Sorcerer questions

[pleistocene]

Currently I have a 2nd life sorcerer that is lv 14 (tr'd from a wizard) I don't understand why people take heighten if sorcerer's can do good cc because when i look up builds most of them take heighten.

In addition to that I am just weary on which feats to take, as of now I have empower, maximize, extend, wizard past life feat, and spell focus evocation. what other feats should i take, or atleast give me reason why to take certain feats.

Right now it is a fire savant but I plan on switch it to a water savant at lv 17 or 18. But is that too late??

Thanks, that's all for now I still have more questions just can't remember for now

[Ironforge_Clan]

Currently I have a 2nd life sorcerer that is lv 14 (tr'd from a wizard) I don't understand why people take heighten if sorcerer's can do good cc because when i look up builds most of them take heighten.

In addition to that I am just weary on which feats to take, as of now I have empower, maximize, extend, wizard past life feat, and spell focus evocation. what other feats should i take, or atleast give me reason why to take certain feats.

Right now it is a fire savant but I plan on switch it to a water savant at lv 17 or 18. But is that too late??

Thanks, that's all for now I still have more questions just can't remember for now

I'm no sorc expert but I do play one in game (3rd lifer - cleric, fvs, and now earth savant).

Heighten - I feel this is a must have on any arcane unless you are only casting buffs and spells that aren't dependent on DCs.

Extend - personal choice but now most sorcs are dropping this.

Empower, Maximize - definite keepers. No caster should be caught without these.

Past life - another keeper.

Spell focus - keeper since I believe it is required for your PrE. Also nothing wrong with getting the Greater version if you can fit it in.

So what is missing...toughness! Yes toughness. You would be getting a significant jump in hit points taking toughness since it opens up your racial enhancement line (I'm presuming you would only take the first two tiers...although depending on race, etc. you could open up more.) Nothing frightens me more when than when I see a sorc with 300 hp or less. My sorc sits with 417 without ship buffs or a toughness item. In a perfect world I'll be able to get another 100 hp when I complete my sorc's buildout.

Again not a sorc expert but based upon what others have said going fire for leveling works and then switching over to a different savant is just fine. I believe the general consensus is that the switch needs or should occur at Vale/Amarath where you start to encounter creatures with inherent fire resistance.

[pleistocene]

I'm no sorc expert but I do play one in game (3rd lifer - cleric, fvs, and now earth savant).

Heighten - I feel this is a must have on any arcane unless you are only casting buffs and spells that aren't dependent on DCs.

Extend - personal choice but now most sorcs are dropping this.

Empower, Maximize - definite keepers. No caster should be caught without these.

Past life - another keeper.

Spell focus - keeper since I believe it is required for your PrE. Also nothing wrong with getting the Greater version if you can fit it in.

So what is missing...toughness! Yes toughness. You would be getting a significant jump in hit points taking toughness since it opens up your racial enhancement line (I'm presuming you would only take the first two tiers...although depending on race, etc. you could open up more.) Nothing frightens me more when than when I see a sorc with 300 hp or less. My sorc sits with 417 without ship buffs or a toughness item. In a perfect world I'll be able to get another 100 hp when I complete my sorc's buildout.

Again not a sorc expert but based upon what others have said going fire for leveling works and then switching over to a different savant is just fine. I believe the general consensus is that the switch needs or should occur at Vale/Amarath where you start to encounter creatures with inherent fire resistance.

Thank you for the heighten explanation with that said, though I did forget to mention that I did take toughness as my level 1 feat and at lv 14 it has 279 hp with ship buffs and with a medium hp augment with 1.9k sp

I guess the only thing I am unsure of is when I should transition to water savant right now being level 14 should I transition to water savant now or wait til a bit later?

Thanks

[DrunkenBuddha]

On most non-TR builds, heightened webs are probably your most reliable form of CC availbe. You can do other things to help prep for CC, i.e. symbols of death, and other spells that lower mob saves, but webs are fairly nice. Being an earth savant tossing webs is also nice. But I've found the most reliable CC as a sorc is to just kill everything.

[Malky]

Again not a sorc expert but based upon what others have said going fire for leveling works and then switching over to a different savant is just fine. I believe the general consensus is that the switch needs or should occur at Vale/Amarath where you start to encounter creatures with inherent fire immunity.

Fix'd!

[pleistocene]

Fix'd!

So at lv 16 -18?

Also..how long does it truely take to aquire good gear on casters I mean my caster isn't my main toon in fact none of my toons have any real epic gear because all the epic gear my toons have are from the holiday events or what not, despite the fact that I own all the epic packs I don't have a single epic item. So how long do you have to play DDO to get good gear? (fyi I've been playing for 1 year now, started last year february, but did not make my caster until 4-5 months ago)

[Ironforge_Clan]

So at lv 16 -18?

Also..how long does it truely take to aquire good gear on casters I mean my caster isn't my main toon in fact none of my toons have any real epic gear because all the epic gear my toons have are from the holiday events or what not, despite the fact that I own all the epic packs I don't have a single epic item. So how long do you have to play DDO to get good gear? (fyi I've been playing for 1 year now, started last year february, but did not make my caster until 4-5 months ago)

If you have no life not long but if you do a lifetime. Gear is always in flux since the game continues to evolve. Just when you believe you have the "perfect" setup some new piece of gear comes out and it makes you contemplate everything all over again. My only piece of advice is to try and plan out all of your slots before you start actively trying to obtain your end game gear. As and FYI I've been playing since September '06 and while I do have quite a lot of epic gear on my capped characters I don't consider any of them even close to complete.

[Argenty]

My sorc is on its 3 past life. I still dont have the perfect equipment everyone talks about.

But many of the items a Sorc needs have become obsolete. If you have the Crystal Cove epic dagger, and the ice suit from the cannith challenges, you got many of the things needed.

Here you can see how I have equiped my char:

http://my.ddo.com/character/ghallanda/argentyy/

I still need the Torc and the ring of spell storing from the dessert.

I was going crazy running for the soveriegn rune of the dragonshard robe to complete a set, but the Cannith challenge robe will make up for it.

That robe + the ring of Thelis and the cannith boots can replace Glacier Set easily I think.

The only weak point ATM for me is the necklace/torc. While I grind for the torc, I am thinking of making a green steel necklace for SP. The googles give me a +45 hp which fit in very nice.

Someone above said it I think. Many items that where a must have and required heavy grinding are being changed. Equipment is not necessary so clear right now.

[goodspeed]

heighten comes into play around lv 8 when you first start to notice that the word evade looms over 3 or 4 monsters heads in tear. And it only gets worse as levels progress. Plus it adds to dmg, and it's free on dmg sla's which would otherwise be useless trying to cast as a caster lv 1 spell.

And while ccing does suck without the gear and even then with as you don't invest to much into it like a wiz can, disco ball will still save ur ass a bit with a moderate dc and spell pen on norm, and perhaps hard.

[pleistocene]

My sorc is on its 3 past life. I still dont have the perfect equipment everyone talks about.

But many of the items a Sorc needs have become obsolete. If you have the Crystal Cove epic dagger, and the ice suit from the cannith challenges, you got many of the things needed.

Here you can see how I have equiped my char:

http://my.ddo.com/character/ghallanda/argentyy/

I still need the Torc and the ring of spell storing from the dessert.

I was going crazy running for the soveriegn rune of the dragonshard robe to complete a set, but the Cannith challenge robe will make up for it.

That robe + the ring of Thelis and the cannith boots can replace Glacier Set easily I think.

The only weak point ATM for me is the necklace/torc. While I grind for the torc, I am thinking of making a green steel necklace for SP. The googles give me a +45 hp which fit in very nice.

Someone above said it I think. Many items that where a must have and required heavy grinding are being changed. Equipment is not necessary so clear right now.

Thank you for your response, but something I find quite funny is that I pulled a torc on my monk of its first run of adq hehe :PP

heighten comes into play around lv 8 when you first start to notice that the word evade looms over 3 or 4 monsters heads in tear. And it only gets worse as levels progress. Plus it adds to dmg, and it's free on dmg sla's which would otherwise be useless trying to cast as a caster lv 1 spell.

And while ccing does suck without the gear and even then with as you don't invest to much into it like a wiz can, disco ball will still save ur ass a bit with a moderate dc and spell pen on norm, and perhaps hard.

Yeah i think I understand now why i should take heighten except I think ima hold it off until I am lv 18 b/c the spells I use dont really have a save (scorching ray) :P but thank you

[Malky]

So at lv 16 -18?

Also..how long does it truely take to aquire good gear on casters I mean my caster isn't my main toon in fact none of my toons have any real epic gear because all the epic gear my toons have are from the holiday events or what not, despite the fact that I own all the epic packs I don't have a single epic item. So how long do you have to play DDO to get good gear? (fyi I've been playing for 1 year now, started last year february, but did not make my caster until 4-5 months ago)

Switch to water or air (whichever you want) when you've finished necro 4 and are ready to go into vale. As for myself i prefer going acid when levelling until cap, acid rain is just that good.

Edit: Plus the very few mobs immune to acid sometimes are helping you : spiders in sleeping dust are immune to acid so you can blast everything without having to worry about them. The others are thraak hounds iirc, i'm just using some cold spells for those.

[-Zephyr-]

Edit: Plus the very few mobs immune to acid sometimes are helping you : spiders in sleeping dust are immune to acid so you can blast everything without having to worry about them. The others are thraak hounds iirc, i'm just using some cold spells for those.

Djinns. Elite wiz solo on an earth savant ? Don't forget to load some non-acid eh.
By the time you get there fortunately, you should have disintegrate.

Otherwise : Fire and Acid are the two big leveling savants. I switch at lvl 17 myself, after elite litany (+hard farm), before Harbinger of Madness elite (bravery bonus, assuming 3rd+ life). Adjust that to fit your wants

[Malky]

Djinns. Elite wiz solo on an earth savant ? Don't forget to load some non-acid eh.
By the time you get there fortunately, you should have disintegrate.

Yup when i'm getting to the top of a tower i usually have disint on the hotbar and the djinn gets the preview of what the following lich will endure. Didn't even know those were immune to acid

[pleistocene]

Switch to water or air (whichever you want) when you've finished necro 4 and are ready to go into vale. As for myself i prefer going acid when levelling until cap, acid rain is just that good.

Edit: Plus the very few mobs immune to acid sometimes are helping you : spiders in sleeping dust are immune to acid so you can blast everything without having to worry about them. The others are thraak hounds iirc, i'm just using some cold spells for those.

Yeah personally I was planning on switching to water savant, but think everything you posted here is exactly what I am doing xD, as a matter of fact I love the acid rain spell!!!

And also..at the end game status do you suggest going water - earth or water - air just want to know your opinion

[Malky]

I would say water-air for raids, acid is still a bit of a 'niche' specialisation : very good in daily epic quests and probably the best sorc spec for scroll farming, but less so in the higher raid target ground.

Edit: 'best sorc spec' unless you already have some silly PLs/equipement that is

[Madryoch]

my feats when i was sorc (before this temporary parade of wizard lives which bore me to death:P) were

empower - well extra damage and u can afford to have it always on with maximize and heighten

maximize - seethe above :P

heigten - basicaly it increases the spell's lvl to 9th. DC is calculated like this ... Spell lvl + casting stat modifier + 10 + item bonus to school + feats + past lives . So as u can imagine a lvl 1 spell without heighten will have 8 DC less than a lvl 9th one. Now without it many of ur spells will be evaded and others will only deal half damage as well as ur death effects will be saved way more often.

toughness - obvious use +42 hp at lvl 20 in worst case scenario if u take the 2 racial toughness enhancements

wizard past life active - +1 to dc = <3

spell focus evocation needed for PRE (or conjuration if u go acid mode)

greater spell focus conjuration is nice to have for even less chances ur spells will be evaded or deal only half damage

if u are human you should have 8 feats to select. So for the last one u can have spell pen or secondary focus in some other school necro for example.

Regarding switching from fire? to something else just switch when u begin having issues due to mob immunities or very high resistances. Fire is very nice for necro 4. As to what to go for ? well it depends on ur play style. I am sorry but i am not a fan of acid rain when i can blast through anything but then again i have past lives and lots of gear.