Your magicka using skills, including shields, scale up and become more powerful the more magicka you have. So having max magicka makes your spells hit harder and you can cast more spells. Assuming you are using damage shields like Hardened Ward or Harness Magicka to defend yourself, you shouldn't need the extra points in health. If you are struggling with self-healing, you might look at Power Surge or the Twilight Matriarch.

With MagSorc, the biggest decision you have to make is pets or no pets. Pets can be fun, but also require management. I like the Twilight Matriarch for her powerful burst heals. When I take massive damage in vMA, I damage shield up and then heal with the Twilight.

For damage over time skills I use Wall of Elements from destro staff and Liquid Lightning. Being able to do constant damage over time to mobs and bosses while you attack with single target abilities and light/heavy attacks is crucial to getting good DPS.

If you want a big damage ultimate, its hard to beat the destro staff ultimate. For certain mob-heavy situations I like Negate as it stuns mobs and can give me a breather to do damage or heal without fighting enemies.

Those are some of the skills I find useful and why/how I use them.

Davor wrote: »

VaranisArano wrote: »

Your magicka using skills, including shields, scale up and become more powerful the more magicka you have. So having max magicka makes your spells hit harder and you can cast more spells.

I did not know that. That would explain why I am not hitting so "hard" or doing as much damage when I had max magika. I find my health going down as well so I think I will need to go back to max magika. Thank you for that.

I liked your other comments as well but this needed a big thank you, I didn't know I gimped myself for doing this.

Yeah, and stamina builds have the same thing with stamina using skills getting stronger from more stamina. There's only a few skills that scale with more health and those are mostly used by high-health tanks. Additionally, with Summerset your light attacks with staves will also get more powerful the more magicka you have.

If you want to do a hybrid mag/stam build, there is the Pelinal's Aptitude set which makes your weapon and spell damage equal. Most people using it build for weapon damage since its easier to acquire, and then their magicka and stamina based skills both benefit. That's viable for questing, PVP, and dungeons, but might struggle in trials groups.

Tasear wrote: »

Not actually sure, what your question is asking? Are asking us to share builds, skills or rotation? Is this for dps, tank or healer?

I am asking how you play your sorcerer. I am not really asking how to play because there is so many ways different people play. So instead of asking "what is best" or "what I should", I rather see what people use because they like it. Be it for fun, or because they think it's the strongest build or what ever reason.

Some people swear by pets. I have read where others say they can do just as good without pets. So that is why I am not asking for what is best, but what does a person use and why.

my sorc is a stamina orc sorc tank.
she uses beekeepers, green pact, and lord warden with the trusty sword and shield on both bars.
it sounds ridiculous and absurd but she is the most powerful tank i have ever built.
fun to play too!

everyone rolls their eyes when they see a stam orc sorc tank but they change their tune VERY quickly

redshirt_49 wrote: »

Julianos, Burning Spellweave, Ilambris. Destructive Clench, Blockade of Fire, Mage's Wrath, Inner Light, Liquid Lightning and Overload on front. Inner Light, Haunting Curse, Power Surge, Elemental Drain, Harness Magicka and Fiery Rage on backbar.

That skill loadout isn't set in stone though and will depend on the situation and the kind of group I'm running with. I don't need surge when I have a competent healer and not that many damage skills when in PvP for instance. I don't quite remember exactly what I have in my Overload bar just because I don't use it much, but it's a bunch of defensive stuff and stuns if I recall xD

What do you do when you don't have a healer in your group? Or is this combination for groups?

Davor wrote: »

ayu_fever wrote: »

my sorc is a stamina orc sorc tank.
she uses beekeepers, green pact, and lord warden with the trusty sword and shield on both bars.
it sounds ridiculous and absurd but she is the most powerful tank i have ever built.
fun to play too!

everyone rolls their eyes when they see a stam orc sorc tank but they change their tune VERY quickly

I love this. Now this is playing what you love. I love to read more comments like this.

I don't know what these spells do @ayu_fever . Can you please tell me how you use them. I will look up the explanations, but what order and when do you cast the spells?

orc sorc stam tank
0/14/50 attributes 13kmagicka/40khealth/28kstamina
2550 health recovery !!!!!!! (the most useless stat in the game becomes FUN!)
the lady mundus stone
24k spell resistance, 25k physical resistance (both increase by 5280 when hurricane is active, and another 3870 when lord warden procs to achieve the soft cap of 33100 for that 50% dmg mitigation)
food: cp150 health and stamina buff (braised rabbit with spring vegetables)

lord warden (helm medium infused, prismatic enchant. shoulders light magicka sturdy)
5pc beekeepers
5pc green pact
pants and chest infused prismatic enchant.
waist, gloves and boots sturdy, healthy enchant.
jewelry- all 3 pieces healthy. 1 health recovery, 2 shield play enchants
both swords infused crusher enchant
both shields nirnhoned prismatic enchant

front bar:
pierce armor
heroic slash
absorb magic
bound armaments
spiked bone shield
aggressive warhorn

back bar:
shielded assault
shattering prison
critical surge
bound armaments
hurricane
flawless dawnbreaker

the steed
56 ironclad
the lady
43 hardy
43 elemental defender
37 thick skinned
the lord
56 bastion
15 quick recovery
the tower
23 warlord
16 bashing focus
the lover
75 tenacity
43 healthy
the shadow
66 shadow ward
23 tumbling
4 befoul
the apprentice
43 blessed
the atronach
35 physical weapons expert
37 master at arms
23 shattering blows
the ritual
56 precise strikes
13 piercing
43 mighty

combat:
hurricane, crit surge FIRST then-
shield charge, taunt, bone shield, heavy attack, heroic slash, swap, heavy attack, replenish buffs and heavy attack as needed.
just keep as many going as possible

ayu_fever wrote: »

my sorc is a stamina orc sorc tank.
she uses beekeepers, green pact, and lord warden with the trusty sword and shield on both bars.
it sounds ridiculous and absurd but she is the most powerful tank i have ever built.
fun to play too!

everyone rolls their eyes when they see a stam orc sorc tank but they change their tune VERY quickly

Very interesting.

I went plague doctors and willows and warden on a nord tank...id love to see your numbers to compare. I got my health pretty high with insane regen.

62k mag sorc 4 pet build . If i can ever make a jewlery im going to make a five and six pet.
Cause its fun and i d ok nt ha e to mash as many buttons.

Engine guardian/ shadowrend
Necro
Lich
Will power 2h staff (prefer fire but only have lightning) on offense bar
Lich restro
Tri stat food

50k mag
23k health
15k stam

3k regen with lich proc
3k spell damage
42% crit

Davor wrote: »

redshirt_49 wrote: »

Julianos, Burning Spellweave, Ilambris. Destructive Clench, Blockade of Fire, Mage's Wrath, Inner Light, Liquid Lightning and Overload on front. Inner Light, Haunting Curse, Power Surge, Elemental Drain, Harness Magicka and Fiery Rage on backbar.

That skill loadout isn't set in stone though and will depend on the situation and the kind of group I'm running with. I don't need surge when I have a competent healer and not that many damage skills when in PvP for instance. I don't quite remember exactly what I have in my Overload bar just because I don't use it much, but it's a bunch of defensive stuff and stuns if I recall xD

What do you do when you don't have a healer in your group? Or is this combination for groups?

@Davor

This combination works for either situation. Thanks to surge, you'll always be healing since our spell crit is above 70 percent and aoes are down all the time. If incoming damage is higher than the heals can mitigate, I switch to overload bar and activate damage shields (the only reason why overload is slotted) I've run vMA often enough on that build.

redshirt_49 wrote: »

Davor wrote: »

redshirt_49 wrote: »

Julianos, Burning Spellweave, Ilambris. Destructive Clench, Blockade of Fire, Mage's Wrath, Inner Light, Liquid Lightning and Overload on front. Inner Light, Haunting Curse, Power Surge, Elemental Drain, Harness Magicka and Fiery Rage on backbar.

That skill loadout isn't set in stone though and will depend on the situation and the kind of group I'm running with. I don't need surge when I have a competent healer and not that many damage skills when in PvP for instance. I don't quite remember exactly what I have in my Overload bar just because I don't use it much, but it's a bunch of defensive stuff and stuns if I recall xD

What do you do when you don't have a healer in your group? Or is this combination for groups?

@Davor

This combination works for either situation. Thanks to surge, you'll always be healing since our spell crit is above 70 percent and aoes are down all the time. If incoming damage is higher than the heals can mitigate, I switch to overload bar and activate damage shields (the only reason why overload is slotted) I've run vMA often enough on that build.

Ah, now I see why surge is not working for me. I am not understanding how the game works. My critical is only 10%. Now I see I need to get it up way higher. So much to learn the game mechanics of what does what. I have been playing Skyrim way too long LOL.

If you want a self sustaining strong (both defense and offense) build for a mag sorc then will want the following, or close to it (yes it is a pet build) -

For gear you want to run 5x Necropotence for the magicka bonus with pets. The second 5x set can vary based on your liking. Good options are Mothers Sorrow, Burning Spellweave, Destructive Mage, Netchs Touch, Spider Cultist. If you have a VMA staff, you want to back bar that staff, if not, just make sure you have a staff from each one of your sets so you have 5x set bonus for each on both bars. You can run whichever monster set you desire (Zaan, Skoria, Grothdar, Illambries, etc.).

Front Bar
Twilight Matriarch
Volitile Familiar
Hardended Ward (more solo play) or Empowered Ward (more group play)
Destructive Clench
Daedric Prey
Charged Atro

Back Bar
Twilight Matriarch
Volitile Familiar
Liquid Lightning
Power Surge
Blockade of Storms
Destro Ult

Put 75 - 81 CP into Thaumaturge (when/if you get it); your dots will literally melt everything. The other CP you can really play around with a bit. Definitely pump some into Elfborn, and Elemental Expert, and Staff Expert as well though. If you want to know a full CP allocation just ask.

Simple rotation -
Back Bar
Power Surge, Light Attack, Liquid Lighting, Light Attack, Blockade of Storms (weapon swap animation cancel to front bar)
Front Bar
Daedric Prey, Light Attack, Volitile Familar, Light Attack, Destructive Clench, Heavy Attack, Heavy Attack, Weapon swap and repeat.

You should never run out of magicka, pop some pots as needed. You should easily hit 28-35k DPS with this easy rotation. With your max magicka pushing 50k, your shield will be very strong, and your volitile familiar will do insane damage (especially with enemies you have deadric prey on). It really does not get much easier than this... Your twilight will burst heal you for nearly all your health. If you die with this setup then you were doing something you really shouldn't have been doing (like standing in stupid without keeping your shield up). In the instances where you trust your healer, drop the Twilight Matriarch and slot either Bound Aegis or Inner Light for even more max magicka (bigger shield, more damage output). In the end, this is a pretty cookie cutter build for a pet sorc, and I am sure if you google search for a pet sorc build you will find many, many builds available online, most of which should be very similar to this.