Heavy Pet Magicka Sorcerer Build One Pet or Two?

Talyndor · November 2020

Hi.
So I am running a magicka sorcerer build. I was wondering whether people run two pets or one.
I ask b/c I like being able to slot my healing pet on some fights (and I am too damn lazy to pay to switch morphs all the time).
So..my question is whether I should stick with the twilight tormentor as my second pet.
Or keep my twilight maiden and slot it when necessary, and when not, run a 1 pet build.
What do you all think?
And what would be a good fifth skill to slot if I did choose a one pet build?
Thanks in advance.

WrathOfInnos · November 2020

I’d say stick with the Tormentor and just slot Surge + Ward for the fights where you need to self heal. Matriarch is really only needed if you’re going to be healing others a lot and can’t use a Restoration Staff. The Matriarch’s passive damage is half of the Tormentor’s.

zvavi · November 2020

I run only tormentor. Surge is a strong enough heal by itself and in the small chance I need some more defense ward is the answer, just like wrathofinnos suggested.

Matriach is great for off heal builds though, especially heavy attack builds where you have the resources to actually use it (my early days were off heal sorc with a heavy attack build)

Larcomar · November 2020

As others have said, crit surge + ward is all you should need. When i run a one bar heavy build, I always use two pets + maw. It's not bad. For fifth ability, the obvious one I guess is daedric prey to boost the pets but if you haven't already I'd think about getting a maelstrom shock staff (available on the very easy normal) and run WOE. It doesn't just give you more damage on heavies, it keeps crit surge ticking away even if you get stunned.

Zodiarkslayer · November 2020

If you are Solo only, i recommend 2 pets and the morphes you like. As the others already hinted the frontbar with daedric prey and hardened ward is a must though. So is backbar with crit surge and Wall of elements. You are limited to one more normal abillity per bar and one ultimate. Which is totally fine for me. But not everyone.

For a group setup its very different. The tormentor is the preferred dps option here. Alone. Volatile familiar has a delayed stun and will aggro, wich is something you are gonna hear an earful about from your tanks!
If you really want to aggro your tank, you take two pets storm attronach ultimate and maw of the infernal!

If you want to run both solo and group content the obvious conclusion is two pets with tormentor and familiar for solo, and then drop the Volatile Familiar when doing dungeons and trials.

Talyndor · November 2020

Thanks for the advice.
I actually have a Perfected VMA Lightning staff (as well as inferno)--I learned to farm VMA. So that is slotted on my backbar along with WOE.
I changed out to the tormentor pet, per everyone's advice, and slotted crit surge, which I am familiar with.
I'll run two pets for now; I am used to that set-up since it's what I ran VMA with (though with my healing pet rather than dps pet).