Maintenance for the week of March 25:
• [COMPLETE] ESO Store and Account System for maintenance – March 28, 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EDT (16:00 UTC)

The Unholy Herdsman - Thelon's Pet Build (Homestead)

Thelon
Thelon
✭✭✭✭✭
OBJECTIVE

The objective is to create a Sorcerer Pet Build that excels at solo and PUG play, while being easily adaptable for most group content.

MEDIA

Character Stats

edirIw5.jpg

Solo DPS Parse

rfQtvoP.png

Videos



RACE

I highly recommend Altmer for this build, with Dunmer as a second choice and Breton as a third.

MUNDUS STONE

The Thief – Increasing critical chance is the best way for this build to boost our offence from damage skills while generating consistent heals from Power Surge.

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

Magicka – 64 – Magicka provides both offense and defense, as your pet’s damage, your Empowered Ward and your own damage scale from this stat.
Health – 0 – We will be able to achieve an acceptable health pool without putting any attribute points here.
Stamina – 0 – Not a priority for this build.

CHAMPION POINTS – TOTAL: 600

THE MAGE
100 x Elemental Expert, 66 x Elfborn
The Ritual – 34 x Thaumaturge

THE WARRIOR
The Lady – 60 x Hardy, 60 x Elemental Defender,
The Lord – 78 x Bastion, 2 x Quick Recovery

THE THIEF
The Tower – 100 x Magician
The Lover – 100 x Arcanist

GEAR

End-Game Set-Up

fmcEjy7.jpg

Chest – Necropotence – Light Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment
Belt – Necropotence – Light Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment
Boots – Necropotence – Light Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment
Gloves – Necropotence – Light Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment
Legs – Necropotence – Light Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment

jwNvJty.jpg

Helm – Ilambris – Heavy Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment
Shoulders – Ilambris – Medium Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment

Z1KD17p.jpg

Neck – Necklace of the Infallible Aether- Arcane – Magicka Recovery Enchant
Ring – Ring of the Infallible Aether – Arcane – Spell Damage Enchant
Ring – Ring of the Infallible Aether – Arcane – Spell Damage Enchant

cHwDJmF.jpg
ozyjyXe.jpg

1st Weapon – Lightning Staff of the Infallible Aether – Sharpened – Spell Damange Enchant
2nd Weapon – Maelstrom’s Inferno Staff – Sharpened – Do Not Re-Enchant

Poor Man’s Set-Up

Chest – Seducer – Light Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment
Belt – Seducer – Light Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment
Boots – Seducer – Light Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment
Gloves – Seducer – Light Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment
Legs – Seducer – Light Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment

Helm – Torug’s Pact – Heavy Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchantment
Shoulders – Torug’s Pact – Medium Armor – Divines – Max Magicka Enchatment

Neck – Necklace of Willpower – Arcane – Spell Damage Enchant
Ring – Ring of Willpower – Arcane – Spell Damage Enchant
Ring – Ring of Willpower – Healthy – Spell Damage Enchant

1st Weapon – Lightning Staff of Torug’s Pact – Sharpened – Spell Damage Enchant
2nd Weapon – Inferno Staff of Torug’s Pact – Sharpened – Restore Magicka Enchant

UNDAUNTED METTLE

When crafting your gear set, it is important to take advantage of the Undaunted Passive called "Undaunted Mettle." This means that you need to have 5 light armor, 1 medium armor and 1 heavy armor. Start by determining the armor types of your Undaunted Sets and craft the remaining pieces accordingly.

SKILLS

Bar 1

KsTCZtS.jpg

Force Pulse
Empowered Ward
Volatile Familiar
Elemental Drain
Twilight Matriarch
Ultimate – Thunderous Rage (Destruction Staff)

Bar 2

V9Vv9l0.jpg

Power Surge
Blockade of Fire
Twilight Matriarch
Liquid Lightning
Volatile Familiar
Ultimate – Energy Overload

Overload Bar

oyMzzFf.jpg

Mage’s Wrath
Empowered Ward
Twilight Matriarch
Streak
Volatile Familiar

Rotation and Combat Tips

Liquid Lightning - Blockade of Fire - Bar Swap - Activate Volatile Familiar - Force Pulse x 6

Animation Cancel light attacks with every skill cast

Replace Force Pulse x 6 with Fully Charged Heavy Attack x 3 for AOE situations

Keep Power Surge active at all times

Keep Elemental Drain active at all times against bosses

Cast Empowered Ward as needed

Use Overload Bar to gain access to Streak for mobility and Mage's Wrath for executes

Common Skill Replacements

Elemental Drain – Replace with Crystal Frags when another group member has Drain slotted

Volatile Familiar - Replace with Unstable Clannfear if a dedicated tank pet is needed

CONSUMABLES

Potions

R7GVenK.jpg

This build performs best when you “chain-chug” Spell Power Potions to maintain your Major Prophecy buff and to help with Magicka sustain.

Food

DNnzY89.jpg

To maximize your damage and suitability, use blue food with + max health and + max magicka.

HELPFUL HINTS FOR SOLO PLAY

Since there are several detailed builds describing how to competently play a sorcerer in PvE groups, I’ll use this section to explain some helpful hints on how to maximize this build’s potential in solo play.

Balance is Key – To solo difficult content, you’ll need a balance between the damage you deal, your survivability and your resource management. For a Sorcerer Pet Build, this means you’ll need spell damage, max magicka, magicka recovery and magicka cost reduction. Any gear combination that achieves this balance will function effectively in solo situations.

Kiting is Key – Many of the hardest solo encounters will require high mobility. You should practice kiting bosses and groups of mobs alike – the skill to handle both will be required to solo some of the game’s group content.

Buffs and Dots are Key – This build relies on Power Surge for consistent healing. Make sure this skill is always active and that your ground dots are always used to maximize both outgoing damage and incoming healing.
Edited by Thelon on February 21, 2017 11:28PM
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    If you're in the mood for some pet nostalgia, check out the old build, first published in October 2015!

    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/223134/outdated-the-unholy-herdsman-thelons-pet-build
  • Mr_Apollo
    Mr_Apollo
    ✭✭✭
    Keeping this page on me favorites for testing...purposes...
    "Am I truly lost? Is this the end of me? Perhaps...just like all stories have a beginning, all of them will have an ending"
    ~Brelin Geolas

    "The Divines gave you a nose for a reason, Tharn. So you can keep your mouth shut and still keep breathing"
    ~Lyris Titanborn

    "It is good the people wear clothing. M'aiq wears clothing. Who would want to see M'aiq naked? Sick, sick people. Very sad."
    ~M'aiq the Liar
    Kornwalsky - Dunmer - Nightblade
    Tinker Knight - Khajiit - DragonKnight
    Erenimir - Altmer - Sorcerer
    M'zorna - Orc - Sorcerer
    Kristof Nordgård - Breton - Templar

    PAWS (Positively Against Wrip-off Stuff) - Say No to Crown Crates!
  • Jim_Pipp
    Jim_Pipp
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    AWESOME

    Sorry for shouting, but I levelled up a Breton Sorc during the witches festival and haven't been able to choose a build. I choose yours lol.

    I have some gold for gear, so the necropotence set is no problem and I have Ilambris helm, but I don't have Maelstrom weapons or Infallible Aether, so, which would you choose for the remaining 5 slots.

    1) Elegance set - adds a little dps here and there and a lot on overload - as I don't have any undaunted yet it may be better to be all light armor while I farm better gear.
    2) 3 Willpower + two Tourugs pact - pushing spell damage
    3) Seducer - I wouldn't have expected this, but you suggested it in your cheap-man's build option.

    P.S your trailer video looks a lot like a high budget video-dating profile.
    #1 tip (Re)check your graphics settings periodically - especially resolution.
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    @Jim_Pipp

    If you've got your 5x Necropotence and 2x Ilambris, I'd go with 3x Willpower and any Sharpened Destro staves until you've got your Infallible jewelry and Maelstrom staves.
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Mr_Apollo wrote: »
    Keeping this page on me favorites for testing...purposes...

    @Mr_Apollo

    How cryptic! Let me know if you discover anything cool while testing, or if you come up with any interesting variations for the build - I love hearing these!
  • Minalan
    Minalan
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭
    Good build Thelon. Thanks for posting.
  • Xsorus
    Xsorus
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I do VMA on my sorc with a pet build

    5 elegant/5 Lich and 2 infernal guardian

    It's pretty easy.. never run out of mana doing it.

    Usually only die during laggy stuns
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Minalan wrote: »
    Good build Thelon. Thanks for posting.
    @Minalan

    tyty, glad u liked it!
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Xsorus wrote: »
    I do VMA on my sorc with a pet build

    5 elegant/5 Lich and 2 infernal guardian

    It's pretty easy.. never run out of mana doing it.

    Usually only die during laggy stuns

    @Xsorus

    That's a pretty cool setup! Ilambris is crazy good in vMA too if you've got it handy.
  • Xsorus
    Xsorus
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thelon wrote: »
    Xsorus wrote: »
    I do VMA on my sorc with a pet build

    5 elegant/5 Lich and 2 infernal guardian

    It's pretty easy.. never run out of mana doing it.

    Usually only die during laggy stuns

    @Xsorus

    That's a pretty cool setup! Ilambris is crazy good in vMA too if you've got it handy.

    Yea i've not tried Ilambris yet; I'm getting closer and closer to no deaths on my Sorc (only ran VMA like 6 times) and i'm at 470k right now and 11/15 lives.

    Forgot to mention i have two lightning staves (I have a lightning lich staff on off bar)

    Bar is Unstable Familiar/Elemental Blockade/Inner Light/Hardened Ward/Matriach (the heal one) and Overload.

    Basically in all the stages I just use UF/EB and heavy attack to kill everything..while spamming HW..when the boss comes just pop overload and burn it down while keeping shield up...pretty easy..i don't really even both swapping my bars that much anymore....I might try your setup though to see how it works.......
    Edited by Xsorus on November 17, 2016 9:24PM
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Xsorus wrote: »
    I might try your setup though to see how it works.......
    @Xsorus

    Good luck in there! I think you'll like the Destro Ultimate combined with Ilambris - it makes Overload DPS seem pitiful
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Jim_Pipp wrote: »
    P.S your trailer video looks a lot like a high budget video-dating profile.

    That's why I've been working on my sexy man pose!
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I just wanted to give a quick shout out to everyone who has sent me PMs and mails about the build. Im always glad to hear from you guys!
  • Izaki
    Izaki
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    Hey man, decided to try this out for the lolzz although I don't normally play with pets. Great build you have here!

    Just a suggestion: Velocious Curse instead of Force Pulse?.. I've been finding that in most situations its possible to just lightning heavy attack through A LOT of stuff. So basically you're just Cursing and then pressing that heavy attack long and hard ( :trollface: ) then firing off your Frags if it proc'ed off the heal, the ward or the curse. Plus at this point

    Totally agree though that Overload DPS is only good for vMA now :lol:
    @ Izaki #PCEU
    #FrenchKiss #GoneFor2YearsAndMyGuildDoesn'tRaidAnymore
    #MoreDPSthanYou
    #Stamblade
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    @IzakiBrotheSs
    Thanks friend, I'm glad u liked the build! V. Curse would work for sure, I'm just not sure it would proc Ilambris as much as a force pulsing.

    And long and hard heavies are the only way to go!
  • Izaki
    Izaki
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    Thelon wrote: »
    @IzakiBrotheSs
    Thanks friend, I'm glad u liked the build! V. Curse would work for sure, I'm just not sure it would proc Ilambris as much as a force pulsing.

    And long and hard heavies are the only way to go!

    So I was also trying a few more variations earlier, mainly playing with just 1 pet and slotting Inner Light on the front bar for even more max magicka (the real reason was cause I wanted to keep my potions :lol:). After all the damage from the Twilight isn't exactly amazing... What this allows to happen is the ward on the back bar and Curse + Force Pulse + Frags rotation. Though I do understand that switching over to the back bar for the shield isn't exactly convenient. Anyway, thanks for making me discover the pets, its really fun!

    #LongAndHardHeavies
    @ Izaki #PCEU
    #FrenchKiss #GoneFor2YearsAndMyGuildDoesn'tRaidAnymore
    #MoreDPSthanYou
    #Stamblade
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    @IzakiBrotheSs

    Thats awesome, I love good build variations. Thx for sharing
  • Rohamad_Ali
    Rohamad_Ali
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Wow ! Great production on these videos . I'm going to watch them all eventually for when I roll a new Sorc .
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    @Rohamad_Ali

    appreciate it bud. Enjoy the movies, and lmk if you find a favourite!
  • Frondale
    Frondale
    ✭✭✭
    Hi Thelon,

    I was at a complete loss on what to do with my Mag Sorc, She was my first toon I made when ESO began but I had to give up on her in favor for stam builds.

    I have made her into the pet build you have out up. Except I have no Ilambris yet sadly. Running her with Valk for now. Also no VMA weaps as I am struggling in there :)

    Thank you for bringing us the fun pet build. I always loved having pets previously and am happy to have them back again. I can definitely solo normal dungeons but the Vet dungeons I struggle with as I believe you showed in your videos that you can do with this build.

    Loved your videos.

    Thank you again.

    Cheers
    Fron
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    @Frondale

    Glad you like the vids bud! Keep practising vMA and you'll get it down. Same with vet dungeons - the more you practice and become comfortable with the build, the more difficult content you can tackle.

    Good luck out there!
  • HarpaxPT
    HarpaxPT
    ✭✭✭
    Have you tried grace of the ancients set instead of 3 infalliable?
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    HarpaxPT wrote: »
    Have you tried grace of the ancients set instead of 3 infalliable?

    @HarpaxPT

    Yes, but both Infalliable Aether and Willpower will net you more damage.
  • HarpaxPT
    HarpaxPT
    ✭✭✭
    @Thelon i am already at 51k magicka with undaunted 7 running ancients. How much more damage are you pulling running willpower or aether?
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    HarpaxPT wrote: »
    @Thelon i am already at 51k magicka with undaunted 7 running ancients. How much more damage are you pulling running willpower or aether?

    @HarpaxPT

    Hmmm well the build is designed for soloing, and when alone I normally run around 30k DPS, and it's quite a bit higher when grouped. The Slayer buff from Infalliable really is worth it for three jewelry slots, give it a shot! Just keep in mind that Magicka isn't the only stat that matters, even for Pet builds!
  • HarpaxPT
    HarpaxPT
    ✭✭✭
    i understand. I was curious if you had the numbers. Sadly i am on console so dont get all the cool addons :-p
  • LaucianNailor
    LaucianNailor
    ✭✭✭
    Hey Thelon,

    Just wanted to say thank you for creating a great guide to your pet build. As a former EQ(1) Beastmaster, this grabbed me straight away. So much so that I did a skill, attribute and champion point reset on my CP540 Magic Sorc. and have kitted them out on the 'poor mans' gear as a starter.

    It took a little while to get the rotation going, but as an experiment I ventured into my first ever dungeon today; Darkshade Cavern 1 on Normal and managed to solo it with 1 death from a stupid pull. Thoroughly enjoyed it so wanted to drop in and say thanks for opening up a new possibility for me.....some solo and also planning for some group dungeons now..
    Mac/PC EU Server

    Lots of alts....561+ CP
    Inside Trade Guild
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    @LaucianNailor

    I'm glad you like the build and playstyle! Good luck out there, and hit me up if you have any questions!
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    @HarpaxPT

    Ah gotcha. I used to include Blood Spawn parses with my builds but its just not as relevant as it used to be since I the fight is just too short now. If I run a nSO on this build I'll try to post a Manti parse, but rest assured this spec pulls great DPS in solo and group situations
  • Thelon
    Thelon
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I've uploaded the build to Reddit too, so if you prefer that platform for discussion, you can follow it here:

    https://m.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/5dbwvs/the_unholy_herdsman_thelons_pet_build/
Sign In or Register to comment.