Also considering whether to use magic damage or shock damage, which is slightly higher.

I still don't have info though on which grimoire to pick and why.

Petoften wrote: »

I see that some grmoires are targeted to class, like shield, two hand, heal, etc. But others aren't, like trample and torch bearer.

My pet sorcerer isn't sure which of the non-specific grimoires to use for a spall and why.

ESO content creators will generally mention which scribed skills and the modifications for each skill on their various builds.
If you're not sure what to do try following one of those guides until you can make more informed choices.

Petoften wrote: »

Tom, thanks but that link has no info at all on why to pick one grimoire versus another. Perhaps it makes no difference for the non-weapon grimoires except that you can use it.

We can't really answer why you'd choose one over the other without knowing your goals though.

You say you play a pet sorcerer. Do you mean you play a heavy attack build? Do you Subclass? Do you notice you need more damage? More healing? More resources? Is there a hole in your build you want to fill?

Many people use the Banner Bearer grimoire, but that's because they're parent Arcanists and the Class Script is overtuned (and is getting an adjustment next week). Many PvPers choose a Warden parent Class to again enjoy the Class Script for that. Players who are tanking favor the Wield Soul grimoire with a pull Script on it since that's a better pull than any skill save possibly DK's chain, and in some cases it's even better than that. Healers get a lot of use out of Contingency since it's incredibly strong. There are also ult-gen builds that use Trample, along with that being used if you just want to throw a mammoth at people for the lulz.

There are a lot of Grimoires for a lot of purposes, and "which ones are good" is going to be totally different depending on what you're trying to do. Pretty well the only Scribed skill that really isn't seen much is Torchbearer. We need more information about your build and your playstyle before we can say which would be good for you.

Petoften wrote: »

Instead of saying 'here's what I want to do, which grimoire', I'm asking how they work to then see which fits what I want.

That's a way bigger question than can be answered by anyone here.

The basic way to plan Scribing is one of two paths.

For sweatier stuff, you need to ask yourself:

• What buffs do you want?
• What Grimoires offer those buffs?
• What are the costs/cast times of those skills?

Those are then going to narrow down the possibilites you would want to look at.

For more casual overland stuff:

• What kinds of things do you want to do?
• What scripts are available on those Grimoires?

and then you go from there.

The big thing though is the system is designed for you to test it all out yourself.

So, I'll use myself as an example:
I saw the Shield Toss grimoire, and I wanted that because it looks fun. I've always wanted a ranged interrupt without needing a staff, so that means I'll either take the Knight's Valor signature script or the Interrupt Affix script. As for the focus, I thought Multi-target would be fun for a ricochet, but I really likes the knockback from that one. I tried a few options and went with a good one.
Note this is a for-fun setup.

For more important content, I know my tanks need a chain pull, but only DK has that natively. Leashing Soul is an easy choice since it feels a lot like DK chains (Silver Leash feels awkward to use), and they aren't set up with sword-and-board so I can't use that. I do also have some who have a tank loadout using dual wield, but the multi-target is great there for the Warrior's Opportunity script so I don't want to have to change that over and over.

Banner Bearer is used by a lot of DDs in endgame content, provided your healers are mitigating the resource drain. The choice of which element is based on what your common damage type is, so you can't immediately say one is better than the other since different players use different damage types. Healing Contingency is also a very strong heal as well.

But really, there are not direct answers with this. The system is designed to be played with and tested, so you can see what various builds recommend, but the best thing to do is see which holes you have in your build you'd like to patch and then target those.

Think of Grimoires as abilities and the Scripts as morphs of those abilities.

Asking which Grimoire is better to use is like asking which of the other abilities are better to use. There isn't — and shouldn't — be a single answer to this question for every context.


Though, if you ask me, the best Grimoire(s) would be for the Werewolf skill line, if/when we get them. In terms of overall value to your build, a Werewolf Grimoire adds more value to a Werewolf build than a non-Werewolf Grimoire adds to a non-Werewolf build, because the human form has access to many more skills and effects which are sometimes redundant with existing Grimoires, while Werewolf does not.

EDIT: While a Werewolf Grimoire wouldn't be usable for a petsorc build as described in the original post, I would like to mention that Sorcerer's Class Mastery would have a unique interaction with your Werewolf form. The Pack Leader morph has pets (one of the two dire wolves will heal allies up to once a second while they attack) while Werewolf Berserker does not have pets (you will deal Shock Damage to enemies). Just something to consider for the future!