Get ward on and be invincible to all overland pve enemies. Use power surge and frags and you'll get from 1 to full health straight away. Also don't use a lit staff on stam sorcs. That's just plain wrong. That's a magika weapon. Use bow and DW.

Just got back into doing dungeons, and haven't run into a problem tbh - I run lightning/inferno staff, no pets unless off-healing is genuinely needed.

Have yet to test my damage(the addons cause me too much lag atm >_<) , but soloing public dungeon bosses is doable, and I feel like I do a decent amount of damage. The two things that keep me alive are frags(which do 8% of my health as healing) and Conjure ward.

You may simply not have enough magicka for your abilities to be effective, so you are forced to kite for longer/your wards aren't as big/ your heals aren't as big/ you don't deal enough damage.

What do your spell damage and magicka values look like? And spell crit.

ADarklore wrote: »

It isn't that CC is 'unreliable' it's the fact that bosses are immune to CC effects.

This is true. However it should not be true. CC though, seems to break for odd reasons on some normal enemies as well. Today i was fighting some weak soldier enemies near Auridon, i use restraining prison, sometimes they just keep coming at me while theyr feet are in the visual effect of restraining prison but the actual root never happens, this also happens on clench, sometimes.


Other than that, all the other adice is good, but nothing new to me. I will not use pets, this is not meant for this characters. Wards are okay, but its really annoying to constantly spam them to keep them up. One thing thats pwoblematic with wards for me is, that they only show visual effect, other than that, damage is absorbed, all is good so far...

But the thing with audio makes wards feel likethey are not working, they also dont block any snares, too many of those NPC's throw these daggers that snare for annoyance. The main thing for me with audio though, is that all hits still sounds li8ke they are hitting right through my wards, this makes me go overdefensive as i have some eye problems and audio is important part of gameplay and years in WOW, i learned that when buble is up, the hit sound is muted so that it does not sound like its getting throuhgh the shield. The thing with ESO is that when snares go through, all hits seem to still hit me because even while they dont produce damage, the sound is the same as its without ward.. Now

Anyway, the thing with mage, pet or no pet is, that its a ranged class and you should usually be able to keep all enemies at distance, some snares should also work wirth bosses.

DRXHarbinger wrote: »

Get ward on and be invincible to all overland pve enemies. Use power surge and frags and you'll get from 1 to full health straight away. Also don't use a lit staff on stam sorcs. That's just plain wrong. That's a magika weapon. Use bow and DW.

The stamina sorc with pets and lightning staff 15 mag 10 health, rest on stamina, kicks ass soloing bosses, it does not need a bow or a melee weapon. I dont run dungeons though but in any other PVE content it kicks ass being badly built character but the main thing is, that its fun to play and fits the characters bio perfectly. The sorc that has all magicka stuff and is built somewhat as it supposed to be built, gets pounded by enemies. This does not feel right. Also the other stamina sorc is CP 160+ whiöle the magsorc is level 20, lower levels are supposed to be stronger due tp boost given to them, yet this is not true on this occasion, its just gonna get worse when leveling so i am forced to get that stupid clannfear or just play a mage like melee class qwhich also feel wrong.

@KaiVox22
Thanks for advice, i do know that one is considered "Bad build" by many, she certainly lacks in damage when using that staff and pets, but thing is, that while it takes long, i can safely solo almost anything single target with this off bar which i made just for bosses. It works and will stay as it is since that character is supposed to be like that, not in terms of performance but in terms of RP and the thing it works is just an happy accident
The real stam side is mostly 2 h abilities, added with power surge and hurricane, that one can also handle almost anything PVE

Thanks for other advice as well, i guess i will have to get used to those wards, particularly to constantly casting them which seems a bit useless annoyance to me but i can live with it. I have all on magicka with this magsorc so theres no lack of it and sets adding to that as well. Wards never go down, they just expire in time

OP, are these sorcs your first characters? If not, how many CP do you have?

if these are your first characters, please listen to the advice that you should be using melee weapons on your stam-sorc. You will thank them for it later when you get into assigning CP and realize that must choose one damage stat (stamina or magica) to optimize your build and be productive in endgame content. If you really want to play a stam sorc, I suggest watching a video by FENGRUSH. I do not use his builds (I am against the copy and paste mentality altogether) but he got me pointed in the right direction to get the biggest bang for my buck.

@DurzoBlint13

I have played several characters since beta and in beta and i still know that stam sorc is supposedly bad but when i say it has no problems in any PVE, no problems whatsoever, why does nobody listen to me
Stam sorc is perfect even while people dont agree, the magsorc is not :P

Please let the poor stamsorc be :P

I dont play builds per se, i play characters and fantasy classes. Mage is traditionally considered ranged, battlemage is often considered melee but can also be ranged, we are not in same wavelegth

@DurzoBlint13

level capped and over 250 cp which is irrelevant for i am not going to change that sorc to anything else than what i want her to be

Why is it so damned hard to understand that the stamina sorc i have is perfect for me, it can solo anything and do anything PVE so stop telling me my working character is bad. I will not change it and i will never go to theorycrafting sites to copy other peoples builds, i try and try until i get what feels good and fits my character, i dont need anything else and i am not asking any advice for stam sorc anyway so stop helping that one

You people also seem to fsiled reading all, stamsorcs main weapon is 2 haner for normal combat, lightning staff is only for soloing bosses and it does that perfectly, even world bosses die on that given some time to wear them down slowly.


i was asking help for magsorc to make it feel better and i got my needed pointers to that and i will try and change them tpo fit my character.

Tapio75 wrote: »

@DurzoBlint13

level capped and over 250 cp which is irrelevant for i am not going to change that sorc to anything else than what i want her to be

I am not suggesting you do. I am only trying to figure out a way to illustrate my point since you seem to ignore anything anyone tells you that you do not want to hear.
you know what, nevermind. Just "play the way you want" and good luck

Tapio75 wrote: »

Hey

Hiya!

Been playing a sorcerer with ice staff or fire staff for 20 levels now, mostly this is okay, but some problems occur when facing minor quest bosses and similar enemies.

Yep, there sure are! But this is a good thing because you're going to need to change your fighting habits.

I have destructive clench on ice staff that fret freezes enemies to the ground, does not work on minor or larger bosses. I have restraining prison, does not work on bosses, i have rune prison, does not work on bosses. I use shields, i tried annylment, annoying to cast it all the time, used lightning form, does not help enough against damage.. negate magick wont work against bosses either.

I end up getting pounded on my face all the time when facing a minor boss and sometimes even with groups larger than 2, the CC seems unreliable at best, even without splash damage in anything i use.

Note: I'm a mediocre player, at best, so my advice comes from the way I play. It may not be the best, but it works for me. Also, this is for PvE only.

Drop the flame staff and pick up a lightning staff.

Knock back actually does more against you than for you, whereas lightning will become your best friend.

As a sorc, the one difficult lesson to learn is damage is over time. Unless you're lucky to cast instant shards (and I'll give you a secret to convert this to near 90% instead of 30%), everything you do is going to be based over time.

This is to your advantage, because PvE enemies run the same static attack over and over. NBs jump over you, mages/shamans/bow users run back before firing, and tanks are in your face. This never changes. Time to take advantage of this!

Do not use concussion as your first attack. Instead. allow the attackers to "flow" in their normal pattern. Then, cast one or two AoE attacks. Try to cast the AoE spell as close to center of the enemy as you can. Now concus them! The timing of the AoE + their immovable state = good amount of damage.

Note there is a cooldown period before enemies can be concussed again. I don't know the timing (I'll guess 20-30 seconds), but I do know they are open to concuss once they use their power attack. So try to get them to use it. Just be mindful not to get too close or be in the red. Do the same steps above, and they'll pretty much be wiped out.

"But what about three at a time?" Well, this is where practice comes in, because generally, you're going to get three types of attackers. This is where your heavy attack on the staff comes in. While you're moving about, fire ONLY heavy attacks at the one/two remaining. You're just buying time so you can AoE and concuss again. Heavy attacks replenish magicka, so you can use this to attack using other spells in between for bit more CC.

With practice, this becomes your standard pattern against AoE (and boring, too).

"Okay, this helps with the minions, what about the big bosses?"
There are three types of bosses: floaters, tanks, and squishies. Knowing the type of each one will allow you to modify your attack pattern and deal with them.

"Floaters" are any enemies which aren't on the ground. They can never be knocked back or down, but they can be concussed (not all, but most). This is the only time you'll want to fire off concuss first, just so you know if they're immune. If they are, don't waste further attempt at trying to do so.

"Tanks" can't be knocked down and most have ample armor to make fights challenging. Most will repeat their heavy attacks often, which gives you some time to heavy attack and recharge as they're prone to more damage against spells.

"Squishies" are my favorite. They can be knocked down, and are often wearing light armor making fights quick and easy.

Regardless of the type you're going up against, you have an ally called Overload. This spell has saved me more times than I can count. Just arm it and start firing off LIGHT attacks. Do not use the heavy as you'll deplete more Ultima using it. More than half of the boss battles I encounter start and end with Overload.

For the rest, it's just a matter of timing, staying back, and using AoE/heavy attacks, then I close with Overload. Practice will be necessary so you can manage your skills/mana, not necessarily going against the boss.

There is one more classification of enemy, but you won't experience them much early on, but when you start to level, you'll get into the "Sponges". These enemies suck, because as the name implies, they are sponges. They seem to be immune to everything you throw at them, and only patience and time drops them.

For example, when you go up against Mannimarco for the first time, you'll see what a sponge is. He's a tough fight, but with a little strategy and management, you can defeat him.

World bosses are also sponges now, thanks to the steroids they're eating.

The best place to practice timing and skills is in public dungeons. Anywhere between 3-7 enemies can easily be found and you can just test away. Don't waste soul gems resurrecting. Just put on a set of throwaway armor and just hit "wayshrine" when you die. You'll just go to the entrance, saving a gem.

Meanwhile, i have a stamina sorc which is supposed to be "badly built" according to some min maxers.. Two hander on the main bar, lightning staff on off bar with both pets, this one can take any boss withpout a sweat, no pets or with pets

Melee damage is instant. Sorc damage is over time. Same amount of damage, one takes longer to deal.

With the stam sorc, i can stand in place and beat things to death with 2 hander or with lightjning staff and pets, the magicka sorc runs like a crazy rabbit away from enemies, still ends up getting pounded on the face and often being in brink of death.

Armor makes a difference as well. If you're a sorc wearing 7 pieces of light, you're going to take more damage than 7 pieces of medium. Swap out the light pants and sash/epaulets/gloves for medium. Not only does this help level two types of armor, but every little bit helps.

Sorcs aren't meant to get close to the enemy.

I am tired of pet sorcerer and just want to play a sorcerer with staff and no pets at all but this seems impossible and these two are not nearly in balance, the mag sorc doesnot even do more damage than the stam sorc, it actually does less.

If you're going to give up the pet, then you're going to have to learn better CC (kiting, as offered in other posts) or start using melee based weapons.

Otherwise, it's going to be rough until you learn how to utilize your skills and manage the fight on your terms. Hang in there, though. It does get better in time!

Is there any way to play magstaffsorc without need to constantly rtun away and be undignified by enemies, is there any reliable CC thqat works on bosses?

*polishes my beautiful daggers.

Yep, but you're going to need to deal melee damage as backup. While you can play a sorc without pets and melee, it doesn't really make any sense without some form of diversification. Not every enemy is weak against magick, so it's going to be best to have a backup.

My current character is a DW sorc and it's the best damn character I've ever played. I love the ability to either get close and personal or keep my distance and barrage from above. I can easily go through swarms of enemies now, because after I drop the tanks with magicka, I whip out the daggers and drop the squishies! It's a great time!

There is a downside though: it's tougher to manage the mana pools. I split magicka/stamina equally, which means I'm never going to have max DPS for level. I'm okay with this, because I prefer a much more flexible character than one whose base class gets all the attributes. I've done the pure stam and sorc routes and I didn't enjoy them as much as I do my current.

Unfortunately, this style of play seems to be frowned upon by both the game and some players. It's tougher to play, but I find it much more rewarding. Yes, I had to toss out Dino a few times, but that's only because the game wants to be mean and throw me two bosses (the arena where I saved the Khajiit in Reaper's March was the toughest fight so far - Mannimarco dropped like a stone!).

Well, that's my playstyle. Not sure if it'll help you, but I had to share.

Oh, and before I go, I said I'd share the near 90% rule for the shards:
Easy! Don't cast it until you've cast two other spells in a fight! I don't know if this is a glitch, but I find success nearly every time I do it for the instant cast.

Huh.