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

[tinyelvis]

Sorry, didn't mean to be such an jackass. However, these comments do bring up a very good point. I think it may be helpful to have a discussion in another thread concerning this topic.

"Given the radical changes in game form the designers have now laid out with Epic content, does a sorcerer need to be able to tank any foe end game now to be an offensive party member and considered correctly built?"

Currently, if you are not, you will end up standing around a lot looking like a wizard.

[Nieche]

I found this guide very helpful, especially in selecting the right combination of spells for me. Cheers to you author.

[PopeJual]

"Given the radical changes in game form the designers have now laid out with Epic content, does a sorcerer need to be able to tank any foe end game now to be an offensive party member and considered correctly built?"

There are a lot of different things that a Sorcerer can do while leveling, in raids and in Epic content. Many of the things that a Sorcerer can do in Epic are pretty ineffective, however.

Humans and Drow can scroll heal themselves. Humans get healing amp and a Human's best DC is 2 higher than a Warforged's best DC. Drow get a DC that is 2 higher than a WF as well.

...so why would you play a WF, if you're not going to use what WF can do that Humans and Drow can't do?

It's not a question of "Do I have to be a WF Sorc that can tank anything in the game in order to not be a gimp?" The question is "Why play a WF Sorc in the first place if not going to take advantage of the Warforged benefits?"

Is there a massive downside to taking Quicken or Reconstruct on your WF caster that I don't know about? Sure, it sucks to not have Flesh to Stone, Symbol of Persuasion and Disintigrate on your caster all at the same time, but I'm betting that you can figure out which spell to drop for Epic content.

[AylinIsAwesome]

- Strength: Strength gives bonuses to melee to-hit and damage. What kind of idiot full spellcaster hits anything with a weapon? The only use for strength to a sorcerer is to prevent being rendered helpless by strength damage. This can easily be avoided by drinking bull's strength potions at low levels, and wearing a strength item at the higher levels. Don't waste those precious stat points.

Tukaw.

[ArtosKincaid]

Tukaw.

The Tukaw build isn't addressed here because it's pretty far removed from a normal sorc build.

[Aspenor]

Again, i must disagree. He stated,

That may be what he stated, but it in no way necessarily correlates to melee. The actual generic MMO term "tank" references a character that attracts the attention of the enemy, maintains it, and does so in order to facilitate easier victories by the party. Being a melee character has very little to do with it at all, it just happens that DDO is one of the few (possibly the only) MMO where a spellcaster can do this as well, or possibly better than a melee.

[Aspenor]

Tukaw.

The Tukaw build isn't addressed here because it's pretty far removed from a normal sorc build.

What he said, Tukaw is an exception, and is not actually a full spellcaster.

[Thesoulgazer]

The Tukaw build isn't addressed here because it's pretty far removed from a normal sorc build.

No, but its still one of the most Ba builds in the game if you can use it correctly

[Aspenor]

No, but its still one of the most Ba builds in the game if you can use it correctly

I have a somewhat similar build, but would never pawn it off as an actual sorcerer.

[Postumus]

Great post Aspenor!


We may disagree on many PnP aspects, but this post is well written and seems like really solid info. I can't wait to try it out on my sorcerer character.

Thanks!

[Heleen]

Wow guy, very nice Guide. Useful for any new Player or even for the experients, it have some nice information.

[HavokReeker]

Thanks for the information and well thought out character planning. Kudos!

[DerWildeWolf]

Hey there! I´m using this guide, but there´s one point i really don´t understand: why are you recommending niacs cold ray? (I dunno if this question has been answered in here before, i didn´t want to read all of the comments...please forgive me. )
I mean...okay, i get the point it CAN do incredibly high damage on low levels. But until lvl 6, it´s the only direct damage spell you recommend besides that acid thingy. Unfortunately it´s "missing" about half of the times (on some Bosses with higher saves even more often). It is much too unreliable to be the mainweapon of a HP-weak-sorc in my opinion. I´m soloing a lot in low levels, and i´m really looking forward to be able to change my spells again in 2 days, because i´ve to rely on my hireling and "charm person" almost completely right now, and thats frustrating. Magic missile does a lot less damage (especially on low lvls), but it will hit for sure...i dunno, isn´t that more useful on bosses? There´s no need to one-hit trash mobs anyways, cause your hireling can do that all alone.
Another point i don´t understand yet is your incredibly high trust into "web". I get the point, its a very nice spell SOMETIMES. But it can be resisted easily as well, has not a very high range, doesn´t work with many enemys "charm person" doesnt affect as well, and will be destroyed by fire-AoE-Damage. I´m still very low in level, but there weren´t many situations yet it proved as extremely useful. Usually the hireling cleans the enemys just as fast as you´re casting, or half of the enemys just run right through the web, which is why you might have run or to cast another one or two webs - which is spellpointwise just worth as much as 4 acid spells that could have killed those enemys much faster.

btw.: I´m not whining or complaining. Consider this as a friendly question of a sorc-newbie.

[tinyelvis]

Sounds to me like you suffer from poor spell DC's (a very common problem). If you have poor spell DC's and have no interest in improving them, then spells like mm and shocking grasp will probably be easier for you to achieve success with. Further, with meta magic buffing and knowledge you can make spells like acid spray work very well even if mobs make saves. IF however, you are interested in improving your spell DC's and the performance of spells that rely on these DC's (i.e. web and niacs) then look here,

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=274782

[DerWildeWolf]

Actually, you´re right: my DC is pretty bad. But i really WANT to improve it. Anything else wouldn´t be wise, would it? I´ve just no way to do so. I´m a human caster, so 18 CHA is max for the beginning, right? It´s my first Char, so i have no tomes and not a very good gear. I´m lvl 4 now, and i have only 21 CHA (i wish it was 22 at least, but as i told you: i just don´t have the gear yet, and i´ve got all the enhancements i´ve found). What else should i do? Maybe the spells that can be saved completely just aren´t good for a first char at all.
Anyways, thanks for your link. Maybe i´ll find some help there.

[Jaid314]

Actually, you´re right: my DC is pretty bad. But i really WANT to improve it. Anything else wouldn´t be wise, would it? I´ve just no way to do so. I´m a human caster, so 18 CHA is max for the beginning, right? It´s my first Char, so i have no tomes and not a very good gear. I´m lvl 4 now, and i have only 21 CHA (i wish it was 22 at least, but as i told you: i just don´t have the gear yet, and i´ve got all the enhancements i´ve found). What else should i do? Maybe the spells that can be saved completely just aren´t good for a first char at all.
Anyways, thanks for your link. Maybe i´ll find some help there.

at low levels, the most important thing is to try and target the weak save. you don't have an awful lot of options for boosting your save DC, so focus on hitting them where they're weak. definitely keep your charisma as high as you feasibly can, but don't worry too much if you have a bit of a hard time landing spells just yet...

[PopeJual]

Actually, you´re right: my DC is pretty bad. But i really WANT to improve it. Anything else wouldn´t be wise, would it? I´ve just no way to do so. I´m a human caster, so 18 CHA is max for the beginning, right? It´s my first Char, so i have no tomes and not a very good gear. I´m lvl 4 now, and i have only 21 CHA (i wish it was 22 at least, but as i told you: i just don´t have the gear yet, and i´ve got all the enhancements i´ve found). What else should i do? Maybe the spells that can be saved completely just aren´t good for a first char at all.
Anyways, thanks for your link. Maybe i´ll find some help there.

Eagle's Splendor potions/wands are helpful for that as well. That also stacks with ship buffs and with your +Cha enhancement from being human when you take it (but it doesn't stack with a +Cha item)

[Wolfspite]

but there´s one point i really don´t understand: why are you recommending niacs cold ray?

It is much too unreliable to be the mainweapon of a HP-weak-sorc in my opinion.

That is the point of Niacs cold ray imo, you are a HP weak caster. At lvl 2 and above, Niacs will one shot most harbour stuff on normal without having empower or maximize turned on, if it fails it does nothing and doesn't tend to wake up lots of mobs who will come and take advantage of your low hitpoint status.

As previously stated, using a charisma potion will help a lot at early levels. Also, bear in mind that one of your starter gear items raises lvl 1 spells by 1 level, I'm pretty certain it is the starter robe. With that on your firing Niacs as a lvl 2 caster even at lvl 1 and so on.

[shagath]

As previously stated, using a charisma potion will help a lot at early levels. Also, bear in mind that one of your starter gear items raises lvl 1 spells by 1 level, I'm pretty certain it is the starter robe. With that on your firing Niacs as a lvl 2 caster even at lvl 1 and so on.

I haven't been casting offensive spells that often anymore in low levels(in this life, picked my first offensive spell at lvl6) but when I did, this robe was excellent:
Robe of Duality - (Robe) False Life, Arcane Augmentation I [ML:2, BtA]

It's one of the end rewards when you complete Catacombs. Catacombs is a low level area so it's not too hard to get. It also helps to save sp by having longer lasting buffs.

[Luna9698]

Can someone please post a chart showing what ability, and skill to put where if no one minds