Skills on a sorc

[mikarddo]

Greetings

I am considering the various skills for my sorc build.

Concentration.
More is worth taking as that helps against higher damage. Usefull for spells cast without Quicken and for casting scrolls. Seems wise to max out.

UMD
Heal and Rez need 39. Say +20 from CHA, +5 from epic levels, +4 from GH and +2 from Good Luck means that spending some points here makes sense unless one can get significantly above 50 CHA. Might as well max it I guess to make sure a little CHA debuff doesnt ruin UMD.

Bluff
Usefull for pulling singles - unsure how the calculations work and hence how much to take. Simply taking as much as possible is an option but without knowledge its a poor way to design a build. Looking for info on how using bluff actively calculates.

Diplo.
Might be usefull for shedding aggro in a group or raid. A bit of use in NPC dialogue as well. Unsure how much is needed to shred aggro. Looking for info on how using diplo actively calculates.

Balance
Might be usefull for getting up faster after a knockdown. Unsure if Air Savant is immune to all knockdowns and hence have no use for Balance. Also unsure how using balance passively for getting up calculates. Looking for info on both counts.

Intimidate
CHA based but I am unsure why I would want it. Maybe to get caster aggro on a 18/2 pal build due to having superior saves? Please educate me if you think its worthwhile.

Jump
No need as +5 epic levels, +4 GH, +2 Good Luck, +? from STR and +30 buff makes for the max of 40 easily without spending points.

Tumble
Need 1 point to have the skill. More seems unneeded.

All others
Seem wasted on a sorc - but by all means educate me if you think otherwise.

[t0r012]

Conc , a no brainer on a caster or monk
UMD 100% yes if like a sorc you can get a decent score even with half ranks

Don't really need bluf. Even if you fail you can still pull enemies
Diplo not a major choice for a good sorc

Balance is nice if you have the points to spend when prone you can't cast.
1point in tumble if you would like but not a requirement
Jump no need on an arcane with jump spell. Will be a bit of an annoyance while leveling before you get more than the +10 but still enough

I could see intim vaguely useful for leveling if you are running with a kiting ranger or other pew,pew kiter to draw enemies in to your firewall or other AoE

[arminius]

Concentration and UMD are the only essentials.

Though some just run Quicken all the time and don't even bother with Concentration. Concentration is overwhelmed immediately in EE, but useful till you get there.

I personally don't do Bluff or Diplomacy because I just don't want more hot keys to think about, but I acknowledge that some people swear by them.

Consider Spot, since you can't pick off what you can't see.

And Haggle. Haggle isn't "essential" exactly but just by putting default level ups in you can get in the 60's easily, and if you haven't got a haggle Bard then that is the next best thing.

[mikarddo]

Don't really need bluf. Even if you fail you can still pull enemies

Balance is nice if you have the points to spend when prone you can't cast.

Could you elaborate on how a failed bluff works for pulling?

Wrt Balance - do you happen to know how its calculated? Mainly I am wondering if there is a sharp cutoff or not where having less means it wont work at all and having more is wasted.

[cdr]

Wrt Balance - do you happen to know how its calculated? Mainly I am wondering if there is a sharp cutoff or not where having less means it wont work at all and having more is wasted.

Trip at least has been well tested - I don't know about other trip effects like Cometfall.

For trip, if you fail the STR/DEX roll, you get a balance roll every few seconds to end the trip early - a d20 plus your Balance skill. So to have an effect, your balance needs to be higher than your STR/DEX mod - probably not hard for a sorc. If you're running nothing but EEs though, I guess you may not be able to get enough balance to matter against EE trip.

Balance is going to have less effect vs Cometfall which is a reflex save, at least if you're the fashionable paladin-splashed sorc.

Something I don't see in the OP list, and should be, is Move Silently - Move Silently was amazing up until they broke mob attention states and may go back to amazing if they fix mob attention again. Every point of Move Silently reduces the radius mobs could detect you when you're invising. The more Move Silently you have, the less mobs you would aggro and the less DA and other problems you would get. With mob attention broken it's more very good instead of amazing - you need a lot more of it for it to matter - but I would still take it over anything but Concentration and UMD.

[gphysalis]

Diplo total of 40, If you're going shiradi champion

Tea with the queen is based on a diplo check, and you want to have at least 40 diplo for that.


Regarding your thoughts on intimidate: useless. Sorcs have the highest burst dps, so just nuke stuff a lot if you want to pull aggro.

[mikarddo]

Diplo total of 40, If you're going shiradi champion

Tea with the queen is based on a diplo check, and you want to have at least 40 diplo for that.


Regarding your thoughts on intimidate: useless. Sorcs have the highest burst dps, so just nuke stuff a lot if you want to pull aggro.

Aye, I know about Diplo and Shiradi. Getting 40 isnt hard even without points into the skill though.

Wrt Intim this build takes it to the max and I still havent quite figured out why which is why I ask as I suppose I may have overlooked something important.
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=403278

[Wanesa]

Concentration
UMD
Diplomacy
one or two points on Tumble to unlock this skill.