Newb to sorcerer need tips on game play

[DarkNebula]

Would some of you who have experience in playing a sorcerer give me some general tips on game play styles? what to use and not to use. Equipment that would be beneficial to look for. Also should I use staff, swd, bow? I would like to learn how to play this toon in a group and solo.

thx for your time.

[ProdigalGuru]

Are you already a Sorc, or thinking of becoming one?

In general, Sorcs are nukers, meaning you will cast damage spells from a distance.

You will rarely, if ever, need a melee weapon.
Daggers, maces, scepters, and morningstars usually have the abilities you are after: Potency and Lore.

Soloing, buff up to high heaven, grab all the aggro, kill with AoE spells.

Group play, buff everyone, hang in the back, set up kill zones for melee, unload on the boss.


Simplistic, but you didn't give a lot of criteria.

[Malison]

In general, Sorcs are nukers, meaning you will cast damage spells from a distance.

You will rarely, if ever, need a melee weapon.
Daggers, maces, scepters, and morningstars usually have the abilities you are after: Potency and Lore.

Soloing, buff up to high heaven, grab all the aggro, kill with AoE spells.

Group play, buff everyone, hang in the back, set up kill zones for melee, unload on the boss.

Good concise advice from Guru.

Generally you'll want to choose one element as your primary damage type, and one or two others for backup. Get as many enhancements in those as you can afford, and pick up whichever Savant fits.

At extremely low levels (korthos-marketplace) you won't want to have metamagics turned on; they cost a lot and everything has low hp. Once you get good AoE spells you'll probably want max/empower on. Exploding a room with one fireball/cone of cold/acid rain is highly entertaining. AoE spells are generally more efficient (in sp and time) than single-target.

You want to have defensive buffs active at all times: resist energy (whichever is appropriate for the quest), jump, expeditious retreat or haste, and especially displacement. If you are warforged, self-healing makes not being buffed a little less dangerous. This is important because you get so few hp per level.

You usually don't want to stop moving during a fight. Take aggro and kite, but make sure you're kiting among the melee party members. If you stop moving, things will smash you in the face and you die. If you drag things away from your party, they'll hate you forever.

By higher level questing you'll want to develop your own party playstyle, and the spells of your chosen savant will guide you in your solo play. Raiding, be careful how thoroughly you unload on the boss, you can easily steal aggro from all but the best tanks.

[richieelias27]

Would some of you who have experience in playing a sorcerer give me some general tips on game play styles? what to use and not to use. Equipment that would be beneficial to look for. Also should I use staff, swd, bow? I would like to learn how to play this toon in a group and solo.

thx for your time.

The best defence is mobility, as is stated already. If you stand still you absolutely will die more often than a mobile caster with the same gear/build.

Mobility means more than just running around like a crazy person. A few tips:

Know who the tank in your group is. At low to mid levels this is generally the person who is doing the most damage but also not dying, and if the group knows what it is doing he is also the first one to enter each room. If you are the person doing the most damage and/or the first in the room, then you are the tank... If you do not wish to have this role, do not be the first in the room, and do not overdamage unless it kills. (Most Sorcs do not mind being the aggro magnet. Just be aware of what you can and cannot handle)

Once you know who the tank is, stay near them if you get aggro (enemies are whacking you). Do not ever run away from the tank(s) if you have aggro. Yes, this does mean that if you are the tank that you should be running and jumping around yourself in a tight circle, preferably centered on your Web/Ice Storm/whatever else you have going on.

If you can get your jump high enough (jump spell), there is a tactic that you can use to avoid damage altogether: just jump over their heads (Tall monsters will still hit you, and they will still hit you once you come back down). This is especially effective for dodging ray attacks: When you see a caster winding up for a scorching ray or melfs acid arrow or lightning bolt (etc), jump over their heads to land behind them and they will misss you just the same as you would if the roles were reversed.

Haste/expeditious retreat + Jump means you can very easily stay out of range and avoid getting hit while kiting things around in/through your persistant AOE spells (Acid Storm, Wall of Fire, Ice Storm, etc).

Web is an excellent method for getting enemies to stay in one spot, but is not fireball friendly.

Ice Storm will cancel or put out a Wall of Fire.

Typically sorcs dual wield any two weapons they can find that boost their spell damage.

[Gooch]

As a sorc, with less spell choices than a wiz, (and my own FPS history) I tend to be on the move alot and bind my most used spells to every key in reach on my keyboard and mouse. That way I can avoid being hit and target easier while on the move. I find it difficult to cast spells by clicking on the icons. Save those slots for things like buffs and things used less often or that you don't expect to cast while running from something. Others may be more inclined to stand in place and cast by clicking icons but to me it's more dangerous and slow. However, it also makes it more difficult for me when i actually do need to click something to cast.

It took me awhile to realize it because the iconic thought of a mage using a staff, but the most useful thing for a sorc is to dual-wield items like scepters/clubs/maces/daggers with good abilities on them. You can create a few weapons sets for them as well to deal with different circumstances. The highest potency item you can get is #1, then a major lore, or something that adds a spell DC like evocation/necro. I also carry around a damage weap or two so that i can spare sp when i solo.

When i first started my sorc, when the game had a lvl cap of 6, I thought it would be smart to have a bow as a backup when not casting as that is what i did in all other D&D games, but it doesn't work so well in DDO. I still carry one, but it rarely has any use. Just adds a bit of dps when you are bored and want to save sp. Or the occasional quest where something is far away on a perch and again save sp.

Other than that, just read some guides on spells to use as a start but you'll find that many are useful. practice with them and see what you like. Just try to concentrate some damage spells to a particular ele type, but also diversify so that you can damage anything. So CC is always useful, but damage is a sorc's job.