First Time Player Questions on Sorcerer

meddlingmage · June 2016

So, brand new player here... just hit level 10 last night. Am loving the game so far, its visually stunning really.

Anyways, I want to take my time with this game and do something different and by that I mean not playing my typical tank type role (sword&board) so I went as opposite as I could. I chose sorcerer. I'm not sure I am utilizing my skills properly and am looking for a little advice. For now I am mainly focused on PvE content if that makes any difference. I chose to utilize the Familiar spell (I forget the name off the top of my head but you.. raise a familiar) and then morphed it to do extra (lightening?) damage. Is this a viable option. Also, I am sinking a lot of skill points into passive/class abilities for fear of choosing bad skills.

I also only currently have three skills in my rotation (as the fourth is the summon familiar and I rarely need to cast this). I am using a curse, a lighting strike, and a longer cast that deals decent damage, but I don't feel like its enough...?

Really just looking for guidance/assistance for a new player. Thank you everyone!

BlackSparrow · June 2016

Hey there. I'm assuming you're working with Destruction Staff as your primary weapon and putting a lot of attribute points in Magicka?

Familiar's great for PvE, if only to help keep mobs off you, so good job there.

As a sorcerer, I suggest you make sure you have the following on your bar (feel free to overlap):

Your familiar
A defensive skill
A good AoE damage skill
Something that keeps an enemy away from you (knockback, stun, root, paralyze, etc)
A self-heal

Take the time to read through all your class and weapon skills, and decide which ones you might want to work toward. Early on, try to keep one skill from each of your skill lines (Dark Magic, Summoning, Storm, and Destruction Staff) on your hotbar, because just having the skill there means you'll level the skill line, even if you don't use it! It's a great way to get to the juicier skills later in the line.

As you get higher in level, enemies start clumping up more, so you're going to have to start taking on two, then three enemies at a time. This means you'll need to be able to either control your enemies or blast them all at once.

Pure damage skills are nice, but your staff does that on its own. Not saying a good damage skill can't make the fight end faster... just to keep in mind that your staff can pack a pretty heavy punch on its own, so make sure the skills you pick add to that.

At level 15, you'll unlock a second skill bar. It's awesome. It means you can have a second weapon. Decide whether you want to carry a second destruction staff (which will mean you can fit more flashy skills on your bar) or compliment Destruction with a Restoration staff (which is good for healing self and others, but uses a different skill line).

A lot of people will tell you to go pure Magicka in attribute points. You can do that if you want, since that's the way to get the most damage out of your spells... but my advice is don't be afraid to put a few points into Health, too. Especially in the early game, a few Health points can go a long way toward your survivability.

Finally, don't worry about picking "wrong." You'll get the ability to respec in a later zone (around level 20), and it is affordable (not cheap... affordable). For now, just explore and have fun.

Insomnia rex · June 2016

You can have two pets: the familiar than can be morphed into tank or damage and (later) the twilight which can be morphed into healing or damage. You have morphed the familiar into damage (volatile familiar) and yes, that's viable.

But: They are not toggles even if people like to call them that. You activate their abilities by pushing the same button that summoned them. Your volatile familiar for example will become a dot that is centered on it if you activate it.

My recommendation is to just level and try out stuff as you like, you can reskill any time (for some gold, in your factions capital) so you can basically do nothing wrong and the later you try out specialized builds, the more you have actually learned about your class.