LF Expert Advice - MagSorc Build & Rotation

Kaleidoscope · August 2018

Hi Experts,

I'm after some general build and rotation advice for my MagSorc. I'm sure this is a commonly asked question and there is no right or wrong answer, but i'll try to be as detailed as possible - the post might be long but please bear with me, your advice is needed.

This is my second ever toon and i'm at CP267 so far, loosely following the Alcast Mystic Build for PvE, Trials and Maelstrom.

I think my overall issue is I feel very squishy, need some adjustments to my current gear which I'll detail, but also my rotation and skills in general. My survivabilty in group dungeons is okay, I can hold my own but if there is no dedicated healer or tank, I'm screwed. I recently attempted Maelstrom and got my ass kicked. My DPS feels okay. Build is here:

Altmer Vampire MagSorc PvE
5pc Julianos in Light w/ Divines (Purple) - Max Mag Enchant
2pc Ilambris in Heavy w/ Impenetrable & Divines (Purple) - Max Health Enchant
5pc Mothers Sorrow in Light (Green Jewellery, Mag Recov Enchant, Purple MuckMinder Lightning Staff in Sharpened)
Lover Mundus Stone
Witchmothers Brew

Front Bar (Attack Bar) w/ Argonian Muckminder Mothers Sorrow Lightning Staff (Sharpened)
Force Pulse, Daedric Curse, Crystal Frags, Elemental Blockade, Liquid Lightning, Elemental Rage Ult

Back Bar (Support) w/ nothing special at the moment
Elemental Drain, Empowered Ward, Dark Conversion (emergency sustain), Boundless Storm, Critical Surge, Bat Swarm Ult

I have the passives in each of my skill lines and race passives (except passives that support or relate to pets), the vampire essentials such as recovery, undeath, resistance, all of the destoro passives, all light armour passives, both juggernaut passives from heavy armour and am master woodworking, provisioning and clothing.

Rotation feels sloppy but
Buffs > Elemental Drain > Bar Swap > Elemental Blockade > Liquid Lightning > Daedric Curse > Force Pulse/Light Attack x 3 > Crystal Frags (whenever it procs) and repeat - I will elemntal drain and x 2 heavy attacks if I am in need of magicka then repeat rotation.

I struggle to re-apply shields constantly, dont run a pet or Inner Light as you can see.

Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated if you managed to hang through this novel. Thanks!

Sparr0w · August 2018

There's no real rotation if you want 'expert advice' you just apply everything on cooldown/proc & use FP as a buffer skill.

I'd swap out the lightning staff for a fire staff, that should up DPS a bit.

Transmute your Ilambris from Inpen to divines/infused asap since nothing crits in PvE.

Personally I wouldn't be a vampire if Altmer since they already have the recovery, but it doesn't make too much of a difference.

My vMA bar is:

Frags, CS/FP, Ward, Inner Light, Aegis| Meteor (or destro/Atro)
Blockade, Curse, Liquid, Surge, Aegis | Destro/Atro/Suppression

Shields don't use your resistance so I find Storm to be a waste, however you can slot this rather than inner light.

Rotations an awkward one since Curse only does damage @ 3 and 12 seconds, so you want this to play out for the full duration.

Look at Novaris on youtube for the rotation, usually posts a detailed rotation towards the end of videos.

Morbash · August 2018

Practice, practice, practice.

Watch how others such as LZH or Alcast play their mag sorc.

And then once you think you've figured it out, practice some more.

At a certain point, PvE becomes all about memorizing through repetition. And for vMA especially, it's important to be able to react appropriately to specific situations without thinking too much. This comes with experience.

Sparr0w · August 2018

^ yep alcast usually lists basic rotations on his site, forgot about that. LZH and Andy are probably the ones to watch and learn from