Basic New Player Friendly Sorc Build

[Valerius_Anthar]

Hello, a mate of mine just started DDO and was looking for a bread and butter Sorc build for blowing things up. I'm relatively new myself and so can't really help him regarding specific feats and enhancements. I'd appreciate if someone could link me to such a build. I will be duoing with him as a caster cleric if that helps any, and since he will be human (no access to warforged), he'll have access to healing through me.

Thanks in advance.

[AylinIsAwesome]

I assume 28 point build?

18 CHA, 16 CON, 10 in either DEX (reflex save) or INT (skill points) depending on preference.

Skills: UMD (11 ranks), Spellcraft (23 ranks), other skill points wherever.

Feats:
Empower
Maximize
Quicken (optional-ish for sorc)
Heighten
Spell Focus
Greater Spell Focus

That's 6, leaving you 2 to play around with. For spell focus feats, either do Evocation (if your primary element is Water/Lightning/Fire) or Conjuration (if your primary element is Earth).

For the last 2 feats, could go with Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Pen (for insta-kill and CC spells), Mental Toughness and Improved Mental Toughness (for more blasting power), Dodge and Mobility (more dodge), or some mix of the above.

For Epic Feats, Epic Spell Focus and Ruin (level 27), and you could do Epic Spell Penetration or Epic Mental Toughness (depending on what other heroic feats you took). You could also choose +1 CHA or a heroic feat.

For enhancements, I suggest switching them around as you level. At level 8, Fire Savant is really really good, but it becomes less-good when you go into the Vale. At level 12 I'd probably specialize into Air, since T5 of that one gives you "wings", which are quite awesome. A lot of air spells have reflex saves though, so mobs with Evasion might save a lot against you. If this is the case, switch to Cold (or fire, depending on content).

From Human, pick up the first level of healing amp (it'll help make heal scrolls better), +1 CHA from core, and Traditionalist Caster. 8 AP gives you +10 usp, +1 CHA, +20 hamp, and an action boost of your choice. If you have the spare AP/would get to an even CON score, pick up human +1 CON too.

From EK, I'd get Light armor proficiency. Less overall spellpower, but the survivability will make it worth it. If you can pick up it, Medium armor proficiency would be good, but that might be too tight on your APs. Wand and Scroll mastery and Improved Shield are also pretty good. Try out Arcane Barrier as well; it can save your life if things get hairy.

Hope that helps!

[Vellrad]

Human version:
stats at level 1:
8/8/16/10/18

Skills (2+int+1 for human):
UMD, spellcraft, concentration
Starting spells:
Master's touch, expeditious retreat.
Feats: empower, maximize

Leveling progress:
2: Jump
3: Heighten, nightshield
4: Web, +1cha
5: Schorching ray
6: Acid blast, Spell focus (evocation)
7: Blur, Haste
8: Acid rain, +1 cha
9: Resist Energy, Displacement, dimension door, Greater spell focus (evocation)
10: Cloudkill
11: Chain missile, Wall of fire, protection from energy
12: Create undead, +1 cha, quickened spell
13: Burning blood, Cyclonic blast, Circle of death
14: Delayed blast fireball
15: Prismatic ray, Disintegrate, Otto's sphere of dancing, spell focus (conjuration)
16: Black dragon bolt, cha +1
17: Prismatic spray, greater shout
18: Meteor swarm, greater spell focus (evocation)
19: Symbol of death, energy drain
20: Mordekainen's disjunction, +1cha

AP spending guide:
Choose fire and earth savant, get max rank of both burning hands and acid spray ASAP and spam it 24/7 with all metas perma on.
Pick up shield sla and light armor proficiency from EK tree.
I find acid better until lvl12, because acid blast won't burn webs, which is a great CC.
At lvl12 reset AP, and pick up everything from fire tree top tier, spend some points at acid. You might prefer fire/elec combo, but I find firewall+acid ray+cloudkill neat combo, burning flesh and bones of your enemies, while simoultaneusely (sp?) melting it, and poisoning them, while they dance or are entangled.
I never play humans, so IDK if they got anything interesting in their race tree, probably some Hamp and spellpower boost are interesting toys to play with.
Drop MT for magic missile somewhere when you feel you no longer swing your weapons (this will probably be soon).

There are some spells that might seem odd, but I feel from a new players' perspective are more useful than to vets.

nightshield: I wouldn't touch it on my builds, because EK covers MM immunity, and I got +saves item, but new people won't. Once You've aquired +saves item, swap this spell for something useful (I like sonic blast, sure it loses CL because of earth savant, but chance for daze might help, and its cheap, fast and efficient way to get ransack bonus).
Web before schorching ray: I don't feel SR is needed immidiately; you can simply put web and lure mobs in then nuke combining burining hands with acid spray. S. Ray is surely a nice spell, but it won't kill you to wait 1 more level for it; waiting for solid CC of web might do that.
Acid blast vs fireball: Fireball is considered by many to be best low level offensive spell. IMO, this is wrong, because there are much more mobs immune or resistant to fire than to acid, and it won't burn your webs away, meaning even if you won't kill em all with single cast, they will still be unable to respond.
Resist energy: Experienced players don't need it, as they got shipbuffs. Newbs also got em, but old 30 resists are dispelled after death, and ewb deaths will happen. This spell is excellent for new people.
Acid rain vs firewall: Firewall lasts much longer, but acid rain deals damage faster. And it migh be me, but liquid that devours anything it encounters, falling from the skies on your enemies that are trapped in your web is classic. And fights don't usually last long enough to make use of firewalls longer duration, unless you kite in a lot of mobs inside, but its not recommended for newbs to attempt.
Cloudkill: 20% concealement bonus, yet another persistent dot, weaker than others but still. And for fire and acid user, there's not much goodies in lvl5 anyway.
Protection from Energy: We, experienced players, buy scrolls for this one, but new people won't be able to afford that. Plus, all scrolls share an annoyingly long 6sec cd.
Create Undead: now a lot of people think W-F-T!? But this spell is awesome. Summon mummy, that randomally will give you some buffs (death ward is possible), spam commet falls and other spells AND got chance to make any mob encountering it despaired- held in place out of fear and considered helpless, increasing incoming damage by 50%. I sometimes feel that mummy is more powerful than many puggers.
Burning blood: acid and fire DoT. Acid/fire combo means niac and eladar will be weaker.
Cyclonic blast: untyped damage, and clears out enemy spells. Useful utility.
Cicle of Death: Chance to instakill, with neg levels, debuffing enemies that save. Decent spell, even if your DC is not that great.
Prismatic ray: IDK what to choose in lvl5 slot. And randomness of this spell might be fun!
Disintegrate: Huge damage, but only if mob fails save. Good vs low fortitude mobs. Don't use it vs those that might save.
Otto's sphere of dancing: solid CC, often overlooked on sorc because lack of DCs. But still worth to take IMO.
Greater shout: Sure, CL is decreased because of earth savant, but its SR bypassing spell that CCs using evocation DC, and CC is more important than damage in this case.
Symbol of death: Kite mobs for neg levels. Not the most useful spell, and it might be wise to take horrid wilting instead, as it used fort save, so even if mobs save all the time, they still get damage instead of evading.
Drain energy: lots of neg levels. One of best (if not best) DPS vs orange named mobs in game, if used as an opening.
Mordekainen's disjunction: overlooked because of extremally f*** long casting time, but sorc with quicken might do it in decent time. Useful vs those pesky spellwards when there's no thief in team, and dispeling with gt. dispel scrolls takes lots of time and plat.

Useful skipped spells:
Stoneskin: having to buy special component is as annoying as having to buy scrolls. Scrolls offer very little more over normally casted spells.
Fireshield: Good enough from scroll
GH: no difference between scroll and casted personally.
Teleport: having tele in form of scroll instead of spell prevents from misscasts in raids.

Epics:
21. Epic spell focus (evocation)
24. Great charisma, +1 cha
26. Epic spell power (fire)
27. Ruin
28. Hellball, +1 cha


This build sucks at self healing. Cocoon will help a bit in epic levels, if you can get there. Until, you must depend on CSW pots, CCW wands and heal scrolls. Heal over time potions are very valuable here. SF pots might also come handy. Penatlies might put you out of fight for a while, but you will live. Just start running ; )

[Bloodskittle]

Really the best thing any sorcerer can do for themselves especially in heroic is to be a Warforged/Bladeforged because quickened reconstruct is one of the best self-heals available in the game on a sorcerer it basically instantaneous, however I understand that your friend is probably unwilling to spend money on a game he's not even sure he likes yet. To this end Vellrad has made a pretty decent build suggestion with one fatal flaw, a sorcerer that has trouble self healing should not be so close that they're using burning hands unless the enemy has been successfully caught in some form of crowd control such as Web which Vellrad mentioned, to this end I strongly suggest while levelling in Heroics to use acid spells and focus conjuration for a good synergy with web.

[Vellrad]

Really the best thing any sorcerer can do for themselves especially in heroic is to be a Warforged/Bladeforged because quickened reconstruct is one of the best self-heals available in the game on a sorcerer it basically instantaneous, however I understand that your friend is probably unwilling to spend money on a game he's not even sure he likes yet. To this end Vellrad has made a pretty decent build suggestion with one fatal flaw, a sorcerer that has trouble self healing should not be so close that they're using burning hands unless the enemy has been successfully caught in some form of crowd control such as Web which Vellrad mentioned, to this end I strongly suggest while levelling in Heroics to use acid spells and focus conjuration for a good synergy with web.

Sure WF is better, but its not something new people got.

[Bloodskittle]

Sure WF is better, but its not something new people got.

A sad thing too, but it I did mention that in my post.

[Vellrad]

A sad thing too, but it I did mention that in my post.

Unitl now I didn't bothered reading OP. OP says its build for his buddy and he will hjeal him, so its stack of CSW should be enough.

I don't like acid past certain level, because acid spells of high level suck.
Acid blast is capped at 10d6 (DBFB, CL and OFS at 20), acid fog deals less damage than firewall or acid rain etc.
While I love the idea of melting and twisting enemies causing terrible pain and suffering, it doesn't hold well enough past certain level to guarantee its usefulness.

Also, I forgot, cause fear is nice to have, either scroll or spell because of -saves of enemy.

If OP's friend will have decent +cha item, +DC items (both easy to get) at his levels, decent, not nessesarily best, he should do fine with CCing mobs, as caster cleric OP will also probably have mobs CCd himself with GC, cometfall or that lvl4 order's wrath, chaos hammer or good equivalent (forgot name).

[unbongwah]

Since I need more practice with ED37's char builder, here's a basic Fire / Air sorc for new players:

Beginner's Fire / Air Sorc
18/2 Sorcerer/Paladin
Lawful Good Human


Level Order

1. Sorcerer . . . .6. Sorcerer. . . .11. Sorcerer . . . 16. Paladin
2. Sorcerer . . . .7. Sorcerer. . . .12. Sorcerer . . . 17. Sorcerer
3. Sorcerer . . . .8. Sorcerer. . . .13. Sorcerer . . . 18. Sorcerer
4. Sorcerer . . . .9. Sorcerer. . . .14. Sorcerer . . . 19. Sorcerer
5. Sorcerer . . . 10. Sorcerer. . . .15. Paladin. . . . 20. Sorcerer


Stats
. . . . . . . .28pt. . .Level Up
. . . . . . . .----. . .--------
Strength. . . . .8 . . . 4: CHA
Dexterity . . . .8 . . . 8: CHA
Constitution. . 16 . . .12: CHA
Intelligence. . 10 . . .16: CHA
Wisdom. . . . . .8 . . .20: CHA
Charisma. . . . 18 . . .24: CHA
. . . . . . . . . . . . 28: CHA

Skills
. . . . . S .S. S .S. S .S. S .S. S .S. S .S. S .S. P .P. S .S. S .S
. . . . . 1 .2. 3 .4. 5 .6. 7 .8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Concent . 2 .2. . .2. . .2. . .2. . .2. . .2. . .2. 1 .2. . .2. . .1. 22
Spellcr . 4 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. . . . 1 .1. 1 .2. 22
UMD . . . 2 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 11
Tumble. . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .12 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .2. 3 .3. 3 .3
. . . . .12 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3


Feats

.1. . . . : Maximize Spell
.1 Human. : Empower Spell
.3. . . . : Quicken Spell
.6. . . . : Heighten Spell
.9. . . . : Enlarge Spell
12. . . . : Force of Personality
15. . . . : Spell Focus: Evocation
15 Deity. : Follower of: Sovereign Host
18. . . . : Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
21 Epic . : Epic Spell Focus: Evocation
24 Epic . : Extend Spell
26 Destiny: Epic Spell Power: Fire
27 Epic . : Ruin
28 Destiny: Hellball


Spells


Magic Missile, Nightshield, Jump, Feather Fall
Scorching Ray, Web, Knock, Gust of Wind
Displacement, Lightning Bolt, Haste, Chain Missiles
Wall of Fire, Dimension Door, Force Missiles, Crushing Despair
Ball Lightning, Eladar's Electric Surge, Protection from Elements, Mind Fog
Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, Greater Dispel Magic
Delayed Blast Fireball, Otto's Sphere of Dancing, Prismatic Spray
Otto's Irresistible Dance, Incendiary Cloud
Meteor Swarm


Enhancements (80 AP)

Human (5 AP)

Spell Power Boost, Charisma
Improved Recovery

Fire Savant (44 AP)

Fire Savant, Fire Affinity, Greater Fire Affinity, Immolation, Elemental Persistance
Burning Hands III, Spell Critical, Conflagration III
Efficient Maximize III, Spell Critical, Fanning the Flames III
Spell Critical, Charisma
Scorch III, Spell Critical, Charisma
Fireball III, Awaken Elemental Weakness, Evocation Focus, Power of Lightning

Air Savant (31 AP)

Air Savant, Air Affinity, Greater Air Affinity, Conduction, Light on Your Feet
Shocking Grasp III, Spell Critical, Electrocution III
Spell Critical, Alternating Current III
Spell Critical, Charisma
Electric Loop III, Feather Fall, Spell Critical, Charisma

Pure sorc would be higher DPS from capstone; but pal 2 splash is still a big boost to survivability, thanks to Divine Grace (at least until it's nerfed) and armor proficiencies (although you have to invest in ASF reduction, it's worth it for the PRR/MRR). The timing of the pally splash is up to you; I make a beeline for sorc 14 to get DBF ASAP, then splash pally, since the higher lvl spells are a bit less important to this build. If you wanted to make Earth / acid your secondary spell school instead of Air / lightning, naturally you would shift your APs and spell selections accordingly.

[EllisDee37]

Since I need more practice with ED37's char builder

Well, huh, I never envisioned the output going inside code tags. Doesn't look too bad, happily.

I see a totals line in your skills table which means you still have more to apply. Looking more closely, level 16 has an unspent skill point.

Regarding the build, very interesting taking enlarge. I think I like it, since the low level SLAs are all touch range. Very nice.

My experience so far (currently running a fire/air sorc life) is that quicken isn't needed.

[skorpeon]

Since I need more practice with ED37's char builder, here's a basic Fire / Air sorc for new players:

[code]
Beginner's Fire / Air Sorc
18/2 Sorcerer/Paladin
Lawful Good Human

1. Magic Missile, Nightshield, Jump, Feather Fall
2. Scorching Ray, Web, Knock, Gust of Wind
3. Displacement, Lightning Bolt, Haste, Chain Missiles
4. Wall of Fire, Dimension Door, Force Missiles, Crushing Despair
5. Ball Lightning, Eladar's Electric Surge, Protection from Elements, Mind Fog
6. Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, Greater Dispel Magic
7. Delayed Blast Fireball, Otto's Sphere of Dancing, Prismatic Spray
8. Otto's Irresistible Dance, Incendiary Cloud
9. Meteor Swarm

Pure sorc would be higher DPS from capstone; but pal 2 splash is still a big boost to survivability, thanks to Divine Grace (at least until it's nerfed) and armor proficiencies (although you have to invest in ASF reduction, it's worth it for the PRR/MRR). The timing of the pally splash is up to you; I make a beeline for sorc 14 to get DBF ASAP, then splash pally, since the higher lvl spells are a bit less important to this build. If you wanted to make Earth / acid your secondary spell school instead of Air / lightning, naturally you would shift your APs and spell selections accordingly.

Thanks for posting again unbongwah, I am interested in running a build like this.

I would be interested in a basic outline of what gear I need to run this (maybe thru heroics, then into epics). I have never played a sorcerer so have pretty much no gear as yet. Was hoping to get set up for reincarnation (past lives, Brab, rogue, Ranger) before u29, but unsure how long I will have. so very simple gear selections would be best.

Sounds like a lot of monsters will be fire resistant in high content would it be better to consider something else? I have not idea really what is possible.

[unbongwah]

Since I posted that build nine months ago, there have been a lot of changes: some good, some bad.

The bad news:

• Divine Grace was nerfed; its max bonus is capped by the number of paladin levels you have (2 + 3 * n, where n is the # of pal lvls). So on a pal 2 splash like that one, the most you can get is +8 to saves. Which means DG will be maxed out with CHA 26, a fairly low threshold. [We've known about this nerf coming for some time, hence my warning in that post.]
• MRR from armor was eliminated, which was the main incentive for wearing it on a caster build like this. You still get plenty of PRR, but there are a lot more sources of PRR than MRR in DDO, so it's a significant hit to this build's magical defenses.
• Air+Fire is a bad combo when fighting mostly devils, which is what the last couple of adventure packs have been. I have a feeling we're going to see the return of Water + Earth Savants, presuming everyone doesn't just play Shiradi builds.

The nerfs to DG and MRR make the pally splash a lot less appealing; so I would consider either dropping it entirely to play pure sorc or bumping it up to pal 3-4 which also gets you access to defensive stance from Sacred Defender. The downside to that, of course, would be losing your lvl 9 spells, lvl 18 enhancement(s), and extra caster levels. Likewise, the current endgame focus on devils would make me consider Water+Earth instead of Air+Fire.

The good news: Update 29 (U29) will be adding a number of caster-centric epic feats, which along with the new ED & Legendary feats will hopefully provide epic casters with the DPS bump they've been needing for a while now. You can check out the discussions in these threads:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...egendary-Feats
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...-Destiny-Feats
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...ts-Other-Feats

As for gear, I usually start with the Cannith caster items, which cover all of the major elements and have other useful bonuses: e.g., Dodge & Air Guard on the bracers, fire absorption on the cloak, etc. Plus running Challenges can be a good way of "field-testing" your build; or if you have higher-level alts and a shared bank, you can farm for gear on them and pass it to your sorc, since all Cannith gear is BtA. ED37's Challenge Farmer thread and tutorial thread have useful info on running Challenges.

[unbongwah]

Okay, mulling it over some more, the basics of a F2P sorc build won't change:

• Race: human for the extra feat & skill pts, drow if you want +4 CHA & Arcane Fluidity, halfling w/Dragonmark if you want self-healing [Obviously BF/WF are an option too, but those are P2P]
• Stats: max CHA, enough INT to max at least Spellcraft & UMD (I also like Concentration and would consider Perform if going Shiradi), rest into CON
• Feats: at a minimum, I take Maximize, Empower, Quicken, Heighten, and at least one Spell Focus to open the DC Twists in Magister & Draconic. That leaves 2-3 heroic, 3 epic, and soon 3 ED and 1 Legendary feat slot open.

But that still leaves a few question marks:

• Pure or multiclassed? As I said, the nerfs to Div Grace & armor MRR make a pal 2 splash less attractive, but it is still an option. A barb splash gets you +10% run speed for better zerging / kiting, med armor prof w/out investing in EK, up to +3% Dodge, maybe a couple other tier-1 bonuses. Wiz splash for extra metamagic & spell crit chance from AM. [FvS 2 splash is still great on a Fire Savant but that's a P2P or Favor unlock.]
• Remaining feats - this will depend on what you think needs the most help on your build. If you're trying to max out DCs, extra Spell Focuses are good. If you want extra SPs and spell crit chance, take the Mental Toughness line. Worried about saves? Force of Personality and Insightful Reflexes (if you boost INT) can help. Need more HPs? Toughness+epic Toughness is an option, although you need base CON 21 for eToughness, so that's tough to hit on a new char.
• Which Savants? I still think Air+Fire is the best combo for most content...key word being "most," though. For fighting devils, Water or Earth is usually better; so if you're focused on current endgame, you'll want one or both of those. Earth is a bit of a PITA, though, since its spells are mostly Conjuration while the other Savants are Evocation; so pairing it with a secondary Savant means splitting your DC focus.

So let's look at a first-life human sorc; for a change of pace, let's go Air+Water Savant. Furthermore, let's suppose this player is most concerned about their DCs. What might they do?

Air+Water Savant
Sorcerer 20
True Neutral Human


Stats
               28pt     Level Up
               ----     --------
Strength         8       4: CHA
Dexterity        8       8: CHA
Constitution    16      12: CHA
Intelligence    10      16: CHA
Wisdom           8      20: CHA
Charisma        18      24: CHA
                        28: CHA

Skills
          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
         ------------------------------------------------------------
Spellcr   4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Concent   2  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  2  22
UMD       2  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½     11
Tumble    1                                                            1
         ------------------------------------------------------------
         12  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3


Feats

 1        : Maximize Spell
 1 Human  : Empower Spell
 3        : Quicken Spell
 6        : Heighten Spell
 9        : Enlarge Spell
12        : Extend Spell
15        : Spell Focus: Evocation
18        : Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
21 Epic   : Epic Spell Focus: Evocation or Arcane Insight
24 Epic   : Master of Air or Embolden Spell
26 Destiny: Epic Spell Power: Electricity
27 Epic   : Ruin or Master of Water
28 Destiny: Hellball
29 Epic   : Arcane Pulse
30 Legend : Scion of the Plane of Air


Enhancements (80 AP)

Human (1 AP)

Spell Power Boost

Air Savant (41 AP)

Air Savant, Air Affinity, Greater Air Affinity, Conduction, Light on Your Feet, Elemental Apotheosis
Shocking Grasp III, Spell Critical, Electrocution III
Spell Critical, Alternating Current III
Spell Critical, Charisma
Electric Loop III, Feather Fall, Spell Critical, Charisma
Lightning Bolt III, Wind Dance, Evocation Focus, Power of Frost

Water Savant (31 AP)

Water Savant, Water Affinity, Greater Water Affinity, Hypothermia, Elemental Persistance
Cold Ray III, Spell Critical, Hoarfrost III
Efficient Maximize I, Spell Critical, Absolute Zero III
Spell Critical, Charisma
Snowball Swarm III, Spell Critical, Charisma

Eldritch Knight (Sorcerer) (7 AP)

Eldritch Strike
Improved Mage Armor III, Item Defense I
Light Armor Proficiency


Destiny (24 AP)

Draconic Incarnation

Energy Sheath: Electricity III, Draconic Perception I
Out with bang: Electricity III, Precise: Evocation II
Dragon Heritage: Blue III
Energy Burst: Electricity III, Secondary Specialty: White II, Spell Knowledge III
<none>
Energy Vortex: Electricity, Draconic Hunger

Twists of Fate (11 fate points)

Lithe (Tier 2 Shadowdancer)
School Specialist: Evocation (Tier 2 Magister)
Unearthly Reactions (Tier 1 Magister)

But maybe this player hits a point where they think MY DC'S ARE FINE BRING ME MOAR DPS!!1! so they redo their feats like so:

Feats

 1        : Maximize Spell
 1 Human  : Empower Spell
 3        : Quicken Spell
 6        : Heighten Spell
 9        : Enlarge or Extend Spell
12        : Mental Toughness
15        : Spell Focus: Evocation
18        : Improved Mental Toughness
21 Epic   : Epic Mental Toughness or Wellspring of Power
24 Epic   : Intensify Spell or Master of Air
26 Destiny: Epic Spell Power: Electricity
27 Epic   : Ruin or Master of Water
28 Destiny: Hellball
29 Epic   : Arcane Pulse
30 Legend : Scion of the Plane of Fire

"Wait," you ask, "why take Plane of Fire Scion on an Air+Water combo?" Simple: for the "+25% Spell Critical Damage with all spells" effect, of course!

[__J___]

How well does this hold up with current content? Been out of circ for a long time, so scanning for "Cliff's Notes" rather than poring over the potentially innumerable changes/nerfs in release notes, over the last decade. Most of the latest seems fairly straight forward, mainly looking to avoid any not-so-obvious, build-crushers....the hidden gems of gimptitude.

[C-Dog]

Solid.

You can also concentrate 90% on Air/Electricity/Sonic and grab some EK for survivability, but that's better on a Drow (w/ their racial Arcane Fluidity enhancement).

[__J___]

Cheers.

Breakin' ba(d)ck w/ the f2p mule , so drow will be just a grind around the corner.

[drakuul]

Since I need more practice with ED37's char builder, here's a basic Fire / Air sorc for new players:

Beginner's Fire / Air Sorc
18/2 Sorcerer/Paladin
Lawful Good Human


Level Order

1. Sorcerer . . . .6. Sorcerer. . . .11. Sorcerer . . . 16. Paladin
2. Sorcerer . . . .7. Sorcerer. . . .12. Sorcerer . . . 17. Sorcerer
3. Sorcerer . . . .8. Sorcerer. . . .13. Sorcerer . . . 18. Sorcerer
4. Sorcerer . . . .9. Sorcerer. . . .14. Sorcerer . . . 19. Sorcerer
5. Sorcerer . . . 10. Sorcerer. . . .15. Paladin. . . . 20. Sorcerer


Stats
. . . . . . . .28pt. . .Level Up
. . . . . . . .----. . .--------
Strength. . . . .8 . . . 4: CHA
Dexterity . . . .8 . . . 8: CHA
Constitution. . 16 . . .12: CHA
Intelligence. . 10 . . .16: CHA
Wisdom. . . . . .8 . . .20: CHA
Charisma. . . . 18 . . .24: CHA
. . . . . . . . . . . . 28: CHA

Skills
. . . . . S .S. S .S. S .S. S .S. S .S. S .S. S .S. P .P. S .S. S .S
. . . . . 1 .2. 3 .4. 5 .6. 7 .8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Concent . 2 .2. . .2. . .2. . .2. . .2. . .2. . .2. 1 .2. . .2. . .1. 22
Spellcr . 4 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. . . . 1 .1. 1 .2. 22
UMD . . . 2 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 11
Tumble. . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .12 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .2. 3 .3. 3 .3
. . . . .12 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3


Feats

.1. . . . : Maximize Spell
.1 Human. : Empower Spell
.3. . . . : Quicken Spell
.6. . . . : Heighten Spell
.9. . . . : Enlarge Spell
12. . . . : Force of Personality
15. . . . : Spell Focus: Evocation
15 Deity. : Follower of: Sovereign Host
18. . . . : Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
21 Epic . : Epic Spell Focus: Evocation
24 Epic . : Extend Spell
26 Destiny: Epic Spell Power: Fire
27 Epic . : Ruin
28 Destiny: Hellball


Spells


Magic Missile, Nightshield, Jump, Feather Fall
Scorching Ray, Web, Knock, Gust of Wind
Displacement, Lightning Bolt, Haste, Chain Missiles
Wall of Fire, Dimension Door, Force Missiles, Crushing Despair
Ball Lightning, Eladar's Electric Surge, Protection from Elements, Mind Fog
Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, Greater Dispel Magic
Delayed Blast Fireball, Otto's Sphere of Dancing, Prismatic Spray
Otto's Irresistible Dance, Incendiary Cloud
Meteor Swarm


Enhancements (80 AP)

Human (5 AP)

Spell Power Boost, Charisma
Improved Recovery

Fire Savant (44 AP)

Fire Savant, Fire Affinity, Greater Fire Affinity, Immolation, Elemental Persistance
Burning Hands III, Spell Critical, Conflagration III
Efficient Maximize III, Spell Critical, Fanning the Flames III
Spell Critical, Charisma
Scorch III, Spell Critical, Charisma
Fireball III, Awaken Elemental Weakness, Evocation Focus, Power of Lightning

Air Savant (31 AP)

Air Savant, Air Affinity, Greater Air Affinity, Conduction, Light on Your Feet
Shocking Grasp III, Spell Critical, Electrocution III
Spell Critical, Alternating Current III
Spell Critical, Charisma
Electric Loop III, Feather Fall, Spell Critical, Charisma

Pure sorc would be higher DPS from capstone; but pal 2 splash is still a big boost to survivability, thanks to Divine Grace (at least until it's nerfed) and armor proficiencies (although you have to invest in ASF reduction, it's worth it for the PRR/MRR). The timing of the pally splash is up to you; I make a beeline for sorc 14 to get DBF ASAP, then splash pally, since the higher lvl spells are a bit less important to this build. If you wanted to make Earth / acid your secondary spell school instead of Air / lightning, naturally you would shift your APs and spell selections accordingly.

How would you change this for use with a blade forged paladin at first 2 levels? make sense or not?

[drakuul]

Since I need more practice with ED37's char builder, here's a basic Fire / Air sorc for new players:

Beginner's Fire / Air Sorc
18/2 Sorcerer/Paladin
Lawful Good Human


Level Order

1. Sorcerer . . . .6. Sorcerer. . . .11. Sorcerer . . . 16. Paladin
2. Sorcerer . . . .7. Sorcerer. . . .12. Sorcerer . . . 17. Sorcerer
3. Sorcerer . . . .8. Sorcerer. . . .13. Sorcerer . . . 18. Sorcerer
4. Sorcerer . . . .9. Sorcerer. . . .14. Sorcerer . . . 19. Sorcerer
5. Sorcerer . . . 10. Sorcerer. . . .15. Paladin. . . . 20. Sorcerer


Stats
. . . . . . . .28pt. . .Level Up
. . . . . . . .----. . .--------
Strength. . . . .8 . . . 4: CHA
Dexterity . . . .8 . . . 8: CHA
Constitution. . 16 . . .12: CHA
Intelligence. . 10 . . .16: CHA
Wisdom. . . . . .8 . . .20: CHA
Charisma. . . . 18 . . .24: CHA
. . . . . . . . . . . . 28: CHA

Skills
. . . . . S .S. S .S. S .S. S .S. S .S. S .S. S .S. P .P. S .S. S .S
. . . . . 1 .2. 3 .4. 5 .6. 7 .8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Concent . 2 .2. . .2. . .2. . .2. . .2. . .2. . .2. 1 .2. . .2. . .1. 22
Spellcr . 4 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. . . . 1 .1. 1 .2. 22
UMD . . . 2 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 11
Tumble. . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .12 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .2. 3 .3. 3 .3
. . . . .12 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3. 3 .3


Feats

.1. . . . : Maximize Spell
.1 Human. : Empower Spell
.3. . . . : Quicken Spell
.6. . . . : Heighten Spell
.9. . . . : Enlarge Spell
12. . . . : Force of Personality
15. . . . : Spell Focus: Evocation
15 Deity. : Follower of: Sovereign Host
18. . . . : Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
21 Epic . : Epic Spell Focus: Evocation
24 Epic . : Extend Spell
26 Destiny: Epic Spell Power: Fire
27 Epic . : Ruin
28 Destiny: Hellball


Spells


Magic Missile, Nightshield, Jump, Feather Fall
Scorching Ray, Web, Knock, Gust of Wind
Displacement, Lightning Bolt, Haste, Chain Missiles
Wall of Fire, Dimension Door, Force Missiles, Crushing Despair
Ball Lightning, Eladar's Electric Surge, Protection from Elements, Mind Fog
Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, Greater Dispel Magic
Delayed Blast Fireball, Otto's Sphere of Dancing, Prismatic Spray
Otto's Irresistible Dance, Incendiary Cloud
Meteor Swarm


Enhancements (80 AP)

Human (5 AP)

Spell Power Boost, Charisma
Improved Recovery

Fire Savant (44 AP)

Fire Savant, Fire Affinity, Greater Fire Affinity, Immolation, Elemental Persistance
Burning Hands III, Spell Critical, Conflagration III
Efficient Maximize III, Spell Critical, Fanning the Flames III
Spell Critical, Charisma
Scorch III, Spell Critical, Charisma
Fireball III, Awaken Elemental Weakness, Evocation Focus, Power of Lightning

Air Savant (31 AP)

Air Savant, Air Affinity, Greater Air Affinity, Conduction, Light on Your Feet
Shocking Grasp III, Spell Critical, Electrocution III
Spell Critical, Alternating Current III
Spell Critical, Charisma
Electric Loop III, Feather Fall, Spell Critical, Charisma

Pure sorc would be higher DPS from capstone; but pal 2 splash is still a big boost to survivability, thanks to Divine Grace (at least until it's nerfed) and armor proficiencies (although you have to invest in ASF reduction, it's worth it for the PRR/MRR). The timing of the pally splash is up to you; I make a beeline for sorc 14 to get DBF ASAP, then splash pally, since the higher lvl spells are a bit less important to this build. If you wanted to make Earth / acid your secondary spell school instead of Air / lightning, naturally you would shift your APs and spell selections accordingly.

How would you change this for use with a blade forged paladin at first 2 levels? make sense or not?

[C-Dog]

(Doesn't make sense to post it twice, but...)

First, know that Divine Grace did get nerfed (as mentioned in that post, above) - the bonus is not as large as it once was, now capped at "only" a (generous, imo) +8 bonus for this build. Some would say that makes this build "obsolete", but really it just means it's not as uber as it was at the time of posting. Still quite serviceable.

How would you change this for use with a blade forged paladin at first 2 levels? make sense or not?

Certainly doable. Won't be optimal (or Ung' would (probably) have mentioned it as an option), but doable.

But whenever you make a change like that, you want to weigh what you give up vs. what you're gaining. So... what are you trying to gain? What are you giving up to gain it?

If it's just "self-healing", then you swap out a (very?) few spells for Repair, and call it good. You lose some DPS, some variety in your attacks, but (probably) not crippling. (And you keep upgrading to higher level Repair as they're available (without hurting your offensive spells), and swap out the old lower-level Repairs for utility spells, as listed above.)

If, however, you also want to grab some of the BF racial enhancements (for survivability etc.), then you've got to dump something to make room. That probably means the Fire tree, and relying more heavily on Air/Sonic/Electricity - and that hurts Wall of Fire, an important element. So, again, doable, but again your DPS drops. You're going to want to cancel the ASF at the very least. You want ~some~ Fire boost, so don't go crazy here.

(If you're thinking about Pali enhancements as well, even worse, and probably starts to become NOT doable. Just losing too much DPS from the core concept.)

You're also losing out on the Human bonus Feat - which one will you dump? Enlarge makes your Shocking Grasp a ranged attack, which is really nice, and makes Electric Loop range equal to Lightning Bolt, which lets you really reach out and touch someone - so that??? Maybe not - so Extend, and that means a few more Spell Points, and your "quality of life" drops from having to cast those buffs twice as often. Again, doable.

(You could also dump Pali Lvl 2 and grab Wiz 1 to replace that Feat, plus get a few extras, but lose out on the +6 Saving Throw boost. Wait until you have your "key" spells, however you define that. For some, it's Sorc Lvl 8 for Wall of Fire (so Wiz at your Lvl 10), for some it's Sorc Lvl 12 and Chain Lightning (so Wiz at your Level 14) - since you're Iconic, it may not matter (unless you're going to do some lower level questing), but you'd make that call.)

And your going to lose the Human bonus Skill Point so... I'd say the best option there is drop Con to 15, bump Int to 12, and keep Skills the same. "Odd numbered" starting stats are not a problem, not unless you have every last piece of gear planned out and that math will be annoying at end game. Otherwise, it means that, 50% of the time (depending on the gear you have/find), you'll be -1 Con lower. Hopefully the BF stuff will more than make up for that.

(Actually, BF get +2 Constitution, so you could drop Con by -2, bump Dex by +2 for better Ref Saves (or Int to 14 for... Repair??? whatever floats your boat), and call it a wash. By Lvl 15, you probably will have a decent +Str item, so Encumbrance probly will not be an issue.)

As a silver lining, since you're taking Force of Personality, the BF -2 Wis is actually not an issue, so that's all to the good.


So, if all those losses weigh favorably against the benefits, then go for it!


(As a last thought, I'd usually suggest to not put the same class back-to-back as Level 1-2, to make Skill Points go further. But since the skills here are straightforward, and both classes have only a base 2 SP/level, it doesn't matter. Go cross-class for Spellcraft, get what you can, call it good.)

[drakuul]

thanks for the advice. i'm still a bit of a noob when it comes to builds so I appreciate the in depth response.

[C-Dog]

thanks for the advice. i'm still a bit of a noob when it comes to builds so I appreciate the in depth response.

Be sure to use a Character Builder to plan your build out, level by level. VERY easy to bork something up if you don't have a blueprint, start to finish, that you can refer to.

This one is simple, intuitive, gets regular updates, and has a clear (and color-coded!) output:

o https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...=1#post5534437