Help, Input? My build

xiphactinus · July 2021

Hi, My current character is a no pet magsorc and whilst I'm doing ok with this I am just curious to find out if there is anything I need/could change, so here's my current build:

Magicka sorcerer lvl50 CP408

Head, Light, Mothers sorrow, Max Magicka, Divines, Gold
Chest, Heavy, Diamond's victory, Max Magicka, Divines, Purple
Shoulders, Light, Mothers sorrow, Max Magicka, Divines, Purple
Waist, Light, Diamond's victory, Max Magicka, Divines, Purple
Hands, Light, Mothers sorrow, Max Magicka, Divines, Purple
Legs, Light, Mothers sorrow, Max Magicka, Divines, gold

Neck, Necklace of the fire, Health recovery, Healthy, Purple
Ring 1, Ring of the vampire's cloak, Health recovery, Healthy, Purple
Ring 2, ring of a mothers sorrow, Magicka recovery, Arcane

Waiting to level up Jewellery so I can sort that out.

Main, Lightning staff of Diamond's victory, Deals 1177 shock damage, Defending, Purple
Main hand backup, Lightning staff of Diamond's victory, Deals 2098 shock damage, Sharpened, Purple

So I have two full sets of armour... Mother's sorrow and Diamond's victory? Worth changing?

Skills

Bar 1
Elemental drain
Critical surge
inner light
Structured entropy
Channeled acceleration

Bar 2

Boundless storm
Unstable wall
Crystal fragments
Mages wrath
Bound aegis

Ultimate on both bars is Greater storm atronach until I've finished levelling up the Mages guild so Meteor will be slotted eventually.

Stats unbuffed

Max magicka 28425 recovery 1111
Max health 19649 recovery 973
Max stam 12000 recovery 797

Spell damage 2901
Spell critical 32.1%
spell penetration 13847

Spell resistance 17020
Crit resistance 1320
Physical resistance 12664

Obviously I haven't finished this by a long shot and I like to tinker, With buffs I'm gaining 20% Spell critical, 5000+ Spell resistance and my spell damage rises to around 3250 (only spell buffs no potions). I used to have haunted curse and Hardened ward ward active but for some reason I lost spell damage and spell critical so I binned them. I play solo much of the time as I've found it challenging to find others to group up with so some of the content is completely locked out. I've joined a few guilds so hopefully that could change things.

Bar 1
Channeled acceleration
Elemental drain
Critical surge
Inner light
Structured entropy

Swap bar

Boundless storm
Elemental wall
Crystal fragments
Mages wrath

Almost all of my offensive skills are on the back bar so I can negate having to bar swap all the time, I try to rotate back to apply Entropy and rebuff but It's a 50/50 if I'm watching the counters, Usually trying not to get squished! I run through crystal fragments and wrath a couple of times then re apply storm and wall before bar swapping to re buff. Also I'll deploy atronach early on as soon as ultimate has recharged, Plus I'm weaving light attacks between every single skill (not very well but I'm getting there) And replenishing Magicka with heavy attacks when needed.

I'm still grinding out some of the crafting but It won't be long before I can craft what I need providing it can be crafted.

So am I on the right track or not? Any constructive advice/input would be greatly appreciated, thanks

tsaescishoeshiner · July 2021

Go buy blue or purple Mother's Sorrow jewelry pieces, and get a 2-piece monster set for your head and shoulders. There are a lot of veteran dungeons that you should have a good enough build to do with your CP, that gear, and those skills. The head piece comes from doing the dungeon on veteran mode, and the shoulder from unlocking it in a box from pledges (best to do with friends or guildies!)

I would put Elemental Wall on your backbar, and Entropy on your frontbar. Ele Wall will proc the enchant from the bar it's slotted on even if you switch bars, so it's like free enchant procs! Use it, then swap bars and you get weapon enchantments from two bars at once. Entropy on your frontbar gives you a 2% Max Magicka buff if you have the Mages Guild passives.

Also your front bar (with Mages Wrath and Crystal Frags) should have a spammable? To deal damage when you're done applying your DoTs. Force Shock is a good spammable. I'd also move Inner Light to your bar with your spammable and execute and Crystal Frags, then maybe move Boundless Storm to the back. You only really need Inner Light on one bar, as your backbar should be buffs and Dots, and your frontbar where you spend time using your spammable and execute.

Haunting Curse would probably deal more damage than Entropy, but there's pros and cons to both.

Avoid DLC dungeons with strangers until you're ready (they're hard, other dungeons are fine and pretty easy).

And please don't craft and upgrade jewelry. With current prices on PC NA, it costs 225,000 gold to upgrade ONE jewelry piece to purple, and then another 600,000 gold to upgrade it to gold. For EACH piece. Even if you farm your own resources, you're way better off selling those materials. By contrast, one purple Mother's Sorrow jewelry piece will be like 20k, and a gold one maybe 200k (purple is good enough).

Lastly, have fun!!

El_Borracho · July 2021

I'm assuming this is a PVE build as you don't run crit in PVP. You're missing Feet, so I'm guessing that is the last/5th piece of Diamond's Victory (I hope so). I happen to think Julianos is a better crafted set, but that's not really the issue here.

Get rid of the Way of Fire necklace and Vampires' Cloak ring. They do absolutely nothing for you as each require 2 pieces for the bonus. You're basically wearing 2 plain jewelry pieces with glyphs on them. Like @tsaescishoeshiner said, go buy some Mothers' Sorrow jewelry and get a monster set. Illambris is super easy to get and is a decent mag set. Grothdarr is also strong and easy to get.

If you don't want to run a group vet dungeon, then I would consider finding a combo from one set that gives you a crit boost for more damage. But in all honesty, ANY monster set is better than running 2 pieces of a 5 piece set, even Kragh from Fungal Grotto 1, the easiest dungeon in the game.

I would also strongly consider running Maelstrom Arena to get an inferno staff. Normal is not that hard and the non-perfected staff is only missing the penetration bonus. Plus, if you ever want perfected weapons, you will have to run it a bunch of times on normal to learn mechanics.

Last, I'd lose Mages Wrath. Its an underwhelming skill. Force Pulse or Elemental Weapon are better. If you plan on doing group content as a DD, get Mystic Orb. As for Ele Drain, its a good skill. Its also one I swap out from time to time with Boundless Storm when I am running solo content (like VMA) as its both offensive, defensive, and increases movement speed.

xiphactinus · July 2021

Thanks for the input! Much appreciated. Now I know this might not be standard logic? but when I'm looking at my skill/abilities and their respective timers I'm starting off on the front bar with channelled acceleration as it's on a 36s timer, then crit surge, ele drain which both last 23s so my back bar rotation which is offensive mostly gets 2/3 rotations before I need to go back to the front bar and rebuff, rinse and repeat. First skill on back bar is Entropy which is then the time guide on the back bar and I after two back bar rotations I swap bars to reapply my buffs After reading your post yesterday I promptly did Fungal grotto 1 which was a lot easier than I expected. I've reached arena 7 at Maelstrom normal but that poison is killing me, Not the enemies. So I guess then it's try the dungeons solo in normal, learn the mechanics and then give it a go in veteran! Got it!. As for Mages wrath, It's my executable and I only use it when the enemy is at low health and it's been pretty devastating against large targets and mobs so very reluctant to let it go, however I will slot either force pulse/ele weapon and try them out. Went and bought the remaining Mother's sorrow jewellery and enchanted the rings with extra spell damage and the neck with health regen, I lost a little health regen but my spell damage is around 3200 unbuffed now. Which leaves me two free slots to upgrade my armour pieces. Once I start my rotation my crit chance on the back bar reaches 51% and my damage is buffed so my spammable has been crystal shards as I've been getting over 20k damage per shot more often than not. Figuring all this stuff out can be a bit daunting for a new player for sure. Saying that though, I'm able to take on much more now and feel way more confident going into battle now than I did two weeks ago simply due to reading posts in here so it makes a hell of a difference. Again, Thanks for the responses! I'm definitely loving this game!

El_Borracho · July 2021

Nice. Its been a while since I ran my magsorc but I've felt that Frags does more damage than Wrath, but if it works for your rotation, go with it. As for what bar to put what skills, most people backbar a Maelstrom weapon. If you don't have one, backbar means the weapon you use less so that would be the one you put your DOTs and buffs on, like Channeled and Wall of Elements, leaving the frontbar for your spammables, other offensive skills that have a smaller cooldown time, and Inner Light.

If you want some sites that give a decent rundown on CP allotment, rotations, and why some skills over others, Alcast, Tamriel Foundry, and Dottz are all good. On YouTube there is a guy named Likos that has some very creative, albeit advanced damage builds. CP has the most to do with what skills cause the most damage, healing, shields, etc. Rotation is how you get the most out of that damage without draining all your resources. That is the hardest part of the game to manage and takes time. There is no magic bullet, build, set, or weapon that will cure all.

As for your health, most endgame DD builds (aka vet trials, vet DLC dungeons) do the min/max for attributes and use foods to boost health. I typically use a blue food that buffs health and magicka as I haven't run into sustain issues. But if you do have sustain issues, you can use Witchmother's Potent Brew. Even if you are not doing endgame content, I do recommend putting all your attributes into magicka and using food and the CP tree to boost health instead of attributes, sets, or glyphs. The reason why is your gear should be used to get buffs that you can't get through other sources, like spell damage, crit, and the proc damage from some sets.

And welcome to the hardest level in Maelstrom. Its all RNG with those flowers. Wait until vet when it gets super fun. Again, Alcast has a decent walkthrough, as does Joy's Guide. Don't worry about doing a Maelstrom-specific build on normal, you don't need it on normal.

One caveat I will give you about those build guides. They are the "meta" you constantly hear about. Some players treat them as gospel or the only "right" way to play. They are also meant for players who are doing primarily group veteran content, unless it says otherwise. Some require group resources like orbs and shards for sustain, i.e. necro builds. I feel they are more suggestions or guides that you can use as a base to then tweak to your playstyle. They are very helpful but don't feel like you are doing it "wrong" if you don't follow them to a tee.

It is a fun game. Glad you're enjoying it.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · July 2021

MS +DV are a fine combo for PVE until you get some trial gear. I would consider making room for either a 2 piece monster set or a Mythic item and a one piece monster set (most likley a crit piece). You have the room, as two of your jewelry pieces are useless.

I would limit your ring enchants to either Magic Regen or spell Damage. Only use as much Regen as you need, then the rest should be spell damage. Most end game PVE players go all Spell damage. Health regen is pretty useless for PVE IMO.

I really dont like your bar setup. I understand the desire to minimize bar swaps, but I highly suggest you get comfortable with a reasonable amount of swapping, even if its just once every ten seconds. Your skills are not unreasonable for a non pet sorc, of course I will point out that a pet is a lot of passive DPS and a reasonable amount of defense, especially if solo, because enemies will attack it. You are gimping yourself in PVE to not run at least one pet on a sorc.

At some point you will want a Maelstrom staff. This essentially requires you to back bar Blockade/unstable Wall. Skills like Inner light and Bound Aegis should be on the bar you plan to do most of your damage, as they are only there for passive buffs. Long buffs like Channeled acceleration, Crit Surge, Boundless storm, etc, should be on your off bar. It sort of seems like bar 2 is your main bar. You probably also want a shield (Hardened Ward). For sake of discussion I will use Bar 1 as main bar, bar 2 as back bar. Using just the skills you mentioned (maybe a few extra*):

Bar 1: Crystal Frags, Mages Wrath, Inner Light, Haunting Curse*, Ele Weapon/Force Pulse* (bound Aegis/Structured entropy if you don't want a separate spammable from frags), Attro/Meteor
Bar 2: Unstable Wall, Boundless Storm, Channeled Acceleration, Crit Surge, Flex (shield, Ele Drain if solo, etc), Storm Attro/Destro Ult.

This essentially only requires a bar swap for unstable Wall, which is good practice. You can alternate skills like BS, CA, CS, etc, every other swap or even every third swap. Otherwise, you can be on your front bar using curse on cooldown, Crystal frags as a spam (feel free to also add in something like force pulse and only cast frags when the proc), and switch to mages wrath once they hit 20%. Your inner light and maybe your bound Aegis if you chose to not run another DOT, will buff your damage bar. If you use potions that also give crit, you can drop inner light and keep bound aegis. If you want to go potion free, or use cheap potions, then drop Bound Aegis. Inner light on your front bar and keeping up crit surge will give you Major Prophecy and Major Sorcery, which are the two most important buffs.

Pure single target, just double bar Storm Atro for your ult. Meteor/ Destro Ult can be good options for certain fights. Most commonly for 4 man content, I front bar Atro and back bar destro ult. You really don't need meteor on a sorc, as destro ult is better AOE and easier to get.

WrathOfInnos · July 2021

DV + Sorrow is a great gear combination until you get trials sets. However, you need a way to proc the ranged bonus on DV frequently. The best method IMO is to use Elemental Weapon as your spammable, which means you need to be good at light attack weaving.

Also try double Inferno Staves, sorcerer does not have enough AoE skills to benefit from Lightning Staves.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · July 2021

El_Borracho wrote: »

I'm assuming this is a PVE build as you don't run crit in PVP. You're missing Feet, so I'm guessing that is the last/5th piece of Diamond's Victory (I hope so). I happen to think Julianos is a better crafted set, but that's not really the issue here.

Get rid of the Way of Fire necklace and Vampires' Cloak ring. They do absolutely nothing for you as each require 2 pieces for the bonus. You're basically wearing 2 plain jewelry pieces with glyphs on them. Like @tsaescishoeshiner said, go buy some Mothers' Sorrow jewelry and get a monster set. Illambris is super easy to get and is a decent mag set. Grothdarr is also strong and easy to get.

If you don't want to run a group vet dungeon, then I would consider finding a combo from one set that gives you a crit boost for more damage. But in all honesty, ANY monster set is better than running 2 pieces of a 5 piece set, even Kragh from Fungal Grotto 1, the easiest dungeon in the game.

I would also strongly consider running Maelstrom Arena to get an inferno staff. Normal is not that hard and the non-perfected staff is only missing the penetration bonus. Plus, if you ever want perfected weapons, you will have to run it a bunch of times on normal to learn mechanics.

Last, I'd lose Mages Wrath. Its an underwhelming skill. Force Pulse or Elemental Weapon are better. If you plan on doing group content as a DD, get Mystic Orb. As for Ele Drain, its a good skill. Its also one I swap out from time to time with Boundless Storm when I am running solo content (like VMA) as its both offensive, defensive, and increases movement speed.

Agree with almost all that. I really don't run non pet all that much, but I do think that if you dont have pets, its worth making room for mages wrath. It is the most underwhelming PVE execute in the game, but it is still powerful enough to make the bars of a non pet sorc. You really don't see it on pet sorcs.

The other thing worth discussing is what spam skill you plan to use. The best spam skill for a sorc from both a damage and bar space perspective is to simply hard cast Frags (or insta cast when it procs). Hard cast is a 0.8 second channel, so if your timing is good, you can cast it and weave it on a 1 sec global cooldown, just like any other spam skill. The major drawback is that it is very clunky if you need to bar swap off a hard cast frags. You cant do that within the timeframe of a one second global cooldown, so it also costs a bit of DPS if you need to swap off your hard cast frags.

The other option is a traditional spam skill like Elemental Weapon or Force pulse. If using one of those, you only cast frags when it procs. I think this is easier to do in practice, but on the extreme end of things, you are going to lose a few K DPS because you give up a bar slot that could be another DOT/Buff. This is how sorc was played pretty much across the board until a few patches ago. I suggest it as a way to learn, but that is up to you.

This also plays well to swap to PVP from a skill perspective (you would want different Gear), but the offensive playstyle is similar.

Front Bar: Crushing Shock (other morph of force pulse, less AOE DPS but with an interrupt)/ ele Weapon (either way, use a spam), Frags, Mages Wrath(or other morph, endless fury), Haunting Curse, Streak (for a stun, dont need the crit from IL in PVP), Meteor/Overload

Back Bar (now a resto staff or sword/sheild): Hardened ward, Harness Magic, Healing Ward (if using a resto), Boundless Storm, Crit Surge/Dark Conversion, Any defensive Ult or Negate.

Instead of being a buff/ DOT bar, your back bar becomes your defense bar. If getting attacked, stack shields. When you have an opening, try to line up a frags and a Curse (curse is delayed) for a burst. If you can burst below 20%, mages wrath should finish them off. Keep up your Boundless at all times for the armor, recast if you need a burst of speed.

ZOS_Kevin · July 2021

Some great suggestions here. Thanks everyone for helping @xiphactinus with possible build improvements!

xiphactinus · July 2021

Noted, thank you all. Will craft a couple of inferno staves and give them a go. I already have all of those skills unlocked so I just need to do some swapping about and get back to practising on my dummy. All my attributes are in magicka and I'm kinda inclined to agree regarding the health regen, When I do eventually get killed it's usually so much damage inflicted theres no coming back from it regardless how much regen I have/had. I'd rather do more damage. Made the grave error of attempting the undaunted darkshade caverns II pledge today and got my ass royally handed back to me, won't be doing that again...for a while anyway. I think I'll stick with storm atro on both bars as my ult simply because it causes a distraction and Mirri dies less, in turn I die less. You've all given me lots to think about. Yeah...the pets...everywhere I look flapping about looking ugly. Not my cup of tea regardless of how useful they are. Why couldn't they just make my goat super badass instead of those things, like a polymorph for your non combat pets. Would certainly make the non combat pets a lot funnier and useful. Anyway...Thanks again for all the help and advice.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · July 2021

xiphactinus wrote: »

Noted, thank you all. Will craft a couple of inferno staves and give them a go. I already have all of those skills unlocked so I just need to do some swapping about and get back to practising on my dummy. All my attributes are in magicka and I'm kinda inclined to agree regarding the health regen, When I do eventually get killed it's usually so much damage inflicted theres no coming back from it regardless how much regen I have/had. I'd rather do more damage. Made the grave error of attempting the undaunted darkshade caverns II pledge today and got my ass royally handed back to me, won't be doing that again...for a while anyway. I think I'll stick with storm atro on both bars as my ult simply because it causes a distraction and Mirri dies less, in turn I die less. You've all given me lots to think about. Yeah...the pets...everywhere I look flapping about looking ugly. Not my cup of tea regardless of how useful they are. Why couldn't they just make my goat super badass instead of those things, like a polymorph for your non combat pets. Would certainly make the non combat pets a lot funnier and useful. Anyway...Thanks again for all the help and advice.

@xiphactinus

When you are solo on a sorc, there are really two ways to survive in PVE. One is to slot the twilight matriarch, which is a very strong Burst Heal. The downside is that it takes two bar slots, and you may not want to play with a pet. It doesnt do much damage, but it will draw some aggro to keep things off of you. I only run twlight Matriarch in a handful of instances in Vet PVE, typically where I need to follow a mechanic that brings me away from my group/Healer.

The much better way IMO is the Crit Surge, Shield Combo. Sorcs have the best shield in the game with Hardened Ward. Crit Surge is extremely useful both for the Damage Buff and the heal on critical damage. In PVP, treat your shield like your health bar. ALWAYS keep it up.

In PVE, It can be more reactionary. Crit Surge is ALWAYS up, treat it as your most important buff. When you see your health bar move significantly from a big hit, simply cast your shield and keep on doing damage. Crit surge will top you off in a few seconds while your shield soaks up damage. If you are absolutely getting pounded on (say the tank dies), you can certainly spam your shield a few times. As long as you have some sort of DOT active, crit surge will keep healing. *Remember, that block with a shield up doesnt mitigate extra damage, it simply drains your stamina. Only block on a sorc when your shields are down, and if you find your self blocking, your next move is to get your shield up.

Another burst heal option is Dark Conversion, but it really is more of a PVP tool

Once you get into group content, you may not need either of those skills depending on your healer (dropping both gives room for a pet), but when learning or solo, that is the best move. This alone is why most people say sorcs are best for solo arenas.

I do understand your loathing of pets. In PVP, I never use them. In PVE, I do use them in group content. They are just too much damage to leave on the table. If you arent playing Veteran content, you don't need to touch them if you don't want to.

And Yes, unless doing a heavy attack build, Fire staffs are simply more damage.

xiphactinus · July 2021

Thanks for the advice, I tried out a new bar set up last night and took to a public dungeon just to get a feel for it. Feels like I'm doing way more damage. Elemental weapon along with Mages wrath has been devastating on the battlefield. Since changing a few things over and around on my bar I swear I'm doing considerably more damage now than before. I'm cocky as hell until I reach a necromancing world boss who throws everything at me. My survivability is fairly poor though so I'm going to have to drop something and slot Hardened ward again and try that. I never use shields or block

, so now I'm running this:

Front bar
Crystal frags\Mages wrath/Inner light/Elemental weapon/Bound aegis

Back bar
Unstable wall/Boundless storm/Channelled acceleration/critical surge/Elemental drain

Storm atronach both bars ultimate

I'm definitely noticing a difference over all and I'm loving the range too. I need to up my game though for the dungeons, Even the undaunted pledges for the most part are off the table presently as I simply can't survive very long without a healer. I'll probably drop Bound aegis and try Hardened ward and go and throw throws stones at that necromancer again and see how I fair. Heading in a better direction for sure, I'm to go practice with a shield slotted now....probably die a lot.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · July 2021

xiphactinus wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, I tried out a new bar set up last night and took to a public dungeon just to get a feel for it. Feels like I'm doing way more damage. Elemental weapon along with Mages wrath has been devastating on the battlefield. Since changing a few things over and around on my bar I swear I'm doing considerably more damage now than before. I'm cocky as hell until I reach a necromancing world boss who throws everything at me. My survivability is fairly poor though so I'm going to have to drop something and slot Hardened ward again and try that. I never use shields or block , so now I'm running this:

Front bar
Crystal frags\Mages wrath/Inner light/Elemental weapon/Bound aegis

Back bar
Unstable wall/Boundless storm/Channelled acceleration/critical surge/Elemental drain

Storm atronach both bars ultimate

I'm definitely noticing a difference over all and I'm loving the range too. I need to up my game though for the dungeons, Even the undaunted pledges for the most part are off the table presently as I simply can't survive very long without a healer. I'll probably drop Bound aegis and try Hardened ward and go and throw throws stones at that necromancer again and see how I fair. Heading in a better direction for sure, I'm to go practice with a shield slotted now....probably die a lot.

Awesome! I like those bars SOOO much better. 100% not surprised your damage is going up. Now, you need to learn to stay alive. Haha.

You really can't play this game at a high level without using block or shield (and don't forget roll dodge). So start to figure out when to use what, or world bosses are going to be out of reach, as will some normal and pretty much all vet PVE content.

With that bar setup for solo content, I would drop Bound Aegis for your shield. A front bar shield is very handy when learning, and all BA is doing for you is giving you a bit more magic and Minor Resolve (you already said you dont block, so the extra block mitigation it also gives is worthless

). Sure its a bit more damage on paper, but dead DPS is no DPS.

A shield will be much more survivability than Minor Resolve, and you already get Major Resolve from Boundless Storm. I play a LOT of sorc, and almost never use Bound Aegis. The max magic is the only thing affecting damage, and inner light basically does the same thing (slightly less max magic) AND gives you Minor Prophecy. Minor Prophecy is more damage than a bit more magic, so unless running potions that give minor prophecy that you keep up 100%, inner light is better than BA in your situation. You really don't need both on your bar, and I assure you, you can comfortably Drop Bound Aegis from your bar. Dont focus on max stats, focus on results. Only time I focus on stats is when comparing one gear setup to another on the extreme end of things.

In any sort of group content, the only changes I would suggest would be to put Haunting curse in place of BA, and put your shield in place of elemental drain on your back bar. Ele drain is a great skill, especially when solo, but the breach will come from your tank, and most healers will either run Ele drain or give some other source of magicka steal or resources.

Haunting curse is a LOT of damage (as is daedric prey, the other morph, when running pets). It is a bit tricky to use. It's basically a delayed time bomb (two time bombs in the case of haunting curse). The real issue is that you cant recast early or the bomb wont go off. Most high end DPS rotations essentially use this skill as their cornerstone of their rotation. It is also the center piece of every burst combo in PVP. I wont say you have to use it (play however you want), but I would not overlook this skill. Even if the cursed enemy dies, the bomb will still go off and kill his buddies.

xiphactinus · July 2021

Hardened ward went on the front bar instead of Bound aegis and it's saved me a few times today already, Still need to sort my stupid fingers out and remember where everything is on the game pad. Won't take me long. I'm pretty happy with that! Soloed Elden root 1, Wayrest sewer 1, Fungal grotto 1 in one go, no death. I know they are the easier dungeons but It's a good way to learn what's what. I'm missing not having either Haunting curse or Entropy slotted but I might have a tinker about once I've got the hang of things. Did my first undaunted pledge too, so things are definitely moving in the right direction. Great tip about swapping out ele drain and Bound aegis when in a group, Duly noted! Losing that bit of magicka hasn't really registered as I'm heavy attacking off the back bar to replen quite often anyway. Much better experience now!

Oreyn_Bearclaw · July 2021

xiphactinus wrote: »

Hardened ward went on the front bar instead of Bound aegis and it's saved me a few times today already, Still need to sort my stupid fingers out and remember where everything is on the game pad. Won't take me long. I'm pretty happy with that! Soloed Elden root 1, Wayrest sewer 1, Fungal grotto 1 in one go, no death. I know they are the easier dungeons but It's a good way to learn what's what. I'm missing not having either Haunting curse or Entropy slotted but I might have a tinker about once I've got the hang of things. Did my first undaunted pledge too, so things are definitely moving in the right direction. Great tip about swapping out ele drain and Bound aegis when in a group, Duly noted! Losing that bit of magicka hasn't really registered as I'm heavy attacking off the back bar to replen quite often anyway. Much better experience now!

That is great to hear. Nothing wrong with Heavy Attacking for resources, but if really doing it a lot, consider switching a jewelry enchant to mag regen, and running food with a mag regen buff if you arent already. There are CP slottables that give magic (and stam) on enemy kills, and once you level undaunted, a passive that gives resources from using a synergy. You should be able to sustain a damage rotation without heavy attacking, but you start throwing shields in there for defense, and you probably will need to do it once in a while. If you are going to heavy attack, do it from the bar with Inner Light. It will hit harder.

The other buff to consider is Major Intellect (30% boost to mag regen). The only place to really get this is from magic potions. The cheap magic potions that drop all over the place will give this to you. Spell power potions, will give Major Intellect, Major Sorcery (you get from Crit surge), and Major Prophecy (you get from inner light). These are the three most important buffs to a Magic DPS, and your goal should be to have all 3 up 100% of the time.

At end game, most players simply spam spell power potions on cooldown, as its 3 birds with one stone. It helps with regen, and basically gives you two bar slots since you dont need IL or Crit Surge. Your bar setup now makes Spell Power Pots unnecessary, which is nice because spell pots are expensive, but you still probably want to be chugging the basic magic potions on cooldown while in combat, or at least close to it.

xiphactinus · July 2021

I think I'm getting mag regen from that potent mothers witchbrew? I'm doing ok with sustain, If I get carried away and forget to track what I'm using I get in trouble but that's only really against the end dungeon bosses/world bosses, Anything up to that level is pretty much dead before I run out of mag. My mag regen sits around 1350, I went all out on spell damage enchants on the jewellery and golded my staffs. I can remember trying my first dungeon the banished cells early on in my game and got a right kicking...repeatedly. I took my revenge last night testing my gear out, Cleared it easy. I've found a couple of world bosses that don't spawn many ads, which is helping as using a dummy is all well and good but it doesn't move or shoot back. I started using haunting curse, mages wrath, elemental weapon as my main offence and it's destroying stuff very quickly now. It's been a huge improvement all round, I haven't even finished upgrading my armour/enchants yet so I'll squeeze a bit more damage out there plus plenty of CP to allocate once earned to tweak a little. Now all the buttons/abilities are where they should be it won't be too long before my brain and fingers follow suit and get with the program. I'm slowly getting the recipes I need to make food as I've just maxed out provisioning this week. Finding the ability bar timers in options was a big help too as now I can see what is about to run out on the back bar and gives me clear indication when to swap bars. I'm not even sure if I want to try the veteran content but I just don't like the idea of being locked out of content I've paid for, If I think I can do it then maybe one day but I'm a long way off any of those shenanigans. Just being able to kick the odd world bosses ass solo is almost enough...I nearly had that damn cat in north elsweyr, had him down to barely anything but he pounced and I died. Dying isn't the point though, I'd have never managed to even get that far without everyone's and your advice. I'll get that cat one day!