Need help making a powerful/effective DPS Sorcerer that doesn't die all the time.

Infi · April 2014

At the moment I'm level 9, Imperial Sorcerer using a Destruction Staff, with all my attribute points spent on Magika, literally none on Health or Stamina.

I've used a couple of skillpoints to gain and morph the Crystal Fragments skill from Dark Magic and I feel like it does miles better than the Storm Summoning skills.

I personally dislike the Summoning and CC roles and really just wanted to focus on DPS.

I'm really struggling to survive when soloing standard quests equal to my level, so I really must be doing something wrong to the point of considering starting again just to choose the High Elf race or going damage Templar instead.

Any helpful advice is most appreciated.

Paralyse · April 2014

Stock up on potions for your quickslot, and if you plan to solo level, pick skills and morphs that have a healing benefit. Morphed soul trap from world magic is awesome, cast it before something dies and you get a lot of magicka/health back + a filled soul gem. You have to learn to use your abilities to root, stun, and snare enemies (frost traps, fire knockback, shock interrupt, slows, etc) to give you time to kite enemies and nuke them without getting into melee range.

It is somewhat difficult but very rewarding when you master it as you can easily kill most things before they can even touch you.

If you want to cheese the quests, just wait on someone else to pull the mob, and then start DPSing, you will still get kill credit but the other player will be tanking.

Sarenia · April 2014

Well, one of those cruel facts of life is that the more damage you put out, the less defense you have.

You could use CC to manage attackers, but you said you hate CC.

You could use a pet to deflect aggro, but you said you hate summons.

That leaves you precisely where you'd expect to be -- fully focused on dishing out damage, with no fallbacks for protection.

Your options for protection are to equip heavy armor and shield, thus diminishing your damage, or rely on being in a group. Or hope that you can dish out enough damage before your enemies kill you.

ESO doesn't really seem designed for "treeing" like other games though, where you dedicate fully to a single role and can't do anything outside that role. You can do it, but it comes with the sort of price you'd expect -- lack of versatility.

You'll have more than enough skill points to grab a summon for deflecting aggro, and a CC skill, and still have 3 hotbar buttons and an ultimate left for full damage spells. It's unlikely that you need 5 hotbars dedicated to nothing but dishing damage anyway.