Best PvE/PvP all purpose skill build

[Energizeric]

I've discussed this at length with others in my guild, but wanted to get the opinion of those here in the forum...

Like many other players, I pretty much play all different parts of AL on a daily basis. I can afford a respec once in a while, but not going to spend plat on a daily basis plus take the time to do respecs constantly. I really want to find one build and stick with it. I realize that it may not be 100% ideal for each specific purpose, but would like something that is at least pretty usable for everything. So what does "everything" consist of?

1) PvP Kills (would like to keep a positive K/D ratio)

2) PvP Flags (need to get lots of flags for Flag achievements -- need these to stay on leaderboards)

3) PvE Mobs (I try to solo WT4 at least a couple of time each day to keep my PvE kill total up and to level my pets up)

4) PvE Elite Bosses (I do at least a couple of Elite Mines runs each day)

The question is, is there a build that will allow me to do all of these and be decent at each of them?

Lifegiver is a must for Flags -- you can't even reach the other side of the maze with a flag without healing yourself...

And it seems like Lightning is a must because it's your best attack skill for PvP and for PvE bosses.

Other than those two, I'm up in the air about which to choose. I currently have Fire & Ice, but some people are suggesting maybe I drop one of them for shield which will help in PvP, which is a big weakness I currently have.

Any opinions?

[Spects]

Heres my 'Hybrid Build':
Fireball 4/5 (must for PvE/PvP)
Timeshift 2/5 (root-upgrade, must for PvE crowd-control)
Ice 3/5 (upgrade in 20% multi mob freeze and DOT, crowd-control and main dmg skill in PvP)
Shield 4/5 (must for PvP, useful vs certain elite bosses)
Heal 3/5 (mana-restorage, range upgrade, must for Pvp-Support, useful in PvE
No Lightning, got ice as main dmg skill instead.
Rest in passives (1.int 5/5, 2.str x/5, 3.dex x/5)

Having a decent 1,3:1 kdr so far and im not limited in elite runs.
Certainly not the best build (inferior to lightning mages in PvP) and needs some tweaking but overall im happy.

[Energizeric]

I think I'm going to do Fire, Lightning, Shield, Heal.

Yes, I do lose any ability to do crowd control since no Time or Ice. But with everyone doing Elite Mines instead of the regular Elite dungeons, there's really not such a big need. Besides the fact that sorcerers are so squishy now that Time or Ice is barely even sufficient to do crowd control before they mob you. As for farming kills in the tombs, I can still do that although it will just take a bit longer. But the shield will help there too if I get mobbed.

[Pyromagnium]

I have a video on Youtube explaining my build. But basically it goes like this...
5/5 Fireball - staple for sorcerers. I know many don't like the 25% hit debuff but I really have noticed it's usefulness coupled with my Dodge. I've avoided countless boss attacks and pvp hits. Good survivability.

4/5 Frost Bolt - No 20% ice patches. Besides the fact that it does AOE when charged, I also love it because the DoT stacks up to 4 times for great damage over time. Its crowd controlling properties (the freezing of mobs) and its great slowdown (for pvp) are invaluable. Much more utility than Lightning Strike imo.

2/5 Heal - Like you said, a must.

4/5 Shield - No knockdown. A must for elite bosses and PvP. New shield is great.

Passives:
5/5 Int - standard
5/5 Damage - standard
5/5 Strength - adds survivability and synergizes with the new shield. Also I feel sorcerers shouldn't be trying to stack dex. I just don't believe the marginal benefits you receive from dex are currently not worth it.

I do like Light. I really do, but I just feel safer with Frost in my rotation.

[Energizeric]

I watched your video. It makes lots of sense. Lightning would be better for PvP, but I understand what you mean about feeling "safer". In PvE not having any ability to do crowd control is a serious problem.

The only issue I see with having Fireball & Frost as your only attack skills is doing Elite Mines. You can't use Frost on a couple of those bosses as they feed on the ice, so you are stuck with only using Fireball and your weapon attack. Lightning is our best skill for bosses.

I've been playing around with the possibility of using Lightning instead of Frost but going a full 5/5 on it. That way you still have some AoE and stun capability when you charge. Although not as good (or as often) as Frost, the damage of Lightning is superior, and much more useful for bosses & pvp. Also, I've found when doing wt4 runs, charged lightning with the AoE upgrade works like a charm. It demolishes the crowds. Although on elite mobs it wouldn't be nearly as useful as it only triggers when you kill the primary target.

[bluotaku]

I watched your video. It makes lots of sense. Lightning would be better for PvP, but I understand what you mean about feeling "safer". In PvE not having any ability to do crowd control is a serious problem.

The only issue I see with having Fireball & Frost as your only attack skills is doing Elite Mines. You can't use Frost on a couple of those bosses as they feed on the ice, so you are stuck with only using Fireball and your weapon attack. Lightning is our best skill for bosses.

I've been playing around with the possibility of using Lightning instead of Frost but going a full 5/5 on it. That way you still have some AoE and stun capability when you charge. Although not as good (or as often) as Frost, the damage of Lightning is superior, and much more useful for bosses & pvp. Also, I've found when doing wt4 runs, charged lightning with the AoE upgrade works like a charm. It demolishes the crowds. Although on elite mobs it wouldn't be nearly as useful as it only triggers when you kill the primary target.

Which bosses shouldn't you use frost on?

[Energizeric]

I forget which ones, but a couple of them when you use frost it creates more ice patches all over the place.

[Pyromagnium]

I watched your video. It makes lots of sense. Lightning would be better for PvP, but I understand what you mean about feeling "safer". In PvE not having any ability to do crowd control is a serious problem.

The only issue I see with having Fireball & Frost as your only attack skills is doing Elite Mines. You can't use Frost on a couple of those bosses as they feed on the ice, so you are stuck with only using Fireball and your weapon attack. Lightning is our best skill for bosses.

I've been playing around with the possibility of using Lightning instead of Frost but going a full 5/5 on it. That way you still have some AoE and stun capability when you charge. Although not as good (or as often) as Frost, the damage of Lightning is superior, and much more useful for bosses & pvp. Also, I've found when doing wt4 runs, charged lightning with the AoE upgrade works like a charm. It demolishes the crowds. Although on elite mobs it wouldn't be nearly as useful as it only triggers when you kill the primary target.

Great points. I did not know that using Frost on certain Nordr bosses created more ice patches, but it makes sense. I'm also sure the damage is nerfed somewhat (I know Frost doesn't freeze those ice giants, making the crowd control aspect of ice dimished a bit). I'm interested in experimenting with Light. May I ask what sort of build you are using? Are you currently running with the Crit passive?

[Robhawk]

1. Shield 4/5 - gives me arround 2500 "extra hp", with pet/shield im close to 6000hp - must have for PVP and usefull in PVE
2. Fire 5/5 - nothing to say... PVP and PVE
3. Lightning 4/5 - must have for PVP and nice for PVE bosses

So these first 3 skills is the "everytime base built" and i add one of the following:

4. Gale 3/5 -it has a nice Pushefect, AOE dmg AND _Movingspeed_ for PVE, not that usefull in PVP, except the movingspeed.
4. Heal 2/5 - regain hp and mana sometimes makes the difference in PVP and you dont depend on green/blue packs! I also use it sometimes to support my party and is also nice at bosses /elite bosses for PVE

So this is the Robhawk setup and i can do everything with it!

[Energizeric]

Great points. I did not know that using Frost on certain Nordr bosses created more ice patches, but it makes sense. I'm also sure the damage is nerfed somewhat (I know Frost doesn't freeze those ice giants, making the crowd control aspect of ice dimished a bit). I'm interested in experimenting with Light. May I ask what sort of build you are using? Are you currently running with the Crit passive?

I do use Ribbit on occasion for bosses and sometimes in pvp. It works like a charm with Lightning and can help take bosses down much faster. The only issue is that in PvE you don't really have any crowd control. You only have the Fireball stun which only lasts a couple of seconds and then you are on the run. Lightning does stun on occasion (I think 25% with the upgrade). The coolest effect is when you have the lightning AoE upgrade and it triggers on mobs. In the tombs, it basically will wipe out all the mobs in what looks like a big electrical explosion. Only thing is it doesn't happen all the time.

So far this build has worked a little bit better for me in PvP. It took some getting used to and I was getting killed a lot in the first couple of hours, but I think that was mostly because I wasn't timing the shield very well. Now I've gotten the hang of that and it seems to be going well.

[Energizeric]

Well, here are the results:

1) For bosses in PvE, I'm doing just fine. I normally wasn't using Frost very much there anyway, so the combination of Fire, Lightning and then the gun is working just fine!

2) For mobs in PvE (wt4), I did have a bit of trouble. I normally like to solo wt4 a few times each day to get my kill totals up. Previously I was able to do this without using any healing potions. Now that is just not possible. Even with using the shield to protect myself, I just can't kill the mobs fast enough and in a couple of spots in that dungeon I need to spam health pots for a short period of time. I can imagine that elite mobs would also cause me some trouble without having any crowd control skills.

3) PvP -- this build is working excellent there, much better than expected. Since switching to this build, I have gone from a 1.3/1 (k/d) ratio to a 3/1. Here's a screen shot at the end of my most recent CTF game. BTW, I was holding the flag during this whole time.....

[Pyromagnium]

Well, here are the results:

1) For bosses in PvE, I'm doing just fine. I normally wasn't using Frost very much there anyway, so the combination of Fire, Lightning and then the gun is working just fine!

2) For mobs in PvE (wt4), I did have a bit of trouble. I normally like to solo wt4 a few times each day to get my kill totals up. Previously I was able to do this without using any healing potions. Now that is just not possible. Even with using the shield to protect myself, I just can't kill the mobs fast enough and in a couple of spots in that dungeon I need to spam health pots for a short period of time. I can imagine that elite mobs would also cause me some trouble without having any crowd control skills.

3) PvP -- this build is working excellent there, much better than expected. Since switching to this build, I have gone from a 1.3/1 (k/d) ratio to a 3/1. Here's a screen shot at the end of my most recent CTF game. BTW, I was holding the flag during this whole time.....

Very interesting. So overall you seem pretty satisfied with the build and I'm assuming you'll keep it? I like to solo WT4 several times daily as well, so would you go with the AOE upgrade for Light? I'll mainly be PvPing for the foreseeable future and you've inspired me to respec and test Lightning Bolt for myself.

[Energizeric]

Very interesting. So overall you seem pretty satisfied with the build and I'm assuming you'll keep it? I like to solo WT4 several times daily as well, so would you go with the AOE upgrade for Light? I'll mainly be PvPing for the foreseeable future and you've inspired me to respec and test Lightning Bolt for myself.

Yeah, I did 5/5 on both Fire and Lightning. I figure if I'm going to limit myself to just 2 damage skills, I better milk them each for all they're worth and get every possible upgrade.

The AoE upgrade for Lightning is really awesome. It doesn't happen all the time like it does for Fire, but when it does trigger it causes huge damage -- much more than Fire. And on rare occasion you can hit the AoE with a critical hit and it basically kills everything instantly. It looks like a big lightning explosion and everything gets zapped and you are left standing in an empty hallway or room.

[Linkincena]

Been using the same skills.. Fire(every 4sec)400+ dmg, Lightning(every 3 secs)600+ dmg (2000+ on critical) , heal (1500 heal every 10 sec), Shield (1700 protection every 15 secs)...

I killed many warriors using this... even in solo...

[will0]

May I know how your build is? Pure damage 'int' or buffer with dex and strength?

[Linkincena]

Pure intell Max buffed with dex

[will0]

Pure intell Max buffed with dex

Thanks.. what do you mean buffed with dex pet?

[Asphiel]

Hello guys, i just started a mage (currently lvl 13) i'll focus on leveling but i dont know what skills to pick...
so i was wondering what would be the best leveling skills and what upgrades to get...

[Linkincena]

Thanks.. what do you mean buffed with dex pet?

Yes... Pet dex and passive dex

[Linkincena]

Hello guys, i just started a mage (currently lvl 13) i'll focus on leveling but i dont know what skills to pick...
so i was wondering what would be the best leveling skills and what upgrades to get...

Recommend : Fire (5/5) unlock,Lightning (4/5 unlock),Heal (2/5 unlock) and Shield (4/5 unlock)
Lightning : Ignore unlocking stun (last option there)
Heal: Activate only mana heal
Shield: leave away push back