Spell power by level?

[coolpenguin410]

Does anyone have a breakdown of where I should be with my spell power? I currently have a second life air savant pure sorc at level 17. With a pot from House P I can get my electric spell power to about 230. Until recently, I felt like I was doing great. Whenever I clicked on chain lightning, mobs just died en masse. Now, all of a sudden, it seems like I have to chain lightning repeatedly for a couple of mobs to go down. It was like hitting a wall. I literally went from dominating one quest to struggling on the next. Did I somehow drop behind the curve?

I have just enough enhancements in Drow to get +2 CHA and the rest in Air Savant. I'll probably dip into Water Savant soon. The plan is to stay pure sorc to 20 with the Air Savant capstone. I'm wielding a Thaumaturgy staff with +78 Magnetism and (I think) +54 potency. Spell craft is maxed out and I have a +9 item. My evocation DC is 42 with ship buffs. I don't see mobs saving much, even on elite. I know I could get another +6 Magnetism, but I would have to sacrifice the +potency from my staff. Also, I've seen a few +11 Spellsight items on the AH, but figured the additional +2 is hardly worth rearranging all my gear for.

Am I missing something here? Is there another source of spell power that I don't know about? I've seen capped builds toting 400+ spell power so I think I should be farther along than I am. Can anyone offer some advice or insight that I'm lacking?

Thanks.

[Faeeee]

Does anyone have a breakdown of where I should be with my spell power? I currently have a second life air savant pure sorc at level 17. With a pot from House P I can get my electric spell power to about 230. Until recently, I felt like I was doing great. Whenever I clicked on chain lightning, mobs just died en masse. Now, all of a sudden, it seems like I have to chain lightning repeatedly for a couple of mobs to go down. It was like hitting a wall. I literally went from dominating one quest to struggling on the next. Did I somehow drop behind the curve?

I have just enough enhancements in Drow to get +2 CHA and the rest in Air Savant. I'll probably dip into Water Savant soon. The plan is to stay pure sorc to 20 with the Air Savant capstone. I'm wielding a Thaumaturgy staff with +78 Magnetism and (I think) +54 potency. Spell craft is maxed out and I have a +9 item. My evocation DC is 42 with ship buffs. I don't see mobs saving much, even on elite. I know I could get another +6 Magnetism, but I would have to sacrifice the +potency from my staff. Also, I've seen a few +11 Spellsight items on the AH, but figured the additional +2 is hardly worth rearranging all my gear for.

Am I missing something here? Is there another source of spell power that I don't know about? I've seen capped builds toting 400+ spell power so I think I should be farther along than I am. Can anyone offer some advice or insight that I'm lacking?

Thanks.

I don't know what content you are running at level 17, but I would guess you're doing elite vale, IQ's and the like. Mob hp starts to scale up fast starting from elite vale, and unless you are very geared you may have sp issues especially when you are soloing elite quests. A few reasonable options I would suggest to mitigate that are:

1. Group with people.
2. Solo your way to cap on hard.
3. Switch to a less sp draining savant. Air is arguably the most expensive savant sp wise. I recommend earth and/or water.
4. Make use of some dc based spells, i.e. insta kill spells. Since you have 42 dc I recommend prismatic spray.
5. Just get used to not being able to one shot mobs:p You can't in ee quests anyways... Invest on efficient metamagic enhancements/clickies/items. Turn empower off sometimes.

edit: I recommend earth and/or water only for heroic levels. You'll have to make that decision again at lvl20+...

[coolpenguin410]

I don't know what content you are running at level 17, but I would guess you're doing elite vale, IQ's and the like. Mob hp starts to scale up fast starting from elite vale, and unless you are very geared you may have sp issues especially when you are soloing elite quests. A few reasonable options I would suggest to mitigate that are:

1. Group with people.
2. Solo your way to cap on hard.
3. Switch to a less sp draining savant. Air is arguably the most expensive savant sp wise. I recommend earth and/or water.
4. Make use of some dc based spells, i.e. insta kill spells. Since you have 42 dc I recommend prismatic spray.
5. Just get used to not being able to one shot mobs:p You can't in ee quests anyways... Invest on efficient metamagic enhancements/clickies/items. Turn empower off sometimes.

edit: I recommend earth and/or water only for heroic levels. You'll have to make that decision again at lvl20+...

I thank you for your feedback, but I'm not sure you understood my concern. My question is not about spell points, but spell power. The score that determines the % boost to spell damage. I want to make sure my damage output is as good as it should be. Certainly, the amount of spell points I have is directly related to the amount of spells I can cast, but this is rarely an issue.

[Faeeee]

I thank you for your feedback, but I'm not sure you understood my concern. My question is not about spell points, but spell power. The score that determines the % boost to spell damage. I want to make sure my damage output is as good as it should be. Certainly, the amount of spell points I have is directly related to the amount of spells I can cast, but this is rarely an issue.

Ah! I see. Then I'll quote myself again

Just get used to not being able to one shot mobs You can't in ee quests anyways...
Generally if you equip spell power item with relevant minimum level, and spend healthy amount of AP in savant trees, your spell power should be fine!

[Sokól]

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/424745-Max-Spell-Power

[thesnoman]

You can't use that post as your example - it's theoretical, uses an 18/2 FvS Split and Fire Savant (which synergizes very well and does not work with Air Savant) and a bunch of clickies/potions/EDs that you don't have access to at Level 17.

An Air Savant's max REALISTIC Spell Power (without clickies/Feats/EDs/potions) is somewhere around 450, so you're really not that far off of where you should be.