Need some basic Sorcerer Help. Builds, etc.

sunnyravencourt · October 2016

Hey TESO.

I played this game briefly on the PC, but now I have it on the Xbox. I'd love to actually know what I'm doing with this wizard. I've perused the forums but a lot of the advise is pretty specific to particular situations. What I need is a pretty general "how to play the sorcerer and what things you should build towards" guide. Can anyone throw me a bone on this? I'm sure I'll get better, but I feel a bit like I'm wandering around the woods right now.

Sunny

psychotic13 · October 2016

To create a build, you have to know what you're creating it for. By that I mean do you plan on playing PvE (Dungeons ect.) or PvP (Online vs players). What is best for each of those changes a lot.

sunnyravencourt · October 2016

I'm typically a solo player, so I like to have a PvP build. I rarely group with people, so I like to be able to defend myself.

Lukums1 · October 2016

Hey champion.

2 different builds I suggest for new players.

Julianos - willpower - (monster helm) engine guardian personal preference - sharpen staff (any will do)

Force Pulse - Crystal Frag - harden ward - bound agies - inner light - meteor ulti
velicious curse - hardness magicka - harden ward - bound agies - boundless storm - power overload ulti
power overload - velicious curse - harden ward - bound agies - inner light

Not only giving you survive but allows you to pump damage on the go, remembering force pulse will bounce between targets in group fights while getting those continual crystal frag procs the shield stacking (not sure how it works in pvp anymore) will still return that survive.
Velicious curse for the (surprise damage) what I call it when switching back to power overload for the (your dead funny face)

I would switch this up with mages wrath instad of velicious curse on the power overload bar for the executing but that's about it, that's what I ran for the longest time it's fun as hell.

Luke

FriedEggSandwich · October 2016

sunnyravencourt wrote: »

I'm typically a solo player, so I like to have a PvP build. I rarely group with people, so I like to be able to defend myself.

2 main routes to go for a solo sorc in pvp, although it's not exactly a faceroll either way; the max magicka route where you try to get your magicka as high as poss, put 100cp into bastion, stack shields and always have them up. Or a slightly tankier playstyle where you give up some max magicka (by losing some light armour/infused/divines) and only use your class ward to give you a break from incoming damage, rather than try to have harness and hardened up 100% of the time.

Personally I went the tanky route so I wear 2 large pieces of heavy armour and the rest light, all impen, and I choose to stack my red cp into hardy, elemental defender and thick skinned rather than bastion. Vampire is also a good idea for this playstyle mainly for the undeath passive. I can take a few hits before I need to cast my ward in defense. I try to keep boundless storm up 100% of the time for the extra 5k resistence and chance to randomly proc disintergrate. I also slot healing ward but only use it when in execute range. I prefer this playstyle because I don't feel like I can keep harness and hardened up at all times with just a 6s duration, and I don't want to be super squishy without them.

Sets are more a matter of preference since update 12, the inclusion of jewellery for all dropped sets has opened up many possibilities, so you can now easily wear 2x full 5 piece sets with a 1 piece. Good rules to go by is to choose 1 sustain set like lich/seducer/amberplasm and combine it with 1 damage set like julianos/spinners/netches touch etc. The 1 piece to complete it could be a vma staff, kena, bloodspawn, llambris, shadowrend etc.

Skills are also a matter of preference tbh, depending what playstyle you choose, but you will need at least one ward, curse (far too good to leave out), frags (obvs) and a spammable like crushing shock/force pulse (I use mages wrath as a spammable but don't necessarily advise this).

My setup if it helps:

Gear:
5 seducer (heavy chest and legs)
5 spinners
vMA destro/resto
7x impen
Spell damage glyph x3 (one cost reduction is more comfortable)
Protection Reversal poisons on front staff
Stage 4 vampire
Purple food
Mage mundus

I have 38k mag, 20k hp, 14k stam, 2800 spell damage buffed with major sorcery (goes upto 3100-3300 with scroll bonus and/or continuous attack passive), 1400 mag regen, 800 stam regen, 17k resistances on front bar, 23k resistances on back bar, 1800 crit resist, 17.5k spell penetration.

Bar 1 (sharpened vma ice staff):
Velocious Curse
Mages Wrath
Crystal Frags
Power Surge
Streak
Ult: Icy Rage/Atronach

Bar 2 (defending vma resto staff):
Healing Ward
Combat Prayer/Rapid Regen
Daedric Minefield
Boundless Storm
Hardened Ward
Ult: Overload (just for utility bar)

Overload bar:
Defensive Rune
Efficient Purge
Dark Exchange
Retreating Manuver
Hardened Ward

I open with heavy attack into curse, heavy attack into wrath (trying to proc frags), heavy attack into frags (hold the frags till they stop dodge rolling) and heavy attack into streak if they get too close. Mines + streak if they insist on being in your face. Light attack into mages wrath to finish. Rinse and repeat. Use ulti on bunched up players when panicked by being outnumbered. I try to use heavy (medium) attack before every skill for added pressure. I use mages wrath as a filler when curse is already up and I have no frag proc. Always keep your ears pinned for the curse pop so you can refresh it asap, this really pressures people. The spell pen makes this setup hit hard despite stats looking mediocre. Plus combat prayer and poisons can be used to temporarily increase burst damage.