Post Belpocolypse Sorc gearing for Non-raid?

[Kodwraith]

That should be "Beltpocolypse".

How are people gearing their Sorcs/Achis/blaster caster builds at cap now that the belt slot is free? I just hit 30 and realized it's a lot harder than it looks. It seems a hybrid Winter/Autumn set is doable, especially for ice based. Note that basing around the Magewright's set is likely a better idea if have raid gear.

Initial Pass:

Esoteric Initiate Set (Artifact CHA, DCs Spell Power, Crit):
Armor: Enigma Core: Fort / PRR / exc Lore 10% / exc SP +20 .
Bracers: Aetherband: SpellPen / Ins SpellPen / Shield / Magical Eff 10%
Goggles: DuskLenses: Potency / Ins Potency

For CHA/Cold caster:

Winter Set (+20% hps):
Helm: Crown of Snow: Spell Focus / Ins Spell Focus / Winter
Boots: Deepsnow: Ins CON / Qual CON / Fort Save / FoM / Winter
Ring A: Winter's Chill: Glaciation / Ice Lore / Impulse / Kinetic Lore /Winter
Belt: Strap of Dead Leaves: 22 INT / MRR / Natural Armor / Magical Efficiency/ Winter / Autumn

Autumn Set: (+1 from belt)
Gloves: Gloryborne Gloves: Sacred DCS / Positive SP/ Light SP / Qual Resistance
Necklace: Amber Necklace (Spel lF / Ins Spell F)

Other:
Ring B: Onyx: Ins CHA 10 / Profane Spell F. / Ins Resist / Ins Dodge. (keep a second of these around as an Ins INT swap if you TR)

That leaves Cloak and weapons and we're missing CHA, Qual CHA, Qual DCs, will saves, reflex saves, etc. The Magewright's cloak and goggles are the obvious choice, but if you don't have all those raid runes, you're looking like SOL trying to squeeze in CHA on the Autumn set. The only other CHA cloak is Shimmer down at +17, so basically there appears to be no way to make the Autumn set work without the Magewright raid set. So instead we go with the Bottled Sunlight at +21 for the neck slot.

Ideally we'd like one more winter and one more autumn item set for the HP and +20% SP buff. The artifact DCs and CHA being covered by the Esoteric set. I usually gear to not have as much of important stuff on my weapon in case I need to hold a torch in a dark dungeon or scroll.

Without Mageswright's set, we simply abandon the Autumn set because it's unworkable with Esoteric Set, swap out the artifact slot on the gloves and use the cloak slot for the 4th winter item.
Necklace: Sigil of Regalport: 22 CHA / Qual Spell Focus / Wizardry
Cloak: Cloak of Winter: False Life, winter

We'd then have Esoteric / Winter 4 item / 22 CHA / +10 CHA / most if not all "general" Spell Focus items (but none of the school specific ones). Still missing Qual CHA, which we should probably put on our orb. Given that we have the main weapon also free, it'd be nice if we had a staff we could use, but all staffs seem to suck (unless you go fire).

Orb: Concentrated Chaos or Solid Sound both work for +5 Qual CHA.

Obviously the point is that the Magewright's set seems to be basically strictly necessary if you want to gear you Sorc (or alchi or mage or whatever) unless you have exactly the right combo of everything else and even then it's irreducible. I still have the trinket slot available, maybe that will help. We still need resistance / dodge items, so maybe trinket is where it's at.

So if anyone see me in that raid on Khyber, please pass the Googles. And Cloak.

[Tsutti]

trinket Storm in a Bottle from Strahd has dodge

trinket Legendary Battleworn Medal has quality charisma

slavers legendary five rings can have resistance crafted on it and go in your trinket slot, could also put an aug slot on it and put a dodge augment in but you'd still need 5 dodge from being in reaper with grim barricade to cap your dodge

I can't tell what other slots you have free, this was a bit confusing... your belt slot is free, not sure whether you were keeping gloryborne gloves

[slarden]

It's easier to come up with sorc gear with raid gear Here is my new gear on a bladeforged (require a +1 heart), however, swap the armor and you can go tiefling and improve dps a little bit. Unless there is some exploit with 4 piece frankenstein LGS I don't know about, it adds less dps than the 2 piece chained elemental set.

This setup is a solo-focused setup with high prr, high mrr, high hp, etc. for soloing R6.

goggles: L Magewright Goggles: Int 21, Spell Pen 9, Illusion Focus 9, Ins Illusion Focus 5, Deathblock Augment, Petrification Immunity Augment
helm: L Crown of Snow, Ceruleaen Wave, Fire Shield (Cold), Spell focus mastery 7, Ins Spell Focus Mastery 4, Globe of Imperial Blood Augment
neck: Legendary Necklace of Bottled Sunlight: Charisma 21, Feather Fall Augment
trinket: Sheltering, Force Lore 27, Repair 22, Quality Cha 4, Topaz of Greater Illusion Augment
Cloak: L Magewright, Ins Char 10, Wizardry 453, Enchantment Focus 9, Ins Enchant Focus 5, False Life 48 Augment, Draconic Soul Gem Augment
Belt: L Direbear Belt, Ins Shelt 27, Rough Hide 5, Natural Armor 21, Topaz of Greater Enchantment Augment
Ring: Bound Elemental Ring of Flames: Fire Lore 32, Combustion 219, Alchemical Fire Attunement, Arcane Augmentation IX, Topaz of Greater Evocation Augment, Festive Charisma 2 Augment
Gloves: Princes Gauntlets Con 22, Lifeblood of the Prince, Quality Res 4, Quality Shelt 15, Essence of Epic Littany of the Dead, Ins Int 5 Augment, Dex 12 Augment
Boots: L Deepsnow Boots, Ins Con 10, Quality Con 5, Fom, Fort 17, Fear Immunity Augment (or 20% threat reduction augment)
Ring: Bound Elemental Ring of Acid: Acid Lore 32, Corrosion 219, Alchemical Earth Attunement, Spell Pen 9, Spell Agility 15 Augment, Soundproof Augment
Bracers: LGS Enh, Ins, Qualiity Bonuses to Critical Damage (35% Total)
Armor: L Glass Heart, Fortification 214, Phys Sheltering 54, Exc Spell Lore 15, Exc Univ Spellpower 30, Resistance 11 Augment
Quiver: Epic Quiver of Alacrity, Striding 30%, Ins bonus to Spell Threat Reduction 15

L Queen Sceptre: Potency 154, Ins Potency 77, Spellsight 22, Ins Spellsight 11, Ins Dex 5 Augment
Offhand: LGS Salt for mobs, LGS Ash for bosses

Swap to Legendary Cold Iron Bracers and EE Skyvault Shield for extra defenses if needed (boosts AC, Saves, DR, 50% magical damage mitigation)

Weapon Filigree
Otto: Charisma Rare
Otto: Spell Failure Reduction Rare
Otto: Constitution Rare
Otto: Spellpower Rare
Eye: Charisma Rare
Eye: MRR Rare
Eye: Spellpower Rare
Sanctified Fervor/Reverberation: Charisma +2 Rare
To Hell and Back/Embraced by Light: Charisma +2 Rare

Gloves Filigree
Eye: Charisma Rare
Sanctified Fervor/Reverberation: Charisma +2 Rare
To Hell and Back/Embraced by Light: Charisma +2 Rare

Crit Chance Fire
Magical Training: 5
Empyrean Magic: 10
Enhancement Bonus: 32
Artifact bonus: 10
Exceptional Bonus: 15
Energy Criticals: 9
Fire Savant: 8
Total: 89

If grouping in a balanced group where you don't need self-healing just swap tiefling for bladeforged and robe for armor and free up feat. This setup, sans empyrean magic works with any element - just swap the rings.

[Tobril]

Unless there is some exploit with 4 piece frankenstein LGS I don't know about, it adds less dps than the 2 piece chained elemental set.

While not an exploit, the 4 to 5 piece I was running on my BF sorc had a little more Repair crit-chance and crit-damage.

LGS came out ahead of LoB rings on lammania for me unless hitting more frequently with spells to get more ring procs.

Helm: Arcsteel
Neck: Regalport
Trinket: 5 Rings (CON, Resistance, Spellcraft, Quality CHA)
Cloak: LGS - Regen
Belt: Burnscar OR LGS Acid Resistance, Acid Resistance, Cold Resistance, Completes Ender
Ring: (swap) Clouded Dreams
Glove: Arcsteel
Boot: LGS - Fire Crit, Fire Crit, Acid Resistance
Ring: (perm) Shattered Onyx
Bracer: LGS - INT Skills, INT Skills, Negative Resistance (Swaps for CHA and DEX skills)
Armor: Arcsteel
Goggle: LGS - Fire Resistance x3 (Swaps for other elements)

Weapon: Wild Flame
Offhand: Various LGS


I really like your list.

It has higher PRR, Saves, Positive AMP, similar HP, and doesn't require an advanced degree in LGS

You lose some elemental resistances that help deal with nasty champ dots and some recon oomph.

If I go robo-sorc again I'll give yours a shot!

[slarden]

LGS came out ahead of LoB rings on lammania for me unless hitting more frequently with spells to get more ring procs.

Nice setup!

This would make sense because of the comparisons.

I was comparing the common gear set floated around as the best which is esoteric + 4 piece lgs set (3 tiers of ethereal dominion and 9 tiers of material opposition) for 35% fire crit damage + 24% universal crit damage. So it's basically comparing the 10% crit chance increase to the extra 24% crit damage multiplier. In your case you are getting 10% artifact and 10% exc from clouded dreams so you are only gaining 5% crit chance instead of 10%.

Crit Chance from esoteric + 1 piece lgs: 79%
Crit Damage Multiplier from esoteric + 1 piece lgs: 295 (100 base +100 std crit bonus + 35 one piece lgs + 35 draconic + 25 scion of fire)

Base esoteric + 1 piece lgs: 21% * 100 + 295 * 79% = 261.05
Add Chained Elemental Rings: 11% x 100 + 295 * 89% = 273.55 - doesn't include extra dps from procs
Add 24% crit damage from 3 more material opposition pieces: 21% x 100 + 319 x 79% = 273.01 (this is what is always floated as the "optimal" sorc and alchemist setup)
Tobril Setup - Arcsteel + clouded dreams + 5 piece frankenstein: 16% x 100 + 326 x 84% = 289

Your setup is clearly higher dps.

So assuming boss fight takes 60 seconds with base esoteric + 1 piece lgs:

Base esoteric + 1 piece lgs: 60 seconds
Add Chained Elemental Rings: 57 seconds
Add 24% crit damage from 3 more material opposition pieces: 57 seconds
Tobril Setup - Arcsteel + clouded dreams + 5 piece frankenstein: 54 seconds

Curious about one thing - where do you get your force spellpower and crit chance from?

[Tobril]

Curious about one thing - where do you get your force spellpower and crit chance from?

Arcsteel has some force crit and spellpower from the artifact bonus.

I focused on Fire/Repair and couldn't fit in anything specifically for force. Getting decent odds of critting with back to back recon made the setup quite sturdy.


I'd like to figure out a gearset that has high DC in addition to reasonable DPS+Defense and have been unsuccessful to date.


Edit: I knew acid savant increased caster level since it is/was part earth...apparently it's a bit more complicated than I recalled: (lore only comes from fire) https://ddowiki.com/page/Meteor_Swarm

I say "is/was" because I'm not sure how the caster level penalty from fire savant was "fixed". If it's no longer typed as earth, that could free up some AP in the extra savant.

[slarden]

Arcsteel has some force crit and spellpower from the artifact bonus.

I focused on Fire/Repair and couldn't fit in anything specifically for force. Getting decent odds of critting with back to back recon made the setup quite sturdy.


I'd like to figure out a gearset that has high DC in addition to reasonable DPS+Defense and have been unsuccessful to date.


Edit: I knew acid savant increased caster level since it is/was part earth...apparently it's a bit more complicated than I recalled: (lore only comes from fire) https://ddowiki.com/page/Meteor_Swarm

I say "is/was" because I'm not sure how the caster level penalty from fire savant was "fixed". If it's no longer typed as earth, that could free up some AP in the extra savant.

Thanks I do want to take a look at Arcsteel with clouded dreams as a starting point rather than the fey dreamer docent + chained elementals + magewright. The better reconstruct is a very compelling reason alone - I tended to rely on a backup 2nd reconstruct if the first wasn't enough. Also 4 pieces vs 5 giving up only 5% crit seems like a solid way to fit other things in. Never considered it due the int bonus vs charisma, but there are also +4 Cha augments now available from THTH items + the +9 evocation on gloves fully makes up for it.

At least what I've found is giving up some dps is usually the right answer for soloing R6 because the difference is usually small (60 seconds vs 57 seconds vs 54 seconds in a boss fight for example) and with mobs there is very little if any difference. I would like to try soloing higher but am sub-par at dealing with doom reapers solo esp combined with more of a dps and self-healing nerf at those skulls.

[Tobril]

Thanks I do want to take a look at Arcsteel with clouded dreams as a starting point rather than the fey dreamer docent + chained elementals + magewright. The better reconstruct is a very compelling reason alone - I tended to rely on a backup 2nd reconstruct if the first wasn't enough. Also 4 pieces vs 5 giving up only 5% crit seems like a solid way to fit other things in. Never considered it due the int bonus vs charisma, but there are also +4 Cha augments now available from THTH items + the +9 evocation on gloves fully makes up for it.

At least what I've found is giving up some dps is usually the right answer for soloing R6 because the difference is usually small (60 seconds vs 57 seconds vs 54 seconds in a boss fight for example) and with mobs there is very little if any difference. I would like to try soloing higher but am sub-par at dealing with doom reapers solo esp combined with more of a dps and self-healing nerf at those skulls.

My setup was entirely for a deep HP pool and higher recon crits. ~1600 was a pretty sweet spot on 6 skull, with ~1000 at 8 skull. Material helped to reach a "higher note" and I ran 4-5 depending on what offhand I was responsible for bringing.

Doom tanking was possible, though dicey. Making sure the crits happened was absolutely vital. I've never solo'd above 6, but like to be able to "take my turn" on a doom when other people (or all of us) have meld on cooldown.


I did have an esoteric-based DC setup intended for high reaper. A combination of the self-heal penalty, getting better at targeting soft saves and refining a spell list, and the existence of salt LGS led me to the more DPS oriented loadout.

Post nerf it's hard to say without playing it again to see if that style will still work or if sorc has been relegated to a off-tank/CC/healer role.


Your list also looks good from the perspective of much lower damage taken, as well as the ability for regular healing from party members to be a bit more effective. (There may have been some complaints from my team about not having healer friend )

It would also be quite beneficial for someone who is just starting to get into higher reaper. (This comment in particular is aimed at someone listening in and not at you)


How hard do recons hit with your list? ~6k before reaper penalties? I'm not sure I'm 100% doing the math correctly.

[slarden]

How hard do recons hit with your list? ~6k before reaper penalties? I'm not sure I'm 100% doing the math correctly.

I haven't tested on my sorc because I'll admit I am a bit lazy and will hit myself with 2 recons if I need it. I have tested on my warlock where it's more important to me because I have just the racial reconstruct with 6 second cooldown and my back up heals are cocoon (a bit weak) and Stanch which is awesome but permanently reduces my hp a little until I shrine. Stanch isn't impacted by reaper self-healing nerf.

The non-crit may be a bit higher on my sorc but the crit chance on my sorc is only 30%

Repair Amplification
Base: 100
Prince's Gauntlet: 93
Artifact Bonus: 15
Bladeforged-Mechanist: 40
Ancient Blessings: 15
Total: 263

Healing Amplification
Base: 100
Prince's Gauntlet: 93
Paladin Past Life: 30
Artifact Bonus: 15
Ancient Blessings: 15
Filigree Set Bonuses: 10
Bladeforged Penalty: -119
Total: 144

Reconstruct in Reaper

In Each case the first # is the non-crit and the second # is the crit #.

Epic Elite: 1223/6653
R1: 1223/2814
R2: 1130/2600
R3: 1004/2311
R4: 907/2086
R5: 777/1788
R6: 648/1490
R7: 518/1192
R8: 388/894
R9: 259/596
R10: 129/298

[PrinceOfAsphodel]

I knew acid savant increased caster level since it is/was part earth...apparently it's a bit more complicated than I recalled: (lore only comes from fire) [URL="https://ddowiki.com/page/Meteor_Swarm"]https://ddowiki.com/page/Meteor_Swarm

Assuming I understand as much as I think I do. Meteor Swarm was counting as an Earth spell and a Fire spell, which makes sense thematically but was screwing fire savants because of the following effect: "+1 bonus to caster level and max caster level for Fire spells, but your air, earth, and water spells have a -3 penalty to caster level and max caster level." This means they were net losing 2 max caster levels on a fire spell. That was lame.

They fixed it to where Meteor Swarm now gets the +1 for being a fire spell but not the -3 for being an earth spell. So even though they dropped Meteor's max caster level from 30 to 20, it really only dropped 7. At least for those who use the elemental form.

[janave]

I'd like to figure out a gearset that has high DC in addition to reasonable DPS+Defense and have been unsuccessful to date.

I do not believe it is currently possible, and gear is just one part of that story. Essentially high DCs means no Fire Scion and no Draconic, right now I am standing at passive DC 126 Evocation in Magister ( before reaper and boosts), and still get reflex saves up to 0 dmg on r4, r5. Altho a few instances only.

For tough targets i generally need to hit either Arcane Insight or Magister spell surge.

Needless to say, I had to give up a very large chunk of lore, spellpower, and crit multipliers to reach the DCs.

Ironically the one thing holding back my gearing is one specific reaper helmet, the only that fits into the perfect Evocation DC tetris.

[Tobril]

I just assembled the Slarden list and will give it a try this week.


Slight differences from his implementation:

1) Frost instead of Acid for the secondary ring to start the quest.

I'm not sure how well I'll do at spending the 330 spell points before swapping rings.

If laziness wins out I'll take Iceberg, which does similar damage to Thunderstroke even with the fire savant penalties.


2) Scorching Ray for long distance encounters to help fill in the new cooldown gaps.

The three individual strikes stack LGS effects separately and hopefully ring procs as well.


3) Lightning instead of Acid secondary element.

Ball Lightning, Chain Lightning, and Thunderstroke fit in rather nicely.


Acid Pro

1. Acid Well is a decent group DPS spell
2. Fortitude save means the spell will always deal damage

Acid Con

1. The only DPS spell is 9th level
2. Ring proc is the weakest of the 4

Air Pro

1. Higher single target damage spell
2. More mid level spells for group DPS
3. Chain lightning has nice targeting for spreading LGS procs
4. Ring proc is the second best of the 4

Air Con

1. Reflex saves means evasion enemies can be problematic

I'm going to experiment with both and see how useful the different configurations are in practice.

[slarden]

I just assembled the Slarden list and will give it a try this week.


Slight differences from his implementation:

1) Frost instead of Acid for the secondary ring to start the quest.

I'm not sure how well I'll do at spending the 330 spell points before swapping rings.

If laziness wins out I'll take Iceberg, which does similar damage to Thunderstroke even with the fire savant penalties.


2) Scorching Ray for long distance encounters to help fill in the new cooldown gaps.

The three individual strikes stack LGS effects separately and hopefully ring procs as well.


3) Lightning instead of Acid secondary element.

Ball Lightning, Chain Lightning, and Thunderstroke fit in rather nicely.


Acid Pro

1. Acid Well is a decent group DPS spell
2. Fortitude save means the spell will always deal damage

Acid Con

1. The only DPS spell is 9th level
2. Ring proc is the weakest of the 4

Air Pro

1. Higher single target damage spell
2. More mid level spells for group DPS
3. Chain lightning has nice targeting for spreading LGS procs
4. Ring proc is the second best of the 4

Air Con

1. Reflex saves means evasion enemies can be problematic

I'm going to experiment with both and see how useful the different configurations are in practice.

Awesome, look forward to hearing about it. Polar ray is also intriguing to me because there is no save- situationally very useful. I really like the cold ring because of the spell points but didn't want to use the 1250 runes to test it out.