StamSorc vs MagSorc

Wightwind · September 2017

I am a new player to ESO and I am currently deciding between stamsorc and magsorc, can anyone help me out with which one is objectively better? And any advice for either build? Or somewhere that I can check for some advice on skills, gear, CP etc.

Betsararie · September 2017

Mag sorc is better overall in PvP, more options for playstyle and better survivability, they also can cast from a range.

dpencil1 · September 2017

AlcastHQ
Stam and Mag play very differently. Stam will be melee. Mag will be ranged. Many Stam characters have a similar kit, since most of the skills they use come from Weapon skill lines that are available to everyone. Mag Sorc can either be built for high burst via Haunting Curse, Endless Fury, Crystal Frags, or you can run a full pet build with the Volatile Familiar and Twilight Matriarch by your side. I main a Mag Sorc. So I'm kinda biased.

XxBradeyxX · September 2017

I made a magicka sorcerer and leveled him in three days.(Fastest I have ever leveled a toon) I played it for maybe 6 months and decided to race change to stam sorc. Played Stam sorc for maybe 1 and a half months then race changed back to magsorc. Honestly I feel like magsorc is all around the best class for the game. If you run the right gear for a pet build there is litterally nothing you cant do.

Vapirko · September 2017

Magsorc is all around best class but consider whether you like playing ranged or melee. Stam sorcs are also very good all around for both pve and pvp. @Alcast is a good general place to start for any class for PvE.

Wightwind · September 2017

Thanks for the assist everyone, Ive been playing magsorc and having lots of fun. I always prefer playing mages, and I literally have mained mages in every wow expac, in guild wars I mained elementalist and and every other inconsequential MMO that I have played I did so with a mage or mage like char, so I guess I will stick to this. Last question now is, is it worth it to race change to be a stamsorc? Away from altmer?

dpencil1 · September 2017

Look at the passives for Redguard or Orc and consider how much those passives are worth to you. No one else can answer that question but yourself.

Alcast · September 2017

@Wightwind

In my opinion it is easier to play magicka classes for new players. It is easier to understand and the playstyle is similar to other MMOs. You have access to huge shields and heals whereas as a Stamina setup it is quite tricky to heal yourself and you do not have any shields available.

Start with a Magicka Sorc and then you still can swap to a Stamina Sorcerer later on to also experience that.

Wightwind · September 2017

Thanks! How competitive/viable is magsorc vs stamsorc at endgame pve?

Wightwind · September 2017

And again thank you for all the replies guys really appreciate it!

Cybercore_Death · September 2017

MagSorc is pretty much the Jack of All Trades as it were.

Its good for getting into the game. Good for endgame PvE and also good for Vet content such as Dungeons, Trials and MA. You can also make a few changes and it will be a viable PvP asset to you as well.

I play as a MagDK (have done since i started) and really enjoy the play style but, as fun as it is to play, MagSorc has the higher damage and easier to manage rotations.

The hardest part you will find all in all is getting used to the rotation and weaving between skills. Once you master that you'll be golden no matter what you play as.

ADarklore · September 2017

I much prefer my StamSorc because of the variety of weaponry you can use. MagSorcs are stuck with staves, whereas StamSorcs have a variety of options which helps relieve long-term boredom IMO. When you play a game for several years, having options in builds is always better than being forced to use the same weapon, skills and rotation battle after battle after battle. Plus, having all that Stamina I can sprint or sneak for days.

FakeFox · September 2017

Wightwind wrote: »

Thanks! How competitive/viable is magsorc vs stamsorc at endgame pve?

Magicka in general is somewhat lackluster in PvE at the moment, however Magsorc can still be very strong. High range and survivability makes them very attractive to have in trial-groups even though Stamina has generally more DPS potential. You will have to play with pets though to do good DPS and they can be pretty annoying in my opinion.

Stamsorc currently has one of the highest DPS potentials, especially in AOE. Sustain and survivability is pretty nice as well. High resistances, deadly cloak and high movementspeed makes you take very low damage in general.

I personally find Stamsorc easier to play and more fun, but generally they are somewhat similar and the biggest difference is the range I think.

chris25602 · September 2017

I main a mag sorc and the last couple weeks i have been working on a stam sorc. So far playing as a stam sorc I feel like kitey mckiteface. I started my stam sorc bc I wanted to be able to run 2, 5 piece armor sets and a monster set which is pretty much off the menu for mag sorcs. So far I don't have the gear setup to really do an apple to apple comparison.

Wightwind · September 2017

chris25602 wrote: »

I main a mag sorc and the last couple weeks i have been working on a stam sorc. So far playing as a stam sorc I feel like kitey mckiteface. I started my stam sorc bc I wanted to be able to run 2, 5 piece armor sets and a monster set which is pretty much off the menu for mag sorcs. So far I don't have the gear setup to really do an apple to apple comparison.

Did you make a new character as a stamsorc? or just turned your magsorc into a stam one?

Bobby_V_Rockit · September 2017

I mained a stam sorc for 2 years, and jumped over to mag sorc this week (on same toon, just respecced) . Its a lot of fun and very different from stamina

chris25602 · September 2017

Wightwind wrote: »

chris25602 wrote: »

I main a mag sorc and the last couple weeks i have been working on a stam sorc. So far playing as a stam sorc I feel like kitey mckiteface. I started my stam sorc bc I wanted to be able to run 2, 5 piece armor sets and a monster set which is pretty much off the menu for mag sorcs. So far I don't have the gear setup to really do an apple to apple comparison.

Did you make a new character as a stamsorc? or just turned your magsorc into a stam one?

I just leveled a new character...my mag sorc is a dunmer and i wanted an orc for my stam sorc

Morgul667 · September 2017

Stamsorc orc is great

Lots of fun

mocap · September 2017

Its all about Surge and its crazy heals. 4600+ hp every second for 33 seconds, just lol, no other class have that, not even close. Hell, not even far!

So i can't just jump from my Magplar to stamina version, cuz dat Jabs wont heal, resto staff is off and Vigor... i don't think thats enough for solo game.

Nogawd · September 2017

I have been using an altered Stam Sorc based off of an @Alcast build (Rage) and I love it. Fun damage and great survivability. Huge change up from my templar healer and sneaky nightblade.

Morvane · September 2017

I mained sorcerer from start gasme in 2014 and rly understand talks about how boring staff playstyle may be
Now have some problems with stamsorcs too because of nerfs etc. What setups, guys, u running now for stam sorc pvp?

Cybercore_Death · September 2017

Nogawd wrote: »

I have been using an altered Stam Sorc based off of an @Alcast build (Rage) and I love it. Fun damage and great survivability. Huge change up from my templar healer and sneaky nightblade.

Would you mind running through what you did different to @Alcast ?

I'm partially following as well. The things i do different are using 2 heavy Valkyn and 5 medium for armor (using Hundings and Spriggans).

Wightwind · September 2017

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

Nogawd wrote: »

I have been using an altered Stam Sorc based off of an @Alcast build (Rage) and I love it. Fun damage and great survivability. Huge change up from my templar healer and sneaky nightblade.

Would you mind running through what you did different to @Alcast ?

I'm partially following as well. The things i do different are using 2 heavy Valkyn and 5 medium for armor (using Hundings and Spriggans).

You guys doing dual wield or 2h stamsorc?

Cybercore_Death · September 2017

Wightwind wrote: »

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

Nogawd wrote: »

I have been using an altered Stam Sorc based off of an @Alcast build (Rage) and I love it. Fun damage and great survivability. Huge change up from my templar healer and sneaky nightblade.

Would you mind running through what you did different to @Alcast ?

I'm partially following as well. The things i do different are using 2 heavy Valkyn and 5 medium for armor (using Hundings and Spriggans).

You guys doing dual wield or 2h stamsorc?

Foorgot to add that part, sorry. I'm using DW but with 2 daggers instead of dagger / axe

Wightwind · September 2017

what is the difference between 2h and dw? (besides the abilities you use of course). On another note, Im looking to make a redguard, what stamina class would be arguably the strongest? How powerful are wardens at the moment?

Cybercore_Death · September 2017

Wightwind wrote: »

what is the difference between 2h and dw? (besides the abilities you use of course). On another note, Im looking to make a redguard, what stamina class would be arguably the strongest? How powerful are wardens at the moment?

To quote @Asardes they use 2H on their StamDK build for the following reasons:

- rally, gives me major brutality and a burst heal without using expensive potions.
- brawler, gives a shield and some AoE.
- reverse slice, gives an execute and a good AoE on trash mobs, especially on boss adds.
- forceful passive, the reason given was linked to an sDK move so not sure if it would work well with an sSorc move but i imagine it might.
- battle rush passive, gives some nice sustain if your base recovery is high enough.

As for Redguard vs Khajiit is basically better sustain vs higher crit, from my understanding. I'm sure someone will be able to clarify this a little further for you though.

Wardens could be an options as i'm hearing more and more good things about their versatility of recent.

Asardes · September 2017

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

Wightwind wrote: »

what is the difference between 2h and dw? (besides the abilities you use of course). On another note, Im looking to make a redguard, what stamina class would be arguably the strongest? How powerful are wardens at the moment?

To quote @Asardes they use 2H on their StamDK build for the following reasons:

- rally, gives me major brutality and a burst heal without using expensive potions.
- brawler, gives a shield and some AoE.
- reverse slice, gives an execute and a good AoE on trash mobs, especially on boss adds.
- forceful passive, the reason given was linked to an sDK move so not sure if it would work well with an sSorc move but i imagine it might.
- battle rush passive, gives some nice sustain if your base recovery is high enough.

As for Redguard vs Khajiit is basically better sustain vs higher crit, from my understanding. I'm sure someone will be able to clarify this a little further for you though.

Wardens could be an options as i'm hearing more and more good things about their versatility of recent.

I was talking mainly about solo play, more specifically vMA in that comment.

Actually that's true for 3/5 stamina classes, except Stam NB and Stam Sorcerer. Why? Because:
- stamina NB has both a hard execute (killer's blade) and two implicit self heals (leeching strikes and killer's blade)
- stamina Sorcerer has a strong self heal (critical surge) and a weak, RNG based execute (implosion passive)
- both classes have access to major brutality trough class skills that give other bonuses, Critical Surge and Power Extraction respectively

The only reason I can think of running 2H on sorcerer is to use it with the other morph of Cleave, Carve, to build up ultimate very fast, then use a cheap ultimate like Flawless Dawnbreaker to activate the buff from the War Machine set when playing in groups. Sorcerer's don't have a cheap class ultimate that is viable on stamina builds, but can use that because they have 15% cost reduction from Power Stone passive. Stamina Templars and NBs both have access to even cheaper class ultimates, Crescent Sweep and Incapacitating Strike respectively, and have ways to build up ultimate fast, so that set is viable on those classes too, regardless of weapon type used.

Cybercore_Death · September 2017

Asardes wrote: »

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

Wightwind wrote: »

what is the difference between 2h and dw? (besides the abilities you use of course). On another note, Im looking to make a redguard, what stamina class would be arguably the strongest? How powerful are wardens at the moment?

To quote @Asardes they use 2H on their StamDK build for the following reasons:

- rally, gives me major brutality and a burst heal without using expensive potions.
- brawler, gives a shield and some AoE.
- reverse slice, gives an execute and a good AoE on trash mobs, especially on boss adds.
- forceful passive, the reason given was linked to an sDK move so not sure if it would work well with an sSorc move but i imagine it might.
- battle rush passive, gives some nice sustain if your base recovery is high enough.

As for Redguard vs Khajiit is basically better sustain vs higher crit, from my understanding. I'm sure someone will be able to clarify this a little further for you though.

Wardens could be an options as i'm hearing more and more good things about their versatility of recent.

I was talking mainly about solo play, more specifically vMA in that comment.

Actually that's true for 3/5 stamina classes, except Stam NB and Stam Sorcerer. Why? Because:
- stamina NB has both a hard execute (killer's blade) and two implicit self heals (leeching strikes and killer's blade)
- stamina Sorcerer has a strong self heal (critical surge) and a weak, RNG based execute (implosion passive)
- both classes have access to major brutality trough class skills that give other bonuses, Critical Surge and Power Extraction respectively

The only reason I can think of running 2H on sorcerer is to use it with the other morph of Cleave, Carve, to build up ultimate very fast, then use a cheap ultimate like Flawless Dawnbreaker to activate the buff from the War Machine set when playing in groups. Sorcerer's don't have a cheap class ultimate that is viable on stamina builds, but can use that because they have 15% cost reduction from Power Stone passive. Stamina Templars and NBs both have access to even cheaper class ultimates, Crescent Sweep and Incapacitating Strike respectively, and have ways to build up ultimate fast, so that set is viable on those classes too, regardless of weapon type used.

Ah, my apologies for the misunderstanding with that.

Also, sorry for bringing you into the thread but i knew what you had to say would be valid for the thread and add to it well.

Asardes · September 2017

No problem with quoting me but do always bring the context with the comment. But again, for a beginner player a vMA capable build, with good sustain and simple rotation, not requiring expensive consumables will probably work best in any content, especially when running with randoms. I can solo most game world bosses, normal dungeons and some of the vet ones using my tried and tested vMA setups so they will get the job done. Of course optimizing for a guild trial team requires different sets used in tandem, using potions to make room for more DPS skills and unloading most of your sustain on the healers. But that's really complex stuff well outside the scope of this thread

Wightwind · September 2017

Im specifically looking for veteran trials and vMA builds for sorceror, anywhere besides alcast that I can go look?

Cybercore_Death · September 2017

Wightwind wrote: »

Im specifically looking for veteran trials and vMA builds for sorceror, anywhere besides alcast that I can go look?

There are a few good build videos on youtube and the like. The think to make sure when searching for them is to search for content posted within the last month to make sure its still relevant to the current patch.

I would recommend following Alcast builds though, just make sure they're HoTR approved.

There's a guy called Xynode on youtube who i've watched a few build vids for who seems to know what he's talking about too.