Level 20 Sorc gear help

[Whitehairguy]

Just kinda getting caught up with the new level 20 crafting system. With all my seals and shards I've collected over the years, what in particular should I look for to carry me at level 20 for a bit? Fire sorc in particular. TYIA

[Aelastiar]

Epic Dragon's Eye, Epic Elder's Cap, Epic Elder's Focus, Epic Ring of Spell Storing.

Epic Sceptre of Combustion/Impulse with 10 slot filigree, with 4 piece wreath of flame, rest with rare fire/universal sp; maybe 5 piece dragon soul; I'm not sure on the math there. If you're low on pl etc, i.e. missing 3 sorc evo, chr from racials, and also if you don't have a 10-slotter, then you can just put in chr filigree for the +dc, and then once you have 4 slots + 3 sorc lives, 4 piece wreath of flame ****see below.

Disclaimer: This is all my opinion, and as such may not be optimal.

To expand on gearing through epics, at lvl21 there's the borderlands chr waist and ring. That carries you to lvl29. Here's what I use at 21-28.

Epic Sceptre of Combustion
Golden Orb of Death

This gives the highest fire crit chance, but due to how meteor swarm is half physical, It's probably optimal to use Epic Sceptre of Impulse + Orb of Flame

Epic Elder's Cap
Epic Elder's Focus
Epic Dragon's Eye
Blessed Vestments
Hallowed Castigators
Hallowed Trail
Belt of Crystalline Vanity
Ring of Crystalline Vanity
Spinneret
Deadringers
Collective Sight
w/e feet you want.

a 4/2 evo goggles + Boots of Tranquility for con, gives you more evo dc, but I'm lazy and never leveled cannith crafting.

[mikarddo]

Epic Dragon's Eye, Epic Elder's Cap, Epic Elder's Focus, Epic Ring of Spell Storing.

Epic Sceptre of Combustion/Impulse with 10 slot filigree, with 4 piece wreath of flame, rest with rare fire/universal sp; maybe 5 piece dragon soul; I'm not sure on the math there. If you're low on pl etc, i.e. missing 3 sorc evo, chr from racials, and also if you don't have a 10-slotter, then you can just put in chr filigree for the +dc, and then once you have 4 slots + 3 sorc lives, 4 piece wreath of flame ****see below.

Disclaimer: This is all my opinion, and as such may not be optimal.

To expand on gearing through epics, at lvl21 there's the borderlands chr waist and ring. That carries you to lvl29. Here's what I use at 21-28.

Epic Sceptre of Combustion
Golden Orb of Death

This gives the highest fire crit chance, but due to how meteor swarm is half physical, It's probably optimal to use Epic Sceptre of Impulse + Orb of Flame

Epic Elder's Cap
Epic Elder's Focus
Epic Dragon's Eye
Blessed Vestments
Hallowed Castigators
Hallowed Trail
Belt of Crystalline Vanity
Ring of Crystalline Vanity
Spinneret
Deadringers
Collective Sight
w/e feet you want.

a 4/2 evo goggles + Boots of Tranquility for con, gives you more evo dc, but I'm lazy and never leveled cannith crafting.

Epic Immaculate Orb + Sunken Slippers (Q Cha, Ins Potency, Q Potency and +20 spell power from obs) is a good match as well.

@ML26 a LGS item with +35 spell crit damage is very strong.

[WruntJunior]

I've been running esoteric initiate set alongside epic desert fire set (firestorm greaves + lion-headed belt buckle) and epic elder's set, epic borderland's sceptre, epic immaculate globe, shattered onyx, and a crafted ring that gives charisma and devotion (helps with rejuv cocoon healing). That gives you gloves, cloak, and trinket to craft on (or run another set, or other epic items like epic dragon's eye for +2% crit chance over order's garb), though one slot should probably get legendary green steel crit item at 26 (I do cloak, so I can use gloryborne gloves at 29). You want Epic Elder's set one way or another because of the 10% crit damage (note the buff incorrectly says it gives 20%, but it seems to be only the buff text that's wrong).

Alternative ideas: You can roll epic GoMF easily for free, so making a shaman's + elder's GoMF allows you to use just the helm from elder's and necklace from shaman's for your artifact crit chances. You can use the sharn fire set if you want to use medium armor. You can do the same epic GoMF idea but for elder's and desert fire set (that's what I did this past life). There's a lot of really good flexibility now for sets and item slots, especially with cannith crafting leveled. The biggest downside is that there's not much variety when it comes to caster sticks.

Getting a high level sentient gem makes 20-29 much easier. The filigree you put in there come down to preference - I have a 10 slot jewel on my sorc, so I like 4 otto's (+5 MRR, +200 spell points, +2 all dcs, plus specific filigree), 4 beholder's (+1 spell pen, +2 all dcs, plus specific filigree), and 2 +2 charisma (just for +4 charisma) from threads of fate. I'm starting working on making an 8 slot jewel currently and only leveling with the 2 sets or similar ideas rather than having to swap out my jewel at cap (I currently have to spend basically all of my favor DDO points from leveling on swapping gems twice a life).

Don't underestimate DCs, especially if you're running epics on elite or r1. Enemies save often if you don't pump your DCs up a bit.

The biggest change I noticed between actually having a set of level 20 gear now and mostly riding out my level 15 gear to cap like I used to do is that I'm much tankier. I'm hitting 140 PRR and capped (60, in esoteric initiate cloth) MRR in epics, which feels nice to level with as a caster.

[mikarddo]

You want Epic Elder's set one way or another because of the 10% crit damage (note the buff incorrectly says it gives 20%, but it seems to be only the buff text that's wrong).

It should be noted though that +crit mult is worth less pound by pound than +crit chance during the early heroics.

If you have 50% crit chance and +40 crit damage without it the math goes something like this (assuming no saves):

Without: 0.5 * 1 + 0.5 * 2.4 = 1.7
With: 0.5 * 1 + 0.5 * 2.5 = 1.75

The increase is thus worth around 3% which is nice but nowhere game changing. Its the equivalent of 3.7% crit chance more.

[WruntJunior]

It should be noted though that +crit mult is worth less pound by pound than +crit chance during the early heroics.

If you have 50% crit chance and +40 crit damage without it the math goes something like this (assuming no saves):

Without: 0.5 * 1 + 0.5 * 2.4 = 1.7
With: 0.5 * 1 + 0.5 * 2.5 = 1.75

The increase is thus worth around 3% which is nice but nowhere game changing. Its the equivalent of 3.7% crit chance more.

True. This just goes to show how good the elder's set is now for providing 4% crit chance on top of that, though.

On my sorc I'm currently in the process of trying to get as close to 100% crit as I can without making sacrifices. I'm one item (golden orb or tome of strahd) and 6 past lives from getting +13% standing crit chance in no small part because failing to crit on energy burst or dragon breath always feels bad.