Hurtfan wrote: »

exeeter702 wrote: »

Too many long winded replies in here.

Slot mages fury
Slot meteor
Slot rune cage
Slot crystal frags

Cast in that order

Where a damage set.
Where a sustain set.

Sure, if you're fighting one person. What if you're fighting a big o ball of zerg?

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

My 2 Cents on Sorcs in PVP. First, I absolutely hate pets. I think they can be effective in certain scenarios, but I just dont like having to deal with them or the limited bar space they leave.

Gear:
On a sorc, I think you are best served by going for raw stats as your main focus. Magic is certainly your first priority, but I would get to at least 22-23k health in CP campaign and at least 15k stamina. The best raw stat set is of course shacklebreaker, which is why most people (certainly not all) run it.

Shackle is one of those sets you want on both bars, so unless running both weapons, it should just be armor or jewelry pieces. The real question is what to pair with shackle. You can single bar a damage set on your front bar, single bar a defensive set on your back bar, or run 5/5 at all times.

Damage: This would be a setup like 5 shackle, a monster set, and something like Spinner, sloads, calurrions, innate axiom on your front bar. These types of sets only need to be on your front bar, so it leaves a free spot on your back bar. The most common thing would be a willpower resto (bigger shields) or VMA resto (better regen if you run mutagen, which is quite strong).

Defense: This is the same idea but instead, you run a 5 pieces set on your back bar that only needs to be single barred. Obvious examples include Lich (better sustain) and Riposte (better defense, also helps group). Then on your front bar you could run something like a willpower Destro or an asylum Destro.

5/5. The other thing is to simply run both at all times. Because your base set is shackle, you can just craft weapons. Good sets you could par with might be Amber Plasm (great regen all around), 3 Ancient Grace 2 Willpower (stacking max magic), Necro (need some sort of pet, but again, max magic.

In all of these setups you get a monster set to go with it. Options include, 1 Domi + Grothdar (best for stats), Engine Guardian, (best resources and is considered a pet, also helps with kiting), Slime craw (best damage), and certainly a few others.

Other gear considerations. I like infused big pieces and impen small pieces, using tri stat glyphs on the big and magic on the small. Most will say that arcane is your best jewerly trait, but tri-stat is also really nice especially in no CP. I personally like 2 spell damage and 1 magic reduction, but the last one can be regen or a third damage glyph. I like a nirn front bar staff, either with poisons or oblivion damage, but infused shock is also very strong. Back bar I like infused with spell damage, but defending is also viable. Definitely go 5(light)/1/1 for the undaunted passives.

Bars:
I think the easiest way to setup a sorc is to have an offensive bar and a defensive bar.

Your offensive tool kit essentially includes: ForcePulse/Crushing Shock, Frags, Curse, Rune Cage, Mages Wrath/Endless Fury and for an ultimate Meteor or dawnbreaker of smiting. I prefer meteor for range, but dawnbreaker can be strong. A lot of people have dropped frags this patch, as the utility and damage have both been nerfed. I still like it, but it's certainly expendable. Alcast mentions dropping curse, but I think the delayed burst and the ability to counter nightblades makes it hard to drop. The goal is to prep a delayed damage burst, and then hard CC your opponent.

Your defensive toolkit has some flexibility, and this is where the bar crunch comes into play. First, you need a source of major sorcery. Options include potions, entropy and surge. I prefer surge for a few reasons (heal, out of combat buff, long duration, ability to run tri-stat or imov pots). Your shields. I prefer to run two. Hardened Ward and Harness magic, basically you cast these (in this order) every 6 seconds. Your Mobility. Your options include Streak/BOL (i Prefer BOL) and Boundless Storm. Boundless also gives resistance, but these are meaningless with shields up. I often dont run boundless, but If I had one more bar spot (or dropped frags, it would prob make the cut). Your flex. Usually, I slot mutagen hear. 2 shields are plenty, with a VMA resto its great sustain, and sorcs lack a good HOT. It also helps with AP gains. You could slot Dark Conversion hear. Honestly, I think you can get away from this, but if really trying to 1vX or in duels, its worth a spot. You could also slot mines for a kiting and that sort of thing or a third shield in Healing Ward. I have gone away from ward, it's just not reliable unless you are the only one around.

Your ultimate has three options in my mind. Resto Ult, great oh crap button, Psijic Ult, great passives and also a good oh crap button if used well, Overload, if you want more bar slots. In pure open world, I like an overload bar so I have room for mines, dark conversion, boundless, etc. You can also front bar overload and back bar one of the others if you want to use overload offensively.

Long rant, but the point is you have a fair amount of options. Work works well in one scenario might struggle in another. On my sorc, my front bar essentially never changes other than the ultimate. I do swap my back bar around, depending on content and how much support I have. I always run shackle and typically carry two offensive and two defensive options depending on content. I also carry half a dozen monster helm options, but usually end up with 1 Domi, 1 Grothdarr (stats) or 2 EG (sustain, especially in no CP).