Lack of SHOCK Damage Sources – Feedback & Frustration

Asdara · April 16

I’ve been experimenting with lightning-themed builds lately, and honestly, I’m frustrated by how underdeveloped shock damage is across the game. Almost all shock sources are locked behind the Sorcerer’s Storm Calling skill line. Outside of Sorc, there’s basically nothing — just one skill from the Necromancer, and that’s about it. Pets don’t count, since they can’t proc anything relevant and add no synergy to a real shock-focused build.

What makes this more disappointing is how far behind shock damage falls compared to other elemental types. Fire and ice have way more sources, better gear support, stronger class integration, and even get significantly better treatment in Infinite Archive — where fire and ice avatars are boosted by 20%, while shock only gets 3% and no even an avatar transformation.

It's not balanced, and it's not evolving.

And with subclassing now officially on the table and major systemic changes coming, this is exactly the time to revisit neglected mechanics like shock damage. This is the moment to bring fresh options, spread damage types across classes, and give players new tools to explore builds that have never truly been viable. Shock builds could be something unique and exciting if they had more than just Sorcerer support. Right now, they’re a concept with no ecosystem.

Even within the Sorcerer class, things feel stagnant. I brought it up before, but the Sorc class set Monolith of Storms is the perfect example of missed potential. It doesn’t deepen the lightning identity, doesn’t feel meaningful to use, and brings nothing innovative to the table. It’s not empowering, not thematic, and ultimately not fun. This should’ve been the set that finally made a full lightning Sorcerer feel complete — but instead, it’s just more of nothing.

If there was ever a moment to address this, it’s now. With subclassing opening doors for new playstyles, there’s no excuse not to give shock damage the same attention fire and ice have received for years. There’s a huge opportunity to rework underused sets, introduce actual shock damage scaling, and let more classes tap into this elemental theme in a meaningful way.

Players want more than just raw numbers — we want identity, theme, synergy, and creative potential. Shock builds deserve to be more than a one-class gimmick. They deserve room to grow, especially now that the game's evolving.

Would love to know if anyone else’s been trying to make lightning work with subclasse— and hitting the same dead ends.

Asdara · April 16

SilverIce58 · April 16

I agree. From what ive seen Storm Calling is only used for utility, and its 3 damage skills are underutilized imo. Sorcs have lots of problems now with non-petsorcs basically being told "use pets or remove the line altogether" which why even roll a pure Sorc anymore if thats the case, and Dark Magic's Negate being a shoddy excuse for an ultimate. Shock definitely needs a boost damage wise, but the whole class needs some updating.

Asdara · April 17

Also lets add to that list :

-

SilverIce58 wrote: »

I agree. From what ive seen Storm Calling is only used for utility, and its 3 damage skills are underutilized imo. Sorcs have lots of problems now with non-petsorcs basically being told "use pets or remove the line altogether" which why even roll a pure Sorc anymore if thats the case, and Dark Magic's Negate being a shoddy excuse for an ultimate. Shock definitely needs a boost damage wise, but the whole class needs some updating.

Compared to other aoe from the same type "lighting splash" is also probably the worst, in term of scaling and dmg.

Soundinfinite · April 17

Add to it,

DragonKnights Passively Bump Flame Damage 5% and then have a debuff skill that buffs Flame Damage 6% for an 11% overall buff...

The new Warden Passive buffs Ice Damage 10%

And a sorc buffs shock damage 5% Meaning a shock build will always underperform the other two builds from the lines that offer those damage specialties....

Even more, if you roll an Elementalist build...as subclassing is supposed to be able to do, and the devs even advertised as an option in their LIVE....

Shock damage will always be your weakest damage component out of the gate...no matter if the Storm Calling line skills are made better. Unless at base all their damage is natively above other damage types...which in itself is imbalanced. Thus, you will always opt for more of the other damage types....

madmufffin · April 17

Soundinfinite wrote: »

Add to it,

DragonKnights Passively Bump Flame Damage 5% and then have a debuff skill that buffs Flame Damage 6% for an 11% overall buff...

The new Warden Passive buffs Ice Damage 10%

And a sorc buffs shock damage 5% Meaning a shock build will always underperform the other two builds from the lines that offer those damage specialties....

Even more, if you roll an Elementalist build...as subclassing is supposed to be able to do, and the devs even advertised as an option in their LIVE....

Shock damage will always be your weakest damage component out of the gate...no matter if the Storm Calling line skills are made better. Unless at base all their damage is natively above other damage types...which in itself is imbalanced. Thus, you will always opt for more of the other damage types....

I'm shocked I haven't considered an elementalist build yet, but given how unfun it is for your mag just on frostden, I imagine all 3 is gonna feel equally horrible

Turtle_Bot · April 17

madmufffin wrote: »

Soundinfinite wrote: »

Add to it,

DragonKnights Passively Bump Flame Damage 5% and then have a debuff skill that buffs Flame Damage 6% for an 11% overall buff...

The new Warden Passive buffs Ice Damage 10%

And a sorc buffs shock damage 5% Meaning a shock build will always underperform the other two builds from the lines that offer those damage specialties....

Even more, if you roll an Elementalist build...as subclassing is supposed to be able to do, and the devs even advertised as an option in their LIVE....

Shock damage will always be your weakest damage component out of the gate...no matter if the Storm Calling line skills are made better. Unless at base all their damage is natively above other damage types...which in itself is imbalanced. Thus, you will always opt for more of the other damage types....

I'm shocked I haven't considered an elementalist build yet, but given how unfun it is for your mag just on frostden, I imagine all 3 is gonna feel equally horrible

I've been looking into an elementalist build since day 1 of PTS (elementalist using shock, flame and frost spells is literally what my first character was supposed to be back when I started playing a decade ago). Unfortunately the elemental damage types are severely unbalanced in ESO and have been for this games entire life span.
- Shock damage options are either inherently too weak (lightning splash, mages fury) or simply don't have the same buff/debuff options that flame/frost has (5% compared to 11% or 10% respectively).
- Frost damage has some nice buffs now with the change to piercing cold passive and a couple of sets, but still lack strong options for active abilities.
- Flame damage has the best of both worlds, strong buff/debuff access and strong active abilities to make use of those buffs/debuffs.
This means that even though as an elementalist I should be utilizing all 3 elements equally and effectively, I basically become a pyro mage with maybe 1 or 2 frost/shock skills (mostly from world/weapon lines too...) slotted in to attempt to fill that identity.

It's not to say frost mage and shock mage cannot be built at all, but those 2 types rely so insanely heavily on their respective destro staves (morphing the staff skill damage types) and scribing skills to create even a basic build while flame damage gets to make an almost complete build just from DK alone + maybe 1 or 2 other skills.

ESO_Nightingale · April 17

Turtle_Bot wrote: »

madmufffin wrote: »

Soundinfinite wrote: »

Add to it,

DragonKnights Passively Bump Flame Damage 5% and then have a debuff skill that buffs Flame Damage 6% for an 11% overall buff...

The new Warden Passive buffs Ice Damage 10%

And a sorc buffs shock damage 5% Meaning a shock build will always underperform the other two builds from the lines that offer those damage specialties....

Even more, if you roll an Elementalist build...as subclassing is supposed to be able to do, and the devs even advertised as an option in their LIVE....

Shock damage will always be your weakest damage component out of the gate...no matter if the Storm Calling line skills are made better. Unless at base all their damage is natively above other damage types...which in itself is imbalanced. Thus, you will always opt for more of the other damage types....

I'm shocked I haven't considered an elementalist build yet, but given how unfun it is for your mag just on frostden, I imagine all 3 is gonna feel equally horrible

I've been looking into an elementalist build since day 1 of PTS (elementalist using shock, flame and frost spells is literally what my first character was supposed to be back when I started playing a decade ago). Unfortunately the elemental damage types are severely unbalanced in ESO and have been for this games entire life span.
- Shock damage options are either inherently too weak (lightning splash, mages fury) or simply don't have the same buff/debuff options that flame/frost has (5% compared to 11% or 10% respectively).
- Frost damage has some nice buffs now with the change to piercing cold passive and a couple of sets, but still lack strong options for active abilities.
- Flame damage has the best of both worlds, strong buff/debuff access and strong active abilities to make use of those buffs/debuffs.
This means that even though as an elementalist I should be utilizing all 3 elements equally and effectively, I basically become a pyro mage with maybe 1 or 2 frost/shock skills (mostly from world/weapon lines too...) slotted in to attempt to fill that identity.

It's not to say frost mage and shock mage cannot be built at all, but those 2 types rely so insanely heavily on their respective destro staves (morphing the staff skill damage types) and scribing skills to create even a basic build while flame damage gets to make an almost complete build just from DK alone + maybe 1 or 2 other skills.

Frost and shock mage builds both also lack something critical that would make them feel like proper builds. A delayed burst damage skill, and/or "payoff" skill that works with their kit. Flame damage builds had stalking blastbones before that was gutted and now have molten whip. You could argue that tentacular dread is the frost damage dealer delayed burst skill, but I've tried it and it is far too slow to act properly as one.

madmufffin · April 17

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Turtle_Bot wrote: »

madmufffin wrote: »

Soundinfinite wrote: »

Add to it,

DragonKnights Passively Bump Flame Damage 5% and then have a debuff skill that buffs Flame Damage 6% for an 11% overall buff...

The new Warden Passive buffs Ice Damage 10%

And a sorc buffs shock damage 5% Meaning a shock build will always underperform the other two builds from the lines that offer those damage specialties....

Even more, if you roll an Elementalist build...as subclassing is supposed to be able to do, and the devs even advertised as an option in their LIVE....

Shock damage will always be your weakest damage component out of the gate...no matter if the Storm Calling line skills are made better. Unless at base all their damage is natively above other damage types...which in itself is imbalanced. Thus, you will always opt for more of the other damage types....

I'm shocked I haven't considered an elementalist build yet, but given how unfun it is for your mag just on frostden, I imagine all 3 is gonna feel equally horrible

I've been looking into an elementalist build since day 1 of PTS (elementalist using shock, flame and frost spells is literally what my first character was supposed to be back when I started playing a decade ago). Unfortunately the elemental damage types are severely unbalanced in ESO and have been for this games entire life span.
- Shock damage options are either inherently too weak (lightning splash, mages fury) or simply don't have the same buff/debuff options that flame/frost has (5% compared to 11% or 10% respectively).
- Frost damage has some nice buffs now with the change to piercing cold passive and a couple of sets, but still lack strong options for active abilities.
- Flame damage has the best of both worlds, strong buff/debuff access and strong active abilities to make use of those buffs/debuffs.
This means that even though as an elementalist I should be utilizing all 3 elements equally and effectively, I basically become a pyro mage with maybe 1 or 2 frost/shock skills (mostly from world/weapon lines too...) slotted in to attempt to fill that identity.

It's not to say frost mage and shock mage cannot be built at all, but those 2 types rely so insanely heavily on their respective destro staves (morphing the staff skill damage types) and scribing skills to create even a basic build while flame damage gets to make an almost complete build just from DK alone + maybe 1 or 2 other skills.

Frost and shock mage builds both also lack something critical that would make them feel like proper builds. A delayed burst damage skill, and/or "payoff" skill that works with their kit. Flame damage builds had stalking blastbones before that was gutted and now have molten whip. You could argue that tentacular dread is the frost damage dealer delayed burst skill, but I've tried it and it is far too slow to act properly as one.

Shock has an aoe that's not used because its other morph is better, the worst execute in the game, and an aoe that's comparable to some other elemental aoes but is less buffed by passives and gives the worst of the 3 status effects. It also has next to no other class options which the others all do.

ForumBully · April 17

Shock abilities are pretty dull. Hopefully subclassing is a chance to make them interesting without worrying about the disrupting the power budget of one class

ESO_Nightingale · April 17

madmufffin wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Turtle_Bot wrote: »

madmufffin wrote: »

Soundinfinite wrote: »

Add to it,

DragonKnights Passively Bump Flame Damage 5% and then have a debuff skill that buffs Flame Damage 6% for an 11% overall buff...

The new Warden Passive buffs Ice Damage 10%

And a sorc buffs shock damage 5% Meaning a shock build will always underperform the other two builds from the lines that offer those damage specialties....

Even more, if you roll an Elementalist build...as subclassing is supposed to be able to do, and the devs even advertised as an option in their LIVE....

Shock damage will always be your weakest damage component out of the gate...no matter if the Storm Calling line skills are made better. Unless at base all their damage is natively above other damage types...which in itself is imbalanced. Thus, you will always opt for more of the other damage types....

I'm shocked I haven't considered an elementalist build yet, but given how unfun it is for your mag just on frostden, I imagine all 3 is gonna feel equally horrible

I've been looking into an elementalist build since day 1 of PTS (elementalist using shock, flame and frost spells is literally what my first character was supposed to be back when I started playing a decade ago). Unfortunately the elemental damage types are severely unbalanced in ESO and have been for this games entire life span.
- Shock damage options are either inherently too weak (lightning splash, mages fury) or simply don't have the same buff/debuff options that flame/frost has (5% compared to 11% or 10% respectively).
- Frost damage has some nice buffs now with the change to piercing cold passive and a couple of sets, but still lack strong options for active abilities.
- Flame damage has the best of both worlds, strong buff/debuff access and strong active abilities to make use of those buffs/debuffs.
This means that even though as an elementalist I should be utilizing all 3 elements equally and effectively, I basically become a pyro mage with maybe 1 or 2 frost/shock skills (mostly from world/weapon lines too...) slotted in to attempt to fill that identity.

It's not to say frost mage and shock mage cannot be built at all, but those 2 types rely so insanely heavily on their respective destro staves (morphing the staff skill damage types) and scribing skills to create even a basic build while flame damage gets to make an almost complete build just from DK alone + maybe 1 or 2 other skills.

Frost and shock mage builds both also lack something critical that would make them feel like proper builds. A delayed burst damage skill, and/or "payoff" skill that works with their kit. Flame damage builds had stalking blastbones before that was gutted and now have molten whip. You could argue that tentacular dread is the frost damage dealer delayed burst skill, but I've tried it and it is far too slow to act properly as one.

Shock has an aoe that's not used because its other morph is better, the worst execute in the game, and an aoe that's comparable to some other elemental aoes but is less buffed by passives and gives the worst of the 3 status effects. It also has next to no other class options which the others all do.

Yeah theres a lot that should change about storm calling, thats for sure.

Turtle_Bot · April 17

ForumBully wrote: »

Shock abilities are pretty dull. Hopefully subclassing is a chance to make them interesting without worrying about the disrupting the power budget of one class

I want to hope that ZOS will come through on this, but seeing how they handled:
1. the class set for Storm Calling (by making a set that procs off abysmally weak/buggy back bar abilities while needing to be slotted front bar (or double bar) to maintain its proc)
2. shock damage for scribing (that is still lagging behind even frost damage now)
3. other support for shock damage (percent bonuses, status effect power, sets, etc.)
4. buffs to this line in the past (liquid lightning only getting a radius increase despite being one of the worst DoTs in the game, lightning form and morphs not getting a radius increase to match the new melee attack range, the still unfixed bugs with overload, fury still being the worst execute in the game, etc.)

I really just don't have any faith left that ZOS will actually follow through on any meaningful buffs/reworks to this skill line, especially on the skills that actually need those buffs. I would love to be proven wrong, but there's just no precedent to show that they actually will do this.

It's not like it's hard to make the abilities actually decent either:
- Lightning Splash - Have enemies hit by it take increased shock damage, make the synergy inflict a shock damage DoT on enemies hit by the synergy, with 1 morph self-activatable.
- Lightning Form - Increase the base radius to 7m to match the increased melee attack range.
- Mages Fury - Make 1 morph a traditional scaling execute instead of a delayed proc
- Overload - Fix the bugs and/or make 1 morph into a different ability that works like a single target DB or other traditional "low cost" ultimate.
- Energized - have this grant some sort of buff to concussed status effect similar to how DK buffs burning, warden buffs chilled or the pets have stronger forms of concussed.

madmufffin · April 17

Turtle_Bot wrote: »

ForumBully wrote: »

Shock abilities are pretty dull. Hopefully subclassing is a chance to make them interesting without worrying about the disrupting the power budget of one class

I want to hope that ZOS will come through on this, but seeing how they handled:
1. the class set for Storm Calling (by making a set that procs off abysmally weak/buggy back bar abilities while needing to be slotted front bar (or double bar) to maintain its proc)
2. shock damage for scribing (that is still lagging behind even frost damage now)
3. other support for shock damage (percent bonuses, status effect power, sets, etc.)
4. buffs to this line in the past (liquid lightning only getting a radius increase despite being one of the worst DoTs in the game, lightning form and morphs not getting a radius increase to match the new melee attack range, the still unfixed bugs with overload, fury still being the worst execute in the game, etc.)

I really just don't have any faith left that ZOS will actually follow through on any meaningful buffs/reworks to this skill line, especially on the skills that actually need those buffs. I would love to be proven wrong, but there's just no precedent to show that they actually will do this.

It's not like it's hard to make the abilities actually decent either:
- Lightning Splash - Have enemies hit by it take increased shock damage, make the synergy inflict a shock damage DoT on enemies hit by the synergy, with 1 morph self-activatable.
- Lightning Form - Increase the base radius to 7m to match the increased melee attack range.
- Mages Fury - Make 1 morph a traditional scaling execute instead of a delayed proc
- Overload - Fix the bugs and/or make 1 morph into a different ability that works like a single target DB or other traditional "low cost" ultimate.
- Energized - have this grant some sort of buff to concussed status effect similar to how DK buffs burning, warden buffs chilled or the pets have stronger forms of concussed.

For lightning flood, I'd be happy if they just started by making the cast animation not absolutely horrific. Half the time it just doesn't go off because of the animation canceling.

Asdara · April 17

Turtle_Bot wrote: »

ForumBully wrote: »

Shock abilities are pretty dull. Hopefully subclassing is a chance to make them interesting without worrying about the disrupting the power budget of one class

I want to hope that ZOS will come through on this, but seeing how they handled:
1. the class set for Storm Calling (by making a set that procs off abysmally weak/buggy back bar abilities while needing to be slotted front bar (or double bar) to maintain its proc)
2. shock damage for scribing (that is still lagging behind even frost damage now)
3. other support for shock damage (percent bonuses, status effect power, sets, etc.)
4. buffs to this line in the past (liquid lightning only getting a radius increase despite being one of the worst DoTs in the game, lightning form and morphs not getting a radius increase to match the new melee attack range, the still unfixed bugs with overload, fury still being the worst execute in the game, etc.)

I really just don't have any faith left that ZOS will actually follow through on any meaningful buffs/reworks to this skill line, especially on the skills that actually need those buffs. I would love to be proven wrong, but there's just no precedent to show that they actually will do this.

It's not like it's hard to make the abilities actually decent either:
- Lightning Splash - Have enemies hit by it take increased shock damage, make the synergy inflict a shock damage DoT on enemies hit by the synergy, with 1 morph self-activatable.
- Lightning Form - Increase the base radius to 7m to match the increased melee attack range.
- Mages Fury - Make 1 morph a traditional scaling execute instead of a delayed proc
- Overload - Fix the bugs and/or make 1 morph into a different ability that works like a single target DB or other traditional "low cost" ultimate.
- Energized - have this grant some sort of buff to concussed status effect similar to how DK buffs burning, warden buffs chilled or the pets have stronger forms of concussed.

I really like the solutions you describe, it’s simple to put in place and would change suck for the better in a durable way !

@ZOS_Kevin Can you make sure this post reach the proper devs, this feedback need to be seen by the right people at zos, I’m begging !

xylena_lazarow · April 17

Never understood why there's so much "Magic" damage in the game that could be something more thematic, especially for iconic skills like Warden Shalks, or skills with names like "Burning Light" that don't do fire damage, no you can't use "Magic" as a stand-in for both Templar Holy magic and Sorc Dark magic... rather you shouldn't, but they did.

Asdara · April 17

xylena_lazarow wrote: »

Never understood why there's so much "Magic" damage in the game that could be something more thematic, especially for iconic skills like Warden Shalks, or skills with names like "Burning Light" that don't do fire damage, no you can't use "Magic" as a stand-in for both Templar Holy magic and Sorc Dark magic... rather you shouldn't, but they did.

Exactly! That’s the heart of the problem, "Magic Damage" has become this catch-all for everything the devs didn’t want to commit to thematically. Burning Light not doing fire damage? Shalks being literal exploding beetles with no elemental flavor? It's such a missed opportunity for richness and variety. And it goes double for Sorcs. If any class should be the masters of lightning, it’s them. Instead, we’re stuck with a handful of mid shock abilities in one class skill line, no proper set synergy, and basically no representation outside of Sorcerer.

Now that subclassing is a thing and the devs are clearly not afraid of shaking up the formula, there’s never been a better time to clean this up. Revisit those damage types, lean into class identity, and stop hiding all the elemental flavor under bland "magic damage."

Let’s actually embrace the themes the classes are built around instead of glossing over them.

Asdara · April 19

Soundinfinite wrote: »

Add to it,

DragonKnights Passively Bump Flame Damage 5% and then have a debuff skill that buffs Flame Damage 6% for an 11% overall buff...

The new Warden Passive buffs Ice Damage 10%

And a sorc buffs shock damage 5% Meaning a shock build will always underperform the other two builds from the lines that offer those damage specialties....

Even more, if you roll an Elementalist build...as subclassing is supposed to be able to do, and the devs even advertised as an option in their LIVE....

Shock damage will always be your weakest damage component out of the gate...no matter if the Storm Calling line skills are made better. Unless at base all their damage is natively above other damage types...which in itself is imbalanced. Thus, you will always opt for more of the other damage types....

Exactly that’s a huge part of the issue. The moment you start stacking subclass passives or synergies, shock damage immediately lags behind, and there’s no way to close that gap without seriously gimping yourself. It’s not just a playstyle flavor issue anymore, it’s an optimization trap.

The real kicker is that even if Storm Calling got a buff, it wouldn’t solve the structural problem, because other classes are multiplying their elemental damage while shock stays flat. So anyone trying to build a multi-element subclass (like an “Elementalist” concept) is basically punished for trying to use shock damage as part of that mix.

This is exactly why the devs need to look at shock not just from the Sorc angle, but as an elemental archetype that deserves its own ecosystem, the way fire and ice already have. If subclassing is meant to let players mix elemental themes, then shock damage needs both a damage parity pass and wider class access to support it.

Would love to see some kind of passive or new gear set that gives baseline shock synergy to other classes — even something simple like a status-chance enhancer or conditional shock damage boost on crits. At the very least, open up more non-Sorc skills that deal shock so players can build around it without feeling locked into one class.

the1andonlyskwex · April 19

Soundinfinite wrote: »

Add to it,

DragonKnights Passively Bump Flame Damage 5% and then have a debuff skill that buffs Flame Damage 6% for an 11% overall buff...

The new Warden Passive buffs Ice Damage 10%

And a sorc buffs shock damage 5% Meaning a shock build will always underperform the other two builds from the lines that offer those damage specialties....

Even more, if you roll an Elementalist build...as subclassing is supposed to be able to do, and the devs even advertised as an option in their LIVE....

Shock damage will always be your weakest damage component out of the gate...no matter if the Storm Calling line skills are made better. Unless at base all their damage is natively above other damage types...which in itself is imbalanced. Thus, you will always opt for more of the other damage types....

I don't really think it's fair/appropriate myself, but I suspect ZOS sees the 5% buff to all damage from the concussed status effect as covering the missing 5% buff to shock compared to flame and frost.

Asdara · April 19

the1andonlyskwex wrote: »

I don't really think it's fair/appropriate myself, but I suspect ZOS sees the 5% buff to all damage from the concussed status effect as covering the missing 5% buff to shock compared to flame and frost.

Yeah, that sounds like the exact kind of workaround logic ZOS might use. “Well, Concussed gives 5%, so that’s your buff.” But it really doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.

The problem is that everyone benefits from Concussed, not just shock-focused builds. It’s a universal damage boost, not a shock-specific one. So tying shock damage balance to a status effect that’s also being used to prop up every other damage type just doesn’t make sense. If fire had to rely on Burning for its 10% and frost had to rely on Chilled to get their buffs, maybe it’d be fair — but that’s not how those elements are being treated.

Also, Concussed isn’t even reliable unless you're stacking shock status chance through gear or Sorc passives. And if you're not a Sorc, your access to consistent Concussed uptime is super limited. So if that’s their justification, it only further proves the point that shock damage is being short-changed outside of one very narrow lane.

Honestly, if Concussed is supposed to be the shock buff, then we need a second layer of shock-specific synergy, just like fire and ice have through class passives, debuffs, and gear. Because right now, shock builds are doing all the work for half the reward.

Turtle_Bot · April 29

I've been going over shock damage compared to flame/frost again, and it really is just completely abysmal the state that shock damage is in. Just looking exclusively at ways to increase shock damage via unique buffs or debuffs and nothing else, we have the following:

Shock has Sorc's +5% from Energized and Netch's Touch set (+300 weapon/spell damage) acquired from Darkshade Caverns group dungeon.
Flame has DK's +5% from World in Ruin, +6% from DK's Engulfing Flames, +5% from Encratis's Behemoth Monster set and Silks of the Sun set (+300 weapon/spell damage) from Stonefalls overland
Frost has (as of U46) Warden +10% from Piercing Cold, +8% from Frostbite set and Ysgramor's Birthright set (+300 weapon/spell damage) from Rift overland
Even niche damage types such as bleed damage has blood drinker for a massive +20% to bleed damage done.

That's +5% for shock damage, +16% for flame damage, +18% for frost damage and even the niche bleed damage type gets +20%.
It's not even like the shock damage active skills are 10-15% stronger to compensate for this either, with most being the same at best (due to being scribing or weapon skills) or significantly weaker at worst. The only ones that could be considered stronger are the Sorcerer pets, but those are being hard carried by the +45% (soon to be +50%) bonus damage from Daedric Prey and require 2 bar slots each.

This comparison focused solely on increasing damage done by type and doesn't take into account things like:
- status effects (flame has a strong DoT, frost has a rare debuff, shock has a common debuff)
- sets (most shock sets are just bad due to varying reasons)
- active abilities (most aren't worth slotting due to being underpowered or best case equal)
- lack of scribing options (frost got added to a bunch of skills, shock still hasn't)

@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_RichLambert @ZOS_GinaBruno Any comments on this blatant disparity of the damage types?

Can we get any answers on this, or at least some recognition that something needs to be done/will be done?

RandomKodiak · April 29

Just changing the concussed status effect to a separate extra damage would help so much. As Turtle said above minor vuln is so common and easy to get from other sources. This would help PvE Sorcs to do more damage (they need it) and would make them more likely to be more welcomed in group content. If it was too much for PvP use Battle Spirit to suppress it.

Maggusemm · April 30

more scribing options for shock would be good

Jsmalls · April 30

I had a Shock build for Infinite Archive that was fairly competitive. I also feel like there is a good amount of Shock damage available (but yes it's limited to Sorcerer).

I used heartland (with the charged trait) and storm cursed with Stormfist (sometimes leaving Stormfist out for a mythic). Storm cursed proc can trigger concussed so charged was a good addition.

Then I used Sorcerer's scribing mastery (AoE shock damage) with Wield Soul, Soul Burst, then I stopped playing around the time they added shock to Contingency but I think I would have replaced Soul Burst with Contingency because it hit harder and got mages guild passives.

Then if course you have overload / Destro ultimate, boundless storm, and Lighting flood (or whichever is better).

It's enough consistent Shock damage to really make Storm cursed shine.

It wasn't amazing for single target (think I was pushing 80k with mostly suboptimal setup) but it's AoE cleave was insane.

I even used it in PvP as Emperor and it kind of worked as Mass AoE damage against clumps of players.

Just my two cents!

YandereGirlfriend · April 30

Maggusemm wrote: »

more scribing options for shock would be good

Yes, they bent over backward to enable Frost Damage on everything (even on nonsensical abilities) but then didn't lift a finger to help out Shock Damage.

Solution is just to permute all of the damage types per every Scribing so that everyone is free to do whatever they want.

Asdara · April 30

Jsmalls wrote: »

I had a Shock build for Infinite Archive that was fairly competitive. I also feel like there is a good amount of Shock damage available (but yes it's limited to Sorcerer).

I used heartland (with the charged trait) and storm cursed with Stormfist (sometimes leaving Stormfist out for a mythic). Storm cursed proc can trigger concussed so charged was a good addition.

Then I used Sorcerer's scribing mastery (AoE shock damage) with Wield Soul, Soul Burst, then I stopped playing around the time they added shock to Contingency but I think I would have replaced Soul Burst with Contingency because it hit harder and got mages guild passives.

Then if course you have overload / Destro ultimate, boundless storm, and Lighting flood (or whichever is better).

It's enough consistent Shock damage to really make Storm cursed shine.

It wasn't amazing for single target (think I was pushing 80k with mostly suboptimal setup) but it's AoE cleave was insane.

I even used it in PvP as Emperor and it kind of worked as Mass AoE damage against clumps of players.

Just my two cents!

Thanks for sharing that, I really appreciate seeing someone push the shock theme as far as it can currently go. And yes, you're right that there is a workable amount of shock damage if you stay entirely within the Sorcerer toolkit, pair the right sets, and get clever with things like Heartland with Charged and Storm-Cursed. It's a solid example of squeezing out value from a very limited pool.

But I think this actually reinforces the core issue I was pointing to. If you want to build around shock, you're locked into one class, one skill line, and a very narrow ecosystem. There's almost no class synergy, no outside support, and very few options to branch into hybrid or cross-class ideas. Fire and frost have multiple class interactions, item sets, and passives scattered across the game. Lightning is boxed in.

What you’ve done is creative and honestly impressive, but the fact that it takes that much optimization just to make shock damage functional shows how underserved the archetype still is. Imagine how much more potential there would be if lightning had even half the support of fire or frost across other classes and systems. That's really the heart of the argument.

spartaxoxo · April 30

I would love this. I'm happy with my Sorc now as a summoner but I originally wanted a lighting damage character. And it was just not satisfying to play and has only felt worse as time went by.

necro_the_crafter · May 2

There is a simple solution to give each element use case.

Magic - All purpose. Overcharged should have more damage on proc as well as apply unique 5% magic damage taken debuff.
Fire - DoT's and pressure.
Frost - Single target and crits.
Shock - AoE and direct damage.

Would be nice to have a mythic that is a melee weapon (sword otr greatsword) flaming/frost/lightning/Magic damage at its base damage, that boost its respective elemnent in some way, and its light attacks also deal elemental damage. Since we have all of arena weapons for each skill already, we might as well have some mythical elemental mixedup weapons. Imagine wielding a bow made of lightnig that shoots lightning arrows, that actualy deals lightning damage with its LA. Or mflaming sword as a DK, that deals fire damage.

Physical - All purpose. Sundered shouldnt apply minor breach, and apply 5% phys damage taken instead. Also we need a physical alteration staff for tanking. It can use based destruction staff actives and passives, but have all of the utility that frost staff currently have, and frost staff have to recieve its new offensive properties.

Also would be nice if blocking with said staff would make your character block with skyrims ward spell, then it would make sense to spend magica on blocking with a staff:

Bleed - DoT's and pressure. Need's a wepon type for its damage and bleed damage enchant.
Poison - Single target, execute. Would be nice if bows had it as base damage, or equiping a poison would make weapon itself deal poison damage with light attacks.
Desease - AoE, status should apply healing absorption as well.

Maggusemm · May 4

The skill "storm pulsar" could potentially be a good one if it would be tuned correctly.

Lets compare storm pulsar with arcanist beam:

- Arcanist beam gives a shield
- Arcanist beam is much stronger from damage
- You can channel arcanist beam easily and look around for 4 seconds
- with arcanist beam you stand outside most enemies and cleave them
- with storm pulsar you need to stand directly in the enemies

-> Storm pulsar should have like 150% damage potential of arcanist beam if the values would be adjusted by ZOS

-> PLEASE do it

Marto · May 4

I'd go one step further, personally.

I don't think magic damage should even exist.

In my opinion, all current magic damage skills would be better served if they were shifted to:

Dragonknight:
- (All skill lines) - Fire and Poison
Templar:
- Aedric Spear - Physical
- Dawn's Wrath - Fire
- Restoring Light - Fire
Nightblade
- Assassination - Disease
- Shadow - Bleed
- Syphoning - Bleed
Sorcerer:
- Daedric Summoning - Shock and Physical
- Dark Magic - Physical
- Storm Calling - Shock
Warden:
- Animal Companions - Physical and Bleed
- Winter's Embrace: Frost
Necromancer:
- Grave Lord - Fire, Shock, and Frost
- Bone Tyrant - Frost and Disease
Arcanist:
- Herald of the Tome - Physical and Frost
- Soldier of Apocrypha - Frost

I think that would greatly benefit class identity (or I guess the correct term now would be "skill-line identity"), and help people more easily create themed builds and plan synergies between them, which is the whole point behind subclassing.

kojou · May 5

I would like to have a way to change the damage type of any skill. I would settle for the developers to eradicate “magic damage” from the game entirely, but my preference would be to be able to change class and weapon skills like what we can do with the spell scribing system for those skills.

Stx · May 5

They definitely need some more sources of shock and frost damage in the game.

You have destro staff, Storm calling, Daedric summoning pets, scribing, and a few necro skills. Still a little better off than frost but fire is just way ahead.

I think some of the mages guild skills could be shock or frost.

One thing I would like to see is something like how DKs can buff fire damage for everyone. Maybe Lightning pool synergy should debuff everything it hits for 6% increased shock damage?