This guide was originally posted to try and help the players learn how to beat the sorcs, but after an abundance of trolling on the thread, I decided it would be of better use teaching new sorcs a few things. So here it is.

 

 

In this guide, you will learn the strengths and weaknesses of the Sorcerer. I will give a few examples of different specs, but i'm leaving it up to you to take what you learned and MacGuyver it in your own fashion.

 

 

I will be discussing the 3 "Pure" Builds, and some Hybrid specs. Please refer to the spec links so that I don't have to write out every talent's description. Thanks!

 

For more nitty gritty details for you number crunchers... http://simulationcraft.org/

 

 

Enjoy!

 

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You enter a Huttball game, run to the middle, and see a Sorc standing up top using a Blast Wave... Immediately you make the assessment that this is a Lightning Pure Spec Sorc. Let's break it down.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201ZrsbMdRMutzZdMcM.1

 

 

Lightning Pure Spec

LPS Sorcs get a few toys, and one "Hard Hitting" Single Target called Thundering Blast. But i'll talk about that later. Among the first skills in the Lightning spec is +100 force, and -3% force cost of all abilities. They have 20% extra shield absorb, moving the mitigation to around 3.3k absorb ( If you also factor in the fact that the average sorc has 300 expertise) , YES the heal percentage from expertise affects the bubble. No, I have not been able to confirm that trauma affects it too. They get Chain Lightning which is an aoe that hits 5 targets for 1500-4500 depending on gear and crit. Also their aoe knockback now roots for 5 seconds, damage dealt after 2 ends the effect. Force Effusion, makes critical hits proc a buff that decreases the force cost of the next 2 abilities by 50%. So basically... it's always up ( will never go below 95% force ). Lightning Strike has a 30% chance to finish the CD on Chain Lightning, and make it an instant cast. Lightning strike also will proc a stackable x3 buff that increases force regen by 10% per stack. They have Backlash which means your blinded for 3 seconds after you break their shield. They have a 2 minute CD that grants 20% alacrity for 10 seconds. Chain lightning has a 30% chance to hit the same targets for 30% damage in a second lightning arc. The critical damage dealt by Affliction, Chain Lightning and Thundering Blast is increased by 50%, this is passive. The critical chance of Lightning Strike is increased by 10%, and finally ...Thundering Blast.. Does 1146 - 1201 damage, automatically critical hitting a target with affliction on them... so average your probably going to be taking a 3k-4k hit from it. It has a 9 second CD and a 2 second cast time.

 

So now that you know EXACTLY what this sorc has, let's look at his rotation against you, and this does not include a kiting rotation, simply a dps rotation.

 

First he's going to use Affliction to DOT you for 20+ seconds. It is an internal DOT, so unless your an Inquisitor, you cannot purge it. If your melee, he will snare you by 50% for 6 seconds, which also does about 700 damage and is insta cast. Next, you will be getting a thundering blast thrown your way ( which, when using a spell with an activation time, if you rapidly spam an instacast spell while the other is casting, they will cast at the exact same time without using another global cooldown ). So in most cases, they will be using Thundering Blast + shock, or Thundering Blast + Chain Lightning. Either way your going to see 6k-9k of your health vanish. then a few lightning strikes, and then Force Lightning when Lightning Barrage procs off the affliction crit. Rinse and repeat. He can snare you once every 12 seconds, so you have 6 seconds your not snared between each CD. He can stun you instantly once a minute for 4 seconds, and can root you for 5 seconds by using his aoe knockback, so he'll prolly toss a heal in. If your resolve is not full and he needs another breather, he will have a cc cast that is a 3 second cast, but will cc you for 10 seconds. 2-3 heals incoming. By this time he's popped another shield, so basically you need to burn down 15k+5k+5k hp before any of his buddies come to help.

 

There is his tools, tailor your style to beat him.

 

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You see a sorc standing up top, not shooting much lightning and not healing... You know he's a madness Sorc.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201ZfzMMZfMcRsrkrcz.1

 

Madness Pure Spec

A madness sorc has some nifty toys, and has an extra root/dot that is an instacast on a 9 second CD. Madness sorcs operate off of a sort of stealth like tactic. They want to be able to get all 3 dots on you, and then start spamming force lightning while keeping you rooted, stunned and snared. The rotation begins with the dots, because without the huge graphics, you probably won't notice your being hit. As far as defensive, they have the 20% absorb bonus, and that root/dot instacast to help with kiting. They also have a bonus to Shock ( 45% chance to hit again for 50% damage ) that they can toss on the move. They CANNOT root you with the aoe knockback, nor blind you when the shield breaks. They do not have chain lightning, so their main focus is Force lightning spam until Wrath procs, giving them a 20% boost to the next spell, and it also makes the next spell instacast. So get ready for another Crushing Darkness. Deathfield hits hard, and places a debuff on you that makes their next 10 DOTS hit 20% harder. Beware of the Kite. They will line of sight and run as much as possible, because their dots are still knockin ya down chunks at a time.

 

 

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You spot that healer off to the side, this is going to be tougher than the first two pure-specs, because he can heal himself for quite a bit more, and most likely has buddies there guarding him.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201RGrRbdbdGzZf00MZoM.1

 

Screenies of this spec:

 

http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h463/TaylorShawn1/Screenshot_2012-01-14_03_03_45_481700.jpg

 

Pure Heal Spec

In the heal spec, they can talent to a total of Heal bonus to received heals by 12%, and damage taken reduced by 3%. A healer, if either going to do 1 of two things. Throw snare (50% run speed decrease), and their talented affliction (20% run speed decrease), and run away, or they will sit their and heal through your attacks. If you have a huge gear bonus over them, you will most likely kill them. If your moderately geared, my advice is to put pressure on them if they are healing in a group, but if they are solo, just ignore them... you won't kill em. Their heal rotation is basically, Resurgence which is the insta heal + hot, and procs the heal buff. Then depending on the situation, they will either use Innervate (the channeled heal with +25% crit chance per tick) or Dark Heal ( the 1.5 second cast moderate heal with 59% force cost reduction ), or Dark Infusion ( Big heal with a 1.5 second cast ). They have too many heals for interrupt to be effective, so try and stun, knockdown, interrupt, etc. Usually they will try and dps you 1v1 until they get about halfway, then they will stop to heal. Thats when you pop your consumables, cc/knockdown/interrupt and burn them.

 

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Now, about 50% of the sorcs that play are Pure Spec, and the others are Hybrid specs. An example of these hybrid specs are:

 

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201ZfzMMdRrhZcMcRsMz.1

 

Screenies of this spec:

 

http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h463/TaylorShawn1/Screenshot_2012-02-06_00_01_28_176200.jpg

 

http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h463/TaylorShawn1/Screenshot_2012-02-04_23_55_42_044800.jpg

 

http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h463/TaylorShawn1/Screenshot_2012-01-30_14_20_42_051400.jpg

 

http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h463/TaylorShawn1/Screenshot_2012-01-21_03_14_29_323500.jpg

 

http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h463/TaylorShawn1/Screenshot_2012-01-20_04_29_20_012200.jpg

 

Specced hybrid, focused on aoe damage and passive's. With this spec, expect to see them over 300k damage every game if they know how to use it. Basically the rotation is Affliction > Force lightning > Chain Lightning > Death Field > Force Lightning > Force Lightning > Chain Lightning > Death Field.

 

Afflictions critical hits proc the buff that makes force lightning channel twice as fast. so 4 ticks in 1.5 seconds rather than 4 ticks in 3 seconds. This specs mission is to stand up top, and be able to freecast. When they can't do that, they will stand toe to toe with you, probably won't kite, and you need to burn them down. They are aoe specced, so you should be single target hitting them harder than they hit you.

 

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http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201ZdcMMdZcMcRsrkrc.1

 

Screenshot of games as spec:

 

http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h463/TaylorShawn1/Screenshot_2012-02-14_13_21_07_307300.jpg

 

Specced hybrid, focused on dot damage, and aoe as a secondary. This spec is basically a sneakster. They want to be able to dot up everyone around them, and then focus on 1 person, most likely the lowest health in the area. It's a decent medal farming spec, but not so great for 1v1.

 

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http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201RGMRbdZZrMbRsrkM.1

 

Specced hybrid, great survivability, and best chance to kill someone 1v1.They will focus on using dots on you, then kiting while still able to heal themselves on the run, and for a good amount once stationary. If they are high health, they will switch to spamming death field and force lightning to help deeps you down, but if you get them down a ways, they will just sit there and heal through it or kite.

 

Take the time to actually look at the charts, and different specs so you know exactly which skills the opposing sorc has, and what they will most likely be using against you. If you can "use the force" to predict their next move, you will have a huge advantage over them. If this is the class you are having a problem killing, please, take the time to study what I have given you, and wreak havoc!

Edited February 29, 2012 by Mcskeet

Shhhhhhhhhh!!!! XD

 

Great post :-P

Some of your build links appear to be broken.

 

I've never seen anyone playing that 18/0/23 build that you've posted, perhaps you were thinking of 21/2/18?

Some of your build links appear to be broken.

 

I've never seen anyone playing that 18/0/23 build that you've posted, perhaps you were thinking of 21/2/18?

 

I'll try and fix them later! Thx for lettin me know. No the 18/0/23 is a hybrid survivor build I created while playing around with specs. I hardly ever died, and won almost all my 1v1's. It just drags fights out longer while your dots tick down on ppl.

Links should be working now

do you have force problems with your 18/0/23 build? I see you don't have Electric Induction or Reserves. Though I suppose with PvP, force isn't as big of an issue than with long PvE boss fights.

do you have force problems with your 18/0/23 build? I see you don't have Electric Induction or Reserves. Though I suppose with PvP, force isn't as big of an issue than with long PvE boss fights.

 

Yes force will be an issue if you just stand there letting a tank beat on you while your trying to dps and heal. The whole point of that spec is to be able to heal on the run while kiting him. Snare + affliction makes them run at 50% speed, 2 dots ticking, 1 insta aoe, insta shock. You should have np.

<Reserve>

Sticky?

Some of your build links appear to be broken.

 

I've never seen anyone playing that 18/0/23 build that you've posted, perhaps you were thinking of 21/2/18?

 

I've seen sorc rocking the **** out of everyone as 18/0/23

Your pure healer build is weird.

 

This is the standard cookie cutter PVE healer build.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201GGrRbd0dGzZf0oMZ0M.1

Your pure healer build is weird.

 

This is the standard cookie cutter PVE healer build.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201GGrRbd0dGzZf0oMZ0M.1

 

Disagree totally.

 

 

1) Your "cookie-cutter" build is almost right. I would never take Subversion for a PVE build. With Force-Surge/Innervate/Consumption Force should never be an issue in most PVE fights. No need for Subversion. Put the extra point in Sith Defiance for the 1% reduced damage. Not an incredible talent, but not useless in PVE like Subversion is. If you're going to use the extra point on an offensive ability, Calcify is more bang for the buck.

 

2) He's obviously talking PVP, not PVE. The only big difference is taking 2 points out of Seeping Darkness (2% crit). And putting it into Conspiring Force (20% movement speed reduction), which is pretty good for PVP.

Disagree totally.

 

 

1) Your "cookie-cutter" build is almost right. I would never take Subversion for a PVE build. With Force-Surge/Innervate/Consumption Force should never be an issue in most PVE fights. No need for Subversion. Put the extra point in Sith Defiance for the 1% reduced damage. Not an incredible talent, but not useless in PVE like Subversion is. If you're going to use the extra point on an offensive ability, Calcify is more bang for the buck.

 

2) He's obviously talking PVP, not PVE. The only big difference is taking 2 points out of Seeping Darkness (2% crit). And putting it into Conspiring Force (20% movement speed reduction), which is pretty good for PVP.

 

Yah like I stated in the beginning, I was just giving a few examples of what sorcs would have in pvp. This was posted in the pvp forums for the troll newbs who couldn't figure out how to beat sorcs and just wanted to cry nerf. Well, after 2 hours of being up the trolls just trolled the crap out of it, so i decided it would be of better use to us sorcs Little talent point tweaks here and there is preference, but for the most part, I got everything vital in the examples.

We gonna sticky this folks? Edited February 10, 2012 by Mcskeet

ANTI-STICKY!!! I don't want to play against sorcerers who know what they **** they doing!

ANTI-STICKY!!! I don't want to play against sorcerers who know what they **** they doing!

 

Lol. I'm not real sure what to say to this xD

god this forums going to have 50 stickies with everyone requesting a sticky for their own personal thread

god this forums going to have 50 stickies with everyone requesting a sticky for their own personal thread

 

Sure, it's my thread. But it's not for me, it's for new Sorcs. So if you believe this will help them, then please ask for it to be sticky'd.

Let me know if any of yall have questions!

Sticky plz

I've been running...

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201ZfoMMdZcRbRsrkrc.1

 

The past couple of days. If I can get a quick wrath proc at the start of a match; I'll pop my relic / recklessness / adrenal and launch chain lightning followed up with death-field.

 

Depending on enemy gear; I've had both spells crit over 5K. I do not have a single piece of pvp gear, and average grade 51 armor / mods / enhancements on my gear. (Still have lv 43 relics, and have grade 56 saber parts)

 

Huttball / Voidstar I average maybe 1-2 deaths a match. Keeping good situational awareness, and sticking with at least one team member you'll usually have enough raw burst damage to obliterate targets coming after you before you can be burst down.

Yah I ran that spec for a while, but now I run 0/23/18. Just can't live without forked lightning, lightning effusion, and backlash. I normally just pop affliction on everyone to proc lightning barrage, then I go to town spamming FL and Chain Lightning when Wrath procs, and death field when its up. I'm in full champion gear, and i've never hit over 4300 with deathfield or chain lightning.

Yah I ran that spec for a while, but now I run 0/23/18. Just can't live without forked lightning, lightning effusion, and backlash. I normally just pop affliction on everyone to proc lightning barrage, then I go to town spamming FL and Chain Lightning when Wrath procs, and death field when its up. I'm in full champion gear, and i've never hit over 4300 with deathfield or chain lightning.

 

Did you have a link to your 23/18 build in your earlier posts? (Going back to check) I've only actually run the madness hybrid for a day and am looking for input / ways to improve it.

 

-EDIT-

 

Found it, under your hybrid section. I'll give it some thought; will probably try running it tonight.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Acherom

Cool thing about Forked lightning though, When it procs, my Chain Lightning hits for 4k, and then another 1500 because of forked lightning.

Cool thing about Forked lightning though, When it procs, my Chain Lightning hits for 4k, and then another 1500 because of forked lightning.

 

Might be interesting; but I have a hard time justifying the loss of 30% crit on deathfield.

 

With 30% on deathfield, and 20% on chain lightning with a wrath proc; I can hit: relic + adrenal + recklessness and put out almost guaranteed back-to-back 5K crits. It is some seriously scary burst when things line up.

 

I wish there were some established theory crafting; but alas I will have to try it myself. Thanks again for the valuable insight.