Looking for a WF sorc if they're still viable

[randomcleric]

I read somewhere that they're not too difficult to run with so if someone has an update 19 ready WF sorc build I'd love to see it. unless a better option has come along as far as easy of use

[HastyPudding]

Stats / Build
Sorcerers haven't changed much. In a sense, you could say that with the enhancement pass they went sideways, not up or down. There really isn't much you can do to change sorcerers as they're always the same thing: spamming powerful spells to dish out maximum damage.

Sorcerers (especially WF sorcerers) are very simple to build. Max out charisma, then max out constitution; depending if you're on 1st, 2nd, or 3rd life, you might have points left over. It's up to you whether you want points in strength (helps avoid str-reducing effects like ray of enfeeblement and allows you to carry more weight) or intelligence (more skill points is always a good thing, and with the new spellcraft skill, it might be helpful). Some sorcerers might stop at 16 or 18 constitution instead of 20, but they really don't have any other stat to worry about other than charisma. The way I see it, you're going to be drawing a lot of aggro due to the heavy damage you put out, so the more beefy you are the more survivable.

Most sorcerers are pure, simply because you get more spell points, more spell slots, and more spell penetration. However, some sorcerers might splash 1 level of barbarian (gives a slight HP boost and gives you fast movement for more mobility). Another option is splashing 2 paladin (paladins get the divine grace ability at level 2, allowing them to add their charisma modifier to their saves, and sorcerers have high charisma). Just remember that the more you multiclass, the less spellcasting ability you have.

Feats
Mandatory: maximize spell, empower spell
-Sorcerers are about magic damage. These increase magic damage. Period.

Highly useful: quicken spell, heighten spell, spell focus feats, toughness
-WF self-heal via repair spells; a quickened reconstruction is a fail-proof way to heal, as quickened spells cannot be interrupted. Add this to the sorcerer's already fast-casting capabilities and you'll belting out fireballs and lightning bolts all over the place.

-Quicken is also useful on long cast-time spells like sphere of dancing, summons, and good for long cooldown spells you don't want interrupted. Heighten can increase your spell DC's; this is the WF's weak point as a sorcerer, as you are down -1 DC right off the bat, and WF add constitution, not charisma in enhancements. Humans, elves, and drow have better DC's, but cannot quickly self-heal (especially after this recent pass) so it's a trade-off.

-As far as spell focus feats go, these will increase your DC's in particular schools: evocation is useful for fire and water spells but mandatory if you wish to be an air savant, and conjuration is useful to most earth spells and a select few fire and water spells. Toughness adds HP; always useful to a sorcerer, but the feat might see a decline in this enhancement pass. Only time will tell.

Optional: mental toughness, improved mental toughness, epic mental toughness, enlarge spell, spell penetration
- Sorcerers have naturally high SP (about 1.5x higher than clerics/druids/wizards) and, like FVS, gain double the amount of SP from items. These feats are nice to boost your already high SP, but not necessary. Enlarge spell doubles the range of most spells (excluding ray spells, which are naturally enlarged); it's useful but not really necessary. Spell penetration is entirely optional on a sorcerer; useful, but not necessary as you'll rarely be using instant-kill or crowd control spells above level 20, where the spell penetration can become troublesome.

Useless: skill focus: concentration, mobile spellcasting, combat casting, eschew materials
Avoid the first 3 feats, they are newbie traps, and you don't need them. Also, resign yourself that you will use 9 to 11 inventory slots for spell components, that's the hazard of being a spellcaster.


Enhancements / Spells
Spells are based on which savant trees you spec in; despite having 4 trees you can really only have 2 active at a time, as fire/water and air/earth cancel each other out, disabling you from putting points in the opposing tree. Luckily, earth/fire and air/water work very well with each other in terms of spell choice.

Fire (variety pack)
Strengths: good damage; lots of variety between persistant aoe and nuking spells; great synergy with earth spells
Weaknesses: Not very good for fighting most bosses; fairly reliant on evocation DC's for damage; many enemies in the 16-21 level range are immune or highly resistant to fire.
Best spell: wall of fire
Notable spells: fireball, scorch, scorching ray, delayed blast fireball, incendiary cloud, meteor swarm, burning blood

Earth / Acid (slow and steady)
Strengths: powerful persistent aoe spells; not reliant on high DC-casting; useful at all level ranges; great synergy with fire spells
Weaknesses: not a whole lot of nuking spells; damage is mostly over-time and not instant; most aoe's are conjuration-based, so spell focus feat issues may arise
Best spell: acid rain
Notable spells: acid blast, cloudkill, stoneskin, acid fog, black dragon bolt, meteor swarm, burning blood

Water / Ice (a different flavor)
Strengths: powerful single-target damage spells; many spells use a fortitude save instead of reflex (reflex/evasion is the bane of sorcerers); strong against bosses
Weaknesses: only one, weak persistent aoe spell used more for crowd control than damage; fairly dependent on evocation DC's for aoe damage; useless against skeletons, which are found everywhere in the lower-mid level range
Best spell: polar ray
Notable spells: frost lance, niac's biting cold, otiluke's freezing sphere, cone of cold, niac's cold ray, ice storm

Lightning / Air / Sonic (the spammer)
Strengths: massive-damage, instant aoe spells designed to quickly take out trash mobs; strong against most bosses; several spells with good crowd control capabilities
Weaknesses: 99% dependent on evocation DC's for damage; no persistent aoe spells; utterly useless in a few select quests
Best spell: chain lightning
Notable spells: lightning bolt, ball lightning, eladar's electric surge, eladar's electric loop, cyclonic blast, greater shout

Combinations
Earth/Fire: best persistent aoe damage; several spells share elemental damage types
Air/Water: best against bosses; strongest single-target and instant aoe spells
Fire/Air: best instant aoe nuking damage; good synergy with evocation DC's
Water/Earth: can switch between strong single-target damage or strong persistent aoe damage