Mage Advice Please

TheDarkoil · July 2016

So to everyone who completely understands the number crunching in this game, what is the absolute best gear and traits for creating a mage sorcerer with max dps. How exactly does max magicka, spell damage, critical and spell penetration factor together as well as the specific end trait from a set of gear.
Any and all advice is welcome!

jeedrzej · July 2016

There are many of possibilities.
That is one of the most common:

5 x Julianos
2 x Molag Kena
3 x Wilpower
Mealstorm inferno staff
2x swords of torugs pact

Jewalery arcane with spell damage glyph
armor divines with magica glyphs
Weapons with sharpened

You should reach 60% crit, 44k magica and 3000+ spell damage

Classic

lolo_01b16_ESO · July 2016

A very good setup is scathering mage + nerien'eth + aether (including staff on one bar) + msa staff
But good luck getting divines scathering mage pieces and a sharpened aether and msa staff.

Asmael · July 2016

Basic damage formula: (Max magicka / 10.46 + Spell damage) * (1 + critical chance * critical damage)

Spell penetration factors as a flat value decrease of your opponent's spell resistance, which, in PvE, represents 1% mitigation for 500 spell resistance (so 4k penetration is 4,000 / 500 = 8% damage mitigated).

Armor values vary depending on mobs, with bosses having a generally higher armor, thus benefiting using the Sharpened trait more, while trash packs can pretty easily reach 0 armor, and since it cannot be negative, benefits the Precise trait more.

Supposing access to all sets in best quality available, and supposing you do not have to take care of Infallible Aether (usually a mDK or mSorc's job), in a trial setup with full warhorn (WH) uptime, we'll definitely be looking at Twice Born Star (TBS) for maximum synergy with WH, maelstrom staves (can use 2 Torug swords on second bar), 2p Kena or Nerieneth (beware the sustain if picking Kena) and Willpower Jewelry.
(
All armor traits are Divines, staves Precise (assuming full debuffs with Sunderflame, Alkosh and whatnot). So, to sum up:

Kena x2 (Nerieneth x2 for sustained fights)
TBS x5
Willpower x3
Maelstrom lightning staff (front bar)
Maelstrom Inferno staff OR 2 Swords of Torug's pact (back bar)
__

Do note that this all depends on what you are focusing on, Julianos is probably better for dungeons, Scathing Mage as well. Your DPS is a living number, and there'll never be one set beating every other in every possible situation.

Gear is one setup, having the right abilities, a perfected rotation and CP distribution is key, and make for much more than people think. Some time ago, changing 1 ability, changing CPs and rotation around increased my DPS from 25k to 32k at some point. 7k DPS increase with literally no gear change. Shows how gear is only one piece of the puzzle.