webs (the synergy is great in group play), Rapid Regeneration, Efficient Purge and Suppression Field as ultimate
* if you don't have Purge you can probably substitute it for Mutagen and run Healing Ward in place of Rapid Regen

Dual Sword or Destro Bar
Crystal Frags, Mages Wrath or Crushing Shock, Velocious Curse, Streak (You can place this on Resto Bar if you aren't quick at weapon swapping in battle and instead put Trapping Webs here), Critical Surge, and run either Dawnbreaker, Atronach, or Meteor as Ultimate (However in group play you will likely find more use with Suppression Field).

* Make sure your critcal surge is active 100% during battle

Some general stats to aim for:
Magicka- 35k-37k
Magicka Regen- 1200
Spell Power- 3k with Crit Surge active

I would also advise running Atronach Mundus stone since that will help you achieve regen stat easiest without having to worry much about min/maxing gear.

Once you get comfortable in Cyrodiil and with your abilities you can start swapping stuff out to build around your playstyle.

Starting point with gear- 5pc Kagrenac's, 3pc Willpower jewelry, 3pc Archmage should set your stats up nicely. If you can't get Kagnrenac's then do Magnus. Archmage is stupid cheap right now.

Since you are going to be doing group play and likely spamming a lot of heals, it would probably serve you best to use cost reduction enchants on your jewelry.

Run purple Tri stat food.

Tankqull · January 2016

i would definatly incorporate healingsprings into your QB, as your templars will have the tendency to fall back on BoL so someone else will have to provide springs...

Makkir wrote: »

...

Starting point with gear- 5pc Kagrenac's, 3pc Willpower jewelry, 3pc Archmage should set your stats up nicely. If you can't get Kagnrenac's then do Magnus. Archmage is stupid cheap right now.

Since you are going to be doing group play and likely spamming a lot of heals, it would probably serve you best to use cost reduction enchants on your jewelry.

Run purple Tri stat food.

actually i would suggest spelldmg enchants + stam&magica drinks as you can (with a few CP in tumbling) constantly breakfree from cc effects without running out of stam. while the magica component of that buffdrink is covering the the hihger spell costs of not having spellcost reduction enchants.

beside that OP communicate with your group members who does provide what do not be stubborn and reslot abilites by demand (wich requires alot of skillpoints

but its worth it)

NBrookus · January 2016

@Makkir, your suggested setup seems to be half support, half damage. It is quite a bit different than @Hulk_VI 's setup, which seems ALL support. Assuming I am running in a group, what is your thinking here? Just for flexibility's sake?

My alt is only V8 right now and finishing up Gold, so I'm not really gearing up yet. Crafting whichever set pieces are needed is no problem. I do have my V16 Willpower set waiting for me.

@Tankqull, I'm happy to slot different stuff (remembering where it all is while playing is another matter!), but most of the groups I have run with are so goal focused there's not much room for talk and questions. Absorbing tactics and strategy by watching and listening is, for me, much easier than figuring out when to use which skill.

Makkir · January 2016

As a new sorc, despite previous suggestions, I would still run with tri stat food. You are going to want the health stat boost. Without knowing your CP level and considering you are going to be spamming spells non stop (maybe 1 per second), I still think the magicka reduction is going to better server you.

You're going to want some offensive abilities on your destruction bar for those instances when you are singled out of your group and you have something effective to throw back at your attacker, i.e using Cyrstal Frags when it procs the free cast.

Def take the trapping webs though. The synergy is an AOE fear which has been a game changer for me in small Group Vs group encounters.

Lil_Willie · January 2016

Heals are nice and damage mitigation is cool also, Stam builds require stam based support (ie: DKs Shield ) Magicka builds can use magicka based support (Spell Crit off the Sorcs passives) keep that in mind too.

NBrookus · January 2016

I am running Julianos/Torug's Pact while leveling, and regen is a bit of an issue in dungeons. (I.E. long fights.) Enchants and provisions are easy to switch up and experiment with.

I'm looking forward to trying some of these ideas out, at least if I can actually manage to play one of these nights instead of stuck in perma loading screens and crashing while in Cyrodil. **grr**