The Best Way To Level ~ Fire Sorcerer Build

[Strimtom]

Hello Friends, welcome to my latest and greatest in Build experiences.

Fire sorcerer. It's a classic and is something every DDO player will try at some point. Since the changes in U41 sorcerer and wizard have felt amazing but nothing has felt better than sorcerer thanks to Tiefling and sharn gear. If you want to watch a video where I explain it, click right here!

Tl;DW: Tiefling fire penetration makes leveling the easiest in the world, and sharn gearing lets you possibly have 97% crit chance and 60% crit multi, which can go up to 110% crit multi when the new epic destiny changes roll around.

Fire Sorcerer
Sorcerer 20
True Neutral Tiefling


Stats
. . . . . . . .28pt . . 32pt. . .34pt . . 36pt. . .Tome. . .Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .---- . . ----. . .---- . . --------
Strength. . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . +7 . . . 4: CHA
Dexterity . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . +7 . . . 8: CHA
Constitution. . 16. . . .18 . . . 18. . . .18 . . . +7 . . .12: CHA
Intelligence. . 10. . . . 8 . . . 10. . . .12 . . . +7 . . .16: CHA
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . +7 . . .20: CHA
Charisma. . . . 20. . . .20 . . . 20. . . .20 . . . +7 . . .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
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Concent . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Spellcr . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Haggle. . . .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .1 .1 .1 .1 .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ . . 11
UMD . . . 2. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. . .11
Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ½. ½. ½. ½. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. .8
Bluff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . 2
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .12. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6


Feats

.1. . . . : Maximize Spell
.3. . . . : Completionist OR Mental Toughness
.6. . . . : Past Life: Wizard OR Improved Mental Toughness
.9. . . . : Spell Focus: Evocation
12. . . . : Spell Focus: Enchantment
15. . . . : Spell Penetration
18. . . . : Quicken Spell
21 Epic . : Wellspring of Power
24 Epic . : Burst of Glacial Wrath
26 Destiny: Toughness
27 Epic . : Epic Damage Reduction
28 Destiny: Mass Frog
29 Destiny: Deific Warding
30 Epic . : Embolden Spell
30 Legend : Scion of: Plane of Fire OR Plane of Air


Spells

1. Fire Bolt (1), Jump (1), Nightshield (2), Acid Spray (3)
2. Scorch (4), Knock (5), Blur (7), Resist Energy (9)
3. Fireball (6), Acid Blast (7), Displacement (9), Haste (11)
4. Wall of Fire (8), Dimension Door (9), Phantasmal Killer (11), Fire Shield (13)
5. Teleport (10), Break Enchantment (11), Cyclonic Blast (13), Prismatic Ray (15)
6. Greater Heroism (12), True Seeing (13), Circle of Death (15)
7. Delayed Blast Fireball (14), Greater Teleport (15), Prismatic Spray (17)
8. Sunburst (16), Greater Shout (17), Mass Charm Monster (19)
9. Meteor Swarm (18), Thunderstrike (19), Mass Hold Monster (20)

Enhancements (80+9 AP)

Fire Savant (41 AP)

• Fire Savant, Fire Affinity, Greater Fire Affinity, Immolation, Elemental Persistance, Elemental Apotheosis
  1. One with the Inferno I, Spell Critical, Conflagration III
  2. Efficient Quicken III, Spell Critical, Fanning the Flames III
  3. Efficient Maximize III, Spell Critical, Charisma
  4. Spell Critical, Charisma
  5. Awaken Elemental Weakness, Evocation Focus

Eldritch Knight (Sorcerer) (25 AP)

• Eldritch Strike, Spellsword, Imbue the Blade, Subtle Force
  1. Improved Mage Armor III, Toughness III
  2. Improved Shield III, Mystic Wards III, Shield Training, Wand and Scroll Mastery I
  3. Charisma
  4. Armored Arcana, Charisma

Tiefling (23 AP)

• Bloodhunt I, Charisma I, Bloodhunt II, Charisma II, Bloodhunt III
  1. Obscuring Darkness
  2. Infernal Resistance: Acid, Lasting Darkness
  3. Infernal Resistance: Cold, Incineration, Student of Darkness
  4. Infernal Sovereign: Electric, Incineration, Servant of Darkness III

Destiny (24 AP)

Draconic Incarnation

1. Energy Sheath: Electricity III, Charisma
2. Out with bang: Electricity III, Precise: Evocation II, Charisma
3. Dragon Heritage: Red III, Charisma
4. Energy Burst: Fire III, Spell Knowledge III
5. Dragon Breath

Twists of Fate (23 fate points)

1. Empyrean Magic (Tier 3 Crusader)
2. School Specialist: Evocation (Tier 2 Magister)
3. Rejuvenation Cocoon (Tier 1 Primal)
4. Endless Faith (Tier 1 Exalted)
5. Charisma (Tier 1 Exalted)

Endgame gear

Helm Arcsteel Brim
Necklace Sigil of Regalport
Trinket Five rings - Wisdom 17, saves 14, ???, CHA 4
Cloak Hallowed Trail
Belt Burnscar Sash
Ring1 Shattered Onyx
Ring2 Clouded dreams
Gloves Blue scale gauntlets
Boots LGS Fire
Bracers Castigators
Armor Blessed Vestments
Goggles Collective Sight - Con 22, ins con 10
Weapon Wild flame
Shield Giants platter
Augments striding 30%, +1 globe, +2 luck
Filigree: 4 Ottos, 4 Eye of the Beholder, +2 Charisma, and 2x +1 charisma

[Hobgoblin]

have u done this?

i avoided glacial wrath on my sorc life. i was under the impression that it lost caster levels from all the fire cores. if not i can attest to its power!

[Strimtom]

have u done this?

i avoided glacial wrath on my sorc life. i was under the impression that it lost caster levels from all the fire cores. if not i can attest to its power!

Yes. The caster level does go down but I don't care about the damage of the spell I care about the freeze. The freeze dc is based on evocation so being a fire savant doesnt effect it at all, allowing me to freeze whole groups easily. Highly recommend.

[Feralthyrtiaq]

With the recent changes to the Concentration check (DC = 10 + 1/10th incoming damage) I skipped Quicken on a recent Warlock life to check them out. I usually max Concentration even with Quicken.

So, with my normal investment in Concentration (easily hit mid 70s) I never failed a single scroll or spell from 15 to 30 (was Deep Gnome 1Wiz/1Barb/18Lock)

BUT, that's mainly R1/2 with a handfull of R6-R8 thrown in.

With a Concentration roll of 1 + 70. I can take a 600 pt hit to the face and still cast.

Add that with the fast Sorc cast speed you might get more mileage out of Enlarge or Empower or w/e you fancy.

(I still missed Quicken cast times though lol)

[LightBear]

Thx for putting this out here.
I'm on the first of a set of the thiefling racial tr lives right now and plan on doing three of them as a fire sorc.

Could you expand on what gear you used during leveling?

[PrinceOfAsphodel]

Thx for putting this out here.
I'm on the first of a set of the thiefling racial tr lives right now and plan on doing three of them as a fire sorc.

Could you expand on what gear you used during leveling?

Sorcerers have level gearing pretty easy since Feywild. At level 5, put together a good Seasons set and it will carry you up to level 10 (or higher) where you can switch to Ravenloft gear. I would recommend to build the Beacon of Magic set (Regalia, Burnscar, Blurfingered) along with 5 pieces of Adherent gear to shore up your other stats. At level 15 you can switch to one of Sharn's caster sets, either Esoteric or Flamecleansed. I think Flamecleansed set is a little better but note that it requires you to drop your medium armor arcane failure chance. Other Sharn gear is used to shore up your stats. You can mix and match stuff from Borderlands at lv21 but I honestly just stay in Sharn gear until cap where I run the legendary versions of everything I had. I would spend my first Fire Sorc life collecting all the gear while not pushing reaper skulls too high. Sharn and Soul Splitter mobs in particular dodge your meteors like they're Neo from the frickin matrix. Once you're in second and third life with more complete gear sets, you will be more capable.

[Hobgoblin]

Just off the top, I would think about the tiefling cores, and maybe take a point off mage armor and shield SLA. This loses u 4 prr but if u dont have the ap..... would think of more when I get home. If u really want u can ignore racial tree entirely and dip into Harper. I dont recommend this as racial tree is powerful, but it is an option

[Garix]

In your Ice sorcerer build you left out maximise and empower as being unnecessary (iirc).

Wondering why you've picked maximise here?

I still take both but my gear sucks so I need all the help I can get

[Strimtom]

With the recent changes to the Concentration check (DC = 10 + 1/10th incoming damage) I skipped Quicken on a recent Warlock life to check them out. I usually max Concentration even with Quicken.

Meteor Swarm just takes too long to cast, you lose a lot of damage. Fireball and other spells are fine, but you notice with swarm, Burst, dragon breath, rejuv cocoon, and tiefling cloud.

This looks really fun and the video was great. I don't have a character with a lot of past lives though. What would you recommend dropping if you don't have the extra racial AP's?

Thanks!

Only go 1 element instead of two, so you can drop the infernal resistance line in tiefling (Saves 4). Then, drop the servant of Darkness from tiefling(Saves 2). Finally, don't take the T4 charisma in eldritch knight (Saves 2). Also don't spend any points in falconry like I did and you'll be fine.

In your Ice sorcerer build you left out maximise and empower as being unnecessary (iirc).

Wondering why you've picked maximise here?

I still take both but my gear sucks so I need all the help I can get

Ice sorc was about raid DPS mostly which means you need sustained dps and mana more than high burst.

This character is about farming the game by 1-shotting the world, so it uses maximize a lot better. When I do raids I turn off maximize because I run out of SP too fast.

[Garix]

Ah that makes sense then. Cheers for the explanation

[Garorg]

Only go 1 element instead of two, so you can drop the infernal resistance line in tiefling (Saves 4). Then, drop the servant of Darkness from tiefling(Saves 2). Finally, don't take the T4 charisma in eldritch knight (Saves 2). Also don't spend any points in falconry like I did and you'll be fine.

So far the build has been going great, thanks! I'm just about to take level 17. I have been playing around to see if I can trade off a bit and get the extra elements, but not sure its worth it. Here's what I was able to make work (I have a +1 racial AP tome). I dropped Student of Darkness and Servant of Darkness as well as Subtle Force and the T4 charisma from Eldritch Knight. So here's what I ended up with for AP.

Enhancements (80+1 AP)

Fire Savant (41 AP)

• Fire Savant, Fire Affinity, Greater Fire Affinity, Immolation, Elemental Persistance, Elemental Apotheosis
  1. One with the Inferno I, Spell Critical, Conflagration III
  2. Efficient Maximize III, Spell Critical, Fanning the Flames III
  3. Efficient Quicken III, Spell Critical, Charisma
  4. Spell Critical, Charisma
  5. Awaken Elemental Weakness, Evocation Focus

Eldritch Knight (Sorcerer) (22 AP)

• Eldritch Strike, Spellsword, Imbue the Blade
  1. Improved Mage Armor III, Toughness III
  2. Improved Shield III, Mystic Wards III, Shield Training, Wand and Scroll Mastery I
  3. Charisma
  4. Armored Arcana

Tiefling (18 AP)

• Bloodhunt I, Charisma I, Bloodhunt II, Charisma II, Bloodhunt III
  1. Obscuring Darkness
  2. Infernal Resistance: Acid, Lasting Darkness
  3. Infernal Resistance: Cold, Incineration
  4. Infernal Sovereign: Electric, Incineration

Just wondering if you think this will end up being too squishy?

[Garorg]

This looks really fun and the video was great. I don't have a character with a lot of past lives though. What would you recommend dropping if you don't have the extra racial AP's?

Thanks!

[Carpone]

Feats
.1. . . . : Maximize Spell
.3. . . . : Completionist OR Mental Toughness
.6. . . . : Past Life: Wizard OR Improved Mental Toughness
.9. . . . : Spell Focus: Evocation
12. . . . : Spell Focus: Enchantment
15. . . . : Spell Penetration
18. . . . : Quicken Spell
21 Epic . : Wellspring of Power
24 Epic . : Burst of Glacial Wrath
26 Destiny: Toughness
27 Epic . : Epic Damage Reduction
28 Destiny: Mass Frog
29 Destiny: Deific Warding
30 Epic . : Embolden Spell
30 Legend : Scion of: Plane of Fire OR Plane of Air

For leveling,I agree that fire sorcs have no equal. But I completely disagree with your heroic feat layout. Sorc absolutely does not need Quicken and I'm baffled by your lack of Heighten and Empower.

I'm wrapping up my racial past lives as a sorc, and this is the optimal feat list for 1-20 lives:

1 Maximize
3 Empower
6 Completionist
9 Heighten
12 Enlarge
15 PL Wiz
18 Enchantment Focus

Spells

1. Fire Bolt (1), Jump (1), Nightshield (2), Acid Spray (3)
2. Scorch (4), Knock (5), Blur (7), Resist Energy (9)
3. Fireball (6), Acid Blast (7), Displacement (9), Haste (11)
4. Wall of Fire (8), Dimension Door (9), Phantasmal Killer (11), Fire Shield (13)
5. Teleport (10), Break Enchantment (11), Cyclonic Blast (13), Prismatic Ray (15)
6. Greater Heroism (12), True Seeing (13), Circle of Death (15)
7. Delayed Blast Fireball (14), Greater Teleport (15), Prismatic Spray (17)
8. Sunburst (16), Greater Shout (17), Mass Charm Monster (19)
9. Meteor Swarm (18), Thunderstrike (19), Mass Hold Monster (20)

Lots of suboptimal choices. For starters, there's no point in acid spells when you have T5 vulnerability and the fire capstone. Even when leveling up, fire immune mobs can be avoided if you're soloing, or you can bring a friend for them.
1: No point in Nightshield at end game when you have Improved Shield from EK. Firebolt is also terrible since it doesn't scale. Charm Person, Jump, Featherfall and Burning Hands to start. Drop BH for something more relevant later.
2: Command Undead is super useful when leveling. Blur isn't needed since you can use lvl 3 Bracers of the Wind until you get Displacement. Gust of Wind is missing here, and is great against dancing balls and golem clouds.
3: Halt Undead > Haste, Suggestion > Acid Blast.
4: Good list.
5: Pris Ray is great. I prefer Dominate Person, Dismissal and Prot Elements for the other choices.
6: I don't like taking GH with so few slots available since it can be scrolled and there are clickies. Same with True Seeing. Circle of Death, Mass Suggestion and Undeath to Death are what I go with.
7: Don't understand why you'd devote a slot to Greater Teleport when it's scrollable. Finger of Death is more functional.

[Kaboom2112]

Sorc absolutely does not need Quicken and I'm baffled by your lack of Heighten and Empower . . l.

Quicken not needed for leveling, but it really makes Meteor Swarm more better.

And I agree with you on the other metas, this build posted is far from optimal.

[ChadB123]

For leveling,I agree that fire sorcs have no equal. But I completely disagree with your heroic feat layout. Sorc absolutely does not need Quicken and I'm baffled by your lack of Heighten and Empower.

I'm wrapping up my racial past lives as a sorc, and this is the optimal feat list for 1-20 lives:

1 Maximize
3 Empower
6 Completionist
9 Heighten
12 Enlarge
15 PL Wiz
18 Enchantment Focus

You've listed the exact feats that I take on my sorc lives. I agree that the lack of Heighten and Empower seems like a glaring mistake. I wouldn't mind much if the thread wasn't titled "The Best Way To Level." While fire sorc certainly is the best way to level, this build certainly isn't.

[C-Dog]

You've listed the exact feats that I take on my sorc lives...

I take Enlarge earlier, but don't enjoy Completionist.

If I had to guess, the OP is dumping Empower since he's not relying on SLA's as much, and doesn't need to double-boost combat spells. As for Heighten, with a Fire sorc, Web isn't as handy, but that's only the most obvious to benefit from Heighten.

Strimton isn't one to toss a build out lightly - but I'll wait for him to explain his choices.

[Alled78]

Hi all
I tried the build and i wasn t very happy at lvl 12

So at 12 i switched to air t5 and core 4 and fire t4 core 4
... And was really fun!!!

I found quite annoyng using 1 fire spell against fire immune to get them not immune.

Any experimenting the same?

Probably the build is better for lvl 30?

[C-Dog]

Probably the build is better for lvl 30?

The sign says "to level", so it's about getting there more than being there.

But, 100%, until you're level 12 and get access to the Tier V anti-immune enhancement, you have to have something else to fall back on. Either a second Savant Tier, or just go Force (magic missile, force missile, chain missile, etc.).

For leveling, I prefer Air sorc w/ Maximize + Enlarge as the first 2 Feats. Turns those SLA's into something really powerful, and w/ decent gear both Shocking Grasp and Electric Loop contribute greatly well into the early/mid-teens. You can exchange Enlarge for something else at any time you think it's not contributing, but the ability to use the CC effect of EL at full range is money all the way up to 20.

(Admittedly, this is also b/c I don't own Tiefling, so w/o those racial Fire enhancements, it's a closer comparison.)

[tinyelvis]

Hi all
I tried the build and i wasn t very happy at lvl 12

So at 12 i switched to air t5 and core 4 and fire t4 core 4
... And was really fun!!!

I found quite annoyng using 1 fire spell against fire immune to get them not immune.

Any experimenting the same?

Probably the build is better for lvl 30?

I too find this a problem. It was for me not near as easy to level as air. When dealing with multiple reaper champions, prep fire is a costly use of time. I play solo mostly... occasionally going to two or three man parties. I also strive to avoid non damaging full cost CC use to save SPs (was recently scolded by other party member in R10 for this behavior).