The Sorcerer's Handbook: A Guide to Building and Playing Sorcerers

[Ninetoes]

A note to new sorcs hitting up this thread. If you skipped to this section after reading the main page, go back.

I'll admit it's a daunting thread, but reading through it all, following the links and seeing where it takes you, and drawing your own conclusions in regards to the arguments put forth here will do almost as much good as the initial posts themselves.


To everyone here who's contributed: A hearty thanks from a new sorc who's been trying to make the class feel like something I can get my teeth into. The only thing that's been more fun to play than my little wooden sorc was my HoX from Connan, and that was...short lived.

[Carpone]

Yes, and all the spell crit enhancements that go with them as well.

Mind posting your enhancements? Trying to figure out what you've given up to get both sets of those enhancements. Spell Pen? Toughness?

[Aspenor]

A note to new sorcs hitting up this thread. If you skipped to this section after reading the main page, go back.

I'll admit it's a daunting thread, but reading through it all, following the links and seeing where it takes you, and drawing your own conclusions in regards to the arguments put forth here will do almost as much good as the initial posts themselves.


To everyone here who's contributed: A hearty thanks from a new sorc who's been trying to make the class feel like something I can get my teeth into. The only thing that's been more fun to play than my little wooden sorc was my HoX from Connan, and that was...short lived.

A very good point and I highly recommend following this advice.

Mind posting your enhancements? Trying to figure out what you've given up to get both sets of those enhancements. Spell Pen? Toughness?

I've given up spell penetration on my sorc. I am nearly entirely focused on damaging spells and thus have little need for the spell penetration. When monsters have spell pen, I use direct damage to kill them or web to stop them in their tracks. I don't use spells like FoD, Wail, Mass Hold, etc. on these targets. I use spells that require spell pen rolls only on targets without spell penetration, or ones with low spell resistance.

[Carpone]

I've given up spell penetration on my sorc. I am nearly entirely focused on damaging spells and thus have little need for the spell penetration. When monsters have spell pen, I use direct damage to kill them or web to stop them in their tracks. I don't use spells like FoD, Wail, Mass Hold, etc. on these targets. I use spells that require spell pen rolls only on targets without spell penetration, or ones with low spell resistance.

Just curious, how often are you using FoD over Wail? I'm thinking about dropping FoD once I pick up Wail, so I'd have DBF, Prismatic Spray and Waves for 7th level spells.

[Aspenor]

Just curious, how often are you using FoD over Wail? I'm thinking about dropping FoD once I pick up Wail, so I'd have DBF, Prismatic Spray and Waves for 7th level spells.

When targets are too far away, mostly. If you want to, try it. If you don't like it, switch back.

[cyzzie]

money's a little tighter for newbies including myself. i think i have a total of 27k pp on my lvl 8 sorc... and i've never bought anything from the AH or other players.

anyway, i do have a question about my spells though. my spell list so far is:

lvl 1
niac's, jump, hypnotize, charm.

lvl 2
web, scorching ray, resist energy.

lvl 3
fireball, displacement.

lvl 4
firewall.

as you can see i only have fire for nuking (besides niac's) and this has become a problem for certain quests. should i replace fireball with acid blast or lightning bolt, or should i just wait till lvl 10 and get ball lightning?

[Iakona]

Typically it is best, when you get that kind of non-constructive feedback (I am right, you are wrong, I am smart, you are stupid), it is better to just point out that they are not being helpful, and ask them to contribute more positivly.



If you want to continue to be a part of this discussion, you need to treat everyone here as your friend. Not your brother, not your close ally, not your parrents, but you need to act in a friendly, constructive way in this discussion where no one insulted you.

Umm check the profile. He's been an active member since 3/2006 and has (guess what) NO FRIENDS. I would have added some negative rep here, but I'm new and don't have enough rep myself to give him any. oh well

[die]

dam@ dude .. lol that was alot of work hehe good work sir

[Carpone]

Is there any top-end/epic content where Acid Fog really shines? I dropped Flesh to Stone for Acid Fog the other day to play around with it while doing Ghosts of Perdition. Even with full acid/electric enhancements I found it underwhelming. Right now I'm leaning towards ditching it for a Chain Lightning/Disintegrate/Reconstruct lineup.

[Aspenor]

as you can see i only have fire for nuking (besides niac's) and this has become a problem for certain quests. should i replace fireball with acid blast or lightning bolt, or should i just wait till lvl 10 and get ball lightning?

I vastly prefer acid blast to fireball for this reason. It works on pretty much everything at the levels that it's used.

Is there any top-end/epic content where Acid Fog really shines? I dropped Flesh to Stone for Acid Fog the other day to play around with it while doing Ghosts of Perdition. Even with full acid/electric enhancements I found it underwhelming. Right now I'm leaning towards ditching it for a Chain Lightning/Disintegrate/Reconstruct lineup.

I do not think Acid Fog is useful in any situation except Abbot, and there are better alternative spells at level 6. If you need a DoT in Abbot, use Incendiary Cloud.

I will be soon updating this thread's gear section with my (personal) epic gear selections. Anybody that wishes to do the same please post yours here so I can either link it or copy/paste. Thanks in advance.

[Maugrim101]

I've had some time to play since posting in this thread the first time. I'm up to lvl 17 now, which isn't bad, but I'm still a newb with regard to my playing experince.

Despite what is obviously good advice here once you are familiar with the game and know how to obtain the items needed to get the best bang for your buck, I think some of the tips may lead the beginning player astray until they are more aware of the game as a whole.

The only item from the end game list I've been able to obtain is the Minos Legens (Fairly easy).

I'm using the elven robe from Ginathold at the moment which while not as uber as the items listed on the main page, seems to be the best robe item available to a player of my experience.

Polar ray isn't much use to me as I'm unable to enhance it beyond my class enchantments. I'm sure that it is the ray of uberness once you have good gear, but while your still gimping around with a superior potency VI sceptre and Superior combustion VII sceptre, frost lance seems to be the better option.

There are other small things also in this guide which rely on being able to own the elite items in the game and while I do appreciate the effort made to put forward the build for the UberSorc, it does seem to lack many of the tips needed for the brand new player of which this game has many of at the moment.

[Aspenor]

I've had some time to play since posting in this thread the first time. I'm up to lvl 17 now, which isn't bad, but I'm still a newb with regard to my playing experince.

Despite what is obviously good advice here once you are familiar with the game and know how to obtain the items needed to get the best bang for your buck, I think some of the tips may lead the beginning player astray until they are more aware of the game as a whole.

The only item from the end game list I've been able to obtain is the Minos Legens (Fairly easy).

I'm using the elven robe from Ginathold at the moment which while not as uber as the items listed on the main page, seems to be the best robe item available to a player of my experience.

Polar ray isn't much use to me as I'm unable to enhance it beyond my class enchantments. I'm sure that it is the ray of uberness once you have good gear, but while your still gimping around with a superior potency VI sceptre and Superior combustion VII sceptre, frost lance seems to be the better option.

There are other small things also in this guide which rely on being able to own the elite items in the game and while I do appreciate the effort made to put forward the build for the UberSorc, it does seem to lack many of the tips needed for the brand new player of which this game has many of at the moment.

I think it should go without saying that the gear should be considered as goals. I don't have the time to consider and post options for players of every wealth level.

[Maugrim101]

I think it should go without saying that the gear should be considered as goals. I don't have the time to consider and post options for players of every wealth level.

That's fair enough. I was just under the impression that this guide was here to assist new players as well as those with vast wealth and vast gaming experience.

[Aspenor]

That's fair enough. I was just under the impression that this guide was here to assist new players as well as those with vast wealth and vast gaming experience.

It does assist them. It lets them know what's out there for their characters, even if they don't have it NOW they can find out what to go for and where to find it by using the Static Rewards thread.

[MoiraKatonic]

this post should really be made a sticky!! I always look for it to when I'm leveling my sorc/// Thanks for making this.

[TruRay]

As far as human/drow vs warforged I think there is another thing to mention: there are some great end game robes that provide Greater Evocation Focus (Black Dragonscale, Regalia of the Phoenix) that are only available to fleshies but no comparable bonus available on warforged gear.

On the other hand warforged have access to Quorforged Docent of Battle at end game and Docent of Acid/Docent of Defiance at lower levels.

These sets play into the respective races inherent benefits to the class (HP for warforged, offense for humans/drow) so I don't think that this is a pro or con to any of the races.

I prefer my Warforged since I am still new to endgame and don't have any gear to speak of and I don't have the skills to kite and survive all the quests I appreciate the extra HP. After I get some good items, I would definitely consider re-rolling to a human.

[Ergot]

The original post had a lot of good info, but there's one critical flaw I'd like to point out: drow do NOT get +1 dc to their spells compared to humans, because they do NOT have higher charisma. Humans have an enhancement line that gives +2 to any ability score of their choice, like charisma. Moreover, the fact their con is not reduced and they have more attribute points to spend on con as a 32 point build seals the deal with the extra feat. Warforged definitely, but I am strongly against drow as a sorcerer race.
As you can see, I put high value on hitpoints, in any amount. While a skilled sorcerer will be staying out of reach or dodging anything that comes at him, sometimes you get hit with something that is impossible to dodge such as a very large aoe or boss attack. Even under perfect conditions running with a guild party, sorcerers still need hitpoints if they want to get far.

[Osharan_Tregarth]

Humans have an enhancement line that gives +2 to any ability score of their choice, like charisma.

This part is a little off. You can add +1 to any two abilities, but you can't put them both on the same ability score.

[Aspenor]

The original post had a lot of good info, but there's one critical flaw I'd like to point out: drow do NOT get +1 dc to their spells compared to humans, because they do NOT have higher charisma. Humans have an enhancement line that gives +2 to any ability score of their choice, like charisma. Moreover, the fact their con is not reduced and they have more attribute points to spend on con as a 32 point build seals the deal with the extra feat. Warforged definitely, but I am strongly against drow as a sorcerer race.
As you can see, I put high value on hitpoints, in any amount. While a skilled sorcerer will be staying out of reach or dodging anything that comes at him, sometimes you get hit with something that is impossible to dodge such as a very large aoe or boss attack. Even under perfect conditions running with a guild party, sorcerers still need hitpoints if they want to get far.

As Osh said, you can only put human adaptability to a stat one time. You cannot gain +2 charisma from the enhancement.

Current end-game, maxed out gear:
Human - 23 Base + 4 Enhancements + 7 Item + 3 Exceptional + 4 Tome + 1 Profane + 2 Yugoloth Potion = 44 Sustainable charisma
Drow - 25 Base + 3 Enhancement + 7 Item + 3 Exceptional + 4 Tome +1 Profane + 2 Yugoloth Potion = 45 Sustainable Charisma

Assuming equal gear and tome usage, the drow can always sustain 1 higher charisma than the human. BEFORE the advent of the Epic Ring of the Silver Concord (which happened well after the OP was authored) drow always could obtain +1 DC compared to humans. Now, since the ERotSC grants only a +1 bonus over a normal item, the +1 DC disappears.

However, the drow will be able to save 6 Action Points by not buying Sorcerer's Charisma III. If the drow has even one +1 that the human does not, the drow has +1 DC.

I will probably update the OP to include this fact, but the scenario has only recently become relevant. When the OP was written the +1 DC was set in stone assuming equal gear.

[Slartipeutkwik]

As a true newb (about a month on DDO) I found this thread very helpful, and I am grateful that Aspenor took the time and effort to put this info out there. I do have one suggestion though. This guide, like every other guide I have seen that seems to have an intention to help us newbs out, uses slang/abbreviations that, being a newb, I don't know. This being about the 20th time I was researching something and had to stop, to look up an abbreviation, I finally thought to look up "DDO slang" today. I found http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=193439, which is a thread that gives a list of slang. I have 3 suggestion options as a result if you want to offer the least frustration for us newbs. 1. Avoid slang/abbreviations; or 2. Define slang/abbreviations the first time used, eg OP (Original Poster) (and yes I am that clueless I had to look it up This option I like the best b/c it explains but at the same time will train us newbs to learn the lingo; or 3. reference the slang thread above early on (or maybe you know a better thread)

Thanks once again for all your work on this and your openness to improvement.