Best Sorcerer Build since update

[IanJones]

Since the update increased the level cap to 21 and now there are passive skills, what is the best way to go with the Sorcerer? Right now I'm only Lv15 and have 3 on Fireball, 3 on Gale Force, 3 on Time Shift, 3 on Lifegiver and 2 on Durable. Lifegiver doesn't seem to heal much at all and Durable seems a little week at 2%, so I might put up lightning strike and go 100% nuker. What is everyone else doing, especially towards lv21?

Also, how are your attributes distributed? Right now I have like 65/35 on INT/STR just to get some Health but should I go 100% INT? In PL my mage is 100% INT and it works out great but that might not be the case in AL.

Thanks for all the help!

[Limsi]

Here's a link to the Sorcerer's class guide thread: http://www.spacetimestudios.com/forumdisplay.php?120-Sorcerer-Class-Discussion if you need more help from your fellow sorcerers! Goodluck!

[Energizeric]

Since the update increased the level cap to 21 and now there are passive skills, what is the best way to go with the Sorcerer? Right now I'm only Lv15 and have 3 on Fireball, 3 on Gale Force, 3 on Time Shift, 3 on Lifegiver and 2 on Durable. Lifegiver doesn't seem to heal much at all and Durable seems a little week at 2%, so I might put up lightning strike and go 100% nuker. What is everyone else doing, especially towards lv21?

Also, how are your attributes distributed? Right now I have like 65/35 on INT/STR just to get some Health but should I go 100% INT? In PL my mage is 100% INT and it works out great but that might not be the case in AL.

Thanks for all the help!

Well, ever heard the saying that someone is a "jack of all trades, master of none"? Well, if you spread your skill points around to more than 4 skills, then that is exactly what you will be.... very weak, but very flexible. If you want to be strong, then figure out what it is you want to be good at, and load your points in that area.

[EldestCollection]

Yea find out what your missing, it might be that your running too fast out of mana or you die too often. If thats the case go for those types of passives, unless you respec your entire mage.

[Drizzid]

I've gone for total damage and have full int with maxed passive int. I have 156 dmg 194 dps with 1750 health and 490 armor. I don't have the best gear, and those stats are with malison as my pet.

I've tried around 10 different skill builds, and currently I'm using 4/5 fireball 3/5 lightning 3/5 heal and 5/5 curse. I drop insane damage and am killing elite mobs in no time, but I have a lot less defensive ability not having gale for knockdown and dodge. There isn't a 'best' build, it depends how you play, and what's best for you. I am constantly changing my builds to see what I like. Your concern should be to reach level 20 before you start tinkering with stats.

Are you charging your heals? its pretty ineffective simply using the skill. Also try increasing your damage as it directly affects the power of your skills. And like energizeric said putting points in more than 4 skills is a waste.

[DataPunk]

Am i the only one who maxed out his skills?

[Pulkeren]

for a mage im more in damage skills 4 for fire, 4, time, max for curse and timeshift!! and max passive for int!!! i dont need heal because my mage has 684 armor and 1600 life!! :)

[Dragonik]

Maxing out skills doesn't make any sense, at least for end game. A majority of the skills only provide benefit door kill trash mobs which is pointless. The highest you should go is 3/5 with the exception of fireball which if you choose can go 4/5. The rest of your points can be used for passive abilities.

[DataPunk]

Well i love it. I don't see why you wouldn't want to have ur skills as powerful as they can be.

[TheWeps]

Cater your character to how you play, do you elite run, do you farm, quest, hauntlet .. really depends on how you play.

Personally i'm full INT with passive in +INT & Crit for a DPS that is 260+

[Dragonik]

Making your skills as powerful as possible is a good idea, but seeing as how most of the perks aren't even slightly useful the skill points would be better suited in a passive that not only makes ALL of your skills more powerful (by adding damage) but also gives you some survivability by giving you a little health.

At the least int passive should be maxed.

[azefekie]

The "strongest" mages will be pure int with maxed passive knowledge maybe a little on passive critical shot (I have 3, the more you can crit the better). 4 power attacks, fire, time, ice and light. There is no skill that needs to be maxed if you're looking for an all out power mage. Using points to max out skills isn't the best idea, there are a lot of pointless "add ons" to skills. I have 4 on fire, 3 on lightning, 2 on ice and 3 on time.

[Dragonik]

I agree with azefekie 100%. And for those that don't understand his quoted "strongest" I think he is implying solely a damage oriented spec. A mage with curse is better than a mage with 4 attack spells for elites.

Though I'd choose gale over time shift that's just my preference.

[azefekie]

yeah I tried gale at the beginning I didn't like it, both time shift and gale you have to aim. Time shift does dmg while enemies are under it, roots them than blows up. IMO gale is really just for running through lvls and knocking people down. As for curse, you get more dmg out having 4 power skills than you would using curse and 3 power skills. we've tried this out.
I agree with azefekie 100%. And for those that don't understand his quoted "strongest" I think he is implying solely a damage oriented spec. A mage with curse is better than a mage with 4 attack spells for elites.

Though I'd choose gale over time shift that's just my preference.

[DataPunk]

Ask eni how i do with my maxed skills :D the only upgrade I'm not sure about is the ice path that a mob will leave behind. Would u mind to elobarte on which upgrades u exactly did?

[KaKiT]

Is passive skill "DAMAGE" usefull for a mage?

[Dragonik]

While I agree that 4 power skills is better for a solo mage, elites you have 4 people doing dps and everyone benefiting from 15% more damage would overshadow a single ability. I don't have math on it but it seems like common sense.

And with time shift I've more often than naught the mobs inside the clock would die long before explosion took effect. So to me it was a wasted talent point. While the initial damage is nice you can get almost 3 gales off for each time shift, which is more overall damage.

[azefekie]

i don't use the exploding clock. Curse lasts how long? 4 secs? with the added 2 sec point. might as well equip ribbit for this. If curse works for you good, i don't see it as an added benefit. also time lasts a lot longer and has the same cool down time as curse.
While I agree that 4 power skills is better for a solo mage, elites you have 4 people doing dps and everyone benefiting from 15% more damage would overshadow a single ability. I don't have math on it but it seems like common sense.

And with time shift I've more often than naught the mobs inside the clock would die long before explosion took effect. So to me it was a wasted talent point. While the initial damage is nice you can get almost 3 gales off for each time shift, which is more overall damage.

[azefekie]

Sure, for my ice i upgraded "ice wielder". I don't see much use of the others, "jagged ice" you still need to charge for it to give additional dmg same as "shiver" and the time "arctic shatter" would be dropped out most the mob would be dead. IMO ice wielder is the only one you need, the time you go from mob to mob it will have recharged several times. I tried to save as many points as i could to use on passives.
Ask eni how i do with my maxed skills :D the only upgrade I'm not sure about is the ice path that a mob will leave behind. Would u mind to elobarte on which upgrades u exactly did?

[azefekie]

Critical shot, damage and knowledge are all good for mages. but make sure you max out knowledge before the others its the most beneficial to your mage, I'm working on maxing out critical shot next, the more your mage can crit the better he is and the more dmg he deals out. damage is still good this passive i will be maxing out next, but you'll crit out more dmg then you'll deal just upgrading your damage passive.
Is passive skill "DAMAGE" usefull for a mage?

[Royce]

you'll crit out more dmg then you'll deal just upgrading your damage passive.

If crits are simply double damage after damage reduction calculations, then 1% Crit and 1% damage increases would provide the exact same amount of additional damage on average. 1% Cit would be 100% extra damage 1% of the time while 1% damage would just be 1% higher damage 100% of the time. It's just a matter of whether you prefer sustained damage output or spikes.

[IanJones]

all of this has been pretty good advice guys, does everyone go 100% INT though or put some in STR or DEX for Health or CRIT?

[Crayden]

Sure, for my ice i upgraded "ice wielder". I don't see much use of the others, "jagged ice" you still need to charge for it to give additional dmg same as "shiver" and the time "arctic shatter" would be dropped out most the mob would be dead. IMO ice wielder is the only one you need, the time you go from mob to mob it will have recharged several times. I tried to save as many points as i could to use on passives.

Hey Azefekie, could you tell me whats the best damage build in your opinion, with the upgrade names? I just started a mage, got a 21 warrior, so could use some good advice for when i reach 21 with this one hehe.. And where do i need to focus on with my gear? also full int? or strength for the extra health?

[Disko]

Finally respec my L20 mage today (been leveling my alts) and getting ready to push to 21.

Prior to update I was using these skills with a 50/50 Int/Str stat cocktail:
Fire, Wind, Time, Heal

That worked great, but was looking for more dmg and felt that Wind and Time were a bit redundant… plus its best to take advantage of the update and put more into Int.

So I switched to these skills with a 70/30 Int/Str split:
Fire, Lightg, Wind, Heal

I kept some points in Str since I don't like being too squishy, not fond of running or extra plat expense! Especially since I'm not spending big bucks on gear that will help survivability until L21.

Not saying its better than any other build, just my 2c!

[Royce]

all of this has been pretty good advice guys, does everyone go 100% INT though or put some in STR or DEX for Health or CRIT?

100% Int, unless you're leveling and planning to respec to pure Int at the cap. Once you have endgame gear, your survivability will be fine and any Str in your build will just make you a weaker fighter. As for Dex, I can't really see any benefit at this point. It seems to take about 40 Dex for 1% crit and 20 Dex for 1% Dodge, so without a major investment, you won't really get much, and a major investment would just lower your damage and mana pool too much IMO.

[Linkincena]

Chew this...22694

[Linkincena]

Chew this too :) 22695

[Linkincena]

Next will with colton soon..

[Royce]

Chew this...


Chew this too :)

What exactly are we to "chew" on? Pictures in this case are worth 1/1000 of a word. All we can see are stats, and with no knowledge of build or buffs. If you want to contribute to this discussion why not detail your attribute and skill build and discuss why you think it's effective? ;)

[Linkincena]

Hey serious guy .. ^^ ... thats da 2nd nearest to max damage attribute distribution (Passive Knowledge is full) ... Maxed out will be with Colton ...
I have only 41 story token :((P
How to buy story tokens?

[Linkincena]

all armor , cap and weapons are clever demonologist, n clever flamestrike...

[Linkincena]

also using buff of pet in each screenshot...

[Yungwang]

4/5 fire, 4/5 lightning, 3/5 heal, 3/5 ice 5/5 knowledge. Only level 20 so got 1 point to spend, really liking this build I've tried several other time etc and this seem to be my fav with the dots from ice an fire just a all round bursty spec imo

[Linkincena]

Fire 4/5, ice 2/5 heal 2/5 armor 2/5

[Linkincena]

Knowledge 5/5 , damage 5/5

[yuriramos]

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/pinklinen/alscreenie.jpg

Fire, thunder, gale, shield, int passive, str passive.

Max dps with HP.

Less deaths, effective build.

[Norbert]

If crits are simply double damage after damage reduction calculations, then 1% Crit and 1% damage increases would provide the exact same amount of additional damage on average. 1% Cit would be 100% extra damage 1% of the time while 1% damage would just be 1% higher damage 100% of the time. It's just a matter of whether you prefer sustained damage output or spikes.

Good take on this. I'd been thinking that crit was more vital for my rogue and damage was better for my mage. I was thinking that crit is (always?) more applied to a single target and my mage was more often doing AOE, so the better damage would get applied across the mob... I guess as you do more elite runs and bosses this changes...?

[Melodicdeath]

I have experimented with several different builds, and so far my current seems to be working out well. I am currently pure INT with maxed out knowledge in passives. I have maxed fireball, galeforce and lifegiver and I pt in timeshift. This build is great for mobs and you rarely go through mana. This particular build will need to be modified for pvp, but for now, I'm content. I don't believe there's one ultimate build that rules over all others, due to the fact that we are all after different things. First you need to figure out what you want to specialize in, be it soloing, mobbing, pvp, etc..then figure out what build and what skills will suite that specialty. Perhaps you just want to be an all around well rounded mage? Everyone will recommend something different, based on their own personal preferences. Essentually, you just need to discover your niche, find what's right for you. There are guides offered here in the forums that can assist you greatly, then its just a matter of trial and error :) Good luck!

[Melodicdeath]

Just an add on to what I said above, I'm a dps/damage nut ;D focusing on building those will make you rather indestructable :)

[CosmoxKramer]

If crits are simply double damage after damage reduction calculations, then 1% Crit and 1% damage increases would provide the exact same amount of additional damage on average. 1% Cit would be 100% extra damage 1% of the time while 1% damage would just be 1% higher damage 100% of the time. It's just a matter of whether you prefer sustained damage output or spikes.

I don't think crits are double damage. If you test it out with skills or AA it appears to be around 125%. If this is intended then crits are useless almost.

Also is doesn't matter if damage reduction is done before or after the Crit damage is applied. Damage reduction can be the last thing applied to impact damage.

[azefekie]

easy example, Lightning-Positive charge upgrade "Bolts of lightning will now do 250% more dmg on a critical hit"...why not get your crit as high as possible with a good build?...
I don't think crits are double damage. If you test it out with skills or AA it appears to be around 125%. If this is intended then crits are useless almost.

Also is doesn't matter if damage reduction is done before or after the Crit damage is applied. Damage reduction can be the last thing applied to impact damage.