Cool As Ice ~ Strimtom's Ice Sorc

[Strimtom]

Hello all. Today I bring to you the most recent build I have been playing, Dragonborn Ice Sorcerer.

You can find a video about this subject by clicking here. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHvGRlB1ORc&feature=youtu.be)

Overall it was really fun and super easy to level. Sorcerer is by far the best leveling class now, being high above warlock in terms of speed. The raw damage you get really make the experience enjoyable and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

The build:

Ice sorc
Sorcerer 20
True Neutral Dragonborn


Stats
. . . . . . . .28pt . . 32pt. . .34pt . . 36pt. . .Tome. . .Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .---- . . ----. . .---- . . --------
Strength. . . . 10. . . .10 . . . 10. . . .10 . . . +7 . . . 4: CHA
Dexterity . . . .6. . . . 6 . . . .6. . . . 6 . . . +7 . . . 8: CHA
Constitution. . 18. . . .18 . . . 18. . . .18 . . . +7 . . .12: CHA
Intelligence. . .8. . . . 8 . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . +7 . . .16: CHA
Wisdom. . . . . 10. . . . 8 . . . 10. . . .12 . . . +7 . . .20: CHA
Charisma. . . . 18. . . .20 . . . 20. . . .20 . . . +7 . . .24: CHA
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28: CHA

Skills
. . . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Spellcr . . .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .2 .2 .2 .2 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
UMD . . . 2. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. . .11
Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ½. ½. ½. ½. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. .8
Concent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . 1
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . 4. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4


Feats

.1. . . . : Spell Focus: Evocation
.3. . . . : Completionist
.6. . . . : Past Life: Wizard
.9. . . . : Spell Focus: Enchantment
12. . . . : Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment
15. . . . : Spell Penetration
18. . . . : Greater Spell Penetration
21 Epic . : Wellspring of Power
24 Epic . : Burst of Glacial Wrath
26 Destiny: Toughness
27 Epic . : Embolden Spell
28 Destiny: Toughness
29 Destiny: Mass Frog
30 Epic . : Quicken Spell
30 Legend : Scion of: Plane of Fire

.1 Dragon : Draconic Ancestry: White


Spells

Nightshield (1), Jump (1), Fire Bolt (2), Merfolk's Blessing (3)
Blur (4), Glitterdust (5), Invisibility (7), Knock (9)
Displacement (6), Haste (7), Sleet Storm (9), Rage (11)
Dimension Door (8), Ice Storm (9), Enervation (11), Crushing Despair (13)
Cone of Cold (10), Niac's Biting Cold (11), Break Enchantment (13), Teleport (15)
Otiluke's Freezing Sphere (12), True Seeing (13), Greater Heroism (15)
Prismatic Spray (14), Otto's Sphere of Dancing (15), Finger of Death (17)
Polar Ray (16), Mass Charm Monster (17), Trap the Soul (19)
Iceberg (18), Wail of the Banshee (19), Mass Hold Monster (20)

Enhancements (80+7 AP)

Water Savant (42 AP) Water Savant, Water Affinity, Greater Water Affinity, Hypothermia, Elemental Persistance, Elemental Apotheosis One with the Waves III, Spell Critical, Hoarfrost III
Efficient Quicken III, Pierce Cold Resistance III, Spell Critical, Absolute Zero II
Spell Critical, Charisma
Spell Critical, Charisma
Awaken Elemental Weakness, Evocation Focus
Dragonborn (24 AP) Hardy, Charisma, Hardy II, Charisma Resilience
Resilience, Dragon Breath
Resilience, Power in Breath III, Draconic Knowledge
Resilience, True Power III
Eldritch Knight (Sorcerer) (21 AP) Eldritch Strike, Spellsword, Imbue the Blade, Subtle Force Improved Mage Armor III, Item Defense I, Toughness III
Improved Shield III, Mystic Wards III
Arcane Barrier, Charisma

Destiny (24 AP)

Exalted Angel Radiant Power I, Endless Faith I, Healing Power I, Charisma
Soundburst II, Charisma
Piercing Spellcraft III, Charisma
Blood and Radiance I, Charisma
Leap of Faith, Charisma
Reborn in Light, Charisma
Twists of Fate (35 fate points) Spell Knowledge (Tier 4 Draconic)
Empyrean Magic (Tier 3 Crusader)
School Specialist: Enchantment (Tier 2 Magister)
Precise: Evocation (Tier 2 Draconic)

Gear list

Interim

Goggles: Legendary Dragon Eyes
Helm: Legendary Unbreakable Stormreach Guardian's Helm
Necklace: Legendary Kindred Pendant
Trinket: Cannith Crafted - Heal Amp, Insightful PRR, Sheltering
Cloak: Mysterious Cloak
Belt: Legendary Thrummingspark Cord
Gloves: Legendary Blurfingered Gloves
Boots: Legendary Soft Sole Slippers
Bracers: Legendary Bracers of the Fallen Hero
Ring #1: Legendary Spinneret
Ring #2: Legendary Chieftain
Chest Piece: Legendary Barovian Nobles Regallia
Weapon #1: Nightmothers Scepter
Weapon #2: Legendary Wild Frost

Final

Goggles: Legendary Dragon Eyes
Helm: Legendary Unbreakable Stormreach Guardian's Helm
Necklace: Cannith Crafted - Spell Saves, Insightful PRR, Insightful Wizardry
Trinket: Bell of Warding
Cloak: Cloak of the Mountain
Belt: Legendary Thrummingspark Cord
Gloves: Legendary Blurfingered Gloves
Boots: Legendary Greensteel - Cold Crit Multi x3
Bracers: Legendary Bracers of the Fallen Hero
Ring #1: Legendary Spinneret, Swap to Legendary Chieftain before using Mass frog
Ring #2: Ring of Clouded Dreams
Chest Piece: Mantle of Escher
Weapon #1: The Reflection of Wave


Filigree:
Frozen Wanderer: +1 Charisma, PRR
The Blood Feast/Frozen Wanderer: PRR
Otto's Irrevocable Power: +1 Charisma, PRR, Spellpower, MRR
Hell and Back/Embraced by Light: +2 Charisma

Augments:
Spell Focus Enchant +2, Spell Focus Necro +2, Spell Focus Evocation +2, False Life +40, Power +250, +2 Insightful Wisdom, +2 Good Luck, +8 Resistance, +144 Devotion, +8 Protection, +8 Natural Armor

[Hjarki]

I think that Tiefling, once it lands, will be a far better approach to this sort of Sorcerer.

[Xyfiel]

If you are running lower reaper a heavy armor/shield Warforged Sorc is a god. Did one a month ago and it was the easiest and fastest life I ever had. If I do it again I won't even take Reconstruct, I didn't need it in heroics.

*If you have the lives, gear, and reaper points to not need focus in dc's and spell pen.

[Garix]

A Sorc without Max and Emp??

Are they allowed???!

Not a criticism. observation only :)

[mr420247]

Acid bolt might be better then fire for certain immunes mainly black bones n some bosses i guess

Looking at tiefling i did not see a single thing that impressed me

Compared to Aasimar, Dragonborn both of which have working arcanum now

[Hobgoblin]

only thing i can say is on the 28 pt build make it 16 con 20 cha i value the dc more then the hp

[Hobgoblin]

and 2 toughness's is 2 2 many

max empower are nice for slas - would add in necro focus rather then evo.

[janave]

New players can delay SF: enchantment and take earlier evocation focuses, altho for starters I would definitely bring MAX,EMP,QKN as down as possible.

Metas are free on SLAs and help leveling ALOT.

For 30, most Sorcs choose to DC cast which is superior to by a large factor, some feat swaps maybe due, would still keep MAX for bosses, but maybe let go of EMP.

[Strimtom]

and 2 toughness's is 2 2 many

max empower are nice for slas - would add in necro focus rather then evo.

The toughness feats are in place of epic destiny feats, the other options aren't better. I would prefer 33 HP over 20 cold spellpower any day. As for necro vs evo, it depends on your DCs. I found evasion was quite annoying sometimes even with a 110 Iceberg DC so I chose evocation.


only thing i can say is on the 28 pt build make it 16 con 20 cha i value the dc more then the hp

I imagine first lifers with 28 point builds would appreciate the extra HP as it helps in a pinch. charisma is especially important but it doesn't help when you're dead!


Acid bolt might be better then fire for certain immunes mainly black bones n some bosses i guess

Firebolt is there to proc Empyrean magic from divine crusader to maintain an extra 10% spell critical chance, getting 89% crit chance at level 30 with gear (and 95% if a bard is nearby!)


A Sorc without Max and Emp??

Are they allowed???!

Not a criticism. observation only :)

The spells have so much base damage now I didn't run into an issue during the levelling process even on R2. If you prefer max and emp, they are great for the SLAs. I wanted to see if they were necessary and found them not to be.


New players can delay SF: enchantment and take earlier evocation focuses, altho for starters I would definitely bring MAX,EMP,QKN as down as possible.

Metas are free on SLAs and help leveling ALOT.

For 30, most Sorcs choose to DC cast which is superior to by a large factor, some feat swaps maybe due, would still keep MAX for bosses, but maybe let go of EMP.

The base damage is a lot higher on the lower level spells (fireball is literally double the damage since U41) so I never needed max and emp, but if you are only doing heroic levelling it could be something to consider.

[count_spicoli]

So after just running 5 sorc lives in a row doing racial I agree they are the premier leveling class right now as long as you dont get hit. Also cold is great as it has the best spells. However a couple things I do different on my sorc.

-would def keep invested in max and emp. On r1-3 no prob. As you ramp up the reaper every bit of spell power becomes increasingly important. Even when you start using necro spells having alot of spell power for law champs and bosses is necessary. Plus the ramped up slash help.

-problems with cold. Undead suck to deal with. Even with elemental weakness u can only target one at a time. If going g cold I would invest in electric as back up. I scrap most of ek tree in favour of backup savant tree. No need to invest in ac it will never be acceptable on a sorc to matter. NEVER get hit on a sorc in any reaper lvl. You will die. They are truly glass cannons.

Other prob with cold is the slas are terrible. Cold ray with its caster cap is terrible and snowball swarm is useless.. Frost lance isn't terrible but I prefer the electric slas. Electric loop is great for just freezing the whole room for cheap and short cooldown. Anything masshold misses just sling loop to stop em. And lightning bolt is great for finishing something off for free.

Just out of curiosity what were you hitting your iceberg for at cap? I was getting 8k out of thunderstroke in heroic with elemental weakness and a crit. Bosses came down like nothing in r3 and lower.

[Hjarki]

Acid bolt might be better then fire for certain immunes mainly black bones n some bosses i guess

Looking at tiefling i did not see a single thing that impressed me

Really?

- +35 Fire Spellpower in cores, another 30 Universal spell power
- The ability to convert your Fire spellpower to Acid, Cold or Electric
- +MRR Cap
- +3 DC to both Evocation and Conjuration
- +4% Spell Critical, +8% Fire Spell Critical
- 5% increased Fire damage and Fire Immunity breaking

Given that you need to cast Fire spells for Empyrean Magic anyway, you can take full Cold (or any) Savant, splash a few points into Fire Savant for Conflagration and a few cores, gear for straight Fire Spellpower - and hit harder with Cold spells than a traditional Cold Sorcerer. The only real advantage to the Drabonborn approach is the +2 max caster level.

[Arctigis]

Really?

- +35 Fire Spellpower in cores, another 30 Universal spell power
- The ability to convert your Fire spellpower to Acid, Cold or Electric
- +MRR Cap
- +3 DC to both Evocation and Conjuration
- +4% Spell Critical, +8% Fire Spell Critical
- 5% increased Fire damage and Fire Immunity breaking

Given that you need to cast Fire spells for Empyrean Magic anyway, you can take full Cold (or any) Savant, splash a few points into Fire Savant for Conflagration and a few cores, gear for straight Fire Spellpower - and hit harder with Cold spells than a traditional Cold Sorcerer. The only real advantage to the Drabonborn approach is the +2 max caster level.

Yeah, Tiefling (not the Iconic) looks dope for a caster.

[Arctigis]

Nice build post Strimtom.

Can you give a CHA and Spellpower breakdown for us newly returning players? I'm
still grappling with the Ravenloft uber loot bonuses and enhancement changes.

Secondly, has anyone actually verified that max. caster level bonuses are actually
working?. I did a bunch of empirical work on this when the Savants first came out
(Update 9, EEK!) and then again when MoTU was in Beta i.e. ages ago. The MCL
bonuses at that time were not working on *all* spells (for instance, Niac's Biting cold
and Eladar's Electric Surge were not benefiting from any kind of caster level increase).

Increasing MCL cap on DPS spells is a great way to boost DPS (as SP is multiplicative) -
but only if it's working...

[Strimtom]

would def keep invested in max and emp. On r1-3 no prob. As you ramp up the reaper every bit of spell power becomes increasingly important. Even when you start using necro spells having alot of spell power for law champs and bosses is necessary. Plus the ramped up slash help.

Just out of curiosity what were you hitting your iceberg for at cap? I was getting 8k out of thunderstroke in heroic with elemental weakness and a crit. Bosses came down like nothing in r3 and lower.

I chose to not use max and emp because at end game increasing the cost of my spells by 25 to get 150 increase spellpower when I already have 1000 isn't really a good deal, so I didn't take max and emp during levelling because I didn't want to use a lesser heart to fix all my feats. That being said, yes, the cold SLAs are pretty garbage which is another reason I didn't use the SLAs or max/empower.

You don't always need to deal with undead and I took acid spells for when I needed to during levelling. Once I hit 20 I only used cold spells.

My iceberg was hitting for 30k on R1 but I was still missing 60% crit multi and the reflection of wave staff. Those two things alone would bump the damage up to around ~56k on bosses.

[mr420247]

I guess but aasimar self heals are pretty op

[janave]

Really?

- +35 Fire Spellpower in cores, another 30 Universal spell power
- The ability to convert your Fire spellpower to Acid, Cold or Electric
- +MRR Cap
- +3 DC to both Evocation and Conjuration
- +4% Spell Critical, +8% Fire Spell Critical
- 5% increased Fire damage and Fire Immunity breaking

Given that you need to cast Fire spells for Empyrean Magic anyway, you can take full Cold (or any) Savant, splash a few points into Fire Savant for Conflagration and a few cores, gear for straight Fire Spellpower - and hit harder with Cold spells than a traditional Cold Sorcerer. The only real advantage to the Drabonborn approach is the +2 max caster level.



~While in Obscuring Darkness, you gain +10/20/30 Universal Spell Power and +1/2/2 Evocation and Conjuration DCs~

We will see how the stand in the fog mechanic works, as a Sorc i prefer to be as mobile as possible, being locked into a small area may work best when someone is tanking..

[leesun]

not really big on casters, but I loved your acid archer build so I created a 1st life dragonborn to give this a shot. It is fun as heck, I gotta say. I farmed heroic wave and some lvl10 loot on my main and set it aside for the sorc, and once I hit 10 the power spike was absurd. I have had a blast running low reaper at level getting half or so of the kills. only bad thing is I have no striding item, as that would remove the softsole slippers breaking the beacon set. So I have had to stock up on haste potions since I forgot to snag expeditious retreat, my fault really. although I have been making a skooma joke saying that "I must skoom" or "need to skoom zoom" sometimes when I down a haste pot or caste a haste spell. Pretty sure at this point that all of my sorc's feats and adventures are just drug-born delusion, and in reality he is starved and wrapped in dirty rags, foaming at the mouth while house J healers break out the leeches trying to save him.

[Smackyone]

I would love to give the sorc a shot but as a new player to the game would this build be viable for a first life new player?

[Hobgoblin]

yes. smacky yes


its a good build

as long as you have access to rl gear you should be fine

[Smackyone]

as long as you have access to rl gear you should be fine

Sorry i am new to the game and don't know all the lingo yet so with that being said whats RL gear?

Thank you ahead of time

[Hobgoblin]

Sorry i am new to the game and don't know all the lingo yet so with that being said whats RL gear?

Thank you ahead of time

rl = ravenloft gear. belt in particular

https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Thrummingspark_Cord

[leesun]

Sorry i am new to the game and don't know all the lingo yet so with that being said whats RL gear?

Thank you ahead of time

as Hobgoblin said, Ravenloft gear. Thrummingspark cord, a level 10 belt, will give you 77 cold spellpower and 11 cold critical chance. it is also a good idea to, if you have it, grab the level 9 quarterstaff Echo of Wave. the bonuses of Thrummingspark Cord to spellpower are "enhancement bonuses", while Echo of Wave gives an "equipment bonus" of +73 cold spellpower plus an additional +9 "implement bonus" to universal spellpower and and +11 cold critical chance for a total of +159 cold spellpower and +22 cold critical chance.

because these two items offer different type bonuses, they stack.

[Arctigis]

as Hobgoblin said, Ravenloft gear. Thrummingspark cord, a level 10 belt, will give you 77 cold spellpower and 11 cold critical chance. it is also a good idea to, if you have it, grab the level 9 quarterstaff Echo of Wave. the bonuses of Thrummingspark Cord to spellpower are "enhancement bonuses", while Echo of Wave gives an "equipment bonus" of +73 cold spellpower plus an additional +9 "implement bonus" to universal spellpower and and +11 cold critical chance for a total of +159 cold spellpower and +22 cold critical chance.

because these two items offer different type bonuses, they stack.

Lore on the qs and the belt are both equipment bonuses. The SP stacks.

[leesun]

Lore on the qs and the belt are both equipment bonuses. The SP stacks.

ty for pointing this out. in hindsight I should have pulled up the wiki to make sure everything was correct before typing all that.

On a side note, I am kind of salty I just squandered my weekly blonde moment stipend >.<

[Strimtom]

Sorry i am new to the game and don't know all the lingo yet so with that being said whats RL gear?

Thank you ahead of time

RL stands for ravenloft, he means gear from the ravenloft expansion. It is a really good group of items that help you fill up every stat, assuming you have the expansion and farm it out.

[Smackyone]

Thank you everyone for being so helpful and i have all the expansions am working on getting to level 10 now to do the missions and wear the gear. Also if you wouldn't mind what feats would you take with your first life instead of for the level 3 and 6 feat

[Garix]

Thank you everyone for being so helpful and i have all the expansions am working on getting to level 10 now to do the missions and wear the gear. Also if you wouldn't mind what feats would you take with your first life instead of for the level 3 and 6 feat

Personally I'd probably go Greater Spell Focus: Evocation and Maximise. Maximise only for your SLA's (Spell Like abilities) unless you're happy with your Spell Point management

[stubdubya]

Sorry i am new to the game and don't know all the lingo yet so with that being said whats RL gear?

Thank you ahead of time

I think they are referring to gear from the Raven Loft questing area (lvl 10).

[Methin]

Found your guides on the Youtubes and found them informative. Was wondering as a returning player starting over from scratch, does the video break down spell choices per level? as far as i see your first attack spell isn't until 2nd level and it is a fire spell. I get that at epic levels you use it to proc a buff, but while leveling what were your spell options?

second question: What would you suggest as feat options for someone with no past lives? I have read several people suggesting Max and Emp, but I have read your reasoning for not taking them. What would you suggest in their place?

[Scortius]

Weapon #1: Nightmothers Scepter
Weapon #2: Legendary Wild Frost



Could a sentient Wild Frost and LGS Affirmation/Dust/Vac be matched by something mainhand and a Sphere of Waves? I like the style points (and electric options) of the Sphere, but I'm having trouble thinking of a compelling mainhand choice to pair it with.

(Nightmother's might now be made redundant by the Esoteric Initiate set of Aetherband and Attunement Goggles.)

[Izuke]

with sharn itens avaliable I would totally recomend a full change on the gear list.

Helm Shroud Iten
Necklace Sigil of Regalport
Trinket Echo Of the Icon
Cloak Shroud Iten
Belt Legendary Thrummingspark Cord
Ring1 Shattered Onyx (+10 char)
Ring2 Legendary Celestial Sapphire Ring (+21 con)
Gloves Shroud Iten
Boots Shroud Iten
Bracers Legendary Aetherband
Armor Legendary Order's Garb
Goggles Attunement's Gaze
Weapon Reflection of Wave

im sitted at 121% Spell Cri dmg and 99% spell chance and dcs are 104 evo and 92 enchant (with is fine on r10 sharn)

[Sevans]

Not to bump an old topic but...
Seeing a build for sorc without maximize makes me angry and I wanted to make sure new players realize that's not the normal thing to do and might not be the best thing for them. The less gear you have and the lower level you are, the stronger maximize becomes. If your focus is anything but sitting at cap, I highly recommend maximize. I have 12+ sorc lives of experience on this. Having "enough" damage doesn't mean having more would hurt unless you are literally one-shotting everything with any spell you cast in all the content you run. More damage lets you run harder content or get through your current quest quicker....

Also, even if you're sitting at cap with 1000 spell power, +150 is still >10% increase in damage whenever you use it, so I'd rather take maximize than +1 to evocation DCs (at best, +5% chance to hit). Notably, that +150 is free on all your SLAs, many of which are huge sources of damage for an ice sorc I assume(?) : dragon breath (racial), energy burst, energy vortex, dragon breath (epic destiny), to point out just a few. Wouldn't you rather have +>10% damage increase to these things than +1 to evocation DCs? (And that doesn't even take into account the quests which have frequent rest shrines, and the fact that it's challenging to run out of SP in epics in reaper where each soul gives +200 SP minimum. If you're not running low on spell points by the time you reach a shrine, you're missing out and probably underperforming compared to your potential.) The only way I see greater spell focus evocation being worth more than maximize is if you have the gear for boatloads of spellpower, the SLAs you have only do a small fraction of your total damage, and you usually are running low on SP when you reach shrines.

I would say I personally require you (whoever is reading this message and considering playing a sorc) to take maximize at level 1 and drop GSF:evoc, but if you really do understand what you're missing and decide you don't want it of course you can do what makes you happy and post about it (e.g. Strimtom). Just want it to be very clear maximize is probably the better option most of the time for most people; if you aren't sure one way or another then maximize is probably the way to go. My main thing here is I really don't want this thread to become a newb trap into building sorc without maximize. I want more people to play sorc and enjoy it because a party of sorcs is ridiculously strong at pretty much any stage of the game, and grouping with strong allies is truly awesome :)

[SpiderPig]

Hey guys,

I was looking to run a cold sorc and was interested to see if Icy Prison was working properly yet?

[Alizar]

What in the world are you doingbto this poor sorc. Talk about butcher lol. Metamagics missing, toughness??, frog??, what in the world. Fix this build up for us. Start from scratch lol

18 con what in the world lol. No reason to go past 14 con. Put 14 intel for some much needed skills. All builds need atleast 14 intel.

EA destiny just......no. you need to be in either magister or draconic.

[Alizar]

Hey guys,

I was looking to run a cold sorc and was interested to see if Icy Prison was working properly yet?

No just pass on any of the silly con based special abilities. Not needed anyway.