Savant advice?

[Qaliya]

Hey all,

TR4, first time playing a sorceror, about to hit level 6. Was going to go fire since that seems to be the best choice at lower levels given the value of spells such as Firewall and the predominance of monsters at the lower and mid-levels susceptible to fire. Is that the way to go, or would something like acid be preferable?

My only concern about fire is that I like using web for CC and the two aren't terribly compatible.

Thanks.

[KingOfCheese]

Earth is very good when leveling (acid + web = happy). I tend to do fire or earth for leveling.

[knockcocker]

Fire works OK at lower levels (three scorching rays at L8 is pretty sweet) however, I personally prefer earth now.
Acid Rain >> Firewall. Secondary spec in cold, tertiary in force/fire. Cold is nice as there are a lot of mobs which
take double damage (e.g. fire elementals, Hellhounds). Biggest PITA I found were Tharaak Hounds.

[Qaliya]

Yeah I was thinking of that combo. But I think fire will be more potent for a lot of uses. I guess I can try it one way and then the other.

Knock, why do you say acid rain is better than firewall? I remember using both in a wizard life and I didn't care for how fast acid rain wore off.

[Thebeest]

My only concern about fire is that I like using web for CC and the two aren't terribly compatible.

I typically have leveled my sorc as fire/force until teens then switch to water and electric. i have used firewall and web together without difficulty. the problem is the other fire spells that destroy the web (fireball for example).

good luck!

[Qaliya]

Thanks.

What force spells do you use? I remember using them as a wizard and they were mostly pretty weak.

[carpejugulum]

I love fire for leveling a Sorc. Funny thing is I found myself using firewall much less frequently leveling my fire savant TR than I had my wizard TR. Scorching Ray, Fireball and the Scorch Pre2 SLA at level 12 pack a great punch. They don't make Firewall useless by any means, but I found myself being far more selective when to use it with a Sorc compared to a Wizard.

[Isharah]

I do fire savant with acid secondary. In terms of speed, fire primary is definitely faster.

Most times, bringing a mob through a firewall and throwing in a couple fireball is enough to kill it. No need to waste SP for CC. And on the times that you really need CC, web + fire wall + acid blast spam works fine.

[slothinator]

I leveled my Sorc as fire with lightning, then switched to acid with fire at 20. Firewall is great for all of the undead quests through 14 or so, but I wish I had switched to earth sooner than lvl 20. So my advice is switch from fire to acid around lvls 15-18. The earth grab at tier 3 is great (note that the DC is con based, not cha), and the spells don't have saves (melfs, burning blood, and black dragon bolt).

As to why someone mentioned acid rain being better than firewall; it's the damage dice. Firewall lasts longer ( I think it is 15 ticks vs. 4 ticks / 30 sec vs. 8 sec), but each tick of acid rain does much more damage. I don't know the exact numbers, just going off observation. I have also noticed that acid rain is easier to target than firewall.

[PNellesen]

+1 to OP for the thread - I recently TR'd into my first Sorc as well (currently holding level 5) and had the exact same questions

[knockcocker]

Knock, why do you say acid rain is better than firewall? I remember using both in a wizard life and I didn't care for how fast acid rain wore off.

Depends how you play. I tend to run, kill, run, kill. Acid Rain destroys most groups of mobs within it's duration so
it's limited duration is not an issue for me. DPS is at least 2x WoF.

[Pariahman]

I would stay Ice/Acid. the new content in MOTU shows mobs immune to both ice/elec (death knights) and Ice/Acid still prove to be the highest DPS. (Cheap sp on melfs, Acid Rain > Firewall, Acid Fog CC supplement) combined with SS SLA from water savant really make the sorcerer a super efficient powerhouse. Make sure to pick up otiluke's as well as acid blast. chaining those cooldowns within a niacs>polar>Blast>otilukes cycle is perfectly timed.

Besides, it allows you to off-spec into acid savant with still well used polar ray as ice secondary if you so choose.

Verdict: Level up with earth savant until lv12, get your gear on, re-enhancement into water savant and keep it as Ice/Acid. You'll find yourself having a good easy reserved climb to midgame, then a steady fun nuking time w/ water sav to 20.

DONT FORGET TO PUT YOUR METAS ON YOUR SLA'S..

Edit: I also agree with knock. Acid rain is very powerful. for one, its a wide area cloud instead of a tick-line, it does more damage, and can be matured with the feat Enlarge. (which we will have space to take at the new level 23!! woohoooo!)

p.s Frost lance SLA is sub-par compared to your niacs at lv20. with a good dc, you'll find yourself instakilling with the 2sp niacs more often than anything else.

[Elrogos]

I think water savant is better, i leveled my TR sorc twice with ICE/LIGHT, and in end lv 20 (dont know to 25) water savant are the most dps in a party.

[Qaliya]

Just to update, I went fire to start with, it's a lot of fun at level 6. I have acid as backup for things that are immune to fire, and some force enhancement. I'll stick with this for a while and then reassess at level 12 I guess. I'll probably end up water at level 20, assuming I stay sorceror and don't TR again (not sure, depends on how much I enjoy it).

I may try acid as well. I didn't realize acid rain was that much better than WoF.

Thanks for all the advice.

[DaSawks]

Wall of fire, fireball and DBF make leveling a breeze. Air or Ice when you hit Vale.

[Nephilia]

I usually go this way.
Fire savant + acid line while leveling.
firewall + acid rain is a real quest killer and with the bunch of mana u would have u should not care about spamming.
Once u done with farming WK (lv 14-15) trade the fire line for cold or electric (maybe u'll need to use a dragonblood to respec your spell but u can have it for free as a gianthold first favor tier).

Cold is AWESOME nuke single on single target while elec is nice to blast a large number of mobs (but require a lot more of mana to work well).

And as someone already mentioned get at least tier II of both improved maximize and improved empower

[Sonos]

I have capped an electric sorc and it was quite fun, and wind dance helps on a few quests. But the dmg output was less than other savants, also saves were kind of high in Amrath I noticed. Totally doable.

On my 8th life on one toon and went acid. I love it! 122 kills in Tear without really trying and even forgot that I had picked up Maximize the level b4. So with just empower, the acid blast was practically one-shotting everything. Webs are great, firewall, acid rain and an acid blast altogether are super effective but usually overkill. Someone mentioned that they didn't find acid rain that worth it on a wiz. On a sorc it is nasty nasty.

And acid blast doesn't kill webs so it's a great CC savant to use. I use fire for secondary to get through the necros and what not and sometime in the Vale will respec to ice for fun and good times.

[Qaliya]

So I'm nearly level 12 and trying to decide which savant to try next. I want to get the level 2 of fire savant at the start, then try something different. But I can't decide what would be the most fun for levels 12 to 18.

I really want something with good SLAs. The SLA for the first tier of fire savant is burning hands, which I'm finding almost useless because I rarely get into melee range. The first tiers for earth and air savant have the same problem. Cold savant doesn't, but it's a save to negate damage and I can't take Heighten until level 15 so that's probably not going to work too well either.

So maybe I should focus on the second tier SLAs. Don't have much experience with electric loop, melf's or snowball swarm. Which works best for nuking?

Also, I have to take SF:Conj or SF:Evoc for the second tier, which in general is the better choice?

My Charisma is 30 at present.

Thanks.

[HastyPudding]

I'm also TRing soon into a sorcerer. Earth savants are certainly more survivable and look like they're very SP-efficient, and have good damage. Unfortunately, tons of acid clouds and such tend to lag up my screen (having earth savants in the party, regardless of their damage, irritates me). If it wasn't for the lag I'd definitely love to try an earth savant. The one thing that does appeal to me is the fact that conjuration focus works well with earth spells, which makes for a nice web.

Fire is just...I don't like fire. Sure it has great leveling purposes, but then you gotta switch in the Vale/Amrath quests due to immunities and halved damage. I also have a certain dislike for firewall; years of playing has given me an aversion to it because it was so widely used and abused for so long. I hate being a clone and following the herd. Fire would make a viable secondary element to my main one, though.

Water savant would definitely be something I'd enjoy. The high single-target dps (and now massive damage at end-game) is great, ice storm doesn't lag my computer up like acid clouds, and it has one of 2 DoTs for red/purple names. I'm actually torn between air and water. I'll probably do a combination of the two but can't decide on the main; the combination of air/water sorcerer appeals to me.

Air I find very appealing, from both a spell and style standpoint. I like being zappy, that's just me, and the air savant has some useful utility, such as semi-knockdown immunity and abundant step. Every air spell is also an AOE, and I think the two wind spells are underused. The only thing that scares me is the late-game DC's, since the vast majority of the current end-game expansion has evasion and/or high reflexes. I think heighten would have to be a necessity for an air savant.

So, I just can't decide between air or water. >.<

[Qaliya]

Thanks for your thoughts.

I'm still not sure.. but I'm actually leaning towards earth.