A Sorc Build without Pets or Heavy Attacking?

Texecutioner187 · July 2023

I know it exists... but for the life of me I can't seem to find it. I currently use something along the lines of boundless, crit surge, liquid lightning, blockade, swap, weave force pulse and throw frags when ready, replacing force pulse with mages wrath when in execute range. This is more for single target DPS as opposed to AOE(which I'm not opposed to since this toon is more for achievements and not serious content)

Maybe this is just fine, but wanted to know what else was out there and what sort of sets/skills people used.

FrancisCrawford · July 2023

If it's not serious content, then have fun with it.

Even if you don't emphasize heavy attacks, Oakensoul 1-bar builds are generally more fun and more powerful in unserious content, because you'd prefer neither to chug expensive pots nor to spend a lot of time buffing. (And if you're solo you aren't getting buffed by teammates except for whatever little if anything your Companion gives you.)

Texecutioner187 · July 2023

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

If it's not serious content, then have fun with it.

Even if you don't emphasize heavy attacks, Oakensoul 1-bar builds are generally more fun and more powerful in unserious content, because you'd prefer neither to chug expensive pots nor to spend a lot of time buffing. (And if you're solo you aren't getting buffed by teammates except for whatever little if anything your Companion gives you.)

I was thinking something Oaken but I feel like I need my back bar AOE and buffs. I've been playing this game for what feels like somewhere in the realm of 8 years so I think I've gotten to accustomed to fully utilizing both bars. Especially with sorcs, I can't imagine keeping everything I might want on a single bar.

merpins · July 2023

For Magicka, you can probably manage it but with a bit of a DPS loss.
For Stamina, you can manage it next patch once we get that bound armaments change. Though it'd probably be more optimal to run just the familiar, since filling space might be difficult with so few skills to work with.

Texecutioner187 · July 2023

merpins wrote: »

For Magicka, you can probably manage it but with a bit of a DPS loss.
For Stamina, you can manage it next patch once we get that bound armaments change. Though it'd probably be more optimal to run just the familiar, since filling space might be difficult with so few skills to work with.

Yeah, that toon is purely casual. It's my main, has everything, would be happier if it wasn't a sorc but it is so I need to optimize it however I can and figured I'd experiment a bit. Honestly, I might just go back to False Gods/MS setup. I think right now I am using New Moon/Order Wrath just because I don't have to leave my home to complete the build 😂

Soarora · July 2023

I think stamsorc doesn't use pets currently, opting for a 2h/2h build I think? I haven't seen any magsorcs around so I don't know what they're up to.

My main is a stamsorc but uses bow/bow, just for overlanding shenanigans. Though, I find myself opting for a real DPS if I'm going to farm something.

jaws343 · July 2023

Texecutioner187 wrote: »

merpins wrote: »

For Magicka, you can probably manage it but with a bit of a DPS loss.
For Stamina, you can manage it next patch once we get that bound armaments change. Though it'd probably be more optimal to run just the familiar, since filling space might be difficult with so few skills to work with.

Yeah, that toon is purely casual. It's my main, has everything, would be happier if it wasn't a sorc but it is so I need to optimize it however I can and figured I'd experiment a bit. Honestly, I might just go back to False Gods/MS setup. I think right now I am using New Moon/Order Wrath just because I don't have to leave my home to complete the build 😂

Still rocking False God/MS on my solo two bar sorc build. Still a build capable of soloing most content.

Turtle_Bot · July 2023

If it's just for general content (overland, questing, normal dungeons/trials/arenas) you can run pretty much anything and do just fine.

If you're looking to do anything harder than that, sorcerer requires running either pets or a heavy attack build. It just doesn't keep up at all with the other classes outside of those 2 specific builds.

This is thanks to years of the devs forcing the classes entire power budget into the pet skills making it the only way to play the class on top of constantly nerfing any and all non-pet skills that randomly pop-up as strong (even if they just end up being niche).

It's gotten to the point that even stamina sorcerers are using pets in PvE since it's just objectively the best way to play sorcerer in any content with any real level of difficulty that's not high end PvP.

If you want to run a no-pet/no HA sorcerer in vet DLC (or harder) content, I'd personally just wait till ZOS decides to actually fix no-pet sorc (if they ever decide to do so) or just slot the pets + prey or a heavy attack build and run with those.

fred4 · July 2023

So what is your sorc for? Does everyone just talk about endgame group meta? IMO stamsorc excels at (tanky) solo play more than magplar or any other class, so that's what I do with mine. I've used my sorc for stickerbook farming, since it will (mechanics permitting) solo any normal dungeon, any vet hard mode non-DLC dungeon, any world boss, any Bastion Nymic, vMA, vVH, or anything else you want to throw at it. It even solos arena 1 of vBRP. Try that on other classes. I queue as a tank for dungeons and carry the group, if necessary. For what it's worth, my build is here:

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=478307

This isn't quite up to date. If you want to do really hard stuff, it pays to have still better sustain so I've actually switched to the Serpent mundus and I think I moved Leash to the front bar since it now taunts by default.

You might say this is a weapon skill build, not a class build. My retort to that is: No. Sorc has the class passives to buff weapon skills. Weapon-skill-based builds are it's domain. Spamming Brawler parses 27K on a trial dummy. On DK I parsed 18K just spamming Brawler. I admit, my comparison was unscientific as I didn't match sets and skills 100%, but I am sure that sorc's damage passives are notable nonetheless. Then there is Crit Surge. It synergises extremely well with the Brawler shield. Dark Deal sustains this playstyle where other classes falter or need to compromise on raw damage. I am also using the +20% health regen passive. This build survives an order of magnitude better than a Sweeps-spamming magplar while doing similar or better AOE damage and only less single-target damage. You want proof? OK:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuCXG3RRuxk