Bow Build Medium Armor Sorcerer - Elemental Archer

Vaerth · April 2014

I am looking to make a Ranger style character with a large focus on my bow. I picked a sorcerer for my class because I have a love for Lightning as well as archery. I am thinking I will do 5 medium and 2 heavy for my armor and 3 bow skills and 2 storm calling skills on my bar with Soul Strike as the ultimate when I get it. Does anyone have any suggestions or advice for my build below? I was to burst DPS quick and burn down mobs fast rather than use very much CC. I will be a Vampire for a few reasons, including the bonus speed to stealth. My only concern with my current build is I have no defensive skills or heals. But I love the idea so far.

My plan was 1:2:1 for attributes

example: 10 Stamina / 20 Health / 10 Magicka

Actives (morphed):

Venom Arrow
Draining Shot
Focused Aim
Endless Fury
Crystal Fragments

I am open to switching out actives for Burst DPS. I think 3 bow skills 2 magic is good. Or two Bow skills DPS and two Magic DPS with one defensive, like Lightning form.

Svann · April 2014

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How will you handle your stats arrangement? I was thinking that a sorc with a bow would be difficult because you either gotta put points in stamina or your bow skill attacks will be weak.

Vaerth · April 2014

My plan was 1:2:1 for attributes

example: 10 Stamina / 20 Health / 10 Magicka

Actives (morphed):

Venom Arrow
Draining Shot
Focused Aim
Endless Fury
Crystal Fragments

I am open to switching out actives for Burst DPS. I think 3 bow skills 2 magic is good. Or two Bow skills DPS and two Magic DPS with one defensive, like Lightning form.

Vaerth · April 2014

Dang, not a single reply.

Ashbo · April 2014

I'm in the same boat as you. I have chosen a Sorcerer (high elf) and I was actually leveling with the class line of Storm Calling. I switched my gear to Medium Armor (5 pieces) and Light Armor (2 pieces) when I realized I wanted to use a bow with a lot of stamina. My attributes are: 20/10/20, so basically I am a hybrid spec between magicka and stamina. I find this very useful because I do not seem to run out of any resource, either from magicka or stamina. This may be something you are interested in.

*I am not sure of all the skill names off the top of my head so bare with me*

The skills I use are:

-Magelight (from the Mage Guild skill line) morphed into the skill that gives me 17% more critical. You may want to look into this because it really does help with my burst. This is up all the time- once you have it on, you do not need to worry about it.
-Arrow Barrage (from bow skill line) morphed into the skill that gives a bigger radius (not the flame spec). This is great for AoE damage, which I find is pretty vital in ESO.
-Silver Bolts (from fighter's guild skill line) morphed into the skill that hits several enemies. This also knocks down undead and daedric enemies! I love this because it really helps for my survivability.
-Daedric Curse (from daedric summoning skill line) morphed into the skill that has less time it is on the enemies and when it explodes it hits other enemies (it starts with a V). This is also another AoE, and works nicely with my other skills.
-My ultimate is Werewolf Transformation which I just use for fun. I will most likely be changing my ultimate to Dawnbreaker in the Fighter's guild.

As for my 5th skill I am not so sure. I have been having troubles with survivability, not having a cooldown and as a level 1 vet I foresee this being a problem.
I will either use Circle of Protection, Evasion (from medium armor)- which allows me a 15% chance of dodging I believe, or adding more AoE/Stun to my build with Trap Beast (in fighter's guild skill line).

At the moment, I am a very bursty class with a lot of AoE abilities and it is extremely fun.

I am looking for any change my build in any way, and I am up for suggestions.

RianaTheBosmer · April 2014

You max your pts in stamina and magicka. I too have a bow/sorc.

Ashbo · April 2014

I was thinking that. But with no points in health how do you feel when getting attacked? Do you notice your health drop a lot, or it's fine?

Do you have a cooldown in your build?

Vaerth · April 2014

Ashbo wrote: »

I'm in the same boat as you. I have chosen a Sorcerer (high elf) and I was actually leveling with the class line of Storm Calling. I switched my gear to Medium Armor (5 pieces) and Light Armor (2 pieces) when I realized I wanted to use a bow with a lot of stamina. My attributes are: 20/10/20, so basically I am a hybrid spec between magicka and stamina. I find this very useful because I do not seem to run out of any resource, either from magicka or stamina. This may be something you are interested in.

*I am not sure of all the skill names off the top of my head so bare with me*

The skills I use are:

-Magelight (from the Mage Guild skill line) morphed into the skill that gives me 17% more critical. You may want to look into this because it really does help with my burst. This is up all the time- once you have it on, you do not need to worry about it.
-Arrow Barrage (from bow skill line) morphed into the skill that gives a bigger radius (not the flame spec). This is great for AoE damage, which I find is pretty vital in ESO.
-Silver Bolts (from fighter's guild skill line) morphed into the skill that hits several enemies. This also knocks down undead and daedric enemies! I love this because it really helps for my survivability.
-Daedric Curse (from daedric summoning skill line) morphed into the skill that has less time it is on the enemies and when it explodes it hits other enemies (it starts with a V). This is also another AoE, and works nicely with my other skills.
-My ultimate is Werewolf Transformation which I just use for fun. I will most likely be changing my ultimate to Dawnbreaker in the Fighter's guild.

As for my 5th skill I am not so sure. I have been having troubles with survivability, not having a cooldown and as a level 1 vet I foresee this being a problem.
I will either use Circle of Protection, Evasion (from medium armor)- which allows me a 15% chance of dodging I believe, or adding more AoE/Stun to my build with Trap Beast (in fighter's guild skill line).

At the moment, I am a very bursty class with a lot of AoE abilities and it is extremely fun.

I am looking for any change my build in any way, and I am up for suggestions.

EXCELLENT information and an awesome build! Glad to see others trying out the hybrid Bow / mage build. I like to call them Arcane Archer / Elemental Archer

Dorgon · April 2014

Neverwinter Nights had Arcane Archers.
I have been running a bow sorcerer since the game came out, currently 39. I have swapped in pets and other skills trying to test and see what works. So far I have dropped the pets in order to make sure my pets wont break any CC I put down.

I did run with two bows and mixed in spells from all three class lines. I did drop one bow for a resto staff when the fights started getting harder and I faced more mobs at a time. For the bow I have poison arrow and magnum shot, next on the bar is rune prison for when I need to shut a mob down for 16 seconds. I have Lighting Splash and Daedric curse for the other spells. Storm Atronach is my Ultimate.

I have 5 medium and 2 light armor perked for the crit and weapon speed+ The light armor for cheaper spells. My second bar with the healing staff has 3 heals, silver bolts, and crystal shards. No idea how this will work out in VR levels but I will find out sooner or later. I put points evenly into health, stamina, and magika. Also Health+ food is your friend.

Ashbo · April 2014

I am a VR level, and I am noticing I need more of something. I feel my survivability will be completely gone once I go to my first VR map. Which is why I am trying to figure out what I could do to make my Mage/Archer better right now.

I am most likely going to be experimenting with cooldowns or AoE stuns. Hopefully this will give me the necessary skills I need to quest on VR maps.

Vaerth · April 2014

Ashbo wrote: »

I am a VR level, and I am noticing I need more of something. I feel my survivability will be completely gone once I go to my first VR map. Which is why I am trying to figure out what I could do to make my Mage/Archer better right now.

I am most likely going to be experimenting with cooldowns or AoE stuns. Hopefully this will give me the necessary skills I need to quest on VR maps.

5 medium 2 heavy all deckded with +health maybe? I am only at 35, so not sure it that is useful or not lol.

Ashbo · April 2014

I'm not sure if that would work, but I will try it.

Vaerth · April 2014

Perhaps more spell resist and HP on jewelry too?

I am doing (out of the 50 attribute points) 10/30/10 with two enchants for +stamina, 2 enchant for +magika, and 3 enchants for +health. Rings and necklace will be extra armor and spell resist.

7 armor slots, so 3 pieces with health, 2 with stamina, and 2 with magika seems to work for me so far with a hybrid build. My rings and necklace will be to help further my resistance to damage.

Ashbo · April 2014

Good idea about the spell resists, I will probably have my jewelry do that. I'll have set bonuses for my medium/light armor since my skills in crafting are decently high. I also have a friend that enchants for me. So I could be working on gear stuff to see if my build is actually successful in VR maps.

I'll let you all know, once I advance further into VR levels, haha.
Thanks guys~