Request for Sorc advice

[mdillard]

I have gotten my sorc a little past rank 9, I love my sorc actually more than my r19 WE.
But I have a few things I'd like to address with a little guidance.

1.) This applies for all my toons, what is the best combination of content to level fairly quickly?

2.) I'm kind of playing blind mans bluff for figuring out my best skill rotation, and I end a lot of fights nearly dead against anything my level and god forbid I try something higher.

3.) I understand my role in group situation, straight up damage, period, How do you experienced sorcs function in RVR and SC situations?

4.) At level 9 I'm not worried about higher end stuff yet, I just want to get my sorc skills off the ground and moving the right direction.

Thank you

[TenTonHammer]

1)scenarios, orvr and kill qests in war camps

3)sorcs in groups are used form AoE bombing, be carefl and aware of WH's and WL's, they are your biggest worries

i dont know if this is what ou were looking for but a while back when we were all talking about sorc builds at lvl 32 a user on the fourms here called mez made a very good post about sorc builds and why he specd what he did, just a nice read if you want some opinions on some abilities and tactics

I run with this http://waronlinebuilder.org/#career=sor ... 05:5406:0:

Absorb Vitality is a waste of a global cooldown. It's better to be apothecary and chug potions for sustenance. Using Dhar Wind at low health comes with experience. Eventually you know when to use it, and casting at lower mechanic isn't terrible dps. Being dead is.

The biggest benefit of having chilling gusts is it's more dps than the intel tactic if you are able to use icy spikes in SC's like Mourkain Temple, Gates of Ekrund, Temple of Isha. I would also use this over intel in open maps like Nordenwatch, Highpass Cemetary etc if both teams are melee heavy and you know you'll be pushing a lot.

The sorcs role is to deliver burst packages, that's exactly what long duration dots can help set up for. Icy Spike and Gloom of Night are both 15 seconds and should always be ticking away against a tough Order heal backline. Icy Spike mainly to help cover your own spells, as well as teammates. It's great coverage they have to cleanse through. I use gloom of night as after icy spikes to cover it, it is a huge fluff damage spell that can proc things on tick. The best usage is to apply it on a target-next-to your intended target, ie a slayer, so the slayer is taking the damage, but the debuff is on a tank for example, so healers are none the wiser you are about to start loading a slayer up with dots. That's just how I like to disguise my initial damage on the real target. Like if I want to kill a runie, I Gloom the archmage next to him, especialy since they can't remove curses.

Gloom is insane amounts of fluff damage, fluff is always useful to disorient healer's squared if no one is at 100%, as there is no tip off as to who is really about to get hurt bad. Gloom and Chilling Gusts are also obviously amazing in RvR. Also remember you can run Chilling Gusts with intel, if you are able to drop your spirit debuff tactic. In SC's with multiple sorcs, or chosen that run resist auras, you don't necessarily need to run it.

Everything I just said probably sounds like work. But anyone can have gear, and anyone cau use a rotation. It's the small advantages you play that separate your team little by little to force wins. And if you shouldn't be on forums and reading this far if you honestly didn't want to get better. Do the hard work and it'll pay off.

Always have the SW detaunted, even if he's not on you. If there is a WH in an SC, save your m1 to knock him away instantly. Know what you will be facing and be ready. If a rift engineer begins running up to rift, disarm him, don't wait, pop m2 and doombolt spam him. He may get crushed if you are assisted, or worse case, you get rifted and your snare immunity is already up. I try to always save focused mind just for snare removal, sounds crazy but there's no cleansing wind in the game yet.

With regards to White Lions, I'm a huge fan of detaunting the pet, then rooting it as it gets close. Then hit Flee, and drink AP potions like mad. The WL will be on your heels. Wait until he's pounced a few times and is low on AP before you turn to kite and dot. Once Flee wears off, you'll have to burn a disarm. If you have magebolt up, use it. I know he can just pounce back, but your out of tricks at this point.

If a WH jumps on you, and you don't have morale up, hit flee 1st thing. They don't have a melee snare. Run in an akward direction away from him, spamming jump. Hopefully lag is your friend today. Drink a health potion after hitting flee. Then AP pot, and turn angled away and start kiting him for the win.

SW disarm right away, and try to do enough burst in 4 seconds as you can, because the best outcome is to kill each other. Occasionally you'll get a lucky dodge, or he doesn't crit. Not much else you can do.

Always keep resist buff up, especially before a fight when you have a second to activate it. I.e. its a good utility to use while gap closing. It doesn't lower damage on dots already applied, so make sure you are burning it before you step up into range of BW's and engi focus. You can easily burn it, then come up, and your 1st spell should be detaunt on something you don't plan on attacking, but know its likely will attack you.

When chasing something you can use hand of ruin as an insta after you cast dots. You should only be stopping to try and get an arctic blast off to apply snare so your team can catch up to them. Obsessive Focus in these cases is one of the only times I apply it, since it's insta and I don't have other spells to use while we are chasing someone.

Traditional spell rotation right now is Chillwind, word of pain, arctic blast, gloomburst, hand of ruin. You have disarm if you need another spell, don't be afraid to use it on a caster, if no one else will be around to knock them down. Destro doesn't have ranged knockdown, so you aren't stealing immunity from anyone.

If you are gonna AOE, I highly recommend pre-dotting. I know it will be hard to resist popping m2 and spamming shattered shadows, but a nice gloom of night and icy spike first will work wonders on your AOE burst. If you have time to apply a chillwind or 2 to the squishies, it's even better. If you are in a moving AOE situation, ie like mourkain and the enemy is about to dissapear around a corner, I'd pop m2 while running up, then use gloom of night as your first spell, as it'll reduce it to 1 global. Then just spam shattered shadows.

Your biggest strength will be your feet. If you see your sorc as chess piece, you will always be advancing and retracting along the board as the situation develops. Your main concern is to be about 70 feet away in non-pressure situations (bw and sw and engi squadrons are not focusing you) because when you start backloading your burst, or even delivering it, targets will run away. When you deliver burst, you are stationary, ie stopped for casting and channeling. So you want to give yourself enough run away time to deliver it. Just note, you don't LIVE at 70 feet away. You dot from 100 feet away, and run in dotting to 60-70 to start delivering. You should always be 100+ feet away from danger, dotting from max distance. Once you choose a target, you start running in. Like, when you cast word of pain and want to burst, you are running up. But don't hang out there if you don't need to. The range of your spells is a huge class benefit, use it to it's max.

Insta spells, whether it be utlity (im drinking potions, im hitting resist buff, im hitting a morale, I'm hitting a detaunt, im hitting obsessive focus) is always when you are adjusting your sorc up the game board or down. You are never waiting to realize you need to move when it's time to be stationary. If you focus on your feet at times when you are casting instas, you will always be perfectly positioned.

Playing on destro means you are playing hard mode. There is no ranged knockdowns, but you will face them on BW and SW. The best way to play sorc against good order players, is to bait the knockdown. I made a living off this on live. You run up and start dotting a good player, but immediately kite away. If you do it right, you will get knocked down, but within the safety of your back line. So you should always be dps'ing 100 feet away from Order's ranged. This is not ideal, but, as soon as you can earn a knockdown, you basially bought an immunity. This is when you can now run up, detaunt the BW or SW, and start delivering your burst packages on order melee etc from 70 feet away as I described earlier. Sometimes you don't need to do this as Order has tunnel vision, and they will let you free cast. I would still be weary of the situation and keep a detaunt up on orders ranged, just in case. I'm all about keeping detaunt and resist buffs up as I feel out the playstyle of the enemy. I just don't free cast like a nub and get blown up.

Hope it helped the 1 person that read this far. And yes, I was bored.

If you need help kiting. Always hold R-mouse down on the screen and strafe away from your target. The point of holding the screen, is to angle your player just enough towards your enemy so you can deliver dots while running away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsHv7tBEhpY

edit: Dont know why I forgot this, but a big reason I like gloom of night, is each tick chews up a tank's Challenge off me.

[mdillard]

Excellent advice, thank you very much.
I noticed the sorc in the video using a trap, which I haven't seen yet at rank 11.
What's it called and when will I get it?

[TenTonHammer]

grip of fear, which is an AoE 30ft 10s root that gets broken by damage from any source on the rooted target

you get it at lvl 12

[mdillard]

What about hand of ruin, icy spike, and gloom of night?

[Shutyergob]

Great post by Mez, very helpful. Thank you Mez for making this post. I have one question: I don't understand what he means by this statement:

"... a big reason I like gloom of night, is each tick chews up a tank's Challenge off me."

If someone knows what he means then please advise. Thank you guys.

[Lileldys]

Great post by Mez, very helpful. Thank you Mez for making this post. I have one question: I don't understand what he means by this statement:

"... a big reason I like gloom of night, is each tick chews up a tank's Challenge off me."

If someone knows what he means then please advise. Thank you guys.

Challenge is a tank skill which decreases your damage dealt to people by 30%, which stacks with guard. If you hit that tank 3 times, this debuff is removed.

[Shutyergob]

Great post by Mez, very helpful. Thank you Mez for making this post. I have one question: I don't understand what he means by this statement:

"... a big reason I like gloom of night, is each tick chews up a tank's Challenge off me."

If someone knows what he means then please advise. Thank you guys.

Challenge is a tank skill which decreases your damage dealt to people by 30%, which stacks with guard. If you hit that tank 3 times, this debuff is removed.

Oh okay, thank you!