Hi,

I've been having some trouble deciding on a pvp spec for my dps sorceror.

I've come up with around four options and if you'll bear with me I'll provide a brief summary of the important differences in the specs. Or you could just talk about what spec you think is best and ignore what I have to say. I'll listen either way.

Essentially the further you are into lightning, the more control you have and the further into madness, the more damage you do. It is important to remember that force lightning, one of your main attacks as this spec, does NOT benefit from the 30% crit damage increase in the madness tree

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201oZbcMMZcrcRsrkrcz.1 (1/9/31)

Highest damage spec, gets the new 31 point talent dot as well as the 30% increased crit damage. Gives up chain lightning, lightning barrage (fast cast force lightnings), electric bindings (roots your aoe knockback victims in place for 5 seconds), and reduced cd on whirlwind and increased lockout of jolt.

Overall seems to give up far too much utility for the damage increase (I could be wrong as I have never played this spec and don't know how powerful the 31 point talent dot is.)

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201ZbsMMdZcrcRsrkMc.1 (0/13/28)

Gets the 30% increased crit damage on dots/death field and only lets you get 1 of the 3 2-rank talents in the chain lightning tier (I haven't decided whether I like overload or fast cast affliction more.)

Doesn't seem too bad but overload root, fast cast affliction, and reduced cd on whirlwind/jolt are REALLY nice to have in one spec.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201ZbsMrdMZcrcRsMkR.1 (0/17/24)

This is kind of the spec I've been comparing the others too as it is the one I currently use. Doesn't get the 30% increased crit damage on death field/dots but gets all three utility talents in the chain lightning tier. Not much else to say. Pretty straight up choice of damage vs utility.

Seems to give a great balance of utility and damage but, like I said before, I could be missing out on ridiculous damage by not getting the crit modifier and other talents.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201ZbsMrdMr0zZcRcRsMz.1 (0/22/19)

This spec sacrifices a LOT of dot damage (no 15% affliction damage, no 20% increased dot damage on death field) for a fair amount of utility. In addition to all the talents in the chain lightning tier, you get 10 seconds off force speed, aoe blind when your shield breaks, and polarity shift (20% haste for 10 seconds on 2 minute cd)

I think it would give up too much damage although I really miss the 20 second force speed and aoe blind seems hecka good. Might be good if you were in a set premade and had a more situational/annoyance role.

Thanks if you actually took the time to read this and even more thanks if you post a reply!

Here's the best PvP Spec for Sorcerers :

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201hZf00MZcrfRsrkMcz.1

There you go, have fun.

woops i'll fix those soon. but from the threads i read there wasn't really much discussion about the different talent choices. just people saying "this spec is the best" and not really elaborating on it outside of a few words when the choices do not seem as clear-cut to me as other people make them seem

edit: re-read a fair number of the threads on specs and most just seem to focus on what deals the most damage when from what i can tell utility is just as important as damage

I will give you a simple tip: never spec to increase duration of DoTs. The total damage does not increase, it just stretches it out over a longer period, meaning it lowers your actual DPS. In the case of Affliction, it's an instacast, low cost, no CD DoT, so lowering the DPS on it just to increase duration (I guess in hopes of more crits?) is stupid. Reapply the DoT as necessary.

Also when looking at % based buffs try the math out to see if it makes sense. Just for example, 1% less damage taken sounds ok, until you calc out that even fully specced at 2%, if you take 2000 damage you saved yourself 40 dmg. That's utterly beyond pointless. It will never save your life, ever. Especially not on a class with an instacast bubble.

A lot of things are down to personal preference, my advice is really just to decide on HOW you want to play and spec around that. Little of this and little of that is pointless if you just picked it up cause it sounded nice.

A couple of your specs are ok but I think you waste points in most of them, mostly due to reasons given above. Especially the DoT skills.

I will give you a simple tip: never spec to increase duration of DoTs. The total damage does not increase, it just stretches it out over a longer period, meaning it lowers your actual DPS. In the case of Affliction, it's an instacast, low cost, no CD DoT, so lowering the DPS on it just to increase duration (I guess in hopes of more crits?) is stupid. Reapply the DoT as necessary.

It's been confirmed that the dot duration-increasing talents now increase the damage as well as duration, so they are very worthwhile now.

It's been confirmed that the dot duration-increasing talents now increase the damage as well as duration, so they are very worthwhile now.

My bad, guess it was stealth fixed.

Still not sure if it merits points, especially on Affliction. It's just too easy to reapply it. If it were maybe a harder hitting DoT that has a remote chance of killing a target that's fleeing, then maybe.