can I improve my stam sorc bars? Combat feels slow

murdomac101 · June 2017

Hey folks I'm looking for some advice on my stam sorc which I've recently levelled. The combat rotation feels far too slow and restricted and I'm really struggling against cloaking and dodge, and most duals.

I've come from being a DK running 2hw/bow, clever alchemist, monster set and agility. I'd hit with the bow from range, gap close, light attack & venomous claw, wrecking blow, execute and take flight/dawnbreaker as ultimate. I enjoyed it, it felt like reasonably fast mechanics.

With my new stam sorc, I definitely hit harder than my dk. But I'm finding my rotation options more limited, slow and clunky relying heavily on wrecking blow.

Off top of head my build is:

Orc
Heavy shacklebreaker on bow/buff bar
Viper (one medium) on 2h axe
One medium monster piece
All stam on armour, all wpn dmg on rest
Warrior mundus

On 2h bar I have gap close, execute, whirlwind, wrecking blow, rally
Bow is streak, poison injection, acid spray, shuffle and dark deal

Ultimate are both werewolf - as you can see I've not quite got all skill points I need or levelled enough to get say dawnbreaker ultimately

My issues are twofold:

Main one is although I hit hard all I seem able to do well is gap close, wrecking blow and execute. If I'm in a group on the offensive and the enemy are retreating this is easy. Perhaps if I had dawnbreaker it would add some additional burst.

But where it's an open fight I'm struggling to brawl or burst someone down quick enough to move on to their team mates who may be attacking me. I die.

Also since I'm relying heavily on WB I'm really struggling at all the cloaks and shuffles. In one on one I'm just constantly gap closing and missing a lot of WB hits.

Probably I suck a bit. In fact I do.

The second issue is I'm not sure if I should be running any more defensive skills like a shield? Obv I need to get Vigor.

I love hitting hard, but don't want to just rely on WB. Maybe I should give up bow for DW?

Any thoughts on where I'm going wrong? How could I make the build more versatile?

Thanks

out51d3r · June 2017

Dawnbreaker will help, alot.

The hard part of Stamsorc is definitely connecting your Wrecking Blow(though I prefer Dizzying Swing). Which monster set are you using? Something like Velidreth will give you some more burst(though shouldn't be entirely necessary when you're running Viper). You could also consider running Clever Alchemist.

A couple skills I notice you're missing are Crit Surge and Vigor. You'd survive a bit better with one or both of those. You should probably switch your mundus to Thief, especially if you start using crit surge. Thief is worth around 4 set bonuses of Crit, Warrior is worth around 1.5 set bonus of Weapon Damage.

I'm specced pretty similarly to you(Orc stamsorc, 5 heavy 2 medium, 2h/bow). I'm running with Clever Alch(I find it perfect for this build), Spriggan(thinking about switching to Viper) and Velidreth. I don't feel like I'm lacking burst, but you're right, fights that I'm not landing Dizzying Swings are a little rough.

murdomac101 · June 2017

out51d3r wrote: »

Dawnbreaker will help, alot.

The hard part of Stamsorc is definitely connecting your Wrecking Blow(though I prefer Dizzying Swing). Which monster set are you using? Something like Velidreth will give you some more burst(though shouldn't be entirely necessary when you're running Viper). You could also consider running Clever Alchemist.

A couple skills I notice you're missing are Crit Surge and Vigor. You'd survive a bit better with one or both of those. You should probably switch your mundus to Thief, especially if you start using crit surge. Thief is worth around 4 set bonuses of Crit, Warrior is worth around 1.5 set bonus of Weapon Damage.

I'm specced pretty similarly to you(Orc stamsorc, 5 heavy 2 medium, 2h/bow). I'm running with Clever Alch(I find it perfect for this build), Spriggan(thinking about switching to Viper) and Velidreth. I don't feel like I'm lacking burst, but you're right, fights that I'm not landing Dizzying Swings are a little rough.

hey, thanks for your reply and advice. that's helpful. I have CA in both heavy and light so I'll play around instead of shacklebreaker, only thing is I'll lose a chunk of stamina and stam recovery - and i already seem to run out fast! though I guess the extra health may work with dark deal to mitigate some of that issue. I do love CA set.

Well I've only been using one piece monster helm because i'm using 2hw/bow I can't get the five piece bonus if I were to use full monster helm. I have most of them so i've been playing around. Think it was Kr'agh. Any recommendations?

Yes hopefully dawnbreaker will add a nice touch. I need a few more points for vigor - nearly there. I've not tried crit surge but i could easily replace acid spray with it (AS was really just there as i had nothing better).

have you tried running dual wield, if so any thoughts on it?

out51d3r · June 2017

murdomac101 wrote: »

hey, thanks for your reply and advice. that's helpful. I have CA in both heavy and light so I'll play around instead of shacklebreaker, only thing is I'll lose a chunk of stamina and stam recovery - and i already seem to run out fast! though I guess the extra health may work with dark deal to mitigate some of that issue. I do love CA set.

Well I've only been using one piece monster helm because i'm using 2hw/bow I can't get the five piece bonus if I were to use full monster helm. I have most of them so i've been playing around. Think it was Kr'agh. Any recommendations?

Yes hopefully dawnbreaker will add a nice touch. I need a few more points for vigor - nearly there. I've not tried crit surge but i could easily replace acid spray with it (AS was really just there as i had nothing better).

have you tried running dual wield, if so any thoughts on it?

Basically, my playstyle is critrush in, burst, then streak out when necessary to reset the fight(low on health or stam, etc). Then I use Dark Deal to recover health/stam, and do it again. Clever Alchemist is -quite- good for that playstyle. Usually I'm using an Unstoppable potion with it.

If you start using Clever Alch, you put your 5th piece of it on your bow, and your 5th piece of viper on your 2h weapon. That'll allow you to run Clever+Viper+Monster. That's another reason I love Clever(all the extra hp it gives being another reason).

Kragh+Viper seems like a similar loadout to Spriggan+Veli, which I'm using, so I suspect it'd work. Viper+Veli isn't necessary, but I haven't tried it yet so it might be good enough to justify it.

Haven't tried dual wield. I've only been stamsorcing for a couple of weeks. 2h+bow feels quite successful so far though.

Chilly-McFreeze · June 2017

@out51d3r Do you think using rally, vigor and crit surge will leave enough bar space for everything necessary on 2h+bow? I already have a hard time to fit everything I need.

@murdomac101 If you run DW you will most likely need a proc set because the burst is kinda low compared to 2h. You will also miss an execute, a hard CC and a gap closer. Although I feel more comfortable using bloodthirst instead of dizzying swing bc of the mentioned problems to connect said swing.

Since you play an orc you might want to make use of that health recovery bonus. First thing that comes to mind is Troll King. Mix that in with e.g. Red Mountain and another set of your choice and you will have high survivability and good pressure.

Gap closer issue is a bit harder. You could go with Silver Leash but I find it kinda unreliably. Or you go DW+1h&s and use Invasion. It also functions as a stun.

If you enjoy 1h&s but miss the burst, Tremorscale would be an alternative. Shield works also nicely together with 2h for the utility and execute.

Or you could tackle your sustain and burst issues with wearing medium armor (don't know if you already do). If you find yourself being to squeezy, you can run Impregnable armor for high crit resistance. If you use heavy, reinforced chest and legs you get good resistance.

You may also want to take a look into the Strength of the Automaton set. It buffs nearly everything in your toolkit (expect poison attacks).

Vapirko · June 2017

Stam sorcs need to be a very agressive playstyle, you need to stay in people's faces and keep your heals up. Don't use critsuege for pvp. Use rally and time it for burst heals. Definite need vigor too. Use hurricane for pressure, and streak for an extra cc, and dd for resource sustain. I really like the 2H ulti. It's a fantastic execute. Requires some timing but rips people to shreds when done well and refills if you get the kill. And yes use dizzying swing not wrecking blow. You need all the cc you can get. Stam sorcs are kinda in a whatever place right now, so you have to work for your kills.

out51d3r · June 2017

Chilly-McFreeze wrote: »

@out51d3r Do you think using rally, vigor and crit surge will leave enough bar space for everything necessary on 2h+bow? I already have a hard time to fit everything I need.

I'm debating dropping crit surge, yeah. It does offer a fair amount of passive healing, but there's alot of overlap with Rally, and I prefer to have my mag available for streak/dark deal. I'd keep Vigor though, and probably run Crit Surge in it's place until I unlocked it.

Note: I'm basically running the @FENGRUSH Supernaut build. Because I'm only learning to play stamsorc, I've pretty much stuck with his build as he designed it. I figure when I feel confident enough with it, I'll consider tweaking it. It definitely works as is, the only things I'm considering doing are swapping Spriggan for Viper, and dropping Crit Surge for something else.

murdomac101 · June 2017

Thanks for all the advice guys. I replaced shacklebreaker with clever alchemist and it's given me an extra bit of oomf when I hit which is making up for WB being slow. I think I'll remorph it too so I have the cc from dizzy. Just need to level my skill lines a tiny bit more for a decent ultimate.

Lexxypwns · June 2017

SnB is extremely strong on Stam sorc, since you can slot trap and caltrops on overload bar and have hurricane you'll get excellent pressure. Reverb is a great CC and the defile has great synergy with your dots, if someone has trap and hurricane ticking on them and you reverb+DBoS it puts them so far on the defensive. Light attack+ransack+bash is reliable damage as well.

Metemsycosis · June 2017

The stam sorcs I don't mess with make use of quick cloak hurricane and caltrops. Make it hard to stand around you, and stand your ground ... If they wait for caltrops and hurricane to be at peak damage the gap closes are deadly. Add dawnbreaker for sure. Consider bleed damages. Stack those dots! They help finish. They add pressure. You have implosion and reverse slice. It's all very good together. My favorite opponents are good stam sorcs.